The big questions this week are: Where do we go from here? Are we ready?
What have we learned & How will we implement what we have learned?
For me, I have learned a lot about what the ideal middle school should look like. This is important to understand the characteristics of this ideal in order that we can aim for and implement them in our future schools and classrooms. Being an enthusiastic teacher who challenges their students with exploratory and relevant content using various instructional methods and assessments. Also, collaborating with the faculty, educational specialists, parents, local businesses and community will assist in broadening the scope of opportunities, motivation and engagement for the students, as well as myself as a lifetime learner.
As I head into student teaching it will be important to observe how the teachers, faculty and staff are approaching the ideals of middle school education. After having some experience teaching and working within an organization and administration it will assist in choosing where I want to work. Asking questions regarding organization and collaboration among the staff during the interview will be helpful for finding a middle school with good leadership and a supportive community and positive culture.
As for being ready, yes, I am ready to begin. I am ready to start. I do know that as a toddler begins to walk or a child learns to ride a bike or read, I too might stumble, trip, struggle or fall. It will be important to face any struggle I come across with patience and a mindset of growth. Reflecting on what I have learned and using the resources within the school I am placed in order to stabilize any bump on the road I may hit. I am very grateful and excited for the upcoming school year and will apply everything I have learned at Trinity and all the experiences of my life to be the best teacher that I can be for my future students.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Week 5
Week 5's readings focused on the characteristics of culture and community within middle school. It is important for middle schools to have inviting, safe, inclusive and supportive environments so that students are enabled to develop intellectually, socially and emotionally. Another aspect for middle schools to provide their students should be an adult advocate. Every student should be provided with an adult advocate to assist them with the ups and downs in their academic and personal development. This provides the student with individual care and support within the middle school. Besides the adult advocate, guidance counselors should assist students with one-on-one and group sessions to guide them through the upcoming decisions middle school students face in their future. It is important that these school counselors also coordinate the support services, advocates and specialists for the most effective use within the student body.
In my personal educational experience, I haven't really seen such a supportive environment in middle school. However, within my kids middle school, I have noticed a shift in support, especially during the e-learning of this past spring. The middle school staff were each assigned six students that they had a Zoom meeting at the end of the school day. The advocate would check-in on how the work-load was, how the student was feeling and inquire about the student's family. When I asked about this "new" concept, it was explained that the students and families of the school seemed very isolated and the staff had come up with the advocacy plan to help the students through the challenges of e-learning.
I had two children in middle school this past spring and they both utilized this Zoom advocate meeting differently. My middle school son checked-in and out within minutes and my daughter lingered with a few of the students and just chatted for a very long time; she just loved it. They both got out of it something different but they had varying levels of social and emotional needs. I thought it was a great way for the school to connect with the students on a more personal level and not make a heavy obligatory waste of time for the kids who really didn't want that type of support.
The last two characteristics that the readings explained was the importance of family involvement in the student's education as well as the involvement of the community and businesses of the area. In other education classes the importance of family involvement was discussed. The communication of English Language Learner's families and transportation issues of low income students should take special thought and care as communication impediments that must be thoughtfully overcome by the instructor.
The involvement of the community and businesses within the school is interesting and could really be an exciting opportunity for students. There are limitations from the business aspect, but in the best possible world if businesses could open their doors allowing middle and high school students to come and have "hands-on" experiences within the various crafts, building trades, social work, manufacturing, engineering companies, medical, industry, and stores, students would have a more realistic idea of what direction they would like to go in life. Basing life decisions on experiences is a much better tool then taking tests, besides tests are not particularly inspiring or motivating.
In my personal educational experience, I haven't really seen such a supportive environment in middle school. However, within my kids middle school, I have noticed a shift in support, especially during the e-learning of this past spring. The middle school staff were each assigned six students that they had a Zoom meeting at the end of the school day. The advocate would check-in on how the work-load was, how the student was feeling and inquire about the student's family. When I asked about this "new" concept, it was explained that the students and families of the school seemed very isolated and the staff had come up with the advocacy plan to help the students through the challenges of e-learning.
