On Family Weekend, Sally, Natalie and Bill hosted a meeting of middle school parents. Those present engaged in a lively discussion on a variety of topics, and provided us with much valuable input. Here is a sampling of what we discussed.

Parents felt that the newsletter in its current form is well-written and informative. However, the format is sometimes hard to follow and read. We will look into alternative formats for next year, perhaps including only the first paragraph of each write-up on the front page, and allowing families to click on a link to read deeper into a given article.

We discussed possible topics for middle school parent meetings next year during Fall and Spring Family Weekends. We agreed to continue to have parents, students and faculty read a book together, and set aside time on Fall Family Weekend to study the book together. At the same time, we also wanted to bring back an older Fall Family Weekend activity which includes two parts. First, faculty make a short presentation on middle school philosophy. Then, parents work to set general goals for the girls which serve as touchstones throughout the year. With so much to do during Fall Family Weekend, we discussed the idea of doing some of the background work on middle school philosophy ahead of time through the newsletter and/or online forums. For Spring Family Weekend, parents expressed the desire for meetings on transitioning from 7th to 8th and from 8th to 9th grades. Such a meeting for current 7th grade parents was spontaneously organized for the following morning, and also proved enjoyable and fruitful.

One of the most important topics concerned the middle school progress reports that are mailed home at midterms and at the end of each trimester. The current form was designed for the upper school back when we were a 9-12 school, and does not respond very effectively to the middle school program and philosophy. Additionally, the faculty felt that we know the students much better than what the current form allows us to communicate, and that it seemed only fair to all concerned - students, parents, and faculty - to find a better way to share that knowledge. Accordingly, we spent a great deal of time redesigning the form from scratch, and shared a sample form with parents for input. Their reaction was quick, strong, and positive, feeling that the new format was much more informative and much clearer about which standards were being covered and exactly how well each student was doing. The inclusion of not only effort but also participation and citizenship assessments was also seen as being helpful. Parents had useful input on the layout and design of the progress report, and we have implemented some changes as a result. You may download the form here, and pass on further comments  if you would like.

It should be noted that there is no space on these forms for letter grades. This decision was made, after several years of deliberate and careful study and discussion, for several reasons. First, we believe that standards-based assessment is more accurate and more informative than a single grade, as students, parents and faculty may look at and analyze a girl's performance in several different specific areas. Second, research consistently shows that issuing grades decreases motivation and interest in learning, as well as the quality of thought attempted and achieved by students. Third, the widely varying developmental levels of middle schoolers make it extremely difficult to assign letter grades which are fair to all students, and at no other point in life are children more susceptible to the negative effects of the kind of summary judgment which letter grades provide. Fourth, for various reasons including those just mentioned, This We Believe, which is the National Middle School Association document outlining the structure, practices, and philosophy of an effective middle school, states that grades run contrary to good middle school practices. Rigorous assessment and evaluation may and should challenge and support students as they grow from where they are currently to the next level, but combining all this information into a single letter grade distracts and detracts from this process. We understand that, while some students and their families are used to grade-free progress reports, this form of reporting will be new to others, and we welcome and encourage your thoughts and questions  as we move forward. The Board of Trustees will be reviewing this policy for final approval during their summer meeting.

Finally, we held a short discussion on the performing arts and the desire of some middle schoolers to participate more actively in Family Weekend shows and/or to have upper school students required to attend the middle school performance. As this year's middle school performance was scheduled to allow a maximum number of parents to attend, and as Memorial Day Weekend is an open weekend, we did not want to change the rules mid-stream for this year's program. However, we are looking at a redesign of the performance schedule for next year, and will be careful to give the middle schoolers more access to larger audiences in the process.

We thank all parents who attended this meeting for their solid input, and welcome any further input  which any of you may have.

The 7th Grade Theatre class has worked during Winter and Spring trimesters to conceptualize, write and realize a production based on their own ideas. The themes crisscross between loss, dreams, and hope. Each student has contributed a huge amount of time and creative input. On Friday, May 22 , as part of the Middle School Performing Arts Presentation, the 7th Grade will present "The Last Word", a play about making a movie -- and a whole lot more. Their required final dress rehearsal will take place at Geissler Gallery on Thursday, May 21 beginning at 6:30pm and ending at 8:30pm.

It has been a busy few weeks in MOCA. The principal task was planning Founders' Day, an annual day off from classes filled with activities of different sorts. This year, due to the threat of inclement weather, the day began with a Dunkin' Donuts breakfast and a movie. The students then tie-dyed t-shirts, which they were later able to sign and keep as mementos of the year and their time together. The dining hall provided a delicious lunch up in Jesser, which made a nice change of pace, and then we headed over to the gym for several lively and lengthy games of bombardment. Bowling rounded out a successful day, and was followed by normal sports and then a special all-school Cinco de Mayo dinner.

MOCA elected two representatives, one from each grade, to a Dress Code Committee which is charged with examining the school's dress code and suggesting changes and clarifications as may be necessary. The students also discussed the ins and outs of 7th and/or 8th graders being allowed to vote in the election for Student Council President. After some discussion, they voted to recommend all middle school students be allowed but not required to participate in this vote. The final decision, made by Student Council with input from former middle schoolers who are now members of the upper school, was to allow 8th graders to vote since they will be in the upper school next year, but to ask 7th graders to wait a year. In the process, the idea of rotating middle school representatives through Student Council meetings was brought up, and this idea is being seriously discussed for next year.

