"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 constantly communicating with the families as we would with elementary school students? It's like a student loses their tooth in second grade and they get the red carpet to the parents to tell them the news. A middle school student gets into a fight and they get the walk of shame and immediate call home to the parents. I think teachers and faculty need to take the blame on this one. Good news should be shared infinitely more than bad news, and perhaps the bad news will become less and less likely to appear. Another key aspect AMLE touches on that I find to be important and not always present at the middle school level is student work on display. AMLE states that when "Student work is prominently displayed, an indication that learning is a school priority" (34). Teachers should make it a priority to display student work everywhere! Even with things becoming more and more digital, we need to find a way to make this a priority.
When reading the part about students needing an adult advocate, I wrote on the side of the page "you're not going to be that person for everyone". I have the personality where I want to be everyone's cheerleader, but that wouldn't be possible for me and just not realistic for the students. I am not going to click with everybody and vice versa. This doesn't mean that I won't be a cheerleader for every one of my students, but it does mean that I may not be their chosen cheerleader for when the times get tough and they need that special advisor they seek and trust.
The reason I chose middle and secondary level education is because I believe we have a direct line into who these young adults are going to be in this diverse and difficult world. The way we educate and what we choose to educate them on will directly result in who society is going to get. There are so many moving parts in an every day school day, but we can't let that leave our minds. We need to put our best foot forward every day for the students, the community, and society at large.
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 constantly communicating with the families as we would with elementary school students? It's like a student loses their tooth in second grade and they get the red carpet to the parents to tell them the news. A middle school student gets into a fight and they get the walk of shame and immediate call home to the parents. I think teachers and faculty need to take the blame on this one. Good news should be shared infinitely more than bad news, and perhaps the bad news will become less and less likely to appear. Another key aspect AMLE touches on that I find to be important and not always present at the middle school level is student work on display. AMLE states that when "Student work is prominently displayed, an indication that learning is a school priority" (34). Teachers should make it a priority to display student work everywhere! Even with things becoming more and more digital, we need to find a way to make this a priority.
When reading the part about students needing an adult advocate, I wrote on the side of the page "you're not going to be that person for everyone". I have the personality where I want to be everyone's cheerleader, but that wouldn't be possible for me and just not realistic for the students. I am not going to click with everybody and vice versa. This doesn't mean that I won't be a cheerleader for every one of my students, but it does mean that I may not be their chosen cheerleader for when the times get tough and they need that special advisor they seek and trust.
The reason I chose middle and secondary level education is because I believe we have a direct line into who these young adults are going to be in this diverse and difficult world. The way we educate and what we choose to educate them on will directly result in who society is going to get. There are so many moving parts in an every day school day, but we can't let that leave our minds. We need to put our best foot forward every day for the students, the community, and society at large.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your summary of the week's readings was a great one. You wrote very well about what was mentioned in AMLE. I too thought that it was interesting that the communication for home and parent involvment decreases in middle school. I like how you said that if a student loses a tooth, they get royal treatment! I thought that was clever and quite true. It seems silly to me that parent involvement decreases, it seems like it should be the time in which involvement increases during the midst of a lot of change. I liked your perspective on how you think it is the faculty and teachers are to blame. I agree that most of the news that gets sent home is bad news. I have been in a middle school where bad news has been sent home for the students that display bad behaviors. The thing is, the parents don't respond. Maybe they don't care or maybe they are sick of hearing about the bad news. But I have also seen teachers send good news about that same student, yet again, parents don't seem to care. Perhaps the good news that is being sent home is not as immediate to let parents know.
I also really liked what you had to say about how you might not be everyone's cheerleader. You will cheer for your students, but the students might not necesarily pick you. I thought that was so important to say. Not every student is going to click well with every teacher, so it is important not to take offense to that. Thank you for sharing that perspective. I think it will also be important for me not to take that personally in the classroom. I also enjoyed the reason as to why you want to be a middle or secondary teacher. I thought that was a great reason to share. I feel the same way in that I hope I can help students navigate through this ever growing crazy world we live in. Great post - thanks for sharing!
Hey Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting how you noted, "developmentally responsive middle-school". Honestly, I didn't really pay attention to the phraseology, but I agree that it is important, especially as you pointed it out. The comment about blaming teachers and faculty for the lack of communication was a bit of a negative oversimplification of the issue. As Sam pointed out in her comments, good news is often ignored as well as bad news. When problems are blamed on groups of people, "parents" or "teachers" it is negative and often puts up walls to communication, understanding and collaboration. As a parent of six, I have already seen five of them going through middle school/puberty and it is quite a complicated transition. There is often a lot of life issues that the families and parents are battling, let alone the student. Nobody wants to share their families' dirty laundry with the multiple teachers that often come on the scene in middle school. There will be some unresponsive parents but also overly communicative parents, but judging them based on that will not be very productive. Support and encouragement are often needed for the parents as well as the students.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI loved what you wrote, and I wrote about a lot of the same things. I think parent involvement is something that is sadly missed more often than not in middle schools. It is also extremely important to display their work to encourage them in their future projects. This is a time in which students need support and people to be advocates for them, and that gets lost. There is a disconnect between family and school. Since I am going to be teaching math, I can see how parents can get overwhelmed trying to help their child with their math homework. I hear from a lot of parents of the students that I tutor that they don't understand their child's homework and they don't understand why they have to learn the various topics. Providing information to parents about what their child is learning can help the students as they work to understand foreign concepts.
Taylor, I like your post as well as the format of your blog page - It looks very professional! I couldn't agree more, that students in elementary school are praised and sent home with accolades unlike they are in middle school, and from my own experience it drops off even more in high school, which is sad. I remember attending parent teacher conferences with my parents in high school, and the school was nearly empty. I understand that parents work, and the hours of parent teacher conferences might not work with a parent's work schedule, but we need to find other ways to make parents feel like they are involved, especially if their work makes it difficult for them to attend events in person. I do feel like with the current pandemic we're experiencing, there's going to be a shift in how we get families and communities involved. We're still trying to figure it out, but I do feel like we will begin to use online resources even more than we have in the past. The struggle here will be engaging parents who do not speak English as a first language, or parents who are not technology savy, let alone, some families to not have access to a working computer or internet. There are many struggles, but I do hope that our involvement and engagement with families and communities continues to be a main focus for our schools.
ReplyDelete