HIT: MS vs JH: part 2

[Tracey Donaldson <LadyLibrar@AOL.COM>]

here's some more of the many responses I received.......
=)  Tracey

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Dear Tracy,  The philosophical difference is that in a junior high, the kids
will move from teacher/subject just as in a high school.  In a large school,
there will be no rhyme nor reason as to which student gets which English
teacher, social studies teacher, etc.  In a middle school philosophy school,
the students are grouped and that group will all have the same teachers even
though they may still move  from English to social studies to science, etc.
 The theory is that the teachers will get to know a smaller group of kids
better and vice versa.  It also means that they
will be taught in a block schedule so if the science teacher needs 2 class
hours for an assignment, it can be worked out with planning;  that can't be
done in the junior high philosophy because not every child will have the same
science science teacher.  There are some other differences but the main
philosophy is that a smaller group of kids works with the same teachers.  Of
course, in a small school district, that happens anyway!

Deborah Bailey                  dbailey@sinnfree.sinnfree.org
West Middle School
1900 N. Rockton Ave.            815-966-3232 x125  PHONE
Rockford, IL 61103              815-966-3216 FAX
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Tracey,

Congratulations on your degree completion!!

I'm a little surprised that the middle school/junior high issue wasn't
discussed in your coursework, but it may be that it has become a non-issue
there as it has here in Georgia.  All school districts were mandated to move
to middle schools several years ago.

As you know, junior highs are organized in the same way that high schools
are.  Students have 6 or 7 different teachers for 6 or 7 different classes
and move from classroom to classroom each period.  The middle school concept
attempts to be a better bridge between elementary and high school.  In our
Georgia version, students are grouped into clusters equivalent to four
homerooms.  Each cluster has a team of four teachers who teach them the basic
subjects-- English/Reading, math, science, and social studies.  Often their
instructional units are integrated, and the four teachers have a common
planning period daily to facilitate this.  While this is going on, their
students are attending exploratory classes (note, not electives).
 Exploratories are similar to electives except that students do not have an
opportunity to select exploratories, as they would with electives.  This is
due to the fact that these are taught for shorter periods-- a quarter or one
grading period, rather than a semester or year.  The idea is to immerse
students in a variety of different exploratories to help them understand the
variety of options that will be available when they reach high school.

Middle schools attempt to address more effectively the needs of developing
adolescents.  This is an important focus of training here for middle school
teachers.

Well, hope this rambling helps.  If you have any questions, please feel free
to e-mail me.  I'm sure I've left out something in this attempt to give you a
general overview.

Dianne Prager, LMS
Pleasant Grove Elementary School
Stockbridge, GA
dkprager@aol.com
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Hi Tracey, I don't have time to write now, but there is an enormous
difference between jr high and middle school. Jr high is the old concept of
just anothe grad level for students-Middle schools address the isssue that
these kids are unique, and have different needs form yonger and older
kids-education for middle schools is a "whole concept"-psychological,
emotional, social and academic-there are "teams" of teachers in various
subjects to keep track of the same kids, etc. There are many books written on
the middle school concept. s

                        %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                        Sarah Peckham. Marian High School
                        7400 Military Ave, Omaha, NE
                        SPeckham@marian.creighton.edu
                                402-571-0619
                        %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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Tracey,
One of my teachers, Anita Thompson wrote a paper on this one;
thompson@cam.k12.il.us.  School is out for us, though and I don't know if she
has e-mail access at home.
You could also contact Deb Kasak at AIMS, Association of Illinois Middle
Schools,kasak@staff.uiuc.edu.

The difference depends on the school.  Philosophically, junior high schools
teach subjects and middle schools teach students.  Junior high teachers work
in academic departments, and middle school teachers work in cross-curricular
teams.
Junior high teachers teach their own subject; middle school teachers often
work together to create inter-disciplinary units of instruction. There are
lots of other differences.  Middle Schools were featured in a recent edition
of the Kappan.  Do a little research!

Marsha Parr,
Principal--Central A & M Middle School
Assumption, IL
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I may have been in the school business too long, but i think the philosphical
difference is money.  How do the kids fit into the existing buildings best to
keep from making a new building.  That's all.

