Middle School

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Comment by chris gibson on May 14, 2009 at 12:58pm

Hello.
I'm new here!
Looking for inspiration and ideas about Nings in middles school.
Just created one for the teachers in my building.
It's true what they say: "Rome wasn't built in one day".

Comment by City Kidz Magazine on April 21, 2009 at 12:04pm

Many Languages Writing Contest

Guidelines for Contest!



2nd -3rd - Write a 50 to 100 word essay explaining how you can use two or more languages to benefit the world.

4th – 5th - Write a 200 word essay explaining how you can use two or more languages to benefit the world.

6th – 8th - Write a 300 word essay explaining how can use two or more languages to benefit the world.

High School - Write a 300 to 500 word essay explaining how you can use two or more languages to benefit the world.

Include the follow with your submission:

Essay

Name

Contact information

Permission Slip

City and State

Deadline: April 30

Prizes:

1st Place: A first place certificate, a gift certificate for $50 from a local restaurant in the winner’s community, a lifetime subscription to City Kidz World magazine, and publication of the winning entry in the City Kidz World magazine and on www.citykidzworld.com .

2nd place: A second place certificate, a lifetime subscription to City Kidz World magazine, and publication of the winning entry in the City Kidz World magazine and on www.citykidzworld.com .

3rd place: A third place certificate, a lifetime subscription to City Kidz World magazine, and publication of the winning entry in the City Kidz World magazine on www.citykidzworld.com



Send to contests@citykidzworld.com or

City Kidz World magazine

PO Box 5294

Kendall Park, NJ 08824

Find a downloadable permission slip here.

Comment by Ned Kirsch on March 21, 2009 at 1:50pm

Good afternoon everyone,

I am running for NMSA Board of Trustees -Eastern Region. I would love your support . Ballots will arrive in April to all NMSA members. You can check out more info on my Facebook campaign page. (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54491384153&ref=nf)

I'm hoping that this network of middle school educators can help me get my name out to NMSA members in the east.

Comment by Jennifer Barnett on March 15, 2009 at 8:21pm

Russel

If you have questions, feel free to email me offline. I am in the process of training to become an IB coordinator at the middle school level and am hoping to be chosen for training this summer to help schools become authorized.

Jennifer

Comment by Russel Montgomery on March 15, 2009 at 1:36pm

Jennifer

IBO has come up many time in conversation but I have never actually looked into it. You comment encourages me to do so.

Comment by Jennifer Barnett on March 15, 2009 at 10:22am

Marco

AlightLearning sounds great for some schools, but I would like to share from a different perspective. I have been teaching for 26 years from first grade to sixth grade middle school Science (currently). In that time I have seen myriad approaches and many "next big things".

I agree that the traditional middle school approach, where every class is taught in isolation in lecture form is the least effective. I also agree with Russel that when you get to upper level maths, you need consistent focused face-to-face time with students. Math is so sequential that if there are gaps, future learning is negatively impacted.

I currently teach in an International Baccalaureate middle school (MYP). IB has been around a long time and incorporates the best of both worlds discussed. The program's tenets are to educate the whole child to become a global citizen. One's approach to learning is an integral part--student's identifying their own best way to learn, organize, plan, and create. Cross-curricular units of study and unit questions that span subjects play an important role. The question of "What is enough?" looks different in a Humanities class than it does in a Science class or a Math class. This hybrid of integrated teaching still allows for individual choice, but also delivery of content required by the curriculum.

There is not the room to fully explain the approach, but I encourage you to look up the IBO or IBNA (North America) and explore the programmes offered.

I do have two suggestions for your website.

1) The video you offer is informative, but to a professional educator who has kept up with current research, it is negative and demeaning. I don't doubt that there are classes like that, but IMO, if someone is looking to change their method of delivery into something like what you offer, you are "preaching to the choir" and need a positive approach to encourage them.

2) I may not have seen it, but I did not find where I could see a demo of the software, how it is delivered (downloaded, web based), so making a decision about using it was not an option.
Bestof luck,
Jennifer

Comment by Russel Montgomery on March 14, 2009 at 6:57pm

Marco

I identify with your dream.

Biggest issue for me is: I teach middle school maths. That is my focus. Your video assumes an integrated curriculum which I don't have.

We have tried a integrated curriculum model in early days of our school. But their are some problems with it.

In particular, by the time kids get to Year 7 there needs to be a level of rigor in mathematical content. Its not enough to do the math as it comes up in an integrated project.

Teachers of humanities subjects and even the sciences don't get this. It is difficult for a math teacher to get this taken seriously by an integrated team.

So in fixing one problem (lack of integration) you create another. You create a bunch of students who are not prepared for high school math when they get there.

So, that is the one major issue that would have to be addressed in your system. How do we integrate the curriculum and provide the content rigor required (particularly for math)?

Comment by marcotuts on March 14, 2009 at 9:26am

Haha. Ok then, here is another description...

My name is Marco Morales, and I am working on an educational software tool called Alight Learning. I'm working with a team of 5 other students from Olin College (www.olin.edu) to develop a tool that hopes to engage students, teachers and parents in an active middle school learning community.

We have spent months talking to teachers, students and parents in an attempt to get a solid grounding in the problems, pains and opportunities for improvement that might go into the "next best thing" for middle schools specifically. We think middle school is an especially exciting subset of the educational trajectory of a student, because it is the first time a student and their parents are exposed to technology, especially in the classroom. Many systemic problems identified in the educational system have their roots in this middle school transition.

For a short video we submitted to the Duke Grand Challenges Summit a month ago, see alightlearning.com While it lacks detail, it gives a good overall view of what we are trying to accomplish.

In any case, one of the most important aspects of our project is how directly we are involving teachers, parents and students in the design process. We are always looking for new and exciting opinions about how to best address a teacher's needs with a new tool. Our software will be free and open to use by any teacher, and we hope to have something teachers can play around with and test as early as this summer. Our goal is to have a beta product in use inside actual classrooms by the time the fall starts!!!

Thanks for listening!
Marco

Comment by Russel Montgomery on March 14, 2009 at 2:55am

Marco

Ok. I'll nibble the bait. Tell us more.

Comment by Jennifer Barnett on March 13, 2009 at 6:40pm

Your description is intriguing and has piqued my interest. I am a middle school science teacher in Austin, Texas. I would like to know more about your project.

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