Lower School Monday Musings

What a week we just had!  The PD day was very productive for all teachers at every grade level and in every subject area; thanks to all of your efforts. I must say that the professional development model we experienced last week with Maggie Moon was one of the most authentic I have observed or participated in during my 27 years in education. The in-class modeling, conferencing, reflections and discussions were extremely rich and meaningful, and judging by the comments I heard from many of you, you walked away with ideas and strategies to make our already great writing program even better for our students. Thanks to all of you for your active participation, to Carrie Tenebrini for her incredible organization and to Maggie Moon for her inspiration and guidance. Thanks also to Suzanne Fox, Karen Jao and Molly Hobbs for their openness and bravery for allowing us to use their students and their classrooms for modeling and reflection.

Update on the 2009 NAIS ANNUAL CONFERENCE from Rick

“With the theme of “Schools of the Future: Sailing the Winds of Change,” the annual meeting of the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) in Chicago offered a variety of excellent workshops and engaging speakers. I attended sessions on enhancing team performance, anxious parents, the impact of technology on boys, international education, plus a three hour workshop on character education. Author Dan Heath of Made to Stick, child psychologist Michael Thompson, and entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki were especially compelling with memorable messages. The conference capped-off with a touching address by media leader Oprah Winfrey who captured the hearts of the audience when sharing the challenges and joys of opening her own school in South Africa two years ago.

The conference also provided us with the opportunity to visit the University of Chicago Lab School. Founded over 100 years ago by educational reformer and psychologist John Dewey, UCLS is known throughout the world for its excellent reputation. Former TAS middle school teacher Matt Horvat, now the high school principal of UCLS, arranged tours of the three divisions and shared his valuable time with us. Coincidentally, former TAS upper school teacher Dan Greenstone, who we met later in the week, is a graduate of UCLS high school.

A fun highlight of the week was hosting a gathering of TAS alumni from the area. Over 25 alums (including Ralph & Joyce’s daughter) and friends of TAS attended this very successful event – the first of its kind in Chicago. With three of my former students attending either the U. of Chicago or Northwestern, it was especially fun to reminisce and hear stories of their college experiences.

I look forward to returning to TAS on Monday and sharing more of the conference with colleagues.” Rick

Paige Summers and Helen Chen, from the Admission’s Office, wish to express their gratitude to Rick, Michael, Gary and Shaun for hosting this important alumni event.

Faculty meeting, March 17^th

This month’s faculty meeting is postponed to March 17^th to avoid the week of conferences. The faculty meeting is differentiated as follows:

• Following on with our work with Maggie Moon, Cathy Hsu will present on Writing Partnerships to grades 2-5 homeroom, ESL and some SSS teachers. Presentation description: “During Writer’s Workshop, are you swarmed by kids? Backlogged with drafts? Struggling to get more kids to share? Discover how writing partnerships make kids constructive critics and empowered writers. Watch videos of K-5 students in dynamic partner talk. These simple partnerships help produce writers instead of writing and put the “workshop” into your Writer’s Workshop.”
• All specialist teachers, KA, K and grade 1 teachers and some SSS teachers will meet with Chieni, Occupational Therapist, who will share observations and strategies for successfully guiding our younger children’s development.

More details on these two sessions will be forthcoming.

Website Redesign (Comments from Paige Summers and David Sinclair)

Our existing web presence was launched in 2002 using WhippleHill (WH) as our Web Host and Content Management System (CMS) solution provider. While at the time, our website design was cutting edge – comments from both current and potential parents, as well as faculty have highlighted that our web presence and the web experience is no longer current, that it is difficult to navigate, is lacking in rich media, and offers no secure area for TAS community content. After a great deal of reflection and research, a decision was made to move to Finalsite as a provider for a complete redesign of our website. Finalsite have a comprehensive portfolio (see http://www.finalsite.com) and provide services for a wide range of US independent and international schools.

We have the opportunity, with a redesign, to restructure the front public page to ensure that navigation is easier adding quick links and a search function, to develop a secure community log in area, and to complete a full review of content.  The process of a full website review has begun as we prepare to migrate to a new website at the end of June. Review and input from all content managers on the structure and content will be necessary. Suggestions for overall improvement from faculty are very welcome.

Faculty/Staff News

Stephen Kulhke was in the news this weekend – he saved a young man’s life on Saturday with fast thinking and his Lifesaving skills. Stephen is a Boy Scout leader and following yesterday’s heroic rescue, at great risk to himself, at a Boy Scout event, he will be nominated for a BSA Lifesaving award. A brave man!

Events this week:

• Tuesday: Bilingual information meeting for parents in KA and K, 8:30AM, Small Theater
• Wednesday: 7:00-8:30PM – KA Parent Information Night in the Library
• Thursday: 2:45- 4:00PM – Steering committee meeting
  
• Thursday: 7:00-8:30PM – Kindergarten Parent Information Night in the Library

Duties this week:

• Middle School Office: Greg C.
• LS Library: Rick R.
• Upper School Office: Ann L.
• Car pick-up area: Julie St., Lynn C., Carl L.

Birthdays this week: Tuesday – Ellen Foley; Saturday – Joan Pipkin; Sunday – Rose Lai

Quote of the Week:

“May God grant you always…A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.” Irish blessing in honor of the month of March

Have a great week!

Catriona

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 6:25 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.