NELMS SPOTLIGHT SCHOOLS

East Lyme Middle School provides a curriculum that requires students to be active participants in learning. Subject matter is integrated and organized into thematic units of study. Units are organized around essential content and formulated by consideration of students’ questions about themselves and their environment. Themes are connected to the problems, which the world poses for students. These themes, relevant because they incorporate real issues, draw on the past to help students understand the present while planning for the future. Students learn the essential content through provocative, open-ended questions commonly used to provide a purpose and focus. The context for learning drives teaching decisions about the types of instructional strategies to employ, the design of student learner activities, and the means of student assessment. As a result of this curriculum, the teacher serves as the director, coach, or facilitator depending on the learner tasks. In addition, varies teaching strategies and learning activities address the multiple intelligence's of all students.

East Lyme Middle School received the NELMS Spotlight School Award in 2003.