Don't get me wrong, these were excellent chapters. Any prospective teacher who is thinking of teaching middle school should be required to read these things just so they could have a cursory understanding of what is going on INSIDE a kid. These are all factors over which we have absolutely no control. Then we throw in things like family, SES, home life, disabilities, and (shockingly) academics. How can these kids even hope to learn?
Well, as we have read in many of our resources, we need teachers who are specifically trained to recognize and adapt to the developmental needs of middle level students. Just as an elementary ed. program helps teachers build the foundations of learning, and a secondary ed. program helps teachers move students into adulthood, a middle level program needs to not just bridge the gap, but accommodate and accelerate the learning and thinking of the most diverse group of school learners.
By the way, Toy Story 3 was excellent.
Run away - but at least take a few of these students and go camping. I wish the book had emphasized more about what is terrific with this age. They can do so much more and think deeper and their sense of humor can lift me out of the lowest low. There must be a blood test or something simple to determine what teachers have the middle level gene.
ReplyDeleteDo you think COA is too negative toward young adolescents? I loved teaching that age group...but according to my wife that was because my own development was arrested at 13 years of age. Maybe that is why I bonded so well with this age group.
ReplyDeleteThey are fun...funny...passionate...ever changing...compassionate and much more. And the (sometimes) best kept secret is that they are dying to learn. Ok, just maybe not what we give them to learn in schools...but they are mostly very forgiving. And it doesn't take much for us to motivate them to want to learn.
I totally agree with Kathy! I came into a notoriously tough 8th grade homeroom this year. All summer long everyone warned me and sent me good luck messages. That's not what I needed!!! I needed some strategies of what worked with that group, who had untapped leadership potential, how I could teach them some of the lacking social abilities and the assigned curriculum. We had our ups and downs but once they realized I wasn't giving up it went a lot smoother.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that because I have middle school experience, I did not look at these chapters as a threat, but more as a "this is what is going on inside them". I agree with Ed. They are fun and funny, but it takes a certain kind of person and mindset to appreciate them for all their good qualities. These adolescents are ultimately still kids and they need someone to love and accept them!
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong...I think COA is a terrific book. I just think it is a lot to take in, as we all see in the classroom each day.
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