School Configurations

My school is a K-6 building that is now expanding to add 7th and 8th grade...so we are now a K (actually pre-K) to 8th grade building.  This presents many pluses and minuses.  It is a big contrast to the building where I came from, which was 9-12.  Many other high schools in our district are 7-12.

I would love to hear opinions from anyone else who teaches middle school, especially.  How is your school set up?  Here are some thoughts that I have about the K-8 configuration.

Advantages           

• Smaller grouping of kids - we can keep better track of the kids, and they have more sense of connection
• Many kids have gone there for many years.  They know each other, and they know many other teachers in the building.  They have connections to each other and to other teachers, and less transitions at such an otherwise tumultuous time in their life.
• Kids can gradually transition to the changes of high school - they can switch classes but in a familiar location. 
• Older kids can partner with younger kids and be role models. 
• Attendance does seem better, so far without the influence of the older students, and with more smaller group accountability.

Disadvantages:

• As kids are going through puberty, they have social issues, such as those in a small town by being in such a small group with kids they have known, and maybe have a history with in the past.  There is no 'new blood' mixing in, or place for them to go to separate.  
• There are behavioral advantages to 7th graders being "low man" rather than "top dog."  
• Is it safe to have 7th and 8th graders, and all the associated behaviors in a building, and sharing buses and hallways with 4 and 5 year olds? 
• are the facilities up to speed - changing rooms, large enough classrooms, locker rooms, rest rooms, desks? 
• Can the school provide clubs, intramurals, afterschool activities and the full range of courses that students can enjoy at a 7-12 building or a true middle school?
• Is the school administration, scheduling, attendance, report cards, etc prepared for the differences of middle school? 

What do you think?  I have recently come to the conclusion that middle schoolers really deserve their own place, either 6-9, 6-8, 7-9, 7 and 8....but they have unique needs that are not met well in a high school setting or a k-8 setting.  

Maybe an ideal would be an elementary, or a couple of elementaries, that funnel into a specific middle school.  That middle school would really be equipped to run as a middle school and help kids transition to prepare for high school. 

Here is an article that shows really inconclusive research about the best setting for middle school students.   and here is another article in favor of K-8, and against traditional middle schools.  

Weigh in with your opinion.

Simple But Successful Test Taking Strategies

Tests!!! (And how to make them better)

If, like my classes, you have been inundated with tests lately, it may be the last thing you want to discuss or read more about. However, I'm not talking about APPR and pre-assessments or post-assessments. I'm talking about strategies you and your students can use to help them before, or during the tests that you care about (chapter tests, or end of the year tests in your subject area).

Test image from
"Long Before the Third Grade Test" (CC BY 2.0) by wecometolearn 

My students struggle with reading and understanding the questions, and often get frustrated and just guess, or give up during a test. This is a habit that I work very hard to help them overcome during the course of the year.

Strategies Before the Test:

Build up their confidence. Not to over inflate it, but to make them comfortable with their own knowledge and to make them comfortable with test question formats and the types of questions that are asked. Some of the ways that I do this are:

• Review games based on test questions,
• Review questions in partners, and/or stations, and check their answers, that are very similar to the test questions. Then when the see the test questions they look familiar. This can also be a good place to use task cards. See here for 5 ways to engage and assess using task cards
• Build up other vocabulary, besides content vocabulary, that they are likely to see on the test (words like compare, abundant, etc). I do this through various vocabulary strategies
• Have them work to create test questions and quiz a partner (a great closure or ticket out activity) -- predict what will be on a test from today's work.

Strategies During the Test:

There are all the common strategies (cross out wrong answers, do the ones you know first, underline key words, but here are a few others that I have found to be helpful to my students.

Cover up the answer choices and predict the correct answer. This is something that good students do instinctively but weaker students don't seem to do. I teach this strategy, we practice it, and then go around and give bonus points (I stamp their test) if I see them using this strategy. I give them scrap paper and have the cover the choices, and then write down what they think the answer will be, before looking at the choices. It really helps them not get thrown off by the distractors.

