I the spirit of the rich Family Conference conversations taking place today throughout the building, I hope that the accounts given below shed a little more light on the many exciting things taking place in the middle school and provide you with some new entree points into dialog with your child about her/his school life.

Fifth graders are . . .

• continuing their deep reading of The Circuit and focusing on how to have rich discussions using prompts like:
  • “I used to think… but now I think…”
  • “This is similar to/ different from…”
  • “I partly agree, but… because…”
  • “I think this is important because…”.
• preparing for a literary essay and will be using their reading responses to develop a thesis.
• investigating why plant and animal domestication plays such an important role in tribes being able to settle in  ongoing civilization simulation
• testing, recording and graphing their own walking and running paces as part of their of their study of patterns and change
• looking at examples of guardian figures from the ancient Sumerian culture as inspiration for clay relief tiles of their own Demon Spirit Guardians that students are making.
• preparing for a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view more art and artifacts created by the people of the ancient Near East.
• putting the finishing touches on their original music compositions, which have been composed for brass, piano and percussion instruments. Each piece began as a guided exploration of melody and students have gone on to incorporate an extensive list of important musical topics that a composer must consider such as, harmony, form, rhythm, sequences, dynamics and articulation.   Near the end of the term in December, we will hold an informal rehearsal/performance of student work performed by musicians from NYU.  Stay tuned for the date and time!
• starting a new unit on touch football with a focus on throwing and catching skills. Games are just around the corner.

Sixth graders are . . .

• deep into their reading of Parzival and Arabian Nights. This reading is also shaping writing that will eventually become their Medieval dramatic presentation. Current events projects are also just getting underway.
• talking about feudalism and have begun examining the rise of Christianity in Europe and the hierarchy of the church.
• working through a series of activities to better understand fraction operations.  They began by adding and subtracting fractions and  are now using brownie pans to help us understand how to multiply fractions.  They are doing all this as well as making sure we are all using efficient strategies to operate with whole numbers.
• reflecting on their trip to the Cloisters museum (the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) as inspiration for the creation of their own illuminated letters. To create these letters, students are using quill pen and ink, watercolor paints and will be making their own gold paint to illuminate their letters.
• putting the finishing touches on their original music compositions, which have been composed for brass, piano and percussion instruments. Each piece began as a guided exploration of melody and students have gone on to incorporate an extensive list of important musical topics that a composer must consider such as, harmony, form, rhythm, sequences, dynamics and articulation.   Near the end of the term in December, we will hold an informal rehearsal/performance of student work performed by musicians from NYU.  Stay tuned for the date and time!
• starting a new unit on touch football with a focus on throwing and catching skills. Games are just around the corner
• participating in a series of “Olympic” PE challenges.

Seventh graders are . . .

• gearing up for the Colonial Museum by digging deeper into their research topics.
• finishing up their reading of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and thinking about the viability of a perfect community and the relationship between community and identity. This will culminate in a book critique and creative mini-exhibition
• learning about settlement in America in the early 1600’s and presently are looking at the establishment of community from the perspective of English settlers and Native Americans.
• engaging in literature circle work: one half of the class is reading The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and the other half is reading Animal Farm by George Orwell.
• organizing and analyzing data needed to establish a simulated bike tour company.  They’ve examined travel time, expenses, pricing and are now ready to synthesize information in the most concise form of equations.  The next question to examine is, “How do we maximize profit?’ With the help of graphing calculators, it will be interesting to test the various variables involved in calculating profit.
• deconstructing electric motors in order to better understand how electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy. They will then design and build a working motor. Once they understand this concept, they will reverse the process to turn mechanical energy into electrical energy.
• reviewing in French  irregular verbs such as avoir, etre, and faire,
  and interrogative expressions and applying them to everyday conversation; studying adjectives, describing famous individuals for a guessing game using descriptions, getting ready to start a project in which they will use adjectives and design an “ideal” model bedroom that they’ll build and use to write complex sentence structures.
• fully immersed in a food unit with new vocabulary related to food, condiments and utensils as well as continued practice with all regular and stem-change (”shoe”) present tense verb conjugations.
• navigating the ins and outs of self-defense in PE and learning how to release themselves from hand grips, chokes and bear hugs. They are also learning strategies for being safe on the streets.
• creating original PE games, which they are playing and Larry is then teaching some of the class favorites to the fifth grade.

Eighth graders are . . .

