Late on the afternoon of Monday, September 10, the new and returning students of the 2007-2008 Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School gathered together for the first time this year. As we formed a large circle in the Humanities classroom, the girls looked around with their faces displaying a range and mix of emotions - perhaps happiness at seeing old friends from last year, or relief at recognizing familiar faces from the new student orientation the previous day, or uncertainty as to what unfamiliar faces were going to be like, or anticipation of the first day of classes which was  - finally! - on the horizon, and underlying it all that quiet optimism and inner energy which characterizes middle school students and makes them such a pleasure to work with. Myself, as I looked around the circle, I shared in all their emotions, underscored with the absolute conviction that every one of these girls was amazing and the cumulative power in that room was, literally, awesome.

As we so often do in these early stages of the year, we talked about community and what that can and should mean for all of us. Everyone wrote down a word, phrase, or in some cases series of phrases that connected to the idea of "community," and read their card aloud, generating the following list:

"responsibility - always together forever - tight bond - teamwork - together - responsibility - caring - work together - working together - help each other -  teamwork -  helping - kindness - conviviality - respect toward each other - beneficial to each other - helping other people - working together - helpful - friendship - conversation - teamwork - many people - understanding each other - teamwork - conversation - helping each other - togetherness"

No word appears more frequently than "together" and its variants, and every single word on the list connects to the idea of "relationship" in some way. It is not surprising that should happen in an all-girls school, for we know that relationships are fundamentally important to how girls learn, work, and navigate through their lives. Carol Gilligan has written about the ethic of Justice, in which moral dilemmas are resolved primarily through the application of rules, and the ethic of Care, in which moral dilemmas are resolved primarily by examining the effects on relationships of different possible solutions. In the book "Making Connections: The Relational Worlds of Adolescent Girls at Emma Willard School," Dr. Gilligan and her colleagues Nona P. Lyons and Trudy J. Hanmer describe how these teenaged girls react to different hypothetical situations, and it is striking how even those girls who use the ethic of Justice to solve these problems still explain their choices most often in terms of how following or not following rules might affect specific relationships.

Eight days after this initial all-middle school meeting, at the first meeting of MOCA (the middle school student government),  the students looked over their list and were given the chance to add new words or phrases. They chose:

"love - happiness - family - being together as one - time - trust"

As always, their answers showed extraordinary insight. Building community does take time, and both requires and strengthens love and trust in the process. But as a community comes together as one, a sense of well-being, as in a family, results, and leads inevitably to happiness. This was the number one goal of parents of last year's middle school for their daughters, and whether or not it will be an explicit goal of parents this year, it certainly is something toward which we are inevitably working. We look forward to partnering with all families as we undertake this journey, and wish every one of you the happiest of all possible school years.

Over vacation, I happened to read the following letter:

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 14-year-old girl who often hears negative comments directed at teenagers as a whole.The other day I was sitting in a bookstore, quietly reading, when an employee commented to a customer that "some teenagers were just in here -- that's probably why the display is a mess!"
I have heard other strangers make remarks about teens being lazy, slovenly, apathetic and rude. If these comments were directed at specific ethnic or religious groups, they would be regarded as discrimination, so I want to know if my saying something to these people would be appropriate -- and also why ageism, clearly a hurtful form of stereotyping, is acceptable when it's directed at young people.
I am tired of being followed by store owners and watching other passengers on the bus grab their belongings and scoot away when I come near them. What should I do?
-- SICK OF AGEISM IN SAN FRANCISCO

Also over vacation, I read three articles in the New York Times whose titles present a certain theme:  "Trying to find solutions in Chaotic Middle Schools," "The Preteen: Betwixt and Bedeviled," and "Middle School Girls Gone Wild." The depictions of middle schoolers in particular and adolescents in general were far removed from my experience, and I would imagine most of you would have a hard time recognizing your daughters in these articles.

