Why Electives Matter in Middle School
Hi, my name is Susie Fahrer, and I am the Executive Director of Rainbow Community School and Omega Middle School. One of the privileges we’ve had at Rainbow is the time to really consider what the development of a middle school program should look like, when you are taking into consideration the critical needs of the adolescent experience.
The reality is, we have a program at this point that ensures that as our sixth graders are welcomed into the community, they have the level of support and attention to building things like executive functioning skills, habits for learning, and a connection to the level of rigor that increases as students matriculate in the schooling system in ways that helps really develop a strong movement into the 7th/8th program where we see that foundation resulting in students having much more independence in how they manage their time, how they, coordinate their learning, the ways in which they approach project based learning, which is the primary component of how we learn in our middle school years, and ultimately really build out the skills needed for thriving in high school and beyond.
Supporting Adolescent Autonomy and Independence
You know, recently, one of the things that we’ve seen in research is that our adolescents really need ways, places and spaces where they can be given the opportunity to be trusted with their own learning, to have some autonomy, to practice exploring what aspects of learning really light them up, to be given a little bit of space, to be in charge of their own learning environment. In Omega Middle School, one of the primary ways that comes into play, when we think about the expansive nature of learning, is through our electives program.
A Three-Year Electives Program
Our electives program is a three-year set of courses designed to really give our students space in all of the domains: physical, creative, natural, mental, and really support a dynamic set of classes and experiences that the students themselves get to elect, with, naturally, some guidelines held by the institution. Again, that guided ability to have some independence with some support systems.
So, you know, really determining that over three years, they have a certain number of courses that they have to engage with in the mental domain or courses they have to engage with in the natural domain, in the physical, and in the creative, but also maintaining a significant amount of personal choice, and when that happens, how that happens.
Discovering Interests and Building Confidence
Then of course, courses that are just ones that are designed to really uplift them and allow them to see skill sets that are areas of particular interest. What we see in offering that level of partnership in their learning experience is that by the time our students are graduating eighth grade, they see their teachers as learning partners.
They’ve built the skills to really articulate areas of expertise, areas of opportunity as learners, they have a better sense of how to choose a high school that will fit their needs because they’ve had such a diverse level of experiences as middle schoolers, and they’ve been supported along the way, but they haven’t been, told exactly how to do it.
Preparing Adolescents for Lifelong Thriving
What we find is that’s really the sweet spot in helping our adolescents build those core experiences that ensure lifelong thriving. If you’re interested, and I hope you are, come and check out our Omega Middle School program. Come and look at our coursework and our electives. It’s really dynamic. It’s a place where learning is joyful and fun.
And we are so excited to welcome you and your adolescent to our school community. Hope to see you soon.
