8th Grade-itis, Ever Hear of It?

There is nothing more exhausting than the 4th nine weeks with 8th graders. This year has been particularly ‘trying.’ Usually, we do not have to deal with 8th grade-itis until after spring break. When students return from break, the 8th grade team of teachers give the ‘Come to Jesus’ talk. We lecture about responsibility, be kind to others, the 4th nine weeks applies to eligibility in high school, be role models for the 6th and 7th graders, need to finish the last 9 weeks STRONG.

And then we CRACK-DOWN! No frivolous trips out of class, must have agenda with you at all times, Appreciation Day could be taken away, shorts are too short, skirts are too short, everything is toooo tight. You are not the same size as last year, jeans need to be ‘above’ the bottom, pass out the belts, get those pants pulled up…..

Unfortunately, we got surprised this year. The 8th graders came back from Winter Break with 8th grade-itis ….which wasn’t ‘officially’ diagnosed until middle of February. The kids hit the ground running, and we’ve been playing ‘catch-up’ for 6 weeks.

Fortunately, when we saw the ‘trees instead of the forest’, we had a strategy meeting. How can we get the most out of the next 6 weeks? WHO is still willing to be taught and could benefit from us? WHO is beyond us, refuses to learn or allow anyone else to learn? Our team counted only 3 maybe 5 kids that were destroying the entire learning environment. AMAZING!!! Less than 10 percent of our students were controlling ALL of us….preventing a positive learning environment.

Our PLAN? SAVE the willing and CUT-LOOSE the others! We decided to start with 2 students in the beginning and re-evaluate. It was our hope the other 3 kids who had been part of the ‘disruptors’ could be redirected into the ‘positive’ learning environment.

As teachers, we WANT to work with ALL our kids. What often happens is a very small percentage of our students get the majority of teacher time. I’ve always thought this was not the best way to ‘run’ a classroom. AND that ‘truth’ hit us right smack between the eyes this school year. The lesson for me is I need to identify the small number of ‘disruptors’ early in the school year; address them EARLY and HARD….not wait until they spread the ‘cancer’ and a cure is next to impossible. My students deserve this from me.