So what can be done? It can be important to recognize that the problem is not exactly new. Dear Abby, in her response to "SICK," presented a well-known quote attributed to Socrates: "Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders, and love chatter in places of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble food and tyrannize their teachers.." The 1960's musical "Bye Bye Birdie" included the lyric "Kids! I don't know what's wrong with these kids today! Kids! Who can understand anything they say? (...) why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way? What's the matter with kids today?" So there is a certain history of negative stereotyping of adolescents which can help us keep all this in perspective.

It's also important to distinguish between mere stereotyping and the development of a situation which genuinely needs addressing. For example, the stereotype of hormone-crazed kids dancing way too suggestively is not new - our own parents were concerned about our dancing styles, our great-grandparents believed our jitterbugging grandparents were on the road to ruin, Viennese parents in the 1800's were quite concerned about what the waltz might lead to, and even the minuet was once the object of considerable controversy. However, despite its unfortunate title, "Middle School Girls Gone Wild" does seem to raise legitimate concerns around the sexualization of teenagers in the media. Whether we choose to address the situation by talking to our children about the messages being put forth by the media, building media literacy skills, contacting politicians or members of the media, or other approaches, the important thing is to recognize when a stereotype may be masking a situation that genuinely needs addressing, and finding a way to respond.

However, a stereotype is a stereotype is a stereotype, and anything we do to put forth the more positive vision of adolescents we see in our lives can carry a power of its own. Articles in local papers about teen volunteers, special school projects, and other counter-examples can help build a more realistic picture of what adolescents can accomplish. We can write our politicians, write letters to the editor, and simply talk to our friends and relatives about all we see our children doing.

Of at least equal importance is that we find ways to empower our children as well. Any actions they can take on their own behalf - including most all of the above - not only serve to combat stereotypes, but also help them feel there is something they can do. This is another reason, of course, why we do community service -  several organizations, when I first contacted them, were skeptical about what a bunch of middle school girls could do to help them. Over time, the people who work in these organizations have come to see our students as dependable, hard-working, cheerful and genuinely willing to help.

Certainly, adolescence can be a difficult time, though exactly how difficult varies greatly from person to person. But to ask, as one article did, "How do you solve the problem of adolescence?" is to actually contribute to the difficulties by assuming adolescence itself is a problem. By recasting the question as "How can we best support adolescents?" we can improve their lives and help them be more widely treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.


Links

"Dear Abby" letter
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20070106/lf_ucda/girlwondershowtoconfrontnegativestereotypesofteens

"Trying to Find Solutions in Chaotic Middle Schools"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/education/03middle.html?ex=1168578000&en=ecfaba6132cd3ae3&ei=5070

"The Preteen: Betwixt and Bedeviled"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07zernike.html?fta=y

"Middle School Girls Gone Wild"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/29/opinion/eddownes.php

With the passing of my 25th college reunion this year, I have been thinking a lot about how those four years permanently altered my life. I still have vivid memories of sitting in a large auditorium listening to Professor Rockefeller amaze my friends and me with his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Western philosophy, frantically scribbling down every word I could catch, knowing that my friends and I would meet later to fill in the gaps in each other's notes. It was a heady experience, being exposed to some of the greatest minds in history by someone who clearly had an extraordinary intellect himself. And yet, looking back on the course now, I can recall only three things: the excitement I felt as I followed along, the connections I felt with my friends as we worked to get each other through the course, and Plato's concept of form as the unknowable ideal. Should I be frustrated that so much of what I learned was so transitory, or delighted at the depth of the friendships I achieved and the internalization of a concept that helps guide my life to this day? What did I - really - learn in this course?

