The ASPect - APRIL by Renée Bélec

theASPect TEACHING AND LEARNING AT ASP

A FOCUS ON WRITING APRIL 2011

INSIDE theASPect:

A FOCUS ON WRITING Table of Contents: 2 3 4

Note From the Board of Trustees

Read to Write or “A Weasel is Wild” by Head of School, Mark Ulfers

Joy, Luck and a Love for Writing: Alumnus Steven Barclay ’77 brings Amy Tan to ASP

Reflective Creativity:

Rebels’ Chronicle

ASP’s Published Scientists:

NOTE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Creative Writing with Michelle Wildgen

The School Newspaper

Writing in Science & the Science Fair Weather Bugs &

Writing Across Curriculum: Faculty Writing Workshop with Margaret Fiore

Rewriting History & Writer’s Theater:

Writing ( and Other Skills) for Life...

Achieving Your Personal Best:

The Bollywood Gala: A Magical Evening

Bringing Writing to Life

A Look at the Freshman Advisory Course

Sports at ASP

Dear ASP Community, This ASPect aptly focuses on reading and writing– lifelong skills of the highest importance. Highlighted here are things that take place both inside and outside the classrooms of ASP. The visit of renowned author Amy Tan, a successful Bollywood Gala and energetic ISST’S are among the many moments celebrated. There is a direct link between what goes on in our classrooms and at these exciting events. Support of learning through partnership and teamwork is essential to all we do and how well we do. Support of ASP by our community, present and past, happens in many ways. Alumnus Steven Barclay (Class of 1977) continues to enrich the reading and literature program at ASP through his sponsorship of the Visiting Writers Program. Welcoming Amy Tan this year to our community has been an exciting honor and a wonderful experience for us all. Alumni, past parents and former Trustees, joined our current community by supporting the Excellence Fund through Bollywood Gala. Sporting events couldn’t take place without the generous hosting of visiting students and coaches. Earlier this month we announced ASP’s intention to purchase the current site and move forward with the improvement of the campus. We look forward to sharing more information as the negotiations proceed. As a Board, we are well aware and very appreciative of the tremendous support of our entire community, past and present as we move ahead. Events such as those highlighted here remind us how strong that support is and leave us energized and inspired. Thank you all for your support of ASP in so many ways.

to Benefit The ASP Excellence Fund!

Lis Seeley Many thanks to alumnus, Steven Barclay ’77 for sponsoring this 9th year of the Visiting Writer program, and doing his part to bring books to life in the ASP community. 2

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President of the Board of Trustees

APRIL 2011

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Read to Write or “A Weasel is Wild”

f you were to

mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The

if not in hope that the writer will magnify

join one of our

real and proper question is: Why is it beauti-

and dramatize our days, will illuminate and

reading-writing

ful?” As a school dedicated to inquiry-based

inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the

classrooms, and

learning, her question appeals to our purpose

possibility of meaningfulness, and will press

asked by students

of not just providing young people answers,

upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that

about your favorite

but ensuring they ask good questions. Annie

we may feel again their majesty and power?”

book of all time, or the

Dillard is a Pulitzer Award winning author

And when we experience such literature, we

author whose books you’ve soaked in every

and she makes me want to cheer for the man-

are also hanging on to remarkable models of

phrase – where you go back and reread entire

ner she spins a phrase. Her use of the English

language usage. I admit to being an Annie Dil-

paragraphs wishing you had written the

language is at once provoking and gorgeous.

lard groupie. Her words, phrasing and stories

passage – what would you say to our young

She deposits language usage at its best and

make me want to read more. She invites. In

people? When you are in the middle of a book

models the power of the written word. Yet

another book she offers one of the best narra-

and find an elegant passage, do you take it to

this ASPect is about our school’s writing

tive hooks or “grabbers” I’ve ever witnessed.

the dinner table and share it with the whole

program– why am I focused on reading? The

She opens a short story with the sentence, “A

family, then talk about why the author speaks

undeniable fact, replicated again and again in

weasel is wild.” Four words that summon the

to you? Are there times where what you have

the literature on literacy learning, is that the

reader to ask the question, “why?”

read so vividly describes an event that it is

ability to write is a product of reading widely.

then hard to catch your breath? Try this one.

Or should I say, “wildly”? Dr. Kate Kinsella of

“He didn’t jump; I crept closer. At last I knelt on the island’s winterkilled grass, lost, dumb-struck, staring at the frog in the creek

San Francisco State University summarizes the reading-writing connection research as follows:

just four feet away. He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed.

