Prime Time; Moving Ahead to the Middle School

Live from the studio at KRMA-TV, Channel Six presents "Moving Ahead to the Middle School," a special presentation exploring the middle school concept coming this fall to the Denver Public Schools. Here is your host, Middle Schools Director, Irv Moskowitz. [Moskowitz, panel moderator] Hello. This program is about a major reorganizational change for the Denver Public Schools. Yes, middle schools are coming and for students in grades 7 and 8 this will represent a whole new way of going to school. In the last few years, thousands of middle schools have taken their places in school districts across the country. The middle school conversion plan for Denver incorporates the very best of these national efforts, while building in those special parts which will enable it to be custom made for the students in our city. To help describe the program to you this evening will be Mr. Robert Baker, principal of Kunsmiller Junior High School and a pioneer in Denver's middle school efforts; Mrs. Patricia Hikida, a teacher of foreign languages, who has been involved in piloting middle school programming; Dr. John Lampe, the Director of Health

Services for the Denver Public Schools. And Mrs. Cheryl Richards, Coordinator at the Denver Public School Staff Academy. For some introductory comments about the middle school concept, let us listen to Dr. Joseph Brzeinski, Superintendent of Schools. [Brzeinski] Over 50 years ago the Denver Public Schools initiated junior high schools for pupils who were in grades 7 through 9. At that time there was a need, a need to provide a special form of education to serve as a transition stage for the adolescents as they progressed from elementary school to high school. What developed in time however, was an organizational format and a curriculum that began to be a replica of the high school. The junior high school became, in fact, a miniature Senior High School. While the junior high school has served the young people in Denver very well, there is a program which we think can do it even better, and that is a middle school program. The middle school concept redefines the learning and the developmental

needs of the modern early adolescent. It's a program which combines effective instructional strategies with a curriculum that's appropriate for this this age group. Planning has been going on within the schools for over two years. There's been considerable involvement, actually hundreds of people. We're confident that we're going to be offering the very best, the most modern up to date educational program for 7th and 8th graders. And we know that our middle schools will be successful. [Moskowitz, narrator] Let's start this program off by talking about the students who will be going to middle schools. John Lampe, we think we know a lot about teenagers. I mean we're teachers, we're parents, we're community people and I guess we take for granted what they're really like. Why don't you remind us... what about 12 13, 14 year old youngsters. [John Lampe] Well from a pediatric point of view, Irv, I think there are a couple of things that that stand out. One is that this age is a time of change. It's a time of

physiologic change, it's a time of growth, it's a time of major changes within one's body. The other thing that I think we have to remember is the striking difference between individuals that we notice particularly at this age. It's true at other ages, but I think in these years, the adolescent years, as I would would think of them, those two things at least physically are important differences and differences among each other in growth and in growth change. Physically. There are a lot of other considerations that I'm sure we can talk about and will talk about. The other one that comes to my mind is emotional, a psychologic change, and that's a movement toward independence - a movement from childhood, from the grade school years to adult life - and that's taking place at this time. It's an interesting time

of life. A time that's fun to watch and lots of good things going on. [Moskowitz, narrator] Well speaking about good things and speaking about the activities that these youngsters can be into, why don't we take a look at a segment, a clip from what's going on in the middle school a pilot program at Kunsmiller Junior High. (female voice, not seen) Middle Schools are for kids who are growing up. No longer the rough and ready 6th graders nor the older mature high school students, but kids reaching adolescence with emotional changes, accelerated physical growth, erratic social behavior and intellectual interests that must be challenged. This fall, all 7th and 8th grade students will be having a unique educational experience when the junior highs become middle schools. At Kunsmiller, the two year pilot program has resulted in a comprehensive curriculum that is life centered, shaped by the present and future needs of the students. The core curriculum at

