Weekof Ote2O0 l4NS

Week of October 23, 2000 Vol. 4, No. 8

LETTER FROM MISSION HILL REMINDERS On Difference and Disability * Thursday, October 26: Dear Families, Students, Staff, and Friends, Music students to Sym- phony, leaving school at 10:50. When is being "different" the same as being "disabled"? The two often get confused with each other. * Saturday, October 28: Some City Year Servathon day; to differences require extra ef- If special educational services were volunteer for work at Mission Hill fort to cope with the world. Like being producing great successes, I wouldn't School, call Helen at 541-3899. left-handed. In itself it's not a defect. worry a lot about this odd statistic. The But a world organized around right- idea seems good: diagnose problems * Friday, November 10: handedness makes some things hard for early and then do things to "fix" the dis- NO SCHOOL-Veterans Day. left-handed people. ability. But in fact very few of the kids * Tuesday, November 14: On the other hand, being different who go into special education classes West House family night. often turns out to be an asset, a special get fixed-or even complete high * Tuesday, November 21: talent, not a problem. Even apparent dis- school. So lots of folks are exploring East House family night. abilities can become strengths. I have a other approaches to dealing with differ- spatial orientation disability (I just in- ences. * Wednesday, Nov. 22: vented that term). It makes getting Our approach is to start off look- Early release day. around Boston a nightmare, but it has ing at every kid as both special and dif- * Thurs.-Fri., Nov. 23-24: led me to become a map expert. What ferent-a la Howard Gardner, Pat Thanksgiving vacation. began as a measure of desperation has Carini, and many others. That no two Correction: The school calendar become a strength. Another disability mistakenly listed October 30 as a is that I can't carry a tune. It doesn't Our approach is to startoff holiday. There is school that day. stop me from loving music, or playing the piano, but it can be embarrassing. looking at every kid as Food as Work and Art And so far I can't think of anything both special and different. Alicia's class has been exploring the good to say about it. world of work by thinking about people who Fortunately, these differences kids are quite the same is good news. work with food. They visited Mississippi's didn't affect my school success. That's As family and school get to know each restaurant down the street, got a fascinating just luck. If I had grown up as a Native other, we hope we can collaboratively tour of the business, and interviewed the American, or in a seafaring culture, my devise strategies that take each child's chefs, servers, and cashiers who work there. spatial confusion would have made me uniqueness into account, including Now they're building a scale model of the someone best left at home. And if I had those differences that are tipldnglife restaurant out of blocks. wanted badly enough to be a musician, hard for the child. In m0t'cases this Outside the classroom is an excellent I'd have had to work at it much harder happens naturally. But in some cases we display of "food art," fashioned from clay. than other people just to keep up. need to stop and think it over together, Among the more intriguing items are It's now common to talk about because our regular practices aren't be- Taquasha Wiggins's magenta and blue ham- many kids who learn to read and write ing helpful. That's when we need more burger; Jazz Kiang's arrangement of "ice differently, or later than other kids, as expertise, more viewpoints, a closer cream, sherbet, cookie, pumpkin, carrot, and "learning disabled" and in need of"spe- look. double-sided lollipop"; Myles Handy's big cial education." In Boston, more than We can't "fix" disabilities or dif- sandwich, hot dog, chicken and rice, and one-fourth of all kids are labeled this ferences, but we can make them less of blueberry pie; and Corin Harkness's "per- way. It's almost typical to be atypical. a handicap, and sometimes turn them son eating a snail." -Ed Miller Can that be? into an advantage. -

