Week 2 – Essential Characteristics of Middle School

This weeks readings revolved around what the students need to effectively transfer to middle school as well as what characteristics make a good middle school.  The most memorable part of this reading for me was the student comments from the Scholastic article by Caralee Adams.  Going through the process of preparing to become a teacher and learning about the evolution of education along with the theory behind the methodologies is interesting.  There is something about hearing the words from the students themselves though, that is infinitely more powerful to me.  As I read through them I thought of another project from Trinity’s program that involved us interviewing a middle grade student.  We asked them 20 or so questions ranging from school favorites to their thoughts on academic honesty.  I thought it was very interesting to hear that perspective on what they were seeing in school and the things that really put them at ease.  One student for instance, not a fan of history, developed a love for the class and the subject all because of an excellent teaching experience.

 

Those kinds of experiences are part of why I want to be a teacher.  Specifically the concept of the “hidden curriculum” as presented by the AMLE text.  In the Navy I had several students reach out to me after they had progressed in their careers to talk about their journey and ask for advice.  I was very taken aback by some of the things they had to say and the interactions we had which stuck with them the most.  One of my students was highly intelligent but always beat himself up about small mistakes and didn’t think he was “good enough.”  As much as I had tried throughout the training cycle I couldn’t get him to see that worth within himself and understand how much potential he had.  After graduation however we sat and had a discussion.  It was less about the content and more about life, but that was what finally brought it all together for him.  Now I don’t remember exactly what I had said and I was surprised that it meant so much to him.  What he remembered though was that I had opened up to him on a personal level, and I shared my hopes, fears, and failures.  We talked about what I had done and things I wish I had learned.  That was when the way I had tried to teach him things finally clicked for him and he realized how much I cared.  So when I read the text talking about small actions having a profound and lasting impact on a students education I think of him.  He went on to advance incredibly quickly in the program and received many commendations along the way.  I had a female student in the same class who was very quiet.  I think our first meaningful interaction came when I was having a conversation with a coworker about I concert I had been to over the weekend.  Now I think it is important to note that the program is not like traditional schooling and it is very possible to have a student in my class that I don’t have much interaction with.  They have a computer based component, some traditional class work, oral and written exams, and small group events.  Who the students interact with and learn from is largely up to them.  They were allowed to form their own small groups and seek out the instructors they wanted to learn from.  So that concert ended up being the thing that provided our initial interaction and we built trust from there.  What stuck with me about that relationship was that she wrote herself a letter about how I treated everyone and gave it to her mother to hold onto and give back to her to read when she was older.  In it she wrote about how I treated my peers and students.  She admired my calm, fairness, and patience.  But again as the text stated it was a small action outside of the planned curriculum that modeled a mindset and way to act for her, which in turn built our relationship and helped her feel more comfortable asking questions as well as being more receptive to the content.