MI test

My top two were naturalist ann

MI test

hfasljkfhasdhf

Global Warming Resources

I explored the website that student sample found in class,
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1177002,00.html. This article discusses predictions of what could happen if rising temperatures continue, including insect spread diseases, increase in ground ozone levels and an increase in pollen produce plants.

A couple of things that I learned:

I never knew that the rising amounts of CO2 could increase the risks of allergies and asthma.
I also learned that 20 of the U.S major cities are below sea water and if sea levels rise, those cities are destroyed.

I also decided to check out the following website on health effects of global warming:
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/041807EC.shtml
This website discusses different things that are caused by global warming that effects our health. It talks about the problem of smog, air/ water born diseases, allergens and other problems arising from global warming. I learned that from the problem of global warming, malaria can spread quicker if tempertures continue to rise.

BGLD

I enjoyed this presentation. Although it wasn't the most interesting information for me, mainly because I already knew most of the content, it still was cool because I liked how the presenters put the content together. They really made it interesting. I liked how they had people dress up in white and tan. Rather than having us think about what we would do if we had a dress code; those of us who did dress up actually got to see what it was like. It was a good visual representation. I also liked how the presenters were really honest about how they felt about the book. I also liked how they said that it had an elementary section in it. It really made me want to read it more because I am an elementary ed major. I liked the human knot activity and the alaskan game, although I will admit I did fear for my life at certain points :) Boys can be so rough! Just kiiiiiidding....sort of :p I felt that the group did a really great job presenting their book. It was a fun and interactive experience. Thanks!

BGLD

Out of all the presentations, I think this might have been my favorite. I don’t think it was the most interesting material, but the way it was presented was perfect for my type of learning. I was engaged the whole lesson and felt very comfortable. I believe the comfort level came because I didn’t have to sit in a chair the whole period and listen to someone else talk. I had opportunities to get up and move around and be involved in discussions. I don’t think my interests were the only ones being met either, most of the MI’s were used, and lots of different activities were used so everyone should have been engaged.

A lot of the material I had learned before, but there were a couple things that fascinated me. First, I like the idea of dress codes. I think if it is started right from the beginning, it will help so many students feel more comfortable around their peers and allow all of them to truly understand each others personalities; rather then be judged based on what they wear. Second, as a health educator and a huge advocate for physical activities, you would think I would be all about mandatory sport participation. But I’m actually more for developing a broad base of clubs and other organizations that meet all the students’ interests. I love the idea of having no cuts in middle school, but if it’s a big school, a lot of these students are eventually going to get cut in some sport in high school. So I believe it is better to help them find something that interests them early, and give them a chance to explore an interest that may lead to much bigger things for them. Plus, I’m living in the perfect world and believe that everyone will smarten up someday and realize that health is the most important subject and require it and P.E. class at every grade level, so the students will understand the importance and be involved in daily physical activities. Lastly, I do not agree with separate sex education. It may have many benefits, and improve learning, but I believe it would be a huge social set back, especially for the boys. I went to school with girls my whole life, and it wasn’t until my junior year in high school before my face stopped getting red from just talking to a girl, I can’t even imagine what I would have been like if I only went to school with guys.

I really don’t have any complaints at all about this presentation. Maybe the armadillo game was not the best idea for my competitiveness, which is defiantly something I struggle to control. There also might have been a few things I would have liked to discuss in more detail, but I understand that the time was tight and there was more to do. This is a topic that probably could go into deep discussion for ever. Overall, really good job, it was fun. I will defiantly take some of the concepts to the class with me; I’m interested in seeing if the sixty second rule really works.

MMM 8

This chapter was about effective authentic assessments. Assessments should be used regularly throughout the unit and in different formats, such as quick weekly puzzles, to keep the students' brains engaged in the learning process. Authentic assessments should have clear goals, is motivating for the students, must focus on essential knoweldge, uses integration between classes, and clearly and effectively indicates the students' knowledge level. By giving assessments throughout the unit, rather than just at the end, students can stay focused on their learning and students with learning disabilities will be able to do better because they will have an idea of how the final assessment will be.
The important thing to remember about authentic assessments is that the students should learn from doing the assessment, rather than just learning in order to do the assessment. Like the lessons in the unit, the assessments should build on the students' knowledge so that they can be fully prepared for the final assessment. Also, in order for it to truly be considered effective authentic assessment, it should be modified so that the teacher is confident that the student is fully capable of doing well on that particular assessment.