the middle school is English, Social Studies, Math, Science and Reading. A group of students form a home base unit with a team of teachers, who coordinate and integrate the five areas of required study. The teaching team selects the topics to be studied and plans how to implement the learning activities so that skills are reinforced in all core subjects. At Kunsmiller, the topic being studied now is aviation. In the science class, students are constructing model airplanes using microcomputers, physics and mathematical skills to learn about aeronautical concepts. (children's voices in background) [children's voices in the background] [student] We just paper all . . . [teacher] Yeah, once you get that side, right, then do this side, make sure you go around the whole perimeter. Keep it stretched as tight as you can. [student 1] I don't get it. [student 2] OK do we have to, you know, press down right there? [teacher] Yeah, then when we glue the rudder on, then the glue will penetrate. No, uhuh, you're fine, this is the easiest way to do it. You're doing

fine. [narrator, not on tape] In this special education classroom, students are working on a word puzzle searching for aviation words that they will later look up in the dictionary and then learn how to spell. The word search exercise reinforces vocabulary and teaches concentration. When classroom activities in English, social studies and reading are also centered around aviation, the result is a fusion of knowledge. In addition to the core curriculum, students examined the expressive arts in music, art and foreign languages. The art classes nurture perception and self-expression leading to an appreciation of aesthetic values. Art takes various forms throughout the year but one of the activities is learning to weave. Foreign language study in French and Spanish opens the door to world understanding. Students take six weeks of French and six weeks of Spanish.

The purpose is not to master a language, but to expose the students to French and Spanish culture and to develop conversational skills. (Spanish Teacher speaking in spanish to students) Como te amo (?) [teacher repeats phrase asking students to respond] [teacher repeats phrase asking students to respond] [teacher repeats phrase asking students to respond] [teacher repeats phrase asking students to respond] [teacher repeats phrase asking students to respond] [narrator not seen] The third area for exploration is the practical arts - business, home economics and industrial arts. Boys and girls study home economics gaining skills for use at home and in adult life. In industrial arts, they are introduced to technical education. The curriculum covers foundry work,

such as pouring metals, casting and forging. Other areas include sheet metal, spot welding and plastics that are cut and shaped. Physical Education is also an important part of the middle school curriculum. The adolescent years are crucial in developing habits of physical fitness. But sharing the fun of game sports develops the ability to accept winning and losing. Special interest classes are short and long term offerings that provide enrichment, depth, specialization or exploration. These areas include archery, kite making, aerobic dance, sports, microcomputers, quiz bowl and music. The 7th grade enrichment class is practicing songs from Mary Poppins. [Students singing song from Mary Poppins]

The Gifted and Talented are not overlooked either. For the curriculum adapts well to acceleration, and on the other end of the spectrum, remediation. Kunsmiller stimulates student growth giving children the opportunity to learn to solve problems, express ideas, develop new interests and communicate with others. It is a middle school that bridges the difficult years between childhood and youthful maturity. [Moskowitz] You've seen what some school activities could be like. Now let's review specifically what students in the 7th and 8th grade and middle schools will be taking next year in Denver. In the 7th grade, all students will be taking English, mathematics, science social studies. The basic academic subjects. Now for expressive arts, and this is part of the exploratory program, students will be taking

art, music, and foreign language. And the practical arts, industrial education, home economics and business. Now that's for each student. That means that boy and girl, all through the 7th grade will be taking these courses, entirely an exploratory program. There is, however, a choice to be made for 7th grade students. And that's with instrumental music. Students who have been in orchestras or bands in elementary school and wish to continue in their instrumental music program, may do so, but they would be doing so in light of not taking, or in lieu of not taking taking one of those expressive or practical arts courses. And all students in the 7th grade will be taking physical education. Now in the 8th grade, again English, mathematics, science and social studies represents the core program - the backbone of the middle school. And here we have something different. Instead of forced electives, 8th grade students, based upon the interest they've acquired and experienced in the 7th grade, can elect from Spanish, French, clothing, foods and so on and to a whole new group of subjects that they may be taking. The idea of this, of

