Chapter 9: Involving Parents and Communities

This chapter focused on the involvement of parents with the schools, and the community support for the schools. I found this chapter to come at a perfect time for what my school district back home has been experiencing lately. The superintendent has started a four year process to combine the two districts that have been told to consolidate into a union. From an outsider perspective this is really great. It’s what we have been talking about, with saving money and cutting costs on things. Politically and economically he has the right idea, however, he is getting no support from the parents or the community at all. So, while this chapter focuses on how great it is to have parent involvement, I would like to know what can you do when the parent’s involvement actually doesn’t help the situation, but actually hinders it. Turning points writes “Parents on school-wide governance committees who work effectively and cooperatively with school staff become models of such behavior for their young adolescents and other students” (p 208). What if they are doing the exact opposite? That is completely ineffective for the district, teachers, and students. I guess right now, in my pessimistic view of parents and the community, their involvement can only really end up being a pain. Especially in a rural town in Maine.

Chapter 8: A Safe and Healthy School Environment

This chapter focuses on creating a safe and healthy environment in your school. One important thing that the chapter talked about was that by having good school/classroom rules. While we always think of rules as a way to make our lives easier, they also act as a way to make students feel safe and secure in the classroom. I had never thought of it that way before. The chapter continues to talk about how creating a safe environment in the classroom is by making students of other races feel comfortable. It talks about the issue that we only teach about other races once a month, or when there is a holiday. As a future social studies educator, I am going to make sure that other races are talked about, and that they are not made as a special case. That it is just part of the history, especially since they are a very special part of history. Health and physical education is talked about in this chapter as well. Having gym in schools has proven to show that students do better academically. They also are more apt to stay away from drugs and alcohol when they know how it affects their bodies. All in all promoting a safe and healthy environment in the school is a very important thing that needs to be done more often.

Chapter 4: Designing Instruction to Improve Teaching and Learing

This chapter really focused on differentiated instruction in the classroom. It talked about the WHERE (WHERETOS in Practicum). One thing that I really pulled from this chapter however, was when it talked about tracking in the schools. In our education classes we have been talking about tracking and discussing why it is not a good thing to have in the classroom anymore. However, this chapter was the first time I have seen in writing about why it is not a good concept to have in the schools anymore. The line “schools are not factories” is so true. When we do tracking in the schools chances are social status is going to determine where you are placed in class level. While tracking may be easy for the teachers, it is not beneficial to the students. When you have students of all levels in the same class, then those who are advanced will become better students, and those who are lower levels will be able to improve as students and not be stuck at the lower level they would have been forever had there been tracking. The rest of the chapter continues to talk about how to teach to the whole classroom, a lot of which we have heard about during practicum. However, it was nice review to have.

TP2000 Chapter 3 Abstract and Synthesis

Abstract:
This chapter in the Turning points was very focused on how Standards, The Backwards Design Model, and Assessment are all linked together. The standards are put into place to be able to provide the ability for teachers to see excellence and equity among all of their students. The chapter continues to talk about how it’s hard as teachers to manage meeting the standards in the classroom. The backwards design model fits in with the standards, because you can take the standard and then build the lesson or unit around that standard. Assessment ties into the other two, because, if you are educating correctly, you should be able to tie your assessment right into the standards through the backwards design model. The major focus of this chapter is the use of backwards design, standards, and assessment, and how the three can be linked to be an effective way to educate.
Synthesis:
In this chapter, as a class we all seemed to talk about three things: Standards, The Backwards Design Model, and Assessments. We all seemed to be aware, and concerned about, the use of effective assessments. Many of us saw the use in The Backwards Design Model, especially in the middle school aspect. Because we’re aware of just how many levels of learning there are in the middle school. With backwards design all of the students can learn in a variety of ways, and still succeed, which is something that students in middle school need.

Chapter 3 Curriculum and Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning

This chapter mainly focuses on standards and applying them to the backward design plan. They talk about how the standards provide the ability for excellence and equity for the students. Standards can be very overwhelming for teachers, however, this book talks about how teachers should “uncover” the standards and create ways in which you can use the standards to have informative and interesting lessons for your students. Since standards can be so daunting and overwhelming for teachers, sometimes we get caught up in the “treadmill effect” by going quicker through material, and end up leaving students behind in their crazy chase to reach all of the standards in the school year. So, hopefully focusing on the big ideas, and just creating life long learners can avoid the “treadmill effect”. Another thing that was talked about in this chapter was assessment and how it should tie directly to the curriculum based on standards, and putting their skills to practice. Backwards design is a great way to figure out in which way the standards will be taught, and just which standards will be taught.

Chapter 6: Organizing Relationships for Learning

This chapter is really informative in how middle school teams work. Initially it talks about how student teacher relationships are key to successful students in the middle school. As you continued the reading, it talked about the ingredients that you need in order to have a successful team middle school. Two key things that really stood out to me were the team size, and the looping feature. The size of a team is something that is important if you want to have a successful team in the middle school. Because you want to be able to know all of the students in your classroom. The looping feature is a really good idea as well, because that way, you have students not for just one year. This allows you to be able to build trusting relationships with the students, and watch them grow. All in all this chapter was very informative, and will definitely help our team in middle education form a unit that will be successful for our “students”

Chapter 2: Turning Points 2000: A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education

In this chapter the one thing that I really liked about it was the seven key things that should be present for teaching in middle school. Each point it really vital to teaching middle schoolers. The ones that really stood out to me were the ones that said that middle schools should hire teachers who have taken classes in how to teach middle schoolers, teaching in a democratic way, and a healthy environment in the middle school. I think that the hiring teachers who have a background in how to teach middle school aged kids is a really good idea. When you have professionals in the school who have the knowledge and skills to guide the young adolescent’s of the middle school. The democratic rule of the middle school is a really good thing to have going on as well. When the students have a say in the way that their day to day routine will be run, then they will have more responsibility for their actions, and work. A healthy environment is also important in a middle school. This is because, with it, the children will be able to have a good learning experience. A good learning experience is important for a good transition into high school.

Chapter 1 – Turning Points: A Decade Later

This chapter mainly focused on the comparison between the findings when the Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents first came together to research middle education in 1987, to the current edition of 2000. While the idea of middle education hasn’t really changed since the late 80’s, the stats about the nations early adolescents has changed from the 80’s to the 90’s. One thing that really stood out to me was the change in the percentage that 8th graders tried alcohol and tobacco products. It said that between the years 1991 and 1998 the percent moved from 29 to 38. While this isn’t really a great statistic to look at for middle school aged kids, there was an upside on their statistics. The percent of teen pregnancies in 1997 was at 48% while in 1991 it was reported to be at 58%. This may be linked to the change in the way that early adolescents are taught. I liked how this chapter talked about how educating the early adolescents needs to move from rigid structure to more of a comforting and safe environment for them. I agree with this, why must we have kids grow at the age of 10 or 11? There will be plenty of time in their future educational career where they will be faced with rigid structure that doesn’t allow them to have a comfortable learning community. Towards the end of the chapter it talks about how early adolescents are better equipped to make important decisions, but their lack of experience leaves them vulnerable. I believe that, as a future middle school educator, it is our job to provide them with the guidance they need to make the right decisions with their life.