Middle Grades Teachers Research Articles

Encouraging Mathematical Thinking

With these words, the NCTM (1989, 65) portrays a dilemma familiar to many middle-grades teachers. Although many teachers strive to involve their students in active and challenging problem-solving activities, students' past experiences may have instilled preconceptions that mathematics is mechanical, uninteresting, or unattainable. In addition, many teachers lack models and examples of how to design mathematics instruction so that it fosters students' engagement. Because the middle grades are crucial years for developing students' future interest in mathematics, middle-grades teachers must take seriously the challenge of presenting mathematics as an exciting discipline that is relevant and accessible to all students. For the past two year, we have been experimenting with approaches that will inte rest students in challenging mathematics while supporting them in constructing meaning.

Increased Knowledge in Geometry and Instructional Practice

This study examined the effects on instruction of an intervention program designed to enhance teachers' knowledge of geometry and their knowledge of research on student cognition in geometry. Forty-nine middle-grade (4-8) teachers participated in a 4-week program consisting of a content course in geometry and a research seminar on van Hiele theory. The pretest and posttest results showed significant gains in content knowledge and in van Hiele level. The analysis of a lesson-plan task revealed a significant shift in goals and expectations to the next higher van Hiele level. Follow-up observations of 8 teachers found marked changes in what was taught, how it was taught, and the characteristics teachers displayed. Teachers attributed these changes to increased geometrical content knowledge and research-based knowledge of student cognition.

The Status of Your Journal

As the national council of teachers of Mathematics begins the third year of publishing Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, the Editorial Panel thought it appropriate to highlight some of the changes that have occurred in the journal's short history. Although the intent of the journal is to target teaching in the middle grades, the variety of interests expressed by middlegrades teachers has prompted the inclusion of articles on a wide range of such issues as professional development and middle school mathematics education in other parts of the world. The journal was originally established with numerous departments to reflect readers' interests and to prompt the solicitation of manuscripts. However, the large number of unsolicited manuscripts being submitted and accepted for publication has allowed the balance of content to change so that the departments do not dictate the content of the journal but merely serve as overarching guides for themes that the Panel believes need to be addressed. These themes include assessment, technology, and professional development. Other features of the journal have remained because of their popularity with readers, such as the “Menu of Problems,” “Now & Then,” “Mathematics Detective,” “Cartoon Comer,” and “Window on Resources.”

Teacher to Teacher: Mathematical Connections: Proportions and Modeling in the Solar System

The connections between science and mathematics become quite clear to middlegrades teachers who teach both subjects. Each subject can reinforce the other. Modeling size and distance in the solar system is one science topic that connects directly to mathematics.

The Impact of Common Planning Time on Middle Grades Students and Teachers

AbstractThis descriptive study examines the practice of common planning time (CPT) for middle grades teachers who are members of interdisciplinary teams and the impact that this practice has on students' self-concepts and perceptions of their school climate and teachers' perceptions of their working environment. Instruments used were the Self-Description Questionnaire-II, Quality of School Life Scale, and Teacher Opinion Questionnaire. Results showed that students receiving instruction from teachers on interdisciplinary teams with CPT had higher overall self-concepts and more positive overall perceptions of their school climate than did students receiving instruction from teachers on interdisciplinary teams without CPT, organized departmentally. In addition, results of the study showed that teachers on interdisciplinary teams with CPT had more positive overall perceptions of their working environment than did teachers who were organized departmentally. The findings suggest that CPT for teachers on interdi...

Extending What We Know: Four New Resources for Middle School Teacher Education

McEwin, C. K., & Scales, P. C. (1994). Growing Pains: The Making of America's Middle School Teachers. Chapel Hill, NC and Columbus, OH: Center for Early Adolescence and National Middle School Association. McEwin, C. K., & Dickinson, T. S. (1995). The Professional Preparation of Middle School Teachers: Profiles of Successful Programs. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association. McEwin, C. K., Dickinson, T. S., Erb, T. 0., & Scales, P. C. (1995). A Vision of Excellence: Organizing Principles for Middle Grades Teacher Education. Chapel Hill, NC and Columbus, OH: Center for Early Adolescence and National Middle School Association. Swaim, J., & Stefanich, G. (In progress). Meeting the Standards: Improving Middle Level Teacher Education. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.

