Eileen's In This We Believe Blog

Eileen's In This We Believe Blog

This last section gives a more detailed description of the roles of people affected by the school and those affecting the school and the students. I enjoyed this section as it went along with a class that I am taking called “Fundamentals of School Health”. Both this book and my health text stress the importance of the whole child. It is important to make sure the students are supported in all of these areas; physical development, cognitive development, moral development, psychological development, and social-emotional development; so that they are able to reach their full learning potential.

This book stresses that there is much more to the roles of the teacher, principal, staff and students than in years before. Education needs to mean something and has a purpose. I enjoyed this book very much; it is also small enough to carry around and reference from!
(19-34)
This section of In This We Believe dealt with things we had seen in TP2000. The aspect of block scheduling is always a concern for middle school teachers as the time used for teaching should be a constant and should be used wisely. Scheduling not only means when your classes are but when you plan as well as when you have time for students beyond the normal class time.
What I liked about this section was that it talked about integrating academics and making that bigger connection to the outside world that our students live in. Getting students interested in the subject matter is a great feat but having them apply in after they leave the classroom means that they have truly learned the subject matter. Remembering it for the next class or test doesn’t mean anything; if the students can not relate the material to themselves as individuals they will probably not remember it for long. I also liked the self monitoring and having student set their own goals. I feel that it is important to guide the students in this process as they may set the goal too high or too low, and we want all students to reach their potential.
The sections about advocacy programs and specialized professionals made sense to me. Every student needs someone in their corner to ensure that hey are receiving all the support they need, and often there needs to be a professional on board to address those needs.
I am still unclear on the distinction that was made between assessment and evaluation. If anyone out there could help make it clear I would appreciate it.


Eileen’s In This We Believe 9-19Middle school educators need to understand the uniqueness of the development of middle school student. They know how to form relationships and learning partnerships with their students. A successful middle school has a vision that guides their decisions, they share this vision with the school district and it also includes relevant state and federal guidelines.The above is some notes from the section of “In This We Believe”; I tend to agree with the intentions of the book and hope to be working in an atmosphere similar to this. However, the relevant state and federal guidelines part makes me nervous. I know in my logical mind that their term relevant did not mean that the school picks and chooses what guidelines they could or would follow. The language still makes me uneasy.Creating a safe and supportive environment for students is extremely important today. It is difficult when we think of all that is out there and what the students need. It not only means to keep them safe from drugs and violence in the school but often in the home as well. The support that some students need comes in the form of creating a healthy environment by providing information so they are able to make informed decisions. This helps them make good decisions that help them lead healthy productive lives.Good leadership is essential to a good school. The leadership is demonstrated in many ways, by the teachers, the principal, the administration and the community. If all of the leaders or role models come together to achieve a common goal things fall into place quicker. The teachers are role models for the students, the principal a role model for the teachers, the administration a role model for all the schools in the district and the community a role model for its entire population of all ages.Overall I liked the aspects of the book in this section. It was informative and thought provoking.
Posted by EILEEN at 10:02 PM 0 comments



The explanation of the characteristics of a successful middle school culture that were listed on page 7 was helpful. When looking for schools to teach in it is important to take into account the atmosphere of the school as well as the programs it may be using or implementing. Often in our society we look at the performance scores of a school and if they are good we assume the school is successful. This may not be the case, though students seem to do better when all their needs are being met and there is support for them physically, emotionally, socially as well as academically. Too often a school will teach to the test and actually prepare for an extended amount of time before having the students take the state tests. This produces good results on paper, but we have to remember that even paper if not kept in the best environment is likely to be damaged or worse. It is important to think of our students in a similar way. Their environment affects their well being and ultimately their lives.

A good education is an ideal that we constantly struggle to provide to our children. The shift to include families and communities has greatly improved our ability to reach that elusive goal. Also helping, is that inclusion of programs that benefit a child’s basic needs, and also educating families on what will help their child be more prepared for school. The encouragement for parent involvement at the middle school level is far better today than when I myself attended one. By listening to my classmates and reading In This We Believe, I find myself not only wanting to help my students succeed in school but looking forward to working in an enriching environment which includes caring and concern for everyone from students to faculty and staff.