Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

This chapter discusses effective assessment and how to create it in your own classroom. Wormeli quotes Jay McTighe who said that assessment should promote learning, not just measure it. He demonstrates this by describing a situation when he assessed a student’s musical performance instead of assessing the student in a standard fashion. Wormeli has eight suggestions that teachers should keep in mind when grading; these suggestions are: defining clear goals, rigorous and motivating assessment, focusing on essential knowledge, using multiple disciplines, valid indicator of student’s knowledge, source of reliable information, using various formats, and easy to grade. Defining clear goals is important because then students are aware of what they are working towards so they aren’t surprised later on at the end of the unit. He suggests even going so far as to give students a copy of the test so they know what to prepare for. Wormeli suggests that assessment should be rigorous and motivating because students will put in more effort then they would for a standard assessment.

I liked this chapter because whenever I’m creating a lesson I always stumble when I get to the assessment part because I’m not quite sure what to do. I always hated worksheets so I like trying to find creative ways to assess students so that students can express their knowledge in a way that suits them. In my practicum I had to do a multi-genre paper for my Lit professor and it was so amazing! My topic was the Great Depression and I presented it in a letter, newspaper article, menu, and various other ways. I thought that was the best thing in the world and ended up doing it with my students; which didn’t exactly work, but I had the best of intentions. Overall, I really liked this chapter because it gave me a lot of ideas that I can use in my own classroom.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

This chapter is about how to provide differentiated instruction to students that require it. Wormeli stresses how important it is for teachers to provide differentiated instruction to students because it’s impossible to expect students to learn at the same rate. He emphasizes that differentiating instruction doesn’t just mean giving easier or harder assignments; it’s supposed to be about changing the complexity of an assignment. Based on his own personal research, Wormeli created a list of characteristics on how to approach differentiated instruction. Some of his characteristics are: risk taking, being empathetic, organized, flexible, tenacious, resourceful, and able to collaborate. Wormeli also discusses how differentiating instruction based on the multiple intelligences can be helpful for students. He ends with saying how he felt that if he had tried to differentiate instruction sooner then he may have been able to help particular students succeed academically.

This is a topic that we hear about frequently over our education career. Differentiated instruction is probably the most important thing a teacher can do, but it’s also probably the most difficult. In my practicum class I had 2 severely autistic students, 1 student with emotional disturbance, 3 more with learning disabilities, 2 gifted and talented students, and then the rest of the class. I remember planning a lesson felt like walking through a mine field because I was never quite sure where I could or couldn’t go based on the student’s various levels. The high note was at the end of a unit of the Revolutionary War my students presented about a person that played an important role in the war. I told them they could present the information however they wanted and I can remember the look of pride on my two students with autism when they showed their poster board. I feel like differentiating instruction is an area I struggle in, but hope to improve.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

This chapter discussed the concept of holding students and teachers accountable for high standards. Wormeli encourages teachers to hold their students accountable for their grades. In this chapter Wormeli recognizes that holding a student accountable can involve risk tasking. He illustrates this with a story about a boy with Tourette’s syndrome and how he had the boy play the lead role in a play. Wormeli felt that doing this encouraged the student to reach for a higher goal and that he made the student accountable for this performance. To hold students accountable for meeting high standards Wormeli suggests: providing models of success, display assignments publicly, reducing or eliminating extra credit projects, allowing students to struggle and having a telephone in your classroom. Other suggestions Wormeli made on how to meet state standards were: putting the student first and not just teaching to the test, keeping yourself aware of new relevant research, make sure school is about learning and not maintaining control of students, make sure students understand and be prepared to re-teach content in new ways, collaborate with colleagues, seek and use available resources, and give students time to learn the format of state exams. Doing these suggestions will according to Wormeli create students that are successful and able to analyze information.

