Running Record of our chat about
"Meet Me in the Middle"
John Norton opened the discussion:
Our discussion of "Meet Me in the Middle: Becoming an Accomplished
Middle-Level Teacher" with author and List member Rick Wormeli has
begun!
Remember that the complete text of Rick's book can be browsed online here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0328.htm
Rick is traveling and will join us later this evening. Meanwhile,
he's provided some introductory remarks and an opening question.
Please feel free to respond or ask a question of your own!
We'll go for about a week. If you have problems, need to leave the
list, etc., send me a private note at mailto:norton@middleweb.com
John
=========================================
RICK WORMELI WRITES:
Hi, It's an honor to be a participant in the MiddleWeb listserve, let
alone have a publication discussed by those whom I hold in such high
esteem. Thank you for the opportunity.
Meet Me in the Middle came about as a result of conversations with my
editor, Holly Holland at NMSA's Middle Ground magazine, who suggested
that it was time to put my columns and anything else I had into a
more permanent compilation. Since I was eager to "flesh out" ideas
that were limited by magazine column space, I agreed to pursue the
idea.
The original manuscript was over 900 pages long. Yeah, I was going
to inflict a 900-page tome on the education market and teachers would
read every page in awe of my pithy eloquence. Everyone should thank
Holly for slashing chapters with wild abandon and for keeping an eye
on usefulness.
Once we settled on the general length, we focused on the overall
theme. It boiled down to the fact that middle school teachers are
highly accomplished educators -- just as professional as doctors,
lawyers, and accountants, capable of doing more than one trick. As
such, middle school teachers should focus on excellence, not settle
for mediocrity, every period of the school day.
Meet Me in the Middle is an exploration of what that might look like
in a middle school practice. A secondary goal was to share
strategies and perspectives that I found particularly effective when
working with young adolescents. Every sentence was to move content
towards practical application. A final goal was to promote middle
school teaching as a dynamic, very desirable profession.
In recent years, we've realized how much we need to be Ambassadors
for Teaching, not just our subject areas. I wanted folks to read the
book and decide, "Yes, I'll stay in teaching," or "Wow, I'm
glad I'm
a middle school teacher," or "I think I'll become a middle school
teacher."
As I read back over its pages today, almost a year after I finished
the manuscript, I see many places that I would like to tighten or
modify with new information or perspective. Our middle school world
changes that much, especially when we incorporate the latest in brain
research. I hope we get to a point in which there's enough interest
to warrant a new edition wherein we can share exciting new reforms
and discoveries about teaching young adolescents - inviting teachers
to transcend the "just get me through the day" mentality that
many of
us slip into from time to time, myself included.
Middle school teaching is a wondrous journey worth embracing. We're
creating a very real future by working with today's young
adolescents. It's up to those of us in the profession to lead the
way through the free exchange of ideas such as the Middleweb
listserve and its book discussions. Thank you for being such an
important part of middle level effective practice and reform. I'll
be here - teaching, writing, and most importantly, learning - as long
as you'll have me. - Rick
BOOK STRANDS WE'VE SAID WE'LL DISCUSS:
-- motivating students and ourselves
-- differentiating instruction in an accountability era
-- taking risks as a teacher
-- mentoring...what do beginning teachers need and how can we help?
-- AND any other topics that interest or excite you!
HERE'S A STARTER QUESTION:
Let's start with what it's really all about -- the kids.
What's the nature of today's young adolescents and how have they
changed in the past ten or twenty years? Where are they heading? How
do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not a
weakness? 24. How do we best engage students in content?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ATheins77@aol.com
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
> How
> do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not a
> weakness?
Wow - what a question to start with! I think the best thing we can do for
students is to show our own struggles with learning and life and help
students realize that life is not easy, even as adults. The more we talk
about our struggles and successes with various subjects, the less fearful
they will be about taking risks in our classroom. Talking about learning
from our failures is essential, though not really something I, at least,
think about in my daily teaching. Just this question is profound to me!
Excited to start,
Amy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 22:16:45 -0500
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
From: "Chris Toy" <Chris_Toy@coconetme.org>
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG writes:
>
>> How
>> do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not
a
>> weakness?
I think it's important to redefine the struggle as more of a challenge,
or
even better yet, a series of manageable, and progressively more complex
challenges. These challenges need to be instrinsically meaningful to those
who are being faced with the challenge. The significance of these may be
in several forms, not unlike the way we think of learning styles, multiple
intelligences, or preferences. I think people in general are willing to
take, or accept challenges if they can first see that there is something
to
be gained or learned, or if they see the challenges as interesting. I
think after taking smaller risks with clearly defined gains, and
experiencing success, students will begin to trust the learning process
and
see the struggle for more abstract academic learning as a worthwhile,
virtuous endeavor....a quest, perhaps.
Chris Toy
Principal
Freeport Middle School
Freeport, Maine 04032
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 22:29:05 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Amy and others -- This question comes from an observation that my most
advanced students rarely take chances or challenge themselves. It seems
to
be because they fear appearing weak if they struggle with something. As
a
result, they don't achieve what they could truly achieve, and when they
do
run up against something difficult, they avoid it or don't know how to cope
with the struggle in a healthy manner. If they're going to achieve
excellence and reach their academic goals, they're going to have to take
chances and struggle. One way I found to do this is basically what you say,
Amy: model it. I take on academic challenges in front of my students and
hopefully handle them with grace. If students never see us challenge
ourselves, struggle, and sometimes stumble as we come to know something,
they never have a picture of it in their minds, nor do they see it as
acceptable practice. When teachers struggle academically, students also
see
that others still respect and accept them, despite the struggle. I'm struck
by how many things have gone undiscovered because someone decided to play
it
safe with their studies and save face. This skill is too important to
future success and our students are at a critical stage of values
development to not actively pursue a culture of academic risk-taking in
our
classrooms.
-- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 22:37:38 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
I agree, Chris. Some of us are just starting out on the journey and some
well on the way with embracing challenge as virtuous, then of course, taking
action as a result of such a realization. And you're right, nothing
motivates like success. If we make rewards and success attainable in short
experiences with academic struggle early on, students are inclined to pursue
it. Trust in the learning process, as you say, is key. So is trusting the
teacher. The thing that I've just come to realize in the past few years,
however, is that we have to actively plan and facilitate the struggles,
successes, and trust. We can't just leave these things to chance -- nice
if they occur, but not vital to the learning that day. They are as much
a
part of our lesson plans as which assessment we're going to use.
-- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "crystalannie" <crystalannie@attbi.com>
Subject: [MWbooklist] How do we get students to accpet struggles as a virtue,
not a weakness?
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 08:12:58 -0800
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Good Morning Everyone,
Rick, I am just delighted about your partcipation! Ironically on Thursday,
our principal had the information for any of us who were interested in your
simulcast on the Internet next Tuesday, so the timing here is wonderful!
I teach learning disabled kids who struggle acadmeically to begin with,
but
I do a few things as part of my routine on a regular basis:
-Whenever I give homework or classwork, I also include assignments which
I
preface with "If you'd like to challenge yourself, you can also do..."
The
majority of the kids always try those extra, more difficult asginments,
which I find very exciting.
-I have a board in my room titled, "Stupendous Students." Whenver
a student
recevies a quiz/essay back that I feel is their best work; that they have
put extra effort into; I will ask them if they want to hang it up, or bring
it home to show their parents. Most of them either want to hang it up, or
show it to their parents first, and then bring it back to hang up.
-Our principal has an honor roll breakfast each term where they get a
certificate, he shakes their hands, parents come, pictures are taken and
posted on our web site. It is a real honor for the kids and they love it,
and strive towards it.
Laurie Wasserman
crystalannie@attbi.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 09:19:15 -0500
From: John Norton <jcroftn1@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Rick's webcast on motivation
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Laurie wrote:
>Good Morning Everyone,
>Rick, I am just delighted about your partcipation! Ironically on Thursday,
>our principal had the information for any of us who were interested
in your
>simulcast on the Internet next Tuesday, so the timing here is wonderful!
I posted the info about this on the main List last week. Here it is
again...the subject of this webcast fits right in to our current
topic...maybe Rick can share with us some of what he'll be saying on
Tuesday.
John
++++++++
"Powerful Practices: Motivating and Engaging the Middle School
Student" featuring Rick Wormeli (1996 Disney Outstanding Teacher).
Tuesday March 5th, 2002 at 3:30 PM EST and again at 3:30 PM PST
Middle school educators from one school can participate in a group
setting, with a desktop computer hooked up to a projector and the
speaker phone turned on. No limitation on the number of participants
in a group.
Rick's talk will focus on four aspects of motivating students, and
will have interactive polling questions after each segment.
Interactivity is encouraged for all registrants both through email
facilities as well as with live telephone Q& A sessions after each of
the following sessions:
1. The Motivating and Engaging Classroom
2. Principles of Motivating Assignments
3. Practical Motivation Ideas from Brain Research
4. The Student For Whom None of These Things Works.
Subsequent online events will build on this initial event, so if you
want to participate in the full series, it is important to register
for the first event.
To register online go to
http://www.knowledgedelivery.biz/conf1_registration.asp
For more information, call 1-800-728-0032 or 1-800-528-NMSA.
Conference sponsored by National Middle School Association, the
National Association of Elementary School Principals and Knowledge
Delivery Systems, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "RATZEL, MARSHA" <MRATZEL@bv229.k12.ks.us>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] Summary of chat so far - jump in!
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 08:41:54 -0600
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
What's the nature of today's young adolescents and how have they
changed in the past ten or twenty years?
I see so much of what I remember in the students of today and so many
different things. They still worry about all the social issues, but face
many much harder problems than I did. Their families are not as intact.
They are bright and anxious to engage the world...ready to be grown up and
not ready to accept the responsibility. Just like my generation. I see the
biggest difference as the time factor. Their lives are lived in fast
forward...everything is NOW and instant. It's hard for them to struggle
with anything because this is not reflective of their family environment,
the community or the media. I just heard a report on NPR about a new kind
of mall store that tries to embody the essence of adolescents. It's
marketing objective is to turn over the entire store's inventory every two
months --- replacing it with whatever the store's interactive kiosks report
the kids want to have. Wow...that's a much different approach than the
Sears or Penny's of my past.
Where are they heading?
I think they are heading for non-linear type lives. I don't foresee that
they will go the HS, have four years of college, get a job and work there
forever. I would see that college is more optional than ever...so much of
the dot.com industry doesn't require it and the kids are wizards in
technology. They are articulating quickly into the junior colleges which
have fabulous tech ed courses ( graphic arts, video production, etc). The
ones that do go to college take much longer to get through. They expect
to
drop courses where their grade is lower than a "B", so getting
credits takes
longer. And they travel in Semester Abroad or Internships semesters. Both
of our state colleges now have an average graduation time of 5.2 years.
I'm
not sure most students will have coat and tie jobs. I think many will be
more of the lone eagle model, working out of their homes or via the WWW.
How do we best engage students in content?
For me, the engagement comes from teacher passion and excitment. If you,
as
the teacher, think somethings neat and cool to learn, they will. But that
requires us to know our content inside and out. It requires that we are
lifelong learners in our content area. In the MS where I work, they shift
us around so much from one content area to another or from one grade to
another, that's it hard to be thoroughly prepared to teach all subjects
well. I also think, it requires us to know how to apply sound instructional
strategies that directly apply to our content area. For example, science
relies heavily on being able to manage cooperative learning groups. As the
science teachers, I really need to have this instructional strategy down
pat
as it applies to lab environment. I would expect the LA, math and Social
studies teachers to have some similar needs, but also ones that reflect
the
uniqueness of their content area. I also think the integration of
technology is essential. It's the kids of today's medium.
