World Learner School

Principal Outreach

A Newsletter from Bob Ruud, WLS Teaching Principal, to WLS Families

December, 2009

Dear WLS Families,

There's a lot going on. Here's what's most important, from my point of view...

A Montessori Point-Peace: Tolstoy finished War and Peace in 1869. It was long, and it didn't help things very much, it turns out. Here in this first section, where the philosophy comes, I'm going to write something not quite as long, and if I had to name it, I'd call it Peace and War and Peace. I hope it informs you about our approach to dealing with altercations among children. I also hope that there are principles underlying it, and practical actions on the surface that you can use in dealing with altercations between siblings, playmates, neighbors, anybody, in your daily family life. So the first Peace part first. In Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, E.M. Standing writes:

The genius of Montessori has not only showed us the inner significance of the child's work, but the conditions necessary for its accomplishment. Further, she has proved beyond doubt that, given these conditions, the "awakened" child develops a higher type of personality-more mentally alert, more capable of concentration, more socially adaptable, more independent and at the same time more disciplined and obedient-in a word a complete being-a ready foundation for the building up of a normalized adult.

This is Montessori's great achievement, the "discovery of the child." This, in the realm of the human spirit, can be set over against the discovery of those terrible energies latent in the atom. And just as these physical energies are being used to prepare the armaments of war between the nations, so should these newly released spiritual energies be used to create the Armament of Peace. What a splendid hope for the future is the growth of these natural virtues in the child-precious preparation for those supernatural virtues that transform each individual....

from Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, by E.M. Standing, pp. 369-70

You might say, "That sounds pretty good. A bit on the lofty side, but it's good to have dreams..."

And dreams are pretty general. On the local, more specific level, I remember when my oldest daughter, Rentzi, who is now twenty-six, was three... My family had just moved into family housing at the University of Denver. We were delighted to find next door a family with whom we had a lot in common, including having a three-year-old child, a son. On one of our first days there, Rentzi and their son were out on the veranda. And now comes the War part: I couldn't see the children, but I heard Rentzi start to kind of whine, and then to cry out. I came right out to find the neighbor boy holding Rentzi's forearm with both hands. She was trying to get away, but he was bigger and stronger, and she couldn't.

We had just moved there from Japan, where Rentzi was born, and I guess she had lived a pretty sheltered life. I had been busy with business in Japan, so I wasn't the parent who usually oversaw playdays and the like. Prior to that day, I don't recall seeing any serious altercations between Rentzi and another child. (One amusing exception I recall is seeing Rentzi get into an argument over a toy or something with a Japanese child. Rentzi spoke Japanese, but in the heat of the argument she said something in English; "No, it's mine!" or something like that, to which the Japanese child responded with the only English she knew, a rather fiercely delivered: "Happy Basday!!)

So I was encountering a bit of bullying for the first time. I am embarrassed to describe the emotion I felt at that moment. It was just this powerful surge of protective energy. It went from non-existent one second to issuing "Get your hands off of her!!" the next. Before I had even finished saying it, the boy had dropped his grip, and was backing away, not a doubt in his mind about my position on the matter.

I checked Rentzi to see if she was okay. We went inside. I checked her arm. It was red, but seemed okay. She sat in my lap, and we talked. After a bit I went next door and talked to the mother and her son. The mother was concerned about Rentzi's welfare and her son's action, and she said he would not be allowed out on the veranda for the time being.

Our children are our most treasured, precious part of our lives. Our mission as parents, as close to instinctual as any motivation we have, is to keep them safe, first and foremost, and with their security as the foundation, to provide them with the good health and the opportunities for experience that will enable them to become all they are capable of.

The school's mission is the same: Keep the children safe, and with that as a foundation, provide space and time and inspiration for their experience of learning.

When a child's safety, physical or emotional, is jeopardized or compromised, in other words, when there is some sort of altercation between or among children, we try to be as consistent as possible in our response. It moves us back toward the Peace place. It follows a line like this:

• Is the altercation in progress? If so, stop it. Use words, but use physical restraint if necessary.
• Is anyone hurt? If so, give them the first attention. Determine the nature of the injury and facilitate proper treatment. Have others who were involved remain at the scene.
• When the apparent victim is ready to talk, ask him/her to tell his/her story. Listen. Do not allow interruption by other children involved.
• Allow each child who was involved or witnessed the altercation to tell their story. Listen carefully. Do not allow interruption by other children involved.
• Keep the attention on the physical injury or the hurt feelings, and the cause of them.
• Guide the discussion toward fair resolution. Ensure the readiness of the children to safely return to the school environment. A pattern of aggressive behavior, severe aggression, or any combination of factors which call safety into question will prompt sanctions from the teacher and possibly administration, sanctions which may include restrictions on physical space, restrictions on proximity to peers (distant) or the teacher (near), among others.
• Informing parents about incidents, and keeping them informed as appropriate if there is any on-going communication about an incident. We hope to see parents' reasonable support for children who were injured or had feelings hurt, and reasonable sanctions imposed on children who caused injury.

