A Literary Festival Blooms in ERBville

Dear Families:

There were moments over the last three days where the Middle School building was eerily quiet as students concentrated on the ERBs. The regular sounds of students hard at work on projects and in discussions born of collaboration gave way to the focused attention each student gave to these standardized tests. At this week’s parent rep meeting, the question came up as to how we use the results of these tests. In general, they serve two major purposes:

  1. The ERB results allow us to look at the performance of a whole class or grade. We compare these results against our expectations for how we think the group should perform on those areas that are aligned with our curriculum. This helps us to identify skills/knowledge where students are meeting expectations and to identify, if any, those areas that may require some additional attention. While there are many important aspects of the curriculum that the ERB cannot and does not assess, it does provide a useful lens for looking at particular aspects of the curriculum.
  2. In a similar way, the ERB results provide another perspective for looking at individual achievement and give rise to a number of questions: Do the results seem to tell a similar story to what we see each day for a particular student or do there appear to be some discrepancies? Do ERB results indicate areas of strength that we do not see in class? If so, how can we better draw on these strengths? Are there areas of challenge that have not revealed themselves in the curriculum that would benefit from additional support in and outside of the classroom?

So for us, the ERBs are really an invitation to a conversation about learning. They are a piece of a puzzle that is always in process. They are important, but not all that is important.

What was all important on Wednesday afternoon was our annual Middle School Literary Festival. In one or two-hour long workshops students explored a range of interesting literary themed experiences. One the menu, this year were:

Picture Books and Children’s Literature (with Matthew Rosen and Michelle Boehm): Matthew Rosen, former editor, shared techniques for writing and constructing picture books. Participants then had the opportunity to create their own picture-book dummies. They laid out text, added illustrations, and formatted their dummies accordingly.

Opposing POVs: Writing from Different Points of View (with Suzanne Cohen): Students wrote an account from the point of view of two characters that felt very differently about a subject or incident (for example: a teenager and her mother after the mother reads an entry from her daughter’s journal; a coach and athlete after the team loses the competition). Participants explored the different voices and character traits that an author might use to shape a character, which influences how a character might report an incident and convey specific detail..

Scrap Booking (with Margaret Andrews): Margaret provided the materials; all students had to do was to bring in photos they wanted to include in a scrapbook page. Students learned how to document their photos and create a keepsake that records special moments, people and places in their lives.

Booktalking (with Jennifer Hubert Swan): Challenged to find a more dynamic way to tell someone, “You’ve got to read this book!”? Jen, the Queen of the Book Talk, helped willing participants to explore how to help uncover the joys of reading for others.

Found Poetry (with Heather Brandstetter): Participants set out on a poetry-finding adventure and explored the streets of New York to find the poetry that is there everyday.

Movie Reviews (with Jeannie Park): Students joined Executive Editor Jeannie Park and another People Magazine editor to hear about what it’s like to have to watch movies day in and day out and then write about them–even the ones you hate! They got tips about what makes a review interesting to the reader and even tried their hands at writing their own movie review.

Visual Autobiography and Bookmaking Workshop (with Melissa Rubin and Robin Shepard): Students came prepared to create their very own hardcover autobiography. They brought in memorabilia that told a story about themselves. This included a range of flat 2-D special items that had personal meaning: their prose and poetry, photos, maps, stamps, feathers, ticket stubs, playbill covers, movie ads, pressed flowers, etc. were used to create the books.

Comic Books (with Aaron Renier): In this workshop, participants got tips from the author of the graphic novel Spiralbound, Aaron Renier, on how to write and illustrate a graphic novel.

The Personal Essay and Memoir (with Betsy Rapoport): In this workshop, students read their essays aloud, critiqued each other in a supportive way, and talked about how to find a “writing tribe” with whom you can share your future work.

Who the Heck Are You?? (with Dennis Kitchen): Ever wonder who that person is you see wandering around the building? You know they work here, but you’re not quite sure what they do. In this workshop, studentswere outfitted with a camera and tracked down these folks, snapped their picture and then interviewed them. Dennis shared interviewing techniques and helped participants to create a fascinating bio on that person they thought they knew, but not really.

Playwriting (with Raquel Cion): In this hour-long workshop, students joined in a facilitated discussion of what constitutes dramatic writing. Students learned about the who, where, what, and how of constructing scenes. By using tools such as automatic writing, image, and structured writing time, they explored character, action, conflict,
setting, which are the building blocks of playwriting. Through this exploration they then wrote a “mini-play”. These plays were then read aloud. The workshop culminated with a discussion of how to continue writing and creating plays on your own.

Songwriting (with Henry Chapin): In this workshop, participants looked at list songs, which are songs where the lyric form is a list, such as Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It,” or “Don’t Know Much Biology…” They listened to other examples of list songs and then wrote your own. After writing their song, they recorded it on GarageBand.

The Fewer the Words, the More Important They Are…(with Marthe Jocelyn): Writing a picture book is harder than you think, but in this workshop, students gave it a try! Celebrated children’s book author Marthe Jocelyn led students through the process of choosing their words carefully and creating their very own children’s book.

