Posted by Kristy Lundstrom, Head of Middle School on November 9, 2020

Like many schools across the USA, our Middle School has been studying democracy through the lens of civil discourse, the election process, and media bias. With much of the rhetoric outside of our school being divided across party lines, in our classrooms we have been focused on what we have in common.   

Building on our Character Compass value of honesty, we kicked off our month-long study with an assembly about civil discourse: What is it? How does it work? What role do we all play in ensuring continual civil discourse?

We have practiced civil discourse on playful topics, such as having virtual school on snow days and having lunch before or after recess. We have also practiced civil discourse on serious topics, such as immigration policies, taxation, and racial equity.  

Each week, we have used the Leadership + Design curriculum to structure our discussions.  The goal of this work has been to build empathy, stoke civic engagement, and celebrate our democratic republic. Students and faculty have explored these topics: empathy vs. sympathy, fact, opinion and propaganda, social media, and inclusion using this set of norms as a guide.

In seventh and eighth grade humanities classes, students have engaged in building their own parties. They researched issues, formed action plans, and created (fictitious) platforms. Working in groups, students developed their ideas and decided on concrete actions. Students created logos and messaging to share their “party’s message” out to their classmates. Students also wrote and performed stump speeches to pitch these ideas.

Watch a speech here and here. 

At the end of October, the entire Middle School worked on a shared project. With the theme of “We are ALL American,” students brainstormed values that we all have in common. Rather than focus on the differences between political ideals, we focused on where we agree. Our ultimate goal was to create a compass much like McDonogh’s Character Compass. Each student listed the five values that meant the most to them. These suggestions were tallied to find our top 15 words. Interestingly enough, nearly 70 percent of us had at least three of the top 15 words on our individual lists. And almost everyone had at least one of the top 15 words. The first step in our process yielded these top 15 words:

Then, students were asked to participate in civil discourse in small groups where they prioritized the top five values. Needless to say, these were engaging discussions. Finally, when all of the votes were counted, these were the five values that we, as a Middle School, believe illustrate our American Compass.

This has been an exciting month! As we move forward into November, we begin to explore the next value on McDonogh's Character Compass: responsibility. We will begin by thinking about how we can live up to the American Compass values. What are we each responsible for and how can we help each other? We will continue to focus on what we have in common.

These are LifeReady discussions.