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Middle School Students Are Now at Center Stage
To strengthen its middle schools -- which are seen as the weak link of the K-12 system -- the county is adding courses, including a literacy course that connects moviemaking and text. At Wood Middle School, eighth-grader Osvaldo Maldonado readies a clap board for shooting.
(Photos By Pouya Dianat -- The Washington Post)
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One team of filmmakers set up in a storage closet, another inside the classroom. Vollmer stopped to check on the third group, working near the stairwell.
"Film it really wide," she told the students, "so you can see everything, and then do it again really close."
The students will edit their raw footage into a presentable film in time for a film festival on the last day of class, Aug. 3.
Patricia, Jose and classmate Jonathan Cabezas, 12, first attempted their scene with Patricia fleeing through the doorway in pursuit of Jonathan, who was charged with making the scary noise. On reflection, they decided the approach didn't actually make the character look very frightened. Could there be a better way?
"I think it would look good if he chases me," Patricia said, and shooting resumed.
Middle school reform in the county will involve more than a few new courses. Among the goals: an internship program to develop a new generation of middle school principals; math specialists and literacy coaches who provide on-site training to teachers in those critical academic areas; a consistent set of "pathways" for accelerated study in middle schools; consistent assessments of student abilities over the course of the academic year; and expanded offerings of high school courses in middle schools.
Another piece of the plan is to expand after-school and summer programs to increase reading, writing and math skills. The new literacy course is part of that expanded summer effort.
The students enrolled at Wood and the four other schools offering the literacy course this month come with a wide range of abilities. Some were recommended by their teachers, perhaps out of concern that their literacy skills might erode during summer. Others were registered by their parents.
Inside the classroom at Wood, seventh-grader Michelle Bright, 11, tried her best to look scared as a classmate flipped the lights off and on, and another trained the camera.
"I was thinking about screaming, but . . . " she told her teacher.
"That's okay," Vollmer said. "You can scream. As loud as you want."
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