behavior essay for middle school

The PBIS World Book

Reflection Sheets

Why should i do it:.

• We learn from reflecting on experiences, good and bad. A Reflection Sheet is a very effective tool to use when a student is displaying unacceptable or acceptable behaviors and can be used in conjunction with the Class Rules. The sheets can be used to help correct undesired behaviors or, alternatively, to reinforce those students following the rules and exhibiting expected and desired behaviors.

When should I do it:

• When students are exhibiting unacceptable behaviors
• When students are not following school/class rules
• When students are on task, displaying appropriate behaviors, and following school/class rules

How do I do it:

• The student is told to go to the reflection center
• The teacher explains briefly to the student why they are being sent and what behaviors or rules they were breaking
• The student is withdrawn to reflect on his/her behavior and completes the Reflection Sheet, discussing it with the Teacher after it is completed
• A timer may be used
• Alternatives to writing may be drawing pictures, talking into a microphone and recording responses, or typing responses into computer
• A desk set apart from the other students may serve as a reflection center
• When sending a student who is exhibiting appropriate behaviors and is following the rules, the student may share with the class what behavior and expectation they were “caught” doing correctly. Additionally, these students may receive a small reward or a sticker toward a reward.

Resources & Support for technique:

• Becoming A Problem Solver Sheet.pdf
• Behavior Improvement Form.doc
• Behavior Improvemen t Form Image Search
• Fixing Broken Rules Sheet.pdf
• Kindergarten Think Sheet.pdf
• Kindergarten Think Sheet Image Search
• 1st Grade Think Sheet.pdf
• 1st Grade Think Sheet Image Search
• 1st and 2nd Grade Think Sheet.pdf
• 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades Think Sheet.pdf
• Middle & High School Think Sheet.pdf
• Middle & High School Think Sheet Image Search
• Middle School Think Sheet.pdf
• Stop And Think Sheet.doc
• Stop & Think.pdf
• Stop & Think Image Search
• Think Sheet.doc
• Think Sheets
• Think Sheet Image Search
• Think Sheet.pdf Image Search

Teaching Kids to Accept Responsibility for their Choices

When it comes to classroom management, learning to deal with small disruptions is probably more important than figuring out what to about the big stuff. One reason is that those little things you might be tempted to ignore can quickly escalate into BIG problems and hours of lost instructional time.

That’s why you need an easy strategy for dealing with frequent student misbehavior, and it’s best if your strategy also helps kids understand how their choices impact others. This Behavior Reflections graphic organizer is the perfect tool for doing just that!

Years ago when I was trained in Thinking Maps , I was introduced to the Multi-flow Map for exploring causes and effects. Right then, I had an “ah-ha” moment about how to improve student behavior. I realized that most students who were engaging in distracting behaviors had never thought about why they were behaving in a certain way or how their actions might affect others. So I created the Behavior Reflections cause and effect graphic organizer to help students reflect on their behavior, understand why they made certain choices in the past, and make better choices in the future.

How I Introduced this Graphic Organizer to My Class

• We started by writing a short description of the undesirable behavior in the middle of the form. For example, “Repeatedly blurting out answers.”
• Then they tried to figure out the causes, or why someone might engage in that behavior. Those items were listed on the left. Answers might include, “I wanted the teacher to know that I knew the answer,” “It’s a bad habit,” or “I got excited and wanted to tell my answer.” Sometimes this step takes a bit of coaching because most kids have never really tried to figure out why they do the things they do.
• In the three boxes on the right side, they wrote out the effects, or consequences of their behavior, including how their behavior affected others. They may never have realized that when they blurt out answers, they are depriving other students of the opportunity to think through a problem and answer on their own.
• Finally, the student writes out a short plan for improvement which I have to approve before the paper goes home for a parent signature.

How and When I Used It

After I introduced the Behavior Reflections form to the class, I began having students complete it when they engaged in a distracting, annoying, or disrespectful behavior. I did not use this form for violent incidents or for serious infractions, and it never took precedence over established school policies. It was simply a tool to get kids to understand why they were behaving in a certain way and how their behaviors affected others.

What Happened

The Behavior Reflections form turned out to be even more powerful than I had anticipated. Misbehaving students stopped seeing me as someone who would punish them arbitrarily for something they didn’t think was wrong, and they began to accept more responsibility for their actions. Sometimes additional steps were needed such as short-term behavior contracts, but this form was a great place to start.

Inspired by Thinking Maps

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The misunderstood middle schooler, to address the rampant behavior problems in middle school, we need to better understand teens' moral development..

Last week, I met a middle school teacher who broke out in tears as she told me how her students’ behavior was “out-of-control.” I know she’s not alone: Middle school students are notorious for their refusal to follow rules, driving teachers to tears and worse.

I’ll admit that I harbored this negative view of middle school students—until I read some ground-breaking research on middle schoolers that made me think: We’ve got it all wrong.

To start with, research tells us that kids have deeply ingrained moral instincts that give them a sense of fairness , of right and wrong , good and bad —and they generally prefer the good. For instance, children as young as six months who were shown a puppet show in which one puppet was a “helper” and another was a “hinderer” overwhelmingly chose to play with the helper, demonstrating their ability to make complex social judgments.

So what happens to this moral instinct when they reach middle school? Does it just shut down for a while? Not at all. In fact, research on moral development suggests that middle school is a crucial developmental period for these moral instincts to take root and grow. But because of where adolescents are developmentally, we need to practice very specific strategies for translating their moral instincts into moral behavior.

Why is this?

The answer can be found in research by human development experts Larry Nucci and Elliot Turiel , who have identified two important domains that play a role in the moral development of children: moral issues and societal conventions .

Moral issues focus on the effects students’ actions have on the welfare of others (e.g., hitting another child). Societal conventions, on the other hand, focus on norms or rules (e.g., talking in class). Children as young as two-and-a-half years old have demonstrated that they understand the difference between moral issues and societal conventions.

Nucci and Turiel stress that, when dealing with student misbehavior, teachers need to take both areas into consideration.

Research suggests that even through adolescence, kids maintain a strong emotional response to moral issues where the direct effects on another person are clear—they still know it’s wrong to hit other people or pick their pockets, for instance.

Once they hit middle school age, however, they become less bound by societal conventions. This means that when their moral decisions have only indirect effects on other people, they become less likely to do the right thing. For example, even though they wouldn’t actually pick someone else’s pocket, they’re less inclined than younger kids to return money they find on the street. In that case, the indirect nature of the dilemma doesn’t stimulate their moral instincts, and we can’t count on them to adhere to societal conventions like they did when they were younger.

Think about it this way: Middle school students have just spent the first 11 or 12 years of their lives following the rules. All of a sudden, they wake up to the fact that these rules were set by adults and are somewhat arbitrary. Developmentally, they haven’t yet understood why these rules were developed in the first place: to protect the welfare of other people. They typically won’t make that connection until they’re about 15 or 16. So their behavior often falls in a moral gap between the fidelity to the rules they showed as young kids and the more complex moral reasoning they develop in their later teens.

So what can teachers do to help middle school students bridge this gap? Here are some developmentally-appropriate suggestions.

1) When a student misbehaves, tell them whether the misbehavior broke a societal convention or a moral issue—and then talk about it. In other words, if a student breaks a classroom rule, ask them to consider how the action impacts the smooth running of the classroom. If the misbehavior is a moral transgression against another student, explore how the action impacts that other student’s welfare. Researchers have found that teachers who match their discipline to the type of infraction (moral vs. convention) are considered more knowledgeable and effective by their students.

Talking about the misbehavior helps students realize the impact of their actions on others and understand why societal conventions are necessary.

