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?
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