[00:00:19] Ellie: Hey there, teacher friends. Welcome back to the Teaching Toolbox, the podcast where we unpack all the real tools teachers need without the extra fluff. I'm Ellie and I'm here with my wonderful friend, Brittany,

[00:00:33] Brittany: Hello.

[00:00:34] Ellie: and we've been riding a bit of a transition train in our episodes lately. We've been diving into how students transition into middle school and into high school.

[00:00:45] Brittany: And now it's time to flip that lens because let's be real, students aren't the only ones who transition.

[00:00:53] Ellie: Nope. Teachers do it too, and honestly, sometimes it's even harder when you're the one packing up your classroom and stepping into the unknown. Ugh. Packing up the classroom. I have lots of memories of classroom packing and just as a side note, one time my classroom had to be packed up when I had given birth a month early unexpectedly.

[00:01:20] It wasn't supposed to happen during the school year. Suddenly I was there for open house and then I was gone and somebody else had to completely pack up my classroom to be moved to another school, so that was a good time for them, I'm sure.

[00:01:36] Brittany: We had to move our classrooms once between Thanksgiving and Christmas because they found mold and mice

[00:01:44] Ellie: oh, no.

[00:01:46] Brittany: and we had to move, and then they close the school between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But nothing as bad as that.

[00:01:54] Ellie: Hmm.

[00:01:55] Brittany: Yeah. Wow.

[00:01:56] Ellie: good mouse stories too, but that's for another time.

[00:02:01] Brittany: so today we're talking about what you need, like mental tools, physical tools, and all the in-between to not just survive but thrive when you're changing grades, subjects,

[00:02:14] or buildings. I changed classrooms 9 out of 11 years when I was in the elementary school I worked in. And then I did make the jump to middle school, but I stayed in sixth grade, so that was comforting. And I never had to move my classroom once I got to middle

[00:02:32] Ellie: Hmm. Wow. 9 out of 11 years. Holy moly. I suppose a benefit of that could be that maybe you sorted through your stuff and got rid of things you didn't need a little bit more effectively or efficiently than some of us.

[00:02:46] Brittany: Oh yeah, definitely.

[00:02:48] Ellie: Yeah. I taught in three different elementary buildings. And I was in six different classrooms over the course of 12 years in elementary school, but like three of those moves were three years in a row, I think.

[00:03:04] Yeah. Like because we were restructuring and changing from junior high to middle school. So I moved from one elementary school temporarily to the next one, which is the one I was in when I had my daughter and that one had to get them packed up and move to the next elementary school, all in that process of restructuring.

[00:03:22] So the moves were closer together. And then I did change grade levels during that time too, because of the restructuring. I changed from fifth grade to fourth grade and then stayed there for a while. And then my last elementary classroom change was when I went from fourth grade to second grade. Just for two years.

[00:03:39] And after that, I moved to middle school and spent 12 years in the same classroom. So let's think about when you're switching grade levels and think about the mental side of transitions, because when you move from elementary to middle or middle to high school or high school to middle school, it's easy to feel like you're a brand new teacher again.

[00:04:00] Right?

[00:04:01] Brittany: Oh yeah, but guess what? You're not starting over. You're leveling up. You're bringing everything you've learned previously, and now you're just like playing in a new arena.

[00:04:14] Ellie: Mm-hmm. Exactly. And you're not alone. Martina from The Hungry Teacher teacher when she joined us, said that when she moved to middle school, she thought she would hate it. She ended up falling in love with it. If you're open to it, you can find some great experiences where you did not expect them.

[00:04:32] Brittany: Right. I bombed my sixth grade student teaching experience.

[00:04:38] I did horribly at it and

[00:04:40] my, college professor was like, maybe sixth grade's not for you. And then I went and did my high school experience and I flew through it. It was awesome. I loved my high school experience. And then when I got hired, it was for a sixth grade position.

[00:04:56] I was like, oh no. Oh no.

[00:04:59] But then I ended up loving it. I fit right in, and I did 17 years at 6th grade.

[00:05:05] Ellie: right.

[00:05:06] Brittany: So you never know what will happen, but.

