Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 10, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            At this morning’s meeting, we heard from many students about their adventures over the spring break.  It is fun to hear how excited they were about their various trips and experiences and it is obvious that, as parents, you are making every effort to enrich your children’s lives, whether on a trip to another state or by taking them to our Baltimore Zoo.  It seems that a lot of you took advantage of the many things that our state has to offer.  We are very fortunate to live in Maryland where we can be at either the beach or in the mountains in just three hours.

Today, I talked to the students a little about the importance of learning outside of school.  Often, you have more opportunities to expose your children to experiential learning than we do at school, and I encourage you to continue to provide those enriching experiences that are offered locally and in other exciting places. I also recommend that you always learn about your destination before going so that you have a good set of questions with which you can engage your children in meaningful discussions.  For example, many of us go “downey oshun,” where the object for the trip is the same for adults and children – relax on the sand and enjoy the waves.  But have you ever thought about all the questions that you could create just by being on the sand or in the water?

• What is sand?
• What is it made of?
• How long does it take to make sand?
• Why is sand so hot on a 90-degree day?
• How does sand change when mixed with water?
• What makes a wave?
• Why do waves curl?
• What causes the tides?
• And many more….

If you do your homework and research before going on family trips, you will be surprised at the level of conversation you can engage in with your children.  They are curious at any age, and when you share that curiosity nothing can be a more powerful learning tool.  One of my most memorable moments with my youngest daughter was one night when she was about nine, when we sat on a lifeguard stand looking up at the night sky.  I asked her if she thought it is possible to see the past and the present at the same time.  She said, “Daddy, how can you see the past? It’s gone.”  Look at the stars, I told her, and you will see the past in the present.  This confused her a little, until I explained that the light from those stars started out to reach our eyes millions of years ago and that what we were looking at right then was something happening long, long ago.  I wasn’t sure if she fully understood, but now, as 35-year-old young woman, she often talks of that time as one of the best experiences she ever had with her dad.  Now she explains the idea of the speed of light to my grandson.  She has added a challenge to her talk.  “Look at that star,” she tells Connor.  “Do you see it?  It’s not there!”

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 26, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            I’ll start today by giving you an update on our eighth grade students and their experiences in Costa Rica.  We have received reports from Ms. Elaine, and everything is going well.  The group arrived safely and has begun their experiences with a hike up to a volcano into which no one fell (joke).  Actually, they got to the site at which one can view the volcano and a large lake, and the mist at altitude hid both from view except for a brief moment when a breeze blew the mist away.  The hike was interesting as the students experiences the wildlife and jungle along the way.

In San Jose, our group has had the opportunity to work with a mask-maker and create traditional masks of their own.  They have also been dining on traditional dishes of beans and rice as well as dishes with fresh fruit and vegetables.  It appears that everything is going well and that the students are very enthusiastic about everything they are doing.  They are doing a good job of representing our school, too.  Even the TSA people in Miami complimented them!  Ms. Elaine and Mr. Ellis challenge the students right from the beginning, making them responsible for finding their way through airports and through the streets of San Jose.  Soon, they will be in the village where they will have more opportunities to demonstrate leadership.  I won’t be able to give you another update on the trip because the group will return on Friday, after which we begin our spring break.  However, at some point and in a Community Day meeting, the students will present a slide show of their trip.  I hope many parents will come to see how effective and enriching this international trip is.

            Speaking of Community Day, we had a great one on Friday when Loren Cornish visited to share his amazing art with the students.  We were very lucky to have him visit and he has promised to come back just to have more time to learn about our school.  I was very proud of our students on Friday as they responded to his questions demonstrating their deep understanding of creativity and self-expression.  In fact, he said at one point, “I came here with the intent of talking to you.  And now I am learning so much from you, it is much more interesting to hear what you have to say.”  On two occasions the responses he got from students nearly brought him to tears and he had to pause for a moment.  I guess we don’t always know what great kids we have here until someone from outside our school community experiences their talent and insight.  We are all doing a pretty good job, it seems.

We are most alive when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. -- Thornton Wilder

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 19, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Next Wednesday, our eighth graders depart for Costa Rica on their international trip.  While they are there, they will be immersed in an entirely different culture and will have many experiences that will last a lifetime.  The purpose of this trip is to give our oldest students at least an understanding of another part of the world and their connection to it.  As they interact with Costa Rican families and live with them in their village, they will learn the value of living within one’s means and using resources wisely in order to preserve family life and prosperity.

