Tag: excellence

Categories
Lower School Traditions

Butterfly Memories

By Patti Brooks
Lower School Coordinator, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Springtime means so many different things to so many people! In my case, for almost 30 years, it has involved the metamorphosis of the Painted Lady Butterfly.

In my second grade classroom, we always highly anticipated the arrival of the tiny, squirmy larvae from Carolina Biological Supply.  When they arrived, everyone usually shouted happily, anxious for their own larvae to “raise”. (Many even named their larvae).

We distributed the larvae in clear cups, giving two to each child. Each day, as we arrived at school, we were amazed at their growth! After a couple of weeks, the nice fat larvae would slowly make their way to the top of the cup. The magnifying glasses we used were a big help as we tried to see the little suction feet, called prolegs, help the larvae climb. Eventually the spinnerets wove the chrysalis and the “waiting game” began.

It is not easy for children to wait….patience with the process of nature is hard! Eventually each chrysalis starts its swinging rhythm and the time has come for the miraculous emergence! (If you have never witnessed this stage of metamorphosis, I hope you get to see it sometime in your life. It is truly amazing to watch the adult butterfly push out of its case and spread its moist wings for the first time!) We then had a fun “Release Party”, enjoying snacks and releasing our butterflies to the world of nature.

A respected colleague of mine told me that this process reminds her of the metamorphosis that a child goes through from Kindergarten to his or her senior year! This analogy is a great one…taking much patience, care, and help along the way from loving parents and teachers alike. Luckily, we have lots of great teachers and parents at Lakehill and the process is a success over and over again!

Categories
Learning and Leading

A Creative Spirit

By Victoria John
Latin Teacher, Lakehill Preparatory School 

HOPE
All hope is gone
Not as long as we have Latin,
Latin is a dead language, my friend,
Not for Hogwarts, it isn’t!

A student recently showed me these lines written on a wadded-up piece of notebook paper. In the center was the outline of a large red heart encircling the word, “HOPE.” Under that was written, “All hope is gone.” By the time I reached the fourth line I realized that five different students contributed to the above graffiti. It made me laugh.

While Latin has been a constant at Lakehill for 40 years, it was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter that revved up the spirit of the language for a new generation of students. The creative stories combined the enchanting world of wizardry with myth. Given my love for the classics, the students’ excitement upon learning that the spells and other ancient references were written in Latin, recharged my own creative spirit.

I love teaching Latin at Lakehill. Since I teach all 7th and 8th grade students for two years, in 2002, I decided to jazz it up a bit toward the end of the 8th grade experience. I wanted to challenge students to study the lessons in new ways and to give them more ownership of the material. From this sprang the Latin Teaching Projects, whereby small groups of students would each teach one of the remaining five chapters to the class. When I announced this, they responded with shock.

Following several weeks of preparation and paperwork, the students began teaching by the end of February. I was amazed. Each student’s individual presentation plus the group work went beyond what I envisioned. They met the original requirement of approaching the material in a different way. As one student wrote in her evaluation, “When you learn something for yourself, it is one thing. But when you teach it, you have to learn it differently. You are not just doing it for yourself, you have to be able to explain and demonstrate it to others.”

Their presentations showed incredible enthusiasm and respectful treatment of their classmates. Words of praise for their peers like, “good job,” and “thank you for your great comments,” rang throughout the room. Their lessons were organized, taught with clarity and motivated the students. Everybody won. I witnessed qualities I had not previously observed. Some emerged as group leaders. Some showed creativity and variety in their lessons.  Some wowed the class with their own Latin web sites, power point lessons and review games. Others went above and beyond requirements by developing translation and grammar handouts as well as detailed study guides. They worked together, encouraged one another, and learned the Latin.

I learned from them. I know we are all teachers and learners, but this project really brought that to my attention.

Since that first experiment, the assignment has grown in its scope and in technological sophistication and has taken on a life of its own. Each year I tweak the requirements based on my evaluations and feedback from students.

It is April and nearing the end of my 12th class of 8th grade Latin students at Lakehill. With two more chapters, they remain engaged and excited. What started as a way to spice up the end of the year has morphed into an incredible teaching and learning experience.

