One World Middle School

Why One World Middle School was nominated

As a school community, One World Middle School has reimagined the learning of what education looks like in how students experience school as a whole. At the foundational core, they believe that students have the right to a quality and innovative standards-based education, the right to know and be known in a safe and welcoming environment, and the right to be acknowledged as unique individuals who learn differently. These core beliefs promote and advance equity and student-centered learning throughout the school. It is evident upon walking through the halls, the classrooms, and interacting with the students that their core beliefs live and breathe through how they view the purpose of education and the instructional core, and the structures they deem important. One World Middle School has proven that in order to have a reimagined equitable learning environment, two components must be in place: a safe learning environment and a staff that knows who the children are and their individual needs. To support this idea they have implemented practices and events such as Ambassador Day, Unit 0, and Developing the Whole Child Meeting (DWC). Ambassador Day is quite the experience as students across all grades are given the opportunity to select their mentors for the year. During this particular day, students engage in community-building activities by spending the entire day in small groups with their teacher mentor discussing their commonalities and differences and learning to embrace each other diversity and strengths. Throughout the year the mentors meet weekly to plan and conduct themed-based activities. For example, in November and December, mentor groups coordinate events and activities around gratitude and acts of kindness respectively. These student-led initiatives have taken different forms over the years from groups creating donation drives, reading to students at neighborhood elementary schools, making edible treats that are distributed to fellow peers, volunteering at Senior Health Centers to simply redesigning a classroom space. In thinking about how to continually engage students and to make sure all learners see themselves in the curriculum, One World Middle School acknowledges and celebrates the various cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender diversity that comprises the school community through their first unit of the year. One World Middle School in all grades and content areas uses the first unit of the year which is called Unit 0 to focus on student identity and understanding the child. In addition, there are weekly meetings programmed called Developing the Whole Child (DWC) where teacher teams create action plans for ambassadors who may need support academically, socially, or emotionally. These strategies are often grounded in the Pre-referral Intervention Manual (PRIM) or Adaptation for Adolescents with Autism and Asperger's manual (A-5) to tailor the support to effectively meet the needs of the student. The teams continually discuss the outcomes of the strategy with each other as well including the student for their input. Teams reflect on progress as they monitor the impact on student learning. At One World it is evident that they are thoughtful about the language they use with their students and in their space. It is a common belief that the process for creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust that equitably supports the academic and personal growth of students and adults begins with language which is clearly intertwined in the fabric of the school. The school truly believes that the words students encounter on daily basis, they will in turn embody. Thus, students are addressed as ambassadors because they are encouraged and provided with opportunities to be agents of change. The word ambassador coincides with the school's construction as they operate under a United Nations model where ambassador voices are influential in the way the school functions and the changes that occur. An example of a system in place is the school's embassy delegates which include members from all grades that meet biweekly with the principal. These meetings range from discussing issues and making suggestions, to planning events such as LGBTQ Coming Out Day, Autism Awareness Day, or Breast Cancer Awareness Day which is driven by the consensus of the student body. These student-centered planned events foster a level of self and others. Every morning during morning assembly the school gathers together to proclaim as one voice, "I want today to be one of the greatest days of my life" to establish a positive feeling and tone for the day. As a mantra, to work and live by, the school leadership believes and promotes that each year they must create a learning environment and community that is more impactful than the previous year. It is without a doubt, that the ambassador's academic outcome is at the core of One World Middle School's instructional focuses and practices. They have demonstrated that ambassadors learn best when they have an opportunity to collaborate with peers and then make their thinking visible. Practices in place to support that students constantly engage with other students start with the structure of how the room is designed. At One World all classes are designed to accommodate a variety of grouping configurations. These configurations support opportunities over the course of a lesson for ambassadors to engage in turn and share and work on group assignments as well as projects in a seamless manner. Teachers have collaborated on phased protocols to promote partner discussions. As a best practice, all classrooms are equipped with two certified teachers to ensure that on a daily basis all needs of their children are met. Teachers take a less active role in talking in the classroom being mindful of the fact that the one that is speaking, is the one doing most of the learning. Therefore, in a One World classroom ambassadors are often engaged in discussions about the planned tasks, and activities in an effort to meet the day's objective where the teachers utilize a series of questions or prompt to cognitively challenge students thinking to either spark ambassador questions or to promote metacognition. Ambassadors making connections and providing opportunities is an extremely critical component of the school. For example, the entire student body annually engages in Science Day where ambassadors take their learning to design experiments and projects. Additionally, all students participate in a school-wide dissection that is tiered by grade to investigate the systems, and scientific benefits to society and to ponder the ethical consequences. All ambassadors in the 8th grade take high-school level courses (Living Environment, US History, English 11, Algebra). As a result, 8th graders start their high school careers a grade ahead which allows them to have access to a college course for free or graduate a year early. Students at One World have the opportunity to visit colleges they have expressed interest in that are located locally and across state lines. Some of the colleges toured include Boston College, Harvard, Yale, SUNY Oneota, Howard, and many others. From touring colleges students who have graduated have enrolled in colleges such as Boston College and other SUNY programs. Through their expeditionary trips to monumental sites in history, like Selma, Gettysburg, and The Capitol ambassadors have been able to make connections to topics discussed in their classes. Other practices that are embedded at One World include a dedicated department and common planning time for teachers to meet, plan and revise units that are tailored specifically for the students they teach. Student-initiated clubs and student electives where ambassadors get an opportunity to express their interests and preferences for electives in a series of exit interviews.