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Reporting on Progress
Next Tuesday, students will be coming home with their progress reports for the first quarter. We ask that students do not open their reports in school or after school with friends. Rather, they should share them with you at home. The reports provide an important opportunity for shared discussion about successes to date and challenges to address as we move forward into the second half of the year. As I've mentioned before, these reports will follow our new format, which we believe will provide greater clarity with regard to how your child is assessed by his or her teachers. The new format has also ignited some important discussion among the faculty about the expectations we have for students and how we communicate these expectations. The goal of these discussions is to figure out how we can most effectively connect our assessment practices to our guiding principles about teaching and learning, which drive our daily work. These are important and exciting discussions to be having.
For sixth grade families, this will be your first set of reports with letter grades. Letter grades are based on a set of evaluations in three categories that are outlined on the report card. There is some variability in these categories across subjects. The reported letter grades reflect a student's progress in comparison to grade level expectations. For example, a “C” means progress that is approaching grade level expectations and a “B” signifies progress that meets grade level expectations. However, within these ranges could be unsatisfactory class participation balanced by excellent quiz scores and/or homework assignments. It is natural for there to be some anxiety around grades. As with all assessments, it is important for students and parents to view them as representative of where the student stands as learners at a particular moment in time. Areas of struggle as indicated by reported grades can be addressed by committed hard work. Our decision to move to reports that will show a student’s progress over the four quarters was motivated by a desire to help students to see the work of a particular quarter in a broader context of their overall learning experience. Prior to receiving the reports, take the opportunity to speak with your child about his/her perceptions of the work he/she has completed this past quarter. This will help to frame your discussions when you go over the progress reports together and help you to prepare for Family Conferences.
.I look forward to seeing you at the conferences.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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11/02/06
When Students Take the Lead
With the quarter drawing to a close and Family conferences just around the corner, a number of you have inquired about resources that offer some perspective on the growing trend for student-led conferences at the Middle School level. Below are links to a number of articles that describe how these conferences are being used to meet a variety of needs and to respond to a variety of learning contexts. The annotation for the articles are from the MiddleWeb website, which is an excellent resource for information about middle school and middle school reform. Enjoy these articles and I will have more to say about Family Conferences next week.
Student-Led Conferences: A Growing Trend -- For years parent-teacher conferences have been the primary means of parent-teacher communication. But now, many schools are trying something new -- student-led conferences that communicate not only how a student's doing but also why. Education World describes the trend.
Student-Led Conferences Hold Kids Accountable -- The student-led parent conference puts the responsibility for learning where it should be, says the article at Education World. "The teacher facilitates the conference, but the student is responsible for answering parent questions and concerns about student learning. Students share with their parents what they have learned, show their parents their student portfolios, and discuss the reasons for their academic grades." Includes links to research and other resources.
Student-Led Conferences in the Middle Grades -- Conway Middle School in Louisville, KY holds student-led conferences for all students once per semester. Students keep portfolios for each class throughout the year in preparation for the conferences. At the conferences, students talk about their best work and teachers discuss the students' progress in all subject-area classes. You'll find the details at this page.
Letting Middle Graders Lead Parent Conferences -- A seventh-grade teacher explains how her team involves students in teacher-parent conferences. "Students show parents some of their work and explain their grades at a student-led conference.... The format is important, but I believe the success of a student-led conference is most determined by how well students are prepared."
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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What our students had to say . . .
Last week, Phil sent out an email announcing our selection as a "Rising Star" Middle School as part of the Manhattan Media Group's 2006 Blackboard Awards. The award is a true honor and a validation of the committed and dedicated work of the Middle School faculty, students and parents. A number of you have inquired about the award and the selection process. The following is a brief excerpt from the Blackboard Awards' website:
Why We Give Them
In the lives of New Yorkers, it’s hard to think of a bigger issue than the state of our educational system. It’s a financial, political and moral issue: educating the next generation. The city’s in the middle of a gigantic debate about how best to do that, just as the state’s in a struggle over how much to pay for it. While the big issues continue to play out — and we’re committed to covering them — it’s also important to tell the success stories from our educational system. That’s one reason we have the Blackboard Awards, which pay tribute to the schools, teachers and students who are succeeding, every day and in every way.