I thought what everyone had already said about learning to struggle is well
taken. In fact, I used to have something I called "Planned Struggle".
I
used it to signal that students to wrestle with the work independently for
a
brief period of time...then we'd discuss or work with a partner...or
whatever. It helped them to learn that I knew it was tough for them, but
I
wanted them to learn how to perservere.
marsha
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] How do we get students to accpet struggles as
a virtue, not a weakness?
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 10:16:40 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Laurie -- These are motivating ideas. Thanks for sharing them. Public
affirmation of taking on positive challenges is a powerful motivator. I
wonder if we could have an "honor roll" of sorts that affirms
students who
took on academic challenges. They would be recognized for their tenacity,
courage, and commitment to learning. This might go a long way to creating
a
culture of students and teachers that challenge themselves with content
and
skills, and it wouldn't matter where folks were in terms of readiness with
a
topic.
Thanks for the interest in the upcoming Web cast. I'm very excited about
it,
too, but to be honest, I'm a little nervous. It's our inaugural run at
this. So far, there over 1,500 people signed up to participate. -- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ATheins77@aol.com
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 12:36:31 EST
Subject: [MWbooklist] Building suspense
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
One of the things Rick mentioned about effective lessons was building
suspense. I'm at a loss on this one, and it really is something I've never
really thought about it. Can anyone give me examples of things they have
done?
Amy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] Building suspense
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 00:32:05 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Hi Amy -- I'd like to add some examples to the mix. Creating suspense can
be done seemingly inadvertently such as when we wonder aloud while reading
aloud with the class, "I wonder how she'll get herself out of this
one," to
full drama such as when we place a box in the center of the room on a Monday
and it's wrapped with police tape and a printed warning: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL
FRIDAY AND ONLY IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ADULT. The atmosphere of expectancy
can really shape students' participation. Other ideas include foreshadowing
such as when we say things at the end of one's day's lesson, "Come
back
tomorrow and find out how throwing a baseball led to the development of
the
first nuclear submarine." James Burke's PBS (or Discovery Channel)
television series, "Connections" is really good at this sort of
thing.
Socrates said that all thinking begins with wonder. If that's the case,
then we have to create wonder in our classes, not just leave it to chance.
It's something to plan for purposefully. Suspense or anticipation go a long
way to getting students to engage in learning. I believe people are
intrinsically motivated to learn; it's in the nature of humans to be
curious. Many times, however, other distractions compete with that natural
inclination and it's diluted. Successful teachers minimize those factors,
and they incorporate anticipation and suspense as they orchestrate the
learning.
-- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: SKosmoski@aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 07:35:59 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Building suspense
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Amy--
I love the idea of building suspense! (I have to add I am so-o-o jealous
of
your snow day! 60 degrees here in Tampa Florida on Friday! I miss the snow
and the cold.)
I tend to do some rather goofy things to build suspense. I talked the mailman
into running into a seventh grade science class one day to deliver a package
of bacteria slides. He laughed for a week--but he played the part
well--"These are very dangerous--top secret even!" he told the
kids that he
had been paid an enormous amount of money to fast deliver them directly
to
our classroom! He still talks about it.
Last week I dressed up as "Rosie the Riveter" and visited our
American
History classes telling "my" story. It was hard to stay in character
and not
laugh--but the kids won't forget that. Their teacher had told them that
they
were having a very special visitor from another time period. I tell them
I am
an old woman anyway--so they figured it out.
Mary Anne
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Norton wrote (rushing to catch up):
This strategy of building curiosity, suspense and excitement is one of the
most effective engagement tools I've witnessed in the many classrooms I've
visited over the years. Plus, I can still remember a few teachers who used
these strategies back in the Dark Ages when I was a middle schooler (a junior
higher, actually). I can still name the teacher, the event, and almost the
DAY we were involved in such exciting learning. I'll bet you can, too. And
what does that tell us?!
Rick's idea about the police tape reminded me of a classroom I visited a
few years ago where the history teacher was beginning a unit on Early Man.
When the kids entered the classroom that Monday morning, they found an "archaeological
dig" set up in the middle of the space, complete with warning tape,
a sand-and-rock environment covering the floor, archaeological tools, and
artifacts and fossils poking up, barely visible, from the sand. Were they
excited? Over the course of the week, they learned how scientists carefully
search for buried evidence. They watched several videos about the Leakeys,
the discovery of "Lucy", technique, etc. They created scientific
data collection sheets, practiced using the tools, etc. By the time they
were allowed to go on "the dig," they were absolutely and completely
engaged and couldn't wait to find out what was buried in the sand.
Here are the opening paragraphs of the story I wrote about this. You can
read the entire story at:
http://www.middleweb.com/CSLB3Hooverpg1.html
John
++++++++++++++++++++
It's hot as Ethiopia in Alicia Estrada's Hoover Middle School classroom.
Southern California's first rainfall in seventh months is steam-cleaning
the blue and white uniforms of 35 spirited sixth graders. The yellow caution
tape surrounding the human skeleton sprawled on the floor is barely enough
to hold them back.
"Is it real? Is it real?"
Ms. Estrada's enigmatic smile gives nothing away. She's dressed for an archaeological
dig -- khaki shorts, hiking boots, and a long paintbrush in her back pocket
to carefully sweep dirt away from the fragile artifacts scattered around
the human bones. A sign reads: "Use Caution! Paleolithic Grave Site!
Archaeologist at Work!"
Estrada has shoved desks back against the walls to make room for her excavation
site, arranged like a boxing ring with the tape strung from dayglo orange
posts. A grid of twine criss-crosses the protected area -- the north-south
lines are numbered; the east-west lines have letters.
