Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 25, 2013)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            Ah, spring!  It is finally here and the crocuses are coming up in front of the school.  Soon, we will be enjoying the warm sun and that beautiful spring green around our area.  Gym classes will be outside, and instead of coats being left on the stage, they will be left on the grass.  Then there will be that tricky time between heating and cooling our building, which is always a challenge, especially since our weather in Baltimore is so finicky.  Nonetheless, it will change and the students will be chomping at the bit for summer vacation to begin. It will all happen too fast and before you know it, we will be in summer mode.  For now, we still have a lot of work to do. 

            Our third theme is coming along nicely as students are learning about the history of journalism and media.  Some great discussions are taking place about journalists’ responsibilities and the role of media in shaping opinion and even policy.  And speaking of experiential opportunities for students, our kindergarteners experienced what it was like to be a carrier pigeon with a message attached to their bodies.  Can you picture them “flying” around the gym, delivering their messages?  A subsequent discussion in class amazed Ms. Laura as the students identified all the disadvantages of using pigeons to carry messages.  Some comments were very practical, such as, “The pigeon could get shot!” or “The pigeon could be attacked by a hawk!”

(exclamation points always come after a kindergarteners comment). Other students recognized that the pigeon just might get tired and decide to go visit a pigeon cousin or that it was not his job to deliver messages.  We’ll have to have a lesson with the kindergarteners about what a “bird brain” is.  Teachers will be letting you know about some of the activities as we move forward and perhaps you can find a way to contribute in class as well.  Our thanks to Ann Foster for stepping up and creating an artistic and imaginative bulletin board for the theme.  I haven’t seen that much newspaper since the last time I moved.

            The other day I received a note from one of our second graders.  It came in an envelope and in very neat Denelian handwriting said, Dear Mr. Steve, I am having a great time at GreenMount.  GreenMount is awesome!  Love, ­­­­­______.  As I sit and look at this lovely sentiment, I am struck, as I often have been, by the power that lies within us as adults to bring about so many wonderful attributes in children.  This young student has a family that encourages independent thought and openly expressing feelings.  This student has teachers who provide the tools of self-expression and the skills necessary to put thoughts down on paper. And when I think of this child, who is benefiting from a supportive family and skilled teachers, I think of all the children in our school and the extent to which we mold them into the big people they will surely become.  Will they still love learning?  Will they still innocently express their feelings and opinions?

A lot of research out there, such as that done by Ken Robinson (How Schools Are Killing Creativity), indicates that as students get older they become more inhibited, less creative, and less communicative (talking that is).  I remember my own teenage son’s phone conversations (pre-Internet) that lasted about ten seconds and went something like, Hey, yeah, when?, Cool, Later.  He’s a great adult now, but he was a much more interesting 6-year-old.  And now that he has his own 11-year-old son, I can talk to him about trying to preserve the inquisitive, thoughtful grandson that I have.

I think we all have a responsibility to not make the assumption that children just “get it” as they grow older.  We need to continually stimulate their imaginations and to be thoughtful and deliberate in how we educate them about their world.  And in order to do that, we have to understand their world.  This is what we strive to do at GreenMount.  Why are our seventh graders so excited about the trip they took to help the homeless in D.C.?  I think it’s because it is real to them.  It is something that gives them the opportunity to make a difference and have value.  We tell a kindergarten student regularly that he or she is special and wonderful.  Let’s make sure we say the same thing for our middle school children, because they are, too.

            Cheers,  

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 18, 2013)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            This is an exciting week for us at GreenMount!  On Wednesday, our seventh and eighth grade students will embark on their respective journeys away from school, representing everything that is great about our school and our students.

Our seventh graders will be traveling to Washington, D.C., for an overnight visit to work with an organization that brings in young people to provide assistance for homeless individuals.  They and their chaperones will be sleeping in a church on Wednesday night and will return on Thursday.

The eighth grade students will be going a bit farther to Costa Rica for nine days, including travel.  They will start by learning what “0 Dark-Thirty” really means as they basically open the airport at about 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday.  They will spend a day in San Jose, after which they will depart to a remote village inland, which comes complete with a waterfall and a volcano.  But it won’t be all fun and games as they will complete an actual service project for the villagers there, with whom they will live for several days.  Every time we visit this village we bring school supplies for the children there because the village is very poor and they lack a lot of the things we take for granted.  Today and tomorrow we are asking for donations of school supplies (Mr. Fletcher sent you a list) or money to buy paper since it is too heavy to carry on the trip.  This is a great experience for the students and I will provide you with updates as the week progresses.  Ms. Elaine is great at texting us and keeping us informed about all the experiences that the students are having.

            We are very proud of the kinds of programs we have established for our students that allow them to experience the world in real terms.  From taking walking tours of Baltimore, where we learned about our own neighborhoods, to an ascent through the jungle to see a volcano, our kids get to experience things that help them appreciate their place in the world and the value of others.  We believe that these kinds of experiences shape young people and that they come away with a new appreciation for their fellow human beings.  These experiences also provide for some lifelong bonds, such as the ones we see form between the students who sweat and build together in Costa Rica when they return as a team that has learned the power they possess from working together.  If you want to see this bond in action, come to our community day when the eighth graders make a presentation about their trip.  We will announce that date once the students are prepared.

