Jerry D. Isaak-Shapiro, Head of School
Welcome from The Head of School
Agnon : 02/12/2010 18:25 : From the Head of SchoolWelcome!
ברוכים הבאים
B’ruchim HaBaim
Every school “integrates” its subjects, but that often takes the form of students discussing the same book in both language arts and history classes. At Agnon we take the concept of an integrated curriculum pretty seriously. Our fifth graders learn the different phases of the moon and how its gravitational pull affects the tides in science; in language arts they explore how the moon has been used as a literary metaphor; in music they learn the Moonlight Serenade; and in Judaics they dive into the concept of “rosh chodesh” – the celebration of the new moon – and its profound impact on Jewish philosophy and theology. At the end of the unit they develop a comprehensive appreciation of the moon, from varied perspectives and disciplines. It’s a learning process that goes far beyond the memorization of facts (or worse, factoids – little bits of non-connected information); it moves a student from the accumulation of knowledge to the appreciation of understanding.
But a school is even larger than its curriculum. We believe strongly that Agnon is a learning community, in which parents are encouraged to participate in Shabbat dinners with their children; where our students engage in acts of g’milut chasidim – acts of righteous behavior – in their broader community, both in Cleveland and in the world; in the Jewish and in the non-Jewish world as well.
We also deeply believe in a genuinely pluralist day school environment, where everyone’s affiliation and background and observance level is respected. Agnon is a “big-tent” school community, in which we celebrate our diversity and our unity. We’re able to provide this wonderful opportunity to our students and families largely because of the donors who so generously give of themselves, their time and their dollars – because they too believe in the mission of a school that reaches out to the broadest spectrum of the Jewish community; a school that does not ask parents to choose between academic excellence in general studies “or” in Jewish studies. They believe in offering our students and our community the best and brightest future we can provide. To everyone who has so willingly contributed – to our parents, our Board members, our generous supporters throughout the community – thank you.
Welcome – once again – to Agnon.
Jerry D. Isaak-Shapiro
Head of School
A COUPLE OF GREAT MOMENTS
Agnon : 12/18/2009 16:37 : From the Head of School| There are moments. Last week on one of my too infrequent agenda-free strolls around the school, I dropped in to one of our Kindergarten classes, only to be immediately accosted by five- and six-year old enthusiasm. “Did I hear about the dominoes?” “Do I know how many dominoes there are in the school?” “Can we tell you about the dominoes?” I don’t have to have a building fall on me. “Does this have anything to do with dominoes?” Never feed a straight line to a Kindergartener. “How’d you know?” It turns out that a random reference to dominoes led to a spontaneous hunting-and-gathering of all wayward dominoes in the classroom, which of course led to grouping, counting and accounting. Evidently the grand total wasn’t grand enough for the class, and they petitioned their teacher to go off on a school-wide search. You’d think it was The Search for the Golden Domino; they explored the middle school, they looked into the early childhood classrooms, they hunted in specialists’ rooms. Once again, they took their dominoes and their tallies and added, tabled and toted. We now know that The Agnon School is the proud owner of over 2,000 dominoes, courtesy of a band of intrepid domino seekers. But what really propelled them into this learning adventure was a combination of their own innate imagination – and their teacher’s ability to recognize it and fan its embers into a bright flame, all the while weaving in a lesson plan of math, scientific inquiry and problem-solving. This kind of creative, take-advantage-of-the-moment learning only happens with teachers who can appreciate the difference between seizing the moment and losing control of the agenda. It happens when they get genuinely excited at the magic of discovery; and it makes beautiful sense when they can use the experience to provide horizontal and vertical learning – a kilometer long and a kilometer deep. It doesn’t appear in the curricular map and it can’t be found in any of the outlines and lesson plans developed over dozens of meetings and scores of cups of coffee. But when it happens – it’s a transformational moment. And there are other moments. Tonight I received a call at home I’d be willing to get six nights a week. A parent wanted me to know how well a team meeting went today, at which his child’s entire team of classroom teachers, specialists and learning specialists met to discuss the student’s progress. That there has been progress – tremendous, positive progress – is terrific in and of itself. But the parents were particularly moved by the clear picture the team had of their child. They saw and heard that the teachers knew the whole child, with all his strengths and challenges; that he wasn’t defined by his limitations or labeled by a presumed inability; and that he was afforded the dignity and respect and learning opportunities as were his classmates. I’d naturally be thrilled to get a call like this, but on this particular day it came on the heels of a troubling conversation with a mom whose child currently attends one of the city’s purportedly “better” public schools. Her son’s experience with the “resource room team” in particular and with the faculty and administration in general has been anything but supportive; to characterize it as adversarial would not be an exaggeration. I’m as leery of the hovering and smothering parent as the next head of school, but this is not a case of a mother refusing to see her child accurately or realistically. It’s not enough to grudgingly accept the need to modify a curriculum or to provide educational accommodations only when pressed to do so – and a teacher’s sideways glances or raised eyebrows can reverse the benefits of a modified curriculum in a heartbeat. Too often a teacher’s laissez faire (or worse) attitude toward learning differences will passively sanction students’ negative behavior in the classroom. It’s a double loss: the teacher foregoes an opportunity to model accepting and inclusive (not just “tolerating”) behavior; and the lack of a strong, positive model encourages non-acceptance, even ostracism. The juxtaposition of the two conversations couldn’t be more jarring. This is not solely about outcomes – it’s also about intentions and environments and expectations. It’s about creating a context in which educational values are really life values. |
Welcome
Agnon : 10/12/2009 03:55 : From the Head of SchoolWelcome!
ברוכים הבאים
B’ruchim HaBaim
Once again, another year has begun. All of us at Agnon – board members, staff and teachers – are excited about the new year ahead of us. Here’s to a wonderful 5769-70 (otherwise known as 2009-2010)!
A school is so much more than the mere sum of its parts. This year at Agnon, you’ll see grade-level Shabbat dinners – because we know that while we may teach and learn about Shabbat in the classroom, we celebrate this weekly gift by experiencing it with our family and friends. You’ll also see “milestone” events – science camp for 6th grade; Washington, D.C. for 7th and our life-transforming Israel experience for 8th grade – because all learning is not accomplished within the four walls of a classroom.
And parents will participate in their share of evening programs – our justly celebrated “integrated curricular nights” – that will give them a glimpse of how one learns at Agnon, by taking in concepts and ideas through multiple lenses. Seeing a topic from the perspective of art, music, science, Jewish history and social studies brings it alive – and moves the accumulation of facts toward the development of wisdom. It’s that simple – and that profound.
There is both a ‘why’ and a ‘how’ to all this. We choose to blend formal and non-formal educational methods because we want to take the best practices which will provide the most meaningful experiences for our students. We choose to integrate our curricula and to create a pluralist Jewish educational community because we believe that now, more than ever, we need to connect our various worlds – that sectioning off our learning is just as limiting as dividing our community.
How we accomplish all this – and how we’re able to dream about the next phase of education and of this school in particular – is due to the many, many donors who give of themselves, their time and their dollars, not to receive acknowledgment or praise. They give because they too believe in the mission and the mandate of a school that reaches out to the broadest spectrum of the Jewish community; a school that does not ask parents to choose between academic excellence in general studies “or” in Jewish studies. They believe in offering our students and our community the best and brightest future we can provide. To everyone who has so willingly contributed – to our parents, our Board members, our generous supporters throughout the community – thank you.
Welcome – once again – to Agnon.
Jerry D. Isaak-Shapiro
Head of School