The kids have been asked to become part of a field expedition that has just
uncovered "an amazing find." It's their job to recreate the grid
on paper and carefully plot the location of each artifact, using the same
methods used by archaeologists and paleoanthropologists....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MAMASWIRLZ@aol.com
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 19:57:56 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Reading the discussion about how we can encourage kids to take academic
risks
made me thing about the creation of challanging research projects. Our
principal demands monthly themed bulletin boards. As an AP I try to support
the teachers I work with, so they don't get yelled at or have letters put
in
their file for failing to create these bulletin boards. I asked the
librarian to work with a group of students to do research for Women's History
Month. The students wanted to do little biographies of women they had heard
of. The librarian insisted that they work on researching what life was like
for women during different periods of history. Since it was voluntary, some
dropped out, but most of the students stuck with it and the work is going
well.
Naomi
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 00:32:06 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Naomi --
Your librarian's topic for the students sounds great -- challenging
and a bit different than the typical approach. I bet the display is going
to be very engaging. A red flag went up in my mind when I read the line,
"...so they don't get yelled at or have letters put in their file for
failing to create these bulletin boards." Is there truly a danger of
such
responses from the administration for a teacher that doesn't create a
bulletin board? IF so, isn't this a little over the top? And is the
situation such that teachers are only motivated to create monthly themed
bulletin boards because of such threats -- so much so that you, the AP,
has
to help them get through it? I might be misinterpreting things, of course.
It just doesn't seem conducive to collegiality. I've been in schools that
ask different teams to take different bulletin boards in the school's
hallways and do something intelligent with them each month, but we've never
been threatened with something in our employment file or with being yelled
at, figuratively or literally. We do it because we have pride in our
students and what they're learning/achieving, and we realize the need to
share responsibilities.
-- Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MAMASWIRLZ@aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 09:29:03 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
In a message dated 3/2/02 9:35:56 PM, Rick Wormeli writes:
<< A red flag went up in my mind when I read the line,
"...so they don't get yelled at or have letters put in their file for
failing to create these bulletin boards." Is there truly a danger of
such
responses from the administration for a teacher that doesn't create a
bulletin board? >>
Rick,
This is absolutely the situation, which is one of the reasons I am looking
for another job. Last Monday the principal called an emergency meeting.
She
used over an hour (teachers felt intimidated and stayed on their own time)
to
yell at the teachers about their rooms, bulletin boards etc. She even stated
that you can tell what is happening in the classroom from the bulletin
boards. She threatened the teachers and has instructed me to write up anyone
who doesn't meet her standards. I might mention that 25 of our 32 teachers
are first year teachers with no education background. It is hard to believe,
but true.
We also have wonderful consultants from Australia, through a program called
AUSSIE, who work with us in balanced literacy and numeracy. The principal
and
other building administrators do not understand what they are doing, and
undermine them as much as possible.
Naomi
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 23:40:15 -0700
From: Brenda A Dyck <dyckba@shaw.ca>
Subject: [MWbooklist] Developing a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
"How do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not
a
weakness?"
Operating from the premise: "Teaching Until They Get It" has helped
develop a culture of continuous improvement in my math class. Students
must achieve a 75% grade on exams otherwise they need to go through a
rewrite process. The process is as follows:
- come in for 1-2 noon hour tutorials
- take home 1-2 nights of homework that prvides additional drill
- rewrite the exam
This procedure has become a natural part of math and most everyone goes
through a rewite process at some point. Students aren't embarrased in
fact some of the 75% plus studnets want the opportunity to improve their
mark too. This enthusiasm seems to encourage the struggling student to
even try for a 5-10% improvement. The goal is improvement whether you
are at a 53% or a 81%. We talk a lot about the fact that some stduents
need to be exposed to a concept a number of times in order to
internatize it and that teachers and students often turn in the towel
too early.
"Teaching Until They Get It" has changed my teaching and my kids
perspective on learning.
Brenda
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MAMASWIRLZ@aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 10:36:45 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Developing a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
In a message dated 3/2/02 10:41:24 PM, dyckba@shaw.ca writes:
<< Students
must achieve a 75% grade on exams otherwise they need to go through a
rewrite process. >>
What a great idea, Brenda. I think if all school systems provided for this
(including payment for the teachers) we would be far ahead.
Naomi
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Wormeli" <rwormeli@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] Meet Me...chat -- New topic, accomplished teaching
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 00:42:59 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Hi -- Please feel free to respond to the other topics about which we've
been
talking such as engaging students in challenging learning. Here's another
direction, however, if you'd like to consider it:
What's does it mean to be an "accomplished" middle level teacher?
At what
point can we say we are accomplished? What are some things you can point
to
in your experience that suggest evidence of professional accomplishment?
What can we do to help more teachers work toward becoming accomplished?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: SKosmoski@aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 07:23:44 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Meet Me...chat -- New topic, accomplished teaching
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
In a message dated 03/03/2002 5:46:56 AM, rwormeli@erols.com writes:
<< What's does it mean to be an "accomplished" middle level
teacher? >>
Hi all--
I'll start this one--I'm not sure anyone is ever "accomplished"
but--
When I started teaching middle school I had taught elementary and I had
taught traditional junior high and high school. It was 1989 and Carnegie's
Turning Points had
just been published. We were swept up in a whirlwind of professional
development to become "middle school" teachers. My principal wanted
to "do it
right!"
I think the biggest change and thus the biggest accomplishment for me was
learning to work as part of a teaching team. Working with adults is very
different from working with kids. Our principal wanted to "do middle
school."
We were given a list of 120 names and a time block and it was up to us to
schedule our classes (there were no bells) group our kids--and regroup them
as necessary. That first exercise in frustration and confusion created a
team!
When I taught elementary school we were self contained. There was no
switching classes. Except for the teachers who ate lunch at the same time--or
who had prep at the same time, I rarely had to talk to another teacher.
So,
teaming was a brand new experience! We not only shared a common time block
that we learned together to manipulate and change to match the curriculum,
but we also learned to overlap activities so we could teach smart.
>From that first experience I took away a lot of solid teaching practices,
because I learned to combine what was best practice in the other
disciplines--if it works in science--why not in language arts? We literally
spent 45 minutes every day together talking about teaching and kids and
curriculum.
