This is the question two towns in Connecticut are asking themselves right now. Due to funding issues and low enrollment, the communities of Easton and Redding are deciding whether to close their middle schools. If they do, their fifth and sixth graders move to the elementary school while their seventh and eighth graders move to […]
As anyone who has ever visited a middle school wood shop can attest, young adolescents are amazing at starting projects. At Arthur Morgan School, the current contents of project shelf include a half-finished jewelry box, five pieces of miscellaneous cut wood, a large, possibly abandoned sandbox, a small wall of glued-together dowels, and something that […]
When you think of teaching Victorian literature, you don’t normally think of middle schoolers. Charlotte Bronte and George Elliot can be challenging to most adults, never mind students who are still developing their reading comprehension skills. The sentences are complex; the descriptions dense. Even the subject matter seems irrelevant. Why should a middle schooler care […]
Even in the 1940’s Maria Montessori understood how the world was changing. She also knew what we needed to do about it. “…We have lost the “security” of days gone by. The times when a profession was quietly handed down from father to son are past. The certainty of a good job which rewards diligent […]
By Ara Vickers During the first couple of weeks, The Human Body core class charted out the human cell, diving deep into it’s various organelles. Mitochondria, Golgi apparatus and all, our class has soaked up the information spewed out from sources such as videos, Radiolab podcasts and creative explanations from Tal. Walking home from school […]