Existence and Practice of the Middle School Concept
By Nicole Baer and Andrea Schichner
Problem Statement
Successful teachers are those that care enough to want students to learn. They are demanding, but fair through the good times and the bad (Schurr, Thomason, & Thompson, 1996). The tricky part for a teacher is knowing just the right way to reach each student and guide him through his learning. Obviously, schooling this way is a difficult task because there are often various ways a student can/needs to learn and thus, various styles of teaching that the teacher may apply to each situation. Two models of instruction for the young adolescent are presented here. One model, called the traditional model, uses a lecture method to transmit information to the student. When a teacher uses the traditional model, a typical student will usually just go home and store the information in their short-term memory. A student may realize that in order to really learn or store information long enough for the test, he must use some sort of learning style as an aid, such as writing the information over and over until it is memorized. He will memorize for the test that is usually given in the traditional model, discard the information, and then move on to new material. For instance, a math teacher may provide a list of rules that the student must follow to subtract positive and negative integers. In this case the student will memorize the list of rules temporarily to pass the test and discard the information when it is no longer needed. However, there is a newer model of teaching for the middle school student, called the middle school concept, which does not just present information to be stored in short term memory. It requires the student to problem solve, which results in the child taking ownership of the concept and willingly storing the concept away in long-term memory. The teacher guides the student through the problem-solving process, but never just tells them answers that can be easily discarded. Using the example presented earlier and the middle school concept, the teacher will allow each student to make his own rules about the addition and subtraction of integers after using manipulatives to problem solve. The student will take ownership of the information and store it in long-term memory because he can see a connection between the rules and what works to solve the problem.
In this newer model, a student is
challenged with real life difficulties that present themselves, in the form of
a simulation of difficulty that has or could have occurred. The only difference is that the teacher is
there to help the student and guide him through his problem solving; the teacher
does not try to solve the problem for the student. Like life beyond school, problems surface every day and each
person has to use problem-solving skills to solve them. So, it is best if the student learns how to
problem solve during the school years, before he is on his own with no guide. While presenting information to memorize is
fast, convenient, easy, and covers a lot of material, it just does not always
apply to further real world situations outside of that particular classroom. A student can memorize information for a
test, but later on they cannot recall the information or use it in every day
practical situations in the real world.
To solve this problem, there is a newer teaching model that exists and
has proven to work with better long-term benefits that provides success and fulfillment
to the student's needs (Johnston, 1985 & Lipsitz, 1984). How many teachers actually know about the
middle school concept and use it? Two
of us lab students at Augusta State University decided to ask and/or observe
teachers in three middle schools in our local area and reveal our findings to specific questions.
Literature
Review
What is the middle school concept? The middle school concept consists of
several main parts, each adapted in hopes to develop a problem-solver that has
explored their morals, values, and ethics (Beane, 1993). Each of these parts builds on the other
making it imperative to use all of the parts as a cohesive unit. Some of the main parts are meeting
adolescent needs, interdisciplinary teaming, advisory programs, varied
instruction, exploratory programs, and transition programs. With the help of the National Middle School
Association, as well as Augusta State University’s middle grade education
courses, the middle school concept is described in the following
paragraphs.
The first area that is important to the Middle School
Concept is the importance of centering on adolescent needs ( Hoose &
Strahan, 1988). This means that a
middle school age student’s intellectual, social, emotional, moral, and
physical needs must be met for a student to be able to function and learn
within a classroom. The needs of an
adolescent are different from any other age group and must be treated with
sensitivity so that the student can grow into a fully functioning adult. The environment and teaching style must be
conducive to each student within the classroom. In other words the classroom must be filled with resources that
enable a child to think constructively and arranged to allow for free movement
of desks for group work. A teacher’s
instruction must also be flexible catering to each of the student’s
individuality, while also catering to their budding self-esteem. A teacher’s instruction should also be
something that students believe is necessary to inform and support completion
of authentic assessment.