I've kind of gotten off topic--but one part of being an accomplished middle
school teacher is being able to function as part of a team--to learn from
other teachers, to be able to support each other and kids.
Mary Anne
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Deborah Bambino" <dbambino@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 07:44:17 -0500
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Rick wrote:
Amy and others -- This question comes from an observation that my most
advanced students rarely take chances or challenge themselves.
I think this point is really critical when we consider the fact that our
kids will be leaving the comfort of middle school and heading into high
schools that may be bigger, more anonymous environments. If they don't
face challenges with us and get hit with them in high school, they can
flounder and feel like failures.
It is important for all of our students to understand that we struggle,
that we know how to get the help we need and that we don't give up on
ourselves in the face of obstacles.
I have had students come back from high school in a state of crisis
because they didn't know how to get the help they needed in their new
locale. As a result of these returning students, I began to be more
explicit about risk taking and learning how to get the assistance we all
need at various points in our growth.
Debbie
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 07:38:07 -0500
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Meet Me...chat -- New topic, accomplished teaching
From: "Chris Toy" <Chris_Toy@coconetme.org>
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Interesting that this should come up. Our administrative team took some
time recently to grapple with the question of what we want in good
teachers. Here's our top 7:
-rapport with students
-strong work ethic
-reflective practitioner
-reasonably intelligent
-able to work with others
-sense of humor, kind
-brings new skills, knowledge to the building/district
The real trick is how to operationalize these characteristics. That is,
how do we figure out if candidates for positions posess these
characteristics? Moreover, how do we KNOW when teachers are embodying them
in their work and when they are lacking?
Chris Toy
Principal
Freeport Middle School
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "RATZEL, MARSHA" <MRATZEL@bv229.k12.ks.us>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] Meet Me...chat -- New topic, accomplished teachi
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 07:07:21 -0600
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
What's does it mean to be an "accomplished" middle level teacher?
My list would include things like
----being enthusiastic/passionate about your subject matter
----loving the kids and having a solid means of interacting with them and
they with you --- being capable of creating "safe" classroom
----knowing how to be a diagnostician with assessments
----and once you've figured out what they know and don't know, using
instruction that fits your discipline
----forcing yourself to create time to sit back, figure out what works and
doesn't work and making plans to change your practice
----being an integral, contributing member of your team, your school and
beyond
----embracing your student's parents as a vital, contributing partner in
that year's efforts; find meaningful ways for them to be involved
----being a lifelong learner so you know your content area inside and out
as
well as understanding the development stages of the age group with which
you
work
>At
>what
.point can we say we are accomplished?
I can't imagine ever feeling like you've arrived. On a good day, all these
things work together. And sometimes you're able to string together a bunch
of days. But then you hit that "hard" kid or "hard"
parent or "hard"
teammate, and everything you know doesn't work and you have to start all
over again.
>What are some things you can point
>to in your experience that suggest evidence of professional accomplishment?
---student learning; this can be reflected in test scores or in state
assessments
---student learning; taking the time to look at their work from the
beginning of a unit to the end of a unit and matching that to your learning
goals for the unit. You should be able to tell what they knew at the
beginning and what they knew at the end...if you made an impact there will
be evidence in their work. Concept maps were wonderful for me in
science....and performance tasks helped me to see if they could do something
that they couldn't before; i.e. work a math problem correctly, complete
a
lab task like focusing a microscope, preparing a slide, using Excel during
a
lab to understand what was happening in the experiment, etc etc etc.
---when colleagues are always dropping by your room to hang around and then
ask a "question" about what you would do; or they send email with
ideas to
bounce off you
>What can we do to help more teachers work toward becoming accomplished?
I would think the biggest thing is to actively be a lifelong learner.
Target one area where you believe your practice could be improved, go after
improvements via reading, talking with others, taking classes---whatever.
Then when that area is where you want it, move onto another.
marsha
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Paulette Romano" <ibmmitzi@email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Meet Me...chat -- New topic, accomplished teaching
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 08:16:37 -0600
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
As soon as I read this new topic I felt driven to respond. Not because I
feel truly "accomplished" but because it made me really look introspectively
at what I have done so far in my teaching career. I know I can say I have
accomplished tasks, successful lessons, changes in my overall performance,
but the word "accomplished" gives one the sense of completion
and I don't
feel like I will ever be finished with my learning as a teacher.
On the
other hand, there are experiences along the way that make me feel more
accomplished now than ever before. Each year as I create a new atmosphere
with a new set of kids, I feel accomplished when that all comes together
and
we are a cooperative working group of individuals. In the end to feel
accomplished at the middle school level, you must incorporate a balance
of
academic learning and social/emotional learning.
Paulette
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 09:03:36 -0600
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] WELCOME TO OUR "MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE"
CHAT!
From: Ellen Berg <ellen@accessus.net>
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Deb wrote:
> It is important for all of our students to understand that we struggle,
> that we know how to get the help we need and that we don't give up
on
> ourselves in the face of obstacles.
I think Debbie has hit on a really important idea here. Students learn
quite a bit through our modeling. We can tell them a million times that
struggling with a concept/task is natural and that we still struggle,
but if they never see us struggle, why should they believe us?
I try to share with my students when I think something isn't going well
in our classroom. I share my thinking and often ask them what they
think we might do differently. Recently I shared my own struggles with
an assigned text for a class (I can only conclude the author has WAY too
much time on his hands... :-). I read them a short passage, they
responded, "HUH???" and I told them I felt that way too. I told
them
that as I read I often heard the Charlie Brown teacher's voice going
"waaah waaah..." I told them that I was having a difficult time
connecting with the topic and often found I had read parts and had to
reread because I did not understand. I tried to share with them my
frustrations, but then turn around and share the strategies I am trying
to use to get through the text because I want to be successful at
reading the text and in my class.
Since then I have had several students ask me how I am enjoying my book;
they then encourage me to keep working at it. "You can do it,"
they say.
