Meet Me In The Middle Chapter-11

Abstract:
This chapter is about working as a team and the various benefits that it offers at the middle school level. Working as a team with your colleagues, instead of viewing your classroom as an island, offers you the unique ability to identify and fix problems. If a student is experiencing a problem in your classroom his other teachers might be able to offer you ideas on how they solved/avoided it in their classroom or they might be having the exact same problem as you. If the entire learning community, including parents, are aware of this problem then there is an increased change of finding the source and continually reinforcing the effort to fix it. If you work on a team with teacher of other subjects you can use this to integrate material in ways that you alone may have never thought of doing. Also, working on a team offers you the opportunity to apply the same core values to every class that a student is in rather than a mixed hodgepodge of rules.

Reflection:
I like the idea of working on a team and solving problems as a group rather than as isolated events. I think that integrated material is an amazing way for students to learn thematically. I think that it is very confusing and frustrating for students to have to keep in mind : school rules, class rules for Ms. Jone's room, class rules for Mr Healey's room, and rules for the cafeteria. If everyone is working within the same core values then the rules shouldn't vary wildly. I think that this would eliminate a lot of confusion for kids at this age.