Hope – all is not gone! Not as long as there are Lakehill students with a creative spirit.

Categories
Seasons

Springing Into Spring

By Katie Becker
Social Studies Chair, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Spring is here! You can feel the energy in the building. This time of year the school is buzzing with track, baseball, and tennis. And if you are not involved in sports you are busy with musicals, debates, and community service projects. It seems everywhere you look someone is doing something and it’s a race to the finish line.

It’s just six weeks until the end of school. That means only six more weeks until my 8th graders will move on to high school, just six weeks until the senior’s journey ends at Lakehill and their college experience begins, just six weeks until summer, and just six weeks until  I start planning for the next school year.

It always amazes me how quickly the school year passes and how much we seem to accomplish. I can’t wait to do it all again in the fall!

Categories
Family and Community

Everything I Need

By Victoria John
Latin Teacher, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Lights! Camera! Action! A lone figure dressed in red steps to the mirror, a grin breaking on her face. Emoting with the colorful energy that brings to mind the musical machinations of rock legend Mick Jagger, she sings the following line from “Life’s a Happy Song” in The Muppet Movie, “I’ve got everything I need.”

Arms flailing, she wraps them over her head, and cradling her ears with opposite hands, simultaneously squeals with syncopated delight, “I’ve got ev’ry-thing I need.”

Encore. She leans into her image exposing tiny white teeth and belts into her imaginary microphone while lingering over last word with intense dramatic flair, “I’ve got everything I neeeeee – eeee – eeed.”

Applause! The performer is my 28 month-old granddaughter, Ruby. She’s probably not aspiring to American Idol fame but rather capturing the essence of human learning who she is. What a great mantra: “I’ve got everything I need.”

The other day I told each one of my classes that I appreciated and enjoyed teaching them. While I try to be positive and look for the good, there are times I forget. But each time I watch Ruby’s singing debut, she reminds me that I too have everything I need.

On Veteran’s Day, Kaye Hauschild, Gigi Ekstrom, and I took the 7th grade students to C. C. Young to join their celebration of the commemorative day. Not quite knowing what to expect, my group of ten students entered a sun-filled room lined with row upon row of elderly, quiet adults, some with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Time stopped as the students froze in their tracks with the melancholy World War II background music playing “There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of dover…” I caught movement as one lone student broke the mold by walking up to a proud veteran, and introducing himself. “Hi, I’m Noah Bernstein. Who are you?” The quiet man’s face lit up with his response, “You see that woman in the red cap? She’s my wife.” Noah commented, “Interesting. How long have you been married?” The man chuckled and said, “Too long.” They laughed and talked for several minutes.

On the other side of the room Natalie Lasko entertained a group of people by sharing her stories with heartfelt emotion while encouraging theirs. Observing Natalie’s success encouraged classmate Madeline Jones to get past her discomfort. She admitted, “I was afraid.  I felt quite uncomfortable and didn’t know what to say to anybody. But, I suddenly remembered that my grandpa would always tell me to act like myself before he passed away. So I walked up to a man, sitting in a wheelchair, who looked as scared as I was, and asked him about the war. As he talked, he cried, and that made me feel very sad. Then, I remembered my grandfather and suddenly felt closer to the person next to me and more comfortable.”

Gradually students left their comfort zones to interact. By the time we left, everyone was laughing and playing balloon volleyball to the rhythmic, young-at-heart sound of the Big Band era with the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing, “In the Mood.” It was only 30 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime of humanity.

I feel very gratified that I can come to school and work with children that continue to teach and inspire.

“I’ve got everything I need,” with a little help from Lakehill, music, and my friend, Ruby.

Categories
Family and Community

A Crazy Quilt

By Lara Gajkowski
Assistant Headmaster, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Recently, my mom and I pieced a baby quilt for my newest grandbaby – this time a girl! My sister-in law, who is a fabulous quilter, picked out the fabric and even cut out the pieces for my mother. We are making a “Crazy Quilt” so the pieces are of various shapes and colors. My mother and I are experienced at piecing quilts but selecting colors is not always our forte.  So we thought, “great, a master quilter is picking out the fabric for us, this should be a cinch”.