2) Discuss moral transgressions as they occur—and ask how they made students feel. Students more deeply understand the impact their actions have on others when they discuss motives and consequences with each other.

It’s also crucial to include students’ emotions in the discussion. Research has shown that children have strong emotional reactions to moral situations because they’re about care and harm to other people rather than adherence to rules. For example, moral transgressions cause children to respond with anger, sadness, or empathy for the victim, while positive moral interactions foster emotions of happiness. The breaking of societal conventions, on the other hand, brings very little emotional response from children.

By discussing how they feel—and made other people feel—in moral situations, students become better able to identify and regulate their emotions in future moral dilemmas.

3) Give students the opportunity to have input on classroom rules. In setting boundaries for middle schoolers, schools often do exactly the opposite of what’s developmentally appropriate: greater teacher control and limited opportunities for students to practice decision-making and choice. Research has demonstrated that the mismatch between students’ need for autonomy at this age and schools’ greater wielding of control causes students to lose motivation and interest in school. Allowing students to craft societal conventions for school helps them understand the need for these conventions and keeps them engaged in the learning process.

The research is clear: Instead of clamping down on middle school students when they misbehave, we need to engage them in discussion. This is critical to their moral understanding—and research suggests it can even impact their long-term academic success.

Hopefully, we can turn some of those middle school tears into smiles for students and teachers alike.

About the Author

Vicki Zakrzewski

Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D. , is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center.

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Stress and short tempers: Schools struggle with behavior as students return

The behavior issues are a reflection of the stress the pandemic placed on children, experts say. (skynesher / Getty Images)

Alyssa Rodriguez expected a rocky readjustment this school year. The Chicago social worker figured she’d see more students who felt anxious, frustrated by their schoolwork, or disoriented by unfamiliar routines. 

A month into school, she says she underestimated the challenge ahead. Student behavior referrals are up, as middle schoolers hurt each others’ feelings with comments they’d usually only be bold enough to say online. She and other social workers have seen more verbal and physical fights, and worried parents are calling with concerns about their child’s shorter-than-usual temper. 

“It’s definitely a lot more than I think any of us were mentally prepared for, even though we tried to prepare for it,” Rodriguez said. 

Schools across the country say they’re seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors. Some are obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts, or running out of classrooms. Others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their head down and refusing to talk. 

“This is a prolonged adjustment period,” said Dr. Tali Raviv, the associate director of the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. As children return to school, “There’s much more interaction, there’s much less downtime to recharge, there’s much less flexibility.” 

The behavior issues are a reflection of the stress the pandemic placed on children, experts say, upending their education, schedules, and social lives. For students dealing with grief, mental health issues, or the layered effects of poverty and racism, big transitions can be even more challenging. 

Anxiety and chronic stress also trigger a child’s “survival brain,” as Raviv put it. While some students retreat, others feel like they’re on high alert — turning a nudge in the hallway into cause for an outburst, for example. “You can get these really big reactions over really small things,” she said. 

Coupled with staff exhaustion, the behavior challenges are making school environments more tense than educators and students had anticipated — and underscoring how much support students need right now.

‘It’s like we’ve forgotten how to socialize’​​

Alex Magaña saw behavioral challenges crop up last year at the two Denver middle schools he oversees as executive principal, Grant Beacon and Kepner Beacon, when students were largely confined to one classroom. Students would occasionally rip off their masks and storm away, leaving staff members to chase them around the building, trying to prevent more disruption. 

When classes resumed last month, the acting out intensified, Magaña said. There was a fight on the first day of school instigated by a social media slight, plus more defiance and challenging of authority. 

“It’s hard when there are bumps,” said Kelsy Schmidt, the schools’ dean of instruction. “We want everything to be nice and smooth, and have high academic growth for students. But there are bumps now.”

Across the district, fights are up 21% this fall from the pre-pandemic fall of 2019, according to statistics shared publicly by Denver Public Schools officials. Mike Eaton, the chief of safety for the 90,000-student district, said he doesn’t know for sure what is driving the increase but suspects staff shortages are playing a role.

Chanyce Johnson, a junior at Houston’s North Forest High School, has also noticed more student fights this year, especially among freshmen and sophomores. Social interactions feel different, too.

“Everybody is off in their own little la la land. It’s like we just go there, get to class, get out of the class, go home,” said Johnson, who’s also a member of Houston’s student-led congress. During group projects in class, teachers have to urge students to talk with one another. “It’s like we’ve forgotten how to socialize since we’ve been out of school for so long.”

Among teachers of younger students, it’s not uncommon to hear that students seem two grade levels behind socially. Educators have noticed that elementary schoolers who spent much of the last two years learning online are — to no one’s surprise — struggling to share and walk slowly in the hallway. 

One challenge is that teachers often can’t point back to established rules and expectations, because those looked very different last year. 

In Los Angeles, Cabrillo Avenue Elementary principal Nathan Mac Ainsh is hearing from parents asking why their children are getting hit on the playground. The reality is they’re just playing “a little too rough,” and not used to the rules on the playground after last year’s recess consisted of socially distanced walks.  

“We’re doing a lot of conflict resolution,” Mac Ainsh said. “But it takes time.”

Some students have responded differently. In Chicago, Rodriguez has watched students who are fearful of the virus refuse to get out of the car or hover at the entrance of school, afraid to go inside. 

Other schools that expected to see more emotional outbursts and disruptive behavior haven’t seen them . In some places, staff have noticed behavior improvement, as students regain the structure and schedules they didn’t have last school year — though they acknowledge it may be a “honeymoon phase.”

“Kids are excited to be in this social environment. They missed each other,” said Shirley Brown, the high school principal at Detroit Edison Public School Academy. She’s noticed behavior is better than usual, perhaps because students don’t want to risk being suspended. “The students really want to be in the building, and they’re not quick to jeopardize that.”

Holiday exhaustion hits early for teachers

Complicating how schools are responding to disruptive behavior is the fact that many educators are on edge, too. Staff shortages and quarantines have stretched teachers thin, leaving many with less of the patience needed to de-escalate student conflicts. Some say they’re already as tired as they’d typically be by Thanksgiving.

“Normally we are really energized and rocking and rolling at the end of September,” said Roxanne James, the principal of Jerome Mack Middle School in Las Vegas. This year, staffers are already exhausted. “They’re being asked to be those emotional supports for kids, for their families, for each other,” she said. “And they themselves have gone through the trauma of the pandemic.”

That community-wide stress takes a toll, Raviv said.

“One of the things different about COVID is that it’s not something just happening to one student and one family, and the teacher is on the outside. Teachers are right in there,” she said. “What we see a lot of is teachers feeling overwhelmed and burned out, and that does make a difference in how available they can be for their students.” 

Sixteen-year-old Johnson has seen that dynamic at her Houston high school.

“You can tell some teachers really, really do love their job, but I feel like some teachers over the course of the pandemic, they really got a short temper,” she said. 

She’s seen educators yell at students for talking and assign punishments usually used for younger students, like silent lunch. Johnson wants to see her school hire more counselors so they can spend more time talking with students and less time building schedules. Her counselor, she said, is always busy.

Teachers and students look for solutions

Schools are making changes meant to help, often with the help of COVID relief funding. Missoula County schools in Montana, for example, hired a dozen additional staffers to focus on student behavior and mental health. Now they have staff at every elementary and middle school to teach coping strategies to kids who are getting frustrated quickly.

Brown’s school in Detroit adjusted schedules this year so every morning begins with 15 minutes students can spend on deep breathing, discussing something in the news, or venting about personal stress.

“The needs are different than in a typical year because there’s such a high level of grief,” Brown said. “If they don’t have the opportunity to talk it out, they’ll act it out.” 

