Hampton Bays Middle School
Monday Memo #37
Watch the Doughnut, Not the Hole
Lately, I've been reflecting lots about how our work -- with kids and for kids -- tells a story. I often wonder, what is the story we are telling? And is the story we are telling the same as the story people are hearing? And if they are hearing a slightly different story, why is that? And how can we adjust and use our stories so we can maximize how we connect with our students and our families?
I've been wondering about this, reflecting on this, and challenged by this...for the longest time.
As we close out another school year, I am confident that we have more middle school parents feeling a sense of connection with our school, thanks to the hard work of great teachers. Many parents subscribe and read the weekly PEX emails. Many follow our school Twitter feed and the website. And many have taken to picking up the phone or sending an email, with questions they have. And many feel welcome to our building. There is a noticeable shift here in the last several years, because our communication lines are wide open. Parents are seeing us as being openly communicative about sharing what happens in our classrooms and our middle school learning community.
Thank you for being there as critical storytellers of this important story.
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Following the Long Walk to Water, there were three experiences this past week that had a profound impact on me, reminding me of the ways we tell stories, and how they are heard.
Watch the doughnut not the hole...
Visiting with Rohan Murphy, I was reminded of the value of having and maintaining a "No Excuses" mentality in our school. If you listened closely to Rohan's story, you know he did not establish this mentality on his own. Trusted adults (his parents, his coaches, and his teachers) played a vital role in his development of this attitude. And if you saw Rohan in action, doing pyramid push-ups or climbing the rope in the gym, you saw the actions behind his words. This experience left me to wonder, how can this idea of "no excuses" serve our students, our middle school families, and our school community? Watch Rohan's Nike commercial from several years ago here: http://viewpure.com/BziMwOc1R68?start=0&end=0 .
If our walls could talk...
Several weeks ago, a middle school colleague of mine, Dr. LaQuita Outlaw, the Principal of Bay Shore Middle School, visited us at HBMS. Thanks to Kathy Dayton and our amazing student artists, this is the version of the story Dr. Outlaw "heard": https://www.voxer.com/v/2e9aa9e6ea (that's her voice, narrating the video clip she took).
For the Longest Time...
Here is the story our student musicians told last week. Pay careful attention to the soloist in the clip:
https://twitter.com/HamptonBays_MS/status/738528710928793600 .
The story here, from our 8th grade soloist, with a voice like an angel?
Just when we think we know how wonderful our students are, they continue to amaze us in ways we never knew possible. When I first heard his voice, I welled up. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And instantaneously, from across our cafeteria, I texted his mom, who I've known for 20 years, to say how amazed I was at what I was hearing. Her response was priceless. She had no idea how beautiful his voice would sound at that moment, that he was confident enough to reveal his talent to an audience of hundreds, and that he was performing a solo, for that matter.
So I challenge each of you, this week and this month, to consider the stories each of us is telling and all of us are telling, together.
If our walls could talk, what stories would they tell? And whose voices would be telling them?
I'd argue, after listening to "Dan the Man" and any one of our kids, at any given time, that, provided the platform and the trusted adult who is willing to listen, our walls don't actually talk.
They sing.
Sincerely,
Dennis
The June Edition: 5 Resources
A Year in the Life: We Are HBMS!
Want to learn more about what's happening at HBMS?
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