Regardless of when the trends began, we are noticing some rather dramatic changes in how students—and society more broadly—treats ourselves and others. Now—we can complain, fester, vent, and worry. Or we can explore the changes and attributes of the new emerging adolescent. We can try to get to the root causes of some new behaviors and understand the challenges and traumas our students face in today’s world. Here are some of the new (or perhaps intensified) characteristics I see emerging in young adolescents. Let’s look at each and then consider some ways we might respond.
We’ve created the following 32 characteristics of high-performing classrooms to help you spot the opportunities for growth in your teaching.
This worksheet can be used to test students by having them identify elements as metals, nonmetals, or metalloids.
As part of your homeschool science, learn about chemical reactions. These chemical change experiments are easy to do at home, so let your tweens try out as many as possible to see different reactions.
I actually meant to upload this post awhile back, but then State Testing madness and prep hit... so I didn't get a chance to post this. My...
The pencils are sharpened, your classroom is clean and the bell rings…gulp…here they come! My feelings on the first week of school are conflicted. On one hand, it’s one of the most important weeks. Explaining and practicing the class procedures and expectations sets the tone for the rest of the school year. Success is vital. On the other hand, I’m so excited to start teaching my historical content that waiting until all the expectations are explained requires a lot of patience! Every teacher has their own plan of action for that pivotal time. Here are 5 things I can’t live without during the first week of school: One: An Icebreaker. I aim to try and make kids feel comfortable in my classroom on day one. One of my favorite little activities is Fact or Fiction. Each student receives a small slip of paper and they’re instructed to write one fact and two fictions. Then each person (including myself!) introduces themselves and we all try to guess which statement is the fact! It’s a great way to quickly learn about each other. Two: Classroom Information and Expectations. This is every teacher’s staple, I know, but it had to go on the list because it’s a must-have! When you’re making your own, spell everything out – from the obvious grading procedures and late work policy to how to pass back papers and when to sharpen pencils and go to the bathroom. Trust me, leave no stone unturned. Your classroom will function much better if you set the tone from day one. (Oh, and don’t forget a seating chart!) Three: Fun and Games. On the second day of school, I love to start class with a little game. It’s a great way for the kids to start practicing our classroom procedures and expectations while getting familiar with their teacher and classmates. Here are some of my favorite games that I use during the first week of school: (P.S. Some of these activities can be found in my Back to School Activities resources! Click the grade level you’re teaching to check them out: Sixth, Seventh, Eighth) InstaFriend: This activity gets students moving around the room and interviewing fellow classmates! Their InstaFriend paper has a series of descriptions and characteristics. When they find a student who matches the description, they write their name in the box. Each name can only be used once! Right or Wrong: I love skits. LOVE THEM. I like to introduce students to the idea of skits during the first week by allowing them to create their own based on our class expectations. I first divide students into small groups of 2-3. Each group then randomly receives one of our class procedures or expectations. As a group, they have to work together to create two mini skits – one showing the RIGHT way to follow the expectation, the other showing the WRONG way. They get to be silly and I get to reinforce my class expectations. After each skit I happily point out all the positive behaviors as well as each time a class policy was violated. It’s a light-hearted way to grab their attention and create a positive atmosphere all while practicing the laws of the land. Classmate Bingo: I love to play this game at the end of the first week. I give each student a blank bingo board with a large selection of personal characteristics, hobbies, etc. at the bottom. The students choose 16 off the list and create their customized board. Then, I randomly select characteristics from the list. If a student has that characteristic on their board, they have to write down a student’s name that matches the characteristic – but no cheating! They have to use what they’ve learned about others during their first week of school to try and win the game. Four: A Pre Test. After a few days of class information and fun, it’s time to start getting down to business. Each year, I make a short pre-test on the information they’ll learn about that year. It gives me a chance to see what the kids already know and gives them a feel for what subject matter they’ll be learning about in the coming weeks. FYI: Your pre-test probably won’t take the whole class period. Make sure to have plans for other activities, too, on the day you give your pre-test! Five: A Writing Activity. True fact: when I tell kids they’re going to do a writing activity, they groan every time. It’s a signal that the “real work” is about to begin. Luckily, they’re always relieved when I assure them that this activity will require very little research because it’s about a subject they’re experts in – themselves! I have a few different activities to choose from each year. Here are some suggestions: Student Survey: What are your strengths? Weaknesses? What do you hope to learn in this class? These are just some of the questions I ask students in the survey. The more I know about my students, the better I can help them achieve success in my class. Write Away: A staple of many: write a letter to a future you! I ask students to write goals for the year, dreams they wish to see realized, and questions they want to ask their “End of the Year” self. I tuck these letters away and revisit them during the last week of school. I’m Ready: Like every middle school history class, we do a lot of writing and students always have to back up their reasons, statements, etc. with evidence to support their claim. In this writing activity, students have to identify which class rule or expectation they believe is most important and provide evidence to support their claim. This activity both reinforces my classroom policies and secretly gives me a preview of their writing proficiency. Have I left anything out? If you have any fun plans for the first week of school, share them in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas for my classroom!
This is an assignment for 6th-8th grade middle school students. This is a self-checking digital assignment that helps students review characteristics of the 6 kingdoms of life. Students love learning new science riddles. In this assignment, students answer 15 questions relating to the characteristics of the 6 kingdoms of life. As they answer correctly, answers will turn green, and a part of the riddle answer will reveal. If they answer wrong, the answers turn red, and they can try again. In this assignment, kids will find out: "What do organisms do when they don't like the rules that biologists have made for them?" This can be easily shared in Google Classroom and repeated over and over for review. All questions are also editable.
I’ve tried an effective technique to imitate the Ming Vases, the typical Chinese vases in white porcelain with blue decorations. We begin copying the characteristic shapes of the Chinese vases from…
What makes things alive? Most often that is obvious. Sometimes it is not. Get a free What Makes Things Alive Worksheet and try this easy experiment.
Characteristics of life and homeostasis are foundational topics in biology. This is a homeostasis lab that illustrates the concepts and relationship.
I received this frantic text from a friend:
Oh. My. Word. This is THAT year. You know what I mean. Every teacher has had at least one. This year is really going to help me grow as a teacher. That's all I can say. Well, I can say a lot mor
Basically everythig you need to help you write & get rid of Writers' block This may end up becoming a blog
Is it a reflection of a warm school culture, or a subtle way to get teachers to work even harder? If you suspect it's the latter, it's time to push back.
