A middle school teacher
must be good at classroom management, since he or she will be in charge
of multiple classes of varying ability levels. Middle school teachers
should also be optimistic, organized, patient and empathetic.
Developmentally, students at the middle school level go through many
physical and emotional changes. These changes can impact a student's
ability to perform well in class. An innovative and creative teacher can
help these students stay on track during these years.
Job Growth
Middle
school teachers have an average job growth rate as teachers are needed
in all areas. However, certain subject areas such as math and science
are growing at a higher than average rate.
Middle school teachers have
students who are old enough to be responsible for their own assignments,
but still young enough to need guidance in life lessons. This makes
middle school an interesting job no matter the day.
Curriculum
The curriculum is all the planned activities that we organize in
order to promote learning and personal growth and development.
It
includes not only the formal requirements of the curriculum, but also
the range of extra-curricular activities that the school organizes in
order to enrich the experience of the children.
It also includes the
hidden curriculum, or what children learn from the way they are treated
and expected to behave.
We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible
people, who can work and co-operate with others while developing
knowledge and skills, so that hey achieve their true potential.
Our
school curriculum is underpinned by the values that we hold dear at our
school.
Values
The curriculum is the means by which the school achieves its
objective of educating children in the knowledge, skills and
understanding that they need in order to lead fulfilling lives.
Our
school is in full agreement with the values statement included in the
introduction to The National Curriculum Handbook for Primary Teachers in
England.
These are the main values of our school, upon which we have based our curriculum:
We value the way in which all children are unique, and our
curriculum promotes respect for the views of each individual child, as
well as for people of all cultures. We value the spiritual and moral
development of each person, as well as their intellectual and physical
growth.
We value the importance of each person in our community. We organize
our curriculum so that we promote co-operation and understanding
between all members of our community.
We value the rights enjoyed by each person in our society. We
respect each child in our school for who they are, and we treat them
with fairness and honesty. We aim to enable each person to be
successful, and we provide equal opportunities for all the children in
our school.
Aims and Objectives
The aims of our school curriculum are:
To enable all children to learn and develop their skills to the best of
their ability
To promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that children
enjoy
coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning
To teach children the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and information
technology (IT)
To enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking;
to teach children about their developing world, including how their
environment and society changed over time
To help children understand Britain’s cultural heritage
To enable children to be positive citizens in society; to teach
children to
have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to
understand right from wrong to help children understand the
importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to
equal opportunities for all to enable children to have respect
themselves and high self-esteem, and to be able to live and work co-
operatively with others.
Organisation and planning
We plan our curriculum in three phases. We agree a long-term plan for
each key stage. This indicates what topics are to be taught in each
term, and to which group of children. We review our long-term plan on an
annual basis.
With our medium-term plans, we give clear guidance on the objectives
and teaching strategies that we use when teaching each topic. As we have
adopted the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies for our school,
we take our medium-term planning directly from the guidance documents.
We use the national schemes of work for much of our medium-term planning
in the foundation subjects.
Our short-term plans are those that our teachers write on a weekly or
daily basis. We use these to set out the learning objectives for each
session, and to identify what resources and activities we are going to
use in the lesson.
At Key Stage 2 the curriculum at our school places a greater emphasis
on the core and foundation subjects than it does at Key Stage 1, and we
teach these subjects separately.
This means that, for example, a child
may concentrate in one term on a history topic, then switch to a greater
emphasis on geography in the next term. Over the three terms of the
academic year, each child has the opportunity to experience the full
range of National Curriculum subjects.
Interactive Learning Strategies
Essential Question
What is the intended goal of the lesson? Remember, there is one
essential question per lesson, and students must be able to answer this
question by the end of the lesson.
With essential questions, teachers really have to be intentional
about what they want the students to be able to do, and it has to be at
the highest-level of learning. The students have to be able to analyze
and apply; they cannot just answer the question with a yes or no. It has
to be an extended response. An essential question must be "multi-skill"
in order for it to be a good one.
Activating Strategy
An activating strategy is something that gets students actively
thinking or making a connection with the material being presented that
day. Make a connection to the content or to the outside world to see how
much the students already know or remember.
One of the main things used at Cochrane is to show video clips.
Students love it when they see their favorite show or cartoon.
Initially, they don't know what they're about to learn so they focus on
that video clip. Then the teacher uses that engagement to link to the
lesson, and the students realize that their likes or interests can
channel a learning experience.
Relevant Vocabulary
Relevant vocabulary must be present in your lesson. Keep your
vocabulary limited to what your students are able to handle and make
sure that it is actively used in context throughout the lesson. Also
have your students interactively use the words during the lesson.
Use vocabulary that's relevant. Teachers must pick and choose what is
going to be most important and most effective. They must teach
vocabulary through a graphic organizer, through an experience, or
whatever they need to help the students get it.
Limited Lecture
There should be limited lecture time. After 12-15 minutes of
lecturing, you should engage your students in some type of activity,
even if it's for only a few minutes. The teacher can then go back to
lecturing for another chunk of time.
Examples: Have students talk to their neighbor, draw a picture, write
a few sentences that summarize or describe the lecture, finish an
example problem, or get in a discussion with their group.
Graphic Organizer
Use of a graphic organizer allows students to visually categorize new information or review old information.
Students need to be able to conceptualize whatever information we're
giving them.
The graphic organizer is student friendly. When they look
at information that's organized, it's easier for them to retain and
remember that information.
And when they go home, it is less
intimidating to look at that information as opposed to pulling out a
notebook that has pages and pages of notes.
