By Tommy Navickas
"Many believe that teaching young adolescents is the last opportunity that schools have to shape a student's character and values. Once a student reaches high school their value system is largely established. At Illinois State we are creating middle level teachers who strive to teach rigorous subject matter while shaping the character and values of young adolescents." — Douglas Hatch, associate professor, Curriculum and Instruction
(October 22, 2008) Adolescence is a time for change. "Middle school students are going through mental and physical changes not present in elementary or secondary levels," says Doug Hatch, associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction. So, it makes perfect sense to veteran middle level educators, like Hatch, that the classroom experiences for teacher candidates need to change too.
When Doug Hatch first went to college, he was sure that he wanted to teach high school and coach sports. That is, until he was required to complete a field experience in a classroom with 12 and 13 year old seventh graders. When they told him that he was going to a middle school, "I thought it was a horrific idea," Hatch said, "but when I got there an epiphany happened—I really enjoyed it."
In his undergraduate program, Hatch recalls receiving direct experience in the curriculum and pedagogy of middle level education, but he was in the minority at the time. To this day, many middle school teachers receive their degrees in elementary or secondary education and never gain experience with young adolescents in this age group.
That's another thing Hatch sees changing and one of the reasons he chose to come to Illinois State in 2002 as a faculty member in the Middle Level Education Program.
Though he started as a middle school teacher, his career goals soon changed. Hatch went on to pursue a career in higher education with the hopes that he could impact how middle level education is taught in colleges of teacher education. He began at the University of South Florida where he taught middle level education and then later he took a position with Georgia Southwestern State University where he was an associate professor and chair of the Department of Middle-Level and Secondary Education.
Since early in his career, Hatch has been involved with professional associations for middle level educators—even helping to take a statewide association he chaired while at Georgia Southwestern nationwide at the encouragement of John Lounsbury (a scholar known as one of the founders of the middle school movement). Currently, Hatch serves on the National Middle School Association Professional Preparation Advisory Board where he says his involvement is beneficial to Illinois State. "I communicate with the NMSA research board regarding teacher education and share this information with my colleagues—allowing us to utilize research from one of the main sources of teacher development in the country," Hatch explains.
More change is on the horizon for Hatch as he launches a new research project with Cheri Toledo, associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction, where they will study the instructional technology "disconnect" in middle level classrooms. "My students complain that we spend a lot of time and effort ensuring proficiency with instructional technology—yet, many point out that the school where they student teach or become professional teachers have none of this technology." Hatch has also recently published a book chapter on using coaching in clinical supervision and co-authored Crossing Over to the Middle: Becoming an Effective Teacher of Young Adolescents (first and second eds.) with Curriculum and Instruction colleagues Vicky Morgan and Gary Weilbacher.
Middle level education has proven to be a very rewarding career for Hatch. Recently, one of Hatch's former students rummaged her attic before a school reunion and came across her dusty middle school yearbook. Thinking of a certain eighth grade teacher who inspired her with an amazing gift of knowledge and advice, she looked Hatch up and told him how much she appreciated having him as a teacher those many years ago. "I hope maybe my past students learned a thing or two from me. That is the real gratification for any teacher," said Hatch.
There is almost universal agreement that middle level education has changed—the subject matter is the same, but veterans in the field, like Hatch, couldn't have predicted how different the classroom experiences for teachers would be. Hatch finding his way to middle level education was a departure from his original career plan, but, as he has learned over the last 20 years of working in middle level education, things change.
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