Kirsten Z.'s Blog - AEDU 335

There has been a lot of useful information provided during this course that I plan to take with me and use within my classroom.  I'm excited to execute many of the strategies that were discussed in our text and the online articles. There are too many take-aways to compile a full list of from this course, but I'll discuss some that I found very important or that may have resonated with me. I really enjoyed learning and understanding about the importance of middle schoolers thriving now and in the future really requires becoming lifelong learners and demands more than a basic understanding of reading, writing and mathematics.  The curriculum, pedagogy and programs of middle grades schools must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs, and interests of young adolescents.   It's also very clear and vital that teachers know their job goes beyond the academia part and doesn't end when the bell rings for the day.  For example, in the article,...

This week in AMLE , I enjoyed reading about how schools need to actively involve families in the education of their children.  As the text points out, the involvement of parents starts to dwindle at the middle school level versus where at the elementary level, parent involvement is strong because parents believe that their children need support at this level.  When students get to the middle school level, parents are uncertain about how they can be involved in this new, much larger school and may be uncertain about the most appreciated way to deal with all of the changes taking place with their child.   I'm living this first-hand as my daughter is preparing to head into middle school in about four months.  The school is much larger and I don't know any of the teachers or even the layout of the middle school, but I have to remind myself that just four years ago I didn't know any of this about my d...