Sunday, October 28, 2018

October 28 Update


Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  I would like to remind everyone that starting Monday, Oct. 29, the school will be opening its doors to students at 7:45 am instead of 8:00 am.  We are hoping we will alleviate some of the traffic issue by making this move.  Please refer to the message I sent to the parent community this past Wednesday (subject line: morning supervision) for more details.  Please click here for the email and its attachment if you are unable find it in your inboxes.
  
I would also like everyone to know that the McCall faculty and I have been working on how we can better promote student engagement in our lessons and curricula.  I feel student engagement is important because if we do a good job in this area of our practices, we can not only increase academic performance, but we can also reduce student stress.  I would like to share with you some of the good work McCall teachers are doing to promote student engagement.  During this past week, I saw three teachers incorporating physical movement into their lessons in order to increase student engagement.  Early in the week during a 7th grade math class, I saw Ms. Eaton and Ms. Beecy implement a QR code activity that gave students the chance to get up and move around the classroom while practicing how to simplify mathematical expressions.  Ms. Campbell, during her 8th grade Algebra class, used a Class Builder activity to help her entire class practice working as a team and get pumped up about preparing for an upcoming assessment.  In the middle of the week, I saw Ms. Pineau used station work to give her sixth grade wellness students a chance to be active while thinking about important wellness topics.

This past week I also saw three teachers make abstract concepts come alive for their students.  In Mr. Leonard’s 7th grade science class, students participated in a lab activity where they got to witness how clouds are formed.  Ms. DiMare and Ms. Roscillo used a physical model to help their 6th grade science students visualize how the positions of the sun, Earth, and the moon create different phases of the moon.  Ms. Herlihy’s 8th grade Earth Science students were asked to use the physics concepts they had learned to design structures that can withstand earthquakes.

During different times during the past week, I saw Ms. Capobianco, 6th grade science teacher, and Mr. Row, 6th grade math teacher, used the app Quizlet Live to add the element of competition into their content review process.  I saw their students working hard to review important concepts they had learned while enjoying interacting with each other in a positive manner.

Lastly, I observed Ms. Fairly’s 6th grade students thinking about different human characteristics and how to express them through the drawings they were about to create.  I am impressed with how this teacher is using art to have students reflect on what makes us who we are.

I am impressed with the fine work McCall staff is doing each and every day with our students, and I am looking forward to sharing them with you this school year.

Thank you and I hope all Red Sox fans out there an enjoyable Game 5 of the World Series.


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

Sunday, October 21, 2018

October 21 Update


Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  I would like to thank Mrs. Mai Harrison, MPA President, all the parent volunteers, and Amanda Harrison, 8th grader, for volunteering their time Friday evening to help organize and chaperone the 6th Grade Halloween Dance.  I am very impressed with how well all the 6th graders behaved during the event.  It was a pleasure to see all the creative costumes and watch all the students interact with each other in a positive manner and have a great time.

I would also like to remind everyone that the midpoint for Trimester 1 of the school year was last Wednesday.  All parents and guardians should expect grade updates from teachers who teach full courses by this coming Wednesday.  I would like to encourage all parents and guardians to put these progress reports in context.  The information you will be receiving describes the progress that your student is making.  It, by no means, indicates what grade your students will be getting by the end of the trimester.  Please also remember most teachers are spending class time during the first few weeks of the school year engaging students in activities that build foundations for the year.  Those activities may pertain to relationship building, setting class expectations, and reviewing materials covered in previous year.  Therefore, some of the work your student has done may not be reflected on his or her progress report.  Your student’s progress report grade may be based on the results of only a few assessments and thus may be an inflated or deflated description of his of her overall performance.

As usual, if you have concerns about your student’s performance after reviewing the progress reports, please reach out to the teachers.  They would be happy to have those discussions with you.

In my opinion, one of the most exciting aspects of working with adolescents is seeing their creativity, willingness to explore, and desire for novelty.  These traits come hand in hand with making mistakes and experiencing failures.  Jessica Lahey wrote an excellent book a few years ago called “The Gift of Failure”.  In it, she discussed why it is so important for parents and educators to teach students how to cope with life’s inevitable disappointments, stresses, and frustrations instead of striving to remove them or prevent those elements from occurring in the students’ daily lives.  Attached here is a video of Ms. Lahey discussing how teaching young people to cope with failure is an essential part of developing confident, resilient, and competent young adults.

I am bringing up Ms. Lahey’s work to encourage everyone to remember that learning is a long-term process that will inevitably involve struggles, frustrations, and disappointments.  The bumps on the road that your students will experience are essential to attaining the long term success that we want all of them to achieve.  It is not easy for any of us to watch well meaning students struggle.  However. it is important for us to take a step back and examine those situations in perspective instead of rushing in to fix the problems for them.

Thank you and enjoy the upcoming week!


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School







Sunday, October 14, 2018

October 14 Update


Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  I would like to let you know that the McCall School Council will be holding its first meeting this Monday afternoon.  Aside from me, this year’s council members include parent representatives Ms. Karen Bolognese, Ms. Karen Caputo, Ms. Amy Kraft, and Ms Dana Diamond.  I would also like to welcome Ms. Shirin Haddadin, 6th grade Science Teacher, and Ms. Karen Fagan, French Teacher, who will serve as the council’s faculty representatives.  Last but not least, Sarah Adelson, 8th grade student, will be our student representative.  I appreciate everyone for giving up their time to serve and provide me with valuable feedback on important school and community matters.  During our first meeting, we will be discussion the impact of the new school start time as well as morning and lunch supervision.

As the school year progresses, you may find the need to contact the school to ask questions or to express your concerns.  McCall is a big middle school with a variety of staff members who perform different tasks and possess a variety of titles.  Therefore, it is not unusual for you as a parent or guardian to be confused about whom to contact when you have questions or concerns. 