• examining the roots of the bias, discrimination and inequality that the Civil Rights Movement addressed by reading Julius Lester’s To Be a Slave, a collection of slaves in their own words, connected and commented upon by the author.
• examining linear functions and algebraic notation.  They are writing equations, making tables and creating graphs that tell stories of things that grow at a constant rate.  Taxi rides, t-shirt sales, bank accounts, walking rates and road races are just a few of the real life situations we have used in our investigations.The following are examples of questions they have answered through observing these patterns:
  • How do you identify a linear function in a table, graph or equation?
  • Can you give an example of an “everyday” linear function?
  • What is true about the equations of parallel lines? perpendicular lines?
  • What helps you to write the equation of a linear function?
  • How do the characteristics of line show up in a table, graph or equation?
• using  graphing calculators to enables them to explore answers to the above questions.  They are unafraid to ask the “What if?” question because it’s so easy to readjust their thinking with these useful tools.
• designing and constructing Mousetrap Powered Vehicles to further advance their understanding of motion and the forces that enhance and oppose motion. They are incorporating what they know about motion, simple machines and energy transfers to do this. They will then use these vehicles to make predictions associated with Newton’s second law of motion. Knowing their vehicle’s weight and the force generated by the mousetrap, they will make predictions about the vehicle’s acceleration and then test them in the field.
• learning in French regular adjectives, clothing vocabulary and the new verbs porter, mettre, acheter. They are beginning a project using the future proche tense to describe an imaginary event that will be attended, doing some virtual shopping online in France to “buy” a new outfit for the event, and documenting their work.
• reading  stories in their reader “Cuentos Simpaticos” and finishing a quick review of articles and adjective agreement in “Spanish Grammar.”  They  have also been reviewing present and past tense verbs so that they can begin a new past tense.
• starting a painting project around the theme of favorite artists. The class has been looking at various artists and discussing different painting styles and art movements as a means to help students identify an artist on which they will focus. Students have selected their artists of inspiration and are in the process of  creating an acrylic painting based on a particular piece of art or art movement.
• exploring  digital photography. The class looked at and discussed a variety of photographs before going outside to take their own. While walking around the neighborhood students were asked to think about photographing subjects from different vantage points. There were also asked to  look for and photograph things such as lines, textures, colors, and shapes.
• well into units on volleyball and soccer.  We have worked on individual skills, partner skills and teamwork skills.  With the favorable weather, we’ve been taking advantage of the turf field at JJ Walker for soccer.  We have also started training for the first leg of our fitness test, where we work on long and short distance running, stretching, arm and core exercises.

Goings on in the Seventh And Eighth Grade Performing Arts Electives:

• Vocal Majors are working together in small groups, learning Broadway songs and presenting their arrangements to the class.    The Vocal Majors and the MS Chorus are also preparing for the Winter Concert on Tuesday, Dec. 14th at 6:30PM at NYU. Vocal Minors have started creating music videos, where students pick a song, arrange and choreograph a presentation.
• In the dance majors classes, students have been spending one day a week learning modern dance technique, warm up exercises, and beginning to develop a dance sequence that incorporates modern dance, salsa, and capoeira. On the second day in the week students have been exploring choreography and composition and beginning to design short dance works.
• Students taking the major in drama have been exploring spontaneous improvisation using colors to represent emotions. Students are acting in scenes, and using a color chart to determine their character’s emotion. In the minor class, we are working on games and activities to develop confidence in the group before moving on to scene study.
• The Instrumental Elective Class is progressing wonderfully! Students who are playing their instrument for the first time -trumpets, trombones and saxophones- are making excellent progress and the ensemble has been rehearsing a number of demanding numbers for the upcoming Winter Concert. In the digital music minor, students are becoming familiar with the keyboard and Garageband, which are the two main tools that we’ll use for composition.

In and outside of the library . . .

• booktalks have started in all classrooms, fifth graders have begun their introduction to MS research in anticipation of their civilizations project and seventh graders are  deep into their colonial research process. The fifth grade Friday Nonfiction Book Nook has begun, as have read alouds in the sixth and seventh grade core classrooms.

All that in a day!

With the end of the first quarter just behind us, progress reports, family conferences with your child’s advisor and meetings with subject area teachers are just around the corner (see below for information on signing up for a conference/meeting). Conferences are scheduled for November 5th and 11th (the Middle School will be closed on both days). Progress reports will go out on Tuesday, November 2rd. These reports will be accessible on-line and I will send out an email next week with information on how to access your child’s report.

Progress reports provide an important opportunity for shared discussion about successes to date and challenges to address as we move forward into the second quarter. I encourage you to review the section on progress reports in the handbook so that you are familiar with the format of the reports.

For sixth grade families, this will be your first set of reports with letter grades. Letter grades are based on a set of evaluations in three categories that are outlined on the report card. There is some variability in these categories across subjects. The reported letter grades reflect a student’s progress in comparison to grade level expectations. For example, a “C” means progress that is approaching grade level expectations and a “B” signifies progress that meets grade level expectations. However, within these ranges could be unsatisfactory class participation balanced by excellent quiz scores and/or homework assignments. It is natural for there to be some anxiety around grades. As with all assessments, it is important for students and families to view them as representative of where the student stands as a learner at a particular moment in time. Areas of struggle as indicated by reported grades can be addressed by committed hard work.

Our reports are purposely designed to show a student’s progress over the four quarters so that you and your child can more easily see the work of a particular quarter in a broader context of their overall learning experience. Prior to receiving the reports, take the opportunity to speak with your child about his/her perceptions of the work he/she has completed this past quarter. This will help to frame your discussions when you go over the progress reports together.

For all families, while progress reports and family conferences provide an opportunity to reflect on a student’s progress and to think about strengths and challenges, it is important to remember that assessment is an on-going process at LREI; it is a means to an end, but not an end in and of itself. Its aim is to improve student understanding of key ideas and skills. In the Middle School, teachers strive to develop assessments that are learner-centered and focused on student understanding in relation to the particular goals identified for each area of inquiry. Rather than being separate from learning, assessment plays a central role in the instructional process. The assessment process also sheds light on which instructional strategies are most effective. Through thoughtful assessment, the teacher gains critical feedback for choosing and utilizing those teaching strategies that can best help a learner progress towards the goals of a particular unit of study. Opportunities for meaningful assessment also allow students to gain deeper insight into areas of strength and challenge and allow them to develop plans to address growth in both of these areas.

