Madison Teachers Boldly Take Students Where No Students Have Gone Before

"Permission to come aboard," asks Cmdr. Jayne Lawson standing at attention at her classroom door wearing her offical Star Fleet uniform complete with com-link insignia. "Permission granted," replies Cmdr. Celisa Edwards also wearing her official colors.

Step into Edwards' and Lawson's Madison Middle School classroom in Los Angeles and you will embark on an unusual journey as these "commanders" boldly take their seventh- and eighth-grade science students to a world no class has gone before.

"It started out when we were asked to teach math and science with a general theme," Lawson said. "At the time we talked about various different things we could try and at the time one of the Star Trek movies was coming out and we both liked space. It began on Fridays where we would just where the com-link and then it got a little more bold where we wore a t-shirt and then we thought, hey, let's do the whole thing."

Every day Star Trek fantasy and science facts come together in this make-believe Star Fleet Academy. Students are assigned into learning groups, also called landing parties, to help bond with their comrades and look past race, gender and religious differences and work as a cohesive unit. Within these groups, specific jobs are assigned teaching students teamwork and cooperation.

"We're here to facilitate (students') acquisition of knowledge by our ability to incorporate this type of thematic education," Lawson said. "It really adds to that. It really pulls kids in."

"When I first came I thought it was kind of weird because they dressed like Star Trek all the time … but it keeps me on my toes because our standards are pretty high," said student Essence Brown.

Teaching these teens is not always an easy assignment. Many of them have limited language arts skills and are designated as high-risk Title 1 students for a variety of reasons.

"We have a lot of kids that fall into these areas of great need and we need some other way to reach them than the traditional standard educational technique," Lawson said. "We bring in her (Edwards') eighth-grade class with my seventh-grade class. We're part of a team. Not just the two of us, but we're a team with parents and the school community."

Costumes and alien cultures aside, there is an exploration of learning taking place. Edwards and Lawson use a variety of strategies, they know each student well and assess each student's progress. They can even illustrate that these students are learning and improving because their test scores are showing a steady climb. Stanford 9 test scores have increased 30 percent in language arts. The teachers' success earned them a Los Angeles Educational Partnership Excellence Award in 2001.

"It's extremely neat to see it," Lawson said. "You first say, gee, I don't know if this is working, but then you look at something quantifiable and you say wow."

They may not always like wearing the uniform, but they love what they do and cherish those special earthly moments that remind them of their mission.

"When you take a kid that gets it and see that light bulb go off, you say, yea, I did it!" Lawson said.

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