Grey Matters
A weekly blog by RJ Grey's principal Andrew Shen

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November 2019 - Posts

Hi Everyone, 


With Thanksgiving on Thursday, we have a shortened week with an early release on Wednesday (dismissal is at 11:10 am).  On that day, we will have our annual Thanksgiving Assembly.  This assembly traditionally includes a few speeches by students, and performances by the school band, string ensemble and chorus.  When I prepared for this assembly in my first year as Principal (eight years ago), it brought back all sorts of memories of my own Thanksgiving experiences as a middle school-aged student and I shared some of those memories in that year’s pre-Thanksgiving edition of Grey Matters. I have since re-posted it every year because Thanksgiving is, after all, a time for creating and maintaining certain traditions.  Given the continuing and ever-growing diversity that has evolved in our two communities, I hope some of what I share resonates with many of you in one way or another.  


When I was younger, Thanksgiving had very little to do with extended family, as most of our relatives were a few thousand miles away.  For my sister and I, Thanksgiving dinner was an event celebrated with just our parents, so it often felt like a lot of work for just another Thursday night dinner.  Having grown up in Taiwan, my parents didn’t experience Thanksgiving until they moved here for graduate school, and along with preparing the “traditional” turkey and sides, my parents wanted to include items more familiar to them [side note: check out this 2018 article in the Washington Post that addresses five myths about preparing turkey on Thanksgiving, and this New York Times article from last week about the recent trend of Chinese barbecue-style turkeys that are keeping shops and restaurants in Chinatowns across the country busy in November].  As a result, we had many a Thanksgiving where, next to the mashed potatoes, sat a plate full of pork dumplings; and next to the canned cranberry sauce, there was a bowl filled with a rice dish prepared by my dad. When I was thirteen, having soy sauce and turkey gravy on the same table really bothered me, mostly because it was different from what I understood and assumed to be the proper and traditional way to celebrate this holiday.  For me, it meant we weren’t fitting in and continued to make us different at a time when I wanted to be anything but. This narrow obsession of mine also probably contributed to an inexplicable lifelong craving for Stouffer’s Stove Top stuffing and a preference for canned cranberry sauce.  Once that adolescent desire to fit in faded, I began to appreciate those dinners through a different lens - one that focused on the reality that the food my parents made was really good, that we had much for which to be thankful, and that every family has different twists on how celebrate Thanksgiving- and it’s those unique variations that are at the heart of any tradition. This lifelong obsession with stuffing and the idea that there isn’t a single way to properly celebrate Thanksgiving is why this 2017 article, Thanksgiving Stuffing (or dressing) is the dish that best reflects America’s diversity”, caught my eye.  


As I got older, I also came to discover that our approach to Thanksgiving was definitely more manageable than some of the other family “traditions” I have now heard about from friends and colleagues, and have myself witnessed when spending time with my wife’s extended family (most of whom live near or around Rt. 128).  Little did I realize how fortunate the Shen family was to not have to wrestle with deciding which relative slept in what room during the holiday, who was in charge of making sure the loose cannon uncle didn’t upset guests with his boorish political commentary, and preparing for however much criticism advice one was to receive from his or her in-laws for the entire day.  Whatever twist you and your family have planned for your Thanksgiving Break, and whatever you plan to eat, I hope you all find some opportunity for a little rest and some good company.  


Here are some updates and reminder for this week, and to keep in mind when we return from the Thanksgiving Break: 


The Fall Trimester closed last Wednesday, November 20th.  Report cards will likely be sent to families around December 6 -more on that when we return from the Thanksgiving Break. 


7 Red’s annual Coat Drive continues, so if you have any coats (for adults or children), they can be dropped off in our Lobby.  


The tryout schedule for Winter Sports (basketball and cheerleading) has been finalized and is available for viewing by clicking here. Students who plan to try out for our winter sports need to make sure their and updated physical form has been submitted and reviewed by our school nurse.  


Five performances of James and the Giant Peach are scheduled for the week of December 3rd, specifically on Thursday, December 5 (7pm), Friday, December 6 (7pm), Saturday, December 7 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 8 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and available in the Junior High Main Office.  ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there. 


We hope all of you are able to use this upcoming holiday period as an opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, be it in the form of leisure and social activities, or simply quality time with each other.  We look forward to seeing everyone back next Monday.  


Have a great week and a great Thanksgiving, everyone. 


