Friday, October 30, 2015

Week of November 1, 2015

Learner Profile: Caring 

"Care theorists and character educators agree that the way to a better world is more likely to depend on better people than on better principles, but a question arises as to how we might produce better people." Nel Noddings, Educating Moral People
One of my favorite philosophers (some people have favorite athletes or actors...I follow theologians) is a contemporary ethicist whose career began teaching elementary school. Nel Noddings has pioneered a branch of ethics that she framed as the "ethics of care." In contrast to other ethical models, which might begin with an abstract ideal or a series of principles, the ethics of care begins with the person and with relationships because, as she writes in Educating Moral People, "we remain at least partly responsible for the moral development of each person we encounter." (15) For Noddings, a moral education has four essential components: modeling (by the educators), dialogue (not debate), deliberate practice, and confirmation. "To confirm others," she writes, "is to bring out the best in them...[W]e draw the cared-for's attention to his or her better self. We confirm the other by showing that we believe the act in question is not a full reflection of the one who committed it." (20) 

 How to begin mastering and modeling this kind of ethics? Noddings offers six easy steps. 
  1. Be clear and unapologestic about the goal of a moral education.
  2. Take care of affiliative needs.
  3. Relax the impulse to control.
  4. Get rid of program hierarchies.
  5. Give at least part of every day to themes of care. 
  6. Teach students that caring in every domain implies competence.
So easy, right? A Noddings Academy would be very different from most schools operating today, but these insights resonate with our program and our culture in obvious and implicit ways.

Items of note...

Advisory this week...

Experience Days Followup

If you have any photos from Experience Days, please upload them to Vidigami - our families and colleagues will surely enjoy a glimpse. Likewise, if you have any particularly Tweetable moments, please send them my way!

 While Experience Days are fresh, please take a moment to reflect and capture some feedback. Some questions to consider: 

  • Planning
    • What went well? What didn't go well? 
    • What needed more time for research or preparation?
    • What kinds of offerings were missing?
  • Implementation 
    • What went well? What didn't go well?
    • What kinds of logistical problems emerged that put a wrench in the plan?
    • How did students do? Any feedback from them?
  • Followup
    • Does your experience require any followup with particular students or with particular sites (either because something bad happened, or because you want to bolster something positive)?
    • Do you or students want to create or sustain any programming, curricular connections, or activities out of this experience?
  • Big picture
    • What is the purpose or mission of Experience Days? Why do we do it?
    • What kinds of curricular or programmatic connections do you see between Experience Days and the total program of the Middle School? of MYP?
    • Can you envision a different structure for Experience Days (a different time of year? different themes? split the days to different times of year? connect them to anticipating Journeys?)?

Conferences

Conferences begin this week! If you feel that I should be on call for any particular meeting, for whatever reason, please let me know!

Progress Reports

  • End of Quarter 1: 
    • Letter from Advisor: 
      • 1st paragraph: common to all Advisees, briefly summarizing how First Quarter has gone for the Grade Level and for your Advisory.
      • 2nd paragraph: unique to each Advisee, briefly summarizing how First Quarter has gone for her/him and framing the conversation for Conferences; if applicable, indicate an attribute of the Learner Profile for which s/he demonstrates strength or which is a challenge.
      • 3rd paragraph: common to all Advisees, briefly summarizing what's ahead for the Grade Level and/or for the Advisory and reminding families to sign up for conferences if they haven't already.
    • Grades to Date: 
      • A list of current grades in each Course; this is not a transcript grade, but a status update that shouldn't be a surprise to families after the October Grade Check.
    • Brief Course Summaries: 
      • 2 sentences summarizing what was covered in First Quarter in each course.
Updated 2015-2016 First Quarter Calendar for Reporting
  • 23 Oct 12:00pm Submit Course Summary to Course Summaries Q1 2015-2016
  • 9 Nov 8:00am Submit Advisor Letter to appropriate folder
  • 9 Nov 8:00am Submit Grades to Date for Q1
  • 9 Nov Administrative Review of Advisors’ Letters and Grades to Date
  • 10 Nov 3:10pm Publish Q1 Progress Reports (Advisors’ Letters, Grades to Date, Course Summaries)
For a full plan for Progress Reports, click here.

