It is difficult to convince 8th graders that the skills they are learning in their language arts class are useful. But that is just what the 8th grade teacher at Pleasant Grove School has done. Dawn Carl used real issues surrounding school dances and sporting events along with required English-language arts content standards to help her students develop several useful projects. When faced with yet another writing assignment and the challenge of helping write “Rules of Conduct” for dances held by the three neighboring K-8 schools, this group of hard-working, civic-minded students decided to embrace the project and take it even further by writing three handbooks – code of conduct for sports and dances, and rules for the playground.
Their project began with students narrowing the focus of each of the handbooks. Mrs. Carl asked students to think about what they feel is important when participating in after-school sports and school dances and to consider issues that frequently arise on the playground. Using these ideas, students then researched handbooks from other schools or sports organizations. Groups of students were assigned a specific handbook for a first draft. Then the groups exchanged for 2nd and 3rd drafts until the handbooks returned to the original group for finishing touches. The final step is to send these handbooks to the neighboring schools for their input.
“As teachers we often jump in to fix problems but middle grade students are better problem-solvers than we give them credit for. They also follow the rules better if they have a hand in writing them” says Mrs. Carl. Thank you 8th graders for your hard work!