Special Needs In The Middle School Classroom

When I was in middle school, it was during the mid-70’s. The Bee Gees were just breaking out in a sweat in preparation for Saturday Night Fever; our country was buying candles for its 200th birthday; and a war that I knew little about was still being fought here and abroad. When you are in 6th, 7th and 8th grade, unfortunately, not much matters to you beyond anything that directly has an impact on you so many of the significant world and national events were not even on my radar screen. I had much more important matters absorbing my attention, such as, what clothes I needed to fit in, what songs were my favorites, and which of my peers were my current friends and which ones weren’t. As I think back to this time, I am amazed at how much energy I spent being worried over what my classmates thought about any given thing.

Now, almost 40 years later, I still see these things within my 6th, 7th and 8th grade classroom. Yes, the clothing styles are different; there is technology that didn’t exist then and the vocabulary of these kids is different but the fundamental needs of my students are similar to what I experienced in my tumultuous middle school days. I see the desire that my students have to fit in burning as brightly today as it did back in my day and this desire manifests itself in multiple ways, depending on the specific needs of my students. The fundamental difference I do see between then and now is that my students seem to be needier than my classmates and I were and these needs appear to be greater than when I first started teaching well over two decades ago.

I have many theories as to why I think my students are needier these days but the bottom line is, how can I run a classroom, teach a subject and meet my students’ many needs on a regular basis? I haven’t discovered a “silver bullet” to slay this complex beast but I have come to realize that teaching is more like running a marathon and not a sprint. I have to keep working regularly to meet not only my students’ academic needs but their more basic ones as well. I have found that I can use peer pressure with them in positive ways, such as, allowing all my students to have a voice on things that matter, rather than only the ones who often run their mouths without thought. I can be an example of maturity when dealing with stressful situations; good manners when I’d rather not and humility by apologizing when necessary.

I don’t remember the things that I learned in social studies, English or math when I was in middle school, but, I do remember the teachers that I had and the examples (good and bad) that they were to me. This thought alone motivates me each day to meet the students where they are and my prayer is that some of their many needs can be met at the same time.