History teachers dig deep
into their students' work and their own teaching -- The history team
at Hoover Middle School in Long Beach, California meets weekly to scrutinize
student work and their own lessons -- a process that team leader Mary Massich
describes as "the most powerful experience in my professional life."
This is not your friendly little chat about lesson plans. It's a tough-minded
critique that often leaves teachers exhausted but also invigorated. "These
teachers at Hoover have become anxious to learn," says university coach
Linda Whitney. "They did not have to risk this, but they did. . . .This
group is learning what teaching is -- what it really means to be a teacher."
Read a story about the Hoover team's work,
listen in on an actual "critical
friends" session, examine the student
work yourself, and review the Hoover teachers'
tips for other teachers who want to start their own collaborative groups.
LBUSD's full-time middle school
reformer talks about standards and student achievement. "What is
really going to be changing as a result of standards are the things we ask
kids to do," says Dr. Kristi Kahl, director of middle school reform
for the Long Beach, CA schools."And because we expect them to learn
more deeply, we have to assess them at a deeper level. We have to ask them
to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on assessments that require them
to really assemble what they know."
New standards for English
Language Development hold out the promise that non-native English speakers
in the Long Beach schools will make more rapid progress through the labyrinth
of bilingual and sheltered language programs. Read the main story about
LBUSD's groundbreaking ELD/ESL standards, look
at some of Maria's writing and her teacher's standards-based analysis
and read about a school with 60 % ESL kids that
once had only a "30 % program".
Reading is fundamental at struggling
Washington Middle School -- Washington Middle School is a diamond in
the urban rough to many who know it. But the school's committed faculty
still struggles with students' low achievement. The latest strategy offers
hope: making every teacher a teacher of reading.
How one middle school became
a good neighbor -- Stephens Middle School has transformed itself from
an isolated institution in a troubled neighborhood to a community center
that draws people in -- and ultimately gets them more involved in helping
children achieve.