FACILITATION SHEET

Title:
5 Letting Go: Visions of the Middle School Curriculum
Author(s):
Paul S. George
Source/Date:
Middle School and Beyond (#3) et al. 199
Asset for curriculum development.
Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):
The main idea in this reading was touching on the advancement/ development of middle
school curriculum. It provide both a complex history of how the curriculum we know
today has formed, and provides some information lucid enough to compel the opening for
new ideas in the advancement of Middle School curriculum.
Short Overview (including any important quotes):
The reading starts off with a small anecdote about a student who tells the observer of his
class that the test stupid for it cares little about what the students know or want to. It
moves on shortly after telling the reader a bit of history about how middle school came
into being and about the history of how its old and current curriculums were founded. It
brings the readers attention to the newer advancement of Middle School Curriculum
through aiming it more comprehensively at the development of the students. The most
important clients of the middle school are the primary and most important clients of the
middle school are the early adolescents who attend them.- The Second Path. One of the
interesting points made was that many students of this age group do not interact on any
sort of global scale, but rather their biggest concerns are personal or micro versions of
what is actually going on by a global scale. One of the bigger problems brought up was
that teachers who tried to integrate movements like interdisciplinary team arrangements
often had a difficult time keeping up with the other students who had more difficulty.
However one concept that would be seemingly the theme of this reading is the idea of
making sure that the curriculum will be taught in such a way that it both references and
teaches adolescents about the social events in society. The idea of the middle level
curriculum Project is that curriculum would be a search for self and social meaning.
Response/Critical Reflection (Include applications to future teaching):
This reading can be particularly useful when conducting any sort of lesson for
adolescents. Of course in any lesson it is important to take into consideration the personal
and social lives of ones audience. Even for me as a standup comedian it is essential when
speaking in front of people to be relatable and adaptable to my audience. So then as a
teacher you must adapt to that even more as it will be much harder to keep a groups
attention without using these techniques in their own curriculum. Making a curriculum
aimed at both self and social discovery for adolescents is a main center stone in a
curriculums crown for middle schoolers.

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