Dear Friends,

A rather longer letter than usual this month, as I wrestle with the problem of motivation. What is it that makes me do what I do, especially if tasks are difficult or tedious? What makes me work, or play, or love-even eat or sleep?

My essential purpose here is to present the issue as a matter for deep thought and discussion, rather than to provide solutions

In a previous, not-so-far-off era, the answers were easy. If I didn't work to please my employer, I was fired. If I didn't study to please my teacher, I was flogged. If I did not lead a virtuous life to please my God, I went to hell. Perform or be punished, that was the plan.

Changes in societal attitudes have either modified or largely eliminated such means of motivation. We went through an intermediate, and in some ways more pernicious, stage. "Teacher will not love you unless." "You will never get into (choose one) first grade, high school, college, law school unless." "The neighbors will never respect us unless." And we have learned that these, like previous motivational efforts, can produce only short-term compliance rather than long term dedication and commitment.

I am hoping that in a new school in a new century we can do better.

I start with what brings me to work every day. Why do I continue with the daily-ness of work life, with its share of tedious and even unpleasant tasks, especially after so many years?

Clearly, an engaging mission, the chance to make a mark with something new in independent education. There are elements of creativity and risk, elements of courage, and of stubbornness when courage runs out. Having a task which is just do-able and whose success will make a difference is clearly a powerful motivation.

Secondly, I am motivated by the community. I did poorly when I tried to work for myself, or headed a small staff at a parish. Being with like-minded, or even not so like-minded colleagues, sharing tales, wrestling together with difficult issues, cheering with the crowd at a miraculously sunk three-pointer, all of these attract me to work and nurture my soul.

Earning the respect of my peers also makes me stretch. I don't even need to be told of that respect, and am satisfied with the conviction that if my head of school peers knew what I was doing and how I was doing it, I would get a nod of approval.

Finally, deadlines and routine. I do well in the orderly atmosphere of a school, where meetings, presentations, even newsletter articles follow a predictable pattern. This is not to say that I do not push the envelope from time to time; but I am so grateful to have an envelope to push.

Financial compensation and a clear employer/employee relationship also count, but are not pivotal, particularly in choosing an arena in which to operate.

Recognizing that some of these may be idiosyncratic to me, how might these motivations apply to a student in high school?

1. How engaging can the task be made without dilution? Much of what we have to do as high school students is tedious and/or finicky. (How many fifteen-year olds are really engaged in a third re-write of a short story?) How can we make the tasks "just do-able" for students with a wide variety of interests and learning styles? Robert Frost used to argue that Amherst students needed "a real deed now and then." How do we make that part of the academic exercise without devaluing the exercise itself? How do we create times of risk and challenge and still make school a safe place to "make mistakes and grow'?
2. Creating a motivating community is also a challenge. We have done a superb job in creating a community of trusting friends. How do we take it to the next step and create a community of learners?
3. Earning the respect and affection of peers is at the center of the adolescent enterprise. As parents and teachers, we hope that they will respect in each other the values we espouse. How do we bring these, whether they are a passion for clear and accurate speech or a delight in mathematical functions, a gift for compassion or a commitment to the truth, to the front burner of our students' attention?
4. Routine and deadlines are part and parcel of school life. How do we make them a comfort to our students, rather than an irksome restriction?
5. Assessments, grades, college admission are the high school equivalent of financial compensation. Clear behavioral guidelines are the parallel to the employer/employee relationship. To the degree they are important in motivating students, I believe our patterns and procedures are off to a good start. I do not believe that alone they will encourage the growth of the sort of graduates to which we aspire.

Clearly, the purpose of this letter is to begin a dialog rather than to provide definitive answers. At the heart of the dilemma is the fact that these young people are just that, people with huge potential but neither the judgment nor wisdom yet to make adult choices and defer gratification. At Christmas time, we often ask adults to go inside and find their inner child. Our task is to invite our students to find their inner adult and develop self-motivation.

I hope we can continue to talk and think on these things.

Happy New Year!

Yours very sincerely,
Father Malcolm

Intersession 2005 - Learning Through Experience

Bay School academic philosophy and curriculum clearly value a depth over breadth approach towards meaningful learning. At the same time, given the demands of a rigorous college preparatory program, students must continue to carry multiple courses each trimester and thus divide their efforts and attention among several different disciplines.

Once during each school year, we intentionally suspend our regular academic program to offer an Intersession program during the week between the second and third trimesters. Intersession is a chance to take our philosophy of authentic, in-depth, and experiential learning one step further in providing students and faculty with the opportunity to spend an entire week focused on the exploration and study of one area or topic of great interest. Topics for Intersession courses are proposed by both faculty and students, and are designed to meet the following criteria:

• Course content is in line with the mission of the school and can be connected to the curriculum
• Course goals are clearly articulated and course outcomes are substantive
• Course topics facilitate the application of learning in the world outside the classroom

Intersession 2005 course topics will include: The Teenager in Film and Television, 2nd Life: A Workshop in Virtual Reality, Exploring Religious Experience Around the Bay, and Sushi Sonnets and Haiku Haggis.

