How do they teach middle-schoolers now?

I don't remember having access to as much information as I do now when I was in middle school. I'm curious as to how they teach middle school students now. Any teachers here? I'm just wondering how the times has changed since 8 years ago when I was in middle school.

Well I teach High-School Special Education.

IMO much of what is taught is filtered information (think FOX news in the classroom) and thanks to NCLB we have certain constraints on what we can do.

Just what are you wanting to know?

reply to post by fishneedh2o

That's a shame really. I remember that my teaching when I was in high-school was dumbed down until I changed schools and transferred to a private school where the teachers pretty much taught their own thing. They had to follow the state's curriculum but they didn't brainwash me in class like they usually do in public education school systems. I'm in college right now and the classes aren't dumbed down at all. Just, I'd wish that they would wait before college to start teaching people real material.

I was hoping that they would try to teach people more things. With access to the internet I think parents could work together so that their kids could learn more about various things say in science, and, a parent could help their kid find books on the subject. Reading books have prevented me from being dumbed down by everything I see and hear from other people and text-books in school. I think that they should have websites devoted to teaching children how to learn critically and give them books to read that will help them think better and understand other things more... but I guess the NCLB doesn't want teachers to do that because it keeps them from telling children what the government wants them to know.

What do you think they could do to get people to be more critical thinkers? Do you like my idea about having kids read books at an earlier age so they'll be better readers when they're in college and in the real world?

reply to post by Frankidealist35

What do you think they could do to get people to be more critical thinkers? Do you like my idea about having kids read books at an earlier age so they'll be better readers when they're in college and in the real world?

You hit the nail on the head! Critical thinking seems to be non-existent in most schools today. When I taught college, the students, for the most part, came in with great grades, but no critical thinking skills.
I've posted my thoughts on many threads about this, but suffice it to say that memorization and rote repeating what a teacher says, even if that is only an opinion, seems to be the rule. No child left behind may have been well-intentioned, but all it did is force teachers to "teach to the tests". Let me just paste a few of my comments from past posts of mine:

"I saw the problem at the college I taught at. The students were coming in, with poor skills in all areas. Instead of being able to teach new material, the first 4 or 5 weeks were spent just getting the basics down. You are right- they don't know how to research or think on their own. I had several of them tell me that when their teachers reviewed for a test, they gave them the questions and the answers! No research needed, no thinking, just memorize the information for a day or two, spit it out, and forget it as soon as it's over.

A tool I would use to encourage research, was the give them a general question that was going to be on the test. It would force them to do some research, and UNDERSTAND the issue. They also knew that there would be multiple versions of each question, and the questions required relatively long answers, which involved explaining WHY they gave the answer they did. I also spent a good deal of time in class discussions, to encourage the thought process. For many topics, I would break them into groups of 3 or 4, to encourage teamwork. I found that worked very well. It is certainly more work on the teachers' part, and several of my colleagues told me they wouldn't do it, because it was too much work. My answer to them, was that if they felt that way, they shouldn't be teaching. Many of them gave scantron tests, and had machines grade them. God, how can you get to know your students that way?!
I detest government programs that base everything on standardized tests. All it does is encourage some teachers (not all) to "teach to the test".

One of the encouraging things that I experienced, though, was how eager students were to learn, once they were given the tools, and a chance to really learn, not memorize. I used to take current items from the news(not just politics, but items like new technologies, business items, etc), items that at first glance, they would not think had any impact on their lives. I would then make the connections to their lives, and show them how such things really DID affect them. After awhile, they caught on, and then it became fun. They actually looked forward to discussing current events, especially when they knew they affected them. The next step was getting them to take action to CHANGE those things that they didn't like. I never told them what to believe. I think that professors that do that, again, are doing a disservice to the students. Students need to think on their own. I did tell them how to contact their congressional representatives, how to lodge a consumer complaint,and how to register to vote. I never consciously told them how I felt about politics, although I'm sure that some of them could deduce that, but that's ok, because again, that means that they are learning to think on their own.
Again, student reaction was very positive. Many of my "colleagues" however, had a different view, namely that since the students were telling them how much "FUN" my classes were, I was just playing games. I would respond by telling them that people(including students!) learn more when they are enjoying it. No one said that learning should be drudgery. By the way, I don't think that my techniques were great, they were just common sense, something unfortunately that many educators have in short supply.

