One the most frequent questions parents ask about Arthur Morgan School is, “Where do students go after they leave AMS?” Parents want to know that our emphasis on experiential learning, hands-on classes, and limited use of technology will transfer successfully to high school. They want their adolescents to be prepared for the next step of […]
“Dumbo Melonhead!” My friends in seventh grade gave me this nickname after an unfortunate haircut showed off my very prominent ears and round scalp. Even after my hair grew back and hid my ears once again, the nickname stuck. I lived with it for years. People who had never seen the haircut still called me […]
Leaf season is always a special time. Thousands of people flock to the Blue Ridge Parkway in these few precious weeks of October to see the mountains transform in a collage of canary yellow, sunburnt orange, and rusty red. It’s an annual cycle that lets us know the final harvest is here and it’s time […]
Creating a science curriculum for middle schoolers can be a challenging experience. Much of the material available to teachers is either directed at the elementary or high school levels. Teachers must either choose between childish introductory activities or heavy texts that get too complicated. Middle schoolers require a different methodology of teaching. In the National […]
I was bullied in middle school. It’s not a story I tell many people, but around seventh grade, I was at an all time low. I was being beat up relentlessly in my classes. Kids teased me about my clothes, the way I talked and even how I walked. I felt constantly watched and always […]
“Ahhhhh, George*, stop being such an idiot,” the rain soaked, 13 year old girl in front of me screamed as she threw down her heavy back. George halted, mumbling the last few words of the song he was singing loudly only a second before. The rest of the group stopped mid-step. They stared at Stephanie […]
On October 10th, AMS will celebrate a milestone in our new building’s construction with a topping out ceremony. Just like the Scandinavian rituals of old, we will pay homage to the trees that went into the building’s frame and honor those whose hard work made our new classrooms and library a reality. Topping Out? Topping […]
Lots of educators get excited about the concept of a student-run school. They picture an academic utopia in which students demonstrate both passion and responsibility for their education. The students would plan activities and classes. They would discuss school policies in small committee meetings and set up norms and rules that would be advantageous to […]
One of the biggest changes from elementary school to middle school is switching classes. Moving from math in one classroom to a different language arts class to a third history class, all with separate teachers, can be very disorienting. Students can begin to view school as just a sequence of different classes, each with its own […]
I’m really weird. I know it and I love it. People often ask me how I ended up like this: a bilingual southerner with a passion for cultural exchange, an arsenal of fun facts, and a growing list of bizarre, yet hilarious true stories. My answer is always this: I wasn’t really not born in […]