School parent Jim Stuart (Mikayla and Savanah) suggested that, for a sabbatical, I go out and find some new teachers, which sounded like a great idea. So, I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past six months.

I took an open approach:  I had no agenda and no idea who those teachers would be. Strangely, in every single case, I did not know I had found a new teacher until they had been teaching me for a while and our correspondence was advancing.  So I didn’t seek out new teachers so much as they dawned on me.  Have you ever had that experience?  Perhaps teacher is a role that, in the truest sense, cannot be assigned.  It is a relationship—a noble one, I believe—that is developed once you are open to it.

I’ve loved rediscovering what it means to be a real teacher.  My teachers over these months have been an eclectic group, to be sure.  Here are some of them:

Deborah Meier (author, widely acknowledged as the founder of the small schools movement, former principal)

Roger White Eyes (Native American teacher)

Diane Ravitch (NYU research professor of education, best selling author, former US  Asst. Secretary of Education)

Doug Katz (Marketing and Leadership expert, author, Grauer School consultant)

Rick Hanson (author of Buddha’s Brain, neuroscientist)

Sean Hauze (Grauer School teacher who is patiently showing me how I will need to communicate in the future)

I have had deepening, extended, back and forth correspondence with all of these fascinating teachers, and quite a few others.  All of them have directly helped me advance my work and thinking about great education and what it means to be a teacher.  I am amazed that these gifted people were right there in my path, and I am forever grateful to them.  Who in life can we ever be more grateful for than a great teacher?

There were also some other, negative teachers—people I learned a lot from by virtue of my non-admiration or disagreement with their teachings–but I won’t name names.  There are also a great many people who could have been truly great teachers for me had I taken more time to pursue this.

Michelle Rhee is another good teacher, and I had beneficial correspondence with her team. (They invited me onto their task force.)  They also posted a website contest to find the best definition of teaching.  Here was my entry:  “Teaching is the study of the student.”

Being a student again was great—it was like flying.  And it made me see that my real teachers were not only those whose work and minds I admired but those whose interest in my mind and work was most genuine.  It’s mutual: teachers and students trade places all the time.  I am now convinced that a real teacher must be in equal part a student.  Just learning that one concept would be a great takeaway for a sabbatical, but I got far more out of it.  Ask  me!  In fact, at the bottom of this column, you can even blog with me.  Please do!

Over the past six months, the school parents, teachers, board and administration have supported this fertile time of regeneration for me with considerable sacrifice. Also, over the past six months I have come to see more clearly than ever how extraordinary our faculty is:  they have a level of caring and a level of listening to students I’ve never seen elsewhere—they are all teachers for me. I don’t even know how to start showing how deeply grateful I am for all of the above, but I am committed to trying.

I wish you all a beautiful second semester,

Dr. Stuart Grauer

Do you know any families that would be wonderful additions to our Grauer “family?”  If so, please invite them to our last Open House of the year on Sunday, January 8th from 10:30AM-2:00PM. Our Ambassadors will be giving tours approximately every 20-minutes.  We get our best referrals from our current families, so we look forward to meeting anyone you refer to our Open House.

Congratulations to our Shockwave Robotics Team ~ Going to Worlds!

We would like to congratulate Coach Morgan Brown and our Grauer Shockwave Robotics Team for qualifying for the World Championships at this weekend’s Los Angeles Regional Tournament.  There are only two ways to guarantee a spot in the World Championships: 1) Capture the 1^st Place at a Regional Championship and 2) Win the Inspire Award, the highest award the competition has to offer.  This year’s Shockwave team consisting of Alex Guy (’12), Cameron Shaddle (’12). Stephen Linam (’13), Keenan Jones (’13), Jacob Hertz (’14), Jacob Baizer (’15), and Craig Kimball (’16) won both awards on Saturday, a very rare accomplishment.

Each award only goes out to one team out of the entire tournament, which typically consists of 30-50 teams; LA had 38 teams alone.  Three special commendations we would like to share:

• Alex Guy: built the drive train, machined a ton of custom parts, and did the vast majority of all the programming. Alex has logged over 100 hours of work outside of class in the first three months of the season!
• Stephen Linam: Stephen was the lead builder and driver for the robot. He practice hours on end to become adept and master the sensitive controls needed to navigate around the field, pick and flip crates, collect racquet balls and score, and many other critical functions of the robot.
• Jacob Baizer: built from scratch a superior magnetic sensor than the “standard” one provided by the competition – making us the only team at the competition that could score the special “magnetic” balls because of his outstanding contribution.

