The Importance of Middle Level Education

(Pages 1-7)
I found these few pages incredibly interesting. Although I have recently been reflecting on my own middle school experience, a lot of large things stuck out in my mind rather than the smaller changes I was undergoing. I forgot how challenging these years can be in relation to the changes in your body, or your pressures from your friends, etc. Having an adult that you can count on and go to outside of your family is incredibly important if it is someone you can trust. On the last page, I truly agree with all of the statements used to describe the ultimate goal of success and the different goals for the middle schools. I can't help but think this would be such a wonderful movement to be a part of. To change the face of middle schools is a large task that is truly already in the making, but hearing all of this information is incredibly new to me and I am still amazed by the power these changes could have.

(Pages 9-19)
Moving through this book gives an inspiring outlook on teaching middle school. In this book in particular, I cannot help but notice the to-the-point satisfaction the author uses to demonstrate the wonderful attributes of teaching these grade levels. In these particular pages, the discussion is mostly involving the first few steps in building a successful middle school. The first step noted is hiring the correct professional staff for the position. This part is slightly intimidating, I was reading it and asking myself if I fit the bill for the ultimate middle school employee. The standards and stakes in this situation are incredibly high. The expectation is to reform and reorganize these schools to a point of inevitable success. The qualities that are mentioned are all very strong and necessary building blocks for the proper team structure that will ultimately make the school what it needs to be. These types of people will contribute to making the most safe and effective school environment possible, which will also lead to success. To take it the next step and involve the community and engage everyone in active learning is just another block on the pile. All of these pieces are required to make the middle school what these authors are talking about. I cannot help but agree and hope that I can contribute to such a cool movement sometime in my own career. I am honestly reminded of the Maine Teaching Standards more and more each page and wondering if their is a similar author. I'm proud to be a part of a learning environment that is promoting such an intricate plan of success. The more I learn about it, the more excited I seem to get to apply and execute the entire system.

(Pages 19-34)
In this section of the book the author reviews many aspects of teaching and the most effective ways to reach students through a strong curriculum. It reviews the ways the curriculum should be constructed as relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. All of these concepts seem like a review to me, mostly from our assignments in practicum. I enjoyed the thorough ideas and clear statements that the author makes about each aspect. These suggestions on how to make the curriculum challenging, how to make the curriculum relevant, how to make the curriculum integrative, exploratory, and fitting for the 21st century were all useful suggestions and well thought out. However, I was not blown away by any of the innovative ideas, because they are things that are a refreshment for me in a lot of ways. I still think, as I have always thought, that all of these concepts fit together so nicely and create a well constructed base for students and teachers in a learning community. All of these things are necessary and useful in a planning and teaching situation. Rereading them all assured me that I am getting to know the most beneficial aspects of planning and creating for the curriculum and the students.

(Pages 35-51)
As an overview for the book, and a strong list of examples for how to incorporate these ideas into any curriculum and school, this chapter has a really strong place in this book. It reemphasized all of the key points about the previous pages that help give the reader a guideline for how to use all of the good ideas that are presented throughout the chapters. I really like how the advice and suggestions pieces are broken up into different sections for the different types of people that would be involved in implementing the plans. All of the different roles have different advice and I found myself really interested in the ways they all intertwined and contributed to one another. This setup makes the ideas easy to follow as well as giving a reminder that all of the different members of the educational community have to work together to implement such dramatic changes and keep the ball moving in a positive direction. It is good to remember the different ways everyone can continue contributing. At the end of the chapter, the characteristics of young adolescents section serves as a healthy reminder for the main reason that we are all working for, to better the futures of these promising students.

The Truth About Middle School Students (Ch.17)

Abstract
This chapter is a conclusion to the author's thoughts and concepts throughout the book. He uses the conclusion to make a powerful and lasting statement about middle school students being denied positive reinforcement in public media settings. The chapter reinforces the idea of the misconceptions that the public and media have about middle school students and their lack of development and even importance. The points made in the chapter revolve around the idea that these students are just as important as all others and are making incredible achievements each year. Added into the final plea for more positive reinforcement for these kids, are quotes from the kids themselves that are randomly written on the author's classroom bulletin board. These quotes, jokes, and sentences are simple reminders that the students are still growing and learning, but are intelligent and funny; they are worth our time and effort is the message of the chapter.

Reflection
I found this chapter to be really moving. The passion that the author has for the students comes out in his voice throughout the different chapters. This particular chapter showed him really fighting for the help with extra effort to recognize the kids that deserve it and to treat all of these students with respect and care. Like chapter 2, I appreciated the extra feature of the kids' voices and quotes. Those additions always help me remember the character of the students in question and make me laugh. They are intriguing and give the subject matter a strong example and reminder for the reader to take them seriously while laughing. This chapter was pretty inspiring and it made me want to get to know the age group and these different and special kinds of children. That is a pretty incredible thing for an author to get the reader to be interested in.

Motivating Young Adolescents (Ch.2)

Abstract
In this chapter the author gives the audience some realistic advice about how to motivate adolescents in the classroom. The advice is set into a series of questions and then each question is answered and supplemented with a series of suggestions that could be use to accomplish the main goal of that particular answer.
The questions used as guidelines were: Are you interested with knowing & being with your students? Have you created a classroom where students feel safe enough to share their emotions? Are your lessons vivid? are you enthusiastic about your subject? Do you build suspense by giving them something to look forward to? Do your lessons take into account the varied learning styles of students? Can all students succeed in your classroom? Is the material relevant to your students' lives? Do your lessons maintain momentum? Do you clearly communicate instructions and expectations? Do your students know why they are learning certain concepts and skills? Are assessments authentic? Do the students play a role in the teaching and learning? Do your students have proof of your belief in their ability to learn?
These question topics serve as headlines and subject of suggestions throughout the chapter. Among the information were also a few student perspective paragraphs floating on the sides of the first couple pages. These paragraphs also handed out some good advice to activities or settings that really set students up for success and are truly memorable to them.

