HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Recognizing the vitality and developmentally active scope of the Middle School years, and reflecting our commitment to provide young people with tools to develop personal responsibility, strengthen character, and achieve well-being, the Middle School Human Development Program offers several related classes and experiences: Environmental AND Outdoor Education, Lifeskills, and Physical Education. LIFESKILLS: The Lifeskills Program offers unique, process-oriented classes conducted in the Council format with an underlying intention of raising students’ self-esteem, self-awareness, and appreciation of others. In Lifeskills, students are given an opportunity to reflect on their lives and examine the quality of their relationships to themselves, others, and the community. These classes are required at all grade levels and take place once a week for one hour. COUNCIL has been used traditionally by the Native American people as a way of including the whole community in the process of decision-making. There are four intentions to every Council: speak from the heart, listen from the heart, be brief in storytelling, and do not plan what will be said. IT IS THROUGH THE SHARING aspect of Council that we teach and learn from each other. The following comment is a direct quotation from a Crossroads’ Middle School student: "Lifeskills is a class where we open up to others in order to trust people in the grade and to find solutions to tough predicaments." BACK TO TOP OF THIS PAGE PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Pre-adolescence is a time of rapid development and self-discovery; physical, mental, social, and emotional. The Physical Education program is designed to advance students in all of these areas through various games, activities, and discussions. THE SIXTH GRADE Physical Education curriculum provides each student with the opportunity to develop the fundamental physical skills involved in various activities with emphasis on sportsmanship, teamwork, and cooperation. Students are encouraged to develop their own skills rather than comparing themselves to others. This is accomplished through participation in a series of games and activities starting with very basic activities such as tag games and relay races, then moving on to group activities such as Crazy Kickball, Capture the Flag, Ultimate Football (a variation of Ultimate Frisbee), Gatorball, Pillow Polo, circus skills, and concluding with the traditional team sports of soccer, volleyball, softball, and basketball. THE SEVENTH GRADE Physical Education curriculum provides the student with many of the same activities that were introduced in the sixth grade, with more emphasis placed on learning individual physical skills as well as reinforcing sportsmanship, teamwork, cooperation, and personal development. In the seventh grade, students also have the opportunity to explore their competitive spirit by participating in three grade-level tournaments throughout the year. In addition, they are introduced to flag football and the benefits and techniques of physical conditioning. The culmination of these activities is the eagerly anticipated softball tournament at the close of the school year. THE EIGHTH GRADE Physical Education curriculum expands on many of the same principles that were introduced and/or cultivated in the seventh grade, with emphasis placed on skills development. While many activities from the seventh grade are repeated in the eighth grade, students are expected to participate at a more skilled and thoughtful level by focusing on strategy, techniques, and an appreciation for the rules. The physical conditioning aspect of sports is explored more deeply, and students are introduced to hockey and Ultimate Frisbee. Like the seventh graders, the eighth graders challenge their skill levels with three tournaments over the course of the school year. The highlight of the school year is the traditional eighth grade versus faculty softball game. BACK TO TOP OF THIS PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION: The purpose of the Crossroads Environmental and Outdoor Education (EOE) Program is to introduce students to the natural world and foster an appreciation of it, whether in the city or in the wilderness areas they may visit. Through this introduction, students are encouraged to understand the environments we visit and live in, to make responsible decisions about their environment, and to interact with each other cooperatively out of the classroom academic environment. Students develop a sense of acceptance and appreciation of the natural world and each other by working together under potentially challenging situations in a supportive, sensitive, and enthusiastic manner. THE EOE PROGRAM AT CROSSROADS seeks to provide students with opportunities to discover the outdoors locally and farther from home, develop new friendships with peers and faculty, and experience new activities like hiking, camping, sea kayaking, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting. BETWEEN THE SIXTH, SEVENTH, AND EIGHTH GRADES, students have a variety of choices when considering day and overnight outings. Day outings allow exploration of areas close to home like the Santa Monica Mountains, the local coastline, and climbing areas. Some of these opportunities take place during the school week while others are on weekends. Overnight trips to Joshua Tree National Park, the Kern and Colorado Rivers, Morro Bay, and the southern Sierras allow students to develop camping skills with a group while exploring the unique natural features of the area and learning to raft, canoe, hike, and climb. THE SIXTH GRADE OUTDOOR OPTIONS include trips that focus on discovering local environments. Through coastal explorations, hikes in the local mountains, and recreational outings, students develop a sense of their place in the outdoors. SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS may participate together in a range of programs, with opportunities to explore interests, develop connections to other students, visit new places, and further their abilities in the outdoors. A highlight of the year for seventh and eighth graders is a special EOE Week. During this time, students have the opportunity to choose from a variety of weeklong outdoor excursions, which enhance the kind of experiential learning that can best happen outside the walls of the classroom. EIGHTH GRADERS also spend a day in the fall experiencing a Ropes Course, which builds trust between members of the class and confidence in each individual student. THROUGH THE TRIPS offered by the EOE program, students have the chance to express and refine skills learned in other Human Development classes. Students bring with them a wide range of physical skills, a spirit of community and environmental service, and an ability to communicate honestly and openly while working together toward the common goals of their trip. THE OPTIONAL STATUS of the EOE program allows for a great deal of individual choice for students and parents. While some may elect not to participate in EOE programs, many students participate in more than one trip each year, with some participating in as many as four or five trips in one school year. A catalog of programs offered by the EOE program is mailed home to families each summer. BACK TO TOP OF THIS PAGE