The theme of my address at the State of School dinner was the need for parents and teachers to form a partnership that will help all children develop the capacity for sustained effort, perseverance, resilience in the face of difficulty, and the skill to engage and organize complex learning tasks.

These character traits and habits of mind have always been known to be important and valuable.  In the past, however, the unexamined assumption was that they were in-born and more or less fixed.  You either had them or you didn’t.  In the 21^st century they are even more important than ever.  The complex learning tasks that confront us as adults require these behaviors.  More and more we must prepare ourselves to engage in tasks and challenges that we know we are not prepared for, but that we are confident we can learn to accomplish. Jobs, professions and adult responsibilities all require complex problem solving, organizational skills, executive functioning, and overcoming difficulties and frustrations.

Therefore, it is simply NOT acceptable for some of our students to show perseverance and flexible problem solving skills and others to lack those behaviors.  All students need them.  Gratefully, newly developed brain science confirms that these character traits and behaviors are not inborn and fixed.  They can be learned.  Therefore, our school should take on the challenge of learning how to teach them to our students.

Here are some of our initial thoughts about how we can help students learn and practice these essential habits of mind.

• Explicitly embrace difficult challenges. Acknowledge and affirm searching for and accepting feedback and criticism, adopt incessant revision as a way of life.  Encourage and participate in inventiveness, trying a new way, experimentation.
• See failure and mistakes as wonderful.  “Mistakes are expected, respected and inspected.”
• Exercise regularly and frequently.  Research has demonstrated that exercise increases attention, focus, and promotes neuron growth.
• Spend time in natural settings with trees and plants.  Research has shown that time in natural settings boosts immune function, lowers blood pressure, and decreases cortisol (the stress hormone.)
• Learn and practice behaviors that reduce stress and promote the growth mindset:  disciplined breathing, moments of silence and inner awareness.  Identify and recognize anxiety when it appears; use self-talk to normalize anxiety, “Anxiety is normal; many of us have it, I am not alone.”

So take a break, eat chocolate, and re-visit the children’s classic, “The Little Engine That Could.”

The school is quiet and cold in the summer, but we’re all getting fired up as we sit in the computer lab with the third grade team and  talk about ideas for our ITL (Institute on Teaching and Learning) project.  Together, Randy Bowman, Karen Dauer, Andrew Brennan and I are taking advantage of ITL, which is an opportunity for teachers to get together in teams to spend focused and dedicated time on school work. ITL time could be spent a number of different ways – developing a new curriculum unit, learning a new teaching method or technology use or making changes to a program.

This year, the third grade teachers and I worked together to improve the classroom social studies and the science lab units. We clarified the major lessons that we want the students to take away at the end of the year and asked whether our current teaching was working to this end. The principles of ecology and interdependence are among the themes for the third grade year. With the changes that we have made to the curriculum, the students will study 3 of the 7 bay area ecosystems.  For variety, relevance and interest we chose redwoods, chaparral and salt marshes.  In the beginning of the year, the third graders will learn some of the basic principles of ecology during the popular ‘Guppy’ project, in which they make a habitat for a tiny fish.  These principles will then extend throughout the year forming a framework for each of the 3 bay area habitat studies, with the teachers involved using the same vocabulary and explicitly making connections.

Together in our ITL work we also created a new unit on birds.  All of us are very excited to teach this new unit incorporating hands-on experiments, outdoor bird watching, and an owl pellet dissection. Randy is especially ready with a bird song app on his phone! While Andrew brought many ideas to our summer work with his usual energy and love for teaching, Randy, Karen and I got into long conversations about our expectations and guidelines for the students writing. We discussed how our expectations build over the year and how each child should be successful at the level they are at, and prepared to excel at the next stage. In keeping with our training in differentiation, we built in tasks that accommodate different skill levels, choice of subject and different learning styles.

