Okay, I am most likely going to be teaching 7 & 8 grade language arts next school year. I would love to hear all your suggestions of things you wish a teacher would do for your child(ren) and what are the things that really made you upset when they did happen.

I would like you to follow my child's IEP. Also, never call him lazy.

Please don't expect my PG kid to get perfect scores on everything and when he does not use that as "evidence" that he is not as "smart" as we think.

Love that you are asking. Best wishes in 7th and 8th grade! : )

please remember.. we all know remedial students need your extra attention.. so do the gifted students.. both types of students have special needs

Well, if you can make the kids happy and they're learning something you'll be everybody's favorite teacher. Talk to them by name like you know each one of them personally and mention and little identifying habits to make them feel noticed and included, like you're Mr. Captain Obvious. You'll be fine because that age is really into letting an adult be cool (friendly) if they act like they are. Just off the top of my head because I'm not a school-aged parent yet, just what I remember from that age plus I have nephews that are around that age. The teachers I remember that acted like that were like a fresh oasis in the day for everybody.

I've always appreciated teachers who, whether it be in elementary or middle school, provide parents with detailed information about what will be covered in the class, what is expected of the students, and how things are going throughout the year. I love teachers who focus on the strengths of their individaul students and, while acknowledging the need to work on weaknesses, don't focus on them. Please take the time to communicate to each set of parents the good things you see in their child. If you do this, then the students will be more likely to appreciate you and the parents will be more likely support you. Also, if parents feel like you value their children, then if they feel like the student has needs that are not being met, they will be more likely to come to you.

Thanks everyone so far. One of the things I am really hoping to accomplish is for my students to feel that the things we learn/do have meaning and relevancy in their lives. My own children border this age (8,10,20,22) but I have spent this past year in the middle school and I really love this age.

Look at each child as an individual. Don't pigeon hole or stereotype any kid. Have passion and joy for your topic.

Best of luck!

I wish teachers would read, and try: Notching Up the Nurtured Heart Approach - The New Inner Wealth Initiative for Educators by Howard Glasser with Melissa Block

My son is very susceptible to getting 'addicted to negative attention' when less than his optimal amount of positive attention is headed his way. And his optimal amount is much higher than I ever imagined anyone's could be.

I hate teachers who are mean or sarcastic to any child in the classroom, or who talk negatively about kids as if the child can't hear while the kid is in earshot.

To me, teaching language arts is a bit of a mystery - clear writing is a reflection of clear thinking and so important, but how to explain to a kid that they aren't building their case?

I think teaching children to write in terms of the sport of debate has a lot of potential.

I wish my middle school teacher had used this system of writing and reading instruction: Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School (Theory and Practice (Scholastic)) by Ruth Culham (Jan 1, 2010)

I hate it when kids are discouraged from reading ahead in whatever book the class is torturing studying. I hate it when the whole book gets read aloud. I think providing audio presentations for home use to kids who benefit from listening to a book is a very good idea, so that kids can set aside difficulties in vocabulary and decoding and really engage in analyzing what makes the book live is a good idea, just like some kids aren't ready to memorize their multiplication tables, but they might still need to be learning the ideas of algebra, so we just give them a multiplication chart.

I hate that kids have to prove that they've read the book by annotating at least one highlight per page - but I don't have a better idea!

Smiles,
Grinity

Hi Grinity,

My boy is your boy - in the attention department. :-) And perhaps because of this I find myself really drawn to some of the kids that others have trouble with.

One of the things I plan to do is NOT have the whole class reading the same book (although some may by choice). I intend to choose a theme/genre/topic etc. and present a list of possible book choices as well as be open to student suggestions. Then our discussions in class will be a more natural type of sharing - discussing how different authors develop different ideas, how their writing styles etc. lend (or not) to the tone/voice etc. being discussed. These discussions will let me know who is reading and who is not, who needs to read something more challenging and who needs to stay put or choose something different next time.

I am full of ideas but I am sure that I will alternately fail and succeed, succeed and fail. What I won't do is stop trying.

As always you have great and thoughtful suggestions.

I read this last year on Ho@gies and thought it was sooo perfect... maybe you can find it helpful too.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/september_secret.htm

Hi, one thing I wish is that with my daughter's papers she got some feedback on them. I know that teachers are busy, and she writes really well, but it would be nice if someone would teach her the next step even though it is not part of the curriculum for that grade. Since 5th grade she has very little red marks on her paper and then usually for silly spelling mistakes rather than any true grammatical improvement. She is self taught in that area, and I am not of much use.

On the writing front, as a writer, I see that my 7th grader has to write a lot of papers and gets comments on his graded papers, but he has very little actual writing instruction. When my DS12 writes his papers he writes as he thinks and then goes back and makes sure that the computer isn't telling him he has mispelled words or forgotten capitalizations. And then I tell him to go back in and make sure he explains why he's making the statements he's making. And then I tell him to make sure he adds adjectives and adverbs to make his writing more interesting. But the thing that seems to take discussion between him and me is when it comes to how a paper is organized and how it flows. I think some kids get all this instinctively (I know I did) but other people need help seeing how what seems logical to them needs to be explained to other people. I think it's important to talk about writing for a particular reader or readers. Heck, half my graduate writing courses were about this very thing!

Anyway, my point is, I am able to help my kids because I am a writer, but I get frustrated that the actual writing process is not really taught by a teacher, and I think that at middle school age kids really don't want to be taught by their parents quite so much. So, while I know it takes a lot of a teacher's time to discuss a student's paper with them, it would be really wonderful if they did!

This applies to 5th grade this year but I hope it isn't going to happen in my child's middle school next year.

Please don't assign a paper Monday due Friday week after week after week. First, I hate that the testing for these kids (4th, 8th, 10th here in FL) are 45 minutes writing to a prompt. So the teachers give them tons of practice writing to a prompt. That is all fine an good because there will be essay tests ahead that are answer the question in a short amount of time. But there is so much more to writing than endlessly writing to a prompt.

I love it when teachers are confident working on sentence-level writing in addition to the overall organization of a paper. The kinds of skills needed to put together a cogent sentence translate easily to the skills needed to assemble a compelling argument.

1) Give the kids poorly written paragraphs, then have them make it better. Rewrite and fix problems on an overhead after the kids have a go at editing it alone. Editing is a great way to improve writing.

2) When issues consistently show up in multiple papers of the group (e.g. a lot/allot, your/you're), review the issues as a class instead of just commenting on the paper.

3) Give optional extra credit projects using Latin and Greek Roots, diagramming, parts of speech. Give major kudos to the kids who participate.

I already wish my child had you for a teacher; this question tells me you're good. My experience has shown that the really GOOD teachers ask questions, seek to improve, admit mistakes, and collaborate with others; then use their own brains to make the final call. Enjoy your teaching adventure.

Remember that at that age they want to be treated like adults one minute and like kids the next. But as much as it seems like they want you to be their friend, remember they really just want you to be friendly to them.

I wish teachers would remember that kids want to be shown respect - for their ideas, their thoughts, their individuality and most of all, their feelings. (It'll make your life easier too, because with these behaviors comes mutual respect - and this goes a long way in a classroom of hormonal teens.)

Remember to talk to them rather than at them.

Oh, and remember its ok to admit that you don't know everything, and that some of them may know more than you and that you too make mistakes.

Good luck! I love teaching and that age is one of the most difficult as well as most rewarding because there is such change in those year, both emotionally and physically and intellectually.