Jane, a new member of MiddleWeb listserv, was troubled by the way
her administration approached the implementation a middle school model into
her junior high school. She asked for input from MiddleWeb readers. The
responses ranged from comments on student grouping issues to middle school
philosophy to scheduling approaches.
Hi, my name is Jane and I have just become a new member. I am enjoying
reading all of the posts on about every subject. I am working in a 5-6 building
that is departmentalized. Because of lack of funds in my district, they
are closing one of the elementary buildings and in a year they will move
the 6th grade to the JR. HIGH and try to make it into a middle school. Some
of the ideas of the administration for this new middle school are troubling
to me. I would like anyone's view point if possible.
1) Must have separate entries (entrances) for 6th graders
2) Homerooms will be 20 minutes long and in the middle of the day
3) Exploratories must have teachers who are endorsed in the areas to teach
them
4) Advisor/Advisee programs are just touchy feely times and not really worth
anything
This is just the tip of the ice berg. Please let me know how your 6-8 middle
schools are handled. It would be greatly appreciated.
- Janie
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Debbie responded to several initiatives mentioned in Jane's posting.
Hi Janie,
Welcome to the list!
Sounds like you're starting a junior high with a few twists, like separate
entries. We had advisory in the middle of the day and it was largely wasted
time. I think it works much better in the beginning; it helps set the tone
for the day. Will you have a guidance period?
Content-certified vs. Elementary is a whole can of worms. I have worked
with secondary folks, who really cared about and taught the whole child,
but in my experience, as a rule, the secondary folks were somewhat narrow
in their experience and approach. I have always found the generalist or
elementary people were much more willing to team teach, work on joint projects
etc. The debate rages on about whether you have to be content specific to
be rigorous or not.
Personally, I'd like to see vertical houses with separate entries, not grade
based ones. Good luck, don't get demoralized, it will take a few years to
sort it all out. Hopefully you can start the conversations now and make
some changes over the long haul.
- Debbie
------------------------------
John pointed Jane to one of MiddleWeb's resources.
Here's a good resource page (ours!) on advisor/advisee programs:
http://www.middleweb.com/advisory.html
- John
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jane's question prompted Susan to ask for advice pertaining to the grouping
of middle school students.
We are currently working in a small middle school and have come up with
a dilemma. We have been asked by the eighth grade team at our school to
set up our seventh grade students into three heterogeneous groups who will
follow each other in their four core classes. This would mean that they
would be in the same group for all four core classes.
We believe that this is going against the middle school philosophy to lock
students in to such a schedule and never allowing them to interact with
a mixture of students. We believe that not allowing mixture can cause several
situations which can be negative; for example, conflicts, bad combinations
as far as behavior, and lack of opportunity to get to know ALL of their
classmates. It seems more like a self contained elementary classroom than
an eighth grade in middle school.
We would appreciate your thoughts on this as soon as possible because we
are receiving a great deal of pressure to do this even though we feel it
isn't what is best for the kids. You may not feel this is an issue; however,
your input will help us to make a more informed decision as a 7th grade
team and as a whole middle school.
- Susan
--------------------------------------------
Mary Anne discussed some of the challenges accompanying heterogeneous
grouping.
This type of scheduling is easy on the person who schedules the kids--but
very difficult for students and teachers alike. We have an issue in our
eighth grade with kids traveling together because of Algebra I, Geometry
and Physical Science (all high school level courses). Once the guidance
office locks a kid into one of these pairs, it is hard NOT to schedule them
with the same group of peers the rest of the day. This creates a tracking
problem none of us like. Good luck!
- Mary Anne
--------------------------------
Melba agreed with Mary Anne.
Mary Anne, we also have that same problem because of our math program.
We were able to move some students, but it meant doing a cross-team schedule.
So, consequently some students were in team 6A while the majority were in
6B. We moved some within the team and that helped a bit. At least it separated
them for one to two classes. We offer regular math 6, Algebra Preparatory,
Algebra IA and IB, Algebra I (high school honors), and this year we have
our first class of geometry.
- Melba
----------------------------------------
Ilyne added her thoughts on this subject.
Here at Blue Mountain middle school where we make every effort NOT to
lock kids into the type of scheduling Susan described, for exactly all the
reasons she gave.
Hold fast.
