Watertown Middle SchoolGrade 7 Edventure Program

Working with 7th graders on important life skills:

• Building Community• Feedback & Tolerance• Goal Setting• Leadership• Creative Problem Solving• Personal Responsibility• Communication & Cooperation

“X Block” = Teacher-led MonthlyIn-School Small Group Activities

In the X Block, “I’minteracting withpeople I don’tusually… and wehave been workingwell together.”-David L.

“I really enjoyed X-Block!!! I loved theactivities because theyare so creative andindeed really useteamwork. I learnedteamwork isn’t just aword used in groups,but really somethingyou need and shouldhave.” – Melissa L.

• “I absolutely love x-block groups! I have learned so muchfrom participating in the fun activities. I think I haveimproved my listening skills greatly. I definitely want tocontinue doing X-block groups through 8th grade. I alsolearned that encouraging people is essential to having asuccessful activity. “ – James G.

• “I think X-block is fun to do because after a while youwant to keep doing it. X-block has taught me that I havetor try my best no matter how hard or easy it is. X-blockteaches people to listen to one another, try their best,and don’t get mad if people mess up or you mess up,keep your own opinions to yourself and don’t blameother people.” – Alyssa P.

“During the activities of X-block, my group and Ihave been able to worktogether better. Everytime we try something wealways have a chance tofix something we didwrong and learn from it,to do better next time andcome up with good ideasto get through it.” - Meri

• “I am really proud of my teambecause we made each otherfeel comfortable with each otherwhile we were up in the airdoing high ropes.” - Dede

• “I was proud of climbing morethan I expected. I didn’t think Icould go that far, but I did! I cantake it into a classroom bylistening and putting trust intomy teammates. At UNHeveryone worked together and Ican try to bring this into school.”– Stephen

“I am most proud of myability to be a follower. Bynature, I am a leader.Throughout the year andyesterday at UNH I havebeen working on steppingback and following othersand yesterday, while I wasn’tperfect, I definitely tried and Ithink it showed. At UNH andX-Block, I’ve learned a lotabout teamwork. This willhelp me in the classroombecause I’ll be able to workbetter and groups and notalways need to take thelead.” – Becca

“I am most proud of ourachievements in believingand cheering on eachother. In the beginning wescreamed at each other.Now we cheer on. I think Ican relate this in theclassroom by cheering ongood work and neverdoubting myself.”– Ashley

“One thing I’m proud offrom my UNH field tripand X-block this yearwould be how we workedas a team. In thebeginning we didn’t listento each other and only didwhat we wanted. But thisprevious trip, we workedwell together! We listenedto each other and got thetask done.” – Kara M.

“I am most proud of theway I acted and treatedpeople. I had a positiveattitude and was calm.When I was doing thechallenges, I had fun.From UNH, they taughtand showed me a lot ofhow people should act.Some things were: treatpeople with respect, helppeople and never leaveanyone out.” –Melissa C.

“I am most proud oftaking a step outside mycomfort zone by trustingpeople in my group withmy safety. One thing thatI learned from X-blockthis year is that you needto be open to changes. Ican bring this to theclassroom by welcomingnew and different ideas.”– James G.

“I am proud that Iconquered my fear ofheights from going onsome of those places inUNH. I am happy becauseI didn’t like heights thatmuch until I tried the multi-wire and it was really fun! Ican take the teamwork andlistening skills that we hadin x-block to the classroombecause we have to listento people’s ideas. Also, wehave to work as a team inclass.” – Joey

• “I really liked doing theproblem solving challenges inschool and at UNH. Its funbecause you can get to bondwith the people in your groupand have a fun experiencewith them.” – Kelly H.

• “I am proud of the time that Iwas in x-block because we dida really good job and welearned a lot. When we weretrying to touch the numbers inorder one at a time, we wereall paying attention toeverybody else and ourleader.” – Zach M.

• “The most proud thing in theUNH that our group is to listenmore to other people weweren’t the ‘big time leaders’and so we got to have moreideas and some of themactually worked.”– Marisa R.

• “I am very proud of the way mygroup and I communicatedthroughout the time we’ve hadtogether and at UNH. I canbring my communication skillsto class by sharing how I feelabout something that may behappening in a group projector in class overall.”– Shannon C.

• “What I am most proud of was thechallenge I took at UNH. When wehad to climb across the log, I wasscared to do it. On my turn, Iclimbed up the tree and steppedonto the log. I was immediatelyterrified when I looked down. I wasso high. I wanted to come down, buthearing my group encourage meand cheer me on made me want towalk across. Eventually I gave inand walked through I was stillpetrified. I am terrified of heightsand the fact that I walked across thelog with my legs shaking in fearmade me very proud of myself.