Reflection
I found this chapter to be incredibly helpful. At the beginning, when I was answering the questions, I found that was answering yes to the majority, but that it was things that I wanted, not that I could necessarily say that I have (considering both that I do not have an actual classroom, and that I was unsure of how to achieve the results). All of the suggestions were helpful, whether I felt them to be useful or not. These ideas brought up and encouraged a lot of my own ideas and expectations for my future classroom. I was excited to hear so many of my hopes in writing being supported by very realistic suggestions and ideas for the success of the execution of the particular strategies. I also found the student suggestions on the side of the couple of pages helpful and interesting. I am hoping those blurbs continue throughout the book because they show great support for the presentation of the authors materials in the chapter. I really enjoyed this chapter and it's helpful hints!

Stoking The Fires Within (Ch.1)

Abstract
In this chapter the author begins by motivating the teachers in the audience. He gives insight into the perception of teachers and how that can be changed simply by a healthy and positive attitude. The author gives advice on how to maintain that positive attitude and how it will improve the efforts and even feelings of your students. He comments on the differences between a mediocre, good, superior, and great teacher, showing that the difference is generally the end result of putting forth an extra effort to do right and eventually inspiring the students. Towards the end of the chapter the author also makes the reference to the importance of listening to colleagues, students, and even yourself to make the adequate connections that will get you towards your goals, as well as others towards theirs.

Reflection
I found this chapter incredibly honest and a good starting point for any book. At the end I was excited to read on. The concepts of personal attitudes and inspirational teaching were catchy and interesting to me. He is describing the kind of teacher I would like to be, the kind of student relationships I would love to have. The chapter made me reflect a little on my views thus far of teaching and my actions throughout my education. The teachers that inspired me the most were truly the positive and encouraging ones. I love structure and freedom all at the same time and the teachers that could listen and appreciate that were the ones that I certainly learned the most from. Beginning a teaching career is more and more nerve racking for me, the closer it gets. Though I am confident in my abilities and I am more than excited to begin, after reading this chapter I know that my best and most useful accessory will be a positive attitude. With that, even just starting out, I know I will be able to inspire, even just a little.

A Design for Improving Middle Grades Education (Ch.2)

Abstract
The second chapter of Turning Points 2000 begins to highlight the reforms made to the concepts and plans to the original Turning Points. These changes are a result of the past years spent implementing and reviewing the results in schools all over the country. This chapter emphasizes the number one goal of the entire project, which is to help middle schools work to encourage a “whole” child in each individual. That child would be a student who was to “think critically, work industriously, to contribute to their communities, to care about other, and to care about their own physical and mental health.”(p. 23) The chapter clearly makes the recommendations for reforms and then supplies each change with a description of the ultimate purpose for changes and the reasons behind them that support the new ideas. This structure provides a certain confidence in the way these changes could truly show results closer and closer to the number one goal.

Reflection
This chapter clearly explained the changes in ideas between the first developments of this movement and the reasons why reforms need to be made. The way the changes are setup in the text and explained was incredibly easy for me to understand and process and therefore put me in a nice place to really think about the changes and the way they could each work and where the new ideas stemmed from. The “system” that the chapter discusses was an entirely different and interesting concept. It got me wondering whether the book would go into further detail of the interconnectedness of each of the new recommendations and how that could create an even stronger jumping off point for the implication of this program. It seems like a simple connect the dots concept, but with all of the questions and ideas presented in that section of the text, I was baffled to whether this type of system would even work without changing to be completely interconnected, given all of the ways each section throws off another. Knowing how this could work or does work will come with time and possibly in more pieces than just one large interconnected section.

A Decade Later (Ch.1)

Abstract
Chapter one begins by given some overview information about the Turning Points’ original goals, ambitions, and ideas. Using examples such as student teams and common planning, the chapter touches on a few areas that the implementation of the concepts within Turning Points has made a positive impact within middle school systems. The chapter gives a slight overview of some of the reasons that reform is helpful in these particular school systems and what kind of guidelines Turning Points recommends to implementing schools. The focus on the period in the adolescent’s life and the different changes that period includes is bringing a personal and important new way of teaching into these schools. The outlining of the reformation of the schools gives a great overview of how these changes could be made as well as supplying justification for the different actions being suggested.

Reflection
This chapter brought a whole new way of thinking for me. I sort of always viewed middle school level classrooms as a time for repeating basics and skills in these young adolescent lives (as it mentions in the chapter). This chapter turned that upside down by delivering knowledge of what the teens may really be experiencing and how their abilities to learn to change at this point in their lives is far higher than I expected. It comes together and makes perfect sense that this time could be serving as groundwork for an entire lifestyle because of the high chances for soaking up knowledge, tasks, actions, and other important aspects of a more successful life. The earlier we begin with the students on an adult-like level of learning, the more likely the students are to continue that type of learning and develop their own skills and adaptations to that. With the influential age group being directed in middle school, it makes sense to go the extra mile and provide them with the proper resources including team efforts and extra help to achieve goals early and begin setting more.