The Family Conference is an extension of these assessment activities and should be viewed as a dynamic opportunity to talk about growth and development. The student’s presence and participation in these discussions is of vital importance. The Family Conference affords the student an opportunity to reflect, applaud, and problem-solve with two of her/his most important advocates, family members and her/his advisor. These conferences should be approached with a forward-looking perspective. As prior performance is reviewed, all of the participants should seek to work together to identify strategies and opportunities for learning that will support the student’s continued growth and development.

The Family Conference in the Middle School places the student at the center as an active participant. We do this for a number of reasons:

1. to encourage students to accept personal responsibility for their academic performance;
2. to help students develop the reflective skill of self-evaluation;
3. to facilitate the development of students’ organizational and oral communication skills and to increase their self-confidence; and
4. to encourage students, parents, and the advisor to engage in open and honest dialogue.

Family conferences are an important part of the educational experience at LREI. They are important for students, parents/guardians, and teachers. Like all learning opportunities, the Family Conference requires trust and a willingness to take risks on the part of all participants. While the conference may not be tension-free, it does provide an opportunity for inquiry and understanding. Here are two discussion ideas that you might want to consider as you prepare for these important dialogues:

• share with your child memorable experiences from when you were a middle school student and consider why such memories may be important to the educational life of your child
• explore how you and your child approach the concept of learning and reflect on why looking at the differences and similarities in your responses might be important.

In preparation for these conferences, Middle School students will spend  time reflecting on their work thus far this school year. With their teachers’ and advisor’s guidance, students will identify areas on which to focus during the next quarter and will develop plans for achieving these goals. Your child will have these reflections with her/him during your conference. Here are some additional topics/questions that you might reflect on before your family conference:

• Your child’s work habits at home–when are the most and least successful?
• Which assignments, or types of assignments, seem to lead to the most success? To be the most frustrating?
• Is our organizational plan working for your child? How is your child managing her/his time?
• When you and your child discuss school/school assignments at home, are there consistent themes that should be discussed at the conference?
• Are there extracurricular commitments or extenuating circumstances that should be discussed at the conference?

There’s no doubt that conferences are hard work, but the potential for learning that can take place when all participants commit to the process is clearly worth the effort.

I look forward to seeing you at the conferences.

As a follow up to Chap’s post from last week on social justice work at LREI, I thought I’d highlight some work that is happening in our eighth grade classes.

Each year, our eighth grade students embark on a project to better understand and personalize the social justice issues that emerge from their study of post-Civil War US history. This project connects them to individuals and organizations that are making a difference in the community and beyond. Through this process, our eighth graders come to better understand the rewards and challenges of active citizenship and the need for all individuals to choose to participate. One benchmark point on what we hope will be a life-long journey is our annual spring Social Justice Teach-In during which the eighth graders plan and run a set of workshops and assemblies for the rest of the middle school.

This year-long journey begins in the summer as students read the novel Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, which chronicles the experiences of the Little Rock Nine and the efforts of many others to desegregate Little Rock’s public schools. This reading serves as frame for our students’ critical examination of our nation’s history from the Civil War through the Civil Rights era.

Inspired buy the Little Rock Nine and the Civil Rights Movement and their investigation of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, each eighth grader created an action art project and a supporting artist’s statement about their work as it related to a current civil or human rights issue. Their art work and writing ask us to stop, think and, ultimately, to act. Click here to view a few representative pieces of this work.

On a related note, the following letter from eighth grade core teacher Sara-Momii Roberts highlights how one of last year’s social justice projects has created some new possibilities for this year’s eighth graders:

Thank you so much for your active participation in this past Tuesday’s Curriculum Night. We hope that you left with a clear sense of how the curriculum that your child will experience this year is structured and some of the essential questions that they will explore. We also hope that you will use the evening as a springboard to help you to be an active participant in the curriculum with your child. When questions about the curriculum emerge, seek out your child’s teachers. Take advantage of the teacher blogs and use them as jumping off points for conversations. I have written elsewhere about the way in which we approach curriculum at LREI and those ideas were much on my mind as I left the building on Tuesday evening. As I imagine you were, I was truly impressed by our Middle School teachers and their ability to develop curricula that is experiential, relational and oriented to action.

While Curriculum Night is an opportunity to look at the big picture, it is also an opportunity to get clarifications about specific procedures and practices. Homework is often much on peoples’ minds. I include below some “big picture” thoughts on homework and its connection to the curriculum and to each student’s development as a learner.

Homework:
First and foremost, homework is practice; it is not a quiz or a test. Homework is not generally graded for correctness, but rather for effort and completion. That does not mean it should be done haphazardly or carelessly. It should be done in relation to the expectations established by the teacher. For example, spelling does not need to be perfect, but work should be proofread and errors that are caught corrected. In math, a problem may be done incorrectly, but students are expected to show how they arrived at their answer.

For us, the measure of a successful homework session is not one where everything is done correctly, but one where the work reflects a focused and committed effort on the part of the student. Practice is also a time for risk-taking and a natural consequence of risk-taking is error making; we learn from these mistakes.  So errors that are the result of risk-taking are useful for teachers and are an important part of the learning process. Errors that are the result of carelessness or lack of effort point to areas where students may need more support in terms of their study skills.

Homework will often be assigned as part of an on-going project. When this is the case, students are not expected to bring in a completed project when only a component of it is due. In most cases, the assigned homework will be used in class to teach students the next step in the project. So if your child is asked to write an introductory paragraph, she and you should not worry about the body and concluding paragraphs. Her teacher will take her through the rest of the process and the homework completed in the evening will often become the foundation for the class work for the next day.

