Memories Made? Check!

Well, Mother Nature sure likes to keep us on our toes this year!  And this past week's storm prior to the scheduled Olympiad Day was more of the same.  But in the end, she was unable to interrupt our day on Friday, and the Olympiad Day went off without a hitch!

This wonderful event could not have been possible without:

• John McCarthy and Jillian Schiavo, who organized the event on the school/teacher side, including all schedules, handouts, etc.,
• The teachers, who in many cases spend hours preparing for their event, and who this time had to really be flexible and accommodating, given the last-minute setup following the storm,
• Parent volunteers, who assist teachers with all that each even entails,
• PTO board member Jeanette Vigorito, who procured all of the supplies (and boiled dozens of eggs!), and who helped to organize parent volunteers,
• Support, office and custodial staff, who are busy working with students, organizing volunteers, setting up, breaking down, cleaning up, etc.
• The STUDENTS!  They were amazing!  They were cooperative, energetic, fun, and well behaved.  

One wonderful highlight was to have John McCarthy, beloved science teacher who has been on a medical leave, back in the building.  He was his usual self, radiating energy for this day, care for the students, and being helpful to all!  Team Gemini surprised him with by all wearing "McCarthy Strong" t-shirts.  It was a moving tribute to a man who has been organizing this event for years!

Below are some photographs that provide examples of what the day was like!

Middle School Memories

As a parent of a child who is now in the middle school, I feel comfortable reaching out to connect with parents about how things were "when we were in middle school", as I know many of us are of comparable age.  I hope I do not offend those of you who are much younger than I am by doing so!

I am sure I could write many a blog post about what it was like for me in middle school.  I could (and very well might) write posts about: trends (such as clothing) bullying; Jr. High vs. Middle School; boys and girls and relationships; suburbia vs. city vs. rural experiences; private vs. public.  And so on.  But for today, I am feeling reflective about those things that stick in our memories of our middle school experiences.  Take a moment to remember back to your middle school (or junior high) experience.  What memories first pop into your mind? (Pause to think....)

For each memory that we each now hold in our minds, I am sure they are equally different and diverse.  Yet I am certain that the one thing that connects these memories that we have (and what will also be true for the students of Coolidge) is that those things we remember most readily are moments of great feeling.  For some, these feelings might be painful, and so we relate our middle school experience to general unrest or pain or struggle.  For others, we might immediately recall memories filled with fun and happiness and connection, so remember our middle school experience as a good time.

Due to adolescence, hormones, and testing all sorts of boundaries, middle school is most often known as a time of struggle and development.  Memories of these struggles, and the twisted feelings that play into these memories, often dominate one's memories of middle school.  Many of the middle school experiences we had, most of which were likely positive, unfortunately become secondary memories to those experiences that brought us great feeling, and too often these feelings are ones of pain and struggle during middle school.

As a teacher, I wanted my class to be fun, positive, memorable, and applicable to real life.  Despite 180 days of class plans, assignments, projects, quizzes, and general teaching and learning, what did my students take away as memories of my class?  Edible cells.  Egg babies.  Games.  Times when I made jokes (such as pretending to eat an Owl Pellet, which was actually chocolate cake wrapped in aluminum foil).  Dissections.  I'm OK with that.  When class planning, I felt continually challenged to expand those learning experiences that connected to the emotions of students, and to therefore imprint on their memories.

And now, as a school leader, I think about how to maximize the positive memories (thereby feelings) that students take away from their middle school experience at a broader level.  I hope to continue to support teachers to make connections and to teach in a way that students make connections and have feelings during their experiences.  In addition, extracurricular experiences can help to form positive memories.  This could be in the form of a memorable guest speaker or assembly; scoring a winning basketball shot; acting in a theater production; or performing a concert on stage and listening to an audience clap with joy.  The opportunities in and out of the classroom are endless!

There are a few major events that happen during the school year that are Coolidge traditions; these are events that I KNOW students take away as middle school memories for their lifetimes, and are opportunities that as an administrator I now feel great responsibility to continue and to develop.  I can't speak enough about the importance of these traditions for the development of positive memories for students.  I therefore want to take a moment to acknowledge a few of these school-wide experiences (apologizing that I am not including all of the wonderful, memorable experiences that exist in our building), and to thank all of you who help to make these successes and memories possible:

Olympiad Day!
Hoops for Heart!
Greek Day (a 6th grade experience that the entire school helps to celebrate)
Field Day!

With "Wear Red Day" just behind us (to support the American Heart Association), and "Olympiad Day" just five days away, I feel that it is a week of memories made.  By coming together as a school to share a common cause, or common fun, we together create memories that will last a lifetime.  These are powerful opportunities for learning, for building communities, and for creating a positive middle school experience.