A recent US Census report found that there are 49.1 million Americans living below the poverty level—that is 1 in 6 Americans!  As we give thanks for all that we have during this Holiday season, we are collecting food donations for the North County Food Bank to help others that are not as fortunate.  Starting Monday, November 14 and running through December 8, students may drop off non-perishable food items to the food bins located in the Great Hall.  Students will receive one community service hour for donating a minimum of 2 non-perishable items (a maximum of one hour of total service will be awarded).  Please pick up a Community Service Form from Jessi Young, Community Service Center Head, to earn credit for your service.  More importantly, thank you for helping others in our community.

Welcome back from your Thanksgiving holidays!  ‘Tis the season for middle school-wide activities.

• This Friday, 12/2, 6th – 8th graders will be participating in our campus component of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition.  While the initial part of the competition will be held on a grade by grade basis, the finalists from each grade will compete against each other towards the end of the school day.  For more details about this event,  ChristinaBurress@grauerschool.com.
• On 12/9, middle schoolers will engage in the spirit of giving while participating in a middle school service fair organized by Jessi Young (JessiYoung@grauerschool.com).  Participation will allow students to add to their year’s community service hours.
• Finally, on 12/16, students will be given the option to either compete in the National Geographic Bee or work on portfolio development and grade defense work.  This year’s campus bee is organized by Kate Napier (katenapier@grauerschool.com).

On a separate note, our “Learning By Discovery” continues in all of our classrooms.  Of special interest this week is the American Sign Language Class’ upcoming field trip to the Loving Hands Deaf Foster Home where they will be getting hands on involvement with the Deaf community and an opportunity to apply their growing linguistic skills.

Conner’s Cause for Children is a small, but important San Diego based non-profit organization founded over fifteen years ago in memory of Conner Champ, whose family was the first of thousands who have been helped by Conner’s Cause. Each year, Conner’s Cause for Children provides critical financial assistance to over 400 families struggling to cover the out of pocket costs of caring for a child with a life-threatening illness or injury. We make sure that no child goes without medical services or proper in-home care because of a family’s lack of resources.

For the past six years, The Grauer School has partnered with Conner’s Cause for the holidays.  This year, The Grauer School has adopted 100 Conner’s Cause kids and has promised to send them holiday presents from our Grauer “angels.”  Would you consider helping out this holiday season and purchasing a holiday gift for a child with a life-threatening illness whose parents are struggling to cover the costs of caring for him/her?  The Conner’s Cause list of children will be available in the Main Office starting this Wednesday, Nov. 30th. We ask that you sign up for one or more children and, if you are able, it would be nice (though not required) to send small gifts to the child’s siblings as well.  Some of the families are large, so please feel free to partner with other Grauer families if you would like to “adopt” a family together.  To participate, we request that our Grauer students:

1.     Sign-up for a Conner’s Cause child on the list in the Main Office

2.     Purchase one or more age-appropriate holiday gifts for the child (you may wish to send small gifts to the child’s siblings too, though it’s not required)

3.     Bring all of your unwrapped presents to The Grauer School’s Holiday Charity Café Night on Tuesday, Dec. 13th from 5:00PM-7:00PM. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to wrap their gifts, enjoy snacks, and listen to holiday-themed musical performances from our talented Visual and Performing Arts department.

4. Please mail the gifts to your Conner’s Cause family.  The school will have priority mail boxes available for you to use at the Holiday Charity Café Night.

In addition to knowing that they did something to brighten someone’s holiday, all participating students will earn one-hour of community service for participating in Conner’s Cause this year.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dana at dana@grauerschool.com.  Thanks, we look forward to your participation again this year.

GRAUER SCHOOL HOSTS FILM SCREENING AND VISIT BY JERUSALEM PEACEMAKERS

The Grauer School will host a visit by the Jerusalem Peacemakers Eliyahu McLean and Sheik Ghassan Manasra during the film screening of “Globalized Soul” on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 beginning at 6:30 pm on the campus located at 1500 S. El Camino Real in Encinitas; the event is free and open to the public and is co-hosted by the Center for Global Awareness.  Filmed in Australia, India, Israel, Morocco, Mexico, Turkey and the US, the motion picture explores the oneness at the center of the diversity of the world’s religions. The one-hour documentary chronicles the worldwide phenomenon of “interreligious or interfaith dialogue,” the distinctive spiritual journey of the 21st century. McLean is the Director of the Jerusalem Peacemakers, a network of religious leaders and grassroots peace-builders in the Jerusalem and the Holy Land.  Manasra is the Director of the Islamic Cultural Center in Nazareth, a center promoting tolerance and interfaith dialog.