I found this chapter to be interesting because it encouraged teachers to hold not only themselves, but their students to high standards. I found this to be interesting because I feel like a recent trend in education is to not hold students accountable. For example, the school in Rhode Island fired all its teachers because of the grades; the problem may have been the instruction style, but it also could have been students weren’t as one parent suggested willing to put in the work. I liked how this chapter connected well into the Turning Points 2000 points. I feel like the suggestions in this book would create a great environment in which students are accountable for themselves and determine their success. I think that it is important for teachers to also be held accountable and like how Wormeli has his students grade him. I would like to use this in my classroom.

Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Technology

I really enjoyed this presentation; it was by far my favorite presentation seen so far. I thought they started off the presentation with good energy and caught my attention by placing an agenda on the board. I particularly liked that because I appreciate when people help my brain focus on each activity by clearly organizing the information in a way I can follow. I thought the backburner activity was ingenious because it helped relieve stress, but it also encouraged us to see other’s perspectives since we learned what was stressing them. I would definitely use that activity in my class because it helps students in a variety of ways. Another aspect of the presentation that I felt worked well was using the animal references when discussing the parts of the brain; though after awhile I got confused as to what was what. Overall, I thought this presentation was great and introduced a dry topic in an exciting and interesting way.

The problems I had with the presentation were the amount of information given to us in such a short period of time and the use of the jigsaw. When Cassie described the different parts of the brain we had the note taking sheet to help us, but I think I would have rather had a sheet with notes already on it. Since, she was giving us so much information I had a hard time following her and taking notes. Another problem I had was the jigsaw; at this point if I never see another jigsaw it would be soon. Both groups that have presented have done one and I feel that there is too much information given to us for us to accurately present the information to other people.

I liked the handouts, especially the one about the different types of learners, but I really wanted to know about the other types of learners. I know there are definitely more then three types of learners and felt that the others were just ignored. On one handout was suggestions on how to encourage movement in the classroom, but I wished that the presenters discussed more how to efficiently teach a lesson and incorporate the amount of movement the book suggests.

At the end of the day I was really impressed with the presentation and commend the group on tackling such a dreadfully boring book. Your presentation was really fun and it demonstrated the personality you will have in your own classrooms. Good Job!

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

This chapter discussed how to take brain research and use it to create a better learning environment for middle school students. It’s also important for teachers to understand how their student’s brains work so they can work their student’s to the best capacity. For example, Wormeli suggested having multiple students answer the same question, this way students don’t relax their minds and instead are thinking about other ways to answer the question. Another important aspect mentioned in this chapter was the importance of making learning relevant to a student’s life. When knowledge is relevant a student will be able to make connections to the material and store the information in their memory. To make knowledge relevant and interesting for students Wormeli suggest the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy which has seven skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Using these skills will help students not only build a core of knowledge, but also learn how to think for themselves.

I found this chapter to be very interesting because of the way the information helps me plan better lessons. In my PSY 225 class we covered some of this information, but we never discussed why it’s important to know this as future teachers. I found it interesting that Bloom’s Taxonomy was mentioned in this chapter since we have it drilled into our brains whenever we create a lesson plan. Wormeli mentioned that most people overlook it because it’s so widely known, but I know that personally it’s the first thing I turn to when I’m creating a lesson. I liked the section that specifically discussed student’s misconceptions and how to make sure to address them. I agreed with that because I’ve witnessed a small misconception in a student that eventually turns into something huge. Overall, I enjoyed the chapter and will implement some of the items discussed into my own classroom.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 13 Synthesis

Chapter 13 Synthesis:

The class agreed that they felt this chapter discussed the various outdoor activities teachers can do with their students. If teachers do some of these activities outside of the school setting it gives students a chance to see that their teachers are real people and not just a teacher. Another positive that comes out of these outdoor activities is the sense of responsibility students have; Wormeli found that students were more likely to do things for themselves after having these types of experiences. Also, students have a sense of gender equality because they all have the same responsibilities and participate in the same activities. Overall, the class felt that Wormeli was promoting these activities because of the changes seen in student’s behaviors.

