CDS foundation to bring education film to Huntsville

We are making plans to screen the heralded film, August to June, for the Huntsville community in late Feb. This is a wonderful look into the life of a classroom which shows what a really wise teacher can accomplish during a school year with a group of eager students. The Foundation for Educational Progress is a community outreach of The Country Day School which brings programs of interest to Huntsville. Last year we sponsored the film Race to NoWhere with a very interesting panel discussion. We shall try to do the same after this film. Details about where and when to follow soon.

The Blue School in NYC

This past week I had the opportunity to enjoy a visit to the Big Apple and spent time with David Kelly,director of curriculum, at The Blue School. This amazing school was started by the founders of The Blue Man Group whose creative performances entertain people daily in big cities in the US and around the world. Their dream was to build a school that supported the delevlpment of creative skills and valued problem solving and unique thinking over rote, one size fits all education. the school is located in a renovated building in South Seaport with fantastic views of the Brooklyn Bridge. David has studied Reggio Approach in Italy and was a director of studio teachers at Chicago Commons prior to joining the Blue School. The school reflects Reggio best practices and we exchanged ideas and enjoyed discussing the similarities and differences in our schools. I hope this connection will allow the two schools to share resources and ideas in the future.

We Shall Overcome Some Day

I just watched the dedication of the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, DC. Having come of age during the era of the civil rights struggle, this beautiful program touched my heart.

Charter Schools....?

I enjoyed hearing Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Kid's Zone speak recently at an event sponsored by The Village of Promise. He is so passionate that all kids can make it with the proper support and encouragement. His schools are charter schools in New York City. I have followed the charter school movement nationally for many years and am a firm believer in charters potential to allow great educators to be able to do what they need to do to really educate our kids. Alabama is one of the only states to be adamantly opposed to even trying this idea. That is a sad thing for students in our state. A new charter bill has now passed the House and is heading to the Senate (HR2218) which makes it even more appealing to states to give charters a try. I can only hope that people like staate Rep. Phil Williams will again continue to push for this in the Ala legislature and that Govenor Bentley will get on board and try to break the AEA's oppositional hold on our state on this important issue.

New school year begins.......

What a superb start to the 2011-2012 school year! Four weeks in an everyone is happy and very productive. I do believe it was the easiest opening I can ever remember. The Preschool opening was a small miracle-no crying after the first day or two, both students and their parents. The Primary kids were excited to get into a new routine and enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones after the summer. The Elementary classes came back ready to learn and took the month early departure of their teacher, Mrs. Jan Hayes, for maternity leave in stride. Mrs. Fuller stepped right in as their interim teacher and everyone has been making good progress and building a great sense of community. I am easing into retirement slowly as I am now at school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I do, however,call in several times a day on Monday and Friday to check on everyone. All the office staff keeps things running so smoothly and Stacie is a great co-director. Did you know she has taught every grade in our school at one time or another. I am blessed to have her stand in for me...I have every confidence in her ability to do the job. The staff of teachers and specialists this year are awesome and we have so much extracurricular activity going on after school. I predict that this is going to be A VERY GOOD YEAR.

Full Circle

I have been blessed to know many wonderful children and their parents in my career. Two of those students, now all grown up, are bringing their children to me at CDS to be educated this Fall. What a excellent and strange feeling is that! In this years' Preschool group will be two daughters of children I personally taught at Gifted Child, the school that grew into Country Day School. I remember them both very well as three year olds, and cherish the thought that now we will be teaching the second generation. It really makes me want to spend more time actually in the Preschool classroom, which is where I have always said I would end my career. It all makes me very happy, nostalgic, and makes me realize how much time has past, and how old I really must be getting.

School starts soon

So excited about the possibilities of a new school year at Country Day School! This should be a banner year with a great staff and group of students. We are ready to begin the journey anew.

Pray for Sasha

One of our former Preschoolers, Sasha Dison, has been diagnosed and is fighting cancer. Her Mom, Larissa, was a teacher at CDS. Our hearts go out to the family and ask anyone reading this to stop and say a prayer for Sasha's complete and rapid recovery.