Despite the drumbeat of criticism and the ongoing debates, some of our children are learning – not just their ABCs, but how to become active citizens in a global community. And what better place to learn that than here in New York City? In this dizzyingly diverse city, our children are growing up street smart, tech savvy and racially tolerant. The number of children from the city’s schools matriculating to the best colleges in the country is at a high - all thanks to a dedicated corps of public servants who work long hours, for little pay and even less recognition. Teaching is a labor of love – nobody gets rich in this business.
Manhattan Media and The Blackboard Awards salute the professionals who work so hard to create and sustain successful learning communities; the parents who provide the moral and financial support to make that success possible; and our children, whose spirit, enthusiasm and openness make it all
worthwhile.
How it Works
The Blackboard Awards were created in 2002 by Manhattan Media, owners of Our Town, the West Side Spirit and AVENUE magazine. Our goal is to highlight notable achievements by schools across all of New York's educational systems. The Blackboard Awards program has met with an excellent response from schools, readers and the New York Press Association. Enormous care is taken with the selection process. We polled parents and students; spoke with many educators and educational consultants; and ran a Web site where well over 1,000 opinions were recorded. We were guided throughout by a distinguished advisory board, including representatives from independent, public and religious schools, who helped us define great learning communities, and who offered us insights into how the best schools educate their students.
With this as our backdrop, Middle School dean Gabrielle Keller, our two most senior eighth grade class reps and I had the pleasure of attending the Blackboard Awards ceremony last week. It was a wonderful event, but in one respect long on adults giving and accepting congratulations for the learning that takes place in their schools. For me, the highlight of the evening was when our award was accepted by our eighth grade reps Amy and Emily. They were the only students to speak that night and when they did the side conversations in the audience stopped. Their presence on the stage refocused the evening on the real reason why we were all gathered in celebration. . Amy and Emily were poised and articulate and, as representatives of our larger community, reflected the core values of our progressive mission that places students at the center of the learning process. The impact of this was not lost on those gathered for the event. I close with their words, which speak volumes for the hard work that takes place each day in the Middle School.
Emily: We're glad to accept this award on behalf of the middle school students, faculty, and parents. When I think of our middle school, I think of great teachers, community, progressive values, interacting with my peers, and the confidence to be myself.
Amy: For me, LREI is a place that sets the highest of standards for us, both academically and personally. It challenges us to reach our goals and gives everyone a chance to be their best person. It fosters independence and a knack for digging deeper into any material we get our hands on. It's all this and more that makes me so proud to accept this award on behalf of my school. Thank you again for this wonderful honor.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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Where we are from . . .
In advisory, some groups have been working on "I am from . . ." poems. These poems have provided us with an entry point for discussions about identity and values and given us an opportunity to see the world from another's point of view. In sharing the poems, we find that we have much in common and that our differences provide moments for understanding. Expressed in images of important places, people, sounds, experiences, and advice, these poems provide clear representations of our students' creativity and willingness to look inward and to share that "looking inward" with others. What follows is a collection of these images from a number of writers that turns the "I am from" into a where "we" are from.
I am from the whoosh of cars and the murmur of people talking
I am from adobe houses with tin roofs, bodegas and tortillerias, cactus covered hillsides, milpas, and fields of grass and magueyes.
I am from visiting relative and old teachers who have taught me life long lessons.
I am from the deli around the corner and walking into walls.
I am from Old Hickory and the Festival of Lights on Christmas Eve. I am from bicycle keys, monkeys, and "I forgot my keys."
I am from a little child spitting out his non-sugar free bubblegum before his mother noticed.
I am from feeding the cat and forgetting to practice the piano.
I am from "clean that room" and "make your bed" because we are having guests.
I am from two different countries, two messy apartments, two loving parents, and two annoying brothers.
I am from looking out the window to a sky blue river and the Williamsburg Bridge.
I am from Honey Nut Cheerios and Nutella on toast and cheesy pizza with pepperoni and garlic and bagels with butter.
I am from where dogs bark wildly and children play freely.
I am from warm quilts, ringing telephones, honking cars and trucks, ringing doorbells, and photo albums from the past.
I am from "work hard," "be happy," try your best," and "don't overreact."
I am from trying to figure it all out.
I am from everything I've ever done, everyone I've met, everywhere I've been, but mostly I am from everything I've loved.
I am from the memories that fill my mind and the ones yet to come.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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We each have a story to tell . . .