Most of the class really liked this chapter and felt that they would implement some of the ideas into their own classroom. For example, one activity most people liked was having students write while outdoors. Some of the class could remember when they had experiences outside of school that allowed them the chance to see their teachers as something other than just a teacher. We’ve all had that moment when we see one our teachers in a store or something and they’re acting out of “character” and we get really confused because we have forgotten they are people too. Some of the class raised the issue of practicality and safety of overnight excursions and suggested that it may be better to just have day trips to local outdoor areas. Overall, the class liked the activities and would like to implement some of them in their own classrooms even if they have to adapt the activity.

Student Oriented Curriculum

I found this presentation to be extremely informative and interesting. It presented me with material that I haven’t seen before and left with me with a curiosity to observe this in a classroom. One aspect of the presentation that I thought worked well was having all of the class get up and move to the different areas of the room when questions were asked. I liked that the presenters asked why we were in that group and if we would have liked to have seen our schooling worked out differently. The other thing that I enjoyed was the activity they did at the end of the presentation; they have everyone pick a favorite quote and explain why they chose it and how they would implement it in their classroom. I feel like the presenters really grasped the concept of a student-oriented curriculum and that was noticeable in the way they presented the information to us.

The few problems that I had with the presentation were the jigsaw and the final activity. I liked the concept of the jigsaw, but I didn’t feel that it worked out well. The amount of information given was too much to process at one time; the group I was first with had note cards given to us to help us take notes, but I felt like that was a waste of time. There was another group that had notes typed up by one of the presenters and I felt that the notes would have been more efficient. Also, I had a hard time understanding what other teams were saying since they hadn’t read the book. I think I would have preferred just having the presenters talk to us as a whole class instead of in groups. Maybe we could have still done a jigsaw, but instead had each group come with ideas on how we would implement the presenter’s suggestions in our own classroom. The other problem I had with the presentation was the assumption that everyone would agree with the material. As we witnessed with Jen, whom I agreed with, some of the suggestions posted on the board didn’t work with certain people’s teaching philosophy. I would have liked to have seen what they would have done to work with the people who weren’t completely sold on their book.

The two questions I had at the end of the presentation were: “How would you be completely inclusive in your classroom if you have students with severe disabilities like autism?” and “How and why would you implement this in your own classroom?”

Thank-You for an interesting look at another type of middle school environment. I enjoyed learning about a different, slightly unorthodox, teaching philosophy. Your presentation has left me wanting to observe these alternatives schools to see how they work. Good Job!

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

This chapter discussed the various outdoor activities that teachers can do with middle school students. Wormeli was an advocate for these activities because he felt there were many revelations made on these trips. For many students, going on a trip with a teacher is a new experience, and while they’re on the trip they are able to see a different side of the teacher. Also, the teacher is able to see a different side of their students. While students are on a camping trip they come to appreciate all the commodities they have at home since they don’t have them here. Also, when teacher’s do these type of activities with their students, there tends to be an increase in student’s level of independence; without being nagged to, they will pick up after themselves, clean up their own messes, figure out things on their own, and overall just be more independent. The things that students can learn while doing these outdoor activities cannot be taught outside and because of this Wormeli strongly encourages teachers to implement some of his ideas.

When I first started reading this chapter I was a little hesitant to accept Wormeli’s ideas because I felt there were so many unknown elements; I felt that it was an accident in the making since students could wander, how would you contain a group of students in the wild and the possibility of student’s saying there was inappropriate conduct. Then I thought about all the possible rewards as a result of these activities and I realized that the benefits outweighed the possible negatives. My favorite activities were: “Math as a Tool to Study Nature, from Water Flow to Tree Grow” and “Outdoor Writing”. I thought that both activities were designed well and students would be doing academic activities as the same time as having fun. Overall, I enjoyed this chapter because of the suggestions Wormeli had. I can see myself referring back to this book to come up with possible ideas as to what I would do on a trip with my students.