We've all had nightmares about it: the strict teacher with a German accent and pigtail buns waiting to slap her ruler on the next student that moves a muscle. Thank goodness that this (mostly) doesn't happen anymore, at least physically, but are modern teachers verbally slapping kids with a ruler when they move mentally?
The number one factor that my sister wishes were different in her middle school is more chances to speak. The last thing middle schoolers, or any student, needs is to be talked at all day, for a variety of reasons. The students are damaged both academically and personally. Sadly, the teaching styles in many middle school classrooms do not lend themselves to directly involving students, except maybe asking them a review question here and there. "I want more talking time," my 7th-grade sister Hannah said with a dramatic pound of her fist on the kitchen table. "You can't express yourself. You are just given facts. BORING." Basically, the schoolday is a mass feeding of trivia that may be useful on Jeopardy someday, but for real world critical thinking skills. Of course, teaching facts is inevitable. But if the teacher never encourages students to tap into the hows and whys of the facts, the students are merely parrots, regurgitating what they have heard. Memorization is on the lowest rung of the taxonomy ladder, after all. "Put us in groups," Hannah suggests. "Give us interesting stuff to discuss! Oh, and reward us. Candy is good." Take notes, future teachers. Go for more than memorization. Probe students for discussion. Have a jar of candy in your classroom. And not the cheap off-brand kind, either. "Preferably Reeses!" Hannah adds.
Not only do few talking opportunities damage students academically, it also damages them developmentally and personally. Remember back when you were in middle school? You had no clue who you were. There were a million different thoughts going through your head. You didn't know who you wanted to be. You were beginning to form your own ideas, but still heavily relied on your peers for guidance. You wanted to be an individual, but you were afraid to deviate too far from the norm.
Middle school is the prime time middle schoolers need to find their voice. Those thoughts floating around need an outlet. I went to a middle school and a high school that stifled and I didn't have to think for myself until college when I absolutely HAD to. I was used to having information fed to me and having to regurgitate it on test day. I never had to synthesize any of my own ideas. Middle school is the prime time for students' abstract thought processes to develop. These years when students are forming the person they will be for the rest of their life need to be full of talking, because talking equals thought processing. If a teacher makes his/her classroom an environment where free thought is encouraged, the student will learn to think independently. If every student is expected to express their opinion, the student will experiment with his/her own ideas and eventually learn what he/she believes and who he/she is. There will be an open forum. A community, if you will. Now that's a nice word! Community.
The classroom that throws information at students without any input from them is more of a tyranny than a community. I explained to Hannah that the modern middle school is a proponent of classrooms that are a community. "What does a community mean to you," I asked her, "and what would it mean for your classroom?" "Community means interacting with people other than 10 minutes at lunch. I'm not kidding, it's like ten minutes." She basically has to eat or talk. Not both. "I would rather go to jail than go to school!" I laughed and asked what would make a jail better. "Well....they don't control you...and you can wear whatever you want..." I looked at her skeptically and we both burst out laughing. "Well maybe not," she continued, "but at least you get free food and tv, and they let you go to the bathroom whenever you want. School expects you to hold it for 8 hours. Really?" By this point I was nearly crying with laughter. But, this is truly a quite serious matter. Hannah's budding mind has no opportunities to express ideas, and as we all know, a mind is a terrible thing to waste! Memorization without synthesizing ideas is not only monotonous; it stunts the student's academic and personal development. Hannah continues, "I hate school. I dislike most of my teachers. School is horrible and I want it to go away." "What would make you say the opposite: that you love school, you love most of your teachers, school is awesome and you want it to stay forever?" I asked. "If the teachers didn't yell at you for stupid stuff and actually cared about you and let you wear what you want and listen to the type of music you want. I know they can't make everything fun, but they can make it better by giving it some variety." And that variety is talk time. The teacher is sending a message by not allowing his/her students to talk, and it is: "I don't care about your ideas." Whether that is the teacher's intention or not, that is how the students will feel. Just like the nightmare teacher ruler-slaps students who physically, some teachers ruler-slap students when they mentally move, or think, in other words. The students are being suppressed. This restrictive classroom environment is not conducive to learning.
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