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my role here is to provide a world-class
education from these kids and so I
challenged my teachers on a different
level some of the stuff is unsure
they're kind of like okay we're doing
something new and I don't think they
have any idea the level of hype and the
level of competition that this house
system will bring to people we think you
can change the outcome of every single
student by living a legacy what we're
about to do change friedlin middle
school for him
welcomewelcome let's go let's go welcome
back let's go you guys got bigger of a
summer welcome back middle school it's a
pretty impossible situation that we put
kids in they're hitting puberty and
they're growing and making their own
choices and we put it all together and
throw over a thousand of them on the
same building originally Fred Lynn was a
failing school year after year we failed
year after year the school you know
there were aspects of success but
overall the school failed right no cell
phones away and then all of a sudden
Hamish Brewer comes in with this whole
new mindset I think Brewer is best
described as a walking stick of dynamite
that you never know where it's gonna go
off and what its gonna impact oh there's
a swarm coming oh thank you buddy thank
you very good I always think back to
when I was a kid the most amazing
experiences I had I was having fun my
job is a great leader is to lift people
up and make them better before I got
here to Fred Lynn a lot of people
thought I was crazy why would you go
there where others had failed where
others hadn't succeeded why would you go
there and take it on because it's bigger
it's about legacy it's not about me we
really believe that people today
including students there won't be part
of something special
we're on a mission to change what
education and schooling looks like for
everybody in the world and we're
starting that right here in our school
all right let's get started
so we're here to talk about the house
system a lot of people know a house
system is say Harry Potter and it goes
back even further I in fact as a student
at school was part of a house system
i've been motivated around the house
system from the time I was a kid
and it's something I've done at every
school of being it
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in a house system you divide your
student population into groups students
get an opportunity to earn points
through their positive interactions it
can be from picking up trash supporting
a peer stopping bullying each house is
accumulating points each and every day
that leads us to an end-of-semester
champion what we found is kids was so
engaged they didn't want to let anybody
down
school discipline issues went down an
engagement went up as well this year is
about an invitation and the invitation
is that you know we'd be satisfied with
what we've achieved and we'd be ok but
are we satisfied with that is that our
sealing special things only come around
very few times in our careers and I
sense that that's building again for us
we're not just doing a house system
because it's fun it goes beyond that it
brings our entire school together we're
taking that house system and we're
turning it into the swarms
there's rooted in what the theme of our
school is when we talk about Fred Lynn
Hornets all right so we've come to five
different swarms five swarms five names
and five meanings the next question I
have is would we want a symbol each of
these things and we're just gonna stay
with the color with the Octagon
to me this would be like a super
ultimate thing for art to bring into
their class let's do it great I'll get
started on getting that out great job
we're about three weeks out until lunch
the kids only know that swarms are
coming and they're not 100% sure what
swarms are so they don't know yet guess
what you've been called down here
because you've been identified as
someone that might be able to draw and
you're going to help us with something
this is the biggest secret and fred'll
in history if you can't keep the secret
you should sneak out now we're at middle
school middle schoolers are gonna call
us out if they're a part of something
length so we had our kids design our
t-shirts our kids
this if your swarm is chosen your design
will go on the back of the t-shirt
whatever the whole swarm system is gonna
bring a really big positive spin to the
culture here we're gonna see
relationships only get stronger and
bigger I think we do have students who
feel like they don't have somewhere to
belong that they're not particularly
accepted the goal is to give everyone a
family within this larger Hornets family
so we've landed on five swarms we've
named them after different species of
Hornets we've taken five Hornets from
around the world and applied their names
with meaning we want it to circle
background to character traits that
we're looking for in our students this
whole thing is going to create momentum
in your classrooms it's gonna create
momentum as a school middle school is
tough for both kids and stuff and we
need a way to break down what barriers
we have left and the swarms give us this
opportunity to build relationships
school-wide eighth grade students that
produced artwork for mr. brewer please
report to my office with your artwork
every single one of these could be on a
t-shirt we've got a lot of hard
decisions to make going forward so we'll
be working hard to make sure that we get
this turned around pretty quick from
here okay I could not be more proud of
you guys this design here was one of the
really good student designs that the
students liked so what we did is we took
that and we put it on the back of the
t-shirt and we put in the names of all
five swarms um so then you've got that
five swarms one hive concept it's gonna
be great
so all I know is that Monday we're gonna
find out our swarms the kids have been
begging us to tell them we have no idea
right now we don't know anything and
it's it's eating me alive
I don't like it staff seems excited
definitely I mean we're trying to like
compete to already very we don't even
know arms already the best I think it's
gonna be massive for this school for
sure
any kind of change like at this level
you have to have complete staff buy-in
because it's so much bigger than what it
comes down to on paper there's a lot of
coordinating in the building on a
regular day and I don't think a lot of
people realize that when you add
something like this into it you know
you're still doing your regular work I
couldn't even concentrate on anything
else because I've been so obsessed with
the swarm to be part of the building
process it's exciting and even more
important part of it is that we as a
staff built this together
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[Applause]
let's go at the beginning of the year I
said to everybody I said we have an
opportunity and that invitation to step
through the door to go from really good
to that really spectacular and great
that our legacy is to give our kids
something to hope and strive for when
everything else around them might be
falling down this won't be this gives
them a vehicle to feel success wherever
they are in our school you're signing up
for hard hard work but it's the most
rewarding work that you'll ever do
so who's ready to get the swarm started
who's ready to find out all right so
here we go we're gonna find out who is
in bass Ellis Duke Alice Bubba Wednesday
and camera and luck tolosa
[Applause]
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just later what are you doing me set up
the school forever oh they were talking
bad about the team everybody's talking
bad about crab Rosso got to show up
today for the kids Hey look out look out
crane is that's what I'm talking about
baby my challenge to each of my staff
and students is to leave Fridolin better
than they found it we've built something
really special if we can get this right
it's gonna give our students the voice
to be the very best version of
themselves we ain't finished we're just
getting started you can't have students
opting out not participating they've got
to have ownership of their house founded
this morning eighth grade
[Applause]
just know that our sixth grade is and
our seventh grade is they're looking at
you to be leaders to lead the way and
show them how to have some fun and enjoy
being at school and continuing to make
our school great today is all about jus
it's not about us now it's all about you
[Applause]
alright
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by having eighth-graders be leaders it
kind of puts that message out that like
this is what we want to be doing and
what we want for our school so I think
what's gonna happen is we're gonna see
so much more positive come out because
these kids are gonna be given these
leadership roles what a mission to
change what education and schooling
looks like everybody in the world we
lifting legacy today like we wrote a
story about this school that's never
been written before and it was all you
it was all you
we stepped through the door today it's
what we do with it now that counts now
we want to go beyond just the
celebrations and now the about what's
happening in the classroom excel
behavior sitting the scene continuing to
strive for our legacy of kids winning in
the classroom
we've been following the story here at
Fred 'ln middle school for three years
and we loved it so much we turned it
into a docu-series if you don't want to
miss an episode subscribe to free thing
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