The story describes the bite of a weasel as he captures his prey. He does not let go. A naturalist who is bitten in the wild refuses to kill a weasel who was “…socketed into his hand deeply as a rattlesnake. The man could in no way pry the tiny weasel off, and he

• Reading widely and regularly contributes to the development of writing ability.

had to walk half a mile to water, the weasel dangling from his palm, and soak him off like a stubborn label.” Oh my, I read about the

His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull

• Good writers were read

weasel and feel I am there. And I marvel at

seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked

to as children.

the use of language.

tent. He was shrinking before my eyes like a

• Increasing reading frequency has a

deflating football. I watched the taut, glisten-

stronger influence on improving writ-

ing skin on his shoulders ruck and rumple

confidence we want to instill in our young

ing than does solely increasing writing

and fall. Soon, part of his skin, formless as a

writers at ASP. One of life’s gifts is finding a

frequency.

pricked balloon, lay in floating folds like bright scum on top of the water; it was a monstrous and terrifying thing. I gaped bewildered, appalled. An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. The frog skin bag started to sink.” (Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)

Such is the sense, the emotion and the

favorite author and knowing the reason why.

• Developing writers must see and analyze

They mentor our writing. Keep reading and

multiple effective examples of the various

don’t forget to share your favorite passages

kinds of writing they are being asked to

with anyone who will listen– and the dinner

produce (as well as ineffective examples);

table is a good place to start.

they cannot, for example, be expected to write successful expository essays if they

All Good Wishes.

are primarily reading narrative texts.

The frog was victim to a water beetle that had bitten the frog, then injected enzymes that dissolved internal bone and tissue to

The craft of writing is born out of reading

be sucked out as if through a straw– a daily

across genres– expository or “telling and

event in fresh water ponds. But aren’t you

explaining” writing is as much a product of

Mark E. Ulfers

taken by Annie Dillard’s use of metaphor? Her

reading and internalizing the cadence and

Head of School

phrases and word choice quicken the pulse

vocabulary of scientific research as meeting

rate?

the teacher’s or IB’s criteria for a laboratory

Annie Dillard is a favorite author and I tighten my seatbelt when reading and rereading her work. She is the same author who on page 106 in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek writes, “No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the

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report. At ASP we want our young people to read all forms of fiction and nonfiction– to collect literary gems, make them their own, and use such knowledge in their writing. Annie Dillard, in her book, The Writing Life says it this way: “Why are we reading

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Joy, Luck, and a Love for Writing: Alumnus Steven Barclay ’77 brings Amy Tan to ASP

Amy Tan is a writer driven by questions – her own questions and universal questions– as she explained to our students in an extraordinary visit this month to ASP. During a morning assembly address, Ms. Tan took our entire Upper School on an intensely personal voyage through the writing of her six published novels and the unfolding layers of discovery, especially of her own relationship with her mother, which resulted.

er frank and immensely articulate discourse captivated the audience as she encouraged everyone to consider themselves as writers and to develop a discipline of writing every day, sharing some detailed inner glimpses of her own writing habits. As she said: “There are moments of my life in these books which no one will understand except for me. For example, I had a friend and her parrot stay with me for a month and I loved that parrot. I loved it so much that I wrote a parrot into the story I was writing at the time, which has no significance for anyone except me.” Ms. Tan also shared her experience of grief as she lost her ability to write after contracting Lyme’s Disease and her long road to recovery. She said: “When they finally got the medication right and I started to write again, I would write 20 pages a day I was so scared that I was going to lose it again.”

she continued, she said: “It doesn’t happen very often these days, but I’ve never been asked that question…” before honestly sharing with the group how writing had been a way of making sense of her grief. Ms. Tan was also interviewed by members of the INK team, the Upper School’s Literary Magazine, which you will be able to read in INK’s next edition. In the evening Ms. Tan once again delighted her audience at a special event at the Official Residence of the US Ambassador to France and ASP parent, Charles Rivkin and his wife, Mrs. Susan Tolson. Ms. Tan charmed her audience with true stories of growing up (“the unexpurgated version,” she said), her mother’s quest to find a home for the family in Europe, falling in love

Being a member of a rock band, sharing moments of her experience as a Chinese student in a Swiss school in the late 60s and sharing stories about the often tumultuous relationship she had with her mother during her formative teen years made her discussion with ASP students all the more poignant. Following the assembly she took a Q&A session with a small group of students who enthusiastically fired their questions about her Chinese and American roots from the view of a thirdculture generation, her experience writing both a screen play of The Joy Luck Club and the libretto of an operetta, and when asked if she felt regret that so much of her writing had been inspired by the saddest moments of her life, she paused. When 4