Recently, on the MiddleTalk listserv, my friend Ellen Berg posed a similar question: "What is REAL learning?" You ask that kind of question of several hundred teachers, you better expect to get flooded with responses, and indeed my inbox began to light up with idea after idea, such as the following:

Learning that lasts, that can be recalled and used when necessary, both now and through adulthood.
- Anne Van Meter

Real learning comes from when students are provided the support, space, and time to develop ideas of HOW to think and get to their OWN truth instead of WHAT to think. I liked this quote from Thomas Payzant (Boston Schools) "The purpose of education is to know what to do when you don't know."
- Keith Mack

Real learning is sustained, allowing the learner to re-access it when needed. It is fluid, changing as the learner learns more, experiences more, and needs more information about that topic. Real learning lasts.
- Cossondra George

You'll notice that  these definitions, taken together, speak to the paradoxical nature of true learning as being both transitory and permanent - a change is accomplished and one can never go back, but a fluidity is implied that suggests that further change may lie ahead. Our knowledge and our beliefs are continually evolving and being shaped as we go through life. The seventh graders, in a discussion about fearing vs. exploring the past, present and future, caught a sense of the inexorable flow that is life, that is learning at its best, when one of them said "But technically there is no future, because once you get there it's the present - and then it becomes the past." Some were quick to agree, others equally quick to disagree - "But if you live only in the present, you'll never have a sense of what's possible in the future," one student observed. Learning, then, is not only both transitory and permanent, it is also intensely personal, as Keith Mack observed above.

In our meeting back on Fall Family Weekend, "Continued love of learning" was listed by parents as the second-highest priority to "Happiness" for your daughters. Among the best ways to promote a continued love of learning are to ensure the learning is truly relevant to each student, and to incorporate simultaneously the sum total of our past and a wealth of possibilities for the future into a vivid present. When we can accomplish that, so much is possible!

With recent memories of the occasion of the first snow (if not the first snowstorm) of the year; of the seventh grade homeroom flocked to the window, doing happy dancing laps around the table, or just smiling warmly at the world; of my advisory group asking if they could cut out paper snowflakes and decorate the room (they could!), I am well aware that children know what is important and when they are fully engaged. Thus, I wish to close with a poem submitted by Jacquie Leighton in response to Ellen Berg's question about real learning:

Undivided Attention

A grand piano wrapped in quilted pads by movers,
tied up with canvas straps - like classical music's
birthday gift to the insane -
is gently nudged without its legs
out an eight-floor window on 62nd street.

It dangles in April air from the neck of the movers' crane,
Chopin-shiny black lacquer squares
and dirty white crisscross patterns hanging like the second-to-last
note of a concerto played on the edge of the seat,
the edge of tears, the edge of eight stories up going over, and
I'm trying to teach math in the building across the street.

Who can teach when there are such lessons to be learned?
All the greatest common factors are delivered by
long-necked cranes and flatbed trucks
or come through everything, even air.
Like snow.

See, snow falls for the first time every year, and every year
my students rush to the window
as if snow were more interesting than math,
which, of course, it is.

So please.

Let me teach like a Steinway,
spinning slowly in April air,
so almost-falling, so hinderingly
dangling from the neck of the movers' crane.
So on the edge of losing everything.

Let me teach like the first snow, falling.

- Taylor Mali

By now, we are all familiar with the image of the stereotypically wired modern teenager: "While working recently on a paper for a class on state drug laws, a project that involved not just writing but searching the Web for information, Colleen checked her e-mail on a running basis and kept up to eight Instant Messenger screens running, engaging in bursts of online conversation with friends about weekend plans. All this while listening to Faith Hill on her MP3 player and burning a CD with songs from The Corrs, a new favorite band." (Hafner) This New York Times article originally ran in 2001; an updated version would probably factor in a cell phone and several windows to online social communities such as Myspace. While we marvel at these children's ability to manage so many tasks at once, we also wonder deep down what the implications may be for their learning.

Back in 2001, concerns already existed about the brain's ability to engage deeply in simultaneous multiple tasks: "Dr. (Todd E.) Feinberg, the author of "Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self" (Oxford, 2001), pointed out that the normal human brain cannot actually focus on more than one task simultaneously. Multitasking, he said, entails the rapid shifting of attention from one thing to the next." (Hafner) More recent research by Russell A. Poldrack, presented in the most recent issue of Middle Ground, suggests that however efficient one might be at acquiring information learned while multi-tasking, it is more difficult to use and apply this knowledge in new situations ("The Downside of Multi-tasking").

