My seventh grade math teacher told me to wear all black the first day of school, even the first week. To tie my hair into a high, severe knot. She advised me to invest in faux librarian glasses – the ones with the pointy corners - to make me look more serious. I was not to laugh or smile. I was to be stern. I could do it. I don’t think she knew me very well! Or, she saw already that I have absolutely no poker face and am prone to constant smiling, boisterous laughter, and snark. There was no hope for me to be serious. Fortunately, not only am I not able to be that bland and monochromatic for a day or a week, but I also realize that I shouldn’t be. I don’t want students to see me as a robot or machine or ice queen. They should see me as real. Because that’s the way I see them. Real. Honest (sometimes frighteningly so). Kind. Hilarious. Struggling. Depressed. Mine. High school students are people first. And, they are growing people. There is a prevalent attitude that