This We Believe

The opening pages of this book presented multiple ideas and goals that have proven to create successful middle schools. Students at this age level are all at different stages of development in their lives, and each child is going to experience this developmental growth in different ways. That being said, educators must realize the importance of teaching to the students by addressing their needs first. As a teacher, I need to be able to relate to my students, to find what makes them think, what they are interested in, and how to engage them. This chapter discussed the importance of not only teaching how to create a healthy lifestyle, but the importance of leading by example and demonstrating a healthy lifestyle. As a teacher, I am going to be looked up to by my students, so I need to be prepared to be a positive role model for them. Adolescents learn from what they see, and educators need to always be aware of that. Middle school educators must also remember the role that society plays on their school community as well. Students at this age are clearly more influenced by their peers than they are from their adult figures, and society begins to influence how adolescents act in a variety of ways. Environment does play a huge factor on an individuals behavior, so depending on the school in which one teachers, to a point, says a bit about the type of student body in that school. The author also presents the National Middle School Association's mission statement which is: National Middle School Association is dedicated to improving the educational experiences of young adolescents by providing vision, knowledge, and resources to all who serve them in order to develop healthy, productive, and ethical citizens.

Middle school educators must realize the role they play and young adolescences lives. All teachers and staff who work in the school community must present themselves as positive role models who demonstrate enthusiasm through their actions. This chapter describes the role a principal must play in the school community in order to create effective collaborate teaching style, which in the end promotes effective learning. The principal is the lead figure in any given school, and should present him/her self as such. Training to become a certified middle school educator is always changing and requires a significant amount of work. Any person who has a desire to teach children at this age level must have a passion for teaching. This can be said for educating at any grade level, however educating middle schoolers is instilling life skills and building on the basics of citizenship and content education. In middle school, teachers must be motivated and prepared to gain the interest of the students. Throughout this chapter, the author clearly stresses the importance of creating a successful learning environment in order to have an effective middle school classroom. A school community should support and promote learning by first providing a safe learning atmosphere for all students. As a behaviorist, I am in firm believe of a positive learning environment to help influence engaged learning.

One of the most difficult tasks that a teacher is faced with is how to design curriculum that is going to truly help students understand content. Students in middle school are distracted by so many other things going on in their lives, changes that are physical and emotional. Some students are only in school because they have to be, and do not care about listening to what the teacher has to say. Children at this age are developing at different rates and this can make it difficult for middle school teachers to create lessons that will engage the interest of all of their students. This chapter presents a couple ideas that should help generate curriculum that will engage students. The author says that lessons should be relevant, challenging, exploratory, and most importantly prepare students for the 21st century. Another aspect this chapter focused on how effective collaboration can be. All middle school educators should design integrated content curriculum and teach as one big community. Once teachers are able to build relationships with their students, they will understand student's specific needs better and as a result will be better able to teach to their needs.

The main focus of this last section of This We Believe was to outline how to actually implement the ideas and suggestions of the National Middle School Association Education System. The author described how each different position in the school community has their own role, and in order to create an effective learning environment for middle school students all people involved in the school system must do their part. It is the responsibility of the entire school community up to the director of education at the state level to play their role to the best of their ability, and educate themselves as to always be developing and advancing. All educators in the learning community must evaluate their performances often if they want to create successful changes when needed. This chapter also discussed that educator must look to colleagues for advice, and should strive to create collaborative team teaching within their schools.