Hi Everyone,
Last year I mentioned how members of our Main Office staff intentionally and playfully address me as “Dr. Chen” which combines two very common mistakes that are made about my name and/or how to address me in conversation and emails. As I have noted in previous years, you are all more than welcome to continue bestowing the title of “Dr.” upon me, but please know that it’s not one that I’ve earned through any accredited
program. As for what you might call me instead? I am happy to be addressed by my first name (Andrew), and also perfectly comfortable with Mr. Shen for those who prefer to maintain some formality. I would also like to use this moment to provide a gentle note of clarification about my last name -- Shen -- which has throughout my lifetime often been confused for Chen (with a "Ch"), another Chinese-American surname that perhaps is a bit more common and familiar to many in this area. I bring this up annually not only as a point of information about my name, but with the intention of bringing up our school’s commitment to pronouncing all of your names correctly. If and when we cross paths and introduce ourselves at the upcoming Back to School Night, I hope that you’ll provide me with some guidance if I don’t pronounce your name correctly and help me get it right. My hope is that those interactions will be similar to the efforts that our teachers make at the start of the school year to learn the preferences, and the correct pronunciation, of your childrens’ names. As a school we want to promote the idea that pronouncing names correctly can be an important part of helping each person feel welcome and seen, be it here at school or anywhere else. I was recently sent an op-ed in TeenVogue on this very topic by artist N’Jameh Camara who encourages us to shift our language around names less familiar to us from “hard” or “difficult” to “unpracticed”. I particularly liked this portion of her essay:
I know my name isn’t fully practiced in the U.S, so I have no problem teaching it. I, too, have struggled to learn names that are unpracticed to me. But as a person who was taught to respect and say Tchaikovsky, Brecht, Chekhov, Stanislavski and Hammerstein, I know my name can be learned too. What matters most is that we see ourselves as people whose vulnerability and mistake-making hold the potential to bring us closer.
To that end our hope at RJ Grey is to normalize the act of asking for a bit of guidance or confirmation about whether we pronounced a name correctly, and that students might also adopt that same practice. You might hear me practice this at Back to School Night, though please note that even if I succeed in correctly pronouncing the names of parents and guardians I meet that evening, I may not remember all of your names and I ask in advance for a little forgiveness in that regard. As another reminder, Back to School Night is on Thursday, September 26 at 7pm (6:35pm if your child takes the Band, Chorus or String Ensemble electives and you want to meet the teachers). In previous years we sent a schedule for the evening home with your children. This year we are going to email that schedule directly to you. While I am sure every 12 and 13-year old at RJ Grey can be a trusted courier of materials between home and school, we thought that emailing you the schedule for the evening might be a wise route to take.
Here are some important reminders and notes for the next few weeks:
We have yet to receive any submissions from 7th grade parents and guardians who might be interested in serving on the School Council. If you’re planning on throwing your hat in the ring, don’t wait - send me the info now! The role of the School Council is to review and discuss various aspects of the school's activities and goals, and offer advice and guidance about different topics that may emerge during the year. The Council will meet seven times this year, on Monday evenings at 6:30pm (the first will be October 7). If you have any interest, please submit a short (4-6 sentences max) paragraph about yourself by Noon on Monday, September 23rd for the ballot - parents will vote at Back to School Night. Write-ups can be sent to me at [email protected].
I hope all of you had an opportunity to read my email message regarding our plans to hold an ALICE drill this week. You can review the content of that email message by clicking here. Once the drill has been completed I will be sure to send a follow-up message to families.
A few calendar notes for early October: The Junior High and High School will have our first Early Release day on Thursday, October 3, and staff will then participate in professional learning for the remainder of the day. Dismissal for students is at 11:10am at the Junior High and all standard bus routes will be available at that time. Please note that the Late Bus will not be available that day. I would encourage families to discuss and confirm with their child plans for this early release and expectations regarding transportation and post-release activities. On the following week, there will be no school on Wednesday, October 9 because it is Yom Kippur, and then no school on Monday, October 14 for Columbus Day Weekend.
Finally, a quick note about homework. With a few weeks under our belt all of you are likely well aware that homework is assigned as part of your child’s different team classes. A few years ago our staff began an important and wide-ranging conversation about connections between homework and our curriculum, what makes for quality assignments, and the development of common expectations regarding workload. We know that a balance must be struck between the benefits that quality homework assignments can provide and the necessity to manage a workload that is reasonable for students in these grades. This will always be a work in progress and something that we continue to
pursue while keeping a purposeful eye on the many valuable curricular goals and aspirations that are important to preserve. In June 2017 the School Committee also voted and approved a District Homework Policy that applies to all of our schools and offers specific guidance for different grade levels. You can view the Policy by clicking here. As you’ll see within the language, the policy reflects and endorses a view that aligns with much of the Challenge Success work and aspirations that we’ve been exploring. Many of you might recall participating in a District survey last Winter/Spring that invited students, parents, and teachers to provide information about homework practices and experiences at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Those results will be presented and shared later this year as we continue to reflect on our work in this area.
With the above mentioned long weekend coming up, I wanted to highlight for families the portion of the Homework Policy that pertains to homework during long weekends and over school vacation periods. Specifically, that there will be none. Prior to the District’s Homework policy, the Junior High implemented a school policy that homework would not be assigned for any of our extended vacations (Thanksgiving, Winter, February and April Breaks). Three years ago we expanded this expectation to planned long weekends, including the upcoming Columbus Day weekend, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memorial Day. And now those practices are embedded in the District’s Homework Policy. Nothing will be due (nor any tests or quizzes scheduled) on the day students return from a long weekend or vacation, and long-term projects that are assigned prior to a vacation will not be due earlier than the Thursday after a vacation. For me, what lies at the heart of this policy is a belief that these extended periods away from school 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 we would be remiss if we ignored what Challenge Success identified as the need for "honoring the importance of downtime, playtime, and family time." We hope students and families will see these periods away from school 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.
Something else that I would like to make sure that all families are aware of are the team homework calendars. Beginning a few years ago, every team (in both grades) maintains a shared online homework calendar that can be viewed by students and their families. For 7th grade teams, you can go here. For 8th grade teams, you can go here. Our hope is that this additional resource can, first and foremost, support students as they develop the organizational and planning skills that will allow them to adjust to additional responsibilities. Secondarily, this resource may also prove helpful to families who may still need to provide a bit of additional structure and guidance to their children as they work towards that level of independence that we all want them to develop. A friendly reminder, though, that helping them get to that independence may require letting them stumble and fumble a bit on their own and to experience the natural consequences that accompanies some missed assignments or rushed work. I know, easier said than done.
Have a great week, everyone.
Cheers,
