United Nations Project 2020
Filed Under: Middle School, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Middle Level Education, humanities, United Nations, interdisciplinary
WHERE I’M FROM
by Faith Hargrove '24 (written in Humanities 8)
Filed Under: Middle School, student voice, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Student work, Student Writing, Poem
Intersections: Improving Kids’ Middle School Experience
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) recently shared the article “Seven ways parents and educators can improve kids’ middle school experience” by Phyllis Fagell, the author of Middle School Matters. I immediately clicked on it, and found a series of thoughtful suggestions and examples, each of which in fact does relate well to our own middle school program. Her seven suggestions (in boldface), and a few examples of how they have been playing out in our school:
Filed Under: Middle School, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Middle Level Education, Intersections
Intersections: Book Review of "Brave, Not Perfect"
(with thanks to MiddleWeb for originally publishing this review)
As a teacher in a girls school, I’m acutely aware that my students (girls and non-binary kids alike) often feel trapped between two opposing yet interlocking ideals our culture sets for them – to be their true authentic selves, and to please other people.
Filed Under: Middle School, MIddleWeb, girls' education, educating girls, Girls Schools, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, girls' school, girls psychology, Reshma Saujani
Intersections: The Roots of Democracy
Humanities 7 is, by design, a democratic classroom. I provide the overall structure - independent writing, independent reading, and unit work, plus the skill list on which we focus - and they make all the decisions about what they write independently, what they read independently, and what the theme questions and individual (personally chosen) Focus Questions are for each unit.
Filed Under: Middle School, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Democratic classroom, Democracy, Constructivism
2018 Eighth Grade Moving Up Ceremony: Address
Written and delivered by Jacqueline (Jax) Morgan '19, the Head-Elect of the Student Body.
Filed Under: Middle School, student voice, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Moving Up
What a Good Teacher Does
Today was our first day of classes, and the beginnings of this year's 2015-2016 Humanities 7 class coming together as a community. As always, we began with Jonathan London's wonderful jazz poem "Hip Cat" with its theme of "Do what you love to do and do it well." These kids, at least some of them, have definitely figured out already that learning is a process, something at which you might steadily improve but also something that involves challenges and roadblocks and stuckness. Equally important, they view that kind of attitude as fundamental to who our school is.
Filed Under: Middle School, social justice, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Middle Level Education, Education, Democratic classroom
What is the point of an education?
My Humanities 7 class is studying education now. We're continuing with Firegirl by Tony Abbott as a read-aloud book, since much of the action takes place in a school, and the students voted for I Am Malala as a group read. As always, they are researching individually chosen questions as they prepare to write essays and make a presentation, and the questions range from comparing and contrasting different groups or systems of schools (public vs. private, U.K. vs. U.S., mixed gender vs. single gender, etc.) to tracing the evolution of education over time to looking at the relative benefits and importance of a spiritual vs. a traditional education, and more.
Filed Under: Middle School, On Education, Girls Schools, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, Middle Level Education, IB School, This We Believe
Ending Well, part 2
On the last of classes in the middle school, I made the following post to Facebook:
Filed Under: Teaching, All-Girls, On Education, Beautifully different, Girls Schools, community, All Girls Education, In the Classroom, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, girls' school, Uniquely Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Education
Ending well
written Wednesday evening, Nov. 19, 2014, the night before the last day of Fall Trimester classes in the middle school.
Filed Under: School Happenings, community, In the Classroom, Stoneleigh-Burnham Middle School, The Faculty Perspective, Education