The second area that is important to the Middle School
Concept is the area of interdisciplinary teaming (Schurr, Thomason, &
Thompson, 1996). Interdisciplinary
teaming is time set aside for a common planning period in which teachers plan
thematic units. During this time
teachers develop a common goal among all subjects connecting all content areas.
For example, if the teachers’ of the sixth grade decide that it is important
that students learn about the Rain Forest, then all of the teachers would try
and relate their content to this theme and then decide on a common goal that
the students will reach. Usually, some
sort of end project realizes the goals.
For a theme on Rain Forests, the culminating activity, or project, could
be a newscast report. Project goals are
thus accomplished. Also accomplished
are learning goals, which include life performance skills such as critical
thinking, problem solving, decision making, team playing, etc. These goals are accomplished within each
subject area while also focusing on content areas that relate to the Rain
Forest. For example, the math content
could focus on the statistics and other mathematical connections. The science could bring in the study of
classification into this project, where the students may report on the various
types of life that are at risk and depend on these forests. They could also tell of the forests impact
on health care. The literature class
may choose some novels to read that deal with the Rain Forest and intertwine
writing responses and grammar lessons.
Finally, the social studies class could learn about the types of people
in the present and past that have lived off of the Rain Forest and depended on
them for survival. Keep in mind that
interdisciplinary teaming calls for flexibility and variety among
teachers. It takes practice for a team
to work as a cohesive unit, so a teacher should not expect everything to be
perfect the first time an interdisciplinary unit is attempted. A team of teachers must rely on each of its
members to work together to make this part of the middle school concept come
alive.
The third area that is important to the Middle School
Concept is the area of Advisory Programs (Schurr, Thomason, & Thompson,
1996). The purpose of these programs is to develop
adult and student relationships to promote feelings of positive self-esteem and
belonging. A student needs someone to
whom they can talk and receive guidance on any area of need. As many already know, adolescence is tough
and we need to help each student, as we would have wanted to be helped at their
age. The help given must primarily
focus on a student’s terms and needs, not the adult’s. The responsibility of advising children
should not only be limited to school counselors, but also be incorporated into
the classroom. If each teacher were
openly discussing issues that face adolescents growing up every day the chance
of reaching students with guidance needs would be dramatically increased.
The fourth area that is important to the Middle School
Concept is the area of Varied Instruction (Schurr, Thomason, & Thompson,
1996). Varied Instruction uses problem-based
learning as a primary draw, with various instructional strategies, such as
inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, labs, field trips of relevance to
issues of discussion, discussions in class, debates, and a number of teaching
methods that incorporate content with a focus on the students and their needs
for learning and variety. After all,
most people become bored with a teacher who teaches in exactly the same way
every single day. The student will be
more attentive, interested, and intrinsically motivated if they see how the
content can relate to personal concerns and relevant social issues (Beane,
1993). Simulations and role-playing are
good examples of opportunities to open the door to relevance in learning where
all participants start to experience ownership of a specified problem. Through various instructional strategies and
many teaching styles, the students and teachers will start to practice and feel
collaboration, cooperation, and community.
The fifth area that is important to the Middle School
Concept is Exploratory Programs (Schurr, Thomason, & Thompson, 1996). Exploratory Programs satisfy and build
curiosity in learning about areas other than the four content areas. Examples of exploratory programs include but
are not limited to music, art, speech, drama, careers, sports, health, clubs,
and home economics. So many people go
into fields that are not simply science, math, literature, or history: costume
and make-up design, computer graphic designers, stage and lighting design,
acting, hair design, fashion design, and many other popular and famous, as well
as not so popular and famous careers and job choices. Though these areas may use some of the four basic content areas,
they are deviations of those contents that many students may decide one day to
choose as their own careers. Without
Exploratory programs in the middle schools, we are holding these students back
from more creative career choices.
The sixth and final area important to the Middle
School Concept is a Transition program (Schurr, Thomason, & Thompson,
1996). Transition
programs allow for a smooth change between elementary, middle, and high
schools. Change for anyone is hard and
is even more challenging for students already going through so many physical
and social alterations. For some, the
transition from one school to another in addition to all the other changes may
cause them to feel as if their life is being ripped apart. This program will help the students to
adapt, keeping old friends and making new ones, and perhaps even getting them
started on their ever-evolving identity.
