Middle School Teams

 

 

GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT

AND LEARNING STYLES

Greetings from the Guidance Department!  The guidance counselors for Scituate Middle School are Mrs. Kristin Albertella and Mrs. Kathlyn Jensen.  Both counselors follow each class from 6^th to 8^th grade.  During the 2008-09 school year, Mrs. Albertella is the counselor for the 6^th and 8^th graders and Mrs. Jensen is the counselor for the 8^th graders.

 

The counselors are available to students for support in academic and social/emotional areas.  Counselors are also available to parents and may be reached by phone in the Guidance office at 647-4108.

 

The Middle School Guidance Department has developed a curriculum for all middle school grades.  To begin each school year, counselors visit all classrooms to discuss SPARK -

 

Safety     Personal Best     Attitude     Responsibility     Kindness 

 

The 6^th grade curriculum includes classroom lessons focusing on middle school goal-setting, learning styles, empathy, friendship, personal responsibility, and career development. 

 

The 7^th grade curriculum includes lessons about emotions, healthy coping strategies, positive peer communication, and interests/personal values inventories related to career development. 

 

During the 8^th grade academic year, even more emphasis is placed on career education activities.  Classroom lessons focus on high school orientation and education or training beyond high school, skills and education needed for various careers, career clusters, and in-depth career research.  

 

  LEARNING STYLES

 

Greetings Middle School Parents,

 

All of the students in the middle school have been developing and reviewing their Individual Learning Plans (ILPs).  As mandated by the R.I. Department of Education, each student is required to develop goals each year in three areas:  Academic, Career, and Personal/Social.  As part of helping students improve in the academic area, the middle school guidance counselors have given students individual surveys in order to investigate their strengths within the eight Multiple Intelligences or Learning Styles.  The learning styles include:

 

1.      Verbal Linguistic

2.      Visual Spatial

3.      Logical Mathematical

4.      Body Kinesthetic

5.      Musical Rhythmic

6.      Intrapersonal

7.      Interpersonal

8.      Naturalistic

 

After assessing their learning profiles, each student then identified specific learning strategies or techniques that could be helpful for him/her.   The list of strategies follows.  To reinforce what students have learned about ways to make studying more effective and interesting, you may wish to ask your child(ren) which strategies he/she is trying and how each is working. Please contact Mrs. Albertella or Mrs. Jensen in the guidance office if you have any questions.  The phone number is 647-4108.

 

Study Techniques for Different Learning Styles

 

Verbal Linguist:

¨       Find ways to incorporate speaking and writing

¨       Participate in class discussions/debates

¨       Read text/notes aloud, making it dramatic and varied

¨       Create musical jingles to aid memorization

¨       Create mnemonics (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally)

¨       Discuss your ideas verbally

¨       Dictate to someone while they write your thoughts

¨       Use story telling to demonstrate your point

¨       Tape record yourself reading text/notes and listen to the recording

¨       Rewrite class notes

 

Visual Spatial:

¨       Use visuals such as pictures, charts, maps, graphs, etc.

¨       Have a clear view of your teachers when they are speaking so you can see their facial expressions and body language

¨       Use color to highlight important ideas

¨       Take notes or ask teacher to provide handouts

¨       Replace words with pictures

¨       Illustrate your ideas as a picture before writing down

¨       Use computers and videos to "see" your topic

¨       Study in a quiet place away from verbal disturbances

¨       Read illustrated picture books about your topic

¨       Visualize information as a picture to aid memorization

¨       Use flashcards

 

Logical Mathematical:

¨       Try to understand the reasons behind the content you need to learn

¨       Create and use lists to organize, sort, and classify information

¨       Highlight important ideas

¨       Review notes

¨       Rewrite notes in a more organized format

¨       Skim through reading material to get an idea of the big picture before reading it in detail

 

Body Kinesthetic:

¨       Take frequent study breaks

¨       Move around to learn new things (e.g. read while on an exercise bike, mold a piece of clay when studying)

¨       Work in a standing position

¨       Chew gum while studying

¨       Use bright colors to highlight reading material

¨       If it doesn't distract you, listen to music

¨       Skim through reading material to get a rough idea before settling down and reading it in detail

¨       Use flashcards

¨       Draw diagrams/webs whenever possible

¨       Rewrite notes

 

Musical Rhythmic:

¨       Find ways to incorporate speaking and writing

¨       Participate in class discussions/debates

¨       Read text/notes aloud, making it dramatic and varied

¨       Create musical jingles to aid memorization

¨       Create mnemonics

¨       Discuss your ideas verbally

¨       Dictate to someone while they write your thoughts

¨       Use story telling to demonstrate your point

¨       Tape record yourself reading text/notes and listen to the recording

¨       Use rhyme and music to help memorize content

¨       Make speeches and presentations including music

¨       Sing class notes to the tunes of songs you know

 

Intrapersonal:

¨       Read text ahead of time

¨       Ask questions to clarify information for yourself

¨       Study alone

¨       Create a personal interest for the topic you're learning.  Ask "How can I use this?" and "Why does this matter to me?"

¨       Keep a journal on your thoughts, ideas, questions, or concerns while you are studying.  Come back to them and discuss them with others if necessary

 

Interpersonal:

¨       Try to study with others whenever possible

¨       Study with classmates

¨       Take turns quizzing one another on material

¨       Take turns reading aloud from the text and sharing ideas

¨       Share class notes and create a complete set of notes from all individual notes

¨       Use big paper to list important ideas from text, class, and discussions.  Appoint one person as the artist and other members to tell the artist what to write

 

Naturalistic:

¨       Study outside whenever practical, but only if it's not distracting

¨       Explore subject areas that reflect your love for nature.  Learning is much easier when you have a passion for it

¨       Take breaks to do something you love related to nature - take a walk or watch your fish or a nature video.  Use nature as a reward for getting other work done

¨       When possible, relate subject matter to nature

¨       Use hands-on methods of studying (i.e. experiments, charts, diagrams, webs, graphic organizers)