End of the Semester Reflection

This class has been an incredible learning experience for me. Although I still have no clue as to whether or not I'm actually going to teach at a middle school or not, I have learned so much and developed more as a person. This class allowed me to put everything I've learned so far into place and then apply new learnings along the way. It has been a crazy ride.
I have learned that it is important to stand up for what you believe in. Math is important to integrate into interdisciplinary units, and just because you don't have the skills or you aren't as confident with your abilities does not mean that you should not attempt to work math into your classroom. But, on the flip side of that, it is also important to include art, music, technology, as well as PE. My experience at Dirigo Middle School was incredible. It was amazing to see this team of sixth graders, as well as the art, technology, music, and PE teachers working together to bring a unit alive in all subject areas. Spending time with these teachers was very powerful for me. I had to step back and realize that I need to think about how to integrate these other content areas into my lessons as well. Sometimes math gets forgotten, but so does music, art, and PE as well. I think that creating an integrated unit is incredible. The process is a lot of work, but learning to work together with your peers/colleagues in a way that benefits the students is important. It fosters a healthy environment where students can learn to work together with their peers as well.
I have also continued to learn more information about technology. When I created my student sample, I took a risk and decided to create a podcast. This was new to me. I thought that I would try something new so that I could use this tool in my classroom. It was quite the interesting experience. I had fun in the process, and I learned a lot about what my student's would be going through their first time as well. I am still a firm believer in the use of technology in the classroom. I think there are so many ways in which you can use a type II technology, and this is important as we hope to meet the needs of the tech savvy kids we are going to be teaching. I have also learned a lot about various new programs I can make use of as well. There was the online time line generator, Publisher, the podcaster program, smartdraw, inspiration, freemind, cutePDF... etc. I have also increased my knowledge on how to build a strong wiki as well. I think I am leaving this class with more technology resources, and I am very excited.
Adolescents are a touch group of individuals. They have so many needs. They are constantly developing and changing during this time period, and it is extremely important to have a good background of development during this time. You have to understand where they are coming from to be able to teach them. You have to understand their needs and desires and their strenghts and weaknesses and what great things they are capable on in order to inspire them to reach out and achieve success and then some. This is extremely important.
I suppose one of my questions that I have a hard time with is still whether or not I want to teach at a middle school. This is going to plague me for a long time, because my heart is torn. I know that I absolutely love the middle school environment. I did my practicum there, I got along well with the students, I fit in because I am just as crazy as they are, and I had an awesome experience. I also know that if I did teach at a middle school I could work on early intervention with students. I would have the ability to influence their lives early on so that they might make good choices later in their lives. This is important. A huge aspect of why I chose to become a teacher has to do with being able to help students make good and healthy choices in their lives. I know that I could infect change early on. But, at the same time, it is so much more intense being in the middle of real problems in the lives of high school students. I have been volunteering at the high school for this school year, and it has been an incredible experience. The students there are making bad choices, and you can see the pain in their lives on a daily basis when they walk through that door. Sometimes it's a front. It's easier to shut people out than to let them in. But this is exactly why I want to be a teacher. I want to be a part of their lives. I want to be that person that they let in and who they allow to influence their lives in a positive manner. I want to change student's lives for the better. I also think that sometimes it is harder to influence the life of a high school student, and I think a lot of people give up trying. They need good role models and a good support system, and their problems are often slapping you in the face. It's real and it's painful. I just don't know whether or not I want to be on the pre-intervention end, or the post-intervention end. I do know that I live for all of it though.
This semester, and school year, have been important on my overall development as an individual as well. While it is important to have structure and organization, I have also learned to let go of some of that. Sometimes learning isn't structured and organized. Sometimes it is more hands on, moving around and experiencing the lesson rather than being told about the lesson. I have become more of an advocate of the moving around and the hands on bodily/kinesthetic learning this year. I believe it is an extremely powerful tool to use and incorporate, and it gets students motivated and engaged. I have also become a firm believer in thought and expression. I believe that education should not be laid out in a specific format, and that students should not be told how to think and what to think. I have benefited from having the experience where I am given a project and then told to develop it on my own. It is then that true learning happens. It happens at awkward moments, when you least expect it, and it is about topics that you think you would never be interested in. This is important to me. As I stated, this is when the true learning takes place. I think this is important for middle school students. We need to develop people who can be more independent thinkers and learners. It is important to have structure with some creative licensing to go where it takes them. I know this is hard to do with math, but I have been inspired by a couple of great professors at this University. (And, mind you, not professors in the math department.) But I hope that I can bring this into my classroom and encourage my math students to do the same. I think that would be another one of my questions. How can I effectively teach the math concepts so students will meet the standards, but still find a way in which I can teach them to think on their own, in a different way? How can I encourage deep thought?
I am excited for what is to come. I am more knowledgeable about this age group. I have many resources that I can take with me forever to come. I have gained some much insight and information that I feel as though I am ready to take on the world. (Well, I mean, I always was ready for that anyways.)

Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching

It's now almost been a week since you guys presented your book and my brain still hurts from all the information you packed in. I don't really see this as a negative thing. Your group went through the whole book in detail. I really enjoyed all the links you incorporated. They really added to the presentation. The whole idea about brain based teaching is intriguing and I definitely took away a ton of information about the subject.
The wiki your group designed was packed full of great information about the book, which was great. It just seemed a little boring listening to each of you talk one right after the other. The activities that were incorporated were great, but I wish you had done a few more. If you had gone through a section of the wiki, then done an activity, then more from the wiki it would have broken up the lecturing part of the presentation.
I did notice that someone from the group was moving around the room at all times. I thought this was good, even though it had nothing to do with your book. It kept us all on task so I thought I'd note it. Overall, you guys did a good job and I took a lot of information about brain-based learning that I can use in my future classroom!

Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching

Wow. So, I think I'm going to start with all of the positive things about your lesson first. I LOVE your wiki. It is a great resource and has a lot of valuable information on it. I think you did an excellent job at finding resources to support the learning that you guys found in the book. Awesome job. I can't tell you how much of a great tool this will be for me in the future. I also love that you broke up the book evenly and everybody had a chance to share their part. I loved the fact that Eileen was walking around during this lesson, because it reminded me of actually teaching a class full of students, and it was a great demonstration of something you can do in your classroom. I'm not even sure she did in on purpose. I loved the activities and the quiz. The quiz was an excellent way to get me emotionally involved in your lesson. I thought it was great that you started out with that.

Now, for my suggestions. Your lesson contained A LOT of information about Brain-Based Teaching, but I wish you had presented it in a different way. You TOLD us about how the brain needs hands on, kinesthetic learning. You TOLD us how 12th graders can only pay attention for a maximum of 17 minutes. You TOLD us about a lot of things that were important to this book. That was the problem. I feel as though it would have been more beneficial if you had taught us the information the way in which the book says is the best way for students to learn based on brain-based teaching. How much more powerful would it have been if you would have done that. I honestly can tell you that I am glad that you made the wiki because now I have that as a resource to go back and figure out all of the information that I missed. It was a lot to digest in a little amount of time done through a lot of talking. That is just something to think about.

Becoming a Wiz at Brain Based Teaching

I enjoyed the activities this group presented, such as the right and left brain quiz and the folder activity. I also liked some of the sites that were on the wiki (by the way, nice job creating a wiki). I saved the links so that I can continue to go back and read the sites; my favorites were "Top 10 Tips for Classroom Discipline and Management," the "Wicked Witch" site, and "Classroom Environment: the basics." Marilee Sprenger's steps to turn sensory memory into long term memory and the focus time and processing information was very interesting - I may have to print this out!

I appreciate the suggestion of journaling. Many teachers stop this in elementary school, but I feel it can be helpful to any teacher and student at any grade level, as long as it is done correctly. I want to make note that I agree, rituals are so important! Not many people like it when they are expecting one thing and they get something else - I think as educators we need to keep this in mind because it really does have an effect on our students.

I would have liked to see more movement, the presentation was quite long and at times hard to sit through. When talking about exercise and movement in the classroom, it would have been nice to get up and try out some stretching techniques. Also, I feel the presentation was long because it seemed more of a lecture presentation and not an active presentation. The best way to teach someone something is to model and I know I would have taken more away from the presentation if I had been involved or had seen how to use this book in my classroom.

This is a hard habit to break, and I find myself doing it a lot too - but please keep the "you need to do this" or "it's better if you...." to a minimum -- all I seemed to hear was "you." At times I felt like I was being attacked (goes with the lecturing aspect), and I felt like I needed to defend the way I do things.

A WHOLE New Mind

A Whole New Mind seemed to emphasize a whole new way of thinking, and more importantly learning. I thought the presentation was great: the PowerPoint, equitable distribution of speaking time, music (rhythmic learning; score), and hands-on activities made me think deeply and thoroughly about the concepts being introduced. I liked his/yours/whomevers description of the "conceptual" age, and how we as humans need to "put the pieces of the puzzle together." It reminded me of all the teachers that stress creativity and provided authentic and varying learning experiences. It also made me reflect on today's technological society and how the job market demands a higher skilled, and thus higher thinking worker (something that was reinforced from practicum, where we learned that a large percentage of the world's future jobs have not yet been created). I especially liked how the activities and how the centered around creative thinking. They got me thinking meta-cognitively (that is, thinking about my thinking processes) about my personal teaching strategies and pedagogical philosophies. Seriously, I really want to read the book, and I think you did a tremendous job of informing me of the new theories and selling the book.

A Whole New Mind

I absolutely thought your lesson was amazing. It was nice that you provided some information about what it was you wanted us to learn and then you allowed us to participate in an activity to reinforce the information. Great way to engage us in active learning, which increases the amount of information that we are actually retaining. I like your explanation about the negative space, although I didn't really understand what the point of it was until Sara W. explained it to me. This is funny, because it just reinforces the fact that that most of the time I don't think outside of the box, which I feel a lot of people don't these days. But, the fact is that the world we are in is changing and that we really do need to do more thinking outside of the box. So that fact that I didn't get it was a good reinforcer for me to actually try a little harder in that aspect of my life. I love your presentation because it discusses the important idea that again the world is changing and we need to be able to teach our students how to adapt to this new world, and we have to do so through the ideas you discussed in your lesson. Also, it was a good lesson for me because it made me wonder about how I can make things have more meaning in my life. That is a good thing because a little bit of self reflection goes a long way in the learning process. Nice job guys. (Now that I've pretty much shared my life story with you in this blog.)

