Kzv Newsletter - February

Administration Speaks Issue # 6

Special Points of Interest: • WASC Accreditation: The Accrediting Commission will be visiting our school on March 9, 10 and 11 of this year… • Jean Piaget’s

Stages of Development: When parents or teachers push a child before the appropriate developmental level is reached..

KZV’S WASC ACCREDITATION SELF-STUDY By Siran Nahabedian WASC Coordinator Every three to six years, KZV Armenian School must renew its accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The process entails three main components, including: (1) the defining of Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRS); (2) Schoolwide interdisciplinary dialogue based on the collection and analysis of evidence, and (3) the development and

implementation of a schoolwide action plan. The Accrediting Commission will be visiting our school on March 9, 10 and 11 of this year and in preparation for that visit, we have compiled our data, completed our document and are working on a few finishing touches. The anchor of our selfstudy is called the “ESLRS” which define what each student should know,

Trends in Education Editorial Board Adina Haun, Editor and Trends in Education

JEAN PIAGET’S STAGES OF development of DEVELOPMENT cognitive children in the 1960’s. His By Adina Haun

Yeprem Mehranian, Administration Speaks Tutu Heinonen, News Around the School Garine Panossian, Armenian Corner Hasmik Mehranian, Layout/Publisher

Jean Piaget, a Swiss biologist and psychologist, developed breakthrough findings in the field of the

research insights have been of immeasurable benefit to parents and teachers—and ultimately all children—who interact with children. Prior to Piaget’s work, educators/parents could not readily explain how some children could grasp a simple (to adults) concept, while others would struggle. Children were incorrectly labeled as slow, difficult, or uninterested. Piaget

understand, and able to do upon exit from our school. ESLRS equip all students with the knowledge, competencies, and orientations needed for success. ESLRS also enable teachers to implement lesson plans/programs that maximize learning success for all students. KZV’s ESLRS have been posted in all classrooms and the office. They were also mailed to all parents at the end of our last school year. If you would like more information about the accreditation process, or have questions about our ESLRS, please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected].

demonstrated that the child’s ability to grasp certain ideas relates to his/her level of cognitive development, which naturally changes as the child matures. When parents or teachers push a child before the appropriate developmental level is reached, the result will most likely be frustration for both the child and the adults. The consequences of inappropriate expectations can have lifelong repercussions for the individual. Cont. on page 8

KZV Armenian School, SF, CA © 2008

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February

News from Around the School:

KZV Open House We are inviting you to the KZV Open House, which will take place on Thursday, March 26th. Please join us to • Learn about our strong academics, experienced faculty and staff; • Meet our community of parents, staff and students; • Tour Northern California’s ONLY ArmenianAmerican Day School. Parents will be invited to spend the day on campus to learn about our school, talk to our teachers, and have lunch with our students. See you then!

6th Grade Yosemite Trip By Tutu Heinonen Clear blue skies, several feet of glittering white snow blanketing everything in view, and three thousand feet high, majestic looking, peaks jutting up all around us. We are in Yosemite Valley, Camp Curry to be exact. It has been snowing for days and we have arrived in a winter wonderland! The students are excited to finally be able to touch, taste, and play in the snow. The sixth grade trip to Yosemite could not have begun any better. We had been looking forward to the Yosemite trip all year long, listening attentively to this year’s seventh graders telling us about their Yosemite trip experiences from last year, planning, asking hundred’s of questions, projecting and dreaming. Weeks before the trip we began to check the weather up there regularly and shopping for appropriate clothing and gear. As a teacher I received many questions about bears from worried students

and tried to answer them accordingly. The biggest question though was the one about the Spider Caves. Spider Caves had taken on an almost mystical realm after talking to the seventh graders, and would become one of the definite high lights of the trip. After about seven hours in the car we arrived at Camp Curry around five o’clock in the afternoon and were delightedly surprised to know that we were one of the few lucky ones to be given real, wood, cabins to sleep in. This meant that we did not have to worry about having food and other odorous objects in our cabins and did not have to put them away into bear lockers. The children were very relieved. After settling into our warm and cozy new homes and changing into weather appropriate clothing, it was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit outside, we went to dinner. Lunch and dinner every day were served in the Camp Curry dining hall with

other schools attending the same Yosemite Institute program as we. We found out that the eight grade of one of our neighboring schools, Brandeis Hillel, was also at Camp Curry, with a slightly larger group of about 64 students. After dinner it was time to attend an evening program on bats. We learned many new facts about bats and our previous misconceptions about these important and quite cute little creatures were put to sleep. Speaking of sleep, after the evening program we were all very tired and retired into our comfy lairs for a good nights rest. Cont. on next page

