5. “We miss those days.”  College and Career Readiness

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Varied and ongoing assessments advance learning as well as measure it. Varied Assessments

This week our principal brought the eighth-grade teachers together. She shared that we must schedule the ACT (American College Testing) exam for our students. We have chosen to give it this Thursday. The exam takes about four hours to administer and consists of reading, math, science, and social studies. While some teachers suggested we take one a day, others wanted it completed in one day. By consensus, teachers agreed to take the exam on one day. The rationale for taking it on one day was to give students a chance to practice an extended-time setting.

There are practice exams online for all four of the subjects. The official website is what I am using (http://www.actstudent.org/sampletest/). I brought the first set of practice exams to my advisory group. During advisory time, we talked about the exam. I shared, “The exam uses multi-steps. It is not an exam such as 3x = 12.” One of my students sighed, a long sigh, and said, “I miss those days.” Three others chimed in. “I do too. It was soooo easy in elementary school.” Their innocence made me smile.

We carried on. I allowed them to sit where they wanted. (This is a class that I found must be strategically placed in order to gain maximum focus.) However, it was the end of the day and took place during our advisory period. I let them work on the whiteboards, instead of taking notes in their “spirals.” While they considered the problems, I gave more direct instruction than I had hoped.

I think we must help our students become more independent in their willingness to ponder and try something. I am using drawing as the medium. We start with looking at the question, draw, interpret, solve, then look at the question again.

One of the things I have discovered is that students need structure; they also need variety. Yesterday I gave the instruction. Tomorrow they will be working in teams to analyze problems and try to solve them. In my advanced class, I started by sharing, “When you get to college, you will most likely be working in teams to work on math problems. By working together, you deepen your own thinking.” What I found was that some students applied this method of teamwork immediately; others waited or fell completely off task. As a teacher I realize that we have to find ways to not only give students knowledge; we also must give them strategies. Using resources online not only gives them information but teaches them that information is at their fingertips.

Advice

1)            When it comes time to take exams, it is a good time to consider college and career options. Students can explore admission information on colleges.

2)            Consider working as a team to plan advisory activities that focus on college and career readiness. Discussions about setting goals and thinking about their future need to happen in middle school.

2)      The Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/k12/) offers a plethora of materials to use with students. One interest survey can be found under Career Information. There are additional resources (games, surveys, videos) for students and materials for teachers. The College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC.org) also has materials about admissions and expectations for college.

3)      Assessments are tools for students to see where they stand and should be used to help them consider their strengths and weaknesses. Assessments can be academic, learning styles, critical thinking skills, and Multiple Intelligences. Taking the time to teach student's test taking skills and helping them identifying their own learning styles will benefit them in high school and beyond. Approaching strategies in pairs and small groups helps students communicate about their knowledge. Celebrate the different ways of knowing. Taking time each week to scaffold student learning will increase their own independent skills and confidence.

2. Super Bowl Sunday: PBL

2. Super Bowl Sunday: PBL

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

*Students and teachers are engaged in active, purposeful learning. Active Learning

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) provides sixteen characteristics of exemplary middle schools. This blog addresses the second characteristic and falls under the category of Curriculum and instruction.

Middle school structures include: teaming, intramurals, exploratories, interdisciplinary instruction, and advisory as common tools. Our principal is encouraging us to engage in Project Based Learning (PBL). In order to assist us, she shares weekly activities that can be found on the following website: pblproject.com 

One of the resources our team looked at provided resources for engaging students in conversations about the cost of commercials, and provided a viewing of the commercial that won a contest (Death Wish Coffee) and will be televised during the Super Bowl. The theme of this PBL was on the Super Bowl.

 http://pblproject.com/page.aspx?pageid=PBL-ww-Super-Bowl

The language arts teacher taught six types of propaganda, and the social studies teacher had students analyze propaganda using political cartoons. The Exceptional Childhood teacher led a Paideia based on the reading of “Are Super Bowl Ads Really Worth It?” in the mathematics classroom. After discussions of mathematics and history, we had students work in teams to create their own thirty-second commercial during math class. Students spent two days, twenty minutes of each day, coming up with the type of propaganda they were going to display. They worked in teams writing and rehearsing their commercial. We used our phone to video the commercials and saved them to a folder.

When students are learning how to write, we use activities to stimulate their thinking, give them opportunities to brainstorm, write, edit drafts, rewrite, and ultimately produce their products. In every class, this should be happening. We chose to celebrate the products on Club Day (see Clubs Rock blog).

Club time lasts for one hour. During the second half of Club Time students saw their commercials in the auditorium on the big screen. Between each commercial, the language arts teacher asked for student feedback to see if the rest of the students could identify the propaganda used. We celebrated together as a team. Go Panthers!

Advice

1)   Students have a propensity to want to produce. When students engage in experiences that allow them to produce knowledge, research suggests they gain a deeper understanding of material, retain the information longer, and enjoy it more. During this activity, there were very few students off task, or in trouble.

