As head, one of my responsibilities is to meet with Middle School Student Government as their advisor. They like having a direct line of contact to their head, and they also do some important jobs for the school. These include: Representing classrooms of younger kids and funneling requests up to me as head. Planning fun…
Adolescence is a wonderful time of development. Kids have new skills and abilities, and also are itching for more freedom and responsibility. They want to do it all, but they still need guidance and support. As our middle school students grow, we look for opportunities for our middle school students to take leadership in the…
Throughout the year, at Chicago Friends School, we reflect on and discuss Quaker Values in community meeting. We recently finished talking about simplicity, and I was forced to pause and think about how hard this is for young kids who are growing up in today’s America. The Quaker value of simplicity might be best recognized…
I went to recess today for the first time in several weeks, and found myself reflecting on actions of some of our boys with pride. This recess, a group of our boys were playing a long game of touch football in the snow. They called fouls, passed, ran, and chased for almost the entire recess…
Every week, our school community gathers for Community Meeting, where we reflect on our Quaker values and share time together in the manner of a Quaker meeting. Recently, when we started reflecting on Peace, I changed the format of Community Meeting. Our habit in Community Meeting was to have a discussion and then a query,…
Ten minutes before dismissal today, I was down in my office in the basement when suddenly I heard footsteps clattering into my office. Renata poked her head in: “You are cordially invited to a musical mask march, upstairs, right now!” Who could resist such an invitation, especially at the end of a long day? Upstairs our…