When the seventh-graders of Watertown Middle School get excited over something, its probably UNH.

Its real name is Browne Center for Innovative Learning at the University of New Hampshire, and the Middle School started going there about seven years ago after finding out about it from seventh-grade humanities teacher Kerri Lorigan. She learned about UNH from a friend who was studying outdoor education.

UNH was chosen because WMS could take 100 students at a time — about the size of a cluster — which they couldn’t at the previous site, Outward Bound on Thompson’s Island in Boston Harbor. Seventh-graders are the only students who go on these trips each year. They go once in the fall and again in the spring. The next trips are Wednesday, June 2, and Thursday, June 3.

The purpose of the UNH trip is the innovative learning of life skills: working in small groups, problem-solving skills, individual challenges. Teachers hope UNH will have a impact on kids. When the kids get there, they will get in their X-Block groups and start through the woods with their assigned counselor from UNH. The students will do team-building and teamwork activities.

When the seventh-graders come back, they say they had a blast. Later they are interviewed separately. Everyone is surveyed in the spring. A while after the seventh-graders get back, they start to forget what they learned at UNH and go back to their regular ways. To prevent this, WMS adopted a thing called “Edventures Curriculum,” which was nicknamed “X block,” to bring a little piece of UNH to the Middle School.

“X block” — the time the kids meet — happens two times a month. During it, the UNH groups meet and do teamwork activities.

–May 31, 2010–