Those Ever-Popular Learning Centers

Maybe it was just the schools that I attended, but I feel like my teachers tried different variations of learning centers more often than almost any other teaching strategy except lecture.  Sometimes, they worked.  We learned information in an interesting and interactive way that helped us to remember.  At other times, teachers seemed to use learning centers as a way to give themselves breaks from active teaching.  Poorly-planned activities merely gave students the opportunity to socialize while writing down the answers to a few easy questions.  In short, learning centers (a teaching strategy that rotates groups of students around the classroom to learn through a variety of distinct activities) can be effective when, and only when, used to the full extent of their potential.

Learning centers can be a useful way of teaching large amounts of information in an interactive way at many age levels, including middle school.  In fact, they they address multiple developmental domains specific to the middle school age.  Intellectually, middle school students need to actively learn information that they find interesting and favor interaction with peers.  Learning centers guide students through active discovery of information in an interesting and interactive way.  In the social domain, middle school students need to develop positive interaction with peers, a key element of learning center activities.  Finally, learning centers allow for middle school students to explore a variety of moral viewpoints, an important element of moral development.  These qualities can help at many age levels, but they are particularly important for young adolescents.

In social studies classes, learning centers are an appropriate method of exploring primary sources or learning information from a variety of perspectives.  The New York Education Department describes a learning center activity involving analysis of images from World War I to learn about the war itself.  This activity lacks the variety of some learning centers, but it contains the important elements of student discussion, physical movement, and student discovery.  In addition, teachers may change the level of difficulty by altering the specific tasks expected of students.  Another option in learning activities involves a brief introduction to a variety of subjects.  The Montgomery County Public School District has an excellent video of a social studies learning station activity.  Students encounter a variety of elements of world history through watching videos, listening to tapes, writing their names in Arabic, looking at maps, and other tasks.  Although the video intentionally only included images of actively engaged students, it is an excellent example of a learning center activity that includes variety in subjects and methods to help students learn.

Of course, learning centers can cause potential classroom management problems.  With a classroom filled with student discussion, students can easily discuss other subjects and switch to the assignment when the teacher walks by.  Teachers can combat this temptation by walking among students and helping where necessary.  It also helps to hold students accountable for participation in the lesson through clear directions and asking students to turn something in at the end of the lesson.  For example, students in the aforementioned video worked on a worksheet that asked questions pertaining to each station.

As a visual learner who long ago became tired of lectures, I enjoy participating in learning centers.  They involve movement, variety, and often excellent activities beyond lecture with PowerPoint.  The biggest problem that worries me is that of potential classroom management difficulties.  How exactly can a teacher know that students remain on task?  Moreover, how should a teacher develop a worksheet or other method of accountability that ensures student participation without limiting conversation or becoming busywork?  Feel free to comment with a response to these questions or any other thoughts.

Vocabulary: "Democracy" does not cut it

Altogether too often, social studies teachers assume that working with students on vocabulary is unnecessary in social studies classes.  As long as students know how the textbook defines the bold-faced words, they have the vocabulary knowledge necessary to pass the course, right?  Wrong.  Students, especially middle school students, need guidance in learning vocabulary.  This even occurs in the social studies classroom.  From what I have learned so far, there are two central needs for vocabulary instruction in the social studies classroom:
1. Students who lack a foundational knowledge of vocabulary in the English language need assistance to understand the basic elements of the text.
2. Social studies requires knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary that may not have entered conversations for even students who are strong in English.

So now that we have clarified the importance of vocabulary instruction in the middle school classroom, how should a teacher approach this instruction?  Well, there is no specific "best" method, but several parameters can help to improve the quality of vocabulary instruction.
1. Include a limited number of words each week.  Students will not retain what they learn if they simply copy definitions of a long list of vocabulary words.
2. Repeat the vocabulary words and have students use them in the appropriate context.  Students will only truly "own" words after repetition and use.
3. Encourage morphological awareness: the recognition that words contain different morphemes (units containing meaning.  If students work with the meanings of various prefixes, roots, and suffixes, they can learn a variety of words without relearning each time variations containing the same morphemes come up in class.  Vocabulogic posted a quality description of morphological awareness that I strongly recommend.  It is clear, concise, and relevant.
4. As much as possible, select words that will be in use repeatedly in the social studies class and other classes.  For example, "interpretation" is important for a social studies class and many other classes.  While, as the title suggests, "democracy" is not the only vocabulary word that matters, it is a more relevant choice for students to learn well than "demography", a highly specific term that probably matters little to the class as a whole.
5. Make vocabulary instruction relevant and interesting.  Students who find motivation to participate in vocabulary lessons will more easily learn and remember words.

There are a variety of teaching strategies that help meet these suggestions.  One that I found interesting is in the use of vocabulary shapes.  Teachers place morphemes at different corners of shapes, and students think of other words using those morphemes to predict what the morphemes mean.  From there, the class guesses the definition of the whole word.  For example, the word "prejudice" would go into a triangle as "pre", "jud" and "ice".  Students may recognize words like "predict" and "pre-test" for "pre" and "judge" for "jud".  From there, they can develop a meaning relating to judging people or things before knowing them.

