R.J. Grey Junior High School

Hi Everyone,

Welcome back from February Break - I hope your time last week included opportunities for a bit of rest as well as some fun activities.  For the past few years, our family has used the February Break as an opportunity to disconnect, removing ourselves from work and school and having the good fortune to get away and enjoy warmer weather.  This year we went in a very different direction and decided to spend this entire last week moving our family from the home we’ve lived in for the past fifteen years to a new house that we recently bought in another Metrowest community.  Prior to living in the house we just left, Melisa and I were childless and living in a small apartment in Cambridge, so my previous experience with moving mostly involved a rented U-Haul and cramming sheets and bedding into the trunks of our cars.  Three kids and fifteen years of accumulating many things that I no longer remember why we needed in the first place later, this move was a bit more taxing. Fortunately, we had great movers who braved the snow and sleet on Monday (because of course it snowed on moving day), and also benefited from having a member of our family who was born for these types of projects.  During our 18 years as a couple, I’ve become a bit more accustomed to my better half’s need for items in the refrigerator to have their labels be front facing, though her need to always reload the dishwasher after I’ve done a perfectly adequate job of loading it a few minutes earlier has at times been a source of….disagreement.  However, I will be the first to acknowledge that when it comes to moving out of one home and into another one, her obsession with attention to detail and disdain for messiness was an invaluable asset.  While certainly a very different kind of move and one that is happening only after two years (at RJ Grey), families of our 8th grade students will soon be asked to turn their attention to plans for next year where a bit of preparation now can help make for a smooth transition later in the Fall.  During the next few weeks our 8th grade students and families will begin the process of learning about 9th grade courses at the high school. Before the February break, the High School held an orientation meeting for families of current 8th grade students, and provided an outline of the course registration process.  8th grade teachers will also begin individual conversations with students to discuss their recommendations for course and level placement. The actual registration process takes place via the Parent Portal when the portal opens in late March.  In next week’s Grey Matters, I will provide more detail and information about the above process, and offer some perspective specifically on the conversation that teachers will have with students about course and level recommendations.  For current 7th grade families whose children will be returning to RJ Grey next year for 8th grade, you’ll also be receiving information in March about course enrollment (regarding options involving Math placement, Grey Block choices, etc.) which starting this year will also now be online through the Parent Portal.  We’re testing things out right now and looking forward to providing everyone with instructions that will guide you through the process.  

Here’s some reminders and updates as we prepare to enter the month of March:

The Winter Trimester closes on Tuesday, March 5 and report cards will be emailed to families on or around March 15.   

Don’t forget that the R.J. Grey Junior High yearbook is offering you the chance to send your love, pride and congratulations to the graduating 8th grade R.J. Grey student in your life.  You can purchase one of two advertisement formats to relay a message that your 8th grade student will cherish forever. Ads must be submitted by Wednesday, March 13. Please click the link for submissions guidelines and instructions. Please contact Marc Lewis ([email protected]) with any questions.  

We have no scheduled early dismissals or days off of school until Thursday, April 4 when we have our next and final early release for staff professional learning.  

In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing with students and families the sign up and/or tryout schedule for our Spring sports programs (likely to start in late March/early April).  We will continue to have teams for baseball, softball, girls volleyball and Spring track.  Stay tuned for more information.

We recently received information from both the Town of Acton and Town of Boxborough about an essay contest sponsored by the Massachusetts Municipal Association for 8th grade students, with a focus on local government issues and civic engagement.  For information about the essay contest, click here.   

Given this week’s theme about transitions and planning for next year, I thought it would make sense to also provide families with a brief preview of RJ Grey’s plans to establish a 1:1 Chromebook environment at our school starting in September.  First, a little bit about the “what” and then a brief overview of the “why”, with plans for considerably more information throughout this Spring.  In terms of the “what” - our plans for a 1:1 Chromebook environment is one where a school-owned Chromebook is assigned to each of our students, and would travel with the students during the school day, but does not ever leave the building.  In this model, students would pick up the device in the morning during homeroom, and then would return it to the charging station at the end of the day.  As part of this approach, students are not asked to purchase the device, nor do they take them home after school. In some ways, it’s similar to the more familiar practice of assigning students a science textbook to use for the duration of the year, except of course that a science textbook can probably survive being dropped a bit more easily than a Chromebook.  While a student doesn't pay for and "own" the device, we certainly want students to treat and care for them in an appropriate manner and we’re working to develop routines and habits that assist with the safe travels of the Chromebooks throughout the school day.  To that end, I am partnering with 7 Red teachers later this Spring to pilot a few ideas for how to effectively manage the travel of these devices throughout the building, and as just one example, the mechanics of where to have students place their devices when they go to Gym or the Cafeteria.  For those of you who have kids on 7 Red, stay tuned for a separate communication from me and the team teachers when we get closer to the time when those plans are implemented.

