Beginning School Buzz

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17 February 2012

Calendar

February

17 Re-enrollment contracts due

20 No classes, President's Day

21 Creativity Panel - Cabell Center, 7:00-9:00 pm

24 Student only Friday Sing

* 24 - No Preschool classes- Admissions Day (Kindergarten in session)

24 Viewfinder Global Film Series 6:30 Vollum Humanities Bldg.

March

3 - Gambol auction at the Governor Hotel

* 8-9 - No classes, Parent-Teacher conferences

26-30 - Spring Break - no classes

April

2 - Classes resume

Hannah's Headline

I've been thinking a lot recently about creativity, and I keep coming around to the power and promise of mistakes, the art of making and using them. First, mistakes are an integral part of learning anything new, of constructing new knowledge, of making new neural connections, of pushing our understanding. We can unintentionally short circuit children's learning by being too quick to show them how to do something, or give them answers to questions that could be better learning opportunities if instead they were treated as investigations.

Why are mistakes so important to learning? If we look at them as something to mine for information, they become useful. “That didn’t work,” can be helpful information, especially when we look at what about it didn’t work. It’s what scientists do all the time. Design something, try it out, collect data, revise, try again, and so on. It is not just scientists who use this approach. We see it in action all the time - in the Woodshop, in the revision of writing, in the successive approximations of accurate speech in a new language.

So if we approach mistakes in this way, not only do they contribute to learning, they can help build resilience, flexible thinking, emotional robustness, a non-judgmental outlook, a kind of relaxed alertness that all help us come back from mistakes stronger and more informed than we were.

Add to that another powerful element - a sense of play - and we have a rich environment that leads to creativity. Ultimately successful inventors, creators, and discoverers have a knack of recapturing the open, investigative mind of childhood. The curiosity that is purposefully, intensely explored without fear of mistakes, without a preconceived notion of where it is going or where it might lead, in that wonderful sense of possibility, of moodling around with interesting ideas or materials, therein lies the rich field of creativity and innovation.

This is a long way around to encourage you let your child do his or her own work, mistake making, re- assessing, revising, creating, and learning. No one can learn for anyone else, but as adults we can ask probing questions that may lead to connections, cheer the closer approximations, encourage the stick-to-it-iveness, and hold optimism in our hearts for our young learners.

It also leads me to encourage you to attend Tuesday evening's Creativity Panel, where our own kindergarten parent, Brian Druker, will be among the panelists. It promises to be an enlivening evening!

Why should you attend the creativity panel discussion?

Our children’s futures depend on creativity. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes, “Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.”

Join Lark Palma and our distinguished guests for the “Let Creativity Bloom” panel discussion presented by the Esther Dayman Strong Lectureship in the Humanities. Tuesday, February 21, 7:00 p.m., Cabell Center Theater.

http://www.catlin.edu/event/let-creativity-bloom-panel-discussion

News from Jonathan

Dear Parents:

“In life, a person will come and go from many homes. We may leave a house, a town, a room, but that does not mean those places leave us. Once entered, we never entirely depart the homes we make for ourselves in the world. They follow us, like shadows, until we come upon them again, waiting for us in the mist.” – Ari Berk

It is with heavy heart that I say goodbye to the Catlin Gabel community following the completion of this year. I have had such a wonderful experience here and continue to be amazed at the sense of passion, joy of learning, and love in this community. Everyone has been warm and accepting, and I will always be grateful for the experiences I have had here. I want to thank you for your support, love, and willingness to allow me to be a part of your children’s lives and the wonderful work happening here at Catlin Gabel.

I am looking forward to the next chapter of my career as I enter into private practice full time working with children and adults. I am also looking forward to the flexibility of a new schedule where I can walk my own children to school and pick them up when the day is done. These are important times in their development and I find it essential to be available for them. I look forward to when we meet again.

Sincerely,

Jonathan K. Weedman

Parents invited to Diversity Conference keynote speech by Derrick Gay

All Catlin Gabel parents are encouraged to attend the Upper School Diversity Conference keynote speech by Derrick Gay on Thursday, February 23. The PFA is hosting a parent coffee from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Cabell Center lobby, and Gay will speak from 9 to 10 a.m. on “Altogether Different: Leveraging Difference as a Source of Strength.” A day of diversity workshops for students will follow the lecture.

You don’t want to miss this...

Buy your tickets by Friday and SAVE… Ticket prices increase by $25 per ticket on Saturday, February 18.

Tickets are available online at www.catlin.edu

We gratefully acknowledge our presenting sponsor - Sondland Durant Foundation

Viewfinder next Friday, 2/24 at 6:30 pm

Great films on the topic of Sustainability.

US and MS students will love I Am, a documentary attempting to address the question: what is wrong with our world and what can we do about it? from director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty)

Outdoor enthusiasts will love Man vs Volcano, a documentary about the volatile interface of politics and environmental science.

Linguists and cultural anthropologists will appreciate Everlasting Moments, a documentary filmed in Taiwan and the first known film produced in the indigenous Atyal language.

Most films are suitable for children 10 and up. There is not a film title for our youngest audience group this month, but we will have childcare as usual with a repeat of a young audience title from previous Viewfinders to enjoy.

Trailers here:

http://www.catlin.edu/global-education/viewfinder-global-film-series/2011-12-films

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