Volume 11, Number 1
2000/2001
Authors:
Kim Fairbrother, Jane Chamberlain, Kristen Bintliff, Jody
Bower, & Michele Gross
Editor's note: The following pieces were written
by prospective teachers pursuing MAT degrees with secondary
certification. All University of Maine MAT students, even
those who are primarily interested in high school, are
required to take a course in "Curriculum and Organization of
Middle Level Schools." These are their reactions/responses
to ideas learned about middle level education. I think you
will find them interesting and insightful.
"While traditional methods of teaching, where the
teacher stands up front and the students take notes may have
worked in the past, they are no longer sufficient for the
high-tech society we live in."
"One answer is that we incorporate their interests
into our teaching, or better yet, we incorporate our
teaching into their interests."
"We do not have to relinquish our goals for our
students; instead, we allow them to choose the route they
take to get there."
"Teachers must ask themselves each and every day: what
is the significance of this lesson? How will this help
students in their lives?"
"An advocate for each of these students could work to
ease anxiety, and help as a stabilizing influence on the
student's chaotic high school life."
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Reflections on Middle School Philosophy in the High
School
Applications of a Middle Level Course to a High School
Teacher
by Kim Fairbrother
Why should I, as a future high school teacher, have to
take a class dealing with the middle level grades? I asked
myself this question as I looked at my schedule for the
semester. Besides, I already knew that I wanted to teach
high school social studies, so this class would just be a
waste of time. In my mind the only thing that saved the
class before it even started was the fact that one of the
assigned books was on a topic that interested me.
When beginning a new semester I try to start each class
with an open attitude. On the way to the first class, I
tried to reason with myself. If I was going to teach high
school, maybe this class would be useful. Ninth graders fall
into the age group of middle level students, at least for
the first part of the year. Maybe I could find something
that would help me better understand what they were going
through. Besides, I had met the professor during the summer,
and he seemed to be very interesting. So at least the class
wouldn't be dull.
As the semester progressed, my attitude changed. I found
many of the components of middle level to be fascinating. It
was so different from anything I had seen or experienced
during my schooling. I started thinking about different ways
I could try to incorporate the different ideas into my own
classroom, when I eventually got one.
In the middle level class I was exposed to ideas I would
not have heard of in the traditional high school courses.
Ideas like the democratic classroom, where students have a
voice in what they study and how they are assessed. I also
learned more about integrative classrooms, and while I may
not be able to incorporate the whole package in my
classroom, I can use ideas such as meaningful projects,
portfolio building, and student-led conferences, instead of
the traditional parent-teacher conference.
One of the main things I have learned from my middle
level class is the importance of involving students in the
classroom. While traditional methods of teaching, where the
teacher stands up front and the students take notes may have
worked in the past, they are no longer sufficient for the
high-tech society we live in. Students need to be involved
and active in their learning if schools are to produce
students who can adapt to the changing circumstances of the
world in which we now live.
Besides all these reasons, I also remember when I was in
high school. I don't remember most of the things I learned,
even though I was one of the people who liked school. The
things I remember most are the hands-on activities, like
science labs, and when we were asked in U.S. history to
analyze a song and write what we thought it meant. So maybe
the things I learned in my middle level class are
meaningful, even if I plan to teach at the high school
level. It showed me that there are many different ways to
teach a subject, and that there is no one-right way. Plus,
just because I teach one topic in a particular way doesn't
mean I have to teach all topics that way.
By the end of the semester, I found myself in a dilemma:
I was no longer absolutely positive that I wanted to teach
high school. Fortunately for me, I haven't done my student
teaching yet. It has been arranged so that I can do a split
placement, six weeks in a high school, and six weeks in a
middle school. I have had plenty of time to observe and
interact with high school students. I look forward to
interacting with middle level students. And hopefully, by
the end of my student teaching, I will have resolved the
dilemma that my middle level class placed me in.
Why Would a Prospective Secondary-Level Teacher Want to
Study Middle Level Curriculum and Organization?
by Jane Chamberlain
Why do we tend to characterize middle school kids and
high school kids so differently? It is true that children
can be very different at various stages of growth and
development. It is also true that a teacher may prefer
working with one particular age group as opposed to another.
But think about the many generalizations you hear as reasons
for not only preferring one age group over another, but even
decidedly avoiding one age group in terms of teaching.
Middle school is such a mass of
hormone-created chaos; I would never want to teach that
age group.
We have heard that one haven't we? Or what about,
High schoolers are just so apathetic and
jaded; it's too late to have much positive influence on
them.
What if these people were shown that the energy of young
adolescents in middle school could be channeled into
cooperative learning, hands-on projects, and community
action? What if they saw that those "apathetic" high
schoolers could be engaged in and excited about a thematic
unit that requires them to dive into, explore, and debate
some of the serious moral dilemmas or "contact zones" found
in our society today?
