Oakland Middle Program Aims to Create Problem-Solvers

A few short years ago, Oakland Middle School began the path to offer the Middle Years Program — which is a precursor to the International Baccalaureate program offered at Oakland High School — and will soon be fully authorized to provide the rigorous academic framework.

Once fully authorized, Oakland Middle will be the only MYP school available in Rutherford County, and appropriately, it will feed into Oakland High School’s IB program.

Paige Hawkins, MYP coordinator for the past two years, was an instructional coach for English Language Arts and social studies before assuming the role of coordinator full time.

“We’re currently at the end-part of our candidacy phase,” said Hawkins. “We have already completed the authorization application. Now we’re just waiting for a verification visit from the IB team … speaking with other coordinators around the country, it is not something that happens overnight.”

Oakland Middle’s MYP program is an early introduction to the International Baccalaureate (IB), a high school level program which promotes global leadership, international education, and offers a unique and rigorous course of study for secondary education students.

“There are certain qualifications our students will have to meet,” said Hawkins. “We’re following suit with what the high school is doing across the street. For students to be in that IB program, starting their ninth and 10th grade year, they must have certain test scores, possibly teacher recommendations.”

Students who continue in the IB program at Oakland High can earn an IB diploma — an offering which certainly provides students a competitive edge in college applications. Perhaps more importantly, it develops them into lifelong learners and responsible, active global citizens.

“They’re learning how to problem-solve. They’re learning how to take control of their own learning and developing projects that show in different ways, getting to the same thing but being able to connect that learning with the real world.”

Although final approval to become an IB Middle Years Program school is pending, teachers at Oakland Middle School are embracing the concepts by integrating practices like Socratic seminars, IB philosophy, and community volunteering.

“What I’ve been doing with MYP is really focusing on centering the student from the perception of also connecting with the global context,” said Christina Oats, eighth-grade ELA teacher and department chair. “It makes it real for them knowing that reading about Frederick Douglass can actually connect to a project about a societal issue now. That matters to them. It’s not just history, its actually students being a part of making history and making their world better.”

Amy Redhair teaches sixth-grade science at Oakland Middle and has helped lead students in community service in association with MYP.

“The kids voted on what they wanted to do, and they picked blessing bags for the homeless,” said Redhair. “I orchestrated it, but they did all the rest. It really connects them to the community. It shows them more than just their school. I think this showed them involvement and getting to see community spirit in action.”

“I like doing this because I just think it was very nice,” said Miriam Beruben, a student in Redhair’s science class. “You don’t want people to feel bad just because they don’t have as much as other people do. You want them to feel good about themselves. I just like to help those people.”

Christopher Roman, another student in Redhair’s class, agreed with Beruben.

“It’s good for the community,” Roman said. “For the homeless, it helps them overcome the winter months and not have to struggle to get some food or warmth during the winter.”

As MYP coordinator, Hawkins emphasized how important community service would be, not just for the program, but for the school itself.

“This year we’ve done two big projects,” Hawkins said. “One was in sixth grade, and it involved the whole sixth grade. For eighth grade we did the Rutherford County area Habitat for Humanity, and that was such a big project we brought in the seventh grade.”

Students participating in the program will be challenged but they will transition to high school with skills and an international perspective on learning which may place them ahead of their peers.

“No. 1, they’re taking control of their own learning. You’re learning how to be a problem-solver,” said Hawkins. “You are diving deep into your learning where you’re not necessarily just grazing it — you’re taking and making meaning out of it and connecting it with other things outside of yourself.”

She added: “It’s changing the way kids think about other things than themselves. It becomes: ‘I can think about others, and I think about the world around me and how I can also be a big part of that world.’”