This summer I also worked with Tristan Sturm and Cathy Aragon on the second grade social studies and science curriculum. It was wonderful to have some time to get to know Cathy before the pressures of the new school year are upon us. Cathy comes from Flynn and has tried different ways of teaching about San Francisco in her classroom. I enjoy talking to teachers from other schools about their experiences. Tristan and Cathy have an essential question that drives their social studies curriculum: ‘How does a city tell us about its history?’ This question is posted in their room and students strive to answer through their studies.   We worked to bring some of the science units in line with this central question and the science lab classes will help shed light on the answers.  A couple of examples include a unit on San Francisco transportation and a scientific study on the foods that immigrant populations brought to San Francisco. If you are wondering what this might look like, the lessons range from growing corn and making pasta to building model cable cars. All my lessons strive to teach the students how scientists work and make contributions to society while encouraging each child to practice making observations. It is important to me that the children continue to be full of curiosity as they are in Kindergarten and that they understand that science can empower them to answer life’s puzzling questions.

ITL is an amazing opportunity to partner with colleagues to take on new challenges and improve how and what we teach. During the quiet months of summer it is possible to have these extensive yet focused conversations that are difficult once school is in session. What is accomplished is a deep, shared understanding of our common goals and time to plan carefully and thoughtfully.

Welcome Back. When I was growing up, these words filled me with dread when associated with ‘school’ or ‘September.’  Welcome back to a classroom?  Welcome back to new teachers?  To new kids?  No thank you.  I remember well the first-week-of-school stomachache that only gradually lessened as September ran into October.  Not even the annual back to school shopping trip could forestall the impending sense of doom.  And then came the Day School.

Every summer I’ll hear someone (it could be a grandparent, an uncle, a cousin) ask my sons if they’re looking forward to school starting.  And I wait with bated breath thinking that this will be the year I hear one or both say, “Not really” or “No way.”  And every year I’m a little surprised, and very pleased, when I hear both say, “Yes, I can’t wait to see who my teacher will be, ” or “I can’t wait to see who’s in my class,” or “Can I be a Dolphin Singer?”  No stomachaches, no back to school shopping bribes needed.  Magic — Day School Magic.  And I have to confess that I too now look forward to school starting.  To seeing all of you.  To getting back into the classrooms to see all the amazing things the teachers have planned.  To working on fun events and attending soccer games.  September has been transformed!

I hope you feel it too, as part of the Parents Association.  And I’m here, along with the other officers (our contact information is below) to see that you do.  So please feel free to let me know if the magic is slipping, or better yet, when you feel it most.  Our goal is to have parents feel supported and to be  supportive of our kids, our faculty and the community.  There are many ways to be involved (include Volunteer Sign Up link), both in and outside of the classroom.  I hope you’ll take advantage of all September has to offer – Welcome Back!

2010-2011 Parents Association

President: Jennifer Holderness
President-Elect: Nicole Krassner
Treasurer: Mardi Dier
Secretary: Kay Parekh
Volunteer Chair: Courtney Norris
Diversity Chair: Bert Galleno

This past August, Breakthrough wrapped up its eighteenth summer at SFDS. 76 hard-working fifth and sixth graders spent six weeks learning from 20 equally hard-working college students. Classrooms and hallways were bustling. Students dissected sheep eyes, mapped plot structures, and researched the lives of Native people in Chaco Canyon, in what is now New Mexico. They paid a visit to Facebook headquarters, camped out at Pt. Reyes, and had any number of unique experiences.

But with all this activity, one of the things I’ll remember most was our theme, “Readers are Leaders.”

After several years of summer themes that were worthwhile but abstract (“Oh, The Places You’ll Go”), we opted this time for something more tangible. Besides reading two novels for their summer Reading class, students were pushed to read as much as possible on their own. They recorded their progress on the website Destiny Quest and also made paper chains, one link per book, competing for the longest. Bulletin boards around the school recommended titles in different genres (mystery, biography, fantasy) or shared the favorite books of notable leaders (President Obama – among others, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon).

We also looked for other ways to reinforce the power of reading. SFDS librarian Renee Otero arranged for an accomplished children’s book author, Jennifer Holm, to speak to the students about her life as a writer and to sign book copies. In the mornings after breakfast, before students headed off to class, we often asked students and teachers to share a book they had recently read.

