CHRIS
TOY
Diary #7
What Do Parents Value in a Middle School?
The first Parent Team Night was attended by about 30 parents. (Parent Team is what we call our PTO-style parent group.) Two of our teachers spoke to the group about plans in the next couple weeks for training staff about how to deal with bullying here at school. There will also be activities to help students deal with harassment at school.
Thanks to a grant written by a parent, we'll be working this year and next summer with Stan Davis, a Maine educator and a nationally recognized authority on dealing with bullying in schools. I asked the parents to pay special attention to this issue if and when they hear about it at home, and to let the school know immediately if they heard about it from their children or their childrens' friends. I compared bullying to workplace harassment, hate crimes, and domestic violence. As a community we need to send a strong message that all these things are unacceptable. Educating parents about the middle school concept After a brief question and answer session about the bullying project I spoke with the parents about the philosophy behind middle school education and the research supporting this learning concept. I described a study done by Jim Garvin, one of the first middle school advocates and founder of the New England League of Middle Schools. He asked parents of middle schoolers what was most important for their children's schools to provide. The the top two answers were that their children were safe and that their children would leave school each day wanting to return. I then spoke about what current research says about excellent middle schools. As I went through the characteristics I spoke about how our school had these things or was working toward them. Here are some of my key talking points from the evening. Excellent Middle Schools Have: -- Educators committed to young adolescents-- A shared vision
-- High expectations for all
-- An adult advocate for every student
-- Family and community partnerships
-- A positive school climate Good middle schools provide the following things: -- Curriculum that is challenging, integrative, and exploratory
-- Varied teaching and learning approaches that promote learning
-- Assessment and evaluation that promote learning
-- Flexible organizational structures
-- Programs and policies that foster health, wellness, and safety
-- Comprehensive guidance and support services At the end of the evening we did an activity to identify (and prioritize) some of the major things parents wanted for their children from the middle school. Each parent was given two post-its and asked to write down two things that were the most important to them. We shared every parent's priorities and placed them up on the walls around the cafeteria. Each parent was then given five colored dots. The parents went around the room and placed their five dots on any of the priorities posted on the walls. They could spread their dots out, or they could use all their five dots on one item. I sorted out the priorities into a few categories. Below are the top four priorities of the group, with some of the descriptions used by parents. -- Students feel safe at school, with peers and teachers. They feel safe approaching teachers with concerns; they feel respected. -- Students receive an excellent well-rounded education and gain important skills, including reading, spelling, computation, keyboarding, fine arts, organizational skills, independent thinking, character, a love of lifelong learning. Challenging, creative, and engaging instruction promotes natural curiosity, joy of learning, encourages students to do their best. -- There are clear academic and behavioral expectations, timely and effective communication with students, parents and other teachers. -- Students have a good self image, they are comfortable with self, confident, independent, show respect for self and others, competent, take responsibility. The school encourages participation in the community, gets kids involved. -- Teachers know their students well, staff makes personal connections with students, addresses different learning styles. I think it is a good list.
