This week, the Seabury middle school students completed a final assessment for our study of Refugees where they connected ideas from our short story unit, their memoirs, economics, and the testimonies we heard from modern day and historical refugees.
In groups, students discussed where to place hexagons labeled with characters, people, places, and terms. Individually, they chose connections and explored and explained them in writing.
Listening to the students discuss connections, explain their thinking to one another, and deciding how to collaborate revealed the creativity of the students' thought processes.
As ideas took shape, each group formed their own connections.
Middle school students at Seabury produced projects that reflected their learning about the forest and the costs and benefits of using it as a resource. Seabury encourages students to think about concepts deeply and to try and understand complex issues. The people of Washington and indeed the US use Washington forests as an important resource, this use benefits not only logging companies and forest owners, but also students learned how sustainable forestry benefits education, animals, and even the forest itself.
The students first engaged in research, they read articles, watched videos, and interviewed a Washington Department of Natural Resources Forester. They then, had to make decisions and think of alternatives for the sale of an imagined timber sale.
When projects and units come to an end, we ask the students to actively reflect on their learning:
What were their goals? What progress did they make toward those goals? Let's look back. . .
What questions did you have when we started? What progress have we made toward answering them?
What new skills have you acquired?
How have you grown as a thinker?
How have you grown as a communicator and collaborator?
What are you proud of?
At the end of the semester, we do a more substantial reflection that usually involves finding specific evidence from a student's work to support their answers to questions like those above.
Historic Times
I recently sent students digital cards with a short video congratulating them on doing something "unprecedented" by finishing a full semester of distance learning.
Immediately thereafter, I realized that we have had periods of distance learning before, like during the polio epidemic:
Chicago schools, for instance, moved to the radio:
"In Chicago, teachers collaborated with principals to create on-air lessons for each grade, with oversight from experts in each subject. Seven local radio stations donated air time. September 13 marked the first day of school.
Local papers printed class schedules each morning. Social studies and science classes were slated for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays were devoted to English and math. The on-air school day began with announcements and gym. Classes were short – just 15 minutes – providing simple, broad questions and assigning homework.
The objective was to be “entertaining yet informative.” Curriculum planners incorporated an engaging commercial broadcasting style into the lessons. Two principals monitored each broadcast, providing feedback to teachers on content, articulation, vocabulary and general performance. When schools reopened, students would submit their work and take tests to show mastery of the material.
Sixteen teachers answered phone calls from parents at the school district’s central office. After the phone bank logged more than 1,000 calls on the first day, they brought five more teachers on board.
News stories reporting on this novel radio school approach were mostly positive, but a few articles hinted at the challenges" (La Monica, Martin).
This is the first time so much technology has been available to help us help the students, so what they have done is still, in many ways, unprecedented.
As such, we asked them to create something more special, more memorable, for their end of semester reflection.
The students had two options: create a museum box representative of their learning this semester or create a Pinterest-style digital board that gathered moments from their learning this year.
Creative Reflection
Reflection in this way allows the students to make a story out of their learning, which is one of the key ways that learning connects to long-term memory. Some of the students shared how much they enjoyed creating their museum boxes, thinking metaphorically about their learning.
The results range in variety and style as broadly as our students do.
We even had a Minecraft reflection. The student who submitted this also submitted a written explanation. The video highlights their creativity.
And some "moments" from the Pinterest boards:
The students will remember and use the skills they have learned during this semester for years to come. They will remember much of the content they have learned, too. The experience of working together through this time, of learning and growing alongside each other, of trusting us to help them learn, of overcoming challenges, of building learning spaces that worked for them--those are memories they will have for a lifetime.
At Seabury, it is important that our students interact with experts in the fields we study. During distance learning, we have been committed to bringing in guest speakers and engaging in virtual field studies that are engaging, enhance our curriculum, and bring our students in touch with experts. We also expose the students to diverse voices and experiences by allowing them to interact with experts with different life experiences than our own.
Last spring, we committed to bringing in a community helper each week, someone who was committed to serving the community during crisis. We had a parent who makes masks, a manager at the Central Co-op, the owner of a local distillery that switched to making hand sanitizer during the days of shortages, an author who did free classroom visits and spoke about the power of stories to help people endure and survive, and a scientist who was working with the city to track the virus in sewage.
