Jay's AEDU 335 Blog

Week 6 is finally here, and just like this entire Adult Studies Program, everything has gone by in a flash. So much useful and interesting information has been learned. Before we know it, we'll all be instructing classes of our own! In this class, there are three things that have really stuck with me. Leadership is all important, middle school students need a more stimulating curriculum and that the home and community life of a student are all important. For my first point, leadership, it starts from the top with administration. If they create an atmosphere that is beneficial to the teachers, rather one of fear and intimidation, it then creates a better atmosphere for the students.  Stimulating and interesting coursework is a must for junior high students. A teacher once told me, "their attention span, in minutes, is about as long as their age". My readings in the AMLE texts definitely backed that up. Lessons with more hands-on activities, participation and relation t...

As we near the end of this course, this week's reading was a refreshing surprise with us only being required to read one piece of writing instead of the usual two. This week's reading were pages 33-44 in our AMLE This We Believe book. The main theme of these pages being the importance of culture and community characteristics in junior high schools and the effects on their students.  To go into more detail these were the things discussed in the writing: school environment, adult advocates, guidance services, health & wellness, family involvement, and community & business. Having a good school environment is all important. Students want to feel safe, welcomed and wanted. Having adult advocate is also an important thing for students and can go beyond teachers, whether they are counselors, coaches or other school employees. Guidance counselors are also important, and often overlooked, because they are specialize professionals who are more fit to aide the students' em...