Journal Summary: Transitions from Elementary School to Middle School Math

There are many changes that occur during the jump from elementary school to middle school that it can be hard for students to adjust and often results in a dip in academic achievement. These changes occur not only in the actual math content that the students are expected to learn, but also in the way the content is presented. Teachers often have very different teaching styles and procedures in the classroom in the elementary school versus the middle school. There are even noticeable differences in textbooks manufactured for a middle school versus an elementary school. Compounded with a new physical environment and a new social environment this can be quite a challenge for many students. However, there are specific things that teachers can do to help ease this transition. Perhaps the single best thing that teachers in the grades surrounding the transition is to visit each other’s classrooms and observe their teaching. When teachers at either level notice drastic differences they can then work to either prepare students for this change or ease students more slowly into this change, depending on which setting they are teaching in. If an in person visit is not possible, viewing a videotapes of a teacher in a classroom one grade level up or down can be a good alternative.

I found this article to be very interesting and relevant to my future teaching. Although I was aware that the transition to middle school can be difficult, I was not aware of all of the specific changes that occur. For example, I thought it was particularly interesting that textbooks are so noticeably different between fifth grade and sixth grade. The article even points out that some companies manufacture different textbooks for sixth grade depending on if sixth grade is situated in an elementary or middle school setting. As a future elementary teacher, I will keep these important aspects of transition in mind. I think that it is an excellent idea to visit a classroom in the middle school where your students may be the following year, and I sincerely hope to do so if I am teaching the uppermost grade in the elementary school setting. I believe that this would be most useful to do near the beginning of the school year, so that the elementary teacher gains a better idea of what specifically her students should be able to do in exactly one school year. Similarly, the middle school teacher will be dealing with the transition issues at the beginning of the school year, and this would be a good time for her to solicit advice from the elementary teacher.

Schielack, J. and Seeley, C. (2010). Transitions from Elementary School to Middle School Math. Teaching Children Mathematics. 16(6), 358-362.