What Matters in the Middle, by Mary Ellen Bafumo

During this turbulent time in their lives, a little understanding goes a long way when it comes to teaching middle schoolers

Scratch the surface of a successful middle school teacher and you'll find a teacher who would be or already was successfully teaching in elementary school. That adage holds at the high school level as well, although most secondary school teachers would beg to differ. This truth remains the best-kept secret in education – strategies and attitudes that work in the elementary grades work in the upper grades as well.

The learning equation
Talking with middle grade students affirms this idea. If you ask a middle school student what's different from elementary school, the answer is nearly always the same. It's the comfort level of learning that they miss, coupled with the safe environment of being known to their teacher and classmates. As students get accustomed to their new school, the latter does comes with time.

What middle school students recognize, even if they don't accurately articulate it, is that the learning equation changes in middle school. Students are expected to take more responsibility for their learning. Vital learning skills needed for success – note-taking, organizing and researching – all come into play. Background knowledge is consistently required and more information comes at them faster than ever. It's easier to slip behind the curve and it takes less time to do so.

A turning point
In the midst of all this, middle schoolers are also working on the transition from childhood to adolescence. This is an enormous turning point in their lives and it requires them to navigate physical and emotional minefields. Little wonder that the middle school years are often tumultuous for students, families and teachers.

The best middle school teachers understand in great depth the seismic shift that their students undergo when they enter middle school. They have a clear sense of the physiological and emotional changes that their students experience. And, they have a repertoire of instructional strategies and classroom skills that ease the way for this new stage in their students' development. This successful group can't imagine teaching at any other level, but they acknowledge that much of what works originated from experience with elementary grades or colleagues. The following is what expert middle school teachers do in their classrooms that makes a difference. These are winning ideas for a successful classroom. See how many of them you're using and add the ones you're not.

Make no assumptions
Avoid the mistake of assuming that your students know school rules, procedures and policies because they are in a booklet that's handed out on the first day. Use the same approach to learning that was part of the previous year's curriculum. Find out what students know and don't know, then take learning from that point. You'll leave fewer students behind.

Review, review, review
This is the corollary to "make no assumptions." Begin new learning about content or procedures by connecting it to previous learning. Make a game of it where guessing is allowed and teams are sometimes used. Everyone can play and no one has to admit when they don't know something. You'll be building or strengthening background for new information, which will help your students acquire new learning, retrieve and use it more efficiently.

Overtly teach and reteach necessary skills
Forget about who should have taught note-taking and organizational skills. Work with your grade level team to make teaching these skills an integral part of class work. Studying social studies? Provide charts and show students how to fill them in to collect important information. Challenge your students to make useful charts for other classes. Using diagrams on the board? Be sure that students have their own copy from which to work. Teaching math? Take time to show students how to fill out a day-planner page to organize their time from morning into evening. How are they dividing their day? What percentage of their time is listed for leisure and for homework and study? If you're teaching English, have students write a rationale for their day-planner choices.

Recognize effort
Most students appreciate the teacher who acknowledges his or her work. At the middle school level this can be critical. The academic stakes are higher and some students are struggling to succeed. Notice when a student is trying to do the work and making an honest effort to learn. Be sure you say positive words like "good try," "nice job" and "terrific work" on a daily basis. It's important to provide the motivation for your students' continued success.

Be understanding and firm
Not every child has a happy home life. Make your classroom the place students want to be. Smile, make allowances when needed (remember how dramatic the physical and emotional changes are at this stage) but insist on high-quality work. If you provide the teaching, the tools and the understanding middle schoolers need, you and your students will approach school with a can-do attitude more often than not. You may even become one of those middle school teachers who wouldn't trade places with anyone, anywhere.

Mary Ellen Bafumo is a Program Director for the Council on Educational Change, an Annenberg legacy group.