Schedule Organization
Our school will operate under the following schedule:
Flexible Block Scheduling
Encore represents time alloted for exploratory curriculum and Core represents time allocated towards the four core subjects: math, science, English language arts, and social studies. What is unique about our school schedule, with the exception of the sixth grade, all Core subjects are subsequent. By making the Core classes one after another, teachers are allowed much more flexible scheduling within teams. Teachers will take advantage of our flexible scheduling by inviting a guest speaker to speak to their team, have a shared interdisciplinary lesson stretched across the class periods, give students additional time on tests, as well as a multitude of other possibilities. Along with the flexible scheduling, teachers are allotted two planning periods during the school day. These two planning periods allow teachers to have one full period dedicated towards individual planning. The other planning period is designed so that teachers can plan collaboratively within teams. This collaborative planning period typically consists of joint planning, parent conferences, materials preparation, student evaluation, and the planning and coordination of team activities and integrated curriculum.
Grade Pattern
Our middle school will be organized with grades 6th through 8th. This is the best model for students because it groups together young adolescents that are in similar levels of physical, social, emotional, moral, cultural, and cognitive development. Because early-adolescence, roughly between ages 10 and 15, is a period of such dramatic change we believe that those students should have a separate school in which they can learn and grow, separate from student much younger and much older than them. Academics and career readiness are important to us as educators, but for grades 6th through 8th, our students require much more focused attention in meeting their developmental needs. Our school also contains three wings for each grade level, as well as a fourth for Encore classes. These wings work to encourage students within their own grade to create a sense of community with each another while also keeping grade level teachers accountable for students in their wing.
Interdisciplinary Teaming
In order to help our students successfully transition from a single teacher elementary system to the multi-teacher high school system, students will be taught by varying numbers of teachers working in interdisciplinary “teams.” The teams with by organized in the following way:
6th grade – 2 teacher teams
7th grade – 3 teacher teams
8th grade – 4 teacher teams.
With teaming, we will ensure that students are being instructed on a team basis, and students will be familiarized with the teachers and students designated to their team. With the “team model,” we believe that students will receive organizational skills and flow to their curriculum that is bridged with each core subject. Varying by grade level, teams will be made up of educators that have certifications in at least two of the four core subjects (SS, ELA, science, math). These teachers will work together to integrate multiple learning areas into their teaching subject so that will be constantly making connections across subjects in order to provide a rounded learning experience. This interdisciplinary approach is designed so that students are better prepared to make connections across curricular lines in the future.
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6th grade teacher teams will be made up of 1 social studies and English language arts teacher and 1 math and science teacher.
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7th grade teacher teams will consist of 3 social studies teachers, each with a different second focus in math, science, and English language arts.
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We have chosen social studies to be the shared focus for our seventh grade teachers because we believe that social studies connects to students everyday life most easily. If we can connect or math, science, and English curriculum to the society students are familiar with, we feel that students can make better use of that knowledge
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8th grade teacher teams will be made up of 4 teachers each concentrated in one of the four core subjects, math, science, social studies, and English language arts.
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Student teams in all grades will be strategically designed to integrate students of varying academic achievement, as well as socioeconomic status, racial and cultural differences, gender, and other characteristics that make each student unique.
Advisory Program
In the daily scheduling, there is a 25 minute time period allotted specifically for advising students. Every qualified teacher in the building will be assigned a small group of students that they will advise during the three years those students are in middle school. The primary goal in the advisory period is to make sure that every single student in the school has an adult advocate. Some of the secondary goals of this period will be the consistent logging of attendance and alloted time for paperwork and other housekeeping. This advisory period varies in design from classroom to classroom, but ideally, this 25 minute block focuses on cognitive, emotional, moral, physical, and social development, as well as a combined effort to enhance the formal guidance program. Advisories typically include, but are not limited to,one-on-one discussions, creative developmental activities, mini-lessons, guest speakers, and service learnings (i.e. fundraisers).