Abstract
Throughout this chapter, Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis focus the Educational setup on the 7 recommendations every teacher should follow. These recommendations are
1) Teach a curriculum grounded in rigorous, public academic standards for what students should know and be able to do, relevant to the concerns of adolescents and based on how students learn best.
2) Use instructional methods designed to prepare all students to achieve higher standards and become lifelong learners.
3) Staff middle grade schools with teachers who are experts at teaching young adolescents and engage teachers in ongoing, targeted professional development opportunities.
4) Organize relationships for learning to create a climate of intellectual development and a caring community of shared educational purposes.
5) Govern democratically, through direct or representative participation by all school staff members, the adults who know the students best.
6) Provide a safe and healthy school environment as part of the improving academic performance and developing caring and ethical citizens.
7) Involve parents and communities in supporting student learning and healthy development.
This is illustrated as web on page 25, where we can see how each piece works together to ensure success for “every” student in the end. In a middle level curriculum collaboration is sought out to be the key to success, it gives the opportunity to bounce ideas off one another (students and teachers alike) and forms that bound that, “we all similar and you are not superior to me.” Collaboration puts us on the same level. There should be a press for parental involvement for is pushes students both inside and outside of class. They will always have someone to collaborate with and help them. Out of the 7 recommendations, I feel #7 is the one many school districts need to still work at. Project Appleseed is an interactive website that helps community members, parents, teachers, and administrators work together to improve and support student learning as a whole.
Through the portrayal of the “envisioned” 15-year-old (page 22), we wonder how he got to be this way. This link, multiple intelligence in the classroom helps us identify who are students are before we start teaching so that we can ensure that they are being taught at their level of need. The “envisioned” 15-year old has five main characteristic which are:
1) Be an intellectually reflective person
2) A person en route to a lifetime of meaningful work
3) A good citizen
4) A caring and ethical individual
5) A healthy person
These five characteristics should be formed through their middle school years, so, it is our job to teach our students in this manner and build confidence and community based learning. After all, we must strive to be “proactive and not reactive” (24) meaning that every teacher should look for the best in all or every one of their students which ensures success for every individual across the board.
Synthesis
Through reading everyone’s blog we all had the same concerns, questions and interests they were (1) how can we involve community and parents in education, (2) the importance of the 7 recommendations and (3) the characteristics a young adolescent should carry. I found that through this chapter we agreed across the board that “schools and families must collaborate to establish continuity,” (24). This continuity is important for a child to succeed. They need to be hearing the same things from in a classroom as what they are told in their house. They need support. With this community based learning teachers also need shift the “core” material to be interesting to each individual. We need motion to change because structure will never be visualized or in motion unless change and structure support each other. Through that statement I conclude that learning needs to be fluid and come natural. The support from outside forces needs to be visualized hands on in order for it to work in middle school classrooms. Maybe by posting work around town, in the newspaper, etc. students will realize their stance and importance in the community. Some ideas for community and parent involvement comes from activities in the classroom that include parents, teachers, community members and students alike. Through this involvement we can build on the person as a whole be bouncing off points from each recommendation because each child is an individual who learns in different processes and needs support in various areas. If we include community and the recommendations as a web, we will have success in every student.
Now, I want each group to take a look at these management techniques and discuss how community involvement and the 7 recommendations will help develop the struggling student into the “envisioned” 15-year old student (22). We will then discuss the importance of a pendulum balance between core knowledge (classroom perspective) and community based learning. Will you involve the community? Did your school involve the community? How? When? Did it help you?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Ch. 2 Motivating Young Adolescents
Ch. 2: Meet Me in the Middle
Motivating Young Adolescents
Wormeli explains that getting young adolescents to pay attention in class and learn is 80% of our battle in middle school, whereas the other 20% is just pedagogy (the content material). Sometimes the best way(s) to know if a student is getting anything from the material is to place yourself in the students’ shoes by doing the task yourself. What would you change? How would you change it? Did you feel motivated as the student? Motivation comes in numerous variations across the board. I am motivated first if the material is of interest to me and secondly if I feel comfortable in the classroom. This comfort-level is not just by how the seats feel, the lighting/ heat in the room, yet by respect level and notion of freedom of speech. Will my answers by discarded or ridiculed? Is there favoritism? We need to make classrooms a neutral ground where everyone can learn together, yet at their own pace and level. We can reach a certain level a motivation by using several of the techniques explained in this chapter. I feel the main source of motivation is having enthusiasm for the subject at hand. One can do this by building suspense, telling stories, offering vivid lessons, using games, giving feedback and catering to the multiple intelligences by using a boom box and letting students use their bodies. Many of Wormeli’s ideas were those of which we explored and testing in practicum to make a classroom that meets the needs of ALL of our students.