With all of this, I started to see something shift – in the students, and also in myself – in terms of just how much we valued reading. Maybe it was hearing a teacher describe a favorite book for the fifth straight day. Maybe it was the research someone cited about reading’s long-term benefits for intelligence, concentration, and creativity – benefits not imparted by TV watching. Maybe it was my own effort, not wanting to be a hypocrite, to do more reading myself (I really liked Girl in Translation, also Baking Cakes in Kigali, but had to give up on If You Don’t Know Me By Now). Maybe it was seeing Trayana reading happily at lunch. Most likely it was all of this put together. The growing consciousness about reading was a tide that washed over everyone at Breakthrough. If our students continue to read this much in the months and years ahead, there will be all kinds of positive results.

I understand the draw of TV and video games, especially in the days of 3-D graphics and busy schedules. A recent article in the New York Times discusses how some TV networks have moved their morning news broadcasts as early as 4 am, hoping to catch early risers, and possibly also counting on a spillover effect. As the reporter pointed out, “Once a household’s television is turned on, it typically stays on for hours and hours.” Recent surveys found that TVs in the average American household stay on for 8 hours a day – while the average American adult reads only four books per year.

While changing these numbers is a big mountain to climb, hopefully we can all set the right tone with the young people we know. For next summer at Breakthrough, we may be bringing back the “Readers are Leaders” theme, and we hope you’ll all join us in supporting this effort!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our new and returning students and families to another fabulous school year at San Francisco Day School.

We all have many opportunities to share our enthusiasm about our children’s education. As these opportunities arise at civic or social events/organizations, neighborhood associations, or your child’s former preschool kindergarten information event, we hope you will be willing to share your SFDS experiences. Feel free to stop by the admission office for information you can take to share with these groups.

We are also looking to increase the visibility of our families who represent the diverse backgrounds of our school community at admission events. Please help us share our school in case you have not already signed up to do so. Following are a list of volunteer opportunities:

Evening and Weekend Open Houses:

Wednesday, September 29, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Wednesday, October 13, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Saturday, November 6, 10:00am-12:00pm

School Day Tours: (8:30-10:15am)

Wednesday, November 10
Friday, November 12
Tuesday, November 16
Thursday, November 18
Wednesday, December 1
Tuesday, December 7
Thursday, December 9
Monday, December 13
Wednesday, December 15

The volunteer orientation for these events will be held on Monday, September 20 from 8:30am-10:00am.

Please contact one of the following admission co-chairs for more information: Gail Chang, David Glickman, John Hayashi, Judith Sansone, and Buzz Thompson at sfds.admissions@gmail.com.

We deeply appreciate the tremendous parent support that is part of the admission process at San Francisco Day School.

We are looking forward to meeting all of you and to welcoming back those of you who will be returning for another wonderful admission season.

Best wishes to all of you for a great year!

This year, Family Fun Fest will take place over two days (Sunday , October 3rd –  Monday, October 4th).

Sunday, October 3rd

The action kicks off with the Library Party on Sunday (10:00am – 5:00pm), where each book sale will benefit the SFDS Library Media Center.  Sales will continue throughout Monday (10:00am – 8:00pm), so there’s plenty of time to shop all day and read all night.  Once again we are partnering with Books Inc., who will have helpful and knowledgeable staff onsite to help you with recommendations and to answer any questions you have.  Of course, our librarians will also be available to guide you on book choices for your child.

Please be sure to check out the latest acquisitions for our library, which will be ready and waiting for your child to read.  We highly encourage all those who would like to consider donating a book (your child can fill out a name plate for it) or taking care of some pre-holiday gift shopping.  As with last year, kids are welcome to fill out wish lists for their holiday requests.

Our second event, Fall Fair, will also take place on Sunday (11:00-2:00pm).  As always, we will be sharing a potluck and ask all participating families to bring for 8-10 people:

Kindergarten & Grade 3:  Appetizers
Grade 1:  Salad
Grade 2, 4 & 6:  Main dish
Grade 5 & 7:  Dessert
Grade 8: Drinks

Monday, October 4^th

As part of this year’s library breakfast (8:30-10:00am), we are proud to present critically-acclaimed novelist, Dave Eggers, who will be discussing his national bestseller, Zeitoun. Mr. Eggers currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children, and has a personal connection to our school – his younger sibling is an SFDS alum.  Eggers’ first memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, garnered much praise in 2000 and his most recent release, Zeitoun, has also been well-received; both are a must-read for all who attend.  Zeitoun is a timely non-fiction piece on a New Orleans resident immediately following the events of Hurricane Katrina. 

