Thread: From HS to MS

6th grade is a wonderful age.

6th graders start the year as kids, and morph over the course of the year into adolescence. By the time they start 7th grade, they are in full blown angst. At least, in my experience. :wink:

I have the same rules for 6th graders as I do for any other age child:

Be safe, be respectful, be responsible.

Like any other age student, they have to be explicitly taught what safe, respectful, and responsible look like in each setting that they will encounter in school: classroom, hall, cafeteria, gym, playground, bathroom, library, etc..

Then they need to review those norms regularly.

Like any other age student, they respond well to an abundance of positive reinforcement, correction, and consequences when necessary.

Check in with the middle school forum as well, if you haven't already, since 6th grade is often part of middle school rather than elementary.

Kelley_the_Gardener

Thanks for the response

How's it going so far agent?

Originally Posted by Bitsy Griffin

How's it going so far agent?

Thanks for asking.

So far, it's going OK. It could be better and at the same time it could be a lot worse. I work at a school that seems to put more emphasis on discipline than education, which would be OK if I were breeding soldiers. I'm more laid back and can tolerate a lot. I choose to ignore negative behavior and the administrators want me to amputate their hand if they don't raise it instead of calling out it seems like.

First of all, I had no idea that 11 and 12 years old kids were still so needy! I tell them, whenever they're annoying me, that I feel I was tricked when I applied for this job. Instead of 6th graders, I'm with preschoolers since there's so much whining that takes place daily! Someone is always crying about the other bothering them, or someone needs to get water when they see a mate get some water. Everyone has to go to the bathroom 10 million times.

It has gotten a lot better since day one. The ones that claim they can't stand me are the ones that cling to me.

It's amusing though. I wonder if I was like that at 11 or 12. No matter what, no matter how tired I come home sometimes, this is a job I really enjoy.

I think you'll find that sixth graders in general will be more enjoyable to work with than say, seniors. At that age, they still have that spark for learning and are not usually all caught up in boyfriend/girlfriend drama. I don't think they need too many special rules, because by that age, they should have mastered the basics.

Sixth graders are usually 11 to 12 years old, so that makes them in between being 'kids' and 'teens'. I think this is a period in which they start to work for their independence but are not totally detached.