Motivating Young Adolescents
Wormeli explains that getting young adolescents to pay attention in class and learn is 80% of our battle in middle school, whereas the other 20% is just pedagogy (the content material). Sometimes the best way(s) to know if a student is getting anything from the material is to place yourself in the students’ shoes by doing the task yourself. What would you change? How would you change it? Did you feel motivated as the student? Motivation comes in numerous variations across the board. I am motivated first if the material is of interest to me and secondly if I feel comfortable in the classroom. This comfort-level is not just by how the seats feel, the lighting/ heat in the room, yet by respect level and notion of freedom of speech. Will my answers by discarded or ridiculed? Is there favoritism? We need to make classrooms a neutral ground where everyone can learn together, yet at their own pace and level. We can reach a certain level a motivation by using several of the techniques explained in this chapter. I feel the main source of motivation is having enthusiasm for the subject at hand. One can do this by building suspense, telling stories, offering vivid lessons, using games, giving feedback and catering to the multiple intelligences by using a boom box and letting students use their bodies. Many of Wormeli’s ideas were those of which we explored and testing in practicum to make a classroom that meets the needs of ALL of our students.
Ch.1 Creating a Culture of Learning
Creating a culture of learning is the key to being a successful teacher. Through this chapter Wormeli gave insight about the importance of knowing ourselves. We must look at who we are and who we want to be remembered as before we become a teacher. What inspires us? Why are we inspired? What is our motivation? How can we motivate others? This aspect of who/ what do we want to be remembered as reminded me of the poem, “The Dash” we read in high school during our Holocaust unit. This poem was written by Linda Ellis and illustrated the fact that people don’t always remember you as the person (caring, kind, etc.) but what you did in your life, what exactly filled that dash, not the years but the accomplishments. The dash referred to that little mark between your birth and your death. This understanding self notion also reflects that plaque in our living room at home that reads “In hundred years, it will not matter the car you drove or the money in your bank account, etc. but how you effective the life of a child.” These are teaching notions we should take to heart instead of the bumper stickers that read, “The best thing about teaching is June, July and August.” Bumper stickers like that make those around us believe the myth that those who can’t do it, teach! We as teachers need to listen to our students, the staff, their parents and the community on ways of improvement. We underlying need to show we care and we want to make a difference in order for our beliefs to feel real and be recognized and believed us the truth.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Pages 102-105 of Turning Points 2000
Pages 102-105: Turning Points 2000
Through these pages, we are introduced to the licensing procedures of the teaching community. Although middle school is its own continuum, we have overlap because the elementary education majors are certified K-8 and the secondary majors are certified 7-12. Where does middle school fit in? Is it less important? In the “middle school” certification field, teachers take a test and then are certified 6-9 which is considered the young adolescent years where change and fears set in. This licensing for middle school certification is not required, yet one is more apt to get the job if they can show they placed in effort further than others in the field. Having this gap makes most feel like middle level certification is unimportant whereas it is the most crucial years of a student’s life. They learn and discover more about themselves as well as become independent and vulnerable due to relationships and puberty. As teachers in this level we must show a guiding hand and be there for encouragement along the way.
Through these pages, we are introduced to the licensing procedures of the teaching community. Although middle school is its own continuum, we have overlap because the elementary education majors are certified K-8 and the secondary majors are certified 7-12. Where does middle school fit in? Is it less important? In the “middle school” certification field, teachers take a test and then are certified 6-9 which is considered the young adolescent years where change and fears set in. This licensing for middle school certification is not required, yet one is more apt to get the job if they can show they placed in effort further than others in the field. Having this gap makes most feel like middle level certification is unimportant whereas it is the most crucial years of a student’s life. They learn and discover more about themselves as well as become independent and vulnerable due to relationships and puberty. As teachers in this level we must show a guiding hand and be there for encouragement along the way.
Ch. 2 of Turning Points 2000: A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education
Ch. 2 Turning Points 2000
A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education
The design begins with an average 15 year old and contributions he or she should be able to bring to society. They chose a 15 year old primarily because that age is the transforming age from young adolescent to adolescent. Everything an adolescent obtains would have been learned by this point in time. The average 15 year old should be an intellectually reflective person who is on the right track for a lifetime of meaningful work. This 15 year old is a good, caring and ethical citizen who is mostly of good health. To ensure all adolescents grow up in this standard model of the 15 year old, we must first obtain a goal of success for every student. These goals are backed up by a list of 8 principles or recommendations (pg 23-24). The two that stood out was to (1) be proactive instead of reactive, meaning every teacher should look for the silver-lining, the good in the students and (2) collaborate, meaning that everyone (students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the community at large) should be on the same page. This collaboration helps bounce ideas back and forth and make students feel important and attainable. With collaboration there forms a mutual respect for one another. Turning Points is also used to help us teach a core of curriculum knowledge that ties in to adolescent concerns. When the materials interest the students’, they are more apt to be engaged and focused on the learning as a whole. Therefore, the main goal with teaching by the Turning Point Standards is to ensure that every student fulfills Turning Point vision of becoming an intellectually, reflective person, a person en route to a lifetime of meaningful work , a good citizen, and a caring/ethical individual as well as being a healthy person. Turning Points should work as an intangible method in young adolescent life; it is stagnate whereas everything and everyone around us is changing. It helps pressure this ability that we need something steady in our lives for success and obtaining our goals as individuals. This should start at home, but for those less-privileged the school and the teachers must provide a base and that is where Turning Point takes a role in young adolescent’s lives and well-beings.
A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education
The design begins with an average 15 year old and contributions he or she should be able to bring to society. They chose a 15 year old primarily because that age is the transforming age from young adolescent to adolescent. Everything an adolescent obtains would have been learned by this point in time. The average 15 year old should be an intellectually reflective person who is on the right track for a lifetime of meaningful work. This 15 year old is a good, caring and ethical citizen who is mostly of good health. To ensure all adolescents grow up in this standard model of the 15 year old, we must first obtain a goal of success for every student. These goals are backed up by a list of 8 principles or recommendations (pg 23-24). The two that stood out was to (1) be proactive instead of reactive, meaning every teacher should look for the silver-lining, the good in the students and (2) collaborate, meaning that everyone (students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the community at large) should be on the same page. This collaboration helps bounce ideas back and forth and make students feel important and attainable. With collaboration there forms a mutual respect for one another. Turning Points is also used to help us teach a core of curriculum knowledge that ties in to adolescent concerns. When the materials interest the students’, they are more apt to be engaged and focused on the learning as a whole. Therefore, the main goal with teaching by the Turning Point Standards is to ensure that every student fulfills Turning Point vision of becoming an intellectually, reflective person, a person en route to a lifetime of meaningful work , a good citizen, and a caring/ethical individual as well as being a healthy person. Turning Points should work as an intangible method in young adolescent life; it is stagnate whereas everything and everyone around us is changing. It helps pressure this ability that we need something steady in our lives for success and obtaining our goals as individuals. This should start at home, but for those less-privileged the school and the teachers must provide a base and that is where Turning Point takes a role in young adolescent’s lives and well-beings.
