4.3 The Characteristics of Informal Groups in the Middle School………………………….10

4.4 The General Types of Informal Groups in the Middle School………………………….13

5. The Effects of Informal Groups in the Middle School Class…………………………………...15

5.1 The Positive Effects……………………………………………………………………..15

5.2 The Negative Effects……………………………………………………………………15

6. Suggestions on How to Deal with the Informal Groups in the Middle School…………………17

7. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………..19

References........................................................................................................................................20

Appendix..........................................................................................................................................22

1. Introduction

It is known to all that the management of students has always been an indispensable part of schooling, especially in elementary and middle schools. When it comes to the reality, the majority of education administrators as well as teachers tend to pay more attention to formal groups, organized by teachers for class activities than the informal groups set up by students themselves. So they generally lack the adequate understanding of those informal groups, and usually ignore their existence or even deny the functions those informal groups may serve.

 Middle students are in early teens between 12 and 16 years old, when they are experiencing puberty which often leads to rebellion against the authority of adults such as parents and teachers. At the same time, middle school students’ brain and nervous system are not fully matured yet, but their self-consciousness and the desire to be independent are becoming ever stronger. Therefore, they prefer to interact with their peers rather than parents or family members. As a result, the informal groups among middle school students exist as an intermediary force of education, which not only reflects the interpersonal relationship among students but also influences their learning as well as attitudes towards the school life.

The class is the basic management and education unit in the school in China, where students of the same group stay together as a unit for at least for one academic year, often two or more years, with one teacher as their monitor, in addition to all teachers of different subjects. In addition, it is also the most important social organization in students’ school life. In middle school years, informal groups exist in every class, which forms the basis of interpersonal relationships with formal groups. As an important part of the class, those groups exert a profound influence on the growth of students as well as the control of the class, and the impact on students is even greater than that of their teachers and parents. As a matter of fact, the majority of teachers usually depend on their common teaching experience, tending to regard informal groups as a destructive force in the class and holding the insufficient understanding of their positive effects. To some extent, it affects the best effect of education management. Consequently, in order to ensure the scientific and effective classroom management and promote the healthy development of students' body as well as the mind, comprehensively understanding the informal groups and correctly guiding them to play an active role in the class really count a lot.  某初中非正式群体的现状研究(2):http://www.chuibin.com/yingyu/lunwen_206477.html