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APRIL 2011

for the first time with a trouble-making older man, and telling what it was like being Chinese and living in Switzerland in a private school after having been used to an inter-city school in San Francisco. She brought the experience alive as she vividly described using all of her savings to buy a rabbit coat (to be like all of her fur-clad teenaged Swiss classmates) just to “fit in.” She took all 160 guests away to another world – just like we are when reading one of her books. Ms. Tan jokes that she performed horribly on her SAT, having earned only a 400 in English. She is living proof that following a passion, not grades or test scores, is the key to success. “Here I am to prove it,” she says. Ms. Tan stayed behind (with dog Bombo at her side) to sign books for the audience. She concluded her message to ASP by writing on each book: Joy, Luck, Amy Tan.

How did Amy Tan’s visit impact our students’ learning? Hear it from them …

“The Q&A session with Amy Tan enriched the understanding of my own cultural connections and acted as motivation for me to work on my own writing.”

- Farah Weannara (Gr.11)

“The opportunity to ask her personal questions about her writing process and cultural influences allowed us to better understand and appreciate her literature.”

- Sietse Goffard (Gr.12)

“Being exposed to such an extraordinarily cultured and insightful personality proved to be a truly educational experience.”

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- Anthony Ghosn (Gr.11)

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REFLECTIVE CREATIVITY Creative Writing with Michelle Wildgen

azine

Ink Mag

2011 Edition Winter ections Refl

NK is ASP’s literary magazine. Its goal is to showcase the creativity of our students as well as to create, within ASP, a core that is culturally aware and that will in turn inform and inspire the student body. To celebrate this month’s launch of the Winter Edition– “Reflections”– our Upper School student team will also be hosting a literary evening and a series of workshops with visiting writer in residency, Michelle Wildgen. Ms Wildgen is the author of the novels You’re Not You and But Not For Long. Her work includes fiction, essays, reviews, and food writing. A freelance writer, editor and executive editor at the literary magazine Tin House, she lives in Madison, Wisconsin. She will be working with 9th and 10th graders during a two-day residency focusing on creative writing. Upper School English teacher Maryama Antoine said: “Why creative writing? It is a very effective and ludic approach to developing the precision necessary for a fluid expression. As an English teacher I have often noticed that an early emphasis on creative writing allows for more articulate analysis in the later years.”

revising their own creative works and most of all offer insights to students about the world of publishing and what being a writer truly entails. Past creative writers in residence have been poets Stephen Thomas and Heather Hartley. And Ms. Wildgen will also feature her own work during “, The Pulse”, the aptly named literary evening event. Ms Antoine said: “The evening is designed to showcase the creative efforts of students, parents and teachers. There will be two open mic sessions where any and everyone is invited to read a poem, sing a song or share passages of an inspiring speech.” INK magazine was being kept under tight wraps at time of press for this ASPect, but for this introduction from the editors: “Everyone has at least one experience that has inspired them to contemplate, to communicate, to create. In this magazine are the musings of your best friend, your worst enemy, the girl who sits in front of you on the bus, and the boy who got kicked out of math class last week. You are holding their successes, their failures, their passions, and their perceptions. The members of the Ink Staff have brought this creativity into one publication; allowing artists, poets and authors to express themselves openly. Our actions are mirrors of our perceptions, our words parallels of our thoughts, and our emotions images of our being. What we see, what we do, what we know are merely reflections of who we are. And these years are about discovering our peers and ourselves through introspection. It is with this in mind that the theme of the Winter Edition Ink Magazine (2011) is “Reflections”. With self-knowledge and awareness, we can mature and reach our potential as a community.”

INK hosts two visiting writers every year in Upper School who expose their own creative process, work with students on

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APRIL 2011

REBELS’ CHRONICLE THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

new team of journalists has been busy gathering news, interviewing and investigating in Lower School for the launch of a new writing module in the Reader Writer Workshops and the publication of their very own newspaper. The Rebels’ Chronicle will ‘hit the streets’ at the same time as The ASPect, so be sure to drop by Lower School and pick up your copies. The newspapers, published by each of the three Grade 5 sections and the fifth grade EAL group, mark the culmination of a project focusing on some very specific writing skills for the young journalists. Fifth grade homeroom teacher Barbara Hoegen said: “This is one of the modules in the Columbia University Reader Writer Workshop program that we are using in Lower School. It is a new module which we chose to launch this year which specifically helps children when they are having difficulty getting their thoughts onto paper. The strong story element led by events and interviews leads them naturally towards more purposeful writing.”

