Welcome to the
Help Yourself, Yourself (HYY) website! This site represents the Help
Yourself, Yourself Project which is being developed at North
Carolina State University under the direction of Dr.
Candy Beal, an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Undergraduate
Middle Grades Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher Education Program
(MSL), and a middle grades expert research team including Pat
Dalton, Instructor in the University MSL program, Matthew
Ross, undergraduate in the MSL program, and Cindy
Privette, Outreach Coordinator for the Centennial
Campus Middle School.
Classroom teachers
in a middle grades graduate class at NC State University conducted
research in their own classrooms to see if by teaching early adolescents
about theories of development, i.e., what was happening to them as
they grew cognitively, emotionally, physically and morally, they might
be empowered to make better choices that would positively impact their
lives at home and at school. Fifteen teachers taught a variety of
theories to their classes. Students ranged from academically challenged
to above average. A special education class was included. Teachers
ranged from novice to experienced. Teachers and students provided
qualitative data in the form of daily journals writings, and discussions
about issues they were dealing with both at home and at school. Each
student wrote a final reflective essay about how the project influenced
his/her life. Teachers kept track of classroom behavior, assignments
turned in and scores on quizzes and tests.
Development theories
that were taught included:
Jean
Piaget – Cognitive development
Erik
Erikson – Social development
Charity
James – Social/emotional development
Lawrence
Kohlberg – Moral development
Howard
Gardner – Multiple intelligences, cognitive development
Lev
Vygotsky – Cognitive socialization
Carol
Gilligan – Moral reasoning and gender
The data suggest
the following:
Quality
of school work improved
Percentage
of school work turned in rose
Students
were more confident about their own abilities to affect change for
themselves
Students
who missed school were quick to make up the assignments
Classroom
behavior improved
Students
were more tolerant of one another’s actions and views
Students
took time to reflect on moral dilemmas and were more likely to take
stands that countered the “group’s” actions
Teachers
had a greater degree of job satisfaction and got to know their students
better
The NC State research
team was excited about the positive results that the HYY pilot received.
Could it be that this very simple concept of empowering early adolescents
through knowledge of their own development might enable them greater
academic and social success? Would it work on a school wide basis?
Centennial
Campus Middle School, a school which already had a formal partnership
with NC State University, was approached
to see if they were interested in implementing HYY school wide. Their
willingness to participate led to a series of planning meetings that
included the research team, faculty representatives and Student Leadership
Counsel members. Cindy Privette, the Outreach Coordinator, met with
teachers for their input. The research team met with the CCMS Student
Leadership Counsel to enlist their aid. Planning for the workshop
and a Student Leadership Retreat will take place in June and July,
2003.
This website is
a resource for the students, teachers and parents to get information
about the project and follow its progress. The research team is excited
about the prospects of implementing a project that gives early adolescents
the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions both at school
and at home. If the school wide results mirror the pilot study it
will be apparent that we have vastly underestimated middle schoolers
and their ability to affect their own lives.
