SMS works to bring back the joy of learning to students

It’s not very often you see kids fishing off of bridges anymore, especially not during school hours.

But that’s what you’ll see on occasion by Salem Middle School during the last hour of the school day on Friday. You might also see students outside with animals, walking by the creek or doing other activities. If you went inside, you might see students doing yoga or art projects or acting out skits they wrote or writing poetry or hanging out and talking about sports statistics.

And the teachers aren’t just not telling them to get back to doing their homework. They’re leading the discussions, fishing excursions and projects.

It’s part of the school’s new initiative, offering two-week advisory programs for students during the last hour of the school day, filling that time with various STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and communication/language arts subjects that aim to increase student attendance and engagement at school and encourage them to work hard in class.

“At the end of last year, after examining all the data that came with our academics, we knew there would be a need for both assistance in students needing remedial help — getting assistance from teachers and improving our academics — but also engaging in a way that makes students want to come to school because attendance is such a big part of what we can do on a regular basis,” said Principal Jennifer Lawyer. “We talked about having something at the end of every day for students to look forward to if you were getting here on time, getting your choice of which program you wanted to be in [students sign up on a first-come, first-served basis, so students arriving late may not get their first choice] and if you make sure you get your work completed … you’ll have something to look forward to. At the same time, they’ll get the opportunity to ask questions of a teacher in a settings they may not have had the chance to before.”

Read more about this in tonight's Salem Democrat!