If you have been around in a school for a while, you can fail to notice things that stand out for newcomers. You become like the fish that does not notice the water that surrounds it every day.

 

As I began my eighteenth year in the Gordon fish tank this September, I asked four new Middle School students to have lunch with me and share what they noticed about their new school. 

 

The first round of reflections revealed that Gordon is “friendly,” a quality that even long-time residents like myself feel and value on a daily basis. We swim in warm waters here. 

 

The warmth was the first thing that came to mind, but a close second was, “Gordon is more challenging than my old school.” 

 

Said one sixth grader, “Some of what we are doing is review, but my teacher expects more from me than just showing what I already know.” She went on to say, “I like it that way.”

 

Once this student mentioned her teacher, the floodgates opened. From that point forward, Gordon’s faculty was what the newcomers found most notable. 

 

It made sense to me that the faculty was so important.

 

Gordon’s most basic central tenet is that valuable learning only happens when there is a strong, stable relationship of trust between teacher and student. 

 

Indeed, in a school where the founder was the mother of the first child to attend, the value of relationship in learning will always be front and center. 

 

So I loved it when one newcomer, a seventh grader, began what became a cavalcade of teacher stories by observing, “Gordon teachers make themselves noticed.” His thought came from his first time in the library. 

 

“I was just exploring and the librarian just came right up to me and asked if I would like to learn how to use the catalogue system.”

 

Then I heard from a seventh grader who had attended a Spanish clinic in August, “The teacher made us count numbers in Spanish while we played hopscotch and, guess what? She hopped with us!”

 

The students began to outdo each other, telling teacher tales with obvious pride. “My science teacher drank a cup full of strange liquid with bugs in it in my first class. He had my attention from that point forward.”

 

That one was hard to top! And, by the way, I can explain the lesson if you have any questions. I was there when it happened. Yes, it caught my attention and, yes, from that point forward his lesson flowed easily into his seventh graders’ minds.

 

I was intrigued by my group’s innocent emphasis on what, frankly, I do take for granted: Gordon teachers constantly break through any sense a learner may have that there is separation between their lives and their schooling. Sometimes they do this in very gentle ways and sometimes more dramatically.

 

Sadly, I believe that a disconnection between school and one’s larger life is fairly commonplace among upper elementary and middle school students these days. In my mind, it stems from a child too often experiencing education passively, as something that is done to them. 

 

Gordon provides a distinct counterpoint to this. The teaching culture expects that children arrive wanting to learn. The professionals here understand that a stimulating curriculum and engaging instructional approach are required, because otherwise these avid learners would rebel.

 

So when a new seventh grader said, “The way things are taught here really drills it down into my brain.” I immediately knew it was a compliment. “Drilling” at Gordon invokes the image of courageous and tenacious explorers, not barking Marine sergeants.

 

And the new sixth grader jumped on this comment to say, “That’s right. You don’t remember anything when what you’re learning is so easy that it’s just forgettable, or when the way something is taught makes it unmemorable.”

 

I’ll take that one to the bank (or, using my “fish-in-water” analogy, I should say “to the tank”).

 

I loved this conversation with the new arrivals. It certainly was affirming of what I believe about our teachers and how they teach. 

 

What’s more, I know how vital it is that sixth and seventh graders continue to experience school as a worthy and engaging partnership with their teachers. A great middle school is, literally, the bridge to lifelong learning. Without this bridge at this critical juncture in a young adolescent’s life, a child’s life journey can be derailed in ways that are hard to repair. 

 

In short, it was a great lunch! I was fed to the gills with affirmation of the heart of our academic culture, the work of relationally competent, intelligent, creative teachers. 

 

Later, as I prepared to head home from Middle School Overview Night, my email dinged and another angle on this theme popped up on my computer screen. 

 

I share it now because, in an experienced eighth grade parent’s voice, it revealed once again how Gordon teachers—without self-conscious intent—make themselves noticed. 

 

The parent began:

 

 

My interest was piqued. He went on.

 

 

I feel fortunate and privileged to have been offered membership into this outstanding community of educators back in 1994. 

 

See you around the fish tank.