December 8, 2017

Caring

Each month, we highlight a particular attribute from the IB Learner Profile. The attribute becomes a source of inspiration for Chapel services, an opportunity to recognize the ways students demonstrate commitment to the attribute, and a spark for reflection. In December, we are turning our attention to what it means to be "caring." The IB identifies caring as an affective attribute (as versus a cognitive one) and defines caring as follows:

We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.

We often think of being caring as one of those soft attributes, that caring grows from the warm-and-fuzzy element within a person, but, like inquiry, thinking, communication, and reflection, caring is a complex skill. Empathy, compassion, and respect are not innate or essential qualities of people - they are developed and shaped by myriad experiences and factors from how our brains are wired to how we interact with others at our best and at our worst. An important aspect of being caring is its active, not passive, orientation. One can be passively kind or nice, but care requires demonstration and evidence that an act of care actually effects something for someone else.


As a community, we demonstrated care for people and pets we don't even know through the Pet Food Drive. That drive collected nearly 1,400 lbs. of pet food for the Puget Sound Pet Food Bank. This drive, the second House Cup competition of the year, was organized by the Middle School Student Council. Nadine Gibson, Grade 7 Representative, visited the PSPFB and met with Marge Meyer, President and founder of the food bank (see the picture, right). This was an amazing demonstration of caring! In January, Middle School students will engage in Service Learning Days, in which they will explore the variety of themes of service learning and have a chance to indirectly or directly provide service.Later in the year, we'll have another food drive (this time, food for people) that will be organized by the Upper School for Boys as part of the yearlong House Cup competition. Moving the food drive for people to the spring was intended as an act of caring as well - many food banks, social services agencies, and other non-profit organizations benefit from the generosity inspired by the holiday season, and we wanted our community to be able to make an impact when the need is off of our radar.

Our program has been built to develop empathy and compassion in many ways, but our efforts to "make a positive difference in the lives of others" is not restricted to grand gestures or school-wide programs. Making a positive difference begins in our acknowledgement of each other and her or his inherent dignity as a human being. It continues with the ways we interact and communicate with each other, and it extends into seeking to understand the influences, talents, gifts, motivations, challenges, and burdens of others.

Thich Nhat Hanh's Being Peace provides an introduction to Buddhist philosophy, but it is also an extended reflection on what it means to be a caring presence for others and in the world. For him, "Understanding and love aren't two separate things, they're just one." You cannot truly love someone without understanding her or him; and you cannot help but love someone if you truly understand her or him. For him the source of human suffering is our inability to understand each other...but to be able to understand (and love) each other, we have to be able to understand (and love) ourselves. "If you cannot be compassionate to yourself," he writes, "you will not be able to be compassionate to others." As we move through the winter holiday season in which we hear so many calls to be kind and generous toward others, perhaps this is a timely reminder to be kind and generous toward ourselves. If the coming Winter Break gives students space to be compassionate to themselves, to be able to attend to the physical and emotional exhaustion they might feel, then they will return to school in January better prepared to be kind and generous toward each other, making us an even stronger community.

Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day

We are thrilled to welcome our students' Grandparents and Special Friends on Friday, December 15! The Middle School program will include a special musical performance by students and ensembles, followed by the MS Expo, which will provide a glimpse into the curricular life of the Middle School. Visitors will get a chance to see finished products and works-in-progress from a variety of subjects. The schedule for the day staggers events between the Lower and Middle Schools so that guests visiting students in both Divisions might be able to do it all.

Please note that Friday is a noon dismissal for all students. Students leaving before noon (if they are leaving with a grandparent of special guest) must check out with a MS Faculty member at the Front Door, the 10th Street Office, or the Middle School doors.

What we are learning...

Ms. Sedia Bayard, Individuals & Societies and ESL Teacher

What is your favorite color? Blue.

What is your favorite book? Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Maybe.

What is your favorite movie? One of my favorite movies is "Like Water for Chocolate"

If I hadn't been a teacher, I probably would've been... an NPR correspondent or a lawyer.

Who is your favorite musical artist? Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, and Chris Smither.

If you could travel anywhere in space and time, where and when would you like to visit? I'd share a simple, lovely meal with Mister Rogers and Oprah...on Nantucket.

Where were you born? Kennewick, Washington.

Any interesting trivia about you? I was a varsity cheerleader in high school. In college, I played rugby.

Where did you attend Middle School? Stevens Junior High School in Pasco, WA.

