Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My son is a 7th grader, he comes home everyday mad that kids were just carrying on about the stupidest things. We have decided that our school district is crap...really every school district we have ever been in including acclaimed districts and schools have failed our children. Therefore, we have decided to take our oldest out of public school for 2 years. Our youngest and middle will stay in public school until they get to middle school then we will take them out too.
I don't know how many times I ask my son what he did in school today and his answer is "we watched a movie." Another thing he says is "well, not everyone was behaving so we have to repeat the lesson tomorrow."
School is not the problem, students and parents are the problem. The kids are so poorly behaved its impossible for teachers to gain control over the class.
My granddaughter is in 7th grade and it has been a good experience for her. She is in advanced classes though not necessarily the highest ones. The kids seem to behave reasonably well at her school.
She has a moderate amount of homework which I am sure will increase next year and she is in band, so that keeps her busy too. She has her audition to see what band she will be in next year soon.
I've always heard that middle school is rough on teachers but that's my favorite level of grades to deal with.
I prefer middle school over high school.
I substitute teach, and sometimes I take middle school assignments. They are the worst. Elementary school students are disorganized but can be controlled with the fear of receiving a bad color on their behavior charts. High school students are, mostly, serious-minded and calm and can be controlled equally as well just by calling out names and behaviors, but middle school students think they are too big for school! They aren't well behaved like elementary school students and don't like being treated that way, but they are very disorganized and energetic, unlike the high school students they often try, and fail, to imitate. I know the tricks of the trade I have to use for elementary school students; if anyone is misbehaving, reach for the behavior charts. (If it's really bad, give the whole class a bad color.) I know what I need to do to keep high school students in line; if anyone is bad, ask the class, as a whole to stop. If the behavior continues, call individual students by name. If the behavior continues past that, call the office and send out the misbehaving student(s). (I will admit that this strategy is not always successful, depending on the age group.) With middle school, though, it's anyone's guess on how to deal with misbehavior appropriately and sometimes it's difficult to tell what exactly the students' understanding of "misbehavior" is. Class behavior charts sometimes work, but the students are smart enough to know that you are limited in what consequences you can give. Calling names is impossible, because they are so disorganized and energetic that they will barely notice. You have to use a combination of strategies. It's almost like subbing for a kindergarten or pre-K class early in the year.
It depends a lot on the personality I guess. As a student teacher, I find 6th and 7th graders to be very cool and fun to work with. Once they hit 8th grade, their minds seem to be on sex so much more than anything else it seems to be all they talk about and think about. I guess what felt intimidating to me the most about 8th graders is they almost look and sound like adults, yet they have limited filtering of when it is time to act mature.
Now, I will give the middle school students some credit. They are an extremely curious bunch, and, if you can tap into that curiosity, you might be able to use it to teach pretty interesting lessons. I like their enthusiasm, but they have too much energy, and a lot of them appear to be kinesthetic learners. I can't deal with that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