- Ilyne
---------------------------------------
Robyn noted the damage that can occur when students stay together all
day.
I taught at a school for two years where the same groups of kids were
together all day, never being away from one another. This was the worst
thing I've ever seen. It is a much better situation in my current school,
where kids may share more than one class together, but at least they aren't
together for all their six classes. I would strongly urge your administration
not to consider doing this.
Just my 2 cents.
- Robyn
-----------------------------------------
Caron agreed with Susan, Ilyne and Robyn.
We mix our kids all day. Three years ago we had them with the same bunch
all day. I hesitated at the change, but now I am glad we do it. It gives
kids a change to make other friends, plus bad combos of kids don't have
all day to ferment......
Hold your ground and keep them shuffled.
- Caron
------------------------
Debbie asked a number of thought-provoking questions.
Is our starting point the easiest way to roster students? Or is it building
a strong team or family concept among our students? Do we know how to build
strong teams without teaching kids to put down the members of other teams?
Whether you achieve the best balance between building a solid community
of students by having them travel as a block or try to ensure the best non-hierarchical
mix by reshuffling student teams for specials, both can dodge issues of
character. We need to work on a tone of decency and respect for all students
regardless of our scheduling plans. With respect as a foundation, we can
then have a conversation about what works best for kids, as opposed to what
is easiest for adults.
I don't pretend to have the answers about scheduling, bullying, unhealthy
competition etc., but I think we need to ask ourselves the right questions
and examine the assumptions behind our current practices. We may be creating
the conditions for many of the problems exhibited by our students.
- Debbie
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lise commented on the method of student grouping followed by her school.
I am currently teaching in a school where the three 7th grade classes
travel in a herd as you described. They are together all day; they have
been together for years. They know just how to push each other's buttons.
Why would the 8th grade team ask such a thing? You are right, this is not
a middle school model. I personally do not recommend this for your students.
- Lise
-----------------------------------
Brenda commented on potential problems associated with keeping students
together for all subjects.
Your email caught my attention because I just sat through a meeting
tonight with a parent whose son is struggling big time with the particular
social makeup of his Grade 7 class. Not only does this boy struggle with
fitting in, but since the crew in his class has pegged him as such, he's
in a no-win situation.
Because these kids are together all day, this young man is in a pretty hopeless
situation. He has lost heart and it is affecting his grades (he's a 90's
student who is currently failing math!) As much as teachers try to mix classes
carefully and thoughtfully for the upcoming year, they still can't anticipate
the particular mix that presents itself the next fall. Kids change over
the summer, friendships change; new kids change the social configuration
and so on.
When students stay with the same group of peers all day (for 10 months)
we also can unintentionally create a Class A vs. Class B vs. Class C mentality.
I personally like the idea of a more fluid arrangement of students.
- Brenda
----------------------
Caron added to Brenda's comments.
Our sixth grade changed the mix after the first month.....just a matter
of fact way they did things.....it worked out well. They plan to do this
each fall.
I agree with it.
- Caron
------------------------
Karin wondered if moving kids into different groups avoids the root issues
behind bullying.
Instead of trying to move kids into different groups, why don't we teach
social skills so that children learn to get on better with each other, and
accept difference as something to be accepted?
We have similar problems, but we openly call this behavior bullying. Then
we all have to deal with helping the person being bullied learn to deal
with situations, and also deal with bullies so they understand the pain
and suffering they are creating. We don't have the perfect solution, but
it does help people in the long term learn strategies that are really life
skills.
- Karin
------------------------------
Brenda pointed out the importance of every child feeling safe in their
learning environment.
I was in no way looking for a quick fix when I suggested that a fluid
student grouping arrangement would help students who were suffering socially.
Teaching social skills is part of what we do, but I have also seen kids
suffer intensely and shut down because they don't have a friend or a sense
of safety in their classroom.
Insisting that this kid hang in there so that we can work the bullying issue
through, which we do, can put a student over the edge. A lot of damage can
be done while we work the process through.
We have a case in point in my neighboring province of British Columbia where
a young middle school girl recently committed suicide because she couldn't
take it anymore. (The offending student has been charged in this tragedy).
This is an extreme example but when you don't feel heard, a sense of desperation
sets in.
