Reading Response 1

This week's readings taught me that despite how they may act, middle schoolers
are actually very sensitive and emotional. They may come off as disrespectful to
adults but it's only because their peer's opinions are what really matters to them at
this stage in their life. They are trying to figure out what is acceptable and cool
while trying not to make any mistakes that may label them the opposite. They are
incredibly in tune to what other people think of them and because of this they often
times exaggerate things that their peers say or do. Also, because of their tendency
to exaggerate, the friendships they have are often sporadic and unpredictable. One
day they could be friends with someone and the next, mortal enemies. I also
learned that there are many ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, for
example: you can make an on line survey for the students to take in order to better
understand the level they are at in a certain subject. Technology can also help
students do group work outside of class and provide them ways to talk about what
they learned. Since I want to be a math teacher, one website I found valuable was
the "Math Playground." Teachers are always looking for ways to make learning fun
and I think this is a great way for kids to learn without realizing that they are.

Reading Response 2
This week's readings talk about curriculum. More specifically, that curriculum in not
just what you teach to your students, it is the total experience of the students at
school. In order to meet the needs of middle school children, the curriculum needs
to be relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. To effectively teach, you
need to talk about and explore topics that are relevant to young adolescents or else
they wont be interested enough to actually learn anything. When asked "what's the
most important thing to learn in school?" seventh and eighth graders responded
with answers along the line of: morals, how to live in the real world, and
responsibilities. None of these things are specifically taught in middle school but
that's what young adolescents want to learn. In order to be effective middle school
teachers we need to incorporate these topics into our lessons so that the students
can find greater value of what they are learning.

Reading Response 3
Chapter 7 is all about how to facilitate meaningful learning. It is important to teach
by asking questions and engaging the class in activities that go beyond just
teaching what is in the textbook. Experiencing something hands on, experimenting,
role playing, and developing personal theories are just some of the ways you can
take a lesson and create meaningful experiences to further the learning process.
Another important aspect of teaching is knowing your students - how they think,
their backgrounds, interests, successes and frustrations, and their learning profiles.
If you know your students, you can identify the skills and strategies that each one
needs to grow. Chapter 3 is all about cooperative learning and how interacting
together in groups enhances a student's learning. Using websites like school fusion,
ning, and pbworks motivates the students to learn by establishing kinship and a
sense of obligation to one another. The students can also participate in web quests

that allow them to work in groups from separate locations and learn about a subject
together.

Reading Response 4
This week's readings really inspired me. As a future math teacher I really want to
use every opportunity I have to use curriculum integration because in math
students are always asking "why do we have to learn this?" Its so important to
design curriculum based on your students interests because it gives them a
connection to what they want to know and what they are expected to learn.
Directing the learning process to fit what the students are interested in
automatically makes the classroom discussion more meaningful and full of energy.
Middle and High School teachers play such a huge role in helping the students know
themselves as learners and as people. When using curriculum integration it is
important t practice the use of cues, questions, and advanced organizers. Cues,
questions, and advanced organizers are important because they get the students
interested in what they are about to learn and make it clear that what they are
learning applies to them.

Reading Response 5
The most critical parts of the readings this week were the importance of reforming
and transforming middle school education in order to make a difference in how they
learn and meet their needs. The ways we can achieve that is with Teaming, Advisory
Programs, Alternative Scheduling, Exploratory Curriculum, and Looping. Teaming is
creating teams of teachers and students that create a community of shared
educational purpose. Advisory Programs are programs that provide emotional
support that middle school student's need in order to deal with the many issues
they face as young adolescents. Alternative Scheduling is being able to have a
flexible schedule that optimizes the learning experience for the students.
Exploratory Curriculum provides experiences that prepare students for adult life in a
way that allows them to adjust to new learning opportunities. Looping is when
teachers move ahead in grade level along with their students in order to build
stronger relationships and increase learning time because the teachers already
know their student's learning styles and preferences.

Reading Response 6
As a future math teacher it is important to summarize and take notes on how to
solve different problems. Some note taking and summarizing strategies would be
more useful than others in a math class. For example, Auto summary would
probably not be as useful for a math class because most of the notes will be
numbers ad harder for a computer to pick out important information. On the other
hand, Combination notes would be a better fit for math. Combination notes is where
you have an inverted t and on one side the student will write the topics and on the
other side the student has room to draw or write an example of the topic. So if I was
teaching my students all the different ways to write quadratic functions, on the left
side of the t I would have them write: Standard form, Factored form, and Completed

Square form. And then on the other side of the t I would have them give examples
of each form and how to switch from one to the other.

Reading Response 7
Teachers can create an environment that can cause fear and stress to students.
These environments can result in the disruption of emotional stability that is
required in order for students to learn. In order for learning to take place teachers
must create a caring environment for the students. Some examples of this include
genuinely knowing students, communicating effectively with students, and
encouraging positive student relationships. To promote risk taking, teachers need to
create collaborative-noncompetitive-earning environments. This means no bullying,
acceptance of diverse learners, as well as collaboration between students and their
teachers.

Reading Response 8
As a teacher it is important to understand your students and their needs and create
an environment that encourages learning and exploration. It's also important to be
able to connect with your students so that they respect and trust that you are
teaching them valuable material. I like the idea of student's leading their learning.
They tend to take a lot more pride in their work and are more eager to complete it
because they are the ones that got to choose the assignment. On line resources are
also very useful when having students lead their learning. There are many resources
that allow students to work as a group, like Google docs, and there are also great
resources that help the students to lead their learning independently, like the Khan
Academy. I think students really respond well to being able to choose how they
learn certain material and being able to have choices for projects as well.

Reading Response 9
Middle schools are filled with young adolescents that need support from adults and
from their peers. School should be a place where students are encouraged and
valued for who they are and have their thoughts and ideas be put into
consideration. These adolescents are forced to go to school and therefore need to
be heard. According to the students that were interviewed, all students want from
their middle school teacher is to have a classroom that integrates their ideas and
incorporates them in their learning environment.