Becoming the Wiz

I thought the activties in this presentation were awesome. They are definetly going to be awesome resources to use in the classroom. I hav to admit it was kind of funny that I was the only blue person in the entire class. When I was looking over my teammates blogs about this presentation I have to admit that I agree with Bridget. There was A LOT of information in this presentation, and I have to admit I really didn't absorb as much as I would like to have. To be honest I don't think that there is really anyway your team could fix that. You wiki is awesome, it's very well organized and I know that it is going to be an awesome resource for me to use. I'm thinking that maybe inbetween each transition amongst the group you guys could have done maybe a little exact overview of what the page was all about. This might help, with all of the scientific infomation, especially for people like me who never have really been interested in learning about the brain. I know I didn't put all positive feedback but you folks did a great job on the presentation, and with all of the information that you had to share I wouldn't have cut anything out it.

"Wiz"

I thought your presentation went really well. All of you seemed as though you knew the book very well and knew which parts you were all presenting. I liked the activities that you had us do during class, but your presentation was a little boring. I think you talked too fast and presented too much information in a little span of time. Also, you basically had us sit there for the entire presentation instead of getting up and moving out of our chairs in order to re-energize our brains. However, I love your wiki page and the different links and information that you have presented there. Good Job!

WBBT

Becoming a Wiz at Brain Based Teaching expanded on last weeks presentation by going more in depth on the brain and how classroom strategies can positively or negatively affect it. When educators have a rough idea of how students brains work, its easier to develop classroom activities and themes that help them connect more with the material and enhance their chances of placing it in their long term memory.

I really enjoyed the information that was presented and thought all of you did a good job of going in depth and making it easy for me to understand. The wiki was filled with lots of information and good links, which makes it easier for me to understand and remember when I want to go back in the future and refresh on it. I liked all of the pages and links, but the ones I really liked where the charts from "if I only had a memory," and the "Dorothy" page. The information that was covered on those pages fascinated me more then the others. I also enjoyed the class activities, especially the personal characteristics chart.

Though I really enjoyed the presentation, I could have used more activities, especially one that involved movement. After sitting down the whole class, I was extremely antsy at the end and struggled to pay attention to "Which witch is which," and "No place like home". I think if the information wasn’t so strong and interesting, you might have lost me after the first twenty minutes. There was a lot of lecture, and I traditionally struggle to pay attention when I’m not as involved and have to sit down and listen.

Great job overall, I gained a lot of valuable information and am defiantly interested in reading the book at some point.

MMM chapter 3

This chapter focused strongly on the ideas behind brain based teaching. It gave its correlation to middle school. The chapter gave many different ways to make information/knowledge stay with students. Students tend to memorize for tests and then forget it as soon as the test it over. Chunking is one way to help students learn information. Chunking helps students organize information by relationships, similarities, differences, functions, and classifications. Chunking is about understanding and thinking and producing your own ideas, not merely reciting or spitting information back out on tests. The chapter also talked about Bloom's Taxonomy and the "heirarchy of thinking." Another way to help students is to constantly reinforce concepts. Class periods are often set up incorrectly. This chapter states that the most learning happens at the beginning of the period. Unfortunatly, most of the time, teachers do not really start a lesson until the middle of the class. By then, students have lost interest and will not retain important concepts. The chapter also talks about the importance of water. The human body is composed primarily of water, so to keep hydrated, one should drink water more often. And finally, the chapter closes up with a section on teaching students to reason and another part on student misconceptions and how to avoid them.
Overall, the class really enjoyed the chapter. Many of us were really surprised to hear about the benefits of drinking more water. Again, this makes sense because the human body is mostly water. Many of us also enjoyed the chunking section. We agree that chunking is an effective way to learn rather than recite. Others of us were really interested in the misconceptions part. Many of us saw that we were guilty of some of the use of misconceptions. Teachers need to make sure that their students can argue effectively. All of us also agreed that teachers need to find different ways of teaching to help students learn rather than "parrot." Each of us recalled that throughout a lot of our middle school careers, we were "parrots." We all agreed that motivation was key to students learning. If it was something that was engaging to them, they will want to learn it. If they do not find the lesson engaging, it won't matter how the teacher teaches the lesson, that student will not want to learn. Students need to be motivated. The biggest message we have is that students need to learn rather than recite, and teachers need to make that change happen.

