December 15, 2022
from Ann Jurewicz, Lower School director
I can hardly believe we have reached the end of this calendar year as we prepare for a nice long break to enjoy friends and family. This time of year is perfect for pausing, reflecting, and counting our blessings. I feel blessed to have been embraced by the MPA family, and I look every day to how I can show my appreciation for faculty and share important moments with students. I draw guidance for my practice from Elena Aguilar’s book Onward, which focuses on educator resilience and how we bring joy and meaning to our professional lives by caring for ourselves and the children we teach. The month of December is all about celebrating the bright spots, as this is the season of lights from Hanukkah to Christmas, Divali to Kwanzaa, and more. These festivities call on us to reflect and bring spirit and joy into our lives.
The question is: How are you bringing light into your life?
Last week, I was riding in the car on the way to the gym and listening to public radio. They were telling a story of how Irving Berlin called a doctor to his house because he was having trouble sleeping due to stress. From that encounter, Irving Berlin wrote the song, “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” for the famous show White Christmas. He recounts:
As I say in the lyrics, sometime ago, after the worst kind of a sleepless night, my doctor came to see me and after a lot of self-pity, belly-aching and complaining about my insomnia, he [the doctor] looked at me and said “speaking of doing something about your insomnia, did you ever try counting your blessings?”
Start of the New Year
When we resume in January, we will be launching our winter testing window for Fastbridge. The intent is to measure student progress to this point and adjust instruction to achieve the greatest learning potential in each individual child. The point of gathering this data is to move students toward mastery of grade-level goals. I look forward to setting up a Parent Chat in early February on mastery learning. The purpose of mastery learning is to reduce a focus on grades as a measure of student aptitude and, instead, find the areas for growth to target so that students can become their very best.
I am wishing you all the warmest and brightest of holidays in good cheer, love, and safety. Be well.
Warmly, Ann Jurewicz
Important Dates and Upcoming Events
- December 16: Non-uniform day to celebrate the holidays
- December 19-January 2: Winter Break, No Classes
- January 3: MPA Classes Resume, 8 AM
- January 11-27: Fastbridge Winter Testing
- January 16: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, No Classes
- January 17: Teacher Professional Development, No Classes
- January 25-27: Used Uniform Sale at MPA
- February 2, 3 and 9: LS/MS Conferences
- February 14: LS Valentine’s Day Party
- February 16: LS Trimester 2 Ends
- February 17: Teacher Professional Development, No Classes
- February 20: Presidents’ Day, No Classes
- February 21-24: SnoDaze Week