Thank you to students, teachers, staff, parents, and our community for helping to support our traditions, for encouraging us as we try to create new, positive memories, and for supporting the creative teaching and learning that we hope will stay with our students for a lifetime.  I do hope our students look back at their time here at Coolidge and immediately smile as the positive memories come flooding back!

Some photos from "Wear Red Day":

ALICE Drill

Talk about a community effort!  This week's ALICE training and drill was a complete success in regards to training and implementation.  A huge thanks to our School Resource Officer Corey Santasky, Superintendent John Doherty and Assistant Superintendent Mary DeLai, the district Safety Committee, and school committee representatives James Henerberry and Christian Huizenga, who all worked closely with us to put this new safety plan in place.

While it is not a topic that we like to think about much less practice for, the process itself resulted in a greater sense of control and empowerment among students and staff.

I have been asked whether we would do a drill like this unannounced.  The answer is no.  I would never want students and staff to be put in a position where they feel out of control or frightened just for practice.

Thank you for working with us to communicate with our students about safety!

Digital Media Safety: A Community Approach

This week included the second of what will hopefully be many presentations about digital media safety.  The first, for parents, was held in the fall at a PTO evening meeting.  At that presentation, our School Resource Officer, Corey Santasky, presented to parents about popular apps and digital media, including those that he and his colleagues seem as currently most problematic with teens.  He also spoke of both face to face as well as internet bullying and harassment.  With all of these, he also spoke to the legal implications of inappropriate use.  I know that I, along with many parents, found it very informative, and there was a resounding feeling that parents wanted students to hear the same messages.

To that end, Officer Santasky has been preparing to speak with our students about these topics.  This week, he began the first of what will be three grade-level presentations on the topics of online bullying and harassment and their legal consequences as well as what is safe vs. not safe to share online.  The topic of the taking, sharing, and distribution of inappropriate photographs (and videos) and their implications was one important topic that was addressed, as this issue is on the rise in all communities, including Reading.  Current research states that this rising trend of sharing inappropriate photographs ("sexting") is a trend for adolescents as they explore adolescence and sexuality.  Yet these explorations can have serious consequences that are not always clear to teens.  We therefore want to make sure that our Coolidge students are making informed decisions as they use their devices, and are clear about the consequences.

While we believe that this assembly made an impression on our 8th graders, and will hopefully make a similar impression in the versions we share with the other grades (keeping the material grade-appropriate), we feel strongly that the messages need to be repeated, reinforced, and part of the online culture that our students are building together.  If we can empower them to be their own best judges and jury, to set high standards for communication online, and to focus on safe communication, then we help students reduce the risk of creating a damaging digital footprint that could impact their future.  We hope that parents will join us in supporting our students to make good choices and to monitor their appropriate internet use.

We will continue to keep parents informed of assemblies and discussions about this topic, and encourage you to take part in future presentations as well.  We also encourage you to speak with your teens about this important issue, to monitor their internet and cell phone use, communicate with other parents, and to let us know if there are concerns that you think we should address at school

It DOES take a village, doesn't it?

An Ode to Seussical

To Seussical the Musical, from Mrs. Marchant:

The stage lights dimmed

Jojo ran from stage right

To discover the striped hat focused in the center light.

Soon to follow came

The Cat in the Hat, don’t you know!
Who put that hat right on the head of his bro.

So Coolidge play began

Otherwise known as “Seussical”

What I learned tonight… It is one special musical!

Let’s give some credit,

Where credit is due,

Such as hats off to that Elephant, (You know: Horton the Who!)

He was not the lone singer

There were many, at that!
Such as Gretrude McFuzz, And the Cat in the Hat!

More beautiful singers included

The jazzy Mayzie Labird.

While the Sour Kangaroo was one of the sweetest voices I heard!

The Wickersham Brothers

Danced in intimidating fits,

While a strong voice emerged from General Gengus Khan Schmitz.

The Bird Girls swayed their hips,

The Dancers jumped and flipped,

The Jungle Creatures sang, and danced, and dipped.

The Grinch, with a heart

Growing sizes throughout

Sang with Cindy Lou Who (Their problems sorted out.)

The Whos down in Whoville

Were as sweet as could be

From their speck they did call: “Horton: Do you hear me?”

The cadets marched so neatly

In such great contrast

To the Circus Performers who flipped and twisted by fast!

The entire production

Was a marvelous feat

I was so lucky to have such a special front seat!

To the actors and actresses,

To the technical crew,

To Ms. Loussedes, Ms. Prindiville, and the orchestra, too!

The singing, the dancing,

The costumes, the set.

This was one of the best Coolidge musicals I have seen yet! 

Congratulations to you all

For a production that was just beautiful!
Thanks for all your hard work in Seussical the Musical!