March 29 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you healthy and well. I would like to thank everyone for reaching out to offer feedback and encouragements about how the McCall staff implemented Distance Learning since school closed. Just like all the students, parents, and families, all McCall staff members are coping with similar challenges the COVID-19 outbreak has inflicted on everyone across this nation. Even though we are facing these unprecedented personal and professional difficulties, I assure all parents and families that the students’ education and well-being are on the forefront of our minds. We will continue to sort through tough questions such as how to balance students’ social emotional well-being with academic rigor, keep information we send out to the families in an organized manner, and motivate students who have trouble engaging in academic tasks even when school is in session. We will figure all of this out, and I ask for everyone’s support and patience while we work through all of this.

I would like to share with you this NPR piece titled “How to Turn Your Home into A School Without Losing Your Sanity”. The information is presented in comic form, so it is very accessible. I am sure many of you, like me, are feeling the pressure of assuming the role of being a home school teachers without much notice and preparation. I think this NPR piece does a very good job of putting it all in perspective.

I would like to end this message by sharing something personal about myself. I lived in Indonesia from the age of 9 to 13. My father was a civil engineer, and he worked as a consultant for the Indonesian government on major highway and bridge projects. When I was in 6th grade, my father was assigned to work on a highway project in a very rural part of Indonesia. We lived in a seaside village where the one school in its vicinity ended in 6th grade. Instead of sending me away to attend boarding school so I could continue my education, my parents decided to pull me out of school for close to a full calendar year so we could be together.

During that time period, my mother would sit me down a few hours a day and have me do some language and math lessons from textbooks that she asked my relatives to send to us. During the rest of the day, I was outside doing whatever amused me with the local kids. I remember when my dad got out of work, we would go swimming, kite flying, or walking through the woods which my dad called “going on patrol”. On weekends, we would hop on fishing boats with local fisherman and go fishing, swimming, and diving with them. I remember on Monday evenings when the one store in the village got its weekly shipments, my dad and I would walk down and buy bottles of Fanta (orange soda) and whatever is on the shopping list my mom put together.

There is no doubt I fell behind in terms of learning content. When I returned to school half way through 7th grade, I was placed in remedial reading and math classes because there were gaps in my education. I don’t know how I would turn out if my parents decided to put me in a boarding school instead of keeping me with them. Maybe I would be the one who created Amazon instead of Jeff Bezos. But I do know I like where I am right now. My father is currently struggling with dementia, and my ability to have meaningful interactions with him is pretty limited. However, when I think about my relationship with him, I always think about what we did when we lived in that fishing village. To this day, I still think about my dad whenever I see Fanta, the orange soda. Below is a picture of my dad and me during one of our afternoon swimming adventures.

This year our students will not learn the same amount of content as they did in previous years. That is certain. However, they will have a whole lifetime to learn Algebra, Chemistry, Ancient History, and all the good stuff we teach them during a regular school year. But their time to establish meaningful relationships with their loved ones, their peers, and us are pretty limited. Let’s use this unique opportunity of school closure to help them to do that.

Stay healthy and stay strong!

James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

March 22 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  I would like to begin by thanking our custodial staff who does not have the option to stay home and has continued to work to take care of the building despite the school closure.  For those of you who are, or have loved one who are, health care workers - or are in professions that put them in the front line of this outbreak - please know that McCall appreciates all your sacrifices and hard work.

I had the opportunity to take part in a webinar this past Wednesday held by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (the creators of the RULER approach) on the topic of managing anxiety over the COVID-19 outbreak, and I would like to share with you the following information I gained regarding supporting children through this period of uncertain times.

Take Cues from the Kids - There are a lot of information regarding the COVID-19 outbreak for all of us to process, so we adults may have trouble deciding what information to share with our children.  We may find some kids have a lot of questions about this matter, while others have little or nothing to say.  The folks at Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence recommends that we take cues from the kids themselves when deciding what to say.  We should engage in discussions with those kids who ask us questions and initiate conversations with us about the outbreak.  However, we should also feel comfortable not compelling kids to talk about it at all if they do not show interest in discussing this subject matter.

