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=EDU 262 Spring 2010: Reflection of Middle Grades Education =

By: Amber Hawkins
For me, most of the material we covered over the course of the semester was unfamiliar and very informative because it isn’t discussed in my program. Since I’m in the elementary education program I feel as if we are only introduced to teaching K-5 even though we’re supposed to be qualified for K – 8. So I signed up for the class when my professor, Andrea Freed, realized my interest in teaching middle school. I had taught fifth grade during my practicum and fourth grade for my math methods class. While I really enjoyed doing both, and found them extremely rewarding I knew they weren’t the best fit for me. I felt that in both of these grades you had to parent students just to get them interested in their school work, whereas in the middle school grade you can expand the learning experience.
 * __ What New Learning have I discovered: __**

A “true” middle school is very different from an elementary school that I have seen. In a true middle school teachers work in teams, which gives them the opportunity to work together to create the best learning experience for the students. When you have teams of teachers you can easily create integrated units which were something I really enjoyed seeing and doing. Another aspect of a true middle is making sure that you are aware of the needs of young adolescents. I never really thought about the physical, emotional, and psychological changes students in middle school experience; that’s actually kind of sad considering I wasn’t a middle school student that long ago. At this age young adolescents are growing at an insane rate and their joints hurts; to help students remain focused on their work it will help if students are given opportunities to move around. Some students benefit greatly from having the opportunity to be with their peers and teachers in a setting that is not in the classroom. To do this there can be trips or outdoor activities that students and teachers can participate in that will bring everyone closer together.



Another part of the class I felt I learned from was the book talks; I may be biased but my favorite book was the one I had read. To me that book was such an eye-opener, because we had talked about modifying instruction to meet all the different types of intelligences, but I had never thought about students that are right brained or left brained. In the book were the separate topics which explained areas of the right brained thinker; these ideas can be used to encourage students to become more actively involved in their learning. Also, if we are catering to a student’s personality, that student is probably going to be more likely to want to come to school and do their work. School has become very left-brained and completely ignores alternative learners, though we have seen this changing as alternative schools crop up. Another topic mentioned in this book is the idea of outsourcing and what that means for your career decision. The author asks, “Can someone else do you work? If so than your job can be outsourced.” I had never really thought about the implications of outsourcing because it hadn’t directly affected me. At first I thought that teaching was a career that could definitely not be outsourced, but then I realized there has been a surge in online schools as well as foreign teachers.



One topic that totally changed my opinion on education was the use of technology in this class. Both programs have a part of their practicum designated to learning various types of technology that they can use in their classroom, but most of the ones I was introduced to weren’t very useful in my opinion or I wasn’t really shown how to incorporate them into the classroom. In this class I was introduced to so many different types of technology: Glogster, Wikispace, Blogger, Xtranormal, and Comic Life. Not only was I introduced to these, but I also was able to see how to incorporate them by witnessing webquest and unit presentations. To me an incorporation of technology is vitally important to creating a successful learning environment for students. I think that it was Dr. Tom that said he expects teachers to incorporate technology into their lessons because technology has become the way younger students speak. I believe he said something about going down to their level and incorporating learning in the way they need instead of expecting them to do as we traditionally did.

After taking this class I realize the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom. As the visiting principals said, they look for teachers who are able and excited to incorporate technology into their classroom. While I’m excited to incorporate it, I am also nervous since I’m not quite sure how to use it in my math instruction. I had the opportunity to integrate technology into a math lesson and I found it so difficult to do it; I felt like I had a mental block the entire time as I tried to make it relevant to the students. I didn’t want to incorporate technology just for the sake of integration; I wanted the technology to build off the lesson and further the student’s learning in a way that I am unable to do so.
 * __ What Questions have now come to the surface: __**
 * //How do I incorporate technology into my everyday classroom instruction?//



We talked about getting parents and communities involved in the schools, but I’m still unsure if I know enough to do so. I eventually want to be a principal, maybe even a superintendent and I’m aware that the budget will become my life. So I want to make sure that I have plenty of strategies on how to get community involvement. I really liked Dr. Grace’s idea about having a dinner where community members can come and be served by the students and teachers. Also, a lot of times community members feel like they aren’t a part of the school so it’s our jobs as teachers to make them feel welcome. So, I like the idea of opening the school up to the community members, but I’m not quite sure how this would work. Overall, I just feel somewhat unsure of what the best ways are to get the community involved.
 * //How do I help my school district get their budget passed?//



After learning everything in this class I know for sure that I can’t imagine teaching anywhere else besides a middle school. Everything I learned I felt agreement over and nothing raised any eyebrows. I learned a lot about the students and how middle school affects them, but I also learned about the type of teacher needed to teach middle school. I feel like I would do well because I enjoy making learning exciting, I can laugh at myself, I have a ton of energy and overall I just love seeing the change in young adolescents as they grow and mature. I’d say for me the two biggest things I learned was integrating technology and meeting the needs of young adolescents. I believe that they are the most important things teachers need to do because if they are done correctly students will become more involved and excited about their learning. I don’t understand how we can expect students to come in and do their best work when we are ignoring huge aspects of their lives.
 * __ What Actions will I take as a result: __**

First a good middle school teacher needs to incorporate technology into their instruction or they will never have students show up to school. Once they have started integrating they can build on that, further instruction and do more with students; I like a lot of the projects that I’ve seen done in King Middle School in Portland, Maine. In my technology class we had to research various ways schools are integrating technology into the classroom and the ideas varied in ways I had never imagined. I want to make sure that I become the type of teacher that can get down on my student's level, instead of the teacher that always seems so out of touch with their students. I want to make sure that I incorporate my student's prior knowledge and make the instruction meaningful for them as well. I know that one of the things I will definitely make sure to do, is going to any workshops that are related to incorporating technology in the classroom. My fear is to be the teacher that still uses an over head projector and thinks that they are keeping up to date on everything.

Second, as a pre-service teacher I feel that it is necessary for me to be knowledgeable about the age group I am preparing myself to teach. This age group changes very rapidly and need to feel like they have someone in the school that cares about them. I can remember being in middle school and feeling like I didn’t have a connection with my teachers like some of the other teachers did. It’s such a hard age for young adolescents and I don’t want to make it even harder on my students by not providing them with the proper support. I want to have a variety of activities that I can do with students that allow me to see them outside the classroom. Also, whatever school I go I will make sure has a mentoring program because I feel that it really helps students develop a relationship with at least one teacher.