Who was your favorite or most influential teacher? Middle School. Cathy Osborne - intelligent, no nonsense, and she loved us so.

In Individuals and Societies, the seventh graders are currently presenting on the various revolutions they researched. I love seeing them grow as researchers and presenters. What a joy it is to coach them and watch them not only internalize the coaching but also give each other helpful, thoughtful, constructive feedback! Another highlight is engaging the students in conversations around our Statements of Inquiry (SOI): “Circumstances shape identity” and “Change is hard.” What I find most fascinating is how quickly some of the children say, “Ms. Bayard, I don’t know how this SOI applies to [XYZ],” and as soon as I say, “Well, what do you think?,” they answer—and answer well. It is important to me that they know I believe in them and their ability to think and that I trust their brains. Our kiddos are sharp, and it is a complete joy to teach them and laugh and learn with them every day.  

December 1, 2017

The Holiday Season

December brings the peak of the winter holiday season! Returning to campus after Thanksgiving, we saw a flurry of trees and decorations, including a tree reminiscent of The Nutcracker in the Great Hall. Each year, Mr. Price's Advisory cuts down a tree for the MS Lounge, adding both the fragrance of the tree and a chance for Advisory groups to decorate it with handmade ornaments. When you walk by the Lounge, you'll hear the radio playing seasonal music as well.

As the month goes on, we'll gather as a community to celebrate the season in formal and informal ways. The Middle School holds an informal Holiday Celebration during a mid-morning break that includes a special snack, a singalong, and a few special performances by students and faculty. One of the most beloved and longest-running traditions in the Middle School is our Holiday Tea, hosted by Student Council. The Tea, held in the beautifully decked Great Hall, is a formal high tea, and the Tea includes longstanding customs like the reading of a Christmas story by our venerable Mr. Rockne and Mr. Price, performances by our musical ensembles, and mixing up the Grades at tables to promote some new connections before the calendar year ends. We also gather with the Upper Schools for Lessons & Carols, an important piece of our Episcopalian legacy and the most formal extension of our Chapel program. Lessons & Carols takes the form of a traditional Advent liturgy that tells the story of Christmas through scripture and music, and it provides a beautiful venue for our student musicians to shine. Reflecting on this series of events, while each event points to an external seasonal element, each also gives us the space to focus on who we are. So in the end, it's not that we gather as a community to celebrate the season - we gather throughout the season to celebrate our community.

That said, the sudden appearance of decorations linked to the Christmas season can be off-putting for students and families who do not observe this holiday, and throughout the year (and during this holiday season) we strive to recognize and learn about the diversity of religious and cultural observances that fill the calendar. In Morning Meeting each week, Student Council members announce the variety of holidays and special days coming up, and in All Schools and Middle School Chapel, we intentionally devote time to explore and hear voices from a variety of traditions. In this vein, we invite you to reflect on what some call the "season of light," the bevy of holidays from different contexts that occur from late-autumn through the winter and that focus on bringing light to a dark world. The Christian observances of Advent and Christmas are layered with this meaning, but so are the Hindu festival Diwali, the Jewish festival Chanukah, the African American and Pan-African festival Kwanzaa, and the Wiccan observance of Yule. For Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan also attends to this idea of bringing light into the world, but as the Muslim year is guided by a lunar calendar, Ramadan occurs during the winter according to this cycle - in 2026, Ramadan will begin mid-February, and it will recur during the winter until about 2034. If you're interested in exploring the variety of observances that occur through the year, a go-to resource is the Interfaith Calendar, and Harvard University's Pluralism Project provides multiple resources to explore different religious traditions.

As we move through the winter season (and throughout the year, really), we invite you to engage with this aspect of our diverse community - our students and families come from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds, enriching our community culture and inviting dialogue about how our different points of view are valued. We also invite you to be mindful of the variety of ways that our students and families move through the season - some engage in the "Christmas spirit," some observe other holidays, and some observe nothing at all. Each of us is responsible for recognizing these differences, and that's part of being a strong community.

Technology

Recently, this article circulated, sparking a variety of reactions and conversations. The article briefly summarizes the findings of recent research that digs into why members of the "iGen" (born after 1995) are more likely to experience mental health issues. The authors of the research identify the coincidence that this generation came to consciousness in the age of the smartphone, and they explore the data indicating that more time online was linked to higher rates of depression and suicide factors. In the end, they write, "Depression and suicide have many causes...Some teens would experience mental health problems no matter what era they lived in. But some vulnerable teens who would otherwise not have had mental health issues may have slipped into depression due to too much screen time, not enough face-to-face social interaction, inadequate sleep, or a combination of all three."

