Seven members of the RDS staff and faculty attended the People of Color Conference (PoCC) and Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Denver. Tanna Hall, Tontra Love, Rhonda Smith, Nicole Solis, Meredith Spencer, Jase Turner, and Ray Wilson participated in the NAIS-sponsored annual event; this year's title was "Moving Mountains, Mining Within: Mine, Yours, and Ours.
Upper School Director Ray Wilson was a panelist at the October 9 Bay Area People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS) conference on "Leadership in the 21st Century." Ray shared his pathway to leadership, gave advice for attendees who are beginning their journeys towards school leadership, and offered thoughts on what makes an effective leader in the 21st century.
In a lesson on Asian brush painting, Cindy Nelson introduces fourth-graders to the historical traditions of this art form and has students create their own brush paintings. The class uses as a reference the "Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting," a book written in China over 300 years ago, which shows every aspect and technique of Asian brush painting. The students learn about the apprentice system, in which young men and boys learned from scholars how to paint, write poetry, learn philosophy, and even how to drink tea properly.
