More Advice for New Teachers

(from e-mail)

Establish a connection with your kids

TO: Kim (a new middle school teacher)

One of the most important things you can do at the beginning of the year is
establish a connection to your kids. Introduce yourself, tell some stories.
I start off the year telling kids who I am and why I teach. I bring in
pictures of my family and pets. Kids make a natural connection to animals. I
tell them "Ranger" stories. Ranger is a 120 lb. golden retriever who is afraid
of everything. I introduce him as my "problem child". Students (I teach 6th
grade and they are the youngest in our 6-8 configuration.) come in terrified,
not knowing what to expect. They have heard all the rumors of 8th graders
stuffing 6th graders into garbage cans. (Never happened) :o). Telling the
"Ranger" stories adds levity to that frightening first day, eases tension,
and lets them know that it's really okay to laugh. It opens the door to
communication. It lets them know that teachers are "human" after all. Of
course then they all want to tell their "pet" stories. Each day for the first
week or so I allow a different group of kids (I can't say rows, as my kids are
not in rows) to bring in pictures of their pets and family to share.

It is so important to form a bond with Middle School Kids. You may be the
only "real" relationship to an adult that some of these kids have. You will
reap benefits all year long from making this connection right from the
beginning. Teaching Middle School kids can be the most wonderful, frustrating
experience you can have. But in order to be a successful Middle Grades
teacher, YOU must have made the choice to teach at this level. You absolutely
have to learn the nature of the "beast". YOU must like these kids and revel
in the exciting changes that take place in their lives at this stage of
development. You must be able to enjoy watching them become their own persons
while watching them assert their independence. (Even when it may not be in the
most appropriate way) You must be willing to provide loving consistent
guidance to these young men and women, even when they don't appear to want it.
You must be consistent. Let them know what you expect and demand it of them.
They want a teacher who cares about them, not a marshmallow.

Just some food for thought!! Welcome to Middle School.

Pam Chandler

Assessing Your Students and Planning for the Year

TO: Jill (a new middle school teacher)

It is wonderful to have your first job. At least you have some things with
which to work. You'll need to make some assumptions if you want to do
advanced planning, and then modify your first set after you get details about
your students.

Plan to get a variety of things from your students during the
first week that will give you ideas about their interests. Give them some
tasks where they can show you what they can do in a variety of modes, writing,
art, speaking, drama. Prepare introduction activities where students reply
to a number of questions either about themselves or introduce you to another
student after interviewing the student to gain information about them.
Provide children with some guiding questions. You should be able to look at
their records when you get their names.

You will need to modify plans as you go through the weeks and year. But you
can start now.

Start by looking at your curriculum guide. Look for overlaps in content
areas, but especially in the skills section. Then plan your year in general
terms to include all of the major content and skill goals. Group these goals
together when possible and provide for initial instruction in skills and then
practice using the skills in subsequent assignments. Science and social
studies are the big content areas and can often be combined. Reading,
speaking, writing, mathematics, art, and music can be used in expressing
information in social studies and science and for practical everyday
experiences in using skills. Of course, you will need to teach some of the
skills separately in systematic, teacher-directed ways.

You make your goals and then find the materials to use, also use the ERIC
file for ideas and lessons on the topics. [Also see MiddleWeb's social studies page.]

Pick and chose from the pages ofthe textbooks and use
local examples of concepts. (Remember the book does not
need to be used beginning on page one and you will never get through the
entire book.) Get local resource people to help you teach about important
content such as how banks help individuals and the community, or an antique
dealer to explain about artifacts, or the newspaper editor to help with
identifying facts from rumors and expressing information and views in writing
in responsible ways. Find out when the testing will be done and be certain to
work into your plans all of your initial instruction on the objectives of the
test prior to the testing along with one or more practice in using the skills
within one or more discipline content areas.

I'm delighted you love social studies. Join the National Council for the
Social Studies at http://www.ncss.org You have the option of getting SOCIAL
EDUCATION every month or you can get Sept/Oct and Ap/ May SOCIAL EDUCATION and
four issues of Social Studies and the Young Learner. As a beginner I'd take
the second option. You can also subscribe to SS&YL separately and get 6
issues of SOCIAL EDUCATION which is my preference if you have the money. In
this way you will be getting ideas throughout the year on how to teach social
studies.

Sixth graders have lots of talents and will work hard for you.
Involve them in the learning first their minds and then their hands, ears,
hearts, and feelings. There is a difference between what is and what should
be. Ask the children to consider this often when studying content or reading
stories and books. All of the students do not need to do the exact same thing
at the same time in the same way nor do they have to believe the exact same
things. ( The truth is they won't as any constructionist will tell you.)
However, they need to work together to accomplish goals and the goal of school
is that everyone learns to the best of their ability.

