In the Middle at Ballston Spa
Once upon a time, the Ballston Spa Middle School sat at the
very end of Wood Road, far from the thick of things. In 1998 we inherited the former Ballston Spa High School,
settling in at 210 Ballston Avenue, right in the middle of everything.
And that is surely an appropriate place for a school in the middle to be,
isn’t it? We are enjoying our new location, and see some especially wonderful
things happening due to our proximity to the high school staff and facilities.
But in this inaugural column we would like to provide you with some background
informational about our middle school that you might not be aware of.
First, we house 1,078 students in grades 6, 7 and 8. You are no doubt as
surprised as almost everyone else is when hearing that number; there are more of
us than many think.
We know that the words “middle school” often beget
gasps of fright or expressions of sympathy from our listeners. But living with
1,000 of them five days a week does teach you a lot about adolescents in
general. Students at this age and
stage are marvelous creatures of incongruity.
They look very grown up, but sometimes do things that aren’t very!
They have an incredible amount of energy; care deeply about their
friends, and about fairness and about the problems of others; they demonstrate a
great desire to serve and to help. They
are very curious about the world around them and like to question things. And
while they don’t always tell us this, they do look to adults for guidance and
advice. In fact, they are watching us all the time.
To help students in their transition to young adulthood and
the world of high school beyond, the middle school is organized in a different
way from either the elementary school that precedes us or the high school that
follows us. Students and teachers are organized into teams at each grade level.
A team consists of an English, social studies, math and science teacher
and, in grades 7 and 8, a foreign language teacher.
We have found that a team approach serves young adolescents well.
The teachers on a particular team teach the same group of students.
Team size varies with the number at each grade level, of course; at the
BSMS each team has about 125 students. Having
a restricted number ensures that students are better known and are monitored
more consistently. Teams have
regular meetings where student needs are often addressed, and team initiatives
can be discussed/planned.
In addition to the core academic courses, students
participate in physical education, health, art, general music, home and careers,
technology and computer education. New
York State has established requirements for the amount of exposure students must
have to these “exploratories” during their middle school years.
In addition to these requirements, students have an opportunity to
participate in band, orchestra or chorus. These
do occur within the school day.
After-school activities are plentiful.
Students are able to join a host of clubs and organizations that suit
their talents and dispositions. We have clubs in art, computer, newspaper,
yearbook, student government, service opportunities and the like.
We also have a drama club, which was resurrected last year after a
considerable number of years in abstentia.
It proved to be a popular outlet for the energy, which characterizes
middle school students, and also showcased their considerable talents. We
produced and delivered a middle school version of “The Music Man” in early
June of 2002. It was a whole-school
effort, one that was enjoyed by all. We are looking forward to the production of
“Murder at Coppersmith Inn,” a pretty humorous mystery, scheduled for late
January, and a rock opera, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,”
in May. Be looking for our
advertisements. We think you will
be as impressed as we are about what middle school kids can do!
Potential athletes are given an opportunity to explore
their interests and strengths by participating on one or several of our
organized teams. We offer
interscholastic competition for in the following areas:
modified football, basketball, soccer, and track, cross-country,
volleyball; baseball/softball, and swimming.
Our fall teams have excellent records in boys’ and girls’ soccer,
girl’s volleyball and mixed cross-country.
Our fields are always busy with events; stop by any time you see a game
underway. You might just witness
the winning goal!
For quite some time, middle school has been considered a
pretty carefree place and period in life. With
respect to academics, that vision is no longer entirely correct.
As part of the effort to raise the standard for high school graduation,
New York State put into place a comprehensive assessment program for grades
4-12. Eighth grade students are now responsible for taking five
state exams: one in
English-Language Arts, social studies, science, math and foreign language. As you might expect, this requirement has changed the tenor
and the tempo of what we do in pretty significant ways. These are not your standard multiple-choice or
fill-in-the-blank kind of exams. Students
are required to read and analyze a considerable amount of text, including
charts, graphs, diagrams, photographs, and assorted other documents, to draw
conclusions and make inferences and then to write explanations, rationales and
solutions. So the challenges are
many, but we know our students and we are up to facing them.
In all, the Ballston Spa Middle School is in a different
place than it used to be, both literally and figuratively. We invite any of you
to call and make an appointment for a visit.
We would love to show you our school and talk to you about the way we
learn and teach and the kinds of things we do.