Don’t Assume Feelings – We all express our emotions in our very own ways, so what a child shows on the outside may not be what he or she is feeling inside.  For example, a meltdown about doing a Distance Learning activity may not an expression of anger about the work.  Instead, the student may be worried about a sports competition being cancelled instead of being postponed.

Reassure with Facts – During this time of uncertainty, there are a lot things that we do not know and cannot guarantee.  Therefore, we should only share with kids what we do know and are made available through trusted sources like the CDC and Massachusetts Department of Public Health websites rather than social media posts.  We cannot guarantee kids that they, or we, will never get sick, but we can reassure them that we know hand washing and social distancing will greatly reduce our ability to contract and spread the virus. 

Discuss What You are Doing to Keep Them and Your Family Safe – The CDC website included below has many good recommendations about how to keep your household healthy and safe.  It will be helpful to share with your children which of these steps you have taken and the plans you have put in place to respond to emergencies.  The recommendation to make sure a list of emergency contacts is readily available to all members of the family is, in my opinion, particularly crucial.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/index.html

Do Activities Together – The school closure is giving many of us significant amount of Forced Family Time.  Instead of seeing this as a time to drive each other bonkers – which happens often in the Lin household – it will be helpful to see this as an opportunity for everyone in the family to come together and do something positive.  For example, what are some activities and projects everyone can do to help those who are vulnerable (e.g., nursing home residents who are now isolated or neighbors who feeling the financial impacts of a slowed economy).  Hint: this will be the focus of Mr. Lin’s School Closure Challenge #3.

Lastly, I would like to share with you the website my former colleague from Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, Dr. Katie Novak, and her colleague has created to help all parents and caretakers manage these Forced Family Time.  Dr. Novak is a renowned guru on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), so you will find this resource contains quite a lot of ideas that are accessible to all kids regardless of their interests and learning styles.

https://www.novakeducation.com/novak-homeschool-plan-coronavirus-2020/

Thank you and stay healthy, stay strong and stay home!

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

March 15 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is doing well.  I would like to remind everyone that the building will only be opened during the following times during the next ten school days for you to retrieve your students’ belongings:

Monday, March 16     9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Tuesday, March 17     11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Please also remember that the nurses will be in the building during the following time period for you to retrieve any medication your students may need:

Monday, March 16     9:00 – 10:00 am

Please make sure you plan accordingly because the building will not be open and the nurses will not be available at any other time.

The teachers and staff will be emailing out distance learning information starting tomorrow.  Please make sure you ask your students to check their school email accounts.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for all families to establish set routines for your students during the next two weeks of school closure.  Many of the teachers will provide more recommendations about this matter in their messages to you and the students about distance learning.  I came across the following graphic created by Jessica McHale regarding setting schedules for students during the "COVID-19 Days".  I hope you will find it useful.

 

In addition, I urge everyone to please monitor the students’ screen time.  Most of the social media and gaming apps popular with our students are designed to be addictive, so the kids will need adult supervision and intervention limiting their time spend using electronic devices.  I am attaching the following resources for your reference.

From Common Sense Media:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/screen-time

From Psychology Today:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/artificial-maturity/201803/parent-s-guide-social-media-use-kids

Please note that the Common Sense Media website is a wonderful resource for all families who are looking for guidance on how to help students navigate the digital world.

Please also note that I, along with my administrative staff, will not be physically present in the building except during the time periods listed above during the next two weeks since we are also practicing social distancing.  The administrative assistants will not be in the building at all until school opens back up later this month.  However, I will check my email frequently so please do not hesitate to reach out if you need to contact me.

I will leave you with something I found out through my Twitter feed.  Some of you may know Lauren Benanti, Broadway actress, sent out a tweet recently inviting all student performers who had their shows cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak to send her videos of their performances.  Why?  Because "the show must go on" despite the circumstances.  This performance of "Moon River" sent to her resonated with me because it shows me we are all capable of doing something beautiful and uplifting during times of sadness, fear and anxiety.