If or when you are in that situation, the general rule of thumb is to contact the staff member who is closest to the situation – typically that person is your student’s teacher.  For example, it would be helpful if you would contact the teacher first if you have questions regarding the curriculum, student progress, homework, or concerns pertaining to classroom behavior since he or she will likely has the most direct and in-depth understanding of the matter.

If you have questions or concerns pertaining to your student’s schedule, social emotional well-being, or his or her 504 accommodation plan (if your student has one), it would be best to contact your child’s counselor first.  If your questions or concerns pertain to your child’s special education plan, it would be helpful if you would contact your child’s special education liaison first.

If the issues remain unresolved after communicating with the teachers and counselors, please do not hesitate to direct your questions or concerns to the assistant principals or me.  Ms. Lavoie works with the 7th grade teams as well as the 8th grade Silver and Gold teams.  Mr. Sheehan works with the 6th grade teams as well as the 8th grade Platinum and Diamond teams.  Lastly, if you need additional support with special education matters after you have communicated with your student’s special education liaisons, please direct your concerns to Ms. Mary Ellen Madden, the Middle School Special Education Supervisor.

As always, you are welcome to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  I would be happy to direct you to the right person if I am not the one who is in the best position to help you.

As a parent myself, I understand how difficult it can be to watch your child struggle to learn or to cope with an aspect of school. We might be reluctant to bring up the issue with teachers and staff because it can feel emotional, or we fear it might lead to a disagreement. Attached here is some information provided by Understood.org to help parents navigate through these potentially difficult conversations.  Understood.org is a website created by fifteen nonprofit organizations formed to support parents and families with children who struggle with learning and attention issues.  I have found that strategies that work for students with special needs and their families are often strategies that work for all students and their families.

In my opinion, one of the most helpful tip offered by the website is the idea of focusing on “I” and using “I” statements during meetings with teachers and school staff.  Even if you know that other families and students are having difficulty with the same issue, it is best to focus your communications with teachers and staff on your family and your student’s own experiences. If you know that other parents share similar concerns, it would be helpful for you to encourage those parents to contact the school.

Lastly, please do not forget that the 6th grade Halloween Dance sponsored by the MPA is scheduled for this Friday from 7:30-9:30 pm.  If your child is planning to invite guests who do not currently attend McCall to the event, we ask those guests to also be 6th graders and are Winchester residents.  We also ask those guests to please provide us with emergency contacts information so we know with whom to communicate if emergencies arise.  Please understand that we cannot accommodate guests who are not McCall 6th grade students and are not Winchester residents.

Thank you and I wish you a wonderful week.


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

Sunday, October 7, 2018

October 7 Update


Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is enjoying this long weekend.  I would like to begin by thanking everyone who gave up their time last Thursday evening to join us for this year’s Open House.  I enjoyed meeting every one of you who stopped by to introduce yourselves to me.  Some of you told me how well you liked learning about the co-teaching model of delivering instruction.  McCall and the Winchester Public School district are committed to increasing the support and opportunities for practicing co-teaching.  The reason is the co-teaching benefits to both students and teachers are numerous, and those advantages are well supported by research.

For those of you unfamiliar with co-teaching, it is a method of delivering instruction where two or more certified education professionals share instructional responsibility for a single group of students.  At McCall, the co-teaching partners are comprised of one general education teacher and one special education teacher.  However, co-teaching partners can be made up of a general education teacher and one specialist like a Reading Specialist, a Speech and Language Pathologist, or a teacher for English Language Learners.  I have also seen co-teaching teams that are made up of a core academic teacher (e.g., a math teacher or an ELA teacher) and an Exploratory Teacher (e.g., Fine Arts or Music Teacher).

The main benefit of creating co-teaching classrooms is to lower the teacher to student ratio thereby increasing opportunities for individual instruction, small group learning, and stronger teacher modeling to occur. McCall, like many schools across the state, uses co-teaching as a method to deliver special education services.  By delivering individualized instruction within their core academic general education classrooms, the school will be able to minimize or even eliminate the need to pull students with disabilities from Exploratory or elective classes such as Performance Arts and Fine Arts courses.  In addition to allowing students to learn in the least restrictive setting, the school can also eliminate the stigma students may feel when they are asked to leave their general education classes in order to receive services.

The advantages to co-teaching go beyond benefiting students with special needs.  Research shows that co-teaching, when done well, will increase the gains that high performing students will make as well.  The ability for teachers to collaborate and draw from each other’s expertise will result in instruction that more creative and targeted toward all students’ needs.  In addition, the inclusive learning environment that co-taught classrooms creates the opportunity for all students to learn from each other and enriches the learning experiences of all students regardless of their abilities and needs.

The challenge of creating an effective co-teaching structure is that the co-teachers’ work goes beyond what happens in the classrooms.  An effective co-teaching model provides the co-teachers the necessary time outside of the classes they teach to co-plan and co-assess.  Co-planning is critical because co-teachers need time to develop the necessary rapport with each other and think carefully about how to deliver instruction in order to meet the needs for the students in their classes.  Co-assessing is crucial because teachers need to analyze the data they collect in order to determine whether the instructions they delivered actually bring about the outcomes they wanted to achieve.

While the benefits of co-teaching are clear, it is more expensive to implement it than the traditional one-teacher-one-class approach.  The main reason is we are utilizing two more licensed teachers to teach one class of students.  Therefore, I urge everyone to keep in mind not just the positive outcomes produced by co-teaching but also the resources our school needs in other to implement this model effectively.  During this past week’s Open House, many of you saw snippets of what McCall has done to promote co-teaching and the positive results it is creating.  I hope you will continue to support this very worthwhile effort.



Sincerely,


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School