The fact is that both age groups require a certain kind
of teaching to either channel their excesses of energy or
incite excitement and action. This kind of teaching involves
such approaches as integrative learning, advisory programs,
teaming, and flexible scheduling &endash; characteristics of
the developmentally responsive middle school. While these
approaches are gradually being implemented at the middle
level, high schools seem to remain as traditional as ever.
Why is that? Are the needs of high school kids so different
from those of middle schoolers? High school students may
seem apathetic compared to their middle school counterparts,
but that does not mean that they are "beyond help," and in
fact, they can be pulled out of their disenchantment with
the same kind of approaches that are being instituted in the
middle school arena.
High school students often become apathetic simply
because they have mastered the art of "playing school." They
know that math class is math class. It's boring, it's always
taught the same way, and if they memorize and drill and
solve, they can get by enough to perform well on the test
and promptly forget what they "learned." When they move on
to social studies, they completely forget about math
because, come on, math is never used in social studies! In
any given separate-subject class, the students rarely use or
apply their skills, at least not to a situation that is
personally relevant to them. Even if they do in that class,
they do not learn how to transfer the skills into another
context.
It doesn't take an expert to figure out that people learn
best when they want to learn. Intrinsic motivation is the
most powerful aid to learning; it is the driving force. We,
as teachers, want our students to be interested in what we
are teaching. After all, we love what we are teaching, and
we want our kids to share in that passion for learning. So,
how do we get them excited about learning? One answer is
that we incorporate their interests into our teaching, or
better yet, we incorporate our teaching into their
interests. We make learning relevant to their lives. We give
them some power in determining what they learn, we let them
learn from each other in cooperative settings, and we plan
projects that can be shared and used. We work together as
teachers to form units and projects that require skills in
all subjects, instead of separating subjects from one
another with closed doors, because we know that real-world
problems require an integration of knowledge and skills, not
one subject at a time.
These are all characteristics of the integrative learning
approach that is being adopted at the middle level. Why is
it being reserved for middle level only? Because secondary
teachers either don't know about it, or haven't bought into
it yet. All the more reason for them to study and learn
about middle level curriculum and organization. I applaud
the idea that a course in middle level philosophy should be
required for secondary certification. I would only say that
we need to move away from the idea that it is strictly a
middle-level philosophy, and adopt it as a secondary
philosophy as well because it is a philosophy that will
create valuable learning experiences for all students,
regardless of their age.
Why Would Someone Focused on Teaching High School Want
to Take a Class on Curriculum in the Middle School?
by Kristen Bintliff
It was the end of the summer semester when I was given
the information that I would be taking a class on Curriculum
in the Middle School. I can honestly say that I wondered why
this was one of my required courses. I mean, I was focused
on teaching French to high school students. I did not see
where this class would be to my benefit. I swallowed my
apprehensions for the time being and tried to begin the
class with an open mind. I was sure that there was some
higher purpose to taking this class.
Now at the end of the semester, I can reflect on how much
I have learned from this class, and how highly I recommend
it to anyone who will be going into teaching. This class has
something to offer those who want to teach all levels. If
nothing else, it can serve as a reminder to those of us in
training of the importance of being committed not only to
our subject concentration, but also to our students.
Regardless of the age of our students, it is important for
each one of us to understand that these people have needs
outside of the content material. In order for us to be
effective, we need to be aware of this. In this class, this
need for continual emotional and social support for the
students was underlined again and again.
The second most powerful lesson I learned focuses on the
fact that in education anything is possible. By this
statement, I mean that this class stressed the need for
diversity in presenting and working with content material.
Most importantly, it stressed centering what we teach on the
needs and interests of our students. In that way, we can
communicate our content in a package that has a good chance
of being well received by our students because they assisted
us in making it. We do not have to relinquish our goals for
our students; instead, we allow them to choose the route
they take to get there.
This class underlined the need for teachers to be
creative in their trade. If the current situation is not
working, it provides a variety of tools to use in many
situations. Being someone just starting out, I am ever
grateful for any assistance sent my way. Furthermore, it
presented ideas that I would never have considered before
taking this class.
Finally, I can honestly say that I had no idea what
wonderful possibilities teaching at the middle level
presented for me. After learning about more than I could
ever explore in this tiny article, I am drawn to the
possibilities teaching middle school has to offer. Without
taking this class, I might never have explored this
possibility. I cannot guarantee that I will work at the
middle level when I enter the teaching profession, but as it
stands now, that is a definite possibility.