This fall, our experts and field studies have been more closely tied to our overarching concept: The Future We Want.
Early on in the year, the students interviewed Professor Ruben Casas about public transportation, the pandemic, and park access. He recently shared that speaking with the Seabury middle school students was one of the most enjoyable moments of his year.
That is a common theme: our students are interested and engaged. They ask meaningful questions, and they set an example for how to be professional and inclusive in public spaces, especially public digital spaces.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual celebration of women in science, and this year, Mr. MacKenzie arranged an incredible line up of speakers who engaged the students in lectures, hands on learning opportunities, and personal narratives of overcoming bias in their fields.
University of Washington graduate students planned a community lesson on the Hanford Site and graciously allowed all of our students to participate in their lesson. The students learned about issues at the Hanford Site through a variety of lenses and worked toward solutions that took into account many perspectives. In small break out rooms, our students asked questions and offered solutions alongside adult experts.
In early December, we worked with the Newseum, a museum that celebrates the freedom of the press, to learn about identifying bias in news articles to practice identifying bias in headlines and applying a three part system to identifying bias in actual news stories. One of the goals for our middle school students is that they become critical consumers of media and news content. Being able to identify bias is an important part of that process.
Finally, in late December, the students had the opportunity to learn from a Western Washington Stewardship Forester from the Department of Natural Resources who shared concerns of private timber owners and how to maintain healthy forests for environmental and economic benefit. The students used information from his talk to inform their own Timber projects.
We already have several field studies in the works for the coming weeks. During distance learning, these opportunities to reach out to the broader and global community have been an important part of feeling connected to the broader world. We are so proud of our students for their questions, their professional demeanor, and their engagement during these opportunities.
Two eighth grade geometry students spent two weeks studying the blending of math and art in Islamic patterns, which use properties of regular polygons, symmetry, and transformations to create beautiful patterns for contemplation and inner-peace.
Specifically, they studied a famous pattern displaying six-, eight- and twelve-pointed stars, from the 14th-century Córdoba Synagogue in Spain by re-creating it with a 21st century tool: the math app Geogebra. The design begins with the famous “flower of life” motif, a series of overlapping circles whose arcs form a six-pointed petal design that creates a template of vertices for the underlying hexagonal grid.
Once the hexagons begin to appear, then the stars start coming out by connecting the line segments created by the various points of intersection of the circles. Eventually, the Cordoba design begins to show forth.
E.K., after a lot of hard work on his computer, created this design:
One student also created his design on his computer using Geogebra.
Even with the modern tools of computer mouses and software, given the precise and repetitive steps necessary for replicating the Cordoba Synagogue design, the project took a lot of time, increasing the students appreciation for the stunning designs created centuries ago with just the hand tools of compasses and straight edges.
The middle school students are wrapping up an English Language Arts unit on creative nonfiction writing focused on food that paired with a science unit about sustainability. Their final assignment for this unit (informed by their work as young scientists) is to produce an essay that told the story of a meal they planned, cooked, and served. The journey to creating this final essay and the wide array of results speak to how writing at Seabury Middle School is all about developing as a thinker and an artist.
Before We Could Write:
The unit began with Ratatouille, the movie, not the dish. We talked about the idea of being a food critic and did a close reading of Anton Ego's speech:
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.
Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.
In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant.Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.
The students began to think about making food and describing or critiquing food as parallel art forms. Students asked questions. They shared understandings.
Reading as Writers:
Before students wrote their first creative nonfiction essay, they read models of food writing.
They shared favorite sentences from these model texts:
"This isn’t a dish you’ll find in a Pakistani restaurant—it’s that special, simple meal you make at home for your loved ones—and it doesn’t even have a name" (Saadat, "The Homestyle Pakistani Curry You Won't Find On Restaurant Menus").
and
"But this is not a food story that comes without cost" (Twitty, "I Had Never Eaten in Ghana Before. But My Ancestors Had").
Our reading discussions focused on what made the examples they read work or speak to them. Some of the students had had practice reading as writers in years past. Some were new to thinking about what they read in this way. They pushed each other to think in new ways or recognize new ways of thinking.
