In Baltimore You Can Be Anything

The National Middle School Association held its 37th annual meeting in Baltimore in 2011

By Kevin Woo  June 2, 2011

AMERICANS ARE TOLD AS CHILDREN THAT WITH SOME EFFORT WE CAN GROW UP TO BE POLICE OFFICERS, FIRE FIGHTERS, LAWYERS, DOCTORS OR EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. But if you’re born to a mother with a third-grade education, raised in one of Detroit’s poorest neighborhoods and an under-motivated student with a bad temper, your options can seem limited.

It seems unlikely that given those circumstances you would eventually become one of the world’s greatest neurosurgeons, the first neurosurgeon in U.S. history to successfully separate twins who were conjoined at the back of the head, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, a best-selling author or a 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient. Dr. Ben Carson is all of those. Carson shared his story of childhood hardship and professional success during his keynote speech at the National Middle School Association’s (NMSA) 37th annual conference. The three-day event was held last November at the Baltimore (Maryland) Convention Center.

“I was fortunate enough to have a mother who believed in me when no one else did, and she refused to allow me to fail,” Carson told the 7,200 middle school teachers and administrators who attended the event. “When everybody else was outside playing, we had to read books. In the process of reading those books I read about a lot of successful people, and I came to realize that the person who has the most to do with what happens to you is you. It’s not somebody else, some outside influence or some environmental factor. It’s you and the choices you make. Once I realized that, poverty didn’t bother me anymore, because I knew I could change that.”

Carson was selected as the keynote speaker because of his inspiring story; involvement with the local community through his charitable foundation, the Carson Scholarship Fund; ongoing medical research at Johns Hopkins; and continuing commitment to literacy.

Local middle school students also attended the conference. The Junior National Honor Society, one of the event sponsors, played host to 15 students who served as roving journalists and covered the event for the show’s daily newsletter. The student reporters were allowed full access to the sessions and exhibit hall and used the opportunity to interview teachers, vendors and presenters.

“The kids really loved the fact that they could go up to adults, ask questions and have a good dialogue,” said Melanie Kozlowski, assistant principal at Benjamin Banneker Middle School and co-organizer of the project. “They got to ask questions they wouldn’t normally ask an adult, and they felt respected because they had the title of reporter.”

Other middle school students from Baltimore County provided entertainment during the conference. A 100-piece orchestra, a steel drum band, a choir and performance and theater groups performed inside the convention center throughout the event.

“The students really enjoyed seeing what their teachers did in their learning environment,” said Sally Ann DeBolt, NMSA meeting manager. “I was with a student when one session ended and another one began. He said, ‘Wow this is like changing classes. I saw teachers with notebooks and pencils, and they were talking with their friends.’ He saw the parallels to his own learning experience.”

Among the most talked about aspects of the conference was a model of a high-tech classroom that was built on the exhibit floor. The classroom featured the latest in video conferencing technology. Tandberg, a videoconferencing provider, built the exhibit to demonstrate how educators around the world are using technology to conduct science experiments with NASA scientists, take virtual field trips and interact with students and teachers from around the world.

“Access to videoconferencing technology has increased 10-fold in the past few years,” DeBolt said. “One of the things we strive for in the conference is to expose folks to the technology and the vendors who are there to help answer questions on how to get the equipment, provide advice on how to apply for a corporate grant or qualify for title funds. It’s not just a sharing of technology. The vendors want to show [technology] is attainable for everybody.”

In addition to the onsite seminars, several attendees headed to the Baltimore Museums of Art and Industry, where they participated in a series of workshops to learn how to connect classroom learning with the real world.

The Baltimore Museum of Art is home to a 90,000-piece collection of modern and contemporary art. The teachers were taught how to use art objects—such as portraits, masks, chairs and contemporary art—to teach math skills. They learned how works of art with repeated and growing patterns, geometric forms, symmetry, proportion, measurement systems, number relationships and estimation are all based on mathematics.

At the turn of the 19th century, Baltimore was one of the largest industrial cities and home to the world’s largest copper refinery and oldest gas company. This history is preserved at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. The museum hosted two workshops, Kids Motor Works and Design It, for conference attendees. The workshops helped draw the connection between math and science education with real-world jobs such as manufacturing and engineering.

The museums aren’t the only places in Baltimore that provide hands-on learning for teachers and students. Germano Trattoria is a family-owned Italian restaurant in Baltimore’s Piccola Italia (Little Italy) neighborhood, located a mile east of the convention center.

Each day, the restaurant hosts field trips where kids are introduced to the fine art of making pasta. As the students roll dough and crank it through the pasta machine, they learn about Italy,  its different regions, culture and traditions. Field trips to Germano Trattoria allow teachers to tie together lessons in social studies, math and history and enjoy a special spaghetti lunch made by the budding capocuocos (chefs).

A key factor in the selection of Baltimore for the NMSA conference was the city’s culture, which attracted the organization.

“You have some people who know Baltimore like they know Cleveland from when the river was on fire,” DeBolt said. “But you can’t base your viewpoint on the Baltimore of 15 years ago. When people get to Baltimore, it’s very surprising to see the culture, neighborhoods and great restaurants. The hotels are in close proximity to the convention center, National Aquarium and museums, so you can’t beat it.” One+