The Mission Hill School is a pilot school of the Thomas Payzant, Superintendent 67 Alleghany Street Deborah Meier, Principal Roxbury, MA 02120 Brian Straughter, Assistant Principal Main Office: 617.635.6384 Mission Hill School News October 23, 2000 Mission Hill School News October 23, 2000 HOT TOPICS SCI Internship Assignments Serve Yourself and Others News from Eighteen Mission Hill 7th- and 8th- Alphonse's class will be holding The graders are participating in the School- bake sales on the next two Friday morn- Hallwat to-Community Initiative (SCI) this fall. ings, October 27 and November 3, after Every Wednesday these students spend assembly, to raise money for the upcom- DID YOU KNOW that the wheel halfa day working as interns at local busi- ing class trip to Lowell. Last Friday's as- was invented for making clay nesses and community agencies, learning sembly included a presentation by our pots-not for transportation? What a about the real world of work, commerce, City Year staff on Saturday's Servathon. brainstorm it must have been for the first and public service. It's a citywide effort at neighborhood person to think of turning the wheel on The current SCI students and their improvement. If you want to volunteer to its side and rolling it. assignments are as follows: help clean up and fix up the school build- The railroad track on the floor in the Leilani McCallie and Judith Reyes ing and grounds on Saturday, call Helen main hallway is a timeline of inventions. are working at Mariner Health Care on Fouhey at 541-3899. It starts at the east end, by the boys' bath- Parker Hill Avenue. Music Students Reminder room, at about 3500 B.C. That's when Rebeca Boria and Kibret Ramsey are Parents of the instrumental music stu- written language was invented by the with the Parker Hill/Fenway office of dents who are signed up to attend this ancient Sumerians. The first wheels, we Action for Boston Community Develop- Thursday's Boston Symphony concert are think, were potters' wheels invented in ment. reminded to send signed permission slips China about 3000 B.C. (outside Alicia's C.J. Haymon and Davide Poles are and payment in to school. The group will classroom). working at Keith's Place, a family-style leave school at about 10:50; kids need to By the time you get to the art room restaurant in the Grove Hall neighbor- bring lunch with them. it's 800-1000 B.C., when papyrus (or hood of Roxbury. (Keith's Place is run paper) was invented in Egypt. In front by Cheryl Straughter, the sister ofAssis- Woodworking etc. for Kids of Geralyn's room is the industrial revo- tant Principal Brian Straughter.) The Eliot School of Fine and Applied lution and a whole collection of modern Victor Pultinas and Ian Berkeley are Arts in offers children's inventions, including the locomotive at the American Red Cross on Columbus classes in woodworking, sewing, sculp- (1829) and the light bulb (1879). Avenue. ture, drawing, and painting at reasonable Each class has voted on four or five Nefta Ramsey and Latalia Williams prices. Register now for winter term inventions they think are the most im- are interning at WILD radio (AM 1090). classes, which meet for 11 weeks start- portant. One of the winners in Geralyn's Marika Blue, Vaper Brown, Jeff ing in early January. class was the flush toilet, originally in- Handy, and Janina Ordonez are at City Woodworking meets Tuesday after- vented by the godson of Queen Eliza- Fresh Foods, a catering company in noons 3:30 to 5:15 or Saturday mornings beth in 1589, though the hoi polloi didn't Dorchester. 9 to 11. The class teaches proper and safe get it until 200 years later. Nick Ruggiero is working at the use of hand and some power tools, con- Did you kAow that the first televi- Harvard School of Public Health. struction techniques, and an appreciation sion, in 1925, was a contraption made Akwasi Agyemang is with the for wood and its special qualities. of bicycle headlights, darning needles, Whittier Street Health Center on Tremont The sewing class, open to all levels, wood, and string,)ike a Rube Goldberg Street. meets Saturday mornings 9 to 11. Sculp- invention? Did you know that tattoos are Chris Neely-Furtado and Ariel ture meets Tuesday afternoons; drawing as old as the yramids? Davalos-O'Connor are working at the and painting class meets Fridays at 3:30. There's room on the timeline, down Society for the Prevention The Eliot School also offers a wide by the girls' bathroom, for future inven- of Cruelty to Animals. variety of classes and workshops for tions. Any ideas? -Joyce Stevens adults, including one on making books New Books to Look For with kids, to be held on Monday, Febru- The End of Homework, by Etta ary 7. For more information, call the Published every Monday during the school Kralovec and John Buell, argues that school at 524-3313. year for the parents, students, staff, and homework is not good for children's edu- friends of the Mission Hill School, 67 cation. The Case Against Standardized "The more worthwhile the educational Alleghany St., Roxbury, Mass. 02120. Testing, by Alfie Kohn, is a short book aim, the less that's known about how to Principal: Deborah Meier (just 94 pages) that makes a compelling measure progress toward it. Albert Coordinator: Helen Fouhey, 541-3899 case that the increasing focus on testing Einstein put it this way: 'Not everything Editor: Ed Miller, 492-5684 is hurting schools. Both books are con- that can be counted counts, and not ev- Copy Deadline: All news items and other troversial and worth reading. We'll get a erything that counts can be counted.' " submissions should be typed or neatly few copies of each to have available in -Marion Brady, writing in the printed, signed, and put in Ed Miller's box in the main office by 12 noon Wednesday. the office for families to borrow. Orlando Sentinel