Week 2 - Teaching Middle School Students

This week's reading focused on how to best reach a middle school student and are the students ready for middle school itself.  AMLE introduced their "Essential Attributes - 16 Characteristics" chart which demonstrates what a middle school education should be with characteristics that support how to present it.   This chart helped create a strong visual for me so much that I printed it out so I could refer to it easier when reading from our This We Believe book.  We focused on the first category of characteristics, "Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment" which provides guidance on how what will work for educating a middle school student.  The online article we read, "Middle School:  Are They Ready to Move Up?" resonated with me as a future educator but also as a parent.  I found many of the articles points pertained to how my sons' school district approached the transition from elementary to middle school and also how my oldest son's teacher and support staff went above the baseline transition to help him.  The article really hit home with the suggestions and comments from the urban middle school students.  I was sure to make note of their comments.

The first set of characteristics focused on curriculum and instruction.  First teachers should be ready to teach a middle school student not only by prepping for the subject but also adjusting to what and how they present the material.  Teachers should look for cues or reactions or ask for feedback on what is working and not working.  This leads to collaboration and engagement with the student in the material being taught.  The student is more active in participating and don't realize that learning can be fun but get the point across.  It is important to find ways to connect the material to a student's life.  By creating the connection, the student sees how applicable the material can be now and for the future.  The teacher should make an effort to do this with all their students.  Now the material also should challenge the student to the point that they ask thoughtful questions or want to research the idea more.  The material should not be force fed to the student but allow for them to develop the knowledge and find its relevance.  Finally students don't always need a typical test to assess their knowledge.  There are other ways to assess a student's knowledge with unit projects and providing choices on a project.  I have seen first hand how teaching 7th graders about the US colonies fully engaged the students.  Our district's middle school is separated into two teams per grade so each 7th grade team works to create their colony and within the colony they have the different types of colonists like the blacksmith, farmers, merchants and tradesmen.  The students assumed their roles and had to dress like they were from the colonial time period and embrace their social status.  This was driven mainly through the social studies class but the other core subjects, math, language arts and science, worked along with the colonial time with their unit, as applicable.  In addition, this school day is called Patriots Day and is a scheduled half day of school.  The teachers and staff dress up too and assume various roles within Patriots Day.  Both my sons and their friends looked forward to this day!  Both my sons were blacksmiths and made various weapons to sell and trade so they in turn could go buy food or other items.  They were fully immersed in this event and came home talking about all the things they did and learned about how it was during that time.  Finally my sons loved how even the principal participated by dressing up and playing his role.  They loved that the teachers participated and got into the project just like them!  This event brings the entire 7th grade together, students, staff and teachers, to collaborate, have fun and learn.  This created another bond and connection for students to realize teachers and staff are people too.  The staff and teachers were not above participating in the project.  My sons created stronger bonds with their teachers or have more respect for their involvement.  The Patriot's Day event demonstrated to me that they covered much of what we read regarding curriculum, instruction and assessment and it had a positive impact without the students feeling like it was so much "work."

The online article "Middle School:  Are They Ready to Move Up?" was an easy read as I was able to relate to it not only as a future teacher but mainly as a parent.  Both of my sons have anxiety and experience it in different ways.  At the time when my oldest son was in 5th grade, his anxiety was at an all time high.  As parents we were getting assistance for him and collaborating with his elementary school teachers and support staff.  This was happening while the 5th graders were preparing for their transition to middle school.  Due to his current situation, he received two middle school tours, one with his 5th grade class and a second with me, his 5th grade teacher, his 6th grade counselor and a current 6th grade student.  This provided him to experience the tour with his peers but also have more one on one tour where he could in a safe place ask his questions.  The opportunity to talk directly to a 6th grade student who felt the same way as he did helped as well.  The student could explain from experience what he would do differently or worry about less because it was not such a big deal.  By meeting his future guidance counselor, my son already knew one of his "safe" adults in the building.  He knew she was a resource and understood what he worried about going into the new environment.  For my youngest son, he did not have any additional tour because he was not worried about navigating the building or intimidated by the size once he had that group tour with his 5th grade class.  His worry was remembering locker combinations and getting to class on-time and remembering what class was next so he had the right binder.  To combat this, the 5th grade teachers had students practice with actual combination locks.  The students practiced this daily and had to remember the combination.  They also practiced remembering schedules and doing things during transition between subjects.  Teachers explained to the students that subject transitions are similar to class period changes.  They had students go out of the classroom to "retrieve a book" from their backpack in the hallway and demonstrated how long their 3 minute passing period would be for middle school.  These practices helped to reassure my youngest son so when the time came to set up his locker, meet his teachers and walk through his schedule, his worry was less.  Also his big brother came with and actually was the one to teach him some "tricks" with the locker combination and how to remember his class schedule.  Despite some tears with getting his locker to open that afternoon, he kept practicing and left with confidence.   These examples help support the article that we read about making that transition from elementary to middle school.  Each student will be different and bring different issues to the school day.  The suggestions in this article are things that my sons middle school put into practice and I have seen and heard from other parents the success it has on their child.  In addition, the sixth grade teachers do present a united team front.  They work together to address any issues and meet with the parent during conferences as a team.  When my husband and I asked to meet about supporting our youngest with tracking homework and study skills, we not only met with the guidance counselor but his teacher team and principal.  They brought great suggestions to the table or noted that during their class he demonstrated strong skills.  The teachers agreed on an approach with the guidance counselor that leveraged our parental concerns.  My husband and I walked away feeling part of a team and a collaborative feeling.  This team approach works but I also note takes a special type of teacher to be able to address the social emotional issues as well as the academic issues that a middle school student will bring with them.  Again I can see this starts at the top and that is with the principal, who is supportive, caring, approachable but still provide discipline as needed.

The reading assignments this week continued to support the curriculum I see in practice and reassures me as a parent in my community.  This also concerns me as the articles note low participation percentages when it comes to middle school curriculum.  I am a strong advocate the more I read for AMLE's approach and standards.  I am considering more and more to work in the middle school grades because I would love to help implement and work toward this environment in a middle school that needs to develop and become stronger for its students.