Blessing of the Gries Center

Blessing of the Gries Center

Berkeley Preparatory School

25 August 2015

The Rev. Peter M. Carey, School Chaplain

God, you show us evidence of your creation through logic and mathematics.  Be with our students and their teachers as they strive to become diligent problem solvers.  Be a source of strength and comfort to those who struggle to solve ever more complicated problems.  May these math classrooms be places of great struggles and great successes.

God gives us the gift of beauty and art in our lives. Be ever-present with our students and teachers who seek through music and visual and performing arts to create and display this gift.  May these art spaces inspire our students engage their creativity in new and incredible ways.

God created the heavens and the earth, the sky, vegetation, and every living creature that moves.  Help our students engage fully in the pursuit of scientific inquiry.  May these science spaces be wonderful laboratories of discovery. 

Visit, O blessed Lord, this place of learning with the gladness of your presence, that this may a be a lively center for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn here may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Garrison Keillor on Episcopalians

Garrison Keillor on Episcopalians … 

An essay:
We make fun of Episcopalians for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them. 
If you were to ask an audience in Des Moines, a relatively Episcopalianless place, to sing along on the chorus of “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Episcopalians, they’d smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! ….And down the road!

Many Episcopalians are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head
against that person’s rib cage. It’s natural for Episcopalians to sing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison.

When you’re singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th
chords, all two hundred of you, it’s an emotionally fulfilling moment. By
our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each
other.

I do believe this, people: Episcopalians, who love to sing in four-part
harmony are the sort of people you could call up when you’re in deep
distress. If you are dying, they will comfort you. If you are lonely,
they’ll talk to you. And if you are hungry, they’ll give you tuna salad!
Episcopalians believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray
out loud. Episcopalians like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn
or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

Episcopalians believe their Rectors will visit them in the hospital, even if
they don’t notify them that they are there. Episcopalians usually follow the
official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.
Episcopalians believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially
during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.
Episcopalians feel that applauding for their children’s choirs will not make
the kids too proud and conceited.

Episcopalians think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle
while passing the peace.

Episcopalians drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

Episcopalians feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own
wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.
Episcopalians are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.
Episcopalians still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the
season and Episcopalians believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and
never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, you know you are a Episcopalian when:

-It’s 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the
service.
-You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as
you can.
-Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.
- When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, “May the Force be with
you,” and you respond, “and also with you.”
- And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye . . . .

(NOTE: Garrison Keillor attends St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota)

Garrison Keillor on Episcopalians

Garrison Keillor on Episcopalians … 

An essay:
We make fun of Episcopalians for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them. 
If you were to ask an audience in Des Moines, a relatively Episcopalianless place, to sing along on the chorus of “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Episcopalians, they’d smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! ….And down the road!

Many Episcopalians are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head
against that person’s rib cage. It’s natural for Episcopalians to sing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison.

When you’re singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th
chords, all two hundred of you, it’s an emotionally fulfilling moment. By
our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each
other.

I do believe this, people: Episcopalians, who love to sing in four-part
harmony are the sort of people you could call up when you’re in deep
distress. If you are dying, they will comfort you. If you are lonely,
they’ll talk to you. And if you are hungry, they’ll give you tuna salad!
Episcopalians believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray
out loud. Episcopalians like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn
or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

Episcopalians believe their Rectors will visit them in the hospital, even if
they don’t notify them that they are there. Episcopalians usually follow the
official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.
Episcopalians believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially
during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.
Episcopalians feel that applauding for their children’s choirs will not make
the kids too proud and conceited.

Episcopalians think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle
while passing the peace.

Episcopalians drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

Episcopalians feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own
wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.
Episcopalians are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.
Episcopalians still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the
season and Episcopalians believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and
never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, you know you are a Episcopalian when:

-It’s 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the
service.
-You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as
you can.
-Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.
- When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, “May the Force be with
you,” and you respond, “and also with you.”
- And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye . . . .

(NOTE: Garrison Keillor attends St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota)

Some photos from a recent fishing trip

  

 

 

Improving Student Writing - from edutopia

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

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3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 5, 2013 | UPDATED: OCTOBER 27, 2014

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Editor's Note: A version of this post first appeared on Techie Teacher and Character Coach.

"But Miss Parrish, I can't think of anything to write!"

Haven't we all heard similar lines in our classrooms? We see hesitant writers sit with a pencil in their hands and a paper on their desks, almost as if they have been handicapped by the task we asked them to do.

How is it that some students have so much to say when talking out loud, but when a pencil is put into their hand they suddenly hesitate, struggle and have nothing to say? How can you help those hesitant writers eliminate the "handicap" or barrier that suddenly appears when asked to write?

The answer is to simply have them produce "writing" without technically "writing" at all. That's right, the way to get hesitant writers to produce as much "writing" as they do "talking" is to have them do exactly that -- talk.

Strategies That Work

1. Student Talks, Teacher Writes

• Have your student stand up while you sit in his or her seat.
• Pick up the student's pencil and simply state, "You talk, I'll write."
• This usually catches students off guard and takes them a minute to realize that it's a real option for them.

2. Audio Record It

• Identify a way that your students can audio record themselves "speaking" their essay rather than "writing" it. This could be a tape recorder, digital audio recorder, student computer with a microphone or even an audio recording feature on your phone.
• Hand that recording device to your student and say, "Step out in the hall and 'write' your essay using this."
• See confusion, sheer awe, and then signs of relief come over the face of your student.

3. Audio Transcribe It

• Identify an app or tool that will transcribe speaking into text. Some options for this include PaperPortNotes, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Dictation Pro, VoiceTranslator, or a text-to-speech tool that is built into many smartphones. Try one of these to your phone, tablet, or computer.
• Before I had an iPad in my class, I usually opened a blank email on my iPhone, touched the text-to-speech button, handed my phone to my student and said, "Go ahead -- 'speak' your paper."
• Next, see confusion, sheer awe and then signs of complete relief come over your student's face.
• After speaking/typing it, the student can simply email him- or herself the text and work on the draft from there.