Yosemite National Park

February

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News from Around the School: School: continued 6th Grade Yosemite Trip The next day we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We met our very own Yosemite Institute instructor Naomi and after introductions we were all given parts of the day’s lunch to carry. On the program was a long hike, about five miles, and because of the newly fallen snow we had to break trail, which meant that we made the path by tromping down the snow. This was hard work for the people up front and naturally much easier for the ones at the back of the line. Therefore, we took turns being in the front and high fived the person for a job well done when they tired. During the hike we entertained ourselves with riddles and songs and learned about the surrounding ecology. Lunch was eaten in a circle of tromped down snow and food items were passed around in a democratic manner. At the end of the hiking day we stopped at a river bank called The Beach where we wrote in our journals reflecting upon our day spent in nature. After journaling the students had some well deserved time for snow ball fights and building a snow man. After dinner we attended the renowned bear lecture by Ranger Dave. Day three of our trip was the most exciting day. It was the Spider Caves day. After breakfast we hiked up to Yosemite Falls where we had lunch and after eating we headed to Spider Caves. On our way to Yosemite Falls we had stopped in preparation for the cave. We did the human knot and worked on untangling it practicing our co-operation and communications skills, skills that are

6th Grade After Exiting Spider Caves

6th Grade in Yosemite

essential when in the Spider Caves. We had to rely on the communication skills of the person in front of us in the dark cave and pass on the instructions to the person behind us. Because of the pitch black and very tight conditions of the cave Naomi decided to light a couple of tea candles in order to calm some of the students’ minds. When we all got to the center cavern we sat in a circle sharing our experience and what this first time spelunking had taught us all. We were all very proud of ourselves for getting through the Spider Caves and some of the students wanted to do it again. After the Spider Caves we all went ice skating in a beautiful rink surrounded by the magnificent mountain peaks of Yosemite Valley. And after dinner it was time for the closing activity held in a yurt. We sat in a circle the only source of light coming from a couple of tea candles and played an altered version of the game “Celebrity”, concentrating on people and places we had met and seen during our days in the Yosemite Valley, which the kids loved (note to self: Use this game in the classroom based on a currently studied unit). In closing Naomi read us a beautiful children’s book about hope and dreams and the appreciation of the natural world surrounding us. The last day had arrived too soon. Our final activity took us to the Nature Center a 15 minute walk from our cabins. We had the place all to our selves guided by Naomi and her never ending knowledge about the nature and animals of Yosemite Valley. The students were very taken by the center and did not want to leave when the time came. We were all very sad to leave Yosemite and thought that the time spent in this amazing valley was too brief. The experience we had we will carry with us forever and the lessons learned we will remember in everyday life and coming together as a group, a much more tighter group, has made us all better human beings.

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February

News from Around the School: School: continued 8th Grade Washington DC Trip On January 17th 2009, our 8th grade class embarked upon an unprecedented journey to Washington DC to witness the historic inauguration of our nation’s first African-American President. Our students were busy during the 2008 General Election, deconstructing the messages presented by each candidate in speeches made to the public. While our 8th graders may not have been able to vote in this election, they were personally invested in the process and educated on local issues on California’s statewide ballot. The 8th grader’s education of the American electoral process, the cornerstone of our democracy, ended with their culminating trip to Washington DC. They were not only witnesses to history, but privileged to take part in it! The following are excerpts from reflections written by our students: “As an Armenian, I understand the possible challenges one would face coming from a different culture, so this inspires me to achieve my goals in life…Hopefully he has and will continue to inspire others like he has inspired me.” - Laleh Tchaparian

“As I walked at 3am, in the freezing cold, I looked around. There were all types of people: Asian, Mexican, African-Americans. All of us were walking side by side. Years back people that were a different race from “whites” were not even allowed to walk side by side. I stood there in the 2 ½ million person crowd experiencing a historical moment; when all men truly became equal” - Rosie Aristakessian

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“Barack Obama showed everyone that even though you are the African-American 1st generation son of an immigrant, you can still accomplish any dream you want. He shows people that it doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is and all that matters is that you have the will to become someone in your life” Garin Derounian

February

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“Obama is what the peaceful protests of Martin Luther King Jr. have produced…It’s a shame that all those who fought for equal rights cannot see what has happened. As the first black President, he will open the minds of many to truly accepting equality… Now that Obama has been elected President the world will see a brighter day.” – Garen Kantarci