We see this risk every day, and as a 1:1 laptop school, we walk a tightrope between enabling students with developing sophisticated tech skills and handing them devices that promote an inward, and sometimes downward, turn. This is precisely why we direct so much time and energy to the structures around technology. Students are quite familiar with the PSA - our policy for the use of tech devices, requiring that students ask for Permission to use a device, they use it Supervised, and that usage is Academic or school-related. Our Handbook and Acceptable Use Policy (item 10.5 in the Handbook) are clear about particular aspects that promote safety and appropriate use. Throughout the school day, students are supervised, and tech use is actively monitored, but it's not always easy to monitor devices at home. While we invite families to begin a dialogue about the use of technology and to develop an agreement regarding expectations and consequences at home, not every family knows where to begin. Common Sense Media is our go-to recommendation for families looking for advice and tips for everything from movies to social media. In addition, we recommend the following:

• Review the MS Technology Handbook regularly with your student, and highlight those elements that need highlighting, including instructions on passwords, community standards, and privacy and safety.
• Check your student's devices regularly. Parents should have the passwords to access laptops, phones, tablets, and any other device. Check their text messages, what apps they are using, and the amount of time they are using the device. This recommendation does not intend for parents to pry - it is for your student's physical and emotional safety. Frequent use of devices can mean information overload, and sometimes students communicate with friends and others using inappropriate language or engaging inappropriate topics. Students don't always know what to do with this information - but parents do.
• Keep devices out of the bedroom. The research is quite clear about the impact of screentime on sleep, and the buzzing of a phone on the bedside can be too much of a distraction to resist. Some families require that devices are kept in a central or common location at home - this is a great practice!
• If you see something, say something. If you see inappropriate or concerning language or behavior coming through your child's device, address it! Have the conversation with your child. If another child is being inappropriate or indicates any form of self-harm, notify that child's parents. If you're not sure how to address it, reach out to Mr. Hulseman or Mrs. Dicks.
• Develop a Tech Agreement at home. We use the following questions at our Tech Orientation as a starting point to develop a clear understanding for use of technology at home: 
• When should technology be in use?
• Where can we use technology?
• Who can we communicate with digitally?
• When can laptops be used for non-school related activities (i.e., chatting with friends, watching online videos, gaming, etc.)?
• How many hours a day can we use laptops?
• What are acceptable activities?
• What are consequences for violating rules?

What we are learning...

Mrs. Ann Dicks, Assistant Director of Lower School, Lower & Middle School Counselor, and MS PHE Teacher

What is your favorite color? Blue.

What is your favorite book? Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea

What is your favorite movie? Tis the season - "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!"

If I hadn't been a teacher, I probably would've been... a pediatrician.

Who is your favorite song? Tough one - I am an equal opportunity music listener.

If you could travel anywhere in space and time, where and when would you like to visit? My father passed away nine years ago, and if I could, I would travel to the space where sweet, strong and gentle souls go after this place as we know it. I imagine it to be a beautiful place, and I would sure love to see him there.

Where were you born? North Carolina.

Any interesting trivia about you? I still have two baby teeth.

Where did you attend Middle School? Bloomington, Indiana.

Who was your favorite or most influential teacher? My 6th Grade teacher Mrs. Grover. I credit her with my understanding of the need for and power of a positive and optimistic outlook on life.

The format of the Physical and Health Education (PHE) class this year is really exciting and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I co-teach the 8^th grade class with Holly Drown, and cycle through at times in the 6^th and 7^th grade classes as well. PHE is just as it sounds- a class combining the elements of physical fitness with health and wellness. We try to make the class informative and active, sometimes within each class, while other times one class might be more informative and the next one quite active. So far this year, students have learned about and set goals relating to their levels of physical fitness, nutrition, sleep, stress management and social/emotional needs. Some of these areas are easier to quantify and understand than others, so we will continue to follow these threads throughout the year. Next week we welcome nutritionist Mary Verbovski to speak to our students about nutrition and best choices for the growing bodies. If you haven’t met Holly Drown yet, please know she has been a great addition to Annie Wright and brings great energy and experience to the middle school students. After the new year and into the second semester, we will target more specific areas of fitness and the components of team work, dig deeper into social awareness and relationship skills and welcome experts from the community to speak on topics including but not limited to substance abuse prevention, gender diversity and healthy decision making.