Week 2: Are You Prepared to Teach Middle School?

     The focus of this week's readings were curriculum, assessment, instruction, as well as the transition to middle school. AMLE stresses that curriculum should be challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant for students. Curriculum should be a challenge for students, but also achievable. They should be able to explore new interests and skills that they can take with them throughout the rest of their lives (AMLE, 2010). At this point students' brains are going through a growth spurt, so this is an excellent time for them to discover new things (Field, 2021). An educator should also consider multiple approaches to teaching students and should make effective use of students' backgrounds and prior knowledge when teaching new material. Assessments should be varied and ongoing and have a clear rubric for students to follow (AMLE, 2010). The online readings focused more on the transition to middle school and gave and gave strategies on how to help make this process easier for students. These strategies included things like empathizing with students, understanding characteristics for their age group, and focusing on the positives rather than what students may be doing wrong (Wormeli, 2011). 

    I really liked the idea of students having a say in the activities they are doing in the classroom. In my entire K-12 experience, we only did something like this one time (unless picking your own research topic counts? Let me know what you think). We all had to read Ready Player One, and then got to choose our own project relating to the reading. For example, the book features a lot of 80’s nostalgia, so when my brother took the class the next year, he recreated a scene from film that came out during the time period. I just took the optional test (lame, I know), but people created character guides, decorated the class display case, and even made their own “quests” for others to follow. We all got to choose what we wanted to do, and I think as a result we better understood the material. This is something that I feel I could easily do in my content area, and I think it would be fun to get students involved in their learning.

    The tips for helping middle schoolers to transition were also helpful. I know that it is important to empathize with your students, and I liked the comparison to someone moving from a foreign country. Honestly, I cannot remember much about my transition from elementary to middle school. However, I do remember running through the hallways trying not to be late (a three-minute passing period was just not enough time!). My only real memory being stressful must say something about my transition. Last week, I mentioned that young adolescents often view their middle school teachers as impersonal, and I imagine being able to empathize with them and their experiences would help improve this. I also really liked the idea of bringing back recess (or at least some form of break for students). The article by Field made an excellent point - a kid just does not suddenly want to stop playing because they reach a certain age, and it gives them much needed time to socialize. They recently brought back recess where my cousin attended middle school. I scoffed at the idea when my cousin told me about it, but now that I have learned more through the reading, I understand why it is important for them to be able to have that time. I am curious to know if this has become a trend at other schools in the area, and I will have to ask during my fall placement.