Friday, November 18, 2022

This Week: PSAT Praise, Student Problem Solving, and Calendar Adjustments

From left: Zachary Marshall of Stow, Charles Bruel of Needham, and Ilan Balzac of Stow, with guidance counselor Lisa Camagna.

Dear Minuteman Students, Staff, and Families:

For my updates this week, I’d like to begin by recognizing several students who are being commended for their academic successes, along with others who engaged in some terrific problem-solving and critical thinking in action. I also have an announcement about minor changes to the school calendar to accommodate the state’s new MCAS testing schedule.

Sincerely,

Mr. George Clement

Principal

Minuteman High School

PSAT Praise

Congratulations to seniors Ilan Balzac of Stow, Charles Bruel of Needham, and Zachary Marshall of Stow (pictured above), who received national recognition as Commended Students based on their outstanding PSAT scores. On average, 1.4 million students take the PSAT and only the top 3-4% of test-takers earn the title of Commended Student.

Ilan, who is in the Multimedia Engineering career major, said he chose Minuteman because he learns better by doing hands-on work. After graduation, he aspires to attend a conservatory for college for classical voice.

Charles, in Engineering Technology career major, came to Minuteman because he had an interest in engineering and liked that he could invest his time into his passion. He is applying to colleges with aerospace programs.

Zachary, who is also in the Engineering major, said he enrolled into Minuteman because he believed in the competitive advantage the school could offer. He is applying to colleges and hoping to pursue nuclear engineering or perhaps aerospace engineering alongside Charles.

Minuteman teachers take pride in fostering the talents of our students, and it feels good to celebrate the success of these three gifted young people. 

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

As I walked into the Advanced Manufacturing learning space this week, I had the privilege to observe our students displaying resiliency, collaboration, and problem solving, which got me to reflect on adolescent research that I recently read about.

I saw eleventh-grade students gathered around a machine with their teacher, Mr. Alex Peters. Curious, I asked what was happening; detailed, technical machine terminology flowed from their mouths. In short, they were trying to determine the source of an error: was it a design flaw, was it programmed in the software incorrectly, was the wrong-sized drill bit used?

I felt their comradery, and witnessed a bevy of workplace skills including collaboration, reflection, experimentation, and strong communication skills. They displayed neither frustration nor apathy and I was impressed with their sense of humor, focus, and resiliency. They turned the possible shame of a mistake into a learning opportunity. This observation led me to think about psychologist Jean Twenge’s writings about the characteristics of Generation Z and the unique challenges they face. With the proliferation of online socialization – and its positive and negative impacts – teens and pre-teens have become more risk averse than prior generations.

This risk aversion can have an impact on learning: According to psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s theory of the “zone of proximal development,” optimal learning occurs with some risk-taking, along with helpful guidance. We want to help kids to see “mistakes” as learning opportunities.

What I saw in Advanced Manufacturing was an example of our students doing just that. They manifested the competitive advantage that Minuteman’s career and technical education offers our students.

Calendar Change, New MCAS Schedule

Please note: the school calendar has changed to accommodate MCAS testing. Please visit minuteman.org/calendar-schedule to view the new calendar. The changes have resulted in the elimination of a small number of previously-scheduled early release days.

To help our stakeholders plan, our school calendar is published in April. However, the state’s MCAS testing dates are published in late August. Some years the MCAS falls neatly into our plans, but this year it required changes.

March and May incurred the largest changes as early release have been modified. Scheduling was adjusted to best support sophomores for test preparation. Hence, resulting in some weeks with blue and yellow. June’s changes only entail rearranging formats. Otherwise, all vacation dates, holidays, and potential make-up snow dates remain the same.

Coming Up Soon!

Winter Sports Registration Open

Winter sports registration is open! Any Minuteman student interested in playing a winter sport should sign up online. Minuteman is proud of its "no cut, no fee" policy to ensure ALL students have the opportunity to play. Our winter sports teams are Boys' and Girls' Basketball; Hockey; and Swimming. If you have questions, please contact Interim Athletics Director John Bakopolous or Assistant Athletics Director John Fusco.