Feb. 16 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is enjoying your February Break.  I would like to use this opportunity to share with you some recent photos of the constructions and to update you on the progress made of the McCall expansion project.  These photos are supplied by Flansburgh Architects, the firm that designed both the Phase I and Phase II of expansion.

Exterior photo shows the masonry lifts in place that will be used by the masons to install the brick and precast headers over the windows - similar to the E Wing on the right.

Beige brick used to compliment the cast stone base of the E Wing. This will be used under the arcade only - similar to how the cast stone is used on the E Wing. The brick above will all be red similar to the E Wing.

Corner classroom at the second floor

Ground floor corridor looking back towards the E Wing. There will be lockers filling up each side.

Feb 9 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well. I would like to thank everyone for making arrangements to take care of your children last Monday afternoon so our staff can have the opportunity to take part in professional development sessions. There were multiple opportunities offered for Winchester educators on a wide variety of topics that afternoon aligned with our district and school goals.  For example, McCall teachers worked on creating Performance Based Assessments (PBA) for science courses and learned about effective ways to give feedback to students through PBA’s. Many other teachers attended sessions related to Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Those topics included a session on helping dysregulated students in the classrooms, supporting stress and anxiety at school, as well as learning about how to implement the RULER approach through its four anchors.

Many of you are familiar with the Charter and the Mood Meter - the first two RULER anchors. The Charter is about helping us think about the feelings we want to experience at a setting and determine what behaviors we should exhibit in order feel those emotions.  The Mood Meter promotes self-awareness by teaching us how to identify our feelings and helps us think about what information those feelings are giving us.

Some of our staff members are now progressing toward the third RULER anchor which is the Meta-Moment.  SEL is not just about helping us be self-aware; it is also about teaching us what to do with the feelings we have and how to regulate our emotions so we can achieve success.

The Meta-Moment anchor includes three important concepts which are Pause, Best Self, and Strategize. Learning how to Pause is critical when we encounter challenging situations that bring out strong emotions so that we do not respond in manners that we will later regret. Best Self helps us visualize the person who we aspire to be and think about how that person would respond to the difficult situation we are currently in.  Lastly, Strategize helps us  access the tools we have learned so that we can be that Best Self we want to be. Those tools can include deep breathing and take a water break.  The diagram below summarizes the key concepts of a Meta-Moment.


 



I am also attaching an article here by Marc Brackett, the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and RULER guru, titled "Feel like you’re about to lose it? It could be a good time for a Meta-Moment".  In it he talks in detail about what it means to take a Meta-Moment.

Lastly, I would like to thank the following parent volunteers Beth Lepore, Jason Paragas, Colleen Tifrhalt, and Reza Jalinous who came to help chaperone Friday night’s 7th and 8th grade dance.   It is always a joy to see students be free of the typical pressures of a middle school day and have fun with their peers.  We could not create these opportunities for our students if we do not have your support.



Thank you and enjoy the upcoming week.




James Lin 
Principal 
McCall Middle School

Feb. 2 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you are well. The winter months of a school year can feel like a slog for many of us for a variety of reasons. This is a time that we may see an increased level of irritability or incidents of outbursts of emotions from our students.  Many of these behaviors may be manifestations of stress. The word stress is often used in our community, and I find that there are times we are not on the same page about what this term means. Therefore, I would like to take this moment to share with you how we define this word at McCall and what can be done to support students who are overwhelmed with stress.

Stress is a feeling we get when we encounter challenges, demands, or even threats. Stress is often seen as something negative that needs to be reduced or eliminated. However, stress is really a neutral term. How we respond to stress can be positive or negative. For example, stress can help us to focus our energy to overcome challenges. If a person does not feel stress, he or she may be “chilling” all the time, and this approach will prevent them from being a productive individual. Our response to stress can be negative. For example, if stress causes a person to shut down or lash out instead of focusing on the task at hand, he or she will also be an unproductive individual.

Therefore, our goal with students should be helping learn how to manage stress instead of eliminating stress. Our work with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and RULER speaks to this. Like stress, emotions and feelings can be pleasant or unpleasant.  They are neither good nor bad. Our goal should not be about creating an environment where students have pleasant feelings all the time; instead, we should be teaching them how to interpret the information that their feelings are telling them and how to use that information to adjust their emotions and reach their goals. This is what we mean when we say we are teaching students how to regulate their emotions.

One of the consultants who work with us reminded me that it is important to differentiate between soothing a student and teaching a student to self-regulate. Soothing is a short-term solution to coping with stress. It does not help students learn how to overcome challenges. For example, if a student is feeling stressed about preparing for tomorrow’s test, allowing them to take a break may get them to feel good for a short amount of time, but it does not help them fully prepare for that challenge.

I am attaching an article here about how to help students de-escalate when they are overwhelmed with stress. The strategies the author discusses are about helping students regulate as opposed to just soothing them. I also shared this article with our teachers because the target audience is educators. However, I think parents and guardians will also find the information to be useful when you are helping your children cope with everyday challenges that bring them stress.

On a separate note, I would like to remind everyone that the 7th/8th grade winter dance is scheduled for this Friday from 7:00-9:00 pm in the McCall gym. We are looking for parent volunteers to help chaperone the event. I encourage you to sign up here if you are able to support this effort.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Mr. Danny Doucette on his retirement. Mr. Doucette is our head custodian, and he has decided to hang them up after thirty plus years of service to McCall Middle School. His last day was this past Friday.  Danny's brother, Mr. Phil Doucette, is also a custodian at our building. When I asked Phil what will be different after Danny leaves, he said, “I will miss talking to him and seeing him every day.” I think we all feel the same way. We all will miss seeing Danny and talking to him every day.

Thank you and enjoy the week!


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School