I had two children in middle school this past spring and they both utilized this Zoom advocate meeting differently. My middle school son checked-in and out within minutes and my daughter lingered with a few of the students and just chatted for a very long time; she just loved it. They both got out of it something different but they had varying levels of social and emotional needs. I thought it was a great way for the school to connect with the students on a more personal level and not make a heavy obligatory waste of time for the kids who really didn't want that type of support.
The last two characteristics that the readings explained was the importance of family involvement in the student's education as well as the involvement of the community and businesses of the area. In other education classes the importance of family involvement was discussed. The communication of English Language Learner's families and transportation issues of low income students should take special thought and care as communication impediments that must be thoughtfully overcome by the instructor.
The involvement of the community and businesses within the school is interesting and could really be an exciting opportunity for students. There are limitations from the business aspect, but in the best possible world if businesses could open their doors allowing middle and high school students to come and have "hands-on" experiences within the various crafts, building trades, social work, manufacturing, engineering companies, medical, industry, and stores, students would have a more realistic idea of what direction they would like to go in life. Basing life decisions on experiences is a much better tool then taking tests, besides tests are not particularly inspiring or motivating.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Week 4
This week's articles were all about differentiating instruction. In the article, "Three Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do", it begins by comparing the characters in the Wizard of Oz, who already have what they long for, to teachers who already have the tools necessary to differentiate in their classroom. With attention being given to planning to differentiate teachers could successfully differentiate content, process and product.
The other article "Food for Thought on Differentiated Instruction (DI)", the author points out five ways that are not good ways to differentiate. Together the two articles comprise a "Do & Don't" listing of implementing DI. When I first started taking the teaching courses at Trinity, I did think that DI did consisted of having three groups of students, high, average and below average, with appropriate content & assessments for each group. That is #3 in what not to do to DI. I also thought it would be impossible to differentiate for all the students, which was #2. Originally, I think I believed every one of the DI "don't" list for proper differentiation.
Thankfully, I have learned a lot here at Trinity and have learned first how to differentiate the assessments, then the content followed by the process. Professor Lenarz taught me how to differentiate for the whole class so that every student would benefit by designing lessons by purpose with differentiation for every student. I remember the night she explained that she wanted the lesson plan with a differentiated content, process & product, for the "whole class" in our lesson plans. It blew my mind a bit and there were a lot of questions that night, but it really did bring a deeper dimension to planning by design.
I really do feel like differentiating for all of the students is very important. When I was a schoolchild there was no such thing as differentiation. If you couldn't keep up in class, you were sent to the special ed classroom and if you were advanced, you were sent to a gifted class once a week. Most of us were truly bored to tears, regardless of how we were performing on our tests. Writing your spelling words 10x's each every week for eight years is not inspiring and I am still not a particularly good speller; thank goodness for spell check! DI helps students avoid ruts and can motivate students, instead of deflating and disengaging them. As a middle school teacher, I would dread grading 65 or more of the same assessments, differentiation helps keeps it interesting for the teacher too!
Working with my own kids during e-learning I appreciated any choices the teacher offered for my kids assignments. It really brightened their spirits to have a choice as compared to "Complete this Dull Repetitive Assignment" especially, week after week. Everyone loves a choice. I think of DI now sort of like going to a restaurant. As a student I can pick what I want to eat (content), how it is cooked (process) and what to have to complete the meal (product), dessert is the best part and so too should be the summative assessment. When my future students get as excited for a summative assessment in the same way I do about dessert, I will know I have finally arrived as a master teacher. 😊
The other article "Food for Thought on Differentiated Instruction (DI)", the author points out five ways that are not good ways to differentiate. Together the two articles comprise a "Do & Don't" listing of implementing DI. When I first started taking the teaching courses at Trinity, I did think that DI did consisted of having three groups of students, high, average and below average, with appropriate content & assessments for each group. That is #3 in what not to do to DI. I also thought it would be impossible to differentiate for all the students, which was #2. Originally, I think I believed every one of the DI "don't" list for proper differentiation.
Thankfully, I have learned a lot here at Trinity and have learned first how to differentiate the assessments, then the content followed by the process. Professor Lenarz taught me how to differentiate for the whole class so that every student would benefit by designing lessons by purpose with differentiation for every student. I remember the night she explained that she wanted the lesson plan with a differentiated content, process & product, for the "whole class" in our lesson plans. It blew my mind a bit and there were a lot of questions that night, but it really did bring a deeper dimension to planning by design.
