Middle school students may move through several classrooms and interact with several teachers during a single school day, but they do not experience those classrooms in isolation. Together, those interactions shape a student’s understanding of school culture.
That idea was at the heart of Episode 4 of The Middle School Culture Blueprint: Reflections from the Field. I was blessed to welcome Mary Peters, a veteran middle school educator at St. Anne Catholic Grade School in the Archdiocese of Detroit, for a conversation about what happens when middle school educators intentionally begin thinking and working as a team.
Mary shared a wonderfully practical example from her school: a common middle school assessment template centered on Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER). Teachers across the middle school use this common framework when assessing student learning. Think about what that can mean for a young adolescent moving from one content area to another. The subject matter changes, the teacher changes, and the learning experience changes. However, there is a familiar framework helping the student understand how to communicate thinking and demonstrate learning. This is so powerful! That is coherence, a Middle School Culture Blueprint pillar in action.
It is also an important reminder that consistency does not require uniformity. We do not want every teacher or classroom to look exactly the same. Great educators bring their own gifts, personalities, content expertise, and creativity to their classrooms. Shared frameworks can provide enough clarity and consistency to help students successfully navigate those different environments.
Mary also shared that this year her middle school team is meeting monthly as a professional learning community )PLC), with a shared middle school vision serving as a focus for their work. I love the intentionality behind this practice. A vision should not simply be words written on a document. It can become a framework for conversation: Who are we as a middle school? What do we want our students to experience? What do we believe about teaching and learning? Where do we need greater consistency, and how can we better support one another?
As Dr. LaTonya White and I continue developing The Middle School Culture Blueprint, our work is framed around four interconnected pillars: Belonging, Clarity, Coherence, and Formation.
Mary reflected during our conversation that all four are essential to creating and maintaining a positive school culture. I think her examples demonstrate why. Belonging reminds us that students and adults need to know they are seen, valued, and part of a community. Clarity helps everyone understand expectations and what success looks like. Coherence connects classrooms, practices, language, and expectations so that students experience a community rather than a collection of unrelated classrooms. Formation recognizes that we are continually helping students, and one another, grow academically, professionally, personally, and spiritually. One of the most important lessons from this conversation is that building a strong middle school culture does not always require another large initiative. Sometimes it begins with a shared assessment framework. A monthly conversation. A common expectation. A team willing to ask, “What do we want our students to experience, and educators willing to move from “my students” to “our students.”
When middle school teachers work as a true team, collaboration becomes more than another meeting on the calendar. It becomes part of the culture. When Belonging, Clarity, Coherence, and Formation begin working together, we create environments where both students and educators have greater opportunities to thrive!
Thank you to Mary Peters for sharing the wisdom that comes from years of serving middle school students and to my co-author, Dr. LaTonya White, for continuing this important work alongside me.
There is so much good happening in our Catholic schools. Let’s continue to see it, learn from it, and share it.
All are welcome to join the conversation:
Sharing the Good with Dr. Denise Ball YouTube Channel
Sharing the Good with Dr. Denise Ball on Spotify
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,
Denise
