Resource Page for our chat about
"Meet Me in the Middle"
Remember that the complete text of Rick's book can be browsed online here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0328.htm
We'll go for about a week. If you have problems, need to leave the list,
etc., send me a private note at norton@middleweb.com
COMPLETE RUNNING RECORD OF THE CONVERSATION
=========================================
Here are Rick's opening comments and our first discussion question:
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
p; 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 p; teaching, writing, and most importantly,
learning p; as long as you'll have me. p; 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?
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