How to teach CER in middle school science

I got an email from a language arts teacher/coworker last week. She said she was using the CER (Claim Evidence Reasoning) framework for persuasive essays and asked if there is any common ground between our curricula. I nearly jumped for joy! CER is a technique for writing a lab conclusion in which students state their claim, provide the evidence supporting their claim, and then explain the reasoning that connects their evidence to their claim. CER is the best way for middle school students to structure their lab conclusions because it wraps lab evidence and science reasoning together with a claim. I love it because, when it’s used properly, CER forces students to make a claim and provide evidence that relates to it – skills that are noticeably absent in my 7th graders, especially this year. Here’s how I teach CER in my middle school science classroom.

What is a CER?

Claim, evidence, reasoning (CER) is a method of teaching critical thinking and scientific literacy that helps students to understand how to make and support scientific claims. The CER method involves three main components: a claim, evidence, and reasoning. A CER is a model for writing scientifically. In a CER, students must make a claim, justify their answer with data, and then connect the data with scientific reasoning. In language arts, this kind of writing is called persuasive writing.

The claim is the student’s answer to a question – what is the effect of mass on acceleration, or how do substances travel through a cell membrane.  It is simply a claim – no reasoning or explanation necessary. The claim is the “What I believe” portion of the CER. The claim is a statement that is being made about a scientific concept or phenomenon. It is a statement of what is believed to be true about a particular topic. For example, a claim might be that plants need sunlight to grow.

The evidence is the data that the students provides to support their claim – the measurements of acceleration taken on model racecars of two different masses or the observations of onion cells in salt water. The evidence provided can be qualitative or quantitative depending on the question being asked. In other words, the evidence is the “What I see” portion of the CER. Evidence is the data or information that is used to support the claim. This can include data from experiments, observations, or research studies. For example, evidence to support the claim that plants need sunlight to grow might include data from experiments showing that plants grown in a sunny location grow taller and have more leaves than plants grown in a shaded location.

The reasoning explains how or why the evidence supports the student’s claim – if a more massive racecar didn’t accelerate as fast as a lower mass racecar, then an increased mass reduces acceleration. If onion cells in salt water are shriveled, then water moves out through a cell membrane in hypertonic solutions. In other words, the reasoning is the “What it means” portion of the CER. The reasoning should include an explanation of the underlying science concept of the claim and evidence. Reasoning is the explanation of how the evidence supports the claim. It is the process of connecting the evidence to the claim and explaining why the evidence supports the claim. For example, the reasoning for the claim that plants need sunlight to grow might be that the energy from the sun is used by the plant to produce food through photosynthesis, which is essential for the plant’s growth.

The CER method can be used to teach students how to evaluate scientific information and to develop their own scientific arguments. By teaching students how to make claims, find evidence to support their claims, and reason about how the evidence supports their claims, teachers can help students to become more critical thinkers and to develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts.

Additionally, the CER method can be used to help students to communicate their scientific understanding to others. By learning how to clearly state their claims, present evidence to support their claims, and explain their reasoning, students can effectively communicate their understanding of scientific concepts to others, which is an important skill for scientists and science students.

Introducing CER in middle school science

A commonly used CER introduction in middle school is the “My dad’s an alien” advertisement which you can see on Youtube by clicking here. In this fantastic example, a little girl makes the claim that her father is an alien. She has lots of evidence including the weird noises he makes while gargling and his strange clothes.  While this ad does a great job connecting a claim with evidence, the reasoning must be inferred – normal dads don’t make those weird noises or wear strange clothes so he must be an alien. It’s a great way to begin to teach CER in middle school science.

Present students with other CER examples and have them analyze each examples by identifying the claims, evidence, and reasoning.

Fun CERs to learn with

cer templateAfter students have analyzed sample CERs, introduce them to a CER template. Download a simple template here or create your own.

The easiest way to get students to learn and practice the format of a CER is by using non-science content. Find ideas that students have prior knowledge of to provide a low barrier of entry. Make it interesting so that students are motivated to make a claim. Here are some ideas:

What’s happening in this photo? Present students with an image and ask them what’s happening and how they know that it’s happening. For example, ask students what animal made these footprints:

polar bear footprints

A reasonable claim is that a polar bear made the footprints. The evidence that is observable is that the foot appears to have toes and that it is made in the snow. The reasoning a student might provide is that bears are the only animals that live in snowy areas have feet shaped like this.

Here’s another example of how to teach CER in middle school science:

Claim: These two people are at a Christmas party.

Evidence: They appear happy and there is confetti in the air. They are wearing Santa hats.

Reasoning. We know it is a party because people throw confetti and appear happy at parties. We know it is Christmas time because the people are wearing Santa hats which people only wear at Christmas time.

Is a hot dog a sandwich? Students will need to pick a side, yes or no, and then defend it. They will have to define what a sandwich is and then apply the definition to the their experience of a hot dog by using the CER format. One response might be:

  • Claim – Yes, hot dogs are sandwiches.
  • Evidence – Hot dogs are bread and a filling.
  • Reasoning – Sandwiches are made of bread and a filling.

Is salsa a soup? An example of a response could be:

  • Claim – No, salsa is not a soup.
  • Evidence – Salsa is not eaten with a spoon.
  • Reasoning – Soup is eaten with a spoon.

Which invention is more important – television or airplane flight?

Which sport is more popular – soccer or American football?

Should students learn cursive in school?

 

CER Science examples

Once you’ve introduced the format of a CER and students have had opportunities to practice with general knowledge, it’s time to introduce some science-based CERs. Start out with more accessible science topics before you advance to having students use the CER technique for more formal lab conclusions. These are more complicated than the general knowledge CER examples because students will have to use more complicated analytical thinking to support their claims. Here are some examples:

  • Vegetarian diets are healthier for you.
  • Chicken soup is a good remedy for a cold.
  • The space program isn’t worth how much money it costs.
  • Electric cars will become more common in the future.
  • Social media is harmful to students.
  • Vinegar repels mosquitoes.

 

Tips for Using CER in the Classroom

Here are some tips to make it easier to teach CER in middle school science:

  • Ask students to highlight their claim in yellow, their evidence in green, and their reasoning in blue. Not only will it help students ensure that they have the three required parts to their CER,  it will also make it easier for you to grade!
  • The reasoning part of the CER is the hardest part for students to master. Provide them with sentence stems such as:
    • “This evidence supports my claim because…”
    • “I know this is true because…”
    • “Therefore…”
    • “This is important because…”
    • “The evidence suggests that…”
    • “Based on the evidence, I can infer….”

free c-e-r template

When you teach CER in middle school science, you are using a powerful teaching tool that can help students to develop critical thinking and scientific literacy skills. By learning how to make claims, find evidence to support their claims, and reason about how the evidence supports their claims, students can develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and become more critical thinkers. Additionally, the CER method can be used to help students to effectively communicate their scientific understanding to others.

 

Claim Evidence Reasoning CER Writing Practice for Middle School Science

Book Review: The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks

Engaging kids is challenging. I love science, but not everyone finds it as interesting as I do. It’s so frustrating when I’ve crafted a lesson that I think is so interesting and it falls flat. It’s tough to engage middle schoolers in science. One of the quickest ways I’ve found to get kids interested in science, though, is by story telling. So I tell them about Gregor Mendel and describe (what I imagine) life at the monastery was like. I tell them about Galileo’s house arrest and that Rosalind Franklin never won a Nobel Prize. Sometimes, they remember the house arrest but forget what Galileo did,  but, for the most part, story telling helps kids relate to and remember the science.

Which is why I picked up this book. The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks by Donald R. Prothero was published in 2018.

 

The premise of the book is that the author has chosen 25 events in history that have a type of rock as a pivotal component. Each chapter is devoted to the story of one of those 25 rocks and the events in history it precipitated. It’s told in the style of a story teller, which appeals to me, but it also combines history, sociology, and geology in a way that is engaging and thought provoking. This is not a stuffy science-y text book. It is instead a series of short stories, elegantly told and woven into a fabric.

The book starts with a bang. Chapter 1 is called “Volcanic Tuff” and it tells the story of the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius as reported by Pliny the Younger recording for posterity what his uncle, Pliny the Elder, saw and did during the eruption.

Later chapters explore native copper in which Prothero tells the story of Otzi the Ice Man, a fossilized hiker found in 1991 in the Austrian Alps. Otzi was carrying a copper bladed ax which dated him to the Copper Age. Tracing the evolution of human ingenuity from the Stone Age through today, Prothero describes early copper mining in Cyprus and the connection to copper formation and the mid-Atlantic ridge. Each chapter tells another level in the discovery of how the rocks reveal the story of the earth’s history.

This was an absolutely fabulous read – gripping in a way that non-fiction rarely is to me.

Human Body Systems Resources for Middle School

Middle and high school students need a working knowledge of the parts of the human body and how they interact, yet often times science teachers are ill prepared to help students with this content. There are 12 systems of the human body, and for each system, teachers need a slide show and notes, a hands on activity, review activities, and an assessment. For some teachers, the content is overwhelming and the prospect of teaching lists of body parts for students to memorize is daunting. These human body systems resources for middle school are all simple, no prep activities to reinforce the structure and function of the parts of the human body.

The NGSS standard MS-LS1-3 requires that middle school students be able to “Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.” Aside from the levels of organization, this standard asks that students be comfortable with the parts of the human anatomy and how they function together.  And on the high school level, HS-LS1-2 asks students to be able to “develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.”

While the structure and function of each of the body systems is best learned independent of each other, the entire organism as a compilation of organ systems is an important first step. Click here to download a free human body systems worksheet!

For each of the individual systems, students need practice. To develop a working knowledge of each of the systems of the human body, Team JustAddH2O has been working hard to ensure that our students have access to materials they need to succeed. Here are the resources we’ve already prepared and the resources we’re working on:

Self-grading Assessment Boom Cards (digital flash cards) Interactive Slide Show color by number crossword puzzle Pixel Art
skeletal system skeletal system assessment skeletal system boom cards skeletal system color by number skeletal system crossword puzzle
endocrine system endocrine system assessment endocrine system boom cards endocrine system crossword puzzle
integumentary system integumentary system assessment integumentary system boom cards integumentary systemcrossword puzzle
urinary system urinary system assessment urinary system boom cards urinary system crossword puzzle
cardiovascular system cardiovascular system assessment cardiovascular system boom cards cardiovascular system color by number cardiovascular system crossword puzzle
male repro male reproductive system assessment male reproductive system boom cards male repro system crossword puzzle
femal repro female reproductive system assessment female reproductive system boom cards female repro system crossword puzzle
nervous nervous system assessment nervous system boom cards nervous system color by number nervous system crossword puzzle
respiratory system respiratory system assessment respiratory system boom cards respiratory system crossword puzzle
muscular system muscular system assessment muscular system boom cards muscular system crossword puzzle
lymphatic system lymphatic system assessment lymphatic system boom cards lymphatic system crossword puzzle
digestive system digestive system assessment digestive system boom cards digestive system interactive notes digestive system color by number digestive system crossword puzzle digestive system pixel art worksheet

You can see we still have a few holes to patch with a few missing resources. If there’s a resource that’s missing that you’re eager to get on our list, let us know here!

Cricut for Teachers

I’m not super crafty, and I don’t have a lot of time. So, obviously, I need a Cricut. Hubby bought me one for Christmas and I’m pretty excited to see what I can do with it!

So far, I’ve managed to unbox it and set it up on a table in a spare bedroom.

 

Will the spare room become my crafting room? Will Cricut take over my life? Will every item in my house be personalized by this time next year? How many custom cards and customized tee shirts will I accumulate? How long before my school bags are personalized? Will I write my students’ names on their desks, or custom cut labels for everything in my classroom? Only time will tell, but I think it’s a good bet that the dog will have a custom collar before winter break is over!

Follow along on this adventure by following me on TikTok!

Time Management for New Teachers

The teacher across the hall from me is in her classroom before me every day, head bend over her laptop. “Good morning!” I call into her door every day.

When I leave at the end of the day, she’s still there, head bent over her laptop. “Have a good night!” I usually yell into her room. But yesterday, instead, I stopped in the door and asked her if everything was ok.

She looked up. Her face was tired. She was slumped. Her desk was covered with papers, a half cup of coffee, three text books, a pile of photocopied worksheets, a pile of ungraded work, her cell phone, and two water bottles, one of which was lying on its side. “What’s up?” she asked me, a very tired but friendly smile on her face.

“Just heading out. Do you need a hand?”

She looked surprised and I felt badly that I hadn’t offered before. “No,” she said looking around. “I’m just catching up.”

I’m not a lecturer, but she needs to hear this, and you might, too. The work of a teacher is never done. There’s always something else you could be doing. But you don’t have to work constantly.  You can walk away before everything’s done. In fact, you have to walk away before everything’s done because everything is never done.

There are tricks to time management for teachers, but we don’t always do a good job communicating them to new teachers. You can set boundaries and develop a strategy that allows you to go home at the end of the day without bringing work home. Here are the tricks to time management I wish someone had told me when I was a new teacher.

 

Why do teachers need Time Management?

Teaching is all consuming. I’m contracted to work for 8 hours a day, but I could easily spend double that and still never hit the bottom of the to-do pile. Even if all of the grading and planning and parent contact and administrative paperwork and student supervision were done, I would still be able to find piles and piles of training and development and decorating and organizing tasks to keep me busy for the rest of my life. No one is surprised that teachers around the country are feeling record breaking burnout, and there are obvious structural changes that need to be made on the administrative and district level, but individual human beings occupying the role of teacher have a responsibility to their families, their students, and, most importantly, to themselves to make sure that they don’t get sucked into the black hole. Managing the hours that you are at work helps create structure and reduce overload and, hopefully, reduce burnout.

 

12 Secrets to Teacher Time Management

Must be done but not necessarily today:

  • grade papers
  • contact parents
  • administrative paperwork
  • clean and put away used lab materials

Optional:

  • decorate my classroom
  • professional journals, workshops, trainings
  • volunteer supervision of students

3. Set a schedule. Once you know what your priorities, decide when you will do them. I teach 5 or 6 classes a day and have a prep period and a lunch period every day. The mandatory things I must do today are the things I do on my prep period. Some days, there isn’t enough time to get everything done.  If they don’t get done today, then they will get done tomorrow! Some days, there’s extra time so I can chip away at the next lower priority items. The key is to be very purposeful in your prep time. My classroom door is shut, my email is turned off, and I do the things that I have to do. If I want to chat with a friend or make a phone call,  I do that during my lunch period.

4. Pomodoro it. To help me with my focus, I use something called the Pomodoro method (I’m using it right now as I’m writing this article!). If I have a 50 minute block, I set my timer for 20 minutes and I work for 20 minutes. When my timer goes off, I take a 5 minute break or spend 5 minutes doing something lower priority but different. For example, if I was grading papers for 20 minutes, I might spend my 5 minutes cleaning lab supplies or making photocopies. If my 20 minutes of work time was intense lesson planning, my 5 minutes of break time could be filling out administrative paperwork or calling a parent or stapling up part of a bulletin board. The key is to do something different – a change is as good as a break. If you need a break, go for a walk around the school or have a cup of coffee in the courtyard, but keep it to 5 minutes. then, return back to your workspace and put in another 20 minutes of intense work time. Using the Pomodoro method – work for 20 minutes, break for 5 minutes, work for 20 minutes – I can get more done with better focus. Working for 20 minutes at a time is far less draining than working for 50 minutes straight, and I end up getting more done because I haven’t had a loss of focus.time management for teachers

5. To Do Lists. I use my old fashioned hand written plan book for my to-do list. In the spaces on my plan book where my preps go, I fill in tasks that need to be done. This accomplishes three things. First, it reminds me of what I have to do which is important because we juggle so many tasks that it’s easy to forget. Second, writing the task in the plan book sets it as a time bound item. This activity (call Johnny’s mother, write sub plans for personal day next week, whatever) will get done during that time because I’ve planned for it. Third, writing the task gets it out of my head. I don’t have to think about it until the time it’s schedule for, freeing my brain for all of the other things I need to think about. Another benefit is that I really enjoy crossing things off 🙂

6. Build routines. This is more of a mindset than an actual teacher time management trick or tip. To help me accomplish more in the time that I have, I set up certain routines that work for me by pairing activities together. For example, I do my photocopying on the way to the restroom. I pick up my coffee when I sign in in the morning. I take attendance while my students are doing their bellringers. I check email three times a day – when I first get to school, at lunch time, and before I leave in the afternoon. I’ve never missed an “urgent” email.

7. Collaborate. I work closely with other middle school science teachers in my building. We plan lessons, labs, and enrichment activities together and write assessments together and make copies for each other. We even share lab supplies. This serves a few purposes. First, it reduces each of our personal work loads. I don’t have to do my lesson plans this week because the other teacher did them. I don’t have to make copies because someone else made them for me. The DNA extraction lab is already set up on the cart. A second purpose of collaborating with my colleagues is that the administrators, guidance department, and special services LOVE that we’re all on the same page all the time. Parents never call to say this teacher gives more homework than that teacher. Every seventh grade science student has a test on the same day. Everyone’s work is easier. Time management for teachers often means working with other people who can manage your to do list.

8. Use self-grading assessments. I can’t stress this one enough. My own personal teacher time management has been 100% better since I learned how to use self-checking assessments. I use them for formative activities like do now and homework and I use them for summative assessments like tests and quizzes. Although they started as an answer to remote teaching in 2020, I will never go back to paper and pencil assessments  because of how much time I’ve saved.

9. Use Doctopus. For lab reports and essays, the management and organization of them is just as hard as grading them, but I found an easier way. Doctopus is a Google extension that imports your assignments from Google Classroom and organizes them in way that makes them easier to grade.

10. Use small chunks of time. Students are finishing a test? Grade some papers. Assembly or hall duty? Bring your laptop and do some planning or write some parent emails.

11. Use teacher made activities. You don’t have to recreate the wheel. There are literally millions of resources on TeachersPayTeachers (and a few hundred on the JustAddH2OSchool store, too!). Teachers before you have created labs, worksheets, handouts, lessons, slide shows, and assessments and most are very inexpensive. If you’re running short of time and need a lab, spend $2-3.

12. Ask for help. When your supervisor asks you to do something additional – volunteer for a committee, help create a workshop, design a school wide program – be sure to ask for clarity. For me, it sounds like this: “Can you help me identify which of my responsibilities are priorities this week?” I want to send the message that I’m a team player – I’ll do what it takes for my students to be successful – but my plate is only so big. If you add to my plate with something new, then you’re going to have to take something off my plate. Suggest that you’ll work on this additional task instead of your non-instructional duty – hall duty or cafeteria duty or bus duty maybe, or attending a faculty meeting or supervising during an assembly.  Teacher time management in this case is really just administrator management.

8 Test Prep Strategies that Work!

Life would be great if I could spend every day letting my students engage with phenomena and explore science concepts – aside from the relationships that build with students, it’s my favorite part of teaching. I love watching middle schoolers get curious, ask questions, and figure things out. I love the lightbulb moments. I bet we all do. But my administrators (and the parents in my District) still expect me to give traditional assessments and to prepare my students for standardized assessments in the spring. Middle school science teachers can help their students prepare for tests using best practices. Here are my top 8 test prep strategies that work – and don’t squash curiosity and still engage kids.

1. Be positive.

If you tell kids they’re going to fail a test, then they will fail a test. I’m sure you’re not actually saying the words “You’re going to fail,” but we communicate in many ways. Our own personal anxiety over our students’ performance is detectable by tone of voice, gestures, distractibility, and attitude. If I’m concerned over my students’ success on an assessment, they will know it. A little anxiety is good –  students being concerned for their graded boosts studying – but too much is detrimental. “Of course you can do this,” is the atmosphere we want to create. “This is your time to shine!” I tell my students when they walk in. “It’s your moment of glory!” Encouraging post-its on their desks or repeating affirmations before an assessment can help built this positive atmosphere on a daily basis.

2. Create a growth mindset.

Students will perform better when they think they can perform better. I know – easier said than done. But there is an abundance of resources available to help you with this. The best tools I know of to build that grit that we all know is so important are escape rooms. Not only are they super engaging, but they also provide intermittent intrinsic rewards as students solve smaller puzzles building their “I can” attitude. Here’s a free escape room for you to try out.

3. Chunk it

Each of my large units is broken up into 5-6 chunks, and each chunk takes about a week to cover. For each chunk I use the 5 Es to engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate the content. For example, a typical “chunk” might include a phenomenon with some time for students to explore independently and ask questions followed by a more traditional teacher led lesson with vocabulary and notes. I try to include a lab experiment or an activity for each chunk, and then I review the chunk of material and assign an assessment on that chunk of material.  The assessment might be a lab report or a formative quiz or a poster or any number of different was students can demonstrate mastery.

At the end of the 5-6 weeks, there is a summative assessment of the more traditional style. If you review in chunks and assess in chunks, the larger summative assessment is more manageable for students.

4. Spiralize it

A spiral curriculum is one in which students are exposed to the same content at a higher level after a period of time. For example, we might teach what cells are in first grade, what a nucleus is in third grade, the parts of a cell in fifth grade, and by seventh grade we’re ready for more complicated things like photosynthesis and mitosis. The benefit of a spiral curriculum is that students are learning by building on prior knowledge. Over the course of your entire year’s worth of science curriculum, look for ideas that overlap.

For example, decomposition and the formation of organic matter in the development of soil is a topic I talk about in my first unit, but I also revisit decomposition and decomposers in the food chain unit later in the year.

Take advantage of opportunities like that to review and reinforce what your students have already mastered earlier in the year. This helps students build connections which helps them understand and retain information better.

5. Remediate it.

Using your formative assessments, identify students who are not keeping up and then give them extra attention. This doesn’t have to be after school or a special arrangement. Stand closer to them during direct instruction or independent work. Ask them easy softball questions to build their confidence. Identify what piece of the puzzle they’re missing and fix it for them.

6. Practice it.

If your assessment is multiple choice, then you should be practicing multiple choice questions with your students. Show them how to analyze questions and eliminate choices. If your assessment is short answer format, then you should  be practicing short answer questions. Model using data to support their statement. Practice on questions with multiple parts and practice answer all of the parts of the question.

7. Use fun review activities.

My kids love games – honestly, what kid doesn’t (or what adult doesn’t)? So I have a ton of games for each unit we cover. Here are my favorite games to use for review:

2 player digital racing games – Man, these are new and steamy hot! My kids love them and beg for more. If you haven’t tried them, here’s a free one for you!

Quizlet Live – Too much fun. Students work cooperatively in small groups competing against the rest of the class. They’ll forget they’re learning.

Blooket – If you know, you know. This is the one I catch them playing when they’re supposed to be doing something else.

Kahoot – An oldie but a goodie. Never goes out of style. The music makes them dance.

Gimkit – Paid product only, but kids love the animations.

Quiz games – Games like Charades, Taboo, Jeopardy and Hollywood Squares are great because kids are already familiar with the rules.

File Folder Games – Kids love making these and playing these. Try it, you’ll like it.

I have Who has – I play this with a timer and record how long it takes each class to complete one round. I write each class’s time on the board and leave it there for every other class to see. They love being the class with the best record. If you’ve never played, here’s a free I have Who has template for you!

Scoot – Lay task cards around the room or hang them on the walls. Students travel from one card to another, recording their answers to each task card on a recording sheet. Sometimes I let students move to the next card at their own pace. Other times, I play music and they move when the music stops. I also might set a timer to let them know when to move.

8. Use fun independent practice activities.

When you’re not reviewing with the whole class, offer students fun ways to review and practice on their own. Here are some examples:

Boom cards – These digital task cards are super simple to create and free to use, although there is a paid membership that improves the data available to teachers. If you’ve never tried Boom cards, here’s a free deck for you. Use my referral link to sign up for Boom cards and save 10%!

Magic Pictures – When students get the answers correct, parts of a picture are revealed. Instant feedback helps students build mastery and take ownership of their own learning. If you’ve never tried one, here’s a free one for you!

Quizziz – Provides instant feedback to students on how well they’re preparing for an assessment. Once you create a quizziz for your students, you’ll be able to see how often they’ve played and how they scored so you get some formative feedback as well.

You’ve got this

In summary, what’s the key to successful test prep? Preparation.

Is Odd Better?

Dr. Seuss famously said ‘You have to be odd to be number 1.”

Which brings up 2 important questions for me.

First, is it important to be a student’s “favorite” teacher?  Do students learn better from teachers they like?

The second question Dr. Seuss’s quote brought up for me asks if odd teachers are better teachers? Do you have to stand out to be outstanding?

Follow along as I delve into these two thoughts…..

Favoritismmiddle schoolers

Everyone likes to be liked. Everyone loves to be loved. It warms my heart when a students says I’m their favorite and I’m sure it does yours also. But does that mean that they’re learning?

My second period this year was challenging. In terms of behavior, there were a few impulsive kids and a few inattentive kids which made crafting engaging activities tricky. In terms of ability, there were a few 504s and an IEP. I worked really hard to form relationships with them. I saved all my energy for that class so that I could entertain, keep their attention, and give them a little science in the most palatable way possible.

In June, just before school let out, one boy told me I was “sometimes mean.” I was hurt. I had bent myself into pretzels trying to build relationships with them. I had saved my best jokes for them, gave them down time and brain breaks as often as possible, and spent a few minutes every day chatting with them individually – “How’s your day going?” “What are you going to name your new dog?” “How was the softball game?” So I was hurt. What could I possibly have done that this student perceived as mean?

So I asked some probing questions. Without accusation but from a conversational tone, I asked “What did I do that makes you say I’m mean?”  His answer: “You gave us homework.”

After some conversation, he told me that my standards were high and that was what he perceived as mean. “But you’re still my favorite teacher,” he added.

“But I’m mean?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but you help us learn everything even though you give us a lot of work.”

I’m ok not being their favorite – I work with many very talented teachers who are gifted educators and I don’t need to compete for my own ego. But I do think that kids learn better from teachers that they like, and, probably more importantly, from teachers that they think like them. If you don’t have a relationship with your students, they are not going to learn what you want them to learn.

Oddness some of my favorite people are weird

What students call oddness might be interpreted as originality. If every class is exactly the same predictable class, your day would be really boring.

In my seventh period class this year, I had a student transfer in to the district in February. The winter is long and we were all getting bored of each other, so this new student was a welcome distraction. The day before he was supposed to come to class, I appointed one student to be the seat and lab partner for the new student and had everyone brainstorm ways they could help him get acclimated to our school. On the big day, many of my seventh graders stopped by my room to tell me they had met the new boy and share all of their intel with me. When he walked in to science, one girl said to him, “Science isn’t like the other classes. You’ll like this one.”

While science teachers are often perceived as “odd,” I fit well within the parameters of a middle school teacher. I don’t wear Ms. Frizzle clothes and my lessons are pretty generic science lessons – nothing ever explodes (much to my middle schoolers’ chagrin) and we never get into magic school buses for surprise field trips. But this promise that science wasn’t like the other classes felt like a blessing. What a compliment!

I don’t know what makes me “odd,” but I do know that I love my students and enjoy being with them. Is that what makes me odd? I know that I work very hard to craft activities that are relevant and interesting. Is that odd? I also know this – some of my favorite people are weird.

What do you think?  Do you have to be odd to be number one? Should you even try to be number one? Let me know in the comments.

What do you need?

I’m a mediocre multitasker. I can make a phone call while I’m walking the dog. I can listen to an audio book while I clean the bathroom. I can grade papers on hall duty. But I still don’t have enough time to get everything done. At the end of the week, I haven’t reached the end of my to-do list. Ever.

Does that sound familiar? Maybe we can help each other out. For the past 3 years, I’ve been working on this little store. I’ve made middle school science resources and sold them to thousands of teachers around the world. I like to think that I’m making their lives easier because they don’t have to do the prep work, and they’re making my life easier because I can afford to put gas in my car this week. There are a few hundred resources in my store – click here for a catalog if you’re interested.

But here’s where I need your help. I’ve got it mostly all covered – every content area and every type of resource. Let me know what kinds of resources and what topics you need, and I’ll help you out by sending you something for free. Fill out this form if you’ve got 2 minutes to help me out!

 

35% off sale now through January 1, 2023

TWO giant sales are hitting the ground this week.

First, the JustAddH2OSchool store is celebrating its anniversary by offering 35% off EVERYTHING in the store! Use coupon code H2O22 to save 35% off everything from now until January 1, 2023!

Click here to shop:

 

The TPT Cyber Monday 2022 sale is here! Nearly everything on TeachersPayTeachers will be offered for 25% off on Monday, November 28 and Tuesday, November 29. Use code CYBER22!

Click here to shop: