Teaching Middle School in an Urban Environment

By

Anthony McQueen

 

 

 

A Project Presented in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements of

[ED 7690]

November, 2003

 

E-mail:

fatdaddy123@optonline.net

Instructor:

Dr. K. Pratt & Dr. R. Palloff

 

 

 

 

Teaching Middle School in an Urban Environment

 

 

Course Description

 

Although today’s inner city school systems are in desperate need of K-12 schoolteachers, they are not alone. In this age of the “Digital Classroom” numerous rural and some suburb school systems are having the same problems as urban environments. Many cities have developed recruitment programs and Internet ads to help fill the void of their teacher shortages. This twelve-week course is designed to give new and experienced first time inner city teachers the tools necessary to become effective educators. We will use New York City and the North Carolina Public Schools for our school system examples.

 

General Information

 

Clicking on the above link will access the general course information, please read the provided information before starting this course.

 

Requirements for Course

 

This course requires no pre-courses. However it is recommended that this course be taken during the summer session, before teachers began any teaching assignments. Multimedia ready computers and Internet access required. Participate in the CourseRoom discussion in each Learning Unit. Complete all assignments in each Learning Unit. For all first time online learners it is highly recommended that you take the online course demo for Capella learners. To access the demo you must first login to the Capella iGuide and then click on the link below. Choose course demo for the flash presentation. http://www.capella.edu/PORTAL/LEARNER/SCONTENT/ELEARNING/COURSE_DEMO.ASPX

Another helpful site for first time online learners is the following web page Teaching and Learning, located at:

http://dlp.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/student_centered_learning.html

 

 

 

 

 

Course Outcomes

 

Upon completion of this course the student will:

 

  • Have a good idea of the inner city school environment
  • Have the ability to create a good classroom management plan
  • Understand today’s middle school philosophy
  • Understand the need for good lesson planning
  • Develop ways of getting parental involvement
  • Develop ways of getting community and business involvement
  • Develop methods for interacting with administration, unions and fellow teachers
  • Understand the needs of today’s inner city middle school students

 

Readings and Assignments

 

The major assignment for this course will be the development of a Unit Lesson Plan (ULP) consisting of ten separate lesson plans based upon each student’s teaching area. The ULP will began development starting in week five and must be finished by week twelve. A template will be provided for the lesson plan format, however any lesson plan format will be accepted.

 

The course text is:

 

Teaching in the Middle School, by M. Lee Manning and Katherine T. Bucher

Teaching for Student Achievement Guidebook, by New York City Department of Education

 

Additional Readings & Websites

 

Creating Web-based Lessons: http://www.esc20.net/etprojects/

 

Microsoft Education – Lesson Plans: http://www.microsoft.com/education/default.asp?ID=LessonPlans

 

The United Federation of Teachers – UFT:

http://www.uft.org/

 

VARIETIES OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION: AN INTRODUCTION:

http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/digest/dig98.asp

 

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN LESSON PLAN:

http://library.csun.edu/kduran/imllspln.html

 

Teaching Guides:

http://www.goodcharacter.com/MStopics.html

 

 

Back to School (New Middle School Teacher Guide):

http://www.middleweb.com/1stDResources.html

 

Teaching Tips:

http://www.teachingtips.com/

 

 

Outline of Content

 

Week 1:

Will consist of text readings and course room discussion on understanding today’s middle school philosophy. Click on the link below to access unit 1.

Unit 1

 

Weeks 2:

Will consist of text reading and Internet searching for information concerning New York City Public Schools. Click on the link below to access unit 2.

Unit 2

 

 

Students will be split into groups and given scenarios to be conducted in a “fish bowl” environment on: Developing ways of getting parental involvement, Developing ways of getting community and business involvement, Developing methods for interacting with administration, unions and fellow teachers. The final topic is developing an understanding of the inner city middle school student. Click on the link below to access units 3, 4, 5 and 6.

 

Unit 3 Group A

Unit 4 Group B

Unit 5 Group C

Unit 6 Group D

 

Weeks 7-9:

Students will post and discuss trends in today’s inner city schools, today’s inner city middle school student, the need for a good classroom management plan and the need for good lesson planning. Students will also develop their ULP as their final projects.

 

Unit 7

Unit 8

Unit 9

 

Instructor

This course has a number of topics and students must stay on task. Please contact the instructor if any problems arise. The instructor for this course is Mr. Anthony McQueen and he may be contact by E-mail: fatdaddy1@optonline.net