On this page we will discuss "Topics" that are meaningful for Middle School students.
The first topic we would like to discuss is the idea of respect toward other people.
Do middle school students really know the real meaning of respect? Sometimes I think that middle school students associate the word "respect" with an idea that is forced on them. If you can force someone to do something for you, he or she is respecting you.
Of course, this couldn't be farther from the truth. We can all help middle school students with the idea of respecting others by simply helping them understand that respect means "treating other people nicely".
The behaviors we would like to reinforce are:
- Be kind to others no matter what. In other words "treat people the way you would like to be treated".
- Speak in a way that shows value to the listener. Profanity and talking back are not respectful and should not be tolerated.
- Be careful with other people's property. At school middle school students sometimes can be very messy, at lunch or in the hallways. Respect for property includes picking up after yourself at school and home.
- Listen. This does not mean you always have to agree with what others say, but being polite and listening to others without interrupting or using rude body language, such as rolling your eyes, is showing respect.
These are a few simple ideas that can help us develop an atmosphere at school and home that reinforces respect.
Cyber Citizenship
Students at Westwood are taught the importance of internet safety. They learn what happens to things they post on the internet, who they should trust and what kind of an effect mean words can have on others.