Day one of the conference had both a national and local PNW feel to it. The day was book-ended with inspirational speeches from Wes Moore and Patti Solis Doyle - not to mention Charles Blockson and Zohra Zarwari. It's like a three ring circus here, so I had to make some choices; but here are links to all of these remarkable people:
Charles Blockson
Zohra Zarwari
Patti Solis Doyle
I actually spent most of Day 1 much "closer to home" as I watched a screening of a remarkable movie, Why Us? Left Behind and Dying that represents the collaborative efforts of adults and young people on the critical issue of high rates of HIV in African-American communities.
I was moved by the film; and I was especially proud that our own Rosetta Lee sponsored the presentation and has helped in developing curriculum to accompany the project. I also attended a presentation by the Head of Lakeside School and several other administrators on how they have developed their professional development for faculty and staff over the past decade or so. There is much to be learned just down the street! And, frankly, our small school has accomplished some things that we need to share with other schools.
Tomorrow, I will be meeting with several representatives from Seattle schools who are interested in discussing possible ways to engage faculty of color from beyond our region in a concerted outreach effort. Stay tuned!
Please take a look at the film trailer above. We have several copies available to us at SGS. Until tomorrow!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Arrival in Philadelphia
Settling in for the evening. Hope you will join me and other bloggers to get a sense of what POCC-SLDC is all about.
Other POCC bloggers @
http://pocc.nais.org/item.cfm?ItemNumber=155863&navItemNumber=155864
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
I want to take the opportunity of this Veteran’s Day to highlight a woman of great significance featured at each year’s SGS luncheon, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. At our annual luncheon we honor women in our community who have achieved great things in their chosen field with the Grace Hopper Awards. It is our hope that the SGS 7th graders in attendance, and hosting the event, will be inspired by the example of the winners as well as by the story of Admiral Hopper. Who was Grace Hopper?
She was an accomplished mathematician who achieved the rank of associate professor at Vassar in 1941. Coming from a family with military traditions, she resigned her Vassar post to join the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in1943. She was commissioned a lieutenant and reported to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University, where she was the third person to join the research team of professor Howard H. Aiken. Hopper outlined the fundamental operating principles of computing machines. After the war, she was appointed to the Harvard faculty as a research fellow, and in 1949 she joined the newly formed Eckert-Mauchly Corporation.
In 1983, she was promoted to commodore in a ceremony at the White House and two years later, she became Admiral Hopper. She was one of the first strategic "futurists" in the world of computing. Perhaps her best-known contribution to computing was the invention of the compiler, the intermediate program that translates English language instructions into the language of the target computer.
She was very proud of her service to her country, and she was buried with full Naval honors at Arlington National Cemetery on January 7, 1992.
Tomorrow, we honor Grace Hopper as a veteran of our nation; and on March 29th, 2012, we will honor two more Grace Hopper Award winners for the whole of their achievements. For more information on the SGS Luncheon and the Grace Hopper Awards, go to:
http://www.seattlegirlsschool.org/sgs-luncheon.php
For our students, the notion of demonstrating all that they have achieved will become very real in grade 6. They – along with their teachers - have been very busy preparing for the first Culminating Event of the year.
cul·mi·na·tion/ˌ kəәlməәˈ nāSHəәn/Noun The highest or climactic point of something, esp. as attained after a long time.
At SGS, culmination is a time for the girls to “stand and deliver” and show us what they have been learning. It is a time for “big ideas,” working collaboratively, and presenting models, art, and writing – among other things. It is also a time of some stress given that we are also teaching the reality of deadline, product, and audience. Please support all 6th graders with encouragement and attendance at 6th Grade Fall Culmination:
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants!
Part I: Culmination of Studies on Machines and Inventions
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Part II: Culmination of Studies on Ancient Civilizations
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
For more information on 6th grade culmination, go to:
http://sites.google.com/site/sgs6th/standingontheshouldersofgiants
She was an accomplished mathematician who achieved the rank of associate professor at Vassar in 1941. Coming from a family with military traditions, she resigned her Vassar post to join the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in1943. She was commissioned a lieutenant and reported to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University, where she was the third person to join the research team of professor Howard H. Aiken. Hopper outlined the fundamental operating principles of computing machines. After the war, she was appointed to the Harvard faculty as a research fellow, and in 1949 she joined the newly formed Eckert-Mauchly Corporation.
In 1983, she was promoted to commodore in a ceremony at the White House and two years later, she became Admiral Hopper. She was one of the first strategic "futurists" in the world of computing. Perhaps her best-known contribution to computing was the invention of the compiler, the intermediate program that translates English language instructions into the language of the target computer.
She was very proud of her service to her country, and she was buried with full Naval honors at Arlington National Cemetery on January 7, 1992.
Tomorrow, we honor Grace Hopper as a veteran of our nation; and on March 29th, 2012, we will honor two more Grace Hopper Award winners for the whole of their achievements. For more information on the SGS Luncheon and the Grace Hopper Awards, go to:
http://www.seattlegirlsschool.org/sgs-luncheon.php
For our students, the notion of demonstrating all that they have achieved will become very real in grade 6. They – along with their teachers - have been very busy preparing for the first Culminating Event of the year.
cul·mi·na·tion/ˌ kəәlməәˈ nāSHəәn/Noun The highest or climactic point of something, esp. as attained after a long time.
