Turning Points 2000 Chapter 9

Getting parents involved with the classroom and other school activities is probably one of the most difficult aspects of the education system. I witnessed my mother, who was the secretary/treasurer of the sports boosters at my high school, struggle to find parent volunteers to help with fundraisers and selling concessions. If my mom had a hard time contacting and getting just a few sport parents involved with their athlete’s school, I can imagine the difficulty that teachers have in having positive communication with their students’ parents. I know from experience that having my mom and dad involved in my schooling was not embarrassing, but actually super helpful if a problem did arise. My parents knew when to let me handle things on my own and also when I needed help because they were always helping out. I also witnessed some of my peers and their parents. It was not hard to see the correlation between those parents who helped and were involved in their student’s school and the student’s achievement. The more involved the parent(s), the better the student performed academically. There are the rare exceptions, but overall I feel that getting parents involved will help our students succeed.

Thinking back on my education, I realize that my mom and dad never really got asked to help with the school after elementary school. My mom and dad were just those types of parents that asked what they could do, and the teachers gladly gave them a task. However, as a teacher, I am curious how we can reach out to parents and show them that we want their involvement in their child’s education. Some of the best ideas that this chapter mentioned were the simplest ones, like scheduling parent meetings at a different location that is more easily assessable to parents and less intimidating and personalizing the communication by giving out a private line that they can reach you on. Another great hint was just contacting parents about the good things that their child is doing, not just the bad. This way parents are more receptive to be involved in the solution process if a problem does arise instead of just blaming the teacher.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 8

In order for students to be completely successful in the classroom and in life in general they must be healthy, both physically and mentally. Imagine trying to ace a test or nail a presentation when you are overtired, dehydrated, or depressed from a breakup. It is difficult enough to do well with academics without dealing with your health too. However, what can teachers do to help their students’ well-beings. We are not with them twenty fours hours a day, seven days a week. But, if we provide a healthy learning environment with positive, healthy role models, we can get students that much closer to a healthy self.

Every school and classroom should strive to be a safe and healthy place to be. One of the hardest parts about providing this environment is the discipline problems that arise in the classroom. Having common expectations for misbehaviors is a simple way to limit these issues. However, if students do not have any say in these expectations and consequences, they will not be effective. Another common classroom dilemma is fighting students. This chapter mentioned the idea of peer mentors to help deal with this problem. I went through extensive peer mediation training in junior high, but I would have never used the system. I love the idea of a student helping students solve their problems, but a part of it does not seem logical. Some students are just not going to want to talk to another student or feel comfortable airing their problems to their peers. But if we could get past that issue, I have witnessed it working. Some of my fellow peer mediators saw success, which is what we want. Schools just have to remember to make sure they get students from every group in the school, not just the high achievers.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 4

This whole chapter was about different instruction organizations that teachers can use in their classroom. However, there is a quote that I think is way more important than any of the strategies that were mentioned; “teachers must also become ‘students of their students.’” If teachers get to know their students, really know them, then any instructional model can be adjusted to fit any student. While reading the three different ways that this book mentioned to organize instruction, I realized that not one will work completely, but if students thrive with bits and pieces of all of them, then that should be what the educator should focus on. It is up to the teacher to know what works and what does not work for all of his or her students. I want to be one of those teachers that does whatever it takes to help my students succeed. That means I will have to branch out of the molds that this book mentions and pick and choose only the pieces that make sense for them.

There are ideas and strategies that were mentioned that I would love to implement in my classroom. The main one has to do with assessment. The WHERE instructional design suggests letting students assess their own work using rubrics and student samples. I fully agree with this idea. If students are assessing their own products, they can see how they are doing on their own. This also allows students to be accountable for their own work and not rely on someone else to tell them how they did. Students should be able to know how well they did without waiting for the teacher to give them a grade. With students assessing themselves, this will happen.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 3

The whole time I read this chapter I felt like I was back in practicum all over again. The backwards design model, project based assessments, and essential questions are all techniques that I have been practicing for the past two years. It is a very nice feeling to know that my money is well spent on my college education because my professors are up to date on the newest ideas.

One of the major shockers in this chapter was that they recommended using tests as an assessment technique. I guess parents and community members might frown upon schools without these traditional pieces, but I really do not like them as a major assessment. Most students do not test well and it is unfair to judge their conceptual knowledge on a test. I do kind of like the idea of little quizzes maybe before or after a class to gauge students’ abilities with specific skills, especially in a math classroom. Math has a lot of skills that need to be learned, like adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers, multiplying fractions, simplifying equations, etc. These skills are important to a student’s ability to meet the standards and can easily be tested with quizzes. However, these quizzes should not be counted for huge portions of students’ grades because the skills are not the most important part of the class; the conceptual understanding is.

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.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 1

The original Turing Points ideas seem like common sense recommendations. It is obvious that we need to teach all students equally and get them to succeed. However, I am appalled that the schools are not applying these concepts. I know it can be tricky to get everything done at once, but without all the pieces the students are the ones that suffer. The disturbing test results from the text say it all. When schools use bits and pieces of the Turning Points ideas, they do improve, like from 1990 to 1998, but students are still lacking. One third and one quarter are not good numbers for those at or above the proficient mark in reading, writing, and mathematics. I wonder if all the recommendations are in play if the results would be better.

I do not think I have ever known how important middle school was to students until I read this chapter. I knew it was fairly significant, but I guess I forgot how nerve wracking my junior high experience was. It is true; middle school/ junior high school can be very intimidating to students. If teachers do not take this into account, or treat them like mini high school students, then they are not going to succeed. My education courses thus far have said that we need to know our students individually and know how to educate each one of them best. I feel that this would be a great starting point for middle school teachers in helping overcome the difficulties that seem to be facing our middle schools.