Due to the fact that Orange Middle School has failed to meet NCLB benchmarks six years in a row, Orange Middle School has taken many positive initiatives to make the school a positive environment for the students. Some of the great things OMS has done include creating learning teams, having weekly team meetings, having parties for students when they make it through a term, inviting students to speak at meetings, and have a high police and security presences in the schools and on the streets after school.
With the developmental growth that adolescents go through, the above activities will address many of their developmental needs. For instance, adolescents need to become socially useful and need to know "what's in it for them". By participating in weekly meetings, students will have a part in what is taking place in their teams and will find out what changes will affect them and what they will receive from these changes.
Two suggestions that I would give would be to create an after school intramural program and to get the students of OMS to volunteer at a local business. The after school intramural program will allow students to expend excess energy and will keep the amount of students off the streets after school. Physical activity has a positive correlation to higher academic scores, which could help the students perform better on the state tests. This program could be conducted in a few ways. One idea is that everyday after school there are a variety of activities going on including, but not limited to, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, indoor or outdoor soccer, fitness training, etc. The second idea is that every few weeks change that activity that is held. For example, for two weeks do basketball, another two weeks play volleyball, etc. and keep rotating the activities around.
The second suggestion, having students volunteer at a local business, will allow the students to apply their learning to real life experiences, which will show students that what they are learning in school has use! Volunteering at a local business will teach the students responsibility, they can be with non-parent adults, and hopefully when the students are of working age, they will be able to get paid jobs in the businesses they volunteer at.
It is important to show students, whether in districts with families with a low SES or a high SES, that what they are learning in school can be applied to other areas. It will make more sense to students to want to put the time into studying if they know "what's in it for them" whether now or a few years down the road.
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6 comments:
I love your idea about having the students volunteer at local business. One of the worst things that a child can say to you is why do I need to learn this. Having students apply what they learn to real life experiences is a great way to get your lessons across. They become very meaningful. Those lessons will be the lessons never forgotten.
Absolutely...working outside of the school is the way to go. I mentioned that in my blog response. I feel as if their sitution calls for some sort of community outreach.
Absolutely...working outside of the school is the way to go. I mentioned that in my blog response. I feel as if their sitution calls for some sort of community outreach.
i think volunteering after school is a great idea also. It reinforces lessons from school, lets them gain experiences working and interacting with other, and also keeps them off the street.
I love the idea that students would be working within the community. When students can see the impact of what they are learning in the real world is even more beneficial than teachers telling them how it is applied to the "real world." Good idea.
Just to play devil's advocate, what would be the incentive for businesses to take on an "unskilled" middle school kid to mentor/coach them...when they may not want to be there in the 1st place?
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