say writing, historical fiction and myths and the children have enjoyed the new challenge. Mrs Hoegen said: “At this age it is also about quantity and we want them to be writing all the time, so the ‘carnets’ are perfect. They write and re-write their stories, their introductions and their ideas all the time. It is crucial for the development of the motor skills of writing, working the brain and the hands.” As well as the writing techniques, and the construction of stories using the leads of Why/When/Where/What/How, the students have also been learning about the conventions of journalism and the importance of headlines, bylines, pictures and grabbing a reader’s attention with the opening line. The four editions of the Rebels’ Chronicle will also feature advertisements and crosswords as well as sports, technology, business and world news. Mrs Hoegen said: “Our motto is that if a fifth graders wants to read it, they’ll find it in the Rebels’ Chronicle.”

Every child was given their reporters notebooks and each class chose a different way to launch their team of reporters. Homeroom teacher Greg Jacks said: “The Basketball ISST tournament was starting the same day which was ideal. Our students became both participants and recorders and the stories were relevant, with human interest and great interview opportunities. They also learned about writing to deadlines with a match report and then revising it for a later publication.” The module comes after working on personal narrative, es-

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ASP’s Published Scientists Writing in Science & the Middle School Science Fair

ecording data, outlining process and publishing results are writing skills firmly embedded in the Middle School science program, and as the Middle School Science teachers will tell you, are skills as important as the enquiry and experiments themselves. “We consider the communication part of the project to be so important that we assess and grade it separately,” said Joseph Scanlon. Colleague Fay Hutchinson added: “A well-written report can make an average project look pretty good, and a good project look exceptional. Writing is all about communicating ideas clearly. The goal is for the information presented to flow effortlessly from the page into the reader’s mind. The students are encouraged to discover their creativity as they figure out how to clearly communicate and display the process and results.” The Middle School Science Fair ensures that the process is both very real as well as fun for the young scientists. The Science Fair is the culmination of a 6-week project in which every student across all three grades pursues a scientific investigation of their choosing. This year, 6th grade students focused on birthstones and presented the results of an interactive IT project in which they

explored crystal formation and geological bonding. The 7th graders were tasked with designing experiments to test product claims, and the 8th grade theme, “Inquiring Scientific Minds Want to Know”, gave rise to projects from all areas of science ranging from examining the mechanics behind carnival games and how age impacts hearing, to design-

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ing practical barriers to prevent tsunami destruction and mixing your own marshmallows. Ms Hutchinson explained the process: “Students choose questions they would like to answer. They do research to gain the background information needed to formulate a hypothesis and design an experimental procedure. They perform experiments, draw conclusions, and communicate the results to family, teachers and classmates. This is the point at which students understand the importance of writing in the context of scientific experimentation and accurate and meaningful reporting of results. The grade 7 and grade 8 students were required to keep a journal to record notes as they completed each phase of the project. These notes were then used to write the project report.” Mr Scanlon said: “The projects were great with a real range including testing sugar and vitamin C content in juice brands, the strength and absorbency of paper towels, the density of muffins using different flour types and ph balance in shampoo. One student even built an apparatus to test the effectiveness of different building materials against the force of a tsunami.” And this year the presentation of these experiments at the Science Fair was a full day in which the students presented to their peers, to the other grades and even to Lower

and Upper School students in a rotation which saw every student as presenter, interviewer and audience. Mr Scanlon said: “They learn also how effective their presentations are with differing audiences and have to tailor their presentations to those audiences. And in becoming interviewers and reporters they see both sides of the communication piece. “We add a little fun to the day too with a special science-themed “jeopardy” and a movie break but what the students genuinely enjoy the most is sharing each other’s projects and being put in the role of true scientists.”

APRIL 2011

Weather Bugs! ASP has become part of a worldwide weather network publishing data gathered on our campus to the web. The WeatherBug station, a series of measuring apparatus now housed on the Middle School rooftop, was bought during the ASP Year of Science thanks to a generous parent donation, but installation was held off until the final phase of our €1M science lab refurbishment project was

completed this year. It is now installed, busy gathering and storing data about rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed, dew point and barometric pressure for our young scientists who are keen to start making use of the data. The seventh grade will be the first to monitor the weather stats daily as they embark on an ecological field study with science teacher Joseph Scanlon this spring. “In an introduction to biology field work the students will prepare for an ecological field study in the Parc de Saint Cloud to determine the health of small parcels of land. The weather is a key part to that and will be a key factor in the biotic diversity and quantity that they find.

