My first year of teaching at Windham Christian Academy, the middle school didn't even have an awards night. For whatever reason, the elementary and high schools had special evenings set aside for end of the year awards, but the 7th and 8th grade classes did not. I learned this too late into the spring that first year, but I decided that had to change, and middle school awards night has been a major event and loads of fun every year since.
The first rule of awards night is, it's not about the awards. Yes, we want to recognize achievement in math, science, etc. Yes, we'll acknowledge perfect attendance (Which I affectionately call the 'my parents send me to school even when I'm sick ' award.) But our evening is just beginning when the last award is presented. This year we did a singing tribute to my aide, Amanda, who is going back to college after three years as Ed McMahon to my Johnny Carson. It was called "Amanda, the Middle School Assistant", to the tune of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. What follows are the lyrics:
Amanda the middle school assistant
Did a really awesome job
LIKE A TEAMSTER
When she announced she’s leaving
Mr. H cried and sobbed
LIKE A BABY
All of the boys in middle school
Like to stare at her and drool
LIKE A ST. BERNARD
And Rose clings on to her
Every single day at school
LIKE A MAGNET
Then one sunny Easter day
She turned 25
Now when we’re on field trips
The van she’s… allowed to drive
LIKE DALE EARNHARDT
But not Miss Amanda’s leaving
And we think she’ll be really bored
LIKE MATH CLASS
Working all those extra hours
At the Gorham Hannaford
In addition, we did a skit we call "Ideas that Worked, and Ideas that Failed". While you may catch the video on facebook, I have no way of posting it here at this time. Just to give you an idea, though, one portion was
"Ideas that worked: machete juggling"
RACHEL ENTERS AND DOES A THREE MACHETE CASCADE
"Ideas that failed: spaghetti juggling"
RACHEL EXCHANGES KNIVES FOR BOWL OF SPAGHETTI, AND PASTA FLIES EVERYWHERE!
The second rule of awards night is, awards are earned, but gifts are unconditional. Then Amanda and I begin a traditional segment of the evening in which we give a personalized gift to every student. These are the highlight of the evening, as they are a great time of reliving memories form the past year and having a lot of laughs. One student, for example, shared a lengthy, detailed story about her old dog being neutered, and the change in his appearance after the procedure. So we gave her the gift of a stuffed animal dog and a pair of scissors. Her mom tells me she keeps them on her dresser next to her picture of her dog. Silly and sentimental at the same time. A perfect combination for middle schoolers.