Published: November 04, 2009 09:12 am      

SSMS students discover a different way of learning

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 — Daniel Goodman, who is now in his third year as principal at South Stanly Middle School, stresses the point of being a “student-centered” school to faculty and staff daily, which has proven to benefit the entire school.

“We’ve got a lot going on here to help the kids,” said Goodman.

“Being student-centered only works when the staff helps put it into action.”

Putting their plans into action and their minds together, a group of faculty, along with the administration, have devised a brand new program that allows a select group of students to learn independently at the middle school level.

Implementing what they call “literature technology,” an independent studies program dealing with language arts, makes way for students to do an intense book study while conducting research online and engaging in other activities that complement their reading.

“There are a lot of factors that make this program unique,” said Anne Watson, assistant principal.

Among those factors is that students aren’t graded based on their performance or any other measure, as they all will receive a grade of 100 at the end of the year.

The group of 22 higher level reading students involved were identified and hand picked by Goodman and Watson, based on end of grade testing scores. Though the students are under supervision when they meet every other school day just before 1 p.m., the required work is completed by the students during their meeting period.

Recently completing George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” the students have expanded the book beyond its story, and have researched some of the book’s themes, such as the Russian Revolution and the work of a government.

“It’s pretty fun,” said Jonathan Beachum, one of the students in the program.

“The book we read talked about a lot of different things, and hearing the opinions of others gives you new light and causes you to ask more questions,” he said.

Reverberating Beachum’s thoughts, Hannah Aldridge, another participant, enjoys learning outside of the typical setting.

“I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s better than sitting in a normal class,” Aldridge said.

Sarah Cudd, another student in the program, enjoys the at length discussion on the literature that they read, and interacting with the other students.

“We often get to go outside, so we don’t always stay in the same area,” Cudd said.

“Everybody likes it.”

After reading a chapter of a book, the students do some sort of activity that directly deals with the subject matter. An enrichment class of sorts, the program has been so successful that it will be presented at the state middle school conference so that the good news about it can spread.