Throughout the year, a few lucky Northfield Middle School students have been attending a program called SCOPE in lieu of they regular “Social Studies” classes. SCOPE is a collaboration between Carleton’s History Department, the Northfield Middle School, and the Northfield Historical Society that has been running for over a decade. It embodies the concept of reciprocity, for it gives Carleton students opportunities to teach and share their love of history, while also giving local middle school students spaces to challenge themselves academically through historical research.
Both Carleton student teachers and middle school student participants apply for this year-long program. In the fall, students work on writing and research skills. In the winter, students work independently on a ten page original research paper on the topic of immigration in Northfield. In the spring, students transform their papers into a museum exhibit for the Northfield Historical Society. Instead of going to a “Social Studies” class during the school year, students participate in this program, with Carleton interns acting as their teachers. The Carleton interns meet weekly with Professor Susannah Ottaway (History) to plan curriculum, class material, and homework assignments. Interns may count their SCOPE hours either for work study or for course credit.
During this school year, two permanent interns (Abby Easton ’16 and Madison McBride ’16) and two interns receiving independent study credit (Keelin Davis ’16 and Micah Nacht ’18) have been working with middle school students in the SCOPE program for several weeks. Abby (major: American Studies; concentrations: Educational Studies, African/African American Studies, American Music) says she first became interested in SCOPE through hearing about the experiences of previous interns. As a senior interested in pursuing a career in education, she thought “this experience would be enlightening, give insight into what creating daily curriculum feels like, and [would allow her to] gain practical experience.” As a Program Director for a CCCE program called WomenCircle, which is a program in which college women and middle school girls create a supportive and conversational community, Abby felt teaching through SCOPE would complement her academic and extracurricular involvements well.
Another current intern who is also involved in other middle school enrichment programs is Keelin Davis (major: History). Keelin is “passionate about trying to think about ways to make history fun and engaging for middle schoolers since . . . SCOPE is a great opportunity to show kids that history is more than facts and dates and you can engage with the past critically in a fun way.” In addition to working with SCOPE, Keelin interned with BLAST this summer, helping Northfield Middle School students improve their math, reading, and/or science skills while school is not in session.
As students involved in multiple middle school enrichment programs, Abby and Keelin have interesting insights into these programs’ similarities and differences. Abby notes that, despite the differences in her experiences with SCOPE and Women’s Circle, both have taught her that “how one talks with you people matters a lot . . . Communication is critical to effective interactions.” Similarly, Keelin emphasizes relationship-building: “the most rewarding aspect is building relationships with the students and really getting to earn their trust and respect. Seeing little developments each day.” Some of the main differences that both Abby and Keelin note in their experiences with SCOPE and other programs are the amount of time devoted to the program and the demographics of the students in each program. Both hope to continue addressing opportunity gaps in education, and both emphasize creative approaches to learning and teaching.
Although SCOPE emphasizes opportunities for learning and intellectual changes among middle school students, it also focuses on development of Carleton students. Through this reciprocal partnership between Carleton, the Northfield Middle School, and the Northfield Historical Society, Carleton interns learn as much as their students. Abby feels she has grown as a mentor, saying she now knows how to put herself in her students shoes, and “how to relate but also push them.” As a senior who is working on an interdisciplinary “comps” research project, she feels that she is asking her students to engage in work that is similar to her own, helping her to clarify her own research methods and questions. Keelin agrees, noting that working with SCOPE and BLAST has helped her understand her position as a Carleton student, and has helped her to enhance “the skills I’ve learned as history major, [such as] self-reflection” and writing persuasive arguments.
Abby and Keelin’s multifaceted involvements with students at the Northfield Middle School show that the middle school is a space that facilitates many different kinds of engagement and enrichment. Their experiences, and those of other SCOPE interns, are a testament to the breadth of Carleton’s involvement in the local community, the importance reflective and critical approaches to engagement, and the necessity of appreciating communication and relationship building when working with young people.
For students who are interested in SCOPE or other opportunities to get involved with middle school enrichment programs, explore the program links listed below.
Programs:
Summer Internships: