Have teenagers always been whiny brats? I mean, I remember being a teenager and I know I didn't whine as much as my students do now. Not a day goes by where I don't hear the "Miss, that's not fair!", "Miss, why do we have to do this?", "Miss, I'm hungry!", "Miss, he took my pencil!", "But Miss, I didn't do it!". Their sing-songy voices are just about enough to make me wish I had never been born. I really don't get it...are teenagers more childish now than they've ever been? It seems like they belong more in the 6th or 7th grade rather than high school.

Tomorrow we go on a field trip to the Cloisters, a museum in the city dedicated to medieval art. (The Cloisters is among the most beautiful places in New York and I'll take Fort Tryon Park over Central Park anyday). We've been studying the Middle Ages for the past three weeks and the Cloisters will be an amazing place for them to see what they've been reading about.

So I basically spent the entire day today prepping these kids for the trip. Don't touch anything, don't throw your gum on the floor or stick it to the walls, better yet, no chewing gum at all. No screaming, no running, no writing on the walls, no sitting on the displays. No picking plants or flowers from the garden, no throwing anything off the terrace, no pushing, cursing, or goofing off. Anyone found breaking these rules will be penalized a grade.

I'm actually dreading tomorrow...