Message from Principal Gavron

“School should not reflect what society is, but rather school should model what society should be.“ 

I frequently find myself mulling over Dr. Lorraine Munroe’s words of wisdom that you read above, particularly during this election season.  I think about her words as I consider how we use BERT to make explicit the very high bar we set in our learning community to define what we expect of students in order to create a safe learning environment. We aim for

• Belonging - Students feel important and valued as members of their TAG groups as well as the larger middle school community.

• Empathy – Students develop a capacity to understand and be affected by other people’s feelings.

• Respect – Participants recognize similarities and embrace differences among members of the group.

• Trust – Students feel safe to be themselves and express their opinions and perspectives.

These ideals are hard to achieve yet worthy of pursuit.  There are many outside forces pressing against them that can undermine our efforts.  Students live in a world in which they are bombarded by images and sounds from pop culture that run contrary to our norms.  Sitcoms, movies, and music are rife with racist and misogynistic humor and lyrics that some students want to try out.  Violence is chronicled throughout the world in the news, daily, modeling how differences can lead to hate. Even our political leaders struggle to engage in respectful discourse and regularly resort to the type of name-calling that would land a student in the office.  This may lead some to wonder why we expect more of our young adolescents.  Are our students capable of the kindness we demand?  We know their frontal cortexes are not fully developed.  We know they are struggling to work through issues of identity. We know that developmentally they are exploring how to have and use power.  Yet we don’t deviate from pursuing our ideal. We expect our students will make mistakes and miss the mark from time to time, and we use these as teachable moments and hold students accountable when language and actions are hurtful.  For it is when BERT is in place that students can feel truly safe in their learning environment.  As we know from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, physical and emotional safety is essential for students to take risks to learn and achieve at high levels. While laws against harassment and bullying guide us legally, it is the educational imperative about what is necessary for healthy learning to occur that keeps us teaching and aspiring towards BERT.

As political rhetoric amped up over the summer we knew coming into this election season that traversing the political landscape could be tricky. We knew students may have strong feelings about one or both of the major party candidates running for our country’s highest office.  So, we needed a framework that reflected BERT and our ideals to guide us in engaging in constructive, respectful dialogue.  Jake Montwieler, our Social Studies Curriculum Leader, offered out to staff the following definition of civility that has helped us frame our teaching and inform our conversations.

 “Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of staying present even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements. It is political in the sense that it is a necessary prerequisite for civic action. But it is political, too, in the sense that it is about negotiating interpersonal power such that everyone’s voice is heard, and nobody’s is ignored.  And civility begins with us.”                                                                                                                                                                           - Institute for Civility in Government

We’ve relied upon this concept of civility at all grade levels to help us maintain a respectful atmosphere of curiosity and learning. We’ve considered a multitude of aspects of the presidential process at increasingly complex levels in higher grades. Students have learned what the electoral college is and how it works.  We have discussed the job of a delegate.  We have explored key ideological differences between Republican and Democratic platforms.  For example, how does the tension and between “personal freedom” and “group safety” influence political parties.  We have discussed some of the factors that shape one’s individual political ideologies – upbringing, culture, religion, ethnicity, media choices.  And the list goes on.  The process of electing a president is exciting to think about, and regardless of deep divides in political differences, the opportunity to cast a vote and have a say in electing political leaders to our country’s highest office is such a privilege and responsibility of citizenship that we can all find common ground around. 

I hope as you head to the polls you will discuss with your student(s) the issues that drive your decision-making and share with them how through casting your vote you aim to create the society in which you want to live.  We are excited to hold our mock election tomorrow, mirroring our national process and see who WMS students would choose as their next president.

Respectfully,

Betsy Gavron

AFS Project Change

What change would YOU make in the world? If you're in grades 8-12, tell us your idea and you could win a full scholarship to go abroad. 

• AFS Project Change – January 17 Deadline
  Students share their idea for a volunteer project that could have a meaningful impact abroad to address a major global issue. If their idea is chosen, they will receive a full scholarship to spend two weeks abroad with AFS making their vision come to life. All U.S. 8th to 12th grade students are eligible to enter via essay or video.  Nine additional winners will join the winning program.   
  

Enter Project: Change today!  http://bit.ly/2cx6Zhn

Visit afsusa.org for more study abroad opportunities.  

PTO’s Green Team Textile Recycling

Have you noticed the Clothing and Shoes donation box along the drop-off/pick-up line at the Middle School?  Wayland’s Green Team has partnered with Bay State Textiles to keep recyclable clothing, shoes, stuffed animals, backpacks and linens out of landfills.  It doesn't matter what shape they are in!  As you are cleaning out last year's shoes, boots, clothes, backpacks, etc., please consider bagging them and dropping them off in the bin conveniently located by the softball field and directly in the pick-up/drop-off line. 45% of the content is reused, 30% is turned into wiping cloths, 20% converted to fibers, 5% must be destroyed, and all donations generate funds for the Wayland PTO.  For a complete list of acceptable items for recycling, click here.

My School Anywhere

Be sure to register for the new, online directory at MySchoolAnywhere.com.  This directory will replace the traditional printed version, but directory information will now be parent-driven.  It is an OPT-IN system, and you MUST register to be included.  For directions on how to register, or for additional FAQs, please visit http://waylandpto.org/myschoolanywhere-online-districtwide-family-directory/. 

PTO Appreciation

Thank you to Rama Ravi for organizing the teacher dinner and ice cream sundaes for 6th Grade Math Night last week, and many thanks to all of the 6th grade parents who donated food, supplies and time to help make the night so fun!

1. Click this link to see our SignUp on SignUp.com: http://signup.com/go/AZ8aX5
2. Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3. Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.com.