First, a thank you to those of you who were able to attend the PA Diversity and Community evening this past Tuesday. Our discussion on “How to Continue Diversity Conversations at Home” was an engaging one and reinforced for me the need for these on-going dialogs. One theme that emerged from the evening was the power of stories. In many ways, our efforts to address issues of diversity are about creating the space for members of our community to tell their stories to each other. Whether in the context of engaging in experiences outside of the classroom, exploring challenging texts, or participating in well-structured activities, these are stories that need to be heard and shared.
In the spirit of telling stories, I thought it would be useful to share with you some of the ways that we have been continuing the conversation about diversity issues in the Middle School. Last June, the middle school faculty met with a team of facilitators who led us through a series of activities aimed fostering an adult-to-adult dialog on issues related to group identification and unpacking assumptions and biases that can impact on our work with students. The workshop helped to bring us closer as a community of colleagues and raised important questions for us as to how best to tackle these issues in our Middle School community. When we returned from summer break, we revisited many of these ideas and were able to better reflect on the experience now that some time had passed. As a faculty, there was universal agreement that we need to continue this work, which we will do.
This past Tuesday afternoon, we met as a full faculty to hear reports from colleagues on grant projects that were carried out over the summer. A number of the Middle School projects that were completed took as their primary focus work on diversity and social justice issues. Fifth grade core teacher Heather Brandstetter researched and read a variety of books with diversity themes. The books ranged in topics from a family struggling to survive in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule, to the life of a migrant family from Cuba, to a Japanese-American family fighting racism in rural Georgia. Through this research, Heather identified several new texts appropriate for fifth grade and developed curriculum that integrates our language arts studies with a range of multicultural issues. Eighth grade core teachers Sarah Barlow and Noni Polhill developed a Social Justice Activist Project as a culminating project for the eighth grade. Working in partnership with Children for Children, the eighth graders will develop a service project in the community related to a social justice issue and host an event for National and Global Youth Service Day in April. Both of these grant projects will create additional focused and developmentally appropriate opportunities for students and faculty to explore important diversity related themes.
I have written elsewhere about how the Middle School core curriculum addresses issues related to multiculturalism and how this focus supports the development of important critical thinking skills and of our students' predispositions to understanding, empathy, and action. These skills are crucial as students explore a range of perspectives and seek to better understand social justice issues that include equity, power, access and privilege. One fundamental change to the sixth grade exploration of the Middle Ages is the use of religion as a lens to explore this time period in Africa, Asia, and Europe. This change has allowed us to engage in important comparative studies across time and regions. This comparative approach helps students to better understand the ways in which the world views of individuals and groups are shaped by a common perspective; it also helps them to better understand how conflicts between individuals and groups are often mediated by these differing world views. In a way, as with Tuesday night’s dialog, we are simply searching for better ways for students to access and understand the stories that individuals, groups, tribes, empires, and nations tell about who they are and what they value.
On other fronts, our decision to reconfigure advisory groups into fifth/sixth and seventh/eighth grade groups was in part a response to discussions related to diversity issues that the Middle School faculty had last year. This decision was based on our belief that while all Middle School students should participate in diversity discussions as part of the advisory program, these discussions need to take in the varied levels of developmental readiness reflected in the Middle School population. As we talk about helping students to choose texts that are “just right,” we also need to make sure that students are exploring these complicated issues in ways that are “just right.” To this end, Middle School PE teacher and Co-Athletic Director Marcus Chang worked with Director of Diversity and Community Sharon DuPree over the summer to create a series of diversity focused activities to be used in classes and in advisory groups.
We also looked at feedback from both Marcus and fifth and sixth grade science teacher Sherezada Acosta who co-facilitate the Students of Color group and from members of the group about how to better support the group and increase opportunities for participation. This led to some changes in the schedule that we think will better support this group’s work. The Students of Color group will have their first meeting of the year in the next week or two.
So whether behind the scenes or in the classroom, these discussions and stories about diversity are always present. Our challenge is not simply to make them an extra piece that we add on, but rather to use them as the jumping off point for authentic and meaningful explorations of self and community. We invite you to partner with us in the on-going telling of these stories.
Having mentioned this past Tuesday’s faculty meeting, I would be remiss if I did not also share with you the other summer grant projects carried out by members of the Middle School faculty.
Middle School PE teachers and Co-Athletic Directors Larry Kaplan and Marcus worked on creating better avenues of communication to the LREI community with regards to the Athletic program. They created a coaches handbook, a Sports Information Packet, a new uniform policy, and worked with our publications department to make the athletic section the website more user friendly (this included posting important forms on the site and providing directions to all playing fields).
