Tools for Life: Building Literacy in the Middle School
Holly Caldwell
Humans have an innate need for storytelling. It is through stories that we find comfort and meaning amid life’s chaos and develop a shared emotional connection with those around us. As we write, share, and pass down stories, storytelling reflects our desire to be part of a shared history. English teachers at The Shipley School subscribe to the notion that writing is an ongoing process requiring engagement, commitment, and connectedness.
During their middle school years, students develop analytical writing skills through a multi-pronged approach not limited to exercises such as annotating, tracking literary devices and motifs throughout novels, creating structured outlines, and interpreting targeted feedback from teachers as they revise their work. These skills build steadily over the course of three years, from writing a persuasive paragraph in the sixth grade to constructing three-to-four-page papers before they make their final exit through the doors of the Middle School. Scaffolding is key to ensuring student achievement. As English teacher Kirsten Small notes, “Students make cognitive leaps at different times. Grades are the snapshots on that personal timeline.” Guiding students along their path to success is a core part of The Shipley School’s multi-faceted approach to ensuring individual well-being.
While instilling the value of critical thinking is essential, another core element is providing a platform in which students can engage with topics relevant to their lives. Students tackle literature that deals with universal themes such as coming of age, which sparks their curiosity about the connectedness of the human experience and enhances their global understanding and cultural fluency. This curiosity feeds into a willingness to express these ideas in writing, resulting in “an excitement to place this into context and connect to the bigger world,” according to Mrs. Small. Giving students the time and space to grapple with topics that interest them is key to encouraging the flow of creativity, which often results in lively debates and conversations.
Contrary to widespread practice, where students and teachers spend weeks on end preparing for standardized tests, students at Shipley are afforded the opportunity to immerse themselves in what they are reading through a variety of creative outlets. English teacher Lila Corgan points out that, “Normally, this might generate fear that the content would lose its rigor, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth.” By encouraging intellectual freedom for its students, Shipley upholds its mission of offering competitive academics. As Mrs. Corgan aptly highlights, this model “gives both teachers and kids time and space to play with books, allowing them time to see the touchpoints in books where they see themselves.” As a teacher, it is her goal that when students leave her class, they find that books are both accessible and relevant. And while they might not fall in love with every book, they will pick up a book knowing it is “not a tool for a test, but a tool for life.”
Shipley's Middle School Latin students took the 2022 National Latin Examination with over 100,000 students from around the world. An impressive 26 students earned Latin Award prizes and recognition for excellence. Middle School Latin students also competed in The Philadelphia Classical Society's 83rd Annual Latin Week Competition - Traditional Artistry & Literary Projects on Classical themes. A total of 55 Middle School students won Latin Awards and recognition for excellence.
The Shipley School is proud to announce the appointment of Harry Green as the School’s new Director of Track and Field. This new position will oversee all running programs. Coach Green will be Head Coach of the Varsity Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field teams and the Cross Country team.
What do Coke and Pepsi have to do with statistics? The seniors in Matt Frankel’s interdisciplinary statistics class can tell you! After studying the statistical problem-solving process all year, students ran a large study with 300 subjects to see if they could differentiate between Coke and Pepsi with a greater accuracy than random guessing would provide.
Shipley Middle School science teacher Ace Schwarz has been selected to participate in its 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Landmarks of American History Workshop, The Space Age on the Space Coast. "I am hoping to bring back what I learn so we can really develop the space exploration aspect of our curriculum," commented Mx. Schwarz.
Shipley’s Middle School Science Olympiad team earned an overall ninth-place finish at the Pennsylvania Science Olympiad State Tournament held at Penn State Altoona on April 30.
The Shipley School is proud to announce that after an extensive search, Eva Winiarski has been named Head Varsity Girls' Lacrosse Coach. She brings a wealth of teaching, playing, and coaching experience to Shipley, most recently as the Assistant Lacrosse Coach and Defensive Coordinator at The McDonough School in Maryland. In the classroom, Eva will join Shipley’s exceptional English Department as an Upper School teacher.
On April 24, 2022, three groups of Shipley’s Upper School students presented research at a roundtable presentation of the Student Participatory Action Research Collaboration (SPARC). “Our students were passionate, thorough, confident, and genuinely enthusiastic about their research topics,” said student advisor and Shipley’s Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Sheri Rider Jobe.
Shipley sixth-grader Jordyn Colbert '28 won first place in the 17th Annual Charlotte Miller Simon Poetry Contest, presented by the Ardmore Free Library.
Shipley’s Middle School and Upper School Science Olympiad teams participated in the Southeast Pennsylvania Science Olympiad Tournament. Combined, the teams earned 18 medals and qualified for the State tournament.
The Shipley School’s DEI Strategic Plan goal 3 is to ensure an equitable experience for all members of the community. One initiative of that goal is to create and support affinity spaces for students, colleagues, families, and alumni. Affinity spaces speak to the efforts of not just ensuring equitable experiences, but also creating experiences that foster belonging in our community. Learn more about our efforts to create these spaces.
In 2021, the Shipley Black Alumni Association (BAA) set the goal of raising $100,000 to establish an endowed fund at Shipley to support experiences aimed at educating students about American history and culture through the lens of African-American contributions. By the end of Black History Month 2022, the results are impressive: $55,170 given by 116 donors.
Five Shipley Upper School students earned Honorable Mentions for their hard work at the Model UN event in Washington, DC and the Harvard Model Congress event in Boston, MA.
Looking for diverse texts to read for either yourself or your child(ren)? Shipley's Librarians are here to help with a heaping helping of books to satisfy your literary appetite. Get a list of recommended books for middle school, young adult, and adult books, compiled by Shipley's Library Director Liz Cousins.
Shipley's Director of Rowing, Scott Gavin-Wisniewski discusses the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the sport of rowing and how Shipley's Rowing Academy is working to counteract that. The program's strategic partnership with Philadelphia City Rowing (PCR) both informs how we advance DEI within Shipley's program, while also advancing equity in the broader Philadelphia community through our support of their efforts.
Shipley’s youngest students partner in sustainability through hands-on science lessons in the natural environment, including Shipley's decade-long partnership with the Lower Merion Conservancy, in which fifth grade students collect and analyze water samples of the local Mill Creek. Learn more about how learning comes to life in Lower School science.
Building connections with French students not only helps Shipley's middle schoolers on their path to developing language fluency, but also fulfill's the School’s mission of preparing them to become responsible global citizens by expanding their curiosity about different cultures. Learn more about the Middle School French pen pal program.
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.