[00:05:08] Ellie: Yeah, that's true. It's interesting, like I loved my second grade experience when I was student teaching. It was wonderful. And my sixth grade was not great. Not because I was a problem, but like, it just overall was not a fun experience. And I was like, yeah, I don't wanna work with this grade level.

[00:05:25] And then when I got hired, I was hired for a sixth grade, but then the person who was supposed to retire changed her mind and I didn't get that job. And then a fifth grade one in the same school opened up the following week. So I ended up in fifth grade to start. And I really did love that. And then when I went and tried second grade, halfway through my teaching career, I liked it, but I really missed the upper grades.

[00:05:50] So I ended up back in, in sixth grade. You never know.

[00:05:55] Brittany: Nope.

[00:05:56] Ellie: where you're supposed to be.

[00:05:58] Brittany: And Andrea from History Gal reminded us that even with a whole new setup, like high school block scheduling, your purpose really stays the same. You're still there to support and empower students.

[00:06:12] Ellie: Right. So even if you feel like maybe there's some imposter syndrome creeping in because you're not in the grade level that you thought you wanted to be in, just relax. You're not a rookie. You're just entering a new room with a different skillset.

[00:06:26] Brittany: All right, so let's dig into the real toolbox, the things we wish someone had handed us with a big red bow when we switched roles.

[00:06:36] Ellie: Well, no matter what grade level I was teaching, my planner was my best friend, at least for the beginning of the year, if you know what I mean.

[00:06:45] Brittany: Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:06:50] Ellie: if you're stepping into a block schedule, especially an A/B rotation like Andrea talked about, you will definitely need a good planner to track your sanity. So maybe the one you were using is gonna be fine for you, but if not, you know, track down something that's gonna fit those needs right away so you start off with that, in place.

[00:07:09] Brittany: I always custom made my own planner.

[00:07:12] Ellie: Me too. Mm-hmm.

[00:07:13] Brittany: And then right behind that is a system. So something like Google templates, a good file structure, a grading routine. Bonus, if whatever you choose is color coded

[00:07:27] Ellie: And do you mean a system like for your planning or just in

[00:07:32] Brittany: for like. your classroom,

[00:07:34] Ellie: how things are gonna go. Okay. All right. Yeah, I love the color coding idea. Thanks for mentioning that. other critical tools that could go along with the system or how you're running your classroom would be the visual aids that you're going to use.

[00:07:48] Middle schoolers, benefit from anchor charts, timers, checklists, classroom routine lists, even if they roll their eyes at them, and you might think that maybe they're too old for some of those things, they're really beneficial.

[00:08:02] Brittany: I wish somebody would've sat down with me right at the very beginning and kind of just explained expectations

[00:08:12] of the school and stuff,

[00:08:14] Ellie: You mean like expectations for you as a teacher or what you should be expecting from the students

[00:08:19] Brittany: I should be expecting from the students.

[00:08:22] That wasn't explained very well,

[00:08:24] Ellie: Okay.

[00:08:25] Brittany: and so I was kind of like, am I allowed to do this? Am I allowed to do that? And so I kind of felt uncomfortable in setting up my systems because I didn't know if what I wanted to do was allowed or not.

[00:08:44] Ellie: Okay.

[00:08:45] Brittany: And I didn't wanna sit down and ask like 30 million questions.

[00:08:49] Ellie: Right. And that's a really good point because in the same school district, you might even be from one middle school to another, but because the principal is different or the administration is different, some of the expectations may be different. So yeah, that's really important to find out right away.

[00:09:05] Good point.

[00:09:05] Brittany: Yeah. And I came from a charter school into a public school, and so I had no idea what they we're allowing or not allowing, what was different. Charter schools are much more restrictive than public schools.

[00:09:21] Ellie: Okay. Okay.

[00:09:22] Brittany: so classroom setup might be different too. You might want a cozy reading corner, or you might want spaces where students can collaborate.

[00:09:31] Part of that classroom setup can be the classroom rules on clear posters because no one wants 30 kids asking, what do I do next? What do I do when I'm done? Where do I turn this in? You know, all that kinda stuff.

