Recently, on a world religions class visit to Beth Tzedec synagogue, one of my students turned to me and asked,

“Sir, can we do this sort of thing more often?” Wanting to ar-rive at the genesis of his statement, I responded, “What do you mean, ‘this sort of thing?’” His answer stopped me dead in my intellectual and pedagogical tracks. “You know, sir, time to stop and go deep.” This honest response reflects much of what I have come to know about boys today as a parent, teacher, and school leader. Boys are just as eager to grasp their inner calling, as they are our outer curriculum.

The education of boys remains open to much debate. Parents, teachers, and researchers continue to wonder why boys are different, and how these differences af-fect home, school, and civic life. With varying degrees of intensity, the learn-ing and living differences of boys have been studied and published across the academic and popular media landscape.

And yet, it seems that this inquiry has largely centred on the cognitive gaps and social difficulties of boys found in either large-scale performance based data, or in highly subjective fictional accounts of the “boy crisis.” This way of thinking and writing about boys can seep into the institutional imagination of schools and school systems. Rarely, if at all, are the voices of boys heard in the research or the decision-making processes of schools them-selves. And so, the debate continues often without bringing the immediate experience of boys into the fray.

Meanwhile, boys’ schools continue to exist in independent, pri-vate, and public forms both in Toronto and around the world. Recently, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) passed a motion to open an all-boys leadership academy next school year. However the discussions that fueled both this decision—and which also live in many boys’ schools today—emphasize what’s wrong with boys (e.g. literacy and numeracy proficien-cy; conduct and discipline; post-secondary enrollment) rather than what’s right with boys (e.g. extraordinary acts of kindness, compassion, achievement, and self-realization). This latter en-deavour requires a careful consideration of what is significant and meaningful for boys from what is commonplace and note-

worthy for adults; what educational theorist Guy Claxton re-fers to as “slow knowing.” Yet, such thinking about boys rarely happens in a fast-paced, highly competitive, educational mar-ket that seems to want as its operation, schools to “fix” what is broken, then graduate what is “ready.”

One of Crescent’s strengths is the shared belief that it is not a boys’ school per se, but rather a school for boys. This inten-tional and deliberate way of thinking of School mission and action, stresses the relational and qualitative dimensions inher-ent in teaching boys. At a recent event Educating Boys: Challenges, Solutions, and Opportunities, my fellow colleagues and I present-ed on what we intuitively know about the transient fabric of

schooling boys. That is, inquiring about and responding to the needs of boys is a both holistic endeavour and relational opportunity. Parents here at Crescent understand this in their supportive care; teachers practice this in their cur-ricular and co-curricular engagement, and alumni realize this in their ongoing commitment to future generations of students. Boys here are seen as valued and valuable; opportunities abound to engage in school life, and to build rela-tionships for life.

My encounter at Beth Tzedec offered me a spark of insight into a boy’s experience of school; what psychologist Dr. Adam Cox refers to as “locating significance.” For Cox, significance implies meaning and value beyond the immediacy of the mo-ment; it is an experience that shapes the mind, and changes perspective—of self, others, and world. Yet without slowing down to know and understand what is significant... what is im-portant risks being ungrounded. For my student, the question had less to do with where we were, but rather why we were where we were. His latent advice to me, his teacher—and by extension to us (his values-based school)—is to listen to how and where boys find meaning, purpose, and value.

Dr. Cox will be visiting the Crescent community on Thursday, Feb. 23, to speak to our boys, our staff, and our parents. I invite you to join me that day in some “slow knowing” about what is significant in the lives of our boys.

—Mr. Fellin, Assistant Head of Upper School

keeping parents informedVolume 15 Issue 10 February 16, 2012

LocAting SigniFicAnce

2 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

The CPA held its Annual Parent Lun-cheon on February 7, at the Granite

Club. Over 150 parents came out to this wonderful community event to connect with each other and to listen to guest speaker Norm Howe, president of But-terfield & Robinson, share his insight on amazing places to travel to with kids. Many thanks to Nita Hunter for plan-ning and organizing such a successful event.

As is tradition at this occasion, the CPA presented its Volunteer Recognition Award. This award is given annually to a graduating parent in recognition of their outstanding contribution of time and tal-ent to the CPA during the years his/her boy(s) have attended Crescent School. This year’s award recipient is Barb War-ren (Greg ’11 and Blair ’12).

Barb has worked tirelessly and passion-ately on behalf of the CPA and made a difference through her volunteering. She has been an active volunteer for 10 years as a Grade Parent and Den volunteer, she

has worked at the Holiday Sale, Garage Sale, Lower School Halloween Party, Middle School Madness, Terry Fox Run, Race for Dignity, Coat and Boot Drive and Staff Appreciation. She sat on the Guild Executive as Den Convenor, and is currently the CPA School and Com-munity Programme Chair.

But it is in the Den, and with the Out-reach Programme that Barb has truly had an impact. As the Den’s Assistant Convenor and then Convenor, Barb was responsible for introducing the sale of uniforms at the School. She saw the con-venience it would offer parents as well as an opportunity to fundraise. She then patiently and persistently pursued the initiative until it was a reality.

Barb has supported the local and inter-national Outreach programme for many years at many different levels. She has been instrumental in bringing motiva-tional speakers to Crescent for students from Firgrove and Willow Park Schools, and spearheaded and organized the

Outreach table for Camp Amick at this year’s Holiday Sale.

She is admired by fellow parent volun-teers for her organizational skills, cre-ativity and her enduring positive energy.

We congratulate and thank Barb for her many years of dedication to the School and Crescent Parent Association.

—Anne-Marie Mayne, President, cPA

cPA newS

recognizing an outstanding contributor to the cpa

Your Crescent Parent Association (CPA) is planning the committee for next year, and we invite you to partici-

pate in our nominations process. We welcome Tara Borg as incoming Vice President who, with Mary Wellner (incoming President), will lead the CPA initiatives during this exciting centennial 2012-2013 school year. Our goal is to connect the Crescent community through our Social, Fundraising and Outreach programmes, and we welcome your involvement.

A new group of volunteers can bring wonderful ideas and fresh perspectives to our CPA. You will be receiving a let-ter after the Midterm Break that will outline the open CPA Committee and Coordinator positions. Please take the op-portunity to review the job descriptions posted in the Green Room to see if any position fits your interests and put your

name forward. We would love for you to become involved in any way that suits you.

You are all members of the CPA and you are all eligible to become involved. No experience is necessary. We are happy to answer any questions you may have; please feel free to con-tact any member of the Nominations Committee listed be-low. You can also sign up to volunteer anytime during the year in the Green Room through the Volunteer at crescent link.

CPA Nominations Committee

cPA noMinAtionS UnDeRwAY. LooKing FoR VoLUnteeRS.

• Julia Thomson julia.thomson@rogers.com• Anne Marie Mayne ammayne@sympatico.ca• Mary Wellner wellfam@me.com• Tara Borg taraborg@rogers.com• Anne-Marie Tompkins amtompkins@sympatico.ca

Anne-Marie Mayne and Barb warren

3Men of Character from Boys of Promise

ADVAnceMent newS

continued

goLF, eVeRYone?2012 crescent

golf tournamentA tournament for the entire

crescent community

Angus glen golf clubJune 22 - 7:30 shotgun startPlease mark your calendars -

registration opens soon!

4 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

For the second year in a row, Kids’ Lit Quiz visited Toronto. The Kids’

Lit Quiz (KLQ) is an annual literature competition for children aged 10 to 13. It puts readers onto the stage and lets them compete for fantastic prizes. This year we had the opportunity to meet the organizer and Quizmaster, Wayne Mills from New Zealand; he was full of energy and engaged the entire audience.

This year, the competition took place at John Ross Robertson Public School and there were 44 different teams from 24 Toronto schools. As usual, there were 100 different questions from 10 different topics (e.g. cities, mythology, cars, etc). Mr. Mills creates questions from any children’s book printed in the English language, so you never know what kinds of questions will come up.