SOC!!! (No, it doesn't stand for Sociology)

I thought your group, and your book, brought up a key point: traditional forms of education are not effective for every student, and are becoming less effective as we move from the technological to the conceptual age. I thought you highlighted some solid key points. Among my favorite were:
-Students who struggled with SOC curriculum were the "A" students in traditional settings; they seemed to struggle because they were successful in the old style and thus were more comfortable learning that way and wanted more 'structure'
-Trust and team building are integral in creating student oriented curriculum (the activities we participated in during the presentation were good examples of strategies to build such teamwork and trust)
-The importance of reflective journals for both students and teachers, so they can see exactly what works, what doesn't, and what some trouble areas are in SOC units
I also thought that the presentation was concise and fluid. The Wiki was easy to follow, the team building activities were fun and brief enough to keep our attention, and the PowerPoint had a a lot of good pictures and short text (thus allowing for more speaking from the presenter and was more engaging to watch). The Wiki was packed with information, maybe a bit too much. If this was lessened I think that it would help reinforce BIG ideas and impressionable examples.

MMM Chapter 13

Abstract:
Chapter 13 focused on outdoor activities and how these could be integrated into middle school curricula. The chapter discussed both day and overnight activities, including hiking, camping, ropes courses, and reenactments. It also discussed how many subjects can be taught in an outdoor setting, from sketching forests (art) to studying ponds (science) and measuring shadows on trees (math). However, as Wormeli points out it is extremely important to have the support of both parents and administration; this can in fact be the most difficult part in creating and implementing such activities.

Reflections:
Integrating both physical and outdoor learning experiences into curricula can be greatly influential on students. Not only does it allow for them to build trust and teamwork, it also helps develops these same relationships for teachers as well. Outdoor excursions are also more engaging and motivating by nature (no pun intended), thus increasing their value as effective educational strategies. It also gives students a break from the materialism and technology that defines our society.
These would be perfect for the type of units we are building because of the integration across discipline levels. Many students do not have the opportunity to participate in such events, and creating one in your school district could be extremely beneficial to both faculty and students. Service learning could also be implemented so that better appreciation and collaboration could be made with the community.

Photo Taken From: http://ipib.wisc.edu/images/bascom_class.gif

Chapter 4: Active Learning

Abstract:

Chapter 4 was about ways to get students engaged in their learning, also known as active learning. This basically means getting your students up and moving during class, instead of the typical sit and listen to the teacher. The author states that our brains function better with the more oxygen that gets pumped to them. By getting students moving around, oxygen is automatically pumped to their brains, which helps them learn more/easier. The author also suggests that middle school is a time of much growth for students. Their bodies easily become uncomfortable sitting in desks and they become restless. By allowing them to move, it will make them more comfortable and ready to learn, plus it means less behavior problems. This chapter included many ideas of ways to incorporate active learning for all subjects. Some ideas were simpler than others, like having your students hand in their own papers as an excuse to get out of their seat for a minute, while other ideas were more elaborate, like having an Academic Olympics. All the ideas that were presented were creative and fun, but it’s important to keep in mind that the activities need to be connected to the curriculum.

Reflection:

While the need for kinesthetic movement in classrooms is not a new concept to any of us, it is still very important to incorporate active learning in every class, especially with middle school students. So many young adolescents have troubles just sitting in one spot. We must use their restlessness as an aid in their learning process. An activity that is a vivid learning experience will be remembered. Then chances are, when it comes to the test, they remember the activity they did and the content as well. The key to active learning is creativity. Teachers need to come up with new and fun ideas to use active learning in their classroom. We need to put our brains to work and come up with as many ideas to incorporate movement into every lesson, no matter how simple or involved they are.

A Whole New Mind

You're team did a great job with your book presentation on "A Whole New World." I thought your every part of your presentation was well thought out and organized. You did an awesome job examining the book with the class, exploring the ideas that the author was trying to portray. You went into full detail about the main ideas in the book: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. I really liked how each idea was explained to us and then we did am activity to embed the ideas in our minds. I think the most useful idea the author had is the one about meaning, changing the but to an and. I can see this working in a classroom, especially with a middle schooler who's just making excuses.
At the end of your presentation, you used Turning Points 2000 to connect the ideas shown in A Whole New World to students. I thought this was a great idea, I just wish you guys had gone into a little more depth with it. I think you went through it a little quickly because the ideas and connection didn't really stand out to me.
You guys did an awesome job overall. Explained the book really well to the class and presented it in a way the way fun and held everyones attention. Great Job!

~Sara

A Whole New Mind

I like the way you incorporated various pictures, humor, and activities into your presentation.

The background information was helpful

Each of the activities - table activity, story, drawing, empathy, and "but out" were fun to participate in. I think the "but out" activity would be great for students in the classroom who constantly say "but..." This would give them a different perspective and make them think more positivly.

