From Our Principal

February 22, 2008

Dear CMS Families,

As you may know, I meet on the first Wednesday of each month in the Peabody Forum for an informal “Brown Bag Lunch” discussion with interested parents from 11:30-12:30 p.m. I enjoy these forums very much because they are relatively small and we have the opportunity to delve deeply into issues that affect our CMS children. I often leave energized with some specific ideas I want to try.

At the February brown bag discussion, we talked about the school’s efforts to develop our core value of “Community.” In order to form a community, we believe that each student should feel responsible for contributing his or her voice to the school’s fabric. We hear students’ voices in predictable ways: at an assembly, in the classroom, or on the playing field. More critical, however, than those conventional moments in the spotlight, are smaller opportunities students have to communicate. When a student who has never spoken to another student, stops her in the hall to tell her that he “still doesn’t know how she made that startling, funny-sounding noise on the trombone during the school performance,” the trombone player knows she has found her voice. She feels powerful because not only has she been heard, but she has had an impact. Keep in mind, that the student above didn’t say, “Good job yesterday at the assembly.” While that compliment is a start, it is more meaningful to simply drop the restraint, and spontaneously tell that classmate why it made him smile.

Those of you who have hosted a middle school slumber party with movies and candy and hot fudge sundaes, might hold your breath when you read that your child’s principal is advocating that our students should “drop their restraint.” Yes, their instincts can be mistaken. However, as adults we can structure opportunities in a safe climate where they can take initiative. While at times awkward, their intentions are usually kind-hearted. Most of the time, they want to clean up that mess in the cafeteria because they don’t want the custodian to have to do it. At the same time, they don’t want their friends to think they are teachers’ pets and merely obedient.

Ultimately, the staff at CMS works to provide our students with little and large opportunities every day to have an impact. In addition, we express our belief that that impact will be positive, and we provide nurturing guidance before, during and after. To get our students to keep trying, the staff constantly looks for opportunities to praise their efforts. At each house’s monthly house huddle, for example, teachers structure opportunities for students to take initiative, whether it is through a performance or through expressing their opinion. As they see what an impact they can make, our students will learn how to take care of their community. We will see our community evolve in small, but meaningful ways: when one student mistakenly bumps into another without noticing, a third student will stop her and prompt her to say, “Excuse me.” Or, when classes are changing, an eighth grader will ask a sixth grader how he got that sculpture to move in that way with just toothpicks and string.

I look forward to continuing this conversation.

Sincerely,
Arthur Unobskey, Principal
Concord Middle School

From our Principal: September, 2007 | October, 2007 | November, 2007