Ways to Engage, Nurture Middle Schoolers

Middle schoolers are active, inquisitive, impulsive, and that's what makes them fun, says author/educator Rick Wormeli. Rather than try to change the kids, he suggests ways teachers can structure their teaching to better engage young adolescents. Included: Strategies for teaching middle level students.

While there is no definitive handbook for teaching middle school, or any other grade for that matter, educator and author Rick Wormeli has put together a practical guide not just for surviving teaching middle school, but enjoying every minute of it.

Wormeli's book, Day One & Beyond: Practical Matters for New Middle-Level Teachers,covers adolescent learning styles, potential lessons, classroom management techniques, even how to set up a grade book. Wormeli wrote the book based on his research and 25 years of classroom experience teaching math, science, English, health, and history. He also is a columnist for the National Middle School Association's Middle Ground magazine and often speaks at conferences.

Wormeli talked with Education World about his approaches to teaching young adolescents, and the need for humor and flexibility.

Education World:What prompted you to write Day One & Beyond?

Rick Wormeli: Day One & Beyond is the book I wanted to have at my fingertips as a young teacher yet could not find. It also serves veteran teachers who are looking for smarter ways to manage the classroom that also advance student learning. It's full of practical tips many undergraduates hope to get in teacher preparation institutions but often don't, and it's that practical side of teaching that can make or break new and even seasoned teachers.

Every idea is grounded in 25 years of experience and the latest thinking in middle level pedagogy. For example, the best integrated, constructivist, and differentiated lessons will bomb if the teacher doesn't have a healthy relationship with students, if students' desks are not set-up to minimize distractions, or papers can't get graded in a timely manner. At the halfway point of my career in education, there was enough teaching experience to share some of it with those who were interested.

EW: Why would you recommend teaching this age group?

Wormeli: This is one of the great secrets in education: Middle level teaching is very rewarding! Many teaching candidates want to teach high school or primary grades. They cringe when they think about teaching students ages 10 to 14. Sometimes they are forced to do it, however, and when given the opportunity to move up or down later, they choose to stay; it's that meaningful.

In middle school, we can still make a difference in students' lives. This isn't to say we can't do that in high school, but it's palpable and unpredictable in young adolescents' lives. We see humanity in raw form as students are taking on the larger world and creating their own identity. Emotions are close to the surface. Students are hopeful and deeply interested in learning. They bluntly question every decision we make as well as every societal protocol, often pushing us to examine our own stereotypes, prejudices, and convictions. Just as much as we focus on the daily tasks such as conjugating verbs and multiplying binomials, we are also asked: What's my role in this world? Is the world safe? What does it feel like to die? Why are there poor people? Who do I believe? Am I normal? How do I get along with people I hate? Why do bad things happen to good people? What is the origin of life? Is this all there is?

Every day, we middle school teachers laugh aloud, ignite imagination, heal pain, confront our own beliefs, quell fears, demonstrate the greater good, share our passion for our subjects, and invite morphing humans to make positive contributions to our world. What better job? In middle schools we get a front-row seat to humanity, our students inviting us to see it through their eyes. We are better adults for having experienced it.

EW: What are some of the most important things to remember about teaching middle-school-age students?

Wormeli: Relationships are everything. We can't teach our curriculum blind to the emotional atmosphere of the room. Most of what goes into young adolescents' minds goes to emotional response centers of the brain first, not cognitive centers. We have to help them get it to cognitive centers, and that means we pay attention to relationships. To not pay attention to this critical aspect of young adolescents is close to malpractice.

In addition, we've learned a tremendous amount about how the adolescent mind best learns in the last dozen years. We need to use it every day in our classrooms. For example, we have to provide prior knowledge experiences before teaching something new so the new material will attach to something in students' minds. Or this one: We never ask students to take notes during a video or while listening to a lecture. It's impossible for them to think deeply about everything while also recording it at their own pace in their notebooks for later study. Instead, we stop every 10 to 15 minutes and give them a chance to process the material in their notes and with one another. It's vital to successful practice to be up to speed on the latest thinking in cognitive science.

Physical movement is also huge. Young adolescents need to move about every 10 to 15 minutes or we lose cognition. Find ways to make abstract or symbolic concepts into physical manifestations and get students moving. For example, don't ask one student to collect papers while the others sit passively; ask each student to walk across the room to turn in his or her paper. It relieves stress on the growth plates at the ends of their bones. Don't take it personally when they slouch or lean back in their seats -- it's developmentally appropriate. If it's unsafe, provide other opportunities to relieve the lower vertebrae stress. Ask students to physically portray math, science, or technology processes with their bodies, rather than just via writing, for instance.

EW: What are some ways to keep sixth-through-eighth graders engaged in the classroom?

Wormeli: