Tell people you teach middle school and youâll get one of two responses:
- You are a saint.
- Ew, why?
Middle school teachers can go on for hours about why itâs the best age group ⊠and it totally is. But it is incredibly difficult, too, for a whole plethora of reasons.
1. The competition for their attention is fierce.
Elementary schoolers love learning. You tell them theyâre going to learn fractions or write an essay or whatever it is they do, and they express their joy with hugs and handmade drawings. High schoolers, on the other hand, see the real world rapidly approaching, and eventually realize they should probably get their shizz together before it hits them like an oncoming bullet train.
Yeah, middle schoolers donât do any of that. Instead, school is an eight-hour-a-day prison that serves no higher purpose, and good luck convincing them otherwise.
2. They are in a constant state of bodily betrayal.
Emotional whiplash. Everything is smelly or hurts. A voice that occasionally jumps into a spontaneous yodel. This level of constant change would have any adult questioning if theyâd been cursed, but add in an underdeveloped frontal cortex and every day is a literal disaster. Exponents and thesis statements are the least of their problems.
3. Middle schoolers will do anything to fit in. Anything.
And more and more, âanythingâ is synonymous with âsend nudes.â Seriously, middle school kids will do whatever it takes to feel accepted by their peers, and creating a culture in which itâs OK to be smart and motivated is insanely difficult. It requires an army of teachers and administrators and parents all sending a consistent message, and even then it can be derailed by one popular kid with a bad attitude.
4. They are biologically hardwired for chaos.
Scientists have discovered that the prefrontal cortex, the decision-making part of the brain, doesnât finish developing until a personâs mid-20s. What scientists are now learningâbased on feedback from parents and teachersâis that it disappears altogether from 6th to 8th grade. Poof. Gone. Seriously. Ask a 13-year-old why he launched his chili dog up into the cafeteria rafters and heâll just stare at you condescendingly, like, Duh, it belongs there.
5. They can be kind of ruthless.
I mean, I love them. But take that steaming hot brew of insecurity, impulsivity, and hormonal imbalance, and youâll find itâs the rare middle schooler who doesnât occasionally victimize someone in their life to make themselves feel better. Itâs hard to balance high expectations with compassion, especially if you remember just how tough those years can be.
So basically, if you teach middle school, youâre thrown into a cross between Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest, and Good Night, Gorilla (in which all the animals have escaped from their cages but are inexplicably exhausted). Yet rather than focus on basic survival for you and your charges, youâre expected to make them proficient in a variety of multiple-choice-assessable skills while also preventing total emotional meltdown (theirs or yours) on an hourly basis.
Hang in there, middle school teachers. Donât let the chaosâor the smellâget you down. Theyâre hearing you, even if it doesnât seem like theyâre listening, and youâll often find that the things you taught them bear fruit years down the road. Because thatâs the part that makes teaching middle school worth it. Eventually, these awkward critters you shepherded through a difficult year will come back and visit you. Theyâll be taller, better-groomed, and astoundingly articulate. And probably hungry, so keep a box of granola bars in the file cabinet. And seeing them semi-grown up and functioning like human beings will remind you why itâs all worth it.
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![Middle-School-Hard Though it's often lovely, teaching middle school is hard. See why one teacher says this age is particularly, uh, special.](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/Middle-School-Hard-683x1024.jpg)