Becoming a "Wiz"

I thought you did an amazing job on your presentation. I agree that the Wizard of Oz theme could get a little annoying (my mother used to force me to watch it EVERY year at Thanksgiving!) I have always found the human brain fascinating, so your presentation really interested me even before you began. I felt that your wiki was very well organized, although there was one page that wouldn't open for me. I think it was one of Angela's pages. Parts of it showed up, but it didn't look like the one that you had on your computer. Other than that the presentation was pretty much error free except for some minor spellings errors on the wiki pages, but those are pretty much inconsequential :) I really enjoyed all of your activities. The test that you had us do at the beginning was a great opener to your presentation. Well done!

AWNM

Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation. I thought the topic was very interesting, and you were all very prepared. Dan Pink sounds like a fascinating individual. Your powerpoint was organized and clear. I like how you had an activity for each point. I do agree with Tyler though, I wished there had been more activities that required movement. I like to get up and move around. I liked the activities you had a lot. I think the story one where Dan Pink was holding the toilet brush could be used in any grade. It's never too early to use your imagination :) I think that many of the activities you did with us could be used in the classroom, and even the ones that wouldn't work were good because they got us thinking as teachers about our students: how they think, what do they think about, etc... This book really sounds interesting. I will probably go out and read it at some point. Great job.

AWNM

I thought this presentation was very well done. I learned a lot about the right side of the brain, and understand how the world has been slowly changing from basic to creative. I also saw how important it is that we as teachers use that creative side to help design a better learning environment that fits our students.
I thought the author, Dan Pink, was a fascinating guy. I liked the picture of him with the toilet wand. I think its great that he proved a point by buying the expensive name brand wand, rather then the cheap one that does the job just as well. I also enjoyed the empathy test and the idea of the laughter clubs.
Overall, I thought it was a very good presentation. I was confused during the Abundance, Asia, and Automation part at first, but it all came together when the six remaining concepts were covered. I would have liked an activity where there was more movement. I'm also still a little confused about how the five line portrait applies, but it was in the begining when I think I was still trying to tie the abundance, asia, and automation part together. Other then that, I thought everything flowed really well and was brought together so that it made it very easy to understand. My interest was defiantly sparked, I hope find time and read this book at some point.

Meet Me In the Middle Chapter 1

Abstract: In Rick Wormeli's Meet Me In the Middle, the first chapter discusses the topic of communication with your students, most importantly, attitudes. First, the stereotypical thoughts of some teachers are "TGIF" or "The best three things about teaching, June, July and August." Our attitude towards teaching is one of the biggest things we need to remember when we walk into that classroom. If we walk in positive and upbeat then our students are going to perfer to learn from us, compared to someone that walks in complaining or rude. It is also a big deal, because at this time in their lives they are looking at someone to be a role model for them. They need someone that will lead them in the right direction, and if we have an attitude that discourages them from looking up to us then how will they ever learn from us? The author also mentions that what we put into teaching is what we will get out of teaching. If you go in with a poor attitude then you aren't going to get a whole lot out of your teaching experience. We also learn from this chapter that we need to remember the idea of perceptions, and that not everyone's are the same. One time you may crack a joke at a student, not thinking a big deal of it, but it could be one of the most hurtful comments in the student's eyes. Perception could also be based on the student- teacher relationship, because a student may take one comment from a teacher a totally different way than they would the same comment from a different teacher.
Reflection:
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires," - William Author Ward

This was a quote that caught a lot of us as an awesome quote. This quote demonstrates what kind of teacher you are depending on your attitude towards teaching. If you go in there lazy and just reading from the book with no enthusiasim in what you are teaching, then you will be the mediocre teacher that tells. If you go into the classroom with great activties and a passion for what you are teaching and who you are teaching then you could be that superior teacher.
Another thing that caught much of the classes eye was the idea of touching your students. This was a ify topic because we have been told over and over again, limit physical contact with students. In the book, Wormeli discusses this idea, because that way, students can see that you are real, that you are human being too. If you touch their shoulder or their hand then they can see that you are person to. Now in some instances with students, they may not want you in their "bubble" or they maybe not want you to touch them at all.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 2

Abstract:

