Dear Fam,
You guys are turning out in great numbers and bringing your friends with you! Attendance this past weekend was almost 1,400 (we’ve been running between 1,000 – 1,100.) All three services were well-attended with a good crowd who arrived at 10:00 am on Sunday as well! The Blind Boys concert on Sunday night is sold out! Pastor’s Class, MOPS and the Daniel class all began with lots of participation. Way to get in the game, SRPC!
• “Occasionally, grace and power descend on great and flawed leaders to convict and lead us on.” These are the words of Philip Yancey describing how God used the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King to deliver him from the racism of his childhood. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s courage, vision and leadership, mesmerizing speaking, and his willingness to die to see justice advance have made him one of my heroes. Here is an excerpt from Yancey’s book, Soul Survivor on Dr. King.
• Dana James, SRCS headmaster, sent this letter (at the end of this post) to faculty this week. By copying it to you, I’m celebrating with him the developing culture of a love of learning at SRCS!
• Want to raise funds for SRCS while doing something that bedevils you like playing golf? Sign up for the SRCS golf tournament taking place February 11 at Southern Woods Golf Club.
• Congratulations to art teacher Jen Faust, SRPC member who is teacher of the year at Crystal River Middle School!
• This weekend we’ll resume the sermon series, “One Story.” The Bible has 66 books and countless narratives, but is one seamless story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. We’ll pick up the rest of the story studying Romans 1:1-7, 14-17. After worship Saturday night, there will be kettle corn and soft drinks; on Sunday, doughnuts between services! Should be grand!
Love,
Ray
Dear Mr. James,
Let me introduce myself. My name is Abigail Olive, and I am in the 8th grade English class. I have noticed that my English teacher, Mrs. Gardner, has big plans for her English classes but never has enough time to accomplish all that needs to be done to improve our middle school students’ English and writing skills. The title “English class” covers grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, literature, fluency, Latin roots, comprehension, and writing. There could be a whole class dedicated to each one of these subjects. Middle school spends an hour and thirty minutes per day working on all of the above; however, we still do not have enough time to completely cover everything. I would like to share with you my view on the subject, some proof that studying English more would be beneficial to the students, and a proposal of how we could add more English to the academic schedule of students in 7th and 8th grade.
We students go to school so we can get an education to help us be successful in life. Writing not only helps authors or journalists. It can help so many different parts of life. For example, I am writing you a formal business letter to try and get my opinion heard by more people than just my class. Excellent writing skills are also helpful when filling out applications for jobs or college. To become a successful writer, it helps a great deal if you have studied grammar, punctuation, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, fluency, literature, and Latin roots. Grammar and spelling are obvious; without them a sentence cannot even be made. Analyzing literature can help a student get a better idea of how to write. When studying vocabulary and Latin roots, a student not only broadens his mind with stronger words, but also helps himself prepare for the SAT’s in high school. Having more time to pursue these topics could not only help the middle school students write better, but it could also help prepare them for other jobs later in life.
Though I have said it before I shall say it again; writing is not only for authors. Writing can be especially helpful to people searching for a job or trying to keep a job. A recent survey for an online blog called grammar girl was done in which 75% of the hiring managers said they would rather have someone be late to an interview than make a spelling or grammatical error on his application. Another well know fact is that studying Latin roots can help a student score higher on their SAT’s. Researching Latin roots will help a student find the meaning of a word he has never seen just because he studied the root of the word.
There are multiple ways to add more English to our middle school. One thought was to have an early morning class. It could be optional but count as a class for those who sign up for it. To be honest, I do not think many students would come, but the ones who want to pursue writing (myself included) would not miss it. Another plan would be to have a creative writing elective for 7th and 8th grade. Writing is an art just like band and drama. SRCS could expand their choices of electives by adding another artistic class that middle school students could take. This, I feel, might have a higher attendance than the early morning class but still will not supply every 7th and 8th grader with the extra class of English. The final idea I had would be to take twenty minutes from our 7th period class and put that toward writing. That would make last period a forty-five minute class like every other class and would make the writing and English class a little less than two hours. Any of these three ideas could add more time to the English class and every extra second students can fill with learning will give them one more thing they can know.
Hopefully by sharing my thoughts, research, and plans, I have enticed you to add more time for English in the middle school students’ lives. Though all subjects are important, without writing no one could express their opinion or record important information. If middle school students had more time to study English, then the next time you got a letter from one of us, you might think you were reading a letter from a college student.
Sincerely,
Abigail Olive
