We hope you are getting excited about the 17th Annual AWTA Mixed Doubles Mixer/Tournament scheduled for Friday evening, March 21, 2014 at the Austin Tennis Academy! For those who have played before, you know how fun it is, so just mail in your entry now. For those of you who haven’t played before, you are in for a fun evening of tennis and socializing. We play tennis, mingle, drink and eat delicious food, so that’s basically it! We have adult beverages and adult food, so 21 and over please.
The ATA SuperChamp athletes traveled to Houston and Wichita Falls to compete in the March Major Zones. While the 12s/14s event in Houston was a complete wash, the 16s/18s we’re able to compete on Sunday and complete the tournament.
“The decline in SAT scores has a lot to do with not reading … The ability to read is linked to the ability to process, analyze and comprehend information, … I guess that’s called thinking.” ~Donald M. Stewart, College Board President
Michael Silverblatt of “Bookworm” uses an analogy that young people might find more persuasive: “Just as people who don’t work out can’t do certain things with their bodies, people who don’t read can’t do certain things with their minds.”
There is no way to cram for reading comprehension… just as there is no way to cram for stamina. You may want to run a marathon, but you won’t be able to succeed without regular training that builds up to the culminating event or events. You may want to squat 225lbs, but you will need to practice with diligence for an extended period of time to build up the required strength. You may want to have $1 million dollars invested in your retirement account by age 30, but unless you begin the investment early and care for it over a period of time, you are likely to come up short. And you may want to score well on the SAT exam, but in order to do so, you need to put in the time, the diligence, and the vested effort in growing your brain, your thought processes and your stamina for thinking. You cannot build a muscle in a day, but you can choose to practice strengthening it every day.
So it is with reading. It should be a daily practice. Like eating… you don’t eat a week’s worth of food in 1 hour… so why would you try to do it with reading. Take a bit each day and with each word, grow your stamina and your comprehension. Yearn to learn and learn to read.
So… what is your Daily bREAD? Instead of turning on the television, why not sit down for 30 minutes and read as a family? At first, it may take more time and energy, but as with any good investment, it begins to grow with less input… and the payoff is well worth it.
CP Instructors continually strive to inspire and create hands-on projects and unique activities to stimulate the developments of CP students.
I spent a few days with some of the greatest creative minds in education. The 2013 Advanc-Ed Summit was held in Washington DC and the focus was Successful Learning in the Digital Age. While I was really looking forward to the inspirational architecture, history and messaging intertwined throughout the sites of our nation’s capital, I was surprised to find just as much stimulating insight through the events and speakers at the Summit.
I was honored to meet Sir Ken Robinson, author, inspirational TedTalk speaker, advocate for education revolution, and the keynote speaker for the event. He spoke about the immense opportunities to lead the changes for education out of the industrial age and into the digital age. Sir Ken’s School Kills Creativity is a favorite TedTalk of mine and his books – The Element, and Out of Our Minds – inspire us to demand creativity as the forefront of our education.
Next, I visited with Dr Steve Perry (on Oprah in July) who is an MLK style visionary implementing change as the principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in addition to authoring, Push Has Come To Shove: Getting Our Kids The Education They Deserve – Even If It Means Picking A Fight.
I also heard from members of the teaching community of U Penn and Washington U, and had breakfast with Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President of Education.
Although many of the break out sessions still asked questions based on the old paradigm of education and one that still stems from an industrial age, many private and public schools are implementing dynamic changes, much like ATA College Prep. However, it is clear to me that we are definitely on the cutting edge of where true education is headed. All of the buzz phrases and ideas – blended learning, credit awarded for off-campus activities, rewarding performance instead of seat time, self-pacing, hiring experts over certified teachers – which were being thrown around in presentations and topical discussions are all things that we have been doing for years at CP, and even more years ago through small, focused, leadership and home education models. You see, the goal of a broad liberal arts education strives to liberate the mind and free its creative nature, rather than fill it with a common list of skills deemed necessary to fit into the assembly line of workers.
The highlight of the Summit, the closing ceremony featured 3 students who are practicing owning the responsibility of education. They have each created and developed their own start-ups, campaigns, or designed part of their course loads during the latter part of high school. They shared personal stories of why schools have failed them, how they have been supported, and what can be done to improve education, as well as the impact of mentor relationships. One young man is creating a template for high school students to defend their knowledge acquisition through unique and performance-based expert presentation options rather than standardized tests.
Out of the mouths (and minds) of babes come a great deal of wisdom… and we should listen!
At ATA CP, I am proud that we create mentoring relationships, stretch the mind, afford opportunity to grow in many directions… and that we strive to do it in creative and entertaining ways. After all, isn’t that what learning is? Loving to learn about who we are and who we are becoming in an ever-changing world of beauty.
Looking forward! ~Carol
Harvard receives over 40,000 applications each year. About 2,000 of those applicants are accepted and just over 1,600 enroll as freshman*. And each year at Harvard and at each of the other 2,000 degree-granting colleges and universities, this process begins with admissions counselors pouring over applicants in a dauntingly speedy manner in order to flesh out the most interesting XX {37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9}. So how do they accomplish this? Who meets the criteria? What are they looking for?
Inquiring CP students want to know, so we engaged in an interactive discussion featuring the questions that college admissions boards members have ruminating in their heads while reading. They include questions that roughly fit into four categories: Growth & Potential, Interests & Activities, Character & Personality, Contribution to Community. We took the sampling below and read them aloud, contemplating how we think about and exemplify each in our daily lives. It is a thought-provoking list and may offer many topics for conversation around the dinner table.
Have you reached your maximum academic and personal potential?
Have you been stretching yourself?
Have you been working to capacity in your academic pursuits, your full-time or part-time employment, or other areas?
Do you have reserve power to do more?
How have you used your time?
Do you have initiative? Are you a self-starter? What motivates you?
Do you have a direction yet? What is it? If not, are you exploring many things?
Where will you be in one, five, or 25 years?Will you contribute something to those around you?
What sort of human being are you now? What sort of human being will you be in the future?
Do you care deeply about anything—intellectual? Extracurricular? Personal?
What have you learned from your interests? What have you done with your interests? How have you achieved results? With what success or failure? What have you learned as a result?
In terms of extracurricular, athletic, community, or family commitments, have you taken full advantage of opportunities?
What is the quality of your activities? Do you appear to have a genuine commitment or leadership role?
If you have not had much time in high school for extracurricular pursuits due to familial, work, or other obligations, what do you hope to explore at college with your additional free time?
What choices have you made for yourself? Why?
Are you a late bloomer?
How open are you to new ideas and people?
What about your maturity, character, leadership, self-confidence, warmth of personality, sense of humor, energy, concern for others, and grace under pressure?
Will you be able to stand up to the pressures and freedoms of college life?
Will you contribute something to Harvard and to your classmates? Will you benefit from your college experience?
Would other students want to room with you, share a meal, be in a seminar together, be teammates, or collaborate in a close knit extracurricular group?
*information compiled from CollegeBoard, Harvard and personal counselor meetings
Chalk up another CP field trip… this time for girls only. Why did we choose a movie day instead of a day in the classroom? Today, we traveled around the globe to learn the stories of nine young girls who face a litany of injustices – like child slavery, abuse, and arranged marriages – mostly before age 11. Even under the threat of enormous obstacles, these brave girls tell their story of hope and determination, demanding an education so they may turn around their own lives and force greater change in the world at large. Stories are told through artistic imagery and narrated by some of Hollywood’s most compassionate actors and actresses. Girl Rising made an impact on our own young CP students and challenged them to rise and become change-makers.
Onward and Upward, Carol