According to Grauer School Outreach Coordinator Bill Harman, “The Grauer School has a unique connection to the Jerusalem Peacemakers dating back to 2008. It was during a Grauer School Expedition that year when we were first introduced to the organization while touring Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  We were then reunited with members of the Peacemakers team during the 2010 Parliament of World Religions that took place in Melbourne, Australia. On this momentous occasion, several of the Grauer students in our delegation were able to reconnect with Peacemakers they met previously in Jerusalem. This upcoming visit to our campus by the Peacemakers is a testament to the common thread that connects students with the worldwide cultural and spiritual community — our Grauer Expeditionary program unites people of all faiths and diversified cultures to enhance tolerance and education on a global level. We look forward to screening this film that demonstrates what is eternal about human nature and paths to future survival. ”

The Grauer School is an independent grades 6 –12 college preparatory day school in Encinitas celebrating its 21^st year of operation and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school serves as a successful educational model for hundreds of private schools around the world through the Coalition of Small Preparatory Schools established by Founding Director, Stuart Grauer, Ed.D. The school will be hosting an Open House for prospective students for the 2012 academic year on January 8, 2012, from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm, with tours offered every 20 minutes. To learn more about The Grauer School experience, film screening event or upcoming Open House, visit www.grauerschool.com or call 760/944-6777.  For information regarding The Center for Global Awareness, visit www.centerforglobalawareness.org. Details on the film may be located at http://www.heavenearth.net/globalizedsoul.html.

GRAUER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS ELLIE AWARD

AS “EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR 2011”

Encinitas, CA, November 16, 2011—-The Annual Encinitas Ellie Awards sponsored by the New Encinitas Business Network bestowed a variety of awards including the outstanding “Business of the Year” in a select variety of categories to the New Encinitas and El Camino Real Corridor Businesses and Service Providers on Thursday October 27 at Bentley’s Steak and Chop House in Encinitas.
 The Masters of Ceremonies was Encinitas Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks who awarded The Grauer School Principal Dana Abplanalp-Diggs the distinction of “Educator of the Year 2011”.  Additionally, Grauer School parent and volunteer Sheila Wirick was also recognized as one of the ’24-4-25’ recipients, exemplifying one of 25 unsung heroes who contribute to the community advancement of Encinitas.

According to Grauer School Principal Dana Abplanalp-Diggs, “I’m tremendously honored by this distinction and feel it’s a collaborative recognition to be shared by all Grauer School faculty, staff and parents. The Grauer School is celebrating its 21^st year of providing quality education in North County and our mission is to provide an interactive learning environment that incorporates best practices, which encourages students and parents to engage in the learning process. Grauer School parent Sheila Wirick and ’24-4-25’ award recipient exemplifies this commitment with her relentless involvement in furthering the vocation of The Grauer School. She’s an extraordinary example of how the progressive, small school movement that our school has pioneered can make an impact and impression on both students and parents throughout all of San Diego County.”

The Grauer School is an independent grades 6 –12 college preparatory day school in Encinitas accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school serves as a successful educational model for hundreds of private schools around the world through the Coalition of Small Preparatory Schools established by Founding Director, Stuart Grauer, Ed.D. The school will be hosting an Open House for prospective students for the 2012 academic year on January 8, 2012, from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm, with tours offered every 20 minutes. To learn more about The Grauer School experience, or upcoming Open House, visit www.grauerschool.com or call 760/944-6777.

Vanessa Smith was honored last week by the North County Philanthropy Council at their annual Volunteer Awards Luncheon for her outstanding services to Grauer School over the years.
The Luncheon honored the men & women who give their time, treasure & talent to help others in North County. Vanessa was accompanied by Grauer School Board members Sheila Wirick and Carol Higgins, Parents Association members Deanna Defrank and Liz Ecke, and Grauer Faculty members Tricia Shemwell, Tracy Ahrens and Bill Harman.

The Grauer School will be participating in the inaugural TEDx Youth Conference being held at Canyon Crest Academy this Sunday, November 20.  TED (Technology/Entertainment/Design) is a nonprofit organization created in 1984 that dedicates itself to “Ideas Worth Spreading” by collecting some of the world’s foremost thinkers, doers, and dreamers in fields ranging from science and medicine to business and development to humanities and the arts (www.TED.com).  The goal is to share powerful ideas to make their community and their world better.

Of the over 200,000 high school students in San Diego County, 300 have been selected to experience this special day.  Whereas most schools were allotted 10 spaces, The Grauer School was given 20 spaces for our wonderful Leadership students able to attend this conference on Sunday.  The theme of this event is “The World in Our Grasp” and it is dedicated to inspiring students to see a problem, to take responsibility, and to do something new—a perfect emphasis for our Grauer students as we work to ensure a balanced, holistic education.