From Head of Middle School
Imagine this: small groups of middle school students sit together at round tables, engaged in animated discussions about how they can help build a school culture of integrity and how they will know integrity when they see it. Students draw and doodle as they think and talk, and a visual practitioner captures the flow of conversation, recording words, phrases, and images in a colorful mural as the dialogue moves along.
This past Tuesday, that's how CCS Middle School students spent part of their afternoon, immersing themselves in a Values Café to deepen their understanding of one of the core values they identified earlier in the year. But this work has deeper roots: it grows out of a conversation that middle school students and CCS staff have been having all year long.
It began with a thought experiment: you have a block of stone for the front of the school in which to carve five words that will capture the values that CCS strives to cultivate. You have room for only five words, so they must be chosen carefully. Faculty and staff started this process in the August pre-planning days, when we closed down the front office, put the room preparation, curriculum planning, and floor waxing on pause, and gathered in the gymnasium to begin this work together. After school opened in September, each of twelve middle school advisory groups went through a similar process to identify five values, then came together in larger and larger configurations, debating and refining the lists until the whole middle school came to agreement. This culminated in an October discussion between staff and student representatives where, through lively and respectful debate, adults and students came to agreement about the five main values that underlie our work together: Respect, Responsibility, Compassion, Integrity, and Diversity.
Since then, the conversation has taken many forms, from small group activities in advisories to help students connect the values with their everyday school experiences, to whole staff work to develop norms for professional interactions and ways to deal constructively with differences.
Along the way, many people have shared responsibility for moving the work forward. An advance team of three teachers attended the Ethical Literacy planning conference in June to learn from other schools who have taken on this work. A team comprised of thirteen middle school teachers and administrators from throughout the school received Ethical Literacy training last August and created an action plan that will drive the process over the next several years. The Tuesday sessions and summer training were led by Institute for Global Ethics facilitator Don Proffit, who also facilitated faculty discussion and planning sessions and met with trustees.
The bottom line is that the work of building a school culture of integrity belongs to everyone. No one has a lock on ethics and no one handles tough decisions perfectly every time. But by making this an intentional process, we empower our students, and our staff, to handle complex "right vs. right" decisions more effectively their whole lives long. We invite you to learn more about this work by viewing the photographs of our Tuesday sessions, visiting the Global Ethics website, or asking us-middle school students, staff, or trustees. We are eager to share what we are learning.
Warmly,
Cory Stutts
Head of the Middle School
Imagine this: small groups of middle school students sit together at round tables, engaged in animated discussions about how they can help build a school culture of integrity and how they will know integrity when they see it. Students draw and doodle as they think and talk, and a visual practitioner captures the flow of conversation, recording words, phrases, and images in a colorful mural as the dialogue moves along.
This past Tuesday, that's how CCS Middle School students spent part of their afternoon, immersing themselves in a Values Café to deepen their understanding of one of the core values they identified earlier in the year. But this work has deeper roots: it grows out of a conversation that middle school students and CCS staff have been having all year long.
It began with a thought experiment: you have a block of stone for the front of the school in which to carve five words that will capture the values that CCS strives to cultivate. You have room for only five words, so they must be chosen carefully. Faculty and staff started this process in the August pre-planning days, when we closed down the front office, put the room preparation, curriculum planning, and floor waxing on pause, and gathered in the gymnasium to begin this work together. After school opened in September, each of twelve middle school advisory groups went through a similar process to identify five values, then came together in larger and larger configurations, debating and refining the lists until the whole middle school came to agreement. This culminated in an October discussion between staff and student representatives where, through lively and respectful debate, adults and students came to agreement about the five main values that underlie our work together: Respect, Responsibility, Compassion, Integrity, and Diversity.
Since then, the conversation has taken many forms, from small group activities in advisories to help students connect the values with their everyday school experiences, to whole staff work to develop norms for professional interactions and ways to deal constructively with differences.
Along the way, many people have shared responsibility for moving the work forward. An advance team of three teachers attended the Ethical Literacy planning conference in June to learn from other schools who have taken on this work. A team comprised of thirteen middle school teachers and administrators from throughout the school received Ethical Literacy training last August and created an action plan that will drive the process over the next several years. The Tuesday sessions and summer training were led by Institute for Global Ethics facilitator Don Proffit, who also facilitated faculty discussion and planning sessions and met with trustees.
The bottom line is that the work of building a school culture of integrity belongs to everyone. No one has a lock on ethics and no one handles tough decisions perfectly every time. But by making this an intentional process, we empower our students, and our staff, to handle complex "right vs. right" decisions more effectively their whole lives long. We invite you to learn more about this work by viewing the photographs of our Tuesday sessions, visiting the Global Ethics website, or asking us-middle school students, staff, or trustees. We are eager to share what we are learning.
Warmly,
Cory Stutts
Head of the Middle School
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