At East Allegheny Junior High School, teachers focus on helping students grow as learners and thinkers. Assistant Principal Devin Milbourne describes the approach as “student-centered, data-informed, and focused on building both academic skills and independent thinking.”
Building Connections Across the Curriculum
A strong focus on academic vocabulary and writing in every subject helps students move from general literacy to discipline-specific literacy. At this stage, they’re learning to read, write, and think like scientists, historians, and mathematicians. According to Milbourne, “writing is embedded across the curriculum, not just in ELA, but in science, social studies, and even math.” This emphasis helps students use the language of each subject confidently, explain their thinking with precision, and make stronger connections across areas of study.
In classrooms, teaching is a shared effort built on reflection and teamwork. Teachers use assessment results to understand how students are learning and to shape instruction that meets each learner where they are. Collaboration among teachers ensures students encounter important concepts in multiple ways, helping them build a more integrated understanding of their learning.
A Cross-Curricular Journey: A Long Walk to Water
Building on this collaborative approach, the upcoming project centered on A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park demonstrates how teamwork among teachers creates powerful, connected learning experiences. The novel follows two young people in Sudan, Salva, a boy displaced by war, and Nya, a girl who walks long distances each day to 
fetch water for her family, highlighting perseverance, hope, and the struggle for access to clean water.
“We’re looking forward to seeing students connect their learning across subjects while developing empathy and global awareness,” said 7th-grade teacher Rebecca Anselmo.
In English Language Arts, students will analyze the novel and write evidence-based responses about its themes. In Social Studies, they’ll study Sudan’s geography and history to understand how the environment and conflict shape people’s lives. Science lessons will focus on water filtration and the importance of clean water, while Math activities will involve calculating distances walked and converting units of measurement. Together, these lessons help students apply learning across disciplines and gain a deeper understanding of global challenges and human resilience.
“As a culminating activity,” explains Ms. Anselmo, “students will spend the afternoon at the field to demonstrate how the character in the story walked with the water from one location to the next and how difficult of a job that is to accomplish, then reflect on how they felt about the experience.”
Learning Through Action and Collaboration
Hands-on and project-based learning are central to the junior high experience. Recently, seventh- and eighth-grade honors science students visited Jack’s Run in White Oak as part of their study of ecosystems. They tested water quality and studied macroinvertebrates to assess the stream’s health, using real scientific tools to connect classroom learning to the natural world.
Milbourne has seen how this type of learning increases both confidence and engagement. “They weren’t just participating, they were leading the learning,” he said about the Jack’s Run trip. He noted that students who are often quiet in class became more confident and curious when working together in the field. These experiences help students build communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills while deepening their understanding of academic content.
The district is also developing Cornerstone Tasks, performance-based assessments that measure how well students can apply what they’ve learned to real-world challenges. Each task combines multiple skills and content areas and often asks students to create, design, analyze, or solve problems that lead to a final product or presentation.
Vania Glenwright, 7th-grade science teacher, has been incorporating Building Thinking Classrooms strategies to promote collaboration and deeper understanding in her lessons. During a unit on physical and chemical changes, she set up examples on whiteboards around the room and had student groups rotate to identify each as either a physical or chemical change, explaining their reasoning. Afterward, students participated in a Gallery Walk to compare their responses with those of their peers before reviewing the correct answers as a class.
This hands-on, movement-based approach encourages active learning, teamwork, and critical thinking. By engaging in these activities, students strengthen their understanding of scientific concepts while building essential communication and problem-solving skills.
By engaging in both group and individual projects, students not only strengthen academic skills but also develop empathy, resilience, and the ability to think critically in complex situations. These experiences encourage them to see the value of collaboration, adapt to challenges, and take ownership of their learning. As students apply what they’ve learned in authentic, hands-on ways, whether analyzing a novel, solving a scientific problem, or calculating real-world measurements, they build confidence and prepare to navigate the demands of high school and beyond with curiosity and competence.
