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Supporting the Transition to Middle School

Added Aug 10, 2018 •

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hello this is Deborah and I'm the principal at Albany Middle School I'm going to be talking to you today a little bit about the transition to middle school and how to help your middle schooler be successful I think one of the main things that I think about is you want your child to be able to do by the time I leave middle school and even by the time they leave High School when you think about it in this way each particular assignment each particular social situations particular test all of those different it's not really about each one of those things it's really about what it is that they're learning from each of those days what skills are getting in place so that by the time they leave Middle School they are better equipped to handle future face I come up as you know crazy old school don't have any major impact on their lives After High School however they do help to show as an indicator how students are doing and to give you some idea of what other some of the things I really focus on what middle schoolers are the habits that you want them to have when they're in 6th grade although they may be pushing back and they may want to go to do things on their own they're the most open immalleable that they are going to be for the next 7 years of their lives I would take advantage of this when they come home each day from middle school asked them to take their planters out have them sit in a nice quiet spot without any electronics for doing their homework and as they get their homework done it make sure that they're checking their homework off in their planner and then directly into their backpacks these skills are skills that are seem so basic but make a difference for kids in terms of how well middle school goes for them I also think for the first time for many of them received and this is confusing to them and of course every student thinks it a is the gray that the only greater they can get what I would do is help your child to focus instead on the skills and the work habits that they have in place instead of on the letter grade of ticular which a lot of them don't really understand how to influence focusing with them on wow you got all your homework in this week are you really should approve it on that test on the last test when you're looking at areas with your child which is a great tool for General monitoring I would suggest looking once a week what you don't want to develop isn't over anxious child who is checking Aries every minute to see what are the grades of it updated weather they have what you want them to do is to use Ares is just a general check-in yes I have all my homework and things are going well looks like this week I've missed a couple another huge component I'm situation social dynamics make a lot of new friends as well sometimes there can be some I don't like to call it drama situations provide an opportunity for your child to figure out where their lines are what kinds of kids they want to be friends with long-term and how to assert themselves while being kind still think this is a really important piece that we as adults can helps Chucky social situation talking it through with them role playing with them talk to them about how they can express what their needs are while still being kind to the situation what times are social situations play out with electronics one of the things I want to say is that despite what your child says not all students have a phone or have social media access your child will feel but that is not the case I would remember that it's easier to delay giving access to electronics or giving access to app and giving those access it at in a slow at a slow rate it's easier to do that it's now then to try to take something away that they already have our post stricter limits later on once a child has their device There's No Going Back such as reading playing a game. please make sure that you're thinking about it before you give your child that device or those access to ask what limits you want to have for them I think explicitly teaching limit and etiquette is really important. thanks that they don't necessarily know and they don't necessarily have the self-control also being really clear when they they not be on their devices during dinner is a particular time and I need to be plugged in with friends talking with them and helping them to think about having their devices away when they're talking with someone not texting with somebody else while they're hanging out with one person I also would highly recommend that you make homework a device free zone often students that we hear take hours and hours to do homework are doing that has their multitasking with their devices they're distracted by the text that are coming into social media that they're seeing if your child needs music try to provide another way for them to listen have their devices somewhere that's away from them and on silent so they're not tempted to check in terms of social media I would recommend delaying it as long as you can six graders do not need it the legal age for social media actually 13 years old and I think that there's a reason for this I think that students are not quite ready for to the long-term impact of the choices that they make when they're 11 years old when you do give give it to them please talk with them about the social media before and after they get access make sure they understand that when they did when they post some social media or they send something to a friend I could never as possible that it will never go away there's a permanence of mistake making that wasn't there when we were children that when they post something someone else can screenshot that they can repost it I can come up again 5 years later can spread around having them think about when they post something would it be okay if everybody they know saw that and if the answer is no then you may want to ask him to think about is this something that can be hurtful to another friend of mine saw is this something that could be embarrassing if and if they don't feel that it's something that is could be seen by a broad audience and they should reconsider posting it might avoid overreacting when they say I think that you feel like our super agent appropriate that there be exposed to social media and online access exposes them to things much earlier on and I think that for them it's more of what the norm is I said listen to them ask questions help to guide them towards Discovery answers for themselves and they'll be much more open to it and that way I also would say it in the final notice that you should expect it's okay if things don't go perfectly our insta the adults in our children's lives is to save them but remember that the end goal is to equip them with the tools that they need to be successful talk to them keep an open door intense with us and we can support you or support thank you and we're really looking forward to working with when your child through Middle School

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Supporting the Transition to Middle School

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