Programs
Academics

DCD Middle School students will tell you in the same breath that school is challenging and fun

This a testament to our rigorous and dynamic Middle School curriculum. Through a well-rounded academic program that encourages original thought and exploration, we achieve a balance between freedom and structure, initiative and support, individualism and cooperation, and innovation and tradition.
 
Our curriculum is complemented by expanded course offerings and activities to fit students’ needs and interests. Academics, athletics, the arts and service—all are intricately connected to produce independent scholars who have learned to communicate clearly, assume personal responsibility, celebrate the strengths of themselves and others, embrace challenge, and understand the significance of being a citizen of the world.

Did you know that in DCD’s Middle School…

  • Responsibility and leadership opportunities are provided to Middle School students through our Kindergarten–Grade 8 Buddy Program, the Student Council, Weekly Assemblies, the Student Outreach Committee and voluntary participation in several community service afternoons throughout the year
  • Every student receives their own laptop in 6th grade
  • Challenging, interdisciplinary academics emphasize writing, critical thinking, and problem solving
  • Mini-term, which takes place between Thanksgiving and Winter break, offers a special curriculum in Science and Humanities for focus and in-depth study
  • Day trips and overnight retreats offer the opportunity for off-campus exploration, learning, and team building. During their time in the Middle School, students will go on overnight trips to the Chickatawbut Hill Educational Center, the Farm School, Pinkham Notch, and Washington, D.C. and day visits to Hale Reservation, the Challenger Center, the Institute of Contemporary Art and various Boston theatrical performances
  • Students participate in the annual Science Exposition which encourages in-depth exploration, problem solving, and collaboration on a particular topic or area of interest they choose
  • Middle School Math Club meets weekly and competes in the New England Mathletes Competition
  • Foreign language study is in Spanish or Latin. Latin and Spanish students have the opportunity to take the National Level Examination
  • Middle School clubs and activities offer a variety of opportunities to pursue interests in Debate, 3D Printing, Robotics, Pottery

What is DCD's Mini-term?

Between Thanksgiving and winter break, students in the middle school embark on DCD's Mini-term curriculum, which is designed to allow students to dive into specific subjects in science and humanities in a deep and focused way. For this three-week period, the daily schedule changes to allow for longer class periods where more focused discussions, research, and project work can take place.
 
In Science, Grade 6 students pose a question or hypothesis about a science related topic of their choosing and then devise their own experiments for testing, analyzing and presenting. Grade 7 students are working on a robotics unit designing, building and programming with Lego Mindstorm. Utilizing their study of simple machines from their curriculum in the fall, Grade 8 students parlay their knowledge into designing, constructing, and testing their own complex machines. These machine creations are required to complete a task independent of human intervention!
 
In Humanities, DCD’s History and English faculty collaborate to team teach a combined and impactful curriculum for each middle school grade. "I am Malala" by Malala Yousafzae serves as the centerpiece for the 6th grade humanities theme of activism. Grade 7 students are introduced to the Civil Rights Movement through a survey of events and discussions. And leveraging what they learned from the previous year, Grade 8 students narrow their focus on the Civil Rights Movement with a study of the Little Rock Nine and the desegregation of Central High School.
 
Just before winter break dismissal, mini-term culminates with a Science Expo where middle school students have an opportunity to showcase and share their project work with their parents and lower school students. Math and foreign language classes continue as normal.

Idea Log: DCD Middle School Faculty Blog

  • MASKS


    We ask your children to build masks – to try them out, adjust the fit, the expression, and to examine exactly what they’re showing and to whom. In heroic tradition, masks are often a noble defense that guards the anonymity of chivalrous deeds or selfless, altruistic risks. But masks are not just barriers. More than shields parrying unwanted attention, they are also curatorial reckonings of value and need that render visible what we want known, as opposed to obscuring our secrets. 
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  • Content, Control, and the Cloud

    By Rob Thacher, Middle School Teacher

    I teach grade 7 history, according to our school’s staffing documentation, but I prefer to consider myself a teacher of social studies to your middle school “tweeners” – caught in the difficult interstitial moment of growth between 6    th grade freshness and 8th grade responsibilities. To me, “social studies” aptly conveys the multiple threads that the subject demands in its teaching. It is my job not only to provide historical data – events, outcomes, causes, dates – but also to add layers to students’ geographic understanding of the world; to cultivate their familiarity with our civic institutions and fundamental economic principles; and to empower thoughtful reflection on the nature and reliability of information itself.
     
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  • The Benefits of Audiobooks

    When audiobooks are suggested to students, the first thing that is often asked is: But isn’t that cheating? Audiobooks are not cheating. They are a wonderful, multi-sensory avenue for children to access reading material, particularly when the audio is paired with the written word.
     
     
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  • Inspiring Foreign Language Learning


    If you studied a second language and now merely recall a few incongruent phrases the reality is that you’re in the majority. In 2015, The Atlantic cited that less than 1% of American adults who studied a second language are proficient in that language. Most Americans likely agree that in our multicultural world knowing a second language increases one's appreciation of other cultures, and improves hiring opportunities in myriad job fields. So why aren’t more Americans fluent in a second language? 
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  • Shaping Your Digital Footprint

    Here at DCD and around the country, students and teachers celebrated Digital Citizenship Week on October 16th to 20th! In honor of Digital Citizenship Week, we spent the month of October discussing and considering how we can be better digital citizens and build positive digital footprints.
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  • Nate Buffum, Head of DCD Middle School

    Adding Dimension to the Middle School Advisory Program


    As the teammate ran the route and cut right for the sideline, she used a forehand throw of the Frisbee to score the first points of the game. Meanwhile a group of students were inside contemplating an alliance in the game of Atlaza, a teacher-student designed board game. Down the hall a few students were putting the finishing touches on their cookie recipe in hopes of creating a delectable snack for the next day. Welcome to middle school activities!
     
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A Video Introduction to DCD's Middle School

Explore the Curriculum

Middle School Team

List of 10 members.

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