The Cooper School Daily
April 5, 2024
Nothing Much
Students returned from Spring Break with plenty of stories to tell and adventures to report. I marveled with them in the time spent getting to do whatever our hearts desired (mostly) for a whole week. Though there were many amazing, whirlwind trips while we were away, when asked, “What’d you do over break?” the majority of students and staff seemed to answer with some variation of, “Not much, just did a whole lot of nothing.”
We may shrug our shoulders at reports of “nothing much” but I couldn’t help but celebrate the do-nothing squad of Spring Breakers. Middle school can feel like a tail spin, so remarkable value can be found in the restoration that comes with rest, stillness, even silence. We may lament a silent middle schooler that won’t share much of their day with you, but there is meaning and worth even in the “nothing.”
I’m reminded of one of my favorite filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki, whose animated films have been noted for including various nontraditional moments of silence and nonaction. The following interview excerpt between the late Roger Ebert and Miyazaki describes this concept beautifully:
“… Instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
“We have a word for that in Japanese,” he said. “It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally … if you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.”
Perhaps we can look at silence, stillness, uneventful breaks as a balm to keep us from going numb. I know for a fact there is so much processing and emotion teeming beneath a cagey middle schooler. I know I could do more time to honor that silence, that space, that sense of nothing that’s actually full of something. Perhaps we can embrace future opportunities to sink into ‘nothing’ more often or enjoy the silence and sweetness that is just you and your middle schooler taking up space and processing all the change.
-MK
Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:
What’s happening in Science?
Sixth graders continued their study about the human body systems. They learned about aerobic respiration and how oxygen and carbon dioxide gets carried throughout the body. They continued to work on their projects about diseases that change history. Next week, the sixth graders will learn about the senses and how the human body utilizes the senses to navigate the world.
What’s up in ELA?
6th graders returned from break to dive straight into a novel study of Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez as a part of our Social Issues reading unit. We considered new levels of conflict that can come between characters of differing backgrounds and social groups. 6th grade reviewed grammar concepts from before break while also learning about pronoun antecedents.
Next week, 6th graders will continue reading Return to Sender, discussing how group identity impacts individuals.
What’s going on in Math?
This week, 6th graders incorporated negative numbers in equations, and then we reviewed for and took our test on Friday! Next week, students will explore data representation via dot plots, bar graphs, and histograms. They’ll analyze this data by finding and interpreting the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and mean absolute deviation (MAD).
What’s happening in Social Studies?
Sixth graders have been working through their early Africa studies! Students read about different African traditions and created mini quizzes to check on the understanding of their neighbors! Students finished the week by completing their study guides for this unit.
Next week, the students will be assessed over their knowledge on early Africa before moving into the Renaissance. Students will study the vocabulary before understanding what the renaissance is exactly. Students will progress into a research project on one of the famous renaissance artists/writers with a partner to present in front of their class.
Important Dates:
April 10: Spread the Word- 11:30 dismissal
April 17: Middle School Sports Banquet- 5pm
April 27: Spring Auction & Gala- 6pm @ Founder’s Hall (tickets available until 4/12)
We may shrug our shoulders at reports of “nothing much” but I couldn’t help but celebrate the do-nothing squad of Spring Breakers. Middle school can feel like a tail spin, so remarkable value can be found in the restoration that comes with rest, stillness, even silence. We may lament a silent middle schooler that won’t share much of their day with you, but there is meaning and worth even in the “nothing.”
I’m reminded of one of my favorite filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki, whose animated films have been noted for including various nontraditional moments of silence and nonaction. The following interview excerpt between the late Roger Ebert and Miyazaki describes this concept beautifully:
“… Instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
“We have a word for that in Japanese,” he said. “It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally … if you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.”
Perhaps we can look at silence, stillness, uneventful breaks as a balm to keep us from going numb. I know for a fact there is so much processing and emotion teeming beneath a cagey middle schooler. I know I could do more time to honor that silence, that space, that sense of nothing that’s actually full of something. Perhaps we can embrace future opportunities to sink into ‘nothing’ more often or enjoy the silence and sweetness that is just you and your middle schooler taking up space and processing all the change.
-MK
Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:
What’s happening in Science?
Sixth graders continued their study about the human body systems. They learned about aerobic respiration and how oxygen and carbon dioxide gets carried throughout the body. They continued to work on their projects about diseases that change history. Next week, the sixth graders will learn about the senses and how the human body utilizes the senses to navigate the world.
What’s up in ELA?
6th graders returned from break to dive straight into a novel study of Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez as a part of our Social Issues reading unit. We considered new levels of conflict that can come between characters of differing backgrounds and social groups. 6th grade reviewed grammar concepts from before break while also learning about pronoun antecedents.
Next week, 6th graders will continue reading Return to Sender, discussing how group identity impacts individuals.
What’s going on in Math?
This week, 6th graders incorporated negative numbers in equations, and then we reviewed for and took our test on Friday! Next week, students will explore data representation via dot plots, bar graphs, and histograms. They’ll analyze this data by finding and interpreting the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and mean absolute deviation (MAD).
What’s happening in Social Studies?
Sixth graders have been working through their early Africa studies! Students read about different African traditions and created mini quizzes to check on the understanding of their neighbors! Students finished the week by completing their study guides for this unit.
Next week, the students will be assessed over their knowledge on early Africa before moving into the Renaissance. Students will study the vocabulary before understanding what the renaissance is exactly. Students will progress into a research project on one of the famous renaissance artists/writers with a partner to present in front of their class.
Important Dates:
April 10: Spread the Word- 11:30 dismissal
April 17: Middle School Sports Banquet- 5pm
April 27: Spring Auction & Gala- 6pm @ Founder’s Hall (tickets available until 4/12)