I teach middle school science in Georgia. I share my classroom ideas, teaching resources, tech tutorials, and all the laughs along the way. When I am not teaching I enjoy traveling, photography, cooking, and my two dogs, Alfie and Ivy. Let's collaborate: cookintheclassroom@gmail.com
I love the message you have posted above your screen. I have seen too many kids that are afraid to fail. They do not understand that this is only temporary and is generally a process required to become successful. Great inspiration!!!! Thank you!!!
Some don't even return the pencil and then come back the following day and ask for another one and when you ask parents for more they complain. 🙄 being a middle school teacher is exhausting I'm in high school now not that it's any better as it's exam time now and a grown 15 year old will come to the exam without a pen. 😢
We do this because at the beginning of the year we don't know your limits and if your mean or not but at the end we know our limits and love to push them
It's just middle school, man. Kids are gonna forget and lose their pencils constantly. If you don't have them on hand, the kids that don't have them won't do their work, which is an infinitely worse problem to have. Of course, you need the sign out sheet because they will forget and lose your pencils too. As a first year middle school teacher, it took me a while to get my system down, and I went through over 300 pencils in the meantime. That's just how it goes.
(i’m in middle school) my teachers have each given out 100s of pencils. sometimes the same kid, day after day, will ask for a pencil and lose it over and over. the school doesn’t provide them any, so it’s all their own money.
In Europe everyone buys their own pencils and pens. Teachers are not required to provide materials needed for lessons. If a student has forgotten something (a pencil, a pen, watercolor or colored paper for arts and crafts, they just borrow it from other students). I think this is the best policy.
Pretty sure that's the same everywhere, these aren't pencils provided by the school they are just donations and what the teacher decided to buy with their own money.
Let them bring their own pencils. If they don't have one, they need to ask some friends to borrow one. Providing supplies is neither the teachers nor the schools job - at least where I come from. Would not have asked a teacher, let alone give it back like that.
I used to gnaw on my pencils like a weird beaver child... But they were also always my own pencils and i had undiagnosed adhd so i was just stimming apparently
I may be coming at this from a different perspective however, have you considered the fact that maybe you are facilitating the pencil problem? If it always just available and the kids do not have to be responsible, then they are learning the behavior of “someone else will take care of me.” True teachers do not just teach the prescribed material but they also teach life lessons. Now I do not know your actual teaching skills, but if they are in line with your skills of accountability, then maybe it the teacher and not the pencil that needs replaced.
“Why are you teaching my kid life skills? That’s not your damn job. That’s MY job, and I’ll THANK YOU to not be pushing your personal beliefs onto my child.” “Why doesn’t my kid have access to pencils in your class? How do you expect them to do the work you are asking them to do if you aren’t going to give them materials?” “Yeah, with all due respect, my kid doesn’t need to take accountability lessons from a middle school teacher. If you knew a thing about that, you wouldn’t be teaching, would you? You’d be doing the thing you taught.” Also, replace the teacher with who, exactly? Half of all teachers never see their 6th year of teaching. We’ve been in a teaching shortage for years and Covid made that way worse when all of the old teachers retired or died. I was the ONLY person that interviewed for my job.
I am a middle school teacher who has tried both strategies. The problem with not providing them is that kids who lose their pencils can't do their work in class. When they can't work, they start doing other stuff, goofing around and distracting their peers. When you give them a pencil, you take away their excuse to do nothing. Of course, you can play the long game, letting them mess around until their grades drop or they do something so distracting you have to send them out, but it's super troublesome in the meantime. Teaching, especially in middle school (and especially when you have too many students and not enough resources, like many of us), is all about picking battles, and for a lot of us, providing pencils is worth the trouble it avoids.
I see so many videos of teachers talking about kids going through pencils. What happened to expecting kids to show up prepared for class with pencil/pen/paper? Why are so many kids borrowing pencils?
I am a middle school teacher who has tried both strategies. The problem is that when they can't work, they start doing other stuff, goofing around and distracting their peers. When you give them a pencil, you take away their excuse to do nothing. Of course, you can play the long game, letting them mess around until their grades drop or they do something so distracting you have to send them out, but it's super troublesome in the meantime. Teaching, especially in middle school (and especially when you have too many students and not enough resources, like many of us), is all about picking battles, and for a lot of us, providing pencils is worth the trouble it avoids.
@@EveleaSolgosugh, that's annoying. I hate that for you... I wish you guys had the support to really hold kids accountable. It's not the fault of the teachers but small things like showing up prepared are really causing the lapse in society. Expecting everyone to cater or provide for you isn't realistic. Thanks for your answer! Good luck!
Real question, why not "You are responsible for your own pencils and if you don't have one and you can't do your work, you will still get downgraded." Wouldn't they then protect and take care of their pencils? Or is this a problem with kids who have bad grades anyway?
As a middle school teacher myself, I can tell you it's 50/50. Sometimes, the kid will like you enough to turn it back in just as they took it OR they know how to school enough to not destroy things randomly. The other times, it's kids who just don't care: about you, what we're doing in class, their grades, etc.
@@13LavenderRose That makes sense. So why do you have to buy any pencils? The responsible kids can take care of their own pencils that their parents buy them and the other kids aren't going to buy pencils cause they don't care anyway. I don't understand why the teachers are buying the pencils. It's just a courtesy to the kids. If you can't responsibility borrow something, then you lose the privilege.
@@amyw7200Because the parents of the kids that don’t care get angry with you if you don’t do everything possible to get their grades up, and that absolutely includes not having materials in the classroom. Much easier to drop $20 every so often then to have to explain to someone’s dad that a lack of pencils is not the reason their kid isn’t turning in work.
@@amyw7200 Yep, agreed. The kids that don't bring pencils are the kids who won't care about their grades until the day they go home, and will continue to mess around every other day. The added issue is that kids who lose their pencils can't do their work in class. When they can't work, they start doing other stuff, goofing around and distracting their peers. When you give them a pencil, you at least take away their excuse to do nothing. Teaching, especially in middle school (and especially when you have too many students and not enough resources, like many of us), is all about picking battles, and for a lot of us, providing pencils is worth the trouble it avoids.
My husband is a teacher. Hes trying to teach 6th graders how to read books that are above a 2nd grade reading level because this country passes kids without them learning anything. Also, many parents are awful nowadays. So every day is May for him.
Doubt this would fix the problem but my mom used to attach an " emergency pencil" to the underside of her student desks that had rubber/elastic leashed attached to them. They had little magnets on the leashes that attached to either metal squares or another magnet that she hot glued under the desk. She only kost pencils once every few months. Plus it ended the distraction of students asking her or their classmates for pencils. Just an idea ,feel free to try it. in(***(jj(k((jjk*ì
I'm just genuinely curious, what would the fallout be if you started the year with setting the expectation that kids show up prepared with their own pencils? If they don't and a friend won't lend them one they have the natural consequence of getting a zero or having extra homework. I'm not sure when providing pencils became the teachers responsibility but it shouldn't be.
That would make me feel awful for the kids who's families cant afford these supplies who would be responsible and take care of the things they've borrowed from other people :/ we never know what situation a person could be in and what state their family is in financially. Pencils themselves are cheap sure but the supplies and school stuff all add up and alot of kids end up without things they need while being too embarrassed to tell anyone why or ask for help. These careless and disrespectful kids are ruining things for kids who genuinely need and appreciate the help@@Otterice
I'm a bus driver for middle. I can confirm with 100% that these middle schoolers are done giving a shit because one of them is currently in juvie. i don't know what happen because I was subbing for another bus but kid is in juvie
