8th Grade Level Meetings, Where People Connect?
Story by Arthur Kim
Edited by Jeffrey Kim
Designed by Helaine Lee
Edited by Jeffrey Kim
Designed by Helaine Lee
Every Thursday, the entire eighth grade gathers in the conference room in order to attend a grade level meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that there is a place where students and teachers can share information, talk about their experiences, or announce important events. However, some students in the eighth grade do not enjoy these meetings. They view them as tedious and unimportant.
“I think grade level meetings can be very important to students,” said Mr. Teiman, MS principal, “it’s the time where the students get the opportunity to express their thoughts and their ideas, and I think that’s the most important thing. It’s not just me as a principal talking to his students. The students are portraying what they want to say and how they want to say it." Often, an advisory group is assigned to present a project in order to send a helpful message to the audience. Student groups can utilize unique methods to show their perspective to peers, such as creating a video or calling up volunteers for enjoyable activities related to their theme. The lessons the students learn from these meetings are ideas that are important to their age group, including issues like sleep deprivation and procrastination. Some lessons are taught by teachers and are related to global issues and ideas the whole grade should know about - such as building teamwork. “The grade level meetings are very fun and entertaining,” said Jangho Yun (8). “The groups get really creative and it's really fun to watch. The morals are important for our grade, but to be honest, few people really take them seriously. For me, it is enjoyable and I think the advisory groups are doing a great job." It is clearly shown that the groups have put in an earnest effort into their presentations. However, while the lessons given are important to the audience, many students do not take them seriously because they would rather have the time be used for catching up on homework or studying. How can we improve advisory? “I would just encourage the groups to pick something that they are really interested in since you guys know better than any of the adults do about what’s going to be fun,” said Ms. Berg, MS counselor. “It’s something the students plan, you guys have the ability to make it fun and exciting.” |
Caption: (Left to Right) Justin Chee, Jaeyoung Lee, John Yoon are acting out for Mr. Brodhead’s advisory video.
Photograph provided by Mr. Brodhead’s Advisory Caption: A typical Grade Level Meeting, all the students are sitting on their chairs and there are guests doing a presentation
Photograph by Arthur Kim(8) Caption: Students find their places and chat with their friends before the meeting starts
Photograph by Arthur Kim (8) |