|
Stonecreek Junior High School, the newest school in the Panama Buena Vista School District, opened its doors to over 600 students.
For over half of these students, and for this principal, this was a brand new experience.
After more than 20 years at the elementary school level, I had finally graduated to junior high, and joined the seventh-grade class in this brand new adventure.
Having prior junior high experience, the eighth-graders were markedly less anxious. One can hardly get a sense of the power of peers without observing junior high students. Nothing at this age is more important than peer approval, and showing fondness toward your parents when being dropped off at school, or to other adult authority figures in general, just isn’t cool. Students who, when I was their elementary school principal, would run to me to share an artistic creation or a favorite book, to tell a family secret, or to inquire about my height, age, or marital status, demonstrated only faint...
|
|