It is also crucial  for us to know where your child is encountering challenges. Without this information, we cannot provide the best support. Your child should know that at some point during the year, he will encounter this kind of challenge; it is a normal part of the learning process; it is perhaps the most important part of the process.

So what can you do to best support your child? Here are a few ideas:

1. Make sure that you have read the homework section in the Student and Family Handbook.
2. If you are unclear about the particular expectations for homework in a class, first check on the teacher’s blog as this information is often posted there. If it is not on the blog, contact the teacher.
3. Each family will need to consider what level of intervention makes sense with regard to student errors and confusions. Some families will leave the identification and correction of any problems to the teacher (this is our preference), while some families will intervene more directly. As a guideline, it is helpful to address these issues by asking questions of your child rather than by telling or doing the work for her.
4. Help your child to understand the parameters of the assignment. Help him to budget his time so that assignments that are assigned over multiple days are worked on over multiple days. Extra effort is generally fine if it falls within the assignment parameters; doing more when it falls outside these parameters may not be helpful.
5. Your child should work independently on her work, but she should feel comfortable asking you for clarification and you should feel comfortable monitoring her progress.
6. Students should be able to complete most nightly assignments in 15-30 minutes. If it is taking substantially longer than this or if the 30 minutes is filled with tears and frustrations, you should intervene and stop the homework session. You can send an email or a note to the teacher or better yet you can help your child to feel comfortable seeking out his teacher first thing the next morning. This will help him to develop important self-advocacy skills that will be important for his on-going development as a learner.
7. In those cases where the level of anxiety or frustration is happening with some regularity or if you have specific questions, it is important that you bring your child’s teacher into the conversation. If you feel that this is happening in more than one class, it would make sense to touch base with your child’s advisor who can help you navigate through the problem.

One of our main goals in the middle school is to help students understand who they are as learners. As a result, it is important for students to come to terms with and own their areas of challenge and strength. This will allow them to better identify and use strategies that lead to success. In this way, students will come to see their challenges not as judgments of their worth, but as obstacles that can be overcome. Over time, these strategies will be internalized as habits and students will come to know what they have to do to produce their best work. Again, this is a process and students will work through it at different rates. We acknowledge that this can be frustrating for some students and for some families.

Homework is one medium we use to nurture excellent learning habits in our middle school students; students will over time grow into these habits. While we acknowledge that challenges can emerge because students develop these habits at different rates, students will master these habits as they move through the middle school. In those cases where a student really struggles with a particular learning skill, we will work with the student to develop alternative strategies that will help her to better manage the challenge so that she can produce her best work. It is our job to make this happens and we are most effective in this work when we are able to do it in collaboration with you.

From digital musings to the lived experience of students, here are seventh graders doing some of their initial research on their colonial topics. This research will inform their visit to colonial Williamsburg and will culminate in their exhibit at our annual Colonial Museum . . .

and the fruits of fifth graders’ labor as they explore the role that shelters play in the development of civilizations. This project is an important component of their Civilization Simulation project, which serves as a frame for their year-long study of ancient civilizations.

One of the fall traditions in the Middle School is the election of student representatives. In Adolescent Issues classes, we discuss the characteristics that might make one a good representative and we explore the many responsibilities that representatives are expected to meet. After these discussions, students who are interested in being a rep write an essay to their classmates in support of their candidacy. At the same time, students who are not running for class rep consider what they are looking for in a class rep. In fifth through seventh grades, these essays are then read by their teacher to the class without attribution. This calls on students to really listen to the substance of each essay and makes the election of a class rep more than just a popularity contest.

The essays are always thoughtful and, while some candidates make bold promises (e.g., a three-day school week, extended recess, nap time), all address issues of real concern to middle school students (e.g., more recess equipment, additional clubs, more independent work time). In the eighth grade, students discuss the pros and cons of reading their own speeches and consider the additional obligations that come when a candidate reads her/his own speech. These are always intense conversations and the students’ commitment to the integrity of the democratic process really rises to the fore.

Students in all grades take the voting process seriously, applaud the efforts of all of the candidates, are supportive of those candidates that are not selected, and have high expectations for their elected representative. As the terms of these newly elected representatives begin, they will be asked to seek out the full range of opinions on issues discussed by their classmates, help their classmates to work towards consensus on these issues, on occasion represent ideas with which they may not agree, help to resolve conflicts, problem solve with their classmates, welcome and speak with families visiting the school as part of the admission process, make presentations at middle school meeting, and work with the deans and the principal to clarify old roles and develop new roles for class representatives. These are weighty challenges and this year’s reps in collaboration with their classmates are ready to meet them.

In this spirit of collaboration, we are looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening at 6:30PM for our Middle School Curriculum Night. At the event, you will get to meet your child’s teachers who will provide you with an overview of their classes and their class expectations. We hope that all of you will be able to attend as Curriculum Night helps to provide a meaningful frame for the work that we will undertake together over the course of the year.

For the past two days, fifth and sixth graders have taken to the woods, ponds and craft shops at the Ashokan Center with joyful enthusiasm. This annual three-day trip provides students with an opportunity to build community while they explore the natural world and consider our place in it. The trip also provides numerous situations where students must work collaboratively in order to solve a variety of challenges.

Throughout their three days at Ashokan, each student will likely confront moments of personal challenge as s/he ponders how to do something new or how to address something that s/he knows is difficult based on prior experience. In each of these situations, students will likely take advantage of the support of a friend or teacher who will help them to navigate through the risk at hand. It is this support and safety that helps students to explore the obvious and not so obvious opportunities for learning connected to their efforts. This collaboration with peers is also a collaboration with place; as middle schoolers interact with the natural world, they simultaneously reinforce an important connection with the world around them. As Richard Louv observes in his article, “A Walk in the Woods.”