Chapter two of Rick Wormeli’s Meet me in the Middle discusses different strategies we can use in the classroom to help motivate middle school students. Early in the chapter Wormeli states that “trying to get the students to pay attention is eighty percent of the battle.” This battle is one that some teachers spend their whole careers losing. The battle does not have to be that hard. All of us enjoy doing things that we’re good at and interests us. The classroom should not be any different. Educators who take the time to get to know and understand their students have half the battle already won. When you understand what makes the students go, you can apply that into the classroom and lessons. Lessons should be made around all the students’ interests, with a wide variety of activities that also allow them to use their strengths. Communication with the students is essential to create a great lesson, asking them for feedback and giving it back helps improve the classes drastically. The environment is also extremely important. Supplying a safe and comfortable atmosphere that encourages the students to learn and be themselves helps the students to open up their minds and abilities. The last and one of the most important concepts is to show enthusiasm for the material, and the students learning it. When you show enthusiasm, it opens the door for the students to be enthusiastic as well. If the students are excited about being in your classroom, then motivation becomes very simple.

Reflection:
As a class, we all agreed that the chapter was very beneficial. Some of us were reading this type of material for the first time, while others agreed that it was a good refresher from previous education courses. We all felt that to meet the students’ needs, and supply the best classroom possible, we needed to follow the themes and concepts of the chapter. We found it interesting that teachers spend more of their time dealing with classroom management then with actual teaching. There was no doubt that building a relationship and getting to know the students was the first and most important element, not only for helping the teachers spend less time with management, but motivation as well. Understanding all the students’ personality, strengths, learning styles, and interests helps design a lesson that will meet the whole classes needs. To go along with that, it is important to spice things up. Most of us agree that students get bored with the same outline and style everyday. It’s good to build up suspense, or do something completely out of the ordinary. The students should not be the only ones involved in these wacky ideas, but we ourselves need to back up our talk and show just how crazy we can be. That not only allows the students to relate with us, but it shows them how enthusiastic we are towards the material and their learning. Giving the students feedback and getting feedback from them was also a popular topic. Some of us remember how frustrating it was in school when teachers waited weeks to hand back a paper or never inform us of what we did wrong or right. To create a comfortable and safe classroom environment we all agreed that combining everything above will allow us to do that, and help prepare the students for a lifetime full of learning.

This is a Wiki on Motivation that Sean and I designed last semester for 402.

Steph's This We Believe

Middle school is the time for change in every students life. They change emotionally, cognitively, and physically. This is the time when they begin to think about who am I? Where do I belong? What group do I fit in with? Physically, especially with girls, maturation is happening in the body. A lot of the time there is a stereotype of middle schoolers being walking hormones, which this comes from all of the hormonal change going on in the young adolescents body. Girls are growing hair in "different places", developing in different areas and starting to gain weight. Boys are getting bigger, voices are getting deeper, they start to grow body hair. Emotionally students still are figuring out who their role models are and what group they want to be with. Cognitively students are going from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. They are starting to look past what is right in front of them which is crucial to students at this age level. This We believe discusses the the culture of what the classroom needs to be like in order to teach this diverse population of students. There are eight facets, that This We Believe, considers to be important for the classroom. The first one is that the people teaching middle level students, need to want to be a middle level teacher. Teachers at this level need to be ready to be versatile in order to teach these students integrative lessons and interdisciplinary units. Another facet is that there needs to be collaborative and courageous leadership. The leaders of middle schools need to know that there needs to be teamwork with in the school, amongst the teachers and the students. The leader needs to be gutsy and able to go out on a limb and be open minded to new ideas of teaching the students so that the students and staff can be successful. The other facets are: the vision which comes from a mission statement that is to the point; a supportive and safe environment that encourages students to learn; high expectations for everyone in the education community; active learning is taking place; a mentor to every student; and a partnership between the community, family and school. Other aspects that are important include the curriculum. For a middle school this needs to be ever changing in someway. The curriculum needs to relate to their interests, it needs to challenge their minds, integrate their different subjects together and helps students explore the world around them. Other important charactersitics of a middle school need to meet the fact that middle school students need the relationships with and adult in the school. They also need a structured curriculum based on learning about their health and wellness.

