Middle School
When asked how they would define our middle school community at The College School, our students came up with the following answer to what middle school is:
- A challenging, yet comfortable environment where sixth, seventh and eighth graders and teachers come to learn and grow;
- Like an extended family - a welcoming community in which students make connections with friends of different ages and backgrounds.
- A series of indoor and outdoor experiences that turn curiosity into knowledge and adventures into memories.
All middle school students engage in challenging language arts and mathematics classes daily with their grade-level peers. In addition, they have the freedom to select courses that match their special interests while meeting core curriculum requirements. Students can expand their knowledge of other fields and work alongside other middle school students through exploratory courses.
Three days a week, students take exploratory classes related to social studies and science. Students have distribution requirements to guide their course selections, but they also have the option to choose from a wide variety of classes, such as Constitutional Law, Inventors and Inventions, Economics, Geography, Tales of the Southeast, Oceanography, Botany, Chemistry, or Physics.
Some exploratory courses help students investigate the worlds of performing and visual arts, language study, and technology. Exploratory courses meet three times a week and include classes such as Photography, Got Beats, Graphic Design, Spanish or TCS News, a broadcast journalism course.
Themes are central to the middle school experience at The College School. Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 10:30 - 3:15, students engage in focused, in-depth, thematic studies. Themes are interdisciplinary and experiential and typically involve an extended expedition. Our philosophy is that an in-depth study of a specific topic is more effective and meaningful than a survey, or quick overview, of many topics. Each year sixth graders have the Wilderness Experience and State of Missouri themes, seventh graders are involved in Environmental Issues and the Urban Experience, and eighth graders study Field Ecology and the Live-In Experience in Ste. Genevieve. During the second semester, all grade levels work on writing research papers relevant to their themes.
Middle School at The College School is about more than academic preparation and growth; it is also about social growth, self-awareness and preparation for life. In addition to classes, each student participates in an advisory grouping. Advisors and advisees form a special relationship through dialogue, writing, activities and service projects. The advisors help steer students' course selections, smooth the transition into high school, and share all the joys and challenges of being middle school students.