In the formation of American ideals, nature was elemental to the idea of human rights. Inherent in the thinking of the Founding Fathers was this assumption: with every right comes responsibility. Whether we are talking about democracy or nature, if we fail to serve as careful stewards, we will destroy the reason for our right, and the right itself. Those of us who identify ourselves as conservationists or environmentalists—whatever word we prefer—nearly always have had some transcendent experience in the natural world, usually in the form of independent play, with hands muddy, feet wet. We cannot love what we do not know. As Robert Michael Pyle puts it so well, “What is the extinction of a condor to a child who has never seen a wren?”

We must do more than talk about the importance of nature; we must ensure that children in every kind of neighborhood have everyday access to natural spaces, places, and experiences. To make that happen, this truth must become evident: we can truly care for nature and ourselves only if we see ourselves and nature as inseparable, only if we love ourselves as part of nature, only if we believe that our children have a right to the gifts of nature undestroyed.

Whether at Ashokan or in the green spaces of our city, an essential part of the LREI experience is the comntinued forging of this link between self and place. In images, here is evidence of this work being practiced at Ashokan as students push beyond the obvious and seek unusual ideas, see other points of view, challenge assumptions, explore new territory and go beyond the boundaries.

Click here to view images from the trip.

It’s truly a pleasure to be back in the swing of things and it feels like we are off to a great start. I trust that you all had positive meetings with your child’s advisor and that the meeting has marked the beginning of what will be a productive yearlong collaboration. Below is a note that I sent to faculty on Monday evening; I think its sentiment applies equally to families as well:

Dear Colleagues,

Per Phil’s suggestion to remember to take some “snap shots” during the year, here is a collection of some “snap shots” from our end-of-year meeting. I look forward to taking some new ones with you this year! In no particular order:

1. The kids at the Black History Month Assembly – proud of themselves and the content
2. Fifth grade talent show – they kids practiced so hard
3. A joyful Arts Festival
4. Memoir of a fifth grader who had a hard year with peers, but focused on kid’s strengths in her writing
   
5. Seeing kids bouncing off to performing arts electives
6. Kids really into the POCOC Book Club meetings
7. Touring the Colonial Museum and Egyptian tomb with guides who were really in character
8. Striking Viking Story Pirates – no comment needed
9. Watching kids on GPSF Day talk about the school and what they do each day
   
10. Kids helping with packing up without having to ask
11. Watching the fifth grade Grecian Festival animation project
12. Colleagues always willing to lend a hand
13. Playing frisbee with a reluctant student who then came to love it
14. Watching students help each other and work independently
15. Watching kids travel the distance in the play and musical
16. Planning with my colleague
17. The seventh grade Food Celebration – good reads and good eats
18. Letting a class discussion go down an unplanned path and being amazed by where we went
19. Watching kids run their hearts out at track
20. Coming together with others to respond to the earthquake in Haiti
21. Being blown away by our kids who spoke at the UN
22. The abundance of spirit at our first Olympic Games
23. Watching a student’s hard work finally pay off
24. Reading student reflections that used words like “fun, “enjoyed,” and “learned”
25. Seeing a student who was up and down throughout the first three quarters really commit in the fourth quarter
26. The “thank you” from a student who I pushed all year
27. Watching kids push themselves to answer questions at the science Exploratorium
28. Listening to the truly moving student speeches at Moving Up
29. All the little everyday interactions that helped students to be successful and to be their best selves so that they were able rise to the occasion when it counted.

Have a great day tomorrow!

This week’s Eighth Grade Moving Up Ceremony was a wonderful conclusion to a most exciting year. Since a number of you have asked, below is the speech that I gave at the ceremony. Click here for the text of the Marge Piercy poem ‘The Low Road” that Momii read.

You can also find at the bottom of the page links to the summer assignments and the supply lists.

As I mentioned last week, I also hope that the summer provides you with ample opportunities to spend quality time with family and friends and to also think about trying something new together as a family.

Be well,
Mark

Delivered on Tuesday, June 15, 2010,
on the occasion of the Class of 2014’s Moving Up

It is an honor to be able to share in this day with you; you have worked hard to get to this moment so savor it. As some of you know, it’s become something of a tradition for my words on this occasion to find their inspiration in your dream flags. That decision makes this speech something of a risk because I can’t really begin it until you have finished, which was yesterday morning. Despite the looming deadline, what was reassuring for me as I tried to find my way through the flags last night was that we’ve really been writing this speech together for the last four years. So it’s true that time is relative, our frame of reference – our perspective – really does matter.  That was a comforting thought as the clock on my computer screen crept towards this moment, but . . .

I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready . . .

Not my words. They belong to SpongeBob SquarePants and are boldly painted on one of the flags behind you. And what of SpongeBob? Does he really deserve mention at this celebration of your accomplishments? I ask only that you withhold your judgment until we’ve found our path through the flags. So for what are we “ready?” What lies just ahead as we move on from Moving Up?  As one of you commented,

Moving on is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard. (1)

We move on all the time, in a way it is like breathing, but as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.” What the moving on of the river leaves behind is change and change can be hard to accept. Even in this moment, your cherished past is slipping away. So you are right when one of you acknowledges that . . .

