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From the "Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become" presentation

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This presentation's mantra was essentially "teach the kids, not the content." It was all about how middle school is such an important time in our students' lives to be recognized as individuals and to form relationships with each other and with adults. I really responded to it.

One of the tips that I took away from the presentation that I really thought, "Wow, we have to do something like this at Patton!" was about how to ensure that every student in our building feels connected somehow. The two presenters (building principals) said that something they do is that they print out an entire spreadsheet of every student in the building and ask teachers to place a checkmark next to the students whom they feel they have a good connection with. After each faculty member has had the list, it becomes evident that the students with abundant checkmarks are the very high achievers and the students who receive the most academic support. The students in the middle, however, are often going through middle school without any one significant adult relationship.

Afterwards, the principals would take it upon themselves to unofficially delegate those "unchecked" kids out to faculty members who felt that they could form a better relationship with them. They would make it their mission to check in with them, to sit down with them at lunch every now and then to have a conversation, and just to make sure that they knew they had someone to go to in the building if they needed it. The idea of every single student in the building having an adult connection is tremendous and definitely something we should aspire to do. I'm sure there is some tricky ground there - what would parents think if they knew we were putting check marks next to kids' names about our relationships with them? - but I think the overall goal and purpose of such an activity negates any risks.

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