Turning Points 2000: chapter 1 and 2

Chapter 1:

This chapter covered the reasons why a distinct form of education was created for middle school. In 1987, when research was done on young adolescents, researchers realized that young adolescents are in an important time in their life because of their opportunity for success and their vulnerability to failure. The Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents published their report in 1989; this report’s findings paved the way for middle school education to begin changing. The task force realized that young adolescents need a certain type of educational system; for example, large middle grades schools needed to be divided into smaller communities so they could have a sense of comfort. When young adolescents enter middle school they feel out of place because they don’t have the same comfort level as they did in elementary school; middle school is an entirely different situation, one in which there is less of a focus on being supportive for students. In the report there are many helpful suggestions that have been proven to raise grades; though not to a point where young adolescents are at the same level as their peers globally. As pointed out in this chapter, the students in the United States are falling behind their peers on the global level; here in the US, there are increasing problems with drugs, alcohol, unprotected sex, pregnancy, and STDs. The purpose of this new education system was to help young adolescents become successful and be less at risk.

I thought this chapter was useful, because it pointed out what problems we as future middle school teachers are facing. I felt like this chapter put things in perspective because it really showed me the challenges that I’ll face. I liked the suggestions that the task force report gave; especially when it talked about putting large middle school groups into smaller communities. I know that when I was in Lincoln Middle School in Portland, Maine we had the 7^th grade split up into “houses” and in each house we were separated into sections. What frustrates me is we have all this data that talks about how the US is falling behind globally, but no one does anything about it; the students that are struggling now are the ones that will be running the country in a few years and that thought frightens me. We know that students that are non-white struggle more in schools, but we do not forcefully attempt to rectify the situation. I feel like, we as teachers, are failing our students because as the chapter said, “The hard fact is that many educators believe some groups of students are less able to achieve academically because they see these groups of students achieving less than others on a daily basis”. I feel like teachers do notice the problems, but they aren’t sure how to tackle the issues; I think that the recommendations of the task force are a start, but they are not the end.

Chapter 2:

In this chapter the writer is explaining how the turning points recommendations changed after they had the research from the past ten years. The goal of turning points was to ensure success for every student because they felt that the original recommendations were not specific enough. For example, in the original recommendations it seemed that the core knowledge they discussed was inflexible and a prescribed body of knowledge. Whereas, in the newer recommendations it does discuss the core knowledge, but they want it to be flexible so it can reflect the changes seen in society. Doing this helps make sure that the curriculum taught is relevant to the adolescent’s lives because when it’s not, it’s difficult to get them interested. Overall, they modified the recommendations to better encompass every student instead of a select few.

What I liked about this chapter was how the modified recommendations worked. I felt that the first set of recommendations was very vague; they had goals that they wanted to achieve, but they didn’t really specify how. In comparison, the new recommendations the task force provided suggestions on how to ensure success for every student in a way that middle grade teachers could understand and implicate. I also liked how people are beginning to say use the word “every” instead of “all” students because I do feel like when you use the word “all” people are mentally excluding large groups of students. The recommendation I felt was modified the best, was the recommendation to make curriculum relevant to students. I’ve never understood how we can expect a set curriculum to work with every student. Teachers are going to have to use different strategies and curriculum with different types of students and in different types of locations.