PSU Magazine Spring 1996

he students at George Middle School were plastered against the walls of the gymnasium during the Valentines Dance, recalls Peggy Noone. They were listening to the music, looking at each other, looking to the other side, summoning up the courage to make those first tentative steps onto the dance floor. Around them were the adults-middle school teachers who Noone, the director of two PSU grant programs, describes as a breed apart from other teachers. They under– stand the age: early adolescence, roughly 11 through 13. They give off an aura of knowing what this time of life is like. Kids aren't embarrassed to be around them and even trust them. Life for the students at George, as well as any other middle school in the country, is one big dance. It's one of making steps toward choices that can set the tone for the rest of their lives. The choices might be whether or not to stay interested in school, whether to use drugs or alcohol, whether to embrace life or become cynical about it, whether to succeed or fail. PSU is participating on numerous fronts to help middle school educators and their students make the most of the dizzying potential our schools hold. Noone is the director of Northwest EQUALS, a project to enhance students' interest in math and science by helping them draw connections to real-world experiences. She also is the director of Urban Ecosystems, a five-year PSU project funded by a $1.8 million federal grant. At three middle schools in north and northeast Portland-George, Portsmouth and Ockley Green-teachers blend math, science and social science in projects that take students out of the classroom and into the community or to natural areas within 4 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 1996 Portland. The aim is to help students see a practital side to education and to build a sense of their own value as citizens of a larger community. Asimilar project is happening across town at the Environmental Middle School. Founded last year with the help of Dilafruz Williams, associate professor of education, its students learn through a variety of outdoor projects. Jill Plattner, an instructor in PSU's Mathematical Science Department, is heading a project to train student teachers in middle school math and is developing a handbook with her students on tutoring this age group. What all these programs have in common is helping middle school students see their education as relevant and helping teachers relate to students during this volatile period in life. Helping students of any age see connections between school and the outside world is important in keeping them interested in education. It's particularly important for young adolescents because they soon will be at an age when they can pick and choose what they want to take in school. Many educators see middle school as a last chance to foster lifelong interests. "Taking math is still not optional in middle school. But a student's understanding of the relevance of math can either nurture their interest or put a wet blanket on it," says Noone. For example, one program in the EQUALS project, called "Telling Someone Where to Go," teaches geometry by having kids work with math and compass orienteering. Students have fun working out real-world problems involving measure– ment, distance, and angles, so that math becomes a tool for life, not just an academic exercise. And there are few times in life when having tools for living is more important than in these early adolescent years.