For example, if it’s been dry they will find fewer insects and therefore fewer birds.” And this is just a start with the Middle School team who will also be using not only the ASP data but the wider network with other schools around the world to compare global weather patterns.

Writing Across the Curriculum FACULTY WRITING WORKSHOP WITH MARGARET FIORE By Brian Brazeau, Academic Dean

t the beginning of this year, The Excellence Fund enabled ASP to invite an expert on-site to further educate our faculty on the importance of writing across all subjects. In January, specialist Margaret Fiore came to ASP to discuss writing across the curriculum with teachers from all of the Upper School departments. Margaret is a consultant based in New York, and works with the New School for Social Research, New York Public Schools, and the State University of New York system. The sessions at ASP with small groups of faculty focused on the notion that “we are all writing teachers”. The first two-day session included faculty groups from Math, English, and Arts. In the morning, Margaret presented ideas to include writing in all aspects of our curriculum. In addition to her presentation, teachers were asked to brainstorm and discuss strategies they use to excite students about written expression. As one teacher wrote afterwards, “[Prior to

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the session] my mind was more on class preps, but once Margaret started I was completely sold! … I did a writing exercise right afterwards-I’ll be doing more of this as the students seem to respond well!” The following day, faculty from Science, Social Studies, and Modern Languages came together to treat some of the same questions. One participant summed up the feelings of many colleagues when stating, “I left the workshop inspired.” There have been multiple positive outcomes such as teacher experiments in class, a greater awareness of the importance of writing in all disciplines, a blog to discuss writing ideas, and a project to bring Margaret back next year for a fullday session with teachers.

teachers to share ideas that work. Finally, we are currently hoping to have Margaret visit ASP again to discuss writing with teachers from all divisions, and perhaps collating ideas for a presentation at the next ECIS (European Council of International Schools) conference. Margaret’s visit was an exciting first step in making sure that all classes contribute to the improvement and refinement of student expression. ASP’s mission of providing an excellent education across divisions and into the 21st century was certainly furthered by our time with her.

Faculty have been trying ideas for the integration of writing such as journals, short reflective pieces, and fun activities designed to have students write as much as possible. A selection of these activities has been posted on our “ASP Writing Blog” which is used as a forum for 9

Rewriting History

Writer’s Theater:

A new writing project is proving so popular that our 7th Graders are working overtime in their own time!

BRINGING WRITING TO LIFE

Language Arts teacher Elli Gildnes tasked her students to write a historical-fiction short story and then collaborate to turn the stories into picture books for children. “The project combines a number of key areas and explores new ones and they are loving it – so much so that some of them are taking home their storyboards every night.” It is a unit that Ms Gildnes was inspired to introduce after a sabbatical year in which

she taught in some of Seattle’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. She said: “The writing is a natural progression from reading historical fiction which just walks off the shelf with this age group! They love true stories, which is why we work so closely with Social Studies. They started with revolutions; French, Chinese, American, and then moved onto immigration. They start keeping research notebooks as they develop characters for their social studies Ellis Island project and that work feeds so naturally into historical fiction writing. In the past we had studied poems written by immigrants from Angel Island and they would develop their own poems. But this year I decided to try something new. “Middle School is about exploration and that often means the students have very busy academic and personal lives. By entering into true stories and writing their own in this way, their understanding of the subject goes so much deeper. “They take a nugget of information and then they have to research to bring it alive. We started by watching the first three minutes of the Disney film Mulan and analyzing all the scene setting information that we gather and then applying that to their writing in dialogue with greetings or by describing food or architecture.” The students will publish their books at the end of this trimester and all the short stories will be entered into the annual Paris Young Authors Fiction Festival.

