Middle School Archives

September 14, 2017

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

I am deathly afraid of heights. The higher floors of office buildings or hotels terrify me. Scary movies, too. My mother still teases me about making my father stay up with me to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was home from college one summer.

What are you afraid of? Lower School students gave voice to their fears yesterday morning in the first CHAMP Assembly of the year and made plans to overcome them throughout this school year. Some responses included speaking in front of a crowd with confidence, scary movies, swimming, starting at a new school, competing at a karate tournament, and doing their best in kindergarten.

CHAMP stands for Character Happens At Mounds Park, and is the Lower School character development program. This year’s character trait is courage, defined as “facing your fears with confidence and being brave.” Nelson Mandela was used as a role model as students learned about the courage he demonstrated when he peacefully fought apartheid in South Africa.

Faculty & Staff Appreciation

September 7, 2017

Welcome back to another school year at MPA! Believe it or not, Conference week is fast approaching, September 25-28, 2017. One longstanding tradition at MPA is to provide nourishment for the 100+ faculty and staff during this week. Our faculty and staff spend extra hours at school during this week and one way to help support them is to provide food all day long. (Dinners on Tuesday and Thursday nights that week are provided by the Parents Association directly).

Contributions from families are essential! Please consider signing up for any item(s) you would like to contribute. We will be using Sign Up Genius this year. Please click here to sign up >

Items may be dropped off in the Parents Association Room in the Cafeteria on the designated day between 7:30 AM and 8 AM, or at your convenience. There is a refrigerator for perishable items. Please leave a note on any items left in the Parents Association room.

Contact Tara Matthews-Lafferty or Mary Messner with any questions. Thank you in advance for your support of MPA faculty and staff.

Ideas for a Learning-Rich Summer

June 8, 2017

By Dr. Bill Hudson, Mounds Park Academy Head of School

Summer was made for students. That might sound counterintuitive for the head of an independent PreK–12 school to say, but please hear me out.

Consider the words that best describe the students who call MPA home: freethinkers, free spirits, risk takers, right makers. Dreamers and doers. Throughout the school year, we promote these qualities across our academic and extracurricular activities. We create days that are filled with wonder so that students emerge from each year even more joyful, confident, and creative than they were in the fall.

Then summer comes. Extra time, a slower pace, and beautiful weather, all set the perfect stage for MPA students, and all children, to continue developing those qualities on their own and with their families.

Student-Teacher Collaboration at the Heart

April 15, 2017

Mounds Park Academy fosters innovative teaching that fuels creative thinking and sparks a passion for learning. Every day MPA teachers are creating active and engaging learning opportunities with real-world implications, emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and deep understanding over rote memorization. Every opportunity is maximized to allow students to explore, create, and express their ideas in ways that build on their inherent motivation and self-direction.

Examples of student-directed learning abound at MPA in small and large ways, from allowing students to choose a topic to demonstrate what they’ve learned to engaging them in designing an entire unit. Our teachers love uncovering new and innovative ways to include students in the learning process, guiding them to take ownership for their academic and intellectual development.

Student-Designed Unit a Resounding Success

After teaching in a large urban school district, Middle School history teacher George Dalbo appreciates the comparative flexibility that MPA offers him; he feels that state standards and testing can limit the flexibility of public school teachers.

Earlier this year Dalbo offered an entirely student-driven unit on South Asia. When he initially considered having the students involved in structuring the unit, Dalbo thought that he would simply host a focus group and those students would present ideas to the class. But every student wanted to be involved.

Head’s Message: Permission to Create and Explore

March 15, 2017

By Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

Although winter is not yet ready to let go, as evidenced by Sunday’s snowfall, spring is beginning to make itself known at Mounds Park Academy. It has been a rather busy week with several rites of spring making their appearance. The Upper School is in the throes of final exams, Middle School is in i-Term, and Lower School students are embarking on a series of project-based learning experiences. The energy level is building as Friday approaches.

I was away from school for several days in early March attending the annual conference of the National Association of Independent Schools. A central theme of the conference was innovation. It is also a buzzword in educational circles as well as in business and industry. People in all sectors tend to confuse technology and innovation. They are not synonymous and technology is only one piece of the innovation puzzle.

Head’s Message: Dream Big. Do Right. The Value and Essence of an MPA Education

January 26, 2017

By Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

The days prior to Winter Break are marked by recent graduates returning to MPA to reconnect with teachers and friends. While I certainly enjoy their stories, I also have an ulterior motive—I want to know how well they believe MPA has prepared them. Over the years, I frequently hear that they feel well prepared to take on the challenges of higher education. In particular, their writing skills far exceed their peers. Another very common observation is that they feel comfortable approaching their professors after class. An alum attending Harvard University reported that his classmates were in awe of his courage to show up during office hours. I’ve also heard from alums that they notice the advantage they have over their peers in their ability to think critically and present their ideas effectively and thoughtfully.

These anecdotal stories are now supported by research. Every year, the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA conducts a national longitudinal study of all college freshmen in the United States that covers a wide range of student characteristics. The National Association of Independent Schools asked HERI to create a special report.

Compared with all college freshmen, independent school graduates reported entering postsecondary studies with more skills and experiences that help them succeed in their new educational setting. For instance, when all students were asked about activities they performed frequently in their last year of high school, a higher percentage of independent school graduates noted:

Being asked to support their opinions with logical arguments;
Asking questions in class;
Integrating skills and knowledge from different sources and experiences;
Seeking solutions to problems and explaining them to others; and
Seeking alternative solutions to a problem.