course, is that students may now get ready for specialization. And so you see the transition in the curriculum; Exploratory specialization and really on to high school. Okay, we know what activities might be like. We know what students will have to take. Let's see if we can review some of the important parts of the middle school with our guest. Bob, what about the academics and the planning, and the teachers getting together and that which is known as a home base unit? [Robert Baker, Principal, Kunsmiller] Thanks, Irv. In the clip a minute ago you saw the results of the planning, but you didn't see all the things that go into the planning. Our teachers meet on a daily basis for 45 minutes every day, and they meet together and they plan the activities for the youngsters. In addition to the planning...That is an integral part of our program - the fact that teachers can get together, can plan. And can discuss individual students. We feel that we are not only, John mentioned, individualizing instruction, we feel that we're personalizing instruction through our home base unit approach. We're fortunate we have an English

social studies, math, science and reading teacher in each one of our teams. That gives us a way to regroup the kids constantly. We don't have to have a pull out situation, where we pull the youngsters out for reading. That is part of our program right now. The unit that you saw a minute ago, they last... our units, interdisciplinary units, last about three weeks. They plan about three weeks what's going into the unit, then they spend three weeks teaching it, and then they rest for about three weeks before they start another unit. And this particular unit, while the science teacher was doing airfoils and so forth... And this was a heterogeneous group that you saw a moment ago. [Moskowitz] What you mean by heterogeneous group? [Baker] Kids from the whole spectrum of ability. It is not all of one kind at all. There were some special ed youngsters in that group that you saw. They must do some kinds of things before they can go on to the next step in the building of an airplane. This is not a model airplane building class - they have to study the air airflow over the wings, they have to discuss, study some other things - and they do in conjunction with the other

classes. The social studies teacher, while they're doing this, is studying the history of aviation. The English teacher is performing, reading stories about the growth of the air. What's the word? [Moskowitz] air industry? [Baker] Thank you. Air industry. So we do tie it all together, and we're constantly reinforcing the kinds of things that the concept that we're trying to develop. [Moskowitz] Okay, so we're looking some new kinds of terms that you've brought up, and that we've been hearing here - interdisciplinary units, team planning, home base units. These are new terms. Now, is that what makes a junior high school different from a middle school? What is it that makes this whole program so different? [Richards] One thing that makes the program different involves a great deal of staff development to acclimate all of the teachers, and the parents, and the students to this new vocabulary. First of all the home base unit is a team of teachers. as Bob explained and as everyone has seen on the television, of teachers in English, Math, Science and Social Studies who have

been trained to work together. And this is kind of a new phenomenon. It makes it different from a junior high school. They have planning together. They talk with each other. They have common expectations of the kids. Another area from this home base unit that comes about that makes the Middle School different is this interdisciplinary planning that ultimately leads to this interdisciplinary unit - whether it be airplanes or the study of cultures and digs or sociology, foreign language, whatever. All teachers, for one of the first times ever, work together to plan for the kids and for the betterment of them. Staff development is a part of not only acclimating the teachers toward this new change of a middle school, but also the students. And this year the Denver Public Schools has sent through over 1,000 junior high school staff members, not just teachers but principals and assistant principals as well, to get them ready for this move to middle schools.

[Lampe] Good. It sounds like you really are recognizing the differences between one child and another and his increasing needs. [Baker] You know, there's one thing that we've learned over the last two years. We are releasing creativity on the part of the teacher. It does something for teachers also. The teachers are making a commitment to this program. They invest their time and their energies into the program, and there is a lot of time, and they thereby develop ownership in the program. It's their program, it's not a program that we've given them, it's not a program that Cheryl has put out there. It's a program that the teachers have developed. Therefore with that ownership we have a different view, different feeling on the part of teachers. [Moskowitz] You know we've we've counted up the number of people who've been working on this middle school program in developing the model. And as Dr. Brzeinski said, it's been two years in the making. We've had well over 200 people who have been actively involved in these two years in very specific program development. And that's pretty important because it begins with this creative aspect as you said of the teachers and moves from the

