Setting High Expectations in the Middle School Classroom

Starting the school year can be a chaotic time, but one of the most important things we can do for our students is clearly set our high expectations. This simple move is vital, not only for maintaining the ideal classroom climate, but also for reaching those year-end levels of achievement and academic goals.

Despite the incredible need for setting high expectations, we are now in a world where instant satisfaction and unwarranted praise are the norm.  This makes creating the true high expectations classroom even more of a challenge.  Add the state-mandated focus on end results (testing) over true academic impact, and it's easy to lose focus or to let go of what's truly important for our students to learn!

So, what does it look like?

• A high expectations classroom is one where the students are responsible for their own learning.  This does not relinquish the teacher of his/her responsibility to teach, but the students are the ones who must put for the effort for their own success.  Allowing a student to fail is an incredible challenge for a teacher, but it can be the greatest lesson a student may learn in their lifetime.  
• A high expectations classroom provides grade-appropriate AND advanced curriculum.  This does not mean you are leaving anyone behind.  It means that you are encouraging students to work beyond the norm.  You are introducing them to what may come ahead, and in fact, creating a smoother path for them to follow.
• A high expectations classroom does not accept excuses.  Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty is a masterful examination of the impact teachers have on those in poverty.  While providing outstanding tools for addressing poverty in the classroom, she is also quick to explain that excuses only breed excuses.  Stop giving children the option to not do!  Instead, offer them options for completing the tasks in front of them. 
• A high expectations classroom is filled with structure.  Also discussed in A Framework is the simple fact that all students need (and crave) structure.  Rules are set to help students know the boundaries.  Without rules, chaos and a lack of focus are easy traps.  
• A high expectations classroom is filled with attainable goals.  We all set goals when we hope to find success. We may not state them out load, and we may not claim to have them, but we do.  Sometimes they are very simple (A daily to-do list), while other times they are more complex (Earning a degree).  Still, they give us guidance and a clearer path to a desired end result.  Encourage these for your students.  Even the smaller goals will make a huge difference.
• A high expectations classroom is a place for dreams!  Sadly, too many of our students do not have positive role models with great dreams and the desire to live an adventurous life; they are content with status quo.  Dreams, whether created through experiences with role models, by reading a good book, or through the encouragement of a great teacher, are so important!  If we never dream, we will never go!

How do you create a high expectations classroom?

1. Start on Day 1.  Establish the classroom rules.  Be clear about what they mean and thoroughly examine the consequences. Include rules for assignment completion, including grade-appropriate homework.  Being a student is their job, and learning that responsibility is one of the most valuable lessons they can learn.
2. Be consistent.  Follow through and consistency are so important.  If you are seen as inconsistent, they will never trust you to teach them the correct path for behavior, much less learning.
3. Be fair!  This is often a challenging step since fair is not always equal.  And this is a lesson worth sharing with your students.  
4. Don't accept excuses.  There is a huge difference between accepting excuses and providing appropriate, situation-based options.  Know this difference and be prepared with those options in your classroom.
5. Reward excellence, NOT everyday behavior. This is the most tricky tactic at all.  But we all have to take a look around and accept that our Give Every Kid A Trophy society is not working.  Instead of creating strong, competitive, hard-working adults, we have created a generation of entitled, demanding, dependents.

While some of these tactics may seem harsh and uncaring, they are truly the most loving you can be for your students.  Teaching them responsibility, character, and dedication can lead them much further in life than providing them an easy out.  More importantly, teaching with high expectations will also create a respect in your classroom that will not only benefit you, but also each and every student that walks in your door.

Where do you want to see your students go? Dream BIG and they will, too!

 

Back to School w/ Student Interest Surveys

This is Lyndsey here from Lit with Lyns, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that it's back to school time again!  As a matter of fact, in the Metro  Atlanta area, we started back this week, and I must admit, this is the way I was feeling at first.  It's always hard to leave my kids after having the summer together, but we all have to do it!

