POV:  One Teacher’s Opinion:
101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher
by Dr. Judy Willis
(Family Life Magazine, August 2004; reprinted with author’s permission.)

Think about the word “adolescent” and close your eyes for a few minutes. Really, no fair reading on. Chances are your images weren’t all sweetness and smiles. Adolescents in my former neurology practice, the middle school classes I now teach, your families and mine, and those in pages of the insightful and delightfully refreshing 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher by Lee Wardlaw, are emotionally labile, unpredictable and prone to blow out of proportion anything that impacts their life. In fact, recent neurological research provides part of the explanation. In addition to the hormonal assault of the teen years, the last parts of the brain to fully develop are the frontal lobes – the centers of emotional stability. Until this maturation is complete and hormonal stasis is achieved, events or changes we adults think inconsequential, seem huge to young teens, and can bring pain and provoke the unpredictable mood swings of adolescence.

      Wardlaw brings to her pages wonderfully real and funny characters who entertain, while also reminding teens and parents that along with their angst, every child has a special gift, be it as an inventor like Sneeze, a chef like Pierre, a business manager like Haley, or a devoted friend and medical jargon wiz like Hiccup.

      Sneeze's thoughts and feelings are so relatable that we share his pain and relief. We hope we can be, and our children can find the sage, who for Sneeze is Tony, ex-rodeo champion, school nurse, and unofficial counselor, who gives Sneeze a chance to see the sadness and frustration provoking his anger and acting out. “The fact that you’re startin’ to get mad instead of feelin’ down on yourself is a good sign. It means you’re takin’ the bull by the horns. It means you’re wakin’ up.”

      Tony is the wise voice of experience who gains the trust of these young teens with his comforting drawl and cool cowboy hat, and by revealing life truths through stories of his own past. In this way, without sermons, “shoulds” or attempts at manipulation, he helps Sneeze see that that there is joy to be found in life, be it inventing, athletics, writing, or community service. The key to uncovering the joy is to be true to yourself, discover and do that thing you love because you love it, not because it is what you think others expect of you.

 Through Wardlaw’s characters and their travails, young readers will see that their desire to seem “normal” and fit-in is universal, and that no one, no matter how “cool” they seem, is ever quite sure they do fit-in. Sneeze finds his comfort level when he learns to accept himself, flaws and all, and that his uniqueness is not a “difference” to hide, but something precious to embrace.

      I am a seventh grade teacher, as is “Fierce” in the book, so I wondered if students really needed to know more ways to bug teachers. However, good teachers need not fear because, even though my students contributed some of the 101 ways for Wardlaw’s list, my classroom has always been a place of mutual respect, where I work to make learning accessible, challenging and joyful by honoring my students’ individuality and uniqueness, and they, in turn, have never been intentional “buggers.”

      As for teachers who try to teach as Fierce does, by intimidation and humiliation, they will learn some valuable lessons when Sneeze retaliates: “For the rest of the morning I became the reason some teachers retire after only seventeen minutes of teaching, and take up something less stressful like bomb defusal.”

      Not only teachers, but also parents will see the importance of supporting young teens when they show special interests or talent, and not over-reacting when they go ballistic for reasons we cannot fathom. We can be the wind that supports their wings and propels them toward their dreams, and this book will remind them that we truly are there for them. 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher was all this and a funny, compelling story that kept me from my own dinner guests as I snuck off to finish this true page-turner.