Five New Ways to Beat Spring Fever in Middle School

It’s the end of the year! The pull of the summer sun and the much-anticipated, unstructured months ahead can lead us all to a less focused, increasingly dysregulated place. 

In our classrooms, we see amped-up behaviours and distressing drops in productivity - all at a time when testing, final projects and looming report cards mean students and staff alike must demonstrate even greater productivity and focus than is usually expected.

Spring fever is real. Spring fever is normal. Spring fever is the result of changing routines, positive expectation and even dread. Remember, for some students, the summer months represent the loss of the most reliable routines and people in their lives.

So. What can we do to help ourselves and our middle schoolers beat spring fever and keep it together until the very end?

Here are my top 5 strategies that help my students (and me!) keep it together:

1. Direct instruction of social emotional skills: building student self-awareness

2. Mindful moments: guided mini-meditations

3. Add occasional novelty and fun!

4. Talk about it! Real, honest conversations matter in middle school

5. Put yourself on your own list. Look after YOU.

1. Teach social-emotional skills: Self-awareness is the key!

I’ve taught self-awareness skills for years at this point, sometimes directly and sometimes woven more subtly throughout my work. It’s magic. Most students automatically adjust their behaviors once they become aware of them.

These mini-lessons and discussions do take a few minutes each. But you’ll easily get those minutes back when your classes progress more smoothly!

The Ripple Effect:

I recently did some simple math with my own seventh graders to help them understand the ripple effect, and then shared the concept with all 550 sixth and seventh graders at my school. 

I asked my class, “How many people do you think you interact with in the course of your day?” They agreed that almost all students their age interact with at least ten people each day for more than a few seconds.

I asked them to consider how those interactions would go if I, their teacher, had been in a good mood and we had had a good class as compared to how they would go if I were in an awful mood and they left my class feeling terrible. The difference was easy to imagine.

Here’s the math:

• I teach approximately 90 students each day

• If each of those 90 students interacts with 10 people per day, my minimum impact could be estimated at approximately 900 people-and that only includes members of the community who interacted directly with the same people I did! Each of those people has their own ripple, so my impact can be truly staggering.

No pressure, right?

I asked my students if they, too, have an impact on all of the students in their class. They agreed without hesitation that they do. Based on their attendance in two different class groupings, that means that each of my students has an impact of approximately 600 people every day.

Just like us, students are often more motivated to change their behavior if it’s for the benefit of others. When they realize the sheer size of their impact, they begin to reconsider the way in which they show up.

2. Mindful Moments

“What are you paying attention to?”

The simplest mindfulness exercise I use with middle schoolers is this prompt. It takes less than 60 seconds. Before you begin, students should be mostly listening. As you talk, lower the volume of your own voice, and begin to slow your pace as well. Here’s a rough script:

“I’d like you to notice what you’re paying attention to right now. Is it a sound outside the room, a thought about something that happened last night, or a thought about something that’s coming up? There’s no wrong answer, and you don’t have to share. Just notice.”

Give a few seconds’ pause. Watch their bodies still as they become more present.

“Nice work. Now that you know where your attention has been, I’d like to ask you to bring it back to where it needs to be right now.”

“Text a loved one” visualization:

This brief meditation has never failed me, whether I was guiding ten-year-olds, fourteen-year-olds, or adults. Its impact is quick and beautiful. Try it yourself, or use the steps like a script in your classroom.

• Close your eyes and think of someone you really, truly love to be around. This could be anyone- a family member, a friend, even a pet. 

• Picture a time when they made you smile or laugh. Pick a memory from the past week or so, or one that you remember clearly. Really picture it, in as much detail as you can. Imagine their face, what they were wearing, where you were, what you were doing. Fill in all the details. (Pause while they visualize).

