The difference

Recently I took over two 9th grade classes - they killed my late afternoon classes, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

What amazes me is that these kids in the 9th grade are truly kids. They are children in the most accurate sense. They are innocent and unknowing and unfortunately, they are going to "grow up" quickly.

There's a big difference between 14... (freshmen) and 18 (seniors.)

The worst part are the kids who have "grown" up by now. I have a few girls who already have kids... at 14/15 years old. You hear about kids having kids, but when you meet them, it's just heartbreaking.

One of my sophomores is pregnant (15) and she is all excited about having a baby, having a shower, etc. And to set the record straight, the "baby daddy" (a junior) brings my student food EVERY day. EVERY DAY. And to top it off... she makes FUN of the food he brings - as she's eating it of course! He sees her to class and gets her after class. The funniest part is he shakes my hand when I'm in the hall, like I'm her father or something. It's so strange.