Phone Numbers

  • Lower School Office - 901.260.1360
  • Upper School Office - 901.260.1320
  • Business Office - 901.260.1300

Poll

  • Exam prep
    As exams approach, what is your family's strategy?
    We post Mrs. Schuhmacher's study/review chart and organize study time accordingly.
    We post the exam schedule and expect the children to keep up with their responsibilities.
    We don't do anything differently.
      

Add to Favorites

  • Click here to add the MUS Lower School Blog to Your Favorites

Add to Google Reader or Homepage

Copyright

  • © 2005-2007 Memphis University School.
    All rights reserved.

    About the Blog

May 13, 2008

Lower School Awards Ceremony

You'll have to scroll down a good bit to view this entire post. Last Friday we celebrated the annual Lower School Awards Day with the installation of the 2008 edition of the Springfield Scholars and the Order of the Owl. Thanks to Catherine Schuhmacher for filming and Laura Bontrager for editing. Download OrderoftheOwlweb.mov

The Order of the Owl recipients, eighth grade:

Britt Colcolough* (second year guys*)

John Grayson*

Charlie Freeberg*

Garrott Graham*

Adam Greenberg*

Ross Warner*

Toby Baker
Charles Belina
David Brandon
John David Christman
Alex Crump
Thomas Farnsworth
Nathan Feler
Nathan Franklin
Edward Francis
Charlie Freeburg
John Grayson
William George
Michael Green
Jake Greenstein
William Hammond
Allen Hartmann
Joe Hoffsommer
Nick James
Ashish Nathani

Nicholas Rouse
Ross Warner
Alex Weinstein
Max Weiss

A dinner the previous night celebrated the Springfield Scholars specifically. The boys invited a faculty member of their choosing to join along with each Scholar and his parents. They received commemorative ties as an enduring sartorial symbol of their accomplishments at achieving the top ten percent of their class.

Springfield_2008_014
Mr. Terry Shelton offers his moving annual salute to the man that was John Murry Springfield.

Springfield_2008_038
Scott Freeburg ties one on.

Springfield_2008_048
Steve Hergenrader ('77) assists son Wil ('12) with his new Springfield Scholars bow tie. Mr. Springfield's portrait in the MUS dining hall immortalizes him donning a bow tie.

Springfield_2008_044
Here they are: (front) George Ormseth, Carson House, Mark Sorensen, (middle left) Scott Freeburg, (back) Eli Goldstein, Danny Galvin Daniel Cunningham, Wil Hergenrader, Daniel McLeod, and Andrew Wilensky

May 12, 2008

Stalkerents

Is this wise parenting? Not only do we think not, but also we are of the opinion that it would be bad school policy for us at MUS for a number of reasons. We're talking about parents having instant online access to their son's daily grades. While this blog does not speak for the official school position (I guess ours would be "not in favor" in that we don't offer the service!), the discussion is something of which we are well aware.

Big picture: There are different seasons in a school-aged student's life; the macro-divisions of elementary, middle, and high school being the broad definitions for this discussion. As a middle school principal who teaches high school classes and who has elementary school children of his own, I find myself at a unique, practical crossroads of this popular discussion. While admittedly I am no expert on the subject (is anyone?), I defer to our wise instructors who have spent years in the field producing able students who prove themselves capable at various levels.

These teachers, in large number, will tell you that their grade book is not akin to daily stock numbers from the market. For that matter, even your broker will tell you not to watch the market numbers every day. General trends over reasonable periods are a better indication of real performance. Short term volatility is going to happen. A major drop in a stock, say 10%, should be immediately addressed. Grades are similar. Our teachers are going to talk with a student who performs out of the norm in order to see what may be going on.   

Often assembled with objective data from daily work, the simple grade book may not tell the best, complete story of everything in a student's performance. Students are individual works in progress not to be treated as up-to-the-minute data point producers. We think you will agree.

While I can see elementary school as more of the proper place for the most aggressive monitoring of grades, what my wife and I experience through the weekly results brought to the home via the student (the tests, papers, assignments to be signed and returned) is a wonderfully effective system. Yes, it takes time to sift through the packet, but this should be a serious parental priority on a weekly basis. We get a good glimpse of progress or lack thereof. The online option of checking grades weekly is available to us, and quite frankly, we don't use it. We prefer touching the paper, seeing penmanship...or attempts at such...

In an effort to meet rising demand from parents who want more frequent access to their son's grades, we're responding and meeting them in the middle. At MUS effective the next school year, we will require all Lower School students to record their grades in their assignment books. It will be Lower School policy. If a student chooses not to write down his grades, he will be in violation of fair and reasonable school rules. If he does not represent his actual scores faithfully to his parents (deliberately omits a bad grade, for example) such an action would be an issue of the student's character. That will be a family issue to be settled between the student and his parents.

Here's the rationale of insisting that the boys record their own grades as they come in during their individual classes versus teachers entering grades for parents to stalk: to produce well-rounded young men of strong moral character (our mission) we think that the boy having some skin in the game is much better policy for our middle school-age students in opposition to teachers loading grades and parents tempted to discuss the results with a teacher before discussing the issue with their son. For our students to write down their own grades helps make them grow up and learn accountability, honesty, and responsibility. We want students to learn to bear the weight of their own actions, therefore when they have to record their marks, good and bad, and know that they are the delivery agent of truth, they tend to pay more attention. More, boys remaining in elementary school patterns are boys denied the unique human dynamic associated with maturing adolescent boys learning to face the consequences of their actions, good and bad. Look, we already subject them to a rigorous Honor Code. Boys faithfully recording their own grades is an extension of the culture of accountability.

