Author Archives: Julie Rust

Big thanks to David Kelly and Marie Venters for yet again submitting their beautiful director notes as a blog. I love our shows, and I am grateful for the vision that compels them. WILLY WONKA DIRECTOR’S NOTE When I think of Wonka, I think of hope, honesty, and the ability to find the best inContinue reading “The Latest Edition of Director Notes”

Need a new idea to enliven a class this last marathon month of the school year? Are students telling you they lack the motivation to engage with a difficult text? Are your typical reading checks just not cutting it? Burton Williams-Inman has got you: have students vote documents “off the island.” In his 9th gradeContinue reading “Ninth Grade History Takes on Survivor!”

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears,Continue reading “Bird by Bird, Day by Day”

In an earlier blog this month, I philosophize about why students were so weirdly quiet when I asked them to collaborate.  Then serendipitously, I got invited to virtually “sit in” Darin’s silent class discussion, simply by being added to a google space chat.  The experience helped me rethink the role of silence, particularly in classContinue reading “Why Silence is Golden in Darin’s Class”

I was 29 years old.  I was midway through my doctoral program and had just brought a certain Zander Paul Rust into the world.  We were living the blurry dream of a family of four with a newborn and three year old; supported by a single income from my nurse husband; no family in town;Continue reading “That One Time I Almost Quit Education (and what to do with Student Course Perception Surveys)”

At the church I grew up in, we always had “testimony time” after worship.  After singing songs, they’d open the floor for anyone to share “a testimony” or a story from the week to encourage the entire congregation.  Our services could sometimes push 2-3 hours in length, but testimony time was always entertaining, unexpected, andContinue reading “Tong’s Testimonial”

A library is a library is a library, right?  Like mostly a space for books? Well, this is kind of right . . . And kind of wrong. This year it has been so fun to see how Tonja Johnson has reimagined the north campus library space to incorporate all sorts of activities, largely withContinue reading “What’s Happening in the North Campus Library?!”

You know what’s awesome about teaching my own class again? I am consistently knocked down 2-500 pegs, depending on the day.  But seriously, you know what’s actually awesome about it?  Having colleagues like you surround me while I fail and succeed and fail again. That’s why so many of our “choose your own adventure” optionsContinue reading “Why it’s Hip (to Join a) Teaching Square!”

We are a community of smart, strongly-opinionated folks that care deeply about the wellbeing of the youth in our care.  This comes out in all sorts of conversations, but the impact and integration of digital technology is certainly one of them.   This year in our curriculum review we are zooming in on math, fitness, andContinue reading “Let’s Talk Tech”

Authored by Linda Rodriguez This week I was inspired by a lesson that I observed our colleague Gracie Bellnap do with her AP Bio class: speed dating! Our AP World History class is studying The Atlantic Revolutions (American, French, Haitian, Latin American) and, to shake things up a bit, I tasked them to research characters fromContinue reading “AP World History Speed Dating”

“Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. “-Orson Scott Card Working at a school is a game of whack-a-mole since . . .  Or sometimes, working at a school can be more accurately compared to 12 people trying to untie the same knot with different techniques and at differentContinue reading “Working at a School is a Game of Whack-a-Mole & Other Metaphors”

It could be that it was Thursday, the first class of the morning. It could be that it was freezing outside.  It could be the fact that I teach seniors.  But last month when I divided students into groups with three discussion questions and gave them fifteen minutes to collaborate I got the last thingContinue reading “What is Going ON?: The Great Mystery of the Silent Jigsaw Activity”

Authored by Hannah Williams-Inman On this edition of If Only You Knew, I (definitely didn’t run out of time, needed to audible and) decided to flip my own script. For the past two installments, I have been connecting with students in the Middle School, and asking them to let me behind the curtain a bit,Continue reading “If Only You Knew (Part Three)”

Alianna came home one day from her Babysitter’s Club after school enrichment (shout out Andrea Stallings!) positively GLOWING.   “Mom- get ready,” she warned me, “I have a LOT to tell you about and I’ve taken a lot of notes in my notebook.  WE WENT TO FOUNDATIONS TODAY!” She did indeed have a lot to tellContinue reading “Foundations Joy!”

Here’s a thing you may not know about me and this blog.  Every time I schedule a blog blast email to send, I forward along that email to my parents all the way away in Indiana accompanied with “here’s some stuff we’ve been up to” or “I talk about you in the third blog!”  IContinue reading “Essay Means Attempt”

Compiled by Rev. Annie Elliott You know that Christmas-morning flutter of excitement you felt as a little kid? I’m not even lying; when I saw Annie’s email about a daily release of an advent reflection from an SA community member, I felt it. An entire set of incredibly diverse, spiritually-informed perspectives on this season ofContinue reading “Advent Reflections”

I could write pages about how incredibly amazing our 18 juniors and seniors were on our trip to Italy-Austria-Germany. (Are the kids all right? These kids were INCREDIBLE.) I could write about the beauty of the places and the tastes and the sites and the kindness of the host families and BREAD-CHOCOLATE-BREAD-CHOCOLATE.   I couldContinue reading “Mayson McKey, Cool Teacher!”

We all have those days of teaching when our patience runs thin, when we find ourselves in the constant space of “which battles should I fight and why.” I wrote this after one of those days several months ago. To be honest, revisiting this piece this week it rang less true for me; at thisContinue reading “To All My Students”

The fake tree isn’t decorated. In fact, one entire section of built-in- lights affixed to the artificial tree has burned out.   The presents are not purchased.  The Christmas lists are not made for the family.  The elf is not hidden.  (Alianna did, finally, out of annoyance find it herself and start moving it around theContinue reading “Merry Merry: A Visual Essay”

Authored by Jessica Parker-Farris Last year I was feeling pretty burned out, which is why upon joining TEAM, I shared that I’m interested in focusing on wellness for all of us – students, teachers, and admin alike.  When at one of those low moments last spring, I found answers in the wisdom of a fourthContinue reading “Joy Begets Resilience”