Schools within the Indianapolis-based Phalen Leadership Academies charter network expanded their art and theater programs, and brought in adults — “semi-therapists,” as the network’s CEO Earl Martin Phalen dubbed them — to help kids make connections and sort through their emotions. The organization also boosted staffing by 10% across its 25 schools, with a focus on coaches and teachers who spend time daily with students to build “sticky relationships,” Phalen said.

Students are working to improve school environments, too. When school was remote, 15-year-old Carlos Alvarado, like many teens, realized that LGBTQIA+ students were experiencing less bullying away from school. When Alvarado, who uses he and they pronouns, returned this year to Houston’s Furr High School wearing a skirt, they were called names and filmed by older students. 

He’s now planning a week of activities to make his school more welcoming, including a day where students will be asked to wear pins with their pronouns. 

“I know people’s judgments and other people’s opinions. I was like: ‘Why not make an activity where people can learn?’” they said. “I feel these activities that we’re creating helps.”

At the two Denver middle schools, leaders are trying to take an empathetic approach. They have incorporated more downtime into daily schedules and loosened some rules, too — if students want to wear their hoodies up, they can.  

One day earlier this month, Schmidt was making coffee when she saw another staff member consoling a former student sobbing in the hallway. She took the eighth grade boy under her arm, walked with him outside, and listened.

“Don’t we all sometimes just need a safe person to walk with?” Schmidt said. “A lot of our kids need that right now.”

Melanie Asmar, Matt Barnum, Sarah Darville, Eric Gorski, Tracie Mauriello, and Sharon Noguchi contributed reporting.

Social Challenges of Middle School

Why middle school can be so psychologically demanding..

Posted January 9, 2017 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

None of what follows obligates a student to have a miserable social experience in middle school. In fact, I believe that most young people make the journey through grades 6-8 without acute or lasting distress.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t see more push and shove in school relationships than they have before, or that they don’t have more moments when hurt, self-doubt, loneliness , or anxiety are part of the trip.

For causes to be discussed below, middle school can be a challenging social passage. It helps for parents to know some of the bruising possibilities to watch out for, and for young people to know that parents know, because then hard times at school can be shared, emotional support can be extended, and some coaching advice can be given.

In general, it is not helpful when a young person, in the pride of her or his independence, keeps these challenges to himself: “I should be able to handle my own problems.” Just because a student is starting to grow more independent from parents doesn’t mean she or he is obliged to keep them in the dark. Independence doesn’t have to mean isolation. Just because the code of the schoolyard says not to tell on peers doesn’t mean the young person has to "gut up and shut up" and undergo hard social challenges alone.

Growth Changes in Middle School

At least during the first year or two of middle school, most students go through times of feeling socially insecure and emotionally vulnerable. Consider three factors that can cause this insecurity.

First, there is the onset of early adolescent change (around ages 9-13) when the young person starts detaching and differentiating from childhood and parents in order to start developing more independence and individuality. Growing up requires giving up, and so some cherished old childish attachments to self and family must be let go. Now more painful distancing from parents begins. Where the 1st-grader loved having parents show up at school, the 6th-grader can find this public parental presence painfully embarrassing: “Mom, Dad! What are you doing here?” It’s a vulnerable time, the young person knowing that they can’t go back home again to that simpler, sheltered, more secure period of early life. Adolescence begins with insecurity from loss.

Second, there is the need to form a second social family outside of home, of friends who are all becoming different the same way they are, for companionship and understanding. But peer group membership does not come free of charge: To belong one has to conform . Among the unstated but well understood requirements are, “To be one of us, you have be like us, believe like us, behave like us, go along with us, look like us, like us best, and not do better than us.” Fitting in is complicated. And as socially insecure young people strive for standing and definition, the incidence of five social cruelty behaviors become more common: teasing, exclusion, bullying , rumoring, and ganging up. Often targeted for this mistreatment are young people who are perceived as “different” from the desirable social norm, who absorb the insecurities of their attackers. Adolescence increases the incidence of social meanness as young people strive for social membership and standing.

Third, usually during the early middle-school years, puberty begins as hormones drive growth to sexual maturity, altering physical appearance in maturing ways the young person does not control. They have to wait and see how their changing body is going to “turn out,” and what manner of body they will now have socially to work with when it comes to defining their sexual gender role. Now parents notice how the young person is more self-preoccupied with personal appearance, needs more privacy at home, takes more time to get ready to go out with friends, shows more particularity about dress, endures extended self-encounters in the mirror, and is easily upset by any questioning or critical comments about their looks. Adolescence increases physical self-consciousness and vulnerability to embarrassment , humiliation, even shame .

Taken together, these three factors create a level of insecurity that can play havoc in peer relationships at school, the major social gathering place in a young person’s life.

Common Social Concerns

Readers with a low tolerance for lists may want to skip what follows, but I know of no other way to specify and sensitize parents to this social complexity than by itemizing common discomforts with which many middle school students must daily contend.

This is a non-exhaustive list.

• People wanting to be your friends just because you’re popular.
• Gossiping about people.
• Growing apart from a good friend.
• Being teased.
• Spreading rumors about people.
• People ganging up on you.
• Having a good friend turn against you.
• Quarreling with a friend.
• Having a friend share with other a secret you confided.
• Feeling jealous when a good friend wants to be with someone else.
• Seeing a friend change into a different person.
• Competing for a boyfriend or girlfriend.
• Bullying other people.
• Taking or defacing another person’s belongings.
• Having someone embarrass you.
• Receiving messages that hurt your feelings.
• Feeling like you have to follow the lead of a dominating friend.
• Being threatened by someone promising “to get” you.
• People boasting about doing what they’re not supposed to do.
• Hurting people with nick names.
• Fighting to prove how tough you are.
• Worrying about whether anyone will like you.
• People cutting each other down with insults.
• Being excluded from a gathering when your friends were invited.
• Going to a party when you feel shy and not outgoing .
• Pretending to have a good time when you’re not.
• Writing bad stuff about one person to another.
• Breaking up someone else’s friendship .
• Keeping others on the outside of a group.
• Competing against a good friend.
• Pressuring people to go along if they want to be included.
• Wishing you had a best friend.
• Wishing you had as much as other people.
• Being spoken to one day and ignored the next.
• People who exclude you from a group but are friendly one on one.
• Being embarrassed by your parents in front of friends.
• Having parents not like one of your friends.
• Envying people more popular than you.
• Not having the right clothes to wear.
• Feeling trapped by a best friend who is too possessive.
• Acting like you don’t care when you really do.
• Acting like you care when you really don’t.

Back in the days when I was compiling these concerns and occasionally working in middle-school classrooms, after giving each student a copy of the list, I would ask them to individually check off any concern they had experienced and double-mark the five concerns each student considered worst of all. Then in small groups of four, I asked them to come to consensus on the three worst problems, brainstorming how to deal with them, each group then sharing their suggestions with the larger group, finally ending with a class discussion about ways to take care of oneself during a more complicated social time.

With so many social concerns preying on a young person’s mind, sometimes I think a 7th-grade teacher’s humorous comment was correct: “Maybe we should just declare a moratorium on teaching kids in middle school! They’ve got too much other stuff to think about.” True, classroom instruction is often not uppermost in a student’s mind; social survival is. This is why it takes a special kind of teacher to teach and reach students in middle school, like the one who ratified at the beginning of each year a student code of social communication and treatment to be followed where she taught. There would be no teasing, exclusion, bullying, rumoring, or ganging up allowed. Her classroom would be a safe place to learn: Did everyone understand? They did. Like a lot of very good middle-school teachers I have known, she combined four crucial elements in her relationship to students: She initiated contact, she expressed caring, she provided challenge, and she never gave up.

