Nine Back-to-School Ideas for Middle School Teachers

Heading back to school after the summer is exciting!  There are so many fresh ideas to try and ways to recharge your classroom and teaching.

The Middle School Mob has pulled together nine of our favorite back-to-school hacks, tips, and tricks.  We hope you'll find a few here that will get your year off to a great start!

Getting organized 

Michele of Michele Luck's Social Studies says that this is a must for new teachers. This bundle includes everything to get the year started and to keep it moving in the right direction! It walks you through classroom organization and helps you be prepared for dealing with classroom management, teacher evaluations, lesson planning, and more!

Do you need a seating chart?

Classroom organization is one of the first things that come to mind at back to school time. Desk or seating chart arrangement, along with ideas and planning for behavior management are priorities. A good seating chart template can be the saving grace for the middle or high school classroom.

Michele of Michele Luck's Social Studies shares some ideas about how to best use a seating chart.

Creative mini books

Lisa from Mrs. Spangler in the Middle says, "As a middle school teacher, I have to make 130 copies any time I need all of my students to have something. So if my syllabus is a couple of pages, that really adds up and I only get 2 cases of paper per year!

"This mini-book is just ONE sheet of paper for each student! And it gives the students something to do with the syllabus instead of just pretend to read it. ;) Not to mention it's creative and gives off a warm, fuzzy feel. :) "It's also completely editable so you can pre-print all the information from your syllabus on it or have students record the important information on it. Finally, it comes with a video to show you and your students how to assemble it."

You can find her paper-saving mini book here.

Poetry anyone?

Sharon from Classroom in the Middle says, "Poems make great short readings for the first days of school, and poems about school are a classic choice for beginning of the year activities in language arts classes. Here is a list of ten good titles, as well as a few links where you can find even more. The poems range from funny to serious. Some are about school and others are about perennial middle school topics."

Create an Escape!

Looking for a novel way to keep students thinking? Lyndsey from Lit with Lyns describes how she uses a digital escape room to engage her students at the start of the school year.

Are you going digital?

If so, Shana from Hello, Teacher Lady has some great tips for you.

Shana says, "Google Classroom has been the organizational hub of my classroom for the past few years, and I'm on a mission to share the love with as many teachers as possible. Since we're in the midst of back to school season, there's no better time to start saving time, paper, and sanity. If you've been wondering about the benefits of using Google Classroom, I've rounded up the top 12 reasons why Google Classroom should be your new BFF."

Flipping for this flipbook

Stephanie from The Marvelous Middle has a great idea for helping students keep track of their syllabus.

"The school year starts off smoothly with detailed classroom policies and procedures. A classroom syllabus explains how my classroom runs and the curriculum covered during the school year," Stephanie says.

"But, my students always seemed to lose this syllabus a few weeks into the school year. This flipbook syllabus solved this problem because it is sized to be glued right inside an interactive notebook. My students no longer lose this important information. It is always at their fingertips."

Building routines with task cards

Susie from Anchored in Reading shares this idea for how to use task cards to create routines in the classroom:

"This back to school resource proves valuable in many ways. Used as a bell ringer, these task cards help you build a routine while starting each class with students on-task and working. In addition, some of the concepts are review which may be beneficial for our students getting back into the swing of things! You could also use these task cards as exit slips or informal assessment."

Creating a yearlong plan

Marypat from Just Add Students shares this blog post with ideas of how to set up, create and use a yearlong plan for your ELA standards.

She says, "A yearlong plan will help you teach (all the) writing; it will save you time and energy — and help you remain accountable for what you’re expected to teach this year. When Sunday night rolls around and you're planning your week, a ylp is a lifesaver!  The lessons plans practically write themselves!  An additional bonus?  Great for Meet the Teacher night as well!"   You can find her free editable yearlong plans here.

So, what do you think?  What new ideas are you implementing this year?  Let us know in the comments below!

Here's to a fresh, new school year!

How I Organize Learning with Anchor Charts!

As a Middle School Teacher, who blogs at Mrs. Spangler in the Middle, I am happy to tell you that this year, I am a 6th grade Language Arts Teacher!  In my area of the country, Language Arts focuses on writing.  Sure, we read, but we use that reading as a springboard for our writing.  So, as you can imagine, there are all kinds of things for us to remember.  How do I help keep it all organized?  I use anchor charts and "anchor walls".

