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Week Two - Relevance in Middle School Curicculum

 This week, we read in detail about what a middle school curriculum should consist of. Not only should it be tailored to the specific needs of the young adolescent age group, but it should also be appropriately challenging. Furthermore, a strong curriculum should involve utilizing various different teaching strategies to ensure that active learning is taking place.

One element that the AMLE text talked about a lot is the need for the curriculum of a middle school to be relevant. That is, what students are learning needs to be connected in some way, if possible, to their own lives. This made sense to me, as we learned last week that one of the main characteristics of middle schoolers is that they are developing their own opinions and perspectives on the world around them, and may start to question things more. One example of this might be asking, "Why do we have to learn this?" or wondering how what they are learning relates to their own daily lives and the issues they are concerned about. 

Making my content relevant to my students is something that I will need to focus on as a Social Studies or ELA teacher, but especially when teaching history. I know that, particularly at the young adolescent stage, my future students may struggle to see why what they are learning is important. It will be an important part of my job to make them see why it is, and what we can learn from those who came before us to inform both current and future events.  

According to the AMLE text, "The most successful learning strategies are ones that involve each student personally" (pg. 16). This statement reminded me of a previous professor, who is currently a middle school Social Studies teacher. Throughout the two classes I took with him (middle school and high school history methods) he stressed making connections to the kids' lives as we presented and taught our content. Even during a standard lecture, the professor pointed out the importance of giving examples and drawing parallels to the students' lives that would help them to understand a certain event, or the significance of that event or relationship. 

This shows me that it is not going to be as difficult to make middle schoolers engaged in history lessons as I once thought. If I can connect lessons to their own lives and point out examples they can relate to, I am already on the road to achieving a truly relevant curriculum. It also makes me realize how well knowing the age group will help me tailor these lessons appropriately. Overall, I am excited to learn more about how middle schoolers think and how I can best make my content relevant.  

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