Some of the standards for middle schoolers are great, like finding textual evidence to support an analysis. Others, like knowing the difference between reflexive and intensive pronouns, not so much. Some of my most important goals for my students lie completely outside the standards, but I think theyâre essential to my kidsâ success. These six social and study skills for middle school students will stay with them long after they leave the classroom.
1. How to monotask.
Is monotask even a word? Unitask? Whatever terminology you prefer, I want my kids to know how to do one thing at a time, and itâs not a skill theyâll pick up on their own. Letâs say I ask them to write a story for homework. Theyâre not going to sit down, come up with an idea, and get lost in the flow of creating a narrative. The vast majority of them will be constantly interrupted by some device beeping, dinging. or otherwise reminding them of their need to be continually connected to everyone they know.
Sustained concentration is a gift, and itâs generally lacking from my studentsâ lives. I try to build in time for them to work on things in class because, for most of them, itâs the only time they work interruption-free, which is essential to developing their creativity.
2. How they study best. Â
We tell kids to study all the time, but mine have no idea how to do so. And they donât realize that the process may look different for different people. Some people have to write things down to remember them. Others need to say them out loud. Personally, I remember things best if I walk around the room while Iâm studying. But for my kids, âstudyâ means âlook at your notes for a predetermined period of time.â No focus necessary.
When I need kids to study, we talk about ways to retain information, and kids come up with a plan for how theyâll spend their study time. After they take an assessment, I ask them to reflect on the effectiveness of their study strategies.
3. How to use metacognition.Â
This goes with the previous learning goal. As an adult, I can read a paragraph, realize that I wasnât paying attention or didnât understand it, and then go back and read it again. My kids donât do that. They donât read for understanding; they read because someone told them to. If they have decoded all the words in a given textâwhether those words make any sense or notâtheyâre done.
I want them to learn how to check their understanding as they read and figure out the parts they donât get the first time. I try to model this in class, especially when weâre reading nonfiction.
4. How to prioritize.
Whenever I have a job I donât want to do, I procrastinate by cleaning my house. That way Iâm still doing something productive, so I donât feel bad about not tackling whatever I shouldâve been working on. My kids do the exact same thing with projects. If I tell them to do a research presentation, theyâre going to have 17Â really intricate slide transitions before they do a single bit of research. If I ask them to write a skit using their vocabulary words, theyâll spend a whole period making fake boobs for a kidâs costume and never actually come up with a script. Ask them, and they think theyâve spent their time productively working on their project.
I want them to learn how to focus on the difficult parts of a project first, then move on to the fun stuff. At the beginning of the year, I give them a list of steps that have to be completed in order for projects. By this point, I ask them to spend a few minutes at the beginning of the activity prioritizing what needs to get done first and how theyâre going to accomplish it.
5. How to play to their strengths.
I blame the school system for this one. Weâre very into a standardized process and a standardized product for every kid, which becomes less and less reasonable as the kids get older. My fifth period is doing book circles now, and they have a set number of pages to read every week and a group assignment to show me their comprehension. I met with a group a few days ago and found them reading out loud âpopcornâ style, despite the fact that some members of the group are much more fluent readers than the others. Theyâd taken turns writing answers to the questions, too, so that some were totally illegible and others were works of art.
âLet your good readers read,â I told them. âLet your neat writers write, let your good artists draw the cartoon for your project, and let the leaders decide what pages youâre reading for homework tonight. Itâs okay if not everybody does the exact same things.â
6. How to readâand maybe even writeâfor pleasure.
Teaching this is my favorite part of my job. Lucky for me, itâs also the most important. Kids who read independently for pleasure go on to have greater success academically, professionally, and personally according to several well-documented studies. Modeling a love of reading, making room for passion in writing, and pointing kids toward the right books are all hugely important components of teaching middle school that are ignored by the standards.
There are skills I want my kids to have, of course, and there are always the ever-present standards. But if my seventh graders leave me a little better at these six things than they were at the beginning of the year, Iâll feel that Iâve done something to prepare them for the future, no matter what that future holds.