Jan. 26 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well. I would like to begin by wishing everyone who celebrates the Lunar New Year a happy Year of the Rat. The rat, according to the Chinese zodiac, is the first in the rotation of the twelve zodiac animals, so rat years are often seen as a time of new beginnings. Chinese astrology is very much in tune with the elements of the natural world such as Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal. 2020 is associated with the element Metal so this particular year is the year of the metal rat. Metal symbolizes success since it represents production, and rats are often seen as curious and resourceful animals. Therefore, I am looking forward to a new year of trying new things, and one filled with growth and accomplishments.

I also want to thank everyone for making the time to come and attend the parent-teacher conferences this past week. I would like to remind everyone once again that the meeting times are designed to be short and intended to be a time for check-ins with your students’ teachers. It is not designed to be a time to hold in-depth conversations with the teachers about your student’s progress. You may walk away from the conferences with more questions than answers, and if that is the case, I recommend you to reach out to the appropriate staff to set up additional time to conference with them and further discuss your questions or concerns. Please do not forget that Page 15-16 of our Student Handbook provides you with guidance regarding which staff member to contact for the types of questions you have. I recommend you review that information if you are unsure who to contact if you to get the answers you are looking for.

Lastly, I would like to share with you a resource page our guidance counselors have created to support middle school parents. It contains helpful information regarding how to support middle school students with executive functioning and anxiety management. The link to the webpage is included here. I hope you will take a look at it when you have a moment.


Thank you and enjoy the upcoming week!


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

Jan. 19 Update

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 6^th 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 8^th 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 8^th 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 8^th graders who exhibits qualities to be this year’s Project 351 Ambassador.  I thank Ms. Edenhofer, the district’s Service Learning Coordinator, and our 8^th 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 8^th grades.

Thank you and I wish you all a great weekend!

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

Jan. 12 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone had a good first week back from vacation.  I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we will be holding parent conferences on the afternoons of January 21 - 24.  All four days are student half days with dismissal scheduled for noon.  There is no school on January 20.

Ms. Lavoie sent out an email to all parents and guardians detailing the conference sign up process as well as other logistic matters related to those four conference days.  I am attaching that letter here in case you missed it.  I would like to reiterate that the conferences are meant as a time for you to check in with your student’s teachers about his or her progress.  It is not meant for you and the teachers to hold an in-depth discussion about your child.  Therefore, the amount of time allocated for each conference is short, and the teachers will not be able to extend their conference time slot with you during those afternoons.

If you find that you are unable to get all your questions answered or all your concerned addressed within the allocated conference time, we ask you to schedule a follow up discussion with the teachers for a later date.  Please know that not all teachers will be available to schedule a face-to-face meeting time with you shortly after the conferences, therefore, I ask you to consider options like scheduling a phone call or use email to communicate with the teachers.

Please also remember that the four parent conference days are not the only time for you to connect with the teachers.  You can reach out to them to schedule a meeting at any time.  You can check in on your students’ progress by scheduling a conference call or email each teacher as I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

I thank all of you for your cooperation with this matter and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School