Stephanie Huffman December 5, 2013 This I Believe I believe that education is one of the biggest shaping factors in ones

life. It introduces many relationships between peers, it opens doors to interests, and it helps guide students to their future career. Middle grades, specifically, are the years where students are most malleable and impressionable. This has been proven by research. The brain enters its most vital growing stages within adolescence. According to Jay Giedd, the gray matter, which thickens during ones childhood, reaches its peak during puberty. At this peak, the brain prunes away connections that are not used. This is why these years are so vital. As educators, it is out duty to make sure adolescents use essential pathways of their brain for learning and problem solving so that, in the future, they do not lose skills and abilities that are vita to their success. Teenage brains, very much like themselves, are a work in progress. As educators, we should keep in mind how different these students are compared to most grades. Middle-grade students are unique, but they are beautifully unique. Our students brains may be changing, but so are there bodies. Puberty is the period of time when sexual and physical characteristics mature due to changes in hormones, which occurs during adolescence (Puberty and adolescence, n.d.).These changes may bring up social awkwardness, or leave students unfocused and jittery in class, but that is a product of their body. I believe that it is our job to teach these unique beings with these things in mind. Teague, Anfara, Wilson, Gaines, and Beavers (2012) stated that for noteworthy learning to occur, the instruction must be intellectually and developmentally suitable.

I believe in differentiation. I believe that every student learns differently. Therefore, we should not instruct students all in the same way. This is why I believe in Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences. His theory stated that each person has a unique profile that is configured to suit our strengths. This profile consists of combinations of intelligences. Gardner defined nine different intelligences, which broke down a persons skills and ability to solve problems best (Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory, n.d.). This theory falls perfectly into differentiation. As stated before, middle-grade students are unique individuals, and it would be a disservice to teach them all as one entity. As teachers, it is our job to adjust the curriculum and modify it in a way that benefits our students individually (Hall 2002). To differentiate effectively we must get to know our students as people. We should know their strengths and weaknesses, and by doing so we will know how to better instruct them. Also, it is essential for students to know their peers. Using groups helps differentiate, and focuses on more peer-centered learning instead of direct instruction, as well as exposing them to different personalities and learning levels (Hall 2002). I also believe that as educators, it is our job to make education relevant and exciting to our students. This is why I believe in John Deweys theories and beliefs of learning. He believed that the class should be a democracy, not authoritarian. I, too, agree with that. The classroom should not solely be ruled by the teacher. The students should be involved, and by being involved in the classroom it will make the class and the information learned more meaningful to them. Also, he felt that the curriculum should be relevant to students lives (Only A Teacher: Schoolhouse Pioneers, n.d.). I am a firm believer of that. When I was in middle school I always asked myself, When am I ever

going to need this information in life? As educators, it is our job to make them realize that this information is not being taught for nothing. It is relevant to their lives and their future as well. Making it relevant makes it interesting. I believe as a middle grades educator I would be able to make a difference in the lives of my students. I believe this because Middle School was where my teachers made the biggest impression on me. They made me realize my potential in areas that I, before, had no confidence in. I believe that it is a teachers job to do just that. Teachers are supposed to make their students realize their potential, and work with them in order for them to see it. I believe that teachers influence their students more than they think, and that the smallest things matter, especially to middle school students. Middle School can be a very tumultuous time and place, and it is a teachers job to care for each student as an individual. Gaining that trust and reaching out is how teachers obtain respect and attention from their students.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/puberty-and-adolescence

References Hall, T. (2002). Differentiated instruction.Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory . (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html Interview: Jay Giedd . (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/interviews/giedd.html Only A Teacher: Schoolhouse Pioneers. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/john.html Puberty and adolescence. (n.d.). University of Maryland Medical Center. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/pubertyand-adolescence Teague, G. M., Anfara, V. A.,Jr, Wilson, N. L., Gaines, C. B., & Beavers, J. L. (2012). Instructional practices in the middle grades: A mixed methods case study. National Association of Secondary School Principals.NASSP Bulletin, 96(3), 203227. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1045548925?accountid=159965