Creating a story based on a picture is often done in elementary school - where you ask students to determine what the book is about based on the front cover - this expresses their creativity and imagination - great idea!

Sometimes its nice to conduct lessons/ activities from opposite side of the room. So, instead of conducting lessons from the front, go to the back so that people get a different perspective.

Student Oriented Curriculum

I love the way this group incorporated different activities to keep the class engaged. The stream crossing was great to get us out of our seats and interacting with people outside of our "teams." I also liked the fresh way of deciding on a theme or unit. I bet middle schoolers would love it too! I thought you presented the book very well, using multiple sources from the web to support your book. At some points in the presentation I was lost because the group was doing a lot of talking - lecture style. This book reminded me of one I read in an Elementary Ed class, called Theme Immersion. It has the same concept, just geared more towards the younger grades (not that either book can't be adapted). Pretty much, Theme Immersion is about allowing students to choose a topic to study and the teacher provides the materials and resources for the students to learn. The teacher leads students in the right directions, but gives the students the opportunity to choose aspects of their education.

Student Oriented Curriculum

Blue Barracudas,
Your presentation was really great. There were so many different parts and themes that you incorporated that made every interested in reading the book. There were many strengths in your performance. I really liked the group activities. The river crossing activity was nice because it was a great way to work on team building. I also liked the ball game, it is a great idea on how to brainstorm ideas for a class!
Steph's chart on the wiki did a really great job illustrating how the students really began taking the initiative in the planning process and coming up with ideas and everything on their own for their units.
The video at the end was a great way to end the presentation to really give a real life example of how a curriculum like this could work. It makes me really want to teach in a school like that!
There were a lot a great things incorporated in your presentation- links, wiki, videos, activities. The powerpoint, although it was very well done with many hyperlinks, it didn't quite hold my attention the whole time. Maybe by using Inspiration or Comic Life could make it a little more interesting.
I really think you guys did a great job explaining the main points of the book. You all did a great job illustrating how and why a student oriented curriculum is the way to go! You kept the attention of the whole class well by transitioning from lecture to activity and back. You set a high standard for presentations to come! Great job!

~Sara

Student Oriented Curriculum

Blue Barracudas, sorry I missed your presentation! I heard that it went really well though. Anyways, I did get a chance to look through all of your resources that you posted on the wiki. Excellent job. I wanted to get a chance to discuss these links.

The link for teamwork is outstanding. It was interesting for me to read it, as I don't think I have actually worked together with people as a team. Most of the work that I have done with others has been group work. While I was reading the description about what teamwork is, it just appeared to be a more positive experience. If I ever had the opportunity to work collaboratively like that, I think that people can accomplish more and with a better attitude in general. I'm planning some lessons for our Egypt unit where I have students working together, and I plan on using the teamwork model. Great link!

I think the blog about inclusion is awesome also. I'm in Special Ed. right now and we are learning all about inclusion of special ed. students in the regular ed. classroom. I think it is awesome when we can connect the ideas from one subject area (aka Special Ed.) to the ideas we are learning in a different subject area (aka Middle Level Ed.). I think that this is important, because the more we see and experience this being done at this level, the more we will be able to make that happen for our students. Anyways, inclusion of special ed. students can often be as simple as making an a slight modification or accommodation to your instructional methods. But, once again, if we are using differentiated instruction, that is exactly what we are doing already, for all of our students. I love the connections!

I also absolutely love the team building strategies!!! This is an excellent resource and can be a great tool to use especially at the beginning of the school year when you have new classes of students. One thing to point out that I find interesting though. Because you are stressing the fact that a classroom is a place in which the responsibilities should be shared between the students AND the teacher, I think the teacher needs to participate in the team building strategies as well.

Well, from what I saw of your resources, it seems like you're lesson was packed with a lot of information, and I'm sorry that I missed it. But thanks for the great resources!

