12 Ways to Teach a Successful Middle School After School Program

I teach an after school program in Providence, Rhode Island called Bling Bling jewelry design, and a lot of times when I tell people that I teach middle schoolers, they raise their hands and go, "Oh, you must be a saint." Hardly. But I certainly do love what I do, and it's that love for it that makes me good at teaching after school programs for middle school students. My program, which is funded through the Providence After School Alliance, is run in two different inner city middle schools in Providence. For each class, I teach a group of 13 middle school kids twice a week on the basics of jewelry design and construction. My students love the class and keep coming back week after week, which is a sure sign of a successful after school program. I've decided to condense some of my experience in an article to help new after school teachers and after school program providers learn how to run a successful after school class. There's some great information in here for new middle school teachers as well, so even if you aren't involved in after school programs yet, you might want some tips and tricks for teaching middle school students.

How to teach an after school middle school class #1

You Gotta Love Kids

If you don't like kids, you shouldn't be here. The kids are the most important part of any after school program, so you have to love them. Yes, they can drive you batty: they might not listen to you, they might move slower than you would like, or they might be messy. That's how kids are. Be ready for it, be willing to let kids be kids, and enjoy their company. Otherwise, find another occupation.

How to teach an after school middle school class #2

You Gotta Really Like Middle Schoolers

No, really, if you don't enjoy the age group, good luck. Middle school students are a tough crowd, and they often get a bad rap. They aren't quite adults, but they aren't quite little kids either. They aren't independent yet, but they aren't completely reliant on teachers and parents either. To run a successful after school program with middle school youth, you need to find a balance between being nurturing and encouraging student independence. Know that sometimes kids will just have bad days, and the more understanding you can be when those days happen, the better. I love middle schoolers, and I remember just how tough it was to be thirteen, so I hope I make even a small difference in their lives.

How to teach an after school middle school class #3

Establish Ground Rules

Your middle school students need to know what to expect when they walk in the room of your after school classroom. They've just had a full day of school, so you can't very well expect them to come right in, sit down, and get to work, but that doesn't mean that you should be completely lax about rules either. Establish how the class routine will work. In my jewelry classes, students sign in with me as soon as they enter the classroom. I say hello and explain the procedure for whatever project(s) we are working that day. When students need to leave to go to their locker or to the restroom, I let them leave one at a time with the hall pass.

I don't require my students to participate every day, since I know some days I just don't feel like making jewelry, but I also make it clear that if they are in my class, they can't be disrupting the students who are trying to work. It can be difficult, but you have to show that you are their teacher first and friend second. If you have discipline issues, you have to address them immediately. Often just calling attention to a problem will solve it, but if you have to ask a student to leave the classroom, do it.

How to teach an after school middle school class #4

Be Yourself

It sounds silly, but you have to be yourself and you have to be real. Students will pick up on any fakeness about your personality and resent you for it. Tell your students a little bit about your life, and don't be surprised if they ask you some really personal questions. I have at least one student ask me how old I am every first day of class. They usually ask me if I'm married or if I have a boyfriend, if I have any kids, and where I live. Be straight up. Ask the kids about their lives, and tell them about yours. It's a great way to foster connections, and they'll appreciate that you are a real person.

How to teach an after school middle school class #5

Keep The Kids Engaged

Yes, you have certain goals that you are trying to achieve with your afterschool program, but remember that first and foremost your mission is to keep the kids coming back. After all, most violence against middle school kids happens in the time between school letting out and parents getting home from work. Keeping the kids out of trouble is an important part of the after school program and to keep the kids coming back, you have to keep them interested.

How to do this? You have to be interested in whatever you are teaching. If you're not into it, genuinely into it, then how can you expect the students to care? Make sure that whatever program you are teaching is something you really love. Me, I love anything crafty. I make lots of jewelry, sure, but I do all sorts of crafty and artistic pursuits. I try to incorporate all sorts of techniques into my jewelry design classes. It's never just beads, wire, and clasps, week after week. Yes, we use beads and wire, but we also make earrings, do collage to make pendants and buttons, draw pictures to make Shrinky Dink jewelry, and play with clay to make beads and pendants.

How to teach an after school middle school class #6

Keep 'Em Guessing

That being said, don't be afraid to alter your syllabus. Every group of students is different, which means that a project that worked with one class might not work with another. For instance, I make this cute little origami crane earrings, and I know that students always think they are great. However, some groups of kids just don't have the patience required to sit still and fold the paper cranes. Other groups love them and will spend a whole class period making the birds. Every single class is an experiment.

When I did Shrinky Dinks jewelry for the first time with my middle school students, I was amazed by how into the project all of the students were. Students who'd been only sort of interested in the beaded bracelets the week before would spend 30 minutes designing one pendant. I'd planned on going on to a new project the following week, but after a couple of students asked me if they could keep doing Shrinky Dinks, I altered my schedule to allow two additional class periods for the project. In order to keep all of the students interested, I designed some "advanced" techniques for the few students whose interest was waning.

How to teach an after school middle school class #7

Make It Fun

Yes, it's a class, even if it is during out-of-school time, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. It doesn't matter what subject you are teaching, whether it's tutoring for math, teaching remedial writing, or basketball, if you can find a way to present the information in a fun way you'll have the most success. Sometimes fun classes have not-so-fun aspects, but even those can be turned into a game of sorts.

Consider this: Jewelry design is awesome. You get to play with hundreds of beads, pendants, chains, and all sorts of materials to make the jewelry... but someone has to clean it up, and it's not me. I mean, sure, it's my responsibility to tidy up the classroom before I go, but part of students learning how to be independent means learning how to clean up after yourself. So, naturally, having allotted time for the students to clean up their materials is essential for a class like mine.

