Earlier this week, I experienced my first “Curriculum Night” as a parent. It was strangely thrilling, being on the other side of things. One long-time parent remarked that evening that the first one is special, insinuating this gets less thrilling once you have older children. It might. But I was moved by being in that room - part of a wide circle of people who are there to help children learn and grow. I relished the moment to be a learner - to step out of my role as an expert who knows my own kid the best and see him in a new way, as a member of his own little community. I understand now why his teacher says ‘taking turns’ instead of ‘sharing’ and why it is important for the kids to make their own messes.

 

The Middle School’s own Curriculum Night is aimed at creating this same close connection between home and school, families and teachers. While one function of the evening is for parents to gather information and put faces to names, there is a deeper purpose. As a progressive school, and as an aspect of teaching the whole child, we want to foster a sense of collective purpose. We are all here in service of these children; we spend our days modeling for them the kind of adults we hope they become, making the environment around them rich with perplexing questions and challenging tasks. It is also an opportunity to be learners together. Few of us had the privilege of being students in classrooms like these. So as parents, this is a chance to expand one’s view of what it means to ‘do school’ in this way - and why. You can hear how, in social studies students grapple with the concept of millenia, how math classes develop an understanding meaning of equivalence that evolves from arithmetic to algebra, or why the first art project is a giant fingerprint.

 

Middle school students (often) begin to volunteer less at home about their lives in school. Therefore, these chances to come together as adults become even more powerful. As the students move through the grades, the way we approach their learning evolves. By the time they are in eighth grade, students are frequently responsible for selecting and managing their own long-term projects, being activists for social change, and specializing in one of the performing arts. In each grade before this, we create opportunities for them to stretch themselves. We, the community of educators, are eager to see you next week - and not long afterwards at Family Conferences - and to share a slice of middle school life with you.