Head of School's Message: Oct. 27
Reading and the performing arts are focal points for our community at this time of year. The Book Fair at Vromans and the sixth grade mini-musical are taking place this week, followed by the seventh and eighth grade performance of "The Pirates of Penzance" at the end of next week. Chandler students today are the adult readers and theater audiences of the future. These events help instill good habits at an early age.
A Wall Street Journal article by Jeanne Whalen forwarded to me last month described the slow reading movement. Slow reading advocates seek a return to the focused reading habits of years gone by before Google, smartphones and social media started fracturing our time and attention spans.
Improving the ability to concentrate, reducing stress levels and deepening thinking, listening and empathy are some of the benefits of a daily, 30 minute slow reading habit. The article cited compelling data from the journal Science that reading literary fiction helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs. Another study showed first grade reading ability closely linked to 11th grade academic achievements.
Slow reading means a return to a continuous, linear pattern of covering a page, rather than an ‘F’ pattern that we use when reading web pages by scanning all the way across the top line of text but only halfway across the next few lines until going vertically to the bottom of the page. Printed rather than e-books are best, in part because they are more visible around the house and serve as a reminder to read.
An article sent by a Chandler parent from last week’s Science Daily summarized research that finds major benefits for students who attend live theater. Viewing a production leads to enhanced knowledge of the plot, increased vocabulary, greater tolerance and improved ability to read the emotions of others. It’s an active rather than a passive experience. The benefits are similar to those that come from reading. The researchers concluded that seeing live theater produced positive effects that reading a play or watching a movie do not produce.
It was good to see so many people at Vroman's on Saturday supporting the Chandler Book Fair by buying books. Thanks to Kricket Anthony and Helen Leong for heading up the Book Fair celebration and to our parent volunteers for lending a hand. I look forward to seeing many of you at the mini-musical this week and at next week’s "Pirates" performance.
Thanks to those parents who prepared and served food at the Heritage Day Picnic last Friday. Thanks for sharing your food traditions with the community. “It’s like Thanksgiving,” said performing arts teacher Brandi Williams-Moore after visiting the German booth.
Most sincerely,
John Finch
Head of School
