Stories from the
MiddleWeb Archives
"The greatest part of
MiddleWeb is that it stretches beyond our [own] professional development
and right into our classrooms where our students benefit directly from
what we do here,” wrote Marsha Ratzel during a recent discussion.
“So frequently, discussions that are centered around the unique
needs of middle schoolers are overlooked in professional development
sessions. That’s just not the case at MiddleWeb. It is always
assumed and the focus. Since we all teach middle school, we have a broad
set of common experiences from which to draw that transcends geography
and that becomes a powerful tool for professional growth. We just automatically
understand what the other teacher is going through because we’ve
been there with our own student.”
On many occasions an idea
that has been brought up on the listserv by one teacher is then taken
by others, revised to meet the needs of individual classrooms, and discussed
again and again as members put the idea into action. A prime example
is our “In A Million Words Or Less” discussion. Deborah
Bova began our dialogue when she described how she used this parent-engagement
activity at the beginning of the year. In brief, Deborah sent a note
home asking parents to please send back a letter sharing in
a million words or less what they wanted her to know about their
child. Other members of the MiddleWeb listserv quickly duplicated Deborah’s
idea. Soon, listserv members were reporting on the results of their
own experiment with the Million Words 
engagement
strategy. For most teachers, parent response was overwhelming and positive,
and nearly everyone was able to share new insights about their students
growing out of the parents’ heartfelt communications. Chris Toy,
principal of Freeport Middle School in Maine, took the idea a step further
by offering to let parents in his school write poetry or draw illustrations
as they told the story about their child (modeling differentiated instruction).
List member Charlie Lindgren shared a model letter teachers could adapt.
By the beginning of the next school year, more than 100 listserv members
were using the activity, which was featured in an article at the Education
World.com website.
MiddleWeb’s 24/7/365
conversation often turns to the promise and problems of technology in
the classroom. During a recent discussion, several teachers shared the
addresses of their weblogs (“blogs”) where they journal
regularly, reflecting on their own practice. The idea intrigued other
MiddleWeb listserv members, and the MiddleWeb website now lists links
to more than 15
teacher blogs. The discussion about teacher blogs soon led to a
discussion about teaching blogs directed by Marsha Ratzel, list member
and technology coach, who is experimenting
with blogs as a learning tool for students.
Lea Molczan, a novice teacher,
asked the listserv for advice about how to start a
reading workshop.
The coaching she received from more experienced teachers inspired self-confidence:
"I am ready…to implement a reading and writing workshop in
my LA class.... Now that I have 3 years under my belt, I understand that
it takes time to develop any program and it's okay to take baby steps...
that's the biggest lesson I've learned from MiddleWeb..."
From time to time, MiddleWeb
listserv members band together and undertake a joint online project
on a special dedicated listserv. In the summer of 2001, a cadre of listserv
members agreed to attempt to develop an integrated curriculum unit together.
The following summer, another group worked on a gender equity project.
Perhaps our most remarkable success in this area has been the MiddleWeb
Reading/Writing Workshop Project, which began in the fall of 2001
as a special discussion among a group of 30 teachers with a special
interest in students struggling with literacy issues. The Project, which
also features a weekly journal entry written by listserv member and
literacy coach Juli Kendall, continues today with a 300-member listserv
of its own!
Bill Ivey, a charter member
of the Middleweb listserv, is working on a team to design and implement
a Middle School program at an independent
all-girls school in Massachusetts. “The sheer quantity of
knowledge being shared in an atmosphere of unceasing professionalism
and supportiveness [has been] extraordinary,” he said. Ivey points
to MiddleWeb’s frequent book chats as “particularly helpful”
in communicating a strong sense of the big picture of teaching.
The
first book discussed was “Turning
Points 2000” by Gayle Davis and Anthony Jackson and is often
cited as one of the fundamentally important books in middle grades education.
The authors, among the most influential in their field, agreed to participate
in a weeklong exchange of ideas, questions, and other musings. Bill
Ivey was among the first
to raise a question: "I was wondering, regarding adolescent
development, what books and other sources you would suggest, and what
activities, to a teacher making the transition to middle grades education?"
Gayle Davis responded with a comprehensive and well-explained list of
resources. Teachers on the listserv then spent the next week discussing
ideas on how to lay the groundwork for and bring about transformative
change in our schools, arriving at a deeper understanding of the necessity
of a holistic approach to school reform. At the end of the week, amidst
a flurry of thanks from many participants, Gayle Davis wrote, “It's
your wisdom and your willingness to collaborate (there's that word again)
in forums like this one that will make the difference. I've been honored
at the chance to see your ideas and your questions....”
Among the other authors who
have visited with the MiddleWeb community are John
Lounsbury, often called a “father” of the middle school
movement; reading experts Chris
Tovani and Ellin
Keene; middle grades master teacher Rick
Wormeli (who is also a member of the listserv); prominent middle
grades reformer Hayes
Mizell; and parent-community relations expert Anne
Henderson. A book chat in 2002 featured Tom Dickinson and Deborah
Butler, author-editors of “Reinventing
the Middle School,” that challenges middle grades educators
to reexamine the core principles of the middle school movement. Bill
Ivey wrote that “when Tom Dickinson thanked me privately for my
own ideas and support, I realized I had been given an even greater gift:
I had come to believe in myself as an educator more than ever before,
and it was then that I first began to nurture a dream someday to coordinate
a middle school which would build on the ideas and models (described
by our authors), a dream toward which I am working today.”
