Happy Thanksgiving

to all of you!

I am so thankful for all of my students, for my opportunity to work at such a wonderful school that truly tries to do what is best for each student. Thank you for letting me teach your child. I will see you all after the break! Then three weeks til winter break. The time moves too fast. Enjoy the week!

~ Courtney

I am excited to confirm I have accepted the position of Interim Director of Education here at Brehm. This is an opportunity that brings me such joy as I look at the trajectory of my life as an educator and my future goals as part of the Brehm family. There is a lot to do in the upcoming months and we have the best team for continuing to offer the individualized services that our students need and to prepare for a successful future for them and our program!

I started the process Thursday of explaining to the students what their English Language Arts, Literature, or Creative Writing Classes will look like moving forward. This was mostly to give them a general idea of who would be taking over the content teaching of their classes to help relieve some of their confusion and anxiety surrounding their schedules. I will be emailing each of you individually in the upcoming week to let you know who will be teaching their classes starting on January 4th.  I will be finishing out this month with them and get them through finals next week. It was sweet to see so many of them protest the fact that I couldn’t keep teaching them and do my new position (“You totally could do both, you’re just being lazy,” was my favorite!).

While this is an exciting time, I also know that it is a troubling time with so many changes that have already arisen in the past few months, and really since COVID, for our students, our staff, and our school community. Changes in leadership and staffing have resulted in a lot of growing pains

as we navigate similar issues seen in public education and other industries. While I don’t have all the answers, I do know this: the teachers and staff that are here are dedicated to the empowerment and success of your children and to the mission of our school. My charge in this new position will be to continue to cultivate the academic portion of the holistic model that Brehm has been known for for the past 40 years.

The hardest part of accepting this new position is my inability to continue with a full load of English Language Arts and Literature classes. Some of you may be worried about the impact of this transition in the middle of the school year and the changing of hands so to speak of your student’s reading and writing skill development. Please be assured that I am considering the implications of the changes and will match my students to the teachers that can deliver the instruction that the students in those classes need. Bradley and I began this process last week and made some decisions, but even throughout this weekend I am continuing to think through the changes being proposed to make sure that they will have positive educational impact. Once we have finalized the plans this week, I will be communicating those changes. If you have any questions or concerns moving forward please reach out and let me know. I am looking forward to continuing to work with each of you in this new capacity!
Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Courtney Vincent
Interim Director of Education

Each of these novel studies will have a specific focus on how the development of the characters within the story directly impact the novel or short story’s plot and the readers’ connections to the narrative. Junior High Language Arts is reading the first of The Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, The Capture. This middle grade fantasy series follows the story of Soren, a Barn Owl who is captured and, along with other owlets, has to find a way to escape and get home to his family. Also in the fantasy genre, Tuck Everlasting, a modern classic that poses the question, is eternal life a blessing or a curse, is the focus in 3rd hour Language Arts. Third hour Literary Strategies class has dove into Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes the story of two friends who share stories of hardship growing up and their journey into young adulthood. This novel addresses some tough issues and always sparks strong discussions in my classes. Meanwhile, 7th hour Modern Literature has turned its attention to Roald Dahl’s lesser known works of fiction: his short horror and suspense stories. This will segue into a collection of Ghost Fiction that was compiled by Roald Dahl himself.

Creative Writing has spent the last week working on stories using Rory’s Story Cubes. Each set contains nine six-sided dice that have a character and or action on them. Students roll the dice in their set and then arrange the cubes to organize the action in their own original story based on their roll. I have several different sets of these dice including those that are Harry Potter, Looney Tune, Star Wars, Adventure Time, and Batman themed along with the original one like what is pictured above. This exercise allows the students to learn to take a risk with a topic or action they not usually include in the story or build on an already established character arc to continue their journey. I like to do a couple of these before we move into our unit on the Story Arc which will help them in developing more structure to their writing while keeping in mind the “looseness” of these story cube pieces.

If you would like to read more about the novels we are reading in your student’s class please see the links below:

Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture—

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35805.The_Capture?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=1gwhwhsYgA&rank=1

Tuck Everlasting:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84981.Tuck_Everlasting?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=m5uN8QHEWB&rank=1

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51740.Staying_Fat_for_Sarah_Byrnes? from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cFq0RJHr0O&rank=1

Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23792.Roald_Dahl_s_Book_of_Ghost_Stories? ac=1&from_search=true&qid=mjcj5yDbi5&rank=1

For more about Rory’s Story Cubes: https://www.storycubes.com/en/

Across my English Language Arts classes, it is important that I strike a balance between students doing the “WORK” of reading and students experiencing the “JOY” of reading. Unfortunately, for many of our students, we know that the “work” and “joy” often do not intersect as students contend with various learning differences that can impair their abilities to take in the written word smoothly and fluently. One way I strike a balance is to read aloud novels to students outside of the regular curriculum on which we work. The students’ only responsibility is to step through the sliding door and relax into a world that is not their own. This month, I am reading Charlie Hernandez & the League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo.

At the end of the week, students take a quiz to demonstrate their understanding of the word parts’ definitions and the way to use words made of these building blocks in novel sentences. Depending on the class the students are in, they have begun to start a novel study, an excerpt study, a short story unit, or a short writing activity from which we can jump into the next stage of our learning. These readings coupled with the writing extension activities and our read aloud, gives each student multiple ways to access the mirrors, windows, and sliding doors that make up the literature and reading experience.

Depending on the class the students are in, they have begun to start a novel study, an excerpt study, a short story unit, or a short writing activity from which we can jump into the next stage of our learning. These readings coupled with the writing extension activities and our read aloud, gives each student multiple ways to access the mirrors, windows, and sliding doors that make up the literature and reading experience.

If you would like to read more about how reading how reading aloud to high school students supports language acquisition, higher order comprehension and can develop a life-long love of storytelling go to this link: https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-heres-way-teachers-can-helpbreak- equity-barriers-high-school-reading-aloud-students/