21st Century Progressive Education

From guest blogger Director Phil Kassen:

Dear LREI Families,

Late last year I had a fascinating conversation with a group of middle schoolers about the technology that is so central to their lives. I mentioned that when I was a kid we did not have answering machines or VCRs and that I remember the very first calculator I used—four functions, bright red LED numbers and completely amazing to us all. I told them that we used to have to get out of our chairs to switch the channel on the TV and that we had to carry change in our pockets in order to make phone calls from the street. How different the world is now and how quickly technologies come and go!  The students had a fairly easy time grasping the changes in concrete “things.” Harder for them to grasp the ways in which life and lives have changed—careers that have come and gone, pastimes that have passed and societal norms whose evolution has fundamentally altered everyday human interactions.  Our conversation ended with the logical question—what’s next?

“What’s next?”  A question we at LREI frequently ask ourselves.  The middle school students with whom I was speaking will graduate from high school in 2016 or so.  Their kindergarten schoolmates will move on from LREI in 2023.  Move on to what?  What’s next for them? What options will these, now, children, soon to be young adults, have when they graduate from college in 2027?  Most immediately, what sort of preparation must we provide to them for success in a world that we cannot imagine?

We discuss “What’s next” a lot during various administrative and faculty meetings. More formally, and focusing mostly on the high school, we have been examining what new strands our current program, as innovative and demanding as it is, might require in order to prepare our graduates for what will come just a few years down the road.  What are the competencies that will allow your children to be successful no matter what the future holds?  In order to support this investigation and the creation of new program, we applied for a grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation.  Late last June the Foundation informed us that, through a highly competitive process, we had been awarded a $50,000 grant to support this effort.  The grant will be matched by an equal sum from within our community. We will use this $100,000 to fund the faculty’s work in creating the curriculum for the coming decades. While our initial focus will be the high school, we intend for lessons learned to quickly filter down through the middle school to the lower school. We will visit other schools, meet with leading educators in a variety of settings and attend conferences all in coordination with LREI’s historic mission.  We are thrilled that the E.E. Ford Foundation supports our vision of 21st Century progressive education. Through our initial research, we have been pleased to find that much of what we hear will be essential in the future is currently at the core of LREI’s historic mission—connecting school learning with life, the ability to work with colleagues, resilience, adaptability, cultural sensitivity, sound reasoning and communication skills and a deep understanding of a variety of content areas.  Much of what we have been doing so well for the past 90 years is what will be required in the coming century.

A committee of teachers and administrators is beginning its work.  In the coming months this group will team with the faculty as a whole and will invite the high school students and interested parents into the discussion.  We are looking forward to this challenging work and to the conversations that it will create.

I invite you to join me to discuss our efforts to prepare our students for the future on Tuesday, October 19th at 8:45AM in the Sixth Avenue cafeteria.

In addition, I invite you to meet Carey Socol, our new Director of College Guidance, and to hear about LREI’s college guidance process on Tuesday, November 9th, 8:45-9:15 AM, in the Sixth Avenue cafeteria.

I hope to see you soon,

Phil

Of General Interest . . .

1) SCHOOL CLOSED: Friday, October 8th 2010 (Teacher Professional Day) and Monday, October 11th (Columbus Day Holiday)

2) Save the Date- Parent Teacher Conferences: Middle School Family Conferences are coming Friday, November 5th and Thursday, November 11th. Look for more information in next week’s blog about signing up.

3) “Learn Your Library,” October 13th, 8-9am: “What’s a database? How do I check a book out of the library for my child? What on earth do all those Dewey Decimal numbers MEAN? Bring your burning questions to the 6th Avenue Learn Your  Library morning on Wednesday, October 13 starting at 8:00 am. Coffee, tea and breakfast treats will be served along with all sorts of interesting information about everything from how to navigate our online library catalog to new titles that would make great reading choices for your child. We hope to see you there!” Click here for a flyer with more information.

4) From the Red is Green Committee: Walk to School Green Day, October 13: Red is Green is sponsoring our first Walk to School Green Day for this school year on Wednesday, October 13.  So wear your walking shoes or take a “green” mode of transportation to school –  bike, scoot, public transportation or car pool.

