Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope this message finds you well. It is nice to have a long weekend to be away
from our usual work responsibilities, but it is also important for all of us to
remember that the main reason that Monday is a national holiday is to give us the opportunity to honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. McCall Middle School, just as other schools
and organizations in Winchester, have used this holiday to teach and
reinforce with our students the values such as service and equality that MLK
has come to symbolize. The following are
some of the lessons and activities McCall students have taken part in or will continue to participate in during this month.
This past Friday, all 6th graders assembled in the auditorium to view a video on MLK.
Social studies teachers followed up with a lesson on equity and held
discussions with students about how discrimination manifested itself throughout
our country’s history. During their
World Language classes, students were asked to think about words that come to
mind when they reflect on the work of MLK.
They then were asked to connect those English words with the adjectives
and other vocabulary they learned this year to describe themselves and
other individuals. In science classes, students
studied the biology of skin color and discussed the fact that even though all
of us appear very different on the outside, we are more alike than different in the inside.
In seventh grade English, students connected the work of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. with the year-long theme of Resilience that they have been
studying. Students read MLK’s Blueprint
speech, viewed the documentary Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot, and reflected
on the resilience exhibited by MLK and his colleagues during the Selma march for freedom and other
civil rights protests.
In eighth grade English, the lessons on social justice and
equity students have been taking part in while studying literary works such as Warriors
Don’t Cry, Blended, and All American Boys, naturally connects
to the values exhibited by MLK that we want all students to learn. Our eighth graders will continue to study the
roles young people played during the civil rights movement by watching clips from
Eyes on the Prize and taking part in group discussions and journaling.
Lastly, I would like to wish our 8th grader Adam Lubomirski
the best while he represents McCall Middle School and Winchester and serves as our
Ambassador in the Launch and Service Day organized by Project 351 this
weekend in Boston. Project 351 is an independent,
nonprofit organization created to promote youth leadership and
service. Each year Project 351 asks each
of the 351 Massachusetts cities and towns to nominate an 8th grade
student to take part in an one-day celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This weekend Adam will join state leaders
such as Governor Baker and other 8th graders from all across the
state to participate in various community service activities. I am looking forward to finding out what Adam
will be learning and how he will bring back what he has learned about service
learning to McCall.
There are many 8th graders who exhibits qualities to be this
year’s Project 351 Ambassador. I thank
Ms. Edenhofer, the district’s Service Learning Coordinator, and our 8th
grade staff for putting together a selection process and making the difficult
final decision of selecting one Ambassador out of the many qualified 8th grade 8th grades.
Thank you and I wish you all a great weekend!
James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School