field from the grassroots. How about this this idea of challenge for kids in the middle school program? I mean academic challenge - the kind of competitive edge that some students really have to have and thrive on. Are we going to be providing this in this program? [Cheryl Richards] I would like to speak to that if I might. Academics has always been a major concern of the middle schools, and it takes several areas for us to look at, and if I might go through them with you. First, the re-emphasis of basic skills. And again going back to the home-based unit of teachers, you now have four teachers who are commonly expecting certain things to occur in the basic skills area. You also have, according to the model, in every middle school next year a gifted and talented program that will accommodate the needs of fully identified gifted and talented students. Enrichment also will take place in the classroom - all across the board, not just the academic areas - and enrichment is for everyone,

not just the able or the academic or the talented student, but everyone. And finally we have the area of any kind of remediation or additional help that a student might need. So the academics does address as well as the exploration and the expressive arts, all areas of the curriculum, and the staff development has taken place in those areas for the teachers as well. [Moskowitz, narrator] Well, you know we do have a star from the film clip from Kunsmiller Junior High. Pat, what do you say you tell us about exploratory foreign languages. I bet you a lot of people really don't know about that, and why are we doing this? [Patricia Hikida, Kunsmiller Foreign Language teacher] Okay. First of all, the school year is comprised of the three expressive: arts, music and foreign languages. They each take up 12 weeks. The foreign language part 12 weeks - six weeks French and six weeks Spanish. Our goal is to introduce kids into the basic skills they need to continue on with the subject. If they choose art, what basic skills do they need to do well in art?

Foreign language is the same thing. We are not seeking to make the kids masters at the language. They can't do this in six weeks. But we wanted to make it a fun subject, give them some conversational ability, some cultural things and just introduce them into the area of foreign languages. At Kunsmiller, we've been at it for a while now, and we found that for a while there our French program was not doing very well. Students would not sign up for it for some reason or another. Now the Spanish program was doing well and when we introduced the exploratory foreign language of expressive arts, the French began to pick up. Students found that learning French was fun also and beneficial to them. And so through this expressive arts we have been able to bring back the French and of course the Spanish is still as strong. [Moskowitz] And that's the idea of the exploratory area really, isn't it, to have each child,

each student take advantage of what we can offer in school. You know, when I asked before about differences between junior high school and middle school, our junior highs have really served us well. And as Dr. Brzeinski said prior to this, that we know we can do a little bit better with middle school by having more, all of our kids engaged in these kinds of subjects, where before they have not been that way. Are you ready to go back to school, John? [Laughter] [Lampe] This really is sort of what I had in mind when I used the word "moving toward independence." This is a time in a person's life when they have to try things. And I think you're providing that very opportunity and in a thoughtful way. [Hikida] I think in the past, the 6th graders going on to 7th grade elected to take music, art or foreign languages just because the title appealed to them maybe. And they really didn't know whether they would benefit from it or whether they were interested. And now with the exploratory, they get a little bit of each subject and they know what they are interested in when they go into 8th grade and what will benefit them. [Lampe] And provide them a chance.

[Baker] Don't you feel this helps them to make a more intelligent decision? [Hikida] Oh yes. I think in the past some of the kids from the students would drop out of a subject because it wasn't quite what they expected. And now I don't find that so much. They know what is required in each class and they like it. [Baker] Our students are staying in longer in 8th grade. Yes you don't have failures in 8th grade because they have made the choice. It was their commitment, again the student, to take the foreign language, so we do not have students dropping out of foreign languages. There are some, but not to the degree we used to have. (inaudible) [Moskowitz] And I would suspect that we'll probably see a greater staying power on through high school because now people are making more intelligent choices based on experience and not on some whim. I want to hit a couple of areas that are there pretty important and new in our language for middle schools. One is flexible scheduling. What does that mean? And then 2, the whole idea of regrouping and grouping throughout the year. These are two very important points to middle schools, and let's see if we can describe it. Why don't you try flexible