Close Them down or Beef Them up? Whither Middle Grades Teacher Education Programs

Close Them down or Beef Them up? Whither Middle Grades Teacher Education Programs

GUIDING MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH EXPOSITORY TEXT

As the middle school concept with its emphasis on the unique needs of the adolescent learner continues to gain widespread acceptance, it is essential that middle grade teachers be aware of the instructional needs of adolescents. Whereas many middle grade students are fully grown and seemingly independent socially, they may still need much guidance for classroom assignments. In fact, although classroom observational research is sparse, what exists suggests that there is a vast need for improvement in the way we have been teaching our adolescents. In a review of the existing literature, five aspects of instruction were identified as needing attention and improvement: mode of presentation, instructional format, use of textbook and materials, nature of classroom activities and questioning, and critical thinking and problem solving (Wood & Muth, 1991). This article focuses on one aspect of instruction: helping students read and comprehend their textbooks and textbook assignments.

Classroom Vignette: An Alternative-Assessment Tool

How can the upper-elementary or middle-grades teacher create a safe forum for students to discuss mathematics and mathematics attitudes while simultaneously evaluating their progress and achievement?

Strengthening Middle Grade Teacher Preparation Programs

fastest-growing form of school for young adolescents (Epstein & Mac Iver, 1990), previous research has shown that only a fifth of middle grades teachers undergo any special preparation for teaching at the middle level (Scales & McEwin, 1994; Scales, 1992). There has been some growth in the proportion of institutions offering middle grades teacher preparation programs, but it has been limited: in 1991,38% of higher-edu cation institutions offered an undergraduate or graduate middle grades program, com pared to 33% that did in 1987 and 30% that did in 1980 (McEwin, 1991). McEwin (1991) noted that the overall growth has been slow, but that more programs are now major spe cializations equal in scope to an elementary or secondary education program, rather than being just add-on courses or endorse ments: 57% of undergraduate and 71% of masters programs for the middle grades are now major specializations. The quality of middle grades teacher preparation programs varies considerably. On 11 topics that the literature suggests should be covered in middle grades teacher preparation programs, half of sampled mid dle grades teachers said their preparation had been less than adequate (Scales & McEwin, 1994; Scales, 1992). Swaim (1993) reported that, despite the adoption of NMSA developed/NCATE approved program guidelines, only 35 of the more than 240 U.S. middle grades teacher education programs had been reviewed against that framework by early 1993, and just 14 of these had unconditionally met the admittedly mini mum guidelines. There is surprisingly little data on the composition of middle grades teacher prepa ration programs. The Center for Educational Renewal study of teacher education asked teacher educators and preservice students to nominate recommended scholars and books

Enacting Project-Based Science: Experiences of Four Middle Grade Teachers

The case studies in this article demonstrate how 4 middle grade teachers addressed the challenges and dilemmas of enacting project-based science in their classrooms. The teachers attempted to enact several common features of project-based science, including student collaboration and ownership and the use of technology. The 4 teachers faced dilemmas with respect to balancing their use of time and content coverage with granting students autonomy. They also needed to solve the problems of addressing their district's curriculum while engaging their students in project-based science and of maintaining order as they attempted this new approach to teaching science. Project-based science was presented as a way to think about innovative instruction by providing a possible means of enactment and not a method. We found that the potential of project-based science could be realized through teachers' collaborative work with peers, enacting projects in their classrooms, and reflecting on their enactments. We also found ...

