Do you have any advice/tips for managing groups of middle school students in an after school program?
September 14, 2011 12:35 PM   Subscribe

Do you have any advice/tips for managing groups of middle school students in an after school program? Activity suggestions are also welcome.

I am working in an after school program, and will be in charge of about 15-20 middle school students. I will be responsible for activities related to cooking, gardening, home-economics, and crafts/eco-crafts, all of which are subjects I myself am passionate about but have difficulty sharing/explaining/teaching to others.

I do not have much experience being in front of, managing, or teaching large groups. I would like advice/tips that would help me compensate for my lack of experience. This thread on classroom management advice was helpful, but I will not have the same kids consistently. Also, I do not want to be too boring/strict, as I'm sure a majority of the kids are already tired from being in class all day and mostly just want to hangout/have some fun. I just want them to stay on task and be respectful while they are at it.

Also I am having trouble coming up with ideas for activities to teach them, so any ideas on activities (within the previously mentioned subjects), or sources for activities would be appreciated. I will have access to a classroom with 4 small kitchens as well as a (very) small garden on campus that I helped the kids install last year when I was working as an assistant (and not the head honcho giving instructions).

Currently our supplies are whatever we have on hand in the school (butcher paper, scissors glue, school related supplies, very basic cooking supplies). I am able to put in requests for additional supplies but it takes about 2 weeks to get fulfilled and would like to get the ball rolling as I am already with the kids after school.

Thank you.
posted by lovecricket to Education (6 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Here's one activity idea, based on the subjects you're teaching.

1. Get your hands on some old cooking/real estate/auto/home&garden/interior design/etc magazines (anything except news or celebrity gossip, really). Cut out the photos of as many items as you can (bonus if prices are included). Determine approximate value of items that don't have prices.

2. Make a small raffle made up of proportionately represented household incomes in the U.S. (so several low incomes, many around the median range, and a few wealthy). Have the kids draw randomly to pick an income. Explain household income distribution.

3. Give them something like m&ms or chocolate chips to represent how much money they have (make sure hands are clean!). Explain the concepts of currency and worth/value.

4. Have them "shop" for everything they need to make the best home they can given their budget, from the magazine clippings. You could be the mega-store, auctioneer, or randomly distribute the items among them and make them barter. Just make sure to emphasize the basic survival needs (shelter, food), so they don't just pick the most expensive things they can. All the money (candy) they don't spend, they get to eat. Explain budgets.

5. Have them make collages of all their assets! Maybe give them celebrity magazines at this point so they can add some humans to make it silly and fun. You can all vote at the end for favorite dream home.

6. Of course, everyone gets candy at the end!

Each of these steps can be elaborated upon and added to to make another activity/game, so this could be a week-long unit. You can do a lot more with this!! If you need additional ideas, let me know :)
posted by desertface at 1:47 PM on September 14, 2011


Former nanny here. Middle school is when kids are at their absolute worst. They start testing boundaries, which can include taunting teachers and each other. The most important thing you can do in regards to that is don't show fear. I'm totally serious here. Act confident and in charge even if you don't feel that way.

As far as ideas, check out CraftGawker.com. They have lots of cool ideas, and they frequently include simple tutorials.
posted by MexicanYenta at 2:01 PM on September 14, 2011


My best classroom management tool for when you need them to be quiet and listen:

Say: Ok, show me you are ready to [listen/work/play/etc.].

Then wait until they are ready. My students (10th graders) don't seem to need clarification about what constitutes "ready," but younger students may need you to tell them what that means. It teaches them that there is ONE voice in the classroom/program, and that there is external behaviour that indicates readiness for learning. It's simple and effective.

I also like to catch kids being good, and reward them with something small. Some people like candy for that purpose, but that gets expensive, and lord knows they hardly need any more sugar in their diets. I actually use small slips of paper that say "This." on them - they can collect them and trade them in for various things (school supplies, recognition on my "College Baby" wall, no HW for a week, a "day off" in class, changing seats, etc.). The kids who really struggle to pay attention are harder to catch being good, but it is that group that benefits the most from positive rewards. YMMV, obviously.

The old "If you can hear me clap once. If you can hear me clap twice" whisper works pretty well too.

One major mistake new teachers make all the time is that try to talk too much, or have too many steps to explain. If I'm introducing a game, here's an example of what I'd say:

Me: Okay! We're going to play Chocolate River today! You're going to need to split into 3 even groups. How many groups do we need?