All of us know how insidious bullying is...I know I usually don't see it,
and it's hard to deal with it when we don't. Teachers in my school continue
to be vigilant about addressing bullying but I know we miss it as many times
as we succeed in identifying it. In the meantime, a student can be dying
inside. This is why I suggested that having different configurations for
different subjects may provide a class or two of relief for kids struggling
to connect in a group.
- Brenda
------------------------------------
Dave suggested involving teachers in building their own classes.
For years, our Middle School scheduled students in the same nightmare
manner being discussed. This invariably created monster classes and hopeless
situations for kids who did not function well in a particular group. When
my interdisciplinary team had taken all we could take, we requested that
the administration give us our stack of 150 enrollment cards in a single
group and let us build our classes ourselves.
The cards included notes made by the previous year's teachers on the student's
ability level in reading and math, notes on discipline issues, and suggestions
on which kids did not make good companions. We would also be given anywhere
from 5 to 15 learning disabled kids to put into the mix. The only limitations
we had were the related arts classes (esp. orchestra and band), and lunch
schedules.
We were free to make two big decisions: block times, and class make-up.
To remain consistent with the rest of the school, we chose to use 55 minute
blocks (as a general rule, but could vary to larger blocks and more innovative
schedules if instruction would be facilitated by it; e.g., science lab lessons).
In determining class make-up, we went through our stack of 150+ kids and
put them into heterogeneous groups of four, mixing ability levels, gender,
and race as equally as possible.
Groups were combined into sets of seven or eight groups which would form
a class section. Here was the real secret: Each grading period (in
our case, 6 weeks) we rotated class sections and rotated groups within the
class sections. Therefore, any particular student was only with three of
the same kids all day.
By rotating class sections (My first period class the first grading period
became my second period class the second grading period) each student spent
at least six weeks with me at their peak learning time, and at my peak teaching
time. I never understood why, but I was a much better teacher third period
than sixth! I am not sure I have explained this very clearly, but it really
did work and might be worth considering as an option.
- Dave
-----------------------------
Darli responded to Dave's ideas.
What great suggestions! I bet the teachers truly enjoyed having the
opportunity to really create their own class--and it had to be easier on
the administration. Scheduling Middle School is the worse!
- Darli
------------------------------------
Tracey shared her perspective.
Our Middle School has always tried to preserve teams for students so
that they have a chance to build relationships with the same group of kids
and with the same team of teachers within a particular grade level. Now
that we're moving in to the Middle Years Program of the International Baccalaureate,
we can't always preserve class teams. Our teachers miss teaming since it's
easier to follow their performance if they automatically know who else is
teaching a particular child.
- Tracy
--------------------------------
Ilyne, a middle school principal, asked Tracey for further information.
I would LOVE to get info on the Middle Level IB. Where would you suggest
that I start looking?
- Ilyne
--------------------------------
Tracy responded to Illyne's question.
Since we have such a mobile multicultural student body, the IB program
seems the way to go for us. We have 40+ nationalities represented among
our 2400 students in K12. The high school has already applied for consideration
and Middle School will shortly, to be followed by the elementary school.
We're also bilingual, English and Spanish.
- Tracy
-----------------------------
Carolyn pointed out the advantages of keeping students together for core
subjects.
I taught middle school students for 20+ years in Central NY area before
taking on a new position a few years ago.
In response to Nancy's question, regarding middle school philosophy, I believe
that keeping students together from ELA, Social Studies, Math, and Science
class to class with mixed groups in PE, music, art, foreign language, technology,
etc is the best of both worlds. The students develop a strong sense of community
(and yes, learn how to get along with everyone), the parents can meet with
the teachers of the students all at the same time within a team setting.
Additionally, if you do not have a block schedule within the school, the
grouping of students helps with the flexibility of arranging a block of
ELA and Social Studies and/or Math and Social Studies without disrupting
the schedules of the entire school.
- Carolyn
----------------------------
Naomi shared her thoughts.
What an interesting discussion. We have always had classes remain together
for their entire program. The exception has been some talent classes. In
my old school the classes were all grouped heterogeneously. The classes
were often looped as well, meaning they were together for more than one
year. Heterogeneous grouping and looping are definitely appropriate for
middle school.
- Naomi
--------------------------------
Chris explained the grouping process followed at his school.
At our school we build in grouping changes in every change of class.
Each class consists of smaller subgroups of students or pods. For example
a math class of 20 students would be made up of four pods of five students.
