Chapter 6: Organizing Relationships for Learning

This chapter in Turning Points 2000 explains the importance of working in groups. What really stood out to me, and was different than the other chapters on groups, was "The Anatomy of Effective Teams". Some of the advice was the same as past readings but this book explained the tips in greater depth. It explains that the smaller the team size the better, but that doesn't necessarily make it easier for the teacher. When planning to have students in group, the teacher must put aside a lot of time. If teachers make a schedule of tasks the team must complete by a certain time, students will be more likely to finish the tasks. Creating a designated area for certain teams to be could add working time in the schedule. Finally, teachers need to stick with the teams in order for the process to be effective. These are all excellent points and it does make sense that this process would be difficult to get use to but highly effective.

Chapter 12: Teacher Advisories - A Proposal for Change

Teacher Advisories in middle school is a good way for students to reflect. It should be up to the students whether they want to reflect on school work or themselves. It was a really good idea to have advisory days been an all day activity. This will ensure that students are getting to know their advisor and that the advisor is getting to know his or her students. Getting students moving around and making connections is really the key to advisory days. Having students do what they want to do, maybe even based on their specific intelligence (bodily, logic, music, etc.) they can feel more comfortable about themselves. If I had advisory days in my middle school I would have definitely looked forward to it and maybe would have made better connections with the students in my class.

Chapter 11: Teaming

Chapter 11 of Meet Me in the Middle was about the benefits of having teams- for teachers or for students. The first section talked about teachers forming into groups when discussing a particular student with his or her parents. This way, the parents can get different teachers' points of view and can really understand how their child is doing. Another good point made in this chapter was about integrating the subjects in a middle school. This also requires teachers to get together and discuss ideas, but it really does make sense. In life, people use a mixture of subjects to perform a task, do their job, etc. Once and a while integrating English class with History or Math and Science class would be both entertaining and beneficial to the students. Forming students into groups when doing a project can also help out in a classroom. If there are clear core values as rules for working in groups, then students will take the exercise seriously and they will be able to learn from their peers.

This We Believe

Pages 1-26

One of the ideas that stood out to me the most between pages 1 and 26 was the idea that teachers in middle schools are inevitably role models. Their behaviors send influential messages to young, developing minds. In order to remain positive, they will need to provoke leadership and the ability to work together. By learning from one another, the teacher can ensure that the students understand the material. What I got from this is that anything I do, as a teacher, can be translated into a lesson. This means I am going to have to think about my actions and methods. I will also have to be quick and cleverly avert a discussion to the material if the discussion becomes off topic.

Pages 27-33

This section of the book discussed leadership and organization characteristics. The first idea in this section was about making decisions when dealing with a middle school. It is important to have many different opinions from different people affiliated with the school. School leaders should ask students, teachers, administrators, families, board of education members, and the community for their input. Another point I found interesting was that administrators should further their education on education. They should research to find the best practices. This is an awesome idea- I wonder if any of my middle school teachers have changed their methods of teaching to up to date practices.

Pages 33-42

It is important for culture and community to take part in a middle school. Like a discussion in class, the social aspect of a young adolescent's life should not stop outside the classroom. Integrating academics and social lives will ensure success in any student. Making the classroom a community will ensure the students will respect themselves, others classmates, and their teachers. These personal and academic developments should be monitored by an adult advocate- someone who the student can trust. This could be a guidance counselor or teacher, but I feel it would be better for someone in the school could watch them.

Pages 43-63

There were two main parts to this section of the text. The first part was research supporting This We Believe. One part that stood out to me in this section was under Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. It was cited that for a classroom to be safe and supported there must be active learning where "students and teacher hold joint responsibility for their interactions and learning" (pg. 47). I like how it reveled that the students were also responsible for the amount they learn. If they are not motivated to learn then they would not want to learn, but that is where the teacher comes in. The second part of the section discusses the characteristics of young adolescents. There are lists that the authors came up with that describe what is happening to adolescents physically, mentally, morally, etc. One characteristic I thought was interesting was that adolescents are curious- but not necessarily in a specific content area. They are curious about the world around them, and that is why it is so important for teachers to relate content to the real world. This way, young students can relate to the content themselves and gain interest.

Chapter 17: The Truth about Middle School Students

In this chapter the author tells us about a method of expression he uses in his classroom. He has blank paper on one of his boards where students can write quotes, anecdotes, or essentially whatever they want “as long as it would be acceptable to their parents and grandparents, would not violation any school policies, or would not be derogatory to anyone” (pg. 188). He puts examples of what students put on the board. It surprised me that the students were mature enough to do something like this and I really liked the idea. I love quotes and would really be interested in any my students would have to offer. This is another way of building that personal relationship with your students.

Chapter 2: Motivating Young Adolescents

Chapter 2 gives a lot of examples on how to keep young adults attention during a lesson. When reading the chapter, I noticed a lot of the same methods that high school teachers use in their classrooms. It was mentioned to use cooperative learning strategies, such as “jigsaw” grouping. Also, another great suggestion was over exaggerating concepts so that they are easily remembered. Some multiple intelligences were also mentioned like musical and kinesthetic. I think it would be a good idea to introduce different learning styles and such mentioned in this chapter early in a child’s education. This way, when the student gets to high school, they can perfect the styles and methods; they would know what to expect.

Chapter 1: Stoking the Fires Within

In this introductory chapter, there was one section that really stood out at me. This section was about listening to your students. When students have concerns in the class, and they definitely will, the teachers need to listen fully and not have a response ready before the student has finished talking. Also, the author suggests that when you paraphrase the student’s words or ask a clarifying question, it shows that you are listening. I think that this is very important for teachers to learn this quickly. The process of listening to your students and not taking the critiques personally really emphasizes the student-teacher relationship. Dealing with these types of situations with poise will ensure that students will respect you.

Chapter 2: A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education

This chapter mentioned the seven recommendations for improving middle grades schools. These recommendations, I thought, were similar to suggestions to high school teachers. For example, it’s suggested that teachers teach the curriculum on bases where the students should know and be able to perform the tasks related to the content. This is very similar to the idea of the Know, Understand, Do (KUD) process that is presented at a high school level. The seven recommendations mentioned in the text are very informative and have great potential; however, if there is no structure for these accommodations, the results will be unsatisfactory. Richard Elmore made the suggestion of “dividing teachers and students into teams, modifying schedules, and creating decision-making teams” (pg. 29), but if these processes are not carried out all the way through, then the teacher will not get his/her desired results.

Chapter 1: Turning Points: A Decade Later

The section that most jumped out at me was the section about why it is important for students to succeed in middle school. The reason why America’s middle schools should be redesigned is because “every young adolescent truly deserves an equal opportunity to achieve at the very highest level” (pg. 15). I found this statement somewhat obvious and I was shocked that this needed to be stated at all. I do, however, like how this ties into what students overall learn in middle school: social justice and national economic self-interest. It would not be smart to educate adolescents poorly during this time because how can they be expected to move on in a world where higher education is success? I also find it interesting how social justice is important in middle school because that is where you make friends, enemies, and bonds with other human beings.