The two things that I believe have changed for the better in the modern middle school movement is 1) the change from junior high school to middle school and 2) the formation of team teaching within the middle school system. As I stated in class last week, my junior high school experience was difficult. The curriculum and environment was very similar to high school. Once I got to high school the only things that was different was that I was in a new and larger school with more people.
Fast forwarding to my training in eduction, I was exposed to my first middle school during this time. The first thing that captured my attention was that the school that I was required to do my observations in was divided up into "pods" and the hallways were colored coded. Each grade was divided into a blue pod, a green pod, a yellow pod and so on. The "pods" were actually a cute way a saying that the school was actively team teaching. The students were divided into groups and were place in a pod or with a group of teachers that taught them all year. I thought that this school design was brilliant. (This specific middle school was Pulaski County middle school in Pulaski, Virginia.) To me this is a Huge advancement from where I came from.
The one thing that I still see pros and cons with is block scheduling. This is definitely different from the traditional 6 or 7 period classes that meet each day. I think that the time length is adequate for high school students, but I not sure about middle school age kids. Mentally, it may be too long for middle school students. I am also not sure if meeting every other day is good for middle school kids either. I am thinking that many will forget what has been covered, therefore the teacher will be spending more time reviewing material than necessary. Either way, the changes that have occurred over time with in the middle school movement have proved to be beneficial to middle school aged children more so than the old days of junior high school.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
When I read your comments about having block scheduling for middle school students, I was somewhat surprised because I have never heard of having block scheduling for middle school students. I agree. I do think it would be confusing for students and it would be challenging for them to keep up with their assignments. Middle school students have a hard time with organization as it is!
ReplyDeleteWhen I student taught in a high school setting I found block scheduling to be great for variety and for lattitude in lesson planning, but I really believe the classes were too long even for high school students. I can't imagine how to keep the attention of middle schoolers, from what I'm hearing from you folks what planning an hour and a half lesson for middle schoolers would be like. It took me a whole semester just to get honors students to get organized enough to keep up a good pace. Although we've talked alot about the positive changes in schools since we were there, I'm not sure the longer classes are a good idea at all.
ReplyDeleterjw
Kelley: What you said about your student teaching was interesting. I like the idea of a color-coded system. Re: block scheduling, my students forget what I taught them yesterday. I think that having a day off in-between might not be ideal.
ReplyDelete