Katherine T. Bucher

Creating Safe Schools

V iolent and potentially violent incidents in schools i the Uni d States continue to make the eadlines, with school-related violent deaths in the United States in the first half of the 2003-04 school year exceeding the deaths for the entire 2002-03 academic year (Vail 2004). There was a shooting outside the cafeteria in Ballou Senior High School in Washington, DC, and a female student was stabbed in a restroom at Southwood Middle

The Importance of Information Literacy Skills in the Middle School Curriculum.

the delivery of instruction, especially to interdisciplinary instruction. That emphasis has forced many middle school educators to look beyond their own curriculum areas and to develop a basic understanding of the core curriculum areas (mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts/English), as well as the related domains of art, music, physical education, vocational education, and information literacy/library skills. Too often, however, while teachers have worked to integrate curriculum and instruction across the core curricular subjects, they have ignored or slighted the related domains. In some cases, the reason is that state and national standardized tests tend to focus on the core curriculum and do not test student achievement in

Linking Reading, Science, and Fiction Books

C hildren’s literature holds a distinct place in elementary classrooms as a tool for instruction (Galda & Cullinan, 2002). In fact, literature may be used in all curriculum areas to nurture children’s desire to know and learn (Johnson & Giorgis, 2001). Many high-quality books are published each year and are eagerly welcomed by educators who are searching for logical and attainable ways to address national and state standards as well as their individual school’s curriculum, and to provide instruction that is sensitive to their students‘ various learning styles and abilities. While formalized expectations for excellence and the curriculum appear to expand annually, the number of hours in the school day remains inflexible. Thus, teachers must make the best use of that time. One way of dealing with this dilemma is through content integration. In this way, educators may focus on reading across the curriculum and may explore ways to use quality children’s literature to supplement traditional textbooks. With an integrated language arts /reading program, reading and writing can be used as authentic activities and can be incorporated into content areas such as science. In the elementary science classroom, students can use literature to verify predictions, confront and correct their misconceptions about science (Miller, Steiner, & Larson, 1996), and make inferences. Going beyond memorization and acquisition of factual information, today’s science curriculum includes a heavy emphasis upon understanding and applying scientific processes. These higher level thinking practices are similar to those used by elementary teachers when they use good literature for reading instruction (Staton & McCarthy, 1994). To understand how this literature/ science integration can work, educators need to examine the connection between children’s literature and reading, explore the research-based rationale for using this literature to teach science, identify strategies for using fiction with science, identify ways to evaluate and select children’s literature for science, and stay informed about books to use with science instruction, as well as resources to consult for science/literature teaching ideas. Throughout this article, the term trade book is used to distinguish children’s literature from textbooks.

Exploring the Foundations of Middle School Classroom Management

(2001). Exploring the Foundations of Middle School Classroom Management. Childhood Education: Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 84-90.

Issues in Education: Middle Schools Should Be Both Learner-Centered and Subject-Centered

A n issue facing many educators is whether middle schools should be learner-centered or subject-centered. While some learner-centered educators advocate that the child must be more important than the subject matter, other educators explain that the current emphasis on test scores and academic standards means that teachers must make subject matter competence and overall academic achievement their foremost priority. In truth, the most effective middle school educators focus both onlearners and subject matter. Rather than viewing the issue from an “eitheror” perspective, perceptive educators realize the need to emphasize both learner-centered and subjectcentered perspectives.