Middle School music teacher Henry Chapin explored a number of tools for integrating technology in the music classroom. Henry spent each day, for a week, in a music studio in Cabot, VT, under the tutelage of trumpeter Brian Boyes. Together, they worked with Sibelius, which is notation software that Henry will use to increase the clarity of his published lead sheets. They also worked with GarageBand, which is a music composition program that is on every LREI Mac computer. Henry is going to use GarageBand in a unit with the fifth grade later in the year.
Middle School art teacher and visual arts department chair Melissa Rubin participated in a weeklong seminar designed to foster creativity through the integration of writing and art. Called “The Creativity Workshop”, the seminar provided opportunities to write through visual observation of art, objects and environment, visual map-making, collaborative exercises, and an examination of how scientists, writers and artists throughout history have used art and writing in combination to make connections and inspire creativity. The seminar was designed for artists, educators and those wishing to expand their creativity through the writing and art process. Her intention was to learn some effective strategies through this seminar whereby the transition between creating and looking at art, and then writing/reflecting about the work, is seamless. As a result of her experiences in the workshop, she has developed, and continue to develop, a variety of templates (reflection/idea sheets) and prompts (questions and ‘wonderings’ to consider) that can jump-start writing in the art studio and beyond.
Thanks for listening to this story!
As a final reminder, I hope that you will spend some time reviewing our new format for the progress reports and the accompanying year-long subject area skills. This work represents substantial effort on the part of the middle school faculty and is also the result of the thoughtful feedback that you provided to us last year. The purpose for this new format is to make the assessment and evaluation process more transparent and better aligned with our progressive values. If you have any questions about these new reports, do not hesitate to contact me.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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To Be a Student Leader
One of the fall traditions in the Middle School is the election of student representatives. In Adolescent Issues classes, we discuss the characteristics that might make one a good representative and we explore the many responsibilities that representatives are expected to meet. After these discussions, students who are interested in being a rep write an essay to their classmates in support of their candidacy. At the same time, students who are not running for class rep consider what they are looking for in a class rep. These essays are then read by their teacher to the class without attribution. This calls on students to really listen to the substance of each essay and makes the election of a class rep more than just a popularity contest. The essays are always thoughtful and, while some candidates make bold promises (e.g., a three-day school week, extended recess, nap time), all address issues of real concern to middle school students (e.g., more recess equipment, additional clubs, independent art time).
Students take the voting process seriously, applaud the efforts of all of the candidates, are supportive of those candidates that are not selected, and have high expectations for their elected representative. As the terms of these newly elected representatives begin, they will be asked to seek out the full range of opinions on issues discussed by their classmates, help their classmates to work towards consensus on these issues, on occasion represent ideas with which they may not agree, help to resolve conflicts, problem solve with their classmates, welcome and speak with families visiting the school as part of the admission process, make presentations at middle school meeting, and work with the deans and the principal to clarify old roles and develop new roles for class representatives. These are weighty challenges and this year’s reps with the support of their classmates are ready to meet them.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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A Year in a Night
It was a pleasure to see so many of you this week at Curriculum Night. As I mentioned in my opening remarks that evening, the Middle School faculty is truly an exceptional group of professionals and I have no doubt that you found their presentations to be informative and inspiring. While Curriculum Night affords you an albeit too brief glance into what goes on each day in the Middle School, I do encourage you to read through the curriculum guide that was included in your folders as it provides a clear overview of the Middle School program.
I also hope that you will use Curriculum Night as an opportunity to talk with your child about his or her impressions of the Middle School so far this year. There is an opportunity here for a rich dialog about the curriculum itself and its relationship to your child's strengths and areas of challenge as a learner and as an adolescent. What ideas have already captured their imagination? On what goals are they working?
I also hope that you will spend some time reviewing our new format for the progress reports and the accompanying year-long subject area skills. This work represents substantial effort on the part of the middle school faculty and is also the result of the thoughtful feedback that you provided to us last year. The purpose for this new format is to make the assessment and evaluation process more transparent and better aligned with our progressive values. If you have any questions about these new reports, do not hesitate to contact me.