At this awkward age, common school experiences can be magnified by insecurity and emotional vulnerability so that even small slights can cause a lot of suffering. So, parents: When your middle-school adolescent comes home expressing in mood or words that it has been a hard day, first allow them some space and time to recover, then offer to give an empathetic listen if they would like to talk. In the words of one young person, “The hardest part of middle school isn’t what you have to study, but what you have to watch out for.” Making and keeping friends can take a lot of work.

And if, as parents, you have an adolescent who chooses to pursue a more solitary path through middle school to stay out of the stressful social fray, decompressing by sitting alone at lunch to read a book for example, in some cases this choice can be the better part of wisdom . As long as the young person is not isolated and without all social contact, and as long as she or he is not a target of social cruelty for being “different,” for some young people, middle school can be a great time not to have a lot of friends to mess around with, to mess with you.

Carl Pickhardt Ph.D. is a psychologist in private counseling and public lecturing practice in Austin, Texas. His latest book is Holding On While Letting Go: Parenting Your Child Through the Four Freedoms of Adolescence.

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5 Secrets for Helping Middle School Writers Succeed

Even though I spent 19 years as a middle school teacher, I frequently ask myself what makes a middle school writing classroom work. I know successful teaching is a series of flexible moving parts. I know it’s one part inspiration and a bigger part organization. I know that every middle school teacher struggles to achieve more good days than bad.

In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I share meaningful and practical ideas for using what I’ve learned about teaching writing in middle school. My aim is to validate what you already know and give you new ways to support students. I also point out obstacles to watch out for and ways around them, so you don’t sacrifice the integrity of your teaching or the writing lives of your students.

As teachers, our greatest challenge may not be understanding best practices, but implementing those practices in classrooms where writing skills vary, time is precious, and the demand for high test scores can smother even the most creative teaching. But take heart. Teaching writing well is not impossible. Here are 5 secrets I know work in middle school and will help your young writers succeed:

1.     The teacher must model how to learn.

If we want our students to write, we have to show them we are writers ourselves, which means opening ourselves up to scrutiny.

2.      Learning should be infectious.

Look for inspiration everywhere and revise you lesson plans accordingly to foster a fascination with language, not just an understanding of terms. Who knows where this might lead?

3.     Students must be active.

Engaging in lively activities, working in small groups, sitting on the floor, listening to music, using the computer, and talking about works in progress keep students moving, and therefore, learning.

4.     Students will work hard if we give them rigorous, relevant tasks.

Let students take a giant leap forward and come up with their own projects and use the skills they have learned over the years to accomplish it. What they write matters less than the fact that they choose to write with such passion and determination.

5.     Students deserve honest, detailed feedback.

Get serious about providing feedback. Students will appreciate your suggestions for making their writing smoother, clearer, and more interesting, and, like any serious writers, won’t always agree or follow them. But your students trust you to tell them the truth because they know your feedback, as difficult as it sometimes will be to convey, will help propel their work forward.

The secrets of writing, once locked away in the writing teacher’s vault, must be revealed and explored. How else will we sort out what works from what doesn’t? But you know this already. The writing lives of your middle school students depend on our getting it right.

To learn more about  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , you can purchase the book  here.

About the author:

Ruth Culham, Ed.D.,  has published more than 40 best-selling professional books and resources with Scholastic and the International Literacy Association on the traits of writing and teaching writing using reading as a springboard to success. Her steadfast belief that every student is a writer is the hallmark of her work. As the author of  Traits Writing: The Complete Writing Program for Grades K–8 (2012), she has launched a writing revolution.  Traits Writing  is the culmination of 40 years of educational experience, research, practice, and passion.

4 Activities to Help Middle School Students Uncover New Ideas for Writing

No matter how old you are, no matter how much writing you do, no matter how much you improve over time, finding ideas and writing about them clearly and compellingly is a challenge. Small wonder, then, that middle school writers find the ideas trait difficult to master.

Writing must make sense, and that’s what the ideas trait is all about—choosing a topic, narrowing it down, and supporting it with enough details to make the message clear and engaging. In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I outline the ideas trait’s 4 key qualities:

1.     Finding a topic

2.     Focusing the topic

3.     Developing the topic

4.     Using details

The following activities will help your students develop these qualities. Each is a creative, classroom-tested idea that allows students to try out skills and strategies that you share in warm-ups and focus lessons. These activities can take 5 minutes or 50, depending on your students’ needs and interest levels, and can be carried out by students independently or in small groups.

Finding a topic | Writer’s Notebooks

Often, the best topics are the ones students come up with themselves. As you work with students, encourage them to jot down in a notebook possible ideas for use in writing later—ideas that occur to them during science, social studies, health, fine arts, or English, or in everyday life. Let students select a notebook that makes them feel comfortable. Keep your own notebook and model how you jot down ideas for writing, words and phrases you like, intriguing information and observations, and questions to ponder.

Focusing the topic | The Best and the Worst Activity

Have your students brainstorm a list of real-world jobs that require a great deal of writing: a writer for a late-night talk show, a fund-raiser for a charity, a developer of video games, an author of children’s books, and so on. Write the jobs on a chart. Divide the class into small groups and assign one of the jobs to each group. Ask group members to prepare a panel presentation explaining the best and worst parts of the job and present it to the class, using some sort of visual aid that illustrates key points, such as a chart or diagram. Hang their creations in a prominent place for everyone to read and think about. This activity teaches students that writing is a big part of most professions—a lesson they will come to learn on their own soon enough.

Developing the topic | Top-Ten List

Ask students to write a top-ten list of things every adult should know about middle school students. Encourage them to develop each point in a fun, truthful, and interesting way. Here are examples of 2 developed points:

We don’t like to be told what to do. But if you don’t tell us, we won’t do it. And even when you do tell us, many times we don’t do it unless you get mean about it. We’re kinda flakey.

Remembering to put our names on our papers is harder than being blindfolded and sending a text message with our thumbs.

Using details | Getting Into the Details Activity

Give students a general statement, such as “I love Friday,” and ask them to work with a partner to brainstorm at least 10 details that explain why Friday is their favorite school day. Have pairs share those details with the whole class and make one long list. Now ask students to select their favorite details, at least 5 but no more than 10, and choose the one they consider the most important. From there, have pairs write a paragraph describing all the great things about Friday, emphasizing one detail they feel is most important. When they’re finished, ask students to put their paragraphs on their desks and invite their classmates to walk about and read them. Later, discuss the techniques students used to focus the reader’s attention on one detail more than others.

The time you spend teaching students where ideas come from and how to develop them effectively is critical to their success as writers. Finding a topic, focusing it, developing it, and using precise details to support it is where the writing begins.

Learn more about the ideas trait and other traits critical to writing success with  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School . You can purchase the book  here .

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by Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.  

A Plethora Of Writing Examples For Middle School (& High School)

October 14, 2014 in  Pedagogy

When I started my first job as a professional newspaper reporter (This job also served as an internship during my junior year in college — I just didn’t leave for about 6 years.), I quickly realized that all my experience, and all my years of journalism education had not been enough to help me write stories about drug busts, fatal car accidents and tornadoes. All the theoretical work I’d done, and all of the nifty little scholastic and collegiate stories I had done, did not prepare me for real world writing.

At that point, I had to find a solution quickly. After all, I had a deadline to meet, and it was only a few hours away.

One of my colleagues, who also served as a mentor, had the solution. She introduced me to the newspaper’s “morgue.” This was a room filled with filing cabinets in which we kept old — dead — stories arranged by reporter. Whenever I wasn’t’ sure how to write a story, all I had to do was check the morgue for similar stories. If I needed to write a story about a local drug bust, for example, I’d find another story on a similar incident, study its structure, and mentally create a formula in which to plugin the information I’d gathered.