The creativity and talent has really blossomed this spring in Exploring Languages. Students researched and drew a monument of Paris to go along with the song we sing about Paris each day in class. We listened to several versions of La Fontaine's fable, "The Fox and the Crow," and then each student memorized a couple of lines of the poem in French. The quality of pronunciation is quite advanced, which indicates a true desire to be immersed in another language.

Back by popular demand, the final project will give each student the opportunity to synthesize what she has learned about language and culture by inventing her own. This is a remarkable group of culturally savvy seventh graders, who really know how to keep the fun in language learning!

Humanities 7 is finishing up a unit on world tragedies, their causes and effects. Students formed three different book groups, discussed the books on their own, and summarized each book for the class with a skit depicting the main character of their book interacting with the Humanities 7 class. Sky, by Hanneke Ippisch, is an autobiography of a teenager who worked for the Dutch Resistance hiding Jews and who was eventually jailed. Zlata's Diary, by Zlata Filipovic, is the diary of a pre-teen girl who lived in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. When My Name was Keoko, by Linda Sue Park, is a fictional work set during World War II about the Japanese occupation of Korea and the effect on one family as told by the two children, a teenage girl and her older brother. The title comes from the fact that the Japanese required Koreans to take Japanese names during the Occupation. Students have been researching different questions and writing research papers, and in presenting their work will begin to look for patterns in causes and effects of wars, genocides, and other tragedies.

For the final unit of the year, the class chose to study how people change over time. As it also fits this theme, we will continue with the morning reading book Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli, set in Warsaw in 1939. The class novel will be The Folk-Keeper, by Franny Billingsley, which combines fantasy and coming-of-age themes in tracing the life of an adolescent girl who has disguised herself as a boy. The students are again choosing to research individual questions of personal interest, and will wrap up the unit with compare and contrast essays, the final writing form covered in this class.

This coming year, we would once again like to have parents, teachers, and students read a book in common. We plan to hold a discussion on this book during Fall Family Weekend. The book should be short enough and have simple enough vocabulary to be accessible to our ESL students, yet thought-provoking enough to be engaging to everyone. For example, this year, we read The Jacket by Andrew Clements, a 96-page book which deals honestly and thoughtfully with isses of diversity and race relations in the U.S. If you have ideas for titles, please pass them on to Bill .

We are in the home stretch in instrumental class. The full ensemble is putting the finishing touches on their three pieces (“Nobody’s Perfect,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Sweet Caroline”). The smaller string, flute, and percussion ensemble continues to work on Eric Whitacre’s “October,” which is not challenging technically, but does challenge them in their ability to perform a piece that changes meter constantly. We have had fun learning “Sweet Caroline” and have injected some of our own performance choreography into it. If I say any more I will ruin the surprise. Hope to see you all at the concert coming up in two weeks.

The students are finishing up a unit on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 1960's. The class novel was The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, a gentle book which outlines the life of a normal family who happen to be African-American, and then places them in Birmingham at the same time of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed four middle school-age girls. Besides learning about the efforts to desegregate Birmingham, the students have also been learning about the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, the Montgomery bus boycott, and Rosa Parks. They have also been working to research the lives of prominent civil rights leaders of the time, studying the influences that shaped their lives and world view, and outlining their contributions to the civil rights movement. Since the students were willing to push their thinking deeper than in a typical biography, these research papers are proving to be both enjoyable and informative.

On Friday, May 22, 2009 at 7:00 P.M., the Middle School will present its annual performance. The event will begin in Emerson Hall with the Dance 7, Vocal Music, Select Chorus and Instrumental Music classes presenting samples of their work. Several smaller vocal and instrumental ensembles and the Middle School Rock Band will also perform. Following a short intermission, we will reconvene in the adjoining Geissler Gallery for a performance of an original play by the Theatre 7 class. Festivities should conclude by approximately 9:00 P.M. We hope to see as many of you as possible!

Thu., May 14 Spearth Day 8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.

Sat., May 16 SBS Spring Fling

Community Dance Performance, 4:00 P.M.

Thu., May 21 Athletic Awards Ceremony, 3:45-5:00 P.M.

International Student Dinner, 5:15-6:15 P.M.

Theatre 7 Rehearsal, 6:30-8:30 P.M.

Fri., May 22 Performing Arts Presentation. 7:00-9:00 P.M.

Mon., May 25 No classes.

Dance Rehearsal, 4:00-6:00 P.M.

Tue., May 26 Dance Rehearsal, 4:00-6:00 P.M.

Wed., May 27 Last day of middle school classes.

Dance Rehearsal, 4:00-6:00 P.M.

Evening activity, open to day students, 7:00-8:30 P.M.

Thu., May 28 8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony. 8:00 A.M.

Middle School Six Flags trip. 9:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.

Middle School Family dinner 5:00-6:00 P.M.

Spring Dance Performance. 7:00-9:00 P.M.

Fri., May 29 Commencement of the Class of 2009. 10:30 A.M.

Dorms close and all middle school students off campus by 4:00 P.M.

Summer vacation begins.

For additional events, please go to http://www.sbschool.org/home/calendar.asp.