Chapter 15: Parents as Partners in Twenty-First-Century Learning

This chapter addresses a new method of communicating with parents that almost completely eliminates the effort from the teachers. You can have a website with e-mails, all assignments posted using an online syllabus, and pretty much any other technological tool, that will keep parents involved with their child’s education. It is no longer necessary to send notes home or make phone calls, while still useful, there is a magic land of “the Internet” that allows that interaction to take place easier. A quick e-mail will make it to the targeted parent instantly instead of waiting for the student to remember to hand their parent a note, and a phone call requires coordination of common times to have a conversation. Have the world of electronic social media at our disposal we as teachers should have no trouble keeping parents up to date with their children’s progress and it might even make some otherwise absent parents more involved.

Chapter 8: Effective Assessment

The key ideas from this chapter that I will implement into my future classroom are clear expectations, focus on essential knowledge, and valid indicator of students knowledge. The first idea is so easy that it is embarrassing that it has to be written about. It is not the job of a teacher to try and trick students. We should always let them know where we want them to get. Outlining the goal will allow them to worry about material rather than the process it will take to show what they know. The second and third ideas go hand in hand, focusing on essential knowledge and a valid indicator of students knowledge are near and dear to my heart as a future math teacher. I make English teachers mad because I will not count spelling or grammar on anything written, I will note the papers so the student can self correct if they want to but at no time will writing rules take points away from the math concepts the student is trying to demonstrate. Teaching is a team effort I agree, but receiving a poor math grade because you struggle in English class is the most backward idea, and a great way to squash any remaining confidence a student may have.

Chapter 7: Differentiated Instruction-Fitting the Lesson to the Learner

The main idea of this chapter that I will take into my classroom is that there is not just one way to differentiate instruction. In order to actually cater to the individual student’s needs a teacher must be flexible and resourceful. We are aware that children learn differently so it is our job to not try to box them into our lesson plans. This gets me on a rant about the standards again but that is a different chapter. We should be constantly evaluating where our students stand and find ways to bring them further into the material so they are learning at their maximum capacity. Creating lesson plans with differentiation in them is a great start but the teacher needs to be able to formatively assess the situation and adjust on the fly if a student needs additional instruction or differentiation. I truly think that individualized instruction is the most powerful way to get all the students to gain the most from their time in school.

Chapter 6: Accountability for High Standards

The idea of accountability to standards determined by administrators really makes me angry. Students are expected to perform well on tests designed to be multiple choice or maybe an essay and the subject of the tests are only broadly identified as math, or science. This makes no sense in relation to the clear expectations that we are taught to give students. The book identifies the short comings of the system nicely but the idea still makes me angry. I thought the book went a little far into “idealand” when it imagined a world where academics are thought of as highly as athletics, people watch sports for entertainment. I don’t feel the academic achievements should be brought into that conversation even with a sarcastic tone. There is too much pressure for the students to meet somebody’s expectations instead of just letting the learning take place. Go through school, learn what you can, enter the real world and continue to learn what is important to your life.

Chapter 9: Involving Parents and Communities

This chapter addresses the need for teachers/schools to be in contact with the parents and community members to best offer children an education. It is exponentially more effective to have the teacher and parents on the same boat rather than having the child spend all day at school and then hearing a parent bad mouth a teacher or the subject matter. It is hard for adults to stop acting and talking in ways that show their opinions on things but for the betterment of the children everyone needs to be on the same page. In fact that is an important step I want to take as a teacher, if I am aware of a parent who thinks the material we are learning or my methods are stupid, I will ask them to meet with me to see how we can best remedy the situation and let their child thrive. I think people mistake disagreement as hostile confrontation, where in fact it can be used as a platform to change what I might not realize needed to be changed.

Chapter 8: A Safe and Healthy School Environment

It seems now more than ever (in my memory) do schools need to try and create a safe environment for students. Bullying is a huge problem both physically and emotionally, and now you add social media as a bullying medium and kids need adult allies. That is why it is so important to create an environment where your students feel comfortable both physically but also emotionally. When there is a feeling of safety a student will likely take more risks which will often times lead to greater learning. What it comes down to is simple; schools are the necessary step that a child takes to learn skills and information that shapes them into adults. It is a huge problem if that school is not a safe place for the child because their effort will be spent protecting themselves from all sorts of outside evils instead of focusing on learning. There are atmospheric ways a teacher can create a classroom that feels comfortable but I think the most important part is the unseen culture of the room. It is the job of the teacher to create a culture of respect and learning so children are free to explore.

