This time spent in American Middle Schools for our students is a vital time in the growth of their lives. Not only do students begin a transition to a new school, but this time marks a vast amount of growth in many areas of their lives. Students will be moving into early adolescence, developing their knowledge, skill and cognitive abilities. They will start to think critically as they explore more abstract questions or moral dilemmas as opposed to viewing answers as right or wrong (Nicholls, 1986). Students will generally pursue more independence and control in their lives (Lee, 1979), as they encounter the changes due to puberty. With these physical changes occurring, students tend to become more concerned about their appearance compared
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This could occur throughout the learning spectrum depending on how engaged students are in their work. For advanced learners, an education lacking in challenge during these middle school years leads to the majority of those students being unprepared for the rigors of their secondary school. These students could develop proper learning habits to adapt to the new difficulty level, however it can be hard for one to suddenly adapt when they are not used to challenges. For the lower-level students, an education that goes above their educational ability during these middle school years can cause students to give up believing that the concepts presented in their secondary subjects are unattainable based on their knowledge. And when students are introduced with tasks that seem too daunting due to their lack of preparation in the middle school grades, then this can affect the dropout rate in our secondary schools across North America. In the United States, 10.3% of 16- to 24-year-olds were dropouts in 2004, with 32.4% between 16 and 19 years of age (Bowlby, 2005; National Center on Educational Statistics, 2006). This little ripple can lead to greater concern, as students who drop out of school are at risk for poor adult outcomes such as having a higher likelihood to have lower incomes or even unemployment. This result can lead to students who …show more content…
One of the steps that schools can take is by reforming the current content curriculum. This can be done by first taking advantage of engaging students socially through the use of cooperative learning, peer collaboration, or other uses of social motivation. The idea of these types of social motivations is to allow students to work together in groups with predefined roles to learn the concepts being presented. By taking advantage of students’ social growth, then schools can set up positive social groups. Students that are not engaged in positive social groups have the higher likelihood of being exposed to bullying or peer pressure. This exposure could escalate to the point that students do not feel safe in their own learning environment, and this lack of safety is detrimental to the students’ learning ability. This can also lead to students feeling alienated and not belonging in their school eventually leading to dropouts. However these conflicts and exposure can be negated through the use of anti-bullying interventions set up throughout the school that are designed to change the social norms of student conduct emphasizing prevention and emotional safety. It is through these
This could occur throughout the learning spectrum depending on how engaged students are in their work. For advanced learners, an education lacking in challenge during these middle school years leads to the majority of those students being unprepared for the rigors of their secondary school. These students could develop proper learning habits to adapt to the new difficulty level, however it can be hard for one to suddenly adapt when they are not used to challenges. For the lower-level students, an education that goes above their educational ability during these middle school years can cause students to give up believing that the concepts presented in their secondary subjects are unattainable based on their knowledge. And when students are introduced with tasks that seem too daunting due to their lack of preparation in the middle school grades, then this can affect the dropout rate in our secondary schools across North America. In the United States, 10.3% of 16- to 24-year-olds were dropouts in 2004, with 32.4% between 16 and 19 years of age (Bowlby, 2005; National Center on Educational Statistics, 2006). This little ripple can lead to greater concern, as students who drop out of school are at risk for poor adult outcomes such as having a higher likelihood to have lower incomes or even unemployment. This result can lead to students who …show more content…
One of the steps that schools can take is by reforming the current content curriculum. This can be done by first taking advantage of engaging students socially through the use of cooperative learning, peer collaboration, or other uses of social motivation. The idea of these types of social motivations is to allow students to work together in groups with predefined roles to learn the concepts being presented. By taking advantage of students’ social growth, then schools can set up positive social groups. Students that are not engaged in positive social groups have the higher likelihood of being exposed to bullying or peer pressure. This exposure could escalate to the point that students do not feel safe in their own learning environment, and this lack of safety is detrimental to the students’ learning ability. This can also lead to students feeling alienated and not belonging in their school eventually leading to dropouts. However these conflicts and exposure can be negated through the use of anti-bullying interventions set up throughout the school that are designed to change the social norms of student conduct emphasizing prevention and emotional safety. It is through these