MIDDLE SCHOOL YEARS SO TAXING, SO CRITICAL TO FUTURE SUCCESS
MIDDLE SCHOOL, TIME OF HORMONAL TURMOIL AND SWITCHING CLASSES
JUNIOR HIGH IS WHEN MOST FUTURE DROPOUTS FALL OFF THE TRACK
By Nan Austin in The Modesto Bee | http://bit.ly/1fmArFm
6.16.2015 :: The tween time, that
pull-parents-close-just-to-push-them-away age, confounds us all. But research
shows those tumultuous years are the pivot point for young lives. The slide
toward dropping out in high school most often begins right here, in the middle
school years.
Those who work every day with the most at-risk junior high
students, however, have hope.
“In those three or four years, the world and everything in
it changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but having a
front-row seat is a special treat for those of us who don’t mind the human
drama,” writes middle school teacher Beth Morrow on www.middleweb.com in an
article titled “Crazy Love: Six Reasons Why I Teach in the Middle.” (follows)
Morrow talks about the lurching progress toward maturity,
often tactless honesty and the hopefulness of watching them struggle past
obstacles despite it all.
“The egocentric middle school mind is hardwired for the
biological fear that they are the only person in the history of the universe to
fall down at lunch – wear non-matching socks – fail a test – have a cowlick on
picture day,” she notes.
Parents should know that middle school isn’t so easy: Girl,
13, aspiring doctor, at Creekside Middle School career day
Students polled at career fairs in Patterson’s Creekside
Middle School and Blaker-Kinser Junior High in Ceres overwhelmingly said
parents did not understand how hard they worked and did not give them time to
recover after a stressful school day.
“We actually do get a lot of work,” said one Ceres
eighth-grader. “When we get a break, we need that break,” he said.
“I have to do chores right when I walk through the door. Let
me rest!” said an eighth-grade girl at Blaker-Kinser.
“They don’t notice the good grades. They just see the bad,”
said her classmate.
Her comments were echoed by mentors hired through a United
Way program finishing its second year at three high-needs middle schools.
Parents should know that some people change in middle
school. There is pointless drama: Girl, 13, aspiring psychologist, at Creekside
Middle School career day
“Celebrating all successes is really important. They work
really hard, and if nobody notices, they just say, ‘Why bother,’” said Alicia
Sequeira, graduation coach at Hanshaw Middle School in south Modesto.
“Sometimes it’s just study habits, school habits. If that’s
not doing their homework, not showing up on time, that’s going to go with them
to high school. If we get them early, we can change those habits, get them going,”
said Luis Tinajero, graduation coach at Creekside Middle School in Patterson.
“(Problems in) discipline, attendance, grades – they’re all
symptoms of something else going on,” said Sandra Chavarna, graduation coach at
Prescott Junior High in north Modesto.
“It’s hard to be faced with your failures day in and day
out. ‘Hey – you’re failing!’ ‘You’re failing.’ ‘You’re failing!’ I think it
helps to have a graduation coach who says, ‘You’re failing today. But maybe you
won’t fail tomorrow.’”
Parents should know that middle school is the time that will
effect your kids, good or bad, for the rest of their life: Girl, 13, aspiring
police officer, at Creekside Middle School career day
The three coaches have worked since October 2013 in a
prevention program run by the nonprofit Center for Human Services and funded by
the United Way, Stanislaus County. President Francine DiCiano said her research
showed middle school was where a small program could have the greatest impact.
Each year, the team picks 40 incoming seventh-graders to mentor at each school,
based on recommendations from their sixth-grade year.
While not every kid turned around completely, Tinajero said,
“they all progressed.” That means better attendance, fewer discipline problems
and higher grades.
Grades are a sore point, however, because bringing up an
average takes consistency. The semester average has to top 60 percent to erase
an F, the first thing parents see.
“I’ve had kids with grades in the 20 percents bring their
work up and start getting 60s and 70s. That’s huge progress. But if we’re just
looking at that letter, it’s still an F,” he said.
Family issues add to the load for many of their kids.
Homelessness, responsibility for getting younger siblings up and off to school,
squeezing in homework while juggling other duties – all can take a toll on
grades and attendance. The mentors check in with families, check in with the
kids about once a week, confer with teachers and get calls from the vice
principal when one of their caseloads has a setback.
I know some kids who are like, ‘How much can I do till you
give up on me?’ They test you: Luis cq Tinajero, graduation coach at Creekside
Middle School in Patterson
That community feel took time to build. Chavarna describes
her first efforts to contact parents as “feeling like a stalker.” When a call
from the school always means something’s wrong, she said, “here some stranger
says they’re going to help your child. When negative calls are the expectation,
it takes a while to get used to this person who is always saying nice things
about them. It takes a while to adjust to the idea.”
Teachers, too, were skeptical at first. Seeing better
behavior from their most challenging students helped, as did seeing the kids
buckle down and work during after-school time with the coach.
“We all stay after school for help – if not help, just
attention,” Tinajero said.
“A lot of times, there’s no quiet, comfortable place at home
where they can work,” Chavarna said – someplace without siblings grabbing their
papers or grown-ups yelling.
At Hanshaw, former students now going to Downey High come
back to tutor, Sequeira said. “Sometimes the kids don’t need the help, they
just want to be there. So I have the Downey kids bring their own homework,
model that behavior.”
