Upattinas and WHYY

A variety of students, staff, parents, and alumni will be answering phones today from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. during WHYY's pledge drive. Tune in to 90.9, listen, and pledge!

Conference week, aka EVALUATIONS!

Last week was conference week at Upattinas, which meant writing evaluations  for high school students.  Families meet twice a year with teachers and advisors to review the previous semester and plan for future work. High school students write an evaluation for each of their classes, outlining their course of study, books and materials, projects, and field trips for each. Teachers add their comments and assign credit along with their signatures, and the evaluations are reviewed as part of the family conference. 

The computer room is a flurry of activity during the week leading up to conferences. Students are encouraged to make duplicate copies and to save their evals electronically but there will still be a:
lost, 
found, 
misplaced, 
abandoned,
deleted, 
tossed,
unfinished,
unsigned, 
unfiled, 
undated, 
or
unnamed
evaluation or two,  which can be tragic or just mildly annoying, depending.

In the end, students enjoy seeing the file grow thicker with each passing year as a collection of writing accumulates to represent years of high school work. It's a valuable process we should all participate in periodically, taking the time to review what we've done, and plan next steps.

Conference week is over and "writing evals" is off the table...for a few more months!

Our Longwood Tree

Here is a picture of the outdoor Wildlife Christmas Tree decorated with ornaments our students made. Beautiful!

Be on the lookout....

for the next Community Courier, where you might recognize some front page faces!

The Community Courier is helping us publicize the Solstice Fair with a front page article and picture of some of students showing off handcrafted wares. I'm going to try to nab some preview pictures of my favorite items before the show...

Walt Strauss!

Upattinas Music Series

proudly presents:

An Evening with

Singer/Songwriter

Walter Strauss

www.walterstrauss.com

Upattinas Alumnus 1980

Live in Concert @ Upattinas School

Saturday, November 14, 2009

7:00 p.m. $10 admission

Please join us for a special evening with highly acclaimed musician, Walter Strauss.

Over the last five years, Walter has engaged in unique crosscultural collaborations, touring periodically in a duo with Malian kora virtuoso and 2005 Grammy nominee Mamadou Diabate, and in a duo with Malian kamal'ngoni (hunter's harp) master Mamadou Sidibe. Indeed, Maverick Magazine (UK) credits Walter's music with "an enormous sonic and musical and ethnic palette... world music on guitar." Of late, Walter has been performing solo and with The Walter Strauss Trio – with bassist Sam Bevan (David Grisman, Joe Craven) and drummer/percussionist Kendrick Freeman (Alison Brown, Rob Ickes).

Walter is a graduate of Upattinas School and fresh off a tour of the U.K. and Ireland.

Check out his website www.walterstrauss.com for music, photos, personal background,

and tour dates.
Please invite friends and family to this unique musical event!
All are welcome!

NEWSFLASH!

At this moment, a handful of Upattinians are manning the phones during WHYY's pledge drive! Tune in to 90.9 and pledge!

Checking in....

Yes, it is October and school certainly started more than a month ago! Apologies for the lack of pictures and updates, but we're gathering steam to streamline photo transfers and updates on a regular schedule. Stay tuned!