Middle Ground makes no actual recommendations in their article, merely presenting the results of the research. Still, the implications of these findings support our common sense practice during class time and in study hall, where social use of the Internet is disallowed. We do allow students to listen to music through headphones as long as it cannot be heard by others, knowing that some people truly think more efficiently under these conditions. In this manner, we are trying to set the students up for success in our goal of promoting deep, critical thinking.

Sources
"The Downside of Multi-tasking." Middle Ground 10.2 (2006): 47.

Foerde, K., Knowlton, B.J, & Poldrack, R.A. (2006). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (published online August 1). http://www.poldracklab.org/Publications/index_html#skill

Hafner, Katie. "Teenage Overload or Digital Dexterity?." New York Times. 2001. 24 Oct. 2006 .

"Children grow into the intellectual life around them."
- Vygotsky (quoted in an email posting by Beverly Maddox to the MiddleTalk listserv dated November 8, 2006)

I had the good fortune of attending the National Middle School Association's annual conference this past week. Over 10,000 middle level educators converged on Nashville for four wonderful days of exchanging ideas, growing and learning, feeding off each other's energy and striving always to become better teachers for the sake of our students. As I listened to some of my friends and middle level colleagues, I couldn't help noticing that some of them were increasingly frustrated and isolated by the stultifying teaching culture in their schools. I couldn't help wishing for them what I have here. For example, last Tuesday...

"I just had the most awesome class!" said Kara as she burst into the middle school office. Her Humanities 8 class was studying the verdict in the trial of Saddam Hussein, and got so caught up in discussion that they lost track of time. Besides sharing their opinions, they were making connections to their middle eastern unit and, as Kara noted, something they had feared would be dry and boring had completely caught their attention and swept them up. Meanwhile, Catherine's Math 8 class had hit a temporary roadblock - a number of students walked in and said "We just can't do this." Catherine simply but firmly retorted "Oh, yes you can!" and before long they were all hard at work and did not give up until every single student was on the right track. Next door to Catherine's class, my Humanities 7 students had been so completely caught up in the day's installment of the morning reading book Jacob Have I Loved  that they had begged me to read another chapter until I finally acquiesced. Later on in the day, I recounted our conversation to Peter; he nearly jumped out of his seat waiting for me to finish, and said "I had a day like that too!" His Humanities 8 class had been discussing the elections, and by the end of the class, several of them had said they were so excited to find out what would happen they were going to stay up late and watch the returns.

Catherine, Kara, Peter and I are always exchanging ideas, talking about something that went well or something that needs tweaking, seeking new ways to reach and inspire our students. The climate of that learning community, which extends beyond our office to include other middle school teachers, can't help but spill over into the classroom - indeed, that is the goal of many of our discussions. Immersed as we are in our learning, so are the students in theirs. In "This We Believe," the National Middle School Association states that "lives are shaped less by direct instruction than by 'wayside teaching,' those small individual actions, probing questions, subtle reminders, earned commendations, and personalized challenges. Teachers in successful middle schools skillfully interweave the planned curriculum with the unplanned, ensuring that interactions with students are positive, all students are valued, and all students are treated equitably." (p.20) We can't expect that every single day will bring that intense a level of engagement simultaneously in so many classes.  But we can certainly maximize the chances when we model our own intense engagement in our ongoing learning. And indeed, on almost a daily basis, I am stunned and touched by what these students are capable of.

