Mckissack Middle School Summary

“Our school’s vision is to provide every student with the foundation of knowledge, skills, and character necessary to excel in higher education, work, and life.” McKissack Middle School makes it so very clear that within their learning environments, what was once referred to as implicit curriculum is now explicit by placing an emphasis on not solely one’s academic knowledge and skill, but character as well. McKissack brings this vision to life that is recognized in many indicators such as their learning environment and student/teacher interactions.

Focusing on the learning environment, one form of coherent furniture arrangement that was apparent across the classrooms observed was the formation of groups using desks and tables. Mr. Kennedy,

Continuing on the observation of the 6th grade Language Arts classroom, the only materials present were the actual graded tests of the students and a pencil/pen. Very traditional materials, but they were being used to move to a better understanding of the learning topic. Assessing understanding can be a challenging job. Wiggins and McTighe makes the conjecture of there being six facets to understanding. The very first facet of understanding, Explanation, which Wiggins and McTighe describe as “sophisticated and apt theories and illustrations, which provide knowledgeable and justified accounts of events, actions, and ideas,” seems to be one the teacher is very fond of. The students were using their graded test to review their answers and to discover all the right answers. In the midst of this, the teacher made a habit of asking the students to justify their thinking when they proposed a correct answer for each problem. Even the simplest of learning materials can be used in meaningful

However, the purpose of so much structure could be accounted for in that fact that PBL is a new form of curriculum design in this school and the structure is helping to scaffold the transition to PBL. Nonetheless, the students are actively engaged in remixing the lyrics of their favorite songs. This activity is a great example of culturally relevant teaching. Students use their favorite songs from their respective cultures and transform the songs into a learning tool for science class on the topic of mitosis. The students, in a sense, were bringing a part of themselves into what they were learning. Afterwards, all of the groups will participate in a round of Mitosis Idol, in which the winner will compete against the winners from the other 7th Grade Science classrooms for a final round of Mitosis Idol. It isn’t interdisciplinary, but it does give students a sense of knowing the same thing is being taught across the grade level. As far as materials, students were able to use their personal cellphones to listen to the song and the school laptops as