Red is Green recycling drive: Did you know that approximately 500 to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide?  Did you also know that plastic bags are not biodegradable and take from 500 to 1000 years to decompose?  It would help the environment if we all used less plastic bags.  But, it is sometimes unavoidable so let’s recycle the bags we have.  Red is Green is kicking off its 2010-’11 school year recycling drive with plastic bags.  We will collect clean plastic bags in the lobby throughout October.  After that, you can bring your bags to most chain stores for collection.

5) LREI Knights Volleyball: Both the Middle School Co-ed team and the Varsity Girls are having a great season so far and its always fun to have some fans in the bleachers cheering on our student athletes. Wear your team colors and join us!

Upcoming games:

  • Wednesday 13th October 4pm  Varsity Girls vs Calhoun
  • Thursday 14th October 4pm   Varsity Girls vs BWL
  • Monday 18th October 4pm   Varsity Girls vs Garden

All home games are played in the Thompson Street Athletic Center (145 Thompson, just below Houston). All game schedules and news can be found at www.lrei.org/athletics.

Upcoming MS and HS home soccer games:

  • Thursday, 10/14 Middle School Soccer vs St. Lukes, 4:00PM Pier 40
  • Tuesday, 11/2 Middle School Soccer vs Garden, 3:00PM Pier 40

6) Adult r(ED): There is still time to sign up for the first term of Adult r(ED), LREI’s adult education courses.  Click here to see this term’s offerings.  Classes begin next week. Contact Rowena Penaranda Askins to enroll, rpenaranda@lrei.org.

7) Click here to access the most current “At a Glance” calendar for the 2010-2011 school year.

8) For additional school news, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

9) Please click here to read about the Parent Associations LREI Exchange.

10) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA – http://www.parentsinaction.org/). 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. Click here to view upcoming events and/or to download their calendar.

For All Grades . . .

1) From Director of Diversity and Community Sandra Chapman and Middle School Studnets of Color facilitator Sherezada Acosta: The Middle School Students of Color Breakfast meeting will take place on Thursday, Oct 14 from 7:45 – 8:30AM.

2) Last Monday evening, middle school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan took fourteen seventh graders to talk about their media consumption habits at a graduate library class at Pratt Institute. The class was “Tween Media Literacy” and the library students taking the course are learning what types of media are relevant to “tweens” (in this case defined as 10-13 year olds). Our students shone as they candidly and earnestly discussed such topics as their favorite books, whether they prefer to read paper books (“yes”) or on digital devices (“too distracting”), and what blogs and websites they visited most (YouTube, YouTube & YouTube). The graduate students were delighted to get first hand accounts from the very audience they hope to work with someday as youth or school librarians. And the seventh graders enjoyed being the resident media “experts”‘ sharing their extensive pop culture knowledge with adults who couldn’t have been more interested. Jennifer teaches occasionally at Pratt, and serves on their Library Media Specialist board. She hopes to continue to bring middle school students and future youth librarians together for both of their benefits!

3) Communicating Absence, Lateness and Changes in Pick-up: Just a brief note to help improve information flow. If your child is going to be late or absent, it is fine to send an email to your child’s advisor. If you do this, please make sure that you also copy Eileen Dougherty at edougherty@lrei.org. This will save Eileen having to call you in the event that the teacher does not see your email first thing in the morning. If you call, you can leave your message with reception. If you are trying to get in touch with your child about a change of plans for the end of the day or any other time sensitive information, we ask that you do not call or text your child directly. Instead, please call the school’s main number (212-477-5316) and leave a message with reception. This message will then be given to your child. Emails sent to teachers/advisors or voicemail messages left for teacher/advisors may result in your child not getting the information that s/he needs. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

For Eighth Grade Families . . .

1) Looking ahead to the spring, click here to access the registration form for the spring Gettysburg/DC trip that will take place next May. I’m sending you this information now so that you can spread out payments over a longer period of time. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: 55757. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me. The deadline for registration for this trip has past so please register ASAP.

