The bridge years between primary school and secondary school are a pivotal time for young adolescents, whose bodies and minds are developing more rapidly than at any stage other than the first two years of life. Middle School can be tumultuous but it can also be a lot of fun! It’s a time when students really start to frame their future in terms of identity and interests.

Join host, Natasha Estey, in conversation with teachers that bookend the Middle School experience - Grade 6 homeroom teacher, Teresa MacDonald, and Grade 8 homeroom teacher, Shelley Gopal - about how they bring joy into learning along with problem-solving and real-life applications, focus on how students learn as well as what they learn, and help students understand their positionality in the world.

Follow the hashtag #Yorklearns on Twitter to see more of the Middle School in action. You can find Shelley Gopal on Twitter @shelleygopal and Teresa MacDonald @mstmacdonald.

Books in Shelley Gopal's Grade 8 Book Club include:

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely 
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin 

You can read more about the Harkness Method here.  

Written & Produced by Natasha Estey
Audio Editing by Andrew Scott