Program Description
Introduction
From its very beginnings, The Gateway School has addressed the need to educate students through an integrated perspective that incorporates cognitive, language, perceptual, sensory-motor, and social emotional development. The curriculum of the Middle School Program is delivered through methodologies that best promote the individual student's growth in these particular domains. Areas of cross curricular emphasis are woven into the curriculum to ensure that knowledge and skills do not become overly fragmented. Faculty of the Middle School Program continually assess the learning needs of each of their students and closely monitor the changing learning profiles of individual students and their cohort groups.
Through their Gateway experience, students are presented with significant academic demands as well as increasing expectations for independence, responsibility, and leadership, all within a supportive and positive environment. They are encouraged to appreciate the value of being cooperative as well as independent learners and to become creative problem solvers. Given the challenges and possibilities presented by adolescence, social-emotional learning and the development of executive functions are essential elements addressed in the educational program.
The following is an overview of The Gateway Middle School Program, which emphasizes the development of executive functions in all areas of the school day, including academic and non-academic classes, independent projects, and homework.
The Development of Executive Functions
The executive functions of the brain help a student to self-regulate when faced with the academic and social demands. They are responsible for the student's internal ability to independently set and achieve goals and to inhibit specific behaviors that interfere with progress. These functions impact the student's ability to self-monitor his or her social relations, to read social cues, and to reflect upon his or her own actions. In an academic setting, such functions also determine a child's organizational skills as well as his or her ability to initiate a task and to reevaluate work. The Gateway Middle School Program addresses the development of these functions as part of all content areas of study, through small group and whole class instruction.
The Humanities
Through the Humanities classes, students are exposed to a variety of social studies based literature and build the essential writing skills. The program provides opportunities for discussion and for increased exposure to, and awareness of, diverse points of view. Students identify essential questions and bring their own rich experiences to classroom conversations and written work.
Flexible grouping is used to facilitate the writing and reading processes. Students are strategically assigned to learning groups based upon individual academic and social learning styles. Because we believe that social interaction leads to deeper conceptual understanding and a consolidation of learning, opportunities to learn cooperatively and experience the value of collaboration are presented frequently.
Math, Science, & Technology
Math, Science, and Technology classes encourage flexibility and creativity in independent thinkers. Students in The Middle School Program work to build an understanding of mathematic, scientific and technological principles and their application to real world problems. Skills and procedures are introduced slowly and practiced until mastered.
In mathematics flexible grouping of students encourages skill and concept development. Students are assigned to learning groups based upon individual academic and social learning styles. Opportunities to learn cooperatively and to experience the value of collaboration are presented frequently, as such social interaction leads to deeper conceptual understanding and a consolidation of learning. Math instruction ranges from number concept through advanced algebra and geometry.
Computers and other technological tools are used in and out of the classroom to enhance learning, increase efficiency and productivity, and promote creativity. Each middle school student is issued a personal laptop, an instructional tool to teach specific skills for a variety of academic tasks. Students use laptops for note-taking, organization, research, presentations, and are introduced to basic software design.
Physical Development
The Physical Development program centers on the encouragement of positive behaviors and attitudes to impact the physical, social, and emotional well-being of adolescents. Students are encouraged to reach personal and collaborative goals and to maintain positive relationships. They are given opportunities to recognize the benefits of engaging in regular physical activity and to see physical activity as a means of enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and communication. Middle school students routinely participate in outdoor physical education activities at local sports fields, and specialized instruction is periodically provided collaboratively by an occupational therapist and a PE teacher. Specialized physical education electives, such as dance, are provided for seventh and eighth grade students. Interscholastically competitive sports teams, such as basketball, soccer and softball are available after school for interested students.
The Arts
Dance, music, theatre and visual arts are seen as strong, comprehensive academic disciplines in their own right. The Arts program offers skills-based classes in many media, while understanding that the arts can infuse any academic study taking place throughout the School. Various performance opportunities occur throughout the year. Fifth and sixth grade students pursue a prescribed course of study in the arts, while seventh and eighth grade students pursue areas of specific and personal interest through electives, such as ceramics, puppetry, photography, yoga, theatre improv, vocal solos, creative writing, capoiera, and urban dance. The Arts are also seen as organizers to help students predict sequences, process ideas, devise strategies, and put what they are creating into clear language. Such experiences provide opportunities for critical thinking, problem solving and the synthesis of ideas.
