Chapter 15: Parents as Partners in Twenty-First-Century Learning

This chapter focuses on having effective communication with parents. Be it about how their child is doing in the classroom, or just what that night’s homework is. I like the different resources that he gives with ways to post homework online. When I was in school, we had the homework hotline. This was convenient for the time, however, now that most families have internet at home now putting it online is even easier. Also, if the family doesn’t have internet at home, most parents work somewhere where they will have access to the internet. However, Wormeli doesn’t just stick to doing everything electronically, he also has newsletters, and surveys sent home as well. I especially liked his idea with the postcards, that when he and his collegues are in a meeting, and when they think that a parent deserves the recognition, they will send a postcard home, saying how great their student has been doing in school lately. The index card inquiries is another thing that I might actually apply in the classroom. Because, what better person to ask about your future students than the parents who have raised their child, and know how they tick. All in all, I really liked this chapter on how to keep in touch with parents and have them be involved a lot better than the TP2000 chapter.

Chapter 8: Effective Assessment

This chapter is about effective assessment in the classroom. “Jay McTighe says that assessment should promote learning, not just measure it” (p 89). The chapter then proceeds to talk about different ways to assess students effectively. One of the things that Wormeli talks about is making your goals for the unit clear. He talks about how he sometimes gives his students the test to the unit before beginning the unit. Therefore they know what they’re going to be getting at the end of the unit, and there will be no surprises for them. Making sure that the assessments that the students receive are rigorous and motivating is another key part of effective assessments. However, this type of assessment shouldn’t be tied down to just tests. This is where other forms of activities and assessments come into play. Group projects, or individual projects are a good ways to effectively assess students, without giving tests. Overall this chapter has really good ideas on how to properly assess students without always giving them tests.

Chapter 7: Differentiated Instruction – Fitting the Lesson to the Learner

This chapter on differentiated instruction is a lot different than all of the other books and chapters that I have read on differentiated instruction. Right off the bat in this chapter it talks about why differentiated instruction is useful. However, Wormeli is blunt and to the point saying “teachers looking for the one right way to differentiate instruction will be disappointed. It doesn’t exist” (p 69). This can be perceived in two ways, one as a way of discourage, or as a way to use it as an opportunity to try and make their form of differentiated instruction as best as they can. I like how the book is split up between features of differentiated instruction, and characteristics of successful teachers of differentiated instruction. I liked how Wormeli says “Differentiated instruction means we match the challenge to the student, finding varied ways to help each child stretch intellectually” (p 71). This is one of the best definitions of differentiated instruction that I have heard. It really states it clearly. The list of characteristics on successful teachers of differentiated instruction I thought was very helpful. I will use this as a list for myself when I am in the classroom, because this list has some key points that are really important.

Chapter 6: Accountability for High Standards

This chapter had three major categories. Holding students accountable, holding ourselves as educators responsible and responding to standards. There are many tips on how to hold students accountable for their work. Some things that I thought were really good was stating to the classroom that their work is going to be on display for the school. This makes the students take pride in their work, because they know that others are going to see the work that they produce. Another suggestion that I thought was really good for holding students accountable was not offering extra credit for students. Instead, if they want to better a project, or paper, they can take the time to correct the things that they were docked points on. Wormeli said that his students eventually just gave 100% on their papers and projects the first time around, so they didn’t even need to fix anything and they had good grades. Holding ourselves as educators accountable is something that shouldn’t be a problem, but as he states, and as we saw in “Waiting for Superman”, many teachers just place blame on all of the things working against them, and stop teaching the way that they should. So Wormeli suggest that we need to become better teachers despite this, and really teach the students well. His view on standards is very positive. I really like how he states “I’m waiting for the moment when all the countries of the world can find common ground through intellectual achievement”. In order for this to happen we do need to have standards, and instead of looking down on them, we need to respond to them in a positive light.

Chapter 3 Brain Research Applied to Middle School

This chapter of Meet in the Middle really connects to my groups book talk book of A Whole New Mind. It has a lot to do with the brain, and how we can format it to get it’s best memorization. Memory is a coherent process, and an easy tool that can be used in the classroom. In this chapter Wormeli gives some good ways to help students remember things from class discussion. He talks about a triad response, where you call on one person, and then you ask another to give a response to their classmates answer, and then a third classmate is able to respond, and the original student is able to have the last word on what was said based off his response. This causes students to not just shut off their brains when someone else in their class is responding, so they have to listen in case they might be asked to respond to their classmates answer or input. Wormeli continues that we remember things by a process called chunking. This is something I have already heard of, I believe it was in practicum. He also says a good way to get students to remember something is to add emotions to it. He says that “students respond well to emotional cues and retain information as a result”. The one thing that I found very interesting about this chapter was how important staying hydrated is for the brain and learning. It makes sense, but at the same time it’s not something that you think about.

Chapter 13: Outdoor Adventures

This chapter talked about the benefits to taking an outdoor camping trip. The idea that whenever you have an outdoor experience, you are always going to learn something new. There are three things that Wormeli points out that people experience when they going on camping trips. They are, focusing on our physical, emotional, and intellectual selves, personal autonomy, and gender equity. Another thing that he mentioned was that boys learn how to become nurturers. The rest of the chapter focuses on certain ways in which you can incorporate learning and lesson into a camping trip with your classroom. The ideas for lessons ranged in all subjects. The ones that particularly stood out to me were the freedom trail hikes, and the civil war reenactment. These are two things that I could do with my students on a weekend camping trip. However, the idea of weekend camping trip with your students is somewhat daunting to think about. Maybe with time and experience as a teacher, I will become more accepting of this idea.

