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.