Different prizes were handed out at dif-ferent stages during the competition, both to the best team per round, as well as to the people in the audience. There was also an opportunity to buy books from Mabel’s Fables, and KLQ T-shirts and buttons. The event was very well organized and the school even offered snacks for the competitors.

Crescent participated with two teams. Each team had two Lower School boys paired with two Middle School boys. The rest of the club was in the audience providing support and getting to be part of the excitement. Crescent One came 14th and Crescent Two came eighth! A great showing by both teams!

The winning team was from UTS (Uni-versity of Toronto Schools) and they will

travel to New Zealand to compete in the World Finals in July. The KLQ Club at Crescent will continue to develop top-notch readers and be ready to compete again next year!

—nicholas oprescu-Haviliruc, grade 7

Kids’ Lit Quiz

From the Lower School

ScHooL MeSSAgeS

In my previous message, I shared with you the guiding prin-ciples the boys in the Character Council used to revise the

Character Recognition programme. The boys took their role in revising the programme much to heart, to the point that our originally scheduled five sessions expanded into 15.

The first common theme to emerge was that the recognition programme needed to match the developmental stage of the boys in each grade. It was very clear, that, as older boys, they were uncomfortable receiving awards, if they felt they were “too easy” or for “grade 3-ers.”

The boys devised a creative solution to this problem. They decided to talk about their own experiences in each grade to see if they could find a common topic that could be used as a character recognition theme for the teachers. In detail, they reviewed their own challenges and experiences, and they discovered that they were able to identify a common learning curve, and developmental challenges in character, at each level. The list below indicates the issues the boys identified to be the most prevalent for them when they were in that grade:

• in grade 3 it was friendships, and making friends • in grade 4 it was learning how to organize school work

• in grade 5 it was being in control of emotions• in grade 6 it was learning about leadership, and what it

means to be a leader

During the faculty PD day on January 9, I presented this list to the teachers. They loved it, and agreed that the boys had chosen the same issues that they would have. The staff be-came so excited about this; they are making these our formal themes for our Leadership, Outreach, House Spirit and Char-acter programmes at the School. In conjunction with Steve Dubrick, Director of Character and Leadership, the School is going to create and locate appropriate curricula to support the themes identified by the grade 6 Character Council. After a little tweaking, the themes were renamed:

Grade 3 •Authentic Relationships: Being A FriendGrade 4 •Personal Responsibility: Being IndependentGrade 5 •Managing Relationships: Being Self-ReliantGrade 6 •Serving Others: Being a Leader through Service

Isn’t that incredible? What a difference these boys have made. In my next article, I will unroll the breakdown of the new char-acter recognition award levels.

—Dr. Boyes, Head of Lower School

5Men of Character from Boys of Promise

ScHooL MeSSAgeS

From the Middle School

I watched Invictus this weekend. It’s the story of the South African rugby team winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup

shortly after the end of apartheid. It was a fraught time when Nelson Mandela looked to guide a fractured nation forward in a united way. He needed his people to see that they were in control of their own destinies, and need not be dictated to by their own past hurts and fears. The rugby team, previously a symbol of the apartheid regime, became the example of the new Rainbow Nation under the guidance of their wonderful captain, François Pinnard.

The story pivots around a poem that Nelson Mandela clung to whilst a prisoner on Robben Island called Invictus by William Ernest Henley. It’s a defiant poem that refuses to make excuses or lay blame, but rather seeks to realize the fact that each of us can own our own destiny.

out of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,i thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul.

in the fell clutch of circumstancei have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the yearsFinds and shall find me unafraid.

it matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll,i am the master of my fate:i am the captain of my soul.

I remember watching that world cup unaware of the politics and responsibilities that were going on behind the scenes.

We do seem to live in times where excuses and blame are the norm, and ownership and personal responsibility are rare. Against that backdrop, it has been so reassuring and exciting to see the manner in which our Middle School boys are work-ing towards being responsible for their own destinies, sticking their chests out, and being courageous when it might be easier to hide away from those responsibilities and make excuses.

