Teaching Strategies for Middle School
Be Supportive!
Be Supportive!
- Engage students in planning for their own future
- Encourage parental involvement in student learning and find ways for them to be included in the student’s support system
- Offer assistance to students who need help (such as structuring time management for students who lack these skills)
- Be a positive influence to students, they will respond in a positive way!
- Praise good behavior and academic improvement
- Be an advocate for students in any appropriate way that they may need
- Involve parents and family members in a student’s education so that they have support at home
- Reach out to students in need. If you suspect they are having problems at home, allow them to open up about it.
- Implement peer review/tutoring systems in your classroom
- Research has shown that a stable network or peers can improve how a student perceives school.
- Get all students involved in class discussions
- Create activities that require students to rely on each other to succeed (such as group projects, web quests)
- Give ample opportunity for and require respectful communication between peers
- Teach students about cultural diversity and tolerance
- Encourage and promote extra-curricular activities like clubs and teams
- Engage students to help design the classroom environment is a way that makes them comfortable
- Let students have a chance to decorate the classroom walls
- Allow students to have a hand in creating the class rules, so everyone is comfortable with them
- Be patient with students so that they feel valued and respected and feel safe enough to share ideas
- Demand that students be respectful of one another and if someone isn’t, handle it immediately.
- Accommodate students who need supplemental help or have assistive needs
- Ask students about their time outside of class
- Learn every student’s name and use it often!
- Provide opportunities for students to talk about themselves
- Create plans with each student for their learning goals for the year and refer to them regularly when students meet a goal
- Be involved in your community and show support for student-led organizations
- Vary instructional methods so to reach all students
- Do not make lectures the main focus of all class periods
- Work in fun activities to keep students from getting bored
- Use technology when possible and appropriate
- Be aware of what is happening in your classroom. Monitor, monitor, monitor!
- Plan effectively and make sure transitions in your instruction are smooth
- Relate new information to popular culture when possible
- Expect students to live up to their potential
- Make sure students understand before moving on to new concepts
- Apply reasonable and consistent disciplinary policies that are agreed on by parents and students and enforce them fairly
- Communicate clear expectations for behavior
- Be flexible with instructional strategies to personalize instruction when needed
- Establish a reward system for good behavior and academic achievement
- Encourage respectful communication, even when viewpoints differ
- Assess students regularly to ensure that they are in line with expectations
- Learn every student’s name and use it often!
- Provide students with opportunities throughout the day to express their feelings
- Empower students to communicate openly with school staff by providing them with a mechanism to evaluate their learning and instructors
- Be consistent in class with each student. Don’t play favorites.
- Interact more in class, lecture less
- Smile, be friendly (yet professional)!
- Be enthusiastic about teaching your subject matter
- Allow students to get to know things about you
- Correct inaccurate perceptions about “normal” behavior (e.g, statistics on smoking and alcohol/drug abuse)
- Be respectful of students and other teachers/administrators at all times
- Have patience but be firm
- Have a positive attitude
- Be encouraging of others and promote that attitude to students
- Be understanding, forgiving, and realistic.