October 2009 • Volume 13 • Number 2 • Page 7
Executive Director's Note
Betty Edwards
This We Believe
—those words mean different things to different people, but to middle grades educators they mean one thing: an identification of the distinctive characteristics of effective schools for young adolescents.
National Middle School Association first released This We Believe in 1982 to address the question, "Just what is a middle school?" Since then, This We Believe, has been the guiding voice on the education of young adolescents. We will release the fourth edition, This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents next month at NMSA's 36th Annual Conference in Indianapolis. This revised version of our foundational document further defines the characteristics of effective middle grades schools to better address the needs of today's students. However, the basic tenets remain the same: successful middle grades schools are developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable.
The research on the characteristics of young adolescents continues to provide insights into the needs of the students in the areas of their physical, cognitive-intellectual, moral, psychological, and socio-emotional development. This issue of Middle Ground highlights service-learning, which offers ways to engage students and empower them to make a difference.
Embedding learning through service addresses characteristics that identify young adolescents as
- Preferring active over passive learning
- Being intellectually curious about the world and themselves
- Responding positively to opportunities to connect what they are learning to real-life situations
- Desiring to make the world a better place and make meaningful contributions.
Service-learning is not an add-on to class work; it is an important way to connect students to the knowledge and skills essential to their growth. It challenges students academically while empowering them to make a difference and to understand the impact that one hand or one voice can make. It provides an equitable way for each individual to learn and make a contribution, while providing a means of learning that is developmentally appropriate.
Service-learning engages students and helps them establish meaningful relationships with the community around them. I hope you find ideas on the following pages to help your students make connections; and, as always, NMSA is here to help. There will be a strand at our annual conference on service-learning, so you will have the opportunity to interact with experts in the field and practitioners in schools who make service-learning a key component of their curriculum.
By the way, if you haven't already registered for NMSA's Annual Conference and Exhibit, being held November 5–7, 2009 in Indianapolis, please do so today (www.nmsa.org/annual).
The essence of This We Believe will be woven throughout the conference, from the school visits, to keynote presentations and featured sessions, to each of the 450 concurrent sessions. It is an opportunity like no other—and one not to be missed!
Copyright © 2009 by National Middle School Association