Change is inevitable except from vending machines. (2)

And what do you do? Do you stand helpless in front of the machine, defeated and cheated? Or do you embrace the inevitability of this change? As one of you observes, do you understand that you must

Be the change you wish to see in the world, (3)

and that

You have to speak your mind to change the world. (4)

Be and speak – actions and words. They are intertwined. Neither is sufficient. Your words are empty if not followed by actions and action that does not lead to thought, which is embodied in language, does not last. Your middle school experience has sought to strengthen this crucial relationship between these two imperatives at every step. But it is not a simple matter of us just telling you that there is an important relationship here. It is true that . . .

Education is an admirable thing, but it’s well to remember . . . that nothing worth learning can be taught (5)

And that is why we have asked you to spend so much time inquiring, experiencing, questioning, analyzing, collaborating, sharing, presenting, evaluating and reflecting. These are the true building blocks of learning. And your teachers have not simply seen it as their job to talk and tell; they have sought to learn with you, to guide and be guided by you. So what is it that we have been trying to learn during our time together that we will carry with us after today? Is it . . .

When in doubt . . . Google

Maybe? But ours is an age where information is not the problem. There is more of it than has ever existed. So the question is really, “What will you do with the information you get when you Google when you are in doubt?”  As Harvard’s Tony Wagner suggests, your Googling will only be of value if you have these “must-have” skills of the future:

• Critical thinking and problem-solving
• Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and entrepreneurialism
• Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analyzing information
• Curiosity and imagination

We have tried to cultivate these skills during our time together, but acquiring these skills is hard work that requires commitment and dedication. One of you reminds us of Albert Einstein’s admonition that

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

So our actions do define us. And repeated actions create habits and these habits define who we are – our characters. How often do we claim to know something that we have neither understood nor experienced simply because we want to impress or are afraid of how others might perceive us? If the response is “with some significant frequency” then are we willing to say as Socrates did and as echoed on one of these flags that . . .

All I know is that I know nothing.

Socrates is not being glib here. His commitment to this belief marked him as a corrupter of youth and cost him his life. He was instead opening himself up to the true possibilities of knowledge and learning. He was saying to us as one of you observed

Come as you are (6)

and as another noted

Today you are you that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you. (7)

Who you are is where you begin. It is the only honest starting point and touch point along this path of growth. And how you see your “youness” and your relationship to the world is of crucial importance and is captured in the flag that says . . .

You’re only as tall as your heart will let you be and you are only as small as the world makes you seem. (8)

It is certainly the case that when we are feeling small we aren’t likely to do our best thinking or be our best selves. And in those moments we may fool ourselves into thinking that we are getting by, but getting by is an illusion. As one of you correctly observes,

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. (9)

That middle ground is the home of inaction, of indecision. We would do well to abide by the flag that reminds us that

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. (10)

Over the last four years, we’ve talked about the importance of taking risks and how most if not all of our most important learning is the result of having taken a risk. To be clear, we’re not talking about foolish risks here; we’re talking about thoughtful risks, which are considerably harder to take than the foolish ones. The thoughtful risk leaves us vulnerable to those who choose to occupy that middle ground. This idea is reflected in the flag that says,

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those that cannot fly. (11)

So who you choose to fly with is of the utmost importance. Every Adolescent Issues conversation you’ve had over the past four years has been a variation on this theme. Continue to choose wisely and remember that as one of you points out,

Be who you want to be and say what you want to say, because people that mind don’t matter and the people that matter don’t mind. (12)

And who are these people that matter? They are the ones sitting next to you right now. You know that

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget. (13)

And you know that you would not be here today were it not the case that

I get (You got) by with a little help from (your) my friends. (14)

Now I’m not so sure that I agree with the premise of the following flag that says,

Friendship is not something you learn in school, but if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship you really haven’t learned anything. (15)

I do however wholeheartedly agree with its concluding sentiment. Friendship is something that can be learned in school and it is a cornerstone of the LREI experience. Our commitment to the growth of whole student recognizes the absolute importance of these relationships. At LREI, the other is always present in everything we do. We do not use the word “community” lightly and as the next flag points out,

We both go together if one falls down. (16)

But friendship and community are ideas that demand committed and on-going work. We need only to look at the news to see that we live in a word where people do great harm to each other on a daily basis. This harm comes in many forms and as one flag acutely observes,

The tongue like a sharp knife . . . kills without drawing blood. (17)

At Houston Street when you were younger, you likely chanted, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” I think it is fair to say that you understand now that this is not true at all. Words have tremendous power and they can do immeasurable harm. Your study of history and human rights has shown you that words can be a powerful tool for prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. While you have learned the fundamental importance of empathy in the role of understanding, an idea embodied in Atticus Finch’s statement that “You never really know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes,” there is something deeper here. It is expressed in the flag that takes its inspiration from Bruce the Shark in the movie Finding Nemo:

I am a nice shark not a mindless eating machine.  If I am going to change this image, I must change myself first. Fish are friends not food.

Empathy is necessary, but not sufficient. We also need to do the demanding work of looking at ourselves. We need to understand our own capacity for unkindness, which can give rise to the damaging ways that we may come to see and treat others. For those of us who enjoy certain privileges we need to be more mindful of the prices that have been paid by others to make these privileges possible.  So it really is about choosing to participate, in our own development as individuals, as members of our families and as members of the various communities to which we belong.  This is the journey that you have been on and will continue on as you move up. As one of you points out,

The road doesn’t end, it splits.

And today marks one of those moments where paths diverge, where you will go separate ways even when it may appear like you seem to be going together. You will not be together in this way again, but there is a flag that reminds you to

Look beyond.