Cross-Curricular Emphases
The development of abilities, acquisition of skills, and accumulation of knowledge is promoted throughout all areas of study at The Gateway Middle School. Often, the various academic disciplines emphasize the abilities, skills, and knowledge particular to the understanding of each specific discipline. With that in mind, each year we introduce several areas of cross-curricular emphasis that permeate students' studies at Gateway. These areas of emphasis help to ensure that knowledge does not become overly fragmented and that acquired skills and developed abilities in one area of study are also applied to other studies.
Additional Program Elements
In addition to the program areas described earlier in this Overview, The Gateway Middle School Program offers several approaches to support the overall development of students. Each approach supports various aspects of development, and together they are an integral part of the students' educational experience. These approaches also provide critical time for individualization in addressing the needs of each student.
Advisory is one such approach. All middle school students are assigned an advisor, who forms a more personal relationship with the student and acts as a liaison between student, parents and faculty. Topics such as schedules, homework, sibling and peer relationships and individual interests are often discussed in advisory groups. Advisors remain with students throughout their years at Gateway, giving the relationship long-term perspective.
Another approach, Round Table, is a discussion format employed widely throughout the Middle School Program. During a Round Table, a topic related to academics, social relationships, or current events is presented for discussion. The format of the discussion requires participation from all group members but prevents any one group member from dominating the conversation. Students learn to present ideas clearly and concisely and to use positive phrasing in agreeing or disagreeing with the statements of others.
Each middle school student also participates in the 4Rs, which stands for Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution. The 4Rs is a research-based Social Emotional Learning program that uses literature to explicitly teach social-emotional competencies. 4Rs classes meet once a week, and the competencies developed through the 4Rs serve as a foundation for academic and social success.
The Gateway Middle School Program also provides support for its diverse population through several theme-based programs. All students take a course called "That's a Family" to promote awareness of the many kinds of family constellations they will encounter, the joys and challenges of each, and ways to be an ally if a classmate should experience an uncomfortable peer moment. In addition, Candy Apples and Banana Splits are lunchtime clubs for children who were adopted or children with single or separated parents, respectively. These groups feature a combination of planned activities and student-generated discussion topics. The purpose is to provide opportunities first for students to build community and then to learn from each other. All students also take a course called Myself as a Learner. This course covers topics including assessing personal strengths and weaknesses, ways to counteract learning difficulties and handle ignorant or unkind remarks, the meaning of terms such as "intelligence," and "learning disability," the nature of the brain, and the stories of well known people who experienced challenges in school.
The Center For Educational Enrichment
The Middle School Program is enhanced through its relationship with The Center for Educational Enrichment at Gateway. The Center fuses understandings from the field of gifted education with progressive supports in executive function and social development, a combination that has proven to be powerful for the education of our very capable middle school students with learning differences. The strengths based approach of the Center programs allows students to identify, pursue, and develop their interests, passions, and talents. All middle school students participate in a Center Team, and each team is structured around similar criteria. The teams are driven by student interest and involve collaborative problem solving, the creation of a final product, and the presentation of the product to a meaningful audience. Examples of Center Teams include: Robotics, Documentary Film Making, Playwriting, Sound Lab, Curators, Inventors, Visionary Artists, Center Stage, and Investors.
The Center also provides the Middle School Program with faculty who possess expertise in gifted and talented education and specific academic disciplines. Theses instructors teach advanced level courses in mathematics, humanities, and science. Students are selected for advanced courses based on their individual learning profiles as well as their previous performance in these areas.
Students who have particular talent or ability in specific academic and other areas may also work through the Center to pursue individual mentorships and apprecenticeships. Apprenticeships are established between students with advanced abilities and interests and highly accomplished professionals from that field. Examples of mentorships and apprenticeships include: the study of paleontology with a senior scientist at The American Museum of Natural History, the composition of a solo play with an accomplished playwright and solo actor, culinary arts with chefs from Union Square Café and Café Two MoMA, healing arts with a master of Oriental medicine and pain and stress relief, mathematics with a theoretical mathematician from City College, writing and curation with an experienced curator from the Art and Design Department at Montclair State, and creative writing with a published playwright.