Post date: Nov 03, 2013 1:0:23 AM
Dear Parents & Students,
Tonight, as I left school, I experienced an interesting paradox -- after a packed week of conferences, I'm still invigorated and feeling quite energized. Strange, eh? Actually, when I consider the positive and productive tone of almost every meeting, it is not a surprise at all. I appreciated the students' maturity, the parents' support, and the variety of outcomes of each meeting. My thanks and adoration to all who participated and continue to prove just how amazing and effective this sort of school can be.
1. Science: Early this week the kids assembled their unit 2 packets and brought them home for your review & comment. Our unit on cells began with an introduction to various types of microscopes and how they work. The kids viewed a variety of everyday objects and used the equipment well. Next I showed them some basic parts of plant and animal cells. Next week they will be viewing live cells and learning about cellular exchange processes such as osmosis, diffusion, and active transport. This unit on cells is a quick but a fun one.
2. English: The main focus was making big progress on their collaborative stories and winding up our journey through Ender's Game. Pairs of kids made a character chart on Monday and then revisited it during lit circles today. We are planning to go to AMC 14 on Friday mid-morning to see the movie on its opening day to see how well One parent in our class is going to the midnight showing on Thursday night and will let me know if the movie is inappropriate for school but I am confident that actors Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield will portray the characters (and message) of this meaningful and timely juvenile-fiction novel without resorting to overly graphic violence or inappropriate content -- please let me know if you have objections or concerns to going to a movie on its opening day.
3. Social Studies: The kids did quite well with their current events discussions this time and they also got some great scores on their Arabian Peninsula quizzes. I'm encouraged to see so many of them learing what learning techniques work well for them and refining those skills. Most of the kids are now done with their "dig deeper" projects and some have started to do presentations to the class. Next week we'll find ways to do more of that in an efficient way as well as continue with the current study of Islam.
4. Quarter Closing: Today marks the end of first quarter, and if conferences haven’t provided enough reflection already, please let me know if there is anything about our time together that you would like to change or if you feel that we are on-track and progressing well. I still have some concerns about the number of missing assignments and shoddy work being done by many kids. I'm trying to stand my ground and hold kids accountable to high standards and age-appropriate levels of responsibility but it is sure a challenge to continually push kids to think more, work harder, and foster a demanding level of internal quality control. Although DCS (and I) believe that individual needs and flexibility (rather than conformity) should drive policy, if the exception becomes the expectation, then a student's work habits will suffer and the transition to the relatively rigid demands of high school might be quite jarring. Lets keep our class moving forward together and at a ambitious pace -- I wouldn't want any of the kids (or me) to get bored.