Author Archives: Adele deBiasiPelz

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Performing Arts Department Meeting Notes 4/5/22

Submitted by: Aedin Larkin

Present: Nick, Carrie, Joan and Aedín

We spoke about the drama position and how the hiring process was coming along. It is a very big job- 110%. Megan used to direct the HS musical and when she stopped Joanne took it over on top of her full workload.

What is the structure of the performing art department? We talked about presenting a restructure proposal of our department to our administration. The HS may benefit from an additional drama teacher to teach technical theater. There is nowhere to build sets nor do we have the full time personnel to support kids who want to work with their hands in theater. We don’t have the full scope of the curriculum from the 4’s through 12th grade and we need to begin collecting information from the members of our department to find out what their job description entails and what their curriculum looks like.

Some questions we asked ourselves: What is the philosophy driving the performing arts at LREI? What does access and equity in the PA department look like?

Difficulties that have arisen this year include lack of management over the PA spaces and calendar. Calendar in general – scheduling shows/performances alongside trips. It would be helpful to have one person in charge of spaces.

Upcoming Events:
Protest Music Elective (Nick) Wednesday April, 13th 9:00am
PA Night Middle School April 20th
MS musical May 19,20, 22
Spring Festival of Plays and PA Saturday May 21st
Spring Concert May 26th
LREI Street Fair June 4th

We began looking at the Curriculum Assessment Tool/ ideas for summer working groups and started documenting HERE.

Next time we meet we will continue the discussion and think about specific approaches to teaching and pedagogy.

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Visual Arts Dept. Meeting 11/09/2021

Submitted by: james french

The Visual Arts Department met in the Middle School Science Lab – art rooms were unavailable – and all were present.

We began be touching base as we always do, checking in on what work/projects are being done in each others classes. We talked some materials and practices/technique.  Woven into that discussion was an examination of how our students are responding to being back full time this year and what it looks like.

Following that we dove into the DEI work. After sharing a version of the “What does equity and inclusion mean for our subject area? What are your goals? How will you approach it?” document provided by Kalil and Mark. We did a fifteen minute free write to consider what work we are doing and how we want to move forward and share our results. After the free write we each shared things we are doing in our classes that are responding to the questions posed. We came to the conclusion that since our classwork and approaches are so different that we could each take individual approaches. We intend to share our practices and results in a digital collection that will allow us to share and borrow from each other.

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PE DEIJ Work

Submitted by: Luis Hernandez

Notes for DEI in Gymnastics:

  • De-centering whiteness:
    • Always play music from people of color and include music from other countries.
    • When showing examples or videos of great gymnasts, choose gymnasts who are not white. 
    • I’m working on showing more men of color.
    • Working on showing some related skills from cultures/countries other than here, like Chinese Jumprope. 
  •  Inclusive Facilitation
    • Working towards hearing every voice in every class. I don’t call on the same kids twice in a class until every other voice is heard at least once. 
    • Choosing language that values the skills of a person with less ability as much as the skills of a person with more ability. A gain is a gain. 
    • Encouraging students to find ways to give feedback that is helpful and supportive while telling the truth. 
    • Working towards allowing more time for reflection.
    • I don’t have permanent outs or play competitive games in the lower grades. I do encourage kids to compete with themselves or against the clock, etc. 
    • Never divide by gender and include all kids in all events.
    • Only send kids outside in extreme cases, usually if there is a safety issue. 
  • Ability and differentiation
    • Always try to offer a scale of difficulty where kids can locate themselves. This is much harder without an assistant who is a gymnast. 
    • Working towards offering more difficulty. The lower end takes more teacher time and sometimes the higher skilled kids have to wait for attention. Again, this was easier with Randy.

Notes for DEI in 4-7th Grade P.E.:

  • De-centering whiteness:
    • Always play music from people of color and include music from other countries.
    • Acknowledging all ethnic groups 
  •  Inclusive Facilitation
    • Working towards hearing every voice in every class. I don’t call on the same kids twice in a class until every other voice is heard at least once. 
    • Choosing language that values the skills of a person with less ability as much as the skills of a person with more ability. A gain is a gain. 
    • Encouraging students to find ways to give feedback that is helpful and supportive while telling the truth. 
    • Working towards allowing more time for reflection.
    • Never divide by gender and include all kids in all events.
  • Ability and differentiation
    • Always try to offer a scale of difficulty where kids can locate themselves. 
    • Working towards offering more difficulty. 

 

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PE DEIJ Work

Submitted by: Luis Hernandez

At the PE Department meeting we had on 10/23. We talked about what we were working on last year. We also are setting goals for this year.

This is the first year the PE Department is participating in the Departmental goals in DEIJ work.  We are going to start or work with inclusivity in PE. How do we bridge the gap of skill and ability to help foster a fun and safe environment.

Two of the principles we will be focusing on from our Professional day on 10/08/21 will help guide us in this work.

  • Students have differing and overlapping needs.
  • Our actions as educators include the ways we give and receive feedback and speak to our beliefs, goals and values

Since we are new to the table we will have to do some research examining our common language and practices in PE.

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World Language Dept. mtg. 10/21

Submitted by: Adele de Biasi Pelz

Our department centered its conversation around some of the questions shared by the DEI Committee, recognizing that the World Language Department’s mission is by definition to include and reflect people, language, cultural diversity, and issues of immigration, social justice and human rights from a broad range of nations where the languages are spoken.

We described and shared the materials we are currently using to teach and reflect the cultural differences and contrasts in our respective languages and countries. The discussion ranged from the celebration of festivals and holidays in the lower school to a much deeper dive into the social, political, and racial issues reflected in the middle and high school  programs. We established from the start that one of our goals is to continue our move away from Eurocentric culture and to bring to the fore underrepresented people, cultures, and the inequity and bias reflected in our world today, taking every opportunity to remind our students of their privilege and their responsibility to engage, participate and effect the much needed change the world is poised to make.
Unable to separate our curriculum from the population and faces we are teaching, we recognize the integral perspective of our native and bilingual students, who are often hesitant to share their voices. We talked about how we are currently serving them and how we can involve them better by putting them in leadership roles and building their confidence and comfort in sharing their ethnic identities in an environment of whiteness.
Our department believes that respect for people, language, and cultural difference is at the center of the conversation on how to deconstruct bias. Exposing our students to the customs and people of varied cultures while acknowledging stereotypes and misperceptions can lead to greater cultural awareness, understanding and compassion.
Moving forward, we agreed to be more observant, sensitive, and open to trying something new in our classes, or doing something we already do differently. Learning a language is a life skill, so we will do it together, by being  open with our students, teaching them to ask for help and seeing vulnerability as a doorway to equality.
To be continued…..
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World Language Dept. mtg.

Submitted by: Adele

Talked about Self study
Talked about launching oral communication this year.
Discussed attention level of the l.S. students  and need for simultaneous activities.
How do we address short attention span and develop / create speaking activiites to accommodate those students.
– need for speech therapy also an obstacle
– integration of skills, writing, speaking, listening.
Hopefully this year will give us an opportunity to develop strategies and curriculum.
How do we accommodate native speakers and the wide range of levels in our classes.
This year we will explore how we teach oral communication skills in our classes and throughout the divisions.

Future dates for department meetings will be shared.