Sixth Grade from a Sixth Grader's Point of View

I have been preparing for my first year of teaching well before my graduation. Now that summer is almost officially here, it is time that I really start turning my plans into actions. To begin, I created a wish list on Amazon. If I am not pinning my day away, I’m shopping on Amazon. I always check Amazon before heading to any store because 90%, I have found it to be cheaper. I have also found great deals at Costco.

The great thing about being a parent during student teaching is that my sixth-grade son was extremely helpful. He was my second mentor and an insider on all things “sixth-grade”. He translated the latest slang and kept me up to date on all the pop culture. Because he did such an amazing job, I decided to seek his services once again. LOL. 

I asked him two simple questions, “What are some things that you wish you had as a sixth-grader?” and “what are some things that your teachers did that were helpful or not helpful?” To my surprise, he actually thought about the questions. You see, while I believe wholeheartedly that I have the coolest pre-teen son in the world, he is also the silliest. He often finds humor during serious times. 

Here is a list of things he shared:

1. ·      Having a graphic organizer of the basic math properties. "The properties are easy to get mixed up, or you forget entirely. A lot of students were asking the teacher for reassurance." 
2. ·      Enrichment activities for early finishers. "Many of the kids hated reading and wanted to do something more hands on. We really liked Brain Teaser and hard puzzles."
3. ·      Reading science textbook as a class."Individually was harder. The class enjoyed read alouds. Some students weren't actually reading when it was individual reading."
4. ·      Posted cursive alphabet. "Cursive isn't really taught a whole lot and a lot of students wanted to learn. We had to learn on our own."
5. ·      Hundreds chart. "Great resource to have for quick checks instead of always getting a calculator."
6. ·      Better indoor recess games. "We mostly talked and didn't have anything to do really during indoor recess. I thought indoor recess was really boring. We only got ten-minute recess anyway, so that made it more of a waste of time." 
7. ·      Use better videos for passing time. "We watched CNN. No one paid attention, some were sleeping. The teachers forgot we were still kids. We like fun cool videos too." 
8. ·      Better books on our classroom bookshelf. "The books we had were old, missing pages, or even picture books. If teachers want us to read or improve our reading skills, we need better books."
9.     Prize/Incentive box. "Prizes are a great way to help us kids try to get control of our behavior. Yeah, we should already have control, but we are still kids and humans so we make mistakes. Makes school better, more fun." 
10.     Having fun. "Enjoy teaching. Make jokes. We like that. Try and stay up to date with what's new for our generation. The teachers were so serious and strict all the time that we didn't think they liked us."

When we sat down and had this conversation, I was so surprised as to how he analyzed his year. Out of all ten suggestions, number ten stuck with me the most. I believe teachers forget why they started teaching when they get frustrated. It is worse when 6th grade is in elementary school. Check out my TpT store for a fun way to choose partners! My son was the inspiration for making these cards. :D Pssst... it's a free product!!!