Once I’d gained more experience, and had internalized the formula for that particular type of story, I felt free to branch out as the situation — and my training — warranted.

I do the same thing when I want to write a type of letter, brochure, or report that I’ve never written before.

This is what writing looks like in the real world.

Of course, if you’re a new teacher like me, there is one problem with providing mentor texts to my students: I have a dearth of middle school level writing sitting around in my file cabinets.

Fortunately, the Internet is full of sources, so I scoured the bowels of Google to find examples. I know how busy you are, so I’m sharing.

Expository writing examples for middle school

Below are several sources of expository writing samples for middle school students.

• The Write Source Expository Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Expository Essay Models

Finally, here is an article in the New York Times that will help you teach your students  real-world expository writing skills .

Descriptive writing examples for middle school

• Descriptive Writing Samples from Novels
• Milwaukee Public Schools Descriptive Essay Samples (p. 137)
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Descriptive Essay Models

Narrative writing examples for middle school

• Writing Samples by Steve Peha (PDF)
• The Write Source Narrative Writing Samples
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Ideas and Organization)
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Sentence Fluency and Conventions)
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Voice and Word Choice)
• Oregon Department of Education High School Scored Narrative and Argumentative Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Narrative Essay Models

Argumentative/persuasive writing examples for middle school

• The Write Source Persuasive Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Persuasive Essay Models

Reflective writing examples for middle school

• Reflective essay examples from Lake Washington Girls Middle School

If you know of any other online writing example sources, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Related topics: Argumentative Writing , Informative Writing , Mentor Texts , Narrative Writing

About the author 

Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

I am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with an concentration in English Education and co-Editor of the Oklahoma English Journal. I am constantly seeking ways to amplify students' voices and choices.

This is very, very helpful. Thank you for sharing!

As a new middle school teacher (coming from elementary) this was very helpful and encouraging.

Thank you very much for letting me know. I’m glad that I was able to help you!

Thank you! I’m glad I can help.

Your welcome

This is super helpful. Thank you!

These links are a fantastic help. Thank you!

This helped me BUNCHES! Thanks so much!

thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

These links are now dead 🙁

Thank you for notifying me! I have updated the post to include new (live!) links. Some of them are geared towards high school, but I think we can still use them as exemplars of what we want our students to aim for.

Comments are closed.

Behavior Essay for Students to Copy

• Word Document File

What educators are saying

Description.

This is a 524 word essay for students to copy when they...

1. Break a classroom rule (like distracting other students)

2. Disrespecting a teacher, substitute, or other adult in the room

3. Not adhering to classroom management policies

Students are given the essay to copy.

The essay states they have 1 evening to complete it and return it to the teacher WITH Parent signature.

If the student fails to turn it in, it may result in...

1. Copying the essay 3x

2. A call home

3. A detention

(this is up to the teacher's digression)

This essay works wonders! I highly recommend you have it in your management arsenal.

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94 Argumentative Essay Topics For Middle School: Protocols, Health, Politics, And More

January 4, 2024 //  by  Brittany Ray

Middle schoolers are always ready for a feisty debate and to argue their points! This list of excellent argumentative essay topics for middle school is sure to give your students the practice they need in getting their arguments down on paper, in a persuasive way. With a variety of topics ranging from whether or not to outlaw animal testing to debating a 3-day weekend, this curated collection will give your kiddos lots of fun choices to explore! Take a look and see which topics are sure to spark some interest in your classroom!

School Rules and Policies

1. should cell phones be allowed at school.

2. Should gym class (physical education) be a requirement?

3. Explain why or why not: Should students have homework on weekends?

4. Should the school day be extended in exchange for a long weekend?

5. Do you feel the government should dictate what you get for school lunch?

6. Do you believe brick-and-mortar schools are still necessary for today’s post-pandemic society?

7. Is the student-per-class limit too high?

8. Should high school students be required to take a civics exam before graduation?

9. Should school security be improved?

10. Should students be allowed to use smartwatches during examinations?

11. Should there be a limit to the amount of homework a school can assign to students?

12. Is the traditional grading system effective, or does it need an overhaul?

13. Should schools offer more extracurricular activities to cater to diverse interests?

14. Do schools place too much emphasis on sports and athletes at the expense of academic pursuits?

15. Explain your stance as to whether schools should or should not require students to wear uniforms.

16. Do you believe that school field trips are beneficial or merely recreational?

17. Should students be required to learn a second language starting in middle school?

18. Should the government have the ability to ban certain books in the classroom?

19. Should school cafeterias serve exclusively vegetarian meals to promote health?

20. Should schools have mandatory classes on financial literacy?

21. Should schools have strict policies against cyberbullying?

22. Should schools have mandatory mental health classes and counseling sessions?

23. Should students be allowed to grade their teachers?

24. Should schools have mindfulness and meditation sessions as part of the daily routine?

25. Should schools emphasize more on teaching critical thinking skills rather than just memorizing things?

26. Should there be more emphasis on vocational training in middle school?

27. Should students be taught the dangers of misinformation and “fake news” as part of their curriculum?

28. Should schools introduce mandatory community service as part of the curriculum?

29. Should schools allow students to bring their pets to school?

30. Should schools be allowed to monitor students’ online activities?

31. Should education about global warming and environmental conservation be a mandatory part of the curriculum?

32. Should schools introduce more practical skills courses like basic cooking, sewing, or home repair?

33. Do school dress codes infringe on personal expression?

34. Should middle school students be allowed to bring and use laptops in class?

35. Is homeschooling a better option than traditional schooling for some students?

36. Is learning to write in cursive still a necessary skill in the digital age?

37. Should school libraries invest in more digital resources or in physical books?

38. Should students be taught about controversial historical figures objectively or with a critical lens?

39. Should students have a more significant say in the creation of school rules and policies?

40. Do schools focus too much on college preparation at the expense of life skills?

41. Should parents be held more accountable for their children’s misbehavior at school?

42. Are parent-teacher conferences still effective or have they become outdated?

43. Should middle schools have later start times to accommodate adolescent sleep patterns?

College Admission and Tuition 

44. should excellent grades guarantee a scholarship.

45. Should a college degree earned through online education have the same worth as a degree earned at a brick-and-mortar university?

46. Do you feel art courses should be a required part of earning a college degree?

47. Should college admission criteria be less stringent?

48. Should college athletes be paid?

49. Do you believe that a college education is necessary for everyone?

50. Should public education at the college level be tuition-free?

Health and Wellbeing

51. do parents put too much pressure on their children to excel academically.

52. Should cigarettes be illegal?

53. Should employers have the right to require a Covid-19 vaccine?

54. Is milk beneficial to a person’s health?

55. Are hot dogs bad for you?

56. Do you agree or disagree that parents should be held responsible for childhood obesity?

57. Should the FDA allow GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in our food?

58. Does the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) do a good job of regulating the production of food?

59. Should junk food advertisements be banned during children’s TV shows?

60. Should students be allowed to take “mental health days” off from school?

Government, Politics, and Civic Responsibilities

61. do you think electronic voting machines make the election procedure fair or unfair.

62. Explain whether or not the Electoral College should be eliminated.

63. Should the government have more say in what is or is not “fake news”?

64. Should a felon have the right to vote?

65. Should all political offices have term limits?

66. Should the voting age be lowered?

67. The moral stain of the slavery of African American people in early American History is undoubtedly present. Do you feel the government promotes hate or love with the way it currently speaks about racism?