A total of seven courses will be offered this year during the week of March 7 - 11. We anticipate that each student will be enrolled in either her/his first or second choice. Full Participation in an Intersession course each year is a requirement for graduation from The Bay School. At the conclusion of each course, students and faculty will complete both course and self-evaluations, and course outcomes (presentations, projects, papers, etc.) will be shared with the entire community during an all-school gathering.

Respect for the Value and Wise Use of Time

What if we were in a position to have as much time as we desire or need? What would it be like to be able to manage our time effectively? Which passions would we want to develop and pursue? What would our priorities be, and what would we do with extra time available in our day? These are the questions that many of our Bay School freshmen are in the midst of considering.

The Bay School has made a very conscious decision not to monopolize our students' time outside of school by assigning a load of four hours of homework each night. Eighty-five minute class periods, well planned and utilized, enable our faculty to assign, supervise, and assist students in completing most of the practice work necessary to master the content of our curriculum.

As a result, we have posed a challenge by providing students with the opportunity to wonder how should I spend my free time? What are my choices? Our intent is that students will no longer be forced to sacrifice quality time with their families, or beneficial social time with their friends. Instead, we hope that they will use their free time outside of school constructively - to re-discover the joy of reading for pleasure, of experiencing music, and engaging in pursuits such as involvement in social service and political action.

Many of our freshmen have embraced this gift of time with ease - by continuing to pursue their love of athletics, or by intellectual pursuits such as writing a play inspired by their favorite book, by volunteering regularly at a homeless shelter, or by becoming an expert pizza chef while fulfilling their once a week family meal assignment. But for others the challenge of having unstructured time on their hands is a puzzle. Having had their time managed very carefully in middle and elementary school, some students aren't quite sure of what it means to have a passion, or how exactly they could go about pursuing it.

Bay School faculty advisors and administrators are committed to working closely with students, and in partnership with their families, to support the process of learning effective time management skills both at school and in their personal lives. We encourage our students to pursue new interests through participation in school service activities and classes, and in addition, they are encouraged to tap into their own creativity and resources at home in order to discover how to be the best stewards of their own time and interests. Listed below are several suggestions of worthwhile volunteer programs for students to pursue on weekends and on Tuesday afternoons when physical activities are not scheduled at the end of the class day:

Marin City Tutoring Program — To tutor on Monday or Tuesday evening for one hour call: Denni Locke at 415-221-3592.
San Francisco School Volunteers — To tutor one hour a week in the San Francisco public schools call: Alan Lessik 415-749-3700.
Farallones Marine Sanctuary Assoc. Call: 415-561-6625.
Presidio Habitat Restoration. Call: Damien Raffa 415-561-4449.

Please contact Moneeka Settles, Dean of Students, for additional ideas and suggestions

"The Dining Room" Rehearsals Underway

Budding Bay School thespians began rehearsals in December for the school's first dramatic presentation - The Dining Room - to be performed for the school community during the first week of February. Directed by drama teacher, Katherine Riley, the cast is comprised of enthusiastic student actors and faculty members.

The Dining Room Cast in rehearsal with Drama Teacher Katherine Riley

The Dining Room is a humorous and compassionate play, written by A.R. Gurney, set in the central room of family life. Scripted as a series of overlapping vignettes, the play visits a host of characters as they go about their daily business exploring the many dynamic relationships within families. The show presents glimpses into the human condition involving the joys, sorrows, love, and sadness that are a part of family dynamics.

Information regarding the performance schedule and tickets will be available in mid January.

January Book Groups

One of our primary goals for book group is that every student has the opportunity to experience the unforgettable feeling of being riveted by a book. Many of the books that we have chosen to read in January are young adult novels or 'YA novels' in librarian-speak. Written specifically for teens, YA novels reflect adolescent themes and issues such as popularity, sexuality, high school, and relationships with parents, etc. Some of the books are written in non-traditional formats such as diaries, letters, and interviews. Our January selection includes:

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Please Don't Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers

For more information about YA books please visit the Young Adult Library Services Association web site at: www.ala.org/yalsa/booklist

Rachel Shaw, Bay School Librarian

First Trimester Final Projects in Digital Imaging

During the first trimester students in Gregory Fleischer's Digital Imaging class learned much more than the basics about the operation of a 6-mega pixel digital camera and about post-processing techniques working in Photoshop CS. Their projects incorporated a series of approaches and themes in a number of photographic genres such as documentary, portraiture, landscape, still life, studio, and tableaux.

Students shot and logged more than 1000 digital photographs each and then prepared digital contact sheets optimized for the Web. Their final portfolios, completed in November, contained between 7 and 12 images of archival quality that were matted for presentation.

