Dear EFS Parents:
This month’s character education themes are sportsmanship and teamwork, and it’s hard to imagine a better example of both than the recent Winter Olympics. The opportunity to watch the world’s best athletes compete is great, but perhaps more important from the perspective of parents and educators are the lessons that the Olympics and Olympians teach about winning and losing with grace, valuing fellow competitors, and honoring yourself and everyone else by always giving your best effort. Whether you’re a fan of skiing, skating, sledding (luge, skeleton, and bobsled), or curling, there were so many great story lines. And for hockey-mad Buffalo, I’m sure most of our TVs were tuned in to the great men’s final on Sunday. While many of us may be disappointed with the final result of the game, I’m sure we can all appreciate the dedication, hard work, teamwork, perseverance, and, with a handshake in the end, sportsmanship shown by both teams. We focus on these exact same things day in and day out at school, understanding that sportsmanship and teamwork will serve our students well now and in the future.
As we begin March…really, it’s March already?!...I’ve got professional development on my mind. First, thank you for allowing the faculty to take Monday as a day for learning, connecting with teachers from other schools, and for recharging their professional batteries. We spent the day at Buffalo Seminary, along with teachers from several other New York independent schools, from as far away as Syracuse, learning about how to differentiate instruction within the classroom based on our students’ readiness, interest, and learning profile. Second, I traveled to San Francisco last week to attend the National Association of Independent Schools’ Annual Conference. There were several great speakers, including Arianna Huffington, Harvard geneticist Juan Enriquez, and author Irshad Manji, as well as many helpful workshops related to education generally and independent schools in particular. While taking days away from the business of school is difficult, continuing to grow and develop as professionals is critical as we look to continually improve what we do with and for our students. On behalf of the faculty, thank you, again, for supporting our professional growth.
Another important piece of what we do is foster communication between school and home. Our second conference day of the year is coming up on Wednesday, March 17. Please be sure to schedule a time to meet with your child’s teacher on that day or arrange a mutually agreeable time on some other day. While grades and narrative comments tell part of the story, it is through one-on-one conversation that the home-school partnership works most effectively. I believe that independent schools educate first and foremost by relationship, and the parent-teacher relationship is almost as important as the student-teacher relationship. The first conference in November provides parents with the chance to fill in some gaps for teachers just getting to know the students. This second conference is perhaps more critical. By now the teachers have a more complete body of knowledge from which to draw; they’ve seen good days and bad; they know what comes easily and what presents challenges; strategies have been developed to help each child succeed; and the teachers will likely have specific goals for ensuring a strong finish to the year. We look forward to seeing you on the 17th, but also please be sure to reach out to your child’s teacher(s) – by phone, email, or at school – anytime you have questions or concerns or just to talk about how to make the school experience as productive and positive as possible.
After getting a little taste of spring in San Francisco, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Buffalo’s is coming soon.
Sincerely,
Tony Featherston
Head of School