Do not limit yourself, consider what might yet be and envision a role in that future for these people with whom you have traveled so far. And as you dream, remember that while

The sky is full of dreams, you need to learn to fly. (18)

And we have tried over the past four years to develop your flying skills as writers, historians, mathematicians, scientists, artists, athletes and activists so that you can.

Talk about a dream, try to make it real. (19)

We have asked you to think out of the box, to consider alternate perspectives and possibilities, to regularly ask, “What if” because we know that there is a certain elegant truth in the flag that says,

It takes skill to trip over flat surfaces.

It may take some hard work, but it is relatively easy to see what others already see. It is much harder to see that which is not yet visible, the promise of what is possible. Wherever your path takes you, we know that you will find opportunities for leadership and that you will share your vision of the world with others so as to make our world a better place. And in this process, consider the flag that reminds us that

A leader takes you were you want to go. A great leader doesn’t necessarily take you were you want to go, but where you ought to be. (20)

And in the process, make the most of each moment; as you think about the future, live fully in the moment so that you can say as one of the flags does

Tomorrow is another one. Today was fun. Today was good. (21)

This idea is echoed in a number of flags so be mindful that you

Live as if you were to die tomorrow . . . Learn as if you were to live forever (22)

and

Live, Love, Laugh – I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don’t have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of life? (23)

So keep a sense of humor about things. Getting through the day is hard enough and it is certainly true as one of you observed that while

Every man dies,  not every man lives. (24)

It may often feel like our choices are confined to either/or possibilities and that we are somehow stuck with choices that aren’t really choices just two sides of the same coin. As one flag suggests, it is almost like

Darkness is moving at a speed of light

What do we mean here? If darkness is the absence of light how can it have a speed? But turn off the light and the darkness seems to appear at the same speed as the light recedes.  Maybe the question is a trick question. Maybe it requires us to see in a different way. Three flags may offer a clue to that different way. The first,

I have to thank you . . . G-d,

The second,

If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, love is the rhythm, and you are the music, (25)

And the third

All you need is love. (26)

Whether it be through an organized religion, a personal sense of spirituality, or an ethical framework, the discovery of our shared humanity is connected to the varied ways that we have found for foundational ideas and ways of being to coalesce into a set of values. It is these values that guide us and continually shape us as we move up. In our most difficult moments, we look to these values so that we may not be constrained by either/or thinking, which can limit us from seeing alternate possibilities.  The challenge is that our values do not always overlap. One value is not necessarily wrong, while the other is right. They are different and our shared task is to understand even if we don’t always agree. As the last flag, suggests

We could flood the streets with love or light or heat whatever. Lock the parents out, cut a rug, twist and shout. Wave your hands. Make it rain. For stars will rise again. The youth is starting to change. Are you starting to change? Are you? (27)

So we are almost there, our journey takes us back to SpongeBob and the emerging realization that he too connects to your Moving Up and our progressive practice. He lives in a pineapple under the sea (that is certainly out of the box), curious, passionate, open to new experiences and others, a committed friend, and engaged in the world in which he finds himself.  So I think we do have a developing sense of what he means when he says, “I’m ready . . .”

But just so we are truly clear, let’s go one step further. I do believe that the answer lies in a scene from the very first episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, which I will now recite (I’ll let you imagine the voices):

SpongeBob SquarePants: There it is. The finest eating establishment ever established for eating. The Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty, with the Help Wanted sign on the front. I’ve waited years for this moment. I’m gonna go in there, march straight up to the manager, look at him straight in the eye, lay it on the line, and – I can’t do it!
[turns away, but is stopped by Patrick]
SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick!
Patrick: Where do you think you’re going?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I was just…
Patrick: No, you’re not. You go in there and get that job.
SpongeBob SquarePants: No, I can’t! Don’t you see?
Patrick: Who’s first words were “May I take your order?”
SpongeBob SquarePants: Mine were.
Patrick: Who made a spatula out of toothpicks in shop class?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I did.
Patrick: Who’s a… who… Ungh… Who’s a big, yellow cube with holes?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I am!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!

And you are, Congratulations!

Sources for unattributed quotes from flags:

1. Dave Mustaine
2. Robert C. Gallagher
3. Mahatma Gandhi
4. Immortal Technique
5. Oscar Wilde
6. Kurt Cobain
7. Dr. Seuss
8. Christopher Drew
9. Helen Keller
10. Robert Kennedy
11. Friedrich Nietzsche
12. Dr. Seuss
13. G. Randolf
14. John Lennon and Paul McCartney
15. Muhammad Ali
16. Jason Schwartzman
17. Buddha
18. Brandon Flowers
19. Bruce Springsteen
20. Rosalyn Carter
21. Dr Seuss
22. Mahatma Gandhi
23. Jeremy Schwartz
24. William Wallace
25. Pink
26. John Lennon and Paul McCartney
27. MGMT

What a week! Tuesday began with our wonderful Sixth Grade Poetry Potluck where those present were treated to an incredible selection of poetic delights all expertly read by their authors. Tuesday evening saw the auditorium transformed into our Science Exploratorium. Eighth grade students presented the results of their individual science research projects that addressed an impressive range of questions that appear below for your consideration:

• Can mice be trained to run a maze? And do mice learn better when they have been trained in a maze?
• Do changing maze conditions affect how fast a mouse can learn a maze?
• What living conditions do crickets prefer?
• How can goldfish adapt to changes in their environment?
• Do colors affect people physiological state?
• How does lying effect people physically?
• How do forensic scientists study fingerprints?
• Can you tell a person’s gender from their bones? How do forensic scientists discover how bones have been broken or cut?
• Which citrus fruit battery produces the most electricity?
• What solutions can be separated using chromatography?
• What factors determine a physical or chemical change in a substance?
• What is the science behind pinhole cameras?
• Which fin size and shape produces the greatest output from a waterwheel?
• In a wind turbine, what blade configuration generates the most electricity?
• What blade shape produces the most effective wind turbine?
• How can buildings be reinforced to withstand earthquakes?
• What weather conditions cause tornadoes?
• How does arm length affect the distance a trebuchet throws a projectile?