68. Should the minimum wage be raised to $15 an hour?

69. Should the government have more strict gun control policies?

70. With the separation of church and state, should churches be exempt from paying taxes?

71. Do you feel undocumented immigrants should be granted all the same rights as naturalized citizens?

72. Have Native American communities been given proper reparations for the United States’ long history of seizing land?

73. Do you think that the government should do more to fight against human trafficking?

Environmental and Moral Issues

74. is climate change something we can truly make a difference with.

75. If protecting the environment is of utmost importance, should bottled water be banned?

76. Should exotic animals be kept in captivity?

77. Explain your stance on whether wind farms are a good or bad idea.

78. Do “participation trophies” diminish the value of real achievement?

79. Should there be harsher punishments for bullying?

80. Explain whether or not animal testing should be outlawed.

81. Should the death penalty exist?

82. Should an individual be able to keep wild animals as pets if they have the means to care for them?

83. Do curfews for teenagers prevent them from getting in trouble or infringe on personal freedom?

84. Is scientific research on cloning DNA ethical?

85. Is daylight saving something the U.S. should keep, or should it be abolished?

86. Should schools ban single-use plastics?

Digital and Media

87. do children currently have too much screen time, and is it harmful.

88. Do you believe that the media and/or social media negatively impact body image among teens?

89. Do social media platforms need stricter age verification processes?

90. Should parents have access to their children’s social media accounts for monitoring purposes?

91. Should parents limit the time their children spend on video games?

92. Should violent video games be banned in the United States?

93. Do violent cartoons and animations impact a child’s behavior negatively?

94. Do video games have educational potential or are they merely distractions?

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Covid Changed Student Behavior—How Are Schools Responding?

In a visit to schools throughout Northern California, a reporter finds that teachers are still struggling with the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s getting late down by the Oakland, California, harbor. The winter afternoon sun blares through the west windows of the Downtown Charter Academy (DCA); the rays force teachers to angle their grade-level team meetings toward the shadows. Three P.E. educators huddle in a classic training stance for the last hour of a daylong professional development: elbows on knees, shoulders curled, heads cocked up at whoever’s speaking. 

“It’s, like, totally flipped from before,” says Coach Gregg Pentony. “Used to be that most of the sixth graders would come in able to run the mile, and you’d usually be able to tell ahead of time which ones were going to struggle. Now? Now it’s the opposite: Most kids can’t make it, even the ones who look like they should be able to.” 

His colleagues nod along and commiserate. The pandemic’s homebound isolation did a number on kids’ fitness, they agree. In this, their students are typical— data suggest that the pandemic cost kids exercise all over the world . 

But children weren’t just physically languishing on their couches. Social life also stalled for much of 2020 and even into 2021, depriving kids of regular practice living, growing, and learning among their peers. Teachers are still seeing the impacts today. “I think they’re still resocializing,” says sixth-grade DCA teacher Kimberly Chang. “The way people interact in an online space is how students now interact in real-life space—no filter. And that was already hard for middle schoolers before the pandemic: that act of stopping, taking a moment to form your words and think through the consequences of each choice.”

Almost three years since the pandemic started and roughly 16 months since U.S. schools were universally reopened for in-person learning, the country has largely settled into its postpandemic “normal.” Covid-19 mitigation measures have largely vanished, and the federal government has declared that the pandemic is no longer an emergency . 

But it’s increasingly clear that these decisions didn’t suddenly end the pandemic’s impacts on kids. While there’s ample—and largely warranted—public concern about learning loss, this narrow framing underestimates the breadth and depth of the pandemic’s effect on children’s well-being. A real recovery will require not just intensive academic interventions, but also intentional efforts to rebuild students’ social skills and their sense of belonging in their school communities. That remains the central paradox facing teachers today: Despite all the attention being paid to “lost” learning, schools won’t actually be able to get kids back on track academically without doing more to address the pandemic’s deeper social and emotional impacts.  

Lingering Signs of Dysfunction

For at least the past two years, public education discourse has focused on getting students caught up to “normal” academic expectations for their grade levels. Each new round of the Nation’s Report Card brings fresh hand-wringing over the ways that Covid-19 derailed academic trajectories. 

But on a recent reporting tour of schools in Northern California, teachers told me that academic recovery is stalling as it encounters the consequences of prolonged social isolation and disrupted learning time. 

Early data on children’s mental well-being during ( and even before ) the pandemic should have been a warning sign. By May 2021, for example, 71 percent of families said the pandemic was negatively affecting their children’s mental health, and social isolation topped families’ list of unhealthy aspects of the pandemic—ahead of remote learning, excessive screen time, and even fear of the virus itself. It was inevitable that kids brought these struggles—and rusty social skills—back to campus as schools reopened. 

On cue, student misbehavior spiked in 2021, EducationWeek ’s Research Center reported, and has not improved through the early months of 2023, when the researchers last checked in with schools. Children’s marination in technology is an inescapable part of this story: The pandemic reignited a national debate about children’s access to and reliance on screens, with new studies suggesting possible links between smartphone usage, social media, and youth mental health challenges. A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that nonacademic adolescent screen time roughly doubled during the early pandemic, to an astonishing 7.7 hours per day. The researchers concluded that “despite the gradual reversal of quarantine restrictions, studies have suggested that screen use may remain persistently elevated.” In response to widespread concern from teachers, schools and districts are wrestling with ways of restricting student cell phone and technology use on campus. 

Accordingly, DCA’s eighth-grade team spends part of their professional development day huddling over how to manage in-school technology. They commiserate over the difficulty of keeping kids on task and off the internet during lessons and then share tips for limiting distractions. One teacher says he’s resorted to giving students free time on their school-assigned computers at the end of a lesson and then using the school’s classroom dashboard app to block inappropriate websites they visit. Another teacher periodically projects students’ dashboard screens onto the whiteboard so that their online activity is visible to the class. 

Technology is only one variable making it harder for many kids to reacclimate to ordinary classroom activities like small group work and class discussion. Two days after DCA’s professional development, a seventh-grade science class at the school is eerily quiet. Students complete a short assignment on geological time scales, and the teacher begins to work through the questions on their sheets. “OK,” he announces cheerfully. “What landforms occur at different locations on Earth?” 

No one volunteers a response. When the teacher calls on a student, she murmurs something that’s too quiet to hear, then shrugs and smooshes up her cheeks with her hands. He tries another student, then suggests that kids discuss their answers with classmates in their table groups. Despite the low-stress, open-ended format, the discussions flounder. “I know we just switched groups,” he pleads, “but you still know the people at your table. Don’t be afraid to talk.”

Strategies for Reengaging and Reconnecting 

Educators around the country are experiencing similar classroom dynamics and are scrambling to reengage with students. “Kids need more than ever to feel safe in a school space, they need to feel engaged in that space, they need to feel like the behaviors of that space support their mental health and well-being,” says Houston Kraft, the cofounder of CharacterStrong, a social and emotional learning curriculum. “It needs to feel like we are collectively honoring what happened and not just trying to go back to business as usual, because collectively, young people are like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” 

How can schools design “whole child” approaches to meet the full range of children’s needs at this particular, charged moment? Experiences from two Bay Area campuses, San Jose’s Edenvale Elementary and Oakland International High School, offer useful lessons for educators seeking to reengage students and support their social and emotional development. 

Defining the scope of the problem: Though the student well-being crisis is shaping teachers’ daily work around the country, the particulars of students’ social and emotional needs may vary by community, campus, classroom, and individual. Schools will be more effective if they have a clear understanding of their students’ specific challenges.

