Civil Rights and More

I hope you have booked the sitter, because the Gala is now only a week and a half away!  The Gala is a great night out, and a wonderful way to meet new friends and meet the parents of your children’s friends.  There is great food and music and it is a great way to support our school.  I highly encourage you to come! 

Last week I traveled with the Middle School on a Civil Rights tour to Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham and Memphis.  We visited Dr. Martin Luther King’s home and church,  walked over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, had a tour from one of the foot soldiers of the movement, ate barbeque and soul food, toured the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Institute, the Lorraine Motel and Civil Rights museum.  We also went to Beale St. in Memphis, went to the Rock and Soul Museum, followed by dinner at the Hard Rock Café located in the clothing store where Elvis had his clothing made.  It was very meaningful trip and helped our students to reflect upon their role as advocates for justice and peace.  Many who took action during the Civil Rights movement were students.  We were moved emotionally by many of the stories we were told and read about. 

The week prior I traveled to San Diego to attend one day of the American Montessori Society national conference as well as the board meeting.  I attended an excellent marketing workshop as well as an inspiring keynote: Sonya Manzano, or Maria from Sesame Street.  Unfortunately, the second day of the board meeting was canceled due to the snowstorm in the East.   My Monday flight was canceled too and I was ‘stuck’ there until Wednesday.  I made the most of it, going with a couple of other stranded board members to La Jolla and Old Town. 

We are always grateful to be able to participate in faculty development.  Not only do we learn sound pedagogical practices, we also reflect upon and support our own teaching methods.  They also build our community and team spirit.  This past faculty development day was with the Lyndon Cudlitz, a trainer from the Capital Region PRIDE Center, who spoke about transgender students.   He helped us learn the appropriate terms regarding gender identity, sexual orientation and other terms related to identity.  The lessons learned may be applied to all students, not just transgender students.  For example, he said that sometimes the most hurtful experiences children have are the ‘micro-aggressions”, or the nasty looks of disapproval that children who are different might receive.   We can ask all of our children to think about this and how they are treating others (and adults too). 

Well I think that is enough for now.  Thank you for all of your support of WHMS.  

As we are now into the second semester, students are accomplishing a lot each day.  They have expanded levels of concentration, with more focus and capability of work for an extended time. 

Montessori firmly believed that our duty as educators is to prepare ourselves and our classroom environment to help each child reach his or her full potential.  She created a set of rules to help us as teachers serve our students better. (Translated from Italian)

1.      Never touch the child unless invited by him (in some form or the other).

2. Never speak ill of the child in his presence or absence.
3. Concentrate on strengthening and helping the development of what is good in the child so that its presence may leave less and less space for evil.
4. Be active in preparing the environment. Take meticulous and constant care of it. Help the child establish constructive relations with it. Show the proper place where the means of development are kept and demonstrate their proper use.
5. Be ever ready to answer the call of the child who stands in need of you and always listen and respond to the child who appeals to you.
6. Respect the child who makes a mistake and can then or later correct himself, but stop firmly and immediately any misuse of the environment and any action which endangers the child, his development or others.
7. Respect the child who takes rest or watches others working or ponders over what he himself has done or will do. Neither call him nor force him to other forms of activity.
8. Help those who are in search of activity and cannot find it.
9. Be untiring in repeating presentations to the child who refused them earlier, in helping the child acquire what is not yet his own and overcome imperfections. Do this by animating the environment with care, with restraint and silence, with mild words and loving presence. Make your ready presence felt to the child who searches and hide from the child who has found.
10. Always treat the child with the best of good manners and offer him the best you have in yourself and at your disposal.

On Monday, the Upper Elementary led the school in a Lunar New Year parade and assembly.  Two years ago we hosted an exchange teacher from China who organized a similar parade. The children made a beautiful dragon that is on display in the lobby and was used to lead our school parade.  It was a very loud and boisterous parade, which delighted us all!  The Upper Elementary presented what the Lunar New Year is and how it is celebrated around the world.  This was one of the many holidays enjoyed by our diverse population and is part of the wonderful ways we appreciate each other’s culture and traditions.  Whether it is Hinamatsuri, Diwali, Hanukkah, or Christmas, we value our families’ cultures. Montessori has always taught global citizenship; we embrace and appreciate the diversity among us. 

Montessori faced many challenges in developing and promoting her pedagogy.   She established her first school for young children in 1907 and published her Handbook outlining her Method in 1912.  By the mid-1920s, the Montessori movement had spread across Europe, as Mussolini gained power in her native Italy.  Mussolini engaged Montessori to develop schools using her method throughout Italy during his regime.  She thought she could positively influence the children of Italy despite the fascist rule, but by 1931, when Montessori teachers refused to take an oath of loyalty to fascism, the schools were closed and Montessori left Italy and returned to Spain, where she had been living prior.   During the war, Montessori lived in Amsterdam for three years and then in India for seven years, training teachers, writing and opening schools. 