Kids: Three!

Me: Right! I'll give you 30 seconds. Go!

(circulate, divide kids/form groups if they aren't doing it on their own, and when you're almost there, count down from 10 out loud)

Me: This game is about teamwork. What does that mean [kid's name]? (I name or point to one kid)

Kid: Working together!

Me: Exactly. Every team gets four "marshmallows" [show 8x11 sheets of white paper] to help them cross this horrible, sticky, evil CHOCOLATE RIVER. You're going to start here by where [kid's name] is standing, and end where [kid's name, about 40 feet away] is standing. Easy, right?

Kids: Yes...

Me: But there's a catch! All team members must get across, and you can only stand on these four marshmallows or you'll drown in the chocolate river. Plus, if you don't have at least one toe on each, the marshmallows disappear into the river!

[point at kid] So, how do we all get across?

Kid: We have to step on the marshmallows or we'll "drown."

Me: [point to another kid] What happens if you don't have someone stepping on one?

Kid: They disappear.

Me: Right! Let's do a practice round to see if you understand!

[start game]

That's about 3 minutes of explanation for a game that could take 15 minutes to explain. Jumping into practice right away lets them use what they learn and you can see where they didn't understand or needed more clarification really easily. You're also checking for understanding at each step.

The rule you should use is that you don't want to talk for more than 1.5-2 minutes before letting them respond in some way. They stop listening if you're not always requiring them to be ready to answer.

And the old favourites as far as games are usually the best:
-one of the zillion types of tag
-heads up seven up
-red rover
-kickball
-hi-ya (if you can't find it on google or you aren't familiar with it, I can post instructions)
-have them line up in x order without talking [birthday, alpha by last/first name, etc.]
-"musical chairs" where the person in the middle gives a category (everyone wearing pink or everyone who saw Harry Potter 8 etc.) and everyone in that category has to change places with the others. The one left in the middle picks the next category

I could probably come up with more if you'd like.
posted by guster4lovers at 3:36 PM on September 14, 2011


[I misread the question as you wanted general activities...but the same premise of limited instructions with checks for understanding still applies. And some games are always a good way to start/end a session. Sorry that I FAIL at reading. :-)]

We have a garden/cooking program at my school, and they do a lot of tastings. One time we had jicama for the kids, and they tried it raw, cooked, with chili powder/lime, and with salt. They didn't always like it, but it's good exposure.

Have them make recycling bins/signs and put them up at home or at their school. They could write speeches about recycling or eco issues and make posters to display at the school.

They could make "found" poems or make a statue/monument out of what they find thrown away or recycled on campus (one of our students made a mock-up of Michelangelo's David out of plastic bottles).
posted by guster4lovers at 3:42 PM on September 14, 2011


3 simple rules, make em and stick to them.

I went with:
Respect yourself, others, and the school
Be responsible for your own actions
Be Prepared

And then you need to have a plan for what to do when they are broken, be creative for example: If they leave a mess they have broken the Respect and Responsible rule, so maybe having to put away everyones supplies? The only trick is to keep consequences simple and plausible.
posted by Jayed at 8:32 PM on September 14, 2011


Best answer: I'm a former middle school teacher. They're my favourite age! But: the two biggest pieces of advice I'd have for newbies are:

1) Be absolutely clear *in your own mind* about what you think is, and isn't, acceptable behavior. 'Hang out and have some fun' while being 'respectful and on task' is a description with enormous grey areas on all sides of it, so it'd seriously be worth spending a day before you start working out *exactly* where your boundaries will be. Pick some edge cases - say 'three girls form a circle and talk quietly and don't really make any crafts even though you ask them to' or 'a boy is overly harsh about another boy's work' and work out precisely what you plan to do about them. Similarly, what about clearly unacceptable behaviour (someone breaks someone else's craft piece on purpose, say) - what will you do? Verbal reprimand? Exclude from club? Not having done this, not actually knowing what you want, is the #1 reason that new adults working with this age range can have a hard time.

2) The most hard-and-fast rule of all is 'if you're talking, no-one else is'. If it takes you the whole first lesson to establish this, then that's what you do for the whole first lesson. You need a way to communicate 'be quiet', you wait until people are quiet, and then you say what you were going to say. There are never any exceptions to this. At your first session get this across, and never never let up on it - you can't do anything else without it.
posted by piato at 1:19 AM on September 15, 2011


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