Westside Neighborhood School
Westside Neighborhood School announces art teacher’s Music Center BRAVO Award
Wendy Morrison, Visual Arts teacher at WNS, is recognized for her exemplary work.
Westside Neighborhood School proudly announced that one of its art teachers, Wendy Morrison, has won the Music Center BRAVO award. This award honors Ms. Morrison’s exemplary work in Visual Arts Education. She received the award at a ceremony at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 1, 2012.
Brad Zacuto, Head of School, described the importance of this award that recognizes Ms. Morrison as an exceptional visual arts teacher in Los Angeles among her peers in both public and private schools. “It is quite a process from nomination to selection as a regional winner, and then to be chosen from that distinguished pool of teachers as the one 2012 Bravo Award Winner for K-12 visual arts, one among five total Bravo Award winners.”
Wendy Morrison explained, “The process begins with a nomination. Not every nominee gets to participate. I had to write an essay and was chosen as a candidate based on that essay. I still don’t know who nominated me! As a candidate, I produced a portfolio of my teaching, including my philosophy about arts in education and lesson plans. Someone from the Music Center came to observe me teaching on two occasions, and I was able to observe a previous BRAVO winner at her school. Participating in this program made me really think more deeply about the standards I set for my students and myself. This experience helped me grow as a teacher.“
Established in 1982, the Music Center BRAVO Awards are an integral part of the Music Center’s work in the community to advocate for and deliver quality arts education for all students. The program recognizes teachers and schools for innovation and excellence in arts education, honoring educators who use the arts to revitalize teaching, enhance student achievement and foster self-esteem, teamwork and cross-cultural communication and understanding. “We salute all the amazing educators that participated in the BRAVO program. They inspire all of us at the Music Center to continue to speak out for the essential importance of arts education for all students,” says Mark Slavkin, Vice President for Education at the Music Center.
Ms. Morrison was also honored at an assembly for students, parents and faculty at WNS on Wednesday, March 7, 2012.
Westside Neighborhood School Volleyball Team Wins Championship
Westside Neighborhood School announced that the WNS Jets Varsity Blue Volleyball team successfully defended their Pacific Basin League Championship with a 25-16, 25-15 victory over Brentwood. WNS was led to victory by Coach Chip Schulte under the direction of WNS Athletic Director, Julie Brewer. The Jets won their two preseason matches and swept the Pacific Basin League Eastern Division. Key match victories were straight game wins over Westchester Lutheran at home and Turning Point (at their gym) in the final two matches of the regular season. The team earned a bye through the first round of playoffs.
The Jet Varsity team defeated Wildwood in the first round of playoffs on Monday, November 7th and then defeated Westchester Lutheran again in straight games in the semi finals at Turning Point on November 8th.
In the finals, the girls took on a very strong Brentwood team and won again in straight games. The Jets were 9-0 in matches for the season. WNS has won the championship in six of the last nine seasons and reached the finals in two of the other three seasons. As Brad Zacuto, Head of School said, "The WNS volleyball team’s perfect combination of dedication and sportsmanship led to their position as champions."
Westside Neighborhood School's New Performing Arts Theater Opens
Westside Neighborhood School dedicated their new performing arts Theater on November 29, 2011, completing a year-long process of research, design and construction. A ribbon cutting ceremony and student performance marked the event during which students, parents, faculty and special guests celebrated the opening of this vibrant, new educational space on the WNS campus. The Theater space includes a massive 1,100 square feet stage, storage and backstage support areas. Brad Zacuto, Head of School explained that, "This new theater represents a grand example of a collaborative effort to design a theater and stage that will inspire a full range of creative Performing Arts activities at WNS that includes dance, music and theatrical productions." The new Theater includes a state-of-art sound system, theatrical lighting, a backstage and green room, new chairs for the audience and a stunning red velvet front curtain.
This project was done in true Westside Neighborhood School fashion as a collaborative design effort by faculty, students and administrators. Middle School students in the school's Architectural Club led by their teacher, Lorena Hong, created a 3D mock-up of the Theater. A faculty committee toured local school and community theaters to study stage designs, and parents with expertise in dance, music, theater, sound engineering and construction got involved as well to help with the project. This amazing new theater was made possible thanks to generous fund raisers and efforts from the entire school community. Last March at the school's annual Gala, the WNS community came together and raised the money needed to build out the stage and create a new theater.
Dr. Desiree Friedmann, Performing Arts coordinator, enthusiastically expressed her excitement about how this new theater will enhance her program. "In performing arts class, we can pretend to be anyone, at anytime, in any place, and in any given situation. Our program fosters future collaborators, innovators, and creative artists who perform stories from long ago and can help to forge a path to a better future by creating new stories. This stunning new stage not only underlines the importance of this creative process, but it also provides a clearly defined space for these stories to be shared."
Westside Neighborhood School Students participate in 1:1 iPad Pilot Program
Students use technology to enhance curriculum.
Westside Neighborhood School 8th grade students received iPads for use during the 2011-2012 school year. In addition to the iPads, each student received a cover, charger, and hours of training and instruction. This collaborative effort by faculty, administration and parents was made possible by generous donations from the 8th grade parents.
The iPads are preloaded with Algebra and History textbooks, a calendar for homework management, apps for note card creation, vocabulary building, research, multimedia presentations and note taking. There is school-installed management software to provide an internet content filter on each iPad. The iPads do not run game apps or iTunes.
Westside Neighborhood School is using technology to enhance the collaborative and project-based learning approach they use on a daily basis. The iPads also enable WNS teachers to practice differentiated instruction in a much more significant way. After the pilot program this year, using iPads as a learning tool will expand to students in other middle school grades.
WNS 8th Graders also used Skype and a SmartBoard to have a discussion with Young-Adult author, John Ritter after they read his book, Over The Wall. The 8th Grade English class wrote questions about the book, recognizing that Ritter used baseball as a medium to discuss larger issues such as war and politics. Ritter answered questions from his home in Kauai and told the students not only about the story, but also about the craft of writing. He told them he wrote 30 drafts of this novel and encouraged them to revise their work. At the end of the conversation, one of the students commented that, “after our Skype chat with him, I understand the book better and I like it better.”
Westside Neighborhood School is preparing students for the world they will inhabit after graduating. These are just two examples of how WNS students use technology on a daily basis to prepare them for the 21st century. As far as student opinion goes, a class vote on satisfaction with the Skype experience, affirmed a score of 11 on a 1 to 10 scale!
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4450 Lakeside Drive, Suite 375
Burbank, CA 91505
tel : 818.845.0800
fax : 818.845.0888
CAIS is an organization of approximately 200
elementary, middle and secondary schools in California. The Association serves and strengthens its schools by:
- setting standards of academic quality and ethical conduct
- facilitating the professional growth of faculty, administrators, and trustees
- promoting ethnic and socio-economic diversity