As I began to plan for the upcoming school year, I started to think about the most efficient way to get to know my students, while also being able to update their likes/dislikes, changes that they may experience, etc. throughout the year.  I didn't want to glance through the mound of papers and hope to remember a small fraction of information about a student.  With that in mind, I created a Digital Back to School Student Interest Survey on Google Forms.  When students answer the questions on Google Forms, it saves automatically.  Then their answers are also automatically put into a spreadsheet-- also saved on your Google Drive (see the steps below for exactly how to do this).  How awesome is that?!? 

Throughout the year, I can refer back to all of the info I have stored, and I can add to it if necessary.  This year I also plan to have my students complete the same survey during the middle of the year.  This will allow me to see if there have been any changes.  Another plus is that you can modify the form if you need to make changes to questions or if you need to add new ones.

I also have a FREE back to school survey that you can check out here! 
How do you use the beginning of the year surveys?  Tell me all about it in the comments.

Back to School Activities: Getting to Know Your Students with Google Forms & Kahoot!

Hi all, It's Shana from Hello, Teacher Lady here. Today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite back to school activities -- it combines my trusty Google Forms/Sheets with everyone's favorite techie game, Kahoot!

In the past, I've had students fill out short little "inventories" at the beginning of the year -- which have been helpful to a certain extent, but I found that I didn't look at them as closely or as often as I should have. Stacks of paper usually don't survive long with me and ultimately end up tucked away in the filing cabinet of doom.

Since I started drinking the digital Kool-Aid and had been using Google Apps for Education for just about everything else in my classroom, last year I decided to nix the paper and create a Google Form for my students to fill out instead. That was a pretty good idea on its own, but then I had a lightbulb moment: why not turn the obligatory getting-to-know-you form into a class game! And that's where Kahoot! came in.

On the Google Form, I asked students to list three "fun facts" about themselves and made sure to note that some or all of the information collected would be shared with the class. I also mentioned that we will have to guess who's who during a Kahoot! game in a later class period, so I encouraged students to be creative and try to list things that aren't super obvious or that others might not know about them.

The results of the Google Form were then displayed nice and neatly in a Google Sheet, and it was a lot of fun reading through these facts and seeing what each student wanted to share about themselves. It also provided some unexpected insight, as I had one student write that he was a "good liar" who is "very lazy" -- yeah, definitely expect that one; we had an interesting year together. Anyway...

This next part was a little time consuming, but totally worth it. I took the information shared and compiled them into statements about each person (without using their name, of course) in a Kahoot! game for each class period. Sometimes I used all three facts, sometimes I only used one or two; it just depended on the type of information. For my smaller classes, I created extra statements based on some of the unused information, so some students' names appeared more than once.

Below are a few screenshots of statements from one of my classes last year:

In the answer section, I included the correct student's name and then chose three other names at random. I also included a statement for myself and sprinkled my name in some of the choices throughout the game as well. So not only was I getting to know my students, but they were getting to know me too! Pretty sure no one expected to learn that their teacher is a Star Trek nerd who played Rugby for 5 years. :)

Guys... we had SO. MUCH. FUN. playing this game!  I can't wait to play it again this year with my new students. It can get a little rambunctious, but again -- so worth it. 

For the record, since I'm an ELA teacher, I also gave students a separate reading/writing interest survey, which was crucial in getting to know their interests and habits on a more academic level. However, this year I am going to utilize Google Forms for that as well. I just don't seem to get along with paper, and Google Sheets can be accessed from anywhere! 

Tomorrow's post by Lyndsey from Lit with Lyns will go into more detail about using digital student interest surveys, so stay tuned!

Psssst -- there's a giveaway happening on my blog right now. Come on over to check it out. :) 

Grouping Strategies for the First Weeks of School

Hi!  This is Sharon, from Classroom in the Middle.  I’m so glad to be posting with the Middle School Mob this year! 