Authentic Assessment at the Middle Level

Middle school students are at a cru cial stage of life. As burgeoning adolescents they are going through some of most profound physi cal, emotional, social, and intellectual changes that they will ever experience. Com pounding this already dynamic situation is fact that individuals do not begin changes at same time, nor progress at same rate through this developmental stage. Any one who has worked with a group of seventh graders can attest to great variability within group, as well as great vari ability from one developmental domain to another within an individual. For example, boy with size 12 shoes may still be operating at a very concrete level intellectu ally. is vibrancy of this age group which mandates that both curriculum and assess ment be developmentally appropriate. As Stevenson (1992) so aptly points out, It is vital that middle grade teachers serve a highly diverse constituency in ways that are re sponsive to students' contextual and developmental circumstances (p. 76). Being responsive to young adolescent development requires assessment. But what does it mean to be authentic in assessment? At any developmental level, assessing student progress means looking at all of intended outcomes not just those goals which can be adequately evaluated by pencil and paper tests. Conse quently, at any level, but especially at middle school level, information objectives are supplemented with significant goals in attitudes, behavior, and social relationships (George & Alexander, 1993). In addition, Payzant and Wolf (1993) maintain that two conflicting purposes are often inherent in assessment programs: the responsibility to use any assessment to respond to student work and encourage growth and demand that assessment provide reliable, quantifi able information about student learning (p. 45). Obviously, in order to assess all educa tional goals, we need a more varied array of student assessment strategies than is cur rently prevalent in education. To better un derstand that array we will explore purposes and attributes of assessment, pro vide examples of data relevant to assessing student progress on a variety of educational goals, and examine implications of alter native assessment for middle school teachers.

A Multiple-case Study of Middle Grade Teachers' Interdisciplinary Curriculum Work

AbstractA multiple-case study of three middle level interdisciplinary programs was undertaken to address the question, “How do middle grade teachers develop and maintain interdisciplinary curriculum?” The three cases varied in grade level, number of teachers involved, courses taught, and school milieu. Using grounded theory method, three hypotheses were generated:(a) The richness of interdisciplinary curriculum is countered by difficulties in team planning; (b) Compromises are necessary when interdisciplinary programs co-exist with disciplinary programs; (c) Interdisciplinary programs benefit or suffer depending on the kind and degree of support garnered from their milieu. Implications include addressing the interpersonal factors inherent in teaming, understanding the structural supports needed for teaming, and researching programs in different school contexts.

Stimulating Communication in Mathematics

Recently, a great deal of interest has been shown in communication in mathematics. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in its Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989), states that at all grade levels, students must learn to communicate mathematically. Science for All Americans: A Project 2061 Report (American Association for the Advancement of Science 1988) describes effective teaching of mathematics as teaching that emphasizes the development of students' abilities to communicate clearly in both oral and written work. Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the Twentyfirst Century (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development 1989, 43) encourages middle-grade teachers “to promote a spirit of inquiry and to stimulate students to think about and communicate ideas.”

Preparing Prospective Middle Grades Teachers to Understand the Curriculum

Preparing Prospective Middle Grades Teachers to Understand the Curriculum

Answering Middle Grade Teachers' Questions about Readability

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsDonna J. CampDr. Donna J. Camp, a former middle grades language arts/reading teacher, is Assistant Professor of Language Arts Education, East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma.

Steps toward Promoting Cognitive Achievements

The Elementary School Journal Volume 85, Number 5 ? 1985 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984/85/8505-0008$0 1.00 Research on teaching has always been carried out under the assumption that what happens in classrooms influences students' learning. In the heyday of the research guided by the process-product paradigm (Dunkin & Biddle 1974), there were two central determinants of students' learning that teachers could manipulate. One was the teacher's behavior. The second was the

North Carolina Middle School Teachers Rate their Preservice Programs and their First Year of Teaching

This article is based on a survey given to first year middle grade teachers in North Carolina. Four hundred and sixty-six responded to the survey which investigated their pre-service programs in relation to their first year of teaching. Comparisons are made between responses of middle grade teachers and teachers at other levels. When asked what could have been added to their college program to make it more valuable, middle school teachers identified survival skills and more field experiences earlier in their academic experiences. They also reported feeling less than adequate in working with learning disabled and gifted and talented students. As a group they identified their student teaching and methods courses as the most valuable aspects of their preservice programs.

Discipline in the Classroom: Perceptions of Middle Grade Teachers

(1983). Discipline in the Classroom: Perceptions of Middle Grade Teachers. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas: Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 139-142.

The Job Market for Teachers

Allan C. Ornstein Loyola University of Chicago Approximately 2.2 million people were employed as public school teachers K-12 in 1979-80. About 1.2 million were teaching in elementary schools, and the remaining 1.0 million were employed at the secondary level. (Middle-grade teachers are included with elementary teachers, and junior-high teachers are included with secondary teachers.) Another 200,000 were teaching in non-public schools, the great majority in Catholic schools, bringing the total number of classroom teachers K-12 to 2.4 million.1