In a very symbolic moment, our six little chicks have moved out of our protected classroom into the wider world of middle school . . . well, into the wider world of the outside pen. They took a while to find their way around the new territory, searching for their food and water with little success at first. But once one had found the locations, the others were quick to catch on. By the end of the day, they were all up on their roost and looking quite at home. Does this sound like what our 18 other chicks are about to do? We think it does.

We are well into working on graduation speeches in the classroom. Students are sharing memories with each other, trying out ideas, and conferring with us as they feel stuck or want to check out their progress. The challenge, really, is to make the speeches personal. We encourage them to tell us one detailed story — a day in Monkeyland when they first built a fort that really worked, the discovery of a favorite book that’s been read and re-read for years, the first time a pot really did rise on the wheel, one special game in the bamboo forest . . . We assure them that, after the audience has heard 18 unique speeches, they will all have a good sense of what it means to be a Miquon graduate.

The second part of speech writing is editing, getting them ready for publication in the yearbook — every word spelled correctly, finding a reasonable compromise between strict grammar and comfortable language, every sentence given the punctuation it requires. We do this in one-on-one conferences, just as we did the drafting of the content of the speech.

And the third part is working on delivery. Students are encouraged to learn their speeches by heart (in every sense). They also prepare a “rescue” copy that can be in large print, take up 2 pages in the onstage binder, and have selected things highlighted. If they go blank, the safety net is there. We work on emphasis, pacing, pronunciation, and eye contact with the audience. We spend time on microphone skills. Our students of any age don’t need a microphone in the Moore building — we can hear their voices at choice time all over the campus. They just need to learn to project when faced with an audience. But outdoors in a more formal setting, when the voices are not raised in a raucous game, a microphone is necessary. Where should you stand? How can you tell when you’re “on the mic” ? What happens if you rock back and forth or from side to side when you speak?  We demonstrate how it can go wrong and work on making it go right. Is it stressful? For all of our kids, it is — to some degree. But it’s also empowering. As we explain, there are likely to be some times in their lives when they need to stand up and speak to a group — a celebration, a sales pitch, a political persuasion, a quest for social justice, a plea on behalf of themselves or someone else. They don’t need to love doing it (although many will) — they just need to know they can.

We did a lot of other things this week, but these two related rites of passage were the big ones.