Inside Atrium newsletter, September 2019

Welcome Back Edition

September 2019

INSIDE ATRIUM Dear Atrium Families, It’s such a pleasure to see kids eagerly zipping up the ramp and descending the Middle School steps this week––welcome to 2019-20 at Atrium!

I love Atrium School, and I also love studying original documents (what historians call “primary sources”). Imagine my excitement this summer when I came across a letter from Atrium founder Ginny Kahn to friends and supporters, composed in August of 1981. When Ginny sat at her typewriter in Santa Fe that summer, Atrium was still a far-off dream––and an unnamed one at that: she addressed the letter to “Dear Friend of ‘The New School.’”

Having just emerged from a moving, multi-generational Native American corn dance at Santa Domingo Pueblo, Ginny “took a deep breath of the wonderful, invigorating mountain air, looked out once more on the wide open spaces around me and decided to write down on paper my own rationale for a New School...

To begin with I would like to see a school which has a total sense of community.” One year later Atrium opened, and grew quickly: families then, as now, were drawn to this purposeful principle of unity.

It is fascinating and inspiring to read Ginny’s words today, as Atrium School prepares to refresh its future through a new Strategic Plan. The detailed vision in her letter, in a sense, was Atrium’s very first such strategic charter. Ginny asserted the central importance of “education for empathy” in children’s lives, and she laid out how the school will start with very young children first, and then gradually welcome older children–– always blending children of various ages. Students at Ginny’s “New School” would immerse themselves not just in challenging classroom work, but would regularly learn “about the community around them” from neighborhood businesses, intergenerational relationships with retired people, and alongside parents learning too. Students “would be given real responsibilities”; Ginny even wrote that “the school could have a farm out in the country where in the course of the year different groups could live together for a week or two”! While we don’t have that farm, Atrium teachers today all recognize that students learn deeply through immersive outdoor experiences, be they PreK students and 2nd

graders regularly exploring Mount Auburn Cemetery, or 7th graders closely studying short-term and long-term environmental change in coastal ecosystems on Cape Cod. Last week during Faculty Work Week, our faculty gathered in the Atrium Space and articulated what we love about our school. Not surprisingly, the way we describe Atrium today resonates powerfully with Ginny’s founding vision. Here are a few representative insights: -children are really listened to at Atrium, and all children are wellknown.

-students here know themselves, and are humble and impressively self-directed in their learning.

-joyfulness and delight infuse learning here; kids can push themselves in directions we can’t even imagine.The school fosters such passion.

-social justice infuses the curriculum, and students consistently act upon their empathy.

-there is a true culture of kindness, collaboration and warm authenticity in relationships.

Towards the end of the conversation, one teacher noted, Atrium is her village. I’d say that this is true for families, students and faculty––and it’s certainly true for me.

On the foundation Ginny established nearly forty years ago, generations of families, faculty, and trustees have continued to refine and strengthen our school and our community. And just like each Atrium student, we have things we can work on and get better at! This fall, you’ll have numerous opportunities to learn more about Atrium’s future. Over the last year, the Strategic Planning Committee broadly solicited input and vision from parents, alumni and supporters, and faculty. Distilled into a unified map for the future, this Strategic Plan provides a fresh and engaging new translation of Atrium’s commitment to excellence with joy. We get off to a rolling start this fall with renewed commitment to faculty excellence and thoughtfully aligned, exciting curriculum; to diversity, equity and inclusivity in every aspect of Atrium’s community and school culture; to establishing leadership in the educational landscape and spreading the word about Atrium to prospective families; and to the kind of long-range financial sustainability that ensures Atrium School serves children and families long into the future.

Ginny Kahn closed her 1981 letter as follows: “Well, we are off and running, and the fall is always a time of beginnings…” I couldn’t agree more! We have a very exciting year ahead, and I look forward to engaging with you as Atrium grows.

Warmly,

Marshall P.S. Stop by my office sometime to see Ginny’s letter!

2nd and 3rd Graders Win Poetry Awards For the past 18 years, students in Atrium 2nd and 3rd grade poetry class have been entering the poetry competition at the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline, guided by Jill Ferraresso––and winning awards every year.

This summer, teachers busily prepared their classrooms!

This year, four students won awards: Eva, Jackson, Rosie and Evelyn, who won first place for her age group. In June, all four students read their poems at the Book Shop awards ceremony.