As for a small bit of the “why,” we now have many RJ Grey teachers who are infusing technology into their classrooms in ways that enable them to enhance and adapt their instruction, and where they serve as a resource for students in ways that go well beyond mere word processing. There is an enthusiasm for the role that Chromebooks have played, and can play, that we want to cultivate and support, but is currently limited by our current model where teachers can’t reliably count on having access to Chromebooks.  Instead, they have to compete for access to the Chromebook carts that are shared amongst team teachers. Our shift to a 1:1 environment isn’t done with the expectation or goal of having students use Chromebooks in every class, throughout the day, every day of the school year. Instead, the intent is to have that particular tool more readily available if and when there is an appropriate role that it can serve in the classroom. And while we do believe there are many of those moments where technology can and will improve the student experience, there are and will still be plenty of moments within each class where Chromebooks are not in use and things like pen, paper, lab equipment and face-to-face discussions are at the heart of a lesson or activity, as they should be.  

I am predicting that within our parent/guardian community, there might be some diversity of opinion and enthusiasm about this plan and about the thinking I just shared above.  I already know that there are many of you who, upon hearing this news, will be thinking, “it’s about time.” There are also others who carry certain reservations about the role of technology in the classroom and perhaps skeptical of its overall value and benefits.  My hope is that over the course of the Spring I’ll be able to expand on our plans and reasons for this shift by providing snapshots and highlights of the ways that Chromebooks are being utilized in the classroom right now, along with updates about our preparation for next year.  

Finally, in the Grey Matters that I sent before February Vacation, I made mention of our Blue & Gold Day assembly plans for that Friday, and some of the traditions that have become a part of the event, including some form of competition amongst teachers which this year took the form of a rather lively and energetic version of musical chairs.  Congratulations to 7 Red Social Studies teacher Mr. Zeese who was victorious in his first-ever staff competition.  A big thank you to our Student Council officers, and members of our Band, Chorus, String Ensemble, and Cheerleading squad for their performances and contributions to the event.  

Have a great week, everyone.  Welcome back.

Cheers,

Hi Everyone,

Over the past few years I’ve made a few references to cognitive biases, which refers to some common tendencies that many of us have when trying to make sense of information that comes before us.  For example, the gambler’s fallacy which is where someone flips a coin and it lands on “heads” five times in a row, and so she might have the inclination to believe that the law of averages means there is a greater chance that the sixth coin flip will be “tails”.  Here is a 2014 article from Business Insider that summarized 58 other cognitive biases.  The last time I mentioned cognitive biases was to mention my own experiences with what is known as frequency illusion, where “a word, a name or other thing that has recently come to one’s attention seems to appear with improbable frequency shortly afterwards.” Two years ago, everywhere I turned and everything I read, seemed to be strategically placed to remind me that I was going to be turning 40 later that Spring (including at the time, but not limited to, endless stories about Tom Brady, the “ageless wonder” who is the same age as me).  This time around, I’ve recently felt like I am being bombarded wherever I turn with stories, articles, and television previews that are highlighting the social experiences of middle school-aged girls.  What might be the motivation for this maneuvering by the universe?  A couple of possibilities come to mind, including that my daughter is turning 12 this week and she and eight of her girl friends are currently sleeping in our sunroom, recovering from the collective uttering of what can be no fewer than 25 million words last night. In a rare moment of wise parental decision making, Melisa and I agreed that she would be the one to travel downstairs to speak to the girls at 3AM about needing to go to sleep - nuclear conflict with grumpy dad avoided. As Melisa and I travel a bit father into our journey as parents of a middle school girl, and join the rest of you in this adventure, I wanted to pass along links and information about a few of the more thought-provoking articles and resources that entered my orbit last week.  First, here is the cover story of Harvard’s School of Education magazine Ed. entitled, “Girlhood” with the subheading, “After years of social gains and bright futures within reach, why are things still so difficult for middle school girls?”  A lot of food for thought within the piece, including observations by Bo Burhnam, the writer-director of the critically acclaimed film Eighth Grade, which served as an updated exploration of how early adolescence is experienced by kids today.  Something he said that has stuck with me a bit, “There’s been a lot of progress made, but the cultural pressures are still insane. And culture is what leads you at that age, I think…..I think our culture forces girls to ask deeper questions of themselves earlier than boys...I feel like our culture asks boys ‘What do you like to do?’ and asks girls ‘Who are you?’ I think there’s an immense interior mental pressure put on girls, so ‘deep’ is kind of their starting point. You can’t not be deep when you’ve been buried. It’s also a very specific time in life, and girls are mentally and emotionally maturing a bit quicker at 13 maybe.”  Following in the footsteps of Burnham’s film, and perhaps with more of a comedic edge in mind, the Washington Post published a review of the new Hulu series Pen15 with the oh-so-catchy title, “Hollywood is finally portraying middle school as the awkward, miserable and important stage it is”.  If any of you have seen portions of the show, let me know if it’s worth checking out.  Finally, a good friend of mine attended a local event last Thursday featuring Rachel Simmons, author of  Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives, along with Odd Girl Out, and The Curse of the Good Girl.  My friend was effusive in her praise of Rachel Simmons and her message, so I checked out her website and found that she includes a number of pieces and what she calls “GirlTips” on topics ranging from relationships, achievement and failure, and social media.  I found the pieces I read (I checked out a sampling) to be fairly right-sized in length, and written using language and examples that are pretty straightforward and relatable.  [update: I am writing Grey Matters at 7:40am and I just heard some laughter in the other room]