[00:09:46] Ellie: Yeah, I definitely had those posters up and I had a carpet area, which was really nice. It was a nice little section on the side of the room where we have a carpet area and some beanbags until all the little beanbag thingies started falling out. But that was really nice to have a cozy spot like that. And you might have to retrain yourself when it comes to

[00:10:07] what should be easy everyday tasks, like you might need to build time into lessons for cleanup. Or for tech glitches that you may not have had at a different grade level. These things might take longer at the middle level than they did, especially if you're coming from high school. Or realizing that passing out papers might take two or three times as long when students are in different seating configurations, or that you have to train students in the way that you want papers passed out so that it goes the way you want every time.

[00:10:38] So you had some fun paper passing experiences?

[00:10:42] Brittany: It just took so long when you had 120 kids instead of the same 24 or whatever every time. I don't know why it took so long.

[00:10:52] Ellie: That's funny.

[00:10:53] Brittany: Well, and then there's time management for you and your students both. Middle school teachers especially need to help kids learn how to break down long projects or long assignments and build those habits of how to schedule yourself out and how to prioritize. It's not just academics all the time, it's learning the survival of school. how do you get through?

[00:11:22] Ellie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's true. Once you get really into things, sometimes it's hard to pause and, and look back at those things. It's nice to map things out as best you can

[00:11:52] Brittany: Yeah.

[00:11:52] Ellie: map things out, air quotes. Um, I was really good at mapping things out. Not so good with the, sticking to the schedule.

[00:12:00] Brittany: Yes, same

[00:12:01] Ellie: Yeah. Um, you'll also wanna have like a stash of flexible activities like bell ringers, exit tickets, quick review games. Middle school timing can be really unpredictable. Like you might think you're gonna take the entire period to finish this lesson and you're done with five, 10 minutes to spare. You can't really start something new.

[00:12:22] So if you have a good five or 10 minute backup activity, that could be your secret weapon, like some math trivia at the very end, or like the exit tickets. Maybe you weren't planning to use an exit ticket, but you have it on hand ready to go. It could be general reviewing anything and you can just use that.

[00:12:41] So too much downtime at the end of lessons can be the root of many issues.

[00:12:47] Brittany: Yes.

[00:12:48] Ellie: Now if the grade level change isn't too dramatic, like you're going up or down one grade level, instead of going like from second grade to sixth grade, take a little time at the beginning of the year to audit your materials. Look at your favorite lessons, your favorite activities, your favorite resources, and ask how can I adapt this for younger or older students?

[00:13:10] Sometimes it can be as simple as updating some language, adding more or less challenge, or connecting it to real world examples.

[00:13:20] Brittany: Exactly. For example, that detailed essay outline you used in high school, tweak it into a guided writing template that walks students through brainstorming, organizing, and drafting one paragraph at a time. That big semester long research project, break it into smaller bite-sized checkpoints. Maybe even have mini deadlines every week or two. That elementary graphic organizer you loved for reading comprehension. Make a version that fits non-fiction articles or historical documents. Those math task cards you created. Reframe them into many problem solving challenges for middle schoolers who need a little more independence.

[00:14:10] Ellie: Yeah. I'll tell you what, even when I moved from second grade to sixth grade, there were things that I used in writing that I still used in sixth grade, like when we did the little squiggle writing. Anybody can look at a little squiggle line and create a picture and write something about it. It's just a whole different level of creativity and writing when you take it to sixth grade.

[00:14:35] So there are some things like that that you will still be able to use. So think about how you can adjust those things.

[00:14:42] Brittany: Yeah, I did the same thing. I actually had an assignment from my second grade teacher that I loved when I was a kid.

[00:14:50] And I have created it as a sixth grade assignment with just higher expectations for what's required. And it's about descriptive writing with shapes.

[00:15:02] Ellie: Right?

[00:15:03] Brittany: And then I also have used second grade identifying what the shape is called with my sixth

[00:15:10] graders because my sixth graders didn't know their shapes very well.

[00:15:14] They knew the three basic ones, but nothing beyond that.

[00:15:18] Ellie: So you've got a lot of things in your back pocket when you're switching grade levels that you're gonna be able to pull from. When you think about classroom routines, you might have to change how you explain those to students or how you reinforce those. If you expected high schoolers to maybe just read the syllabus and know the rules,

[00:15:39] in middle school, you might have to explicitly teach those rules and routines to students. That was the first week of school, always was teaching the routines so that they know exactly what to do and what's expected. You'll have to teach things like how to turn in homework and we actually practice that.

