“I want the kids to get their hands dirty with it,” Mrs. Lovell says. For one sixth grade class, while learning integers, she taped down number lines in her classroom. Students were able to get up and walk a number line so that they understood, for example, that negative 3 minus 4 would give them a smaller number, rather than a larger number. Early Middle School students tend to think only in concrete terms, but that changes as they move through Middle School. “Right now, in the beginning of sixth grade, we do keep the lessons more concrete with things that we can visually explain,” Mrs. Lovell says. “As we progress into the algebraic thinking, which happens toward the end of sixth grade and the beginning of seventh grade, it does become more abstract.”
Eighth graders Haley Hauser, Nicole Weyer, Hope Thomson and Rose Temizer build a marshmallow tower as a teamwork exercise.
Teachers have read and discussed two books on brain-based learning, “Emotional Intelligence,” by Daniel Goleman, and “Teaching with the Brain in Mind,” by Eric Jensen. Whenever possible, Summit faculty keep Middle School brain development in mind when building their lessons. The school has 70-minute block classes where you’ll never catch a teacher lecturing the entire time. Teachers have learned to teach in chunks, such as work on poetry and vocabulary for 10 minutes each, practice grammar for another 15 and study literature for 35 minutes.
Injecting liveliness into Middle School teaching is part of Social Studies Teacher Mark Schmidt’s technique. “You kind of have to be an entertainer. You have to appeal to their imagination. You have to tell stories
Working with groups on projects and moving about the classroom while learning both addresses Middle School minds and squirming bodies. “Not many people know this, but Middle School tailbones aren’t developed yet, so it’s uncomfortable for them to sit, and that’s why they squirm,” Dr. Vawter says. “They need to get up and move around. Middle Schools that do stations and centers and have hands-on activities, those are just gems.” Kristin Lovell, who teaches sixth and seventh grade math, starts off class with the traditional lesson for 20 to 30 minutes, but then switches to more active learning in small groups. She begins each chapter with a pre-test to determine students’ knowledge of the topic. Those who do well on the test work in enrichment groups, while others work on the basics in pairs or small groups.
8 Winter 2012 - 2013
Sixth graders Colby Gordon, Filippo Tosolini and Colton Biggs have an opportunity to hold an alligator during their field trip to Woodland Altars.