Of course parent involvement helps students as the article states. However, this assumes wise involvement, allowing for proper, gradual distance afforded to the boy associated with healthy accountability and appropriate confrontation as is necessary for young persons. "Trust and verify" as we like to say. Allowing our growing young men the opportunity to report their grades personally is a start. Let's see if it satisfies the demand for more grade access while helping the boys mature.

May 06, 2008

Summer reading requirement reminder

Summer reading should be on everyone's mind. Please make a note of the books and schedule as you plan out the summer.

Theater Announcement

From Tim Greer, MUS Theater guru...

If you enjoy any or all of the following:

  • Free food
  • Power tools
  • Girls
  • Explosives
  • Crossbows
  • Swords
  • Comedy
  • Rock and roll
  • Flesh eating plants from Outer Space

We encourage you to make the Manly Art of Theater a part of your MUS experience for next year.

Auditions are TODAY in the chapel after school.  You may be asked to :

  • Read out loud
  • Sing a few notes
  • Dance with a group of others who are worse dancers than you

Or all of the aforementioned.  The shows in the season are Macbeth, A Thurber Carnival, and Little Shop of Horrors, all of which feature some great roles for Lower School guys. 

So if you’re looking to have some fun and applause next year, or just would like some time to check out on your own life and be somebody else for a while, come to auditions!

Track Champs!

The MUS Lower School Track team won the Shelby League Championship last night at MUS.  James Rantzow, Anthony Miller, Alex Dale and Jerrick White each placed in 4 events to lead the Owls to the title. Great job, both team and coaches! Well executed. Now hit the books.

Final team scores:

MUS 110
ECS 101.5
Briarcrest 94.5
Lausanne 38.5
Harding 30
Woodland 10
Grace-St. Luke's 9
St. George's 5
SBEC 4.5

April 30, 2008

Election results

2008-2009 Ninth Grade Student Council Representatives

Britt Colcolough

William George

John Grayson

Alex Weinstein

Heath Wilder

Andrew Wilensky

 

2008-2009 Eighth Grade Student Council Representatives

Selby Austin, President

Bennett Mercer, Vice-President

Derrick Baber

Andrew Miller

Sam Moore

James Rantzow

Remy Rea

Sylvester Tate

April 29, 2008

Placement tests

Rising 9th graders will take the Spanish placement test next Wednesday, May 7 after school in the Lower School. A letter explaining all the necessary details is forthcoming.

Math placement for rising 8th and 9th graders has been determined, and letters to that affect will be delivered via "Sonmail" today. Ask your boy for details.

April 28, 2008

The Koreans are coming! The Koreans are coming!

You better watch out. These people want your sons' college space at Elite American U, and these contemporaries of your children on the other side of the globe (who attend school 15 hours a day) are going to take a different approach to impending semester exams than the 82% of our current poll respondents (as of 4/28) who say that they are not going to do much oversight in anticipation for exam week. If your son makes strong grades, don't mess with the system. If he could score better, take heed.

Exams at MUS account for 25% of the semester grade.  Given that we allow for only one exam each day during finals week, given that the material is cumulative...not new information...there really is a good opportunity for the grades to be strong. However, the boys are often tired at semester's end. They are distracted, understandably, by sports, girls in shorts, and the sea shore. I don't fault them. Frankly, many of them deserve some R+R after chopping at the log since mid-August. Yet, they are, we argue, also in need of one last hurrah with regards to settling in for some serious organization and structure as they assemble months of material.

Admittedly, we at school are often the ones who encourage parents to step back from the micro-management of former elementary school habits in order for the middle schooler to gain some healthy proportion as to what is required for self-management at the high school level.

That said, exams are different. These boys are still human becomings in so many ways. Let's not let them devolve to their lesser selves as they potentially fumble through these exams. Too often we have seen good grades, or at least positive trajectory, be negatively affected by the impact of  bad exam grades at semester's end.

During each study hall from now until May 13, the boys have opportunity to study in groups under the Student Council's organization of assembling willing group leaders who are proven to be organized, high-performing students, and, above all, good test takers. These guys are volunteering their time and talent for their peers. We hope all students take some time to join a study review group. 

The Koreans will sure be hard at it, that's for sure.

Seventh Grade Baseball Canceled Tonight

Last minute announcement for 7th grade baseball as all Game Day Sports games are canceled tonight. 

Soccer 1st Round Play Begins Tonight

The seventh grade takes the field at 5:00 this afternoon as they challenge Woodland. Following at 6:30 is the eighth grade squad who takes on Briarcrest. Come support the Baby Owls two soccer teams as they begin Shelby League Tournament play.

April 25, 2008

Exam prep info

Here are the seventh grade Download 7th_grade_spring_exam_schedule.pdf and eighth grade Download 8th_grade_spring_exam_schedule.pdf exam prep schedules for your viewing pleasure. These are great tools, created by our own Mrs. Catherine Schuhmacher and formatted by Mrs. Terry Balton. I appreciate their help with allowing our boys a good tool to plan for these final exams just around the corner.

April 24, 2008

Sad news

Please excuse the inconsistent blogging as of late. Seems as though the end of the quarter (the end of the year!) has required more of my attention to certain circumstances...more time than I had budgeted for, so I'm to blame.

Of particular note is the tragic loss experienced by our student, Josh Patterson ('13), whose father Mr. Scott Patterson ('81) succumbed to cancer just a week ago today. Scott's wife Tracy approved of our posting the obituary here.

Their son has received love and support from his classmates and teachers, and we hope to be a healing community for both Josh, Tracy, and their family over the upcoming days, weeks, and years we have together at MUS.

The funeral is Saturday at St. George's Episcopal Church, Germantown.