Today I am filling in for sixth graders at an area high school. The class is unique in this county in that the subject taught is “technology”. The teacher is a brilliant man whom I respect very much, although he has already announced that he will retire at the end of this school year. He will leave a void when he leaves, as no one else is qualified to teach his class.

What surprises me about this class is how immature the sixth graders are. When I was in school, sixth grade was still part of elementary school. Since the move to middle schools, sixth graders have been moved from elementary school to middle school, yet I sometimes wonder if they wouldn’t be better off with younger kids. I’m not a developmental psychologist and I’m sure there were strong reasons for making the change. Still, there is a huge leap in maturity between sixth and seventh graders and good teachers make sure they know how to handle both.

Because I’m in the tech lab, there are a lot of different workstations separated by walls that are about five feet tall. As a class, the teacher has assigned us a movie to watch and most of the children are seated strategically in front of the large flat screen television. (The teacher has provided this, not the school board.) I hate to just show movies and would be much happier to teach, but this is “Tech” and while I’m better than average in that area, I have no idea who the teacher is. working or how you could help. I can’t blame him for leaving us with a movie.

One young man has refused to sit with the others, which was my first clue that he’s up to no good. Sure enough, I see his head peeking over the workstation every few minutes to see if I’m looking. I’ve positioned myself so I can see him clearly, so every time his head pops up, my eyes are already on him.

After several exchanges like this, I’m beginning to wonder what I’d do if I didn’t see myself looking back. I walk quietly across the room so he can’t see me and position myself where I can see him clearly from behind. Sure enough, his little head peeks over the wall and he seems delighted not to see me at my usual post. His evil plan, whatever it is, begins to take shape. However, he is very cautious and he wants to know exactly where I am. He starts looking around the room for any sign of where she might be. Finally, now fully turned around, he sees me and starts to giggle.

I have to admit it was pretty funny, although I couldn’t help but feel like I was looking at a two year old instead of a twelve year old. Of course, not all sixth graders act this way; some are remarkably mature for their age, although they tend to be the rare exception. Many, like this young man, have much to mature.

My advice to anyone substituting for sixth graders is this; Think of them more like elementary students than high school students and they are more likely to speak their language. Assume that they need to be supervised at all times and need very direct instruction with little to no room for misinterpretation. They may be older than most elementary students, but they still have a long way to go before they fully fit in with the rest of middle school.