In Middle School, a new approach to creative writing has ensured that our 6th graders become more confident, expressive and sophisticated fiction writers. Teacher Julie Forbes explains: “For several years we had struggled with finding a place for creative writing in the 6th grade curriculum. It always seemed to be ‘squeezed in’ as an after-thought and every year we finished the year feeling that it was a massive opportunity missed. “And then I took part in a series of creative writing workshops in French, and working in a second language put me in the place of being a student again, and understanding how the children might feel with less confidence writing in English. Most importantly, it also gave me plenty of ideas to bring back to the classroom, which became our Writer’s Theater.” The required 6th grade class has one goal – that each student is involved in performing a short story that he or she has written, and Ms Forbes is delighted with the results. “It’s not a class that we grade and that allows the students even more freedom. They each are given a ‘carnet’ or notebook at the beginning of the year to make notes when they are out and about. Jotting down dialogue they hear or describing what someone might put in their shopping trolley, real life observations that might work into one of their stories. “They have assignments which are very broad– A conflict in a supermarket, or a Strange Encounter– and it is amazing what they come up with. One student wrote a short story about two pairs of shoes meeting in a wardrobe and arguing over which would be chosen to be worn that day!“ And once they are written, the stories are performed, which ensures that the students use active, strong verbs and interesting adverbs, as they provide directions for the actors in their stories. At the moment of performance they understand the importance of the descriptives to give life to a story.” And on May 31 the work of the writers will be performed for a wider audience as the Writer’s Theater becomes a Writer’s Concert which will be performed by the 6th graders to raise funds for Room To Read. Watch the website for details but mark your diaries today.

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Writing (and other) skills for life… A Look at the Freshman Advisory Course By Jessamy Holland

ho better to guide and advise ASP’s youth than the very best of ASP’s own student leaders? This year, for the first time, a dozen of our ASP juniors and seniors are helping to facilitate the compulsory freshman Advisory course. Advisories discuss topics ranging from academic responsibilities to new and challenging social issues and decisions. Our new Peer Mentors act as valuable resources to faculty advisors and freshmen students in order to help facilitate discussions using their guidance and experience and to improve the quality and relevance of the Advisory class. Working daily with teachers, counselors, and ninth graders, they help to bring a new, fresh perspective to this course. The aim of the program is to train upperclassmen in becoming helpful, empathetic, and positive peer mentors who will aid ninth grades in their transition from middle school to high school. And one of the most successful examples of this new partnership was surprisingly a writing exercise. Peer mentors Eli Rivkin and Charlotte Van Duijl worked with advisor and math teacher Paul Lukas on a class devoted to writing a job résumé. This necessary life-skill can be an intimidating process, but with the input of personal and recent experiences, junior peer mentor Charlotte said, “I honestly think this might have been one of the most helpful things we have discussed with the students because they listened to us and I think we got through to them.” The idea of Peer Mentoring is not a new one. The traditional US model is for students to meet regularly in pairs. The Peer Mentors give support, advice and, most importantly, serve as role models for students coping for the first the time with the challenges of high school and www.asparis.org

all the social and intellectual difficulties it brings. At ASP instead of pairing up with an individual student, peer mentors are partnered with a faculty advisor and, as a team, they work to create an engaging and confidence-inspiring atmosphere in the classroom. Senior peer mentor Chloé Dorgan works with advisor and biology teacher Matt Duaime. “We lead the class well together: he brings the experience and easygoingness that creates comfort in the students. I bring the structure and dynamics that invigorate the students. I can tell that the students enjoy these

strength of effective peer-to-peer communication in order for both students to grow as considerate, community- and self-aware individuals. The peer mentors were selected based on their ability to inspire confidence, act as role models, and have a genuine commitment towards their fellow classmates. They have exceeded these expectations through their continued dedication and growing investment to the important roles they have made for themselves in the lives of ASP freshmen.

I often talk to my “ advisees outside of class, even if it’s just about little things when I run into one in the hallway.

”

different approaches,” explains Chloé. The value of having our peer mentors involved in the Advisory course is manyfold. The freshman class are exposed to the first-hand knowledge of students who are seasoned in the academic and social workings of ASP and their advice is therefore accepted with weight and credibility. The peer mentors themselves meet every week with Jessamy Holland and counselor Craig Vezina to learn the skills and subtleties of group facilitation such as active listening, reflective questioning and above all, trust-building. The relationship between freshman and peer mentor does not end when the bell rings; it extends beyond the classroom, as explained by junior peer mentor Katie Dumke, “I often talk to my advisees outside of class, even if it’s just about little things when I run into one in the hallway.” These interactions showcase the

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Mixing Medals and Safariâ&#x20AC;Ś It has been a frenetic month for ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our athletes with a lot to celebrate, from our first mini-international tournament for Middle School Basketball to the excitement of the Upper School ISSTs involving more than 25 international schools and a trip to Kenya! The Boys Division 1 Basketball had a good ISST at ACS Cobham International School and came away with 6th place, our swimmers broke

personal bests and came home with a clutch of medals and at home we hosted a successful Girls Division 1 Basketball ISST. Many thanks to all those who support the Rebels!

