Thoughts on Sixth Grade

My Vow:

“As a Modern Day Knight I will strive to champion
what is right, what is good and what is true.
I will help others when I can.
I will strive to be kind in word and deed.
I will do all I can to develop my mind, body and spirit
so that I might help make the world a better place.”

As my class and I spoke this vow together on the last day of school, I looked into their faces and realized how much the students had changed since the beginning of the year. The curriculum of the sixth grade mirrors the changes that will occur deep inside each student as the year progresses. And now I could see how blessed my students were to explore the opposites of the Sixth Grade curriculum – they learned about the bulky, but ingenious Roman engineering and the delicate art of the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, barbaric recklessness and the emergence of chivalry, the very bowels of the earth and the far reaches of our solar system, the beautiful, rhythmical execution of geometric drawings and the mathematical computations involved in determining the interest on a loan. With all this contrast and comparison they stood before me taller, wiser, and more confident than in September.

Not only did they grow stronger through this exploration of opposites, they also made the transition into main lesson block tests and grades and adopted a higher standard for main lesson bookwork. They were more at ease with themselves and their classmates and more comfortable with their ability to be part of the world and to be able to make a difference within it. They were truly ready for the onset of adolescence.

What a transformational year!