"Kids are Goats"

I finally started the "teacher blog" I've been thinking about all summer. First I wanted to do it before Institute, but I could barely keep up with what I was required to do, much less start blogging on the side. Then I wanted to do it as soon as I moved here, but I was stumped because I couldn't think of what to call it! Blog names are always so clever and witty; I couldn't go with something like "Adventures in Middle School" or "First Year Teacher." Yawn.

Last night I was so pumped to start writing things down that I bit the bullet and decided on a title. The title of the blog, Kids Are Goats, comes from a quote by one of the administrators of the school district who came to speak to all the new teachers at our orientation this week. She told us never to call our students "kids." They are children, they are students, they are scholars, but they are never kids. She once gave a presentation in a college education class in which she substituted "kids" for "children." Afterwards, her professor called her over and said, "Linda, children are not kids. Kids are goats." She said it stuck with her to the point that now, after 30+ years in education, she cringes when she hears someone say it. When she told us this story,  it sounded familiar because my mom, who's also a teacher, had had almost exactly the same experience in college. A professor took points from her research paper every time she used "kids" because it was incorrect.

kid: noun, verb, kid·ded, kid·ding, adjective

1. Informal . a child or young person.

2. (used as a familiar form of address.)

3. a young goat.

"Kids" for "children" may be slang, but I have already started thinking of my students as "my kids." Children just doesn't sound right for middle schoolers; I know they are still children, but the word just doesn't really fit that in-between stage they're in. And while they are my students, I know they're going to become more to me than that word seems to hold. If kids are goats, these will be my goats! And I can't wait to meet them!