|
by Thad Falkner, Head of School  “Our next Student Council Treasurer is ______.” Biannually I hear this announcement, and it usually goes this way: The crowd of students in the library waits quietly to hear the results of the election. The winner is announced, and a big smile fills her face. Those who lost are disappointed; Do they take away something positive?
Helping students grow academically, athletically, socially, and emotionally requires a breadth of experiences. Wilson’s Excellence Program provides resources for many opportunities for students, but perhaps one of its lesser known components is the support it provides for competitions. While it is a small aspect of the program, it makes a big difference for students, regardless of how they place. From Greek Mythology to creative improvisation to extramural sports to robotics, Wilson students tend to have strong outcomes, and it is fun to read the list of winners. However, in a bigger sense, taking home first place is not the only way for a student to win in a competition. That’s not to say we don’t celebrate victories, but rather that we recognize that children learn invaluable lessons in resilience and other important qualities through the process of competing and the experience of both winning and losing. How do our students benefit simply by participating in competitions?
These experiences in themselves carry enormous value in a child’s development and provide encouragement for healthy risk-taking. Of course, one of the risks is the question, “What if I lose?” We should challenge our students not to fear that question by emphasizing the process rather than the outcome. Along the way, and after the dust settles, parents and teachers can do this by:
Growing in grit, resolve, and persistence happens through repeated processes, not from a singular event. There’s a lot of truth to, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” By giving our students a chance to live out that maxim, they learn that being successful doesn’t just come from winning.
0 Comments
by Mara Goldschmidt and Kathleen Kavanaugh, Third Grade Teachers Wilson School has great success with it’s educational approach, Integrated Learning. The crux of this method is connecting multiple subjects around a topic, challenge, or experience. Recently, our third graders had a day-long, outdoor learning activity where all of the subject matter connected around Forest Park and its Steinberg Savanna.
Although it started out a little chilly, we were dressed well and we warmed up fairly quickly. It turned out to be a perfect day for spending our whole day learning in the outdoors. So many subject areas were covered in our explorations. Language Arts In small groups, we took some mindful time to observe the beauty of the savanna in three different locations. Each student wrote some description that was then either assembled into a group poem or an individual poem. In the afternoon we had silent reading time curled up under or on our favorite mulberry tree. Physical Education The day began with P.E. Ms. Simpson joined us in the park for some warm up activities, a run around the park on some of the paths, and then some cool down stretches. We also did quite a bit of walking throughout the day. Science Mr. Theo, one of the Forest Park naturalists, came to meet us in the wetland area of the savanna dressed in his wading boots and overalls. He explained how the presence of macro-invertebrates in the river signaled the healthiness of the river. With nets large and small, students collected scoops of plant and animal material from the river, emptied the contents into dishpans of water, and identified organisms such as mayfly larva, dragonfly larva, a leech, and mussels. We were surrounded by nature the entire day and made many observations of the plant and animal life. There were many different kinds of wildflowers, some gone to seed. It was amazing what a variety of seeds there are! We used field guides to identify species of both flowers and trees, including: smartweed flowers, asters, birch trees, catalpa trees, and redbud trees. We learned to recognize the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. It was our good fortune to spot a great blue heron, a white egret, and a large frog submerged in the prevalent duckweed. Art Many students took the time to sketch what they observed. They drew trees, flowers, and more. Social Studies We were even able to incorporate some history into our day. The footbridge on the trail was built in 1885, and was the main entrance into Forest Park. It is called The Victorian Bridge. It was a day to remember for a long time to come! by Thad Falkner, Head of School
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our first Thursdays with Thad this school year. It was wonderful to see so many faces - I really enjoyed our discussion.
