« October 05, 2007 | Main | October 19, 2007 »
October 12, 2007
Printable version
If you want to print today's Friday Letter, click here for a printable version.
If you want a printable version of a past Friday letter, select the Archive date of the letter you want to print.
PHS Historical Photos: 40's-50's
Upcoming events 10-12-2007
ALL SCHOOL EVENTS:
• October 16–School Photos: All school and class pictures
• October 17–School Photos: Individual Portraits K-4
• October 18–School Photos: Individual Portraits 5-8
• October 19–Walkathon
• October 24–Rain date for photos
• October 26–Walkathon rain date
• October 31–Halloween parade and assembly
Click here for a downloadable calendar of events for October
Click here for a downloadable 2007-2008 School Year Calendar
Announcements 10-12-2007
Picture Days
We will have school pictures taken on October 16, 17 and 18th. There is a rain date scheduled on October 24 for students who were absent or if we have rain on the outdoor picture day. Class photos and the all school photo will be taken on October 16.
Individual portraits for k-4 will be taken on October 17.
Individual portraits for 5-8 will be taken on October 18.
Click here for a downloadable flyer with details about purchasing the photos.
Walkathon
October 19, 2007 – Step up to the plate!
We are growing more and more excited as this year’s Walkathon approaches. We hope that everyone has received their packets and is well on the way to collecting more donations than ever before. This week we received word from a generous donor that she or he would donate five cents for every dollar we raise this year! We hope this matching gift will provide further motivation for us all as we continue to collect sponsors. If you have not yet received your packet, or if you have any other questions regarding this year’s Walkathon, please give Namrata a call in the Development Office at 415-751-9318, x106. See below for downloads of all the important Walkathon paperwork. Click on the words to download.
- Walkathon Flyer
- Instructions for Getting Sponsors and Collecting Donations Sheet
- Walkathon Sponsor Form
High School Placement 10-12-2007
Ann Meissner Jennifer Franklin (Seventh Grade Humanities Teacher)
High School
Friday letter 10.12.07
I hope students took my suggestion seriously and spent some time over the 4 day weekend working on applications. Please make sure that is happening so that the work of completing the applications isn’t left to the last minute. This is true for the parent portion as well!
Students were given a homework assignment entitled Student Resume. This is due on October 15. Additional copies of the assignment are posted outside my office.
Now is time to begin thinking about what schools your child will apply to. In about one month I will be asking for a written list of these schools. We use this list to know where to send transcripts and teacher recommendations. I will need to have signed forms from each family authorizing the sending of this material. Your child will be given the forms to bring home for completion and return.
An 8th grade parent recently told me about a relatively new group who has partnered with SFUSD to provide information to parents. Their website is: www.CalfeeSchoolGuide.org. One project they have taken on is filming at each school. Those mini films will be available on their website beginning October 12, 2007. They also post info on school addresses, tours, etc. Check it out!
From the Associate Director and Middle School Dean 10-12-2007
Friday Letter
October 12, 2007
Last Friday PHS was not in session to allow teachers to attend the 2007 Progressive Education Network Conference. This national organization has recently resurfaced in the face of No Child Left Behind legislation that has made progressive practices difficult or impossible in some settings. After my 30+ years attending educational conferences it is sometimes hard for me to feel enthusiastic at the thought of attending yet another conference. It is easier than I would like to admit to adopt a very adolescent “been there, done that” attitude. What a wonderful surprise Friday turned out to be! I found myself inspired, challenged, entertained and filled with pride to be working in a school with a longstanding progressive philosophy.
Progressive education can be difficult to describe in a succinct manner and different people and schools tend to emphasize different aspects of the whole approach. The conference offered sessions on topics ranging from faculty mentoring to decision making to scheduling to poetry to diversifying middle schools and on through an amazing array of school issues.
Personally I was most challenged by the notion of democracy in education. How does one set up a classroom in which students are truly active participants, not just recipients of a teacher’s well-designed lesson? How do we encourage home-school partnerships that value all voices and perspectives? How do I structure faculty meetings that foster the deep participation of the teachers and are also necessarily efficient? How do we empower students to take action, to understand that their voices matter, while also providing the structure, clear expectations, and consequences which adolescent students so desperately need?
I’m not sure I have concrete answers to any of these questions. But I am inspired to keep in mind the principles of inclusion, creativity, participation and community that underlie the questions. And what more could I ask out of a day spent in an educational conference!
Ann Meissner
Curriculum Spotlight: 8th grade humanities 10-12-2007
Teaching Shakespeare in one day at Presidio Hill School...
Well, the 8th grade has already finished their first unit of the year. We studied Immigration with the guiding question "What is an American?" We read a lot, watched a Simpson's episode, interviewed people in the neighborhood, went to the New Citizen's Naturalization ceremony, watched lots of film clips and wrote a major essay.
Now we're beginning our mini-unit on theater to help us visualize the Follies-writing process which is a major part of the 8th grade fall humanities experience.
We're looking at the history of theater this week. We spent Tuesday studying Shakespeare. How do you learn Shakespeare in one day? Here's what we did:
1. After defining iambic pentameter, students beat the rhythm of their hearts on their desks while I read Green Eggs and Ham, most of which can be read in iambic pentameter. While they are still keeping the beat, I switch to reading a song from Shakespeare's Loves Labours Lost. The main point? If you can read Dr. Seuss you can read Shakespeare.
2. Noticing that some of the words in the Shakespeare song were new to us, we talked about where language comes from. Eventually we all realized that everybody invents language, often in the form of slang. I bring up an
overhead of some slang words that have double meanings, have changed meanings or have been totally made up. We also look at some hip-hop lyrics. We talk about the amazing creativity of hip-hop and contrast it to the artistic boom of Elizabethan England. The main point is that if you can understand and even use slang, you can understand Shakespeare.
3. But Shakespeare didn't just use iambic pentameter and invent new words-he also used a unique grammatical structure. Well, almost unique. After looking at some Shakespearean syntax we watch a little bit of Star Wars Episode V : The Empire Strikes Back in which Yoda is introduced and becomes the most famous syntaxical switcher since the Bard. Students break into groups where they re-write the Star Wars script in 'proper' grammatical English. The lesson? If you can understand Yoda, you can understand Shakespeare.
We do other things with Shakespeare: Students are rewriting a Shakespearian sonnet into modern English (as well as writing their own original sonnets). We watched three movie versions of the balcony and death scenes from Romeo and Juliet to discuss artistic choice. And of course, most famously, we look at all the different Shakespearean insults, and students are allowed, for this one time, to insult their teacher using a combination of the wonderful words Shakespeare used to insult.
There is no 'middle school Shakespeare curriculum' out there. There are little kid books that introduce Shakespeare's stories, but not the language.
All high school students will eventually be given a play to read - sink or swim. And it can be painful.
My goal is to take all the fear out of an introduction to Shakespeare and replace the fear with fun. It should be an enjoyable educational experience- but then again, as a progressive educator, I figure every educational experience should be enjoyable...
Trevor McNeil, 8th grade humanities teacher