Kids know their academic performance labels them, Chavarna
said. “They’re being judged on their grades. We tell them, ‘We see your grades.
We still want you to try.’ Even if they didn’t get it right away, it will stick
with them. There were folks that cared along the way.”
_____________
COPING SKILLS: Advice gleaned from teacher Patti Grayson after
a year in “the land of the gland” in an article on www.middleweb.com, and tips
for parents of teen girls from The Camping and Education Foundation.
- Notice and comment. Praise goes a long way in those years when self-confidence is so scarce. Tweens crave attention and yet assume everyone’s watching, translating silence to mean you did not like it.
- Be there. Sharing time doing a chore or project gives a chance to interact without the focus being on them – until they want it to be about them. But even just everyday positive constants give reassuring structure.
- Add positive activities. Volunteering gives a sense of being needed; tutoring or babysitting makes them a role model. Both solidify that shaky self-confidence and sense of having grown, says the foundation.
- "Snip the snark,” as Grayson puts it, adding that tween egos are fragile. “They’ll laugh it off now, and then dwell on it for weeks. Weigh your words carefully,” she advises.
- Give them time. These are the inconsistent, distracted, disorganized years. Take time to laugh and have fun with them, Grayson says, “Be the oasis.”
_________________
CRAZY LOVE: 6 Reasons
Why I Teach in the Middle
by Beth Morrow MiddleWeb ·| http://bit.ly/1I3e2bu
02/08/2015 :: If you’re nodding your head at the
suitability of my title, you’re either one of us, or you think we must be…
well, crazy.
Middle school students, that group of energetic,
misunderstood and sometimes misguided kids between the ages of roughly eleven
and fifteen, bring a unique perspective (which often changes by the day) to the
classroom that their primary and secondary counterparts do not.
If you read the title and felt a warm glow of validation,
you know just how wonderful middle school students can be. There’s a
resiliency, a curiosity, an awakening that takes place over the middle years
that slowly transforms the naive elementary student into a semi-worldly
adolescent.
In those three or four years, the world and everything in it
changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but having a
front-row seat is a special treat for those of us who don’t mind the human
drama.
Consider this my valentine to those volatile adolescents and
the educators who cherish them: my six reasons why middle schoolers are such a
pleasure to teach.
1. They remind us
that no one is perfect
that’s perfectly okay. For every positive characteristic
each student possesses, they’re working to hide multiple struggles. Each day is
a literal hard reset in terms of making choices that will move students forward
toward maturity or keep them in a holding pattern of emotional reaction. What’s
wonderful is when students’ metacognitive growth converts these moments into
concrete opportunities for choice, and they have the chance to begin taking
ownership of their own lives.
2. Oh, the brutal
honesty
Middle school kids evince a certain flair for giving an
honest opinion, whether or not it’s what the receiver wants to hear. Generally,
the tact filter in students doesn’t develop until the early high school years.
In the meantime, if you’re seeking feedback on your hairstyle, wardrobe,
musical preference or anything that involves sharing opinions, you can bet that
a middle schooler will offer the unvarnished truth.
3. We can give them
hope for the future
As a writer and voracious reader, I believe in the power of
story. The power of stories shared from generation to generation remind us all,
in some way, of our humanity. The egocentric middle school mind is hardwired
for the biological fear that they are the only person in the history of the
universe to fall down at lunch – wear non-matching socks – fail a test – have a
cowlick on picture day.
Since my family is tired of my own awkward adolescent
stories, sharing them with a new, rapt audience each year is my way of giving
students some sense that they aren’t uniquely geeky and that they might survive
the next several years on their way to becoming that elusive man or woman of
mystery: the high schooler.
4. We can gain hope
in the present
As painted by daily news reports, the world can be a
depressing place. Although a cloud of anxiety and angst is common during the
middle school years, watching these young folks first-hand overcome their
personal struggles on their way to building the foundation for their future
dreams brings a refreshing, uplifting quality to the classroom that, when
properly highlighted, can be positively contagious.
5. We get to watch
curiosity blossom
Primary students usually just ‘do’ things without much
personal investment. High schoolers often ignore their own interests to
maintain the social status quo. But middle schoolers, when their interests are
tapped, become singularly focused and intensively determined to find out
everything they can on a topic.
I’ve seen struggling readers devour thick fantasy trilogies,
apathetic learners become technology experts capable of teaching staff and
students, and disruptive students create social service projects that fill
their need for connection, build their self-confidence, and make a real
difference to someone in the world.
6. We get free daily
hugs
Around the fourth week of school, one of my students, a
petite seventh grader who wears a smile 24/7, walked into my room during the
last period of the day as though she belonged there. She came to my desk, threw
her arms around me and told me to have a good afternoon before disappearing
into the hallway.
This continued almost daily until Winter Break when I
happened to remember to ask her last period teacher about the behavior. “I have
that group for two periods in a row,” she informed me. “I allow each of them
one restroom pass a day whenever they want to take it. She told me a while ago
she didn’t want to use it for the restroom but to come give you a hug every
day.”
What did I do to earn this hug? How did I come to trump a
restroom pass? If you’re fortunate enough to teach middle school, neither the
circumstances nor the answers will surprise you. With this age group, every day
is an adventure and every adventure is guaranteed to reveal another facet of
the wonderfully rough and resilient gems that are middle school students.
· Beth Morrow is a veteran middle school ESL/LA/reading educator, freelancer and columnist.
·
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