Seattle's Child: Thrive by Five; Keen by 15?

October 2007

Thrive by Five; Keen by 15?

A 14-year-old girl blasts expletives at a teen rival. Seconds later they’re inches apart, spitting on each other. A teacher and a school counselor swoop in, directing one of the girls toward the office and the other to a nearby classroom. The girl who started the fight had enough verbal ammo left to tell the educators to #@!^ off.

Welcome to middle school.

That scene was one of my first experiences at my daughter’s Seattle middle school. It happened during a curriculum night last fall while a number of younger siblings, including my first-grader, watched.

As the year went on, a few more incidents made me realize we were not in elementary school anymore: A sixth-grader brought a big knife to class; a student hurled a water bottle at a teacher; a popular teacher was arrested and charged with possessing child porn.

To be fair, the majority of the school year was positive. But I don’t think it’s an overstatement, or a surprise for that matter, to say middle school is tough.

Middle school principals are more likely than elementary or high school administrators to report that student bullying occurs on their campuses at least once a week, according to a National Center for Education Statistics survey on violence in public schools.

The suicide rate among middle school age girls recently rose to its highest level in 15 years. A report released last month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the suicide rate increased 76 percent for girls between the ages of 10 and 14 from 2003 to 2004. The CDC says more research is needed to determine whether this is a trend or a statistical oddity.

As I enter the middle of my middle school experience with a seventh-grader, I’m discovering a child’s middle ages – 10 to 15 – are as crucial to their development as birth to 5 years old was.

The state of Washington started an effort two years ago called “Thrive by Five” to promote quality early learning and parenting programs. Neurological experts, pediatricians and most parents recognize that the first five years of life lay the groundwork for a child’s school readiness and success in elementary school. I think a “Be Keen by 15” campaign covering the five-year span that begins after age 10 is equally important. (I agree the name is kind of lame, but it rhymes.) Emotional, social and cognitive development during middle school years forms the foundation for success in high school and beyond.

Distractible, Delightful Darlings

One word explains why middle school boys and girls have different challenges than elementary-age students or high school teens – puberty.

Along with the hormonal and physical changes, middle school age kids are dealing with mood swings and becoming more interested in what other people think of them. They worry about being accepted and liked. They’re quite capable academically, but don’t know how to manage the distractions around them yet.

Distractions – ranging from the boy who smells like he showered in funky aftershave to a stray sound coming from the hallway – consume their attention. At times they morph into Charlie Brown characters and only hear “wah, wa wa wa wah, wah,” when the teacher speaks.

Despite those attributes, an educator who’s spent a lot more time with middle schoolers than I have prefers to think of them as “delightful.”

“They are energetic, they’re smart, they’re funny,” observes Ruth Medsker, the director of middle school instruction for Seattle Public Schools. She also says more “emotional and social development happens during middle school than at any other time in their school lives.”

Medsker has been with the district for 23 years. She was a middle school teacher for a decade and a principal at Mercer Middle School. The best middle schools, she says, teach students how to be organized, how to interact with their peers, and how to be independent.

“Sometimes we forget that some of these really tall eighth-grade boys are only 13 years old, and they are children,” Medsker says. “There’s a constant balancing act for teachers to figure out how to support the child at any moment.”

Middle school teachers have to understand when to be nurturing and treat students like children, and when to honor their independence and treat them like young adults, adds Medsker.

Troubled Teachers, Less-Involved Parents

A veteran Seattle middle school teacher, who didn’t want her name used, says she spends too much of her day “defusing unruly students.”

“Teaching some middle school kids is almost like teaching kindergarteners,” she says. “They don’t know how to use the brain they have. Many of them simply choose not to use it.” She gave an example: After a powerful presentation about the holocaust, a student raised his hand and asked, “Are you gay?”

Along with the daily trials for teachers and the huge emotional and physical changes students are going through, one more factor makes middle school more complex than elementary years: Parents are less involved.

Most preteens and teens don’t want their parents around. There aren’t scheduled parent-teacher conferences, and there’s almost no parental interaction with teachers. Plus, far fewer parents volunteer in classrooms.

I’m guilty. I’ve only been in our middle school building three times, but I’ve found two ways to stay connected to my daughter’s education:

1. The Source (www.source.seattleschools.org) is the Seattle School District’s secure system for providing parents with information about student grades, assessments, homework and attendance. It also has e-mail addresses of your student’s teachers. The Source has become my best friend. I use it every day to check up on what’s happening in my student’s classroom and make sure homework is completed.
2. I drive the after-school carpool. Girls hop in to my mommy-van and pop off about the school day as if I have no ears. Oh, the things I’ve heard.

Middle school is an interesting ride.

It’s a time when we parents need to force ourselves to be more involved than we were in elementary grades. And if we do that, the kids who were thriving by five will also be keen by 15.

Linda Thomas is a freelance journalist and parent of two Seattle Public Schools students. Are your kids in Seattle schools too? Tell her about your experiences. And if you have a better slogan than Keen by 15 (someone must) email her: Linda@lindathomas.com.

A CAR WITH NO ENGINE

A few years ago, I wrote a newspaper article about a local sport called landsailing. Have you heard of it? Landsailers are remote-controlled, three-wheel vehicles equipped with a sail. Students at five Seattle schools have landsailing competitions where they construct and race the scale-model vehicles.

It was a fun story to do because the middle school teacher who developed the landsailing program at Whitman Middle School, Todd Staheli, was so into it. I thought he was a creative, enthusiastic educator.

Less than a year later, he left the school and the teaching profession. Recently he sent me a letter explaining why he quit. In short, he “didn’t feel his calling was true” and “the system burnt me out.” Here are excerpts from his letter, which he wanted me to share with Seattle’s Child readers:

I have an analogy that gets to the root of what I perceive as an educational quagmire. It goes like this: As a teacher, I felt like my colleagues and I were pushing a large car that looked pretty good but was missing something to propel it – an engine. Think of the students as this car, and the destination was a well-rounded education that will prepare them for satisfying, gainful employment someday. We attended lots of meetings/trainings/workshops and I came to think of these as polishing out the scratches in the car’s paint. Meanwhile, the car had no engine.

Here is my work order for this vehicle.

Step 1: Hold students accountable. Students should not be passed on to the next grade if they don’t pass their core classes. I can’t think of one child in my seven years of teaching who was held back. This is inexcusable. Kids who sincerely try will almost always pass.

Step 2: Develop national curricula. Round up five teachers of the year in each core subject area and give them the task of developing standardized curricula. As a first year teacher, I was given keys and a class set of 7th grade biology books and wished “good luck.” Sink or swim time. Personally, I swam just long enough to get to a new situation.

Step 3: Bring back vocational training. I saw many kids who would be great master carpenters, plumbers, electricians, or mechanics. We can strengthen the middle class without belittling them.

My resignation was the most difficult decision of my life. I smile when my 4-year-old daughter says that she wants to be a teacher. I just hope the car has an engine by then.

Best regards,
Todd Staheli

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