Chapter 4: Active Learning

This chapter focuses on the idea of active learning. To begin the chapter Wormeli talks about the benefit of physical movement for the brain. Saying that the brain functions best on high levels of oxygen, and that if we get middle school students up and moving throughout our lesson, chances are they will be more interested, focused, and engaged. One thing I found particularly (and it made sense), was that young adolescent students are constantly uncomfortable because they are growing so much. A simple task, such as sitting at a desk, can be painful for them. That is why it is our jobs as their teachers to provide them with as much opportunities as possible to get them up and moving around. I enjoyed his story about teaching ratios to his class, and how he actually brought them outside to visualize and walk around the school grounds and use ratios to find the heights of the trees. That brings the real world into the classroom, or in other words, outside of the classroom. The list that is presented in the end of the chapter with other ideas on how to get the students up and moving around will be a really good source for when I have a classroom of my own.

Chapter 9: Planning for Block Scheduling

This chapter focuses on block scheduling, and just how beneficial it is to the teachers, and the students. Block scheduling gives longer class periods. So, instead of having every subject everyday for 55 minutes, the students will alternate which classes they have each day with 80 minute periods. I have been in both positions. When I was in middle school we had every class everyday for 55 minutes, and then when I went to high school we had a block schedule. I don’t know if it was maybe because I was older, but having the block scheduling was much more beneficial for me, rather than having every class everyday. Last semester, when I was in practicum, at Phillips middle, they had blue and gold days, but they still had every class everyday for 55 minutes. Some days they would have a “double period”, which wasn’t really a double period at all, because it wasn’t back to back. So, when it came time for me to do my formal lesson, planning for an effective 55 minute lesson was very difficult. I faced the problem that this teacher did in the beginning of this chapter. Having 80 minute periods are so much more helpful, for the teacher, and also for the students learning. I enjoyed how this book showed us how to plan a lesson for the 80 minute periods, however it is exactly what we learned in practicum. Yet, the list of 10 important points for planning for extended periods is nice to see. One thing that I really pulled from this chapter was that with the extended periods, as teachers we will be able to not just “cover” the material, we will be able to teach the material to the students so that they carry it with them for years. Not only will we be able to do that, we also will be able to take all of the grouping methods, and fantastic teaching techniques from practicum and apply them into our own classroom.

Chapter 12: Teacher Advisories – A Proposal for Change

This chapter talks about structured teacher advisory programs. These are basically when you take students and do hands on activities with them, as opposed to being in the classroom all of the time. When the first originated, they were seen as something of a nuisance. But, they are now seen as a good way for students and teachers to develop a good relationship with one another. It’s a different way to learn, and it is really becoming cutting edge, and a good way to provide an education to students. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this new way to teacher. On the one hand I like the idea of getting out of the traditional classroom, but on the other hand it makes for sometimes more of a stressful class time. I like the end of the chapter, how it says that these advisory activities can help young adolescents to learn more about themselves and each other. Having these kind of experiences are really good to have, especially at the middle school level, when everyone is going through such a hard time.

Chapter 11: Teaming

This chapter focuses a lot on the idea of using teaming in the middle schools in order to provide a community for the middle school students, and to provide them with the help they need. One thing that was really cool about this was the subject integration. In the real world students will be faced with the overlapping of many different subjects all at once. With the use of teams in the middle school atmosphere, students have the ability link all of these different subjects, and put them to use in a way that they might in the real world. Another thing that I took away from this reading was the core values that should be presented to the team. Not only should these core values be present with the teachers, they should also be present with the students. That way the values apply all around. Teacher interactions are another key thing when having successful teams. One thing that I took from the end of this reading was that instead of always having one team leader, have leaders shift. Just like we will be doing in our middle education class.

Chapter 17: The Truth About Middle School Students

This chapter is pretty cool to read. It talks about how middle school students are changing, and sarcastic, and funny. The quote board that he has up in his classroom is really cool. I am one of those people who really like quotes, and use them to express how I’m really feeling. This is a really cool tool to have. Young adolescents need any form of release that they can get from all of the things that they are trying to handle. While they won’t always come right out and ask for the help, they appreciate the outlets. As future middle school educators it becomes our responsibility to just let them be the young adults that they choose, and help them with the different things they are going through.

Chapter 2: Motivating Young Adolescents

This chapter talked a lot about the different ways in which you can get your young adolescent students to be interested in the material that you are teaching them. The idea to make stories into the material is a really good idea. Especially for those students who like to hear things in the way of a story, it makes them create connections with characters, and gives them the ability to learn the material in a different way. I also like the idea of putting music into the classroom as much as possible. I am one of those learners who likes to have music playing constantly. It triggers my brain in a way that silence doesn’t. Some of my students may learn the same way. This chapter is a good tool to get all of the different ways to get the young adolescent attention for them to have a good learning experience while they are in middle school.

Chapter 1: Creating a Culture of Learning; Stoking the Fires Within

I really liked this first chapter of this book. I enjoy how the chapter is split up into two parts. The first with taking a look at ourselves, and the second about listening to the students. Both of these things are important when it comes to being a middle school teacher. In order to be an effective middle school teacher you need to be able to take a look at yourself as a person, and then a teacher. It talks about the ability to have a positive attitude about what’s going on. That if you are able to have a good attitude during times when it’s rough, then you will be effective when it comes to reaching your middle school students. Listening is also something that is vital when associating with middle school aged kids. I have worked with young adolescents before, and when they become upset, the only way to reach them when they are upset, is to just sit back and listen to them. If you can get to know yourself and become a good listener, then you will definitely be more capable of reaching those young adolescents that we will be teaching.