I Wish Every Week Could be Cluster Week

February 13, 2015 / Guest User

By Sophie Rich, Performing Arts Specialist & Atrium Alumna

As a freelance drama educator, director, actress, and all-around-theater-person, I find myself constantly moving from project to project and show to show, meeting new groups of students and bidding farewell to them in turn. I’ve learned how to say goodbye to productions, how to conclude workshops, and how to take a bow on one stage and walk on to the next.

However, there’s something about the journey I took with the Atrium middle school students during their performing arts cluster this past fall that is much harder to pack up and put behind me. As I think about how I want to grow as an educator in 2015, those two short weeks stick out to me as uniquely exciting, enriching, and thought provoking amongst all the teaching I’ve done.

How We Engage With Big Questions: Homelessness

January 19, 2015 / Guest User

By Jill Ferraresso, Grade 2 Teacher

In November the 2nd graders read a book in class called "Fly Away Home" by Eve Bunting. In this story, a boy and his father are homeless and secretly living in an airport. This story launched our discussion about homelessness and allowed us to challenge common stereotypes about homeless people being lazy. We used our human being truths chart to talk about how in any group of people, there may be some lazy ones, some hard-working people, etc., and that in general, if a person does not have a home, they are missing something they really need. There are many different stories about why or how someone became homeless. Our main focus is on being compassionate and doing something to help.

We talked about how homelessness is a complex issue and not one to be solved easily. We can't all move people into our homes, or hand out all our money, but we can do a few things that can really help individual human beings.

How To Make the Most of a Parent-Teacher Conference

October 08, 2014 / Guest User / Source

By Linda Echt, Head of School

The goal of both parents and teachers in a conference is to work in partnership to optimize for a student’s success in school. Here’s a list of 10 simple suggestions for parents to make the most of the time they spend with teachers. (p.s. There’s a little prep work worth doing, so don’t leave this to read ‘til the morning of!)

Talk to your child beforehand. Find out if there is anything he or she would like you to bring up in the conference.
Make notes ahead of time. And because time can pass quickly, be sure to discuss important things first