Confession is Good for the Soul

Several years ago I promised God if He would get me through undergraduate school, I would never put Him to this test again. I felt that Organic Chemistry and Genetics were certainly gifts for a lifetime. However, I must confess, again, I have broken what I thought was ironclad.

Recently, our teachers led seminars for Lower School parents based on the book "7 Keys to Comprehension" and how it correlates to our language arts curriculum, Readers Workshop. The format for these sessions was a mock classroom, complete with the faculty teaching a lesson while we "students" listened and were asked questions.

The very first meeting was taught by our first-grade teachers and concentrated on the "main idea" of a story. We were instructed not to answer about the details or even the events of the "Three Little Pigs," but to think about the central theme and message the author was trying to convey. I found myself breathing a little harder and there were those moist palms again from the 70s! ("Please, please don’t let her call on me!")

Luckily, Mrs. Monk continued and assumed we all knew the whole point of the story was that the porcine heroes together outsmarted the big, bad wolf. (Unlike what I was going to suggest, that everyone knows brick is a better building material than hay!) Whew! Thank you, I dodged another one!

My point in writing this is twofold. First, I wanted to share what it felt like to be a child in a classroom again, surrounded by peers, expected to have an answer. It’s scary, even as an adult! Secondly, I hope I gave a glimpse of just one of the reading foundations being laid at the Lower School. I wish you could have seen the mastery of the artisans. As I sat through each seminar, I gained an even bigger respect for our teachers and the magnetism of their methods. Truthfully, we never wanted the sessions to end!

In January, we will host similar opportunities for parents to live what our faculty teaches. There will be three evenings for you to become the student and experience how, what, and why our teachers teach. I assure you, you will walk away with a better appreciation of our programs, of your child and of the professionals who mold their future!

Please join us at the Lower School when the bell rings and class begins at 6 p.m.!

January 12, 1st and 2nd grades
January 19, 3rd and 4th grades
January 26, Pre-K and Kindergarten

(I confess; I really did know the one about the three pigs—it was the next one I failed!)