"Successful schools for young adolescents are characterized by a culture that includes school-initiated family and community partnerships." - This We Believe, National Middle School Association

During the Class Dean's meeting on Family Weekend, a group of parents brainstormed together what they saw as elements of success - both in general and for their daughters in particular. They learned Bill's advisor group's recipe for success - "Do something with your life, accomplish your task, and make all your dreams come true." - and they briefly reviewed the 14 principles of the National Middle School Association's model for a successful middle school. After a chance to revise their list, they worked to set their highest priorities, with each parent getting five votes. The final version of the list, with total votes in parentheses, is:

Happiness (11)
Continued love of learning (10)
Loving your work (10)
Self-motivated independence (7)
Achievement of our goals (7)
Making a difference (7)
Self-confidence (7)
Respect for others' differences (6)
Creativity (6)
Being true to yourself (5)
Grasping the material (2)
Kindness (2)

This is an impressive list, and it must be noted that every single one of these items is important to the success of students at Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School. This list has been shared with the Middle School faculty - teachers, advisors and houseparents - and will serve as one of the touchstones we will use as we go through the year. We do invite parents who wish to add items to the list to contact Bill and express their opinions, and we thank you as always for your thoughtfulness and your support.

Humanities 7

 

The design of Humanities 7 is based on four sets of standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Social Studies, the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the state of Vermont. These standards focus very strongly on communication skills – how to read and write effectively in different genres – and critical thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These standards are also based on research about what young adolescents need to know and how they learn best. For example, Stephen Krashen's work shows that the more students read, the more they develop not only reading skills but also their facility with vocabulary, grammar and spelling.

Research additionally shows the importance of student involvement in their own learning. In the words of the National Middle School Association, “Curriculum is relevant when it allows students to pursue answers to questions they have about themselves, content, and the world. (…) Student-generated questions may lead to more demanding study, particularly when the prescribed curriculum is too often preoccupied with answers to questions young adolescents never ask. (…) Almost any aspect of a school’s curriculum may be relevant to a young adolescent when developed with reference to students’ questions, ideas and concerns.” (NMSA, p.20-21) If the level of study is more demanding with an approach rooted in student-generated questions, then it would stand to reason that students educated in such a fashion would be able to achieve at a higher level. Indeed, this is what the research shows. James A. Beane, in his book A Reason to Teach, states that “Research on teaching methods associated with democratic practices consistently shows that they are associated with success on standardized tests.” (Beane, p.46).

So we know what the research tells us middle school students need to know how to do, and we know what the research tells us about how to help them acquire that knowledge. How does this happen in practice in Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School’s Humanities 7 course?

The students begin by writing questions in two different areas, “What do I want to know about the world?” and “What do I want to know about myself?” (based on Beane, pp.24-25) These questions are shared with the class and classified under general areas of inquiry. We require students to design units in the areas of history, world cultures, psychology and aesthetics, and we encourage and help them to identify other areas of inquiry which may emerge from their questions such as economics, political systems, or sociology. Within these areas of inquiry, the girls work to group their questions together, finding common themes and discovering the essential question which will unify and drive the unit. For example, for a unit in the area of psychology last year, students wrote the essential question “Why do people sometimes act different from who they are?”

Once the girls have their unit themes chosen, we work to connect those themes to a list of required genres of presentation which includes common formats such as research papers, literary and compare/contrast essays, and persuasive speeches. Together, we decide which genre of presentation is most appropriate to which topic. We ensure that all required genres are covered, and consider what else the students may wish to attempt.

The final step is to match literature to each unit theme. Beyond literary discussions among the whole class and in small groups, there are daily “morning readings” in support of the unit. For example, right now in the 1940’s decade study, the girls are reading Lily’s Crossing which offers a window into what life was like in the northeastern United States near the end of World War II. For the morning reading, I am sharing Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies which details life in Amsterdam during wartime.

As the girls work through each unit, they learn to research efficiently. They learn to analyze, synthesize and evaluate ideas. They learn and practice the five steps in the process of writing. They work on improving the mechanics of their writing. They learn and practice the habits of good readers as they build their vocabularies. They learn about literary analysis and other critical thinking skills. They learn how to work on their own and within a group. All the while, they are building their awareness of and developing their own power as students.

Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle stated that “All learning begins in wonder,” and that remains as true today as it was back then. The philosophy behind Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School’s Humanities 7 course could not be stated any more clearly or cogently.     