Atrium Hosts Summer Development Institutes As part of Atrium’s longstanding commitment to continuing education, we were proud to host four professional development institutes this summer, all of which reflected our mission.

The inaugural Atrium School Math Institute for Middle School Math Teachers, led by Atrium Middle School math teacher Liz Caffrey, began as a “what if” conversation that ended with nearly 50 educators attending from charter, public and independent schools across New England, California, Illinois, Texas and New York. Participants integrated social justice with mathematics, sharpened their visual algebra pedagogy, and advanced skills with tech tools like the Desmos platform.

Liz said, “The Atrium Summer Math Institute was a resounding success. Our mission was ‘to foster engaged and empowered mathematics students by engaging and empowering teachers in an inclusive,

collaborative setting.’ The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the majority of participants excited to come back next year!”

In July, Watertown-based Primary Source held Crossroads of Culture: The Islamic World at Atrium, exploring the early history of Islam’s rise and geographic expansion, Islamic and pre-modern empires and their contributions.

Welcome Mason Sand, Enrollment Management Director Starting in the 2019-20 school year, Mason Sand will be Atrium’s Director of Enrollment Management. Mason has been working in education, the arts, and community development in the Boston area since 1999. As an educator, he taught theatre and English for Boston Public Schools at Dorchester Academy and Boston Arts Academy, and at City on a Hill charter school, also in Boston. Before coming to Atrium School, Mason served as the Director of Enrollment, Marketing, and Family Engagement at Newton Montessori School, where he helped grow all-school enrollment over three years and he also served as a member of the school’s leadership team.

Mason first moved to Boston in 1999 to help start Company One Theatre, an award-winning theatre company with the mission of “building community at the intersection of art and social change.”

At Company One, Mason served as the Director of Press and Public Relations for over a decade, helping to elevate the company from a fledgling startup to an arts innovator featured in preeminent national press outlets, including WBUR and The New York Times. Mason lives in West Roxbury with his wife Christine, their two children, and Bob the bearded dragon.

“Atrium School, for me, is the perfect school at the perfect time,” Mason said. “Everyone I’ve met here so far––from teachers to administrators to parents to the students themselves––has the best interest of the school at heart. Everyone is working on the same team for the right reasons.”

Please help connect Mason to prospective families!

Class of 2019: Good Luck to our Recent Graduates On June 11, 11 students graduated from eighth grade, including the first students to attend Atrium from PreK through eighth grade. In Atrium tradition, this year’s graduation speaker was an alumna, Celia Reddick ’96, a Ph.D. candidate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education studying the intersection of education and migration. Ms. Reddick told graduates, “When I look at my daughter Keza, I want for her so many of the things that I heard you all describe about your experiences at Atrium and that I hope you continue to pursue and find in your next steps. I wish for her to develop a sense of curiosity, of empathy, of awareness, and of action. And I wish, most of all, that she too will declare one day how much she cares for her classmates and they for her, and to describe, as many of you did, the foundation that those vital relationships have provided so that she too can explore the world.”

Students from the Class of 2019 will be attending a variety of public and independent schools in the area: Boston Latin School, Cambridge School of Weston, Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall, Concord Academy, Gann Academy, and McCallie School, as well as Arlington, Belmont, Minuteman, and Newton South High Schools.

“In reading some of the last poems you’ve written at Atrium, the subjects and emotions are wide-ranging and the styles are varied,” said Head of School Marshall Carter in his graduation address. “Uncertainty comes up numerous times, as do strength and confidence. But there is a shared voice, a unified vision, and sense of cohesion in them.

I hope that Atrium has given you, among many other things, these two things: one is the power of your own voice on its own, and the other is an understanding of the power of your voice in concert with others.”

The same week, nationally-recognized multicultural educator Dr. Liza Talusan led a Master Class in Equity and Inclusion in which participants dove deeply into matters of equity and justice as they relate to personal and professional goals as educators.

As a member of Facing History and Ourselves Partner Network, we were proud to host a conference on Democracy at Risk: Holocaust and Human Behavior, which taught teachers the history of the Holocaust and explored new research focused on human behavior, group dynamics and bias.

experiences to moments in history which led to conflicts, violence, and ultimately, various genocides.”

“Filling our school with such a wide array of educators this summer was fantastic––and we’ve built momentum for Atrium to continue to be a leader in professional development in educational circles,” said Marshall Carter. “This is a really exciting direction for Atrium.”