Personal Bests and A Clutch of Gold Medals By Coaches Joseph Scanlon, Cathy McLaury & Sylvain Hervieux

he ASP Swim Team competed in the ISST Championships hosted by the British School of the Netherlands and the American School of The Hague in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The championship consisted of two days of morning preliminary races and afternoon finals competitions for both Junior Varsity and Varsity squads

for boys and girls. The ASP team this year consisted of a mix of returning, experienced swimmers, first year swimmers and previous ISST competitors. The team, led by senior captain Emma Willems, came ready to compete and contribute to the spirit of the championship. From the opening events to the closing relays, ASP swimmers provided a rather loud and enthusiastic presence poolside in support of their teammates. Our younger swimmers experienced huge success in reaching personal bests in most of their events, in some cases dropping significant seconds off of their best times. Hard work paid off for our more experienced swimmers and we saw many personal bests reached by our swimmers in at least one of their events this year. Out of a possible 64 events, swimmers in individual events alone produced 52 personal best times, which is over 80 percent of all events! Add to this that every swimmer on the team swam at least one personal best during the two days thus

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fulfilling the goals set out by every team member. But it does not end there! Junior varsity swimmer Alison Mai came home with three gold medals from all her individual events and came .13 seconds away from setting an ISST record in the 100m backstroke by dropping over three seconds from her personal best. Emma Willems, seeded 4th overall in the 100m backstroke at the start of day two, came home with a silver medal after dropping close to three seconds off her personal best in the event. Emma also reached the finals in her other two individual events finishing 6th in the 200m freestyle and 8th in the 200m individual medley. The Junior Varsity girls also made the finals in both relay events on each day finishing 4th in the 200m freestyle relay and 5th in the 200m medley relay. Congratulations to all the ASP swimmers for a very successful season and ISST Championship!

APRIL 2011

Kenyan Teamwork

The Running Rebels

By Coach John Kim

This year’s basketball season will be one to remember for ASP’s athletes even before they arrive at the end of season ISST tournament. The Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball teams were invited to the International School of Kenya during the February break for a tournament in which not only did they play students from the international school, but also several local teams. It gave them a chance to spend a week building on their strengths and focusing on their game just before the International Schools Sports Tournaments, hosted at ASP for the Girls and at ACS Cobham for the Boys (March 9-12). The Girls are enjoying a spectacular season with only one loss after playing weekend games against seven opposing teams; Brussels (St.John’s), The Hague (ASH and BSN), Amsterdam (ISA and Antwerp), ISH and ACS Cobham International School. And after a slow start, the Boys picked up a winning streak and have a 9/5 win/loss record. The Kenya trip was not just about game tactics on the court, but also provided the teams with valuable off-court team building activities such as rock climbing and kayaking in addition to the cultural experience of playing with local Kenyan teams. The 21 students and their three coaches (John Kim, Barbara Hoegen and Keith Holman) spent three days in the Nairobi National Park and Upper School teacher John Kim was impressed with the students’ engagement: “They are really keen to maximize the inter-cultural aspect of the trip and are also researching ways in which they might participate in some volunteer activities.” Athletic Director Han Hoegen said: “We trust that the Kenya trip will have a positive effect on both teams through team building as well as a new cultural learning experience with this great and exciting opportunity the International School of Kenya gave us by inviting the Varsity basketball teams.”

The ASP Girls’ Varsity Basketball team, The Running Rebels, demonstrated why they were a force to contend with (and will be in the coming years) during this year’s ISSTs held in Paris. The team nickname was appropriate as the girls ran their way to a fifth-place finish, romping over opponents such as St. John’s, Cairo American Community School, and AIS Vienna. And even though the girls lost eventually to ACS Athens, the reigning champions and this year’s third place team, their battle against the girls from Greece in the Fieldhouse was one that our ASP community will remember for quite some time. (Read Head of School, Mark Ulfers’ tribute below) Brooke Hodenfield, who was selected as an All-Tournament player for her outstanding play, put on a remarkable performance of defense and shooting during the three-day tournament. Overall, however, the girls truly played as a team, getting strong contributions from Anabel Wahlers, Nicole Pick, Karson Pape, Jules Healey and Caroline Sheehey and their winning of the Becky Dowski Sportsmanship Award was a proud moment. In the final game of the tournament - as they had been doing all season - each and every one of the girls on the team contributed, and Emilia Goldman, Alana Aksoy, and Nora Sandman illustrated the important roles they play on the team. We could not, however, talk about the ISSTs without the contributions from our only 12th grader, Danielle Iwata, who not only designed this year’s fashionable tournament t-shirt, but coolly entered the final game by swishing a long jump shot, playing solid defense, and then skillfully lobbing a perfect pass from the sidelines to a teammate streaking towards the basket for an easy shot. Such teamwork was exemplified by Danielle in the tournament and our ASP Running Rebels impressed many in the basketball community. Be sure to look for them in next year’s tournament!

