National Teacher Appreciation Week – Thank You!
May 5, 2020
Dear Families,
Today is National Teacher Day, and this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I wanted to take a moment to say how grateful I am to our teachers. I don’t normally like to toot our horn, but this is a week to blast it for the amazing teachers at our school.
In ordinary times teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the lives of our children; and in these extraordinary times, it is clear they have become essential. Village School teachers and Technology Director, Amanda Bickford, underwent a monumental shift to transform their classroom teaching into distance learning and to make it as accessible as possible. Their willingness to go above and beyond in supporting students and families is part of what makes them the exceptional people we know them to be.
Our community’s success in staying connected and learning together through this pandemic is in large part due to our teachers’ dedication, professionalism, and passion. It’s also thanks to everything you are doing to keep the home fires burning and to support your child’s/children’s education.
We’ve focused a lot on growth mindset this year, and I am struck by how our students are now witnessing their teachers and the adults around them put into practice its principles in inspiring and innovative ways.
An article was published about our school in yesterday’s Bennington Banner, and it speaks to why a “Light Still Shines for Village School Students.” You can read the article at https://www.benningtonbanner.
The end of this article quotes VSNB parent Grace Miller, saying: “It takes a village to raise a child. We are the village.”
I’d like to leave you with a few quotes that speak to me about who our teachers are and what they do:
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” -William Butler Yeats
“What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.” – Karl Menninger
“Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” – Rita Pierson
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey
Warm regards,
Tim Newbold
Head of School
The Village School of North Bennington
“Children are at the heart of all we do.”
phone: 802-442-5955 ext. 201
email: tnewbold@vsnb.org
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Mission
Children are at the heart of all we do. We nurture a child's curiosity, ignite enthusiasm for exploring, develop tools for inquiry, for invention, for achievement. We welcome families into a community-wide collaboration to help our children grow into their best selves - responsible citizens and stewards of the greater world, makers of the future.
