Thursday, June 16, 2016

Graduation 2016

Every year at Graduation time, it has been my honor and pleasure to sit quietly for a while and think about the students who have worked with us over the years and who are now ready to move on to high school. At this time I traditionally have written a poem for each of them to read at the Graduation ceremony. I also write a joint poem for the 4th graders as they move up to 5th - middle school for us at Summers-Knoll.

This year we bid a proud and fond farewell to Ada, Kaeli, Lee, Margaret, Matt, Nik, and Karenna. The ceremony was delightful as always, with our wonderful graduates talking eloquently, movingly, and hilariously about their classmates, teachers, and school experience. Karl discussed each one of them in the context of the Seven Virtues of the Samurai, and our 7th graders (now rising 8th graders) supported them beautifully. Thank you to Josh for the wonderful music.

So go well, dear students. Please know that you are loved. Come back and visit often. Here are your poems. They are all sonnets in honor of the farewell sonnet that you wrote for me. (The poem for the 4th graders is at the end.)


Ada
There’s a river that runs deep beneath the ground
Flowing cold and silken, soft and dark.
Watery thoughts and dreams, fluid, profound,
Run liquid through that river’s secret arc.
Seeping between the rocks, those thoughts make cracks
And fractured pathways for ideas to spread,
And craft mysterious patterns like a wild thing’s tracks
Or the complex trail of Ariadne’s thread.
Time passing sees that magic liquid leave
Bright crystals growing in the fissured stone
Filling the tiny cracks that interweave
With glittering gems, of hope and wisdom grown.
So Ada’s thoughts run far, and carve out ways
To fill with light her heart’s deep waterways.


Kaeli


When a heart is bigger than the deep blue sea,
And smiles are wider than a lotus flower,
And eyes are kinder than a giving tree,
And hands more helpful than a fresh spring shower;
When ideas fly like butterflies and bees
And feelings flow like sunlit mountain streams
And questions grow like great sequoia trees,
Enthusiasm like mid day sunbeams;
When people smile because you’re in the room,
And children jump up high to hear your name,
And animals are safe because of you,
And dragons flock about you like a flame;
Why, then, dear Kaeli, know that all you are
Gives joy to others like a shining star.


Lee


If you're looking for a certain kind of humor,
If you're tickled by a sense of irony,
If it's worse to be unfunny than a tumor,
The best person to talk to would be Lee.
If a host of pink flamingos are your soul mates,
If your pals are Tweedledum and Tweedledee,
If Socrates is on your list of greats,
You might want to spend some friendly time with Lee.
If a wall that talks strikes you as super-funny,
And a talking moon sets all your laughter free,
If a joke is sweeter far to you than honey,
Then the guy you want to hang out with is Lee.
On a stage of dry and witty repartee,
There's no finer man to tread the boards than Lee.



Margaret


Margaret knows to look behind the clouds.
She is aware of space outside the room.
She knows that things are said, just not aloud,
And hangs out on the dark side of the moon.
Margaret exists in ordinary space
But in her heart she sees a magic world
Where people have a different kind of face
And thoughts, like flags, flow on the wind, unfurled.
She knows that there is mystery in words,
She knows that there's enchantment in the arts,
Ideas surround her like a flock of birds,
With all the grace and beauty that imparts.
Margaret lives life half in Faeryland,
And each day takes an elf friend by the hand.


Matthew


Matthew O is quiet till he isn’t.
Matthew O is still until he’s not.
Matthew did the thing (unless he didn’t),
Matthew crossed the t and i-ed the dot.
Matthew breathes in words and breathes out music,
He makes a magic world upon a stage,
His wit can cause his classmates all to lose it
Though he has the grave demeanor of a mage.
Matthew has his own sweet way of being,
He marches to the beat of his own drum.
He sometimes lets us see what he is seeing,
But only he has done what he has done.
What he will do, and where the future takes things,
My crystal ball has told me will be great things.