Ch. 1 of Turning Points 2000: A Decade Later
Ch. 1: Turning Points 2000
Turning Points—A Decade Later
Turning Points worked as reform of education. It was a changing process that ensured success in young adults. Is it ferocious to say that through this one report, this one plan of action, we will find success across the board? After reading this chapter, one would realize that every step in the Turning Points step-up is backed up by numerous facts and accusations that prove this method of teaching is the most crucial and beneficial in the young adolescent mind. Turning Points was first published in 1989 where change was emerging and the foreshadowing of what an adolescent education looked like deemed clear and possibility driven. Whereas previous in 1986 the CCAD was primarily established as a “place to challenge adolescents” per say. This challenge presented new materials in which students were unable to grasp right away. And in 1987 the council established a Task Force on Education of young adolescents. This Task Force examines 10-15 year olds and identifies promising approaches in improving their education and promoting their healthy development. At this particular time period it is heart-wrenching that middle schools are falling short of meeting educational and social needs of millions of its students. The Turning Points report was established for these particular students with 8 essential principles in mind (all of which are important and located on page 2). Through this model, students, parents and teachers are able to see the whole picture, a starting point and an ending point where all goals are attainable. Through the configuration improvements and pull, we find an urge to change structurally and organizationally. Teachers provide math manipulatives and extended writing assignments to make work more adhesive. Through the change middle schools became warmer, happier places. Overall, adolescents are tough, trying years where self-esteem drops and self-discovery begins. As teachers, we must open our students up to think creatively, identify and solve meaningful problems, communicate and work well with each other and develop a base of factual knowledge with the key focus of equity. We are all the same. We cannot judge. Our expectations must be the same across the board. “Teachers cannot come to expect more of their students until they come to expect more of their capacity to teach,” reminds me so much of the movie Freedom Writers where the students have to grade themselves and Mrs. Gruwell takes the “F” one of the students placed on his own paper as an “F you” to her because it is universal that teachers are and should be accountable for the performance of the students’. After all, they are the ones providing the material. Turning Points, in my eyes seems to work and make each person seem as a pendulum working off each other and collaborating to achieve a goal instead of simply having a teacher dictate what should and should not happen.
Turning Points—A Decade Later
Turning Points worked as reform of education. It was a changing process that ensured success in young adults. Is it ferocious to say that through this one report, this one plan of action, we will find success across the board? After reading this chapter, one would realize that every step in the Turning Points step-up is backed up by numerous facts and accusations that prove this method of teaching is the most crucial and beneficial in the young adolescent mind. Turning Points was first published in 1989 where change was emerging and the foreshadowing of what an adolescent education looked like deemed clear and possibility driven. Whereas previous in 1986 the CCAD was primarily established as a “place to challenge adolescents” per say. This challenge presented new materials in which students were unable to grasp right away. And in 1987 the council established a Task Force on Education of young adolescents. This Task Force examines 10-15 year olds and identifies promising approaches in improving their education and promoting their healthy development. At this particular time period it is heart-wrenching that middle schools are falling short of meeting educational and social needs of millions of its students. The Turning Points report was established for these particular students with 8 essential principles in mind (all of which are important and located on page 2). Through this model, students, parents and teachers are able to see the whole picture, a starting point and an ending point where all goals are attainable. Through the configuration improvements and pull, we find an urge to change structurally and organizationally. Teachers provide math manipulatives and extended writing assignments to make work more adhesive. Through the change middle schools became warmer, happier places. Overall, adolescents are tough, trying years where self-esteem drops and self-discovery begins. As teachers, we must open our students up to think creatively, identify and solve meaningful problems, communicate and work well with each other and develop a base of factual knowledge with the key focus of equity. We are all the same. We cannot judge. Our expectations must be the same across the board. “Teachers cannot come to expect more of their students until they come to expect more of their capacity to teach,” reminds me so much of the movie Freedom Writers where the students have to grade themselves and Mrs. Gruwell takes the “F” one of the students placed on his own paper as an “F you” to her because it is universal that teachers are and should be accountable for the performance of the students’. After all, they are the ones providing the material. Turning Points, in my eyes seems to work and make each person seem as a pendulum working off each other and collaborating to achieve a goal instead of simply having a teacher dictate what should and should not happen.
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