When these students go to their second class, whatever it may be, each of
the pods goes to a different class. This is true for all the classes.
In this way, even if there is some academic grouping the pods are split
up in other classes. Of course there's still the problem of having all top
students unavailable for other classes that run opposite that top group.
If this doesn't make sense, ask for clarification.
- Chris
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Marsha commented on various ways teaming can be implemented in a middle
school model.
In our schools, teams are created around language arts, math, science,
social studies, life skills, and reading. This involves 6 of the 8 class
hours each day. For two of those 6, we only have half of the students on
the team. A "team" of 2 teachers have about 55 students; of 3
teachers have about 78 students; and 4 teachers have about 103 students.
The smaller the team, the more subject preps you have.
I have taught on a two-person team where I taught math and science; and
then reading and life skills. When I taught on a three person team, I taught
science to all kids and one section of social studies plus the reading and
life skills. The four-person teams only teach one subject like science and
then reading and life skills.
Teaming, for me, has been wonderful and much preferred to different kids
every hour. I get to know them by name and learning styles. I get to know
their families. I work with building colleagues to solve learning problems
or give them extra support. I am able to collaborate with the other teachers
on my team to build inter-related units.
For example, I reinforce the writing skills taught by the language arts
teacher in my science assignments. Likewise, the language arts teacher may
use examples from my math or science assignments as the basis for her writing
instruction. It helps me see all the subjects relatedness and that helps
my leverage student learning.
There's so much to MS philosophy and what I've written is only the tip of
the iceberg. But, for me, this is part of the heart and soul of the MS philosophy.
And that's why I love it so much. I'm sure other listers will have great
ideas to share.
- Marsha
------------------------------
Caron asked Marsha a question.
Do you feel someone can cover all the areas sufficiently? I would gag
if someone asked me to teach history. I can do Math and English...no problem...and
science would require additional planning...but if someone asked me to be
on a team and teach History. I would probably rethink my career....
- Curious Caron
-------------------------------
Marsha shared her point of view regarding whether middle school teachers
are capable of teaching most subjects.
You know, I think you've hit upon one of the tweaky areas of teaching
assignments. And I think the answer depends on the person. I thought that
I would die when they told me that I would have to teach Math for the first
time. (I had a math minor in college, so I knew content. But teaching concepts---explaining
why you do something and how you do it---was a whole different thing.) And
I invested untold hours in learning the curriculum.
I didn't want to mess up the kids because I was incompetent. But what I
found out was that the things that made my science class solid --- classroom
management techniques, my attitude towards learning, etc --- are common
to all classes.
I just stayed ahead of them in the lessons, asked lots of questions of the
same level math teachers, read the NCTM middle level magazine for about
5 years, and worked my way through it. In some ways, I might have been a
better math teacher than teachers who feel very comfortable with the material.
I knew the tough spots because they seemed more obvious to me than the stuff
that comes naturally for other people.
So my answer is teachers can probably teach all areas, if they can teach
to begin with and they have a willingness to learn new things. I have seen
teachers who are unbelievably talented in one area just fold their arms
and refuse to try in another subject area. They're terrible and the kids
suffer. I don't think its matter of can't with them....it's more of "won't."
Not everyone believes this, though. And I would certainly agree with the
belief that if I majored in a subject area and have taught it for umpteen
years that I would be better than someone who was just assigned. I would
hope that the administration would always be able to put us in positions
that draw upon our strengths, but I know that just hasn't always been possible
in my school.
So, I guess that's a qualified yes. And don't rethink your career if you
get this chance!! Think of it as an adventure. I was shocked at how much
I liked teaching math, how much the students learned, and how well it went.
I wouldn't have predicted that in a million years. But I'm glad I survived
the challenge and lived to tell the story.
- Marsha
---------------------------------
Caron added to her previous posting.
I know I teach math better because I struggled with it. My M.Ed is in
Secondary English....and my undergrad degree is technical....but still...it
will be interesting to see if the time comes. Until this year I taught both
English and Math....and it often wore me out. I taught composition...and
an accelerated Math....some days I felt as if I was jumping out of both
sides of my brain.....but it kept me hopping. That is for sure.
- Caron
-----------------------
Donald agreed a skillful teacher can learn to teach just about anything.
