campaigns : Campaign Archive

Chalkboard Chats: Upper School parents are invited to attend this year's first "Chalkboard Chats" on Wednesday, October 17, from 7-8:30 pm. Since this is an opportunity for parents to learn more about academic-related topics and issues, we are asking you to e-mail any topic ideas to Academic Dean Mr. Ryan Masa (or call at x2114). We want to ensure that the topics we cover are important and helpful to parents, so please be sure to send Mr. Masa your suggestions. Thank you!

Market Day: Market Day will donate $400 in Scholastic Books to the Lower School if we have 91 orders and $4,400.00 in sales for October. Orders may be sent in or placed on the internet at www.marketday.com by Friday, October 12. Pick-up date is Wednesday, October 17, at the Lower School. Please consider supporting this opportunity for us to receive this great incentive. Upper School parents are welcome to participate as well and help us reach our goal!

Lower School Sweatshirt Sale: Order forms for Lower School sweatshirts have been sent home. Don't miss this opportunity to order your Lawrence "spirit wear"; forms are due on Monday, October 15. If you need another form, please contact Pat Feith at x 1124.

Homecoming 2007: The third annual Lawrence Homecoming Dance takes place on Saturday, October 20, from 7-10 pm in the Upper School gym, for students in grades 9-12. This year's theme is "The Roaring Twenties". Semi-formal attire is required. Tickets are $20 each and will be sold during lunch time from October 1-19. Students may invite up to three guests from other schools.

Looking for Homecoming Help: Student Council is asking for assistance again this year with refreshments. We are asking that parents of 9-12th graders donate one item from each category. These items can be dropped off in Miss Hedrick's room the week of October 15th-19th:

Please RSVP your participation to Miss Amanda Hedrick so that we can track what we have and note what we need. Or, log on to www.lawrencevip.org to post your response. We had tremendous success with this last year and greatly appreciate all donations!

Living Room Chats with Lou Salza: Our first regional chats began this week. There are more opportunities to join the discussion, enjoy wine and cheese, and bring an interested friend! A few of the upcoming events include:

For a complete list of events, click here. RSVP to Jayne Eiben via e-mail or at x3107.

Lower School Clothing Supply: The Main Office in the Lower School keeps a supply of extra clothing for students in case of any accidents. We are in need of Lands' End clothing for girls, especially our for our fifth and sixth grade girls. If you have an item that you would like to donate please send it in to the attention of Mrs. Pat Feith.

Middle School Class Trips: Students participating in middle school class trips need to arrive at the Upper School at the following times: Eighth grade should arrive by 5:45 am on Wednesday, October 17 to depart for Washington, D.C. Seventh grade should arrive no later than 6:00 am on Thursday, October 18 to depart for Chicago. If you have any remaining questions regarding trips, please contact Tracy Pedaline at x2124.

Athletic Boosters Club Fundraiser: Join the Athletic Boosters Club at the Upper School on Saturday, October 27, for a Reverse Raffle fundraiser. Doors open at 6:30 pm and include dinner, baked goods and $1 beverages. Tickets are only $10 for dinner and $25 per raffle ticket, with a Grand Prize of at least $1,000! 21 and over only, please. Contact Mr. Ron Messer at x2410 to RSVP or purchase a ticket. Proceeds benefit the Upper School athletic teams.

Middle School Assembly: Peggy O'Neill will be speaking to 7-9th graders on Tuesday, October 16, from 10-11 am in the theatre. Peggy, who spoke to Lower School students last year, is a "little person" who travels the country talking to students about acceptance and standing tall.

Lower School Social: Lower School families are invited to attend a weekend social on Sunday, November 4, from 1-2:30 pm at Iceland in Strongsville (Rt. 82 just east of the I-71 interchange). The cost is $4 per person with a $2 skate rental fee. Please RSVP to Mrs. Pat Feith via e-mail or at x1124 with the number of family members you will be bringing. Hope to see you there!

College Visits: The following colleges will have admissions representatives visiting Lawrence: Kent State University on October 8 from 2-3 pm, Notre Dame College on October 16 from 9-10 am, High Point University on October 17 from 9:30-10:30 am, Bowling Green State University on October 18 from 10-11 am, University of Akron on October 30 from 10-11 am, and Ohio Northern on November 1 from 9:30-10:30 am. If any high school students are interested in meeting with a representative, please contact Mrs. Jennifer Mattes in the admission office.

October 11 Adult Technology Course: The next class in the series of free adult technology courses is "Using Read, Write and Gold Assistive Technology Software." It takes place on Thursday, October 11, from 4-5:30 pm at the Upper School (Room 412). To see a detailed schedule of all classes, please log on to the Lawrence VIP website at www.lawrencevip.org (under the category "Parent Resources") or click here for a pdf version. Classes are open to all adults including parents, relatives and community members.

HEAD NOTES

From Head of School, Lou Salza

Many thanks to those who have sent in comments and observations about the topics and ideas raised in this column each week. I welcome your thoughts about our students, their abilities, proclivities and challenges.

Last week we considered the view of diversity proposed by Steven Covey. What I find thoughtful and challenging as I look at Covey's rubric is the way he inspires us to consider "the next step". I find his contribution of the vocabulary of living with diversity significant. Until we have the words to contrast "tolerance" with acceptance, and acceptance with celebration, we may rest complacently in one place without the awareness of the direction or distance we might grow.

Several parents who e-mailed me this week raised the question of how we might move higher on Covey's staircase; how do we go from simply tolerating our children's differences to truly accepting and even celebrating them? This is an important question to which we can all contribute suggestions and answers.

One approach would be to balance our medical-model deficit approach with a more strength-based model. When we focus on abilities and skills our students display and use, we affirm them as individuals and we honor them as learners who are multifaceted and three-dimensional.

Howard Gardner, a respected author and Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. He contributed so much to our understanding and to the vocabulary of strength-based paradigms with his work on multiple intelligences. He describes eight different intelligences which he states deserve equal recognition: visual, linguistic, logical and mathematical, musical, bodily and kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

Gardner's multiple intelligence theory serves as one way to ascend Covey's diversity scale. Consider all the ways our children solve problems, use skills and use intuition, then remind yourselves that the narrow set of these we tap in most school tasks restrict us to a "flat" or one-dimensional view of the learner.

Let's help one another by taking time to talk to each other and to our students about the things they love to do, whether it is video games, socializing, "playing" with technology, performing music or any number of "non-academic" activities. The skills involved in these activities may ultimately be as important to true success as anything we teach in school.

Did this week's Head Notes column inspire you, puzzle you, or otherwise stir a response you would like to share? Let Lou know how you feel! He welcomes all comments and correspondence via e-mail or phone (440-526-0003 x2102).