Reviewed by:

Kathy Renfrew, NBCT
Grades 5/6
Peacham (VT) Elementary School

Inside-Outside in the Middle was a great read. David Puckett's book draws,
in part, on conversations that have taken place online over
a number of years as part of the MiddleWeb virtual community
of middle school educators. It was truly awesome to read and
reflect on many things we have discussed on Middleweb since
its start-up in 1999.

I made a connection with David when he talks about the "with-it-ness"
of teachers who teach in the middle grades. This age level
is not for everyone. This was brought home to me this winter
when we hired a permanent substitute for me. The teacher is
great. She had actually taught some of these students as 2nd
and 3 rd graders. What we all discovered is that what worked
then, doesn't necessarily work now with these kids and it
is no one's fault. It has been a learning experience for all
of us.

David makes so many great points as he reflects on his own teaching
that I fear this review will be too lengthy as I discuss the
points that were most salient for me. But let's begin!

He notes that movement is extremely important to this age student.
They need more time to move than a younger elementary student.
Their bodies are growing and changing all the time. This need
for movement can and should be planned for. It can be intentionally
addressed and incorporated as part of rigorous, engaging instruction.

Another high point in the book for me was the importance of how we
plan instruction. David spends time discussing the work of
Grant Wiggins and Backward curriculum design. It is a very
different way of thinking about our teaching. In Backwards
Design you begin with "what we want our kids to know and be
able to do" at the end of our unit. From there we design a
few essential questions to keep us focused. The next step
is for us to decide how we are going to assess our students.
How will we know they have learned what we wanted them to
learn?

The final piece is designing instructional activities that will
bring our students to where we want them to be at the end
of the unit. This final piece is the biggest change for many
teachers, including myself. I always started with the activities
and hoped my students learned what I need them to learn. I
am really trying to use a Backwards Design format as often
as possible.

The next point that I personally think is very important and worthwhile
is the idea of looking at student work. We can learn so much
from carefully looking at our assignments and looking at how
our students responded to them. In the book, David talks about
a protocol I am familiar with called "tuning." This is one
of many organized tools that teachers can use as a common
lens to look at and discuss the work of our students together
in gatherings of "critical friends."

Time was a large issue reflected upon in the book. One of the crucial
issues is to make sure we make time for kids. We are teaching
children, not a curriculum. David reinforced this for me.
As I work with 5th & 6th graders, I am constantly reminded
that these students are still little girls and boys, and they
need my individual attention.

Another piece David views as important (as do other middle
school teacher/authors like Rick
Wormeli) is David Sousa's research on Retention During a Learning Episode,
and how crucial those first ten and last ten minutes of class
are. That time needs to be used to set up and bring closure
to a lesson. The middle of the period is the time to review
and do the more mundane tasks that are necessary each day.
I am going to think thorough how I can apply this research
in my own self contained elementary classroom.

Did I mention that David Puckett began teaching from a wheelchair
fairly late in his teaching career, after his childhood polio
began to recur? The final chapter in the book brought real
synthesis for me as a reader. I was totally engrossed in the
analogies David made between the learning he did with his
wheelchair and the teaching he did at the middle school level.