I’m lucky to be teaching all kinds of different ages of students in various schools. In fact, there’s only one age group I haven’t taught– and that’s high school.
I’ve subbed for lower and upper elementary grades, been a 5th grade science teacher, subbed middle school grades and even taught college-aged students.
It feels like my brain has had to “switch gears” to mentally adjust to whatever age group I was teaching.
I had to be creative!
In my experience, I’ve found that there are many similarities and differences among these age groups.
Making Connections No Matter the Age or Stage
“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” Dr. James Comer
Most students want to form a connection with their peers and teachers. Even students who seem disconnected or disruptive in class still want to build those relationships.
When I’m teaching upper elementary students (3rd, 4th and 5th graders) it usually doesn’t take long to form a connection between myself and the students. They are eager to tell you a story, a joke or something about what they’re learning. It’s important to listen to them. Taking the time to listen really does help in establishing trust and cameraderie.
My favorite thing to share with students are “Dad Jokes”. I LOVE these eye-rollers!
Even if no one laughs, I do. It’s a great ice breaker.
After a few days, students will try to guess the punchline or they may even laugh and roll their eyes.
Humor can be disarming and is very much needed in the high-stress, standardized testing-crazed environment these kids are in everyday.
Middle schoolers are a different crowd. They may act tough, have an attitude and even try to ignore you.
In spite of this behavior, they want connections with others too.
Usually there are a few who want to test boundaries, especially if there’s a sub.
It’s important to talk to them in a way that doesn’t sound condescending. They don’t like being talked down to. Honesty is always best with them, because they can sense when you’re not being real. If they know you are being straight with them, they can start to trust you and ultimately focus on their work (hopefully!)
These students need encouragement and kindness and sometimes redirection. Eventually they will begin to interact with you, ask questions about assignments, or tell you about extracurricular activities they’re doing. This age group is my favorite because they are clever, humorous, and a little more independent.
And I’m not stuck with them all day long!
A few years ago I taught a couple of classes at a vocational college that had older students. The age range was from recent high school grads to career changers in their 50s and 60s. What a classroom dynamic that was!
Since these students were paying for their education, most were focused and had a business-like demeanor. For these adult students it’s important not to waste their time with busy work or too much independent work.
But it was also important to get to know them. Some were coming to class after working all day. Some had families to take care of. And some had difficult personal challenges they were going through. They also needed connections with their instructors and to see them as people they could trust to help them be successful in college.
Getting to the Roots of Student Behavior
“You are always responsible for how you act. No matter how you feel.” Unknown
I sometimes have to remind myself that students are not robots. They have feelings like I do.
They have good and bad days like I do.
They get tired just like I do.
Students tend to act out because they are tired or bored.
In this age of electronics and social media, some of these younger kids are up late at night playing video games with no real bedtime enforced. Some have too many activities scheduled after school and on weekends. It’s no surprise that these kids come to school exhausted and are either disruptive or trying to sleep in class.
Finding the cause of unexpected negative classroom behavior is important in order to find solutions.
Some of these solutions might include taking breaks, earning incentives for positive behavior, or giving students choices.
(However if the behavior is too disruptive and negative then a call home to a parent, office referral or a meeting with a school counselor might be needed.)
A student’s negative behavior might push a sub or teacher to react negatively and that almost always doesn’t change the behavior.
Middle schoolers might experience the same causes of negative behavior. They too may be over scheduled after school, stay up late on social media or have self esteem issues that cause them to be disengaged or disruptive in class.
A lot of the time their behavior is not about you as a sub or teacher. They might have a lot going on in their personal lives.
Sometimes a quick bathroom or water break may help., but some students may use this break to wander the halls if there are no hall monitors. (Some students want to act cool in front of their peers, and it can be annoying.)
Some other things that can be helpful are doing frequent check-ins with them on their class work or even asking them if they’re okay or need help.
In the middle school where I sub, each classroom has a “panic button” that teachers can use if there is a major behavior problem. I’ve only ever had to push that button once because a group of 6th grade boys started pushing and shoving each other and would not listen to me! An assistant principal responded right away and took care of the situation.
College student behavior is somewhat different. Sometimes these adult students arrive late to class because of traffic or staying late for work. Sometimes they leave early because of work or family matters. While they’re in class their attention is good for up to an hour. Any class longer than an hour is hard for them to concentrate fully.
I’ve had unusual situations occur while teaching college. For example, a young male student showed up to my evening class drunk. I had to lead him outside the classroom to sit while I contacted administration.
I’ve had a young female student get emotional during class and run out. I found her in the bathroom crying because she found out she was pregnant.
While these behaviors are serious and not the norm, they can happen and teachers and staff need to know what to do and how to best help these older students.
Utilizing All Kinds of Teaching Strategies
“Teaching is a creative profession, not a delivery system.” Sir Ken Robinson
My teaching strategies vary from one grade to the next and from one age group to the next. It keeps me on my toes!
Strategies even vary within one classroom because I could have a mix of English Language Learners (ELLs), Special Education (SPED), 504 students (504) and Gifted and Talented (GT). I have to get creative with teaching!
Elementary students have a long day at school. Even with transitions to other classrooms, library, specials (PE, art, music), lunch and recess it still drones on.
I’ve used music as a signal to clean up and line up, and that is always fun. Go Noodle videos are fun to do as well. Having special attention getters like “One, two, three, eyes on me” or “Clap once if you can hear my voice, clap twice, etc.” work to get everyone refocused.
Brain breaks, independent reading while listening to soft music, and stretch breaks usually work well for the younger students. It gives them a chance to breathe and refocus.
Incorporating hands-on activities help to break up the monotony of classwork and restores interest in the subject they’re learning about. This works very well in science classes! Games like Four Corners, Gallery Walks, Kahoot and Gimkit are fun and help keep students focused.
Elementary students need a lot of visual reminders like anchor charts posted around the room to help them remember processes or important facts.
Word walls are helpful especially for building academic and subject vocabulary. Sentence starters are good to have on the walls, too.
Having students build word walls throughout the year or even create anchor charts or bulletin board displays really gets them involved in their learning.
Middle schoolers can be overwhelmed with many classes and teachers. They may also need visuals in the classrooms to help them. I’ve seen many teachers use anchor charts that align with the unit they’re teaching. Some teachers have even had students create funny subject memes that can be used as helpful reminders of math processes. These students are almost always using a learning management system to watch instructional videos, play review games or upload class assignments.
As a sub, I’ve been allowed to bring in candy as an incentive for good behavior. Some schools have paper money as incentives so that students may earn it to buy things like lunch with a friend, treasure box toys, etc.
I’ve also had students earn free time for drawing or talking with their friends or playing board games. These are surefire incentives for all kinds of students. What age group can resist the sheer enjoyment of free time?
At the college level, there is more academic freedom for teachers to instruct how they choose. Yes!!
I truly loved being able to use a combination of teaching methods in order to make the classes interesting. I’ve used videos about concepts we were learning, played various styles of music to showcase different countries and cultures, and I even set up a chocolate taste test for students to try when talking about coffee and chocolate as economic commodities.
I also had a few guest speakers from local industries come present to the students. Since I had academic freedom, I could create as many or as few assessments as I wanted.
There are so many ways in which students of all age groups are similar and different. Having taught a variety of grades and age groups, I believe a teacher should use many different methods to make learning accessible and fun for each student. Creativity is the key in today’s education landscape.
“Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way.” George Evans
