Working With and Caring For
Dear Families,
With the new year only two weeks away, my thoughts are increasingly pulled to the many exciting projects, events and opportunities for learning that await us in 2009. That said, the upcoming Winter Break also presents us with an opportunity to look back over the distance we have traveled together so far this year. Your children have been active and engaged explorers on this journey, but they have also benefited from the expert guidance of their teachers. As you can well imagine, teaching at LREI is a joyful, but demanding enterprise. Thinking about, designing, collaborating on and implementing our rich and varied curriculum is no small task. So I’d like to take this opportunity as we come to the end of the year and look forward into the new year, to thank the members of the Middle School faculty for their incredible work with and caring for your children.
Thinking about the future, I’d also like to share with you some exciting news. Middle School Science Teacher Sherezada Acosta has been selected as a National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Teacher of the Future. Through this program,
NAIS has selected and support a cadre of innovative teacher leaders currently working at NAIS member schools who will help NAIS develop a new online community for independent school teachers. This program and the development of online education communities are part of NAIS’s goals to provide valuable networking opportunities and to enhance the excellent education provided at independent schools. NAIS has selected these 24 outstanding Teachers of the Future to build, lead, and moderate this new online community. The 24 Teachers of the Future exemplify excellence in teaching through their leadership, innovation, and commitment to environmentalism, equity and justice, globalism, technology, and other key areas of sustainability.
Beginning in January, Sherezada and the other recipients will lead online discussion forums for other NAIS teachers. Each recipient also created a video that highlights important aspects of her/his curriculum. To view Sherezada’s educational video, go to the Teachers of the Future Videos Page. The video provides some wonderful examples of our students hard at work in the science lab. It also provides an excellent overview of some of the foundational principles that guide our approach to science instruction.
Congratulations to Sherezada for this honor and thanks to all of the members of the Middle School faculty for their daily work in support of your child’s growth as a learner!
Also on the subject of good work, Heather’s advisory held a sale of crafts created by kids from Akany Avoko- a children’s home in Madagascar. They raised $550, which is enough to feed all of the kids in the orphanage for two months! For more information about Akany Avoko, please visit http://www.akanyavoko.com.
I wish you all a relaxing and family- and friend-filled Winter Break.
Best,
Mark