On Feb. 4, 2015, I attended 6th grade Parent Night at Culver City Middle School. I am a grandmother who is just getting involved in my darling 11-year-old granddaughter’s school career. I am 71 years old, having graduated elementary school in 1955 before there were electric typewriters, let alone computers or cell phones. You see where I am coming from?
Ms. Slemmons, the counselor for the entire 6th grade, will be counselor for this class until they graduate Middle School. Consistency is a fundamental part of the program. She ran the show enlightening us with a power point presentation, flow charts and directions on how her mother and I can access the most intimate aspects of my granddaughter’s academic career. Needless to say it must have been clear to everyone else who isn’t a ‘muggle’ when it comes to anything other than the most basic computer directions. I am sure that if I was more in tune with this century, I would have been able to follow. I have some super notes I took and I think, as a UCLA graduate, I can make sense of with a little time.
Back in the 50s, when I was in 6th grade, we read Nancy Drew, wrote short essays, tried to spell correctly, did arithmetic, dropped and hide under our desks in case of an atomic bomb going off down the street and took a ballroom dancing class in the multipurpose room after school so that we would develop social skills. If I needed help with homework my mom and pop sat me down at the kitchen table and looked over my efforts or sent me to the library. There were no tutors. Sometimes they called the teacher or principal complaining about the ability of the teacher. It ended there with the teacher spending more time on the subject in class if I was lucky. We 6th graders were the top of the school and had just one teacher except for Gym (not Physical Education).
I was really impressed with the Time Tracker and the organizational skills that are provided the students. A tool like this would have served me well in my academic career. Not having to create this tool on their own will save the student much anguish trying to organize their lives. I was also impressed with the built in PAWS program which allows the student access to their teachers for extra help in those areas needing more attention. There are two-half hours allotted each week and other times when tutoring is available, before and after school. These teachers and the counselor are so much more dedicated than I expected or experienced.
Now I am going to buckle down and see if I can be educated in middle school all over again.