Well, we started piecing the quilt and we thought, “This is awful. The color combination is disastrous, the pieces are too small, the pieces are too big, we need more variety, we need less variety, perhaps we need a different variety”.  We just could not see the beauty in the individual pieces or the individual squares. Yet, we persevered. Little Laurel was going to have this quilt with all our perceived short comings.

Through the days, our pieces turned into squares and our squares turned into blocks. Before long our blocks became rows and soon the quilt top was completed. What a transformation! Once our eyes accepted the quilt in its entirety, pieces that by themselves were viewed as eyesores became highlights, squares that were considered too small became interesting landmarks, and the colors melded together to a rich mass of blended shades and hues. What we thought was unappealing package turned out to be a rich, warm, stimulating, protective covering for our little girl. It’s beautiful. We should have trusted the experts.

Our school is like a “Crazy Quilt”. If we nit-pick the individual pieces to death we can always find fault or short comings. We can always think we need more variety or we need bigger or better.  However, when we look at our school in its totality one can easily be amazed with the richness of color, the variety of shapes and sizes, and the richness of the fabric of our school. Together, all the pieces, all the opportunities, all the protective coverings make us a rich, stimulating school.

Sometimes things are best seen in their totality.

Categories
8 Keys of Excellence

In Search of Excellence

By Bob Yttredahl
Upper School Coordinator

Two weeks ago, just before our first Upper School Retreat, I presented the 8 Keys of Excellence to the students. I wanted to present the information in a manner that not only reiterated the importance of being good people, but also the impact the keys can have on each person’s life. In doing so, I presented data from years of research to support the notion of the importance of traits like character and integrity and apply them to their everyday life.

The research outlined the following top ten qualities that employers look for in applicants:

  • Communication Skills
  • Honesty/Integrity
  • Teamwork Skills
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Self-motivation/Initiative
  • Strong Work Ethic
  • Analytical Skills
  • Technology Skills
  • Organizational Skills
  • Creative Minds

The research also focused on what colleges look for in applicants, outside of grades and test scores. The top ten list included students who:

  • Are well-rounded, yet dedicated to the cause/subject/activity they love
  • Work hard
  • Take advantage of the opportunities given to them
  • Are willing to try something new
  • Are critical thinkers
  • Are good communicators
  • Are independent and group workers
  • Are authentic
  • Can honestly represent themselves well
  • Understand and stick to their values

This information really stressed the importance of working on the eight keys and striving to be the best person one can be. As principles, the 8 Keys of Excellence do more than create a more positive environment—they change lives. Becoming aware of these eight principles and committing to them is both exciting and challenging, pushing us to strive for excellence and positively impacting the world we live in. For as we learn to model our beliefs, other people in our lives are influenced by our behavior and often follow the examples we set.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”   ~Aristotle

 

Categories
8 Keys of Excellence

Principle-Centered Character Development

By Bob Yttredahl
Upper School Coordinator, Lakehill Preparatory School

I attended a state conference this summer and experienced somewhat of an epiphany at a particular session. The debate amongst the attendees was: “What is the most important aspect of educating our children today: test scores, basic academia, technology, or character development?” It is a dilemma that does not have one correct answer, but rather several different perspectives. However, I personally believe that there is something to be said about the importance of timeless principles that cover the scope of the globe.

After extensive research and reflection, I have adopted a program that we are going to implement into the Upper School. It is called “The 8 Keys of Excellence”. Within this program there are eight distinct keys or catalysts that have been proven over time to be integral parts of human development and success. They have been tested for hundreds of years and over thousands of societies. Therefore, they truly have been “proven” to work. The question then becomes how to implement them into schools today.

We are going to work on developing the eight keys through a “ubiquitous” approach. This means that it will not be just another thing teachers have to do each day. It will be part of everything we do. We are going to implement this principle-centered character development every day. Opportunities are limitless throughout the day to teach and model principles such as integrity, commitment, and ownership.

The end result then becomes a well-rounded student who has the proven tools to be successful in life. That alone justifies the importance of character development.

 “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”
~Henry David Thoreau