Week 1: Blog Post - The Importance of Middle Level Education

-
Week 1 Blog Post


Hello!  I'm Kirsten Zinzer!  I'm pursuing my license to teach English Language Arts at the secondary level with a middle school endorsement.  I hold a B.A. in English from Northern Illinois University.  Currently, I work at Fairview Elementary School as a math support services instructional assistant helping out students that need an extra boost in math instruction.  I also push into various math classes throughout the day which I love because I get to observe first-hand different teaching strategies and approaches along with various classroom management styles.  I love working with my students even on the challenging days.  I'm lucky to have found a very fulfilling position and look forward to my day at school and the learning possibilities that lie ahead.

Before I began teaching, I was in the corporate environment for 16 years where I wrote and edited proposals, marketing materials, websites and proofread for various magazines and advertisements.  This was also very fulfilling work, but something was missing.  I yearned to figure out a way to teach my love for the written word and all that the English Language Arts subject matter had to offer me and my potential students.  My goal is to teach with passion and energy each day with an end result of my students loving the subject matter just as much as me.  This is what brought me to my current adventure: becoming an English teacher.  So here I am.  Let the journey begin.  I'm very excited to see what adventures await.  

 The readings this week covered many important topics, but the one key point that resonated with me was that middle schoolers deserve an education that will foster a love for lifelong learning and will prepare them to succeed in the world.  In This We Believe, much emphasis is on the important role an educator has in helping students at the middle school level become successful and responsible learners and global citizens.  In my current role at Fairview, I take this role seriously.  There are many days where students want to give up or don't always make the best decisions so it is my job to help navigate them through this process.  I want my students to know that I'm with them and cheering them on to success.  It's my job to empower them, challenge them and support them.    

The middle school years are such an impressionable time for a student.  Middle schoolers tend to be very narcissistic. Students in the middle grades are in that strange place between childhood and adolescence. Their bodies are changing and so are their minds along with their thought processes.


I've had an opportunity to observe and work with some middle school teachers and they're my heroes! To be a middle school teacher requires a lot of skills.  A middle school teacher has to have great patience, creativity, dedication and a great sense of humor.  Without a sense of humor, well then, don't be a middle school teacher.  A teacher needs a sense of humor on a daily basis!


In the article, Middle Schools - The Emergence of Middle Schools, Growth and Maturation of the Middle School Movement, one area that is highlighted and I believe is vital is when middle-grades students perceive their teachers care about them and their learning, they are more likely to try their best and do what their teachers ask of them.  They are invested in their learning and doing well.  I see this first-hand with my students and the various classes that I push into throughout the day.  I know right away if that caring and respectful relationship is intact.  Students respond well to teachers who care about them and respect them.  In turn, students will show the same feelings of care and respect for their teachers.  I've also seen the opposite of this when respect and care is not a part of a classroom culture and climate.  The students shut down and are not invested in their own learning and don't care as much.  Poor behavior is also more likely to occur in a classroom that is not built on a foundation of respect.  

Comments

  1. Jay RamadanMarch 9, 2018 at 7:17 AM

    I wholeheartedly concur with your closing statement: "Poor Behavior is more likely to occur in a classroom that is not built on a foundation of respect". Everyday I actively try to practice what we are taught both in the classroom and out of it, as a coach.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Malcom ThompsonMarch 11, 2018 at 8:42 PM

    Kirsten,
    The point about giving the students an education that will foster a love for lifelong learning and will prepare them to succeed in the world resonated with me as well. I want my future students to accomplish their goals and not just my own. I also want them to be lifelong students and lovers of knowledge. I want them to be confident in their skills and humble in the things that they excel in. I want them to question and have an open mind about everything. I also want them to know that they will never know everything about everything. That is why they must be lifelong learners. I will encourage students to think twice and speak once. I believe that the most valuable skills are listening and thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lisa_pesaventoMarch 12, 2018 at 9:01 AM

    Hi Kirsten!
    I completely agree that middle school students deserve an education that will foster a lifelong love of learning. We must tailor our lessons to ensure effective learning, and this age range requires us to be creative! Appealing to their desire for independence and fostering critical thinking is a good start to being effective teachers. I also really loved that you discussed how impressionable a time this is for middle school students. We both have children in this age range, so we see firsthand the turbulent emotional aspect, as well as the impact education has on middle school students. This really is a time that can help mold a love for learning, or trigger a disdain for education if they are not being engaged and motivated.
    -Lisa P.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Blog Post - Essential Attributes and Characteristics

-
In This We Believe , I enjoyed reading about the section that covered when students and teachers are engaged in active, purposeful meaning, a genuine learning community is present.  I know exactly what this entails.  We all have our roles at school.  There are the teacher's roles and responsibilities and then the student's roles and responsibilities.  However, these can be crossed over from time to time in order for meaningful learning to take place.   One of these ways is to allow students to become the teachers in your classroom.  I've seen this work first-hand in my classroom.  The kids love when they can come up and teach their peers a strategy they may have used to solve a math problem.  It's builds confidence and also they are actually learning more about that specific skill as they are teaching it.  Teachers can take on the role of a student too.  Often times I've seen various teachers at my school take on th...
Read more

Week 4: Instructional Best Practices & Diverse Populations in the Middle School

-
This week's articles focused on differentiated instruction and learning.  What I like about differentiated instruction is that teachers need to get creative and be aware of all the different learning levels in their classrooms.  A one size fits all approach will not work.   Differentiating instruction means teaching the same material to all students using a variety of instructional strategies, or it may require the teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the ability of each student.   Teachers who practice differentiation in the classroom include the following: d esign lessons based on students’ learning styles, g roup students by shared interest, topic, or ability for assignments, a ssess students’ learning using formative assessment, m anage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment, and c ontinually assess and adjust lesson content to meet students’ needs. I've been in classrooms where differentiate...
Read more