March 6, 2018 / The Musings

What Students Really Need from School: Part 1

Over the years, I have observed that the needs of students Ages 13-15 (Grades 8-10) differ pretty widely from their older high school peers. I was blessed with positive a middle school experience because I was in a school that cared for me as a person before academics. I also had a fabulous student teaching experience in a sixth grade classroom that offered some quality community to students instead of simply shuffling them around.

Our school systems are stuck in an orbit

around a single-minded focus: Test Scores and Academic Achievement as it compares to the rest of the world. This is deeply short-sighted and we are already seeing the effects. Burned out teachers. Burned out students.

It’s time to analyze the broad needs of students and boldly adjust our system.

So, what exactly do our 13-15 year-olds need?

I give the following answers in order of importance, based on my experience and observations.

Emotional and Mental Needs

Community: Students ages 13-15 need consistent people in their lives. People they can count on each day. This includes both staff and peers at school.
The need to be known: The community needs to be intentional and wide-ranging, beyond merely a shared academic experience. Students need adults and peers who can celebrate a long-awaited success from failure. They need adults and peers who will know the whole story when things fall apart at home. These students are in the prime time of developing their identity and self-image, and when they are really known by more than just their academics and external behavior, they will thrive as human beings. They will make better choices. And when they themselves know and share in others’ stories, they will generally be kinder and more compassionate.
Supervised restrooms: This one is tricky. I understand that we must protect the adults, but so much drama occurs in the restrooms. Drugs. Bullying. These run rampant because students are on their own, free to be their worst versions and prey on the vulnerable. Adults must be in the restroom. Maybe in pairs, whatever, we have got to figure this one out.

I know that big middle schools offer wider academic options, but so often these independent, yet vulnerable, developing humans get lost in the shuffle with no one to consistently love and support them and no one to consistently love and support. In my K-8 experience, with only one class per grade, I was able to share life with the same group of students for several years as we grew up. I cherish the memories.

Wellness and Wholeness

Restorative Discipline: Students this age need to know that adults see their potential. Discipline needs to be productive and offer students a chance to grow.
Guided Independence: Especially when it comes to cell phones and hall passes and leaving the classroom.
Boundaries: In order to make wise choices, students need clear instructions for what is okay and what is not, both for their own health and well-being, and in society in general. They need constant reminders, and not just in the heat of moment.
Opportunities to take responsibility for the care of self, classmates, and school on a daily basis: Cleaning up the classroom and restroom, writing encouraging notes to one another, meditation, etc.
Exercise: Recess. Yes, even in middle school and early high school. It’s good for the body and even better for the mind and imagination. Especially since they cannot yet leave campus during the day. Recess is excellent guided independence.

Academic

Literacy in reading, math, writing, civics, science: If we can scale back the high stakes testing and roll some of the literacy in reading, math, and writing into subjects like civics and science, content coverage could increase all around and probably be more interesting to our students. We desperately need more rigorous attention in civics and science, but they get lost in the mire of high stakes testing.
Some choice: These students are just learning to be independent. They need some autonomy over their academics, but not everything needs to be offered. If some choice is sacrificed in the name of smaller schools, smaller classes, and more intentional community during these years, our students will be more than okay.
A Reason Why: An answer to to “Why are we learning this?” that goes beyond “Because you’ll need it for college”.

I offer as a solution, more obvious integration between subjects so that students begin to understand the connection between subjects. We wonder why our students do not apply their language arts writing skills to their social studies or science assignments. Well, we physically separate these subjects in different rooms behind closed doors, so in students’ minds, it’s hard to see the connection.

We all know that teachers in our current system are overworked, and that clearly one teacher cannot teach all the subjects, and it’s easier for students to move around the school than teachers, and open concept teaching is a noisy disaster. We need to give teachers more time to work together outside teaching hours. And in my student teaching experience, I had a morning group of students who shared reading, writing, and social studies in back-to-back class periods for three hours. Then I had an afternoon group. It provided some community and integration of subjects.

We could be more radical in our approach, but it was a good start.