            As we plan for the new learning cottage that we will open in September, we realize that we will need more technology to support that learning environment.  We are looking at purchasing another netbook lab and projectors for the Mimio.  And as we contemplate our technology needs, we are thinking about the future and how we will be able to provide for what students will need in years to come.  We have heard that netbooks are being replaced by another generation of computers for schools even as we anticipate buying another lab for the school.  Many schools are actually embracing a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program and we are thinking about something like that to gradually augment the computers the school owns.  Several of our students currently bring their own laptops and they seem to like the idea of being able to save all their work on their own device rather than sharing with other students.  Those pesky flash drives have a way of going missing as well.

We will be discussing this some more as the new year begins in September, but I wanted to plant this seed in your minds now so that you can begin to think about how you might assist with your child’s assistive technology.  In a recent TV ad, I saw a Samsung Chrome laptop advertised for $249.  Wow, have the prices of laptops come down!

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 11, 2013)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Last week at this time I was actually listening to what the weather people were saying and my whole message was centered on the impending blizzard.  Needless to say, I assume that your kids did not get out and play some of the snow games I suggested. What a disappointment!  Then again, it was an opportunity for our students to rest up and maybe even catch up on some of those assignments they are missing.  And now the crocuses are up and the robins have made their comeback.  This weekend, families were out on the NCR trail walking, biking, fishing and hiking in shirtsleeves and shorts.  How the weather does turn in Baltimore.  Today, as I exited the JFX onto 28^th Street, I saw the daffodils sprouting on the reservoir hill.  It won’t be long now.  But don’t forget the blizzard of ’58!

            At today’s morning meeting we talked about cyber bullying and how we choose words that we use with others.  Some of the students were familiar with two recent events of cyber bullying that appeared in the news, and it was determined that just about everyone has either been bullied in this way or bullied others.  I was proud of the fact that the students acknowledged that they have used unkind words with others and that they recognize that they can be hurtful even if they think they are only “kidding”.  They were very attentive as we discussed how much words can hurt and the fact that cyber bullying has no face or voice.  We also discussed their responsibility for self-advocacy when someone says or does something hurtful to them.  I encourage you to discuss this further at home and to model for them the idea of self-advocacy.

           

            You may be aware that we have begun our final theme for the year titled, Printing Press to Paperless.  The overarching idea as stated for upper school students is as follows: “With the emergence of our industrialized nation, delivering news has evolved, requiring an audience of critical thinkers.”  For the lower school, this is stated in simpler terms as follows: “Getting the news has changed over the years and so have the people who receive it."  Students will be learning about the effect of media on our lives today as well as how it affected the lives of people over the many years since the invention of the printing press in 1456.  This will be an interesting theme requiring a lot of writing.  The students will come away with a much more critical eye on media today.  We think this will serve this generation well as they are part of a rapidly expanding age of information.

            Many of you are aware that Ms. Ali will be having a baby soon (It’s a girl!) and will be leaving at the end of the day on Wednesday for the rest of the year.  Blair Latraverse has been subbing for us and spent a week with Ms. Ali last week learning the routines and more about the students in the class.  She is well prepared to take over.  We will let you know when the blessed event occurs so that we can all celebrate a new member of the GreenMount family.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 4, 2013)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            It was April 12, 1958, long before most of you were born.  But I remember the date well.  It was the start of the blizzard of ’58, and it was APRIL!  Schools were closed for a week and the wet, heavy snowfall was nearly impossible to clear from streets.  True, my memory might have enhanced the facts surrounding this event (I was 14 at the time), but I do know that everyone was surprised that we had such a significant snowfall in what was supposed to be spring.  I suppose there was snow on the dogwood blossoms, although this is not something that a 14-year-old boy notices.  All I was interested in was getting to the hill at Conlon Field, near the Gwynn Oak golf course, with my sled and braving the steep slope that should have been serving as a natural bleacher for Little League baseball games that were scheduled for that weekend.

I was not interested in sitting home playing video games or endlessly texting my friends about what I was not doing.  This is obvious.  But nor was I interested in sitting home watching our 12-inch, black-and-white TV, selecting one of three channels which mostly consisted of those early soap operas in their infant years.  Besides, one had to actually get up from the couch to change the channels.  And as long as I had to move, I might as well have some fun in the snow.

            It sounds like our kids may have that opportunity on Wednesday.  Please remember to tune to WBAL-TV to find out if we are delayed or closed.  If you have not done so yet, now might be a good time to subscribe to WBAL’s automatic notification of closings for GreenMount.  You can find out how to do that on their web site. 

So, if we do get something significant, get the kids outside and let them get creative with the snow.  They could have a snowman contest in the neighborhood or play “Top the Snowman” by trying to throw a hat, Frisbee-style, onto the head of Frosty.  A tug-of-war is always fun in the snow, as is a game of football.  You can mark off the boundaries with a spray bottle with water and food coloring. How about making an obstacle course with snow mounds?  If kids must throw snowballs, try a game of snowball baseball.  Cans are stacked in a pyramid at each of the bases and each kid stands on the pitcher’s mound trying to knock over the cans at each base.

Another game involves tying a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

Finally, the hill at Greenwood, the Baltimore County School headquarters on North Charles Street, is a great place for sledding.  But watch out, there is a nasty gully if you go too far.  Teach your kids the art of bailing out!

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. – Mae West

Cheers,

Steve