Turning Points 2000 Chapter 2

Like the first Turning Point recommendations, the Turning Points 2000 suggestions seem like obvious ways to help students succeed. Actually, they seem a lot like the 10 standards required for certification here at the University of Maine at Farmington. The wording is slightly different from the first set, but overall, I think teachers and schools should be doing most of this stuff anyway. The only idea that is not obvious is the learning communities one, but after doing my practicum in a middle school that used this recommendation, I can see the perks and the disadvantages to it. Simply changing this one thing does not solve the problem at hand, though. Like the chapter said, our classrooms need to be updated as well. I wish teachers were more open and receptive to these changes because they can really benefit the students’ success, which is what we are all about. However, if schools only change bits and pieces, not all the problems are being solved. Chapter 1 said that middle school is a big adjustment time for students. This means that if there are major gaps and issues with the curriculum and classroom practices are not addressed, students will be suffering not only academically, but also psychologically and emotionally as well.

There was one line in this chapter that summed up how we should look at schools; “Schools should be proactive, not reactive…” (p. 24). Obviously we know something is wrong and right now we are in the reactive stage. We are simply trying to fix what is broken. Instead, educators, administrators, parents, and students need to figure out what is going to work to ensure students success and implement it.