Transforming Practice: The Middle Grades

February 1, 2010

Transforming Practice: The Middle Grades provides an overview and video examples of exemplary middle school practice, including:

• 60 minutes of video footage of real schools and classrooms
• Lesson plans to accompany the video examples
• Interviews from experts, students, teachers and community leaders
• Other valuable resources for educators

Transforming Practice: The Middle Grades is a multimedia CD-ROM designed to enhance the professional development of middle grades educators. The tool provides opportunities for users to:

• Explore the unique needs of the young adolescent
• Develop awareness of national middle school reform movements
• Examine the characteristics of high-performing middle schools
• Investigate exemplars of standards-based integrated instruction
• Identify components that support instructional change

Transforming Practice: The Middle Grades contains approximately one hour of video: thirty-three clips that have been carefully constructed to include administrator, teacher, parent, and student perspectives; classroom footage documenting effective instructional strategies and best practice principles; and supporting print and web link resources. The CD is an excellent tool for middle school professional development, planning sessions and work groups, etc. It is structured in such a way that individual videos and resources can be accessed immediately.

Special CD Price: $19.95 (Save 50%)

Transforming Practice: The Middle Grades originally sells for $39.95 but is reduced to $19.95 (plus $5 S&H). To order a copy, email Angela Jump or Contact Us. School purchase orders or checks are welcome.
 

Selected Videos from the CD

I - Caught in the Middle

Defining Young Adolescents: Student Quotes

(Video length: 0:48 minutes) How do students view adolescents? An awareness and understanding of young adolescents' feelings during this vulnerable time in their lives is essential to the decision-making processes that occur daily within the school's learning community. Let's hear what they have to say.

Developmental Needs: Positive Social Interaction with Adults and Peers

(Video length: 1:08 minutes) Young adolescents identify with their peer groups' values and desperately want to belong. They require opportunities to form positive peer relationships. And although they may never admit it, they need caring relationships with adults who like and respect them and can serve as role models and advisors.

Developmental Needs: Structure and Clear Limits

(Video length: 1:26 minutes) Clear expectations are crucial to ensure self-critical young people. Explicit boundaries help define the areas in which they may legitimately seek freedom to explore. In their search for independence and autonomy, young adolescents often feel immune to risks and dangers, so they require structure and guidance in setting clear limits that involve them in the process of responsible decision making. In this video local police officers discuss the support they provide to the school and its students.

Developmental Needs: Physical Activity

(Video length: 1:15 minutes) Young adolescents experience very rapid and uneven physical development. They have tremendous energy and require a great deal of physical activity and time for having fun as well as for relaxation.

Developmental Needs: Creative Expression

(Video length: 1:58 minutes) Young adolescents need opportunities to express who they are on the inside. In this video former CTL music specialist Mary Anne Lock provides students the opportunity to create and perform melodies demonstrating their understanding of mathematical transformations.

Developmental Needs: Competence and Achievement

(Video length: 1:50 minutes) Young adolescents need to discover what they're good at doing. They require many varied opportunities to be successful and have their accomplishments recognized by others. In this video Ms. Nalley's middle school students demonstrate what they have learned for younger children.

Developmental Needs: Meaningful Participation in Families, Schools and Communities

(Video length: 1:33 minutes) Young adolescents are curious about the world around them, so they require exposure to situations where they can use their skills to solve real-life problems. In this video seventh grade science students engage in various sampling techniques and statistical analysis to determine the water quality of a local stream.

Developmental Needs: Opportunities for Self Definition

(Video length: 1:59 minutes) Young adolescents require time to reflect upon new reactions they receive from others and to construct a consistent self-image from the many mirrors in which they view themselves. In this video students reflect upon their new learning and personal experiences from a recent unit of study.

II - Characteristics of Effective Middle Schools

Academic Excellence: Administrator Perspective

(Video length: 2:21 minutes) In this video middle school principal Michelle Pedigo discusses components of academic excellence evident in her school, including challenging curriculum, student-centered teaching and learning, arts infusion, continuous assessment, and more.

Academic Excellence: Teacher Perspective

(Video length: 0:43 minutes) In this video teachers share their views regarding instructional issues that support the development of academically challenging programs within their schools. They discuss the importance of teacher expectations, instructional strategies that address different learning styles and intelligences, and the impact of flexible scheduling on classroom practice.

Academic Excellence: Student Perspective

(Video length: 0:42 minutes) What do students believe about academic excellence? Most students have opinions about what they learn, how they learn, and the relevance of that learning to their world. It is essential that students’ perspectives be taken into consideration as educators design instructional experiences to meet the needs of young adolescents.