The village they will live in is in a rural part of Costa Rica, not one of the newly developed resorts or urban areas that have recently sprung up in this beautiful country.  Our students will participate in a service learning project (to be determined) that will assist the villagers and add to their quality of life.  Last year, our students helped to build a French drain to avert flooding of the road in the village and they also worked on the roof of the community kitchen.  I am sure this year’s group will return full of tales of their own contributions to the people they will certainly come to consider them as their new friends. 

The trip will not be all work.  Our students will have time to cool off at the local waterfall and pool and they will also get to experience a tropical rainforest up close and personal.  Good hikers will ascend a volcano and, along the way, see wildlife and vegetation that many have only experienced at the National Aquarium.

            For many years the international trip has been an important part of what we do here at GreenMount.  We believe that our students need to experience their world and from that experience learn the interdependence that we all share on this planet.  Our philosophy is clear; we want our students to “thrive in different environments” and be “connected to or grounded in real life experiences.”  Indeed, we will be doing this as part of our study of our own hometown during this last theme.  We are taking neighborhood walks and developing neighborhood guides.  We will travel to the Fire Museum, the Streetcar Museum, the American Visionary Art Museum and Federal Hill, the Keswick Senior Center, the Nancy Patz exhibition at Goucher College, and the Baltimore Museum of Industry, to name just a few.  Also, parents are welcome to join us as we have local artists and authors visit:

• Loring Cornish – 3/23  11:00 – 11:45
• Caleb Stein – 3/30  11:00 – 11:45
• Jennifer Bodine – 5/11 10:15 – 11:45
• Gilbert Sandler – 5/18 10:30 – 11:45

We have also contacted others and hope to add to this already impressive list.  We’ll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 13, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

                This morning, at our Monday Morning Meeting, we unveiled our new climbing wall and discussed safety and certain rules to follow.  Ms. Kelly will be receiving some personal staff development from Gary Dunn, of Alpine Inspirations, who has donated his time and energy consulting and then finally installing the holds on the wall.  Gary is very knowledgeable and has created many walls for gyms and specialty venues that offer this kind of activity.  He was very impressed with the job that our parents did in creating the wall and especially the mural, completed by Chris Marsico last week, which gives the authentic look of a rock face.  You should come in and see it.  Please make sure that you have completed the release form so that your child can participate in climbing activities.  For your peace of mind, here are some rules we will be following:

1. No one is allowed on the wall without adult supervision.
2. Students may not place their feet above the center line of the wall (4 feet from the floor).
3. A student starting from left to right on the wall must wait until the student in front of him/her has passed the center point of the wall under the basket.
4. Mats must always be in place (doubled) before any climbing can be done.
5. All climbers will be spotted as they climb.
6. Students will report immediately any holds that seem loose.

Today, we received some especially good news: our two teams who participated in “Destination Imagination” returned from this weekend’s tournament with first-place recognition!  This is quite a feat as they competed against teams throughout the city and county region.  Particularly significant is the fact that other schools in the competition typically have more students from which to choose; our small population would seem, therefore, at a disadvantage.  But these are GREENMOUNT STUDENTS who are confident and creative!  They only need to be given the opportunity and they rise to the occasion.  The students listed below (omitting last names) were coached by Linda Pietila and Dale Meyer, who gave a great deal of their time meeting with the students after school each week and sometimes on the weekends.  We are truly grateful for their participation.  I must mention how difficult their jobs are as coaches.  The students have to come up with solutions to the “problems” on their own.  The coaches can only be Socratic in their approach and cannot participate in the final product the students create.  They do, however, present the students with many problems to solve to teach collaborative work and critical thinking.  The competitive piece is the creation of the students only. 

The next step for our teams is the state competition, from which they could go on to a national and then the world competition.  Wow! This is a big deal!

Congratulations to our GreenMount winners:

GreenMount Soul Seven:                                                  

Chloe B.                                                                        

Eliza P.                                                                              

Sydney S.                                                                    

Tali S.                                                                              

Jeffrey O.                                                               

Tess P.                                                                       

Cecelia R.

 Gr 8t Kids:                                                                                                            

 Annie A.

Shanda N.

Casey Y.

Mattias H.

Nina D.

Elias M.

