A Day in the Life of Seventh Grade Teacher

Crushes. Conflicts with friends. Social status. Peer pressure.

The world of a seventh grader is riddled with problems that extend far beyond their geometry textbooks.

Whereas elementary students are eager to please authority figures and high school students are focused on boosting their GPAs, students in middle school are often lost in a place where they're trying to carve an identity and demonstrate their uniqueness.

For teachers, navigating the complicated world of early adolescence can be daunting.

"They're very immediate and they're very "˜I'-centered," Dr. Susan Rakow says of seventh graders.

The clinical assistant professor of curriculum and foundations at Cleveland State University, Rakow taught seventh grade at Beachwood Middle School in Ohio and in Cleveland Heights for the better part of 30 years.

During a time when school dances and making the basketball team are critical life issues, schoolwork can easily be neglected"oftentimes deliberately, she says.

"They face a lot of pressure not to achieve," Rakow says of seventh graders. "If you're a nerd, that's not a very high prestige level."

To bring focus back to the schoolwork, teachers should try to build personal relationships with their students. Rakow suggests asking students questions about their lives outside of school and sharing bits of information about yourself"such as talking about a book you read or a movie you saw recently"to help students view you on a more human level. When they see teachers as real people, students may be more inclined not to let them down.

Because the seventh grade life stage is one of self-exploration and creativity, teachers should keep in mind that students have interests outside of the classroom, Rakow says, recalling a seventh grader who doodled in her class constantly several years ago and has since published several graphic novels.

To help curb note-passing, gossip-filled distractions in the classroom, Buffy Jobe, a seventh grade language arts teacher at Glynn Middle School in Brunswick, Ga., says teachers must establish a strong presence in front of their students. Seventh graders are likely to take advantage of teachers who are too passive and will be more likely to respect caring, yet dominant, school leaders.

 "Don't let them see you sweat," Jobe says. "Try to maintain emotional composure. Young teachers tend to take things personally, but it's not personal."

And because preteens are so driven by the "now," Rakow, who taught seventh grade English, suggests talking to students about why math or writing skills are important to grow as a person now and aren't just skills they'll need later in life.
 
In order to teach those critical skills, Jobe says she keeps lesson plans a surprise"nothing disengages seventh graders more than knowing every Monday is a pop quiz and every Thursday is silent reading. Jobe often plans group activities"but usually only those that last a few minutes so students don't become bored.

And for her, one of the biggest rewards of teaching seventh grade is having an opportunity to see how the lessons she instilled transcend over time and into the next school year.

"Eighth grade"you teach them and then they're gone," Jobe says. "I really like to see my kids around another year. I like to keep my eye on my kids."

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