The Middle School Concept and Departmentalized Instruction

AED 636Barbara Price-Cage

Delta State UniversityFall 2009

New Legislation

• Due to the No Child Left Behind laws, uprisings for the production of higher performing middle schools are currently underway.

What is a middle school?

• Middle school or junior high school serves as a "bridge" between elementary and high school.

• Junior high dates back to 1909 with the founding of Indianola Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio.

• The concept of the name "middle school" dates back to 1950 from Bay City, Michigan.

What is departmentalized

instruction?• Teams are the organizational structure that create

opportunities for a group of teachers to work with a common set of students, allowing for collaboration among teachers, integration of the curriculum, and coordination of activities to best promote learning for every child.

• Each team is designed as a learning community within the larger middle school.

• These groups allow for greater flexibility in grouping, scheduling, and staffing and reduce student isolation.

Middle School FoundationTurning Points

• In the Turning Points model, the focus was improving student learning (Picucci, Brownson, Kahlert, & Sobel, 2004).

• This comprehensive study was the foundation for middle schools.

• In the study, there was a shared idea of equity for students as well as teachers.

What is a thematic unit?

• The most common method of implementing integrated, interdisciplinary instruction is the thematic unit, in which a common theme is studied in more than one content area.

Example: Titanic Theme: Content Area

Number of deaths: MathThe waterway being traveled: ScienceShip terms: Vocabulary/EnglishWrite an essay on how it felt to be treated as a second class

citizen: EnglishReconstruct the Titanic: Art

Titanic Thematic Unit

• Teacher can read and explain components of the book.

• Teacher can define vocabulary words from each chapter.

• Teacher can create art activities from each chapter.

Thematic Units

• Math Lessons On The Titanichttp://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/titanic/lessons/

les7.doc• Vocabulary Lessons On The Titanic

http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading16/voc1.htm

• Benefits of thematic units:• More time on subject matter• Deeper thought processes• Greater student enthusiasm

References

• Caskey, M., Cook, C., Faulkner, S., & Kinne, L. (2009).

Indicators of Middle School Implementation: How do

Kentucky’s Schools to Watch Measure Up? Research

in Middle Level Education, 32 (6), 1-10.

• Lounsbury, J. (2009). Deferred but Not Deterred: A Middle

School Manifest. Middle School Journal, 40 (5), 31-

36. • Picucci, A., Brownson, A., Kahlert, R., & Sobel, A. (2004). Middle

School

Concept Helps High-Poverty Schools Become High-Performing Schools.

Middle School Journal, 36(1), 4-11.

The Middle School Concept and Departmentalized Instruction

THE END