Re: [gradtalk] gradtalk

["Sharon Robideaux" <slr75d@mizzou.edu>]

Michele,

Don't be put out with your 7th graders.  That age responds to this sort =
of thing very badly.  My 11-year-old niece was killed in a traffic =
accident in 1997, and my 13-year-old son (a very loving, generous child) =
could not deal with it so he turned off the emotions and acted callous =
and cruel and disrespectful.  Then, a few years after that, he suddenly =
began to talk about her.  (They'd spent nearly every day together as =
children.)  He told me that he felt she was his guardian angel, and that =
he thought of her all the time. I myself was 12 when JFK was assassinated.  
I remember being curious and = realizing that something major had
happened, but mostly I was just = ticked off that my favorite programs
were cancelled in favor of the = funeral stuff.  Now, at age 50, I know
how profoundly my life was = affected by that one horrible event.  One day
these kids will also = realize the impact of this event, but right now,
they're being asked to = deal with the kinds of emotions that even most
adults can't deal with = very well.  (In class, I cried today.  But then,
so did several of my = students.  They're nontraditional people, mostly
mid to late 20s.) All day yesterday, I felt like an extra in The Day the
Earth Stood = Still. 

Sharon Robideaux