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With the start of the new school year underway, teachers and students of Clark Middle School are settling into a new schedule that includes a class meant to give extra support to the young students.

Crew is a 20-minute class at the beginning of each school day that focuses on the 10 design principles of the expeditionary learning program. The small classes, which range from 10-13 students, is a time for teachers and administrators to connect with the students on a closer level and give them the guidance to maintain success in their original curriculum.

"Crew is about building relationships and giving students a connection to at least one adult in the school," said Clark Middle School principal Steve Cook.

The class Crew is an updated form of the "Advisory" class that students attended twice a week for 50 minutes last year. Cook said that version was in the beginning stages because the school didn't have time to rearrange the schedule to make the class an important, everyday activity.

Now that the school is in its second year with the expeditionary learning program, Cook said the schedule was changed so that Crew could be held every morning. More staff, such as administrators and certified substitutes, were also given a class, which has allowed the class size to stay small. This change has allowed for a more "intimate experience" between teachers and students, which is the core focus of the class.

Cook said that in Crew, a student would hear their name spoken every day. This reaches out to the typical "wallflower" students who may otherwise be overlooked.

"We've already seen the changes," Cook said. "A kid is much more open to trying things that might have been uncomfortable before. It gives them a place where they feel safe and can talk about situations they might be dealing with."

In Jaye Shaer's Crew class made up of seventh-graders, students participate in a greeting activity everyday. They call each other by their names during a wide variety of activities, she said, that help them have a better understanding of themselves and of others.

Shaer, who is a librarian at Clark, said that once a week the students head outside for a physical activity, which is made possible by the fact that her class has only 11 students. The students also are working on activities that help them discover who they want be and what impact they have on others. In the future, Shaer said the students would begin a portfolio project that compiles their work from across the curriculum.

"It's kind of a place that's more relaxed and less structured than a regular classroom," she said. "It's a place where they (the students) can take more responsibility for their learning and help direct what we do in the classroom."

Seventh-grade social studies teacher Julie Parsons also only has 11 students in her Crew class. She said that her group of students represents a diverse cross-section of the student body. While she said that most of them probably wouldn't have been friends on their own, Crew has given them an experience they would have otherwise missed out on.

"Crew provides an opportunity for a diverse group of students who might never cross paths to interact," Parsons said. "They become each other's support systems."

Parsons said that Crew also gives students an "adult in the school who will always be their advocate." It the responsibility of the Crew teachers to continue to check in with the students and find out if any problems in school or out of school are occurring.

Parsons compiles an updated list of the students' grades in each of their core classes so they can reflect on those grades and set goals to make improvements in the future. Not only does this update the students so they know exactly where they stand in their classes from week to week, Parsons said, but it is a good indication of how the student is doing or feeling overall.

As a Crew teacher, Parsons considers herself a parent ally as well. With the Crew program, she said parents know exactly whom to contact should they have a question or concern regarding their student.

Plans for the Crew class are still changing as administrators and teachers continue the process of understanding and implementing the expeditionary learning principles. Cook said eventually he would like to arrange "community meetings," in which Crew classes would come together with other classes in their grade level to expand and improve the way the students approach problems or situations.

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