You do need to set your classroom climate early in the semester and follow
through should it need changes in the course. New rules or guides can be
written, children need to be reminded of their progress and lack of progress
and alternatives. You as a member of the class have a right to identify
things that you find helpful, good, etc. and those that you think need to be
reconsidered or eliminated giving your reasons.

There is no quick fix to classroom management and organization.
New students to your class will need a proper introduction to your
procedures. This gives you a good opportunity
to reflect upon your rules with the entire class. Let some students explain
the rules to the class and let the class rate how well they think they are
doing on each. "Right now we are working on improving our listening and
summarizing what others have said and checking for accuracy." Should be
explained to the child with the friendly help of the entire class as new
children can disrupt your entire class. Taking time to do things in the
beginning saves tons of time and frustration later both for you and your
students and results in more learning.
Mary E. Haas

A Good Book to Begin the Year

What about the book, "There's A Boy In The Girls Bathroom", my
classes have loved it over the last eight years. It will appeal to both
boys and girls, and is great fun for the teacher to read aloud. Lots of
opportunity for drama, and the kids get some sequences so well, that
they begin to chant the punch line with me. I assume it is still in
print and in paperback. Great fun.

Charlotte Griswald

Comments to Julie, another new teacher asking for help

Hi Julie,
The first thing I had to do was sit down and figure out what was really
most important to me in terms of discipline and classroom management. I had
to sift through all my own experiences and decide what really mattered to
me. For example, do you require a really quiet, orderly room or are you ok
if things get a little noisy & messy if they're on task? If you see somebody
pass a note or they whisper when you turn to write on the board, how does
that make you feel? I had to consciously reject the rows and strict order of
my Catholic school days and figure out what worked for me and for my
students. Now, some 10 years down the road, I use a lot of positive
reinforcement, cooperative groups and a basic "Bill of Rights". Everyone in
my classroom has the right to take risks without fear of embarassment...,
the right to speak and be heard ( designated speakers ), and the right to be
safe ( this includes, equity issues, space & personal belongings). I have
consequences that range from reminders to notes home to trips to the office,
but I find that I use them less and less, except the reminder. If you can
build community and the kids feel some joint ownership, I think you'll be
fine. I don't think there's a magic recipe, or one size fits all answer. Be
honest with the kids and yourself, hold on to your sense of humor and be
consistent. Don't be afraid to change if something's not working. I know
I'm still adjusting, refining and hopefully growing along with my middle
schoolers. Good luck!

Debbie Bambino

Hello Debbie, thanks so much for the wonderful advice. I found that I
had the most trouble with a boy who was a frequent behavior problem. I
talked to him one-on-one, tried to use positive reinforcement, sent him
to the office way to many times when I was just fed up, called home and
got no where with those parents, gave out many detentions, and he was
suspended a few times. This is a kid that has a history of being a
trouble maker in class. I felt that he disrupted my classroom almost
every single day. I just didn't know what to do with him. Also, some
other students told me he stole these poetry books out of my room and
burned them. (The principal wasn't very supportive either.) Help!

:)Julie gott1je@hotmaill.com

Julie,

Do you have the right to suspend this child from the class? Have you met
with your principal and discussed your concerns with her/him? Do you have a
counselor at your school you can talk with regarding this child? Have you
talked with this child's other teachers, past or present and asked how they
dealt with him?

Pam

Sometimes you've got to help administrators, counselors, and other support
folks see that perhaps a student who is very disruptive needs to be moved up
higher on their list of priorities.

Document. Be specific. What exactly is the student doing? Describe it. Tell
what you did to try to resolve each specific incident. Share that information
with the appropriate people, including parents. Let everyone know you are
"concerned" for the student and for the rest of the class rather than telling
them you are stressed out about these behaviors. Ask for advice and help.

Get some support from the student's other teachers. Are they also struggling
with some of the same issues you are? Approach the non-supportive support
folks as a group.

Don't let up, and don't let it go. It is not your responsibility alone.

Howard Miller
MiddleDoc@aol.com

Ideas about Improving Classroom Management

Control Theory:
1. What do you want?
2. What are you doing?
3. Is it working?
4. What do you need to do differently?

and Classroom Meetings - - -

We also decide together whether we'd like to have a just or a fair
classroom. That one is new to me from another listserve, and I can't
remember who to give credit to on that one. It's wonderful! They decide
just, and it settles many future discussions.