For everyone who was not able to join us, here are the updates and key discussion points. We started with an update on our Foundation for the Future Endowment Campaign. Staff and volunteers have been working behind the scenes on this initiative since 2016. We recently announced a goal to raise $1.5 million in commitments to add to the existing endowment funds by the end of this fiscal year which would bring our total endowment to approximately $2 million. Currently, we have $915K committed over the next 5 years. What does this investment mean for Wilson? This Campaign is the first step in bringing Wilson's endowment to that of peer schools (approximately $6 million). Our goal is to eventually bring our endowment to $10 million, which surpasses where our peer schools are and really allows Wilson to soar. The other update was about our ISACS (Independent School Association of the Central States) accreditation visit on October 21-24. Our students saw these visitors around the halls of school and visiting classrooms. Their task was to confirm our adherence to dozens of standards, recommend our continued accreditation, and offer valuable feedback to help Wilson reach ever higher levels of excellence. At each of our Thursdays with Thad, I plan to spend time visiting a topic valuable to our parent community. For this one, we talked about Balance. How do we maintain a rigorous, age-appropriate education, rich with the arts and languages, while allotting time to allow our children to just be kids, to play outside and to explore other interests such as the creative arts, sports, as well as other pursuits? It is an age when stress is a significant concern for students in college, in secondary school, and even in elementary school. Wilson educators and our parents work as a team to ensure our children take seriously the needed preparation for secondary school while staying curious, being well-rounded, and growing as unique and confident individuals. How? Wilson has a program that is far-reaching in subjects and topics as well as having significant depth where students master skills and think critically. Our math program addresses skills and problem solving so completely that our students consistently gain recognition; last year winning the Excellence in Mathematics competition. Another example is our music program that helps students use their voice, read music, play instruments, and affords them opportunities to perform and compose. Additional to having a leading curriculum, we emphasize transferable and soft skills, from adaptability to creativity and determination to communication. All of this is taught and experienced at Wilson while encouraging students to have balance. Whether it’s acting on feedback from parents to allow more time for unstructured outdoor play, increasing use of the surrounding area by taking regular hikes to Forest Park, or utilizing our one-of-a-kind Excellence Program to schedule an abundance of field trips, you can trust Wilson to stay agile and work in the best interests of our students. As a result, secondary schools consistently remark about the exceptional preparation of our students and use the term “having wonderful balance” to describe Wilson graduates. We also hear directly from our graduates who report they feel more prepared with organizational skills, content understanding, and interpersonal skills than peers in secondary school. If you’d like to hear more about the survey of our graduates, we’d be glad to share more.. Our Thursday discussion also turned to other topics including:
Suggested topics for future discussion included:
If you have a topic you would like to discuss, please don't hesitate to share with me or Kate Poss-Morency (kposs-morency@wilsonschool.com). We look forward to seeing you at our next Thursdays with Thad on December 13 at 8:00 a.m.! by Melika Panneri, Director of Educational Technology and Innovation
What is your role at Wilson and how long have you been with the school?
This is my sixteenth year at The Wilson School. During that time I've had two primary roles; I was a JK teacher for seven years, and for the last nine years I've been Director of Educational Technology and Innovation. This role has seen a drastic transformation from when I first started. Technology is now a vital component in every aspect of a student's day, and it's integrated into all subjects (not just math and science). At Wilson, we really do it differently than others. I'm not solely an IT person, I'm also a teacher. In addition to teaching kids the nuances and importance of technology, I help other teachers with their planning and curriculum. We have all of our teachers working together, making sure Wilson stays innovative. It's important to us that we use technology in meaningful and impactful ways, not just because we can. How do students use technology at Wilson daily? There are many schools in the area that have terrific technological equipment and resources like us, but what sets Wilson apart is how we use it. Some schools have the best stuff and just use it for word processing. We're able to use technology differently and confidently simply because I can collaborate with all colleagues. A teacher can branch out and explore because I'm able to help and teach them. Teachers are focused on students using technology to create and explore, not just consume. The students are almost always using it to make and do. Our 5th graders just finished their "I Am" videos. All year long their studies revolve around the theme of identity. They bring it all together with these videos by learning about themselves and sharing it with the Wilson community. It's immensely impressive, and the kids love doing it. The 6th graders participate in a