Eureka school delays onset of 'teen attitude'

How do you bring younger students into a middle school and provide them with all of the academic and social advantages — and, at the same time, protect them from older students, bullying and the pressure to grow up too fast?

The answer is "very carefully."

When Winship Middle School in Eureka was converted from a junior high school to a middle school three years ago, staff spent a great deal of time planning for a smooth transition. Parents of sixth-graders were concerned about the possible effects of their children being around older students and worried that their "babies" might grow up too fast. Staff wrestled with the age-old question of how to welcome the youngest students onto the campus without being overly protective.

School staff considered separate lunch hours and recesses and self-contained classrooms for the sixth-graders, but decided that would not have the desired effect of making them an integral part of the school. Instructors, all members of the Eureka Teachers Association, wanted the younger students to be active in campus clubs and athletics and to feel that they "belonged." Eventually, staff came up with a unique alternative: Sixthgraders would be given their own sanctuary on the playground. Older students would not be allowed to visit, but sixth-graders brave enough to venture out and play games with older students at recess and lunch would be allowed to do so.

"Those who were not ready for interaction with older students could stay in that safe zone," says Kristin Sobilo, a core teacher who provides English arts, math and drama classes for sixth-graders. "We had sixth-graders who were in no way ready to go near seventh- and eighth-graders and others who were ready for more interaction with upper-graders."

The sanctuary seems to provide the best of all worlds for the sixth-graders interviewed there during a morning break.

"I like having our own area," says Bethany Medley. "But I like to go out and see my seventh-grade friends sometimes."

"They can't bother us here," chimes in her friend Emily Phillips, who has blue hair. "This way everybody gets along."

"I like it because the eighth-graders are sometimes picking on us," adds Dylan Schick.

The school also went through some academic changes to incorporate the sixth-graders. During a typical school day, sixth-graders spend much of their time with their core teacher, whose goal is to provide a personal connection and help students feel "centered," explains language arts teacher Sheri Jensen.

One of the biggest advantages for sixth-graders is the opportunity to study science with teachers who have expertise in different areas — along with access to laboratories and equipment for hands-on learning. Providing this level of science education would be difficult in a K-6 setting, say teachers.

Science teachers divided the content standards according to their areas of expertise. As a class, sixth-graders rotate among them for different areas of study. It prepares them for "switching classes" when they become upperclassmen, and gives them much more science instruction than typical sixth-graders receive.

In Patricia Guerrero-Frazier's earth resources science class recently, students made a list of necessities for everyday living and picked one item to study — toilet paper.

"Do you think we just wave a magic wand and get toilet paper?" asked Guerrero-Frazier. "No-o-o-o," answered the students, who with her help looked into the processes involved in making toilet paper and packaging it and how it impacts the planet. Soon the students were looking at the Earth's various layers — mantle, core and crust — and discussing how toilet paper consumption affects plant and animal life.

Next door, Greg Colyar's science class was discussing the properties of solids, liquids and vapors and how they sometimes change shape. Students then embarked on an experiment to determine whether llama phlegm from the local zoo was a solid or a liquid.

"I use the constructivist theory," says Colyar. "I ask questions and create the desire in them to find the answers to certain things. Then they enjoy doing the labs because they want to find out the answers."

Sixth-graders also have access to electives they would not have in elementary school, says music teacher David Demant, who has taught in K-6 and K-8 schools. In those configurations, music is usually a pullout program, which means students miss their regular classes to go to music and have to make up what they missed. "It adds more work for the kids and teachers that way. But in a middle school situation, music is an elective, so they don't have to miss out on anything."

When Winship first opened its doors to sixth-graders, Demant says, parents feared their children would get an "attitude" in sixth grade and might be better off staying in elementary school for another year. But that hasn't happened.

When he taught K-6, it wasn't unusual for sixth-graders to develop an attitude, especially during the second half of the year. "That's because they were at the top of the heap." In a 6-8 school, they're the smallest students on campus. "They are cautious and exploring." The attitude change is put off for a couple of years.

Sixth-graders who attend middle school have other advantages, say teachers, including expanded library services and electives. During a visit to Sobilo's drama class, students improvised skits individually and within groups.

"They didn't have electives like this when they were in a K-6 school," says Sobilo. "They only had an after-school enrichment program."

ETA members agree that transitioning from a junior high to a middle school has been a positive experience at Winship, thanks to lots of planning, caution and enthusiasm among staff.

"Overall," says Sobilo, "I think this is exactly the place where sixth-graders should be."