News from Lisa
Bringing Up Baby
We are well into the first trimester; routines have been established and the activity called "school" is well underway. Some of you might remember the classic film Bringing Up Baby starring one of my all-time favorites, Katherine Hepburn. As Wikipedia describes it, the film "tells the story of a scientist winding up in various predicaments involving a woman with a unique sense of logic and a leopard named Baby." That comes pretty close to describing the middle school experience, if you ask me, particularly the unique sense of logic part. Here's our version of it:
On Oct 3, twelve 7th graders spent the night at the Windsor house for a class sleepover. The evening started with a "jam session" led by strings director Gilles Bonneau, and dinner at the home of 7th grader Jemma. After dinner and the jam session, the intrepid campers headed back to campus for the sleepover where they watched the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and participated in several rounds of various games involving winking, which causes other students to keel over in mysterious and immediate ways. The chaperones insisted on lights out at about midnight and actual sleep may have occurred around 2 a.m. (the author is unable to completely verify this). Fourteen groggy campers (12 students and two adults) emerged the next morning for volleyball and other games before, after, and during breakfast followed by clean up and pick up. Humanities teacher Paula Cook assisted in this nocturnal adventure (for the record, Mrs. Cook knows many more games than Ms. Schmitt). Thanks Mrs. Cook!
We are designing an ethics course for the middle school girls. The inaugural course offering will be this spring when ethics will replace the spring SET classes for the 7th grade. I've called upon quite a few experts in the field: Matthew Daude Laurents (GSA parent and chair of the department of philosophy at ACC), Davidson Loehr (minister, Unitarian Universalist), Ian Farrell (law professor, UT Austin), and Lisa Straus (GSA parent, divinity student, former private girls' school teacher and administrator). Students in the course will consider such fundamental questions as, "What does it mean to be human? What do I stand for? How do I live according to my values?" The course will culminate in a final project, the examples of which being considered include interviewing parents and other relatives on their values and generating an ethics newsletter (posing various ethical questions and reflections of interest to and written by the 7th grade). We are excited about this new addition to our program and hope that the conversations will be as stimulating and inspiring as the first meeting of the planning group. We are also planning a parallel session for parents, where we would consider some of the same questions. Parents can put on their philosopher's hats and prepare to join the dialog!
The 8th graders unveiled their plans for the community service project for 2008-09 at the community meeting on Thursday, Oct 9. This year's project will focus on Austin children in need—and one particularly interesting project is to assist Children's Protective Services by outfitting a room for children newly admitted to the children's shelter. Newly admitted students are typically in need of very basic provisions— such as clothing and toiletries. The 8th graders will meet with teachers and students of grades K-7 to help classes identify ways that they can contribute.
Our 5th and 6th graders had a fabulous time at Ranch Romp, which was held this year at Highland Lakes Camp. According to teachers and students, this was the best Ranch Romp ever. The middle school retreats are an opportunity for girls to come together as a class (or, in this case, two classes) and to get to know their teachers better in a very different setting. Even quiet, reserved teachers become, well, not so quiet or reserved!
Meanwhile, our two volleyball teams are continuing to build upon skills gained last year and are meeting with considerable success. The 5/6th grade team is currently in 5th place (out of a roster of 13 teams) in the WAYA league and the 7/8th grade team (actually made of entirely of 7th graders) won their first game in the APSA (Austin Private School Association) league.
And, not to be outdone, the kindergartners have had their share of bonding and sharing. The girls enjoyed their first introduction to council circle (a dialog technique that encourages deep listening) in their lunch-with-the-head-of-school, where they reported that PE was a definite high point and naptime...not so much. The girls have made great strides in the past month learning how to be part of a bigger community, and they love seeing their big sisters on campus.
Lisa K. Schmitt
Head of School
(10/08)