Category: Principal’s Blog

The holidays can feel magical because it is magical. Magic is all about the willingness to suspend disbelief, and this is a week we all just decide to collectively believe in one another, forget cynicism, and find common ground in order to share love.

If the other 51 weeks are driven by the engines of self-interest, then dang it we will do nothing but give this one week. It’s everyone saying, “Think for yourself, care for others!”

It’s especially invigorating to experience the young ones who still believe. Specifically, believe in Santa. These children spend the year trying their best because they believe good things happen to good people, and the super subtle difference between them and their non-believing counterparts who view doing chores and receiving gifts/praise in more transnational terms is profound.

One believes in being good as a core value, while also having faith that good will triumphant; while the latter negotiate life as a series of trades, their decisions and behaviors calculated based on the perceived value of the immediate outcome of their every action.

As educators, we need to believe. So many things can seem overwhelming and unfair once we start counting every little thing, as if our jobs and our students are nothing more than a series of transactions, or quantifiable conditions listed in a contract.

Do we teach until students understand or do we teach until 2:30pm when we clock out? Do we get even when we feel students are rude or do we delay our own emotional response to do what’s best for the child’s socio-emotional development? To teach is to serve, and to teach is to give. We can’t do our jobs properly if we see our jobs as nothing more than begrudgingly doing what “they” want–whoever “they” or “the man” are–so we can get what we want.

Disbelief is a disease that needs to be checked because it doesn’t take long being around a frugal giver and the ultimate “transactioner”–you know, those that often ask, “Well, what do I get?”–before it rubs off on you. And my promise to 102 has always been a simple one: I will invite and give everything to those who believe in giving to children, and then keep everyone else out.

It’s not a compromise I will make for anyone, not even for myself. Bet that the day I find myself not believing (in educational Santa, of course) is the last day you’ll find me as your principal.

Until then, Happy New Year!

W

W MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS 

(Sorry, the rant above took longer than usual to simmer and I needed more time before I can spew it out…)

Sheerin: Ms. Nova, Ms. Wright, Mr. Boeckmann & Ms. Landau accompanied our Grade 3-5 chorus to a performance at a nearby assisted living facility as part of a joint SLT/SCT endeavor to teach students about giving back to their communities. There were many steps in this process, so it is absolutely necessary to commend this team for putting it all together. The students learned a lot through this experience and we appreciate every effort made on their behalf.

Ms. Theodorou led class 4-344 through a lesson on life in the original 13 colonies. The TG asked students to rank items such as food, clothing, & education in order of importance for people living in the colonies against how we would rank them today. This TG allowed students to engage in deep discussions about how society’s priorities have changed over time, as well as providing an entry point to the day’s activity on comparing and contrasting.

Class 4-344 learned different strategies for division. Throughout the lesson, Ms. Khatibi always had an additional activity ready for students that finished early. This ensured that all students were working throughout the period and allowed Ms. Khatibi the time to meet with students that needed more support.

Weinstein: As we head into the final week before our break, a thank you to Mr. Bagg, Mr. Boeckmann and Mr. Goldin for the work they did for the Holiday Concert. They have invested much time and effort getting the kids prepared and everyone who attended had a wonderful time. It wouldn’t have been possible without their dedication to the kids and their love for keeping the arts alive in our school.

Ms. Zecca pulled from her Wonder Wall to illustrate her objective about angles: If triangle A is similar to triangle B and triangle B is similar to triangle C, is triangle A similar to triangle C? Individual students represented each angle by writing on a white board and moving from points in their line to make this TG accurate. Students in their class directed the “action” until they proved it true.

Borelli: Spending time in Ms. Ollquist’s classroom highlighted the skill of positive framing. Sharing out solutions to math equations can bring about differing opinions, but Ms. Ollquist continually pulled the shining part out of a student’s answer to validate each student’s thinking, while using that information to build up to a collective answer. By focusing on what her students were doing well, each student experienced “I can do this” versus “I guess I’ll never get this.”

Visiting Ms. Guo’s classroom showcased the far reaching ability of our Kindergarten students. Ms. Guo’s entire lesson was delivered in Chinese and her students not only met the objective of writing the character for “happy” but could translate the objective for me in English.

 “Humans don’t mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it; what they mind is feeling not necessary. Modern society has perfected the art of making people feel not necessary. It’s time for that to end.” 

Sebastian Junger

One of our colleagues mentioned to me the other day that “maybe work doesn’t fulfill other people the way it does for you.” She’s wrong. Not because everyone else are fulfilled to the brim, but it’s because a workday where visiting the vending machine is the highlight can hardly qualify as a fulfilling one. In fact, sometimes it feels exactly the opposite: “emptydraining” is more like it.

But there’s not a chance I won’t come in to try to do better because I know I’m necessary. And I’m necessary because I support people who are more necessary: YOU.  Think about all the great, impactful moments your students wouldn’t get if you didn’t come to school each day. I think about Sabrina holding a corner of a table while a student is banging his head against it; I think about Diana just flat-out refusing to give up on anyone (even when they make a fine case to do so); I think about Zecca and Summo’s beard choosing to engage with 40+ students AFTER a whole day with them to lead the school play; and I think about the 329 trifecta doing I don’t even know what they do to make sure their students win.

Fulfilling? Maybe. Necessary? Absolutely.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

K-2: Mrs. Landaas’ TG had all the makings of quality thinking mixed with a dash of solid parenting. “If you have 8 items to eat some are Hershey Kisses and some are crackers. How many of each would you want? You have to have some of each.” Students interact with the number “8” in the ways that they know how, while learning from their peers different ways to make 8. Other than having to have 8, there are no limits on how they can set up this number sentence.

3-5: This week, Ms. Nova pushed class 5-338 to evaluate the strength of their evidence for their persuasive essays by pulling 2 student-selected quotes and asking, “Which one is stronger at supporting my claim?”  Students engaged in lively discussions, as they agreed and disagreed with one another about the relevancy and strength of text-based quotes against their claims.

6-8: Mr. Gebhardt was asking his 7-402 class to think like paleontologists and his TG was: do you ever wonder how the fossils got to the Museum of Natural History?  it’s engaging for students to become scientists by imagining the steps and the outcomes.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

PARTY YOU SHOULD GO. Thank you Ms. Green and Ms. Vyas for putting this together.  Never been a fan of crowds, but I do look forward to the holiday party each year because I get to see and enjoy you all when you don’t have the crushing responsibility of teaching each day. Sign up here!

CALLS WE SHOULD HOLD. I’ve always been slightly surprised at the amount of calls made to classrooms while teachers are teaching. The office will no longer call you for information that can be obtained elsewhere, such as your daily schedule, periods off, etc.  We will work to adjust protocol so that only the necessary calls are made.

CALLS OR EMAILS YOU SHOULD SEND TO KO. I can’t fix or do what I don’t know. Thank you to Nova and McClain for updating me on facility issues and we’re hoping things will look up soon once the that department is fully staffed. All emails to APs with requests–tech, schedule, materials, student, etc.–should include me as a cc. APs will continue to make those decisions and I will chime in should I have solutions on my end to assist you.

IMPORTANT MEMOS (YOU WILL SOON GET TO KNOW). Field trips, sick students, picking up students from lunch, instructional program expectations…and more. Mr. Borelli will email and mailbox everyone once they are ready.