Bill Ferriter offers some experienced-backed advice on one of the greatest pedagogical challenges known to mankind—i.e., keeping middle school students interested in class. His trick is to play on the typical idiosyncrasies of that age range to his instructional advantage. For example:
Middle schoolers are hard wired to wrestle with issues related to justice and injustice because they're beginning to think beyond themselves for the first time---losing the egocentricty of the elementary years. Middle schoolers are hard wired to wrestle with issues related to justice and injustice because they're beginning to think beyond themselves for the first time---losing the egocentricty of the elementary years.
So I find ways to incorporate studies of justice and injustice into everything that I do. We study world-wide poverty, animal cruelty, genocide, and the treatment of women throughout history. Every time that I'm teaching a lesson, I try to find ways to focus on the idea of what's fair because fairness resonates with kids.