I really do agree with Marsha. Having elementary roots, it is my feeling
that what we do is TEACH KIDS. The content we teach is secondary to that.
We all have those teaching skills that you referred to, and therefore we
can teach. I personally know I can teach any subject you throw at me in
middle school. Do I want to teach any subject? Heck no! But I can.
At my school there are teachers who are really into their discipline, and
feel that is the only thing they can teach. And they are insulted if anyone
outside their discipline suggests they could teach the subject.
I have taught 7th grade Social Studies twice before and boy did I have to
stay one step ahead of the students. However I felt I did a good job (well,
the second year I did a good job), because I was able to facilitate the
students' learning and exploration. Then for two years I've taught reading,
thinking that was it for me. Well, next year I'm back at teaching 7th grade
SS! It will be hard, but I plan on doing it very differently next year.
I want to incorporate much of the arts (performance and visual), and I want
the students to do a lot of their own research. I will do just fine. I will
work my rear off (which I already do with my classes and running the theatre
program).
I really feel my elementary roots are the reason that I feel confident that
I can teach every subject, because I had to for 19 years. And teachers who
didn't have to can do so also, but I know some who don't think they can.
- Donald
-----------------------------
Donald also shared some of his frustration concerning the misuse of homeroom
periods.
We are reorganizing our homeroom next year. Presently it's a joke. We
only meet periodically during the year for our meager goal setting, and
to prepare for our silly student-led conferences. I don't even know some
of my homeroom students. (I had requested input from this List on student-led
conferences, and got some wonderful thought provoking ideas. I only call
our student-led conferences silly, because we don't do them correctly. How
can we when we hardly meet with our students, and don't even know them.)
Anyway I am on the homeroom committee, and after a staff meeting to discuss
the topic the committee met, and we came up with a proposal. It consists
of having homeroom once a week. Personally I would like it at least two
times a week, but our committee decided that was too big a change for the
staff. It was discussed at a staff meeting today, and a number of teachers
are concerned that it's just prep. Watch it folks, this is where I get frustrated.
Too many of the teachers at my school are so "prep-leery." They're
always concerned about adding another prep! Prep this, prep that! Jeeze,
a homeroom for 25 minutes once a week! Can't they handle that?
I am excited about the possibility of what we can do during that time. We
will be getting another half-time counselor next year, and our principal
is planning on having that person plan the homeroom "curriculum."
But they're still complaining that it's another prep! I say let these teachers
teach elementary school for a week, and then complain about all their preps!
- Donald
---------------------------------
Caron stated her opinion concerning the importance of scheduling daily
homerooms periods.
We have advisory, every day after second period for about 20 minutes.
Mondays we have chapel. You really need a daily time to build a relationship.
I am responsible for monitoring the academic/social progress or regress
of 13 students...so I need to know them well.
There are several good "canned" advisory programs out there...just
do a quick surf and I am sure some things will show up.
The main problem we have is our advisory often gets used for other things
like meetings, and different events. Eventually we lose touch with our kids.
- Caron
-----------------------
Carol shared her schools' future plans regarding scheduled homeroom periods.
I have to say, I couldn't agree more with Donald. I teach ESE self-contained
and I have the same type of day as an elementary school teacher. Next year
we are trying to have a 30 minute block of time for something similar to
homeroom. We are not sure how this will be done yet, but before we can even
decide as a staff what we want to do, the staff decided to "vote"
on if they even wish to set aside these 30 minutes...enough said.
- Carol
---------------------------------------
In Donald and Carol's schools, homeroom periods are not a given. Donald
shared some thoughts concerning this.
At our staff meeting on Wed we had a long discussion on whether to have
next year's homeroom purely along grade lines and loop, or have a 7/8 split.
That's what we have now. I prefer the split. The staff is about 50/50 on
this.
The people who wanted pure grades feel that the 8th graders are not necessarily
a good role model for the 7th graders, and in the split kids won't be as
apt to share their thoughts and concerns. I think it all depends on the
teacher's approach.
We don't mix the kids enough in our school, and where the kids are mixed
(as in my after school drama program and our "leadership" organization)
it works very well. Any wisdom out there?
- Donald
----------------------------------------
Robyn explained how homeroom periods are scheduled in her school.
