Memories from my 30 Years at Chapel

By John Morrison Photos: Fernanda Caires

Ihave spent the best part of 30 years teaching at Chapel School, and so much has changed in that time period, starting with my own physical appearance.

Thirty years ago, I started working for a superintendent by the name of Gerry Gates. Mr. Gates realized that for Chapel School to be a strong and respected teaching institution, it first needed to be financially stable.

Then the remodeling, rebuilding, and reinventing of a rustic school began. This was no small project. Chapel modernized the classrooms, created computer labs, as well as built a fancy cafeteria and a user-friendly library. The list had no end – new soccer fields, ECEC buildings, and highspeed internet. In comparison to now, when we have several online and printed sources, when I started at Chapel we had a weekly newspaper from the United States you could read in the library – if you were lucky enough to get the one copy ahead of time from the librarian Mrs. Rogers. Chapel grew into the beautiful campus we have today, and during this time I have worked beside many talented professionals, as Chapel has the ability to find effective teachers, assistants, secretaries, technicians, and maintenance people who take pride in their work. But this tale is not over. Once the pandemic hit, we at Chapel had to face new challenges. Our administrative team worked overtime to support us so we could meet these challenges. As our enrollment shows, Chapel has flourished.

On a personal note, I am quite pleased with all the students I have taught and shared a laugh with over the years, and nothing can be nicer than meeting alumni. I am glad to be a small part of the history of Chapel School. All the best in the next 75 years.

CHAPEL TEACHERS STAND-OUT AT AMISA 2022

From March 24 to the 26, 15 Chapel teachers presented nine workshops at the annual AMISA (American International Schools in the Americas) conference for educators, an organization whose mission is to constantly enhance the education quality in 63 associated schools. Held in São Paulo, this year’s edition was themed “The Science of Learning: Educating Hearts and Minds,” and counted on the participation of over 400 educators, from 32 international schools from 12 countries. During the three-day event, the conferences were led by invited consultants and educators who hosted 115 learning workshops. These workshops included several Chapel teachers showcasing their knowledge in the field of education.

Under the title “Ficar sem ler? Deus me LIVRO!” (a play on words with a popular Brazilian expression, translated to “No reading? God forbid!”), the presentation by fourthgrade teacher, Daniela Hayashida, covered how Neuroscience and its active methodology favor neural formation during reading, contributing to healthy cognitive development. “One of the objectives was to think about reading, in its different aspects, as a social practice of involvement in the world to form critical readers, based on embodied cognition, since emotional responses reinforce neural paths, facilitating the learning process,” explains Ms. Hayashida. She comments that the results have surpassed her expectations, “The room was full and during the workshop, there were emotional tears, laughter, applauses, sharing, exchanging, and a lot of reading. After the workshop, I received many emails, messages, and positive feedback that brought me the feeling of a mission accomplished. Participating in AMISA proved that when we allow ourselves to learn, incredible things happen!”

Third-grade Portuguese co-teachers, Flavia Tacchini and Paula Busso showed how to quickly engage students upon returning to in-person learning through the use of the cursive learning process. In their presentation, “Readaptação

socioemocional por meio da aprendizagem da letra

cursiva,” (Social-emotional re-adaptation through learning cursive), both teachers involved the participants, who identified with the theme and will certainly bring it to their schools. “Our presentation was very natural and fun. There were people from international schools from all over the country, and all were very engaged in the activities and shared many

experiences about cursive in their schools,” comments Ms. Busso. “By developing this project at Chapel, we brought students back to the world of paper, notebooks, and pencils, and the interest in cursive handwriting was sparked in them,” explains Ms. Tacchini, adding “In the workshop, we showed how much cursive is present in our daily lives. It definitely cannot be resumed into a simple handwriting drill; for it is a practice that promotes numerous benefits for the brain.” Both teachers concluded their workshop happy and satisfied with the opportunity to share their work with colleagues from different schools.

When dealing with the sensitive theme of school discipline, the presentation “Community Building Approaches to Discipline,” led by third-grade classroom teachers Carolina Cimino and Melissa Kassner, and High School Dean of Students, Colin Weaver, showed a different approach to a common problem. High School students who are involved in disciplinary situations, after teacher guidance, are asked to participate in Elementary School classrooms, helping younger students with their learning process. “This approach is aligned with our Positive Discipline and we aim to make sure these students are being accountable and give back to the community positively. These discipline practices are also aligned with Restorative Justice practices,” explains Ms. Cimino.

