{"id":484,"date":"2019-11-27T21:31:43","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T05:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/?post_type=twu-portfolio&p=484"},"modified":"2019-11-30T11:43:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T19:43:00","slug":"when-middle-school-isnt-really-about-learning-content","status":"publish","type":"twu-portfolio","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/portfolio\/when-middle-school-isnt-really-about-learning-content\/","title":{"rendered":"When Middle School isn’t really about “learning content”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ms. M = my mentor teacher<\/em><\/p>\n

This semester, I spent my ten-week practicum in a Grade 8 Humanities classroom. On most days we had Social Studies, and on some days we had English. Twenty minutes of the day were devoted to “FLOCK,” an initiative started by the school to build community and student-to-teacher relationships. During this time, 12 students from Grade 6 were entrusted to Ms. M’s care for intentional discussion, sharing, and fun.<\/p>\n

As someone who is passionate about teaching high school students, I was challenged by this middle school setting. Among other things, I realized how much of the middle school curriculum focuses on social-emotional wellbeing and relational maturity. The school I attended is known for the tough backgrounds of its students. In one of our many conversations during Ms. M’s prep block, she said,<\/p>\n

“Honestly, middle school isn’t about teaching students a bunch of content and information. Middle school is actually about caring for students in a relational way and encouraging them to grow as unselfish individuals who are able to take responsibility for their actions both inside and outside the classroom.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What a poignant realization! In my practice lessons, I saw how little of my own teaching was \u00a0focused on material and content. Most of my lessons were centred around classroom management, setting high expectations, and teaching students to behave in a way that is appropriate to a successful learning environment.<\/p>\n

As I reflected more on this truth, I came up with a number of points about how to support students from difficult backgrounds as they grow as social beings in middle school.<\/p>\n

The character of the teacher – their friendly and warm disposition, sense of humour, enthusiasm, and ability to set firm boundaries for behaviour – is essential to classroom management. Teachers connect with students out of an overflow of who they are. Students are most impacted by a teacher who is firm, kind, and fair; especially at this age level, students need to have an adult to look up to, who they know supports them but will set firm boundaries to ensure they are behaving acceptably.<\/p>\n

In middle school, classroom management also involves catering to the needs of various students so that nobody is left marginalized at the “sidelines.” In my specific class, I found inclusion was an immense challenge. On one hand, there were seven students with IEPs who needed extra support in the classroom, and on the other, at least two students performed well above-average and often finished work far too quickly. In these cases, in the effort of inclusion, I needed to have worksheets and activities ready for the above-average students to move on to when finished so they would not disrupt their peers. I also needed to have accommodations ready for the students with IEPs during my lessons. Doing so was quite difficult, and in the case of this class, I found it discouraging because my efforts seemed ineffective for the student performing above-average. He was not used to being assigned extra work and was comfortable causing class disruptions when he was bored.<\/p>\n

As the semester went on, I observed a change in my students’ attitudes towards school. For most of the class, school is the most supportive environment they get to be in day-to-day, so they\u00a0want<\/em> to be there. But over the course of my practicum, I saw students go from being eager, open, and sociable, to more distant and unmotivated. Many students randomly left the classroom throughout the lesson, without permission. Some students were absent for up to a week at a time.<\/p>\n

When I spoke to Ms. M about it, she said her response to her students was,<\/p>\n

“This is completely unacceptable. If you ask me to go to your locker or grab a drink of water, I will usually say yes<\/em>. When you’re at university, paying for your own schooling, you can choose to skip class all you want. But while you’re in my classroom, you need to\u00a0be here.\u00a0<\/em>That’s my expectation for you guys.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree that a firm “talking-to” from Ms. M was effective for her class, but it led me to wonder what else could be changed or added\/removed from the current curriculum to improve student motivation to be present and learn in the classroom. I came up with the following ideas:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Students need more sleep.<\/strong> Many kids come to school, complaining about the mere 5 hours of sleep they’d had the night before. A lack of sleep leads to distracted, disengaged students who do not have the physical or mental energy to learn or engage in class. Kids need much more sleep!<\/li>\n
  2. More support from home. <\/strong>This is an extremely difficult one at the school I was at with Ms. M, because many parents did not care enough about their children’s schooling to insist they go to school. More support from parents\/guardians would keep students coming to school regularly and give them a home environment that is more encouraging to learning.<\/li>\n
  3. More physical movement throughout the day.<\/strong> Students at the school do not have Physical Education every day. In one of my earlier practica<\/a>, my Grade 6 class had some form of physical activity every single day, and it helped to settle students down and expend their energy. Students who do not have an outlet for exercise are more prone to acting out during recess or in class.<\/li>\n
  4. More engaging activities in the classroom.<\/strong> In my classroom management course at university this semester, we were taught about how boredom leads to misbehaviour. Incorporating more activities that encourage student-student relationship, self-expression, and fun would help students feel more motivated to be in class and engage with the learning in a meaningful way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    As a whole, this practicum taught me a lot about fostering relationships with students and how this is best done in a middle school setting. I value the lessons learned about classroom management, inclusion, and student motivation. Like most other practica, this experience confirmed the relational nature of the teaching profession to me. Relationship is at the core of what we do, and in middle school this truth shines extra brightly.<\/p>\n

    Photo by Mr.Autthaporn Pradidpong<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ms. M = my mentor teacher This semester, I spent my ten-week practicum in a Grade 8 Humanities classroom. On most days we had Social Studies, and on some days we had English. Twenty minutes of the day were devoted to “FLOCK,” an initiative started by the school to build community and student-to-teacher relationships. During…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":925,"featured_media":506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","twu-portfolio-type":[129,136,131,130],"twu-portfolio-tag":[],"class_list":["post-484","twu-portfolio","type-twu-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","twu-portfolio-type-creating-the-learning-environment","twu-portfolio-type-educ-402","twu-portfolio-type-facilitating-the-learning","twu-portfolio-type-planning-for-learning","portfolio-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/twu-portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":510,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio\/484\/revisions\/510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"twu-portfolio-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio-type?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"twu-portfolio-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sarahsommer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/twu-portfolio-tag?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}