 

Advisory

      Stoneleigh-Burnham’s advisory program is rooted in research that says that young adolescents learn best when all aspects of their development are engaged by the school – that academic achievement actually rises when appropriate attention is paid to emotional, behavioral and physical development as well as intellectual development. Two years ago, we won a grant from the National Middle School Association to examine our program in light of the principles of This We Believe, and our advisory program was one of the two main areas of focus in the second year of the grant. As part of this process, we surveyed the students and asked them to list reasons why the school has an advisory program. By combining their ideas, we were able to come up with the following mission statement:

The purpose of Stoneleigh-Burnham's advisory program is to provide a core support base at school which allows students to connect with themselves, their teachers and their peers as they build confidence, develop skills for success in school and in life, monitor their progress, and have fun.

It is wonderful to note that the girls instinctively touched on all three areas of self-esteem identified by the research of psychologist JoAnn Deak:  connectedness, confidence, and competence.

      There are many components to our advisory system. One component involves goal-setting, where the girls think about what they’d like to accomplish during the year, how they can form connections to support them toward that end, and how they can deal positively with challenges and distractions. These goals are examined and revisited at regular intervals through the year.

      A second component involves preparing for student-led conferences on Family Weekend. The girls reflect in writing on their progress and challenges in each aspect of the program, and collect these self-reflections along with sample work into a binder which they share with parents. In This We Believe, it states that “Student-led conferences are especially valuable in achieving the goals of an assessment and reporting program.” (NMSA, p.28) and this seems particularly true with this age group.

      A third component, new this year, is “Thinking About Tomorrow Today.” This program has been developed by the Human Capital Education Corporation in collaboration with the New England League of Middle Schools. It looks at what we know about the kinds of attributes that lead to success in school, the workplace, and throughout life, and offers a variety of activities accompanied by online journals for self-reflection to build awareness of, and skill with, these attributes. Examples include communicating, maintaining high standards of personal behavior, taking initiative to solve problems and make effective decisions, and working cooperatively. We are happy to have been selected to be one of 25 model schools to implement this program.

      These components take priority, but there is ample time for using other activities or even creating our own, both in support of these same goals and simply to have fun. After all, there is a place for simple, pure fun, whether playing a game such as “Apples to Apples” or enjoying strawberries dipped in chocolate, which creates its own kinds of connections and bonds among members of an advisory group.

 

Service Learning

      The goals of advisory are meant to extend beyond the confines of that program, and service learning is one area where this happens. Through time, we have forged strong ties with several community agencies such as the Pioneer Valley Humane Society, the Food Bank, and the 21^st Century After-School Program. We’ve acquired a reputation for being friendly, willing and steady workers, and these places are explicit in their praise for the difference we make to their work. When our students hear this, and see the positive results of their work, much more happens than the admittedly important goal of learning to get outside oneself and develop empathy for others – a sense of connectedness. The girls are also developing a sense of competence as they see the value of their work, and a sense of confidence that they can make a difference in the world. Again, these three elements – connectedness, confidence, and competence – are what contribute most strongly to building true self-esteem in girls, which in turn connects back to academic success. As the NELMS motto says, “It’s all about the learning.”

Beane, James.  A.  A Reason to Teach. Heinemann, Porstmouth, NH:  2005.

 National Middle School Association.  This We Believe. National Middle School Association, Westerville, OH:  2003.

 

 

 

 

    (note:  this is a slightly adapted and abridged version of a talk given to new middle school parents at Stoneleigh-Burnham School's orientation. SBS is an all-girls school.)

In the novel Flipped, author Wendelin Van Draanen has narrator Julianna Baker, then an 8^th grader, describe one of the most important days in her life.

            “I love to watch my father paint. Or really, I love to hear him talk while he paints. The words always come out soft and somehow heavy when he’s brushing on the layers of a landscape. Not sad. Weary maybe, but peaceful. (…)

            Mostly the things he talked about floated around me, but once in a while something would happen and I would understand exactly what he had meant. “A painting is more than the sum of its parts,” he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you’ve got magic.

            I understood what he was saying, but I never felt what he was saying until one day when I was up in the sycamore tree. (…)

            I had always played in the tree, but I didn’t become a serious climber until the fifth grade, when I went up to rescue a kite that was stuck in its branches. (…)

            It was a long ways up, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I shinned up the trunk, took a shortcut across the slide, and started climbing. Champ kept a good eye on me, barking me along, and soon I was higher than I’d ever been. But still the kite seemed forever away.

            Then below me I noticed Bryce coming around the corner and through the vacant lot. And I could tell from the way he was looking up that this was his kite. (…)

            “Can you climb that high?” he called up to me.

            “Sure!” I called back. And up, up, up I went!

            The branches were strong, with just the right amount of intersections to make climbing easy. And the higher I got, the more amazed I was by the view. I’d never seen a view like that! It was like being in an airplane above all the rooftops, above the other trees. Above the world!

            Then I looked down. Down at Bryce. And suddenly I got dizzy and weak in the knees. I was miles off the ground! Bryce shouted, “Can you reach it?”

            I caught my breath and managed to call down, “No problem!” then forced myself to concentrate on those blue and yellow stripes, to focus on them and only them as I shinnied up, up, up. Finally I touched it; I grasped it; I had the kite in my hand! (…)

            I needed a minute to rest. To recover before starting down. So instead of looking at the ground below me, I held on tight and looked out. Out across the rooftops.

            That’s when the fear of being up so high began to lift, and in its place came the most amazing feeling that I was flying. Just soaring above the earth, sailing among the clouds.

            Then I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelled. It smelled like… sunshine. Like sunshine and wild grass and pomegranates and rain! I couldn’t stop breathing it in, filling my lungs again and again with the sweetest smell I’d ever known.

            (…) It wasn’t long before I wasn’t afraid of being up so high and found the spot that became my spot. I could sit there for hours, just looking out at the world. Sunsets were amazing. Some days they’d be purple and pink, some days they’d be a blazing orange, setting fire to clouds across the horizon.

            It was on a day like that when my father’s notion of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts moved from my head to my heart. The view from my sycamore was more than rooftops and clouds and wind and colors combined.

            It was magic.”

Van Draanen, Wendelin. Flipped. 2001:  Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

            We wish for all of your daughters such life-transforming experiences this year, whether they occur in one sweeping revelation as happened for Julianna, or whether they occur over the course of the year in small ways that may even pass unnoticed at the time but add up nonetheless to something significant. One is tempted to think of the high ropes course the girls will be doing this coming Saturday, but really examples abound and opportunities for growth exist on a daily basis.

            We are also acutely aware of the importance of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Some years ago, I read of a study on the importance of working with groups. The researchers created a maze and, as subjects worked the maze, the researchers recorded the total number of decisions made, with each decision made at a given turning point. They also put people into random groups, and had the groups work the maze. Groups, they found, were (if I remember correctly) about 25% more efficient than individuals in working the maze. For adolescent girls, the importance of working in groups may be accentuated by how their brains function. According to research, emotion and communication – in other words, connections – play a greater role in learning for girls than they do for boys. This research is the basis for much of what we do at Stoneleigh-Burnham.

            This notion of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts extends to the design of the school itself. Literally thousands of studies have been performed on young adolescents in the past decade alone, and the National Middle School Association has taken the cumulative results and combined them with previous studies and previous writings to create This We Believe, a document which outlines in 14 principles what the culture of a successful middle school includes and thus what the school should provide. Many middle schools, working from a long-established culture with its particular structures and procedures, implement this model incompletely, existing in has been termed by professor Thomas Dickinson “a state of arrested development.” Research has clearly shown that if one or more parts of the model are missing, it affects the success of all areas of the school. For example, if a school does not have an advisor system, this has a negative impact not only on the social climate of the school but also on the academic climate and success. Therefore, when Stoneleigh-Burnham set out to begin its middle school program, we made a solid commitment to follow all 14 of the principles in This We Believe without exception.

