by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jul 9, 2012 | Books for Adults, bullying, collegiality, high school, middle school
At the library the other day, I picked up a copy of The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School by Alexandra Robbins. The book gives an inside view of what it’s like to be a member of the “cafeteria fringe” — marginalized kids who are ignored and/or tormented by other students. It follows six students and (spoiler alert) a marginalized teacher at different high schools — self-identified band geek, loner, new girl, gamer, loner, nerd, and “popular” girl trying to break out of her mean girl group and image. Robbins’ premise, which she calls “quirk theory,” is that the very characteristics that can lead (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jun 11, 2012 | classroom lessons, middle school
If you were moving from elementary to middle school, what would you most want to know? Probably things like: Will I get to see my friends? How will I know where my classes are? Do kids get shoved in lockers? If you were a sixth grader, what information would you think was most important to share with the fifth graders? If you guessed Here’s how the automatic urinals work, you’re right in tune with some (very serious) boys from our town’s middle school who met with our fifth graders last week. Yes, there were others who presented about homework, teachers, dances, and field trips, but the technologically impressive presentation opened with the variety of automatic functions that can be experienced in the middle school bathrooms, and included a close-up video of a urinal doing it’s thing. (more…)
At the library the other day, I picked up a copy of The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School by Alexandra Robbins. The book gives an inside view of what it’s like to be a member of the “cafeteria fringe” — marginalized kids who are ignored and/or tormented by other students. It follows six students and (spoiler alert) a marginalized teacher at different high schools — self-identified band geek, loner, new girl, gamer, loner, nerd, and “popular” girl trying to break out of her mean girl group and image. Robbins’ premise, which she calls “quirk theory,” is that the very characteristics that can lead (more…)