Montessori was nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize.  She believed that the education of children was key to world peace; Understanding the cultures and religions of others leads to understanding that we are world citizens, more alike than different.  In Education and Peace, (1943) Montessori writes (again translated):

“The child who has never learned to act alone, to direct his own actions, to govern his own will, grows into an adult who is easily led and must always lean on others. The school-child, being continually discouraged and scolded, ends by acquiring that mixture of distrust of his own powers and of fear which is called shyness, and which later, in the grown man, takes the form of discouragement and submissiveness, of incapacity to put up the slightest moral resistance.  The obedience which is expected of the child both in the home and in the school- and obedience admitting neither of reason nor of justice- prepares man to be docile to blind forces.”

 

So by educating our students to be critical thinkers, to empower them to think and make decisions for themselves, we are helping them in their stewardship of the next generation.  By ensuring their education and inspiring their curiosity, we are strengthening our democracy.  They will not be ‘docile to blind forces.’ 

-Susan

This fall I have been very fortunate to have been involved in our membership organizations.  I am on the Board of Trustees for both the American Montessori Society (AMS) and the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), on the executive committees as treasurer for both organizations.  

My first meeting was in San Diego for AMS.  We hold the meeting where the national conference will be, to familiarize ourselves with the location.  This year we appointed a President Elect  Mary Ellen Kordas, who some may remember facilitated for us at the beginning of the year for our World Cafe strategic planning session.  We also approved hiring of a new Executive Director who will be announced shortly.  The process was a thorough one.  We hired Triangle Search firm, who is run by Pat Bassett, former President of the National Association of Independent Schools.  The Search Committee was selected and Dane Peters (last year's WHMS graduation speaker) was the Chair of this Committee.  The search committee helped to vette the candidates and after video interviewing, the field was narrowed to six people to interview in person with the Search Committee.  The committee met them at LaGuardia Airport and then selected three to continue in the process. All three met the entire board in San Diego and then the final candidate was revealed, and will be announced shortly.  Our current AMS president Joyce Pickering also told us about a new credential add on for Special Education, a training to help classroom teachers serve the needs of children with learning differences.  Hopefully this will be finalized by June. 

Last week I attended the Heads of School conference for the New York State Association of Independent Schools, as well as the Board of Trustees meeting.  I always feel so fortunate to hear the excellent speakers and be a part of the workshops. 

NYSAIS is primarily made up of New York City schools.   As you can imagine, the Manhattan independent schools are extremely competitive, and one might think very traditional in approach.   I am very proud that the Heads of School in NYSAIS are extremely dedicated to equity and justice, and despite the competitive nature of their schools and the pressures to maintain the status quo, they are consciously seeking ways to teach children to be innovative problem solvers, develop creativity and be responsible leaders.  

The board retreat for NYSAIS featured Derrick Gay, an internationally recognized consultant to schools and educational organizations around the world on issues of diversity, inclusion and global citizenship.  The workshop helped us understand more about diversity and what it means. 

The Heads conference that followed featured Frank Bruni, author and columnist from the New York Times,  Ali Michael, and Eli Green. 

Frank Bruni was an excellent speaker whose main topic was on his book, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be. His review of research revealed how little difference the college that people attended made on their success (measured by salary, although the Gallup Purdue study is measuring other success markers.)  He also spoke on the tremendous mental health toll caused by the perpetual focus on college admissions.  Students can become focused on college admission rather than enjoyment of life and everything becomes a means to an end.   Instead, students should select activities and work that brings them fulfillment throughout their high school experience.  Then they should select a college to match these interests, and then make the most of their college experience through hard work and engagement. 

Eli Green’s workshop entitled Building Transgender-Affirming Schools.  He reported that students who are transgender are frequently bullied by peers, face rejection from families, and are generally lacking sources of support and affirmation. As a result, many transgender students are struggling personally, socially and academically, with significant negative consequences, including high rates of suicide.  He educated us on terminology and definitions in the areas of gender identity and sexual orientation, and also talked about ways to help create an environment of affirmation for all.  One of my takeaways was the harmfulness of the cumulative effects of ‘micro-aggressions,’ such as receiving disapproving looks.  

Ali Michael’s presentation was on How and Why We Need to Talk about Race as Heads of School: Lessons from the Classroom.  I was a little nervous about this one as she is a white woman talking about racism.  It was a great workshop and despite times of discomfort, we all came out more knowledgeable and motivated to do something more about eliminating racism.  She talked about the difference between multi-cultural classrooms and anti-racist classrooms.  She talked about “the talk”  that parents have with their children.  For white families that might be about the birds and bees, but for black families it is about how to behave around law enforcement.   We need to help our students walk in the shoes of others so we can all work together to end racism.

Delving into issues that impact our families’ lives makes our work so important.   

Our building is beautiful!

Missing teeth! 

Phase in week 

Our Presenter Mary Ellen Kordas

World Cafe 

Our Tick Abatement Program

The year is off to great start.  So wonderful to have our students back and welcome our new students.