Sooner or later, it happens to every teacher. That assembly that was planned for fifth period was moved at the last minute to next Tuesday. Your field trip got rained out. The guest speaker had a flat tire on the way to school. It's unavoidable. At some point, a schedule change will leave you scrambling to fill a class period at the last minute. When a dreaded schedule change inevitably happens, there's no better feeling than knowing you have a fun activity ready to go, and today I'm going to share with you a set of fun writing activities for middle school students that addresses the ultimate middle school question - is it Cringey or Cool?
As a middle school teacher, I've been hearing the term "cringey" for several years now. I didn't realize that defining the word "cringey" could be turned into a series of fun writing activities until the day I played my students a video of a hysterical rap about the Chick-Fil-A restaurant chain. Yes, you read that correctly - it all started with a rap about Chick-Fil-A.
It was the last few minutes of class. We had finished a tad on the early side and, if we're being completely honest, my fifth graders were a bit ... wild. (At the school I teach at, our middle school includes fifth grade.) Sometimes the energy level in the room feels like someone snuck multiple cups of coffee to each student when you weren't looking and everyone is wiggling and speaking a few levels too loudly for no apparent reason.
Rather than become frustrated, I decided to embrace the high-energy moment and have some fun while focusing their attention. So, I played the video My Pleasure by Jaron Myers for my fifth graders, and they LOVED it! They loved it so much they asked me to play it every day for weeks. (I didn't, but it's a fun video, so I secretly wanted to!)
Since the video had been a hit with my fifth graders, I played it during the last few minutes of class for my sixth graders as well. Plot twist - they were stunned and confused. A few thought it was catchy, but the majority couldn’t understand why I would show them such a lame video. Some even said watching the video caused them to suffer from secondhand embarassment! The severity of their reactions varied, but many of them agreed that it was ... CRINGEY!
It was at that moment I learned that every student has a very different definition of what is cringey and what is cool and that age can play a big part in this decision-making process. So, I turned the experience into a set of fun writing activities! What makes them so fun is that middle schoolers love both discussing whether or not something is cringey or not and expressing their opinions (even at times when you'd prefer they didn't. Ha!)
These activities will challenge your students to:
Define the words cringey and cool (it's harder than you'd think).
List the qualities that make something cringey or cool.
Make a list of cringey and cool things/situations.
Determine whether or not the videos and photos you select to pair with this activity are cringey or cool and defend their stance. (Use these pages as many times as you want with as many photos or videos as you want!)
I definitely recommend starting your cringey or cool question journey with the Chick-Fil-A rap that I previously mentioned, but the beauty of my Cringey or Cool writing activities is that you can use the photo and video pages with ANY photo or video you come across that could go either way on the cringey or cool scale. Most middle school students haven't seen the movie The Princess Bride, which makes pairing the video writing activity with this video clip from The Princess Bride extra fun!
Click here to get my Cringey or Cool Writing Activities for your classroom!
After you've completed the activities with your class, be sure to leave a list of some of the things that your students said were cringey in the comments below. I'm always up for a good laugh, and I just know your lists will provide one!
In the meantime, here is the list of things my students labeled cringey.
Christmas Hallmark Movies
2000-2012 fashion
Tik Tok dances
(some) Ed Sheran songs
not wearing socks
adults trying to be cool
teachers using slang words like "bet" and "fit"
Parents calling Facebook "the Facebook" and Instagram "the Instagram"
If you felt personally attacked by anything on that list, please know that you are not alone. Some of those hurt my millennial heart too! Until next time!
Lauren (Seriously, I can't wait to see your lists!)
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