Students across the Senior School have been participating in various 'Creative Challenges' to push them to think about ways to make art with the resources they have. In the "Masterpiece Redone" challenge, well-known pieces of art are recreated with everyday items found around the house, with some impressive results.
Nearly 100 submissions have already been collected, but here are just a few examples of the creativity on display.
Olivia (Grade 12) did a rendition of Symphony in White, No.1: The White Girl by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Kristi (Grade 11) convinced her brother to become Frida Kahlo in her Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.
Kate (Grade 11) tested the waters with Procreate and a self-portrait from her iPhone for Roy Lichtenstein's Crying Girl.
Kyra (Grade 11) posed as Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Julia (Grade 11) sat as Whistler's Mother by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Dana (Grade 10) recreated Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Jill (Grade 9) and her cat posed as Duccio's Madonna and Child.
Mia (Grade 8) became Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci.
Jennifer (Grade 8) posed as Portrait of Wilhelm Kettler, Duke of Courland.
Crofton House is proud to announce the Chairs of Teaching and Learning for 2020-2023.
Janelle Caballero, Department Head, Career Education, Senior School
Janelle’s research begins with a question: "Can the CHS community better serve the student population by providing a framework, and more specifically an in-house community, which empowers students to set their own chosen goals and achieve success in a well supported environment?” The act of setting and pursuing a goal is often cited as the reason why some individuals experience a greater sense of autonomy, efficacy, and accomplishment. Through her personal and professional experience, Janelle has developed an understanding of, and respect for, being deliberate on a "goal setting journey” and her research is underpinned by wondering about the role of publicly sharing one’s goal and progress.
Catherine Spinney, Assistant Department Head, Science, Senior School
Rubrics equate the amount of support a student requires to her ability to demonstrate proficiency. In the context of an assessment, withholding support can result in a student failing to initiate, progressing on the right track, or finishing a response to a problem, question or prompt thereby limiting the teacher’s ability to provide meaningful feedback. Cat’s research will explore the impact of students having the option of accessing support on her success in the assessment task. Her proposal is to "implement a method of formative assessment that allows the students the option of using varying levels of supports in these cases, and then documenting the use of these supports. This would provide an opportunity for the student to determine their own level of scaffolding required on an assessment, and would potentially provide greater opportunity for individualized learning.”
Next year, Janelle and Cat will join Christopher Griffith, Teacher, Social Studies, Senior School and Dimitri Korol, Assistant Department Head, Languages, Senior School (2019-2022) and Quinn Cumming, Teacher, Physical & Health Education, Senior School and Phil Stringer, Department Head, Mathematics, Senior School (2018-2021) as the six CHS Research Chairs of Teaching and Learning. Sophia Hunter and Gail Robinson are currently completing their third and final year as Research Chairs.
We are honoured by the calibre of teacher-as-researcher within our community and are grateful to each for their commitment to contributing to the professional learning of the CHS community as well as that of our broader community.
“Thank you” doesn’t begin to express how incredibly grateful we are for the support you’ve shown to our kids over the past few weeks. Through our three year partnership with you, we were already aware that you are a generous and compassionate community, but this has truly been next-level.
To say that the past month has been difficult would be an understatement. Like the rest of the world, we were caught off guard by the COVID-19 crisis and how rapidly the situation developed. We have had to make some incredibly quick decisions around how we would support our kids and their families in the face of school closures. We know that our kids rely on us to keep them safe, fed, and engaged over spring, summer and winter breaks, and we know exactly how dire their circumstances will become over the coming months without the support of their schools and other community resources.
Every step of the way, you have been there for our kids. When we needed a space to prepare their meals, you offered - and your kitchen is now being used to prepare delicious meals with the help of your talented chefs. When we needed books, toys, art supplies and games to make the time at home a little less empty, you provided us with a mountain of amazing treasures. When we called out for donations to help us provide emergency programs for our kids that hadn’t been budgeted for in a pre-COVID-19 world, you came through with significant donations both as individuals and from your places of work. You have been advocating to local organizations on behalf of our kids, and so much of the support we have received that allows us to continue being there for them can be traced back to all of you. In every interaction we have had with students, parents and staff, it is abundantly clear to us that you genuinely care about the well-being of our kids and for that, we are so grateful.
Thanks to you, we will continue to provide on-site programming for our kids who don’t have a safe place to spend their days. We are also providing Grab and Go food and supplies to our families who are able to keep their kids at home but require some extra help, as well as home deliveries for the families who aren’t able to come to us. We look forward to sharing stories with you in the coming months so that you are able to see first-hand some of the amazing things you are making happen for Vancouver’s most vulnerable children and families. But for now, please accept our gratitude for truly being the heroes that our children desperately need.
On behalf of Team KidSafe, we hope that you are all keeping safe and healthy through this pandemic.
TAP IN! a podcast that explores topics that are important to Teachers And Parents - making it easy for you to be part of big conversations. Hosted by Susan Hutchison, director, Junior School, and assistant director Wendy Macken.