Are you thinking about trying some new grouping strategies in your class next year?  Or wondering how to make the best use of group activities?  There are a lot of things to consider when planning ahead for group work during the school year – which strategies to choose, how best to practice the strategies, how to transition to and from group activities efficiently, and more. 

Types of Groups
Your first choice might be about which types of groups you want to use, maybe one type, maybe more than one.  This Scholastic article about grouping has more information and lists eight types of groups, but really I think it comes down to four main choices:

·        Ability Groups – Group kids by reading level, or another skill, so that you can do mini-lessons with each group.

·        Social Groups – To make activity more manageable, spread out the kids who are natural leaders, the kids who need more help, and the very active kids, or group kids who will work well together.

·        Interest Groups – For activities where kids get to choose their topic, you may want to group kids with similar interests.

·        Random Groups – Use a fun, but quick, grouping strategy to mix and remix the kids often.  This way, they get used to working with everyone.

Grouping Strategies
For the first three types, of course, you will choose the group members, but for random groups, there are plenty of fun strategies out there to mix and match the kids.  As an example, here are a few ways to do a card-matching strategy:

o   Puzzle pieces – Cut photos into puzzle pieces – one photo per group with the number of pieces depending on how many kids you want in each group.  Kids find their matches, and their group is formed!

o   Playing Cards – Use a deck of cards for a similar strategy that required no prep and can be used over and over.  Use two, three, or four suits of the cards depending on group size.

o   Matching Activity – For groups of two, make matching cards with items that go together, like characters from stories, synonyms, or vocabulary words and definitions.

Posting Charts
For groups that will stay together awhile, posting color-coded charts of the group members can help with smooth transitions.  When students forget which group they are in or just want to “discuss” changing groups, the answer is right there posted on the wall.  A chart of rules for group work is another useful thing to keep posted for quick reference.  It can save a lot of discussion, too!

Practice, Practice
Once kids are into their groups, it’s worthwhile to take some time for a few practice activities.  Let the kids get used to working together before they tackle lessons that you really need them to focus on.  A little ice breaker activity would be fun especially in the early weeks of the school year, or maybe a brief, hands-on craft to complete together.  Once they’ve got the idea, taskcards are a great source of material for group work.  Choose cards that fit an individual ability group’s needs, assign cards at random, or sort the cards by tasks and rotate groups through the sets.  Use cards about basic skills in reading or vocabulary at the beginning of the year, or use cards more specific to your lesson as the year progresses.

Whatever you choose to do, all of the advance work with the kids – teaching them how to get into groups, teaching the rules of group work, practicing working in groups – is sure to pay off later when it’s time to do one of your favorite group activities, and the kids know just how to go about it!  With group work, it’s all about advance preparation for smoother lessons later!

Day One: Engagement Station

Tori here, from Tori Gorosave: An English Teacher's Journey. Back to School is literally right around the corner for me and to be honest, I am super excited! I miss my classroom and it the last year my youngest one will be on campus with me before he heads off to high school. Sigh. Anyway, I want to spend a few minutes and share my favorite tips and tricks for the first day of school. 

Nothing is more deadly to student and teacher morale than bored and disengaged students on the first day of school. The first day of school sets the tone for the rest of the year, so start your year off showing students your class will be a year full of engagement, activity, and involvement by creating stations to introduce your classroom rules, procedures, expectations, and summer reflections. 

Now, I can stand in front of my 8th graders and captivate them for an entire period, but frankly I don't always like being the center of attention and holding students' attention for that long is hard! I want my students working just as hard, if not harder, than me, and if all they are doing the first day is listening to me talk or watching my presentation, then we have a problem.