Developmental Responsiveness: Administrator Perspective

(Video length: 1:05 minutes) In this video middle school principal Mark Wallace describes the positive school climate within his school. He talks about alliances developed between school, parents, and community and how these alliances support the learning experiences of their students.

Developmental Responsiveness: Teacher Perspective

(Video length: 1:01 minutes) Middle school teachers Kathy Lowe and Peggy Nims discuss their school’s “Clubhouse” program; designed to address the unique academic and development needs of students.

Developmental Responsiveness: Student Perspective

(Video length: 0:46 minutes) Middle school students sense if adults in their school genuinely care about them and value their opinions. In this video several students share their thoughts regarding the concern and interest shown toward them in their school.

Social Equity: Administrator Perspective

(Video length: 1:25 minutes) Middle school principal Cynthia Lawson and teacher Jill Sutton discuss their school’s commitment to helping all students achieve at high levels.

Social Equity: Teacher Perspective

(Video length: 1:00 minutes) Middle school philosophy advocates that an interdisciplinary team of teachers share a common group of students; allowing for shared team planning time to discuss instructional and curricular issues. This time is also valuable for communicating student concerns and collaborating with colleagues to design interventions that address particular student needs.

Social Equity: Student Perspective

(Video length: 0:30 minutes) Fairness is often a concern with young adolescents as they seek support from their peers and the adults within the school. Students hold in high regards teachers who challenge them academically, and provide them with diverse learning experiences.

III - Standards-Based Integrated Learning

 Interdisciplinary Connection: Science/Mathematics

(Video length: 1:52 minutes) In this video middle school science teacher Vicki Tidwell engages students in the study of generic variation and adaptation patterns through probability simulation, exploring both theoretical and experimental outcomes. Activities such as this encourage students to make cross-content connections as well as apply discipline-specific content to real-world situations.

Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics/Music

(Video length: 5:03 minutes) In this video middle school teacher Brenda Carr’s students use ratio and proportion concepts to investigate tempo in music. This activity motivates students, supports the development of their musical intelligence and allows them to explore a meaningful relationship between mathematics and music.

Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics/Visual Arts

(Video length: 2:56 minutes) In this video, Ms. Gray’s middle school students explore geometry and measurement concepts through architecture, a visual arts approach. Her students investigate the work of Frank Lloyd Wright to determine what mathematical and artistic qualities are present in his designs and apply this new knowledge in the creation of their own work of art.

Integrated Learning: Real World Explorations

(Video length: 3:16 minutes) In this video middle school science teacher Vicki Tidwell engages her seventh grade students in fieldwork at an aquaculture research laboratory. Her students learn the critical aspects of research design: formulation of hypothesis; management of experimentation variables; observation techniques; appropriate data collection; and analysis of results. Students use this knowledge throughout the year to design and conduct their own experiments.

Integrated Learning: Student Engagement

(Video length: 3:27 minutes) In this video, middle school teacher Lisa Frye’s students explore mathematical concepts and skills through a multidisciplinary unit of study. She describes the standards-based instructional planning, student engagement in new learning, and the application of that learning in a product demonstration.

IV - Support for Change

Support for Change: Administration

(Video length: 3:32 minutes) Sheila Smith Anderson, a former educational programs consultant for CTL, consistently promotes the philosophy that all children can learn at high levels. In this video Sheila discusses the critical aspects of administrative support necessary to initiate and promote instructional leadership, communication structures and sustaining change.

Support for Change: Classroom Environment

(Video length: 4:50 minutes) For successful content integration to occur, teachers must establish a safe, supportive classroom environment that encourages risk-taking and problem solving. Instruction provides resources and opportunities that deepen students’ understanding of discipline-specific concepts as well as make meaningful connections and application within and across content areas.

Support for Change: Collaboration to Meet Student Needs

(Video length: 2:13 minutes) To successfully meet the needs of all learners it often requires teachers to make modifications or adaptations within their instruction to provide more scaffolding for students struggling with various learning disabilities. In this video middle school teacher Vicki Tidwell introduces her students to the scientific and mathematical procedures used to complete population studies.

Support for Change: Interdisciplinary Teaming

(Video length: 3:32 minutes) This video presents a demonstration of team planning brining together teachers with varying content expertise. The team planning process includes examining discipline-specific standards, identification of common global concepts, the design of units of study, opportunities for continuous assessment, connecting learning through global concepts, and reflection on student performance to inform instructional next steps.