Drama is so much more than a Shakespearean genre of fine art. Sometimes it can be a flat-out terror, as anyone who has gotten through middle school alive knows. When Hannah listed drama as one of the top concerns she has about middle school, I asked her to define the term to make sure we were on the same page. She pulled up her wifi-powered iPod and entered the term on Google. "Webster says, 'a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces,' but I say it's 'people acting like big babies.'" "Howso?" I replied with a snicker. "Like, overreacting. Acting like they're 25 years old when they're really 12. Oooooh, boys! Oooooh, clothes! Oooooh, fashion! Blah blah blah. And I say 'who cares?' It's all the stereotypical girl stuff."
And for a tomboy like Hannah, these are quite boring subjects. She feels like she has no place in her classmates' conversations. I told her that maybe it was nothing personal; maybe they don't know how to relate to Hannah since they have different interests. "I'm way different than all of them," she adds. "They don't watch anime and weird stuff like me. So even when they include me, it's like they don't get me. I still don't fit in. I only talk about fandom references." I looked down at her Invader Zim shirt and saw why this might be the case.
I told her it was wonderful that she had such unique interests, but she must keep in mind that everyone else does as well. Part of trying to make new friendships work is meeting in the middle and trying to understand each other's point of view. "I try to engage in their conversations," she says, "but I just don't get them." She tries to talk about what they're interested in, but also tries to change the subject occasionally, which she is entitled to do. "That's when it all goes ehhhh... think the problem is they always want to talk about themselves."
And that is not necessarily a bad thing. As I have said, this is the time that adolescents are experimenting with who they are. They try out their interests by talking about them. But what can we as teachers do to make sure this self-exploration does not come at the cost of exclusion of others?
I firmly believe that much of this problem can be addressed by the tone we set in our classroom. By equally valuing everyone's opinion, and being scrupulously fair, your students will appreciate that effort and most likely model that behavior toward their classmates. Making your classroom a community, an open forum where everyone feels welcome to share their thoughts, also gives them practice not only expressing their own ideas, but also to actively listen to others' ideas.
Hannah agrees with this community model. "Every once in a while the teacher should say, 'Ok, I want to make sure you're being nice and talking to everyone.' They usually encourage us to be nice to and talk to the new people, but I wish they would encourage my classmates to do that for everyone, not just the new kids!"
Friendliness is contagious. If you include everyone and foster interaction within your classroom, your students will become more tight-knit, and much of the drama problem will take care of itself as students learn to appreciate each others' ideas.
"Any more perspectives on drama?" I asked Hannah at the end of our interview. She simply replied with a raspberry noise.
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