Solutions for uncooperative 3rd grade MS students?

[BGKteacher]

I teach in a rural co-ed middle school, and so far I'm finding that engaging the 3rd grade middle school students is incredibly challenging.  They often do not participate in my class and seem generally unsatisfied with any of my classes.  I've tried various games, short video clips, and music in my lessons, but everything is a failure. 

I've tried talking to my co-teacher about the problem, but he offers no solution. 

If you have any suggestions on how to engage them or get them to participate, please help me!  I'm at my wit's end.

[ancruz93]

they sound like my 2nd year middle school kids! hmmm, a lesson i did that seemed interesting to them (and by that i mean they did it without grumbling or rolling their eyes) was a Create Your Own Recipe. they were on a countable/non-countable lesson, so i printed out a recipe but had them fill in the blanks for missing words with their own (ie: "___ slices of ____" or "____ kg of _____") be sure you use the metric system though! i'm from the US so when i did this with my first class i had to convert the measurements. some of the students cranked out creative recipes. before i did that though, they watched a Youtube video on How to Make a Fruit Salad and did a worksheet based on it. i'll attach that for you incase you want it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RGiwmJQts&feature=related 

Writing their own words to a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was also a success. i got this while searching online for afterschool ideas. a really big hit was a Create Your Own Wordsearch that i got off of this site. i used it for summer camp and had the students break into groups and create a wordsearch, then they switched with another group and tried to solve it. this was with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year and they all loved it. good luck. i know how it feels having uninterested students and not knowing what to do. i have 2nd year students today

[sheedi]

Candy every now and then works with my kids. They don't know when I'll have it. Also I just call out students numbers, like student #13 and make them speak. 3rd year is tough. Some of my lessons are a hit some of them are a miss, even I know some subjects are kind of boring. Like I have a chapter on supply and demand I think that's boring, but I make my slides visually interesting at least I think so.

[thedudepeters]

I don't want to sound like a psychology textbook, but have you tried to build a rapport with some of your students?  This has helped me tremendously with my 3rd grade middle schoolers.  When I walk into the 1st or 2nd grader's classroom, they instantly love whatever I do, but the 3rd graders could easily care less.  And I don't necessarily blame them.  They are so over-worked and pressured from their parents and teachers to score high on their exams.  Middle school in Korea is a transition in which they become fun loving learners to "rote memory test learners"  By the time I show up, it's finally a period they don't have to pay attention.  At least at my school, my class isn't really counted for in their grades.  In exception for a few classes where the teacher marks a + or - for participation (and that does help too!) 

But really what has helped me the most with the older kids is sitting down and developing some relationships with a few of them.  When my lessons become a little drab, I can just give them a look of dissapointment and most of the time they want my acceptance, so they'll perk up.

[shambles2.0]

I'm teaching at a high school so I've never dealt with this exact age group but the one thing that I find most helpful is to keep the material at their level.  My students aren't separated by levels so I will have some of the best students and some of the worst students in one class.  I try to keep everyone interested but the low level students usually just tune me out because they can't keep up.  I would recommend trying to keep the lessons interesting and also just a step below their ability, that way the work isn't intimidating and they can feel accomplished once they see something that they actually know how to do.  Good luck!

[joejn]

I'm at a below average high school and what helped me get the students involved was Poker Cards.  I got this idea from another teacher in Incheon, his website http://sites.google.com/site/epiktools/, and it worked great.  I show pictures and ask questions and anytime a student answers I give him a card.  At the end of class I have them fill out their cards for the day and the next class I show the graph of their participation.  It worked with most of my classes.  I had to make my lessons very simple so all students could join in even if only giving one word answers.