Here's a preview of how I conduct my first day of class. I assign five mini assignments via stations to my students.  The stations can be completed in small groups, individually, or even presented by the teacher in eight minute segments. I have classes that range from 32-40 students, so I set up two table groups per station so I don't have groups larger than four students. I create a placard title for each station, place a task card or direction sheet next to the placard, plenty of paper or assignment sheets (depending on the task), and a completed sample which is all about me. I let my kids choose their groups of four and sit at a station (it doesn't matter what order they complete the stations in). I set my timer for eight minutes and display it under my ELMO so the class can see how much time they have. Once my timer goes off, students have thirty seconds to get up and rotate to the next station. I usually set my stations up clockwise since I give them such a limited amount of time to rotate. I then repeat the process until all groups have hit all five stations (about 45 minutes). Time flies! It is amazing to have students suffering from shock and awe on the first day once the timer goes off for the last station and students have to start collecting their work and prepare to head on to their next class!

Here is a breakdown of the five stations I use on the first day of school:

Station 1 is a syllabus scavenger hunt. I designed my syllabus to only including content I thought was imperative. I formatted my syllabus like an infographic to make it more visually appealing and capture student and parent attention right off the bat. 

For the syllabus scavenger hunt, I create questions focusing on specific areas of my syllabus. Students need to use the syllabus to answer the questions on a task sheet. 

To get students thinking ahead, Station 2 is a "Twitter Goals" activity. Students are asked to create one goal for my class for the present year, one overall education goal for the year, and one personal / family goal for the year. They explain these goals in 140 characters or less and complete them on a assignment sheet by filling out Twitter message bubbles.  

Reflecting upon and sharing highlights of their summer is one of my students favorite activities. Station 3, "My Summer in Pictures" requires students to choose three pictures to showcase their summer. The pictures can be snapshots from their phone or computer, or generic symbols that represent a person, place, thing, or idea. Underneath each picture, I have students write a caption explaining the significance of the picture.  My students love to complete Station 3 digitally, but many students also create beautiful scrapbook pages. I have students brainstorm their ideas during class station time, but they create the final product at home.

Again because I wanted to have students introduce themselves to me right away, at Station 4 students describe themselves as an emoji. I have a few lists of emojis laid out on the table, but most students are so familiar with emojis that they rarely reference the lists. To complete this station, students choose their emoji and draw it (or if you are digital they can just copy and paste the emoji onto a slide), underneath the emoji they have to demonstrate rockin' vocabulary and choose an adjective that best describes them (it should coincide with the emoji), lastly I have my students write a paragraph explaining how the emoji and adjective describe them. This is such a neat way to get to know a student from their personal perspective.

The final station, Station 5, consists of a "Student Resume." I have a stack of resume task sheets laid out on the table, and students grab one and complete the sections. This resume provides me with parent contact information (it is amazing how often the info on here provides me with working contact numbers where as the office emergency cards don't), student expectations of me, the grades students earned the previous year, a list of my students favorite things, etc. 

That sums up how I use stations to run my first day of school. If you want to use these stations ideas in your class, head on over to my TpT store and grab a set of Back to School Task Cards for yourself.

Have an amazing school year!

Reflecting with Google Forms

The end of the school year is quickly approaching, and no major milestone is complete without a little reflection!

This year I embarked on the Great Paperless Quest of 2016, which is just a goofy way of saying that I hate dealing with paper. I've tried to approach everything this year through a paperless (or at least as-paperless-as-possible) lens, so when it came time for the obligatory end-of-year reflection activity, I naturally turned to my trusty friend Google Forms.

I compiled a list of questions for my students to fill out via Forms, which prompts them to reflect on their year while also providing me with valuable insight from all different perspectives. I encouraged my students to be honest while writing their responses and reminded them that they don't have to include their names (but many of them did, which was lovely).

In the end, I have a spreadsheet that is equal parts hilarious, interesting and insightful -- complete with some really great tips for next year and those weird things only middle schoolers would say (such as describing ELA with the adjectives "chunky" and "tasty"). 

Here are the questions I included this year:
- What was your favorite unit in language arts this year? Why?

- What was your least favorite unit in language arts this year? Why? What changes could make it better?

- What was your favorite part of this class? Why?

- What was the most challenging part of language arts for you this year? Why?

- What is one thing you've learned in this class? 

- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements: reading or writing? Please explain your thinking.

- What is one thing you've accomplished this year that you're particularly proud of? (Doesn't have to be ELA related)

- As a teacher, is there anything I could have done differently to help you or make your experience in this class better? Please explain. (*I was nervous to include this question but I'm so glad I did. The responses were honest and so thoughtful.)

- What advice would you give to students who will be in this class next year? 

- Describe your experience in language arts this year using three adjectives.

- Final thoughts (optional)

Super Hero Week

I feel that people always have some preconceived notion about middle school. They are smelly. They are rude. And they are too old for themed units. While the first two may be true occasionally, I have found that my students LOVE themed units when they are used as a treat and break from the normal routine.

Last year, around winter break, my 8th graders asked me if we could do some fun stuff like watch some Marvel movies. I told them that we would only get to do superhero stuff if it was in conjunction with some math lessons. I truly did not expect the positive reaction I received from the students!! Them immediately began thinking of ideas and ways that math could tie into superheroes. They practically planned out the entire Super Hero Week with me just finalizing their plans! And that is how our 1st annual Super Hero Week was born.

The students loved the 2014-2015 Super Hero Week so much that they began planning this year's Super Hero Week as soon as the last finished. We held this year's Super Hero Week last week as a break since we finished our state assessments the week before. It was a huge success again this year and will become an annual staple in my classroom from now on.

To prepare for Super Hero Week, we went up to the school on Sunday to decorate. My darling husband assisted with the decorating since he is almost a foot taller than I am. He is a trooper!! We had everything ready to go for Monday morning so that it was a surprise for my students.

These signs are in my hallway leading up to my room. "The fate of...the world...RESTS..."

"In your hands."

A peek into my classroom...

On Monday, we did a lesson involving the Flash. I wish that I had done better at taking pictures of the students doing the lessons. We went outside and clocked each student running a marked distance on the sidewalk. When we filled up our time boxes, we went back inside and calculated the mean, median, mode, and range of their times.

On Tuesday, we did a Wonder Woman logic puzzle. I used the summer logic puzzle created by Lindsay Perro found here. It was tough for my resource students to figure out, but I ended up with one student diving the puzzle by the end of the day. However, they all enjoyed getting to think outside of the box and do something different. 

On Wednesday, we used Batman as our theme. The students had a Batman bouncy ball that they had to bounce and hit targets with. Each student got to bounce twice. We kept record of how many targets they hit with their two bounces. Once all of the boxes were filled, we went back to the classroom and calculated our percent of accuracy. Using that percentage, they then had to figure out how many time Batman expects to hit his target if he threw it 150 times.

My darling husband made these awesome Batman targets for us to use.

 Every student got a chance to bounce the ball towards the targets.

The students on the side were in charge of catching the balls so they would not bounce down the hallway.

Even my principal got in on the action!!

On Thursday, we deviated from the superhero idea a bit and used the Joker as our theme. Each student had a whiteboard to complete the math problems on. If you got the answer correct, you stepped a pace forward. If the Joker caught up to you because you got too many wrong, then you were out. If you beat the Joker to the bat cave, then you were safe. Those that made it to the bat cave in time got to have a reward at the end of the day.

On Friday, we made Aquaman baggie ice cream. The kids were enjoying themselves so much that I forgot to take pictures. The students has to measure out all of the ingredients after calculating how much we would need from the original recipe. From there, we took the ice cream outside in baggies to shake. When the ice cream was ready, we poured into ciups and I let the student pick out toppings to put on.

This was his favorite phrase this school year in math.

If you are unsure of what to do in you classroom after state assessments, think about doing a themed week. It is a lot of work and prep, but the students truly enjoy it. It is such a nice break for them after the weeks of stress they have been through right before that. It also ensures students are on their best behavior because they are not allowed to participate in ice cream on Friday if they misbehaved anytime in my room that week. 

What are some things you implement in your own classroom after state assessments?