Lessons & Carols

On Tuesday, December 15, the Middle and Upper Schools will celebrate Lessons & Carols. The schedule is still being finalized, but it will be something like this:
  • 3:10pm End of the School Day
  • 4:00pm Light Dinner for Students in the Dining Room
  • 5:00pm Lessons & Carols
  • 6:00pm Reception in the Great Hall for Families; Checkout for Students from the 10th Street Entrance/Library
  • 7:00pm End of the event
This will require some extra hands for supervision for the end of the school day, dinner, and checkout at the end of the night - maybe 4 or 5 people. If you're particularly eager to help out, please let me know!

Grandparents' Day

On Friday, December 18, the Day School will celebrate Grandparents' Day. This is going to follow a slightly different format than years past. The tentative schedule for the event is below; items in purple pertain to the MS. We have two things to think about:
  • Advisory & class schedule from 8:00am-12:00pm
  • 1:00pm program for guests: considering the guests who are visiting that day and the geography of the MS, we may want to consider a program in a single space (like the Kemper Center) instead of asking everyone to traipse through our hallways; this could be a combination of various things - musical performance, academic course expo, creative activity...
If you have any ideas for either of these items, please send them my way!

2015 Grandparent’s Day & Lessons & Carols
10:30am-11:30am Curriculum/classroom time for EC (PS – K) grandparents & special friends
11:30am-12:15pm Early Childhood Lessons & Carols 
12:00pm-1:00pm Lunch (for Grands) in the Dining Hall
1:00pm-2:00pm Curriculum/Classroom time for 1st-8th Grade Grandparents & Special Friends
2:00pm-3:10pm LS Lessons & Carols; Reception for MS Grandparents & Special Friends in the Great Hall
3:10pm Great Hall open for families to regroup

A Little Night Music...well, a little afternoon music, anyway.

On Thursday, November 5, members of the Tacoma Symphony String Section will be giving a special presentation in the Kemper Theater for Annie Wright Students. With specially chosen repertoire they will be exploring the idea of "Story" as it is used in music. They will be performing twice, once for Lower School at 1:00-1:30pm and once for Middle and Upper School at 2:00-3:00pm.  As a finale for each show, the Middle and Upper school orchestras will join the professional players on stage for the last number. Parents are welcome.

Annual Fund Update

As of Friday, we are at $183,057.73 toward our $515,000 goal! Again, to those have contributed, thank you for your above and beyond generosity, and to all of you, thank you for what you do every day for students and for the school. 

MYP...

Communications...

Flash

This week's Flash (11/6) will include: 
  • MYP: Focus on the LP attributes Thinkers and Risk-Takers/Courageous
  • Academic Highlights on Math and Language Acquisition

Blogs

Don't miss the latest installments of The Dish from Mrs. Dicks or Joe Romano's AWSLibrary blog! 

Celebrations

It's a week late, but congratulations to Angelica, Clare, and the Student Council for organizing a fantastic 7th & 8th Grade Dance. Thanks, too, to chaperones Alice, John, Kyle, and Taralynn for being present and observant...and for being sage judges in the dance contest!

 All week, we've heard marvelous reviews of each of the Experience Days offerings this week. Congratulations to each of you for creating and leading these experiences for our students!

Religious & Cultural Observances coming up...

Upcoming at AWS...

Sunday, November 1
2:00am Daylight Savings Ends! Set the clocks back an hour and enjoy an extra hour of sleep (unless your children, pets, or internal clock get in the way)

 Monday, November 2
Lost & Found items will be laid out for retrieval.

Tuesday, November 3
No Grade Level Team Meeting Today to accommodate Family Conferences. No conferences? Write Advisory letters or do some MYP planning!

Wednesday, November 4
2:10pm MS Faculty Meeting (Facilitator: Emma; Recorder: Kyle)

Thursday, November 5
Photo Retakes
2:00pm Tacoma Symphony Performance in the Kemper Center (All MS Students & Faculty)
2:10pm MS Athletics Fall Postseason/Winter I Preseason Coaches Meeting

Friday, November 6
2:10pm Fall Athletics Celebration

 Wednesday, November 11
Admissions Visit Day: Regular uniform for students; smart/formal dress for faculty & staff

 Thursday, November 12
Journeys Parents Meeting (only Journeys coordinators need to attend; all others are welcome)

 Saturday, November 14
Faculty In-Service (schedule TBD)

Other Team Meetings Agendas:
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