Developmental Designs

Students cannot be expected to meet the high expectations of our academic work without finding themselves in a positive and supportive environment, understanding expectations specifically, and being equipped to meet the expectations.  We cannot expect students to become academic risk-takers without working to promote a community that values the contributions of each individual--respectfully listening and responding.  We cannot hope to develop students who are responsibly independent without modeling what that looks like and giving students opportunities to demonstrate their responsibility and develop their independence.  

The Developmental Designs (DD) program offers the structures and approaches that support the establishment of community and the development of the habits and values that the Day School has always held in high regard.  The following excerpt from the DD literature provides a picture of the principles of the program and how it is integrated into the middle school.

Based on developmental science, Developmental Designs addresses four essential needs:

• The Need for Relationship: I want to connect with others.

• The Need for Autonomy: I want to be independent.

• The Need for Competence: I want to do well in school, and to feel like a worthwhile, significant person.

• The Need to Have Fun: I want to have a good time!

Developmental Designs offers a set of strategies designed to keep young people safe, connected, responsible, and engaged in learning. These strategies fall into three basic areas—Relationship, Social Skills, and Engagement. When educators integrate these areas, learning is optimized.

Relationship

Developmental Designs makes respectful, caring relationships a high priority. Every day begins with an advisory period in which students circle up to greet each other, share what’s happening in their lives, and do activities together that purposefully teach social and academic skills. This morning meeting (we call it the Circle of Power and Respect) helps students make the transition from home to school and establishes a clear path into the learning day. During the day, teachers continue to build relationships through their language and through face-to-face meetings, team work, and reflection.

Social Skills

Transitions between classes are taught and practiced, as are all the routines of the school day. Nothing is taken for granted; everything is modeled and rehearsed. The goal is the development of self-control through proactive strategies that put the emphasis on the prevention of rule-breaking. If students know better, they will do better. As middle school students try out their new freedoms, mistakes are expected. Each mistake is dealt with in a respectful way that teaches rather than punishes. The purpose is to clarify the expectations, provide a chance to restore order, safety, and relationship, build new habits, and maintain the dignity of the rule-breaker.

Engaged Learning

Developmental Designs is based on the belief that all children with appropriate support can do high-quality work. Students who succeed in school academically are engaged in their learning.  Academic lessons that engage students most readily are ones which are designed to meet the students’ need for relationship, autonomy, competence, and fun.  Structures such as choice within assignments, opportunities for peer interaction, careful modeling, developmentally appropriate assignments, and academic games should be meaningfully integrated into a rigorous academic curriculum to meet these needs.  

-Adapted from WWW.ORIGINSONLINE.ORG

Developed relationships are among the most important components of the middle school experience— among students as well as between students and teachers. The following quote from Linda Crawford and Scott Tyink captures our thinking:

“When the doors open in September, if there aren’t any structures to support healthy, inclusive communication and relationship-building, they won’t happen.  Community and trust don’t occur just because we all came to the same school and everyone is following the same schedule.  They are built deliberately, piece by piece, out of every encounter between one person and another.”

Guidelines for Developmental Designs for Middle School 1

For these reasons, we provide a variety of venues, activities, and structures throughout the year in which students and teachers can get to know each other and build community. That community serves as a foundation for much of what we do.