Weekly Update from the Secondary School

Dear parents,

This week has been unusually quiet on the AISL campus. It feels almost like there are 24 voices missing from the cacophony of everyday life around here. I understand of course that this is due to Senior Study week, but the entire aural palate of the school has been affected. It’s just strange. 

I want to give some well-deserved appreciation to our teachers this week. We are in almost the exact middle of a brutal stretch between time off from school. It’s during this time every year that skins get thin and tempers get short. Everything seems 30-40% harder and even getting out of bed to face the day can take it out of you. I think that everybody goes through these periods, but I am not sure that whole professions experience it annually, at the same time. So, add in all of the other stresses that COVID uncertainty brings, and this late April slog becomes particularly...sloggy. 

It’s important to note that our faculty at AISL has risen to the challenge of this time, and is delivering in the classroom. They are tired, and operating with a temporarily limited ability to suffer the small indignities of adulthood, but they are delivering for the kids in the classrooms. And that makes me proud to be a part of this community. 
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I wrote my dissertation on professionalism as a guiding concept in teaching practice, and while there have been many different definitions of professionalism through the years, one of the enduring characteristics of professionals is that they perform at a high level under less than ideal conditions. That characteristic definitely applies to the faculty and staff here at AISL, and for that they need to be appreciated. 

So, if you have the chance, please reach out to your children’s teachers and let them know that you appreciate all the hard work they’re doing for the students. It would mean the world to them. 

​Have a great weekend!
Dr. Rick Odum