We got a new student today. Javier came from a K-6 school across town, so transferring to a middle school is a huge change for him. He looked scared this morning when I met him. He could barely tell me his name and his hand felt like a limp fish when I shook it. Smiling at Javier, I assured him that he was going to love being on our Penguin team. In truth, all I could think about was how am I going to help this kid assimilate into our learning community? We are in the middle of a graphic novel unit, we have an ancient civilization artifact project for our Night at the Museum extravaganza due in a few weeks, and we are working on our presentations for our 20% Genius Penguin projects. To top it off, we had a crazy schedule today due to our Pops concert assembly, so his first day was going to be especially hectic.
I continued to worry about Javier until second period, when the girls took him under their wings. Juliana ushered him to the cafeteria to buy his lunch. Selena showed him how to use the Strip Design app on the iPad to create his graphic novel. Liliana made plans to show him how to sign up on our Edmodo class page. The girls were absolutely gaga over him. They were positively effervescent. Can you say swoon?
I forgot how exciting it is to have a new boy come to school. It’s like putting a fresh new coat of paint on an old fence. However, as scintillating as the advent of this new boy is, I wonder how long it will be before Javier loses his lustre and joins the ranks of the other ordinary Penguin boys.
ktadelman 
First, I love the Strip app! I’m not teaching currently but when I did the gifted class, the boys just went nuts for it. Such a fun thing and really incredible use of kid-friendly technology! Besides that, I love how you captured that feeling of starting school again. We do forget what it’s like to have a new kid come in from their perspectives, don’t we? Sounds like your class (and Javier) are especially lucky to have you!
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