Cheers,

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Posted by ashen  On Nov 24, 2019 at 9:28 AM
  

Hi Everyone, 


By December of each year, my outfit for managing morning drop-offs in the lower parking lot typically includes heavy duty boots and snowpants to accompany the hat and gloves that have already made an appearance in November.  Last week’s blast of cold air probably warranted a clothing timeline adjustment on my part, but I felt like I should hold out purely on principle, and probably fell victim to choosing fashion over function. Those windy mornings last week were not that enjoyable. So I empathize, though still don’t necessarily agree, with our students who are still wanting to come to school in just shorts and/or a t-shirt!  Small correction - our students and all three of my own children who were, until a recent and unpopular Shen family summit, amongst the worst offenders. And yet, even with clarification of what constitutes appropriate winter attire fresh in their minds, I found myself having to explain to one of them last night why leaving the house in sandals and no socks was not an option.  While I have an inkling that children under 18 have access to a self-generating source of body heat that goes away with aging, I still have a hard time seeing kids enter the school in shorts and t-shirts. I know we all have to pick and choose what battles we fight, and with afternoon temps still a bit higher that might give each of us a psychological escape hatch to not fight about this issue with them quite yet.  However, as we inch closer to more consistent winter weather, and temperatures that go even lower, please consider exercising your parental veto powers in terms of what layers of clothing are worn to school each day.  Since I’ve recently tried to pay a bit more attention to clothing choices this past week, I’ve also noticed that ripped jeans seems to be making a return to wardrobes and serving as a reminder of how fashion trends often reappear 20-30 years later.  So don’t be shocked when I start coming to RJ Grey in all of the oversized flannel shirts that I bought in 1993.  


Here are some updates and reminder for this week: 


Another reminder that the Fall Trimester closes this Wednesday, November 20th.  Report cards will likely be sent to families around December 6 -more on that when we get closer to that date.  


Thanksgiving is November 28th this year.  We will have school on Wednesday the 27th with an early release at 11:10am.  


A note to 8th grade families that I will be sending them an email tomorrow (Monday) introducing an upcoming assembly with Minding Your Mind, a national organization that provides mental health education to adolescents, parents, and educators.  


7 Red’s annual Coat Drive continues, so if you have any coats (for adults or children), they can be dropped off in our Lobby.  


The tryout schedule for Winter Sports (basketball and cheerleading) has been finalized and is available for viewing by clicking here. Students who plan to try out for our winter sports need to make sure their and updated physical form has been submitted and reviewed by our school nurse.  


The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of James and the Giant Peach and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents.  Five performances are scheduled for the week of December 3rd, specifically on Thursday, December 5 (7pm), Friday, December 6 (7pm), Saturday, December 7 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 8 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and will be available in the Junior High Main Office starting Monday, November 18ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there. 


With the Thanksgiving Break starting later next week, I want to remind families that there will be no homework over the vacation period.  This has been a practice at the Junior High for the past four years, and is now a district wide expectation that is part of Acton-Boxborough’s Homework Policy.  At the heart of this policy is a belief that school vacations can and should provide students and families an opportunity to rest and focus on time with each other, free from any school-related obligations. The commitment we (parents and the school) have to academics will be ever-present, and yet I think we would be remiss if we ignored what psychologist and author Madeline Levine identified as the need for "honoring the importance of downtime, playtime, and family time." This is not to suggest that addressing those needs can only take place during vacations (that would be problematic as well).  Instead, we hope students and families will see these vacation periods as an additional opportunity to cultivate other parts of their family's life, be it in the form of leisure and social activities, or simply quality time with each other.  


Have a great week, everyone. 


Cheers,

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Posted by ashen  On Nov 17, 2019 at 7:36 AM
  

Hi Everyone, 


I had a great meeting last Thursday after school with about twenty of our teachers who are participating in a discussion group focusing on “The Behavior Code”, a book by Jessica Minahan.  Jessica is a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) and consultant who specializes in training educators to work more effectively with students who struggle with a continuum of challenges, including anxiety disorders and a range of other social and emotional needs.  Recent studies have found that 30% of kids ages 13 to 18 have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, and 11% suffer from depression. These statistics are not surprising to those of us in Acton Boxborough given the shifts and trends we have observed within our own student population.  Our teachers are facing new and more frequent situations where anxiety is a significant factor in the learning profiles and needs of students in their classrooms, and where more traditional behavioral and motivational strategies are not effective. With that in mind, the Junior High is dedicating almost half of its professional learning time this year to training that improves our shared understanding around the different ways anxiety can shape a student’s school experience, and develop teaching strategies that can improve engagement, comfort, and improved learning in all of our classrooms.  It’s an ambitious and important goal that we’ve set, and will require our attention and commitment beyond this year. What is exciting about our work this year is that it’s aided by Jessica Minahan herself. We’ve arranged for Jessica to work with our entire staff (teachers, classroom assistants, administrators, counselors, etc.) in both the Fall and Spring, and with a smaller group of specialized staff over the course of the year. I already see ways that conversations amongst teachers and teams are gradually shifting, and looking forward to our school’s collective skill set in this area evolving over time.  I wanted to highlight this feature of our school’s professional learning goals because I know many families, including my own, also find themselves at home devoting a fair bit of energy and planning to supporting their kids around anxiety and its impact on different facets of their daily living. For those who might be attending a team meeting this year, you may hear ideas and questions that reflect these efforts, and strategies that we’re working on. While The Behavior Code is written with an educator audience in mind, parents and guardians who are invested in the topic may find it interesting.  However, please don’t feel like you need order this text right away - while I’m excited that she’s working with us, I’m not trying to peddle her book.  Instead, there are several articles, blog entries from the Huffington Post, and audio recordings of Jessica Minahan from radio interviews that you can access from her website.  I’ve read several of them, and they offer plenty of ideas and strategies to consider, and the language and concepts that we’re learning at RJ Grey.  These articles can offer you a snapshot of the conversations we are having at RJ Grey, and ideas for you to consider at home.   