 ON TO STATE! – APRIL 14 

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 5, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Those of you who are age 30 or older probably have not recognized that the world’s population has doubled in the last three decades.  I recently read this in an article from Educational Leadership and was amazed that this could be true.  The author, Sir Ken Robinson, who I have mentioned before, includes this data to sound an alarm about how we are challenging the earth’s resources.  This trend will not lessen as the population continues to grow and we continue to put a strain on our energy consumption, land use, food and water resources.  It has even been suggested that the next big war might not be about religious differences or struggles for territory, but about who will have access to water. 

The author goes on to say that children starting school this year, our kindergarteners, will retire (maybe) around 2070.  Who can imagine what the world will be like then?  In fact, what do we know about the world five years from now?  Can you remember phone booths?  Think about how much change we have seen in the last ten years alone.  Ken Robinson makes the case for creativity because he feels that unless our students learn to be creative and innovative, they will not have the tools to be able to survive in the world that they will face.  They will have to be problem-solvers and work in cooperative groups.  They will need educational experiences that prepare them to tackle real-world problems with confidence and experience.  They will need to know how to deal with failure and to work hard to find a level of excellence in all that they do.  Ken Robinson points out that “you can’t be creative if you don’t do something.”

So how are we preparing our students for a future that we can’t imagine?  What do we ask students to do?  At GMS we discuss this a lot.  Most of our professional development is focused on how we can foster creativity and problem-solving with the goal of a cultural appreciation for excellence.  This is a tall order.  However, the work that we do and have done for many years is designed to accomplish this goal.  If you think about the projects we assign, the discussions we have with students, and the problems that they learn to tackle, we seem to be doing well with this preparation.  Interestingly, we have just recently discovered just how important the type of learning that happens here is.  When I hear that teachers at Poly or City applaud our students for their confidence and capabilities, I find proof that we are doing the right thing here.  However, I still feel a sense of urgency as we continue to refine our practice and the tools we are giving our students.  We will continue to grow in this respect as we encourage creativity in every student.  We also hope that you appreciate the challenges we present your children.  They will have many more in the world they inherit.

See Ken Robinson’s presentation on creativity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (February 27, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Recently, Ms. Tonette shared with me a Wall StreetJournal article entitled, “What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind?”  This article interested me for many reasons.  First, we now have a much better understanding of how students learn as a result of brain research that has been done over the last decade or so.  The article also described how the adolescent brain is caught in a struggle between the emotional center of the brain (the amygdala) and the area of the brain where decisions are made (the frontal cortex).  Unfortunately, for most young people, the amygdala has greater control of the brain and wins most struggles with logic and common sense.  This tiny, ancient center originated as the “survival” center and later became our center of those things that bring us pleasure and satisfaction. Combining the prehistoric survival instinct with the need to have fun, impress others, and win friends usually results in actions that even the teenager doesn’t understand.  It might even be that decisions that result in parents saying, “What was he thinking?” are made without thought and are simply a result of a revved-up amygdala locked in a “survival” mode.

The article compared a teenage brain to a car, saying that adolescents acquire an accelerator long before they can steer or brake.  Teens also often overestimate rewards and underestimate risks.  Even scarier in this scenario is the early exposure to drugs and alcohol during the teenage years.  We know that about 15% of our population has a predisposition to addiction to drugs (alcohol is a drug).  During those years when our amygdala is producing a lot of dopamine (the chemical in the brain from which we realize pleasure and satisfaction), it is easy for that 15% to become addicted as the drug replaces the dopamine and  the instinct for survival instead revolves around getting drugs.  Then the decision-making process is totally out of whack, and decisions that are made can have terrible consequences. 

As I read the article, I thought about our kids in grades 4-8 and some of the struggles they will, and are, encountering as they try to figure out who they are and how they fit in.  Sometimes, the banter I hear outside my office is totally amusing.  Some of the things that they say to one another are hilarious but often don’t make much sense, and I often find myself also wondering, “What are they thinking?”

But we have great kids here at GreenMount as well as involved parents who are successfully shepherding them through their stages of development.  And if you take anything away from today’s message, I hope it is that you will continue to be vigilant and never give up on your parenting skills.  We can do little to change brain chemistry, but we can provide an environment where decisions are discussed and reflection is a natural part of our children’s lives.  It’s a learning process. And in that process…

“Win small, win early, win often.” Gary Hamel

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (February 22, 2012)

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