Elizabeth (Liz) A. Snowdon, Librarian
McKinley Elementary School
370 Cedar Rd, Elkins Park Pa 19027
215-663-0430     esnowdon@voicenet.com
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In our district which was the last in the county to move from a junior high
to a middle school concept, it means that contrary to a student being
assigned to classes individually, the syudents move as classes within a team.
 Each grade level team consists of all the teachers in the disciplines and
therefore they have a better control of the students and a better knowledge
of individuals.  We were very skeptical but it has worked very well.
Phyllis Ray
Burnett Elem School
Wilmington, DE
PHYL424@aol.com
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I am in the Los Angeles area and the difference between Jr and Middle school
is
Junior high is grades 7 through 9 Middle school is grades 6 through 8. The
9th graders seemed too old for the 7&8, even though 6 is squirrlley it is a
better arrangement
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Here the middle school students do a kind of block schedule where they
learn language arts, reading, and related subjects together.  Jr. High is
run like high school with 50 minute periods.

Mary Lynne Jarvis, Librarian, grades K-6
Ozark South Elementary School
Ozark,MO
mjarvis@mail.orion.org
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Tracy:
        Nice to know graduate education is keeping up with current changes in
mainstream education (although middle schools are over 25 years old....I
guess that's recent!)!!!!  The basic, quick and dirty, is that traditional
Jr. High schools operate on a departmental basis, each teacher teaching
his/her own curriculum and "the hell with everyone else".  Teachers rarely,
if ever, have any students in common and there cannot be an interdisciplinary
or integrated instruction due to the fact
that they are all teaching in isolation.  Middle school, on the other hand,
operated on team structure.  Each team of teachers works with the same group
of students, often for their entire middle school career (2-3 years, usually
6-8 but can be 5-8 or 7-8, etc.).  The team approach allows teachers to know
the students very well, enables teachers to find out first hand how these
students operate in other disciplines; they can also share common problems
and ultimately help each other with students
who need more attention.  Since these teachers operate on the same time
schedule with the same group of students there is opportunity for flexing
their schedule to allow for long science labs, a long movie tie-in, etc.
 This team stucture also allows for more opportunity for interdisciplinary
and integrated learning.  This is really just skimming the surface.  I
suggest you look in the ERIC archives for the MIDDLE_L
listserv archives and browse through them to get a feel for some of the
issues involved in middle school.  It's not perfect but it has some real good
points.  Hope this helped.

Liz McMahon
Library Media Specialist
Williams Jr. High (name only....we're really a middle school!)
19 Pleasant St.
Oakland, ME 04963
lizm@williams.sad47.k12.me.us
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I've had 7 years middle school experience in two districts that were very
"into" middle school philosophy.  In fact, the first one spent two years
preparing staff and parents through conferences, in services, etc.  The
middle school conference that I assume is still held out at Frisco, CO
(beautiful setting) each June is a great one.  Anyway..junior high schools
are miniature high schools..highly departmentalized, poor interaction among
disciplines.  Middle Schools by contrast, have "teams" wherein each team has
a daily period set aside (in addition to personal planning time making it
more expensive) to plan interdisciplinary activities, check on the welfare of
each child as it relates to each discipline.  It's a more whole child
approach and one which I have heartily endorsed....BUT it also stresses the
child's self esteem and I'm wondering if almost too much attention is paid to
that at the expense of academics.  Now that I'm at the  high school we think
that the kids have great self-esteem (read bratty, brash, rude, etc.), but
lack in some preparation and I'm in a highly academic district.  Also they
stress group participation, but much of life is competition and it's
downplayed at the middle school level.  No one is to be turned away if they
display an interest in plays, sports, etc.  Does that hinder kids in learning
to accept failure?  I don't know the answer, but I can't help wondering if so
many teen suicides are happening because they haven't learned that they don't
always succeed or get their own way. That's just speculation, but the "no
failure" tennent is a part of the middle school philosophy.  Read John
Lounsbury (now retired) former editor  of the Middle School Journal.  There's
an entire cadre of middle school proponents and they have a lot of zeal in
their writings.  Hope this sheds a bit of light.

Sue Keating, Library Media Specialists
Blue Valley Northwest High School
Overland Park, KS
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