All parents are invited to participate in our School’s first annual Lit Fest celebration TOMORROW, Friday, April 22. Parents are invited to attend the kick off, “Come as Your Favorite Literary Character Parade,” beginning at 8:15 a.m. in McDonnell Athletic Center. Students are encouraged to bring a new or gently used copy of their favorite book to deposit in collection bins during the parade for donation to agencies in need.
Following the parade, faculty, students and alumni will lead mini-sessions for parents in the Olson Hall Presentation Room from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m.
All parents are invited to participate in our School’s first annual Lit Fest celebration on Friday, April 22. Parents are invited to attend the kick off, “Come as Your Favorite Literary Character Parade,” beginning at 8:15 a.m. in McDonnell Athletic Center. Students are encouraged to bring a new or gently used copy of their favorite book to deposit in collection bins during the parade for donation to agencies in need.
Following the parade, faculty, students and alumni will lead mini-sessions for parents in the Olson Hall Presentation Room from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m.
8:45-9:30 – “Reading and the Brain”- Tom Dlugosch, Vicki Thurman, Mead Ploszay, Kathy DePung
Tom Dlugosch (Upper School English.) and the three Learning Specialists (Kathy DePung, Mead Ploszay, and Vicki Thurman) will be speaking on the topic of how reading develops from childhood to adulthood as well as how reading itself changes who we are, both individually and as a species. We hope you come away with a better understanding of your role as a parent in developing active readers in your home!
9:35-9:45 – “The Clear Current” – Irem Karacal ’11
Irem was a member of the Creative Writing senior elective during the first trimester, and “The Clear Current” was produced in that workshop. It is available in the US Library in the collection Youthful Indiscretion.
9:45-10:15 – “Making Book Clubs Meaningful” – Tex Tourais
Tex Tourais (Upper School English) will use “The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket” by Yasunari Kawabata to explore some simple ways to make your book club discussions richer and more text-driven.
10:15-10:25 – “The Dome” – Eric Nelson ’11
Eric was a member of the Creative Writing senior elective in the second trimester, and “The Dome” was produced in that workshop. It is available in the US Library in the collection Mindscape.
10:25-10:45 – Jan Schonwald Greenberg ’60
Jan Greenberg was most recently on the MICDS campus to speak to the current 7th grade class about her book of poems, “Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth Century Art,” a book which earned her the prestigious Michael Prinz Award for Excellence in Young Adult writing. Jan had graciously spoken to other groups on campus about her work before, but her first trip here was as a student in the MI Class of 1960. Later, she would also visit as a parent to her daughter Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn ’85.
Jan began her career in the field of art as both a collector and gallery owner. Her relationships with artists and their work inspired her many books about poetry and art as well as those about artists as diverse as Martha Graham, Jackson Pollack, and Frank Gehry. Although Jan has earned most of her accolades as a non-fiction writer, her first book was actually a work of fiction about a girl growing up in St. Louis.
We hope to see you at Lit Fest!