Here are a few updates and reminders for the next few weeks:

February Vacation begins after school this Friday, February 15. Friday is a full-day of school.  If you already know that your child will be absent on that day, please be sure to let our Main Office know so we can manage the attendance process successfully.  You can email Katy Frey at [email protected].  

The Winter Trimester closes on Tuesday, March 5 and report cards will be emailed to families about two weeks after that.  Additionally, 8th grade students and their families will begin to discuss course registration and recommendations with teachers in early/mid-March.  I’ll be sure to provide additional details about that entire process when we return from February Vacation.

Don’t forget that the R.J. Grey Junior High yearbook is offering you the chance to send your love, pride and congratulations to the graduating 8th grade R.J. Grey student in your life.  You can purchase one of two advertisement formats to relay a message that your 8th grade student will cherish forever. Ads must be submitted by Wednesday, March 13. Please click the link for submissions guidelines and instructions. Please contact Marc Lewis ([email protected]) with any questions.  

I’m excited to provide a well-deserved shout out to the twelve members of our RJ Grey Cooking Club, who last Friday evening hosted an Italian Family Dinner event for friends and family in the RJ Grey cafeteria.  The club and its members were recently profiled in a nice story written by the Acton Beacon, which you can read by clicking here.  Created and led by Health teacher Deb Rimpas, and Food Services staff members Jean Tibbets and Kirsten Nelson, the Cooking Club filled a lot of stomachs last Friday and kudos to the following students for their efforts:  Max MacQuilken, Georgie Smith, Josie Hanlon, Lenka Chytil, Kimaya Gazula, Bree McKinley, Liam Buck, Gabby Luciano, Biz Brooks, Asher Ryba, Justin Nyguyen, and Priyanka Chidambaram.

On Friday, we will enter the break by having our annual Blue & Gold Day assembly, which has traditionally served as a celebration of school spirit, and where we gather as a whole school (which only really happens a few times a year).  As usual we’ll be sure to post the best photos of the event on our Twitter feed, and it will make for a great start to the February Break.  An important reminder that there will be no homework assigned for vacation period.  We hope that everyone uses this time as an opportunity to disconnect from school and devote time to other interests.  Safe travels to those who are using the break as a chance to get away.

Have a great week, a great February Break, everyone.

