This We Believe

1-7

This particular section talks about how difficult it is to be a young adolescent on the cusp of quasi-adulthood with today's pressures and conflicts. This first section stresses how important it is for middle schools and middle school teachers to provide the correct amount of support for the students. They detail how the physical changes to not only the ever-developing mind, but the rest of the body as well affect how a student's perceptions, opinions, and route of thinking might develop.

This section was really intense, and provided some background information about the brain that I was not aware of, such as how the brain develops during adolescence as much as it does during infancy, and how it is both continual and irregular, making it unique to each student.

9-19

This section reiterated information from the other books we've been reading in collaboration to the NMSA publication, which is both interesting and helpful because it shows that the issues and opinions discussed are shared by multiple established organizations.

This section made wonderful points about the importance of collaboration and leading by example; middle school is where students are more likely to be interested in developing their 'image,' and having positive examples to follow will allow the students to mimic positive behavior. That being said, I loved the bit about having an 'adult advocate' for every student- it reminded me of having a mentor, which can be successful for not only school situations, but everyday experiences as well.

19-34

This section talked a lot about effective curriculum, and how middle school students especially respond to connections they can make with the material being learned to their own lives. There has to be a perfect balance between challenging and frustrating (this I can relate to, as I have several memories of assignments that were challenging but relevant to something I was interested in or had going on in my life, as well as those that made me give up, mid-homework, because it was very difficult and was more for route memorization than paired with another purpose). Relevance can come through several different channels, one (and probably the most obvious) being integration- what better way to practice skills for one class by using them in another?

I think one of the biggest challenges I face personally is making sure that students are connecting with the subject. I mean, I'm a big geek for anything historical and will be fascinated, but that doesn't necessarily mean that my students will be as well. I definitely agree with making connections through the other subjects as well- I once had a statistics project in maths (by far my worst subject ever, taken by choice senior year as a means of scoring higher on the SAT), but the statistics were all taken from gravestones in the oldest cemetery in town. This immediately kicked into my social studies brain, and when we discussed later in the week what information archaeologists were able to assume from cultures and civilizations long since gone, I was able to formulate relevant thoughts that connected the classes. I think subject matter that proves difficult (in my case, maths) is immediately easier when put into something that holds the student's individual interests.

34-51

This section went over how to get all facets of the community involved in the transformation for the nation's middle schools, and included parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, state government officials, etc, and how collaboration and being on the same page with the same goals in mind would help propel the movement forward with more ease and less roadblocks, so to speak. It's interesting and sad, all at the same time, that students weren't mentioned in the facets of the community needed to see the movement to change middle school setups succeed. I feel like student input is a valuable tool (although I can see how it would be cautionary just because of the possibility of someone not taking it seriously), especially if those students understand why there is a movement for change, what the benefits for them would be, and overall, how informed they are in the process. In essence, they're going to be experiencing middle school, so they, of all people, would know firsthand how things work.

Overall, I liked this book, if even it felt like I was rereading information discussed in the other books we've been delving into. It was interesting to get in-depth with some of the more scientific discussions of adolescent development, because even though I experienced it already I hadn't ever been exposed to that perspective.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen was largely about the negative media representation that middle school students get now- the author included the rampant outbreak of sexually transmitted disease as the glaringly cranky example. He also discussed several incredible feats that his middle school students have achieved that certainly outshine the negative; raising substantial sums of money for good causes, managing websites, performing at events that have thousands of people in attendance, coordinating construction projects, and an avid reader of 2,000 books in the time of 4 months. The entire chapter suggested taking any previously held notion about middle school students and re-evaluating that notion, because the results may surprise and delight.

One of the things that the author shared in the chapter is the installation of the graffiti wall in his classroom. Not only is this something I could see myself as a middle schooler enjoying writing on, but I could see myself as a teacher waiting excitedly to see what people wrote on the paper. I think the whole point of this chapter is to trust the middle school students in your class enough to be savvy, smart, and intelligent. Because the media tears them down, many teachers' minds are poisoned with the media representation, and that trust is lost.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 2

Chapter two discussed the different ways to make lessons appeal to the middle school set, as motivation is a key component in effective and efficient learning. Making things fun through games, dramatics, movement, and being able to relate the lessons to the students' everyday lives are big ideas that the author suggests as 'tried and true' success stories. Another important but incredibly related point in the chapter is the necessity of a safe learning environment for students at all times.

This chapter spoke directly to me, as I definitely saw the importance of the safe and comfortable learning environment right away. A naturally shy individual, I have been known to spend September through May of a September through June school year being absolutely silent in classes because there was something that I wasn't 100% comfortable with (whether it was the other students, the material, the teacher, it could have been anything). For those of you who know me, most of the time I don't shut up. This still holds true in classes I'm taking now, and for teachers to make sure that their classroom is a fun and comfortable environment is key for successful learning AS WELL AS social development, which is also a phenomenon associated with the middle school set.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 1

Chapter one discussed the importance of attitude in several different aspects; how we as teachers look at our profession/calling, how the community at large views the middle school experience, and how students see the difference in attitude and respond accordingly. Some of the different ways to display a positive attitude are through examining our own behaviors and intonations, and making sure that we listen, hear, and understand the students when they are trying to convey their thoughts and feelings to us.

I really liked that chapter one had an invigorating rant about how people underestimate the power of the teaching profession and calling, focusing on (what else?!) the middle school teacher and experience. It was quite refreshing to be exposed to an attitude right there on the page that declares it a privilege to do what we (will eventually) do. I also found it refreshing to find that the first aspect of teaching that the author suggested be dissected is the teacher themselves- I think that, given that the teacher is often the emotional barometer of the classroom, this is incredibly important to remember to do.

Turning Points 2000: Chapter 2

Chapter two discussed the essentials of the Turning Points vision, moving from the original eight-point list format to the seven-point web, where all aspects of the vision interact and affect each other. The reason for such a change was the need for modern language and terminologies, as well as the need to demonstrate the reality of such interaction between curriculum, assessment, and instruction, as well as the interaction between teacher, parents, school, district, state, and country.

Chapter two described many of the things that I believe I have been already taught to strive for in a classroom during my education courses. Providing a safe and health learning environment, ensuring that communication remains open between student and teacher, teacher and parent, parent and student, using a variety of different instructional strategies to expose students to new material and ideas, these are all things that are essential to making sure that such a school meets the needs of its students.

Turning Points 2000: Chapter 1

The first thing I noticed about chapter one was the way it stated most emphatically the gravity of the position the majority of middle schools and the importance of the most efficient reforms. It didn't just declare that the United States needed to fix how middle schools are run, but how certain changes have benefited the students. It made a point of backing up that strong support of reform with different test score statistics, mostly in reading, writing, and math (ironically enough, all subjects tested in the SAT). The studies also made note of the students more likely to be affected by poorly planned and executed middle school education, those students being mostly from minority groups and lower socioeconomic statuses.

When I first read the chapter, I tried to put myself back in my own middle school days. I mean, apart from the fact that it was in a school that was labelled a 'junior high preparatory school,' it had some of the similar attributes that the studies said most students benefited from, such as team teaching, smaller learning communities, etc. It was interesting that the chapter mentions the different emotional and physical changes that students are going through during the same time; the transition from child to quasi-adult is probably one of the most awkward stages in a student's life, and being made to go through that in such a socially involved school setting with the additional pressures of increased schoolwork, for lack of a better word, sucks. I found it additionally interesting that the first chapter made such a point to continue to stress the importance of hiring professionals that have either a special background or interest in the age group.