High Schools and Middle Schools:
Two Worlds That Should Collide
by Jody Bower
For many years now I have wanted nothing more than to
become a high school teacher. I knew I was not up for
dealing with "playtime" and cutting and pasting, and I have
a such passion for the material, English literature and
writing, that I wanted to be in a position of delving deep
and sharing my love. This, I felt, could only be done at the
high school or college level. Having taken a class on middle
school curriculum, my views of education and personal goals
have so shifted. Although I am still interested in content,
I see myself as a teacher first and am somewhat appalled by
what I have observed of the nature of our high schools. I
firmly believe they have a lot to learn from strong middle
school philosophies, such as the one articulated in the text
This We Believe.
High school teachers and administrators seem to be unable
to let go of the century-long grasp the conventional method
of teaching has on the educational system. Although the
research shows that students do not retain what they learn
unless they are motivated, see real world connections to the
information, and feel integral to the learning process, too
many high school teachers continue to lecture and hold
meager group discussions in which only a few students really
participate. I contend that high school teachers need to be
listening to the progressive precepts of many middle school
teachers. For example, why are we still requiring students
to shift gears seven or eight times a day for 45-minute
blocks of time? The information overlaps, why not the
material? The argument that many conventional high school
teachers profess is that the material is too in-depth and
detailed, and needs to be looked at under a microscope with
no other distractions. I would argue that, in fact, because
the learning is more highly evolved, all of the other
disciplines inevitably enter into any given lesson.
The problem with a more integrative approach, of course,
is predicated in pragmatics as much as attitude. We have
experienced this first hand in our middle school curriculum
class: the enormous task of how to create a schedule in
which every teacher has a work period, all teachers have
time for team conferencing, and the classes somehow
intermingle depending on the unit theme. As with middle
schools, this process of transformation needs to be an
intentional, gradual one in order for everyone to be able to
adapt to it and for it to be a success. It needs to start
with the instructional strategies of individual teachers.
Whether I decide to work in the middle level or high school,
I intend to emphasize, rather than ignore, the integrative
nature of all knowledge and to incorporate what students are
learning in other classes into my lessons as much as
possible. I will also create lessons challenging them to
create their own knowledge, employing hands-on exercises
such as drama and visualizations in order to create a space
for them to participate. Teachers must ask themselves each
and every day: what is the significance of this lesson? How
will this help students in their lives? Then they need to
take the next step of explaining it to them. Adolescents
have a right to know why they must spend their time on
classroom activities and homework.
All of these ideas are rooted in the progressive middle
school philosophies we have studied this semester. We must
not forget that high school students are still adolescent
age as well. Our tendency to treat them as independent
learners and adults is detrimental to the developmental
process of these young people. They are not college
students. My hope is that at some point high school
administrators and educators will begin listening to the
strong, compelling voices of the new trends in middle level
schools around the country.
A High School Teacher in a Middle School Class
by Michele Gross
As a graduate student working on a secondary level
certification, one might ask why I would take a class called
"Curriculum and Organization of Middle Schools/Junior High
Schools." The answer is really quite simple: while there are
several fundamental differences between middle schools and
high schools, many of the foundations that make middle
schools developmentally responsive can be tailored to fit
the needs of high school students as well. I feelthe current
system stops trying to meet the needs of students in a
developmentally responsive way once they reach the high
school level, and this should change. This class has helped
me identify these needs, and come up with ways to meet them.
To me, the most important of these issues is the lack of
adult advocates at the high school level.
In the National Middle School Association's, This We
Believe, the authors state that developmentally responsive
middle level schools have an adult advocate for each
student. This is very important at the middle level because
of the many changes students are experiencing. However, I
also think students at the high school level would benefit
from this idea. I feel that while the advocacy idea is
partially covered by guidance counselors at the high school
level, not enough is being done. High school is
traditionally a place where students see the guidance
counselor once a year or so to determine what their schedule
for the next year will be, and possibly more during their
senior year if the student is headed to college.
I believe that students at the high school level also
have a need for an individual advocate. Some freshmen are
still in the delicate 10-14 age group when they arrive in
high school, and are still changing at an alarming rate.
These students would clearly benefit from an advocacy
program. Sophomores sometimes feel like a "middle child,"
while they are not new in the school anymore, they are not
far enough along in their education to begin thinking about
post-graduation options, and they sometimes feel left out.
Juniors and seniors are increasingly absorbed in
post-graduation thoughts, and focused on making sure all
their requirements have been met. An advocate for each of
these students could work to ease anxiety, and help as a
stabilizing influence on the student's chaotic high school
life.
Throughout the semester in "Curriculum and Organization
of MiddleSchools/Junior High Schools," I have learned about
the unique and often challenging task of education at this
level. The other aspect of the class I learned is that while
middle level schools are striving to become more
developmentally responsive, this movement cannot end with
the eighth grade. High schools need to begin to implement
many of the same foundations to ensure developmentally
responsive education at the high school level.
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