Thank you, and I wish everyone good health.

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

 

March 8 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  This past Friday afternoon was a hard one for many of our staff members and students due to the fact we had to bid farewell to Mrs. Amy Taylor, a beloved 6^th grade science teacher.  She is leaving her position at McCall because she was offered a wonderful career opportunity that she was not able to pass up.  Mrs. Taylor’s decision to take a different career path lead me to think about the idea of Ikigai.  Ikigai (pronounced “EE-Kee Guy”) is a Japanese concept which can be loosely translated to “a reason for being”, and some calls it “the reason you get out of bed each morning”.  Residents of the island of Okinawa in Japan have the reputation of living long lives, and many of those who study and write about Ikigai often attribute Okinawan’s longevity to their embrace of Ikigai. 

When you are thinking about ikigai, you are considering four aspects of yourself. Those are:


· What you love (your passion)

· What the world needs (your mission)

· What you are good at (your vocation)

· What you can get paid for (your profession)

The convergence of these four elements of your life is your ikigai.

I am sharing this with you because you have heard me talk about RULER, SEL, and how we teach students to be in touch with their emotions and regulate them when they are triggered.  However, we do a lot more than teaching students about their emotions.  Our work with performance-based tasks is about teaching our students knowledge and skills, how they fit into the students’ interests, and how their interests, skills and knowledge relate to the rest of the world.  Our job, essentially, is to guide our students on a journey to find their ikigai.

The Venn diagram below sums up the central idea of ikigai.

On a separate note, please remember there is no school this coming Friday.  Also, I have included below an announcement from the district’s Wellness department.

Next Tuesday, 3/10, noon to 1:30pm, in the Waterfield Room (Town Hall), Jon Mattleman will be presenting the latest Winchester Coalition Lunch and Learn series: Bringing light to suicide- supporting community members to respond to suicidal statements and actions. This engaging talk will teach community members the Q.P.R. (Question, Persuade, Refer) approach to supporting someone presenting with suicidal statements and/or behavior. The saying "It takes a Village" could not be more accurate when speaking about how to support other community members and our youth, and this training will make sure we all have more tools in your toolbox.

Thank you and enjoy your upcoming week even though we will start it with daylight savings time change, followed up with a full moon, and end with Friday the 13^th.

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

March 1 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is well.  Since the COVID-19 virus is dominating the news cycle, I think it would be appropriate to weigh in on this matter as well.  Many of you are aware of the recommendations made by the CDC, the Department of Public Health, and our Superintendent regarding how to keep us physically safe, therefore, I would like to talk a little bit about the social emotional impact this virus outbreak is creating for all of us.

Our work with RULER and SEL teaches us that there are no good or bad emotions.  Emotions exist, and they give us information about how we should behave.  It would be wise for us to be aware of the emotions we are having and use that information to guide us toward our goals.  It is natural for all of us to feel uneasy, worried, or even fearful about the COVID-19 virus.  Even though these feelings are unpleasant, they can benefit us, for example, by making us be vigilant about practicing hygienic behaviors that all of us should be practicing even if there is no outbreak.  However, the emotions we feel about the COVID-19 situation such as nervousness and anxiousness can also cause us to behave in manners that exclude others and divide our community. 

It is so important for all of us adults to remind our students – and ourselves – that although the virus originated from China and some Asian countries are significantly impacted by the spread of the virus, this is not just a Chinese or Asian health issue.  This is human health issue.  Regardless of what each one of us looks like, from where our families originated, or what languages we speak, we all have the capacity to get the illness and to spread it.  Thus, we should remember we all have the responsibility to minimize the chances of passing any transmittable diseases to others.

I heard a great story on NPR this past Friday about how to best communicate information about the COVID-19 virus outbreak to kids.  The link here leads you to the story; the webpage also includes a comic that makes the information accessible for kids.  I believe some of the tone and language used in the story is intended for younger students, however, the information included there is important for older middle schoolers to hear as well.  I hope you will take moment to check it out and share it with your students.

Thank you and enjoy the upcoming week.

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School