A Little School Story...
2/15/2018
Once upon a time, a little middle school had a snow day. This created a BIG problem. There was so much to do! Middle Schoolers had Valentines to sell and deliver, persuasive essays to write, Newton Scooters to build and present, mechanical advantage field trips to experience, ancient European history to learn, Park fundraising presentations to practice, Food Bank items to sort, math problems to solve, science fair commercials to share, Spanish to speak, art to create, walls to climb, and plays to rehearse. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. By the end of the week, Middle Schoolers could claim that they had successfully sold, delivered, written, built, presented, experienced, learned, practiced, sorted, solved, shared, spoken, created, climbed, and rehearsed. After all, this is the Little School that Could! Experience = Growth
2/8/2018
There is something magical about being flung somewhere unfamiliar. Questions arise; awareness heightens; bonds form. Complacency falls away. Last week, the 8th graders attended the North Shore Young Writers Conference which was held outside of Boston in the little town of Beverly. Sleep deprived and young, these 8th graders joined the high school aged conference with trepidation. Anxieties gave way to focus and learning as, before long, each one made new friends and gained confidence. Bitter cold rain and snow fell outside as students wrote stories and poems in the old Coolidge farmhouse - now administration and classrooms of the Waring School. Published authors of short stories, novels, and poetry mentored students with tips and supportive discussion. At the end of the conference, students read their work aloud to an enthusiastic audience. Students stayed with a few generous families from the Waring School - each having their own unique experience. To cap the trip, students traveled to the big city to explore the ease of public transportation and many of the shops and sights unknown to Alaska. Upon return these students now find that they have more questions, greater curiosity in ways they hadn’t thought of before, and have formed stronger bonds among themselves. Engagement reigns. Read below for some of the students' thoughts about the conference. Our teacher, Tom, taught us how to play with plots and how (to decide how) short or long a story should actually be. ...not every story has to be intricate and detailed with pages of words. Sometimes, a short story can get the point across effectively. Also, I learned how to come up with plots, simple and complicated. My peers and my mentor helped me to look at my writing differently. - Debra
I really liked the workshop. It taught me loads on poems, which I didn’t have that much...exposure to. Because of this, it was like swimming in the deep end for the first time. ...the poem class I was in was very eye opening because of all the tiny facets that everyone was writing from. - William I really liked getting to know the authors through what they wrote. I also learned that there are many different types of writing, and each style of writing can mean a different thing. There are pieces you should read aloud to a crowd, others to yourself, and in your head. - Paris Go Team!
2/3/2018
It’s Super Bowl weekend, and this yearly battle of teams prompted me to reflect on teamwork in our daily life at PNA. We’ve all seen the inspirational messages: "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” -Michael Jordan "None of us is as smart as all of us." --Ken Blanchard "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." --Phil Jackson "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." — African Proverb Teamwork is a critical component of a person’s success in this world: in the home, in relationships, and at work: “In today’s workplace, you have to be able to work with a diverse group of people,” says Joyce Russell, dean at the Villanova School of Business. Indeed, 78% of hiring managers seek job candidates who demonstrate strong teamwork skills, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2017 survey. Teamwork is a daily expectation and necessity in our middle school classrooms. We spend our first month of school getting to know each other through various team-building activities, and we spend the rest of the year strengthening those bonds and refining social skills. While we value and teach individuals, most of our daily activities require our students to work in small and large teams. Visitors to our school at any time of day will see students talking, creating, laughing, and thinking... together. PNA’s small class size provides a daily challenge for students honing their teamwork skills. When the class size is small, students must work together with the same people, again and again. There is no hiding when personalities clash or ways of thinking don’t mesh. There’s no avoiding disagreements or disappointments. What’s a kid to do?! Persevere…communicate…stay flexible. The beauty of the PNA way is that our students build close relationships because they do work closely together, every day, in every way. Whether it’s solving problems in math class; designing and creating a bulletin board; preparing an act for Brown Bag Concert; developing ideas for a class Auction art project; preparing Valentine’s Day activities; writing a summary of an epic tale; imagining their own game at recess; or creating movie trailers for the Science Fair; every single student is challenged every single day to communicate and strengthen his or her emotional intelligence. Go team!! "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller |
Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
Categories |