“Barack Obama didn’t succeed by opening his wallet. He had to use his brain to accomplish all that he has achieved. It wasn’t easy for him; not all doors were open. He had to get through it with hard work and dedication. I think this part of his past represents many living in this country. Just as many of our parents came to America with nothing, so did his. His success awakens people around this country, showing us all that everything is possible. You can be anything you want, from doctor, lawyer and now President. All it takes is hard work and dedication. The color of your skin or the religion you believe in will never interfere with where you can get in this life; not in this country” Raisa Galustian

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February

News from Around the School: School: continued Krouzian Zekarian Vasbouragan Armenian School Middle School Mrs. Kostanian First Place: Julie Avetisyan 7th Grade Second Place: Lori Zadoorian 6th Grade Third Place: Sevan Nahabedian 7th Grade Fourth Place: Krikor Andonian 7th Grade Honorable Mention: Sixth Grade Marina Kananova Seventh Grade Tamar Deirmendjian Eighth Grade Raisa Galustyan, Garen Kantarci

Congratulations 6th, 7th and 8th grade students for your commendable efforts in this year’s Science Fair. All the teachers, students, parents and guests enjoyed seeing your projects and talking with you on Science Fair night. I had some excellent comments on how well our students presented their projects. You should all consider yourselves winners! A very special thank you goes to all our judges for taking the time from their work and families to do a job that can be difficult. Also, a special thank you to our parents for their enthusiasm and support.

The KZV educational community would like to thank Ms. Nahabedian, KZV WASC Coordinator, and Mr. Orr, KZV 5th grade teacher, for the painstaking work and the sustained diligence with which they have prepared the necessary documents and fine tuned the needed procedures for our school’s WASC 2009 re-accreditation process. Respectfully, KZV Administration

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February

Alumni News: News: continued Taleen Bilemdjian time there than at home. I cannot find many words to describe my experience I attended KZV for there, except that I feel lucky to have eleven years, from had the opportunity to make such pre-k until 8th grade, longlasting friendships and memories. the class of 2004. From my first day of school at three years After graduating, I continued my old to my last day at fourteen, KZV was education at Mercy High School home away from home. My classmates Burlingame. I loved it more than I ever were my sisters and brothers and my thought I would and would recommend teachers were my second parents. On my it to all females graduating from KZV. I first day of school, I walked confidently graduated in 2008 and moved on to into the Pre-K classroom and got a kiss Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. It is right on the lips. What a welcome! At now my second semester at St Mary’s. I KZV I made lifelong friendships and am working hard in the nursing program precious memories. Some of my favorite and I also work in the residence life moments during my years at KZV include office at St Mary’s. When I am not at our Yosemite and Washington trips. Both school I enjoy spending time with my trips were my first weeks away from niece and watching my favorite shows home. Although we made memories every with my family. What can I say! Nursing day, the class trips allowed us even students do not have much time for greater opportunities to bond. When we hobbies! came back from Yosemite I remember feeling closer to my friends than ever My experience in Ms. Haun’s Second before. For the first eleven years of my Grade class was incredible. I went there life, KZV was all I knew. I spent more to help them learn but I found myself

Trends in Education continued: Below, in summary, are Piaget’s stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 years This stage is governed by sensations. Reflex activity evolves from simple repetitive behavior to imitative behavior. Problem solving is through trial and error mainly, with the child eventually developing a sense of “cause and effect” (when I turn the cup over, the water falls out.) Children exhibit tremendous curiosity, loving new experiences. They begin to see themselves as different from their environment; understanding that an object continues to exist even when out of sight. Use of language and representational thought begin at the end of this period. Preoperational Stage: 2-7 Years Children at this stage are egocentric, seeing the world from their own

learning from them also. They are all wonderful children, each with their own unique qualities that I noticed right away. Their enthusiasm to learn made me even more enthusiastic to teach them. In my one month with the students, I already watched many of them flourish in their reading and handwriting. I am confident that they will grow up to be brilliant and helpful citizens. I absolutely look forward to volunteering at KZV in the future. As I mentioned before, I plan on being an RN in a children's hospital or in a pediatric unit. I want to focus primarily on working with terminally ill children. Although my ECE class did not motivate me to teach in a classroom, it brought new ideas into my plans for the future. I want to use my experience in early childhood education to offer terminally ill children the opportunity to learn. Although they can not sit in a classroom to learn, I want to give them the opportunity to learn about any topic they may have never thought they would be able to learn about.