Methods
During
our labs we, two knowledgeable Augusta State University students, conducted
research at three local middle schools of rural, urban, and suburban
settings. School one was of suburban
setting, with primarily white students and teachers of higher and middle-income
families. School two is of rural
setting, with an almost even mix of Caucasian and African American students and
teachers of middle and lower incomes.
The final school is placed in an urban setting, with primarily African
American teachers and students with middle to lower income families. At each school we gathered information from
sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers, using the same survey instrument in personal interviews, other lab
student observations, and our own observations. Our plan was to find information about local teachers’ knowledge
of the middle school concepts and to find out if the middle school concepts
work within their classrooms and if not, why?
Results of Research
The first school of research results is appropriately
titled, school one, for many people consider this school to be one of the
best. In our three interviews of the
three grade levels, the teachers indicated that they practice many of the parts
that form the Middle School Concept, such as centering on adolescent needs and
providing exploratory programs such as drama, home economics, student
government, music, band, and so on.
Each teacher creates a smooth transition with a focus on preparing each
child educationally for the next grade.
The fifth grade students are allowed to tour the middle school before
going on to sixth grade. The eighth
graders are given the opportunity to meet with high school counselors before
their arrival into high school and they also are encouraged to participate in
High School/ College night. All three
of the teachers indicated that although they provide positive reinforcement for
the students’ good behavior and watch for things that may be bothering them,
their needs beyond just academic learning are left to the school
counselors. The county/ parents are
concerned that teachers focus only on teaching the subjects and are highly
attentive to academic achievement measured by high-test scores on standardized
tests. All three teachers try to
incorporate varied instruction within their individual subjects at least four
times a year, but they make a point to stay away from focusing on touchy
subjects such as sex, drugs, and home lives.
The health teacher, due to certain guidelines that they must follow and
parental directions, teaches more culturally sensitive issues. The seventh grade teacher indicated no
problems with meeting for interdisciplinary teaming and creating
interdisciplinary units such as the one that they did recently on Asian
studies. The sixth and eighth grade
teachers indicated that the had little time for interdisciplinary teaming and
creating interdisciplinary units due to planning periods being taken up by
other priorities such as testing and meetings.
In school two, we found that most of the eighth grade
teachers do know about the middle school concept and practice many of the parts
of the concept. One team, where a great
deal of observing and interviewing took place had touched on all the middle
school concepts except integrated thematic units. When I interviewed the teachers, they knew of this part of the
concept and said they had done the units before. They said the units worked beautifully and the students loved
them. The students would make comments
like, “ oh, yeah! We talked about this
in math.” It really helped students see
how things are interconnected, as well as made study and learning much
easier. The students felt like they
were studying more for one huge class all on the same topic than four
completely unrelated classes. So, these
teachers verified that every part of the middle school concept worked. However, due to CRCT and Stafford nine
testing, these teachers do not currently practice the integrated thematic units
part of the middle school concept, instead focusing on content needed for
testing with traditional teaching often resulting. They say that they must teach all eighth grade material by March,
the month that the two tests are given to measure students learning in eighth
grade and up to the eighth grade.
After such time, they can plan the integrated thematic units in the last
two months of school to incorporate some of the material already covered.
As for the seventh and sixth grades
of school two, we were told through interviews of eighth grade teachers and
then observed and asked for ourselves, many of the teachers have heard about
the middle school concept, but not all.
Of those that have heard, some touch a few parts, but most follow the
traditional approach. The sixth grade
is known for having more of a discipline problem with their students than the
other grades, and the focus is on behavior so much that content is not covered
well. However, some of the sixth grade
teachers do touch on parts of the middle school concept. In contrast, the seventh grade teachers are
primarily traditional, a style preferred by the school’s principal. Consequently, many teachers are greatly
influenced by his preference. Also,
seventh grade is a biology science and most of these teachers learned biology
from their teachers in college and previous school years through traditional
lecture and lab. It is important to be
taught about the middle school concept and receive preparation of some sort in
order to have the chance to actually practice the model.
