“A middle school is a school organization containing grades six to eight that, first provides developmentally appropriate and responsive curricular, instructional, organizational, guidance, and overall educational experiences; and second, places major emphasis on 10-15 year olds’ developmental and instructional needs” (Teaching in the Middle School, 6). The researcher has a great point for the fact that a middle school should be focus on the needs of diverse young adolescents. All young adolescents are in a special time in their lives that require extra guidance during this crazy change. Middle school students test out the boundaries and want to learn about new activities and interests during this stage. It takes a special person who wants to teach these diverse students who need the extra support from their teachers to show them what’s out there for them and to introduce them to new things. The typical middle school has a vision or mission that speaks about the importance of including both the academic and the personal development of each young adolescent student. Although middle schools may have this mission, not all of these schools may abide by this vision and only focus on the academic part of the mission. Middle schools should prepare students with the knowledge of being able to think outside the box and to think critically. Students at this age do not know how to think beyond themselves and Internet right at their fingertips, they have all the answers they need. If
The National Middle School Association (NMSA) is now known as the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE). It has been a “voice for those committed to the educational and developmental needs of young adolescents” since 1973. This organization is the only national education association specifically committed to those in the middle level grades. There are over 30,000 members including principals, teachers, central office personnel, professors, college students, parents, community leaders, and educational consultants. The AMLE is recognized across the United States, Canada, and 46 other countries. In addition, AMLE has a network of “58 affiliate organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia that strengthen outreach to the regional, state, provincial, and local levels.” The Association for Middle Level Education’s mission is dedicated to improving the educational experiences of all students ages 10 to 15 by providing vision, knowledge, and resources to educators and leaders. (National Association of State Boards of Education, n.d., paragraph 1).
The transition from elementary school to middle school can be a scary or inviting time. It is a defining moment in education when we move from the environment of elementary school to the new and different environment of middle school. A large part of this transition is the difference in how the school day is structured and taught, which in the end plays a key role in our learning. For our learner, adjusting to middle school has brought some difficulties. These difficulties include being disorganized, having poor time management, forgetfulness, not understanding his math class, and some self-confidence issues from not understanding math.
Many people endure three years of middle school and four years of high school. It is an eventful time for children between 11 to 18 years old. During the adolescent years there are hormonal changes, environmental changes and emotional developmental gains. Middle school is the beginning of transitioning towards independence under the constant eye of adults. During high school they are challenged with real-world challenges that help them transition into adulthood. The behaviors of these individuals change as the factors change around them. For every person, the experience of high school or middle school may be different. Either way, both have the same goal of wanting the student to succeed and evolve. Even so, the similarities and differences vary. Middle school and high school are alike in the areas of receiving an education, socializing with others, and having teachers while different in areas of maturity, difficulty in work, and independence.
The framework for the proposed study is based on the educational research related to middle school transition. The literature review is divided into four sections. The first section analyzes the research literature on the psycho-social effects of middle school. The second section highlights the environmental effects of the middle school. The third section describes the achievement of students as they transition into the middle school configurations, and the final section lays out a conceptual framework that the researcher has developed to examine the factors to consider in choosing the best configuration for sixth graders in the county.
Dr. Alicia Noyola, Chief Academic Officer presented the topic “College and Career Readiness – The Middle School Journey”. This topic is aligned with the Strategic Plan, specifically goals one and four. She stated that a Middle School Transformation Design Team was created last fall to address college and career readiness at the middle school level. Dr. Noyola reviewed the journey that the District has taken regarding early literacy and high school redesign. Since middle schools are the bridge between elementary and high school, the Design Team looked at some of the unique challenges middle schools face in order to transform the middle school experience.
Just because students in middle school are young does not mean that they are incapable or self-centered. The more time I interact with the students at Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School, the more I am proved just the opposite. These students are dreamers and go-getters that is most of them anyways. They are clever and have potential beyond belief.
Before reading these two chapters I knew that both education and social characteristics needed to be incorporated into the classroom, but I did not realize how important it was for those two things to be the same. “The central purpose of the middle school curriculum should be helping early adolescents explore self and social meanings at this in their lives” (143). I do believe specific subjects should be included in middle schools, but in ways that it will intrigue students and get them excited to learn about the curriculum and connect it to what is going on in their
For me, middle school was probably the most excruciating years of my life. I thought it was only me and everyone else had it easy and completely understood everything that was happening to their bodies and minds. In fact, I still have dreams about my middle school years like forgetting my locker combination or hiding in the bathroom stall because the most popular girls were gossiping about a friend of yours. The settings in these dreams are always my middle school; I find it amazing that thirty years after I attended school that I can remember vivid details about the layout, hallways, lockers, and teachers. The reason for this I believe is that for ALL students the middle school years are the most influential to shaping and becoming who a person is and who they wish to become. Middle schools are essential for the success of students because of the unique developmental stages of these students. For teachers, comprehension of young adolescent development is key to understanding the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and moral needs and interests of these students (Powell, 2015, p. 55) and also teachers need to develop a curriculum that is focused on developing students competence in all subject matter and using their knowledge and available resources to design, implement, and evaluate challenging, responsive curriculums that result in meaningful learning outcomes (Powell, 2015, p. 145). All students should feel that they are accepted for who he or she is as an
Elementary students have been considered sponges such that they should be open to learning and have some kind of mindset that school is considered good. However, over the years ' the demographics have changed such that number of students have increased along with diversity, poverty schools, and types of educational needs. This change the idea of education being good to other issues on campus such as healthcare, and physical and intellectual development which can multiply over the years. Students are overlooked as key participants in teaching learning initiatives and leads to the belief that it is the teacher’s sole responsibility for better outcomes. As students become aware of their individual educational importance they should begin to take more value and
Middle School is a time in adolescent’s lives where their physical, and equally important social development, is at a delicate and crucial point. For those who inherit socially favorable genes, certain aspects of life become easy, and those individuals can go through life rather nonchalantly. However, the life of a pre-teenager and a young teenager is difficult when you’re only as tall as other kid’s sternums and weigh less than the book stuffed backpack you lug around all day.
“Middle school is the place you can catch a kid and create enthusiasm,” she said. “By the time a kid is in high school, they’ve already crossed things off their
1# We start at our classroom door and going down the stairs, and through the door to the main hallway.
Education for middle school schools in the future will have a positive effect on students and will make students excited to come to school. Middle schools will have changed dramatically by being eco-friendly both inside and outside the school, being tech advanced by assigning each student their own individual laptops, and giving their students more freedom by primarily learning by videos.
When parents send their first graders off to school, they are more likely than not hoping their children learn something useful. While others go to school excited to show off their new toy car or power ranger, some children go excited to learn something new. Throughout the years this pattern stays the same. In middle school, some students are excited finally to have the option to take advanced courses, while others are more excited to show their peers the new make up their mom allowed them to wear for the first time. Once the students enter high school, they are constantly battling social, emotional and physical issues. The focus on education declines due to the pressure of excelling at extracurricular activities.
I decided to do a research on a foundation called 4h. The words head, heart, hands, and health are the 4 keywords that the 4-H organization founded its core beliefs on; These words are symbolically written on the 4 leaf clover which is the symbol for 4-H. The founder of 4h was a country schoolmaster and agriculture extension pioneer at The Ohio State University whose name was Albert Belmont Graham. A.B Graham was born in 1868 near Lena, Ohio, and died in 1960. The 4-H organization started in a young boys garage in Clark County, Ohio in 1902, and now kids and young adults are participating in it all over the world.