My thoughts on Middle Level Education
Most of my educational career has been in middle level education. I have strong beliefs about what is best in schools that serve preteens and early adolescents. (Much of this comes from the This We Believe document from NMSA/AMLE.)
Exploration
Middle level education should be exploratory, exciting, and fun. Students should have the opportunity to try out a wide range of activities and discover their interests and talents. Curriculum should be broad, but selectively deep.
Differentiation
Middle level education must allow for a range of developmental needs. Expectations may need to be individualized, with goals established in a partnership between educators, parents, and students.
Development
Middle level education is the time to build good habits for learning. Students need to be pushed a little in this regard, and they may struggle. The struggle provides a clear opportunity for growth and middle school educators have an obligation to assist students in understanding this.
Advocacy
Students in middle school need teachers who will care for them and be their advocate. Advisory programs help to meet this need, but students should have the freedom to approach any teacher and get the advice and support they need.
Guidance
Middle school students will sometimes make poor choices and need correction. Middle school discipline needs to be thoughtful and focus on correcting wrongs, restoring relationships, and establishing hope for better future decisions. Ideally, students should emerge from a disciplinary situation feeling cared for.
Team Approach
Teams are crucial to middle level education. Middle school students need the attention of a team to achieve the very best educational outcome. The essence of a team is quality communication and sharing of information. Professional learning communities, grade-level teams, subject teams, student-study teams, and leadership teams are all important to the functioning of a middle school. It takes teacher leaders to make these teams efficient, so there should be an expectation that every teacher will take on a leadership role at some level.
Exploration
Middle level education should be exploratory, exciting, and fun. Students should have the opportunity to try out a wide range of activities and discover their interests and talents. Curriculum should be broad, but selectively deep.
Differentiation
Middle level education must allow for a range of developmental needs. Expectations may need to be individualized, with goals established in a partnership between educators, parents, and students.
Development
Middle level education is the time to build good habits for learning. Students need to be pushed a little in this regard, and they may struggle. The struggle provides a clear opportunity for growth and middle school educators have an obligation to assist students in understanding this.
Advocacy
Students in middle school need teachers who will care for them and be their advocate. Advisory programs help to meet this need, but students should have the freedom to approach any teacher and get the advice and support they need.
Guidance
Middle school students will sometimes make poor choices and need correction. Middle school discipline needs to be thoughtful and focus on correcting wrongs, restoring relationships, and establishing hope for better future decisions. Ideally, students should emerge from a disciplinary situation feeling cared for.
Team Approach
Teams are crucial to middle level education. Middle school students need the attention of a team to achieve the very best educational outcome. The essence of a team is quality communication and sharing of information. Professional learning communities, grade-level teams, subject teams, student-study teams, and leadership teams are all important to the functioning of a middle school. It takes teacher leaders to make these teams efficient, so there should be an expectation that every teacher will take on a leadership role at some level.