At North View Middle School we believe that teaching and learning approaches should accommodate the diverse skills, abilities, and prior knowledge of young adolescents, cultivate multiple intelligences, draw upon students’ individual learning styles, and utilize digital tools. When learning experiences capitalize on students’ cultural, experiential, and personal backgrounds, new concepts are built on knowledge students already possess. To ensure this happens, we use the nature of young adolescents to guide our instructional decision-making.
Because of this belief, our teachers spend a considerable creating engaging learning opportunities. These opportunities occur in all classes and today I would like to use this post to highlight science.
Grade 6
6th graders are enjoying a book together, Ghetto Cowboy, a story about the unlikely circumstances of Black Cowboys, kids, and horses set in a North Philly urban neighborhood. In addition, students are collaborating in multiple experiences with Reader’s Theater and Repeating Readings to improve confidence and execution of reading fluency. Lastly, 6th graders have been independently reading and journaling since school started. We have been busy!!
Grade 7
7th graders have been working on personal speeches as an introduction to our “Who Am I?” unit, working on fluency through repeated reading every week, and reading in class daily.
Grade 8
In eighth grade, students learned about the many book genres. By knowing the different types of genres, students can identify what types of books they like the best and expand their reading horizons as well. It’s important to have favorite genres and read those genres; reading other genres, though, helps students step outside their comfort zones, which helps in making new discoveries and shifting perspectives.
8th graders also participated in Book Speed Dating in North View’s Media Center, where they found the love of their lives – in a book! We continue to read daily in class, and it is the expectation that students read at home for 30 minutes a day
Currently, 8th-grade students are working on the unit “Defining America.” Students are learning new vocabulary words, how to figure out the meaning of words they don’t know, analyzing different perspectives on the American experience, and learning to work collaboratively.
I hope you enjoyed this spotlight. If you have any questions about this or anything else related to North View Middle School please connect with me here or follow me at @NVMSPrincipal.