Tyler's This We Believe

This We Believe 1-7
The first section of the text provides an outline for necessary characteristics and qualities of successful middle schools in the 21st century (also coined the "Conceptual Age"). The most important aspect of such schools is that there needs to be a holistic approach to the education; this holisitic approach is two fold. Schools must be holistic in the sense that there is an integration of topics into all subject areas, and school policies and reforms must be adopted across the board in order for the school to be successful. The pages, though short in numbers, offer a multitude of information that can be applied to any middle school. The text provides 8 key elements of successful schools, and again all 8 must be adopted in order for the school to become a "true middle school." Main aspects focused on were engagement and motivation, integration of content and technology, and the need to develop high expectations and standards for every student.
This We Believe 9-19
The second section seems to focus more on the qualifications and types of teachers that should be employed in today's middle school. Similar to the make-up of our EDU 262 class, middle schools should be taught by teachers who want to teach that age group. It also attested to my previous belief that middle schools should be learning communities that equip students with skills and strategies (ways of thinking, if you will) that will help them succeed in both higher education and life after school. Content needs to be inegrated, motivational, and relative to student's life, previous knowledge, and experience. They need to understand that the cognitive skills they are developing are relevant to their lives outside the classroom. Schools need to be collaborative between teachers, students, and parents in order to build and develop a safe and diverse learning environment. The text stresses that every student needs an advocate, a teacher that intimately knows and cares about the student. This aligns with the Turning Points 2000 belief that advisory programs should be implemented because it allows students to build a positive rapport and relationship with faculty members. This further increases their comfortability and sense of place in the school, thus increasing motivation and ultimately student learning and achievement.
This We Believe 19-34
The third section of the position paper focused on specific services that successful middle schools provide to students and their families. These services were divided into five different types of curriculum: Relevant, Challenging, Integrative, Exploratory, and 21st Century. Each of these strategies are suggested because the nature of, say, exploratory learning is compatabile with the social, psychological, and cognitive development that they are going through. Adolescents enjoy, and learn better, through hands-on, proactive experiences and enjoy interacting with their peers. They are also generally curious about the world. Thus, exploratory learning is a suitable and effective pedagogical method. The rest of the section focused on diversity, organizational structures, and middle level specialists (or stakeholders) that play pivotal roles in children's development. There was also two very informative sections on importance of integrating both technology and interdisciplinary teaching into lesson plans. I think that many of the concepts and strategies presented were useful because they were targeted towards the strengths and developmental level of young adolescents. I was particularly fond of the section about teaming and looping, as we are experimenting with these concepts by designing our unit in class. I am excited to see the final product, our unit, in comparison to the one I designed in practicum so that I can see the usefulness and evidence of team collaboration.
This We Believe 35-51
The last part of the book was a combined call for action (what readers should do after analyzing the text) and specific characteristics of adolescents. The latter section offered a variety of valid information regarding social, emotional, physical, psychological, and moral attributes of middle school students. The text constantly reinforces the uniqueness of the middle level age group, and the need for teachers to have not only a desire, but an expertise, in interacting and educating students between the ages of 10-15. The section about characteristics was helpful because it outlined the types of students that I will potentially be teaching as a pre-service educator interested in middle schools. It seems the position paper's call for action focuses on first ensuring that all stakeholders in the middle school, including teachers, principals, superintendents, school boards, state representatives, and parents are involved and informed that a change needs to be made. They also need to understand that each and every one of them has an influential and proactive impact on the success of their middle school. I found it to be very helpful that end the book provided a list of attributes that adolescents exhibit while they are in middle schools. This allowed the reader to absorb the paper's suggestions, and then comparatively analyze them to the characteristics. This even further reinforced the message that with the appropriate attitude, resources, leadership, and beliefs all middle schools in America can become true middle schools.

Sara's Blog- This We Believe

Written by the National Middle School Association, This We Believe begins by introducing ideas and beliefs that if followed will produce a successful middle school with successful students. Middle school is an important developmental time for young adolescents, described as between the ages of 10 and 15, where they are developing attitudes, morals and habits that will most likely carry on to adulthood. During adolescence, each student needs positive adult guidance and support to help guide them through this time of much intellectual, physical, social, emotional and moral development. It is our goal as teachers to produce curriculum that will be engaging for these young minds, while also assisting them in forming their moral principals that will carry them through life.

Young adolescents are all differ in their characteristics while moving through this developmental time of puberty and growth. As different as every student may seem, they are all going through the same developmental characteristics. As teachers, parents and other community members, we must take each of these characteristics into consideration when helping each student grow healthy attitudes that will last a lifetime. Physical, cognitive-intellectual, moral, psychological, and social-emotional developments are all intertwined with each other and are all of equal importance and when are taken into consideration by educators and role models, every student will have a higher chance of being successful in middle school.

Successful middle schools for young adolescents are characterized by a culture that includes an inviting, supportive and safe environment, so every student can learn within a community that promotes learning while enhancing the physical and emotional development of every student. A healthy middle school community consists of many things starting with educators who are prepared to work with middle aged students and enjoy doing so. Middle grade educators must understand the unique development that every student is going through at this age and keep that in mind when developing their curriculum, assessments and teaching strategies. Every adult, not just the teachers, in a middle school environment are advocates and mentors. Lastly, it is important to keep a strong link between middle school education and family and community involvement; this strong bond between the school and the home can only increase the rate of successful learning of each student.

A curriculum is the number one tool in achieving school goals and objectives. By choosing curricula that is relevant to the student allows each student to find answers to questions that they might have about the content, their life, and the world. With a challenging curriculum, young adolescents are actively engaged because they are in control of their own learning. Young adolescents need curriculum for the 21^st century. In order to achieve this curriculum multiple teaching and learning strategies must be used along with technology to respond to the diversity among students. Assessment and evaluation programs need to promote quality learning by being continuous, authentic and appropriate to show every student’s progress. Curriculum should also help develop critical thinking, independence, responsibility, and other attributes that will have lifelong influences for every student.

This We Believe: Successful Schools for Young Adolescents believes their message is crucial in developing a successful middle school that accommodates for young adolescents. They believe that whether you are a teacher, principal parent, superintendent, local and state board of education, or teacher educator that you can receive knowledge by reading this book. There are specific actions that each individual can take, no matter what status you hold, to help make each middle school student be successful.

Chapter 2: A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education

Abstract

Chapter two of Turning Points 2000 takes the eight principles from the original Turning Points a decade ago, and creates seven recommendations for improving middle grades schools and the education of their students.

