Middle School
Laura Adelman-Cannon, Assistant Principal
Each developmental stage in a child’s life has unique characteristics. However, the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual changes that take place in children between the ages of ten and fourteen are particularly dramatic. For educators, the challenge is to meet the unique needs of these young people, who not only experience rapid change, but differ widely in their maturity. In other words, the middle school years are a time of great transition. Middle school needs to be a bridge between elementary school and high school; it needs to have a different approach. Children age ten to fourteen have special needs. They are neither older, larger versions of elementary school children, nor are they smaller, junior versions of high school students. Having a Middle School allows a school to recognize the unique nature of these children, and to address their unique needs. By creating a Middle School (school within a school), ISL strives to meet the psycho-social, as well as educational needs of its students. It has often been said that junior high school students are “caught in the middle.” By placing them in a middle school environment, they will now be “right in the middle.”
Schedule
With the advent of the public school reform movement in the 1980s, schools and school districts were barraged with demands for educational change. Block scheduling was one of the responses to this need for a fresh approach to learning.
Although the variations of block scheduling are endless and idiosyncratic to the schools that implement them, all forms of block scheduling carry one common feature — extended class time beyond the traditional 50-minute class period. Research has shown that students achieve deeper learning through sustained and uninterrupted contact with subject matter.
ISL’s block schedule follows a basic A/B pattern. Students take core academic courses for 90 minutes every other day, with Friday alternating between the two.
Classroom Tardiness
The ISL staff value teaching time and make every effort to use the time allotted in the most productive ways. Students who are consistently late to class will have notification sent home regarding patterns of tardiness to class and a disciplinary referral will be made to the assistant principal.
Advisory Program
The advisory class will play the role of the homeroom, but will also be a safe space where students will be able to develop a sense of community. The advisory class will meet every day, in the morning and in the afternoon. Advisory classes are divided by gender, not by target language. It will be conducted in English and will implement several different programs to create a unique curriculum that will help in developing the social and emotional well-being of students.
Health and Fitness
ISL is committed to implementing a curriculum that promotes the development of the “whole” child. Therefore, in addition to P.E. classes, students will participate twice a week in the “ISL Two-Step”. Modeled on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield “Louisiana Two–Step” campaign, middle school students should bring a healthy snack from home; they will share snack time with two of their academic teachers, then all will participate in 45 minutes of a structured physical activity, such as walking, or salsa dancing. Along with their PE enrichment class, this activity will engage ISL students in 150 minutes of physical activity weekly. Our goal is to introduce middle school students to physical activities, in addition to sports, that can be developed into life-long habits.
Enrichment Classes
Middle school students will have the opportunity to select three enrichment classes by interest. However, one of these classes must be a “physical education” class, either traditional P.E. or an alternative such as yoga. For the remaining two classes students will have choices ranging from drama to choir, piano, fine arts, computer science or third language (French or Spanish).
Critical Language Studies
When students enter middle school they will begin to study critical languages. These are languages defined by the United States government to be essential for US economic growth and national security. Middle School students study Mandarin Chinese; taught twice weekly in 45 minute blocks. Students with limited English proficiency will instead participate in a structured English Language Learner program.
Homework
ISL’s middle school team believes in the educational value of homework and the important objectives that it accomplishes.
Appropriate homework assignments are given at each grade level. Teachers at each grade level have developed common expectations for the scope and quantity of homework. All students are expected to complete assigned work independently unless specifically stated otherwise by the teacher. Parents are encouraged to contact the class teacher or advisory teacher with homework-related questions or concerns.
Some teachers may assign a homework partner. (Check with the teacher.) If a student is absent and has a homework partner, this partner will be able to gather materials and worksheets for the absent student. When a student is absent they should alert the homework partner as soon as possible.
For Middle School students, the general guideline for the daily time allotted for homework is 60-90 minutes.
Parent Alert Reports
Parent Alert Reports (PAR) are sent home approximately 3 weeks prior to the end of the quarter for students who have cumulative scores below a “2” or whenever a student experiences a noticeable decline in academic performance.
Report Cards
Report Cards are skill based so that grades are a reflection of a student’s total mastery of the specific standards and benchmarks of the State of Louisiana Department of Education.
Grading
It is best educational practice to provide multiple opportunities for assessing mastery of an academic skill. Teachers will provide as many opportunities as is feasible for a student to demonstrate their competency in a grade level expectation. In Middle School, teachers use the 3, 2, 1, N grading system, instead of letter grades, to indicate a student’s level of mastery on assessments, daily work, and homework. (Note that the level number is not indicative of a percentage or equivalent to a letter grade. Rather, an “N” indicates “Not Demonstrated”, a “1” indicates that a student is beginning to learn the skill, a “2” shows that they have begun to apply the skill correctly and a “3” denotes mastery.)
On the quarterly report card, the teacher will translate the student’s achievements into an appropriate letter grade.
“Free Dress” Fridays
In order to help students begin to make responsible decisions and leverage behavior in regard to their uniform, students can earn the privilege of “free dress” on Friday as long as they wear their uniform correctly Monday through Thursday.
The following guidelines for free dress must be followed or a student will be sent home and lose the privilege to participate in free dress the following week.
- Modes of dress or appearance disruptive to the progress of the educational program, are not allowed.
- Skirts and shorts should be at the knee. Tops with spaghetti straps need to have a shirt worn over them and the abdomen needs to be covered.
- Jeans and other pants need to be pulled up on the hip, with no undergarment showing.
- Modes of dress advertising illegal substances and/or paraphernalia, tobacco and violence are not allowed.
- Modes of dress that display obscenities or other expressions either harmful to the normal development of the younger and less mature students or offensive to the reasonable sensibilities of students, faculty or other personnel are not allowed.
In general, students should dress appropriately for school and the weather conditions. Hats, caps, coats and gloves are not to be worn in the classrooms. Reasonable standards of cleanliness and decency are expected. Protective, closed toe footwear must be worn at all times (no sandals, flip flops or Heelys).
The principal or assistant principal is the final authority for judging the appropriateness of a student’s appearance.
