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Starting<br />
the Year<br />
Off Right<br />
SEPTEMBER 8, 2005: SJSH and<br />
SHP students, faculty, staff, and<br />
parents, led by Fr. Tom Moran,<br />
gathered in beautiful Robinson<br />
Court to ask God’s blessings on<br />
their studies<br />
Skills for Life<br />
This year the SJSH Middle School launched a new class,<br />
called “Life Skills.” The curriculum combines emotional intelligence<br />
exercises with multicultural education and group problem-solving.<br />
Each co-ed class, made up of 9-10 students, meets<br />
once a week for 50 minutes, and is led by a facilitator (a teacher<br />
or staff member who has been trained in emotional intelligence<br />
and group problem-solving).<br />
What exactly is<br />
emotional intelligence “It is a way of under-<br />
standing and shaping how we think, feel, and act,” said Program Coordinator<br />
Nitza Agam, “We can assess the strength of our studentsʼ<br />
emotional intelligence by looking at their self-awareness, empathy,<br />
impulse control, communication skills, stress management, personal<br />
responsibility, anger management, and decision-making.”<br />
Research suggests that emotional intelligence shapes as much<br />
of 70-80% of “success” in life. “If we want our students to succeed<br />
in their<br />
interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships at school, at<br />
home, and at work, then these emotional intelligence skills are vital,”<br />
said School Counselor<br />
Wendy Parker.<br />
One week the curriculum<br />
focused on body<br />
language. “We learned<br />
that 55% of the messages<br />
we send to other<br />
people are sent with<br />
our bodies,” said seventh-grader<br />
********<br />
******. “Only 7% of<br />
the meaning comes<br />
from our actual words,<br />
and 38% comes from<br />
our tone of voice.”<br />
WHAT BODY LANGUAGE DO YOU SPEAK SJSH<br />
School Counselor Wendy Parker (center) encourages<br />
seventh-graders ****** ***** and ******* **********<br />
to shake hands as part of a class exercise about body<br />
language<br />
Raising Awareness<br />
SEEKING EDUCATIONAL EQUITY & DIVERSITY: The<br />
faculty SEED group meets twice each semester<br />
How do we raise diversity awareness and empathy in our<br />
community The SHS Office of Equity, Justice, and Multicultural<br />
Education (EJME) has created three forums for SHS faculty,<br />
staff, and parents to explore questions within our schools.<br />
SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) discussions<br />
for faculty & staff and for parents & guardians meet throughout<br />
the year. “These seminar groups provide an opportunity for<br />
adults to examine contemporary scholarship as well as ʻthe textbooks<br />
of their lives,ʼ” said EJME Director James Everitt. “The<br />
seminars provide SHS community members with opportunities<br />
to discuss important issues of diversity in a safe, non-judgmental<br />
environment.”<br />
In addition to the SEED groups, which have been going strong<br />
since 2004, the “Big 8 Book Club” has debuted this year. The National<br />
Association of Independent <strong>Schools</strong> (NAIS) uses eight cultural<br />
identifiers to evaluate how well each school is doing in its “equity<br />
and justice” efforts. The eight identifiers are ability, age, ethnicity,<br />
gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socio-economic status.<br />
The Big 8 Book Club is a group of SHS teachers and staff members<br />
that meet twice each semester to discuss contemporary fiction<br />
relating to these eight identifiers. The book club offers an informal<br />
setting for participants to enter into the worlds of others, to deepen<br />
their knowledge of others, and to develop empathy.<br />
The <strong>Heart</strong> of the Matter 3
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