In my reading for my project I read that middle schoolers are in a transitional phase from concrete to abstract thought and that they are very curious about the world now around them. As good teachers we should support this by enacting a methods that promote such thought patterns. However, I also read that students at this age need a lot of structure in the form of directions on what to do and how to it. To me this presented an issue of how to teach an abstract but yet structured lesson. The best explanation I came up with was that students need an abstract theme with a structured lesson plan to achieve the goals or perhaps and abstract lesson plan with a structured theme. I would defiantly lean towards the one with an abstract theme though. I think that students at this age are more engaged with the ideas they are learning are tangible and not concrete under a very guided structured environment.
3 comments:
This article you read sounds similar to some of our text article, "The Emergent Middle School," by WIlliam M. Alexander. He talks specifically about "Young People in Transition."
An example of needing structure with middle schoolers becomes very apparent when a teacher transitions from one part of a lesson to the next. Students take that "down" time as time to all start talking. While I understand their desire/need for socialization, it is sometimes hard to get them back into the lesson. Some students may never get back into that day's lesson. I'm learning that in order to best keep my students' attention during class I need to keep teaching during my transitions. This is where I see the importance of structure in middle school classrooms. The structure is important for an educator and for students. To more specifically respond to your question, I've noticed that clear and structured directions will give an educator more time for further one-on-one direction with students rather than having to clarify the first set of directions. I suppose this is true for all students, but maybe more so for middle school students.
Alexander mentions that adolescents begin having many thoughts concerning themselves and their surroundings. This transition from concrete to abstract/theoretical thought, as you agreed, may warrant lessons that are abstract to parallel their own style of thinking.
I would agree that a structured lesson with an abstract theme may be more beneficial, but I'd have to know what the content is. So much content is structured that it may be impossible to clearly teach a student many topics in an abstract way. Theoretical/abstract lessons would definitely increase a student's critical thinking skills, but would an educator be able to cover all the necessary content if the majority of the pedagogy was abstract?
My research also talked about how adolescence go from concrete to abstract thought. I found this to be extremely interesting especially about how they tend to be idealistic and want everything to be perfect. So while they have the ability to understand abstract thought they also tend to have hard time realizing that this is not possible. However, this can be an advantage. If you use this time in their lives to introduce them to the flaws in our society. If they are introduced to this at an early age not only will they respect you more for being honest with them but also give them the opportunity to think through how to fix these flaws in society. I think it would be a great exercise to go through with them.
I think having a structured lesson plan with an abstract theme is a great idea! I also read in my research that students during adolescence are very curious. I read having an abstract theme is one of the best ways to teach Middle School Students. It just proves that a methods class (like this one) so perspective teachers learn how to middle school students, not just high school or elementary school. When students are in middle school, they are going through puberty and there are different techniques which cater to teaching middle school students.
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