2)   One of the things I realized is that students will take as much time as you give them. If you say, “You have one class period to produce this,” they will take one class period to produce the product. Concentrate their time!

3)   Allow them to see their products as a means of celebrating collaboration and productivity. It took thirty minutes to show all the thirty-second videos.

4)   Some students did not want their videos shown. If you have students who insist, consider alternative ways to allowing them to produce it. Perhaps they could have a private showing with you and/or your team mates. Listen to your students. Are they not wanting to show their videos because they are embarrassed or because of other reasons. (A legitimate reason would be that there are students in foster homes, and in protective services who do not wish to be identified. Know your students.)

5)   Finally, I do not recommend you post any of their videos on YouTube or Teacher Tube. They are minors.

10. A common vision drives exemplary middle schools.

10. A common vision drives exemplary middle schools.

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Organizational structures foster purposeful learning and meaningful relationships.   Organizational Structures.

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) provides sixteen characteristics of exemplary middle schools. This is the tenth characteristic, and falls under the category of Leadership and Organization. I was scanning LinkedIn profiles this morning and ran across a comment by Richard da Costa*. He was sharing a reflection of his experience after creating a Ted Talk in the UK. His words remind me of the power and beauty of a common vision. Here are his words.

What I [learned] was what a powerful thing the passion, enthusiasm, energy, skill, and talent of a large group of people can be. If enough people work together and want something to happen really well - amazing things are possible. The truth is, we were a fairly eclectic mix of individuals and organizations. Thinking about what made the event work comes down to the qualities of the individuals involved. 

Creating an exemplary middle school is challenging. When a team of individuals comes together, they often bring many different and varied experiences, ideas, expectations, and gifts. And while the above production brought many different individuals together for a day, middle schools are institutions designed to serve children and communities for years. But, da Costa’s words must not be ignored.

As middle schools seek to transform a vision into reality, there must be intentional efforts and commitments by all the stakeholders to work together. Da Costa’s project was intentional, and every detail included using each person’s gifts to make it happen. A roadmap of sorts must be created with vision and support, so that there is a plan at every turn in the journey. As educators, we must not lose sight of the common vision as well as our individual commitment to implementing an event worth creating.

Advice

1)    Determine the vision and educate all stakeholders of the vision. Without “buy-in” from all members, the journey will be challenging.

2)    Find out what the gifts and talents are within the middle school community. Find a way to use these gifts.

3)    Set SMART goals to meet the vision, and initially, consider a long-range plan for meeting the goals. SMART stands for S-Specific and Strategic; M-Measurable; A-Action-oriented; R-Rigorous, Realistic, & Results-focused; T-Timed and Tracked

4)    Make a plan. Start small. Our school started this journey by setting up academic, interdisciplinary teams. I believe teaming is at the heart of the middle school movement. If our goal is to meet the needs of young adolescents, placing them on a team provides a natural structure for teachers to be able to communicate about students and plan ways to meet the individual needs.

* Richard da Costa is the Director of Floating Harbour Films, Floating Harbour Studios, in Bristol, UK

10. Clubs Rock!!

10. Clubs Rock!

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

*Organizational structures foster purposeful learning and meaningful relationships. Organizational Structures

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) provides sixteen characteristics of exemplary middle schools. This blog addresses the tenth characteristic and falls under the category of Curriculum and instruction. 

Middle school structures include: teaming, intramurals, interdisciplinary instruction, exploratories, and advisory as common tools. Our advisory program takes place thirty minutes each day. The idea of "club time" came about after an in-service exploration of ways to develop structures within a team that develop social and emotional development. We, as a team, are exploring the use of "club time" to engage our students in active, exploratory approaches to learning as one of our advisory periods during the week. Teachers selected their areas of interests and offered students the opportunity to choose which club they wanted to participate. Our topics include: wellness, coding, comic books, and math/science and art. We are revising our schedule, deducting five minutes off classes, so  we can have “club time” in conjunction with the thirty-minute Spartan Time (our advisory period).

This week, we started our clubs with an introductory session that lasted thirty minutes, followed by a sharing of student-generated Super Bowl commercials (see blog on Super Bowl Sunday: PBL). Students enjoyed time to explore an interest, engage in social interactions, and ignite their creative energies. We believe that part of advisory (a time to develop social and emotional skills) is to allow our team of teachers to support our students in multiple ways. Student responses to clubs include:

"We have lots of ideas of what we want to do in our coding club!"

"About four of us want to sing. We are going to use the art club as a place to sing, as art."

"We talked about what we want to do in our wellness class."

"We are going to be reading comic books and making comics."

As you can see, students are taking an active role in their clubs already!! 

Advice

1)   When creating “club time,” be sure that all teachers on the team participate. We came up with the clubs and offered them to our students. No student said, “There is not anything I am interested in.” (:

2)   Choose a time for engaging in “club time.” We want to have our “club time” on Wednesdays.

3)   Be sure and get feedback from your students as well as the teachers regarding Club Time.