Classroom Management in Middle School

by Jenny Sabbagh

Before teaching at Lawrence Intermediate School, I was always afraid to teach middle school. I thought that middle school students were impossible, filled with attitude and drama. Although a lot of this is true, my biggest success at Lawrence Intermediate School has been learning how to manage a middle school classroom. When I first started at LIS, I spent a good portion of the class time just trying to organize the students and get everyone focused so that they could pay attention to me. I spent so much time on this that learning almost took a back seat. As I got to learn the students and feel more comfortable, I found different ways to implement routines into our classroom. It was important to take into consideration individual children’s behavioral style. For example, some students that talk constantly had to be given three warnings and had to be dealt with more aggressively. Seating arrangement plays a big role in this as well. When arranging my seats for my unit, I strategically placed my students. Obviously, students that will talk were not put next to each other. Although there are obvious reasons for placing students in a certain way, I had no idea how complicated something like seating arrangements can be for a teacher! Surprisingly, where the students are seating greatly contributes to the overall atmosphere and success of the classroom. One particular student that I had constantly wanted to know EVERYTHING that was going on. It could have been the color of my hair tie that day, he had to know everything. This student needed to be in the front so that he paid attention, but I also made sure that he was not by my partner and me or our cooperating teacher. Although seating arrangements helped me with classroom management, I found routines to be the biggest help. When the students entered the classroom, they had to go to their seats and work on their vocabulary. If they didn’t have their vocabulary, they automatically start to talk and move around the classroom. Students were also told that they should not go to the bathroom if I am in front of the classroom teaching (unless it is an emergency, of course). These, along with many other routines, really help to make the class time run a lot smoother. If these routines were not put into place, a lot less learning would occur and so much more time would be spent on organizing and punishing the students.