Ms. Nancy Online

Our next performance at Cerritos, Tuesday, January 29th at 11:30 is a 45 minute opera based on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Aimed at grades 3-6, students will be transported to colonial America where our wily hero, Figaro, with his band of sneaky barbers and mercenaries, leads us on a delightful musical goose-chase. Ultimately, he outsmarts his adversary and love triumphs as his friend, the Count, wins the hand of his beloved.

The program, produced by the LA Opera, features seven professional opera singers and an orchestra of four. This company, which performed The Prospector for the last two years at Cerritos, has been a Julian favorite and has brought the sophisticated art form of opera to a level children can appreciate. While drawing together the elements of narrative, visual, and musical to tell a dramatic story, themes such as perseverance, class struggle, trickery and women’s rights are discussed. Students attending the performance will be given support documents and assignments.

This year there is something new at Julian for parents: Professional Learning Community Forums! I think I talked to you about these at our monthly meetings, but if not, they are meetings grouped around specific topics in our school. They occur every five weeks in Murrieta at the meeting center (and sometimes in San Diego). While this is our staff meeting and the room is filled with EF’s, we are aware that parents are doing the bulk of the teaching and need support. For that reason, the 1:10–2:00 time frame has been opened to you. Sessions have included: educational technology, student motivation, personalized education, an art project a day, keys to success for math, direct instruction for struggling readers. The leadership team at Julian is interested in your reflections on these sessions and is conducting a survey to get your views. You can find it on the school web site. In what areas do you need help? This is your chance to have a voice. Speak up!

“If your vision is for one year, plant rice; if your vision is for 10 years, plant trees; but if your vision is for 100 years, educate children.”
-Chinese Proverb

Aren’t you happy you are doing so much more than planting rice? Yesterday I talked to a mother who is weary. Her child has definite handicaps emotionally which influence his ability to learn…at least in the traditional way. For years now she has worked with him daily, following his interests, giving him materials above or below grade level, and constantly reviewing, reviewing, reviewing. She wants to see more fruit from her labor. And yet, as we talked, all I could see was the remarkable salvation of this kid! In a traditional school in a special ed classroom there is no way he could have had this personalized, custom-fit education, tailored to his needs and interests. There is no greater sacrifice than this, that a parent would invest time, salary and emotional energy into a child’s future. You are all doing such a fine job and I trust you will be given the strength to finish the race!