Here are the minor interventions that I find most helpful:

Managing Inappropriate Behavior
Minor Interventions

1. Eye Contact
2. Proximity
3. Silent Signal
4. Reminder
5. Re-directing
6. Assertive Statement (Tell the student to stop the behavior, calmly, with
eye contact)
7. Get the activity moving
8. Provide needed instruction
9. Give the student a choice ["You may either (desired behavior) or
(consequence)"]
10. Use "I-Messages"
When you ______ (Problem)
Then __________ (Effect)
And I feel ______ (Emotion)
11. Ignore the Behavior
12. Use your sense of humor!
13. Use routines
14. Use audible clues (clap in a pattern, begin a song) that tells students
what's next.
Positive Reinforcement - catch them as they behave appropriately

Dr. Mavis Kelley
University of North Dakota

More discipline/management strategies

1. If you are part of a middle school team, you should sit down with your
teammates and come up with a set of expectations for your students that you
all can live with and enforce consistently.

2. If you are on your own, you need to come up with a set of written
expectations for your students that you can live with and enforce
consistently.

[* A suggested list appears below.]

3. Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.

4. Be patient with yourself as well as with your students. Did I mention, be
consistent?

5. Make parents your allies. Call early and often. Use the word "concerned"
a lot in those conversations. Don't complain about the kids; be "concerned"
about them.
If you do need to communicate a concern to a parent, be specific and
descriptive. Don't use generic terms like "misbehaves" or "is disruptive."
Describe the specific misbehavior or disruption you would like assistance
with.

6. Don't talk too much. Use the first part of the class for
lecture/presentations (15 minutes max) and then get the kids working. Give
them opportunities to work alone, with a partner, or in small groups of
between 3 and 5.

7. Break the class period into two or three different activites, but do try
to make each activity segue smoothly into the next one.

8. Begin at the very start of the class period and end at the very end of the
class period. Some teachers have something on the board for the students to
do as soon as they enter the room.

9. Don't call roll. Use your seating chart to take roll while they are doing
something.

10. Keep all of the students as actively involved as possible. Don't do
things like take turns reading aloud, which only occupies one student at a
time.

11. When one group does a presentation of any kind, the rest of the students
should be involved in evaluating that group, preferably with a rubric.

12. If you need to talk to a specific student, then quietly go up to them and
talk to them at their desk or out in the hall. Never engage in a
disciplinary conversation across the room. It becomes a fascinating game of
pingpong for the rest of the class to enjoy.

13. Keep your sense of perspective and your sense of humor. Don't let a
student get the upper hand. If a staring contest ensues, be willing to
capitulate. Say, "if you want to have a staring contest, I'm happy to give
in. I don't care which of us can outstare the other; what I need for you to
do is..."

14. Know when to seek help from counselors, other teachers, administrators,
parents, and anyone else who can offer help. You don't have to do it all
yourself. Learn this. It is very important.

15. Did I mention, be consistent?

Howard Miller
MiddleDoc@aol.com

* Team Expectations

1. Everyone has the right to be treated with respect by everyone else.

2. Everyone has the right and the responsibility to learn.

3. Students will come to class prepared with all necessary books and supplies.

4. Class activities begin immediately as the students enter the classroom.
At the end of class time, the teacher is responsible for dismissing the class.

5. Eating and chewing are not allowed in class except when the teacher
provides an occasional treat.

6. If you are absent, you must plan to make up your work as quickly as
possible. The Number One cause of a poor grade is failing to make up missing
assignments.

Following these policies will help with the smooth running of your classes and
will help you be successful--our primary goal.

Howard Miller
MiddleDoc@aol.com

A First-Year Teacher Shares Some Mistakes

Hi. I am also a first year middle school teacher, now a month
in on a year round schedule. It has been he__! I made some mistakes
that perhaps you could avoid:

1. I made promises to the students about my good temper and reasonableness.
So of course they tested me. Next time, I will not make promises.

2. I avoided busy work from the first day. BIG mistake. Busy work may
not teach the subject matter, but it can teach good work habits. Next
time, I will begin the year with lots of busy work to help establish
classroom control.

3. I did not begin calling parents immediately; I didn't have the
numbers. Next time, I will have students fill out information cards on
the first day and I will call every parent to introduce myself. I will
tell the parents that I am a firm believer in discipline and ask for
their support. I will follow this up with a letter home which the children
will have to bring back with a parent signature.

Those are a few suggestions, painfully learned. Hope this helps.

Charles Kruger