Ellen
Ellen Berg
Turner MEGA Magnet Middle
St. Louis, Mo
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 11:27:10 -0600
From: Tracy Miller <tlmiller@tlmiller.net>
Subject: [MWbooklist] Taking chances and accepting challenges
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
When I was growing up, no school ever represented comfort. As a military
brat, we changed schools every eighteen months, and expectations for us
were always low. We had to learn to succeed in indifferent, if not
hostile environments. Now my kids are dual national, bilingual and
bicultural and were raised to become global citizens. My third child is
at Sarah Lawrence, but has pretty much the same anxiety and sense of
floundering while finding how to work the system as my middle schoolers
do, or I did growing up.
There are good people in every institution who make up for its
shortcomings. It's sometimes hard to see the individual in the system
from the perspective of the teacher or the student. I learned early in
life to connect with individuals, and that's what I've taught my kids
and students, how to connect with the individual and to be perceived as
an individual. Smaller schools and smaller classes help. Focusing on
helping each student achieve their potential helps.
Teaching is a craft which we never finish honing, and I say that after
thirty years in the profession, two masters degrees, and contemplating
beginning a third this summer. If I have a student who feels like a
failure, then it's my job to figure out how to work smarter to move that
student out of that zone. That takes collaboration with the student,
other teachers, the counselor, and the parents. It's time consuming to
determine where this student is in terms of willingness to risk failure.
We have to make sure that we're encouraging effort where success is a
sure thing in little steps. As the student gains confidence, his steps
will grow a little longer. They also have to have had choice in this
process. If they're to become autonomous, they have to be part of the
decision making.
Tracy Miller
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 11:44:33 -0600
From: Tracy Miller <tlmiller@tlmiller.net>
Subject: [MWbooklist] Teacher accomplishment
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
When I see myself leading students to see and follow the dropped crumbs
left by a line of words I've had a good day.
Books
by Billy Collins
From the heart of this dark, evacuated campus
I can hear the library humming in the night,
a choir of authors murmuring inside their books
along the unlit, alphabetical shelves,
Giovanni Pontano next to Pope, Dumas next to his son,
each one stitched into his own private coat,
together forming a low, gigantic chord of language.
I picture a figure in the act of reading,
shoes on a desk, head tilted into the wind of a book,
a man in two worlds, holding the rope of his tie
as the suicide of lovers saturates a page,
or lighting a cigarette in the middle of a theorem.
He moves from paragraph to paragraph
as if touring a house of endless, paneled rooms.
I hear the voice of my mother reading to me
from a chair facing the bed, books about horses and dogs,
and inside her voice lie other distant sounds,
the horrors of a stable ablaze in the night,
a bark that is moving toward the brink of speech.
I watch myself building bookshelves in college,
walls within walls, as rain soaks New England,
or standing in a bookstore in a trench coat.
I see all of us reading ourselves away from ourselves,
straining in circles of light to find more light
until the line of words becomes a trail of crumbs
that we follow across a page of fresh snow;
when evening is shadowing the forest
and small birds flutter down to consume the crumbs,
we have to listen hard to hear the voices
of the boy and his sister receding into the woods.
Tracy Miller
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 15:29:18 -0700
From: Brenda A Dyck <dyckba@shaw.ca>
Subject: [MWbooklist] Teacher accomplishment
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
Tracy wrote:
"When I see myself leading students to see and follow the dropped crumbs
left by a line of words I've had a good day."
The poem that Tracy shared as part of her posting (entitled "Books"
by
Billy Collins) really spoke to me. Wonderful visual imagery. Thank you for
sharing it, Tracy. Books and stories hold such a special place in my
experience...I've spent many an hour following the trial of crumbs referred
to in this poem...I hope I've also managed to throw the crumbs out for
other to follow as well.
Brenda Dyck
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John wrote:
Well, I'm back in my mountain hideaway, where the wind chill has us at a
comfy 15 degrees below. Beginning to wonder why we didn't install central
heat when we built this house!
The booklist had some great back and forth over the weekend. At least a
dozen of you pitched in with some true insight, creative ideas, etc. Marsha's
thoughts about "kids today" and the impact of a technology-oriented,
dot.com world really got me thinking. Many of you reflected wisely and well
on what it means to "become" an accomplished teacher.
I've posted a "running record" of the conversation so far. You
can find it at:
http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/rickstring.html
Here are the two questions we've been mulling over so far. Since there are
30+ folks on this List who haven't pitched in yet, I thought we might spend
a bit more time on these and then bring in a new question. If you're out
there and haven't had a chance to comment yet, please do.
SUBJECT #1:
What's the nature of today's young adolescents and how have they
changed in the past ten or twenty years? Where are they heading? How
do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not a
weakness? 24. How do we best engage students in content?
SUBJECT #2:
What's does it mean to be an "accomplished" middle level teacher?
At what
point can we say we are accomplished? What are some things you can point
to
in your experience that suggest evidence of professional accomplishment?
What can we do to help more teachers work toward becoming accomplished?
John
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Norton <jcroftn1@mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] Building suspense & excitement
RICK WROTE:
>Hi Amy -- I'd like to add some examples to the mix. Creating suspense
can
>be done seemingly inadvertently such as when we wonder aloud while reading
>aloud with the class, "I wonder how she'll get herself out of this
one," to
>full drama such as when we place a box in the center of the room on
a Monday
>and it's wrapped with police tape and a printed warning: DO NOT OPEN
UNTIL
>FRIDAY AND ONLY IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ADULT. The atmosphere of expectancy
>can really shape students' participation.
This strategy of building curiosity, suspense and excitement is one
of the most effective engagement tools I've witnessed in the many
classrooms I've visited over the years. Plus, I can still remember a
few teachers who used these strategies back in the Dark Ages when I
was a middle schooler (a junior higher, actually). I can still name
the teacher, the event, and almost the DAY we were involved in such
exciting learning. I'll bet you can, too. And what does that tell us?!