“Imagine Charles Dickens, his sentimentality in check but his journalistic eyes wide open, roaming New Orleans after it was buried by Hurricane Katrina…. Eggers’s tone is pitch-perfect—suspense blended with just enough information to stoke reader outrage and what is likely to be a typical response: How could this happen in America?… It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction…. Fifty years from now, when people want to know what happened to this once-great city during a shameful episode of our history, they will still be talking about a family named Zeitoun.”
— Timothy Egan, The New York Times Book Review

Last but not least, we are wrapping up Family Fun Fest with our annual Family Photo Night.  Don’t miss out on your chance to capture a moment in time – come have your family picture taken by a professional photographer and enjoy an evening with other SFDS families.  In celebration of our diverse families, an exhibit of the photos will be displayed around the school for everyone to enjoy.  As RSVPs are mandatory, sign-ups will be made available via a link later this month.

A special thanks in advance to all who choose to participate in this year’s Family Fun Fest – we greatly appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you this October!

After many thanks were shared for the incredible amount of parent participation and input received last year, Mike Halper, president of the Board, shared financial reporting on SFDS and recapped our 2009 goals as well as this year’s Board priorities.  Regarding our financials, all of the generous support we received from the community placed SFDS in relatively strong standing – our endowment performed very well with over 14% growth and our fundraising increased almost 5% versus last year.  All in all, SFDS concluded the fiscal year with a balanced budget and revenues of over $12.5 million.   In the face of our current economic environment, this was not an easy task to accomplish.  With the full support of the Board, Dr. Jackson and the SFDS administration took a very active stance to thoughtfully manage the budget and make ends meet.  To keep the institution on solid ground, the Board will continue to be both enthusiastic about our future goals and mindful of sound stewardship.  One component that will play an important role in guiding us along that path is our Strategic Plan.

Mike reinforced the need for a Strategic Plan and why it continues to be a key focal point of the Board – to ensure we address critical needs and issues for the school.  The Plan will provide us with a compass for the next 5-10 years; a living document with built-in assessments.  With a wide circle of stakeholders including parents, alumni, trustees, grandparents, students, faculty and administration, the Board has made tremendous progress integrating community input into our Strategic Plan.  Here’s what has happened so far:

1)      Community Listening Forums:  Over 250 community members were brought together to share their views on how best to move SFDS into the 21^st century for a successful and rewarding educational experience

2)      May Workshop:  For two days in May, 80 community members collaborated to research, explore and prioritize the major themes that came out of the Listening Forums

3)       June Workshop:  This one-day workshop involved 55 community members who learned about the challenges and opportunities of implementing educational ideas.  This group examined and re-prioritized educational ideas while considering the constraints of the school’s schedule, our facility and our budget.

Our ultimate goal is to create a financially stable model to incorporate these new ideas while continuing to support our ongoing programs.  Our continued commitment to differentiated instruction, diversity and professional development remain integral to our values.  The administration is currently preparing the feedback from these meetings to formalize the vision for our educational goals and priorities, which will be an essential part of the Strategic Plan.

At the conclusion of the development results and goals, Mike then introduced Dr. Jackson to discuss the blossoming educational ideas of the Strategic Plan, launching with our commitment to health and wellness.  We have already put a few ideas into practice this year, such as our enriched school menu and eco-conscious compost, landfill and recycling efforts.  Dr. Jackson also touched on two key points:

1) the impressive dedication of our teachers who spent over 1,300 hours in professional development this summer and 2) the ongoing development of the educational ideas that will formpart of the Strategic Plan.

