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.