Bittersweet Graduation Day

Today is Graduation Day for our eight graders, and we are so proud of them and know they will do well. In this group is my only Grandson, Lance, who has been at CDS since he was three. I have been so blessed to be able to watch him grow and learn everyday and get those special hugs on the fly. I know it is time for him to experience a larger world and yet I also know it is the end of a very special time we had. Both his Mom and his Dad work as teachers at the school, so I know they are experiencing the same feelings. He is so ready to move on and do great things at Catholic High and beyond. I will just miss seeing his face and knowing he is there. Congrats and Good Luck to all our grads, but especially to Lance.

School year almost over!

Next to last week of school is here already....how can that be? Just yesterday they were walking in the door with new lunch boxes and shoes, all ready to start their journey. But look at how they have grown...physically, socially, emotionally and of course, intellectually. All in all, it has been a very good year. We have enjoyed our time together, laughed lots, cried some, and learned so many new and exciting things. From Preschoolers in awe over rainbows and shadows, to primary students learning to read, to Voyagers building their villages in the woods, to navigators performing Julius Caesar.......they were the best of times. Now on to graduation which includes my Grandson, Lance. He has been at Country Day since he was three.I hope I can hold it together to give him his diploma and send him on his way to the big world out there. Thanks to everyone who made this year special. Have a safe and restful vacation!

Lessons Learned

As most of you probably know, our area was devastated by an outbreak of tornados last Wednesday resulting in loss of life and many homes. Another result of the storms was a complete power outage which is still going on for some six days later. As far as we know our CDS families are all ok and we will re-open school tomorrow.

During this time of simple survival, there were no lights, just candles or lanterns. There was no TV, no Internet, no cell phones or landlines for many of us. Those who had batteries and radios could hear what was happening, but some of us were in a complete communications blackout. We cooked what we had in the fridge or freezer on our gas grills if we had our propane tanks full. Soon we realized that automobile gas was a real problem to find.I waited in a gas line in Morgan City for two hours on E but made it to the pump to find a $25 limit for cash only.That brought up the next problem....cash. The banks did not open because of lack of power for several days and the credit card equipment would not function as they also depend on electricity to operate. It was a spiral of realizations that we would have to draw upon our own creativity and resources to get by. It was problem solving at the core of our daily existence.

During this time I heard on and off from staff and parents via Facebook messages. They all had a common thread...how blessed they felt to have been spared and how sorry they felt for their neighbors who were not. Also everyone began to notice how much simpler and enjoyable family life can be without our daily distractions. It was of interest to many that the Voyager class had been recently studying a time in history when their survival depended on the same things we were now facing. Their simulations of their colonial villages and families in the country day woods were now happening in their own homes in real time. They were watching their parents problem solve as the challenges kept coming. What a life lesson this provided.

As we begin to recover and rebuild, the lessons learned during this time can be reflected upon and can affect our lives in the future.

New Technology

Our oldest kids returned from a trip to Williamsburg last Friday. They had a great time, learned a lot of history, and enjoyed each others company. They also took along the school's FLIP video camera to document the trip. This week they went to the Apple Store to learn how to make a real iMovie using their footage with all the bells and whistles. They were so excited and proud to show their work and reflect on the trip. We plan to start an iPad project next year to see the effect integrating this amazing tool can have in enriching the environment for the older students. I am daily amazed at the possibilities technology offers teachers and students in the 21st century classroom. The trip movies are on the school Facebook page if you would like to see their talents firsthand.

August to June...a new documentary

I just viewed a new film which documents the life of a class in an Open School much like CDS.
It starts in August and follows the progression of the teacher in her last year of teaching after 35 years. It let's you see the interactions as the class comes together as a real community. The teacher is wise and witty and respectful of children. Project works is totally integrated into academics and the social and emotional needs of the students are as important as academics. It was so good it brought tears to my eyes. I will show this to our teachers at next years inservice as a motivator to aspire to the best for our students on all levels. I think I related to this teacher at the end of her career. If parents would like to view the film, just ask and I will check out a copy to you.

Communing with Nature

When I was a little girl my Dad used to take me out every Sunday afternoon to do what he called " commune with nature". We would go to a park, or vacant overgrow lot and explore. Our favorite places usually had a creek or pond to throw pebbles in or wade into. He grew you on a farm in Ky and had a strong tie to the land and outdoors and wanted me to enjoy nature, as well. As I have grown older, I know how important these Sunday afternoon outings really were to me. It developed my senses and they made me comfortable in almost any outdoor setting. It stimulated my love of gardening, and my interest in all God's creatures. As some of you know, I live on a horse farm and have a beach cottage on the coast of Ga. These natural environments are important to my personal sense of balance in my life. I recently read a wonderful book which spoke to this need for nature in children's lives, particularly today in our tech- oriented world. The name of the book is Last Child in the Woods. You can hear an interview with the author on NPR Archived as 'Saving our kids from Nature Deficet Disorder". We have the book in the school professional library if you would like to borrow it.
Thank You, Daddy!