After feasting on this veritable banquet of literary entrees, students returned to their homerooms to share with each other the fruits of their labors. A wonderful day!

On the subject of literacy, at the recent Parent Adolescent Issues Evenings, we spent some time taking about how technology is changing the way we look at the world and how these changes have generational impacts. What is a matter of course for our kids may often feel at odds with the way we learned things and may seem somehow non-essential. It is increasingly the case that technology is changing not only how we access and use information, but how we communicate and collaborate with others. So from a relational perspective, it is important for adults to get up to speed and close this technology gap. To get some sense of how things are evolving, I encourage you to view this link to an interesting video on how our ideas about text in a digital age are changing. Finally, we are looking to schedule two technology evenings for parents (one for K-6 and one for 7-12) to discuss some of these isuues. More information will be forthcoming.

This Week’s Attachments
(Click on the links below to open the attachments. If you are having trouble opening the links, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.)

General:
Parents in Action Flyer
LREI Collection Drive
Parent Rep Meeting Minutes
Middle School Musical Information
Eighth Grade:
Math Unit Letter
Seventh Grade:
Class Rep Report
Sixth Grade:
Fifth Grade:

Of General Interest . . .

1) Attention Sports Fans — Friday, March 16th (not Friday, February 23 as originally announced) will be the annual LREI Spirit Basketball Game that will match up LREI’s multi-talented faculty/staff against the up-and-coming stars of the Middle School and High School basketball teams. This will be a great opportunity to witness the athletic talents of our student athletes and to experience firsthand how exciting it has been to have a home court gym this year. At half time there will be a foul shooting contest for athletes sixth grade or younger. We have hosted some amazing games this season, where the roars for the home team were heard on Houston Street. So come out and see what all of the excitement is about — March 16th at 3:30PM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center, 145 Thompson Street between Houston and Prince. We look forward to having a big crowd help to celebrate the end of our first year of having a “home court advantage.”

2) From Seventh and Eighth Grade Dean of Students Gabrielle Keller: Our annual Pennies for Patients drive to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will run from January 29th through February 23rd. For more information about the drive, please read the attached parent letter. For more information about the Schools and Youth program that oversees the drive, please visit http://www.schoolandyouth.org/.

3) Please read the attached flyer from the Community Service Committee about next week’s drive.

4) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

5) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2006-2007 calendar. You can also access their on-line calendar of events at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

For Eighth Grade Families . . . .
1) Please read the attached letter from eighth grade math teacher Margaret Andrews and Michelle Boehm.

2) Please read the attached letter from Middle School Musical Director Julia Collura concerning auditions and other important dates for this year’s musical.

3) The 8th grade Spanish classes will be going to the Guggenheim on Friday, February 23rd, to see the “Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth and History” exhibit. We will leave at 9:15AM and return around 1:15PM for lunch here. They will have a tour of the exhibit and then do a workshop: Symbolic Portrait Painting in which students create triptychs (three-panel paintings) using acrylic paints that explore their identity or community. On each panel, students will depict a different aspect of his/her self or respective community.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) Please read the class rep report at http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/MS%20Seventh%2002-15.pdf

2) Please read the attached letter from Middle School Musical Director Julia Collura concerning auditions and other important dates for this year’s musical.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Please read the attached letter from Middle School Musical Director Julia Collura concerning auditions and other important dates for this year’s musical.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .
No updates this week.

Middle School Sports
Schedules, permission forms and general information about Middle School sports programs can be found at http://www.lrei.org/athletics/index.html. Information is also available through the LREI Sports Hotline at 212.477.5316 x 494.

Looking Ahead . . .
On the LREI web site additional information about upcoming events can be found at http://www.lrei.org/caleven/index.html (the middle school events page can be found at http://www.lrei.org/midschool/Events.html)

  • Monday, February 19, 2007 — Presidents’ Weekend-School Closed (school reopens on Wednesday, February 21, 2007)
  • Friday, February 23rd — 8th grade Spanish classes to the Guggenheim
  • Friday, February 23, 2007, 7:30PM — Eighth Grade DISC Dance @ Grace Church
  • Wednesday, February 28, 2007 — MS Black History Month Assembly
  • Thursday, March 1, 2007,8:45AM — Parent LGSA Meeting
  • Thursday, March 15, 2007, 6:00PM — MS POCOC Mtg.
  • Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 8:15AM — MS Parent Rep. Mtg.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 6:00PM — Sixth Grade Medieval Pageant
  • Thursday, March 22, 2007 — Fifth Grade Egyptian Tomb
  • Friday, March 23, 2007 — Founder’s Day
  • Friday, March 23, 2007 — MS End of 3rd Quarter
  • Friday, March 23, 2007 — Spring Break-School closes at 12:00PM (school reopens on Monday, April 9, 2006)

Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and interesting information – http://www.lrei.org/.

Be well,
Mark

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