Halloween Parade
The Halloween Parade brought some clever costumes and some better compliance with some of our guidelines. The students did not throw candy, which was problematic in the past, and they assisted with the cleanup, leaving the building in its original form rather quickly, save a couple of scuff marks on the floor that will be taken care of this weekend.
There were, however, a group of young men who wore costumes and began acting out in a way that was racially insensitive or ignorant at best, and downright hateful at worst. They struck against the very heart of our core values of tolerance and respect. We pulled many of them from the parade and addressed collectively at the end, giving them some time to process our interpretation of what had happened and an opportunity to set things right, both for themselves, their community, and their school.
We specifically told the students that they had one week to meet with an administrator individually and explain why their actions could have been potentially hurtful, and how it does not reflect who they are or our values. To punish them, by imposing a detention or suspension, contradicts the purpose of teaching; in short, we would have missed a golden teachable moment and the opportunity to turn a completely unacceptable series of behaviors and bad decisions into a lesson.
For us, the lingering questions are: What did we miss? How did our students think this type of behavior was okay? What can we do differently or do more explicitly? To that, we invite you to be part of our solution, to ensure this does not happen again.
On a Lighter Note:
There is one funny story that puts a little bit of a grin on the disappointment of this morning.
I was walking by a classroom at the end of the Halloween Parade (more on the parade in a few). A teacher had asked his class what their favorite costume was, and one student replied that he thought the guys dressed as the Village People were clever and kind of funny. The teacher said, "yea, well, you know what that song was about, right?" The student replied: "Well, I'm pretty sure it's about a group of guys who liked hanging out at the Y, and they, like, played basketball, right?"
Not quite. Pretty sure that wasn't exactly the Village People's thesis.
Coming Attractions
Next week, seedings will be announced for the soccer, field hockey, volleyball and football playoffs. Stay tuned to the conference and try to get out to support the Mustangs as they look for glory in their respective tournaments!
Classes of the Week
In Jason Rojee's class, students were given an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's book Rise to Rebellion, which depicts the Boston Massacre. After reading the excerpt, students were divided into groups and created a reenactment of how they viewed the scene. Following this, students were shown a scene about the massacre from the view of John Adams, who was the defense attorney in the soldiers' trial. This ultimately led to a discussion on how various views can arise even when we witness the same event. Excellent use of historical thinking skills!
In Mr. Borden's economics class, the students completed a group activity on price ceiling using the illustration of the market for kidneys. The discussion bridged the economic concept of price ceiling with the ethical discussion, and the class had a mathematical and analytic conversation piece. All the students were engaged - and the Q&A between the students regarding the conceptual and the ethical was enthusiastic!
In an IPEC class being shared by Mr. Infanger and Ms. Trottier, the students were working on a "stepping stones" activity which was forcing the students to work together to move from stone to stone, with certain variables in place. While the activity was initially easy, the students were given different scenarios, and watching them struggle to fulfill the requirements and reason their way to the right stone was a great exercise in thinking!
Coming Attractions
For those of you who like to plan way, way in advance, Student Government is working on a potential plan for December 23 that would give us a non-traditional school day on the lone Monday of a vacation week, presuming that a great many students won't be in. As more details become available, we will float that idea to faculty for approval.
Goals
Over the past couple of weeks, and continuing next week, we will be meeting with staff regarding their goals and the evaluation process for the coming year. As more commonalities are unearthed between the goals different staff members have, we will share them with the department leaders in order to provide time, both in PLC's and department meetings, to support what people are completing. There are a lot of great ideas out there!
Weekly Resources
These can be found here, as always. In keeping with needing something light after this week, please read this one - it's pretty humorous! Please read through the last one... it's really the truth.
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