Mrs. Benay's MBS Blog

I recently read an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal.  Titled What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?, the article discussed the evolution of puberty as a stage in the human existence.  Developmental psychologists and neuroscientists have teamed up to help us understand more about the “teen” years.

There are two systems that that interact during the transition from childhood to adulthood – one system has to do with emotion and motivation, and the other with control.  As many of us know from our own experiences, puberty is physically coming at a younger age today than it did in past generations.  That means that our little Ospreys are likely to begin puberty during their years at MBS.

In terms of the emotion/motivation systems, recent research from Cornell University suggests that adolescents over-estimate rewards and have very active reward centers.  While it appears they love taking risks, what perhaps they really love are the rewards – particularly if the reward is associated with peers.  Thus, when teens in a study at Temple University simulated a high risk driving situation while undergoing a functional MRI, the reward system of their brains lit up like a Christmas tree.  The lights were even more active when they were told that another teen was watching them drive!

Our control systems come “online” at a later stage in development, and are strengthened with practice.  The prefrontal cortex guides planning and decision making and inhibits impulses.  By literally learning from our mistakes, we strengthen the brain’s ability to engage in long term planning and delay of gratification.

In the past, these two systems of motivation and control were largely in step developmentally.  Older children (today’s young teens) had greater responsibility, more chores, and even internships.  They learned through practice, often under the guidance and direction of an adult.  Today puberty kicks in sooner, with all the intensity of motivation and emotion.  Our systems of guidance and control, however, are under-developed.

One way to mediate this “out of sync” development is to give our young teens more opportunities for guided practice with real world opportunities.  Our efforts to honor student voice are doing just that.  When Ms. Millham works with the recycling committee, or I help the Daffodillys or “80′s” dance committee to organize an event, the students are learning what it takes to tackle a real world job.  They are making posters, doing the math calculations, creating public service “speeches” for the intercom, and tallying up profits.

While this is one small step, we have seen how giving our Ospreys some real responsibilities has helped them to mature.  We appreciate all the support you give us as we work to honor “student voice” in our school.

Happy Monday!  Here are a few important updates from MBS:

1. Technicool: This presentation starts tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 6:00 p.m. in the MBS Cafe.  We have had a few parents ask if their middle or high school children can attend.  This is fine, as long as you understand that it will be adult content.  We no longer need RSVPs as we have more than the minimum of 10 people attending!

2. The PTO sale went really well, thank you for your support.  Product will arrive on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH.  We need volunteers to help unload the truck in the afternoon and check out the “pick ups”.  Please email Mary Small at mfscooking@yahoo.com to sign up to help out. PLEASE PLAN TO PICK UP YOUR PRODUCT ON TUESDAY THE 15TH BEFORE 6 P.M.

3. Veteran’s Day: We’d like to honor our community Veterans with a special display for Veteran’s Day.  If you have a family member who served in any branch of the US Armed Forces, please send the name(s) to school with your child; we are creating a bulletin board.

4. 80′s dance: A group of fifth graders wrote a proposal for an “80s” themed dance!  The PTO supports this project, but we need parents to serve as chairs of the adult committee.  I will help the students do most of the planning.  The projected date is Friday, February 17th.

5. Parent conferences: If you haven’t signed up for parent-teacher conferences, please remember to call 264-5900 to sign up for a November 21st conference time.

6. Unused school furniture: We have been storing some unused school furniture, including some student desks and some older audio/visual equipment.  We are going to distribute this to schools in our District as needed this week, but by Friday we will be opening this up to the community.  If you would like to stop by on Thursday afternoon or Friday, whatever is left will be given away.

Have a great week, I’ll look forward to getting names of family Veterans!

Our Ospreys are growing up in a digital world.  As educators, we have the joy and the responsibility of introducing our students to this world.  Here at MBS, integrating technology into our curriculum is a primary goal.  Vermont recently published the “Vermont Technology Grade Expectations,” (http://vermonttges2010.pbworks.com), which outline the key areas we focus on.  These are creativity and innovation; communication and collaboration; research and information fluency; critical thinking, problem solving and decision making; digital citizenship; and technology operations and concepts.  Every classroom in our school has a projector and an interactive whiteboard.  We have one “fixed” computer lab and two mobile labs of netbooks.  In a few classrooms, we are piloting the use of individual devices such as ipods and ipads.  Our goal in the future is to increase the flexibility of the tools we use in order to enhance our instruction.

For technology is not the end itself; instead, we see technology as a powerful tool to engage our students, expose them to the world, increase communication opportunities, and help them work collaboratively to solve problems.  Our students are writing and commenting through our “Young Writer’s Project” digital classrooms or on their own blog sites.  They are researching on the Internet and using critical thinking to determine whether they have found a source of reliable information. They are collaborating to create glogs (interactive posters).  They are representing mathematical thought using spreadsheets and graphs.

With great power comes great responsibility.  We take this responsibility seriously, structuring lessons in a manner that teaches civility and responsible use of technology.  There are dangers – our students are still young, and not able to fully understand the implications of some technology such as texting and social networks.

We hope you will partner with us in teaching our young Ospreys about safe use of technology.  In November, we are offering a parent/educator workshop called “TECHNICOOL.”  Developed by Prevent Child Abuse VT, this is a very informative and useful workshop that will help you to keep your child safe while s/he explores technology.

The workshop will be on November 8th from 6:00-7:30 p.m.  Please call to register – 264-5900.  I hope to see you there!

Many students have seen images of the devastating flooding that struck our small state after Tropical Storm Irene passed through.  We offered any interested student the opportunity to give up the short 8:15-8:30 recess on Friday to plan our response, and several students joined Ms. Millham, Ms. Routsong, and myself to make plans.

The students chose to raise money to donate to families and those helping families who lost so much in the flood.  To raise funds, they are holding a “coin race” they call “Change for Help.”  Students stayed in from their lunch recess to make posters.  The “race” part is a contest between houses – whichever house raises the most money will get an ice cream sandwich at lunch next week.

Following is the schedule:

Tuesday, 9/6: pennies

Wednesday, 9/7: nickels

Thursday, 9/8: dimes

Friday, 9/9: quarters

Thanks for your support!

It has been a busy summer.  I really enjoy the time to work with Ms. Millham getting ready for the new school year.  We spend quite a bit of time meeting and talking about plans for the new school year.  I also work with Mrs. Reith to order supplies, books and materials for you.  Ms. Racicot helps to get our “information system” ready.

When I wasn’t at work, I enjoyed some relaxing time at home.  I finally finished making a baby quilt that I started last February and visited the baby, who is now a toddler!  I rode my bike a lot, took lots of yoga classes, and floated in the pool with my husband.  I read LOTS of books.  I read some novels, and also read books about education.

I took one trip to New York City, where my daughter lives.  She is a teacher in the New York City public schools.  We had a great time talking, shopping, eating in restaurants, and going to museums. My son Adam came home from college.  He is a film major, so Adam and I love going to movies together.

I can’t wait to see all of you, and to meet our new Ospreys!  I want to hear about your summer!  I hope you are able to come to the barbeque on the evening of August 25th.  Another chance to see us will be our informal Open House on August 30th from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.  I am hoping some fifth graders will come to be “ambassadors” to help our new third graders and new families get around the school.

For both the barbeque and the “ambassadors,” sign up on the home page!  See you SOON!