Language Arts in the Middle School

Spring blooms with Literacy in the LCCS Middle School

by Lori Kraemer- Eighth grade Language Arts Teacher

Writing

Each day, I come to Jersey City excited to spend so much time engaged in the writing process with my eighth grade students.  They work hard to craft essays, narratives, poems, plays and reports,  writing them on Chrome books, and get immediate and constructive feedback on their work from teachers and peers.  Writing is a way of life here; it’s authentic, and not simply something we do to demonstrate test prep which is the only way that it's used in my own daughter's suburban eigth grade. 

Reading

It’s the same with reading. Here at LCCS, our classrooms are filled with words and pages of so many incredible books it's hard to keep up. Our students literally love reading, and its exciting to watch them devour so many worthwhile books read each week that it’s hard to keep up! Our students love to read  fiction and non-fiction alike, and spend hours debating and deconstructing books on every topic you can imagine.   Here students have learned to love to read. I'm constantly taking book suggestions from your students, and taking them home to share with my daughter because that kind of reading is simply not encouraged or supported  in her school. 

Engaging in Meaningful Ways

Reading and writing all day brings growth beyond the page. Here, students are encouraged to be themselves, to express their opinions freely, and to challenge one another to think openly about the many diverse issues facing us all on a daily basis. At my daughter’s school, the greatest debates involve footwear and the hallways are nearly silent. My daughter will survive despite her very common middle school experience, but I hate that it has to be that way. Our  middle school feels different, looks different, and sounds different than your average 6-8th grade environment; it’s a refreshing vibe, full of energy and joy where teachers and students demonstrate a true camaraderie. And that’s what keeps me coming back each day.

Lori Kraemer is thrilled to join us as a guest blogger. She's been a teacher at LCCS for 4 years and is also  the proud mom of three. She loves that she gets to experience eighth grade as a teacher and as the parent of a student in another school, and just wishes that her own child had the ongoing creative curriculum she's proud to teach here at LCCS every day. 

If you’d like to know more about our Middle School please join us on  Tuesday, April 29^th  at 6:30 pm in the auditorium for our Middle School orientation session.  Please also feel free to email Ms. Kraemer at lori-kraemer@lccsnj.org if you have additional questions about our Middle School English program.