At SGS, culmination is a time for the girls to “stand and deliver” and show us what they have been learning. It is a time for “big ideas,” working collaboratively, and presenting models, art, and writing – among other things. It is also a time of some stress given that we are also teaching the reality of deadline, product, and audience. Please support all 6th graders with encouragement and attendance at 6th Grade Fall Culmination:
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants!
Part I: Culmination of Studies on Machines and Inventions
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Part II: Culmination of Studies on Ancient Civilizations
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
For more information on 6th grade culmination, go to:
http://sites.google.com/site/sgs6th/standingontheshouldersofgiants
Monday, October 31, 2011
SGS Grade 5 Take "Toxic Tour" of Duwamish
News item in West Seattle Herald
Fifth-graders from SGS joined Nova High School students on the 39-foot Admiral Jack pontoon boat Thursday for a toxic tour of the Duwamish River. They left from Harbor Island Marina. The tour was sponsored by the Duwamish River Clean-up Coalition, or DRCC, and led by its director, James Rasmussen, a Duwamish River expert and member of the Duwamish tribe, and Alberto Rodriguez, with DRCC education and outreach. They were on hand to discuss the river's history, including its critical role in the lives of the Duwamish Indians, as well as causes for its pollution, and possible solutions. They also fielded a boat load of adult questions from the kids who apparently had done their homework on the waterway.
Link to Article
Fifth-graders from SGS joined Nova High School students on the 39-foot Admiral Jack pontoon boat Thursday for a toxic tour of the Duwamish River. They left from Harbor Island Marina. The tour was sponsored by the Duwamish River Clean-up Coalition, or DRCC, and led by its director, James Rasmussen, a Duwamish River expert and member of the Duwamish tribe, and Alberto Rodriguez, with DRCC education and outreach. They were on hand to discuss the river's history, including its critical role in the lives of the Duwamish Indians, as well as causes for its pollution, and possible solutions. They also fielded a boat load of adult questions from the kids who apparently had done their homework on the waterway.
Link to Article
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Miss Representation
When the documentary Miss Representation premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, audiences were riveted and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network acquired its broadcast rights.
The film explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence.
It will premiere in the US on Oct. 20th at 9pm ET.
Get involved at: http://missrepresentation.org/
Click here for trailer
The film explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence.
It will premiere in the US on Oct. 20th at 9pm ET.
Get involved at: http://missrepresentation.org/
Click here for trailer
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Rigor Redefined
In a few weeks, students and their families will be scheduling their first Learning Team Meetings of the academic year. This will be an opportunity for your daughter to take a lead role in her own learning as “chair” of this team. With more or less scaffolding depending on the grade, she will set goals, identify both strengths and weaknesses, provide exemplars of work, and set the stage for end of term narratives that will provide an in-depth of view of what the grade has been doing collectively and what your child has achieved individually. When that narrative comes home, what will you be looking for as evidence of success? I want to plant a seed for a redefinition of a phrase we often hear, “academic rigor.” What do we define as rigorous at SGS?
Tony Wagner, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests that even our best schools are not always preparing students for 21st century careers and citizenship. He identifies seven survival skills for the future:
Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration and leadership
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination
He bases his conclusions on both classroom observations and conversations with leaders in business, non-profit work, philanthropy, and education. He describes a “rare class”
where academic content is used to develop students’ core competencies, such as those suggested above; where complex, multi-step problems are regularly featured, where students seek multiple solutions that require creativity and imagination; and where success requires teamwork. I certainly hope that this classroom sounds familiar to you, because it is what we strive for at Seattle Girls’ School, I observe this type of learning everyday within our walls, and often beyond them in “being there” experiences.
Take a look at Tony Wagner’s entire article at another blog site - http://lessonslearnedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2010/07/rigor-redefined-by-tony-wagner.html
What do you think of this redefinition of academic rigor? I would love to hear your perspectives and feedback.
Tony Wagner, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests that even our best schools are not always preparing students for 21st century careers and citizenship. He identifies seven survival skills for the future:
Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration and leadership
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination
He bases his conclusions on both classroom observations and conversations with leaders in business, non-profit work, philanthropy, and education. He describes a “rare class”
where academic content is used to develop students’ core competencies, such as those suggested above; where complex, multi-step problems are regularly featured, where students seek multiple solutions that require creativity and imagination; and where success requires teamwork. I certainly hope that this classroom sounds familiar to you, because it is what we strive for at Seattle Girls’ School, I observe this type of learning everyday within our walls, and often beyond them in “being there” experiences.
Take a look at Tony Wagner’s entire article at another blog site - http://lessonslearnedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2010/07/rigor-redefined-by-tony-wagner.html
What do you think of this redefinition of academic rigor? I would love to hear your perspectives and feedback.
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