Middle School Messages

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Folks,

In my last post, I talked about the DE Student as Learner criteria of Risk-taking and its importance in the learning process. So, with this issue, I am going to take a risk and try something a little different than usual. Rather than lots of writing with a few visuals, I am going to reverse it: lots of visuals and little words! I hope you enjoy this peek into our Middle School world, and let me know if you'd like more of this format. By the way, it is amazing how easy it is to make these videos with the iPad!

Our Language classes have been working hard all year, learning how to communicate in their target language. At last week's Assembly, we had World Language Celebration, and every language class presented. Here are the videos:

Ms. Berk: French

Ms. Kim: The Voice

Click to see: Ms. Kim: WipeOut

Click to see: Ms. Kim: The Oscars

Mr. Moracho: Grade 6

Click to see: Mr. Moracho: Grade 7 Advanced

Mr. Moracho: Grade 7 Beginners

Mrs. Stone: Latin

Click to see: Ms. Tal: Les Trois Petit Cochons

Ms. Weinstein: Grade 7

Ms. Weinstein: Late Declension Video

Click to see: Mr. Bautista Grade 8 dance

As a way of recognizing the need and desire for student choice, we have a system whereby our rising 6's and 7's have some choice in their course selections for next year. Our Discovery Program constellation of classes is designed to provide choice and a means to explore one's interests in meaningful ways.

Watch this video about our newest addition to the Discovery Program:

Mr. Shaw's Physical Computing Class

Our Middle School play, Bugsy Malone, Jr., opens next Friday and Saturday, May 9 and May 10. Friday night is our Annual Pack the Theater for our students from 6:00 to 6:45 p.m., we will have free pizza and soda for those students who are going to attend the performance. Hope to see you there!

Here is a photo of one of the rehearsal numbers:

For the past few weeks, I have been talking about perseverance at our Morning Meetings. For this past Monday's presentation, I made a video featuring some of our 8th grade students and Mr. King, all talking about perseverance and what it means to them:

Perseverance Video

Hug your child, and Go Bulldogs!

Specialist's Corner

Resilience: You can grow it!

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, learn from failure, be motivated by challenges, and believe in your own abilities to deal with the stress and difficulties in life. At D-E, we believe that resilience is as important to foster in our students as academics. Why? Because every child’s life will be touched by setbacks as well as achievement, pain as well as joy, loss as well as triumph. In order for children to reach their fullest potential, they need to know how to approach life with resilience. Research has identified a variety of important ingredients of resilience but there are seven that we can most easily teach our children.

Emotion awareness and control. One of the myths about resilience is that resilient people tough it out without expressing emotion: They keep it all inside and are stoic in the face of adversity.This view of resilience is not accurate. Resilient people are comfortable with their feelings and they express them. In fact, resilient children experience a broad array of emotions—happiness, joy, fear, and sadness. Adults can help children fully process their feelings and then keep on moving!

Impulse control. We all have impulses to do things and say things that aren’t in our best interest. Resilience doesn’t require that you stop having these impulses, but it does require you to stop yourself from acting on every impulse you have. Resilient children have internalized the “stop and think” message and use it to make choices about their actions. Children can be shown strategies to think about their choices before acting.

Realistic optimism. The research on optimism is clear: Optimistic people are happier, healthier, more productive, have better relationships, succeed more, and are better problem solvers. Adults can help shape children's view of their everyday struggles by finding the bright side of any situation and working on ways to make positive changes.

Flexible thinking. When a resilient child doesn’t do well on a test, he is able to come up with a variety of factors that might have led to the poor outcome. Why does this matter? It matters because flexible thinking increases the likelihood that you’ll be able to come up with solutions to the problem you’re confronting.

Self-efficacy. Resilient children learn what their strengths and weaknesses are, and feel confident navigating the challenges of life. But don’t confuse self-efficacy with self-esteem. Self-esteem is about feeling good about one’s self and self-efficacy is about effecting change in the world. The road to resilience is through self-efficacy, not self-esteem. If your child is confident and knows how to master what life throws in their path, self-esteem will follow.

Empathy. Some of the landmark studies in resilience show that children who have at least one enduring relationship with a caring adult (a parent, a neighbor, a teacher, a coach) do well and can overcome even the most difficult hardships. Empathy is an important component of strong social relationships.

Reaching out. Resilient children take risks. They are willing to try new things because

deep down they know that by trying new things and taking risks they will learn more, achieve more, and enjoy life more. The risk taking might take the form of signing up for a hard class or talking with someone they’ve never met before or even just trying a new food. Encourage your children to embrace failure, and be there to help them back up.

Take a moment and reflect on the seven ingredients of resilience. Make a list of the ingredients your children are low on, and those that are abundant. Remember, we can all become more resilient tomorrow than we are today. Challenge yourself to use your resilience strengths more fully and see if you can devote some energy to increasing one of the ingredients you are low on.

To a happy and healthy new year!

Lauren Rosen

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