Digital Imaging 01 - Final Galleries

Experiencing the World's Major Cultural/Religious Holidays

As part of the school's on-going exploration of world cultures and religions, the Bay School community learned about and celebrated the 30 day Muslim festival of Ramadan that began this year in mid October. At morning meetings Chaplain Teah Strozer and Head of School Malcolm Manson provided a background about the festival that centers on a month of fasting, worship and contemplation in remembrance of the prophet Muhammad's receipt of the Koran, the sacred book of Islam. Members of the school community contributed donations that were given to support the efforts of Heifer International Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty in 3rd world countries by providing food- and income-producing animals and training to resource-poor families.

In December the Bay School community celebrated four more religious festivals that are observed during the last month of each year: the Hindu festival of Diwali, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the Christian holiday Christmas, and the African American celebration of Kwanzaa. In each case, we learned about the history, customs, and meaning of the holiday and experienced part of the ritual and ceremony that is associated with it. Students and faculty alike found the experience to be enlightening and of great value in helping to broaden our understanding of different peoples and cultures.

Supporting The Bay School

As 2005 begins, we would like to express our deep appreciation to the many generous individuals, foundations, and companies who have supported The Bay School of San Francisco through their donations in 2004.

Donors to The Bay School 2004/2005 (as of January 3, 2005))

Annual Fund: Anonymous (4) Winnie and Rob Appleby Nancy Ascher and John Roberts Jim and Carol Babcock James and Berta Blecke Bluewater Environmental Services Ryn Blecke and Gregory Fleischer Cecile and Jeff Bodington Terry Gamble Boyer Frish Brandt and August Fischer Bill and Ann Brown Janet Brown Bob and Kathy Burke Bernard and Lynne Butcher Cal Insurance/Scott Hauge Miles Chen Chau-Chun Chein and Maelin Wang Ron and Cindy Chun John Clawson and Teri Behm Gigi Coe and Michael Garland Fred and Deborah Concklin The Conco Companies Lenore Conroy Janet and Shaun Coughlin Mary A. Crocker Trust Richard and Suzy Decker Dees-Hennessey, Inc. Charlie and Leslie Dicke Brian Donnelly/Farella Braun and Martel Frank and Diane Doodah Bill and Kate Duhamel Meryl Dun Simone and Alex Echeguren Joan Elliott Jonathan and Regina Faustine Dennis Hartzell and Sheila Fifer Dennis Fisher and Melanie Adams Cary and Marjorie Fulbright David and Traci Gale Nancy Graalman Janet Goodson Jay Harris and Marcia Cohen Josh and Karen Heimann Coreen Ruiz Hester Hank and Beth Holland Jody Jahn and Thomas Robertson Earl James and Elizabeth McDonald Pamela Jeung Joan Jordan Loc Khuu and Anh Truong Toni Kiely Raleigh and Nan Klein John Ladd and Kay Harnish Ladd Erin Lapping Mary R. Lowrey John Maas Leslie Mallone and Gail Marshall Adrienne Mally Malcolm and Sandy Manson The Matthies Family Foundation Donald and Judy Mc Cubbin Janet and Craig McGarvey Mac and Leslie McQuown

Kate and Andy Mecca Bill and Stephanie Mellin Mark Miller and Pam Mann Mitch and Heather Mitchell Paul Morgan and Barbara Ellis Oliver and Company/Steve Oliver Allan and Karen Palamos Paula and Jon Paulsen Lis and Misha Petkevich Tamara and Nikolay Pochebyt Pribuss Engineering, Inc. Ransome Company Courtney and Ted Rice Robert Rosner and Julie Goldman David Rothman and Peggy Barbier Gary and Brooke Sampson Peggy and Cecily Scherschligt Moneeka Settles Craig Severance and Kristy Severance Lee and Ruth Ann Seward John and Elizabeth Shaw Joseph and Sandy Sherman The Schember Family John and Ellizabeth Shaw Michael and Debbie Shepherd Jane and Siamack Sioshansi Pamela Snellgrove Simon Snellgrove Diana and Steven Strandberg David Streight and Pamela Vohnson Cherie Stokes Teah Strozer Bishop William Swing and Mary Swing Jennifer Telford Granger Tripp and Maryanne Downes Patrick and Janet Vennari Bruce Victor David Wang Greg and Darcy Wettersten Nancy Wheeler Robin Workman Sue Wyatt Craig and Victoria Yamamoto Ron and Anette Zeff Opportunity Fund: Anonymous (2) Kent and Marie-Jose Baum The Bengier Foundation/Gary and Cynthia Bengier Ryn Blecke and Gregory Fleicher Stacy Case Georgiana G. Stevens Foundation/John and Amanda Kirkwood The Keon Family Fund Bill and Stephanie Mellin Founding Fund: Nancy Ascher and John Roberts Dennis Hartzell and Sheila Fifer Cary and Marjorie Fulbright Warren and Chris Hellman Leslie Mallone and Gail Marshall Barbara and Eugene Myers Arthur and Louise Patterson

January Events Calendar