I guess that it is rather obvious how I feel about who bears the greatest responsibility for the dismal shape of education in our country today. There are certainly a lot of great teachers and professors out there, but there are also many that fall far short of what is needed to turn this thing around.


Yes, and one if the things students need to be told, is how to evaluate and validate what they get from the internet. In a way, things were easier when our research consisted of going to the library and reading a book or piece of reference material. Most of the material had already been validated, but of course today,anyone can put anything on the internet. With sites like Wikipedia, they certainly must be able to validate what they have read.

BTW, if you'd like to see what others said, and additional posts of mine on this subject, here is the thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Although the topic was about teaching history, many of the comments apply, in general to education today.

ProfE is correct.

Might I add I teach in Kansas.


Although the students I teach are basically kindergartners in big bodies. I teach more "life skills" than your typical High School classes. Much of the resources I am given are the "filtered" information. Sometimes I am quite discussed at the one sided info.

I agree with you, I really do. I wish all parents would be engaged in their child's education. For whatever reason many parents don't seem to care anymore.

I love your idea. I wish all kids would read more, but then parents need to provide the reading material and information. I am sicken when I go into someones house and they don't have a book shelf.

One last thought, I was at a small store the other day. My total was $20 and the poor young girl (looked about 16/17) could not figure 10% off in her head.

I am an assistant principal and would be more than pleased to share insight about today's state of affairs in K-12 schools.

An early post mentioned how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has entirely revolutionized instruction in our nation's schools...and must agree with this statement.

Today's schools are required to demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) on standardized state assessments by hitting a state-mandated proficiency score. This score must eventually demonstrate that 100% of students are reading, writing, and completing math at grade-level by the year 2014. NCLB penalizes schools that do not make their AYP cut, with increasing penalities each year that a school district "fails."

The demands imposed on school districts, buildings, and teachers are very high. The pressure to make AYP have dominated curriculum and instructional decisions because of the massive implications for not making AYP. The media reports schools that fail, funding becomes jeopardized, students have the right to transfer to "proficient" schools, afterschool tutoring must be provided free of cost to families at school district expense, and/or a district could be taken over by state bureaucrats to run the district.

While many love the accountability now placed on schools, others argue the creativity that once blossomed in schools is long gone. Curriculums now follow a strategic scope-and-sequence that is closely aligned with the state assessment benchmarks and standards that are tested...which leaves very little time for anything extra to be taught in the classroom.

English language learners and students with special needs must also take these tests, and regardless of their achievement levels, must also demonstrate proficiency. These students are categorized into subgroups, along with free and reduced lunch students and other "minority" groupings. If any of these subgroups fail their AYP mark, the entire district may be reported as not making their AYP.

So that in a nutshell, is the state of educational affairs at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

It's frustrating and intense now on a curricular level. The experiences of those that were schooled before 2003 have very little concept of today's schooling.

(Please note, the NCLB is federal legislation signed by President Bush. The states adopt their own measures/assessments for determining AYP, but must adhere to the federal legislation mandates. If not, federal funding is withheld. If your state's practices vary from what I posted, please feel free to share what your respective state has adopted for complying with NCLB. My post reflects Kansas and Missouri NCLB requirements.)

I also have to add that NCLB requires school districts to provide "research-based" curriculums.

These curriculums are pre-packaged and created by major textbook publishing companies. Guess who runs these publishing companies? Yep, you guessed it...many friends and partners of the Bush family.

Since this site features lots of conspiracy theories, the existence of NCLB is also a conspiracy theory since many assert it has set public school districts up for failure, thereby relying on private enterprise to enter the public domain and profit with public tax dollars in order to meet NCLB requirements.