This is my embedded assessment "anchor wall" where for each class we broke down the end of unit essay test to its specific pieces and parts.  I had pre-printed all these skills on sticky notes.  Then, we ranked our knowledge level to determine what we really needed to focus on in order to be able to successfully write one of the four essays.  So on this wall, since all the skills in the unit are all laid out on sticky notes, as we learn we can move them!  This is great for showing growth as well as tracking our learning.

This is my anchor wall for the 4 parts that all essays must have (Polestar Focus, Rules of Conventions, Organization, and Support.)

As you can see, I used the doors for my cabinets to display my anchor information and I build it one piece at a time as we learn that piece in class.  Students love the idea of becoming writing "pros" and I love having a way to display the key concepts of writing that we have been learning!

For other related concepts, I use anchor charts - some of which we create together in class:  

  

I especially like these anchor charts because they give students a pattern to use as a foundation for their writing.   Naturally, I hand them near my PROS anchor wall.  Of course, I have other anchor charts for things like grammar and parts of speech.  I find that I use these instead of commercially bought posters most of the time!  Not to mention that they look great for Open House when I am talking about what we are learning and I can reference our charts and walls!

The best part is when the students look at them as we're working on something.  I love to see students use their tools!  And even though I have to cover them up during state testing, they will still look to where the charts are located as if they can somehow "see" them and remember.  

If you love anchor "walls" and charts as much as I do, then stop by and visit my Pinterest board for them:

How do you visually organize learning in your class?  Join in the conversation by commenting below.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Successful Classroom Systems for an Organized Classroom

Hi there! Shyra here from Junior High Core Values  A lot of times, we assume that routines and procedures are taught and mastered in the younger grades, but that’s not always the case. I always tell my sixth grade parents at Back to School Night that sixth grade is like “Kindergarten, the Sequel”.

Consistency and repetition are incredibly important at the beginning of the year in order to have a successful classroom system. Here are some systems that I use in my sixth grade classroom to make sure that we are maximizing every moment of learning time. 

Build a Classroom Community

A lot of this depends on how much freedom you have at your school site. However, it can be done. In my classroom we use three classroom norms: Attentive Listening, Mutual Respect, and the Right to Participate/Pass  Depending on the class, I may leave off that “pass” part. Throughout the year we participate in several team building activities to foster a sense of trust and community in the classroom. Since time is always in short supply, I try to bridge these in to whatever curriculum we are focusing on in the moment.

Stick to Routines.

It might sound boring, but for the most part, my students know exactly what to expect from the moment we enter the school building to the time that instruction begins.   Our end of day procedure is also the same from day to day. 

Nonverbal Cues

Nonverbal cues are the icing on my cupcake, the ice in my iced tea, and the chocolate to my difficult day.  My students use signs for asking a question, sharing a comment, asking for the bathroom, showing sympathy/agreement, and giving support. I, in turn, use signs for silence, for getting in line, for transitioning, for sitting, and for waiting. Establishing, practicing, and being consistent with classroom signs saves a LOT of time and makes the classroom run much more smoothly.

Student Buy In

One of my favorite ways of maintaining an organized classroom is to use a classroom economy. Hello, why didn't I start this at the BEGINNING of my teacher career?  Students are much more engaged and invested when they own their classroom...and it makes a lot less work for me! There are many ways to set this system up all over the internet. In fact, Mylie wrote about her system in detail just a few weeks ago.  In my classroom what works is having students apply for a job at the beginning of the trimester. They keep the same job for the entire grading period. Every student has a job, and every job has a salary that can be used for our monthly classroom auction. Now of course, there are going to be students who don't/can't remember your expectations. The way I handle that in my classroom economy is a Behavior Log. Entering your name in the behavior log (missing work, talking, not showing mutual respect, etc) is a $25 fine per infraction. The first two weeks of school this year there were over 25 entries in the log. Yikes! Last week, there were only five.   Now that's some improvement and organization! 

What are some systems you use in your classroom to make it smooth and organized? 

The Writing Process: What Students can Learn about Themselves

Student writers need to brainstorm, draft, revise, revise, revise some more, and proofread.  So how can your students keep their work organized in a way that also helps them reflect on their learning as writers?

Hello!  Marypat here from Just Add Students to introduce you to BGP.

Let's start with the problem...

I ask my students to save all graphic organizers, prewriting, drafts, and revisions for each writing assignment.  But there is usually more than one student who struggles with organization.

Papers always go missing, get stuffed into the wrong binder/folder/book/locker.  That student may end up starting a writing assignment several times -- trying to remember what had been written on the graphic organizers or in a draft.

