1. “Tuck that shirt in!”
   Boys’ shirts have long since parted company with their waistbands and clothes get more colorful and disheveled. They wear these indiscretions with as much swagger as the not-yet fully grown legs of middle schoolers will allow.
   
   
   
   
    
2. Cell phones are ringing like an army of angry birds
   Of course, they were always there, on silent and communicating into the void of a school bag. But suddenly, Snapchat invades your lesson with the bleeps of notifications and the sniggers of brazenly read messages. And the more irritated you get, the funnier they find it. Hang on, did he just take a picture of me?  
   
   
   
   
    
3. School bags aren’t cool, ok? 
   Those brand new super practical backpacks bought last August? Ditched. And for what? An unserviceably small shoulder bag, or worse, a pocket, prompting increasingly frequent requests to borrow textbooks, paper and even the most essential piece of school equipment… a pen. Forget that, who needs a pen? The countdown has begun!
   
   
   
   
    
4. They’ve suddenly discovered make-up
   Make-up tutorials for Ibiza pool parties are exploding on YouTube and your students are taking note. Just look at their faces: the make-up aisles of Target have been well and truly plundered. You now find a frightening amount of your time is spent handing out make-up wipes and reciting the school make-up policy if your school has one. If it doesn’t, you try not to advise students on the proper way to put on mascara (hint: not on your eyebrows).
   
   
   
   
    
5. Detentions hold no fear
   There was a time that handing a middle-schooler a detention was an event. They would tremble. Promise to do better. Now? They’ll be free soon so waving a detention in front of them practically illicits a laugh.
   
   
   

Howard Bunce was talking to Nicola Davison. He teaches at a Hertfordshire secondary school. When he’s not wielding make-up wipes, he teaches geography.

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