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When schooling is all said and done, the quality of the relationships that have been forged sets students up for future success. That is why I was struck by recent efforts at McLoughlin Middle School to ease the transition of English Language Learner (ELL) students from Jason Lee. Transitions are difficult for all of us, but they are particularly difficult for middle-level students. The entire Mac community understands that relationships bring results.
Mac’s mission is to make a connection with each student. On June 2, the school’s staff took the opportunity to welcome ELL students to their new home. With the help of the PTSA and the WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) student mentors, incoming students experienced the magic of Mac: a welcoming, diverse, student-focused learning community.
The new “Macsters” arrived looking apprehensive and not too happy. Eleven WEB leaders were waiting to greet them as they got off the bus. They ushered the students into the Media Center where they met a host of staff members, watched the dance class perform a collection of West African movements to the music of Yole, and participated in ice breaker activities led by the WEB mentors. The WEB mentors engaged the visitors in their native language, drawing all the students into the community conversation, putting them at ease, and ensuring that they had fun.
The WEB mentors put on a Mac Attire fashion show and then took students on a tour of the school. Then everyone gathered in the cafeteria for cookies and a final presentation. The PTSA welcomed students with their first Mac Spirit T-shirts, wrapped in ribbon with gift tags personalized with each student’s name. McLoughlin counselors and PTSA worked together to ensure that each child felt welcome. They even contacted Jason Lee to get approximate shirt sizes. Talk about personalization!
As the new students were boarding the bus to go back to Jason Lee, staff members noticed that many were putting on their Mac Attire T-shirts over their clothes. They were smiling and laughing with a sense of belonging. Later, a Jason Lee teacher sent an email letting Mac staff know that students proudly wore their new shirts the rest of the day. It stated: “Students were so much more at ease when they returned—what a difference this made!”
What a powerful illustration of reaching out, personalizing an experience, and showing empathy. I think it is poignantly captured in Virginia Satir’s poem, Making Contact.
I believe
the greatest gift
I can conceive of having
from anyone
is to be seen by them,
heard by them,
to be understood
and touched by them.
The greatest gift
I can give
is to see, hear, understand
and to touch
another person.
When this is done,
I feel
contact has been made.
As we enter the home stretch and prepare for the “pomp and circumstance” and celebrations that rightly signal the achievements of our students and this public school system, remember this basic truth. At the root of it all is the power of one—one student, one meaningful adult, one transformative relationship.
Have a restful and renewing summer break.
Take care,
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