Rick's idea about the police tape reminded me of a classroom I
visited a few years ago where the history teacher was beginning a
unit on Early Man. When the kids entered the classroom that Monday
morning, they found an "archaeological dig" set up in the middle
of
the space, complete with warning tape, a sand-and-rock environment
covering the floor, archaeological tools, and artifacts and fossils
poking up, barely visible, from the sand. Were they excited? Over the
course of the week, they learned how scientists carefully search for
buried evidence. They watched several videos about the Leakeys, the
discovery of "Lucy", technique, etc. They created scientific data
collection sheets, practiced using the tools, etc. By the time they
were allowed to go on "the dig," they were absolutely and completely
engaged and couldn't wait to find out what was buried in the sand.
Here are the opening paragraphs of the story I wrote about this. You
can read the entire story at:
http://www.middleweb.com/CSLB3Hooverpg1.html
John
----------------------------
It's hot as Ethiopia in Alicia Estrada's Hoover Middle School
classroom. Southern California's first rainfall in seventh months is
steam-cleaning the blue and white uniforms of 35 spirited sixth
graders. The yellow caution tape surrounding the human skeleton
sprawled on the floor is barely enough to hold them back.
"Is it real? Is it real?"
Ms. Estrada's enigmatic smile gives nothing away. She's dressed for
an archaeological dig -- khaki shorts, hiking boots, and a long
paintbrush in her back pocket to carefully sweep dirt away from the
fragile artifacts scattered around the human bones. A sign reads:
"Use Caution! Paleolithic Grave Site! Archaeologist at Work!"
Estrada has shoved desks back against the walls to make room for her
excavation site, arranged like a boxing ring with the tape strung
from dayglo orange posts. A grid of twine criss-crosses the protected
area -- the north-south lines are numbered; the east-west lines have
letters.
The kids have been asked to become part of a field expedition that
has just uncovered "an amazing find." It's their job to recreate
the
grid on paper and carefully plot the location of each artifact, using
the same methods used by archaeologists and paleoanthropologists....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tricia Beal <tristarcastle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Good start - let's repeat those Q's
SUBJECT #1:
What's the nature of today's young adolescents and how have they
changed in the past ten or twenty years? Where are they heading? How
do we get students to accept academic struggle as a virtue, not a
weakness? 24. How do we best engage students in content?
-This is my first year teaching middle school students and I am amazed at
how much things have changed since I was in middle school 10 years ago.
I have students in my room that are skipping lunch and snack because they
are worried about getting fat. I even have half a dozen girls in my class
that are dating boys in 8th and 9th grade. It seems like society is pushing
for them to grow up fast and experience things that they shouldn't even
be thinking about now. Maybe I am just naive? I will say that they structure
of middle schools is much better now then when I was in school. It seems
like schools are a much more caring and growing kind of place. Students
are definitely more involved in their learning then years past which is
a great thing to see happening. I notice that when I involve my students
in the planning process of anything, they are much more excited and willing
to participate. Tricia
SUBJECT #2:
What's does it mean to be an "accomplished" middle level teacher?
At what
point can we say we are accomplished? What are some things you can point
to
in your experience that suggest evidence of professional accomplishment?
What can we do to help more teachers work toward becoming accomplished?
With this being only my second year of teaching, I am by no means even close
to being accomplished! I think that an accomplished teacher is one who is
constantly learning and striving to make the profession better than it already
is.
Tricia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: SKosmoski@aol.com
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 18:49:10 EST
Subject: Re: [MWbooklist] Building suspense & excitement
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
John--
I have seen something similar to this only instead of an archeological
dig--the teacher had set up a murder scene complete with chalk outline of
a
body. GEMS has it published in a book call "Mystery Festival."
It's great!
Mary Anne
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John replied:
Eileen Bendixson (who's on this list) has a murder-scene unit on the Web.
I can't put my fingers on the URL right now, but I'll bet she can give it
to us!
John
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: YAMES@aol.com
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 21:10:18 EST
Subject: [MWbooklist] Advanced students taking risks
Reply-To: MWbooklist@NS.SREB.ORG
In a message dated 3/4/02 12:32:15 AM, MWbooklist-owner@NS.SREB.ORG writes:
<< Rick wrote:
Amy and others -- This question comes from an observation that my most =
advanced students rarely take chances or challenge themselves. =20 >>
When I taught Spanish 1-2 to "gifted" 8th graders in a zero period
class
several years ago, I found something different. These were not perfect
students but rather "perfect" examples of skateboarding, boy-girl
crazy 8th
graders.
They came to school an hour early each day to take Spanish. They gave up
other activities such as season tickets to the LA Kings hockey team to be
able to get to class on time and awake.
They took bus trips on the city bus on weekends to practice speaking Spanish
to native "bus riding" Spanish speakers and had some really funny
experiences
getting to know how language is used. This I thought was an extremely
creative idea. They were really risk takers - but that was true in all ways.
You really had to worry about some of the choices they made.
They learned every word they could about "cheese" in Spanish.
Don't ask me
why - they just had wild and crazy ideas about what to do with what they
were
learning. They searched on the Internet for translation programs to do their
homework - an innovative idea....
One father was an editorial writer for La Opinion, a Spanish language daily
in LA. One mother was a newscaster for Channel34, a Spanish language TV
station with the most viewed newscast in the LA area. Kids used these
parents as an incredible resource.
And on tests, they cheated like crazy.
Just a thought,
Juli
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John wrote:
Well, that was an anemic performance yesterday! I suspect part of the problem
was that Rick's a bit distracted by his impending NMSA webcast this afternoon.
I understand nearly 2000 folks are signed up. That would sure distract me!
Since we anticipated this, Rick and I put together several chat topics in
advance. Here's the next one. I expect Rick back this evening, with news
of his first Internet broadcast.
NEW DISCUSSION TOPIC:
Here's an excerpt from "Meet Me in the Middle"....p. 68...Chapter
7: "Differentiated Instruction: Fitting the Lesson to the Learner."