Split the test into two parts and one part they can work with a partner. You, or they, can choose partners. Sometimes I literally make this into a two part test. Sometimes I let them work for most of the period, then use the last 10 -20 min or so to check with a partner on the ones they are having trouble with, or to compare their answers and decide on final answers to turn in. I don't do it right away in the beginning of the year, but once routines are established this is a great way to help students really think through the questions, explain their thinking, and choose the best answer. You might be very impressed at the conversations that you hear!!

What other strategies do you use to help students work through tests that are difficult? Please leave your strategies in the comments.

So often tests don't truly test the content, but test their reading!

Test image from

"Long Before the Third Grade Test" (CC BY 2.0) by wecometolearn 

Great resources for ELL Students and Many others!!!

I am lucky enough to be able to participate in a SIOP Training right now, which stands for Sheltered Instruction and Observation Protocol.  I am finding it to be a great refresher for instruction of all students and best teaching practices. 

A great set of cliff notes/summary is located here.  These are great practices for all students, particularly ELL's, and also particularly for students who may struggle with academic language, even if they are not ELL's.  Where I work there are many students who are ELL's (about 30%), as well as many who just have very low reading/writing/language skills, although they are native speakers.  These strategies are helpful to all of them!!!

The one I found the most interesting is the need to have a specific content objective and language objective for each lesson.

Image from http://www.lamoure.k12.nd.us/STAFF/Elementary/PauCar/ELL/ellglobe.jpg

Giveaway!

I am participating in my first blog giveaway!  As I am very new to blogging, this is brand new to me.  A colleague and fellow teacher/blogger is  hosting a giveaway for reaching 200 followers. I participated and am raffling off a product of your choice from my store to a winner.  There are MANY other teachers who are also raffling off materials of various topics, grade levels, and subjects.

If you are interested in entering, click on the link:

Unbelievably Simple Classroom Management Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier

Classroom Management Tricks for Middle School

Middle school students are great.  They are fun, enthusiastic, and curious. However, when I first started teaching middle school (from high school), some of the comments that I heard include "middleschoolers are like squirrels" and "teaching middle school is a lot like teaching pre-school.  You never know what will happen if you blink." It's true!  You blink, or give them too much freedom and you don't know what might happen!  There are a few very simple strategies that will help control the chaos and keep things calm in your classroom.

I teach 7th and 8th grade in an urban district in Upstate NY. It is a school that has only recently expanded from preK-6 to preK-8. That means there is lots of room to grow, and bugs to work out as we prepare our school for middle school students.

Middle school kids need a lot of structure, and a different structure than elementary students. I am working on ways to instill that in my classroom, and to uphold high behavioral expectations and create the kind of classroom culture that I want, within the walls of my classroom. I wanted to share some of the free resources that I have been using to do that:

Timers for Classroom Management 

These can be used for bellwork, during activities, or any time to want to add structure. These timers can be accessed online, or downloaded and added directly to the smartboard files. They include a candle burning, a bomb about to explode, a runner, and many others that students find very engaging.

Students are much more focused when they are encouraged to complete a task before the time is up.  You will see a dramatic decrease in off-task behaviors.

Classdojo

Another tool that I have used in the website classdojo. It allows for public or private tallying of 'dojo points' for any behaviors that you set. You can track positive and negative, and can have students track behaviors on the smartboard, or track them yourself through an ipad, smartphone, or computer and then check in between/after activities.  Students get to pick a cute monster icon (my middle school kids were very excited about that) and then it can change as they get more points.

The list of rewards that I use in my classroom is also available on my TpT store for only $1, or in a different version here as a blog exclusive freebie. These can obviously be modified to anything that you want, that is motivating to your students, but they may be a good place to start.  All my incentives are free to the teacher.  I have included individual and classroom rewards, written in both a set for classdojo, and a set for use without classdojo.   Finally, classdojo can be a great behavioral tracking tool to use with behavioral RTI and collect/track data.

 

Through the use of classdojo and timers you will see an increase in focus, engagement, and on task behaviors, and you will have less chaos in your classoom (more time to teach and learn)!