• I learned that when working in ateam, everyone’ job is veryimportant. You can’t do your taskwithout everyone’s participation.You all have to trust each other andbelieve in one another, or you willnot accomplish anything.” – Adrine H.

• “I am really proud that Iactually reached the top of thelog in an element. I can takewhat I have learned from UNHand apply it to the classroomby encouraging myclassmates and also by takingrisks like trying new things.” – Melissa L.

• “I am really proud of my groupfor supporting each other andsucceeding. In past X-Blocks,our teamwork wasn’t workingwell; we couldn’t completechallenges, etc. But last UNHtrip, we worked well together. Ithink I could support andcheer people along in theclassroom, just like people didfor me and like what I did forother people in UNH.”– – Danny

Learnings & Connections to School 2003-2011

“One thing I learned at UNH[Browne Center] was that youcan do whatever you want ifyou really try and put a lot ofhard work into it… like whenwe did the ropes course, atfirst I was a little nervousabout the ropes course, butwhen I got to the last rope Ifelt so much better and feltlike I accomplished a lot.”

“What I learned atUNH [Browne Center]was that yousometimes needteamwork to succeedin things. It relates toschool by working ingroups and getting ourwork done.”-- Joey

“I learned that ingroups you need tohelp your groupmember -- especially ifthey are scared. Inschool, when we areworking in groups, wehelp our groupmembers if they’reconfused.”

-- Brendan

“When we went toUNH [Browne Center] ,I learned that we shouldtrust one another more.We should also get toknow one another more.This applies to schoolbecause now I feel moreconnected to more ofthe kids.”-- Jadzia

“I learned thatencouragement was abig part in the fieldtrip… because you hadto push yourself toachieve pride and moreconfidence… and youneed that towardsschool so you can behave the courage to dosome things with moreconfidence.”-- George

“At UNH [BrowneCenter], I learned thatit’s OK to be at yourfreak-out point… andthis applies to schoolbecause it’s OK tofeel that way atschool, too! (… butnot all the time!) I hada great time andwould like to go thereagain.”

-- Arielle

“I learned how to step out of my‘comfort zone’… and make iteven bigger when I climbed upthe tree. I was scared andshaking, but taking one extrastep… it felt good and what reallyhelped was hearing my friendscheer me on. But it was scaryand I had to trust them a lot.

It relates to school because weshould step out of our ‘comfortzones’ in school. For example, ifyou don’t speak too much, youcan say a speech or do an oralreport and you have to trustyourself and your friends to backyou up.”-– Lena

“ I think that the UNH [Browne Center] trip was a goodexperience to face your fears and just have fun.”

-- Chris

Teacher-Facilitator Reflections“…We often just assume that students know how to work in groups. Wetell them to work in groups without any explanation or modeling of how todo this effectively. The truth is they need to be shown how to interact,voice their opinion respectfully, and come to agreement to solve aproblem. This is not something we are born with. The Edventure programgives students an opportunity to learn and practice these skills, which theycan then apply in their classes and in the rest of their lives.

“The Edventure program is probably one of the most important thingsstudents will do while in middle school. While it's often easy to get caughtup in academics and MCAS and grades, it's this development of soundinterpersonal skills and team building that will help students be successfulin life. Things like teasing, hazing, and bullying probably would not beissues if every student went through a program like this one in everygrade.”

Jim Kirkcaldy,Instructional Assistant, Watertown Middle School

One of the biggest changesI noticed was how outgoingand comfortable our groupgot with each other. At thebeginning of the year theywere shy and not veryconfident in their leadershipskills. Since we have beenmeeting, we have studentswho are unafraid to voicetheir opinions, dissent withthe group and also we seemore whole hearted groupcooperation once a path orgoal has been decidedupon.

Toni M. CarlsonEducational TechnologyWatertown Middle School

“In my Edventure group, I have seen students who feel free inthis small, safe environment to "come out of their shells" a littlemore than they would in a regular classroom setting and emergeas real leaders. I have a student who is painfully shy in classand dreads any type of presentation that she may need to makein class. In our X-Block group, however, she seems to be in hercomfort zone and approaches the activities as a leader whoexpresses her voice to the group. It has been nice to see thisdifferent aspect of her personality and has also given ourteacher-student relationship a new dimension since we are ableto work together in a regular classroom setting, and also in ourX-Block group.

“Also, it is nice during the field trip for the students to seeteachers demonstrating the "challenge by choice" attitude bytaking risks themselves. I had never done a ropes coursebefore, but was encouraged to try it. It allowed me to be moreempathetic to the kids, and allowed them to see me take on achallenge that was new for me.”

Chris Cochran, Teacher of English & Reading, Grades 7 & 8Watertown Middle School

For more photos, see: http://wmsgr7humanities.blogspot.com/For more information, contact Kerri Lorigan at Klorigan@Watertown.k12.ma.us