Welcome to Mitchell Middle School for the 2016-17 School Year!
On Tuesday, September 6, 2016 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM we kick off our school year with our Meet the Teacher event at Mitchell MS. This is a casual come and go event where parents with their children can meet their new teacher(s), see classrooms and the school, meet the office staff, and take care of forms/ fees necessary. I hope to meet all of you at some point that evening if possible. If not that night, hopefully within the first few weeks of school.
As your principal, one of my goals is give the parents/guardians a look into what happens at Mitchell Middle every day. I want to show you how we learn, teach and get along together. To help with this Twitter and Instagram profiles have been created to share what we do every day. Please follow us at @MMShanover if you use either of these social medias. The website will also be updated regularly to show off the amazing things our students and staff do everyday.
As a school and division we want all of our students to strive for excellence while developing skills and values to lead a productive and wholesome life. School is only one space where students learn these skills. Developing a strong relationship between home and school is important to reach our goals. The Meet the Teacher Night is our first chance to build this very important relationship.
I found this on a blog I read often called Edutopia. The title of this article is Back-to-School Night: A New Approach and was shared on August 25, 2016. I think it shows the importance of fostering a strong relationship between home and school and how much it benefits ‘Our Kids’.
Family, Friendship, Riches, Long Life, Peace, Popularity, Wisdom, and Beauty
There are many more values than these, of course, but just consider these eight for a moment. Ask yourself this question: If you had a magic wand and you could wave it over your kids and choose three values for your children to internalize forever, which three would you pick?
Finished? Okay, so how many of you — as any one of your three picks — chose peace? How many chose Wisdom? Friendship? Family?
Now, ask yourself, of these eight values, which are the three that seem to be most emphasized — or pushed on kids — by our mass-media culture? It sounds like most would say riches, popularity, and beauty as the three most emphasized by our culture. These are being communicated to our kids by the mass culture 24/7, every day of the year, not just during school hours for 180 school days.
Perhaps now, it is a bit clearer why our kids may not be following parental values and why parents, and schools, must work together to set the right climate for our kids — a climate that values friendship, peace, wisdom, family, and other important values home and at school.
Your children, our students, need parents and educators to provide inspiration, imagination, joy, optimism, humor, love, support, firmness, safety, clear values, and — perhaps most important – respect and kindness. With our collective support, our children’s youthful aspirations can soar into adult accomplishment.
We would love for you to share what you are doing to build a supportive school climate. What are the values you appreciate the most? Please keep in touch with any of our school staff at any point throughout the year by phone, email or by popping by when you can! As a staff will be asking you for ideas about how we can best support your child to ensure they are happy at school while striving for excellence to develop skills and values to lead a productive and wholesome life. We are looking forward to getting started!
Mr. Mead – Principal
in: General