Middle School Conference at Bank Street
by Sybil Maimin

At its first annual Middle School Conference, Bank Street College Division of Continuing Education captured for participants the excitement in learning that comes from bringing imagination to curriculum strategies. The conference, organized by the college's Center for Middle School Practices, headed by Davia Franklyn, was designed for practitioners who interact with youngsters whose ages are around 10-14. Increasingly, it is recognized that during this “difficult” time, children have special needs. “Events of this crucial formative phase can change a life and our community,” explains Continuing Education Dean, Fern Khan. “Our goal is to set the middle school child on the path to becoming a lifelong learner.” Despite frequent complaints by teachers about the stifling of creativity in the classroom imposed by No Child Left Behind and its emphasis on testing, Khan maintains there is “no conflict between creativity and standards.” “We must learn how to bring all these demands together so that you don't lose the standards and excellence but help children use their minds in new ways.”

Franklyn, along with head of  Professional Development for After School Educators, Marnie Ponce, bring to the Center enthusiasm and shared experiences as former colleagues in a successful public school where “the system was left out” and middle school students had a voice, respect, and incentives to remain engaged. Ponce points out that afterschool programs have become special opportunities for creative, enriching activities as funding for classrooms is cut and emphasis on testing increases. The conference included workshops, interactive exercises, films, a student panel, and resource guides and tips designed to stimulate new ideas and strategies for curricula with a special focus on “Using the Arts to Enrich Content.” Participants saw a film that recorded the experiences of an artist, Richard Lewis, in a middle school in Queens where, over a 10-week period, pupils used their imaginations to create a virtual meadow in their classroom. Students used their bodies, movements, and sounds to create birds, wind, flowers, rain, and clouds. They wrote poems that revealed “secrets of the mind” and made pictures that illustrated “inner thoughts.” Their engagement was palpable as they reveled in their powers to create. Following this delightful and instructional film, participants engaged in their own version of mime as small groups acted out messages about educational goals for others to decipher. Expressing themselves “outside of pencil and paper” was both fun and challenging.

A panel of four students reflected on their own middle school experiences. They stressed the importance of finding a teacher who is supportive and willing to listen. They revealed that bad behavior that got “a pass” from parents when they were younger was more likely to be punished now, and they asked that teachers come to class with “a positive attitude.”  The students, from Promise Academy and Bank Street's Liberty Program, were well-spoken, open, and even precocious, illustrating positive outcomes from small school, supportive learning environments.