Here’s some updates and reminders for the next few weeks:


The Fall Trimester closes on Wednesday, November 20th.  There will likely be end-of-trimester assignments and assessments this week and next, so you might want to check in with your child(ren) about what is on their plates between now and the Thanksgiving Break.  


7 Red’s annual Coat Drive continues, so if you have any coats (for adults or children), they can be dropped off in our Lobby.  


For the Thanksgiving Break, we have a half-day of school on Wednesday, November 27 with dismissal at 11:10, and then we return to school the following Monday, December 2nd. 


Winter sports will begin shortly after the Thanksgiving Break. Our winter sports program includes Boys and Girls Basketball teams (with separate teams for 7th and 8th grade), and Cheerleading. The tryout schedule is NOW POSTED on the RJ Grey Athletics page with start dates planned for shortly after the Thanksgiving Break. You can view the tryout schedule and review the registration process on the Athletics page of our website. 


The Green Team Club is hosting a Terracycle recycling program for used hygiene products such as deodorant, floss and mouthwash containers, toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes.  The recycling box will be located outside the 7th grade office starting on November 12.  Would  you please help us keep these plastics out of landfills and oceans?  For more info and more products you can bring and drop of, check the Green Team website.  


FYI - our Food Services Department is running a friendly competition this Wednesday.  Students who purchase a school lunch will be able to submit a guess for how many steps it takes to burn off a hamburger?  A Fitbit Alta HR will be awarded to the student with the winning answer.  


Last week all families should have received an email with instructions on how to sign up for the annual parent-teacher conferences.  As I mentioned last week, one of the three conferences will be scheduled in the evening (January 9 from 5-8pm) and those slots will be filled on a first come-first served basis.  We know that this means that not all families who prefer the evening conference can be scheduled for those options, and we hope that you’ll still be able to identify times that are possible for you.  A friendly reminder that parents/guardians are not required to participate in these conferences, and many families who have attended team meetings elect not to sign up. We appreciate everyone’s patience as our Main Office staff begin processing the many requests that are being submitted over the next few weeks.  


The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of James and the Giant Peach and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents.  Five performances are scheduled for the week of December 3rd, specifically on Thursday, December 5 (7pm), Friday, 

December 6 (7pm), Saturday, December 7 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 8 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and will be available in the Junior High Main Office starting Monday, November 18ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there.  As we begin to prepare for our annual school musical, I want to again share a link to one of my favorite episodes of the radio show This American Life.  Entitled, “Fiasco!” this episode highlights a small-town production of Peter Pan that involved the use of flying apparatuses. Unlike our High School’s production of Mary Poppins a few years ago, their efforts involving the flying apparatus didn’t exactly go as planned, along with a few other mishaps that turned the show into a full-fledged fiasco.  If you’ve got twenty minutes to spare, I encourage you to listen to this piece that apparently required Ira Glass to turn off his microphone during recording because of how hard he was laughing.


Finally, I don’t want to finish this edition of Grey Matters without acknowledging Veteran’s Day which is this Monday.  So I end with a thank you and a note of gratitude to members of our community who have or are still serving in our military, as well as their families who support them.  


Have a great week, everyone. 


