Enrichment
Enrichment
Philosophy
The Enrichment program at Mansfield Middle School is designed to serve motivated, talented, and creative students in Grades 5-8. Our program is based on the Reis/Renzulli Schoolwide Enrichment Model and the underlying philosophy that all students have gifts and talents that can be developed through wide variety of opportunities and services. Options for students are provided within the classroom setting and through activities that challenge, accelerate, and enrich each student as well as to support the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and global citizenship.
Getting Involved
To best reach a wide range of student interests, we utilize the “revolving door” philosophy in which individuals and groups rotate through enrichment programs. In keeping with this philosophy, students may gain access to enrichment programs in a variety of ways, including teacher recommendation (based on classroom and assessment performance), opting in to an offered program, interest survey inventories, and student proposals. Many enrichment programs and groupings do not look the same year to year as teacher and student needs change with varying units and classroom groupings.
Opportunities
Just as the nature of students served changes frequently, the role of the enrichment teacher changes throughout the year as well. The teacher may work within a classroom, run a program for an entire grade level, pull groups of high-performing students for a given unit, and/or work with students who have chosen to join an interest-based program. Some past examples include:
- Arranging for a professional archaeologist to speak to the entire seventh grade to complement a social studies artifact study
- Pulling a group of sixth graders to engage in project-based learning on idioms based on student interest inventories and teacher recommendations
- Instruction for entire grades on how to solve one face of the Rubik’s Cube
- Co-teaching fifth grade reading classes during a book club experience
Despite the fact that many enrichment opportunities flex to meet needs and interests as they arise, some competitions and extra curricular program offerings are yearly staples. These include:
- National Geographic Bee competition: Participants include all 7th and 8th graders
- MathCounts 5-8th grade
- VEX Robotics 5-8th grade
- National History Day: Research-based project competition for students interested in the humanities, arts, and/or technology. This is a choice-based program available to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.
- Student Council: Civics and leadership training in a student-led forum with the goal of service within and beyond Mansfield Middle School.
Enrichment Beyond Enrichment
Lastly, it is important to note that while the enrichment teachers work to provide challenging experiences, enrichment at Mansfield Middle School occurs on a much more global scale. Numerous activities and clubs related to the arts, sciences, creative writing, and technology are available to students from a variety of staff members. Additionally, students are always encouraged to propose new program ideas to staff members if they see an interest area that is not currently being served through school programming.