Chapter 4: Designing Instruction to Improve Teaching and Learning

This seems like a no brain idea of a chapter but after sitting through many college classes I think it is important for all future teachers to read this. Know where you want to go with your students and design your lessons to get everyone there. Being over prepared as a teacher is the only way to expect to succeed; it is too much to ask of yourself to think you can best reach all the students with poor plans and off the cuff ideas. You should differentiate ahead of time and think of ways that might better engage the students. In general having great lesson plans ahead of time makes you a better teacher and will make the students better learners.

A Whole New Mind

This presentation was powerful thanks to the links they included to hammer home their points. It was helpful to see what types of questions influence the results of the left-brain or right-brain quiz. I also enjoyed the smile test to gauge empathy. The presentors seemed to fully understand the material they were talking about, which in turn made the discussions at the tables deep and meaningful. Great Job!

Chapter 3: Brain Research Applied to Middle School

This chapter focuses on an idea that students should be taught how to think. Not in a forceful, “you will have this view” type of way, but rather students are capable of thinking about situations and make conclusions based on what they know. The time needed to think is talked about in terms of giving students time to think when you ask a question and as a teacher also allowing yourself time to respond to their answer before you respond. That is an important idea to grasp, people are often worried about what they are going to say next that they are not listening to the people they are talking with. This type of interaction requires very little thought. The chapter also looks at some logical fallacies that middle school students should be aware of. You will encounter these types of fallacies everyday so creating a population of people that can decipher the information and take the truth from it would do wonders for the sensationalism out there. I hope to teach students how to think, this chapter will come in handy when I am dealing with students that are living in an information age, maybe it will help me help them see through the garbage.

Student Oriented Curriculum

The student oriented curriculum idea is a strong one but I have reservations about the details. It seems too good to be true, and it has been my experience that usually when it seems that way, it is. There would need to be some guided structure to make sure learning progress was being made, I think the idea is more of a student input situation. The easy things to incorporate would be the rule making and the schedule design. I just think students lack the foresight to guide themselves down the correct road completely when left to their own devices. The overall idea of the structure is a strong one that I am sure has been fine tuned over the 12 years they have been executing it. I would like to read the book that compares the first year the school tried that to the current model they are using.

Chapter 13: Outdoor Adventures

This chapter talks about bigger or more time consuming activities that can be done with students. While the ideas are solid and it is easy to incorporate content into the outdoor activities, it would be more demanding on the administration to accommodate this type of learning. Bigger hiking trips or outdoor activities will take more time than one class period so the ideas of this chapter differ from the active learning chapter based on time needed. A lot of the examples in this chapter would be great to do as an advisory group, that way the content can still be touched on but there is not a feeling of complete academic purposes to the students.

Chapter 4: Active Learning

The fourth chapter of Meet Me in the Middle is an important one; it addresses the idea of actively engaging students with the content. Physically the middle school student is going through changes that make them uncomfortable in a typical school seating arrangement, thus causing fidgeting and behavior problems. The book offers a number of example activities that will get the students moving around while they learn. I think this is a very strong method. If I can get math students moving and using math they are way more likely to have it “click”. I like the small section about having a brainstorming session with your peers to find new ways to teach the same old stuff. I hope I am lucky enough to teach in a department that welcomes new ideas and encourages active learning.

Waiting for Superman

The film "Waiting for Superman" was done in a very powerful way. It succesfully engaged the viewer emotionally. But looking past the individuals involved in the movie is a big idea that the schools are continually failing our students. I am stuck on one part of the movie, well two actually but the money spent on prisoners is another long conversation in itself. But the part about the teachers union not even voting on the change to performance based pay really bothers me. There is no way you can look around and not acknowledge that changes need to be made. It might not have been the right change for the situation, but for the union to not even vote on it shows an arrogant sense of entitlement. Tenure should not be the goal of a teacher, and to make a second year teacher basically untouchable for life is a ridiculus business model.

