A Parent’s Thanks for a Teacher’s Gifts

Among the highlights of the 20th Reaching Heights Annual Meeting were the expressions of thanks offered by three parents to teachers in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights public schools. These are representative of the gratitude that is shared as part of the the Reaching Heights Thank-A-Teacher program. Here is what Fairfax Elementary School parent Malia Lewis had to say about vocal music teacher Tamar Gray.

Good evening. My name is Malia Lewis and I am here tonight because my family and I have been supporters of the Thank-a-Teacher program since our children were in preschool at Milliken. Claude and Ella have benefited from a succession of energetic, dedicated, and talented teachers in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District. My wife, Margot, and I have found each of their teachers to be approachable, professional, and generous in all of our interactions, whether they be formal conferences, scrawled notes, or quick meetings in the hallway. We feel a real partnership with our children’s teachers in this long and sometimes arduous process that is their education.

One teacher in particular has marked us, with her talent, her humour, and her ability to make every child under her tutelage shine. Tamar Gray has been teaching music at Fairfax for 20 years. In that time countless children have learned to appreciate and perform music of all forms, from Beethoven to Broadway. They have learned quarter notes and clarity of diction. They have learned to count, to breathe; to anticipate, and … to wait. They have learned to stick to together, to back each other up, to stand out for a solo, and to melt back into the crowd.

And, they have also learned her choreography! How does she do it? With just a few rehearsals, Ms. Gray can make 120 fidgety 6 and 7 year olds move in unison as if it were the most natural thing in the world.  We all know this is impossible.

Ms. Gray’s concerts are infamous. They run from Kindergarten performances full of sweetness and delight, past the piercingly memorable 3rd grade recorder recitals, to the rocking concerts of cool 4th and 5th graders. She teaches old chestnuts, but spiced up with new lyrics, or a little 60’s swing. She comes up with adaptations and variations to keep us all on our toes. And she inculcates some life lessons with songs about respect and responsibility.

In addition to teaching in the classroom (or lunchroom), Ms. Gray directs the biennial Fairfax Cabaret. This talent show on steroids began as an idealistic community project in the mid-1990’s. Ms. Gray and a parent hatched the idea and produced an evening of food and entertainment involving all members of the Fairfax community. Every other year since then, Ms. Gray and a corps of parents top themselves, involving more people, and producing a better show. This year’s Cabaret, to be held at the high school on Friday, January 22, will showcase over 30 performances by students, parents, and staff. Ms. Gray also directs the 4th and 5th grade challenge chorus, ensuring that they meet even higher musical standards, in order to share the stage of this building with high school performers.

The reputation of the CH-UH School District is based on the performance of high school students on tests, on stage, and in later life. But it is teachers like Tamar Gray, working at the elementary level, who prepare young children to perform at the levels we expect once they reach high school.

How does Ms. Gray find time and energy to do all this and tend to her professional singing career?  I have no idea. However bleary-eyed she may be on a Monday morning, Ms. Gray always has a huge smile on her face and an encouraging word for a child on the way to class. Maybe some of her grown-up ex-students who tend bar at Brennan’s Colony have some insight. Thank you, Tamar, for bringing music into the lives and hearts of our children.

Teaching & Learning at Oxford and Noble: Read All About It!

There’s a pattern to learning in Sharon Riley’s fifth grade class at Noble Elementary School, and her student Mallea Simmons can describe it. “First, we see Mrs. Riley do the work, then we do the work and talk about it with each other.” Talking and thinking about the work is important.

So starts one of the stories in the first of four Neighborhood Newsletters, focusing on Noble and Oxford Elementary schools, being published by Reaching Heights during the 2009-10 school year. We’re taking a new approach to our Neighborhood Newsletters this school year. We’ll also publish a 6-page Boulevard/Fairfax/Roxboro edition in February, a 4-page Canterbury/Gearity edition in March, and a special 4-page edition that will contain stories from across the district and run an insert in the May 2010 issue of The Heights Observer.

Click here to read the rest of the story of thinking and learning in Mrs. Riley’s class, and the rest of the news in this issue, including visits with two recent Heights High graduates now attending college, a look at Oxford’s Fifth Grade Math Carnival, and much more.

Student Guided Learning

An LCD projector will project student work on paper to an overhead screen for students to observe and discuss their work, using score camps to promote student-guided learning.

Year: 2009 – 2010
Subject: Technology
Amount: $1,310
Project Manager: Lisa Loveland
School: Boulevard Elementary

A Book is Like a Garden Carried in Your Pocket

Students and families will learn more about Chinese culture and literary programs that include cooking, reading, storytelling and gardening. This will compliment the school’s pilot Chinese program this year.

Year: 2009 – 2010
Subject:
Amount: $1,500
Project Manager:  Tara Grove
School: Roxboro Elementary School

Bonding Before Bullying

150 6th grade students will attend relationship building programs at John Carroll University aimed at preventing bullying behavior. This will be followed by follow-up programs and a culminating camp in Ashland, Ohio in the spring. Funds will pay for the JCU programs.

Year: 2009 – 2010
Subject: Motivational
Amount: $1,500
Project Manager:  Heather Higham
School: Wiley Middle School

Reaching Heights Awards 27 Music Lesson Scholarships

Reaching Heights has awarded 27 Patti Family music lesson scholarships worth a total of more than $6,500 to students enrolled in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School district’s instrumental music program. The scholarship program increases musical opportunity for students who enjoy music, have financial need, have participated in the school district’s instrumental music program for at least one year, and are ready to commit to weekly lessons and daily practice. Lessons are for instruments that students play in their school program. Scholarships pay part of the cost of 20 weekly half-hour music lessons to be given in the first half of 2010. Reaching Heights is an independent community-based organization that supports and celebrates academic and musical excellence in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district.

Scholarship recipients for 2010 include 12 fifth graders (representing all seven elementary schools in the district); 13 middle school students from all three middle schools, including three sixth graders, five seventh graders, and five eighth graders; and 2 freshmen at Heights High. The Patti Family Music Lesson Scholarships honor the legacy of Vince Patti, a much-loved teacher of instrumental and vocal music in the district from 1956 to 1976. The program, which was launched with support from the Patti family and other generous donors, contributes to the Heights tradition of musical excellence by helping young musicians develop the foundation skills for long-term participation, enjoyment and success in music. This is the fourth year of the scholarship program.