Cheers, 

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Posted by ashen  On Nov 11, 2019 at 6:55 AM
  

Hi Everyone, 


With Halloween falling on a Thursday this year, it feels like we are finishing up an extended and super-sized weekend.  That feeling has only been compounded by what seems to be an endless stream of end-of-fall activities, sports tournaments, and that thing that I hope eventually goes away -- Daylight Savings Time (a topic for a different Grey Matters).  Our family’s version of this never ending weekend has made me realize that I’m not as spry as I used to be, though it is also possible that the stream of candy and chocolate that I continue to borrow from my kids’ trick or treating stash has played a role in my not feeling terribly healthy.  Amongst all of our activities, I also took our two younger kids to get flu shots at a clinic being hosted by their pediatrician’s office on Saturday morning. When we reached the front of a very long line, the nurse asked me for Parker and Addie’s respective ages. I looked at her, I looked at them, I looked at her again, tilted my head, mumbled some total gibberish and then said, “uh, Addie, why don’t you answer that?”  This moment elicited a whole chorus of chuckles from the rest of the patients lined up behind us, and an older gentleman saying, “welcome to the club.” If you and your kids also participated in the Halloween festivities, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable time - both during the day, and later on that evening. We had many students who came in a variety of playful and clever costumes for our Dress Up Day, and congratulations to 8th grade student Meghan Frye who won our friendly Halloween costume competition (photo above).  


Now that Winter is soon approaching, it is time to think about dusting off those skis and snowboards. Ski and Board Club will start Tuesday, January 7, 2020. It will run for 6 weeks on Tuesdays. If your child would like to sign up for the club,​ you can sign up online and review/download all the necessary documents by going to our school website or clicking here.  Please direct any questions to the club advisor, Lana Paone ([email protected]).  The deadline for registration is December 6th.  


Later this week, I will be sending all families an email about the annual parent-teacher conference sessions that we offer during three dates in December and January.  That email will provide families with an overview of the conferences and some things to consider before signing up.  Similar to the last two years, one of the three conferences will be scheduled in the evening (January 9 from 5-8pm).   Our school recognizes that there are families within our community for whom mid-day conferences can present enough of a hardship and challenge that they would be unable to consider participating.  This may include parents/guardians who do not have as much flexibility with their respective work schedules, or have family responsibilities that are not easily adjusted. Our hope is that an evening conference will better accommodate and support the varied schedules that our families have to navigate.  While there will not be an early release from school on the day of the evening conferences, there will be an early release for students and staff on the following day (January 10). Shortly after my letter about the conferences families will also receive an email from us that includes a link to the form that you should complete if you wish to schedule conferences with your child’s teachers.  


Here’s some reminders that are important for families this week and beyond: 

There is
no school for all students in the District this Tuesday, November 5.  Staff will be participating in professional learning during the day.

There is also
no school for all students next Monday, November 11 as it’s Veteran’s Day.  Many thanks to those in our community who have served, and continue to serve, in our military. 

Last week I included some messaging for families of 8th grade students who may be
applying to private schools.  If you haven’t already, please take a moment to review that message. 

Thanksgiving Break
is coming up and I know that many are looking forward to that annual holiday and the opportunity to spend it with family and friends.  The end of the Fall Trimester is Wednesday, November 20th - the week before the Thanksgiving Break.  I want families to be aware of this timing so they can keep that in mind as they continue to support their students in having a strong finish to this first marking period.   


Here’s an initial and exciting Save the Date! announcement regarding our annual Junior High musical.  This year’s musical is James and the Giant Peach, and performances will be from December 5th through December 8th. The RJ Grey musical is not only a great annual event for members of our school community, but is always a wonderful event from other members of our larger Acton-Boxborough community.  Next week I’ll be sharing additional information about purchasing tickets.  


As we enter November we have another R.J. Grey Artist of the Month.  Congratulations to Nina Abroff of 8 Gold who has been selected as this month’s Artist of the Month. When Nina was asked about how she thinks she will make space in her future for art, she replied: "I would like to go to an art college, like Mass Art. Maybe for a career, I would like to do Disney character design, or graphic design, or web design. But I also want to just continue making art and drawing a lot" Congratulations to Nina and you can click here to view her art work (also on display in our school lobby).  

Finally, we had our most recent edition of Poetry Fridays at the end of last week, with a reading by Mr. Malloy of Small Kindnesses by Danusha Lameris.  This is a poem that was recently highlighted by fellow poet Naomi Shihab Nye in the New York Times with a note about how the poem feels “utterly necessary for our time -- a poem celebrating minor, automatic graciousness within a community, which can shine a penetrating light.  It’s a catalog of small encouragements, unfolding as might a child’s palm filled with shiny stones. It almost feels like another hope we remember having.” If you have an extra minute or two, I’d encourage you to read the poem by clicking here.  


Have a great week, everyone.  


Cheers, 

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Posted by ashen  On Nov 03, 2019 at 11:20 AM
  
 
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