Each morning a chorus of voices sings out on the courtyard slab. For the moment, the repetitive clack of the nail gun is silenced and the saws stop spinning. Everything is silent, except for the melodious (and maybe slightly off key) voices of our students and staff. When Morning Sing ends, the noises will resume. […]
Its no secret that most middle schoolers crave experiential education. Instead of sitting in a classroom, many of them would rather get their hands dirty experimenting first hand and learning new skills. At Arthur Morgan School, we embrace these active desires and put them to good use. We offer a number of different art and craft […]
Managing student behavior can be a challenging task, especially with middle schoolers. They like to argue and talk back. They like to disrupt class and draw attention to themselves. Some of them recently discovered the power of sarcasm and enjoy using it, a lot. As young adolescents discover their autonomy and figure out who they […]
Normally at Arthur Morgan School, we start the year with a three day hiking trip. Students break up into smaller groups and make friends while accomplishing a challenge together. The trips offer a great opportunity for students to feel accomplished while also easing their anxieties about starting the new school year. This year, however, we […]
Last week, Arthur Morgan School welcomed eight new staff members into our community. Some of them are artists. Others are gardeners. Some of them have backgrounds in education. For others, AMS will be their first time teaching. We are excited for the variety of talents and experiences each of them will bring and we look […]
When students leave for the summer, AMS staff still have plenty of work to do. We harvest and preserve vegetables from the farm. We clean and repair our numerous academic and art spaces. And we maintain our grounds keeping them a welcoming space for Celo Community to enjoy throughout the school’s downtime. This year we […]
When our staff members came together for their end of the year retreat last June, we all had one question on our minds: could Arthur Morgan School reopen in a COVID-19 world? We felt confident we could maintaining social distancing norms and implementing new health and safety precautions . However, if students and staff were […]
As a consensus-run school, AMS practices, traditions and norms are heavily shaped by community dialogue. One question recently mulled over during our All School Meeting was “Why Should Teenagers Work?” And, from this lively discussion, we heard strong support for school traditions built around student labor. Some of the most nourishing experiences of AMS life […]
One of the biggest challenges for remote education is keeping lessons interactive. While stuck at home, students don’t have access to the same tools and materials they do at school. Everyone appreciates how Zoom and Google Classrooms are allowing us to continue teaching. Yet, even with these technologies it can be challenging not to reduce […]
Writing prompts are a large part of almost every middle school Language Arts class. Asking young adolescents which historical period they would visit in their time machine or what famous person they would switch places with is a great way to inspire their creativity while getting them to think about what’s important to them. These […]