Cheers,

Hi Everyone,

Our school district just recently submitted our proposed operating budget for the next school year, which includes funding for staffing, programs, and capital planning. I am glad it was well-received by our School Committee and am now wondering if it’s too late to sneak in an additional item that I only came across earlier this week that I am convinced will increase productivity in the Junior High Principal’s office, specifically a newly designed work desk that easily converts to a space for an afternoon nap (see photo to right).  I don’t know if it’s the nature of the work, or the stage of life I am in (read: getting older and not on the TB12 diet), but the idea of a quick nap in the early afternoon often feels like just the thing that would make the rest of the day go smoothly.  Depending on the outcome of tonight’s Super Bowl, a nap desk may be exactly what I need tomorrow around mid-morning. On a related note, the Junior High and High School are now entering our sixth month with later start times in the morning, having shifted from 7:30am to 8:00am at the Junior High for this current school year.  I wanted to make mention of this for two reasons. First, A-B is preparing a series of surveys geared towards students, staff, and families about the change in start times, and hoping to collect feedback and information about the benefits and challenges that they may have observed and experienced this year.  When those surveys are sent out I would encourage everyone to take a few minutes to participate - the more data the better. My second reason for bringing up the shift in start times has to do with patterns of tardiness at the Junior High.  Last year, I was optimistic that pushing start times to 8:00am would, among other things, reduce the number of students who arrive tardy to school (either occasionally or more chronically). You may or may not be surprised to learn that our tardiness rate this year is approximately double what we had during the same period of time last school year.  I don’t bring this up in an effort to shame or finger-wag at anyone, but instead to inform and start a bit of a dialogue about it. To be sure, there will be times throughout the year when morning routines have hiccups - planned and unplanned - where a student might arrive late to school, and that’s life and to be expected.  The challenge and concern is when those late arrivals becomes a bit more habitual and casual. A pattern of running into school even at 8:00am or a few minutes right after the bell means that the day is starting a bit frenzied (and if multiplied by many students, waiting in line to check in and get a pass to head to class may take additional time).  I will admit that I’m not quite sure what to make of this increase in student tardiness and our School Council recently brainstormed and speculated on a few potential contributing factors without reaching any conclusions we felt certain about. Is the change in traffic patterns to and from school in the morning substantially different? Is the new start time colliding more with parent/guardian work schedules and routines? Do more Junior High students get rides from older high school siblings whose days now start a but after our school day? Are more kids sleeping longer and later? As we work through these questions and speculate on other ones, I would like to ask families to consider helping us make sure that students get to school ahead of the morning bell so they can begin the day more grounded.  I deliver this request appreciating that families often need to juggle a lot of things each weekday morning and if there are adjustments that you’re able to make in support of this goal, I hope you’ll consider it. Finally, if in your home there is an increase in tardiness that you see as less about logistics and potentially related to struggles or concerns with/about school, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s counselor to begin a conversation about how we can work together on those issues. (P.S. please let your kids know that if the Patriots are victorious this evening, we are not delaying the start of school, we can celebrate at during the regularly scheduled school day….)

Here’s a couple of updates and reminders for the next few weeks:

We have our next early release scheduled for this Thursday, February 7.  This will be a professional learning session for staff, and students will be dismissed at 11:06am.  Please plan accordingly.  

A reminder to families of 8th grade students that the High School is hosting an information session regarding the upcoming transition to the High School.  I know, it felt like yesterday that they were in elementary school.  Once you’ve recovered from that time warp, please refer to the email message that was sent to 8th grade families last week from the High School administration about the event that will be this Wednesday, February 6 from 7pm to 8:30pm (at the High School) and is intended for parents/guardians only.  

February Vacation starts at the end of the school day on Friday, February 15.  Please note that February 15 is a full day and will end with our annual Blue & Gold Assembly (more on that next week).  If your family has travel plans that will involve taking your kids out before this date, please take a moment to inform the Main Office ([email protected]) and your child’s teachers.  

ABSAF, the community organization that works to raise funds to support student activities and programs at the Junior High and High School is in the process of accepting nominations for their Board for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. Students who are interested in a 2-year leadership role and want to be considered by the nomination committee can apply by completing the attached questionnaire and returning it to their nomination chair, Casey Eaton.  Their deadline for the application is February 11th. The link also includes an FAQ that provides additional information about ABSAF.  

We had our latest round of Everyday Leaders take place last week, and what a lively bunch who made our lunch together a highlight of the week for me.  Congratulations to this group of Everyday Leaders: Maria Araujo, Abigail Bayer, Matthew Chytil, Siena Kolpin, Connor Nannene, Isabelle Shee, Karen Ssuubi, Henry Tshabalala, Irene Tsitlenko, Mona Yoshiki Franzen, and Charlotte Yourk.   

Finally, I want to wish those in our community who celebrates Chinese New Year a happy and festive new year as we enter the Year of the Pig.  For those who may share my delight in the culinary aspects of different cultures and holidays, here’s an article from the the Los Angeles Times in 2017 that profiled foods for a Chinese New Year feast, and here’s a more recent article in the Boston Globe about a few local places to consider eating as part of the upcoming festivities.  As many of us prepare to watch the Super Bowl later this evening, you can go here and watch a brief video from two years ago of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year in Mandarin Chinese, or at least making a sincere effort.  I applaud the effort, and I am relieved that he won’t need to be calling offensive plays this evening in Mandarin.  

Have a great week, everyone.

Cheers,