We had a group of boys refuse to shy away from the deeply scary prospect of performing comedy in Coyote Night Live. They stood on the stage at the end with their heads held high, hav-ing taken charge of their own performance.

We had an equally courageous group of boys compete in the national basketball championships in Winnipeg, reaching the semi-finals whilst making brave but difficult character deci-sions along the way that impressed spectators so much so that they contacted the School.

We have boys’ daily taking ownership of their learning at times of celebration and during times of failure. It is increasingly part of the landscape for a boy to seek his mentor and talk frank-ly, and without excuse, about how he can develop as a young man—personally and academically.

It makes me proud to watch, and to the Middle School parents, I want to let you know you should be proud of your young man as he attempts to be the master of his fate, and the captain of his soul.

—Mr. Young, Head of Middle School

6 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

From the Upper School

ScHooL MeSSAgeS

As you no doubt know by now, this is course selection sea-son. We’ve just completed all of the information evenings,

and the parent-teacher interviews. There were lots of good questions directed toward me and my colleagues during all of the evenings and they tend to cluster around a couple of key themes. I thought it might be helpful if I provided a synopsis.

The first cluster of questions centres around the importance of a second language, particularly for acceptance to American universities. Our University Counselling Office tells me that some American colleges and universities require a second lan-guage, while all see it as a significant advantage in the admis-sion process. Again, for some, it is a requirement for comple-tion of their undergraduate programme.

It’s important to us to note the increased interest in languages on the part of parents and students. More generally, we hear increasingly of the importance of multiple languages in what is a more compact and complex world for business, law and similar professions.

It is for these reasons that Crescent presently offers Mandarin as a club in the Lower School, and is looking seriously at extending this into the Middle School. In the Upper School we are offering Mandarin as a credit course starting next year in grade 10.

The second, and larger, group of questions focuses on summer school. Summer courses have become an increasingly impor-tant and popular option for completing all of the required pre-requisites for some university programmes, particularly those that are math and science intensive, and for accumulating extra credits beyond the minimum six grade 12 courses on which the

average for university application is based in Ontario. Summer school has several advantages: some programmes and service providers offer a rich experience involving travel and cultural immersion that can really make a subject come alive. In addi-tion, for challenging subjects, the chance to focus solely on the target subject for a month can maximize the opportunity for high achievement.

However, I do need to provide one significant caution about summer school: we have found, through years of experience, that the quality can vary dramatically among service providers. For core subjects, specifically Mathematics and English, which are fundamental to success in university, we strongly recom-mend that students take them at Crescent, if possible through the regular school year, and if not, then in our own summer programme. We have seen a number of our students take them through outside providers, and achieve impressive results, only to struggle in university because of inadequate grounding in these key areas. We know that students who successfully com-plete these courses at Crescent go on to thrive in their post-secondary programmes.

If you have questions simply about course selection, or about the process as it relates to university application, please get in touch with James Wright, our Head of Academics, or our Uni-versity Counselling people, Jeff Mitz, Don Haag and Kathy Porteous.

Please note that the deadline for completion of the course se-lection process is February 28.

—Mr. Lowndes, Head of Upper School

Monday, June 25—Friday, July 27, 2012Classes run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:05 p.m.

No classes on Monday, July 2. Contact Michael Jansen, Director at 416-449-2556 x 355

or mjansen@crescentschool.orgwww.crescentschool.org

Crescent School Summer Academic Programme

2012Our co-educational

Summer Academic Programme offers students from all schools a variety of

courses from grades 10 – 12.

7Men of Character from Boys of Promise

FAcULtY PRoFiLe

where were you before crescent?I was at Appleby College in Oakville for three years. I

was teaching, as well as running one of the boarding houses—the boys’ residence, Powell’s House. I myself was a boarder from grade 7 to grade 13, growing up in Sydney, so had that experience to bring to what I was doing there. Before Appleby, I was in London for six years, having a fantastic time, and was at Crescent in 2007 for a year (supply teaching) when I first came to Canada.

why do you teach?I love it. I knew from an early age that teaching was what I wanted to do with my life. I had a chance in grade 11 to participate in a teaching work experience, and knew after the first two days that teaching PHE (physical and health education) was it for me. I love teaching PHE as it is a hands-on; I am a very kinesthetic person.

