8/14/14 Dalton Elementary and Middle School ready to bring education into the 21st century

  • By Nick Sabo
  • August 14, 2014
  • 411
                        
SUMMARY: Teacher's input into classrooms will expand educational opportunities. Moving into the new Dalton Middle School hasn’t been as simple as packing up one classroom and unpacking in another for Laura Grimm. Grimm’s new classroom has indoor growing areas, a washer and drier and a kitchen. It is the only classroom at the new school that has a door opening directly onto an outside courtyard, and has a passive solar ceiling that maximizes natural light. It is a far cry from Grimm’s old classroom at the former middle school - with more to bring in than ever fit there. The new Dalton Elementary and Middle School has allowed faculty to jump into the 21st century. There are 75 WiFi hotspots throughout the building - a big improvement over the three buildings it has replaced, particularly Kidron Elementary where “internet was always a big problem,” Superintendent Scott Beatty said. Niches created out of hallway space in the elementary school wing are fitted out as extended learning areas, where a teacher can work one-on-one with a student, or give a student a place to make-up a test. These little touches came out of a collective effort that go beyond plans drafted by an architect, Beatty said. “The teachers knew what to expect,” Beatty said. “The architects met with them in small groups to find ways to operate their rooms to their liking. It was definitely a group effort as far as the design.” For example, staff saw the extended learning areas as way to do something practical with unused hallway space. The guidance offices are located apart from the principal’s office, to be less intimidating to students. The school finally has a classroom for its LifeSkills program, which was formerly housed in a garage. Grimm’s new classroom allows her to fully implement the STEAM (Science, Technology, English, Arts and Math) program for all grades. Previously, she taught a limited version of the program, called STEM (with four of the five components of STEAM, less the arts) to eighth graders. The classroom will allow Grimm to teach sustainable living projects for each class at the middle school grade level. Fifth grade students will plan and execute a virtual sustainable colony on Mars, the sixth grade class will learn about cycles, seventh grade about energy, and eighth grade, engineering design. All classes will participate in an exercise examining the drought in Wichita, Kansas, and what can be done to help people there. The STEAM program is focused more intensively toward the middle school grades. Grades five through eight are in the classroom Tuesday to Friday; Kindergarten through fourth-grade are in Mondays. Grimm said she has an overall guide for what the classes will look like. The individual feel of each will be up to the students. “I know what I’m going to do for the first week,” Grimm said. “A lot of it is student driven. I hope to get a lot of feedback from the students before I plan too much.” Fifth- and Sixth-grade math teacher Sara Martin’s classroom is one of three in the middle school wing that are separated by movable partitions. The rooms can open up to include two or more classes at once, bringing together math, science, and social studies, so that teachers can combine their classrooms and work together in units. Martin said the learning opportunities presented by the connected classrooms will give her and the other teachers a chance to enrich the overall curriculum. For example, Martin said, the math and social studies classes can connect as a unit when studying economics. Science and math come together with taking measurements. The new Dalton Elementary and Middle School will welcome the first students through its doors Aug. 21. As Grimm and other faculty were getting their rooms ready Aug. 13, it was clear there was still much to do. The gym is still being painted and the first few games of volleyball season will probably have to be played at the old middle school auxiliary gym. Many books had not yet made it to the shelves in the two libraries set aside for the elementary and the middle school, sitting in stacks or boxed up on top of tables. Finishing touches were being applied everywhere. It’s a bit busier than your typical moving-in days at the start of the school year. Martin has put a lot of careful planning into the year, aided by regular meetings with her fellow teachers. When moving in, though, the overall newness of the place caught Martin a little off guard. “Coming in to the new building, there was a lot I planned to bring in,” Martin said. “But, the new building is too nice. It kind of focused me to look at my old stuff and maybe try something new.” KUTLINE Nick Sabo photo Middle School Math Teacher Sara Martin gets ready for her first lesson at the new Dalton Elementary and Middle School. The classrooms were designed using input from teachers, moving educational opportunities into the 21st Century.


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