AI is Back in Middle School

AI stands for the Awesomeness Initiative, and it’s back in the Mason Middle School. The spring 2022 classes kicked off on Tuesday, January 11: Fifth and sixth-graders are participating in a completely new class called OVERBOOKED (see separate story), and seventh- and eighth-graders are enjoying one of 16 non-graded elective courses. 

Seventh and eighth-grade classes are intended to help students fuel their passions. The students were able to choose their top three course choices and were then assigned an AI.  Complementing FWCD’s strong core curriculum, the Awesomeness Initiative courses expose students to additional skills, Pat Basset’s Six C’s of 21st-century learning:  creativity, character, critical thinking, communication, cosmopolitanism/cross-cultural competency and collaboration.. These skills and FWCD’s core values are required for success. Class offered this semester are:

• World Champion of the World (Stephen Blan, Danna Jenkins)
• Design Squad (Christine Spikes, Angeles Casanova)
• Composition, Songwriting and Recording (Erin Ypya)
• Forensic Science (Jamie Ringgenberg)
• Bake Your Buns Off (Clint Hagen, Debby Arnold)
• Think Like a Fish (Michael Parker, Robin Willis)
• Pinterest 101 (Audrey Laker Madigan ’12, Rachael Swinhoe)
• Intro to Film (Jared Knight)
• How to Survive … Be a Survivor (Debbie Schofield, Lynnette Burleson)
• FWCD Wildlife and Prairie Restoration (Jimmy Brockway)
• Fashion Design (Valorie Flaherty)
• Calligraphy (Jackie Rains, Christine Potts Barker ’93)
• Build a Computer. Play Minecraft. Learning Programming (Erica Williams)
• Chemistry Club (Gage Fowlkes ’22, Aaron Hoover)
• Developing Your Critical Eye (Eric Lombardi, Rob Napier)
• Primitive Technology (Austin Walton)

The AI program launched in 2018 and has been on hold since March 2020.  Its return was a time of celebration for the students.  

“Courses like these and the AI program as a whole give students a chance to really hone in on what it is they enjoy pursuing and to do that under the guidance of a teacher who is passionate,” Blan said. “Learning doesn’t get much better than that.”

Upcoming Middle School AI days are Thursday, January 27; Thursday, February 10; Wednesday, February 23; and Friday, March 25. 

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