I really do feel like differentiating for all of the students is very important. When I was a schoolchild there was no such thing as differentiation. If you couldn't keep up in class, you were sent to the special ed classroom and if you were advanced, you were sent to a gifted class once a week. Most of us were truly bored to tears, regardless of how we were performing on our tests. Writing your spelling words 10x's each every week for eight years is not inspiring and I am still not a particularly good speller; thank goodness for spell check! DI helps students avoid ruts and can motivate students, instead of deflating and disengaging them. As a middle school teacher, I would dread grading 65 or more of the same assessments, differentiation helps keeps it interesting for the teacher too!
Working with my own kids during e-learning I appreciated any choices the teacher offered for my kids assignments. It really brightened their spirits to have a choice as compared to "Complete this Dull Repetitive Assignment" especially, week after week. Everyone loves a choice. I think of DI now sort of like going to a restaurant. As a student I can pick what I want to eat (content), how it is cooked (process) and what to have to complete the meal (product), dessert is the best part and so too should be the summative assessment. When my future students get as excited for a summative assessment in the same way I do about dessert, I will know I have finally arrived as a master teacher. 😊
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Week 3
This week's readings were about leadership in the middles school, the attributes of an effective principal and the characteristics of leadership and organization of the middle school. The article written by the Wallace Foundation stated that there were five key responsibilities that school leadership should contain. Summing up these attributes of effective leadership include shaping a vision of academic success for all students, creating a hospitable educational climate, cultivating and sharing leadership in others, continuously striving to improve instruction, and managing people, data and processes to foster improvement within the school.
The characteristics of leadership and organization from This We Believe also enumerated many of the same concepts that research completed by the Wallace found from studying what the role of principal is, what makes them effective and how it ties to student achievement. To quickly summarize This We Believe, it is important for middle school leadership and organization to have a shared vision within the school community, leaders who are knowledgable and pursue best practices and research, leaders who demonstrate collaboration without fear, encourages professional development, and fosters purposeful learning and meaningful relationships within the school community.
My overall thoughts about the descriptions of what effective leadership and organization for middle school should be is that these attributes would work well in most homes and businesses. It seems that any community, small or large, had these characteristics they would foster positive results and growth in whatever vision was communally agreed upon. It would be exciting to lead, follow, or just be an active member in a community that was progressing towards their goals in a collaborative, encouraging and supportive manner using research and data to fine tune the systems used to achieve success.
There was a few details that stood out to me from the readings as well. From page 15 of the pdf version of the Wallace article, it mentions that the benefits of effective leadership takes time, from five to seven years. I thought that was quite a long time. However, I thought about my experience from my kids elementary school where the principal has changed four times in six years, not much has changed except a feeling of instability and confusion over vision. It is especially important in a private school as that particular school community forms in an effort to teach our faith in addition to academics. Having a shared vision is so important to work as a cohesive team and without it there is so much politics and in-fighting that it creates a very poor environment.
The climate in my kids school is improving but the lack of stable leadership over the past years is still evident and clearly expresses its importance within the community. The Profile in Leadership, Dewey Hensley, gives hope of the future of failing schools, as well as the private school my kids attend. The teachers leave who do not share the vision of the leader leave and the vision attracts more like minded educators. The building of a vision for Dewey Hensley did take years and we have had a few years of building within our school.
Another detail that attracted my attention was that many teachers do not think school leadership is for them personally, because they prefer instruction, as mentioned on page 8 of the pdf version of the Wallace article. I feel the same way, I would never want to be a principal! However, the passion for improving instruction and collaborating with other educators to do just that, with the goal of improving the achievement of students, well that is a game changer. That is the best reason for wanting to lead, to share a vision and inspire that vision in others. I am not sure if it is a direction I ever want to go but now it is a future option.
The characteristics of leadership and organization from This We Believe also enumerated many of the same concepts that research completed by the Wallace found from studying what the role of principal is, what makes them effective and how it ties to student achievement. To quickly summarize This We Believe, it is important for middle school leadership and organization to have a shared vision within the school community, leaders who are knowledgable and pursue best practices and research, leaders who demonstrate collaboration without fear, encourages professional development, and fosters purposeful learning and meaningful relationships within the school community.
My overall thoughts about the descriptions of what effective leadership and organization for middle school should be is that these attributes would work well in most homes and businesses. It seems that any community, small or large, had these characteristics they would foster positive results and growth in whatever vision was communally agreed upon. It would be exciting to lead, follow, or just be an active member in a community that was progressing towards their goals in a collaborative, encouraging and supportive manner using research and data to fine tune the systems used to achieve success.
There was a few details that stood out to me from the readings as well. From page 15 of the pdf version of the Wallace article, it mentions that the benefits of effective leadership takes time, from five to seven years. I thought that was quite a long time. However, I thought about my experience from my kids elementary school where the principal has changed four times in six years, not much has changed except a feeling of instability and confusion over vision. It is especially important in a private school as that particular school community forms in an effort to teach our faith in addition to academics. Having a shared vision is so important to work as a cohesive team and without it there is so much politics and in-fighting that it creates a very poor environment.
The climate in my kids school is improving but the lack of stable leadership over the past years is still evident and clearly expresses its importance within the community. The Profile in Leadership, Dewey Hensley, gives hope of the future of failing schools, as well as the private school my kids attend. The teachers leave who do not share the vision of the leader leave and the vision attracts more like minded educators. The building of a vision for Dewey Hensley did take years and we have had a few years of building within our school.
Another detail that attracted my attention was that many teachers do not think school leadership is for them personally, because they prefer instruction, as mentioned on page 8 of the pdf version of the Wallace article. I feel the same way, I would never want to be a principal! However, the passion for improving instruction and collaborating with other educators to do just that, with the goal of improving the achievement of students, well that is a game changer. That is the best reason for wanting to lead, to share a vision and inspire that vision in others. I am not sure if it is a direction I ever want to go but now it is a future option.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Week 2
The readings in Week 2 were interesting, This We Believe, began to go into more detail and descriptions regarding the characteristics of curriculum, instruction and assessment. These goals are very inspiring and are high ideals for teachers of middle school. The first characteristic is vital, that instructors enjoy engaging young adolescents and understand how to work effectively with them. There are too many instructors and administrators that exude distaste for middle school students. One principal that I spoke to regarded middle school as a wasteland, full of hormone ridden kids focused on just one thing, not exactly the inspiring mission statement containing high ideals of education. The school she worked for decided to let her go, probably due to her personal educational views.
I am particularly drawn towards other characteristics too, that was discussed in the text, that curriculum should be be challenging, relevant, exploratory, that is active, engages students with multiple learning and teaching styles accompanied with ongoing and varied assessments. As a future teacher this sounds like a tall order, impossible to accomplish, heavy expectations with very little support. Then I think back to some of my middle school observations. I was very impressed with the science educators that I observed, upbeat, inspiring and tireless. However, there was a difference between the two schools, one middle school was much more high achieving in science than the other, even though both educators were putting forth Herculean efforts.
In the higher achieving school there were built into the classroom much more support for the instructor and students. The classes were co-taught with two full time licensed teachers, another class had a special education instructor and paraprofessionals, all working in the same classroom. The planning periods were also coordinated with other science teachers in the middle school to design lessons and assessments together as well as to plan unit lesson plans. The school had created a team approach that enabled the instructors to be more effective than they could be on their own, and the lessons and assessments were designed with purpose.
This observation of a true team approach to middle school instruction was also discussed in the online article, Middle School, Are They Ready to Move Up? Approaching middle school with a team approach enables instructors to address the social and emotional needs of the young adolescents that they are teaching, as well as improving on the delivery of the content. As I mentioned earlier, the teacher that was on her own, while impressive as an individual teacher, she seemed to care so much about her students education and emotional state but she was left frazzled and exhausted every day. The higher achieving middle school had supports built in to the structure and curriculum, the instructors still seemed passionate, but quite a bit more energetic and less stressed.