Click here for photos from the event.

Wednesday saw the fifth grade regale students and families with their rousing adaptations of a series of Greek myths accompanied by an original musical prologue and epilogue. The performance began with the showing of an animation project created in their art classes with an accompanying original soundtrack created in their music class. Prior to the performance, families had a chance to view students’ technology animation projects, science robotics projects, core memoirs and essays and to play a variety of math games.

Click here to view photos from the event and follow these to links to view video from the event:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52PPl6mFnsI
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58tCZRfvCQk

Today, the seventh grade presented its Constitution Works First Amendment role play at the courthouse in Brooklyn and, tomorrow night, the eighth grade will celebrate their upcoming Moving Up, which will take place on Tuesday.

Congratulations to eighth grader Ivo who was selected as this year’s recipient of the Andrew McLaren Scholarship. This award was established in honor of former LREI Director Andrew McLaren to recognize an eighth grader moving on to the high school who exemplifies the school’s values and who has also showed dedication and promise in the arts.

No question that this has been an amazing week that is capping off a truly wonderful year in the middle school and at LREI. In addition to the potlucks at which teachers are formally thanked, I hope that you will each find a moment over the next few days to thank the members of the middle school faculty for their inspired teaching and  unwavering care of your children.

I also hope that the summer provides you with ample opportunities to spend quality time with family and friends and to think about trying something new together as a family.

Enjoy!

On Saturday, April 24, 11 middle schoolers participated in the 21st Packer Collegiate Middle School Model Congress. This year’s participants included sixth grader Kai, seventh graders Benjamin, Georgia, Jerel, Marcelo, Nicholas, Odelia, Olivia, Simmon  and eighth graders Danica and Jasper. The group has worked with faculty facilitator Sharyn Hahn since the end of October to write bills, prepare speeches, read students’ bills from the other schools that participate, and learn about and practice parliamentary procedure. The team spent the entire day at Packer Collegiate High School on the 24th for the annual culminating event.

Nearly 200 middle school students from 13 area independent schools, including LREI, sent delegations of model legislators to the event. When students arrived at the event, they broke off into one of 17 separate committees based upon the content of their bill. These committees were meant to resemble actual congressional committees and included among others Judiciary, Education, Health, Housing & Urban Affairs, and Science Space & Technology. After a morning committee session filled with heated debate and criticism, the bills that passed committee were reviewed in one of four full sessions. (House I, House II, Senate I and Senate II).

The bills introduced by the LREI delegation included the following:

1. Delegates: Danica and Jasper
   Title: An act to reduce pollution in the United States by charging small fees based on large companies’ carbon footprints.
   Preamble: By fining companies for their neglect toward the environment, we can create a healthier, stronger, greener nation.
2. Delegates: Olivia and Odelia
   Title: An act to ensure the health and well-being of shelter pets and to make pet adoption and care-taking more affordable for all families, especially those for whom this would be a financial hardship.
   Preamble: To enable all families, including those with financial limitations, to adopt and/or care for a pet, when the animals would otherwise be kept in an unstable and unsafe environment.
3. Delegates: Simmon, Jerel, and Georgia
   Title: An act to prevent the New York City MTA from ceasing to provide students with free student metro cards to travel to and from school, and to institute this practice in other metropolitan areas in the United States that do not already provide this service.
   Preamble: The intent of this bill is to have the MTA continue to provide funding that will defray the full cost of student metro cards so that both public school and private school students who must travel over a mile can do so free of charge and to incorporate this in other cities.
4. Delegates: Nicholas and Kai
   Title: An act to make all restaurants in The United States display the correct calorie value and all the ingredients that go into their food on their menu in clearly visible type.
   Preamble: The purpose of this bill is to allow everyone to see clearly the nutritional value of a prepared meal at the restaurant.
5. Delegates: Benjamin and Marcelo
   Title: An act to create cleaner and more efficient public transportation systems in metropolitan areas.
   Preamble: The purpose of this act is to ensure that public transportation systems all over the Unites States would become more efficient in order to transport more people, as wells as reduce the use of fossil fuel emitting vehicles. After this act is initiated it will create a safe and stable atmosphere for public transportation riders. This act will also ensure that public transportation systems are sanitary and are not harmful to their customers.

The students’ hard work throughout the year resulted in a day of excitement and accomplishment.  All 11 of our delegates participated in all of the sessions and several debated in the plenary committees.  4 of our 5 bills were passed in their committees.

The afternoon concluded with an Awards Ceremony in which all of the delegates were recognized for their the hard work and performance. In addition, special awards were given out to the best prepared and most “professional” delegates. At the ceremony, Marcelo was awarded Honorable Mentions.  All of the delegates had a good time and they are all looking forward to next year with their eyes on the coveted Golden Gavel award (of which we have won two over the past five years). We are very proud of all of the delegates for their commitment to the Model Congress program.