6th Grade
The 6th graders have been hard at work, engaging in a 6 week series of Wellness lessons that fit under the umbrella of bullying. We've defined bullying, talked through responses, discussed stereotypes, labels, gossip, friendships and so much more! There are two weeks left to go and I will share those lessons with you in upcoming blogs.
This week I did meet with the 6th grade boys, on Monday morning in fact, as we were all so tired from watching our Royals bring home the crown! Given the headline story, we began by watching clips of the game and trophy presentations. Time and time again, the character of the players on the Royals team was referenced. So I asked the boys - what character traits do you think the Royals have that contribute to their success. Determination, teamwork, work ethic and confidence were listed. We discussed how the Royals were not projected to do well last spring and how even in their successes, some in the sports world still overlooked them. So from there I asked the boys to tell me how they had been labeled incorrectly through anonymous slips of paper. As I collected the papers, I put them up on the screen for the students to see. "Quiet, Lazy, Weak, Gay, Nerd, Dumb, Stupid, Slow, Boring, Crazy." The room was silent. This was a powerful list. Then I let the boys know that we would be working for our last 2 classes to make a video in small groups about labels and stereotypes and their impact on schools. Some of the boys will use the Royals as inspiration, others will use their own stories. I'm very excited to see what they come up with. We'll watch the videos together on our final day of this series.
Also in October, Mrs. Tuncten and I sat down with 6th graders in 4 groups for "Chip Chats." During these chats we talked about seeking help from teachers, balancing homework and activities, making friends, navigating the freedom in the middle school and getting enough sleep. The students were great participants and shared fantastic ideas with each other for keeping on top of school work. It was a great experience!
7th Grade
Recently the 7th graders met for Wellness in gender divided groups. They began by playing a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Winners were asked to think about how it feels to lose. Those who lost, thought about how it feels to win. From there we were able to define empathy. I talked briefly with students about things that empathetic people do, including: avoiding putting others down, because they know how it feels and listening with compassion. Next students were told they were going to pretend to be the other gender. In pairs, they would read a scenario involving members of the other gender and talk about what it would be like to be the person in the scenario. Of course, students laughed at this task at first - and the girls were anxious to know if the boys were going to pretend to be girls too! But as we got into the conversation to wrap things up, the kids did a great job really thinking about what it might be like to be a boy or a girl. Girls became aware that boys feel pressure to be the best in academics and athletics and they aren't always free to show their emotions. Boys understood that girls face pressure to measure up in appearance and to get involved in the rumor mill. Of course, these things could be said about both genders, but it was very cool to see the kids really thinking about their peers in a new light.
8th Grade
Tomorrow, November 5, the 8th graders will meet for Wellness with a speaker from MOCSA who will talk about harassment vs. bullying, and get specific about sexual harassment. I'll be sure to share more information in next week's blog.
Recently I was able to team up with Cori Culp's World Cultures classes and share an article with the 8th grade students about a young girl who takes great pride in being from Ecuador and her experiences with people not differentiating her cultural identity from other Hispanic cultures. From there we were able to have great conversations about ethnic identity, cultural identity and respecting unique perspectives. Mrs. Culp is truly passionate about this topic and does a fantastic job supporting our students through their own identity development, as well as their understanding of those in the world around them. It was wonderful to partner with her on this lesson for the 2nd year in a row!
School-Wide
A couple of weeks ago our students spent some time in advisory learning about some of the October Awareness Campaigns and local charities that support them. Through videos and exploring websites, students learned about Breast Cancer Awareness, Down Syndrome Awareness, Substance Abuse Prevention and SIDS Awareness. Each advisory was challenged to bring in a dollar per student, per day. In total over $330 were raised to support local charities.
Today our students participated in Mix It Up Day at lunch. Students sat by first letter of their first name and chatted using the discussion questions on each table. Discussion questions were written by 6th graders during a recent advisory rotation. Students did a very nice job with this - participating without complaint and with good attitudes. Some of our staff even participated as well! For some of our students today meant not having to decide who to sit with, which provides a relief from a common lunch time stress. For others, it pushed them out of the comfort zone and got them talking with someone they might not normally talk to.
Finally I'll leave you with some pictures from our Middle School Ghost Walk and from Toms Advisory who created and hung some great encouraging signs around the school!
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