Middle School social studies teacher Paul Capobianco attended Democracy at Risk to augment the course he has been teaching for four years. He explained, “I’m using this summer PD course as a way to enhance the material I have already been teaching––but specifically, I’m looking for ways to help prepare 6th and 7th graders for their 8th grade social studies experience by introducing them earlier to the roots of antisemitism as well as helping them connect their life

How do Atrium teachers spend their summers?

Talin Megherian, art teacher This summer my work was in “unfoldingobject,” a show at The Concord Center for the Visual Arts, in Concord, MA, highlighting the work of 50 collage artists. In the “unfoldingobject” show, my piece comes under the category of an “uncollage,” a word Curator Todd Bartel coined “to describe a particular and recurring situation in the history of painting that I believe merits a new collage terminology.” My work was featured in Kolaj Magazine Issue #26 in part two of four articles Bartel has written on “uncollage.” In addition to Kolaj Magazine, I was mentioned in a review on the “unfoldingobject” show in Artscope Magazine.

Susanna Lara, Spanish teacher This summer, I took my kids to Mexico to see family. I took advantage of being there to document different instances of everyday life in Mexico, with the goal of sharing it with students at Atrium.

For instance, I took photos and video of markets, streets, people, architecture, food, family. Hopefully this will open my students’ perspectives as to real life in other places other than what standard media tends to offer. While in Mexico, I used time to develop a character I am working on for a series of books to support language learning. On a personal level, my family completed a bikepacking trip. We biked the Viking Trail in Newfoundland, and each of us carried a loaded bike (sleeping bags, tent, limited clothing, supplies). The purpose was to see the world from a different perspective–our bikes and the freedom that that entails.

After School Program Offers Enriched Programming This year, After School will offer enriched programming with easy scheduling and payment options. Enrichment sessions will be split into two sessions: from September until December break, and from January until May. Each day will have a theme or focus, such as Movement, Arts, or Language, to include different thematic projects or activities for each age group. For example, children signed up for “Engineering Day” could have coding, building and science activities within both sessions.

Regular After School care will remain the same: these valuable free play and child-directed components allow for cross-age play and friendships.

Similarly, Homework Club will continue. All children in After School will also be given an opportunity to periodically participate in “previews”: special activities provided by future enrichment teachers. Children who are not contracted to After School may also attend these special preview days by simply “dropping in” to After School. These special “preview days” will serve as a way for students to sample activities that they may want to sign up for in the future.

The overall cost of classes will remain the same over the course of the school year. However, because classes will be billed by semester, costs may appear higher. Payment can be made for enrichment classes all at once, or in installments through the same portal used to pay Atrium tuition.

These changes will allow students a more diverse and deep learning experience in After School, with more opportunities to grow and connect with each other and our community. The new programming will allow for deeper learning and exploration of each theme, combined with predictable scheduling and easier payment options.

Jaleesa Anselm Becomes Diversity Coordinator Now in her seventh year as a kindergarten teacher at Atrium, this year Jaleesa Anselm takes on an important new role at Atrium: Diversity Coordinator. Jaleesa’s focus will be on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. At Atrium, diversity represents the differences that each student posesses: socioeconomic status, neurodiversity, family constellation, racial/ethnic background, gender identity and so on. Equity further ensures that students of diverse identities are appropriately served; a one-size-fits-all model does not serve all children. When Atrium does diversity and equity work well, all community members feel a strong sense of inclusion.

“Helping teachers, students, and families appreciate and feel comfortable bringing all parts of themselves every day is absolutely essential,” Jaleesa explained. “This is especially true for students and families who feel marginalized or like they are constantly having to talk about the visual parts of their difference. If we can create spaces where conversations about ourselves and the various parts of our identity are happening naturally, authentically, and frequently, the conversation no longer becomes about our ‘difference,’ but about who we are as people.”

If you have a DEI-related question, concern, or wonder, please email Janselm@atrium.org and note that your email is DEI-related in the subject line. Jaleesa will do her best to respond to all emails promptly once the school day has ended. If a matter is pressing during the school day, Marshall and Kathy are available. Once school is well underway, Jaleesa will communicate her office hours.

ATRIUM SCHOOL | 69 GROVE ST. WATERTOWN, MA | 617-923-4156 | www.atrium.org