Benefits for All Students
The middle school years offer great opportunity for students at Hanes Magnet School.
Students tackle hands-on activities to gain a greater understanding of science and math. Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program, is an elective that is taught at Hanes only. A focus on gifted education allows every student to receive a rigorous education that addresses the ways they learn best.
About Project Lead the Way
Project Lead the Way is a national program that makes math and science relevant for students by applying the skills they are learning in the classroom to engineering projects. The curriculum meets national standards for math, science, technology education and English language arts.
At Hanes, Project Lead the Way will be offered as an elective to students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. It will cover:
- Automation and Robotics
- The Magic of Electrons
- The Science of Technology
- Design and Modeling; and
- Flight and Space
The Project Lead the Way classroom will be equipped with $50,000 in technology to give students rigorous hands-on experiences.
There are no prerequisites for the Project Lead the Way elective, and students may enroll in the elective for one year, two years or all three years.
Students who do not choose the elective will have opportunities to expand their knowledge of math, science, engineering and careers in those fields through group projects and activities.
For more information, about Project Lead the Way, go to http://www.pltw.org
An Emphasis on Gifted Education
Faculty and staff at Hanes recognize that every student is gifted. All teachers of core subjects such as English language arts, math, science and social studies are encouraged to pursue licenses in gifted education.
In addition, all Hanes teachers will receive extensive training on Joseph Renzulli's Schoolwide Enrichment Model. The model suggests that intelligence tests are only one way to identify giftedness. Another approach, creative-productive giftedness, emphasizes applying information and using thinking skills to solve problems.
Teachers at Hanes will help students to explore their giftedness each quarter through projects that explore their interests and raise their level of knowledge.
Foreign Language Instruction
Students are expected to take a foreign language each year. They may choose from French, Latin or Spanish. Students who take the same language all three years of middle school are invited to take a placement test to exempt the first year of foreign language in high school.
Technology throughout the School
Over the next three years, Hanes plans to use federal Magnet Schools Assistance Grant money to greatly expand students' access to technology throughout the building. The school will add wireless Internet capability to all the school's laptop computers, and a total of 50 computers will be added throughout the building. Flat screen monitors will be used to showcase student achievements and to promote upcoming events and after-school activities.
Students will use digital video cameras and playback and editing equipment will allow students to showcase their work through award programs and competitions.
In math classrooms, connect-to-class systems will be installed to provide wireless communications between students' graphing calculators and their teachers' computers. Other technology will include wireless QOMO tablets that will transmit handwriting, symbols, graphs and lecture notes to a large screen television.
Science labs will be renovated to include new handheld technologies and safety equipment, as well as TI-NavigatorTM and mimio systems.
Academic Competition and Extracurricular Opportunities
Hanes students are encouraged to take part in math, science and technology competitions and other activities as individuals or members of a team.
