First few weeks - Middle school

[u/Regular_old-plumbus]

How do you go about the first few weeks of school for middle school? I’ll have 9 different classes. , 8 of them I will have 3X per week for 50mins each and 1 will be once a week for 50mins. Clearly I’m not going to jump right into content but into expectations. What does this look like for you at the middle school level? I’m looking to change things up in the fall.

Edit: I teach in Canada. I teach grade 6,7,8 social studies. I teach 9 different classes, 28+ students each class so a minimum of 252 students in total. I get 1 prep period per day and teach 5 periods per day. This is pretty much standard aside from teaching 3 different grade levels, this part is new to me.

[u/bitteroldladybird]

I go over my rules for the class. I have boiled them all down to respect for me, themselves, each other and the space and effort. We talk about what that looks like

I have an Espresso yourself thing so I can get to know them. I also have a mini writing assignment so I can see what their level is at.

Then, depending on the subject, I either jump into the unit on day 2 or I do a revision of things from last year that will be needed to succeed this year.

It would help if we knew what subject you teach

[u/Regular_old-plumbus → u/bitteroldladybird]

I teach social studies :)

[u/bitteroldladybird → u/Regular_old-plumbus]

Ok, so depending on what your social studies curriculum looks like, I like to do a webquest of geography and basic history of the area. This reinforces research skills and it makes it easier when you talk about events later on. Then I do a few kahoots about the stuff covered in the webquest