At my school we have homeroom every day for 30 minutes. The homeroom
is part of our 4th hour class, which is also the period which coincides
with lunch. I like having homeroom every day because it allows the teachers
to do some fun things with their homeroom classes.
- Robyn
---------------------------
Sharon shared the various activities followed during homeroom times at
her school.
We need to have homeroom because of the scheduling of three lunches.
This time is used for silent reading, homework catch-up, and outdoor recess
for the 6th grade students, and anything else that comes up like a short
assembly.
- Sharon
---------------------------------
Anne discussed the difference between homeroom periods and advisory periods.
Don asked about homerooms. In my system, homeroom is simply a time to
take roll, say the pledge, watch Channel One, and turn in a list of absentees
and tardies to the office. We also use that time for morning announcements,
keeping track of which students have returned what forms, writing notices
to students who have too many tardies and/or absences, and a variety of
clerical chores. I think what Don might have been referring to was what
we call an "advisory" period. I recall that we had a
listserv discussion on advisory periods a while back.
In the meantime, in a best-case scenario, homerooms as I know them - the
clerical version - would be handled in some other way (maybe by clerical
personnel? Now, there's a stretch!) and teachers would have that additional
20 minutes each morning for instruction and/or preparation. Advisory periods
would have a school-wide focus and the counselor would provide teachers
with materials, information, and support for making productive use of that
time.
- Anne
---------------------------
Rick emphasized the importance of advisory periods and the value of "looping"
advisory p; staying with the same students three years.
Advisory, if used correctly, is one of the cornerstones of the middle
school. We have 20 minutes at the beginning of the day, but the best part
of our Advisory is that we get the students at 6th grade and keep them for
three years. We use the time in Advisory for team building, organizational
skills, and just a non-academic environment for the students to feel comfortable.
- Rick
--------------------
Matt asked a question.
Who creates the curriculum you use? Do students receive a grade for
this, and if not, how do you deal with teacher concerns that students in
a class with no grade won't behave?
I really want an advisory period at my school, but we are having quite a
bit of resistance to the idea.
- Matt
------------------------
Rick responded to Matt's query.
We do not use a "canned" curriculum for Advisory, so it is
up to the discretion of the individual teacher. We talk about issues such
as: decision making, peer pressure, bullying, etc. The students do not receive
an academic grade, but they do receive a citizenship grade.
- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeanina's posting to the MiddleWeb listserv reiterated the point that
unless there is a clear sense of purpose, homeroom periods can amount to
waste of time.
In my school, homeroom (to the students) means that they have 25 minutes
each morning to stand in the halls and socialize. Although school starts
at 7:45 and 1st hour at 8:10 our students do not come into the classroom
until 8:15 each morning. For some of the teachers homeroom means that they
do not need to be in the building until 8:15 each day. This is a real problem
and "Okays" the fact that students are late.
Our homeroom time is also for business stuff, attendance, Channel One, and
announcements. The students in our homeroom are almost always also assigned
to our 1st period so we end up just doing all of that during 1st hour anyway.
I guess I would like to have homeroom fewer times each week and start enforcing
school start times. I think your ideas of what could happen in homeroom
are wonderful....if only...Well maybe next year (I am switching schools).
- Jeanina
-----------------------------
Marsha shared the homeroom schedule that was ultimately the most successful
at her school.
I have to tell you that the best homeroom program we ever had was the
year(s) when we met everyday for 20 minutes. Believe me; we tried every
format under the sun before settling on this one. All had positives and
negatives, but the "everyday for 20" was by far and away the best
in my building.
Here's why.
Everyday we read announcements and attendance, getting it out of the way.
Then we had a weekly schedule and everyone in the building participated.
Mondays; we helped the kids get organized for the week, previewed what was
coming up that might need extended attention (test, project, special event)
and then we just shared how our weekend had gone --- terrific time to get
to know each other and establish community;
Tuesday, was SSR and we read the entire 20 minutes (they didn't like it
at first but settled in once they knew we were serious);
Wednesday we did Current Events---the principal bought a copy of Time for
Kids or Current Events for each student---we would vote on whether just
to read one article and discuss or read the whole thing (usually they picked
read and discuss);
Thursday was Problem solving day and we worked on math word problems, puzzles,
crossword puzzles or played chess/checkers/strategy game;
Friday was celebration day for birthdays or just that we had made it through
the week --- each HR could invite another over to play a group game or celebrate
birthdays etc. The only big "no-no" was study hall which was a
faculty-wide decision. We didn't want it to slip into a herd and baby-sit
type 20 minutes.
There was really very little to organize; only Thursday took some planning.
Our principal hired one teacher from each grade level to prepare a set of
activities from which you could pick to use on problem solving day. If you
had a better idea, you could also do that. If there was some really cool
assembly, we ran it during this time and the assembly pre-empted HR.
I know that most Home Rooms bonded and came to see each other as a safe
haven. It was a wonderful way to start each day and it set a positive, collaborative
tone for the whole day.
I learned more group games than I could ever imagine and as you might predict
they had their favorites. Train Wreck was the best. [Editor's Note: Here's
one explanation of the game -- "Train Wreck is where you put chairs
in a circle and everyone sits down except one person he's the chair puller.
The chair puller starts the game by saying something he likes to do, or
something he's wearing etc. When he says that everyone that thinks the same
as him has to move to a different chair. As people are moving the chair
puller pulls a chair from the circle. The person who is left stand is the
one who starts the next round. Who ever is still sitting in a chair at the
end of the game is the winner! Oh ya I almost forgot, if someone says Train
Wreck during the game everyone has to move. Try it out it's a really cool
game."]
And the 7th grade loved it when we ran the Tug 'O War championships!! Every
Friday for over a month we had pull offs and they watched the brackets like
hawks!! I would have never dreamed you could get 260+ 7th graders interested
in the same thing at the same time, but they really enjoyed this simple
fun. And I can tell you that over the course of all those Mondays, they
got better at learning how to anticipate what they should be doing to prepare
for meeting their week's expectations. We didn't really have formal lessons
although sometimes when I saw a need, I did a quickie-mini-lesson on organizational
skills. It was mostly the process of talking through the review.
Good luck in your hunt. It took our faculty much iteration to work through
many optional formats. I hope you find the one that is best for your teachers
and students.
- Marsha
--------------------------
Melba explained how her school connected literacy to advisory periods.
We have an advisory time we call Prime Time. For the beginning of the
school year, we do some lessons on appropriate classroom behavior, manners
in the halls, cafeteria, how to get the teacher's attention, and bullying.
Because our school is a literacy-focused school, we stress reading so that
once the first days of schools are over and our students have all had a
chance to go and check out books from the library, our Prime Time becomes
a daily "Drop Everything and Read" time for the entire 20 minutes.
At the end of each 6-weeks period, we use Thursdays and Fridays for recapture
(catching up with late assignments, missed or failed work, in-school tutorials).
This has worked extremely well for us. Our students are carrying books to
all of their classes and using sticky notes for their reading connections.
It is a school-wide effort and our students actually got the message!
- Melba
------------------------
Susie explained the method used to group homeroom students at her school
and commented on its advantages.
Our homerooms are one grade level each -- and all students in a homeroom
are on the same team. This has been a tremendous organizational advantage
for us.
Report cards, field trip materials, student-led conference, assembly, and
even overdue notices are easily arranged and distributed. It is easy to
locate students. On days when advisory is used to reinforce different skills
or do a special activity, it is also easy for the team of teachers to work
together. It is also simple for a student to see another team teacher if
there are questions about homework, finishing a test, etc.
All students on the same team have their locker nearby, and all students
are in a team class immediately after homeroom (it was thought to be important
that academic teams all start off the day with students.) There are many
students on the team who are not in any of the same classes, but know each
other through homeroom. (Our teams have reached 180 students -- about 9
teachers have students from that team.)
Exploratory teachers are attached to academic teams for advisory, which
is sometimes a plus, as there are not that many times exploratory and "regular"
teams work together.
I do see where there could be benefits of multi-grade level homerooms, but
our system works well for us. Some of our eighth graders would definitely
intimidate some of the younger students.
- Susie
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Deborah Bova shared some of the homeroom activities followed at her school.
Homeroom/advisory is about the same over at Raymond Park, a sister school
to Susie's Creston Middle School. Our kids really do get to know each other,
and to pull together for our three week testing that focuses on standards.
For the past two testing, they all got a mastery score... because in part,
they were urged to do well by each other.
