Karena Halco and Tug Levy's class
The Middle School at RMS is an inquiry-based environment where students can often be found working on independent or small group queries stemming from whole class studies. Students are encouraged to think critically and creatively and to question the material that is presented to them in order to meaningfully integrate topics covered into their everyday lives.

Karena and Tug believe that a classroom should be a community of learners that nurtures the love of learning through a balance of multiple intelligence approaches in pedagogy and methodology. This well-resourced class provides hands-on, experiential, experimental, and student-driven projects that challenge students to delve deeper into conceptual content. Additionally, academic skills are balanced with social and emotional development to ensure that the whole child is nurtured and that each student is able to confidently pursue their passions and interests. Independent and cooperative learning are both valued, and the multi-age environment is utilized to allow students to learn from and guide their peers as different strengths are called upon.

At RMS Middle School, literature, history, and social studies are taught in an interdisciplinary course called Humanities. This course is enriched by exposure to psychology, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. This approach maximizes opportunities for learners to make connections across disciplines and it also supports our school-wide philosophy that students learn best by making connections to their previous knowledge. Instruction in written and oral expression focuses on control of the written and spoken word, but also encourages and develops creativity and interpretation.

One of the primary goals of Middle School instruction is to build skill sets necessary for students to succeed in secondary school. Skill practice is accomplished by exposing learners to depth in content and an emphasis on conceptual learning that engages students’ minds and hearts. Conceptual learning reflects best practices in gifted education (Van Tassel-Baska, Joyce).

The use of Socratic-style discussion, lecture, group work, and individual response encourages students to express their oral and written responses to the content confidently by building on their strengths and abilities with continuously increasing expectations appropriate to the individual student. Students are constantly challenged to produce, and they are required to deliver sustained effort. Our curriculum strives to create a climate of excellence from the perspective that, with a student’s gift of above average ability comes the challenge and obligation to optimize her or his talents. These high expectations are coupled with a nurturing classroom setting and literature selections appropriate to the social and emotional development of the students. Differentiation between levels of students and between individual students is accomplished by varying production expectations and the type and complexity of assigned readings.

All RMS students receive focused instruction in art, music, Spanish, and wellness.

Several expeditions and field trips are taken throughout the year to support, enrich, and extend learning beyond the classroom. Service learning and volunteerism is encouraged to develop a connection with the larger community in which each student plays an integral part.

Affective and social learning is addressed during class meetings, student council meetings, weekly community gatherings, and weekly meetings with the school’s counselor. In addition to providing a forum to openly discuss personal and classroom issues, this time is used to actively practice and develop social skills and etiquette necessary in becoming successful and active participants at the school, local, and world community levels.

Middle School Science
Hands-on, minds-on learning is standard fare in the middle school science class. Students have numerous opportunities to design and implement controlled experiments as they deepen their knowledge and application of the scientific process. Lab and field experiences strengthen students’ ability to form questions based on observations and to offer an explanation of their observations based on results of experimentation. This year students are exploring the world of Biology. Students explore topics within the field of ecology—especially avian ecology and plant ecology. Students learn about cells, organisms, and the processes of living things, plus genetics and biotechnology. There is room for topics of exploration as they arise during the course. The over-arching foci are: concepts, systems, scientific reasoning and problem solving. Instead of working from a specific text this year; students draw from a variety of resource material, which Tug presents as they explore the study of life.

Algebra
“…algebra is defined as “the generalization of arithmetic, wherein numbers, and letters representing numbers, are manipulated in symbolic form, using procedures, which are extensions of the algorithms of arithmetic.” (A.M. Darbie, 2006) The goal is to put the concepts we consider into as much real world context as possible.

The algebra classes are consistent with those of standard high school courses covering algebra 1 and possibly algebra 2 depending on the learning pace. As with science, students in the algebra classes have ample opportunity for hands-on, minds on learning. The foundation textbook is Algebra 1 (McDougal Littell); but rather than assigning repetitive practice problems, homework problems are chosen from the text that builds meaningful connections across the curriculum. There is a project with each unit; units are more or less equivalent to the textbook chapters. These projects also serve as alternative assessments of student learning. Students have regular unit exams, which serve as practice for the trimester exams. The over-arching foci are: concepts, number sense, problem solving and reasoning.

Wellness
This is more than physical education; the approach is holistic. This course focuses on nutrition, exercise and relaxation practices aimed at taking care of the body and the spirit. Students practice yoga and meditation. They explore their current eating habits and consider changes that will bring about more sustainable energy levels for the body while helping sustain life on the planet! Eating well is an important element in feeling good about your self, and a feeling of wellness is the key to having the energy to exercise not just physically but mentally too. Students laugh more often, play more enthusiastically, experience clearer thinking and rest well. Wellness is more than a class; it is a way of life. Wellness is a commitment to being balanced in your physical and spiritual beings.