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East Millbrook Is...
East Millbrook Magnet Middle School offers the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and the A+ Creative Arts program. These magnet programs provide students with a comprehensive, inquiry-based education focusing on international standards, with the emphasis on the study of 8 academic subjects that are thematically linked with an arts-integration component. The approach combines knowledge and application with critical thinking. Through the use of integrated arts and thematic units built around the International Baccalaureate Programme's Five Areas of Interaction (Community Service, Environment, Homo Faber, Approaches to Learning, Health/Social Education) students attain a global, realistic education emphasizing learning that extends beyond the textbook covers.
East Millbrook's mission is to foster an international, artistic community of learners. Our dual magnet themes share a number of common threads, most importantly a focus upon discovering and nurturing individual learning styles. An intense focus upon recognition and cultivation of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences allows students to discover their most effective Approaches to Learning. The arts play an important role as they allow students avenues to learning beyond the traditional mathematic and linguistic intelligences. With this self-knowledge, students explore their place in an increasingly global environment through the use of essential questions to guide instruction and learning. With strong PTSA and community support, this attention to inquiry puts the responsibility on the student to ask and answer the most crucial questions in each of the eight core subjects.
International Baccalaureate
The North Carolina Standard Course of Study guides our content each and every day, and we are measured by and meet the high standards set by Wake County Public Schools. Yet it is the delivery of instruction through the principles of the IB and A+ programs that sets East Millbrook apart. Each time students and teachers enter the library; they are reminded by our huge banner that it is our charge to "develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect." Students are expected to complete community service as part of the academic program at East Millbrook.
We believe that teachers, too, are students and can learn from one another. A teacher of humanities and the band director collaborate on a unit on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Students learn about the 60's through a musical journey that moves from Gospel to Soul to Folk, from Ray Charles to Joan Baez. The students present an oral presentation that is a powerful reflection on what they have learned. They now understand that art can give a voice to those that cannot be heard otherwise.
The voices of East Millbrook are varied. Our students come from diverse economical, ethnic, and social backgrounds and we value and celebrate their languages, their culture, and their contributions. We invite artists to perform and to provide residencies that reflect the diversity of our community and that, once again, take the ordinary curriculum and make it extraordinary. Our students enjoy performances by a South American band, an African American Dance Ensemble, an opera singer, a one-woman show on Harriett Tubman, a one man show on Jackie Robinson, and a New York repertory theatre's performance on the immigrant experience. In addition, we have residencies with poets, a Chinese artist, a Batik artist, a jazz singer, a dance ensemble, the North Carolina Symphony musicians, and a video production company.
The global emphasis is intentional because it reflects our mission. Our teachers are encouraged to create an international perspective whether it is a conscious choice in world literature, a connection with schools in other parts of the world, or a personal international experience. In the past two years our teachers have participated in a summer language program in Guatemala, built schools on the Ivory Coast, taught in Ethiopia, built homes for Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala, worked in a cooperative in Costa Rica, and participated in a Fulbright Exchange to Japan. In the hiring process we purposefully look for teachers with international experience because we recognize the value to our community.
A+ Schools
The A+ Schools Program, sponsored by the Kenan Institute and UNC-G, is an approach to teaching and learning grounded in the belief that the arts can play a central role in how children learn. A+ Schools cover the North Carolina Standard Course of Study through interdisciplinary thematic units, combined with arts integration and hands-on, experiential learning, including arts instructions by arts teachers. A+ Schools also develop strong partnerships with parents, area cultural resources, local colleges and universities, and the media. Realizing that children learn through a variety of learning styles is a powerful educational tool. The A+ model uses Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences to help identify the best ways to impact students:
- verbal/linguistic
- logical/mathematical
- visual/spatial
- musical/rhythmic
- bodily/kinesthetic
- naturalistic
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
Project-based curricula, thematically integrated instruction, and arts-based alternative-assessment strategies are just some of our methods of incorporating multiple intelligences into instructional practice. In addition, students have the opportunity to take electives from full-time teachers in visual arts, dance, drama, band, orchestra and chorus.
Our Schedule
East Millbrook operates on a flexible schedule of four 85-minute class periods per day. One-half of a student's classes meet on "A" Days while the other half meet on "B" Days. The days alternate with consistency throughout the year. The schedule allows for a more student-centered learning approach and a broader selection of electives in visual arts, dance, drama, band, orchestra, chorus, technology, and the career and life skills areas. With a flexible daily schedule of four 85-minute class periods, students experience in-depth learning. They have time to study and consider issues and problems in the widest scope, and are able to draw upon good solutions from many sources.
Classes are creative; students are engaged in real-life learning experiences. Teachers use different instructional delivery methods, such as cooperative learning groups, interdisciplinary thematic units, practical lab work, class projects and presentations, and other hands-on activities. The lengthened class periods allow for the completion of extended assignments. The flexible schedule allows students to engage in more reflective thinking and verbal expression of learning connections. In addition, time is available for teachers to address the various learning styles and the multiple intelligences of their students. Students generally complete homework assignments over a two-night period, however, a teacher may allow additional time. Thus, students are afforded more time to study for each class. In addition to core classes, students may choose to take as many as three electives each semester, for a total of eight classes, each meeting every other day.
What makes a good middle school?
The National Middle School Association describes a good middle school by how well it supports the healthy growth and development of its students (click here for the research base). A good middle school holds high expectations for all students' academic achievement, and teachers are careful to see that programs are appropriate to young adolescent learners. Teachers and students are placed together on teams that provide a sense of family within the larger school community. Mentoring programs match adult advocates with students and are available to help students and parents work through academic or other concerns. Subjects are linked to integrate learning experiences, thus reflecting life in the actual world. Helping students see how subjects relate to and support each other is important. Students achieve best when activities are related to their out-of-school lives and when they can use skills learned in seeking solutions to real problems. Additional classes in such areas as art, music, technology, drama, foreign languages, and careers offer all students' opportunities to explore new areas pursue interests and identify aptitudes. A variety of activities are also provided in clubs, athletics, student government, and community service projects. East Millbrook offers everything that a good school should. We also offer more.
Mentoring programs match adult advocates with students and are available to help students and parents, while our East Millbrook Business Alliance allows our neighboring businesses to assist our students to understand the relationship between education and career opportunities.
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