We handle about what Susie does, and in some instances, we do special things,
like decorate our doors, bring in a holiday breakfast, talk about manners,
discuss academics, and many other things. I think it helps our kids enormously.
- Deborah
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Juli began to wrap up this multi-faceted conversation string by wondering
why, if homeroom period is so central to middle school philosophy, every
school has a different model.
It seems like every year I worked in middle school, and we had this
huge conversation about homeroom. No 2 years were the same and nothing worked
very well. Then we got rid of it entirely.
My question:
What is the research about homeroom in middle school?
What does it say about what works for kids, not teachers?
Is it an essential part of the middle school philosophy?
It seems like the answer to that is yes, but no one that I know of has it
"wired". Every school had a different model.
I wonder what Michelle Pedigo thinks works and why/how to do it.
- Juli
------------------------------------------
Michelle offered Juli a "how we did it then" and a "how
I'd do it now" response to wrap up this chat.
Homeroom is one of those vicious "damned if you do, damned if you don't"
situations, and we've tried to think through which would be best for our
BCMS community. First, I'll share what we came to, and then I'll share what
I think would be best.
My second year as principal, I began to advocate that first period would
be homeroom for kids (instead of doing it the traditional way); we would
have a designated homeroom time, but we would not have an additional passing
time. Our core teams of teachers liked that, except for the team which had
first period planning time, because they would not see their students during
homeroom, nor would they have all the homeroom responsibilities they had
complained about all those years.
As they thought about it, they articulated that the related arts teachers
would switch homerooms every six weeks because we were on that rotation
at the time, and according to them, those teachers, because they were with
the kids only a short amount of time, would never be able to connect with
the kids. At the time, we had chosen not to have a true "advisory"
program, so this brought concern.
It also brought concern with regard to attendance issues. As a school, we
pride ourselves in good student attendance, usually ranking in the Top 20
of all middle schools in KY, consistently from year to year. My take on
that is that speaks volumes about the level of student engagement in our
classrooms, but it also says that our teams of teachers make attendance
a priority (so does the Assistant Principal). We call when students are
absent, etc.
So, core teachers felt that rotating homeroom on the one team from related
arts to related arts teacher, depending on who the students had first period
each six weeks would cause that one team's attendance to suffer. What that
really said was that they thought it would cause those students to feel
less connected with their team of teachers and with their school. That resonated,
and we decided that everyone would have homeroom with their first period
teacher except for the team who goes to related arts first period. In this
case, the students go to homeroom first and then to their related arts class
at the end of homeroom.
Now, what did we do in homeroom? BCMS has a News Crew, who does all our
morning announcements, live. This group of about six students comes to school
early every morning to put together a "news show." They've gone
as far as hook up a computer monitor with Microsoft Word to be their tele-prompter
because our students complained that they could only see the top of their
heads when they were reading the announcements. This news show lasts about
seven minutes of the ten-minute homeroom. Periodically, as needed, usually
at least once every two weeks, the Vice Principal and I would go on live,
to announce something. It was just a specified time every day that students
could expect information. Otherwise, we used the time to distribute and
collect forms, money, pictures, etc.
It was ten minutes, and this time could not count in our instructional six
hour and five minute day, according to the Kentucky Department of Education,
and I felt good about that because it truly wasn't instruction. Basically,
we started the day ten minutes earlier to have it.
What would I do differently now? Since then, I've learned about a structure
where students would be able to think overtly about the interdisciplinary
concepts that are being taught them each day in all subjects. For example,
if the team was focusing on the concept of change, this time would be allotted
for students to really understand how the change concepts go across the
curriculum. In their team planning and as a part of their curriculum maps,
the team would decide the structure of this time and the learning events
that would take place, and every teacher on the team would do them.
I like that structure a lot, because it leaves out the "chance"
we were taking with our interdisciplinary instruction p; the chance
that students weren't making the connections. Also, we could extend homeroom
a bit because now it would have an instructional focus. I'm not sure if
I would want this every day (probably not), but maybe every other day.
If this was the structure, advisory could also work into it, and it could
become a part of the curriculum, as well. Maybe this will spur more thought,
but the bottom line for me, as others have said, is that there be a focus
to it. Every minute that counts for instructional time must be used towards
higher student achievement. If they aren't, we'll never get every child
to meet the standards. That said, I still believe we can accomplish this
goal.
Michelle