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Education Dive
FETC 2020: Are you ready for a middle school revolution?
Middle school has a reputation as a tough period for students and
teachers alike, but Georgia administrator Derek McCoy says it doesn't
have to be that way.
Roger Riddell
Jan. 17, 2020
MIAMI — The fears and perceptions that many educators have about the
middle school years could be holding students back, Derek McCoy, the
director of learning and innovation for Georgia's Grady County Schools,
said Thursday in a session at the Future of Education Technology
Conference.
“How many of us look for opportunities every day for middle schoolers
to amaze us?” he asked, making the case for a middle school
"revolution." “How many of us are righteously afraid that if we give
middle schoolers some freedom, some stuff will happen?”
McCoy is no stranger to the middle grades, having served as a middle
school principal in North Carolina before returning to his home state
of Georgia. He is also the co-author of "The Revolution: It's Time to
Empower Change in Our Schools" with fellow middle school principal
Darren Ellwein.
Society tells us 11- to 13-year-olds are dangerous time bombs waiting
to go off, he said, because “that’s where kids start talking back.”
What they need, he added, is purpose and direction.
Misunderstood and underestimated
Middle schools need structure, but there’s a constant struggle by
educators of control versus empowerment. This leads to the middle
grades, as well as the students in them, being misunderstood and
underestimated.
In elementary school, learners are listening for directions and want to
please their teachers. In the middle grades, however, students begin
actively asking questions and wanting to know about the world around
them.
Prompted to describe young adolescents, attendees put forth
"squirrels," "awkward in between teens and kids," "uncomfortable in
their own skin," and "extremely concerned with what others think of
them in terms of their appearance, personality and actions."
In both middle schools in McCoy's current district, educators had to
create ways for students to demonstrate their learning and showcase
what they know. He asked attendees how they do this in their schools.
One mentioned an annual innovation fair that occurs across all
curriculum areas, facilitating creativity and creating opportunities
for students to be creative.
Becoming revolutionary
For middle schools to embrace a revolutionary focus on culture, McCoy said, the following components are needed:
Empowerment
Risk-taking
Collaboration
Student-centered learning
Educators, he said, must first think about what "revolution" in middle
school looks like, asking what they’re comfortable doing and what can
be done to facilitate that. They must also find out how students work
best and empower them in that way.
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