Lessons Learned: What I Wish I Knew Sooner As A Middle School Teacher

There's many MANY lessons I learned as a Family Consumer Sciences Middle School Teacher. But I wanted to round up some big ones that come to mind often and that I hope to share with other teachers so they can hopefully understand these sooner than I did!

1. You don't have to grade everything.

I think this one gets shared more often now a days but it is TRUE. When I first started teaching I graded every single little paper I had my students write on! I quickly realized that the amount of grading I had on my plate was not going to work for me. An easy way to spend less time grading is to, well, grade LESS. Sometimes I would have students turn something in but then decide later that it seemed everyone was participating so I'd give every one credit. You can have them turn it in and still not grade it.

There are ways to make grading what you do need to grade faster and these are some things I liked to do:

• have students turn in assignments through a self grading quiz on Canvas (or your LMS)

• have students use packets so they're turning it in one time at the end of the unit instead of turning something in every single class -- also helps teach responsibility of keeping track of something!! If it was a longer packet I would try to prevent procrastinating by doing "checks" and come around and they would just quickly show they had a certain amount of pages done and I'd stamp their packet just showing they were done but not actually grading the quality of their work yet.

• have students grade themselves or each other before turning in to you to see if they at least included everything needed (obviously some students may do this dishonestly but you usually learn real quick who those students are)

• have a TA or a trust student from a different grade/class just go through and check off who turned something in. Sometimes I just gave credit as long as they turned in something completed!

And to help make grading more enjoyable.. try not to assign something that you will dread grading! Many of the projects we did I actually looked forward to grading!

2. Many behavior problems are prevented when you have an engaging lesson.

Obviously not EVERY behavior problem will be prevented but in my experience I have found that many are prevented when students aren't bored. Try to get students involved in the lesson and up and moving if possible. When students get bored, that's when they do things you don't want them to. If there's a lesson where it seems there is a lot more behavior problems than usual, reflect and think about how you could make that lesson better in the future.

This is one reason why I am so passionate about creating engaging lessons-- because it not only is more effective at students being able to learn the content, but it also prevent misbehavior which makes your classroom a more enjoyable place to be!

3. Setting CLEAR expectations up front eliminates many behavior problems.

Here's the thing, I used to THINK I was giving clear expectations but I actually was assuming students understood what was expected behavior. I would tell them what they were supposed to do for their assignment but not what they should do as far as their behavior goes. I'll explain more what I mean...

Communicate clearly the expectations for each class and every activity. After explaining an assignment or activity, always explain what behavior is expected and what behavior is not allowed during this activity. make it very clear about what it looks like so they have that understanding. It may seem obvious to you what is appropriate behavior or not but even if it seems obvious, clearly explain it.

• Are they expected to stay in their own seat?

• Are they expected to talk with neighbors or work silently?

• Are they expected to have their phones out?

• If working on a chromebook, are they expected to be using it for other things besides the assignment?

• Are they expected to be sitting down in a chair?

• Walking or running around the room?

• If using certain supplies for an activity what are the expectations for using those?

• Are they expected to finish something by a certain time?

All of these details are important to clearly state when giving directions for an assignment or activity. It leaves no question about what they should be doing. And if they do something you discussed it will be easy to remind them and redirect them.

4. Your attitude & energy will impact your students' attitude & energy.

If you show up with a good attitude and positive energy then your students are more likely to also have a good attitude and positive energy. How do you think I convinced multiple classes of 9th graders to stand up and do "wiggle songs" every class?? (You can read more about that HERE). Especially being a Child Development teacher, I had to help my students be down for some silly activities sometimes! Whether it's something that really is not actually that exciting, or it may be a little embarrassing for them... the way YOU explain it and how much YOU hype it up makes all the difference!

Your students can sense if you want to be at work or not. They can sense if you really care, they can sense if you're dreading the lesson or if you're excited about it. And they feed off that!! No matter what was going on in my personal life, or what happened the class before, I always tried to give my students my best self-- it made it more enjoyable for ME too!! WIN WIN.

