Teacher Tips: How do I get my middle schooler off Fortnite & Snapchat?

By Shelsea Greenleaf, Western Peaks Elementary School Innovation Academy Teacher

Every time I tell someone I teach middle school the response is always the same, “Oh, that’s a hard age…” or something along the lines of, “Oh, bless your heart!” While “big, bad middle schoolers” can be daunting to many, the key to success when dealing with middle school students is understanding their passions and triggers. One aspect of this in the digital age is being able to provide them with constant entertainment, which often times is found by utilizing a digital device, whether it be their cell phones, a tablet, or a gaming console. Most middle schoolers can run circles around many of us when it comes to technology. Rather than fighting students every step of the way, as the saying goes, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’ As infants and toddlers we encourage them to learn while playing. As middle schoolers we can use the same concept by introducing them to the correct apps and games for their devices.

Below is a list of some useful apps that can be used to help students focus and organize their lives, as well as, learning while playing.

English Language Arts: Some apps that can help students improve their vocabulary include Mad Libs, Goodreads, Words with Friends, and Wordscape. All three of these apps are available on iOS and Android. Goodreads is an online catalog of books, it provides suggestions for books based on interests and authors you have read before. Mad Libs helps students practice the basic parts of speech by completing stories with friends to create humorous scenarios. Words with Friends and Wordscape are both online interactive games that students can play with friends or even family members.

Math: Middle school is the age level when many students experience algebra concepts for the first time; many parents look at their homework and wonder if they ever really learned anything in middle school? If you or your teen is needing some support in the higher level math concepts, a couple of helpful apps include, Photomath Camera Calculator and Free Graphing Calculator 2, both of these are also available on iOS and Android. DESMOS is another useful math tool that can be used to graph and solve algebraic equations as well as review and practice certain math concepts.

A child plays Fortnite

Science: The NASA app is always a good go-to for any science lover. Students are given access to videos and images and can keep updated with the latest scientific news and mission information. Zooniverse.org provides people of all ages real world experiences in science by becoming part of an online community of researchers who work on projects that include classifying distant galaxies and discovering the secret life of chimpanzees. Design Squad Global is a site sponsored by PBS which

Social Studies: Is your middle schooler slightly argumentative, and “always right”? Then Argument Wars may be a great app for them! Argument Wars is an app created by iCivics and is available on both Android and iOS. This app allows students to use their best persuasive strategies and argument techniques to argue real Supreme Court cases. Is your middle schooler more interested in foreign affairs, or learning a new language? DuoLingo has lessons to teach and practice 23 different languages.

Time Management and Organization: Moving into middle school and preparing for high school often require students to become more responsible for managing and organizing their time. Forest is a timer app that helps students stay on task for a designated amount of time. As the timer runs, a plant grows, but as soon as the student closes the timer app to say, read a text or open a Snapchat, the plant withers and dies. In the paid version the student can grow an entire forest and earn virtual coins, which can be used to plant an actual tree somewhere in the world. Trello is a useful app that can be used to help students organize their week. At the beginning of the week they are able to list their various tasks for the week and as they complete each one they move the task to the completed column on the app.

General Brain Apps: Maybe your child needs help managing their overactive brain. Stop, Breathe and Think is an app that helps students de-stress with meditation. Elevate is a brain-training app that helps improve attention, problem solving skills and memory. Differences, or Find the Differences helps students pay attention to detail by identifying differences between two separate images. QuizUp is a multi-player trivia game which allows students to challenge their friends while learning facts in a variety of topics. Brain Out is an app full of brain teasers and riddles that will challenge your mind while building logical reasoning, reflexes, accuracy, memory and creativity skills.

Video Alternatives to YouTube and TikTok: Can your child sit for hours on end watching other people make up dances on TikTok or play video games on YouTube? The TED app allows students to browse through videos that are both educational, and motivational but still equally entertaining. These videos will encourage students to get up off the couch and make a positive change in the world, rather than just leveling up and earning new skins in Fortnite or looking ridiculous by imitating the latest dance trend.

Obviously, this list is just a small sample of learning apps and games that can be added to your middle schoolers lists of things to do. If you are ever curious about the apps your student is using, Common Sense Media is a website that provides reviews for various mediums by kids and parents. Good luck out there with those “big bad middle schoolers.”