Together, we built rubrics. What does a successful piece of food writing look like? The morning and afternoon ELA classes came up with similar, but distinct rubrics:
The students' first pieces matched the prompt or subject of their model texts. Then, they bravely shared their writing with small groups of classmates. Someone who did not write the piece read it out loud, and then the students in the group asked questions. As a reader, what did they want to know? What questions did they have that would help them better understand? They also highlighted portions of each piece that were working really well.
And then Again:
Students then began a second round of reading, discussing, writing, and workshopping. The model texts were a bit more personal, a bit more about a story having a message:
Some stand-out sentences from this crop of model texts:
“The telltale brick-shaped carton encasing a Dayglo orange matter that
provided equal parts sustenance and humiliation: government cheese” (Dempsey, "The Tyranny and the Comfort of Government Cheese").
and
"Anh and I were transfixed by the bright red cylinder and the mustache grin on Mr. Pringles’s broad, pale face. The Heidenga girl pried off the top and crammed a handful of chips into her mouth. We watched the crumbs fall from her fingers to the floor" (Nguyen, "Pringles").
Even their choice of favorite sentences reveals their growth as writers.
This chance to embrace more personal narratives and put more of themselves into their stories gave some of the students a necessary push from descriptive writing into narrative writing. The students opened windows into who they are and how food connects them to their world.
Revision:
Students chose one of these first two pieces to revise. I gave them detailed feedback as a reader and as a teacher. The crafted more compelling sentences, they reorganized, they shifted tense and perspective, and then they hit "submit."
Here are some anonymous highlights from their works of art:
"Grilled cheese. It’s one of the only foods I can make without burning something or nearly exploding the microwave because I forgot I left a fork in it."
and
"Bread is cool because it tastes like bread. It's also made out of a brown grass called wheat (or even rye), so that's pretty great. Bread is also usually brown. If you bake your bread on flour or with a light dusting on top, it might look more appetizing to some people. Perhaps you could call it artisan."
and
"Either way, it will probably not be like how my abuela used to make it, but some will do anything for that taste of home."
Meanwhile:
Meanwhile, the students were researching sustainable food production in science. They prepared meal plans and ingredients lists. They worked with Mr. MacKenzie to design a meal.
We also looked at food photography, discussed aesthetic preferences, and learned some food styling tips. The students practiced taking and editing pictures of food.
A Chance to Hone a Skill:
The chance to practice writing about food again after having finished the workshopping process and thinking so deeply about the food they eat and where it comes from allowed the students to stretch and grow. They could be more creative because they were more comfortable with the genre. Through meetings with me and, in some cases, each other, they talked through and planned their final pieces. They wrote and revised and wrote some more.
These final essays have voice and power. They tell stories that convince. They draw on evidence and research to tie food to its origins while also crafting character.
Great Artists:
No one sits down at the piano the first time and plays like a maestro.
I think often about the first four minutes of this video when I think about teaching students to write in any new genre. Their first attempts, those ones that are more likely to plod along, are so important. They are foundational. Young writers need to hear that they are plodding along and also those moments when their writing flows, when jokes they wrote land, when their voices shine. They also need to read successful examples just like a young musician needs to listen to music. Then, they can improve. Becoming an artist takes work and it takes low stakes opportunities to just be okay, to hit some missed notes.
Bravery
It is brave to put yourself on the page. It is brave to try something new. It is brave to ask someone else to look at something you have created and make it better.
This is the work of being a Seabury student and the work of being an artist.
The Last Word:
Anonymous Excerpts from the Sustainable Cuisine Essays:
"My hands were lightning fast, whizzing back and forth. It was a blur of motion as I grabbed the tomato and threw it in the air. I grabbed a knife and chopped it before it hit the ground, Kung-fu style.2 It was a little less dramatic, but who cares. I slapped the potatoes down and vigorously stabbed them with a fork3. I wrapped them in a towel and put them in the microwave. Despite my efforts, there was no nuclear explosion, phew."
"When I think of fall and winter, I think of potatoes: those round and imperfect roots. But add some butter, maybe cream, salt, pepper, and a masher, and you have one of the most imperfect perfect things in the world."
"There were bubbles everywhere. It had exploded to the top of the mason jar with all of the little yeast working.
One last day of being outside. One big feeding. Being in the fridge would will slow him down and not eat as fast. I took a few cautious sniffs. And made my lemon face.
This was ready."
I think you'll agree: these student writers are artists.