[00:15:56] What to do when you finish early, how to transition between activities, things like that.

[00:16:01] Brittany: Role model, role model, role model. Yeah,

[00:16:05] and don't assume content knowledge either. You might have to back up and pre-teach vocabulary or foundational skills you could take for granted with high schoolers. That doesn't mean you dumb it down, it means you build the bridge to get them where you want them to go.

[00:16:23] Ellie: Mm-hmm. And behavior management will be a little bit different too. You might not have needed a lot of reminders about expectations with juniors or seniors, or maybe you do, I don't know, but middle schoolers need constant positive reinforcement. You can use things like ticket systems, classroom economy, which we covered back in episode 12, so you can tune in for more information about that.

[00:16:46] Classroom jobs or daily routines for rewards can be powerful motivators at this age. We also discussed morning routines and different kinds of routines in episode 14.

[00:16:57] Brittany: Honestly, you'll also need more structured transitions in your lesson plans. Middle schoolers have a harder time moving from one task to another without getting derailed. So using timers, countdowns, clear what's next directions can make a huge difference. You can check out episode 10 of the podcast for a bunch of transition ideas.

[00:17:22] Ellie: Yeah. And you know, I think coming from elementary to middle school was helpful because I was probably more in a mindset to do some of those things in middle school than I might have been if I had come from high school down to middle school. ' cause I still treated them not like elementary kids, but knowing they still needed some of that structure.

[00:17:42] Brittany: Yeah.

[00:17:43] Ellie: Yeah. The bottom line is that you already know how to teach. You're just adding a little extra scaffolding, structure, and guidance to meet students where they are developmentally.

[00:17:53] Brittany: The rule basically is tweak it, don't toss it. You're not starting over. You're just refining what already works.

[00:18:00] Ellie: yeah. All right, so we all know routines and transitions and curriculum and such are super important, but we also have to talk about the human side of things. Feelings, friendships, the potential loneliness when you switch grade levels.

[00:18:17] Brittany: Changing buildings or teams can be isolating, especially if you're moving from a collaborative elementary team to a more independent secondary model.

[00:18:28] Ellie: Mm-hmm. Andrea's experience in the freshman Academy brought back that team feeling. We loved hearing how her group worked together across subjects to support their students.

[00:18:40] Brittany: If your school doesn't have a team model, make your own version. Find a buddy. Start a casual lunch group. Connect with someone in your hallway. DM someone from teacher Instagram. Just don't go it alone.

[00:18:56] Ellie: Right. You don't have to have 15 best friends at your new school. I know I never did. Sometimes just one or two genuine connections can make all the difference.

[00:19:06] Brittany: And don't be afraid to reach out to mentors. Ask questions, observe other teachers. Most people love being asked for advice. They feel honored. I.

[00:19:16] Ellie: Yeah, for sure. So no matter how prepared you might feel, transitions can be messy. The schedule can be confusing, the curriculum changes can be challenging, and maybe just because it's unfamiliar curriculum, not because it's that difficult for you, but just that it's unfamiliar. And the copy room? We know the copier can betray you when you need it the most.

[00:19:41] Brittany: Definitely facts, but as Martina said, sometimes the place you stumble into is the place you were meant to be.

[00:19:51] Ellie: And Andrea reminded us, just because a system changes doesn't mean the heart of teaching does. You'll still connect with students. You'll still grow as an educator, and you'll still make a difference.

[00:20:03] Brittany: Even if your classroom's a disaster for the first month and you forget how to take attendance on day one, and the office has to call you.

[00:20:12] Ellie: Yeah, I've been there and way past day one I've been there. So if you're heading into a new grade level ,school, or subject, remember this, you are not starting from scratch.

[00:20:23] Brittany: You are just packing new tools into your already amazing teaching toolbox.

[00:20:31] Ellie: If this episode helped you share it with another teacher who's on the move. Post it. Tag us at Teaching Toolbox Podcast. We love hearing from you.

[00:20:41] Brittany: And until next time, keep teaching, keep growing, and remember

[00:20:47] Ellie: you've got this.