Upon seeing increased rates of chronic absenteeism after the pandemic, Edenvale, a K–6 school in San Jose, California, designed and administered surveys to identify students’ views of their own well-being. What they found was jarring: In the 2021–22 school year, only 53 percent of elementary students reported that they could connect with an adult on campus, and the number dropped to 42 percent for middle schoolers. A report issued in 2015 by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child suggests that a stable relationship with even one caring adult in school, meanwhile, increases student resilience and improves coping strategies.

Focusing on belonging: Staff members at Edenvale combed through their survey data to identify children who said they felt disconnected from the school. In a professional development session, they sifted through the list and assigned themselves to students, ensuring that each child had at least one adult dedicated to regularly checking in and forging a deeper relationship (you can see a similar strategy in practice at Cold Springs Middle School in Nevada, in the video below). Since research shows that students learn best when they are part of a community of trusting relationships, the school prioritized trust building in these connections.

Similarly, when the pandemic forced it to close, Oakland International High School, which serves newly arrived immigrants in Oakland, assigned educators call lists to (1) check on students’ overall well-being and (2) provide students with targeted practice in conversational English phrases to help them navigate new pandemic pressures. After reopening, these “case management” check-ins have continued: Educators and noninstructional staff alike commit to regular chats to ask how students are feeling, identify broader challenges they and their families may be facing, and help connect them with community resources to improve learning outcomes.

Funding real change: Fully addressing students’ current needs requires more than just identifying challenges and setting new priorities. In many cases, the scope of the problem will require a shift in budgetary allocations or staffing. Edenvale, for example, committed some of its federal ESSER pandemic recovery funds to adding counseling capacity and opening a wellness center where students can go to reset themselves socially and emotionally when things get tough. 

Oakland International found a local grant to enhance the school’s after-school programming with the aim of reengaging students and improving their attendance. The school partnered with a local nonprofit, Soccer Without Borders (SWB). The goal was to entice students to attend school so that they didn’t miss their biweekly after-school soccer practices, but SWB also incorporates case management practices, checking in with students and connecting them with community services when needed. Perhaps most important, says SWB founder Ben Gucciardi, the work of building a soccer team helps “students from different backgrounds and different cultures… work together concretely.” In other words, the team helps students find their place on campus—to find a sense of belonging. 

Reworking school spaces for a new era: In response to the stresses of the pandemic, Edenvale created unique, supervised spaces to build students’ sense of belonging on campus—beginning with the Wellness Center. After seeing that some students were struggling to reacclimate to the noise and intensity of recess, first-grade teacher Kerry Sommer began opening up her classroom for quiet group play or reading time.

To help students navigate the social tensions and mental health challenges that accompanied returning to in-person learning, Oakland International launched student affinity groups, usually organized around students’ ethnicities or home languages. They developed in response to the school’s desire to “create space for students to share what’s coming up [with] an adult who reflects their community and can support it,” says administrator Madenh Hassan. They give students a chance to process challenges—social, emotional, academic, and otherwise—with peers as part of rebuilding their sense of belonging on campus.

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

FREE Poetry Worksheet Bundle! Perfect for National Poetry Month.

15 Helpful Scoring Rubric Examples for All Grades and Subjects

In the end, they actually make grading easier.

When it comes to student assessment and evaluation, there are a lot of methods to consider. In some cases, testing is the best way to assess a student’s knowledge, and the answers are either right or wrong. But often, assessing a student’s performance is much less clear-cut. In these situations, a scoring rubric is often the way to go, especially if you’re using standards-based grading . Here’s what you need to know about this useful tool, along with lots of rubric examples to get you started.

What is a scoring rubric?

In the United States, a rubric is a guide that lays out the performance expectations for an assignment. It helps students understand what’s required of them, and guides teachers through the evaluation process. (Note that in other countries, the term “rubric” may instead refer to the set of instructions at the beginning of an exam. To avoid confusion, some people use the term “scoring rubric” instead.)

A rubric generally has three parts:

• Performance criteria: These are the various aspects on which the assignment will be evaluated. They should align with the desired learning outcomes for the assignment.
• Rating scale: This could be a number system (often 1 to 4) or words like “exceeds expectations, meets expectations, below expectations,” etc.
• Indicators: These describe the qualities needed to earn a specific rating for each of the performance criteria. The level of detail may vary depending on the assignment and the purpose of the rubric itself.

Rubrics take more time to develop up front, but they help ensure more consistent assessment, especially when the skills being assessed are more subjective. A well-developed rubric can actually save teachers a lot of time when it comes to grading. What’s more, sharing your scoring rubric with students in advance often helps improve performance . This way, students have a clear picture of what’s expected of them and what they need to do to achieve a specific grade or performance rating.

Learn more about why and how to use a rubric here.

Types of Rubric

There are three basic rubric categories, each with its own purpose.

Holistic Rubric

Source: Cambrian College

This type of rubric combines all the scoring criteria in a single scale. They’re quick to create and use, but they have drawbacks. If a student’s work spans different levels, it can be difficult to decide which score to assign. They also make it harder to provide feedback on specific aspects.

Traditional letter grades are a type of holistic rubric. So are the popular “hamburger rubric” and “ cupcake rubric ” examples. Learn more about holistic rubrics here.

Analytic Rubric

Source: University of Nebraska

Analytic rubrics are much more complex and generally take a great deal more time up front to design. They include specific details of the expected learning outcomes, and descriptions of what criteria are required to meet various performance ratings in each. Each rating is assigned a point value, and the total number of points earned determines the overall grade for the assignment.

Though they’re more time-intensive to create, analytic rubrics actually save time while grading. Teachers can simply circle or highlight any relevant phrases in each rating, and add a comment or two if needed. They also help ensure consistency in grading, and make it much easier for students to understand what’s expected of them.

Learn more about analytic rubrics here.

Developmental Rubric

Source: Deb’s Data Digest

A developmental rubric is a type of analytic rubric, but it’s used to assess progress along the way rather than determining a final score on an assignment. The details in these rubrics help students understand their achievements, as well as highlight the specific skills they still need to improve.

Developmental rubrics are essentially a subset of analytic rubrics. They leave off the point values, though, and focus instead on giving feedback using the criteria and indicators of performance.

Learn how to use developmental rubrics here.

Ready to create your own rubrics? Find general tips on designing rubrics here. Then, check out these examples across all grades and subjects to inspire you.

Elementary School Rubric Examples

These elementary school rubric examples come from real teachers who use them with their students. Adapt them to fit your needs and grade level.

Reading Fluency Rubric

You can use this one as an analytic rubric by counting up points to earn a final score, or just to provide developmental feedback. There’s a second rubric page available specifically to assess prosody (reading with expression).

Learn more: Teacher Thrive

Reading Comprehension Rubric

The nice thing about this rubric is that you can use it at any grade level, for any text. If you like this style, you can get a reading fluency rubric here too.

Learn more: Pawprints Resource Center

Written Response Rubric

Rubrics aren’t just for huge projects. They can also help kids work on very specific skills, like this one for improving written responses on assessments.

Learn more: Dianna Radcliffe: Teaching Upper Elementary and More

Interactive Notebook Rubric

If you use interactive notebooks as a learning tool , this rubric can help kids stay on track and meet your expectations.

Learn more: Classroom Nook

Project Rubric

Use this simple rubric as it is, or tweak it to include more specific indicators for the project you have in mind.

Learn more: Tales of a Title One Teacher

Behavior Rubric

Developmental rubrics are perfect for assessing behavior and helping students identify opportunities for improvement. Send these home regularly to keep parents in the loop.

Learn more: Teachers.net Gazette

Middle School Rubric Examples

In middle school, use rubrics to offer detailed feedback on projects, presentations, and more. Be sure to share them with students in advance, and encourage them to use them as they work so they’ll know if they’re meeting expectations.