Of course, discussion of vocabulary instruction could easily continue for hours.  And vocabulary barely breaches the tip of everything there is to talk about regarding comprehension.  Since I cannot continue forever, I leave you with a question that I have pondered for a few days now.  How much of the vocabulary that students encounter in social studies classes needs to become a part of instruction?  Primary sources can include many challenges.  For that matter, there are plenty of words in the United States Constitution that I cannot define without a dictionary.  How can a teacher remain selective about words without constantly referring students to dictionaries when they express interest in words from assigned readings?  Any thoughts on the subject are more than welcome.

"That" Teacher

Hopefully, most of us had at least one teacher in middle school who was "that" teacher.  By this, I reference the teacher that we loved and learned from.  We looked forward for his or her next lesson for the sake of learning rather than as a means to achieve a grade.  No teacher can be "that" teacher for every student, as students have unique interests, personalities, and learning styles.  However, some qualities help teachers to be effective when working with middle school students.  I am certainly not an expert, but here are a few qualities that I see as important for effective middle school teachers:

Knowledge: Effective middle school teachers have a strong foundational knowledge of the subject they teach as well as academic knowledge about teaching middle school students.  Teachers who truly know the subjects they teach can more successfully share this information with students.  In addition, knowing more about a subject than the syllabus requires allows a teacher to include special focus on elements that classes find interesting.  Academic knowledge about teaching incorporates psychological information about adolescence and teaching strategies.  College Professors share this information because it matters, so teachers should use this knowledge as a foundation for planning lessons, classroom management procedures, and more.  In addition, effective teachers seek to continue adding to both categories of knowledge through classes and familiarity with current research as long as they continue to teach.

Leader: An effective teacher needs the confidence and authority to lead a class.  This includes classroom management aspects, as teachers with leadership and good classroom management (although there is little distinction between the two) can maximize class time and thus help students to learn.  It also includes the simple confidence to work with a class of students without losing focus.  Finally, a teacher who is also a quality leader leads by example, encouraging students to behave well, work hard on schoolwork, and make intentional decisions.

Passion: Many teachers are passionate about the subjects that they teach.  Effective middle school teachers are passionate about teaching the subjects to middle school students.  This shows in their genuine concern for their students.  Effective teachers respond to students' academic, emotional, and other needs.  When necessary, this means that effective teachers have the flexibility to diverge from previously planned lessons or schedules in order to accommodate for students' needs.  Rhoda C. Sommers discusses this passion by describing effective teachers as "real" teachers.

At this point in time, I do not have the characteristics necessary to be "that" teacher.  I lack the academic knowledge, which I hope to gain throughout the course of this semester and in future education classes.  I also do not know whether I have the confidence to be a leader in a classroom of students.  Work in a middle school as part of this class should help me to develop this confidence.  I will know that I have achieved the type of confidence necessary for leadership when I can place more emphasis on students than on my specific actions.  This does not imply forgetting to act appropriately or utilize important classroom management techniques.  Rather, it means that the "spotlight" feeling will diminish in favor of concern for student achievement.

What do I have now?  Passion.  I love social studies and have thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity I have had to teach.  Moreover, I have seriously considered teaching in a middle school because of the unique challenges and opportunities that the young adolescents bring to class.  That is a short list compared with the laundry list of ways I have yet to learn and develop, but I truly believe in lifelong learning.  I can only be "that" teacher for a student if I continue to work on these qualities long after college graduation.

She Said What?!

Some people create blogs to publish opinions and stir discussion on hot-button issues.  Readers of such blogs find posts shocking.  At times, these types of blogs can even cause trouble for the writers.  I created a blog as an assignment for a college course.  Since this blog has an educational purpose, my goal is to foster constructive discussion rather than to shock readers.  Because of this, I have constructed a list (yes, it is part of an assignment) of four general guidelines for blog posts by myself and my classmates.

1. Think about who will read a post before publishing.  Since this is an educational blog, this includes classmates, professors, and potential employers.  Essentially, I am publishing my homework assignments for everyone to read.  I would not swear or make inappropriate comments on a regular class assignment.  The same should hold true for blog posts.

2. Try to avoid generalizations about large groups.  I read this suggestion on guidelines from Arapahoe High School, and it makes quite a bit of sense to me.  In the particular situation of this blog, I will discuss middle schools and middle school students.  Each school and each student is unique, meaning that I should never assign a particular characteristic to all members of the groups.

3. Cite Sources!  Why is this in bold?  Because I think it is critically important to blogging and writing in general.  I hope that someone who uses my writing in their own work acknowledges my efforts.  I should do the same for other writers and bloggers.  Besides, as the website I already mentioned suggests, citing sources gives credibility to an argument.  It shows that I made an informed statement and that wiser individuals agree.

4. When posting or commenting on a post, respect other people.  Respect their ideas and value as human beings.  In other words, be civil.  If I do disagree with a person's opinion, I should phrase it as disagreement with the opinion (not the person) and provide logical evidence for my opinion.

As I am not an expert by any means, I leave you with one final link.  I think that the International School of Bangkok provides an excellent and succinct list of guidelines for posts on educational blogs.  There's no trick.  From what I can tell, simple maturity and common sense go a long way.