The point of the process is to make safety as certain as possible, and recurrence as unlikely as possible. With that as a foundation, it's time again to provide space, time and inspiration for the children's experience of learning. For any child who has been a victim of aggression, that includes learning that they will have support in working through their physical injury or hurt feelings; learning, as appropriate, how to prevent injury to themselves and others; and learning that justice will be done. For the aggressor it includes learning what the scenario looked like to the other people involved; developing genuine empathy; and learning practical skills that move themselves and others toward peaceful resolutions. Working for Peace.

Conservation: A number of sources tell us that we Americans produce, on average, almost five pounds of garbage per day. If it isn't obvious enough why that's bad, talk to anybody involved in the work of clean air and water, any marine biologist, any state park naturalist, and they'll have a lot to say. As I make my rounds to the various classrooms to join in for lunch, I am struck by how quickly the garbage cans fill up, and how easily we can do something about that. So I'd like to offer this as a kind of challenge: do you think you and your son or daughter could prepare a lunch that has no garbage left from it? Or if it gives off any garbage, it's only good garbage, like an apple core, orange peels, or a melon rind? Do you and your son or daughter reuse plastic bags? They wash up nicely and with a bit of care can be reused hundreds of times. You'll never have to buy zip-lock bags again! Do you buy crackers and chips in bulk and repack them into small, reusable containers for lunch? You can save a lot of money as well as eliminate a lot of garbage by doing that. Do you buy drinks in bulk and pour them into small reusable containers which can be washed and reused hundreds of times, saving lots of money and eliminating a ubiquitous long-long-lasting environmental scourge? As a bonus, you'll get some real quality time with your children planning, shopping for, and preparing the meal, and taking a lot of pleasure in taking inventory afterward, celebrating the fact that everything that went out came back in, and will be in use again tomorrow instead of being on its way to the landfill, or the North Pacific Ocean. Let's really give this a try! 

Testing: We've finished our first round of the MAP test, and the elementary reports will be coming home this week (the middle school ones went home a couple of weeks ago). I'll re-send a letter with a bit of interpretation guidance, but you can also go to: http://www.nwea.org/. Click Products and Services, and then Computer-Based Adaptive Assessments. We gave the tests to grades 3-8 in Language, Reading, and Math, and to grades 4, 7, and 8 in science. We'll be giving the test again in the spring.

PTO: Another meeting of the PTO is scheduled for December 10. This is a real organized, energetic bunch, destined for great accomplishments. If you want more information, or would like to join, contact Joanne Gaudette at jegaudette@comcast.net.

Volunteers for the Library: If you would like to help in this important way, contact Shireen.

Board: The 0910 Board will have its next meeting on Monday, January 4. The Board is comprised of six teachers and five parents in the school family (teachers below are marked with (T) and parents with (P)). Note that teacher terms are one year; parent terms are two:

Board Members:                   Term Began                       Term Ends                    

Carrie Baker-Rantala (T)         July 2009                        June 2010

Mike Beller (P)                  July 2009                        June 2011

Rich Drapeau (P)                 July 2009                        June 2011

Sarah Hassebroek (T)             July 2009                        June 2010

Susan Hoffa (P)                  July 2008                        June 2010

Paul Johnston (P)                July 2009                        June 2011

Patti Quinn (T)                  July 2009                        June 2010

Amy Tanner (T)                   July 2009                        June 2010*

Liesl Taylor (T)                 July 2009                        June 2010

Alicia Williams (P)              July 2009                        June 2010*

Beth Wilson (T)                  July 2009                        June 2010

*Amy was appointed to fill spot that opened when Deana moved into administration and came off the board at the end of June. **Alicia was appointed to the second year of a parent term when a parent board member resigned in June after serving for one year.                                      

Parents are welcome to come to board meetings. There is a Parent Forum scheduled before each meeting, 6:15 PM, in which parents can ask questions, offer suggestions, and voice concerns. The official meeting starts at 6:30 PM. Meetings are held at WLS, usually in the middle school classroom. Meetings are on the fourth Monday of the month.

Board Meeting Dates:      

1.4.10 (note no meeting in December)

1.25.10

2.22.10

3.22.10

4.26.10

5.24.10

6.28.10

Vision: We are just about at the full configuration we have been striving toward for years. The third upper elementary class was the last piece of this basic configuration; it began with only fourth year students, and this year has fourth and fifth, and in the next year will be full, with fourth, fifth, and sixth year students. High School is still up there in the dream area; maybe someday....

High School?

Middle School

Upper Elementary 1         Upper Elementary 2         Upper Elementary 3

Lower Elementary 1         Lower Elementary 2         Lower Elementary 3

Jonathan Montessori House of Children

As we live by our mission statement:

The World Learner School's mission is to create a school that supports an experiential collaborative learning (Montessori) program that empowers children to unfold their full potential as whole and unique persons in classroom, local and world communities.

Thanks, Everybody, for all you do to help us in this great work. That's all for this time. See you here next month...