• Now, as you picture them in your mind, imagine that you’re sending them a text message, saying thank you. Tell them exactly what they do, or did, that made you so grateful. Tell them how much better they made your day, or your week, or your whole life. Imagine pressing “send,” and knowing that the message is about to reach them. Take a deep breath in as you enjoy that feeling of gratitude, and then, when you’re ready, open your eyes.”

Mindfulness Tip: you’ll see your students relax as they do these exercises, and the energy of the room will change. Allow yourself to be calmed as your students calm, and enjoy a deep breath or two along with them. When they’ve settled, begin or return to the lesson gently to allow the feeling of contentedness to continue for as long as possible.

3. Add Occasional Novelty and Fun!

Despite our exhaustion, this is the time to bring small, happy changes into your work. Do something new and noticeable.

My seventh graders recently participated in book clubs for the diversity and inclusion novel studies we’ve been working on, and you’d better believe I brought table cloths and asked their parents to send in treats to add novelty and excitement, all while I demanded they “up the ante” with their small group discussions so late in the year.

I still marked the discussions and recorded anecdotal evidence for my report cards. But I did it in a way that felt memorable and made them feel seen. I took pictures (with parent permission) and posted them on Instagram.

Other examples  include a short walk outside, a change in your classroom furniture or bulletin boards, the inclusion of an art piece such as a short film or relevant piece of visual art, sharing a snack, laughing at “dad jokes,” offering a riddle or puzzle to be solved for a prize, incorporating extra games, making art - there are many, many possibilities. Your small efforts to make things feel enjoyable will go a long way towards keeping your students engaged in the work that still needs to be done.

4. Talk about it! Real, honest conversations matter in middle school.

Validation
Remind students that you “get it.” Invite them to share what they’re excited or frustrated about, briefly, if that seems appropriate. When they pause to really consider it, our students KNOW their behavior isn’t always within expectations.

Whether you open your space for extensive sharing or just provide the occasional reminder, acknowledging that the struggle is real - that students’ exhaustion or their desire to be out in the sun is understandable - validates their feelings and can help them re-engage.

Sharing your own struggles
Last semester, I was overwhelmed by new report card expectations. My students know that my report cards took me thirty hours, start to finish, and that I was exhausted and grumpy by the time they were finished. They also know that I learned from that experience and am far more prepared this semester.

Sharing my student-appropriate struggles reminds my students I’m human and shows them I can empathize with how they’re feeling. When they feel seen, they resist less and cooperate more.

5. Put yourself on your own list. Look after YOU!

As far as I’ve ever seen, there’s no such thing as balance in teaching. No one ever feels like they’ve done “enough,” or “got it right.” No one feels like they can do it all. It’s simply NOT A THING. 

At a certain point - preferably far before burnout - you must pause. Take a nap. Meditate. Cut yourself a break and go for drinks between teaching and writing report cards, or crash alongside your toddler at bedtime only to crawl straight into your own bed from there. Stop at your favourite place in nature on your way home. Take a dance break or crank your favorite song on your way to work. It will all get done, or it won’t! Summer will come either way. 

I’m not telling you to throw in the towel, and I do walk the walk. I understand how challenging it is to find the time to put yourself first: I spend a minimum of one full hour in meditation, every single day. I speak from experience: you will regain any time you devote to boosting your mood or finding stillness (and probably more!) because you will be SO much more productive throughout your day.

Prioritize yourself for just a moment, even if it means you have to curb the expectations you set for yourself. Choose one of these reminders and put it somewhere obvious so you can see it throughout the day:

• I teach because I care. Taking care of me IS caring for kids.

• Kids need to see me look after myself, even just a little. (I wouldn’t want my own children or students to ignore their own needs.)

• Done is better than perfect. “Done” is probably much better than I think!

• It will all get done, or it won’t. Summer bliss is coming either way!

• I’ve done it before! I already KNOW I can do this!

Like what you see here? I post every other week, so stay tuned for more! In the meantime, please check out the free guides to teaching Art and integrating the Arts & SEL into core subjects! You can find them here.