January 7, 2022

Posted by THubbard January 07, 2022

January 7, 2022

A glimpse into Artstronomy - see below for more

Hi all, next week marks the end of a challenging semester. And, of course, it wouldn't come to an end without new challenges. Despite all of your hard work and discipline, we're faced with numerous COVID dilemmas, absences, and trying to determine how to close out grades. This coupled with the usual higher than normal levels of anxiety that come at the end of semester is a lot to face when returning from a break. I know that I'm not in school and can't feel and see how things are going, but many of you wrote to me in the last 24 hours with mostly positive things to say. You are taking care of yourselves and others, school is calm and students are working hard. You are Amazing, thank you!

While these unplanned things make our work frustrating and mind boggling, I encourage you to find the celebrations and highlight the growth that both you and your students have made this semester. You all have them. Some of your work and that of our students will be on full display (for example: today's Public Speaking presentations, next week's Artstronomy show, and more). So, while it's hard to avoid the challenges swirling around us, let's build on our collective resilience and strength to make next week as positive and productive as possible, so that we can finish semester 1 on a strong note.

For now, I hope you can go enjoy the snow.......doctor has told me to sit still and rest (as if I know how to do that?), so you all need to get out there for me.

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This Week's Link(s):

Mindfulness and Resilience for Educators meets every other Tuesday from 3-4PM, beginning January 18 (meets 1/18, 2/1, 2/15, 3/15, 3/39, 4/12). In this self-care offering, PA and PAML staff will learn mindfulness practices for cultivating resilience, including somatic methods for grounding the nervous system; walking and breath meditations; working with difficulty; and self-compassion practices. No previous experience with meditation is necessary to participate. As each session will build on the previous session, it's suggested, but not required, to attend the series as a whole: come as you are, as you can. Please email mzapp@lrcvt.org with any questions.

This series is facilitated by educator and journalist Molly Zapp, who began practicing meditation in 2005, mostly in the Buddhist Vipassana/ Insight tradition. She is currently training to become a certified mindfulness meditation teacher in a program developed by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, under the mentorship of Devin Berry. She founded and facilitates Karuna Community Meditation in Johnson, and co-facilitates at Wellspring Insight Meditation Society in Hardwick. Molly is Lamoille Restorative Center's School Engagement Specialist for LSUU.

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Updates:

Grading Support: Katy and Kelly will be available at PA next Friday, January 14th, from 2:00-3:30 for grading support in the Library. Maura is also available to support if needed, just reach out to her.

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Calendar

1/10 - Best Practice 3pm Library

1/14 - Grading Support, 2:00-3:30, Library

1/14 - End of Semester

1/17 - LSUU In-Service

1/18 - Q2 Grades Due

1/21 - Scheduled Emergency Drill - details to come

2/4 - In-Service

Athletic Calendar

Check out the Streaming options

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TA (Teacher Advisory)

No TA next week

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Schoolwide Happenings:

Our students are making things like this in Karsten's classroom!

Artstronomy Show: Astronomy and AP/Advanced Art students have completed a collaborative project. The astronomy students were tasked with researching an object in the solar system. The end goal of this project was to create a travel brochure and poster in order to convince people that their planet/dwarf planet/moon is the place to visit! Each travel brochure was given to an art student, who designed and created a flag/banner to complement the science student’s brochure and poster. We would love to see you there supporting the students and giving them an audience with whom they can share their hard work. Enjoy the sneak peek.