Middle school and why they are so tired....

Today I am teaching middle schoolers about Ludwig Von Beethoven.  He is a very interesting man, but it is the students  I find facinating! In first period we had a lively discussion about why, at this age, kids stay up all hours of the night.  We discuss the reasoning that it is late at night, when the house gets quiet, that we have the luxury of running many of our thoughts through our minds.  You know the thoughts, ones too complex and confusing to try to sort out during math class or while unloading the dish washer.  "Between classes someone said something to me.  I want to figure out what he meant.  I can't in the midst of all the confusion in my day.  I need the solitude of my room after everone is asleep, to sort it out".  It is at this late hour, in the quiet room, music blasting on the ipod, that we have the opportunity to exhail all that we have kept inside us all day.  Whew...now I can breathe.  So in this place, going to sleep is not often the goal.  We write songs, poetry, text, blog, twitter, and pray.  In this sactuary we empty our pockets of all the treasures we have uncovered and collected throughout the day.  And in these evening hours that we spend alone, we decide what we will carry forward into the next day, what we will put in a drawer for another time, and what we will throw in the trash. "I believe I am going to make the ball team, I am not sure I want to go to that party, and I know I am not the name he called me". 

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I die before I wake, please don't let my parents hear whats on my ipod!"
Amen.


Shayla has found her way into my class this hour.  She would rather be in the band room, than in the study hall she is assigned to this period.  I would love to believe she is here because she likes my company and our animated discussions about her future in the WNBA.  But I only have to look around this room of musicians to realize it is the talented students in this class that draw her to this place.
My lunch break is almost up...more later.