Honoring Childhood, Igniting Joy

By Elliot Dickson
Head of Middle School

One of the aspects of Foote that drew me to it eight years ago is the school's commitment to honoring childhood, even for our oldest students in the Middle School. Adolescence is defined by a unique duality; our students are still children who need to play, manage their emotions, and work to understand others, yet they are also emerging young adults who are capable of grappling with deeper complex concepts and moral grey areas. Taking childhood seriously means that we don’t rush past this stage of development. Instead, we design learning experiences specific to this age that honors both their inner child and developing adult self. 

A wonderful example of this is a Foote tradition I recently witnessed with our 6th graders as they selected the countries they will research for their Festival of the World project. What could have been a standard research assignment became a display of community, excitement, and support! Students blindly spun a globe, stopping it with their finger to select a continent, and then spun a digital wheel filled with countries curated by our 6th Grade Humanities team. Sixth grade advisors brought pom-poms to celebrate each selection and classmates cheered for every result. “Woah, I’ve never heard of that country!” exclaimed one student to their friend, while I overheard another student shout, “It could be really interesting!” when they saw the dejected look on a peer’s face. 

When I was in middle school, a research project like this was pretty straightforward: we would have been assigned a country at random or given a list of countries to select from on our own.

At Foote, we recognize that igniting joy and engagement is crucial to the learning process in order to set and maintain high expectations. We offer moments in class and throughout our schedule to celebrate and engage in their childhood while also challenging them to learn the skills we know they need as they grow older.