According to Ms. Kassner, when High School students go through the reparation process by being immersed in community-building activities with Elementary School children, this is a scenario where everyone wins. “By working together, both groups improve in learning, self-confidence, and positive impact on our community.” Mr. Weaver also affirms and adds, “Although we try our best to preventively work on discipline, there comes a time in which other measures must take place. However, we can assure that disciplinary consequences can be a life-changer if well thought of.” The audience present was impressed with the positive results after only a couple of months of the program having been implemented at Chapel.

In “Cultivating Creativity in the Classroom,” teachers Karina Wenda (Maker Education) and Sylvia Almeida (Arts), presented different strategies on how the use of creativity is fundamental to increase engagement and student success. “Participants experienced the process of creating new learning experiences that could be applied in teaching specific subject areas, or cross-curricular lessons,” said Ms. Almeida and Ms. Wenda. According to the World Economic Forum Report 2020, around 65% of students who are currently in elementary school are likely to have a future career that has not yet been discovered. “Thinking about how the current generation of students are standing on the border of change and will become the leaders who will take us into the next era. Today’s students need a set of transferable skills that can be applied in nearly every setting to succeed. Many educational experts define 21st-century skills as competencies that must be mastered to collaborate creatively and problem solve in a global economy,” they add.

During the workshop, both teachers planned for a dynamic structure with plenty of practical activities, supported by theories, so that participants can use these immediately in their classrooms. The audience also received a QR code to access all the presentation content, including activities and theories that supported the resources. “Besides representing Chapel School and our beliefs so proudly at the conference, we had the opportunity to learn with prominent professionals, as well as establish meaningful connections with many colleagues who are also pursuing innovative educational models,” finalized Ms. Almeida and Ms. Wenda.

High School English teacher, Renata Meints, participated in AMISA with the presentation “Fun in the Classroom - Animal Farm, Pink Floyd, and Twitter,” in which she spoke of a multimodel approach applied at Chapel to work on the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell. “I have been using these resources since last year, combining connections between Pink Floyd’s album Animals, and the creation of possible character interactions of political and public figures on Twitter,” she says. She adds that during the event, the interactions with colleagues were valuable, “In the conversations I had after the presentation I felt that I made a difference in the way people view teaching English literature.” Ms. Meints will treasure great memories from the conference. “It was great to have participated. Besides the precious interactions, I had the opportunity to be in a mini-course about diversity and inclusion. This was a turning point in my view of these two important factors of life in community and school in general,” she concludes.

According to History teacher Bryan Sanders, “When arriving in a new country, foreigners sometimes struggle to connect with the hearts and minds of local school communities.” His presentation at AMISA: “Fostering Meaningful Cultural

Connections Between School Communities and Teachers

from Abroad.” was based on that premise. For Mr. Sanders, “Some teachers blend, some identify as expats (and do not branch out), some assume their role as a stranger in a strange land but it doesn’t have to be like that.” In his presentation, Mr. Sanders provided details on how new foreign teachers can

“ONE OF THE OBJECTIVES WAS TO THINK ABOUT READING, IN ITS DIFFERENT ASPECTS,

AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE OF INVOLVEMENT IN THE WORLD TO FORM CRITICAL READERS,

BASED ON EMBODIED COGNITION, SINCE EMOTIONAL RESPONSES REINFORCE NEURAL

PATHS, FACILITATING THE LEARNING PROCESS”

connect with their colleagues and students. The presentation also detailed how leadership administration can connect and make these newcomers feel included and safe. The results were very exciting. My participation validated a lot of the ideas I had about what it is to teach abroad as well as matched the feelings regarding diversity and the emotional being of students,” concludes the Californian who began his teaching career in Los Angeles, and has been teaching in Brazil for the past 12 years, after coming back from Japan.