You can read this chapter online in PDF format at:
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/0328ch07.pdf
-------
RICK WRITES:
"I differentiate instruction in order to meet the diverse needs of
my students." It's nice to make such a claim, but close examination
of my own lessons proves otherwise. With one hundred forty students, I often
take the path of least resistance; I think that if I just say the information
three different ways during the class period, then meet with those struggling
few who might show up after school for additional help, I will meet everyone's
needs. In reality, I'm not always teaching the most effective lessons for
the diverse students in my classes. In pains me to admit this, but it's
true. Every day, I vow to do better, and each year in the classroom brings
me closer to my goal. But boy, does it take work!
-------
HERE'S THE QUESTION FOR YOU...
How do we maintain sanity while differentiating instruction? AND: If we're
on a traditional, short-period schedule, how do we get to know our kids
well enough in short class periods in order to make instructional decisions
such as when and how to differentiate instruction?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "RATZEL, MARSHA" <MRATZEL@bv229.k12.ks.us>
Subject: RE: [MWbooklist] New discussion question!
How do we maintain sanity while differentiating instruction?
Carefully. But more seriously, I think you have to undertake this objective
while staying focused on your end goal for studnet learning. It is the only
way to make sure you don't get swept away in good intentions and "fun"
lateral projects.
AND: If we're on a traditional, short-period schedule, how do we get
to know
our kids well enough in short class periods in order to make instructional
decisions such as when and how to differentiate instruction?
Here's where I think being a Jedi master of diagnostic assessment comes
into
play. Assessments can be very simple (a thumbs up;thumbs down) or a huge
performance task (an extended inquiry science experiment). The information
that you gather from the assessment makes the effort you put into
differentiation useful to student learning. Quickly you can figure out who
knows what and who doesn't know what. I believe that's your first level
of
differentiation.
From a classroom managment perspective, I used a observation rotation
schedule. I struggled and struggled over the years to "see" everyone
in the
class equally. But I never did. The loud kid who dominates or the
"wallpaper" kid just are too extreme. A friend suggested that
I divide my
class into five groups and then write those on an index card. I did this
for every hour I taught. Then, for that day, I really tried to focus on
watching those students more carefully than I normally would and I tried
to
make sure I had a short chat, if possible. At the close of the day, I tried
to make some meaningful notation about the kids I had watched that day,
just
for my own journal records. Every week I revisited all 150 students and
sometimes I would notice a trend in my cryptic notes that alerted me to
pay
more attention to that student.
I would shuffle the cards on Friday and pick a different order each week.
This kept me fresh and not so set. This process helped me to better reflect
on my students and make sure that I didn't miss anyone for very long. I
think I did a better job of talking to all the kids and that made me more
approachable and aware of what their needs were apart from the work that
I
examined.
marsha
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Deborah Bambino" <dbambino@earthlink.net>
Subject: [MWbooklist] Getting to know...Differentiating & Sanity
Getting to know my students became an almost insurmountable task during
my
last year in the classroom. I taught technology to310 kids a week and still
wasn't sure of some peoples' names by Dec. It was demoralizing and certainly
cut against any hopes of meaningful differentiation. I settled for projects
with a number of student options and encouraged lots of teamwork.
I think that project based learning can give you the flexibility to
differentiate successfully, but that there is no substitute for getting
to
really know your students, their needs and their talents.
I visited a school recently where they used individualized learning plans,
projects and scoring rubrics. It was an exciting program, but if you didn't
really know your kids, you wouldn't know what to suggest in terms of either
challenges or supports.
Calling for differentiation of instruction without a decrease in the
student/ teacher ratio seems destined to failure. The factory model just
doesn't work for kids or teachers.
Debbie
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Then Marsha Ratzel wote:
I went back and reviewed Rick's chapter and I wanted to ask others what
they
thought about a couple of things.
On p 69, I just loved all the little stories --- especially the one of about
the math class. It just make so much sense to me that you'd assess and then
assign. I tried to address this in what I posted yesterday, but this story
does a wonderful illustrative job.
Later on in the chapter, I was reading through the ten characteristics and
when I got to the part that said "I learned early on that trial and
error
provides a clear path to competence.". Again this just matches up to
what
I've experienced. So much of the time, what I've tried just didn't fly the
way I wanted or it didn't hit home. But with a little tinkering, it did.
I
wish someone had really emphasized this point with me when i was a
pre-service teacher and as a new teacher. It would have made me relax a
bit
and not feel like such a dud when things didn't go well.
The first paragraph of "Tenacious" was another one that found
me shaking my
head yes as I read through it. I know that coping skills are essential
things that students need to learn and I have been guilty of trying to skip
over this step. Ultimately though, I'd need to return because there was
too
much frustration or tears to forge ahead. Eventually I learned to do this
from August onwards and my class worked much more smoothly. I also believe
that students appreciate and parents demand the rigorous goals. This gives
students a real feeling of accomplishment when they meet those goals,
instead of some fakey kind of success for something they'd know good and
well has been dumbed down.
Lastly, I thought Rick hit on something important when he talked about how
all instruction has to identify the essential and enduring knowledge (p86).
This is what will make differentiation "doable". Knowing these
things
allows me to figure out what everyone needs to know. When groups of kids
know those things, then I can move onto enrichment or lateral learning
activities. There are lots of structures that allow me to implement
enrichment....I especially love Tic-Tac-Toes.
I say all this and I know it's feasible. I used differentiation with lots
of kids --- I used this classroom management when I taught on teams of 50,
75 and 125 kids. It works in all sizes. In fact for me sometimes teaching
on a smaller team made it harder. That's because I was responsible for more
than one major content area...so I had to figure out how to do this for,
not
only science, but for math or social studies. When I was teaching on a
larger team, I only had to worry about science and could devote more time
to
figuring out the modified and enriched lesson structures for just science.
marsha
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