5. Every class of students is a little different so adjust your lessons accordingly.

Every group of kids is going to have a little different dynamic. Some classes are full of outgoing, talkative students and others are full of the shy, quiet students. Some classes love working in groups and others prefer to work on their own or with one partner. As you get a feel for your classes, don't be afraid to adjust your lessons and activities according to THAT class.

I found that little adjustments could make a big difference in the success of the class. Some groups of students needed more time up and moving around and others could do just fine sitting and working independently. It's also okay to make adjustments based on how YOU are feeling that day and what you feel you can handle! There were days where I was under the weather and didn't have much of a voice so where I would normally explain and teach a lot more, I ended up having students teach each other or learn from the slides on their own. You do what's going to work best for you!

6. It's important to talk to students about more than just school related things.

One of my favorite podcaster/speaker in the education space is Brian Mendler and he talks about this a lot. (If only I had found him before my first year teaching!!) I saw firsthand how true this is! If you only ever talk to your students about grades, assignments, attendance, or other school related things then they won't feel you actually care about THEM, they'll feel you only care about their school work. But if you find a way to ask them about their hobbies or interests that are NOT related to school-- well then they can start to feel that you actually care about them as a human being. And when students feel you care about and respect them, they start to care about and respect YOU.

7. Staying late doesn't necessarily make you a better teacher... continuing to have a life outside of work does.

I wish I understood sooner that burnout doesn't = dedication. hours at school doesn't = dedication. Now, I can understand that staying longer a day or two a week can actually help you feel less stressed and be more prepared for class-- especially as a first year teacher-- there is a line where it no longer is actually helpful and it's really hurting you overall because you're work life balance is so off.

I liked to pick one day a week where I would stay longer or go in just 15-20 mins earlier every morning (when the copy room was empty!) instead of having no plan and ending up staying hours past contract time every single day. It's one thing to be intentional about putting in extra time and using that time wisely, and it's another to make it a habit of working so long that you feel you're not getting that refresh/reset before coming back to work the next day.

Continuing to have a life outside of work and doing things you love, are what help you be a better teacher because they rejuvenate you and allow you to show up as your best self at work. It can be SO easy to let teaching take over your whole life, especially when you love it, but it's not healthy and it's not sustainable.

8. It's okay to show your students you're human too.

I think I used to feel I needed to not ever show I had messed up because then why would my students trust me as a teacher?? But I learned that students actually appreciate it when you as their teacher, show them you are human just like them! You make mistakes. You forget things sometimes. You don't know the answer to every question ever asked. You're still learning. It makes you relatable and it gives you the opportunity to model for them how to handle those situations. My students were so much more understanding when I was honest with them!

9. Make positive connections with parents early on.

If you can establish a positive relationship with parents early on, then if/when you have to reach out about about inappropriate behaviors, parents will be more willing to work with you. You can do this by sending home emails or making calls home to parents telling them about the GOOD things you noticed about their student. I made this a weekly routine to send home a few POSITIVE emails. I also loved sending out a parent survey at the beginning of the class so parents knew I was interested in their individual student and their needs. Many times the responses from the survey gave me context about the students home life that helped me to have more patience and understanding.

9. Every time you say YES to something, you're saying NO to something else so make sure you're saying yes to the thing that you value more.

I don't know why this took me so long to get into my head... probably because I am a people pleaser by nature and it's incredibly hard for me to say no to someone's face. But I remember reading a quote about this concept and it hit me like woah. So when I say "yes" to being on that board and going to those meetings, it means saying No to seeing my husband for that amount of time because I'll be at school longer instead of at home.

Sometimes saying "yes" does align with your values and it is totally okay to be involved at school-- it actually can make your job a lot more enjoyable! However, you have to look at what you're saying "no" to and if it's just saying "no" to more time watching your show or something that's less important to you then great. Being just remember that every time you say "yes", you are saying "no" to something as well.

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