This We Believe

This We Believe
Pg. 1-7
This chapter details the importance of middle grades education while at the same time informing people and teachers about the difficulties of being an adolescent in today’s world. The opening pages talk about the importance of making sure that middle grades are supported by their school and the teachers; the chapter hints at the need for schools to make sure every thing is in line so that the students are most successful – this includes good teachers, good curriculum, and collaboration. The rest of the pages talk in detail about life as an adolescent. They mention about how the body of an adolescent changes so much during this time and, unlike during infancy, a middle school child is well aware of those changes. Not only are their bodies and minds changing, but the students are also being exposed to drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and sex; these are a lot of things for a young person to deal with never mind trying to deal with it while all these changes are taking place. The last part of the chapter talks about how its hard enough being a teen, but it is made harder by things such as race, socio-economic status, gender, and an ever-changing world.
I liked this chapter because, like all the other books we have been reading, it really hammers home information about how much adolescent kids change and the things that they go through on a daily basis. It is hard enough having to deal with new emotions and being uncomfortable in your own skin but then add on top of that relationships, friends, having money or the lack of money, and you have yourself one big mess. If you are not prepared to deal with situations like these or deal with young adults who are very emotional then middle school may not be the place for you – though I think you can change those beliefs if you read this book and try to understand where a young person is coming from.

This We Believe 9-19
In these pages, the book talks about the keys to having a successful middle school; a school that helps to teach students and teachers alike. One of the major pieces needed for a good school is good teachers – middle school teachers must be highly qualified, know their content area, and most importantly, they should want to be with middle school students and strive to understand them. This successful middle school should also focus on collaboration amongst the teachers and the administration, along with trying to provide a safe and caring environment for all involved. If the teachers and administration all get along then they are more capable of working together to help teach the students; if that happens, then the school will be able to create and foster a safe environment where students can learn and grow without feeling anxious or worried that someone might say something to them. The book also talks about the need for high standards and life-long learning. As a teacher, you should believe that your students can do anything that they set their minds to, and once you believe that then you will make sure that you do everything you can to ensure they work hard. Teachers should also recognize the fact that learning does not stop when students and teachers are out of school; the learning continues throughout life and to be a good educator you must teach your students the skills that will allow them to continuously learn.
If I had the opportunity, I would travel to local middle schools and share the things that I have learned with them. I think most middle schools still fail to provide at least one of these essential things on a daily basis – as the book talks about, if you do not change the system all around but only change one or two pieces then nothing will get done and things will not improve. I have said this many times already, but I think that the most important parts to forming a good school is to make sure that you have the best teachers that you can find; teachers who enjoy their jobs and want to teach at that grade level, and you must also make sure that you create a good environment for students to learn in – if the students do not feel comfortable, then their work will suffer. It will take time, but I do not see a reason why every school cannot adopt these policies to make their students’ experiences so much better.

This We Believe 19-34
This set of pages deals with the age old question of how to create a complete curriculum that meets the needs of today’s students. According to the book, the best curriculum should be “relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory” (pg. 19). When it comes to relevant, students should find that what their learning helps them to understand the world around them and help to answer questions that they might have. It is important for the students to be challenged, which means that the work they do should be meaningful and engaging, but at the same time, it should not be too hard which could cause students to get frustrated and stop working. When the book talks about integrative, it is making a reference to making sure that the middle school team works hard to make sure that the things being talked about in English appear in social studies also. If that happens, then the students will understand how knowledge works and be able to make connections with other things in their lives. The last piece is the concept of exploratory – in this case, students should be asked to go deep into materials and concepts and research information on topics in order to gain a greater sense of the big picture ideas talked about in class.
I think that the toughest part of being a teacher is making sure that you design proper curriculum. It is a tough job because things that you think they might enjoy might actually make them want to take a nap. I also think that it has gotten even harder now because general education teachers are going to work with students from all racial, ethnic, socio-economic backgrounds along with dealing with some students who have special needs. A good teacher can manage to make accommodations to his or her lessons so that every student can learn something from the class. I think that at the end of the day, the biggest need for teachers today is enough time so that they can plan out their lessons and units complete with accommodations – given the time, a person can do great work, but it is finding that time which poses the biggest problem.

This We Believe 34-51
This was an interesting set of pages because it detailed steps of how to integrate and transform your own school for teachers, principals, parents, superintendents, states, and teacher preparation professors. The reason why I thought this was so interesting was because I did not really think about all the people that would need to be involved in order to adopt these policies – I kind of wish that the students would be involved and be on this list because I think they should have some say as to what takes place in their education; if the students have ideas that would help improve the school, then I think they should be listened to. The last set of pages was about the different changes that middle school students go through as they mature. The list includes physical, cogitative, moral, psychological, and social-emotional. The list alone should make the reader think that there are a lot of changes that a typical student will go through. I did find it interesting to hear about how girls mature between one and two years earlier than boys and African Americans mature at a faster pace than most other groups. We need to be well aware of the changes that students go through before we take the job or else we will be unaware of the major things that take place with our students that may prevent them from doing work to the highest possible level.