 

 

           

    It is a universal truth of teaching that, much as we enjoy the extended summer vacation, there's always this nagging feeling that something is lacking. In between good times spent relaxing with family and friends, we read professional journals, participate in workshops and discussions, outline the opening weeks of class and decorate our classrooms, but all is anticipation. Then, even more welcome than the first robin of spring, the first student arrives on campus and within days the school is bursting with energy and back to normal. As the full Stoneleigh-Burnham faculty gathered together in late August for a day of meetings and preparation, a number of themes for the year emerged which are particularly germane to middle school teaching, including warmth, accountability, and community.
    Young adolescents are hungry for connections, and research shows that the quality of their connections to their teachers can affect how much they learn. When students feel known, accepted, valued and respected, they can most fully immerse themselves in their learning. While this is true of young adolescents in general, it is especially true for girls, for whom the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, tends to be more involved in their learning than for boys. A warm and supportive community is fundamentally important to creating a context where good learning can happen for these girls.
    Young adolescents are also at a time where they are rapidly increasing their awareness and understanding of other people's perspectives. As part of this process, they become aware that accountability can take many forms - accountability to parents and caregivers and accountability to teachers, certainly, but also accountability to friends and peers, and accountability to themselves. As important as connections are to young adolescent girls, if they are to fully develop the sense of confidence and competence that helps lead to self-esteem, they must develop that internal motivation that accompanies accountability to themselves. External rewards and punishments, research suggests, may bring about quick results and/or short term changes in behavior, but to develop true habits of mind, body and soul, young adolescents must feel the drive coming from within.
    The school year is off to a good start, full of hope and promise. There will be many joys and victories, and there will also be inevitable bumps along the way. Together, we will work to create and sustain an atmosphere of warmth, to support these girls, and to help them develop that internal motivation and sense of competence that will carry them far in life.

Last Wednesday, when we arrived at the animal shelter, we walked into a lobby packed with people and animals. It was a happy chaos, though, for one of the dogs was being adopted, and as he prepared to walk out the door of the shelter and into the car which would take him home, one shelter worker after another came up to scratch his ears and say goodbye. The parents and children were all beaming, and the father promised to send on a picture in two months. As we stood around absorbing the scene - one which we get to actually witness all too infrequently - it was nice to have the reminder that this is the moment we are working for.

Once the family left and the last cries of "Goodbye!" died out, the volunteer coordinator, Rachel, said she had a special task for us. She gave each of the girls a pen and a clipboard with some lined paper. Their job, she said, was to choose a cat which had been around for a long time, spend 20 minutes really observing it and getting to know it, and do a write-up which they could then use to help find these animals a new home. "Can I have Fluffy? Is Fluffy still here?" asked one of the girls. Fluffy was still around, and he along with five other cats is now benefitting from these girls' work. (My own special task was rather less glamorous - emptying out and wiping down all horizontal surfaces!)

This day sums up what our community service program is all about - connecting with the community, enabling desperately needed work to take place, using various skills in a real-life context, and strengthening self-esteem. Linda Beaudoin frequently tells me "They were so glad to see us coming in, because they needed us to." help out with some special task, and she has spoken about taking her group to the Food Bank early one day so the girls can see what it's like when people come to pick up their food. When I called Poet's Seat Nursing Home, their volunteer coordinator was delighted we would be returning in the spring. "The residents so look forward to it," they said. So do the girls, of course, and they have an extra special place in their hearts for Mrs. Marguerite Spencer, who was a much-loved receptionist at Stoneleigh-Burnham many years ago and who loves being around girls from her old school. The other day, in fact, the girls called on Sharon Pleasant asking to see some! old yearbooks so they could find Mrs. Spencer's picture.

It is gratifying to see how much these charitable community organizations have come to trust and depend on us as the year progresses. It is also good to know that these connections, research shows, not only strengthen the girls' self-esteem but also tend to have a positive effect on their academic achievement. This week, the girls have completed sign-ups for the coming spring, and once we've heard confirmation from a new proposed site, we will let your daughters know what their final assignments are. As the light brightens and the days lengthen, it's nice to anticipate one more thing to brighten up the spring.