"This We Believe" begins by talking about just how important middle grades education is. Middle school students, ranging from ages 10 to 15, are constantly changing physically, emotionally, and intellectually. These students need a school where healthy growth is promoted and students can become life long learners. Adolescents are not the only thing changing; the times are changing as well. Race, poverty, and ethnicity all play an important role in the lives middle school students. Family structures have changed from nuclear and extended families to families that vary in number, ethnicity, race, and gender. Some of these families lack the right amount of parental supervision as well. To be successful middle school teacher we need to recognize all the changes around students' lives and listen to the ideas offered in the book.
A major theme from this section of "This We Believe" is communication with students. It is important to be there for students and let them know that you can be someone that they can talk to. Moreover, involving families and the communities around the student is a positive effect. Kids at this age tend to (for the lack of a better word) "copy" what adults do because when they see an adult doing something they assume it is the correct behavior. It is important for teachers to try and remain positive in school and to work together with other teachers. When students at this age see positive interaction like that then they will tend to treat both teachers and classmates with respect. Finally, a successful middle school is one where teachers and students are engaged in learning together. Students and teachers working together give students deeper levels of understanding and motivation.
The next issue that "This We Believe" tackles is middle school curriculum. They say that curriculum in middle schools (in order to be effective) needs to be relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. It mentions how curriculum had changed with the introduction of new laws and state and federal standards. Curriculum is different in the 21st century and need to fully accommodate to students. Also, teaching skills need to change as well. Teaching should now enhance and accommodate diverse skills and prior knowledge of students. Every student has an individual learning style and teachers need to recognize this. Assessment/evaluation programs and organizational structures that support meaningful relationships are also kept in mind when selecting teachers and organizing a curriculum. One last important aspect of a school curriculum in the 21st century is the implementation of health awareness in schools because a regular health program can interfere with learning while promoting proper health throughout the school will not.
The final section of "This We Believe" starts off my offering different actions for everyone that is involved with students in middle school. It lists actions for teachers, principals, parents, superintendents, state boards and departments of education, and teacher educators. The main actions pertaining to teachers include reviewing teaching styles and talking in depth about team teaching. The other actions listed for the other groups are quite useful, as well. Next the books discusses the changing characteristics of adolescents. These include physical, cognitive, moral, psychological, and social characteristics. It is important to remember that all students will being experiencing these changes at different times in their adolescence. With the help of a caring and concerned middle grades teacher students will thrive to succeed and know that they will have plenty of help throughout their middle school years.
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7 comments:
The first link is helpful as it also leads to links regarding procedures and implementation of Middle school programs.The second link provides us with different definitions and characteristics of young adolescent behaviors.
I like how the first link gives you a lot of side tabs to look at. I like the second link because it gives the 4 different categories of adolescents and then it gives characteristics of each of the groups.
by: Angela L.
good work
I agree with the the concept that schools need to promote healthy growth of students. Communication with students is key, we need to develop the concept of the whole student, allowing them to develop to the best student they can be. The link you added is interesting i skimmed through and found some meaningful information. Good work buddy!!!
I liked your discussion of communication and community involvement and think that its very important at the middle school level. I also found that the characteristics of the second link were helpful and a good reference for understanding different groups of adolescents.
I really enjoyed the first link that started out with the Middle School assessment. Everything on that website was related to student-oriented curriculum, which my group is doing a presentation on Thursday. I really like the idea of students basically deciding what they want to do and whats going on in the classroom, and this website gave a lot of good information regarding that. I like the second article as well. It showed many characteristic of a typical middle schooler, which is always helpful.
There is a lot of information in your first link! I like how it gave a sample unit so we could look it over and see that the teacher really does what they say they do. Sometimes you get the feeling that people just say what they think we want to hear. This shows us that they actually use what they talk about. Your second link was also interesting because it tells about adolescents and their characteristics. Well done.
I love the first article. It's awesome that you found this first from a Maine teacher and two its a great example of building assessment.
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