The writing "process" was more of an exercise in starting over when students couldn't find prior work.

Then something wonderful happened...

I went to a workshop put on by my hero Nancie Atwell.  I am telling you - she is nothing short of amazing.  I learned so much from that workshop!  Here is one idea I used with great success. Something that helped all of my student writers, not just the disorganized ones.

Grab your stapler...

I had my students save, and staple, all of their work on a writing assignment together.  Most current work on top.  This was what my students referred to as the "big, gigantic pile."   The BGP.

As my students write, I collect and review all of the steps of a draft (that's how I sort and set up mini lessons for the next day).  As we work through graphic organizers, intro paragraphs, thesis builders, drafts (D1, D2), revision activities, peer reviews, proofreading and then finally the published piece, the "big, gigantic pile" grows.  Always with the most current work stapled on top.

What the student ends up with is a "big, gigantic pile" of work stapled, marked up, and dog-eared.  On the very top, they add their published piece (usually not stapled so it can easily go into their portfolio or on the wall).

And the result...

Several really great things happened when I started implementing the BGP:

1.  Work was less likely to get lost.  All the pages were kept together and kept in writing folders. 

2.  Students were impressed at how much writing they had done!  I heard students say things like, "Wow, I did a lot of work on this!" and "Look at how bad my first draft is!"  and "My ideas really changed as I worked on this!"  

Students were thinking about, reflecting on, and rejoicing in their writing!  They could see that their writing was, indeed, a process.  (Insert happy dance here!!)

3.  Student self-assessments.  Before my students turn in an assignment, I always ask that they complete a simple self-assessment.  It consists of three questions:  

• What was easy about this assignment?
• What was difficult about this assignment?
• What would you like me to know?

I ask students to flip through their stapled pile and consider what they've been working on, thinking about, struggling and succeeding with over the last few weeks.  This gives them a chance to really consider how the writing process worked for them.  Plus, it helps build goodwill that they know I care about their experience with this writing assignment.

4.  My grading got easier.  Yes.  You read that right.  Easier.  Because I reviewed each graphic organizer, thesis, intro, and draft as we worked on it, I knew what students were writing about.  I could quickly see where they were going off the tracks.  My comments gave them direction for the following writers' workshop task.

When I received the final product to assess, I could look through their "big, gigantic piles" already familiar with the topics, direction, and difficulties they had.  I could see where students worked on my suggestions and where they chose to ignore those suggestions (time for a conference!).

Usually, I had very little to write on the published text.  I'd already addressed issues in the prior drafts.  And because I always use a rubric and the students received that when the assignment was given, I could quickly assess their writing on the criteria of the rubric.

I love trees...

I do, I really do!  And I often think about how wonderful a paperless classroom would be.  However, when teaching middle school students writing, there is a HUGE payoff when they can actually see the writing process.  Specifically their own writing process from start to finish.

When I experimented with paperless writing, my students lost the ability to step back and look at their own writing process -- from where they started to where they ended up.  

Even if you give the BGP a try for one assignment, your students will benefit.  It can be used for any writing project -- in any subject.  But most importantly, it will help your students think about themselves as true writers.

Student Writing Folders

Hi Everyone!

Caitlin from Teach Inspire Change here :)

I wanted to briefly share with you how and why I chose to use Student Writing Folders in my classroom. 

Let's be honest. As English teachers, we can spend upwards of 15+ hours of grading student essays. EASILY. We leave them awesome feedback, helpful tips for improvement and so much much! You hand them back to students, they look at their grade, and then what happens? You find that essay that you poured your heart and soul into grading (and gave you wrinkles when the student confused "their," "there," and "they're") in the garbage can! Ummm. NO. 

So I decided my students were going to save every. single. essay. that they wrote and that I graded throughout the year. So I put together these cute student essay folders. 

Concept is simple: They write. You grade. They file. And you keep 'em in your classroom! 

I wrote each of my kids a note describing what our Student Writing Folders are all about. This sits in the front of each of their folders. 

I bought these folders at Target for $0.10 each before school started - GREAT deal! I also decorated each folder with washi tape :)

The little folder filer that I bought. To save space, I put two students folders in each tab. To keep it easily organized, I just had my kids use their class numbers (that way I could use this for years to come!). 

It's actually really fun, too, for your kiddos to go back through their essays at the end of each month to see how much they really have improved. 

How do you make sure your essay comments don't end up in the trash can? Please share in the comments below! 

Top 3 Back to School Wins!

