Middle School Kids and Their Teachers—Birds of A Feather?

Abstract

Middle years youngsters and their teachers are talkers. Both talk until they are finished, in spite of distractions. No one would argue this, I think, regarding the students but like behaviour has been observed at Middle Years conferences, at Middle Years executive meetings and, in fact, everywhere that Middle Years teachers congregate. Most of us have felt the frustration of trying to stop the talking in school library periods and study halls. All of us know that shared projects which allow oral interchange are much preferred by our students. And, is it coincidence that book publishers are beginning to realize that Middle Years teachers would rather talk to each other than look at book displays during conference coffee breaks? Middle Years students have been described as squirrelly, flaky, behaving like post-operative frontal lobotomy patients, and more. Middle Years teachers have been described by one leading expert as bordering on insanity. Both groups demand clarification of problems, and both are problem-solvers who seek multi-solutions for those problems that do arise. This is the reason that worksheets and recipe lessons are less than successful at this age level. Both the transescent and his teacher feel a great deal of stress and both care so intensely that they can be badly hurt. They care about each other, about the underprivileged, about nature and the environment, and their own daily developmental processes. They care so intensely that the ordinary and the mundane the tidied locker, the made bed, the courteous response become too insignificant to be consistently practiced. Both need trust to allow them to work toward the more balanced performance of the future. Both retain the need for involvement by the parents of the students. And both need support in working out the problems and the practices which allow maximum development. Middle Years students exhibit a need for a pal/confidante with whom to share one-to-one communication. Interestingly, Middle Years teachers have been shown to be under less stress