For those of you who were unable to attend Curriculum Night, your child should have brought home a folder that contained some of the materials given out on Tuesday night. Curriculum Night provides an opportunity to view the Middle School through a wide-angle lens that takes in the full spectrum of the essential questions that drive our work with your children; Family Conferences, which are scheduled for Friday, November 15th (half day) and Friday, November 17th (full day), provide a lens that allow you to better focus on your child's experience and progress. Sign-up sheets for conferences with core teachers will be posted outside of their classrooms and sign-up sheets for conferences with specialist teachers will posted on the bulletin board outside of my office in the next few weeks. I will let you know when these sign-up sheets are posted. If you feel that there are issues that you would like to address with your child's teachers before the Family Conferences, please contact them directly.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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Tell, Me, Show Me, Involve Me
Yesterday, fifth and sixth graders worked collaboratively in the forests at Greenkill to solve a variety of physical challenges. Today, they confronted the rigors of a two-hour long hike, the low ropes course, canoeing, and navigating with compass and map. Tomorrow, they will meet the challenge of the climbing wall. At the same time, eighth graders will travel to Prospect Park to participate in the Doctors Without Borders "A Refugee Camp in the City" program. Whether confronting challenges in the natural world or attempting to understand challenges that are the direct consequence of human actions, our goal as educators is to narrow the distance between ideas in the abstract and the direct experience of these ideas. The Chinese proverb, "Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand." provides a concise formulation of our ideas about experiential education. In his 1916 book Democracy and Education, John Dewey wrote:
To "learn from experience" is to make a backward and forward connection between what we do to things and what we enjoy or suffer from things in consequence. Under such conditions, doing becomes a trying; an experiment with the world to find out what it is like; the undergoing becomes instruction--discovery of the connection of things.
In the spirit of our collective effort to discover the "connection of things," I also encourage you to attend our Middle School Curriculum Night, which is scheduled for this Tuesday, September 26th, at 6:00PM.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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And SoWe Begin Again
Walking through the halls of the Middle School building, it feels like school has been in session for much longer than six days. Students have jumped into their classes with a purposefulness that is inspiring. This same spirit infused our discussions preceding and following our participation in the September Concert on Monday. Students were both thoughtful and serious as they explored with their classmates the meaning of the events of 9/11 and the implications of these events for all of us today. We also talked about the power of music as a means for remembering and as an expression of our common humanity. We touched on many important themes in these discussions that we will return to throughout the year in classes and in advisory.
The start of the year is also a time when we reestablish old ties within the community and begin to forge new ones. If you have not done so already, I encourage you to drop in and say hello to your child's teachers. You may also want to email your child's advisor a brief note that touches on some of your hopes for your child this year. Please know that my door is always open; I look forward to speaking with each of you throughout the year and learning more from you about your experience as an LREI Middle School parent.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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8/1/06
Welcome 2006-2007
Families,
Greetings! I hope you are all well and taking advantage of these last days of summer. With the summer camp program concluded, it is now quiet here in the Sixth Avenue building. It’s a quiet that affords ample opportunity for reflection, but one that regularly reminds me of just how alive with ideas and activity these halls and classrooms are when filled with students and teachers. I’m looking forward to the resumption of that “buzz” when everyone returns in September. In the meantime, I hope you take advantage of what’s left of the summer to get to those remaining items on your summer to-do list.
One item to add to your to-do list is a review of the Middle School Student and Family Handbook. The handbook contains a number of revisions, which are indicative of the rich professional dialog that took place this past year. These revisions reflect our efforts to make important Middle School policies and practices clearer so that we can better achieve our divisional goals and the school’s mission. I encourage you to review the handbook with your child as this affords an excellent opportunity to talk about hopes and goals for the coming school year. If you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me before the start of the school year. Whether before school starts or during the year, my door is always open and I look forward to hearing from you. The following are a few important items to keep in mind as you review the handbook:
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The official start of the school day for Middle School students is 8:15AM. Morning homeroom will run from 8:15-8:30AM. It is important that students arrive to school on time. Please remember that students who are late to school and who do not have a note from their parent/guardian will be expected to make up this time at the end of the day.