Engaging and inspiring young adolescents with relevant and active curriculum does seem to help set their future success in high school and college. If these students were allowed to truly be exploratory in real life situations, in the sense that they are enabled to see doctors, lawyers, carpenters, plumbers, computer analysts, scientists, pilots and mechanics in action, to taste and see, it might give these young adolescents the "why" they need to keep studying. Experiencing real life, not simulated or diluted disjointed explanations of how the world works may help students discern what they would like to study towards becoming. Historically apprenticeships in the crafts used to begin in this age group, maybe long-term projects and unit studies might be the modern equivalent. Students may benefit from trying their hand in different arenas, seeing the integration of all the subjects they study in school. This could help them find their niche instead of guessing at career choices, judging using the images of erroneous Hollywood productions and other misleading perspectives.
I am particularly drawn towards other characteristics too, that was discussed in the text, that curriculum should be be challenging, relevant, exploratory, that is active, engages students with multiple learning and teaching styles accompanied with ongoing and varied assessments. As a future teacher this sounds like a tall order, impossible to accomplish, heavy expectations with very little support. Then I think back to some of my middle school observations. I was very impressed with the science educators that I observed, upbeat, inspiring and tireless. However, there was a difference between the two schools, one middle school was much more high achieving in science than the other, even though both educators were putting forth Herculean efforts.
In the higher achieving school there were built into the classroom much more support for the instructor and students. The classes were co-taught with two full time licensed teachers, another class had a special education instructor and paraprofessionals, all working in the same classroom. The planning periods were also coordinated with other science teachers in the middle school to design lessons and assessments together as well as to plan unit lesson plans. The school had created a team approach that enabled the instructors to be more effective than they could be on their own, and the lessons and assessments were designed with purpose.
This observation of a true team approach to middle school instruction was also discussed in the online article, Middle School, Are They Ready to Move Up? Approaching middle school with a team approach enables instructors to address the social and emotional needs of the young adolescents that they are teaching, as well as improving on the delivery of the content. As I mentioned earlier, the teacher that was on her own, while impressive as an individual teacher, she seemed to care so much about her students education and emotional state but she was left frazzled and exhausted every day. The higher achieving middle school had supports built in to the structure and curriculum, the instructors still seemed passionate, but quite a bit more energetic and less stressed.
Engaging and inspiring young adolescents with relevant and active curriculum does seem to help set their future success in high school and college. If these students were allowed to truly be exploratory in real life situations, in the sense that they are enabled to see doctors, lawyers, carpenters, plumbers, computer analysts, scientists, pilots and mechanics in action, to taste and see, it might give these young adolescents the "why" they need to keep studying. Experiencing real life, not simulated or diluted disjointed explanations of how the world works may help students discern what they would like to study towards becoming. Historically apprenticeships in the crafts used to begin in this age group, maybe long-term projects and unit studies might be the modern equivalent. Students may benefit from trying their hand in different arenas, seeing the integration of all the subjects they study in school. This could help them find their niche instead of guessing at career choices, judging using the images of erroneous Hollywood productions and other misleading perspectives.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Week 1
The readings for this week focused mainly on a couple of topics regarding education for young adolescents, aged 10-15 years old. The history of middle schools, its development over the 1900s, the challenges of the past, how and why they formed and changed. In the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) publication of This We Believe, there was an introduction of middle school education, why education in the middle grades was so important and different than elementary and secondary education. The developments and transitions that young adolescents go through were described, as well as, the specific challenges of today's world that face young adolescents.
In the online article, The Emergence of Middle Schools, Growth and Maturation of the Middle School Movement, it described the middle school/junior high of the 1980s being criticized for not meeting the needs of the students, academically less challenging than late elementary grades, motivation for learning dipped, there was less support from teachers, and students feeling that their teachers were cold and distant. Personally, I found this part of the article interesting because I was in junior high in 1988-1990. Our junior high consisted, at that time of only 7th and 8th grade.
The sixth grade, which looked a lot like fifth grade, consisted of one main teacher, only interspersed with a music and gym class a few times a week. In seventh grade classes suddenly were taught by 7 different teachers, as well as, a homeroom teacher, it was quite a shock. It would have been better to introduce two teachers in 5th & 6th or only 3 or 4 teachers in Jr. High, it was just all too much.