In the third school, we found very
little practice of the middle school concepts.
The sixth grade teacher said that she knew of the middle school concept,
tried it, and said that it does not work and fit with the real world. Through observations, I found that she
actually does touch the middle school concept through her teachings, without
even realizing it. Since she was able
to tell me some of the ideas behind the middle school concept and said they do
not work, but uses the discover learning part in her teaching, I gather that
perhaps she is not as aware of the model as she thinks. Perhaps she tried other parts of the model
and failed, so she does not even realize that she is still using part of the
concept. We cannot really conclude what
happened in her case without in-depth study, but we do think that with the
sufficient effort of many teachers and staff working together the concept could
work. The hard part is finding a team
that is willing to try it and make it work.
As for the rest of this school, we
are pretty sure, like the other two schools, almost all of the teachers have
heard about the middle school concept.
We ground this statement in the fact that our University uses them as
our schools of training, where some of the teachers do practice parts of the
middle school concept and the principal has committed to work in the direction
of the middle school concepts.
Conclusion
No school is perfect, as no person is perfect; however
through our observations and interviews of the three schools, every part of the
Middle School Concept was proven to exist with one team or another. Each team interviewed and every classroom
that a part of the concept was observed, proved that the Middle School Concept
works if given the appropriate effort and support. Obviously, the consummation of planning and instructional time
due to testing or other demands is not supportive of the team allowing the
concept to work. Many schools are
pushed for content focused learning in order to raise scores on standardized tests,
which in turn will bring in more money for the school. Unfortunately, further research, such as The Third
International Math and Science Study may prove that content focused
learning instead of problem-based learning will not produce the best scores possible
or the higher scores needed.
Since our study was only done on three local schools
within the Augusta area, our finding that the middle school concept is known
and used does not reflect a national or global study. Also, our findings are limited to schools that Augusta State University
has identifies as professional development schools for its teachers; thus,
the schools were informed of the Middle Grade Educations philosophy and have
been encouraged to practice it. For
a more reflective and intensive study, middle schools outside of the Augusta
area should be consulted.
References
Beane, James A. (1993) A Middle School Curriculum: From Rhetoric to Realty.
Columbus, OH: National Middle School
Association.
Heffernan, Tim. (2001) “Lynch school reports of the
worlds Eighth Graders.” Boston
College
Summer Magazine 2001 [On-line]. 30
April 2002. Available:
http://www.bc.edu/publications/bcm/summer_2001/ll_test.html.
Hoose, John Van & David Strahan. (1988) Young
Adolescent Development And
School
Practices: Promoting Harmony. Westerville, OH:
National Middle School Association.
Kohn, Alfie. (1999, October 10) “A Look at …Getting
Back to Basics.” Washington
Post [On-line]. 5 Mar. 2002. Available:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/alagbtb.htm.
Miller, Howard M. (1999, Spring) “Making the Most of
Advisory Programs.” Middle
Matters [On-line]. 30
April 2002. Available: http://www.naesp.org/comm/mmspg99.htm.
“NMSA Research Summary #4 Exemplary Middle Schools.”
(2002, March) [On-
line]. 5 March 2002. Available: http://www.nmsa.org/services/ressum4.htm.
Schauer, Leslie J. (1998) “Learning Styles.”
[On-line]. 29 April 2002. Available:
http://members.aol.com/usteach/styles.html.
Schumacher, Donna. (1998, June)“The Transition to Middle School.” ERIC Digests
[On-line].
30 April 2002. Available:
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed422119.html.
Schurr, Sandra L., Julia Thomason, & Max Thompson.
(1996) Teaching at the Middle Level.
United States of America: D.C.
Health and Company.
Appendix A
- Have you heard about
the middle school concept?
- What are some of the
middle school concepts?
- Show the teacher a
document listing the middle school concepts. Ask if he practices any of
them?
- Why do these practices
not work?
- What would make them
work? (both personally and as a movement)
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