A Memorable Dance Assembly

After a hectic pre-vacation week of school and then a week of spring break, I am back in the office today and gearing up for the resumption of classes tomorrow. The buildings are quiet today, but they will be full of energy on Tuesday! On Friday, March 11--right before we adjourned for vacation--we held our annual 7th and 8th Age Dance Assembly. Always a festive affair, this year's version was extra special because it was the final one for retiring physical education teacher Jane Sewell, who is retiring in June after an outstanding career at Calvert that began in March 1974. Mrs. Sewell has orchestrated the dance assembly for decades, and will will surely miss her leadership next year. We thank Mrs. Sewell for her skillful teaching, passion for Calvert, and wonderful friendship!

Class #40--9th Age Art

Monday, March 7, 2011, 11:00 A.M. 9th Age Art Class. Class #40 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. Like a major league hitter “stuck” at 399 home runs while trying desperately to hit number 400, I was “stuck” at 39 classes for more than two weeks! Therefore, it feels great to be back in a classroom this morning. Mrs. Bishop’s eager 9th Age girls arrive with their smocks on and ready to work. In the spirit of Women’s History Month, the girls spent a few minutes discussing a piece of artwork by Eva Hesse. Mrs. Bishop then gives a detailed list of instructions to each table of students, and the girls return to work on their “Face Formula” project. This multi-period endeavor involves drawing five different people--with emphasis on the faces--weaving clothing for three of the five, and then incorporating fabric collages as well! Mrs. Bishop skillfully and kindly helps the students throughout the period. (I would offer to help, but I am not much of a clothing weaver, unfortunately). I am truly impressed by the girls’ creations! Enjoy the pictures below.

Lessons from an Adult Student

The highlights of my day are the moments I spend with students. As my readers know, I am shooting to observe 50 classes this year, meet with every Middle School advisory, and speak individually with every 8th grader. Today, I spent 30 minutes in 10-A (a fourth grade girls' homeroom) sharing my "Lessons from an Adult Student." I described the rigors of my doctoral program and stressed, above all, the importance of being a life-long learner. I shared four lessons that I learned during my three years at the University of Pennsylvania: 1) high-quality advising matters; 2) surround yourself with bright, talented people; 3) step up when a classmate needs help; 4) the "fast" tortoise wins the race, i.e. diligently adhering to a master schedule will allow one to complete a big project. The girls asked excellent questions throughout my presentation! The "cutest" one came from a girl who asked if I had to do any dissections while I was learning to be a "doctor"! I replied, "Fortunately, no, but we did dissect many, many books." :)

National Conference a Winner

I have had the privilege of attending the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference the last few days. The conference is being held in National Harbor, Maryland, which is a new "town" and conference center on the Maryland side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Over 4,000 independent school faculty, administrators, and trustees have gathered from all across the country to share ideas and learn about best practices. The keynote speakers have been excellent! Wendy Mogel, author of The Blessings of a Skinned Knee, was irreverent and quite funny as she offered common sense advice for parenting teenagers. Her new book--The Blessings of a B Minus--looks like a must read! I also heard Dan Heath speak about change. Heath co-wrote (with his brother, Chip) Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard, and he offered three overarching pieces of advice for those seeking to initiate and implement change in their personal or professional lives: Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, and Shape the Path? What do those phrases mean? You need to read the book to find out! Have a great weekend--I hope to see many Calvert parents at tomorrow night's Corks for Calvert event.

Class #39--7th Age Science

Thursday, February 17, 2011, 1:30 P.M. 7th Age Science Class. Class #39 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” expedition. Last week, the girls from 7-A discussed the moon, and today the sun is the focus of the class. As the period begins, the girls enthusiastically rattle off characteristics of the sun: made of gas, hot, can damage our eyes, center of the solar system, to name a few. The girls move from their seats to the rug, where they listen to Ms. Lacy read The Sun: Our Closest Star. In the question and answer time that follows, Ms. Lacy ensures that the class understand the basic facts about the sun, such as its composition and position in the solar system, i.e. the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth. These concepts are reinforced by the clever, entertaining five-minute video clip that follows. The girls move back to their seats, where they complete and then color a worksheet. By talking about the sun, hearing a read aloud, watching the “Rock ‘N Learn Earth Science” DVD, and then doing the worksheet, the girls have learned about the sun in a variety of different ways this afternoon. I am confident that, under Ms. Lacy’s skillful tutelage, the girls now understand the fundamentals of this very important star!

Class #38--6th Grade Music Class

Monday, February 14, 2011, 10:20 A.M. 6th Grade Music Class. Class #38 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. On a beautiful Valentine’s Day Monday, I am so pleased to be in Mr. Hardesty’s music class. Mr. Hardesty is our super-talented Middle School music teacher; he is in his 26th year at Calvert and, among several songs he wrote for Calvert, gave us the gift of “Silhouette Child.” Class has just begun as I walk in. Mr. Hardesty is talking about the musical contributions of the legendary Sam Cooke. Class quickly transitions over to the tiered performance area, where Mr. Hardesty reviews how to play an E-minor key on the guitar. The students are soon strumming away to “Horse With No Name,” accompanied by keyboard, tambourine, and drums! “Wild Thing” is soon to follow, and the music room is rocking! Please enjoy a bunch of photos below, and have a terrific week.

Class #37--5th Grade P.E.

Monday, February 7, 2011, 1:00 P.M. 5th Grade Physical Education Class. Class #37 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. Time for "Pirate Ball" in 5th grade PE! It is a Monday, and the students are full of energy. They come into the gym and complete their “dynamic warm-ups” without prompting. Mrs. Lears, our athletic director and PE teacher extraordinaire, divides the eager participants into red, yellow, green, and blue teams and sends the teams to their quadrants. In each of the four quadrants is a group of balls—red, yellow, green, and blue. The goal is to “raid” the opposing territories—without being caught, of course—and secure your team’s balls. So, the blue team tries to collect all the blue balls, the green team all the blue balls, and so on. There is a great deal of action, strategy, and passion involved! Please enjoy some photos below.

Class #36--5th Grade Science

Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 12:15 P.M. 5th Grade Science Class. Class #36 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. The students have hustled in from their “lunch recess” and settle into their seats in Mrs. Ossmus’s colorful, lovingly-decorated classroom. After showing students some old-fashioned paper fasteners, Mrs. Ossmus informs the class that the paper clip was invented in 1899. Did you know the world’s heaviest paper clip is 4,000 pounds? The record-setting paper clip is obviously very large, and it is made of solid metal. Metal has multiple properties: conducts heat and electricity, shiny, hard, malleable, and ductile. Ductility, as I learned today, is the ability to be pulled into thin wires without breaking. By 12:27, the students are making predictions about a “hardness vs. malleability” experiment they are about to conduct in class. How many times can the students bend a copper wire and a paper clip before the objects snap? Which is more malleable? Each student tests the two items. I can see their inquisitive expressions as I hear them counting the number of bends. I help out with bending a student’s paper clip, and the small clip is tougher than you might think! It turns out that the copper wire takes many more bends before it breaks, on average, than the paper clip. Therefore, we can state that the copper wire is more malleable than the clip. The class discusses which metals might be better for various tasks and structures, including an invention the students might make. I greatly appreciate both Mrs. Ossmus’s and the class’s enthusiasm today. In the pictures below, you will see a student bending a copper wire, another student holding a broken paper clip, and Mrs. Ossmus demonstrating the proper bending technique!