Amy Hand, Head of Middle School
The 2020-21 school year is certainly one that will go down in history as being unique. But for our Middle School, this year is new not only for the obvious reasons—a fully remote opening to school and the anticipation of a very different on-campus learning experience—but also because of some exciting programmatic changes. Some of these initiatives have been in the works since early 2020; others are experiences that we were able to create as we planned our response to the constraints and challenges of 2020. Read on to hear some of what’s new in the Middle School!
Laura Hale, Dean of Students
Art Teacher Laura Hale will be serving this year in the newly created role of Middle School Dean of Students. This role was created to provide additional support to middle school leadership, faculty, and, most importantly, students. Laura will be focusing on two broad domains:
- Proactively fostering a positive school culture in the middle school, grounded in our core values: Be Kind, Be Curious, Take Risks, and Be Your Best.
- Honing the school’s philosophical approach to behavior and discipline, and our practical implementation of that approach.
Already this year, Laura has partnered with new school counselor Genna Lyons as we begin planning for topics including conflict resolution and healthy friendships to be taught explicitly to middle schoolers in spaces such as advisory. She reminisces, “Long ago, I realized that while Art was my area of expertise, I wasn’t teaching Art as much as I was teaching students. The cognitive structures that lead to understanding, along with the behaviors that create a rich foundation for learning and community, are not only interesting – they are fundamental for students and teachers alike.” We’re excited to have Laura dive into this work and will share updates mid-year on what else emerges from this new leadership role.
STUCO!
There’s a new Student Council in town… STUCO! Middle School Math and Electives Teacher Clara Ngo is leading STUCO this year and has introduced some significant structural changes designed to offer more substantive leadership opportunities for all students serving as officers or representatives and to create a more student-centered experience for all Hillbrook students. To give real time and real responsibility to this leadership cohort, Clara will be meeting with the 16-member body during Reach Beyond Block periods. There, they will receive authentic lessons in leadership and community stewardship, which they will then apply in various roles – Team Director, Spirit Commissioner, Communications Director, and Finance Director, to name a few – as they help our school incorporate student voice in meaningful ways. Clara shares with us, “It’s impossible to teach at Hillbrook without being impressed with what kids do with real opportunities to make positive changes.” Indeed, newly appointed Staff Relations Commissioner Sloane (’23) enthused, “I wanted to apply for staff relations in STUCO because I love the faculty at Hillbrook and I want to help them connect with students.” Tech Commissioner Garrett (’21) shared, “I decided to join STUCO because this summer, I did lots of tech camps, so being the tech commissioner seemed like a good fit.” The chance to connect student interest and passion with areas to affect change is magical at this age, and we know that great stuff is ahead with our fantastic STUCO members at the helm.
New Classes
Social Impact and Leadership (SIL) is a new module class at the eighth-grade level in which students explore their passions and interests, hone their skills, and explore new tools, all while responding to a need that exists in our world or community. As an evolution of our capstone program, SIL is designed to function as a synthesis of your student’s time at Hillbrook: how do you want to reach beyond yourself and make a difference in the world? What matters to you and what are you doing about it? Students will name their interests and passions, develop skills that have been seeded throughout their time at Hillbrook, and become experts at using the tools that will help them to respond to an issue or a problem. An integral part of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, SIL class seeks to “inspire all learners to see the world as it is, imagine what it might be, and partner with communities to realize long-term impact for people and the planet.”
Identity and Impact is a new 6th grade elective that will explore the ways in which people identify – from gender to religion to favorite basketball team – and how those factors become a part of people’s relationships with others and relationships to communities. Inspired by the Scott Center’s guiding questions, What matters to you? and What are you doing about it?, students will learn how they can use their identities and lived experiences positively: as a lens for figuring out what is meaningful to them and where they can, in their communities, effect change in a way that creates impact. This class is all about giving students space to see the world as it is, imagine what it might be, and a chance to think deeply about how they can evolve their thinking and understanding of the world. We will discuss diverse examples of changemakers and the many different ways we can make a positive impact on people and our planet. “Wow! There is so much power in student voice and agency. What an amazing group of changemakers. It’s inspiring and affirming to see that not only are our students ready for this kind of curriculum, they are thinking deeply about complex topics and are hungry for a space to share and deepen their thinking.” – Annie Makela, Director of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Gulliver LaValle, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Of course, teachers are also working on all of the changes within their classrooms that routinely occur from year to year – new class reading lists (6th graders can look forward to reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman; 8th graders will have Ghost Boys and The Silence Between Us added to their #OwnVoices choice menu), new math resources (grades 6 – 8 will now all draw from CPM, a highly respected math curriculum with decades of research behind it), new apps for remote learning (many subjects across grades are adapting Classkick to facilitate virtual sharing and feedback), and new PE activities (all students will enjoy our new parcourse, which was codesigned for social distancing by some Hillbrook Class of 2020 alums and PE faculty!), among countless other updates and tweaks in grades 5 – 8. This process of continually assessing, reflecting on, and enhancing our program not only keeps things interesting and exciting for students and teachers, but more importantly, ensures that our learning experiences are stronger each year and that our middle school is living the Hillbrook mission more fully each year. In this year of so much change, I’ll do my best to keep you apprised of all that continues to evolve. In the meantime, know that the historic challenges facing schools in 2020 haven’t stopped us from moving our program forward!