Updates to these issues as well as the overall Plan will be shared with the larger community on an ongoing basis, with the goal of sharing a completed Plan early next year.  It has been encouraging to see all of the collaboration, discussion, and consensus-building that our participants have committed to throughout the strategic-planning process.  We offer our gratitude for the time and talents that many of you have devoted and look forward to building an even stronger San Francisco Day School for generations to come.

Faithful readers of this blog will recall that June’s posting, the last one of the year, recounted the tremendous energy and commitment to professional development that was in the works for our teachers during the summer.  Thirty-five teachers were scheduled to attend conferences and workshops all over the country.  In addition, virtually every teacher in every grade and subject arranged work with Day School colleagues or local experts to expand and refine their curriculum and teaching practices.

No question about it, the summer months were packed with stimulating, challenging professional endeavors, all facilitated through the auspices of our Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL), the Day School’s formalized approach to promoting extensive, on-going teacher training and development.  The financial resources devoted to ITL work together with our teachers’ commitment to educational excellence to promote curriculum improvement, pedagogical advancement, and strategic change.

But that was summer work and calmer times.  The logical and important response is “now what?”  Incorporating and institutionalizing the insights from experts and the planning and strategizing with colleagues is the critical next phase of ITL work. Further, because differentiated instruction (DI) was the focus of professional development beginning in June of 2009 and continuing through the school year, we will stay the course supporting DI efforts and not lose focus or commitment to that important work.  How to do all that?  We have plans.

During our First Work Week, the week of faculty meetings before the beginning of school, we devoted significant blocks of time to sharing summer ITL experiences. For instance in a presentation to the whole faculty, a team of science teachers described the newly designed science curriculum in lower school and one of the teachers who attended the Mindful Schools workshopmodeled “mindfulness” with the full faculty,an approach to mitigating daily stress in the course of our busy days. Preparing such presentations not only requires the participants to organize and refine their  research and conclusions, it also provides an opportunity for feedback from colleagues and discussions of interdisciplinary possibilities and applications to other disciplines or grade levels.  These ITL presentations will be an on-going agenda item at faculty meetings in the months to come.

How summer work moves from theory and strategy to actual practice in the curriculum and classroom is the next critical phase.  To that end, each teacher who participated in an ITL activity has been asked to write for the appropriate division head a summary of the summer work and subsequent plans for curricular integration in units of study as well as individual lessons.   In the months to come, we, in our role as division heads and in our monthly meetings with individual teachers, will use these ITL reports to discuss progress and offer suggestions and guidance. Classroom visits and lesson studies will provide additional opportunities for assessing the effectiveness of plans and strategies resulting from summer research and planning,

Just as we understand that our students learn in a variety of ways, we know that for the teachers no single, specific professional development plan would be appropriate for all.  We also know that mandating one learning activity over another is often of limited value.  So, in addition to teachers sharing information and excitement about summer work, David Jackson and we division heads used First Work Week sessions to identify the intersection of individual professional goals and “community commitments.” For Day School teachers the shared priorities of differentiating instruction and incorporating diversity and multiculturalism into the curriculum are ongoing commitments and the subject of the upcoming year’s in-house professional development.  Concurrently, teachers will pursue interests in a wide variety of areas related to their teaching.  The combination builds an environment of powerful professional learning, a quality of the school that faculty refer to as essential to their lives as teachers.  As we put these new learnings to practice, we will continue to keep you informed of why and how these insights will impact our curriculum.  Our hope is to continue fueling the momentum that we’ve built over the summer to ensure an exciting and innovative learning environment for the months to come.

Welcome back to school! As I begin my second year, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the entire SFDS community for making my first year at the Day School – and in San Francisco – such a positive and happy one.  As we return from the summer holidays, I am excited to welcome back Dasha Ostrova, our CultureFest and events phenomenon, Karen Swing, our Annual Fund and database guru, and Sarah Pizer-Bush, Director of Communications who has scaled back to three days a week while she pursues a graduate degree in drama therapy.

I would also like to welcome two new members to our Development team:

-          Vanessa Alexander, our new Director of Alumni Relations, brings a wealth of experience with her from Yale, Barnard and Town School.  As we approach our 30^th anniversary next year, I am especially thrilled that the School has committed to a dedicated full-time professional to build our SFDS alumni program.