JEAN PIAGET’S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

perspective only and not seeing any reason to understand another’s point of view (this stage can last a very long time! Ed. note). Preoperational thinking is concrete and tangible, with little to no ability to make deductions or generalizations. Thinking relates primarily to direct experience. There is a dramatic increase in the use of language to represent objects in the environment. They can begin to delve into problems of time, weight, length and size. Toward the end of this stage their reasoning is increasingly intuitive (the sun wakes up when I do), and transductive, that is because two events occur together they cause each other. Concrete Operations Stage: 7-11 Years At this stage thinking is more logical and coherent, as children are able to classify, sort, order, and organize facts and

objects. They understand conservation—for example, the same amount of water is in an 8oz. cup as in an 8 oz. bowl. Thinking is not abstract, as problems are solved in a concrete, systematic way. Reasoning is mainly inductive, or generalizations form from a set of facts. During this stage, children become less selfcentered as they develop a greater capacity for empathy for the viewpoints of others. Formal Operations Stage: 11-15 Years The key words for this stage are adaptability and flexibility, as children utilize abstract thinking and symbols. They are able to do logical problem solving, making hypotheses and testing them. They can imagine the viewpoints of others, while considering what might be as well as what is. (Hockenberry—2005)

February

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Trends in Education: Comments on Development and Learning By Dr. Yeprem Mehranian Adina Haun’s introductory article on Piaget calls for some general commentary on theories of learning. Much has been said about how children and adolescents learn and therefore need to be taught. Teachers, parents, administrators, and educational experts continue to remain at gridlocks when it comes to agreeing on the provision of effective and meaningful educational experiences to learners. The disagreements are pervasive, to the point where even such terms as effectiveness and meaningfulness, as I have used them in the above, could be construed to mean different things, the first, a measure of an end result, and the second, a process. It is important that we seek to clarify some of this confusion. As we do, we will be able to better understand why and what it is teachers try to do in their classrooms, and accordingly, to help our children by following up on this work at home. Unfortunately, the attempt to label children as slow or fast learners, bright or average, and as uninterested or curious, as mentioned by Ms. Haun, prevails. This is a sign that considerable segments of the mainstream educational culture continue to remain oblivious to the groundbreaking work done by such theoreticians and educators as Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky in challenging quantified conceptualizations of how development and learning occur. The sustained

rise in the importance of standardized testing, as the prime measure of what children know or have learned, is directly responsible for much of this type of labeling. The temptation to cater to standardized testing ideology pushes educators toward excessive reliance on teaching methods that favor drill and practice approaches, rote memorization, and repetition of teacher provided correct responses. The classrooms that are run by the proponents of these methods, classified by some under the rubric of didactic approach, privilege the academics over experiential learning and play. Interestingly, the implementation of didactic methodologies—characterized as they are by teacher-directed concepts of curriculum—in early childhood education settings where they are disguised as play further complicates the conundrum of what it means to learn and to teach. Furthermore, the didactic approach requires pat answers because performing successfully in standardized tests requires it. Standardized tests tend not only to overemphasize the educational significance of measuring quantifiable student skills, but are also prone, albeit implicitly, to reduce various aspects of the developmental process, cognitive, affective, and moral to a single measurable quantity. Standardized testing itself is supported by what is generally known as the behaviorist theory of learning, advanced,

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

among others, by B.F. Skinner. Behaviorism looks at development and learning as determined by outside factors, in this case by measured doses of teacher-induced stimuli and student-produced response. This is a very different conception from the one proposed by Piaget in which psychological and social development are seen as internal factors that evolve in direct response to the relationships growing children are able to establish with their own life experiences. Not all of Piaget’s concepts of learning have been lost to the educational mainstream, however. The two ideas of child-centered education and developmentally appropriate teaching and learning are good examples of how some of these concepts have found their way into the everyday vocabulary and practices of teachers and parents. Both ideas attest to how knowledge is not externally deduced by children, but instead, and in simultaneity with the process of its own acquisition, constructed by them. Cont. on next page

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Trends in Education: continued Comments on Development and Learning We are called to give

of events moves as credencePage to Piaget’sStory theory Back Headline follows. In the upper left of age appropriate learning when observing the ways in which a four year old boy tackles a drill and practice worksheet assignment. While each of the four quarters of this worksheet offers him a different opportunity to count up to six—the target number—our imagination is triggered to learn about the marvelously unpredictable series of actions with which he transgresses the intended objectives of the assignment. The sequence

quarter of the worksheet the child adds two circles to the image of six buttons—arranged in two columns of threes—one to each column. Next, moving clockwise, inside the upper right quarter, the child gets the “right” answer mainly by virtue of being able to follow his teacher’s instructions. With the next two quarters, however, as the teacher looks away, in each instance he adds, as

