Greetings GreenMount Community,
How do we
begin to describe the China theme event?
Those of you who have been attending theme events for some time surely
recognize the significance of this one.
We had the best participation by parents ever, with nearly 300 parents
and guests attending! We know that this was
in part due to the fact that we held the event in the evening, enabling many of
you frequently hampered by work schedules to attend. It was indeed rewarding to see so many of you
packed into our gym (probably over capacity, but who knew?). Also, the feedback we received was very
positive and many parents followed directions and asked the students questions
about the work they have done. Those
questions were answered with surprising insight and knowledge. I am so proud of our students and the
teachers who have guided them to this conclusion. We also had some feedback from visitors who
have never attended a theme event. As
you can imagine, they were amazed at the whole thing. Those of us who have been a part of fifteen
or more theme events can certainly appreciate what the kids accomplished and
the way they demonstrated their learning, and for some this kind of excellence
is what is expected. For someone
experiencing a theme event for the first time, it was very special.
Speaking of
excellence, we discussed with the students before the event the idea of how
their performances, displays, and demonstrations represent the concept of
excellence. They were right on when they
talked about showing parents that they truly care about how they showcase their
learning. I thought that this was a
breakthrough in the development of a culture of excellence that we are working
to institutionalize. I believe that we
are well on the way toward reaching our goal of having students work
intuitively to produce excellent products.
Now it is
on to our Baltimore theme. This morning,
a group of parents met to discuss ideas of how we might make this next theme
significant. We have a great opportunity
here to teach our students about the city in which most of them live and to
appreciate its history and unique characteristics. I was very impressed with
the knowledge our parents have about Baltimore.
Perhaps we have even more parents who have some interesting perspectives
on the city and how we might use your knowledge to enrich the learning of our
students. If you have suggestions,
please email them to me and I will be sure to share them with the staff. Thank you.
Yesterday
morning, I applauded our many students who learned some Chinese language. I then challenged them to decipher the
following Baltimorese:
“It spaced a snaid
mora. Better pitcher snay tars owen. Ah got me somefar stain tars at the Tee
Goz bay the Glimburny bopass.” What?
Cheers,
Steve