-          Michelle Phillips comes from the business world with a background in marketing and public relations.  Michelle will add her marketing and writing skills to Sarah’s graphic design to make our branding, website, e-news, and other communications even more dynamic.

In addition to their regular positions, Vanessa and Michelle are also 8^th grade advisors, and Dasha is a 6^th grade advisor.

For those of you who are new to San Francisco Day School, the Development Office not only manages the School’s fundraising efforts, but we are also the primary liaison between the Parents Association, our many volunteers, and the administration.  While we work at some point during the year with a majority of our current parents, we are the primary point of contact at the School for our alumni, parents of alumni, and our founding families.

While we know we will continue to confront ongoing uncertainty this year on the economic front, we are looking forward to rolling out several new initiatives:

-          Completion, communication, and presentation of Strategic Plan 2010 in winter 2011

-          Introduction of weekly informal small coffees with the Head of School which will continue throughout the year.  Online sign-ups will make it possible for every family to have coffee with David.

-          Merging the fall picnic into the Fall Fair/Library Party/ Family Photo Night (Family Fun Fest) on October 3 and 4. We are particularly honored to have Dave Eggers as our featured author for the Library Breakfast on Monday, October 4.

-          And, of course, our first State of the School Dinner last night with over 180 guests – we had faculty hosting tables for parents in their classes, 8^th grade servers, and reports by Mike Halper, Board President, and Dr. Jackson about his vision for this academic year.

While these changes are exciting, the bulk of our time is spent tending to the business of keeping SFDS financially healthy and secure.  Last year, we raised more than $2.3 million from the Annual Fund and Major Gifts.  We once again have an ambitious goal for this year’s Annual Fund, but with our dedicated corps of volunteers and committed and generous parents, I am confident that we can and will succeed.  Our Annual Fund last year reached almost $1.1 million with a very impressive 95% parent participation rate.

Additionally, we also have CultureFest 2011 to look forward to on May 1.  Although the chairs have not yet been announced, I’m sure there will be fun and surprises for one and all.

As we begin to plan our 30^th Anniversary celebrations in 2011-2012, we welcome any time, energy and ideas you would care to share… and we always appreciate volunteers for the Annual Fund, CultureFest, Library Party, communications, and any other development initiatives.

It is with gratitude to the entire SFDS community that I welcome you and your children back for a new school year.

While many families were enjoying their last days of summer break, over 50 SFDS teachers and staff member returned to school early for a three day Diversity Forum.  This annual event is an opportunity for teacher and staff to focus on the School’s core value of “diversity and inclusion in our community.”

Cultural competency and leadership was the focus of this year’s forum. Through presentations, discussions, and case studies on gender, family structure, and race, educators created a common vocabulary, learned new skill for respectful listening, and discussed the importance of intent vs. impact. Many teachers felt that the idea of intent vs. impact was a valuable idea to remember throughout the school year.

Intent vs. impact is: what was meant by my action versus what my action meant to someone else.  As an educator I work diligently to create an environment where all my students have mirrors to their lives in the curriculum I deliver and the physical environment I create. It is never my intent to exclude a student’s or their family’s reality. Likewise, I intend to hear all voice in my classes and in the community. From years of teaching I know that the impact of not reflecting a child’s reality or not providing space for their voice can be detrimental to their personal growth, learning, and school identity.

In order to provide the necessary reflection and space for students, I must have a high level of cultural competency. What is central to one group of students and families is not necessarily true for others. As the teacher it is my responsibility to examine everything I do through many different perspectives. I constantly ask my self, “How might my  [insert identifier] student view this material?” If I don’t know the answer I make the necessary calls and visits to try to figure it out. I know I have to make the effort for ALL our children and families, because it is my privilege to be an educator to your children and it is my responsibility to make sure I include everyone and make a positive impact on the lives of our students and families.

You too, as an adult in the SFDS community, have opportunities to examine your cultural competency, learn about other perspectives, become leaders around inclusion, and be aware that the impact you make is great and long lasting to others around you.