Tuckman's Five Stages Of Middle School

Middle school is a formative time in students’ lives. There’s a mix between defiance, uncertainty, and hormones which makes being an adolescent difficult. Throw school into the mix and there’s social hierarchy to think about too. Middle school is also the time when they have the ability to make a choice in their social circles, appearance, electives, amongst other things. As an educator in middle school, there’s always going to be challenges in cultivating and nurturing students to their full potential. I’ve learned so much throughout the semester and taking EDCI297 was a step towards better understanding what my role would entail. When working with middle school students, I believe it is important to be flexible and adaptable to their needs.

Working to provide an integrative and interdisciplinary learning experience for students can be difficult. In the most transparent example, there might not be good chemistry between the teachers in the team. This could be due to Tuckman’s “Five Stages of Team Development.” The five stages are something I learned from the Maryland LEAD program in the Leadership and Community Service Learning office. First, you “form” the group. This is when pleasantries are exchanged, and people are still polite, before they start on their task. Next is “storming,” when most conflict arises; people have different ideas about the task or what they should do for the task, so there’s a lot of contention and little productivity. After that is “norming,” when a comprise is met and the team is most productive. Then, “performing” when they present or complete the task and lastly, “adjourning” when they leave. After the storming phase, many people move on to the next stages just to go back to the storming phase. This could be a problem with teaching teams. There could be so much contention and distrust, which is detrimental to not only group dynamics, but for planning for the students. If teaching teams have a great dynamic it can be amazing and beneficial students. Within the team, they can plan for exams to not fall on the same day with different subjects, assign homework of different days, and communicate about their students’ needs to help them feel more comfortable before they approach the teacher. Planning field trips and projects could be easier because of the trust that is established within the members of the