I was very lucky to attend the Australian College of Physical Education in Sydney when I did. It is located in the hub of the Olympic Village—we hosted the Games in 2000 if you recall—so we as students had access to all of the amazing facilities you saw during the Games.

I teach grade 4, grade 5, grade 6 PHE and I coach soccer in the fall, skiing in the winter and rugby in the spring. I have been involved in the preparations for the rugby trip to Argentina and Chile... it is really exciting. I am very fortunate to have that opportunity, and to be involved.

I love the game of rugby; I play for the Oakville Crusaders Rugby Club. We won against Balmy Beach in the McCormick Cup by one point in the final last year (20-19) and it is something of which we are very proud.

And for those who don’t know, there is skiing in Australia. There is a mountain range six hours outside of Sydney called the Snowy Mountains or “The Snowies.” This is mainland Australia’s only true Alpine region with large natural snowfalls

every winter (June, July and early August). The size is similar to what you would find in Lake Placid or Mt. Tremblant.

what’s your favourite thing about crescent?The professional staff and the camaraderie. From day one I was made to feel welcome by every member on staff.

what would you do if you were handed a billion dollars?I would give a part of it to Crescent to support the Great Boys campaign, and then I would buy a ski chalet in France. I

would set-up a 12 room relais & chateau type of establishment, and provide a place where guests could expect the ultimate in pampering (waited on hand-and-foot), be in surroundings of incredible natural beauty, and enjoy phenomenal skiing, and marvellous outdoor experiences.

I would meet and greet guests, look after them, in addition to preparing gourmet meals in the evening. I love to cook, and would serve all meals with the perfect wine pairing of course!

what’s your greatest joy in life? It sounds cliche, but I am doing what I love—I am living my dream.

if you were a professional athlete, who would you be?Michael Schumacher—hands down.

our new Lower School PHe teacher, Mr. eugene Massi

CRESCENT SCHOOL | 2365 Bayview Ave. Toronto, ON M2L 1A2 | 416.449.2556 | www.crescentschool.org

This year the Middle School decided to take on a challenge: they decided not to produce a play, but decided to produce and host a comedy/improv night. They took on this challenge and successfully created an entertaining show. Coyote Night

Live was a great night of entertainment! The audience was treated to various improv games including Superhero Funeral and a wide array of comedy sketches—all of which were written by the students in the show. Some of my favourite sketches from the show included:

1) MY COMPUTER IS BROKEN (Josh Limpert and YaLe sussman) This sketch provided a comedic interpretation of how it feels to be waiting on the phone for customer service to assist you.

2) THOMAS HERRING STAND UP (thomas herring) It was great to see Thomas perform stand up for about 10 minutes and have enough material to keep the audience laughing.

3) SO YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT TALENT CANADA (neaL ganguLi, russeL goLdman, aLex mason, gorav menon, Christian metivier and gabrieL mok) This sketch provided a comedic parody of reality TV shows.

The main problem this show had when it was first conceived was with the transitions. How would we be able to transition from one sketch to another quickly, and without disturbing the flow of the show? That was where our videos and projections came in. Throughout the show, filmed comedy sketches were played which provided great transition time and a chance for the audi-ence to experience something different than live acting. The show required the use of three projects on three screens—two of which had to be set-up in the upper corners of the proscenium. The use of projections during the show definitely added to the quality of the event.

Congratulations to the cast, crew, and directors for creating a great, entertaining show from scratch! It took great courage from all the actors to create their own sketches and perform them in front of an audience. The actors brought a huge amount of enthusiasm to each show, and left the audience with a smile on their faces. Coyote Night Live was a great show that definitely lived up to its slogan, “Why laugh like a hyena when you can howl like a coyote.”

—Kevin chien, grade 11

Coyote Night Live