Days, Nights, and Diavolo Too!

Schools are dynamic, breathing, living places.   Flexibility is key, hundreds of decisions are made in the moment, and no two days are ever alike.  Honestly, ask any principal or teacher and they’ll tell you that the love of kids and sheer variety of the days is why we do what we do.  Case in point this week.

Spring parent conferences happened on Monday, grades 3 & 4 took their middle of the year district assessments, our final New Parent Orientation took place Tuesday, and staff came together around a truly fabulous PTA provided luncheon on Wednesday.  But there was so much more...

Second grade enjoyed a beautiful field experience to Zilker Botanical Gardens on Tuesday; it was a great tie-in to their yearly Japan Unit as part of their SS TEKS.   I tagged along with Mrs. Guenther’s group that day and had a lovely stroll with the kids as we learned about "The Bridge to Walk Over the Moon", heard details on the garden's creator Mr. Taniguchi, as well as oohed and awed over the fact that the front area ponds in the garden spell the word AUSTIN.  Pretty neat.  The students came away with many ideas for elements in their own Japanese Garden creations, all of which will be on display during the annual Fair in March. 

Beth Finkle and Lisa Bachman's Fractured Fairy Tale Play also took place on Friday for parents and it was extremely well done.  Mrs. Finkle tells me this is one of the best productions she’s ever had and attributes it to the great actors she has in class.  The play served as a culminating activity to her Fairy Tale Unit, with students actually creating sets, props, and some costumes.  They also wrote their own fractured fairy tales and pop-up books based on the original stories for the unit and will use them to read to our Kinder and 1^st grade classes during library
time.  Per Mrs. Finkle, “ This gives us an authentic audience.  Many of my students were here in K or 1^st and had one of my students read to them way back then!”  Love that connection.

I think you can tell from the picture below, that Coach Deline enjoyed his moment in the spotlight at Monday night’s Zarrow Outstanding Teacher Lecture on UT’s campus.  It was a great evening, full of bright Teachers of Tomorrow and many representatives from UT’s College of Education honoring five AISD Outstanding teachers in various areas.  Wow, that spirit is catching – gotta’ love the vibe of a college campus!  An award, reception, and break-out session where the recipients answered questions posted by teachers in training were part of the evening, but the highlight for me were the winner speeches.  All were moving, all made me proud to be a part of this profession, none more so than Coach’s heartfelt speech.  Seriously, many of us had a few tears as Coach talked about what it means to teach and to care.  Each winner was asked the following question for print in the keepsake program - “What would you like your students to say about you long after they leave your classroom?”  Jim simply wrote, “He noticed me”.  And he does in the best way.  Thanks Coach!

George Llewellyn, Lamar Middle School principal, delivered another informative parent presentation at Tuesday evening’s PTA general meeting in our cafeteria.  Once again, he provided relevant information on the upcoming Fine Arts Academy, the re-tooled academic delivery model in math, plans for the remainder of the year, and plans going forward.  There are so many cool partnerships with community providers and McCallum HS that I can’t mention them all here, but look at the offerings in place now or happening next year:

Rockestra/Fiddle Group                      9 music offerings, including guitar instruction 
3 theatre offerings                                Plans for an outdoor performance center
A unique new scrolling marquee          DANCE! 
French, Spanish, Japanese                    Robotics, Graphic Design, and Digital Photography  Radio                                                    Creative writing incl. songwriting & screenplays             

Advanced Math track                          High School credit courses 

That evening, Mr. Llewellyn told the audience, “We are working closely with McCallum to align our programs.  We want kids to go to school in their neighborhoods…we will provide interventions for those who need them, but not for everyone.  We will customize for each student”. Thanks for reminding us Mr. Llewellyn that we have a strong vertical team, not only in the area of the arts, but in academics as well.  And we are getting stronger and more aligned each year. Great second HP visit – together, as Coach likes to say, we are Scottie Strong!

Finally, Diavolo, Diavolo!  Tonight was beyond fun.  We came, we saw, we were filmed. Not to mention we were thrilled with the cubes, the galleon, the jumps, the moves.  Trajectoire was given 2 Big Thumbs Up by Beck and Geffen!  Thanks to all Scotties for attending this second arts event as part of our Any Given Child initiative, thanks to TPA for your hospitality, and thanks everyone for continuing to build community through the arts.