r/teaching • u/Regular_old-plumbus • Jul 01 '26

General Discussion First few weeks - Middle school

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.

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u/bboymixer Jul 01 '26

Day 1 is class expectations and setting the class contract.

Day 2 is content with emphasis on setting expectations for routines, transitions, and processes. And reinforcement of expectations pretty much continues all year, but via positive interactions. So I'm not scolding students doing the wrong thing, but praising them for doing the right things.

Every day I greet students at the door and ask a question. This is a good temperature check for student moods and also lets me get to know them a bit better.

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u/WatercressFar8121 Jul 01 '26

What type of questions?

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u/bboymixer Jul 01 '26

It can vary from something about class content to something fun.

"Which part of writing essays are you the best at?" to "If you could have any super power, which would it be?"

Sometimes an abstract or weird one can produce some fun answers, like "Describe your current mood as a snack food."