Richard B. Fisher Middle School
Training
to LEAD
by Michael Obel-Omia
Leadership cannot really be taught. It
can only be learned. – Harold Geneen
T
he adult leaders in the
Richard B. Fisher Middle
School instill leadership in
their students by modeling
skills, habits and behavior
as they work toward an intangible but
important goal in these critical three
years: preparing students to serve their
present and future communities in
meaningful ways. Leadership comprises
much more than just saying “I am in
control here,” a la Alexander Haig; true
leadership, particularly at the Middle
School level, is the art of organizing an
activity, anticipating problems, responding
to unexpected events, inspiring fellow
students to participate cheerfully,
following up and following through,
sharing praise generously, and accepting
responsibility quickly and completely.
“Because Penn Charter students are
very skilled at completing tasks when
given clear and specific instructions,
our job is to help them navigate those
instances when the instructions aren’t so
clear, when the right path isn’t as easily
seen,” James Fiorile, assistant head
of Middle School, said. Fiorile has
spearheaded the division-wide leadership
effort with Director of Middle School
Rebecca Tatum.
Middle School offers multiple
leadership opportunities and, in the past
year, two specific activities: the Student
Leadership Group and the Diversity
Group. The Student Leadership Group,
comprised of self-selected eighth graders
interested in leadership, meets each
Thursday for lunch to plan upcoming
events. On Wednesdays, the Diversity
Group, also comprised of self-selected
students, meets to discuss issues and
determine ways to make the community
safe for all its members.
Since September, both groups have
been busily working away. The Student
Leadership Group has reached out beyond
Middle School. The group hosted students
from Academy in Manayunk, a school for
Spring 2010
students with learning differences or
disabilities, taking them to classes, teaching
them the nuances of intramurals, and
organizing, decorating and running a
dance, complete with a student discjockey. The motivated eighth graders also
have partnered with the pre-kindergarten,
walking with them to the ribbon-cutting
ceremony of the Kurtz Center and reading
stories to them when time allows. The
Student Leadership Group has been
instrumental in how the division assembles
each week in Balderston Commons.
Each assembly is hosted by two eighth
graders, who call the meeting to order,
open with a moment of silence, ask for
announcements, introduce guest speakers,
choose the next week’s hosts, and close
the meeting. In keeping with this year’s
all-school theme of community, the two
hosts also introduce one another to the
community, so that everyone knows a
little bit more about two members of the
community. To help them run the
assembly well and more confidently,
Fiorile started a public speaking class
for potential hosts.
Members of the Diversity Group
helped lead the community’s reading of
Toni Cade Bambara’s “Raymond’s Run,”
a story of a young girl maturing and
discovering her identity; she learns
tolerance and begins to see herself in a
decidedly different way by the end of the
short story. The group attended a Gender
Equity Conference, held in Washington,
D.C., where attendees discussed issues
surrounding identity and sexual
orientation. Their work at the conference
and their lamentations that Middle School
students too freely use the word “gay” led
to preparation of a skit about that word,
written and directed by them, that will be
performed in assembly.
Good leadership comprises service
to others, and Middle School leaders
understand this concept. They have sought
to lead by collecting food and clothing for
the poor devastated by the earthquake in
Haiti; by making sandwiches and
preparing salads for homeless shelters on
Martin Luther King Jr. Day; by serving as
tutors at local elementary and middle
schools; by walking barefoot one day to
remind all of us that some children have
no shoes. By serving others, Middle
School students learn the skills, habits and
behavior that will position them as
community activists and leaders.
what does it mean?
A
s the sixth grade studied Lois
Lowry’s The Giver this winter,
one of the most heated
discussions centered on the
ending of the novel. Spoiler alert: After
Jonas leaves his perfect community, he
suffers many trials and eventually stands
on a hill with a sled on a cold, snowy,
late afternoon. Battered by his painful
experiences, he seemingly loses hope
but sees a cabin at the bottom of the hill,
filled with light, warmth, love and succor.
He doubts whether he has the strength
to reach the cabin, but then settles
himself on the sled and rides toward his
“final destination, the place that he had
always felt was waiting, the Elsewhere
that held [his] future and [his] past.” The students argued vehemently,
wondering whether Jonas dies and all
that we experience at this moment in the
novel is a dream, or Jonas lives and all
that we read at this moment in the novel
is his determination. Lowry, the author,
doesn’t show her hand either way, which
excited — and frustrated — a number
of the sixth graders.
Andy Nguyen, a new sixth grader at
PC, determined to have a firm answer.
Writing a carefully composed e-mail,
Andy directly asked Lowry what her
intentions were. Graciously, and quickly,
she responded, sharing her vision of the
ending: Jonas lives!
Students and teachers were excited to
read her response and grateful for her
prompt and definitive answer. Not only
did she write, but also she encouraged
Andy to write with further questions.
And, in response to a request from James
Fiorile, assistant director of Middle
School, she followed up with a package
that contained a copy of The Giver
inscribed: “For Andy Nguyen, with
special best wishes. Lois Lowry.” PC
Sixth grader Andy
Nguyen wanted to know
the meaning of the
ending of Lois Lowry’s
The Giver, so he went
right to the source.
middle school for a day
More than 100 parents,
grandparents and “special
friends,” visited the Richard B.
Fisher Middle School on
a recent April morning of
sheep brain dissections,
presidential trivia, verb
conjugations, and stimulating
conversations on literature —
or just another typical morning
in the Middle School. During
Students and grandparents, parents or
this annual Family Visiting
“special friends” spent a spring morning
Day, relatives and friends of
experiencing life in Middle School.
the students squeezed into
desks and pretended, for a few hours, that they were experiencing
middle school anew. Of course, the students were on their best
behavior, showing their guests what serious students they are.
And they are serious students, spending their days moving
from science, to social studies, to Spanish, to mathematics, before
finishing their academic day with literature — and then rushing
Spring 2010
off to lacrosse, track and field, video yearbook or homework
club. The visitors caught a glimpse of the day, and while many
teachers purposely planned engaging activities for the morning,
most followed their normal routines. For instance, Josh Oberfield
often has his students present, and so it was that his eighth grade
Civics class presented information on presidential powers. Charlie
Brown led a powerful discussion on ethics with his sixth grade
language arts students, inspired by their reading Flowers for
Algernon, and Rebecca Tatum guided her class’s hands as they
dissected sheep brains.
After the classes, the Middle School community and guests
sauntered over to the Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts to hear
a few words from Head of School Darryl J. Ford and Tatum,
director of Middle School. In between these inspiring comments,
Middle School music teacher Robert Wilson directed the Jazz Band
through a complicated and richly entertaining piece, and choral
director Joe Fitzmartin conducted the Sharped Flats, the Middle
School a cappella group, through a fun song sung in Swahili. The
morning ended with many engaged parents and grandparents
wishing to return to Middle School — if only for a day. PC