Chapter 3

Backward design is the newest way to plan a lesson. While I saw it come together in practicum I am weary of only learning one way of doing things. It seems that is what creates grumpy old teachers that can’t change. The most important part of the design for me was a simple idea, high expectations. As a teacher we should find ways to challenge all the students and do so in a way that we expect them to work hard towards and succeed. The backward design model when used in an open environment like a college classroom where we can choose random technology projects as the end point may create some higher level thinking, but in a school run by standards and test results I fear the end product will be a standardized test score.

Chapter 9: Planning for Block Scheduling

This chapter seemed to be a reiteration of practicum. I understand that with longer period times I can take different approaches to my content area. I also know that variety is the spice of life, so it is not enough to simply have the time to use, rather I must be properly prepared to utilize the time that keeps the students actively engaged. I have not seen many schools that have block periods for math classes but I hope to change that when I get to my job location (Two years in of course…). There are perfect examples of long class periods being wasted to poor teacher preparation right here on campus. It is not enough to simply babble on for an hour and a half. Teachers should use the time to actually allow the students to learn and use the material.

Chapter 12: Teacher Advisories- A Proposal for Change

The need for change in middle schools includes a new approach to the advisory groups. When I was in middle school we did not have any type of advisor groups. The schools I have subbed in have a daily STAT period that is supposed to be an advisory period but turns in to an unstructured study hall. The idea, that advisory groups should meet less frequently and for longer periods of time makes perfect sense to me. It takes the daily grind of academics out of the equation and allows students an opportunity to develop a healthy relationship with an adult that cares about their well being. I would fully enjoy being a part of a middle school that took this approach. Kids do not need a study hall everyday to take the place of a relationship with a positive role model. If the groups met with hours to spend together, they really could develop community involvement with the students.

Chapter 11: Teaming

This chapter discusses important aspects to teams that teach young adolescents however I could not get past one line in the core values section. In a bulleted list of a school teams core values the very first one stated: All students belong to all of us” (pg 139). I think that is a major part of what is wrong with the education system, teachers and administrators too often think with a “me first” mentality. The teachers should think about what is best for the students. It should read “we belong to all students”. It is way too easy and common place now to only worry about what affects you, but as teachers we need to be able to put ourselves away and really focus on what the students need.

Chapter 6: Organizing Relationships for Learning

The focus of this chapter is the idea that positive teacher-student relationships are one of the most important and long lasting concepts in the middle school. Curriculum is important of course but what makes a lasting impression on these students are the adults around them. The book argues that team teaching approaches with a small teacher to student ratio is a great way to develop trusting relationships that will promote growth. I agree with the idea. It is important for students to feel comfortable with their teachers so they can freely explore their ideas. If a student feels that the teacher is out to get them, or any idea they have is a bad one, that student is way less likely to participate in the learning experience. If a team of teachers can reach the students as individuals it would be far easier to help the children grow.

This We Believe

This book is looking at the characteristics of middle school children and middle schools themselves. It talks about the children briefly as a blanketed whole but focus’ on the “successful” middle school student. The traits the book lists as important for students to develop and grow into make up a very long list of an ideal well rounded person. My belief is that one of their ideas is more important than the rest. Students should focus on their strengths. This is not to say that no one should ever try hard and become good at something they were bad at, but rather if you want to really be successful you should develop what you are already good at. I think if we could somehow get all the students to focus on their strengths we could produce a society of exceptional people instead of a declining mediocre society that has some general knowledge about everything.

The middle school leadership should be held to a very high standard. Leaders to the middle school children are all of the adults that have an impact on their school day, from their parents and teachers, to the administrators. I cannot agree with the book more when they say the leaders need to develop change with the children in mind. Making changes based on money or personal agenda destroys a working system and is a real problem. In my childhood school system, recently the superintendant eliminated a position to save money and took on the responsibility himself, which included taking a pay raise. From the outside looking in there seems to be so many things wrong with this approach that it is easy for me to generalize all the problems of schools into, money and personal agendas.

Middle schools strive to have a culture that offers individual students the attention needed to help that student grow both academically and emotionally. My middle school did not really have any type of advisory program or make any effort to reach us as individual people. Personally it did not affect me in a negative way but I am fortunate to have a family support system that allowed me to grow. It seems too easy however for a student that does not have a strong family relationship to get lost in the cracks of a middle school. It is such an important time of these students lives that time spent being overlooked or lumped into a group can seriously impact their lives negatively. I would love to teach in a school that focused on getting to know the students as individuals; I believe that relationship would significantly outweigh any curriculum that might suffer from the time dedicated to the person.

