Teaching Courage in the Classroom; Achievements Recognized

is proud to announce the wonderful accomplishments of its faculty, staff and students. This week, teachers Alexis Martino, Ned Smyth, Mami Takeda and Rebecca Singer deserve recognition for their most recent achievements in and out of school, from excellence in teaching to extraordinary artistic endeavors. Ross senior Chela Novak has also made the list for her expertise in riding.

Alexis Martino, Chair of the Ross Media Department, received Honorable Mention for the Center for the Arts’ Excellence in Teaching Award, which honors a high school, college or postgraduate teacher’s dedication. The center received heartfelt recommendation letters from appreciative students that spoke very highly of Alexis’s passion, commitment and abilities as an outstanding educator.

Ross visual arts teacher Ned Smyth organized American Responses, a series of four solo exhibitions and one musical performance for the Salomon Contemporary Gallery in New York City, which examines American regionalism as a major influence on art of the early 1970s. The artists in the exhibition series are Kim MacConnel, Ned Smyth, Dickie Landry and Tina Girouard. Ned’s exhibit, “Reverence,” will be on view from Feb. 16 to March 17.

Ross ELL and modern language teachers Mami Takeda and Rebecca Singer will present at the New York State Association of Independent School’s Technology Conference in New York City in late February. During this daylong conference, teachers give workshops to other teachers on using technology in the classroom. The conference is designed to let teachers, who use technology well, share their expertise, advice, innovations and tools with the greater teaching community.

Ross School senior Chela Novak was awarded the Long Island Dressage and Combined Training Association’s High Score of the Year Award for IHA series Jr. Chela has been riding since 2002.

Michele Claeys: A Klingenstein Fellow

Michele Claeys was one of 20 heads of school selected from around the world to participate in the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership’s 2012 Heads of School Fellowship. This two-week program begins on January 25 and will be held at Columbia University in New York City.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this highly selected group of school leaders and look forward to the learning we will undertake together. I think it's a real feather in Ross School's cap that I was chosen to be part of the Klingenstein program,” said Claeys. “It speaks well of the school, our mission, and the work we all do here at Ross.”

MLK: Teaching Courage in the Classroom

Martin Luther King Day offers the country an opportunity to pause and reflect on the value and importance of civil rights, the people who were catalysts for social change and the areas that still need improvement. It also allows schools to design activities that raise their community’s consciousness about how people treat one another.

In honor of MLK Day, held an assembly in the Multi-Purpose Room on Jan. 13. The first graders read aloud Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, by Jean Marzollo, and led a sing-a-long of “One Bright Candle” and “Sing About Martin,” with Elka Rifkin, Director of Lower School. Fourth grader Skylar also shared a song he had written about Dr. King.

In class, the first graders have been learning about the six basic patterns found in nature, including branching, when the pattern starts at one point and spreads out. As part of this study, they learned that one person's ideas or words can spread out and affect others—Martin Luther King was one man who branched out to many and changed the laws. He also demonstrated the Ross Core Value of Courage.

Meanwhile, at the Upper School, Ross Middle School students watched and later discussed Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes, a documentary about an Iowa schoolteacher who gave her students a firsthand experience of discrimination immediately following the assassination of Dr. King. The students were broken into two groups, blue eyes and brown eyes, and they followed a new set of rules where one group was deemed superior over the other. The social experiment highlighted the behavioral changes that took place within each group as a result.

Ross seventh and eighth graders also engaged in Advisory activities that were designed to empower them to practice tolerance, confront injustice, and stop disrespectful, racist, or bullying remarks.

“Martin Luther King is a figure in recent American history, and part of being a global citizen is learning about others around the world so that one can empathize, collaborate, and work with them. MLK is a good role model for our students in this way,” said Bill O’Hearn, Director of Middle School. “Students learn how to be responsible for one another, and they understand the value of courage.”