Response ~ Turn Middle School Into ‘Boot Camp for Life'

Valerie Strauss' call to action: “So let’s consider a different kind of education, one that would allow kids to learn skills in unconventional ways and that would give them far more time to engage in physical activity outside the classroom.”

This statement seems to capture a big part of the middle school concept and parallels the expeditionary learning model used at King MS and Beane’s curriculum integration model at Maranacook MS. 

I believe Strauss has some very good points in her article. All of her suggestions seem to align with the middle school concept. I would think that many of the activities she proposes, do occur in schools with young adolescents. Perhaps she is addressing the schools that claim to be MS, but in actuality only mimic some of the core practices. I am not sure I agree with her statement, “Forget about the rigor.” Perhaps what she means is that the students (and teachers) are completely engaged and having fun—reaching maximum flow.

For example, (although upper elementary) my son’s 4th grade teacher partnered with the school health coordinator and a chef from UMF food services to offer a cooking/nutrition program. The students walked to a different location once a week for six week to actually prepare three course meals! This experience has had a profound impact on my son. He is now asking to help prepare meals and is actually doing some cooking on his own.  He is taking on more of a role with grocery shopping as well. I lost him momentarily in the store the other day. When I finally found him, he was knelt down reading the nutrition labels on soup cans. He is more mindful about what he eats and what are the more healthy food choices. My husband and I are very health conscious and of course model and teach these behaviors as well. Nonetheless, this experience was meaningful for him—perhaps because it was something different than the often-mundane lessons in the classroom. Did I say that out loud?

Check out the story in the local on-line newspaper.
http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/features/chefs-in-the-making-fourth-graders-complete-cooking-class/