However, it's tough to get the kids to stop doing something fun in order to do something not fun. I set an alarm every class period so that the students know it's time to stop, but it would sometimes take an extra five minutes to get everyone on the same page. So I came up with a great game that helps things move along faster. We play "Bead Bingo" at the end of every class, provided that all of the supplies are cleaned up and put away to my satisfaction. Everyone has to help clean, and no one plays Bingo until everyone is cleaned up.

Believe me, the students quickly start to enforce the clean up on their fellow classmates, and they move considerably quicker when they know they might get to win prizes. We play Bingo from the time that everyone is cleaned up until the alarm rings for me to take them to the cafeteria for dismissal. Usually, the game runs for about 5 minutes and the prizes range from packs of sugar-free gum to jewelry to random knickknacks I pick up at thrift stores or on sale.

How to teach an after school middle school class #8

Pay Attention to Individuals

If you don't know the name of every single student after the first week of class, you aren't doing your job. The best piece of advice I ever got about teaching was that I should learn every single kid's name on the first day, and use it on the second day to greet them. Sounds tough, and it is, but you do it, and you'll win the students over in no time. They want you to get to know them, and they love it when you remember their names and what they have to say. If one student has a doctor's appointment, ask them how it went the next class. If another says she's learning guitar, ask her how her lessons are going.

More importantly, pay attention to who's having a good time in your class and who isn't. I'll sometimes have one kid who isn't in to the project, and I'll take a second to sit down next to that student to see if I can figure out what it is they don't like. I had one student who didn't like making the collage art beads. I tried to encourage her to try it anyway, but by the second day of class, she'd had enough and she sat there looking bored the whole time. Did I force her to do a project she didn't like? Absolutely not. The next class I brought in a completely different project so she could work on something she did like.

How to teach an after school middle school class #9

Give The Students Options

Don't just come to your after school program and say, "This is what we are doing to do" and leave it at that. That's a sure-fire way to lose kids, because not every kid is going to like working on the same projects. I mix it up: sometimes the whole class will work on the same thing, and another day, I'll have three workstations so that the students can choose what to work on. Sometimes I'll have open-workshops where there isn't an assigned project and I say, "Okay, you can work on whatever you want today."

If I see students who don't know where to start, I'll go sit by them and say, "Hey, remember that bracelet you made last week? What if you made a pair of earrings to match today?" Or if I see a student who might need something a little advanced, I'll say, "Hey, come check this out," and maybe I'll do a small group demo of something a step beyond whatever we've been working on.

Sometimes, I'll the students vote on what project they want to work on during the next class. Or I'll say, "Hey, guys, what do you think about learning how to make earrings next class?" I try to let them determine the course of the class, instead of me telling them what we're going to do. It keeps me on my toes, and it keeps them interested.

How to teach an after school middle school class #10

Understand that Every Student Works at a Different Pace

This can be a really hard thing to remember when, for instance, you have all the students filling out a questionnaire. You'll have a few kids who get done really fast, and you'll have other students who take a really long time, either because they keep talking to their neighbor or they can't think of good answers. You might have one student who picks up a new technique after you show them how to do it once, while another student will ask you to show the skill ten times before it finally clicks.

It is essential that you have patience when you are working with middle schoolers, and plan for these differences. For instance, you could say "Okay, guys, I need you to answer these questions, and I need to have them all turned in before we start our project for the day. If you get done early, turn over your sheet and draw a picture of a necklace you wish you could make." Another thing I do is hand the sheet to each student and tell everyone that they can work on it any time during the class, but that we won't play Bead Bingo until everyone has filled it out and turned it in.

How to teach an after school middle school class #11

Respect

You need to treat all of the students with respect if you expect them to respect you. This goes beyond just being polite and civil. I have a lot of students who are from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cape Verdes, and other places. I have students who are fluent in Spanish, but don't do so well in English. Those students must feel so out of place sometimes, in a world they don't always understand, so I try to respect that by telling them they can write in whatever language they feel comfortable in, when we do essays and surveys.

When I speak to the students who have trouble with English, I make sure to speak a little slower and, if I can, I try to say it in Spanish. Now, my Spanish skills are not good. I tell students, "Hablo espanol muy malo, pero aprendo," which means, "I speak bad Spanish, but I'm learning." If I'm not sure how to say something, like the world for earrings in Spanish (aretos), I say, "Como say dice ____" and point to whatever it is I'm struggling with.

It's a little embarrassing for me to speak in Spanish, because it's not a familiar language to me, but I remind myself, that's exactly how my non-native English students feel when they are learning my language. I tell them to feel free to laugh at me when I do speak in Spanish, and giggle they do. My students appreciate that I respect their cultures and try to communicate on their levels, and I'm pretty sure it makes them a little less shy about practicing their English with me. I have a little extra work, translating their Spanish essays into English, but, to me, it's completely worth it.

How to teach an after school middle school class #12

Have Fun

If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right, and if you don't genuinely enjoy your work, seriously consider switching fields. Don't be afraid to love your job. Enjoy the experience of working with middle schoolers, and consider yourself blessed to play even a small role in their lives. Middle school is a really tough time, what with all the changes taking place in the students lives and bodies, so any little thing that you can do to make it better, really does make a difference. Enjoy it!

Have fun in every classroom, and let the students know how much you love what you're doing. Treat each day as a learning experience, and make mental note of what works and what doesn't work, but don't forget to have a good time while you're doing it, otherwise what's the point? If you're having fun, your students will be, too.