This has been a big cash-cow for private industry, all at the public's tax dollar expense.
www.diatribune.com...

These curriculums are pre-packaged and created by major textbook publishing companies. Guess who runs these publishing companies? Yep, you guessed it...many friends and partners of the Bush family.

At the college level, Book Publishing Reps are like the Pharmaceutical Sales Reps that jump in front of you, when you're waiting 2 hours to see your doctor. I always told them to kindly leave me alone, whenever they tried to get into my office. I always chose my own text books, and tried to select the texts that were the most affordable for the students, AND had the best material.
If you understood how much corruption goes on, with the book reps, you would be shocked. They try to do everything from "inviting" professors to "book fairs", all expenses paid, to southern clime areas in the winter, to giving them 10 to 20 "desk copies, which the profs then sell back to the used-book vendors at the end of the year. I'd usually re-use the text for several semesters, as long as the material wasn't outdated, so that students could buy used copies from prior term students. I never sold a desk copy(I only asked for one for each unique text), and when I was finished with it, I would donate the texts to libraries. There were profs that used to make $200 to $400 a semester selling those free "desk copies" that they got.
In addition, many of the profs were lazy, and they would get the "Instructor material" from the publisher, with canned PowerPoints, exercises, etc, all in electronic form, and just teach from the publisher material. If the students would ask them a question about the material, they'd just tell them to "read the book".

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


I can totally vouch for that Prof, my dad teaches at a university, at the graduate level, and some of the writing skills his students display in their manuscripts are atrocious. How these kids got all the way to pursuing postgraduate studies is beyond me.

I know I have bad spelling and writing in my posts sometimes, which is a combination of typing things as I would think them, a possible touch of dyslexia as it runs in the family, and most of all, laziness.

I can totally vouch for that Prof, my dad teaches at a university, at the graduate level, and some of the writing skills his students display in their manuscripts are atrocious. How these kids got all the way to pursuing postgraduate studies is beyond me.

I'm sure your dad has some real stories to tell. I taught undergraduates, for the most part, 3rd and 4th year students. It amazed me to see students writing papers that were so full of spelling and grammatical errors. I think many of them were lazy, because they had spell-check, and had the attitude that it would catch their errors. Of course, as you know, all it would catch is whether the word exists or not, many times missing the fact that a correctly spelled word was being used incorrectly. Words like "there" and "their" were constantly being interchanged.

My sixth grader is at a great charter school where they have good kids and great grades. But guess what? They don't teach him very much at all. Almost everything he learns, he learns while doing homework, with me in attendance. I essentially homeschool him when he gets home from school. I used to homeschool him exclusively but I developed health problems and I couldn't do it any more. But his homework alone takes about two to three hours a day, one-on-one. When he's not in school, doing homework, or playing baseball, he reads almost constantly.

I mean, they try to teach, but their methods are not very effective and their resources are stretched too thin. However they use the materials and techniques which are supposedly 'proven' to work best. Microphones, smart boards, the latest approaches to math, etc.

When I was in school, I loved to learn, I paid attention, I listened to the teacher, and I didn't socialize in class (only at recess). So naturally I learned more than those who didn't pay attention. My son, however, has zero attention span, which makes it hard for him to learn in an institution. Probably some of the other kids get more out of the instruction than he does.


[edit on 16-11-2008 by OuttaHere]

guess what? i went to public school my entire life, and my father was a public school elementary principal here in nyc for many years. i passed the regents exam a year early, took ap english, spanish, math and science in junior high school, and then went on to a very academic high school.

what im saying is, its not up to the student. its not up the teacher. its up the FAMILY and teacher to raise a child. if the student is told one thing in class and then undermined at home, then they will deem the knowledge they learned in school worthless.

Teach your children the value of education. Read to them. Study with them. We all have the capacity to learn. Does everyone have the same capacity to teach?