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 28th
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