Argumentative Writing Rubric

Argumentative writing is a part of language arts, social studies, science, and more. That makes this rubric especially useful.

Learn more: Dr. Caitlyn Tucker

Role-Play Rubric

Role-plays can be really useful when teaching social and critical thinking skills, but it’s hard to assess them. Try a rubric like this one to evaluate and provide useful feedback.

Learn more: A Question of Influence

Art Project Rubric

Art is one of those subjects where grading can feel very subjective. Bring some objectivity to the process with a rubric like this.

Source: Art Ed Guru

Diorama Project Rubric

You can use diorama projects in almost any subject, and they’re a great chance to encourage creativity. Simplify the grading process and help kids know how to make their projects shine with this scoring rubric.

Learn more: Historyourstory.com

Oral Presentation Rubric

Rubrics are terrific for grading presentations, since you can include a variety of skills and other criteria. Consider letting students use a rubric like this to offer peer feedback too.

Learn more: Bright Hub Education

High School Rubric Examples

In high school, it’s important to include your grading rubrics when you give assignments like presentations, research projects, or essays. Kids who go on to college will definitely encounter rubrics, so helping them become familiar with them now will help in the future.

Presentation Rubric

Analyze a student’s presentation both for content and communication skills with a rubric like this one. If needed, create a separate one for content knowledge with even more criteria and indicators.

Learn more: Michael A. Pena Jr.

Debate Rubric

Debate is a valuable learning tool that encourages critical thinking and oral communication skills. This rubric can help you assess those skills objectively.

Learn more: Education World

Project-Based Learning Rubric

Implementing project-based learning can be time-intensive, but the payoffs are worth it. Try this rubric to make student expectations clear and end-of-project assessment easier.

Learn more: Free Technology for Teachers

100-Point Essay Rubric

Need an easy way to convert a scoring rubric to a letter grade? This example for essay writing earns students a final score out of 100 points.

Learn more: Learn for Your Life

Drama Performance Rubric

If you’re unsure how to grade a student’s participation and performance in drama class, consider this example. It offers lots of objective criteria and indicators to evaluate.

Learn more: Chase March

How do you use rubrics in your classroom? Come share your thoughts and exchange ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, 25 of the best alternative assessment ideas ..

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ISS Behavior Reflection Sheet

Not Grade Specific

About This Product

This resource is a ISS Behavior Reflection Sheet.

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This is a great way for students to reflect on their actions and their behavior that led to their suspension.

The first page can be given to students at the start of ISS. The second page can be given to students at the end of ISS.

What's Included

1 PDF with 2 ready to print pages

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After middle school success, behavior support program expands to Ypsilanti elementary schools

• Published: Apr. 10, 2024, 9:03 a.m.

Holmes Elementary, 1255 Holmes Road in Ypsilanti Township on Thursday, June 15, 2023. Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com

• Sophia Kalakailo | [email protected]

YPSILANTI, MI – Ypsilanti Community Schools is expanding a social-emotional learning program to its elementary schools.

The Detroit-based 180 program, a research-based prosocial behavior and intervention initiative, has been at Holmes Elementary School about a month and will extend to Erickson Elementary School, per a Monday vote of the school board. It has been in place at Ypsilanti Community Middle School since around April 2023.

Board members on April 8 approved $122,625 in school improvement grant funds for Erickson Elementary and $100,000 for Holmes Elementary to cover the cost of the program for the rest of this year and next year.

“We really want to start the positive behaviors earlier, as they matriculate up into the middle school and high school,” Superintendent Alena Zachary-Ross said. “We know that if we set the expectations early, our students will meet us right where we set the expectation.”

Staff provide “school-wide behavior support” throughout the school day, including during arrival, dismissal, classroom transitions, lunch time, electives and more. Personnel at each school are trained in trauma-informed support, non-violent crisis intervention, cultural responsiveness and emergency use of exclusion and physical restraint among other skills and certifications, founder Raphael B. Johnson told the board Monday.

“They’ll redirect students, they’ll mentor students, they’ll be in classes, they’ll do instructional support,” Zachary-Ross said. “It’s pretty much a staff member who is there to support students.”

One staff member will be at each of the elementary schools, and the district hired three people at the middle school last year.

Holmes Elementary Principal Zack Chutz said “elopements” – students running away from supervised areas – have decreased to 2.4 per day since the program began March 11 at the school. Prior to this, Holmes saw 3.3 elopements per day in 2024, he said.

The frequency of students getting referred to administration has also quickly decreased, Chutz said Monday.

“Our kids are spending more time in class,” Chutz said.

At Ypsilanti Community Middle School, Principal Charles Davis said the program has been “transformational” during the last year.

RELATED : 10 years after consolidation are Ypsilanti and Willow Run schools stronger together?

“[The 180 staff] have mastered the ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships,” Davis said. “In the middle school, they tend to know what’s going on before anybody else in our building. The kids feel safe with them.”

Staff have been able to “build effective relationships” with students who have disciplinary histories, according to documents provided to the school board.

Assistant Superintendent Carlos Lopez said bullying and inappropriate behaviors have decreased among middle schoolers. Overall, he said, “positive behaviors” have increased too.

“What attracted me – or us – here to the program was that it really addresses the social emotional learning and mental well being of students by the manner in which they address our young people,” Lopez said. “They really use this positive demeanor to really help students make good choices but it’s done in such a way that is also culturally responsive to the needs of our students. We serve a large Black and brown community of students, and having positive role models that look like the students is very, very positive.”

Johnson said at Monday’s meeting it would take time to measure the program’s impact on academic performance.

“The first objective is to get those children to sit down and pay attention to the instructor. Then we can start working on the actual academic achievement,” he said. “But we come into an environment, as expressed by both principals, where there’s very minimal classroom management. That’s not not a knock to our instructors – we’re there to assist, we’re on a team.”

Testing scores and report cards have yet to come out but could be an indicator as the school year reaches an end, he said.

Johnson founded The 180 Program in 2004. He was previously the behavioral expert for “out-of-control teens” on The Maury Show. The organization provides services in 26 states and 35 school districts.

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page , the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free “ 3@3 Ann Arbor ” daily newsletter.

Stories by Sophia Kalakailo

• Ypsilanti to give away 200 trees 2nd year in a row
• Grant will help Ypsilanti schools hire elementary staff to improve student success
• Ministry sets up home base in Ypsilanti, hopes to fill gap left by warming center closure
• Soil contamination at Ypsilanti affordable housing project contributing to $2.5M in extra costs

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STEAM team presents updated proposals for middle school transition, minus later Wednesday start

photo by: Lawrence Journal-World

Lawrence school district offices, pictured in April 2021.

A team working on the STEAM transition for Liberty Memorial Central Middle School has backed away from a proposal to start the school day later on Wednesdays.

At the last meeting of the Lawrence school board, the team had proposed starting at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesdays, which concerned several members of the board, who were worried about families being able to accommodate that schedule and about potentially higher costs for bus transportation.

In its revised plan, presented to the board Wednesday, the team instead proposed a Wednesday schedule of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a schedule for other school days of 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

The team also suggested an increase in staffing of one or two full-time-equivalent positions to accommodate scheduling options and to maintain class sizes.

The projected enrollment for the middle school for next school year is 400, the team said.

Board members unanimously expressed enthusiasm for the developing STEAM transition.

The next area of focus for the transition is professional development, the team said, so that teachers feel prepared for the curriculum switch.

Two additional informational meetings are scheduled in coming weeks regarding the STEAM transition: one on April 16 and one on May 15. More information is available on the school district’s website .

In other business, the board heard the quarterly Safe and Supportive Schools Equity Update .

K-12 Education

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