project based on the show Shark Tank. Students work together in starting a new business, creating a new product, and pitching it to the "sharks." They make websites, flyers, pitch materials, etc. They identify problems and try to solve them. Most of them got a simulated investment offer and it was a lot of fun for everyone involved. This year we held a poetry showcase for our 2nd graders. The students write to a real audience, and that's really unique for a 7 year old. We invite families and all the other students to the showcase, and they enjoy watching the kids work at each station as they share their poetry. We even have the poems scrolling on the Immersion Wall. The students choose their favorite piece and then make a piece of art that symbolizes it in art class. Making it even more interactive, visitors to the showcase scan the art with an iPad, and a video comes up with the student explaining what the art piece symbolizes. Since our students start to compose music in 2nd grade, they write a song for this event, and their music is played in the background of their poetry reading. When our JK students study animals and habitats they connect with a park ranger in The Channel Islands for a live dive. That means we go under the ocean with a scuba diving ranger live! The students get to see what he is seeing, ask questions, and get live responses. It is a very immersive experience with our Immersion Wall. What ways have you seen students be creative? I think a great example is the Flex Time in our upper school. Many teachers are available from all content areas and specialties. It's a different topic each year; this year the focus was on creating giant playground games. The students were broken up into teams and had to plan their own budgets, go to The Home Depot, problem solve, measure, build; they had to do everything. The entire experience was amazing. The students had to learn to listen to everyone and rely on the team. Sometimes a student was a leader, other times a follower. They had to solve a real problem, like running out of money and not being able to buy the right part. It was incredible to see the teams develop their communication, work as a whole, and present their final projects. Now we have playground games for other students to enjoy for years to come, and these students can take pride in leaving their mark on Wilson. We also have our art program where we often use the teach artistic behavior method. TAB is a method of teaching art by offering choices to students. In standard art classes, you probably did the same project as everyone else. At Wilson, students make choices based on their interests and ideas about what to create and what materials to use. The other day there were some students working on building a hockey goal, some were sewing, others were building a house for a cat, and a few were at the computer making cartoon animations with me. It promotes original ideas and provides the opportunity for students to grapple with problems and make decisions like an artist. Can you think of a graduate who has gone on and done things with creativity or technology? Wilson students go on to do great things in really interesting fields. A graduate who comes to mind is Robert Kidwell, who now is in college and has been involved with creative problem-solving while interning and working at G.E. Robert was approached by several workers on the shop floor of a factory, who voiced concerns about aches and pains associated with welding in awkward positions. With their help, he designed a set of interactive training stations which were named "Ergo (ergonomics) Event Stations". The result was a multi-million dollar safety instructional course that both reduced injury reports by 25% in the first quarter after implementing them, and also allowed Robert to present and sell them to a large group of companies at a trade conference. Robert certainly is creative and innovative. What are your goals and plans for future? We have some exciting plans and goals for the upcoming year, such as increasing digital citizenship throughout the curriculum. We teach creative coding starting in 2nd grade that ties in with social studies, math, and other units. In 4th grade, students learn the historical background and then turn it into a journey of an Egyptologist. We do things other schools just aren't doing yet, and we take a lot of pride in that. Even in PE, the older kids make sportsmanship videos that are fun and creative. Not only do they show other kids how to be an athlete, but they learn the importance of fair play and being a good role model. At Wilson, each class connects with the next, and above all, we strive to carry out our motto, Make Your Mark a Good One. Our biggest difference maker is the fact my role exists. It's not always second nature for teachers to try out some of the initiatives we have here, so having this role and resources gives our teachers the confidence and support to try new ideas. They're not random efforts; it's all a part of our plan. Our mission is to prepare students for the ever-changing world, and technology plays a large role in that. We know students need to be able to collaborate and communicate using technology. For us, it's second nature. Our administration supports this initiative in everything we do. Other schools receive training on using technology but don't often get it on teaching with technology in the classroom, or they just have an IT person who works on hardware and software. Our Head of School made a conscious decision to have a teacher in this position. We're not afraid to fail and try again, and we teach our students that same mentality. an interview with Kelly Eidson and Megan Philip  Why is community important to you?