Chapter 2: Turning Points 2000 Synthesis

Abstract: This chapter discusses the seven points that middle schools need to consider in their design in order to create the best learning environment for the students. Listed below are the points the book suggests:
• Teach a curriculum grounded in standards that is relevant to the students
• Use instructional methods designed to create life-long learners
• Staff middle schools with teachers who are experts at middle school
• Organize relationships for learning, create smaller communities within the school
• Govern democratically, involve the teachers who know the students best
• Provide a safe and healthy school environment
• Involve parents and communities in student learning
These steps are not listed in any particular order; rather they all combine to make a web of interlocking pieces that will create the strongest possible environment for young adolescents to learn in.

Synthesis:
The most common thought about these ideas of change in middle schools was that teachers in middle schools should be experts at middle school. A certification that is catered to middle level seems like a good idea. If there are separate philosophies and approaches to teaching high school and middle school why is one broad certification good enough? If we really want to reach the middle level student to the best of our adult capabilities we should be creating teachers who are specialized for the age group. Another theme in our responses was the need to involve the parents and communities in the education of the children. Somewhere along the lines school became a day care. Parents drop their kids off in the morning and pick them up at night but are really removed from what is happening during the day. Instead of having a divide between teachers and parents, middle level educators need to develop a relationship with the community to make sure there is a common goal being worked towards. Through good and bad times both teachers and parents need to have the best interest of the child in mind when they react to situations and make important decisions. We also thought it was important for the teachers and schools to get to know the students as individuals. If we can cater to the student’s needs in their education they will only benefit. All of the responses had one common theme; there is no need to change for the sake of change everything should be done with the best interest of the student in mind.

Chapter 17: The Truth About Middle School Students

The final chapter in this book is a reminder that I am becoming a teacher for a reason. I realize that children are the future of the country. We need to realize that the students in schools today will be responsible to advance America to the next steps of growth. I think it is hugely important to motivate some students enough to make that happen. We should not focus on the bad apples and say all of the students are like that. We should embrace the achievers and allow them to grow even taller. When the schools focus on that demographic we will see a great increase in the path of America. Hopefully I can be a part of that by motivating some students along the way.

Chapter 2: Motivating Young Adolescents

The second chapter in this book gave some great ideas of ways to make a middle school classroom that breeds success. To me the most important aspect, which also ties directly into some of the other ideas, is to be enthusiastic about your subject. The line about your enthusiasm allows other people to be enthusiastic is so true. People will play off your emotions so as a teacher it is paramount to be at the front of the class with some enthusiasm. The other ideas of using suspense, stories, or random objects that tie in later, all of that stuff is second nature if you are truly engaged and enthusiastic about your subject.

Chapter 1: Stoking the Fires Within

This chapter immediately put me on edge because the author was talking about the little sarcastic ways that people make fun of school and teaching as a bad thing. I do not want to read another book about education that takes itself way too serious. Later in the chapter I saw some things I agreed with and for the most part the overall message from the chapter of being a good professional I agree with. You should approach your career with some enthusiasm and make sure you are helping the students. It is easy to become the teacher that hinders the student’s progress. I want to be the teacher that the students know as the guy who is always in a good mood. It doesn’t matter what the task is, I want to maintain an outlook that welcomes children to try and fail, or try and succeed in my class.

Chapter 2: A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education

In the second chapter the book branches into how teachers and parents need to work together in order for the middle grades to be a positive learning environment. I don’t know how many times I have heard from my family members that are teachers about parents impacting their children’s education in a negative way. It is rare for them to have a parent that is on both the school’s side and the child’s side, working toward creating the best possible experience for the students. I feel it is priceless to have the support of the parents in shaping a learning experience that allows the students to succeed.

Chapter 1: Turning Points: A Decade Later

In chapter one of Turning Points the part that really struck home with me was a small section about how the emotional transition from elementary school to middle school was hard for children. It reminded me of when I was a long term sub in a resource room for fourth grade. One of my students was very mild mannered and the school was concerned that he would get socially “lost” when he moved on to the middle school. One day I took him over to the middle school and introduced him to some teachers and older students, showed him around the school, and in general got him a little more comfortable with being in a new environment. It can go unnoticed, but moving from being the top dog in a school to the low man can be very scary for children. I completely agree with this book that it is an important aspect to consider when designing middle school curriculum.