MBE promotes student voice with new electives program

Electives have been a powerful addition to the MBE sixth-grade curriculum this year.

Prior to the 2017-18 school year, sixth graders participated in one “special” each day (art, music, Spanish, STEM and library), visiting each special once per week. While this is the same format used for the younger grades, traditional use of specials yielded low interest for sixth graders and didn’t provide opportunities for students to delve into these areas of study. School administrators, teachers and students investigated other options for these subjects and the elective program was born.

The electives for the 2017-18 school year include art, Spanish, theater, Junior United Nations Assembly (JUNA), Lights!Camera!Action (LCA) — which produces the MBE daily broadcast — tech team, resource assistant, PE assistant and iLead — which provides the opportunity for sixth graders to serve as teacher assistants in the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Students have the opportunity to choose two electives, one for the fall semester and one for the spring.

After surveying current sixth-grade students about their experience with electives, MBE has made some changes to the program for the 2018-19 school year. Two new electives have been added for the upcoming year: resource lab, which provides organization and study preparation for the junior high, and STEM, which will focus on coding, robotics and problem solving. Existing electives have also been refined based on feedback from students. Overall, MBE has found great success in this implementation. These electives have provided greater rigor and more engagement for students, allowing them to dig deeper into their given elective choices.

Submitted by Kate Mather.