What to Do in Middle Schools?

Early adolescence is a difficult phase for most teenagers. From sixth to eighth grade, adolescents are going through an extremely awkward phase confronting issues like "who am I?" or basic hormonal changes. The last thing on their minds is the reading assignment they have due in English classes.

An internet article, "Trying to Find Solutions in Chaotic Middle Schools," confronts the problem that middle school students are extremely hard to reach, but at least they are trying to do something about the problem they have before them. This problem does not seem to be relatively new, by any means, but now we have more resources available to help tackle this issue.

Currently observing in a middle school, I often see this problem. Students are unengaged and uninterested. Like I commented in my last post, this could be partly because the texts are 100% print-based. There is no technology used in the classroom whatsoever. Given that the classroom has limited technological resources, what can a teacher do to promote interest in course material?

If teenagers are hard to reach and are uninterested, have students write about their experiences they are going through. Connect their personal lives to course material. Allow journal writing and creative writing to explore the emotions they are going through. Allow independent reading for students to connect with characters that are going through similar issues that they are currently facing. Maybe when they have choices and freedom, then they can have more motivation, stimulation, and interest to complete classroom assignments.

I want to teach adolescents because I know how awkward of a phase that it can be. I just hope to use all strategies I have learned from my classes to help this process become less difficult than it has to be. Reading and writing can help alleviate this process through creative writing and reading as therapeutic outlets. Hopefully I can spread this to others, because this can be carried with a person beyond their middle school years into adulthood.