Middle level certification

Totally off topic for this week but I just had to get on my soapbox for a moment or two. Middle level educators - are you really? I hope one day teachers that teach at the middle level have to have a middle level certification - and not by some phony means such as the State of Maine did with having teachers become HQ by HOUSSE. Certification by classwork would be a good start. Teaching and understanding the middle schoolers is different than teaching and understanding first grade but yet many fail to recognize this - and yes, I mean fellow colleagues. We have to be trained/schooled to teach math, science, social studies, and ELA at the middle level - wouldn't it be fair to say we need to know about the group we want to instruct? Even RTI - this looks different at the third grade level than it does at the middle school level. I mean - look at this scenario - the students are misbehaving - being talkative and not on task. The teacher states "I've had it" and walks out the door leaving the students with an ed tech. The teacher comes back in 10 minutes later and instructs the students to get a dictionary down and they are writing words and definitions out of the dictionary for their punishment. Hmmmm.....The students were 7th grade students and the teacher, who is almost done in her masters for counseling none the less - let's look at this. I see issues with classroom management for one - is this the student's fault? Instead of looking at the whole picture let's punish the little buggers! After all - I'm in charge! This is just a key example of where education of the teacher regarding middle level learners would come in handy. And yes, sadly, this a true scenario. And I think it should be required for all middle level educators to take classes, at least once a year, on a topic relating to this learning group. This is a make or break area for so many students - anyone can teach to the best and the brightest - but who's going to help the student that's not the best and brightest? Give him/her more words to copy out of the dictionary? Enough of a soapbox for today!

Kids Who Are Different

Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids who don't always get A's,
The kids who ears twice the size of their peers,
And noses that go on for days....

Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids they call crazy or dumb,
The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit,
Who dance to a different drum...

Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids with the mischievous streak,
For when they have grown, as history's shown,
It's their difference that makes them unique!

Digby Wolfe

Wormeli's book - Fair Isn't Always Equal

I've always been a big believer in the saying "being equal isn't always fair and being fair isn't always equal." Too many times people in general - including teachers - want to put that square peg in that round hole and then wonder why it doesn't fit. They call that square peg lazy, unmotivated, refuse to learn, anything to take the focus off what really is happening and that is not recognizing that square peg for what he/she is. I love differentiated teaching/learning as it goes along with "all children can learn - just not all the same way." Multiple intelligence is great! Because of this - I have been enjoying Wormeli's book. I'm looking into the student self-assessment and thinking about how I can incorporate this into my mini-unit on Global Warming to celebrate Earth Day. Hmmmm. When I think about grades I try to keep the differentiated thought in focus - my work never goes down to zero - usually the grade starts at 40 to 50 unless they do not pass it in - which I currently give a zero to. But I'm going to rethink that. On page 102 I enjoyed how grading was broken down into 6 categories. The last three - motivate, punish - I'm going to motivate you so I'm going to punish you. In the middle school I see just the opposite results - students get discouraged. To sort students - what! into ability? That's really good for the self esteem too! NOT! My students are not penalized for handing in their homework late as I agree with Ellen Berg on page 104 - I want them to learn from their homework - not just get it in on time. All of this being said - we had a professional development day the other week working on the mission/focus of our school. Our facilitator started a web in the middle of a HUGE piece of paper about issues facing our school. Interesting that the other colleague that I have issues with wrote "clear, consistent rules for all with equal consequences for all." I'm not sure the square peg fits in that - do you?