This We Believe

pp. 1-26
In the first 26 pages that we had to read for “This We Believe; Keys to Educating Young Adolescents”, there was a lot of useful information for future middle school educators. In the beginning part of the book it talked about how important middle education is. Because kids that age are changing so much, they need to have a stable environment. It is the parents and educators jobs to be able to provide this environment stability, and help them with the changing world around them. As the reading continued it went on to talk about the curriculum that young adolescent students need to have. Four major parts of the curriculum that was discussed in the book were: challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant. The ways that it needs to be challenging for the different students is challenging itself, because you need to reach all levels of students. The exploratory part was pretty interesting to read, because it talks about the different ways in which to make learning about exploring rather than just sitting there and learning from the book. The integrative and relevant part is just about integrating different learning styles, and making the learning connect to their real world. Something we learned about in practicum. One major theme that I really took away form these pages was that to be an effective middle school teacher you need to continue to be a learner. We need to accept that students are going to teach us something new, and that we won’t always be the ones doing the educating.
pp. 27-33
This section of the reading discussed the necessity to have a strong leader in the middle school. Some major themes to having a strong community feel in the middle school are: a shared vision, committed leaders, courageous and collaborative leaders, professional development, and organizational skills. All of these are important things to have in order to create a stable middle school teaching team. When all of the teachers have the same vision for their teaching, then they will all be able to work collaboratively. Another thing that I really picked up from this reading was the professional development. Most teachers like to work towards their professional development. Personally, I will be one of those teachers who is always willing to work towards becoming a better teacher. Recently I’ve decided that I want to get my PhD at some point. So, by going to workshops and pursuing my education I hope to always be working on my professional development
pp. 33-42
This section of “This We Believe” talks about the Culture and Community of the school, and how important it is. One thing that I really picked up on was the “adult advocate” that they talked about. This basically is about having an advisor for the students. This advisor works to help the students with any problems they have, and is always making sure that what’s going on in school is running smoothly for them. A second thing that I picked up from this was the intertwining of school and home, so that they go hand in hand. This is something new for myself, because I was always one of those students who liked to keep school and home separate. I would always get my homework done at school, and all of my projects, and group work done at school. That way, when I went home I wouldn’t have to think about school at all, unless my parents asked me at the dinner table how school was. The family involvement part of this section is something that I definitely was part of. However, it wasn’t so much in middle school as it was in high school. Since I didn’t really have a specific advisor during middle school, my parents were never really sure of who to contact about my schooling to see how I was doing. However, when I hit high school, I did have a set advisor, who was always in constant contact with my mom, and vice versa. I think another factor to that as well, was that when I was in high school my mom was a part of the school district, and it was easy for her to contact my teachers to see how I was doing. She had the same resources in middle school, however, the teachers weren’t as good about getting back to her as my high school teachers were. So, hopefully future middle school teachers, and current ones are more involved with contacting their students parents then past middle school teachers.
pp. 43-62
To wrap up this position paper, the NMSA calls for all teachers who have read this book to spread the word about this document to other teachers, and to have discussions with colleagues about it as well. This is something that I really agree with. Not all middle schools are aware of this document, and I feel that it is a really good document to have on hand, just so you have something to look at when something happens in your class that you weren’t addressed with in your secondary education classes. Dr. Peter C. Scales part that is put into the book about the physical, cognitive, moral, psychological, and social-emotional dimensions of development of young adolescents was a very interesting part as well. It does a good job pin pointing the things that young adolescents are going through, thinking, and feeling. I can remembering feeling and thinking these things, but didn’t have teachers who were trained in helping middle schooler’s with what they were going through. This document, I feel is very helpful for future middle school teachers, and current middle school teachers. Knowing that I will have a document to refer to when something in my class arises is very comforting. I plan on keeping this position paper on my school bookcase at all times.