Helping Students Step Up to Middle School

When students move from elementary to middle school, they move from an environment where they are coddled and nudged and catered to, to a world where they need to work and act independently. So just how does an elementary teacher properly set up his students for success? That’s what Michael Tavani, a fifth-grade teacher, wondered as he began to worry about his students’ next big plunge.

“Let’s face it, elementary and middle school are different worlds—at least in our district. Much of our curriculum and expectations are geared toward their short attention spans. … Are our elementary students being adequately prepared with the skills needed for the big jump into secondary school?”

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We hardly need to reiterate the importance of middle school and the transition to it – studies have linked poor transitions at this stage to everything from absenteeism to high dropout rates. Middle school, they say, is where the yellow brick road to college begins.  Yet many of the literature on the webosphere only concentrates on the physicality of moving to a bigger school with bigger kids and classroom changes, more homework, and higher demands. Advice on this abounds, telling educators and parents to familiarize kiddos with their new surroundings through organized move-up days or summer programs at the new school or to practice using locks or bigger bookbags before their first day.

But so much about the middle school transition has nothing to do with big rooms and comfortable backpacks. It has more to do with independent thinking, organization, time management—and sitting in your seat, listening to the teacher, and waiting for an appropriate time to sharpen your pencil, as Lisa Parisi, a longtime elementary teacher points out.

Unfortunately, Tavani’s post didn’t garner much advice. Jennifer Wagaman, a former elementary and special education teacher, offered some tips for her colleagues a few years ago, including:

• Enforce consistent discipline and reduce frivolous reinforcements
• Help students establish an organization system and gradually give them more difficult assignments to do independently
• Use role-playing activities to show students how to act and react in new situations

This more recent paper by the National Association of School Psychologists also recommends a few points for teachers, including:

• Emphasize the positive aspects of middle school
• Give them more autonomy in their work
• Include opportunities for cooperative learning
• Encourage participation in student government
• Teach problem solving and study skills

What’s forgotten here? Teachers, what advice would you give to Tavani?