REFLECTION:
I believe that this is the most crucial part in any ones life. This is where you start working on figuring things out about yourself. It is a time when you start thinking of a few things on your own, not everything, but some. This is when the identity factor really comes into play for the young adolescent. I know from experience that I went from being a total girly girl to a complete jock. This is also the time when students are most vulnerable to experiment with different things, so I believe that it is crucially important for a young adolescent to have someone to look up to. I believe that middle schools need to have all of the characteristics that This We Believe discusses. The two that are most important to me right now is making the environment have a comfortable feeling for all of my students, because I beleive that the room/ environment is probably one of the most important factors on how many students learn. I also believe that it is important for the students to have those relationships with an adult in the school because that way they have guidance and have someone to go to in the school when they need help.
The last part of this book I thought was awesome to have as a middle level educator because it shows me just exactly what all of my students will be going through developmentally. This is why students at the middle level are called walking hormones because they are changing so much. The biggest part that interested me was the moral-reasoning development. This is one of the developments that I believe grows the most at the adolescent level. I also believe this is one of the most fragile parts of development because at this time students are looking up to adults to figure out how they should act, but if they don't have that adult mentor there to guide them, then they may not develop the way they sould morally.

Bridget's This We Believe

Although growth during infancy and the growth change that adolescents go through are both very rapid and extensive, adolescents actually have the opportunity to watch themselves and their peers grow into more defined people. Due to puberty and the uniqueness of all students, middle schools generally have a wide variability between their students. Along with changes in emotional and intellectual growth, the physical aspect is mostly what makes adolescents who they are. It is during this time period where they become self-conscious of their own body and begin to worry what others may think of them and what they are wearing. Middle schools need strong educators who are willing to advocate for ts because this is the time in their lives during which they are trying to figure themselves out as well as their beliefs and set of moral standards. By having educators who willingly work with adolescents and are willing to be a positive role model in the lives of their students, the school will become a better community within itself. Adolescents need a supportive and safe school environment in order to get away from problems at home, or to just simply be in a place that accepts them for who they are and does not judge them for their dreams.

I fully agree with the information that was presented in the beginning of this book. Teaching middle school is hard work and it is definitely not meant for everybody, but for those few teachers brave enough to care about the well-being of the adolescents that they teach on a daily basis, the hard work will always be worth it. I think that in order to be a successful middle school teacher you need to believe in your students first and foremost but they also need to believe in themselves. If a middle school teacher does not believe in themselves, then the students will not want to look to them to be their role model because they are not confident enough in their own skin.

This section talks about what middle school students need in their school lives in order to make their school successful. Students need teachers who want to work with this age group, collaborative leadership, a supporting and safe environment, high expectations from every teacher on their team, and active learning. First of all, students need teachers who want to work with this age group because it's important for them to know that there are teachers out there who enjoy working with adolescents and are not just teaching to fill up time. Students need collaborative leadership from their teachers so that they know that they are getting the best education possible and are actually learning and retaining the information. Students need a supporting and safe environment so that they can look forward to coming to school every day. School should be the place where students can feel comfortable enough to go to with their problems if something is happening at home. Students need to feel as though every one of their teachers is holding them to high expectations so that they can push themselves into their learning and will become more active in their quest for knowledge. Finally, students need active learning becuase studies show that when students engage in active learning instead of just sitting in class and listening to a lecture, they retain the information more and for a longer period of time.

This section was interesting becuase it tells what successful schools need to have in order to have successful students. I agree with all of the things that the schools need because without any of these requirements, students may feel as though they are not the school's top priority, though they should be. If students show up to a school where they are being pushed to their intellectual limits every day by every teacher, then they will go on to do great things because they will learn from their teachers and will continue to push themselves into the life that they want to have as an adult.

This sections talks about what successful schools provide for young adolescents. In order to be considered a successful school, the school should provide a curriculum that is relevant to the students, challenging to every student, integrative, and exploratory. The curriculum should be relevant to the students because then they will be able to apply what they already know to the curriculum and they would be able to remember more information this way. The curriculum should challenge every student so that they feel as though they are not wasting their time learning the information. If the curriculum is too easy for a student or too hard for a different student, it is up to the teacher to modify each lesson so that every student can get as much from it as possible. The curriculum should be integrative because this way, students will be able to work on their skills in more than one subject area at a time and this may make things more exciting for a student, especially if their least favorite subject integrates their favorite subject into it. Also, by using an integrative curriculum, the students' new knowledge will be more rounded and they will be able to know how to use that information. Finally, the curriculum should be explorative so that the students get excited to learn about each subject. If teachers make it so that students have to explore the new information, then the students themselves will be able to decide how far to investigate into the subject. A successful school also needs different teaching approaches to respond to the students diversity, and assessments that promote quality learning. Teachers need to teach in a variety of ways in order to address student diversity so that no student(s) feel left out or as though they are not good enough to be taught properly. Successful schools also need assessments that promote true quality learning so that the students can prove that they know the material and can explore the material more while working on the quality assessment. By using quality assessments in the classroom, teachers will see that the students will retain the knowledge that they have learned for a longer period of time and would be able to apply it to their every day life.

