“The Mondays:” A sometimes chronic case of fatigue, procrastination, and disinterest in laborious tasks, all wrapped up in a lack of motivation. Unfortunately, “the Mondays” seems to be a plague that most humans can’t quite shake, no matter one’s age or occupation. However, as I reflect on my classroom observations from the end of last week and the beginning of this one, I can’t help but wonder how legitimate a case of “the Fridays” may be for the human race as well. By “the Fridays,” I do not simply mean the perceived lifts in energy levels or the peaks in overall happiness as students and teachers look forward to the weekend. While excitement does build for many school community members as Friday morning fades into Friday afternoon, I have started to notice (and even feel) how the anxiety and dread that affects a majority of people on Monday morning is a reality for some on Friday, too.
No one has a perfect home life, and it is important to recognize that “perfect” is also entirely subjective. My mom and I often chuckle at a magnet we keep on our fridge that reads: “Remember, as far as anybody knows, we are a nice normal family.” Ironic humor aside, my student teaching experience has opened my eyes to how visible the attempts at keeping up a “normal” appearance can be, especially when the reality of students’ lives clashes with the expectations of their teachers and peers. So, while the lethargic weight of a Monday morning may feel like it coats our brain with molasses, the anxiety that grows as the prospects of spending two entire days at home becomes overwhelming makes “the Fridays” a real obstacle for a safe classroom environment, healthy coping, and learning.
As with any typical middle school classroom, my students come from a diverse set of family and educational backgrounds. Last Friday, I noticed several students’ behavior change from what I had seen in my observations throughout the whole week prior: a lot of students were more fidgety than usual, quite a few were inclined to get up frequently and walk around the room, a handful of students lost themselves in their thoughts or the scenery outside of our windows, and a few students were far more short and corrosive in their verbal expression than I was expecting. Now, I cannot claim to know all of the details of these students’ home lives, so I am not sure to what degree their Friday behaviors were motivated by excitement as opposed to anxiety and apprehension. Nonetheless, symptoms of “the Fridays” were almost as rampant in my classroom as those of “the Mondays” were yesterday. How then, as a future educator, can I offer a remedy for my students that need some anxiety relief before the weekend? What are the Fridays before a long school break like for these students, and how can I ease any tension their homes bring to school with them? Education thinkers and scholars have published a sizable collection of articles and books that outline strategies for tackling the many symptoms associated with “the Mondays,” and while several behaviorist educators touch upon anxiety and family connections in their works, the side effects of “the Fridays” are not typically examined from the same perspective or given the same types of acknowledgment (verbal, written, consideration in lesson planning) that “the Mondays” receive. Fridays are usually designated to exams, summative activities, and/or fun and less intensive classwork. Mondays are the days we have to get students to buckle down and rejoin the school’s community as productive citizens, right? Perhaps not planning for the Friday anxiety that haunts some students is half of Monday’s problem.
I am confident that most educators will agree on the importance of transitions in the classroom, whether they fall between lessons, activities, student elective courses, or academic subjects. Shouldn’t transitioning students in and out of the school building be just as important? I admittedly have little experience with after school programs at EMS beyond my knowledge of a YMCA group’s existence. Clubs and sports aside, I believe students deserve the opportunity to transition in and out of “school mode” in a way that makes shifting between home life and school life easier. School communities always seem to be moving from one classroom or meeting spot to another at lightning speed, and clubs and sports only add on to a long day for both students and staff. Where is the time to wind down, breathe, and adapt oneself for the next environment on the agenda? While my best recommendation is for schools to consider letting students have a homeroom period at the end of the day as well as at the beginning, I am not sure how something like a second homeroom would work logistically in a middle school. All the same, “the Fridays” are a true epidemic for some students, and in the future, I hope to plan some time for my own students to cope with their changing environments at the end of the school week.
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