Nik


If Nik went on a trip to Mount Olympus,
To hang out with the ancient Gods of yore,
He’d spend his time in high jinks and in rumpus,
And the trickster God, winged Hermes, would be sore.
Why Nik, he’d say, you’re taking all my mischief,
My fun, my wiles, my frolics and my gags,
You run so fast I think you are a speed thief,
I’m the one who is quicksilver (not to brag).
Nik would respond with charm and grace and laughter,
Saying, Come on, brother Hermes, we are twins!
Together - now there’s no before or after,
When we make shenanigans we can both win!
So Nik and the great Trickster of the Gods
Would set the whole world laughingly at odds.



Karenna


Karenna’s heart is somewhat like a compass.
It points true north and does not lose its way
She has a sense of self, a sense of oneness
That means that she will never go astray.
Karenna’s heart is somewhat like a window,
She has clarity and truth, sincerity,
And when you see her riding in a limo
You’ll know she came by it with honesty.
Karenna’s heart’s a little like a fortress
In that her friends know they can count on her
She’s steady, strong, her loyalty is faultless,
When friends are happy she begins to purr.
Karenna has the kind of strength you see

When the Pole Star shines out so constantly.




4th Grade Graduates

Fourth Grade Friends! Your time to move has come,
Fifth Grade awaits! What will it bring for you?
Will Mark invent a racecar to the moon?
Will Addy write a novel or a play?
Rebecca win a mathematics prize?
Danny may clean the country’s water,
Lilith paint new and wondrous creatures that will fly
Around the school and come to be our pets.
Olivia could make cakes that save the world.
Will Juliana earn an Oscar yet,
Her first of many, youngest girl to win?
Will Niccolo outrun the speed of sound?
Will Andrew plant a forest, lush and green?
Can Evie do a handspring so athletic
It carries her across Lake Michigan?
Will Sana become president, or queen?
Will Lucas tell a story that comes true?
Will Folu become the world’s official artist
And Joey read each book the world contains?
Whatever you all do, you’re sure to constantly
Be your amazing selves, that no one else can be.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Gratitude and Goodbyes

It's become a commonplace in motivational (and educational) speech these days to point out that an ability to experience gratitude fully is one of the key components of happy, fulfilled life. That being the case, I am all set up for bliss right now.

This is my last blog as Head of Summers-Knoll School, and I am overwhelmed with the warmth and kindness shown to me by parents, staff, and students alike. There has been an outpouring of love and appreciation that completely humbles me. In turn I want to share my appreciation here.

This has been an unquantifiable journey for me. I have learned more than I would ever have dreamed, and grown in ways I could not have anticipated before I took on this work. I have been helped along the way by a changing but always dedicated board, led and manned by extraordinary people. The teachers and staff I have been privileged to work with are brilliant, deep, thoughtful, sensitive, funny, skillful and intensely creative. The families who have shared their children with the school have been diverse, involved, insightful, adventurous, helpful, and wonderful partners in support of their children's growth. The students themselves have grown and continue to grow into confident, independent, thinking, questioning, feeling, engaged, passionate, communicative people who all have my heart now and forever. Thank you all for your part in making this school the home it has been for me throughout these amazing years.

Thank you to all who organized and attended my farewell party. Thank you to all the students and staff who contributed to my lovely book, Dragon Breath and Unicorn Magic, and to all of you who wrote farewell messages in my notebook. Many, many thanks to everyone who contributed to the Library Fundraiser; the idea that any room in the school will still be known as "Joanna's..." warms my heart, but the library especially brings me so much joy. Thank you, thank you.

Many of you have asked about where my life is leading me next. I had originally planned to move back to England completely, but as time has gone on I have realized that I am not willing to put myself in the position of missing my friends here as much as I now miss my family in England. So I am planning a flexible lifestyle, freelancing as a writer, and as a consultant for progressive education. My goal is to be able to make my own schedule, and spend significant stretches of time in England as well as keeping my life here in Ann Arbor intact. I will be doing a lot of theatre, beginning with a production of one of my own plays at the Yellow Barn opening at the end of July.  Many of you know that theatre was a huge part of my life before I became Head of School; it is all set to become that way again.  I am excited at the possibilities the future holds, not least because I will be able to stay in touch with everyone here who matters so much to me.

Thank you again for being part of this community, for sharing your children with the school and with me, and for all the enriching experiences we have shared. In the words I offer our graduates as they leave each year: You're my favorite.