In fourth grade, when we got a new teacher (before the days of picture roles), Rachael Miesen and I switched names. For the whole day, I was Rachael and she was Sierra. It was hard to get used to, but we sure did get a lot of laughs.

For those of you who don’t know, which is probably most of you, I got my school placement for next year, complete with a “Big Girl Wardrobe” (which involves khakis, I am sorry to say) and the title “Mrs. Penrod” (or PR as one student called me all day). I am delighted to announce that I will be teaching English at a local High School with an ambiguous degree of permanence. I am thrilled for this opportunity. Since I still look like a high schooler, I figure I may as well own it, and make my life out of being in high school. I really thrived there back in the day, anyway.

Admittedly, however, today as I entered the “hormone cocktail” that is the 10th grade English classroom, I almost reconsidered my career choice. It was first hour and the students came in with real chips in their sleepy, slouchy shoulders.

“I thought she was a new student, not our teacher!” said one, when he found out that I was teaching that day. This is a prime example of something that is OK to say about yourself, but cuts a little too deep whenever someone considers you to be their 15 year-old peer.

Lemme tell you about high school tenth graders. They like attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s from the girl they are sitting next to, or the rest of the bros in the class, or even negative attention from the teacher. They just want it, and lots of it. And “PJ” and “New Zealand” (their names are changed), were in fine form. They were the “Name Switchers.” When they weren’t busy harassing the girls in class or making racial slurs, they were actively busy not doing the assignment and persistently distracting others from doing the same.

I suppose this story doesn’t have a real arch or anything. But just as I almost began to reconsider my teaching career, I was delighted that second period clapped at the conclusion of my lesson instead of glaring, and several of them asked me to make sure to teach 11th grade next year. They also grasped the concepts I was teaching quite nicely.

I am learning that teaching is probably a lot like that. One minute, you might lose all hope in the youth of the nation, but the next, they always reward you with a little bit of kindness and a whole lot of potential.

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PS: Bethany had her baby today! And he is such a handsome little devil. Momma Bear and Little Cub are both doing well.