These recommendations are said “to ensure success for every student,” not just most students. This is said to be the overarching goal; the end result.

One must remember that the seven recommendations made by Turning Points 2000 form a system. Each principle influences the other. We cannot just change one aspect of middle grades education, the entire system needs to be revamped to ensure success. Middle grades education needs to involve teachers, parents, and the community

The same vision of a fifteen-year-old remains the same from Turning Points to Turning Points 2000. This “fifteen-year-old reflects the philosophy behind Turning Points and Turning Points 2000” and is meant to “include every middle” school student. The following are five characteristics of effective human beings:
1. An intellectually reflective person,
2. A person en route to a lifetime of meaningful work,
3. A good citizen,
4. A caring ethical individual,
5. A healthy person


Reflection:

As a class, we noted that it is important to remember that the seven recommendations impact one another. A school cannot implement only one of the recommendations and expect change or success. To ensure success, all seven recommendations must be met. Most of us agreed that for a successful middle school program, we need to connect schools with families and the community, which was one of the seven recommendations. Also, teachers must be trained and have qualifications specifically for this age group. We are preparing students for the future and we believe every student is capable of learning. To better prepare students for the future, we believe that teaming is a great method for bridging elementary school and high school. Understanding that students must be prepared for society, we agree that setting standards is necessary because it drives people towards success.

Angela's Blog on This We Believe

Abstract (Pages 1-51): This We Believe shares many beliefs with other books out there on middle grades education. During their middle school years, children develop quite a bit. Children see as much growth during this stage as they did during infancy. Because children change at different rates and in front of their peers, middle school can be a place of turnmoil. Adolescents change intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and morally. Growing up in our society has worsened over the years as adolsecents have more pressures than ever before. The family structure has changed, along with the entertainment world and our economy. Adolescents learn about relationships and substances during middle school and thus must be offered health, safety, and wellness classes. This We Believe also discusses how children at this age enjoy learning about things that interest them most and topics they can relate to the world around them. Material needs to be relavant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory for adolescents.

"For middle schools to be successful, their students must be successful; for students to be successful, the school's organization, curriculum, pedagogy, and problems must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs, and interests of young adolescents." (p1) Middle schools need educators who value working with this age group and are prepared to do so; teachers who can be leaders and who can work effectively with co-workers. School should be a safe environment where both students and teachers can learn and educate (also known as active learning). Both parties should have high expectation for themselves and each other. Working with the community and families of students is also an important part of successful schools. Students need the support of their teachers, their families, and their community and learn how to interact with all three.

Diversity is a major part of schools these days, and because of it, our curriculum and teachers must be diversified. This section also talks about the importance of assessment and evaluation and how it can either hinder or promote student learning. Students should be assessed on their progress- how much they learned, what they learned that they did not know prior to the unit/activity. It is difficult to evaluate students based on standards or compared to their classmates when each student comes from a different background with different levels of understanding and prior knowledge. Also highlighted in This We Believe is the necessityof organizing schools and grades into "structures that support meaningful relationships and learning."

Reflection (Pages 1-51): I respect that This We Believe shares its beliefs on middle grades education with the other text we have read, such as Meet Me in the Middle and Turning Points 2000. This shows how important the beliefs are and how essential they are to middle school programs. I responded earlier to students being assessed this way: I wonder how and think it's interesting that teachers and administrators can give standardized testing to students and then evaluate students on their performance. We all have different backgrounds - as far as home lives and education. Every person learns differently and does not acquire the same informtion or to the degree of the next person. Yet, we evaluate students based on how well they perform against one another.

I also thought the high expectations piece was interesting. We seem to forget that students live up to our expectations, whether the expectations are low or high. Also, we live up to our own expectations whether they are low or high, so we need to start setting high expectations for everyone around.

The last section of This We Believe was interesting and important in that it talked about the characteristics of middle school students. For me, it was interesting to read how adolescents of different cultures develop differently - how they interact and treat adults and peers for one. I think it is important for people who work with children of this age group to understand the diversity of their students. How we interact with the different cultures is important and what we expect from them will be different. As educators we must take into consideration the unique background of every individual.
_____________________________________________________
Abstract:
The Importance of Middle Level Education (the first "chapter" of This We Believe) sounds much like the other middle education books we have begun reading - Turning Points 2000 and Meet Me in the Middle. The National Middle School Assosiation (NMSA) who wrote This We Believe says that "for middle schools to be successful, their students must be successful; for students to be successful, the school's organization, curriculum, pedagogy, and problems must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs, and interests of young adolescents." (p1) In This We Believe, on page two, the association notes 14 characteristics that lead to successful middle school programs. Much like in Turning Points 2000, school systems should not pick and choose from the 14 characteristics. If schools are to implement, they need to implement all 14 characteristics.

Also noted in the first section is that middle school aged children experience great growth and development, similar to growth of infants. One striking difference between the changes of infants and adolescents is that infants are unaware of their changes and differences to other infants. Adolescents change "intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and morally" right in front of their peers.

Pages five and six mention that our changing society also don't help with our youth. Between family structure, our economy, and the entertainment world, adolescents are faced with more battles, differences and pressures than ever before.

