AEDU 335 - Teaching in the Middle Grades

"Developmentally responsive middle-level schools" This repeated throughout the reading this week and I thought it to be more profound than simply saying middle-level schools. "Developmentally responsive", which means we, the teachers, the community, the staff, everyone is responding to the students' needs. A student-centered school is the essence of a safe, healthy, and successful school environment. When the time comes for middle school, it seems like a lot of things go out the window. Family involvement, constant encouragement and motivation, and the sense of community among all involved. I believe this to be due to the time these students are going through - puberty, friendships, new environments, and life revving up at full speed. AMLE discusses how family involvement diminishes as students enter middle school, however, an "active two-way communication [between home and school] leads to higher student achievement" (36). Why aren't we constant...

My key takeaway from this week's readings comes from the Edutopia article, "3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do". There is a graphic titled "The Learner's Relationship" and the online article's breakdown of the content from this graphic really broke down the complexity and aspects of differentiated learning. There are two key parts, "how teachers prepare" and "how students engage". Within the teacher's side, there are content, process, and product/learning artifacts. Then on the student side, there is readiness, interests, and learning profile. This really made it click for me and I viewed it as a checklist. So how I stepped up to it was okay I have this diverse learner, did I diversify the content? Did I diversify the process? How about the learning artifacts? These should all directly correlate to the student side and answer that part of the equation. The other online article included a step titled "Diff...

The readings for this week really transported me back to my days in business classes with the terminology that was used such as stakeholders and managers. I enjoyed these connections the text and article made because I understood it more due to my past experience. The idea that school districts and education as a whole have stakeholders who are students, teachers, administrators, families, the board of education members, and the community (AMLE, 27). I thought the community was a nice touch to be added to the stakeholders because the schools the students produce are going to go right back into the community. Plus, if there are service learning or give back opportunities the community is even more engrossed within the education of the students. Perhaps it was a lack of looking ahead or preparation but I was not prepared for this week to be all about principals and their importance. The AMLE text comes right out and says it, "it is the middle school principal who has the central r...

Middle School seems to be the forgotten part of the education process. Maybe it's because the students want to forget or as our reading from AMLE suggests there wasn't always training for middle school educators. Luckily, this week's reading jumps more into that and how crucial this training actually is. Whenever I mention I work in a middle school and prefer teaching this age level than others I get a look of dread and sympathy from others. The four essential attributes our reading begins with this week I find to be important. The most important to be equitable because I'm not certain you could truly succeed in the other three without first being equitable. Right off the bat, as well, the discussion of being collaborations, not just with students, but with fellow teachers as well is crucial in successful curriculum, instruction, and assessment characteristics. It's also discussed within the online article about comparing notes and collaborating. We're all at ...

With the protests and change occurring due to the death of George Floyd, there have been constant amounts of information and media to follow. There was one tweet that transformed into a meme that circulated all social media platforms that stuck with me. It read something like don't ever call gen z lazy and don't care again because they are out there fighting for justice and more connected to these movements going on than most other generations. That stuck with me because I think for the first time in history we have young adult minds that are able to be formed and influenced by their own choosing because of their connectedness to everything going on around them due to their devices. What I mean by this is that growing up I'm sure many of us were influenced by our parents' decisions and thoughts and I think right now we see that changing. I'm not saying they don't need guidance from adults nor am I saying this is a good or bad thing. It is simply an observation a...