This section was very important to read because without teachers knowing what they need to do in order to help the students as much as possible, the school would not be successful. However, if every teacher in the school uses the curriculum properly to help each student as much as possible, uses a variety of teaching strategies, and uses quality assessment, then the school and the young adolescents that make the school what it is will grow in leaps and bounds becuase the teachers are showing that they care about the students and take their jobs very seriously.

The final section of reading is split up into several smaller sections. In the 'Call to Action' section, the authors separated every group of people that are affected by the school and gives ideas on how to help both the school and the students better. The people are split into the groups of teachers, principals, parents, and superintendents. The last section is about the characteristics of young adolescents. The authors made categories about physical development, cognitive development, moral development, psychological development, and social-emotional development. In each of these catagories is a list of characteristics that young adolescents have in each of these areas. By looking at these lists, teachers should be able to see what the students may be going through and how to help them.

I enjoyed this last section very much because it shows how everyone in the community is affected by the school and how everyone can participate in making the school successful for the young adolescents that go there. It is also important for teachers and principals to know what their students are going through during this period in their life and to think about how they may help them to get through their problems without having it affect their school work.

Courtney: This We Believe

The importance of middle grades education should never be overestimated. Students have powerful minds and tend to have very strong opinions about important issues. Students need proper guidance when they are forming thier opinions on important subjects. When children undergo adolescence they go through drastic changes. They change both physically and mentally. This is the time when adolescents start to think abstractly, as well as concretely. There are different changes for each gender, and these changes can make many students feel insecure about themselves. Teachers need to know how to approach and educate young adolescents effectively. Everyone needs to be involved in the education of young adolescents; even principals and superintendents have their part to play. The community needs to be involved with the educational process as well. Having speakers come into schools can be a powerful thing. Curriculum needs to be relevant, challenging, integrative and exploratory. Teachers need to be supportive, and they need to actively engage the students and the community. Sparking students' interest is key. Teachers need to use teaching approaches that respond to students' diversity. Assessment needs to be more than just tests; assessment should be paired equally with evaluation, and should actively engage students. Teachers also need to team up and collaborate to ensure that every student gets the support and instruction they need. Teachers need to do team bonding activities because an effective team means an effective school. Many young adolescents are struggling to take a stance on moral issues, and teachers can be a great role model for these young students. The school needs to foster health, wellness and safety. Every student should have an adult advocate, someone that they can come to for advice and support, because young adolescents need support and guidance. Teachers can guide students and help them through their tough times. Teachers need to know how to deal with the developments that young adolescents are going through. Teachers also need to keep constantly checking themselves to make sure that what they are teaching has a purpose and a goal. Lessons need to be engaging, and lessons also need to be differentiated.

I agree with everything that this book is saying. Students at this age level are really beginning to shape and form the ideas that will help them become who they are as a person. This is the time where they really need support and guidance. Teachers can be a great role model for students and can really help students out through this very tough time in their lives. Teachers need to be actively involved in every student’s education, and we constantly need to keep checking in with ourselves to make sure that what we are doing is really in the best interest of our students. Students’ brains are changing during this time, and engaging their minds is key. All students learn differently, and teaching in different styles can help keep students actively involved in their education. We also need to make sure that we involve the community in the students' learning. Bring in guest speakers. Take students out in the community. Get them as actively involved in the community as the community is to the school. Everyone needs to take part in the education process of young adolescents. Students at this age level look up to adults such as teachers and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to be a proper role model for them. If we are not setting a good example, how can we expect students to know how to behave and act?