Reflection:
I apprieciate that our three texts have the same ideas. It really stresses the importance of the issues facing middle grades education. Another concept I found important is that teachers and administrators must always question if what they are doing leads them in the direction they want to go. For instance, before implementing a rule or designing a unit, staff should ask themselves if it will benefit the students and what their ultimate goal is. One thing that doesn't seem to be addressed in most aspects in society is that there are greater pressures for this generation. If educators are to better help students, we need to understand where they are coming from and help them to deal.

(Pages 9-19)

Abstract
In this section, the NMSA notes what is needed for successful middle schools. The ten pages are then broken down by the important factors, such as: Educators who value working with this age group and are prepared to do so; Courageous, callaborative leadership; A shared vision that guides decisions; and the titles continue. The sections stress the need for teachers who enjoy working with middle level students, teachers who can be leaders and who can work effectively with co-workers. School should be a safe environment where both students and teachers can learn and educate (active learning). Both parties should have high expectation for themselves and each other. Working with the community and families of students is also an important part of successful schools. Students need the support of their teachers, their families, and their community and learn how to interact with all three.

Reflection:
I think an important thing to remember as an educator, what was mentioned in this section, is that we are showing students how to be active learners and respectful citizens. We need to show students how to treat others and how to treat ourselves. It is necessary to show students that learning never stops, that even as teachers, we learn everyday. I think what is interesting is the high expectations piece. We seem to forget that students live up to our expectations, whether they are low or high. Also, we live up to our own expectations whether they are low or high, so we need to start setting high expectations for everyone around.

(19-34)

Abstract: For every student to be successful, the curriculum should be "relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory." Students better understand material when they can relate what they are learning to the world around them. We want students to enjoy what they are learning, but that does not mean we are limited to just their interests. As teachers, it is our responsibility to open their minds to new ideas and concepts. Technology helps teachers to broaden students learning and is one method for allowing students to explore subjects more in depth. Diversity is a major part of schools these days, and because of it, our curriculum and teachers must be diversified. This section also talks about the importance of assessment and evaluation and how it can either hinder or promote student learning. Students should be assessed how their progress- how much they learned, what they learned that they did not know prior to the unit/activity. It is difficult to evaluate students based on standards or compared to their classmates when each student comes from a different background with different levels of understanding and prior knowledge. Also highlighted in this section is the necessityof organizing schools and grades into "structures that support meaningful relationships and learning." Because middle school is a time of great development, when students are learning about substances and relationships, middle schools need to offer programs that educate students on "health, wellness and safety." Adding on to the use of advisor groups and activities, schools need to provide guidance services for students. Guidance professionals take advisor groups to the next level.

Refelction:

I learned the difference between assessment and evaluation. I always use the words interchangably, which I learned was incorrect. I have never been a fan of standardized tests and feel supported in my beliefs after having read this section. I wonder how and think it's interesting that teachers and administrators can give standardized testing to students and then evaluate students on their performance. We all have different backgrounds - as far as home lives and education. Every person learns differently and does not acquire the same informtion or to the degree of the next person. Yet, we evaluate students based on how well they perform against one another.

Abstract: (35-51)

This section covers several topics. One is that teachers, administrators, parents, and all those who work with middle grade aged students must read This We Believe. Secondly, this section covered the characteristics of middle school aged children, such as their physical development, cognitive-intellectual development, moral and psychological development, and social-emotional development.

Reflection: It is important for teachers, parents, and all those that work with children to understand what students of this age are going through. I think sometimes people forget that this is a rough age group. I forget it myself and needed to be reminded (with help from this section). What I thought was interesting was the difference in adolescents of different cultures, how they treat and interact with friends and family. This shows the impact of culture on our children and how it can be difficult in school with different beliefs and trying to fit it.

Sarah T's This We Believe

The ideas covered in these seven pages are about the changes in social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development of 10-15 year olds at the middle school level. It is important to understand that at this time, as teachers, it is not only our job to create a positive learning environment that is full of authentic assessments as well as differentiated instruction that plugs in to the interests and desires of the students, but it is also our job to foster a caring, healthy environment in which we provide students with the tools to make appropriate choices for their lives during this difficult time period. Adolescents lives are constantly changing while they are forced to make important decisions about their lives. This happens in the face of peer pressure, temptations involving sex, drugs, alcohol as well as the consumer aspect of life. It is important that we, as middle level educators, have the understanding and training to be able to work with these students. The National Middle School Association has fourteen components they believe create a well implemented middle school. They include the following:

teachers who care about these students and who have necessary training
leaders who work together
a vision that is used to make decisions
an enviornment that is safe, supportive and encouraging
the belieft that every student can perform at a high level
students and teachers learning together
an advocate for every student
an environment that fosters family and community involvement
curriculum that challenges, explores, and integrates
differentiated instruction
authentic assessment
organization that supports meaningful relationships and learning
school-wide policies that encourage health and safety
and guidance and support services

The next pages elaborate on the points made by the National Middle School Association. Those include the points previously discussed. It is important to create an environment that allows students to feel safe, to be able to make mistakes, and to foster some independence and thinking. Students need to have relationships with adults they can trust as well as to work with adults who care about them and understand the difficult time period they are going through. Also, it is important to keep the connection between families and the community.