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We have reconfigured advisory groups as follows: Advisory groups will be comprised of twelve students and two faculty advisors and will meet in fifth-sixth grade groupings and seventh-eighth grade groupings. These groupings will allow us to provide a more nuanced curriculum for the advisory program that will better meet the needs of advisees and advisors. The advisory program will continue to provide opportunities for students in all four grades to come together on a regular basis. Each fifth-sixth grade advisory group will have a buddy seventh-eighth grade advisory group. These buddy groups will come together throughout the year for discussion and activities. In the future, sixth graders will join their buddy advisory group when they move up to seventh grade. This will provide continuity in the advisory relationship as these students will already have had significant interactions with their seventh-eighth grade advisory through the buddy activities. This change will necessitate some reorganization of existing advisory groups, which may result in your child having a new advisor and some new members in her/his advisory group.
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Advisory groups will meet twice a week. On Tuesdays, advisories will meet from 8:15-8:30AM in lieu of homeroom. The Tuesday morning session will function as a check-in time for advisors to meet individually with advisees or for the group to check-in collectively. Advisories will also meet on Thursdays from 12:00-12:45PM. The Thursday session will be an open session for community-building and goal-setting activities and for discussions relevant to school issues and for issues taking place outside of the school community.
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The handbook also indicates some important changes to the quarterly progress reports, including changes to the checklist section (now called the “progress grid”) and clarifications about how grades are calculated. A final version of the new progress report with explanatory material will be available at Curriculum Night, which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 26th. Thanks to all of you who provided feedback last year on the progress reports as we embarked on this project.
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I have also posted to the website a document that contains several of the letters of communication that faculty members may send out as email during the course of the year. We recognize that these letters have a formal tone, but we feel that they contain important information that you should know about your child’s progress. In addition, this information allows for better coordination among Middle School faculty members. It is helpful if you read these letters now so that you are familiar with their form. You can access the letters at http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/MS_Emails.pdf.
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With regard to communication, please make sure to keep of abreast of Middle School and schoolwide events by reading the weekly blog, which you can access at any time at http://lrei-ms-news.blogspot.com. The blog is updated every Thursday afternoon.
As I mentioned in the spring, we welcome the following new teachers to the middle school team this year:
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Wendy Bassin – Fifth grade core teacher
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Stephen Volkmann – Seventh and eighth grade science teacher
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Carin Cohen – Seventh and eighth grade art teacher
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Laurie Baum – Learning Specialist (Laurie will join us towards the end of September when Jennifer Haakmat goes on maternity leave)
In addition to these new faculty members, the following returning faculty members will take on new responsibilities as follows:
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Frank Portella – Sixth grade core teacher
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Noni Polhill – Eighth grade core teacher
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Ana Chaney – Fifth and sixth grade math teacher
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Margaret Andrews – Eighth grade math and math seminar teacher
Amidst travels, spending time with families and friends, and reflecting on the past year, many returning faculty members spent time this summer focusing on their curricula and on life in school in general:
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Fifth grade core teacher Heather Brandstetter researched new texts for inclusion in the fifth grade core program and developed a series of units with a social justice theme to accompany these new additions to the reading curriculum.
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Fifth and sixth grade science teacher Sherezada Acosta taught a robotics class as part of the LREI Summer Institute and with Middle School computer coordinator Steve Neiman participated in the Logo Summer Institute that was held at LREI. The focus of the institute was on the Logo programming language that we use for Microworlds and the Middle School robotics curriculum.
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At the end of the summer, Sherezada traveled to Egypt where she was a presenter at the SEED Collaborative Workshop. The workshop provided a hands-on intensive experience for teachers that focused on creative uses of educational technology through project- and inquiry-based learning techniques.
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Middle School librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan taught a class on Young Adult Literature in the library science graduate program at Queens College, expanding upon and adding to her knowledge of literature for adolescents, and sharing her great enthusiasm for Young Adult Literature with future youth librarians and teachers.
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Fifth and sixth grade art teacher Melissa Rubin attended a weeklong workshop focused on incorporating writing activities into the arts. Melissa will incorporate this experience into activities for students and will share these practices with other members of the art department.
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Seventh grade core teacher Matthew Rosen served as a member for the faculty for the Regis
High School Reach Summer Program. Through the experience, Matthew continued his work on implementing the reading and writing workshop.
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Seventh and eighth grade Spanish teacher and dean Gabrielle Keller traveled to Scotland to attend an Explorica Convention for experienced trip leaders. Gabrielle met with Explorica directors to discuss how to enhance the trip experience for students and teachers.
