This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

October 22, 2012

This Week’s Good News!

•  On Thursday, October 18, the Community High Jazz Program was invited to perform for The University of Michigan's 2012 "Celebrate Invention" reception, which hosted honored guest and keynote speaker Governor Rick Snyder. The reception, held in the Michigan League Ballroom, showcased U-M inventions and their creators. Community High freshman and pianist extraordinaire, Erez Dessel, was selected by CHS Jazz Director Jack Wagner to provide solo jazz piano for the event. Erez had the pleasure of playing for the governor and the over 350 guests hosted by the U-M's Technology Transfer department.  Photos of the event are featured in the “AAPSNews” that you may access by clicking on the link:  AAPS News site.

•  Another feature story, with photographs, is Eberwhite Elementary’s Woodchip Day. Woodchip Day is an annual tradition that involves the local neighborhoods and Eberwhite Elementary School. Classes take turns hauling woodchips and refreshing a portion of the paths in the Eberwhite Woods. It is a lesson in stewardship and community for the students who use the woods as a living classroom year-round.

•  Another feature in the AAPSNews is about a very special visitor to our district, Dr. James Comer.  Dr. Comer was one of my teachers and a special mentor.  He is currently the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University of Medicine Child Study Center. He has authored nine books and has served as a consultant for Children’s Television Workshop, the producer of Sesame Street and the Electric Company.  He was very gracious and spoke to our students, parents, community members and administrators. 

•  A number of our Ann Arbor Art Teachers have been selected to present at this year’s Michigan Art Education Association conference in Traverse City, October 25-28:

Debra Campbell of Allen Elementary and Peggy Leonard of Lakewood Elementary have been selected to present a workshop entitled, “Discovering Nature Through Art” and will present a variety of nature centered art lessons that connect with other disciplines throughout the elementary curriculum.

Claudia Burns from A2 Tech and Ann Arbor Open) will be doing multiple presentations on Assessment in the Visual Arts along with, “Think Before You Ink,” a cross-curricular project that teaches safe tattooing practices as well as thoughtful design.

Meredith Giltner  from Carpenter and Kate Higgins from Burns Park will present lessons that integrate the Michigan Science  and Social Studies curriculum with Art lessons which include both Science and Art Standards for grades K-5.

•  Pioneer teacher, Jeff Kass, provided a link to an article written by a former Pioneer creative writing student.  He writes, “I just wanted to pass along this article written by former Pioneer student Molly Raynor who was one of the first graduates from our Creative Writing programs both at Pioneer and The Neutral Zone. She runs her own program in a very challenging city now and her success is a testament to the work we do here. I know I chafe against the data-driven analysis in terms of how we evaluate students and teachers and I think this article demonstrates both the value of the Creative Writing programs @ Pioneer and The Neutral Zone and how it's necessary to look at our students as more than just statistics. Hope you'll take the time to read it over. Thanks for your own hard work amidst all our various challenges these days and I hope you're as inspired by Molly's success story as I am. The link to her story is below.

http://richmondpulse.org/re-writing-the-story-of-richmond-through-raw-talent/?fb_action_ids=10101907311214853&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366

 

Patricia P. Green, Ph.D.

Superintendent of Schools
Ann Arbor Public Schools
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104