scheduling? [Baker] In our flexible scheduling, Irv, we have five teams at the present time. All five teams do not operate on the same schedule at all. Each of the teams working together, and I do meet with a team, have worked out their schedule and what kind of schedule they're going to have. Some of them have a drop schedule where they will drop a class once a week. Another one has a rotating schedule in their flexible schedule because all children in the afternoon... if you have to have science in the afternoon every day at 2 o'clock you're not going to be overly productive maybe, so now and then we put science in the morning, so we have a rotating schedule. We have another schedule where, in the film clip, it just happened that that science class that day had met for two hours. They were on their second hour - rather than pick up things, put them away, and the next day spend another 20 minutes getting the material or equipment out - they just met for a continuous time. Any time they want a program of this nature, any teacher can ask for it in their planning time. Tomorrow this is what we're going to do. And then we provide, they provide, the time to for each other.

[Moskowitz] And so we're really talking about something very different than the rigid, every 45 minutes a bell. And this is the potential of middle school timing. [Baker] You've mentioned a word that's very close to us. We do not have bells. We eliminated bells this year and we haven't, and no one has asked for the bell to be turned back on. We don't have any bells at all. The core of teachers or the interdisciplinary team or home base unit - they're all the same - they have a 180 minutes of time with the youngsters. In most cases they merely move across the hall, so we've eliminated the five minute passing period for them, so we've increased the amount of time that we're spending in the academics. How they use that 190, 180 minutes, the team determines, and each team does it in their own way. It is a monitored situation. They just don't go off by themselves, and there is accountability. They must account for how they're using their time. But the time is flexible. [Moskowitz] What about grouping and regrouping? How does that make middle schools different than junior highs? [Richards] Traditionally in the junior highs, as we all know, we had that class all semester. And

if 35 students enrolled in the fall they, were there in January when that semester ended. And they stuck together and there was very little done to change or accommodate the needs of anyone in that class. In the middle school, the children are regrouped periodically according to what I, as a teacher, understand their needs or their skill acquisition has been at any given time. So it does, again, meet the needs that they see, that we see as teachers, and that the parents would see. There is another grouping procedure, though, that I would like to ask about and that's advisement. And I know that Kunsmiller has had it. And as a teacher, would you like to comment on what advisement is all about? [Hikida] Okay. [Moskowitz] You'll have to be really quick or you're gonna run out of time. [Hikida] Okay. Advisement is based on the student's needs, as well as the teachers needs, and they decide what should be discussed during the advisement time. Advisement groups are kept very small - about 15 students per adult adviser. Now adult adviser does not necessarily mean a teacher. It could be a secretary, the nurse, some other

person besides a teacher could also help with it. (Moskowitz) I need to cut in on you. Because we're just about out of time. And, really, I want to thank all of you for this. You know a half hour is not really enough time to detail you... to detail for you all of the special features of the middle school. This program is comprehensive, well thought out, and made up of distinctive components perfectly suited for our early adolescents. As you've heard it's been two years in the making and we're really ready to go. The middle school program in Denver will make a reality of personalizing education. It will give a top priority to academic components in the curriculum. It will place primary emphasis on skills for continual learning, and it will provide a rich program of exploratory experiences. If you would like to learn more about what Denver Public Schools are like, you can obtain a booklet called "Middle School Parent Handbook." This is available from any of the junior high school buildings in the city or by writing to KRMA TV 1261 Glenarm Place, Denver 80204. In this booklet, you will find a clear and complete description of the many features of the middle school. Middle schools in Denver will be very special.

They're for special people. They are teenagers. I'd like to thank our panelists for their participation in this program, and I thank you for being with us tonight. Good evening. [music]