K: When I’m thinking about community, I’m thinking about something that makes us feel whole. As individuals, we want to be a needed, valued part of the whole. We want to feel the community is depending on us, and vice versa. Being connected is important. M: That’s an essential part of being a human, that sense of belonging. Both knowing people and being known by them is an important part of life and growth. How have you seen students embrace the concept? K: The 5th and 6th grades just finished a massive set of projects where they worked on creating games for children of the school to play at recess. Instead of playing soccer during recess, they wanted to develop games younger students could play as they grew up at Wilson. This is where they completely took the whole project on, giving back to the school community in the process. They understood they wouldn’t be able to play these games once they’d graduated, yet still wanted to do if for the younger students. They had to form their own plans, take trips to The Home Depot to build them, troubleshoot when things weren’t working, and everything else that comes with starting a project from scratch. The teachers were guiding and supervising, but the kids had to come up with plans, measure, experiment, and adjust if it didn’t work. That project just showed them what life is about; a group of people solving a problem for others. They learned to execute their ideas to develop solutions and had fun doing it. M: Wilson really is a home away from home. When I came to pick my daughter from school one day as we were approaching the regular winter break, we were talking about how fun winter vacation would be. Instead of getting excited about time off from school, she said, "Mom, school is fun! Who needs a vacation from that?” That was a special moment where I realized how strong and engaging the community at Wilson truly is. The Wilson school isn’t a place students feel they have to be, but rather it’s a place at which they truly want to be. As she got older, the community she experienced at Wilson shaped what she wanted out of a secondary school, and now it has predominantly influenced her hopes for college. She wanted the familiar sense of being known and knowing her peers and teachers. That was a key thing she recognized even as an 11 year old, and she’s embraced that in her current discussions of college choices. I hear about her conversations with her high school teachers and the importance community holds in her view of the world. She knows nothing different than a strong community, and now that I’ve seen her grow as a person and a student, I know that impact has had a lasting effect on her and will continue. How is Wilson a part of the community? K: The Wilson School has a service focus called the Wilson Outreach Workshop, or more commonly known as WOW, and it's a community service arm of Wilson. This group creates opportunities for Wilson students and parents to be involved in giving back in our community. For instance, WOW collects coats in the fall for Warner's Warmup and shoes for the Shoeman Water Project. We collect and donate to various St. Louis charities, and have also collected and donated Halloween costumes and Birthday Boxes for children in need in honor of Miss Wilson’s (our founder's) birthday. Last year during the flooding, the kids organized a drive to collect money for flood victims all on their own. This year we have 6th graders in the International Institute where they learned about and became interested in helping refugees. They’ve started serving people new to this country, trying to understand their needs. Our kids took a field trip and brought books from their own library and read them to these kids. Based on the need they saw there, they’re holding a bedding drive. That’s a complete idea from the kids based on their interaction and observations. While it’s extraordinary in general, it’s pretty typical of our kids at Wilson. M: Wilson teaches students to see who they are not only as an individual but as a person in the world at large. How they’re able to fit in, interact, be productive, contribute, and solve problems. Wilson starts helping them do that at a very young age. What’s your favorite part of being a family at Wilson? K: For me, it comes down to the teachers. Every set of teachers we’ve had since we started has so quickly and accurately honed in on my kids strengths and opportunities. Not just in academics, either. My older daughter is quiet, and it’s wonderful to hear the ways the teachers are encouraging her, pushing her, showing her how to use the tools she has, and so much more. They’ve pulled her out of her shell and she’s blossomed at Wilson. I can’t believe this little 2nd grader is now an incredible 6th grader who has grown so much in just a few short years. It’s so helpful to have two teachers at all times. They’re able to steer them in the right direction, provide guidance and advice they might not even know they need. These teachers are awesome and have made my kids love going to school. M: I completely echo all of that. It’s honestly really hard for me to pick one thing. When thinking about all my memories, I loved being engaged with so many other passionate people helping the community. I was the PA president when the catastrophic fire happened in March of 2012. There was so much work to be done to get things back to normal for our students and staff. We held school in three interim locations to keep things going, then moved to one "permanent" interim location after that, all in a period of just a month. It was wonderful to see the level of support we received from the parent community through all of it. The families really helped the students and faculty transition through what was a very challenging situation- the communication and collaboration were fantastic. It wasn’t even just current families; we also had many alum parents reach out and provide a great deal of help during the entire situation. As difficult a time as that was, it was truly a positive experience to see the community come together and rise to the occasion, pitch in, and do it all cheerfully. I feel proud to have been a part of that amazing experience. K: I was in a committee meeting recently with parents who’d never heard of the fire, and I found it remarkable to see how the school is so much more than just the building. It’s the people, the community. No matter where the school was, it was still The Wilson School. Read Part 1 Here |
Publications
Wilson in the News
Town&Style Magazine
St. Louis Magazine 2014
News Categories
All
|
|
RSS Feed
