Campuswide Interventions That Improve Student Achievement

I think this final section of the article is very clear identifying that to make good headway everyone needs to work together as a team (student, parents, teacher, and administration). The value and importance of continuing education is very clear. As well as having reasonable expectations of not only your students but also of your abilities. We as future teachers need to be on the look out for the inevitable disruptions and other issues that we will not be prepared for.

As humans beings we grow and change every day in nearly every way. I believe the ability to acknowledge that we do not know it all and ask for help when it is needed is a necessary characteristic of a successful, influential, and effective educator. Having adequate plans in the works to handle the various situations that most commonly occur will save time and frustration, which in turn will benefit the participants when the unexpected situations occur.

Working With Students From Poverty: Discipline

One of the important skills that a teacher can bestow on her students when it comes to discipline is the ability to have self control, or as the article states "self-governance". In order to achieve this the first step is to outline two options for the pupil to take and the consequences of each, this way they learn how to make choices and take responsibility for that choice. The questionnaire for the student to complete exploring other actions they could have taken teaches them to look outside the box and give them practice deciphering other options to a problem than the most obvious.

This article has many good points about teaching the all important problem solving skills to students especially those from poverty who may not know how to handle situations from lack of stimulus. Meaning, a student who sees only one result of a given problem, does not know that there can be other ways to do things. Poverty limits options heavily and lowers the chances of adequate experiences for the child.

Building Learning Structures Inside the Head

Mediation involves three things: pointing out the stimuli (what needs to be given attention to), giving it meaning, and providing a strategy. To use mediation we use the following four structures: a structure for data and a structure for discipline, cognitive strategies or processes, conceptual framework (or schema's), and sorting mechanisms. The structure for data is analogous to the guts, the skeleton of the information storage/understanding, the structure for the discipline is simply the tools to differentiate between different types of data; for example mathematics is used and stored in an entirely different way than artistic impressions are.

I found this section of the article very informative, the author takes each of the structures and steps of mediation into great detail that is easy to concretely understand an incorporate into the lessons, strategies I am currently learning in class. I have been able to comprehend the subject and ways to teach these children better than some of the other categories of technical language that I have been exposed to so for in my education.

Understanding and Working with Students and Adults from Poverty

The eight resources that define poverty as the extent to which an individual does without resources are: Financial, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, Physical, Support Systems, Role Models, and the Knowledge of hidden rules; are overpowering. I have always thought that poverty was created simply by lack of money and perhaps emotional or the ability to handle negative situations in a positive way. I had no idea it was so much more than that.

In my life I grew up middle class or lower middle class (if it exists). When I grew up and moved out on my own without a support structure, money or good health I stumbled down into poverty on more than one occasion. Even now at times I feel like I am still there, it feels like being trapped with no way out. I am in college to try to make sure I never get stuck down there.

NYT Middle School Article

The Middle school debate is well covered in this article with the argument that middle school is hurting student educations. The upheaval of sixth graders to a new school at a trying time in their life, as well as then transitioning again only three years later to the high school, are significant factors in the high school dropout rate and the lag of middle school student performance. The k-8 schools are classic and give middle school students the comfort zone that helps them whenever they are facing new and unexpected challenges of early adolescence. The 6-12 schools are goal driven focusing on goals of graduation, college, and the future. Both of these schools have the similar goal of eliminating one of the potentially harmful transitions that middle school students are forced to go through. The debate does not seem to have enough statistical data to support either school as being stronger, though it does show that the elimination of the middle school has helped students to perform better.

I feel that the elimination of the middle school in highly urban or rural schools has its place. In a country setting the comfort zone felt from a k-8 school will help give a security blanket to students who are used to the small town, everybody knows each other, feeling. In contrast, the 6-12 school would absolutely have a great impact in very urban areas like Boston, New York, Chicago, etc.; as students at these schools are not necessarily used to seeing the options they have for their future. Seeing reminders of graduation and college, as well as having many people know and care about what happens to you; could give those lost students the support system they need to succeed. I grew up in a small city where there were 3 high schools, 3 Jr. high (middle) schools with grades 7-8 only, and over 12 elementary schools. I had no problems with the transitions from elementary to middle to high school. I would say that my experience was one of middle of the road, change is an inevitable experience and learning to adapt to the new environments was part of my education.

I plan to move to the Boston area and teach there after graduation, I would prefer to teach in a 6-12 school as I will have a better opportunity to be of help and support to my students throughout their entire adolescence. I would be interested in finding out how this debate ends up after further study.