The lower academics that were mentioned in the 1980s was hard to look back on and analyze. I did enjoy being promoted to the higher level math class, Algebra I and I found that challenging, in a good way. I also remember our reading and writing were taken up a notch, we had to start writing longer papers, not just the five paragraph essay from elementary school. I do remember being overwhelmed, as all of the writing was done at home, with my mom to help edit. Teacher support during the writing process would have been more helpful, I really relied on my mom whereas many of my classmates did not have that option.
We also had a home economics class, for all students, and I thought it was quite fun, we were all able to cook and sew, to varying degrees, by the end of the semester. It wasn't a class that the students were worried about failing, unless you were just not trying, it was a way for us to explore for ourselves how to boil eggs and sew a sweatshirt. This type of exploratory learning helps explore careers, interests and hobbies that students might not of been exposed to before. Music, art, home economics, auto shop, wood shop, physical education, volunteering, nutrition, gardening, and other electives are important to educate the whole student. Hobbies that works with our hands, whether it is a musical instrument, a garden spade or a screw driver, are missing in many people's lives. Hobbies are being being recommended in modern times for stress relief and depression, which are common and widespread mental health issues. More of these electives in middle school might engage students and lead them to different crafts and careers.
On page 8 of This We Believe, the authors mentioned that middle school students are targeted by marketing and consumerism. I instantly remembered my Consumer Ed. class from Jr. High. I hated that class, because it was so dull, all we did was read a old text from the 1970s about being smart consumers. The instructor was just like the monotone teacher from the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I do remember reading about Ralph Nador and the saying, "Let the Buyer Beware". This class would of much been improved to make the content relevant, looking at what students were interested in buying, working in groups to find flaws or red flags in advertisements, and using technology to navigate through examples of marketing increasing literacy skills of consumerism, researching facts and reports.
In the online article, The Emergence of Middle Schools, Growth and Maturation of the Middle School Movement, it described the middle school/junior high of the 1980s being criticized for not meeting the needs of the students, academically less challenging than late elementary grades, motivation for learning dipped, there was less support from teachers, and students feeling that their teachers were cold and distant. Personally, I found this part of the article interesting because I was in junior high in 1988-1990. Our junior high consisted, at that time of only 7th and 8th grade.
The sixth grade, which looked a lot like fifth grade, consisted of one main teacher, only interspersed with a music and gym class a few times a week. In seventh grade classes suddenly were taught by 7 different teachers, as well as, a homeroom teacher, it was quite a shock. It would have been better to introduce two teachers in 5th & 6th or only 3 or 4 teachers in Jr. High, it was just all too much.
The lower academics that were mentioned in the 1980s was hard to look back on and analyze. I did enjoy being promoted to the higher level math class, Algebra I and I found that challenging, in a good way. I also remember our reading and writing were taken up a notch, we had to start writing longer papers, not just the five paragraph essay from elementary school. I do remember being overwhelmed, as all of the writing was done at home, with my mom to help edit. Teacher support during the writing process would have been more helpful, I really relied on my mom whereas many of my classmates did not have that option.
We also had a home economics class, for all students, and I thought it was quite fun, we were all able to cook and sew, to varying degrees, by the end of the semester. It wasn't a class that the students were worried about failing, unless you were just not trying, it was a way for us to explore for ourselves how to boil eggs and sew a sweatshirt. This type of exploratory learning helps explore careers, interests and hobbies that students might not of been exposed to before. Music, art, home economics, auto shop, wood shop, physical education, volunteering, nutrition, gardening, and other electives are important to educate the whole student. Hobbies that works with our hands, whether it is a musical instrument, a garden spade or a screw driver, are missing in many people's lives. Hobbies are being being recommended in modern times for stress relief and depression, which are common and widespread mental health issues. More of these electives in middle school might engage students and lead them to different crafts and careers.
On page 8 of This We Believe, the authors mentioned that middle school students are targeted by marketing and consumerism. I instantly remembered my Consumer Ed. class from Jr. High. I hated that class, because it was so dull, all we did was read a old text from the 1970s about being smart consumers. The instructor was just like the monotone teacher from the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I do remember reading about Ralph Nador and the saying, "Let the Buyer Beware". This class would of much been improved to make the content relevant, looking at what students were interested in buying, working in groups to find flaws or red flags in advertisements, and using technology to navigate through examples of marketing increasing literacy skills of consumerism, researching facts and reports.
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