Examples: Have students record information in colorful charts in
their notebooks, use computers to create graphic organizers, or create a
"foldable."
Student Movement
Student movement is a must. Students need to be mobile at some point during instruction to ensure they're actively engaged.
This one is probably the most challenging for Cochrane teachers
because it can be intimidating to have students moving. But student
movement can look a number of different ways, and it doesn't always mean
students have to get up. They just must be physically engaged in
whatever the teacher is doing.
It's important because students don't
like to sit still, especially male students. They found that when
the male students are up and moving around the room, they are totally
engaged in what the teacher is doing.
Examples: Students do a gallery walk in which they move in groups
from corner to corner, answering questions or analyzing things posted on
the walls; they work in teams or at rotation stations; they raise their
hands or give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down; they answer questions with
their body, putting their left foot out if they think the answer is A
and their right foot out if they think it's B.
Higher Order Thinking Questions
Present your students with at least three higher-order-thinking
(“HOT”) questions during the lesson. This is proof that you are
presenting all your students with challenging work.
The HOT questions are Cochrane's signature element. The rationale
behind them is we want to give the kids an opportunity to be challenged
in the classroom. The way the teacher presents these questions varies,
and students' responses can be indicative of their learning pace.
The
same question should be used for all students, but advanced learners may
be required to respond in a different way. Students can respond on
paper, as part of a classroom discussion, in paired discussion, or
through homework.
Rigorous
Lessons must be rigorous. The activities should be challenging and
move at a brisk pace. There should not be opportunities for students to
get bored or periods when they have nothing to do. The entire lesson
should be an active lesson.
Teachers should strive to take students to the highest level of
knowledge. There are only 180 days in the school year, and a lot of the
students do not come in at grade level, so we've got to move them with
the 90 minutes that we have each day in the classroom.
Student Centered
Your entire lesson should be student centered. The ways that we
instruct our students must demonstrate that they are our focus and that
what we do is centered on their success.
The use of technology as a tool
is a critical component of this. It provides students with 21st-century
skills that are both engaging and relevant to real-world applications.
It is a partnership:
If you effectively and successfully plan, your
students will effectively and successfully work and learn. Take a step away from the learning process to become facilitators rather than "givers of all knowledge" in the classroom
Why do you like to be a middle school teacher?
“I love teaching middle school because every day is a different
adventure! Middle school teachers exude a frenetic and contagious energy that
is unique to their grade level — they’re fun, funny, full of
over-the-top drama, and yet serious and thoughtful about their world,
too.”
“I tell my students that middle school is the place where they are
suppose to take on challenges, fail, and learn from their failures. I
love seeing the growth that happens when my students push themselves to
the limits, struggle, and then finally find success.
“They’re at that age where they still want to please you but they’re
also independent. My 7th graders are excited about learning, and they’re
willing to still learn and practice math with crayons and colored
pencils, but they’re mature enough to handle more independent
activities.””
“I love the sense of humor of middle-school students; you can be silly
with them and really have fun with your lessons. I consider middle
school to be the time when students either learn to love math or give up
on it for life, and I love the challenge of getting my students to
embrace math!”
التعليم الإعدادي (يسمى أيضاً: التعليم المتوسط) هو المستوى التعليمي المتوسط، ويكون بين مرحلتي التعليم الابتدائي، والتعليم الثانوي، ويتكون من ثلاث أو أربع مراحل أساسية مدة كل مرحلة سنة دراسية كاملة. التعليم الإعدادي في العراق هو التعليم الثانوي، أي السنة الدراسية العاشرة والحادية عشرة والثانية عشرة.
في مصر، المدرسة المتوسطة تسبق المدرسة الثانوية. يطلق عليه المرحلة
الإعدادية وتتكون من ثلاث مراحل: أولا التحضيرية التي يدرس الطلاب المزيد
من المواضيع الابتدائيه التي لها فروع مختلفة. على سبيل المثال، يتم تدريس
الجبر والهندسة بدلا من "الرياضيات". ويتم إضافة مادتي الحاسب الالي والرسم
كمواد اساسية وليست ثناوية كما في التعليم الابتدائي . في المرحلة
التحضيرية الثانية، والطلاب دراسة العلوم، الدراسات الاجتماعيه من مصر بدءا
من التاريخ الفرعوني، بما في ذلك التاريخ القبطي، التاريخ الإسلامي، وعقد
مع التاريخ الحديث. يتم تدريس الطلاب بثلاث لغات (في المدارس الدولية يتم
دراسة لغتين فقط العربية والإنجليزية ) اللغة العربية هي إلزامية. ويتم
اختيار اثنين آخرين كما الأول والثاني لغات: الإنجليزية، الفرنسية،
الألمانية، الإسبانية، أو الإيطالية. المدارس المتوسطة (الإعدادية) يستمر
لمدة ثلاث سنوات.
في المرحلة
التحضيرية الثانية، والطلاب دراسة العلوم، الدراسات الاجتماعيه من مصر بدءا
من التاريخ الفرعوني، بما في ذلك التاريخ القبطي، التاريخ الإسلامي، وعقد
مع التاريخ الحديث. يتم تدريس الطلاب بثلاث لغات (في المدارس الدولية يتم
دراسة لغتين فقط العربية والإنجليزية ) اللغة العربية هي إلزامية. ويتم
اختيار اثنين آخرين كما الأول والثاني لغات: الإنجليزية، الفرنسية،
الألمانية، الإسبانية، أو الإيطالية. المدارس المتوسطة (الإعدادية) يستمر
لمدة ثلاث سنوات