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Eighth grade core teachers Sarah Barlow and Noni Polhill worked on the development of a service-based “Social Justice Activism Project” for eighth graders that connects to their year-long theme “Choosing to Participate.” Sarah was also a keynote presenter at the Facing History and Ourselves Summer Institute that was held Teachers College.
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Noni and sixth grade core teacher Frank Portella served as the principals for GO Project Summer at Grace Church School. GO Project is an academic support program for elementary students in the downtown public schools. Seventh and eighth grade science teacher Stephen Volkmann who taught an enrichment course joined them. Frank also taught a creative writing class as part of the LREI Summer Institute.
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Athletic Directors Marcus Chang and Larry Kaplan created a handbook for LREI coaches and a handbook for student athletes and their families. These two documents will help to move the LREI athletic program to the next level.
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In addition to teaching a physical challenge course and a media literacy course as part of the LREI Summer Institute, Marcus also worked with Director of Diversity and Community Sharon DuPree to create a series of diversity focused activities to be used in classes in the Middle School.
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Middle school math teachers Ana Fox Chaney and Michelle Boehm attended a five-day mathematics and technology conference organized by The Discovery Institute at the College of Staten Island. The meetings explored the mathematics curriculum with a special focus on technology's impact and application in the classroom.
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Middle School music teacher Henry Chapin worked with a variety of computer-based music composition programs, which will find their way into a number of new units in the music program.
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Middle School French teacher Sharyn Hahn attended an Apple workshop that explored the use of Ipods and podcasts in the classroom. This work will lead to some new and interesting uses of these technologies in the foreign language classroom.
A most impressive list and reflective of the commitment that LREI faculty have to their own continued professional growth. Rest assured that whether connected to the projects noted above, or through the day-to-day work that the teachers have planned for students, we have many thought provoking and challenging activities planned for the coming school year.
A few specific reminders:
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Foreign Language—If you are a sixth grader or a student new to LREI and have not informed me of your choice for foreign language, please call to discuss this.
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New Student Orientation—All students new to the Middle School (all fifth graders and sixth-eighth graders new to LREI) are invited to join us for an orientation session on Wednesday, September 6th at 9:00AM in the Sixth Avenue auditorium. Faculty and returning students will be on hand to answer all of your questions and to let you know the inside scoop on being an LREI middle schooler. Families are invited to attend.
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Summer Reading—Fifth through seventh graders should bring summer reading assignments to school on the first day. If you are not sure if you have completed all that you have to do, check out the summer reading section of our website— http://www.lrei.org/libres/sr06.html.
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Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red School House Chorus (grades 3-5) meets on Thursdays from 3:00-3:45PM. The Little Red Singers (grades 6-8) meets twice a week for 45 minutes (Mondays, 8:00-8:45AM and Wednesdays, 3:00-3:45PM). The Little Red School House Chorus is directed by Helen Yoo and Little Red Singers are directed by Henry Chapin. The Middle school band meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:45PM. All instrumentalists and vocalists are invited to attend. The focus of the band is on performance and not individual instruction. Henry Chapin also directs the band.
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New Parents—you are invited to a cocktail party hosted by Board Chair Michael Patrick (LREI ’71) and his wife Carol Sedwick— Thursday, September 14th at 6PM, at the home of Michael and Carol, 250 West 94th St. 15E
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LREI Medical Forms—please make sure that you return all medical-related forms to School Nurse Kitty Highstein before the first day of school.
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Greenkill--Fifth and sixth graders will leave for their three-day outdoor education trip to the Greenkill Environmental Center on Wednesday, September 20th. Please read and complete the forms that have been enclosed in this mailing.
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Middle School Curriculum Night – Tuesday, September 26th at 6:30PM. All are invited to attend.
Among the highlights of the Middle School program are the overnight trips taken by each Middle School grade. The fifth and sixth grades begin our trip program for the year with their annual journey to the Greenkill Environmental Education Center. This three-day experience provides an excellent opportunity for the middle school students and faculty to learn together in a setting that helps to further the sense of community that is so important to our program. In late-October, seventh graders will travel to Williamsburg, VA as part of their study of Colonial America. Eighth graders will travel to Gettysburg, PA and Washington DC in May as a part of their two-year study of American history. All children will participate in the trip program. In addition, our two optional foreign language trips will take place over Spring Break.
That’s all for now. With the start of school just around the corner, I hope that you make the most of these last days of summer and that you return with interesting experiences and stories to share as we embark on new and exciting adventures in the fall.
See you soon,
Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal
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