This week seemed to be filled with moments that interrupted our regularly scheduled programming...
Starting on a positive note, I would like to congratulate one of our 8th graders, Emily B., who has been selected to represent the Town of Westford in a special state-wide program called Project 351. This program brings one 8th grader from each of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 351 communities together for a year of service and leadership training through the Governor's office and various service organizations. It is a tremendous opportunity and we are very proud to have Emily represent Westford as she continues to develop her leadership skills and collaborate with other 8th graders throughout the state.
A representative from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) located at Bridgewater State University joined us again this year as we have done successfully in previous years for presentations to both the 6th and 7th grades. The entire 6th grade participated in a presentation focused on Internet safety, cyber-bullying, and digital footprints. She reminded the students of the importance of keeping their passwords protected and communicating respectfully as the lack of facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language can often lead to misunderstandings with electronic communication. Additionally, she met with the 7th grade girls about the unique behaviors adolescent girls can exhibit in their peer relationships and the importance of fostering healthy positive relationships exhibiting mutual respect and empowering them to avoid negative dynamics that seek to undermine their self-worth and confidence. At the same time, Mr. McElhinney and I met with the 7th grade boys and had similar discussions along with some of their teachers about what respect in action looks like and the importance of consistently exhibiting respect for everyone in our community. The focus of our conversation centered on the little things that we do on a daily basis and how they can culminate to create a wonderful environment grounded in respect that supports everyone or a collective apathy if we don't hold each other accountable and expect respect for everyone. Towards the end of the conversation, without it becoming a political debate a few students expressed concern in how some of the current Presidential Candidates seem to struggle with modeling respect as they interact with each other.
We had these same conversations last year and knew that they would be beneficial to have with this year's group, as well. Ironically, another struggle was identified this week in the unique challenge that the additional set of stairs seems to be creating for the majority of the 7th grade students traversing to the third floor multiple times during the day. The biggest issue seemed to consistently arise returning from lunch. So, the 7th grade teachers decided it would be prudent to meet the students outside after the students' daily opportunity to soak in some vitamin D and fresh air and have them return to the third floor together and calmly as a team helping to monitor the students choices while climbing the three flights of stairs. Hopefully, the escort will not be needed long and the grade will soak in the importance of being safe on the stairs. The optimist in me is glad they are in a hurry to get back to class, but 253 students of varying levels of grace and dexterity climbing three flights of stairs can create issues if they are not paying attention and or looking out for each other.
Not to leave them out, I took the opportunity to remind the 8th graders that while 245 of them sitting in the cafeteria is bound to create an expected amount of noise, they can always afford to do a better job quieting themselves when someone is trying to make an announcement or simply get their attention to let them go outside after eating...they seemed to appreciate that.
With all of that, you might be surprised to hear that I was able to visit a number of classes this week which is by far the best part of the job! Great things were going on throughout the building, as usual. 7th graders were all diving into the Epic tale of Gilgamesh while studying ancient communication and storytelling. Imagine the horror when they learned how difficult it would be to create 140 characters of text on a stone tablet. 6th graders were accessing modern technology and using laptops to compete against themselves and others on Kahoot as they practiced their emerging language skills. They were also doing some cross-team collaboration in some of their social studies classes identifying the traits of developed and developing countries. Some 8th graders were participating in virtual debates in ELA using poll everywhere to anonymously express their opinions before discussing the relationship between education and happiness. Additionally, they were studying relative dating in science which was thankfully focused on identifying the ages of fossils based on supporting data rather than dating a relative.
As I said about an hour ago, there are a number of things included for your perusal at the end of this weeks message!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Chris