Best schools in the world

I just read a very interesting article on the school system in Finland which is ranked #1 in the world in both reading and math. Guess what? They have many similarities to our school. One of the most interesting to me is that students stay with the same teacher for several years, just like at CDS. They also do not push formal reading before age seven(I knew this was true for Russia) and yet students do very well by third grade when they first measure their ability. It shows that earlier is not necessarily better! Some other factors were the emphasis on creativity, and the high esteem teachers are given. They stated they took $s which might have been used for early standardized testing and put it towards higher teachers salaries...makes sense to me. I have visited the schools in Denmark, and they too have many things like CDS. We have done exchanges whereby our teachers have visited and taught in schools there and we hosted a intern from there recently.

Spring break

I hope everyone will enjoy a week off and that the weather co-operates so that the kids can get lots of free outdoor time.

Race to No Where gets National Media attention

NBC Nightly News will feature community groups screening and supporting the concepts presented in the film tonight, March 8 . Our RTNW HSV support group meets tonight at CDS at 6:30 to plan action items to bring to our community. One suggestion is a community wide homework free night!
The film was also featured recently by CNN. And Katie Couric did a nice interview with the films director. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has done pieces on it with Matt Damon and education expert, Diane Ravich.
My read on all of this is that a grass roots movement is growing to support a more thoughtful and humane educational reform effort. It is push back from the failed No Child Left Behind effort and the new but equally insane Race to the Top. Both bash teachers and hold high stakes standardized testing as the measure of success. Neither supports real learning for kids....ask any teacher for their thoughts about this issue. I think a real battle is about to begin. Sure hope it will be an outcome that is good for all our children and grand children.

Our neighborhood school

Did you see in HSV Times where Providence Elementary had three times the amount of discipline problems of any other HSV school.....how very strange....what is going on over there?

Follow up meeting on Race to No Where community group March 8

We will meet at The Country Day School to follow up our discussion of the concepts presented in the Jan. 25th screening of the film Race to No Where. The meeting will be a Country Day School starting at 6:30 PM in the Great Hall. We hope to see many of you there to let you know what is going on around the country to promote awareness of valuing our children and helping balance their education. recently Vickie Abeles, the film"s creator was interviewed by Katie Couric. It was a thought provoking piece via national media. Also Diane Ravich gave an interview on the concepts of the film regarding the misuse of standardized testing on NPR.
hope to see you at the meeting next week.

Favorite poem to ponder

I saw the future marching by
On little children's feet..
And in their forms and faces
Read our prophecy complete.

I saw the future smile at me
From little children's eyes...
And thought how very carefully
I'd teach if I were wise.

Do schools kill creativity?

If you click on the second box under "worth watching" (scroll down) and click on the second presenter you can preview the short we will be discussing March 8th. It is Sir Ken Robinson at the Ted conference. I stumbled upon him and have watched all his presentations now. I'd like to know your thoughts on his ideas. After you click on it, it will be posted and ready to see over the body of my blog. Enjoy!

The Race to NoWhere film and impact

Our efforts to bring the film The Race to NoWhere were successful and it was shown to 100 people on Jan. 25,2011. The film has a very emotional impact on all who see it and I think makes many important points about what has happened to education and our children over the past decade. The reason the film has not been distributed to theaters is so that communities can set up private screenings followed by discussion groups. The director, Vickie Abeles, has started a grassroots movement that may have an huge impact which will bring needed changes for students and families. We have started a local group called RTNW Huntsville/Madison interest group which can be found on Facebook or linked from The Country Day School homepage at www.country-day.com. We are planning a follow up meeting at the school on March 8th so if you missed the film and want to know more about it, or just want to talk about educational issues in general, come to this meeting at 6:30 pm March 8 at CDS for discussion and perhaps another interesting short film by Sir Ken Robinson. We all need to think about what is really happening to kids and schools today and get involved to make it better.