“Our Lady Rebels delivered one of the most remarkable athletic performances I have ever witnessed at the Upper School level. In a phrase, they were inspired. Their competition was ACS Athens and their opponents stood on the average 5-10 cm taller. Our young women were scrappy, confident, courageous and even a bit hell-bent against ACS who had beaten another strong team the night before by 101-25. Our girls gave it all on both ends of the court. And the essential observation is they played as a team. I saw these young people reach down deep, and as Joseph Campbell (The Hero’s Journey) says, they found their still point, where they were playing better than they thought possible– and they lived the game strategy given them by Coach Kim. Only one point separated the two teams with only 3:30 left to play. The game ended with ACS winning– but in my way of thinking, our team prevailed.” - Mark Ulfers

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THE BOLLYWOOD GALA A MAGICAL EVENING TO BENEFIT THE ASP EXCELLENCE FUND!

n Saturday, March 19th, 290 members of the ASP community came together at the Bollywood Gala to celebrate the unique character of ASP and to support The Excellence Fund. Prior to the Gala, ASP’s successful three-week on-line silent auction generated more than 1000 bids, thanks to donations from parents, faculty and staff, businesses throughout Paris, and friends of the school. And this only warmed up the bidding for the silent and live auctions during the Gala… Strong school spirit and love for ASP generated more than 125,000 Euros that will directly benefit students! ASP parents led the way by bidding in support of excellence, and set the stage for a springtime of fundraising that will, we hope, bring us closer to our goal of 100% parent participation in The Excellence Fund. The Gala guests, made up of ASP parents, alumni, faculty, administration, trustees, and friends enjoyed an evening full of fun, glamour and glitz – a little bit of Bollywood in Paris! ASP parents United States Ambassador Charles Rivkin and his wife, Susan Tolson served as honorary cochairs and welcomed distinguished guests Indian Ambassador Ranjan Mathai and his wife, Jita who supported ASP’s effort at the gala to celebrate Indian culture at the American School of Paris.

The prestigious salon of Le Pré Catalan could easily have been mistaken for New Delhi or Mumbai. The cocktail room was a veritable explosion of color, from the sari-draped arch that framed the entranceway, to the life-sized (stuffed) Bengal tigers that perched regally above the proceedings. The evening began with a champagne reception sponsored by Moet et Chandon. Sari-clad women and tuxedoed men mingled with friends and enjoyed Indian delicacies in a convivial atmosphere alive with traditional Indian music. During the reception, guests bid on Silent Auction items ranging from works of art from ASP Middle and Lower School students to a stunning suede coat by designer Joseph Altuzarra, a supporter of ASP and son of former trustee, Karen Altuzarra. A troupe of lively, authentic Indian dancers kicked off the second half of the evening. Guests dined on fine cuisine, and amidst cheers, laughter and more than a few happy tears, viewed the world premiere of ASP’s Jai-Ho Video which showcased the dance moves of the entire ASP community. The exhilarating Live Auction was packed with fabulous items including a trip to Chablis with faculty member Hal Judis, and tennis lessons with famed pro, Mats Wilander. One of the highlights of the auction was the frantic bidding on the

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Dueling Chefs Dinner. This cookoff between Head of School Mark Ulfers and Director of Advancement Michael McNeill was so hotly contested that the Top Chef Wannabees generously offered to do the event twice, doubling the donation to ASP! Mark Ulfers summed up the spirit of the evening in his speech highlighting ASP’s legacy of providing our students with “uncommon opportunities” and raising global citizens. The Gala was an enormous success and was the culmination of a year-long effort on the part of the Bollywood Committee and ASP’s Advancement Office. The Bollywood Gala was made possible by the support of the Gala Sponsors: Moet et Chandon, VFS Global, Ralph Lauren, BMW/Neubauer, A Good Start in France, Web Pizza, The Keane and Ben Ammar Families and The ASP Bollywood Co-Chairs. Special thanks go to Patron Tickets holders and the donors to the Live, Silent and Online Auctions. It was a spectacular event, pulsating with the vibrant colors and sounds of India; an evening to be remembered, full of the glamour and energy of Bollywood… with an ASP twist.

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AMERICAN SCHOOL OF PARIS APRIL 2011