by: Courtney Kissinger
What is Town Hall?
Advisory is a core element of our school culture at Étude Middle School, and one unique component of our Advisory program is Town Hall. We have Town Hall meetings every week, and it is a time when the entire school gets together for one of three reasons, to build community, watch and interact with a performance, or improve school culture. Each Town Hall meeting is hosted by an Advisory with student-led gathering, activities, and reflections, as well as announcements and appreciations. Here is a closer glimpse into the different types of activities you may see happening in a Town Hall meeting at Étude Middle School:
Culture Town Hall
One example of a Culture Town Hall meeting is pictured here. Students at Étude recognized that as middle school students, they don't always acknowledge or share the positives they see in one another. The activity "reach out and tap someone" is designed to help students identify the things they appreciate about their peers. Students sit in a circle facing outwards while the facilitators, students from the hosting advisory, read prompts such as "reach out and tap someone who you can trust" or "reach out and tap someone who made you smile this week." The students in the middle then acknowledge others by simply tapping their shoulder. Activities like these help us build a school culture where students appreciate each other, establish trust, and create a sense of belonging.
Performance Town Hall
The Performance Town Hall meetings provide a glimpse of what students have been creating within their seminars over the course of the year. In one specific Performance Town Hall, the Ensemble seminar class performed a song they recreated using nontraditional musical instruments. After the performance, students in the audience were asked to give feedback to help them improve and further prepare for their next performance. Through Performance Town Halls, students at Étude appreciate the diverse range of talents of their peers and are inspired to explore their own creative options.
Community Building Town Hall
The Community Building Town Hall meetings are quite popular among the students of Étude Middle School. During these meetings, students are posed with some type of challenge that they need to complete with their advisory members. Each activity requires all students to collaborate and communicate in order to complete the activity, and is followed by a reflection on what went well and what they could have done differently. As an example, students recently participated in a challenge called "Helium Stick" where all students must keep a finger on a stick while lowering it to the ground. After this activity, students reflected on how important it is to have effective communication within a group, which translates directly to their learning and experiences in academic classes.
Why do we love Town Hall?
Advisory is a wonderful school community development tool, and Town Hall meetings are just one of the many elements of our advisory program. We love coming together every week to participate in these Town Hall meetings, and the student-led design gives our students a voice in what their school community looks like. Providing leadership roles for our students within this structure has led to significant cultural improvements at Étude Middle School, and continues to benefit them socially, emotionally, and academically.
by: Courtney Kissinger
The First Week
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by: Courtney Kissinger
The First Week
We have had a busy week since our first day of school team building activities commenced on Tuesday! On Wednesday, Students had the opportunity to preview their seminars which include Contemporary Dance, Ensemble, Visual Narratives, Discovering STEM, and Playwriting. These previews gave students a hands on glimpse into what the course might be like so that they could make an informed choice about which seminar fits their interests best for this semester. Students also participated in their first Town Hall, a time each Wednesday where the whole school gathers to discuss school culture, build community, and showcase their work. During the first town hall, each advisory shared a vision of what they would like town hall to be like and the expectations they had for their peers to follow in order to make town hall an engaging space for all.
by: Courtney Kissinger
Building Community at Étude Middle School
Today, we welcomed students back to Étude Middle School. When staff reminisced during pre-session about our own first days of school, we remembered receiving syllabi and writing our name in textbooks. We were excited about the opportunities our students would get on the first day to build their community while developing collaboration and communication skills. We, like most of the students, were new to the opportunities and challenges presenting themselves and hoped the day of activities would be a success. As a school community, both staff and students accepted today’s adventure and wanted to share some of the things we learned throughout the day.
by: Courtney Kissinger, Lead Advisor
Étude is a Community of Makers
After we kicked off the school year Tuesday with team building activities, we continued on to Wednesday and Thursday when we focused on experiencing the disciplines students will be immersed in this year. Another focus was for students to get to know the peers in their classes, as well as their teachers on a deeper level. Wednesday, students previewed the different seminar courses followed by choosing which seminars they would like to take during the first trimester. As seen in the photos, these seminars include movement, drama, music, visual art, creative writing, and engineering. Students then participated in their first Town Hall, where the whole school gathered to develop goals for of what our school community envisioned for our weekly town halls. We continued Thursday by giving students a snapshot into each of their academic classes through a 30 minute preview where they learned about their classmates and abstractly explored some of the concepts they will be diving into later on in the year..
by: Courtney Kissinger, Lead Advisor
The First Day of Étude Middle School
Embarking on a new school year can cause different emotions for everyone involved; students, teachers, and parents. Excitement, anxiousness, fear, nerves, are all things that our students had expressed feeling prior to coming to school today. Our goal as Étude Middle School today was to allow students the opportunity explore themselves as well as their relationships with peers, in an effort to provide a learning environment where all students are comfortable this upcoming school year. In addition, we wanted students to see our Habits of Professionalism in action, specifically the habits of communication and collaboration, as these are components that will help students be successful in their futures at school and beyond. Finally, we as a staff wanted to get to know our students better and have experiences with them in a fail safe environment that we could use to reflect upon in the future.
New Parent Orientation
On Monday, August 28th, Étude High School and Middle School welcomed new parents for New Parent Orientation. The event started at 5:30pm, when advisors and families gathered in the cafeteria to enjoy seasonal soups made by our staff. Children were then invited to participate in MAKER Break, while parents got together to learn more about our Advisory program and the role of Advisors as someone who is, to students, "on their case, and on their side."
Mosaic 8th grade trip to Chicago includes service
On Wednesday, May 31st, Mosaic 8th graders took a field trip to the City of Chicago to celebrate their three years of middle school! In an effort to give back, students worked with The Honeycomb Project, an organization in Chicago that creates youth volunteer opportunities. To prepare for the trip, many of our 8th grade students met after school on several days to create pet toys to donate to the Anti Cruelty Society Shelter through The Honeycomb Project in Chicago.
Mosaic Envisions Futures in Sheboygan and Beyond
Weather Report: Cloudy, foggy, thunderstorms. Mosaic students shared these weather metaphors to represent their perspective on college and life after high school on Tuesday morning, April 25th. Students had many questions, “How much does it cost?”, “How long will the program take?”, “What are the benefits of going to college?”.
by: Erica Brown
Mosaic Shadow Day
The Mosaic School is hosting a Shadow Day on Thursday, March 16th
