Tween Teacher

Mrs. ******,

as my teacher next year i have a few warnings for you. I love you and

sometimes i may not show it but i do, i get really angry and i just can’t

control it but i don’t mean to upset you or anyone else. i will often get

sad and just be really awful to be around but i will try not to be. i

will be really annoying and probably frustrate you to the limit and you

might hate me, but i really don’t mean to be.

And if you haven’t noticed i don’t like not doing well on things, so if

you have any thing that get my marks up or extra activities to put on my

report card that would be great! And i would also really like you to be

hard and strict on me and make me do everything the way it HAS to be.

Love Ya miss xx

Now there are a number of ways in which this Tween Teacher could have responded – indeed, she need not have responded at all. However, her response was so perfect that I asked if I could share it.

Hi ******,

and, because I always use good manners, I expect the people around me to use

good manners as well. I also respect the people I love but, in return, I

expect that these people show me the respect that I deserve. You see, I do

not expect anything from you that I am not willing to do myself. I will

not ask you to pick up rubbish for no reason if I haven’t already picked

some up myself, except if you aren’t wearing a hat. I do not expect you to

work hard on an activity if I haven’t worked hard on planning and

preparing it. I do not expect you to achieve good grades on something I do

not understand myself.

I guess what I am saying is that you and I will argue next year but I want

you to understand something. You are growing up and very quickly becoming

a young adult; with this come different expectations. I come to school

sometimes and I am upset, angry or feeling down about something, there may

even be times when someone in the class has frustrated me beyond my

breaking point and I would like nothing better than to tell them exactly

how I feel, but because I am an adult I can’t. These are skills that you

need to learn – I am in no way saying that you have to put up with people

treating you poorly, I am merely saying that you need to find a different

way of dealing with it. This is something we will work on together.

I am willing to help you improve your marks and deal with all the other

stuff if you are willing to help yourself. I want to help you not feel sad

but when you do, instead of pushing people away how about you sit down and

have a chat with me or someone else that you trust. It really does help to

know that someone understands what you are going through and they love you

enough to just listen.

I know that a lot of students believe that I am very strict but I believe

that I am firm, but fair. If you do the wrong thing there is a consequence

but if you choose to do the right thing there is a good consequence.

I will not, at any stage, tolerate you being awful to me or the people

around you, but I would also never hate you. I will get angry with you but

that doesn’t mean I won’t still love you. All this means is that I am

human and so are you.

I want you to make the decision that Year 8 is going to be your year of

change. The year you stop looking at all the negatives and start looking

at the positives. Instead of saying “I can’t do this!”, think to yourself, “At

the moment, this is difficult but I am working to get better at it”. Instead

of saying, “Everybody hates me and annoys me”, try saying “I am so lucky to

have my best friend, Mrs ****** and Ms ******* who will listen to anything I

have to say”.

It is going to be a great year and I am so excited about all the great

stuff I have planned for us. All I ask from you is to believe in yourself

and talk to me rather than getting angry. I know you are an amazing young

lady and I love that you get my sense of humour.

Be excited about Year 8, 2015 – it will go so quickly and before long it

will be time for you to move on – let’s enjoy EVERY second.

Love ya too xx

Mrs ******

How lucky am I, to be working with REAL Tween Teachers?!