2) Please join other LREI eighth grade families for a ParentTalk on Thursday, October 14th at 6:30PM. This discussion will provide an opportunity for parents to come together to talk about a variety of issues with a trained facilitator from Parents In Action.

3) We encourage all eighth grade students and their families to learn more about high school program first-hand, by attending one or more of the following events:

  1. High School Tours: A tour for eighth grade families is scheduled for Monday, October 25th at 9:00AM. If you are unable to make this tour, please contact Julia Heaton at jheaton@lrei.org or at extension 305. Julia can sign you up for one of the general high school admissions tours or she can schedule you for a tour at some other time that is more convenient for you.
  2. High School Open Houses are scheduled for Thursday, October 28th and Tuesday, November 9th at 6:30PM. This is an opportunity to learn more about the academic program and extracurricular offerings at the high school, meet high school faculty and administration, and hear a panel of current LREI students.  If you plan to attend an Open House, please contact the Admissions Office at extension 210.
  3. Minimester is a three-day event in the high school when faculty members offer special interdisciplinary workshops to students in grades 8-12.  This year, Minimester will take place from Wednesday, October 20th through Friday, October 22nd.  All eighth graders will attend and regularly scheduled classes will not meet.
  4. Eighth Grade Visiting Days: In groups of two and three, eighth graders will also spend a half-day in the high school before the winter break following a regular schedule with a high school buddy.
  5. Assembly programs at the high school also provide students with additional opportunities to gain insights into life at the high school.
  6. During the week of October 19th, you will receive an application for the Irwin Scholars program. Each year, LREI offers Irwin Scholars merit scholarships to students moving from our eighth grade into the ninth The Irwin Scholars program recognizes selected eighth grade students moving on to the high school who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishment in the areas of scholarship, citizenship, leadership and service. Scholars will receive up to $10,000 per annum towards their high school tuition at LREI.

If you have any questions about the high school program or the events listed above, please contact High School Principal Ruth Jurgensen (rjurgensen@lrei.org, extension 303) or Director of Admissions Julia Heaton (jheaton@lrei.org, extension 305).

For Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) Please join us on Thursday, October 14, at 8:00AM for a parent meeting to discuss the upcoming Williamsburg trip. Also, if you have not done so already, please register your child for the October Williamsburg trip. Click here to access the registration form for the Williamsburg / Jamestown trip that will take place next October. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: A76310. All families should be registered for the trip at this point. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

2) Please join other LREI seventh grade families for a ParentTalk on Monday, October 25th at 6:30PM. This discussion will provide an opportunity for parents to come together to talk about a variety of issues with a trained facilitator from Parents In Action.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .

1) Please join other LREI sixth grade families for a ParentTalk on Tuesday, October 12th at 6:30PM. This discussion will provide an opportunity for parents to come together to talk about a variety of issues with a trained facilitator from Parents In Action.

2) The sixth grade will travel to the Cloisters on Friday, October 15th, to view their Medieval collection. Students should bring a bagged lunch (no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles) to school on this day.

3) On Wednesday, October 20th, please join me at 8:00AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria for a discussion on “Making Sense of MS Reports.” This will be an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the format of the Middle School progress report and to think about how best to prepare for Middle School Family Conferences.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .

1) On Tuesday, October 12th, please join me at 8:00AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria for a discussion on “Making Sense of MS Reports.” This will be an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the format of the Middle School progress report and to think about how best to prepare for Middle School Family Conferences.

2) From fifth grade math teacher Ana Chaney: Are you curious about your child’s experience learning math in the Middle School? Do you want to know how you child will be challenged and supported in fifth grade and beyond? Are you wondering how you can be involved at home? Join me for a hands-on investigation taken from the curriculum, short talk and Q&A. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the Fifth Grade Math Breakfast, which will take place on Monday, October 18th, at 8:00AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria.

============= For additional information, follow these links: =============

A reminder that the individual homework blog and the “feeds” for every class can be accessed from the Digital Classroom link on the sidebar (you may want to bookmark this page for easy access). These feeds provide an easy “one-click” solution to find out what has been assigned for homework. Keep in mind that a feed will only show what has been posted as of the time you check it.

Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and other interesting school-related information.

Be well,
Mark

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