"This We Believe" -Abbie

The authors of "This We Believe" preface their book by giving an overview of their philosophy of Middle Level Education. They discuss the challenges students meet because of their continuous development throughout this stage in life, and how changes in social structure impact our students. The authors, the National Middle School Association, outline fourteen characteristics and attributes of a successful middle school before delving into each in subsequent chapters.

Successful middle schools must have educators that are prepared for young adolescents and their dynamic lifestyles; these educators must put students first, love what they are doing, and "serve as role models for students" (9). Collaboration and the use of teams in middle schools is vital; these elements better serve our students and help them reach their goals of success. These elements also join educators --teachers, staff, principals, superintendents-- in a shared vision of sticking to the school mission statement to ensure student success. Within this community, there will be smaller teams of teacher/advisors and student/advisees so that each student has an adult advocate; to coincide with this idea of each child having an adult advocate is the idea of communicating with parents, and inviting community members to take part in the learning community.

A safe and supportive environment gives the sense of community and fosters learning for all; this sense of community gives everyone -teachers & staff, students and the outlying community-- a feeling of teamwork and goals towards which to strive. A safe and supportive environment fosters learning by upholding high expectations for every member of the community; teachers work together to appropriately challenge and engage students so that each individual is continually striving.

Successful middle schools provide a “curriculum that is relevant, challenging, and integrative and exploratory” (19), and successful teachers take advantage of teachable moments to address the “hidden curriculum” (20). Relevance, integration and exploration refer to a curriculum’s relation to the real world, as well as its ability to incorporate and be sensitive to students’ questions and interests. These three components also speak to a curriculum that is interdisciplinary, one that does not isolate subject areas, but rather connects them. Challenge calls attention to whether or not a curriculum is developmentally appropriate, and pushes our students to go beyond the covering of content; challenging our students to master necessary skills to look at a concept from all angles, and discover how as well as why.

The authors continue on to discuss the importance of multiple teaching and learning approaches to accommodate student diversity: multiple intelligences and learning styles, skill levels, cultural experiences, and prior knowledge. Successful instructional approaches include an emphasis on collaboration and cooperation, technological integration, various individual and group activities, and hands-on experiments –all of which cater to student interest and/or have a real-life application.