Chapter 6: Organizing Relationships for Learning

Abstract

Good relationships are important when it comes to education. If a student knows that somebody cares how well he or she does on an assignment, that student will be more likely to get a better grade. Unfortunately, the opposite is true as well. In order to create meaningful relationships, it is important to pay attention to the size of the school. In a big school, a teacher couldn't possibly get to know each and every student on a personal level. One way to improve this, whether the school is big or small, is to create teams. For example, this could include two teams for each grade. Each team would have a separate group of teachers and a separate group of students. This chapter provides a number of good tips for building a successful team. These range from teacher-student ratios to effective scheduling. When it comes to creating and sustaining a successful team, this chapter recommends allowing enough time for it to fully flesh out. Also, teachers need to be trained and need to understand what changes will occur during this process. Finally, this chapter discusses the importance of an advisory. This allows students to spend time with a teacher in a non-academic situation. These generally occur at the beginning of the school day and last no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Some schools recommend meeting for a longer period of time later in the day, to allow for the forging of relationships.

Reflection

Wow, this chapter was jam-packed with helpful information about effective teams in middle schools. I've had my own experiences with teams and I agree with how effective they can be (when done right). At my practicum placement in Mt Blue Middle, the students were broken into 4 teams: two for the 8th graders and two for the 7th graders. Each team had approximately 80 students. Each team was also broken down into four sections. These sections of students were hand-picked by the team teachers and also went to every core class together. This is a great idea because it allows teachers to break up certain conflicting personalities and it also helps the students become comfortable with their peers. The other effective piece of building teams is the idea of looping. This is when students come into a school as 7th graders, meet their team and teachers and then as 8th graders have the same teachers. I never experienced this for myself, but i have seen it in my experiences with teaching. I think this is a great idea and it helps students truly grow.