In the presentation “Readerpreneur: Building a studentcentered reading and writing community in your class,” teachers Maxine Rendtorff and Francis Koolman, shared resources, knowledge, and experiences on how to structure and implement systems in the classroom that foster the love for reading and writing in a meaningful and authentic way. All while nurturing a community of readers and writers with students as protagonists. According to Ms. Rendtorff, teachers from different schools were grateful and all could share good practices, “I felt so grateful to be part of this experience as I thrive on learning new concepts, current best practices that are being developed and applied so that I can adapt it to our Chapel community context. I also love learning about what amazing things are happening in classrooms and schools around the world so that I can be a better teacher and be more inspiring to all my students and community.” Mr. Koolman agrees with his colleague and adds that the feedback for the presentation was extremely positive and even included brainstorming from the audience, “Teachers present discussed ideas on how to implement the same reading culture inside their classrooms. It was an incredible way for us to connect as teachers and share ideas.”

“Cultivating a Mathematical Mindset through

Projects, Passion, Peer, and Play (while still covering

your standards/curriculum)” was the theme of teacher Caio Gragnani’s workshop. His presentation gathered a large and diverse group of educators who engaged and shared experiences capable of enriching the routine of learning Math. Mr. Gragnani’s work covered students’ involvement in Math through projects while maintaining the challenge of meeting requirements from different curricula (in Chapel’s case, the Brazilian, international, and IB curriculum) and the need for students to practice in order to develop procedural fluency in the subject. “It was very much enriching. I felt a great spirit of collaboration and companionship as everyone was there for the same purpose: to advance education and better prepare ourselves and our students. We could feel that everyone shared our faith in education,” he evaluates.

Physical Education teachers, Caroline Boscariol and Carolina Hernandez presented the workshop “Strategies to Promote Independent Student Problem-Solving.” The teachers discussed strategies used in P.E. that can be applied crosscurricular to promote student ownership when problemsolving without adult intervention. According to Ms. Boscariol, the presentation had a great audience and the participants’ feedback was incredible, “Teachers present gave us very positive feedback regarding strategies and how they were looking forward to trying them within their own subject area.” For Ms. Hernandez, the participation in the conference was very meaningful, “It felt very good and rewarding to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with other educators.”

Chapel’s anniversary, December 8th, will close off a festive semester with at least four big events that will celebrate the school’s 75 years. All of these include gifts and souvenirs, and surprises that are being very well kept by its organizers. In reality, the celebrations started back in May when students graduating in 6th and 12th grades respectively, received their satin and felt banners especially released to mark the date.

In September, the traditional Book Fair will be a special edition. From September 14 to 17, this highly anticipated event amongst the school community will take place and include stands stacked with affordable imported books, national books, and the traditional SEBO promoted by student council (StuCo) students. For the first three days, students in all grades and divisions will participate in a round of conversations with writers and creative workshops. Additionally, students will watch performances and presentations related to this year’s book fair theme: “Reading makes you think outside the box.” Referring to creativity, the most diverse areas of knowledge will be addressed, from the arts to the sciences. Students will be encouraged to tap into their imagination and inventiveness. On Saturday, the last day, the fair will be open to families, who will be able to participate in Learning Innovation workshops, storytelling, music concert, and also honor the launch of the latest edition of the Cookbook, with Chapel’s recipes. (see box).

Children’s Day will be celebrated on October 11 and will also be integrated into the 75th-anniversary celebration calendar. The event will include special activities planned for students to create even more happy memories at school. On the following month, Thanksgiving will be celebrated with a special lunch for parents on November 24. On the menu, there will be traditional Thanksgiving dishes and many special surprises.

The closing of the anniversary celebrations will be on December 8th, the day of Our Immaculate Lady and the school’s birthday. To commemorate, there will be a special mass celebrating 75 years of the school, which started as a chapel and now has over 700 students from different nationalities. Additionally, there will be many activities scheduled to celebrate the unity of all members that today make up the Chapel School family.

EXTENDED EDITION COOKBOOK IS LAUNCHED AT BOOKFAIR

To all of the school community who eagerly awaited the return of the Chapel Cookbook, the good news is that the latest edition will be launched on the closing day of the Book Fair, September 17. The new version includes an expanded section of essential culinary tips. The cookbook also contains a collection of recipes most appreciated by families and includes several dishes that can even be prepared by children themselves.

On the occasion, authors and nutritionists, Flora Spolidoro and Marcia Berkowitz, will be present, autographing books and handing out souvenirs to the public. “I am very happy with the launch of the new edition of the Chapel Cookbook, because when we enjoy what we do, it is with great joy that we share these recipes with the whole community. And now, with the culinary tops, I am sure that the book will encourage and help many people to adventure more into the kitchen,” celebrates Ms. Berkowitz.