It is important to understand that when teachers decide to "cover" the material that is required to meet the standards, true learning does not take place. That is why it is important to have middle schools that create a curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. The curriculum needs to be relevant to the student's lives and explores questions that they want to answer. Although the text discusses the idea that all of the material should not be generated from their own interests, yet it should help students to develop new interests as well. It is important that the material is challenging to the students, but not out of reach. When material seems unreachable to students, they shut down and the learning stops. It is about "teach[ing] skills and concepts in context, with the focus on helping students become skilled writers, thinkers, and explorers, rather than merely copying or memorizing other' ideas" (21). The authors discuss how the content and methods need to be geared towards individual students and that by integrative they mean to connect the material to their lives and the world around them. The learning is more authentic when it can be taught in specific subject areas and then applied to other stuff and real life.

Exploratory learning is about uncovering and exploring new information and ideas. Hands on exploration and learning are extremely important during this time period.

Teachers need to use multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to their diversity by teaching to the multiple intelligences as well as individual learning preferences and needs. It is about engagement, interaction, collaboration, cooperation, using the community for resources, and technology.

Authentic assessment is a huge aspect of this. When teachers use authentic assessment they have the ability to actually teach their students things and then evaluate them effectively. The student has the ability to demonstrate their learning in a valid way that isn't with pen and paper.
Teachers need to organize structures that support meaningful relationships and learning. They suggest that teaming is a valid way to do this. They also discuss the pros and cons of block scheduling. All of these things lead to better student achievement, more parent-teacher contact, better climate, positive attitudes, more time for learning to happen, and it is also important to have a common planning time for teachers to meet.

The school also needs to implement school-wide efforts and policies that foster health, wellness, and safety. This creates a school that permeates with a healthy attitude which falls over into the curriculum, policies, good adults as healthy role models ... etc. You also need multifaceted guidance and support services. When this happens the entire school knows who to direct students to for what services they need. You have guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists... etc. all trained professionals to help the middle school students make it through all of the stuff they are going through during this time period.

The call to action- basically tells people to review the book and know it inside and out and to use it to inform teaching strategies and to make decisions about teaching and schools

Reflection:
I believe that the biggest piece to successful middle level education is the early intervention. Middle school is the time where all of these changes are happening, and we, as educators, have the abilitity to help students make informed and hopefully good choices by demonstrating and teaching them what these are. Also, in the face of all of that, we have the opportunity to get students encouraged and hooked on learning. It is an extremely powerful opportunity to shape the minds of the young people who will become the leaders of tomorrow. I believe teachers need to be learning along with their students. It is a great idea to collaborate with the students to come up with assignments and to ask for their input. They'll give it and they have great ideas. I know I say this all the time, but I love the idea of involving students in decisions about projects and assessments and the rules and regulations of the classroom. First of all, students have really good ideas and they know exactly what they need and want. Second, you are putting the power in their hands, which means they are going to be more interested and engaged. I really agree with the idea that the learning needs to be authentic, and exploratory. I believe that it is not simply about copying and pasting the ideas of others and creating an essay or regurgitating what others are saying. THAT IS NOT LEARNING. That is exactly what I did until I came to college and I strongly believe that the curriculum and instruction need to be different in order to prevent this. I also love the idea of how they discussed writing journals because that also enables you to incorporate literacy into the classroom.

Ch 1 Turning Points 2000

Abstract:

The biggest aspect of this chapter is the Turning Points report that was released and comparing schools who used this report and those who didn’t. The suggestions in the article included restructuring the school into smaller communities, teaching core areas of learning, ensuring success for all students, putting power in the hands of the teachers and principals, using teachers who know how to handle adolescents, promoting education and good health, and working with families and communities in the process. Many schools are not adopting the Turning Points ideas and suggestions, but those who are see increased test scores and an overall improvement in the school. The other main idea is the whole idea of a middle school. The authors suggest that middle schools work best when including grades 5-8 or 6-8 and run based on the suggestions from Turning Points. More importantly, the point should be that it is important to provide and equal education to every student and expect every student to be successful.

Class Reflection:

It is interesting to note the connection between poorer families and their student achievement and the implication of the Turning Points suggestions. The changes have been slowest to occur in these areas where they are needed the most. We like the idea of teams and communities, and when done right they can be extremely effective in working towards success for every student .We also believe that an important factor in middle level education is having open lines of communication with families. We also found it interesting that the recommendations in Turning Points were actually improving students test scores. Another very interesting connection was the idea of the differentiated instruction and appropriate assessments that we had learned in practicum. These were some of the Turning Points recommendations that were helping to improve these schools. Turning Points helps middle school educators and faculty maneuver their students through a time that is already hard enough because of the hormones, emotional, physical, social, and intellectual changes they are going through at this time. Some people also believe that there should be a separate degree that is earned by people wishing to teach middle school. This would ensure that all faculty at the middle school level are properly trained and have the experience to deal with young adolescents. Also, continual professional development based upon current research and ideas is a must.