As part of our celebration of the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year on February 7, we enjoyed a special lunch treat and some special decorations. Chef Jeff Palmieri provided Chinese Zodiac placemats, and so our students naturally all wanted to discover whether they were horses, rats, boars, or others of the animals assigned to each of the twelve years in the zodiac cycle. At the table where I sat, Simon Hetzler figured out, thanks to our year-long celebration of our fiftieth, that Applewild’s Animal Sign was the “Cock” or Rooster.
When we read the attributes of those born in the Year of the Rooster, we agreed that the positive characteristics fit Applewild remarkably well: “A pioneer in spirit, you are devoted to work and quest after knowledge.” Our founding Head, Bill Laverack, used to say that Applewild was founded with the vision of providing an excellent education for area residents in a school with heart. Certainly all the many ways that we are devoted to working and seeking knowledge are done with that sense of heart. Those of us at the table decided, by the way, that “selfish and eccentric” were not at all accurate descriptions of Applewild. What really impressed me was that my table of fourth and fifth grades all knew what eccentric means!
High Level “Work” at Applewild
Work is accomplished by students at Applewild in a variety of ways, but often our students do not call it “work.” Whenever one’s passion is ignited in any quest, it leads to exuberance, energy, and joy. Our hope as parents that our children will lead happy, fulfilling lives probably includes that they will find their passion and pursue it successfully. That is what we as teachers and parents partner to achieve and is why it is so important to provide high level experiences in a variety of academic, arts, athletic, social, service, and leadership opportunities.
As educators we are by profession fascinated by how many ways one can learn and what the lessons are that are retained. Having just enjoyed the Tuesday run of Chocolate War, the Upper School play, because I will be attending a conference at the end of February, I know that its cast has internalized the powerful lessons about peer pressure and how hard – and important – it is to live by one’s convictions. The play challenges us as an audience and cast members and, as such, is another example of our high expectations of our students and how we stretch them. Because we know how valuable it is to integrate student learning – to make connections – the cast will be involved with helping the Upper School debrief about the play as part of our advisory curriculum. This will make it more likely that our students will also internalize and retain the message, too; and certainly if you see the play, I encourage you to also engage in conversation about the issues presented.
Parent Partnership
With regard to that notion of mutual support and partnership, our first Survey Monkey Questionnaire is being sent out via email link with this week’s Friday Envelope email notice. If you do not receive it via email, please contact Jeanne May and ask for a hard copy that you can fill out and return to her. I hope that you will take the 8 – 10 minutes needed to give us feedback on some questions that I mentioned in my last HEADlines. We are interested in your thoughts about communication, including use of the web and email, and about your input on parent programs and scheduling of events. We are also curious as to how our parents respond compared to the recent NAIS national survey results about what parents value most in schools.
It is important for us to gather input from our families. We have conducted two questionnaires in the last four years as a natural part of our desire to partner well. The regular, personal feedback from families to teachers, advisors, and administrators is always essential. I just received a grateful parent’s praise of five of our teachers for going out of their way to demonstrate their support for and affirmation of one of our students, for example; and we are working with some families on individual concerns, as well. We need to know how you are feeling about your students’ experience at Applewild. This more generic, anonymous survey may provide us with a simple way to gather feedback on specific questions that we may have for families. My thanks once again to Parent Association President Lisa Bakstran for her time and creativity to help us learn how to use this survey. As I mentioned last month, any mistakes are mine; all the praise should go to Lisa!
Personnel Announcement
I am pleased to introduce Hannah Hall-Alicandro to our community as our long term substitute in art for children in grades K – 3. Lisa Montanaro has unfortunately been out on leave and will remain out for the remainder of the year. Hannah holds a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Arts in Art Education from The College of New Rochelle. She has taught art for 16 years, including many as an elementary art teacher. Ten of those years were spent at Bancroft. Hannah lives in Princeton with her husband and two children. She began meeting our students this week and will commence in earnest after March break.
I hope that you enjoy beginning to hope for spring that March brings, and that you and your family enjoy some time together over the March break.