The Importance of Middle Level Education

This chapter stresses the importance of helping our students to learn and practice good habits. While they are theoretically getting this advice from parents as well, students are likely to be influenced by friends rather than adults during the middle level years of schooling. While there are ever present peer distractions in schools, teachers can help students by modeling positive behaviors and helping to set the standards for a healthy lifestyle. By showing students the value of a healthy life, they are more likely to recognize the daily necessities of living a healthy lifestyle. This goes beyond teaching students to eat healthy food and to exercise, and includes teaching healthy habits in terms of teaching about the realities of alcohol, tobacco, and other potentially harmful situations.

Another interesting aspect of this chapter was the notion that while there are many positive aspects of middle level education, they must be combined in order to be effective. While teams, exploratory opportunity, and advisory programs are always necessary, they hold no effect without a pairing of the three. I found the list of criteria for effective teachers to be very helpful, especially in terms of students and teachers who work together in active learning and the idea of each student having a teacher as an advocate. I feel that teachers must demonstrate a motivation and dedication to the content they teach, but also to the students asked to consider and engage in this content. While this may seem like an obvious statement, it seems that many teachers become far too goal oriented at times, thus placing standards above individuals. This chapter provides a nice reminder of the true value that we as teachers should constantly work to achieve and maintain.