New Principal to Greet Emerson Students with a Smile

When students at Emerson Middle School in Niles return to classes Aug. 22, one of the first things they will see is the smiling face of the new principal, James Morrison.

Morrison is no stranger to middle school education, coming from Lincoln Junior High in Skokie Elementary District 69 where he was principal for seven years. Prior to that Morrison served as assistant principal at Gemini Junior High in East Maine Elementary District 63 for three years.

“Any educator will tell you that they love it or they hate it,” Morrison said of the middle school years, sandwiched uncomfortably between the elementary school years of childhood and high school’s teenage years. “It is an awakening time in a child’s life.”

Morrison said it was a time when educators try to instill the values and good habits that will carry their students onward through the rest of their academic careers to later success in whatever field they choose.

“It is likely the most important time period in a child’s life,” he said. “They want to be adults but they need that guidance and nurturing.”

Schools have tried to provide more of that in recent years, turning away from the junior high school model that most of today’s middle school parents are more familiar with, and creating something that is more of a middle ground between elementary and high school, Morrison said.

Under the junior high model, each teacher taught his or her subject, students moved from class to class, and teachers and students only saw each other for those class periods.

Now middle schools are more likely to use a team teaching model in which one group of teachers works with the same group of students, making it easier to develop interdisciplinary curriculum units, and for all of the teachers to get to know all of the students and better meet their needs.

One practice that attracted Morrison to Emerson is “looping” the teachers with the students, so each group of students stays with the same group of teachers for two years.

“That helps the teachers know more about them as they go through,” Morrison said.

It also helps the teachers develop productive relationships with the parents, he added.

A big part of middle school is helping students navigate an ever-shifting social milieu, Morrison said. Students that are having a bad time socially can fall behind academically as well, he said.

“Kids have enough problems in their lives,” Morrison said. “There are always so many things affecting them. But if you lose them now, then you’ve got a problem.”

Many middle school students having their own Facebook accounts, which can create social problems, Morrison said.

“Some people are awfully brave behind a computer and will say all kinds of nasty things,” he said. “They create that unproductive triangle, where one goes to another and says something about a third person.”

Character education and discussions about social issues have to be on the agenda along with math, reading and writing, Morrison said. Team-building exercises help teach students know how to work in a group.

“What school is today, society is tomorrow,” Morrison said.

Morrison lives with his three children, ages 14, 12 and 9, in a nearby suburb. He said his family makes a point of keeping busy attending swim meets, concerts and Irish dancing competitions.