This year, I am teaching an all special needs learning strategies class at my middle school.  I have 17 students each with their own specific needs and my job on paper is to teach them various skills like communication skills, executive functioning, and self-determination.  Translated, that means teaching organization to the students who are typically the most disorganized!

So I tried some new things this year for back to school and decided to share the top 3 things that worked the best for me!

Have you ever heard of or read this book?   It's the story of how soldiers convinced the townspeople to help them make "stone soup".  Everyone contributed a little something and the final product was a feast!

My students had not heard of this book and even though they were off kilter from learning new schedules, they were silent as I read this book.  Not just silent - they were into it!  This was perfect because of the message we were able to glean from the book - that we all have something to contribute and if we work together, we can make something great!  We put what we have to share on interactive notebook foldables and then I put them up on our "expert wall":

These activities and more were part of my new Back to School pack:

The first topic that we are exploring in class is growth mindset.  I wanted students to think about how they communicate to themselves before we begin to work on communicating with others.   So, after learning about not giving up when things were hard, we played this "cups" game.

Each group of students was given one "tool" - a rubber band with four pieces of yarn tied to it.  Using only the tool, the students had to work together to move the cups into pyramids and then stack the cups all into one sleeve.

They loved this game!  They cooperated, participated appropriately and did not give up!  This was a major win because up until this point all the change of a new year definitely had my students acting out.

Part of teaching organization is requiring the students to fill in their planner in all their classes.  As many of my students are 6th graders this year, they eat the earliest lunch.  They were coming to me the last period of the day and they were hungry!  

So I told them that if they had their planner filled out for every class, that they would earn a snack.  So, as I check planners, I pass out small dixie cups to those who have their planners filled in.  While the bell work is being completed, I fill the cups.  This week it was goldfish crackers.  You would think they were made of real gold the way the kids are working for them!  Almost all planners are now filled in and you won't hear a word during bell work as they are all munching away!

It's not all sunshine and roses, but I think we are off to a good start and I thank you for joining me to celebrate our success!  

Leave a comment to tell all about your back to school wins!

 

A Checklist Manifesto for Teachers

Have you read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande?  He proposes that the simple checklist will help streamline complex tasks and reduce errors.

The primary focus and anecdotes of his book deal with the medical field, but the take away is that in the midst of a complicated, multi-step process, a checklist helps us avoid mistakes and omissions.

When I finished reading this book, I cheered.  I felt validated!  Yay!  I am not crazy for loving my checklists!

In this back-to-school post, I want to share my own "checklist manifesto" ... middle-school style.

When to use a checklist

• I use checklists whenever students are working on a multi-step task:  writing assignments, projects, book talks, or project-based learning.  Using the checklist helps me know that students are progressing in their work. 

• I also use a checklist to quickly mark daily homework that is completed, but might not be taken for a grade.  Since I don't always collect homework, the checklist helps me see who has completed the work and who has not.  

• A checklist helps me track when and how often I conference with a student during workshop time.  

• I can use it to record participation grades.

My clipboard, my friend

• I keep my checklist on a clipboard that I can easily use as I wander around the room monitoring students at work.  I use a simple shorthand to make quick notes.

• Be sure to keep a cover sheet over your clipboard to ensure students privacy, and always return your clipboard to a safe place!  I keep mine in the same place on my desk.  That way, I never have to worry about losing it.

Other benefits

• When using a checklist for a project, you are really creating all the steps required to complete the project and you're creating a gradebook page.  This is a wonderful resource for student or parent conferences when you want to talk about work habits.

• A checklist is really a formative assessment.  You can see what areas need to be retaught -- even if you're just using a - or + notation on your checklist.

• Anecdotal evidence at your fingertips.  Your checklist can show behavior patterns that need to be addressed with your students.  Often, students don't realize they've been unprepared for class three times in a week, or they have missed turning in assignments on a regular basis.  The checklist gives you the data you need to conference with students to help them adjust their behavior.

• Checklists help you stay on track for a project.  You'll be able to see what the next steps are in completing a writing assignment or group project.  This will help you adjust the pacing of your class.  

Thank goodness my classroom isn't a (medical) operating room!

Obviously my checklists are academic rather than medical in nature.  But the outcome of using a checklist helps simplify my life.  As you're organizing projects for this school year, consider trying a checklist to help you organize and gather data -- stat!

Interested in more checklist goodness?
Check out the product in my Teachers Pay Teachers store:  Teacher-Checklists:  Making formative assessments easier.  You can download it for FREE for a the next week.  If you do download it, please leave me feedback!