As the middle school teaching team, Alyssa and I are often thinking about how to better prepare students for high school. Alyssa and I are both familiar with Chicago Public Schools and some of their expectations for high school students, but I wanted to learn what high school is like at schools that are more…
Gratitude and Quaker Values
This month, we are starting to reflect on Gratitude as a whole school. The image I have attached is of squares from a whole-school gratitude quilt that students are working on. As you can see this group of kids are grateful for a range of things: pollinators; music; a roof over their heads; medicine, even…
From Chicago Friends School to High School: One Parent’s Perspective
[A guest post written by the parent of a graduate from Chicago Friends School’s class of 2022.] It’s “afternoon pick-up” time on a sunny, autumn day. I scan the crowd as more than a thousand teens stream out of the three-story, 210,000 square foot building. A loud “thunk” announces our high schooler’s arrival as he…
Saying “Gay”
Today, I pulled a teacher out into the hall while their class was working independently to check on something, and while we were chatting, one of the students came out with a vocabulary question. This student had encountered a word they were unfamiliar with in something that they were reading, and came out to get…
A Place Around the Rug for Everyone
Throughout the month of September, in community meetings and in our Looking-glasses [4th-5th grade] meetings and journaling, we have been reflecting on community: what makes a community, how we feel in a community, the challenges of being in community, and what our responsibilities to one another are. Given the ways in which our society often…
On War and Peace, Youth, Good Intentions and Bad Actors
Quakers are known for their commitment to work for peace and live in nonviolent ways. However, not every Quaker draws the line about peace in the same way.In Philadelphia, near the Liberty Bell, is an old historic Quaker Meetinghouse, erected by Quakers who were “read out” of their meetings for choosing to fight in the…