News from Around the School: School: continued Pre-K News fourth birthday and thanks to her Knarik Shahijanian, Pre-K Director

Hello, parents! February proved to be one of our best months yet! First, we’d like to welcome a new student to our class, Aram Kilijian. Welcome, Aram! Aram is joining us in Yellow group. If you’re keeping count, that makes six of us in Yellow Group! We started the month out right with, what else? A Pajama Party! We each got to wear our pajamas and bring to school our favorite stuffed animal. Nap time was extra nice on this day! This month brought three wonderful birthdays. We first celebrated Alysa Bezdjian’s fifth birthday and got to play musical chairs! Next came Taline Balian’s

parents, we now have a new CD player! It was also Michael Kazaryants’s fourth birthday and we had a great day! Happy birthday to all of you! And, of course, we celebrated Valentine’s Day! It was so much fun to exchange goody bags that we made for one another. Our room mothers surprised us with Valentine’s Day balloons and we danced a freeze dance while holding our balloons! February also brings us the celebration of “Vartanantz”. The Blue and Red groups sang songs and recited poems in honor of St. Vartan. A few weeks ago, we had a surprise inspection from the State of California, Health and Human Services Agency. We are happy to report that Mr. Tony Ng, the licensing evaluator, was very

he changes his arrangements, six more circles, instead of the three necessary, to reach the desired total. Finally, to top it all off, when his teacher pauses on the lower left quarter and asks him in confidence to identify the number six, he inadvertently responds by uttering the word nine! (Parts of this article have been based on an article titled Developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten: factors shaping teacher beliefs and practice. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Parker, Audra; Neuharth-Pritchett, Stacy, September 22, 2006)

impressed with our Pre-K. This month, we have been focusing on math and science. In our study of conceptual physics, we have been learning about buoyancy and what sorts of things float or sink. We have also been working on understanding colors – the mixing of, addition, and subtraction. We call it our “color lab” and it is as much fun as it sounds! And, finally, on the very last school day in February, Dr. Edward Siyahian, DDS., came to talk to us about oral hygiene and about a dentist’s job. We each received our very own toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste. We loved our visit – thank you Dr. Siyahian! For such a short month, we sure packed in a lot of activities and lessons. Though it will be very difficult to do, we hope to make March even better!

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Armenian Corner:

February

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Armenian Corner: continued

February

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Alumni News: continued Renia Boudaghian KZV Armenian School

825 Brotherhood Way San Francisco, CA 94132 PHONE: (415) 586-8686 FAX: (415) 586-8686 E-MAIL: [email protected]

We’re on the Web! See us at: www.kzv.org

When I was a student, the Teachers’ Lounge was a mystery; what was so intriguing that they would always be in there, what did they talk about, what was in the fridge? Those questions are no longer a mystery for me, for I have stepped into the realm of the Teachers’ Lounge. Never would I have thought, after graduating in 2000, that I’d be back to substitute teach. To make things more ironic, I was stepping in for a teacher who taught me over 15 years ago, Mrs. Nahabedian. I would be stepping in to take over her 4th graders, and have the pleasure of teaching the Kindergarten class English language. Having taken over Mrs.

Nahabedian’s classes for two weeks, it does not surprise me that our teachers had to get away, even for just 5 minutes. Teaching is no joke. I want to say I’ve always respected my teachers, not for what they do per se, but for simply being older, an authoritative figure. I hadn’t even begun my second week and I was telling Mrs. Panossian that I plan to pay my kids’ teachers double their salary. Needless to say, I think I learned more from my students than they learned from me. I learned that I’m not cut out to be a teacher, temporarily, most definitely, but to be able to boast a 10, 20, 28 year career teaching at K.Z.V., no way Jose. The teachers we have at this school are different, special, crazy almost. There are no incentives, there are no tenures, there are no 401Ks. What’s left is a group of dedicated educators who strive to get the material across and engrained in our minds. I always joke and say that I need to be having kids now to populate the school, but realistically, all I can do for now is be ready to substitute for the next 6 months until I begin my journey of becoming an attorney.

Editorial Board Notes: The KZV Newsletter editorial board received a lengthy and constructive letter from one of our parents, Ms. Alayan. We deeply appreciate her comments and suggestions, and have incorporated some of her excellent ideas in this month’s edition and will continue to explore others in the coming months. We welcome all letters from interested parties in our KZV community. Update: the University of California recently announced that the institution will no longer require SAT tests in subject areas as part of the application process as they were poor predictors of academic success. This trend on the part of other esteemed colleges and universities was the focus of the article in the September newsletter.