Tyler T: This we Believe

Abstract:

Adolescents at the middle school undergo more personal changes than they do at any other point in their lives. Physical and emotional changes are occurring and their starting to form attitudes, values and habits that will largely impact their behaviors as adults. National Middle School Association’s This We Believe: Successful Schools for Young Adolescents looks at how the students learning is affected by the changes they are experiencing, and the changes that are continually occurring in society. To help middle schools develop students who can successfully adjust to these changes, This we Believe has identified fourteen characteristics that can be implemented to increase student learning.
The first eight facets are formed around the culture of the school. They focus on a learning community that puts top priority on the education and healthy development of every student, teacher, and staff member. Family involvement is promoted, and schools supply each student with at least one mentor/role-model who helps them through the ups and downs of school life. In the classroom, middle level educators understand the developmental uniqueness of adolescents, and work along the students to design effective learning techniques and assessment strategies to fit their development. Middle schools focus on building a foundation of learning in which every student can succeed by working in a challenging academic program that practice appropriate strategies to improve learning. Adolescents are capable of far more than adults often assume, and it is important that high expectations are placed on them to behave as responsible citizens and to become intellectually engaged.
The remaining six focus on designing an appropriate curriculum and environment that supports the development of the adolescents. The curriculum should emphasize the importance of accommodating the diverse skills and abilities in the classroom as well as providing multiple viewpoints that encourage adolescents to explore new ideas. Assessment and evaluation is a crucial part of a curriculum. Educators should not evaluate students by comparing them to each other, but rather by how well they assess themselves and prove they understand the material. Along with the curriculum, organizational structures have proven to be a vital part of educational success for the students and educators. Research shows that smaller schools, classes, or teams improve all dimensions of student development in the classroom. Another important component is that of the policies that foster health, wellness, and safety. These are typically covered under a coordinated school health program (CHSP). One aspect of a CSHP is guidance and support services that are supplied to students. Specialized professionals are available to help students be emotionally and mentally prepared to learn. All fourteen of these characteristics help students to achieve attitudes and behaviors needed for a full, productive, and satisfying life.
The National Middle School Association has written a document that describes the middle school concepts that have been outlined in This we Believe. Much of the public and many educators have limited understanding of the nature and needs of middle school adolescents and the types of educational programs that are best suited for them. This document helps individuals understand these issues and what can be done to create a successful middle school environment. One thing to help develop this environment is to understand the students’ characteristics. Researchers have identified five characteristics that are represented by young adolescents, they include: physical, cognitive, moral, psychological, and social-emotional dimensions of development. All adolescents possess these characteristics, but each one varies in strength and weakness depending on the individual.

Reflection

Like the book states, I believe that this is the most influential time for middle school students. They are now starting to form their own opinions and those opinions can be very easily influenced. Educators at the middle school should understand how important a stage this is for the students, and the impact that their work could have on the rest of the students’ life. I agreed with all fourteen characteristics and believe that they are all needed to design the ultimate school climate that benefits all that are within it.
I found two major themes that stood out through the first eight facets, leadership and having a passion for the profession and students. To be a successful educator you must be willing to take the time to develop a classroom that reflects the interests and strengths of the students. These educators must also be willing to push and challenge other staff members to design a school that encourages ultimate learning for the students. This is such a crucial time for adolescents, and it is important that their needs are met, and that they have a role-model that cares and helps prepare them for the next step in their lives. Becoming an educator is not about going through the motions, but rather challenging yourself to find ways that help the students become the best learners they possibly can.
In the last six facets I found three main concepts that I like and agreed with more then any of the others. The first one was the exploratory concept that was stressed within the curriculum. So many adolescents, especially in Maine, are limited. It is our job to teach them about others cultures and diversities, and supply activities and resources that help them experience new things. The next concept is based on how the students should be assessed and evaluated. I completely agree that students should be evaluating and assessing themselves and each other. I believe students will set higher standards and be much harder on themselves if they are to judge their own work. This increases the learning environment as each student will thrive to do better. The last concept was the policies that foster health, wellness, and safety. I obviously am going to like this one since I am a health major, and doing an internship as a school health coordinator. Even if I was not, I would still believe that having a CSHP is important to a school system. It promotes an environment that helps bring out the best in everyone involved with the school, which only leads to better performances and an increased learning atmosphere.
I like the characteristics of young adolescents that were discussed at the end of the book. I do believe that each adolescent possesses all of them but is stronger in some of them then they are others. They are similar to the multiple intelligences, which are good to know as a teacher. It helps them understand what the students’ strengths are, and how you apply them into a lesson and the environment that is created. These characteristics have a lot to do with the culture that students grow up in, and it is important to create a school that accepts and reflect the diverse cultures. Students will be more comfortable, and willing to learn when they are in an environment that reflects their strengths and interests.