CAS ACADEMIC SUPPORT CENTER REOPENS!

CAS Community!

The Academic Support Center (ASC) has reopened it’s doors!! The space is geared towards providing a supportive atmosphere for students to focus on academics and life-skill building. The ASC will run Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:15-5:00 in C-327 (Phil Halpern's classroom). Jesse Strauss, a CAS graduate from the class of 2005 will be coordinating the ASC. He has been student teaching with Dana Moran and Amy Crawford and has spent time in the classrooms of all grade levels. We hope to create a safe space for students to complete homework during the afternoon. This includes academic support provided by Senior tutors, parents, and Berkeley School Volunteers as well as helping students create life goals and plans to reach them. If you are interested in tutoring/mentoring or if you're able to donate and/or deliver food (or if you are interested in getting involved in some other way) please contact Jesse at strjes21@evergreen.edu.

CAS CELEBRATES 10th ANNUAL SCREENAGERS!

Saturday, February 2, 2008 was a day to make the entire CAS community
proud. The hard work of ten juniors was showcased at the Pacific Film
Archive in the 10th Annual Screenagers Bay Area High School Film Festival.

For their junior year media internships, Aleksis Bertoni, Navarra Buxton,
Maximilio Cutler, Simone Davenport, Lee Kittams, Malenca Logan, Alisa
Pickett, Maricruz Sanchez, David Shor and Lauri Tellez-Cortez, solicited
submissions - short videos in a variety of genres - from high schools all
over the Bay Area. After considering over 70 videos, the CAS students
agreed on a 90 minute program consisting of experimental, documentary,animation and fiction pieces that included pieces by CAS students Mollie Brahan-Penberthy ('08), Rico Chenyek ('07), Giana Cirolia ('08), Rene
Macleay ('08), Mahaliyah ('07) and ericka shain-okolower ('08).  Their efforts resulted in an engaging, entertaining and informative show that over 400 people enjoyed.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Dear CAS Community:

 I am writing to provide an update on some important things going on in CAS effective next week. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read through this rather long letter.

CAS SPANISH

 After many long weeks, we have finally got good news to report regarding CAS Spanish. Starting next week, CAS Spanish will be taught by an experienced, credentialed teacher, though a final determination as to which of three candidates has not yet been made. Amy C and I will be working closely with our new teacher to help him or her make a smooth transition and would appreciate your help in two ways; first, please remind your child that he or she must be on his or her best behavior. Second, please let us know if you are able to work as volunteer in support of our new colleague. 

 In order to end this semester on a positive note, students in CAS Spanish will be doing two things during their final period this week. First, they will be writing an in-class essay in response to the question, "What have you learned this semester from your experience in Spanish?" The objective here is to have students reflect on their semester and to draw some life lessons from it. (The essay does NOT ask them to describe what they've learned in terms of Spanish. Rather, it asks them to describe what they've learned about enduring a difficult situation, when and how it is most effective to speak out for something they believe in, the public school system, individual and group responsibility, effective communication, etc.)

 The second piece of writing they'll be asked to do is a diagnostic assessment of their current Spanish level. This assessment will enable our new teacher to provide instruction appropriate to each student. Per Mr. Slemp, students who complete these two writing assignments will receive an A for the fall semester 

 CAS Spanish in the spring semester will be fast-paced. Students should be prepared to work hard to prepare them for the next level. To that end, they should consider utilizing the after school Spanish tutoring opportunities provided by BHS. Tutoring is available Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-5:00.

 I want to add a word of thanks for your patience, involvement and understanding over the course of the last 18 weeks. It has been a trying time for all of us as it has been very hard to see our students languishing. As we move forward, I look forward to collaborating with you on much more positive undertakings.

CAS WEDNESDAYS

 In our ongoing effort to serve CAS students well, we are planning several changes to CAS Wednesdays. Before I describe the changes, let me explain the elements that will remain the same:

Independent Projects: Students who are already doing IP’s will continue to do so. In the future, students who want to begin an IP can submit an IP Proposal sheet to their Advisor. (See attached) Parents: You can support your children by helping them identify an Independent Project, ensuring that they are where they are supposed to be during IP time, then checking in with them in the evening to see how their work in their IP went that day. In other words, IP’s will not be changing.

Urban Sociology: This college course, taught by SF State professor Antwi Akom, will continue meeting CAS Wednesdays. No change there, either.

Advisory: No change here. We will continue working with mixed-grade groups of students toward our Advisory goals:

1) Provide advocacy and trusting relationships

2) Increase student involvement in decision-making

3) Collaborate around classroom norms

 So that the CAS Wednesday schedule doesn't affect our regular classes unequally, we will continue to rotate from week to week the classes that meet in the afternoon. That is, on the first CAS Wednesday of the second semester, periods 1-3 will meet in the afternoon and on the second CAS Wednesday, periods 4-6 will meet in the afternoon and so on.

Video Diarist Project: This brand new project, led by Berkeley documentarian Tom Weidlinger, has six CAS kids contributing to a documentary on the ways teens learn. (The finished film will air nationally on PBS!) The participating kids will meet with Tom and his team during CAS Wednesdays.

Leadership Club: This group will be changing; students will be required to reapply and the size of the group will be smaller next semester. Those students not continuing in Leadership will be moving into either the ASC or an IP. 

The biggest change to CAS Wednesdays affects the Academic Support Center.

ASC: The ASC is being disbanded. Instead of one teacher and a handful of volunteers trying to provide academic support to sixty or so students, the CAS staff has come to the conclusion that the following changes will better help us reach our goals. 

-We’re suspending our staff collaboration time (which has been taking place concurrent with the ASC), and we’ll be meeting with our first and second period classes in our regular classrooms. Of course, our classes will be smaller than usual since a bunch of kids will be on IP’s, in Urban Sociology or in Leadership. This will allow us to provide focused academic help where it is most needed. Dan Appel will place parent volunteers according to teacher requests.

-Students in all CAS classes will be participating in Sustained Silent Reading for the duration of first period every CAS Wednesday. Parents: You can support your students by helping them choose an interesting book and reminding them to bring it to school every CAS Wednesday.

-Second period will be like a decentralized ASC. Students report to their regular second period classes where their second period teacher will supervise them while they do class work or homework for their classes. Again, parent volunteers will be assigned to help support students.

Additional Notes…

CAS Adventures: We are please to report that CAS Adventures is gearing up for its next expedition. At the end of February, 11 CAS students and two CAS teachers will be spending three nights at Donner Pass in the High Sierras learning how to snowshoe, build snow caves and stay warm. Special thanks to our partner, Cal Adventures, for their work with us this year.

International Travel: Work is ongoing that will have a group of CAS students and teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico at the beginning of this coming summer. Details will be forthcoming and volunteer opportunities abound for parents.

 So that concludes this rather lengthy update... I think I speak for the whole CAS staff when I say that we are excited to be starting a new semester and that we are proud to be working with you to support your children. Last week, BHS held the annual orientation night for parents of eighth graders. A number of CAS teachers, students and alumni spoke to five groups of parents for twelve minutes per session. In total, I think as many as 600 people heard our presentation. That the community is so interested in CAS is a source of pride for us all. We are sustaining and continuing to develop a wonderful small school in a challenging context at a difficult time. Another indication of our success is in the following passage which a CAS graduate of the class of '06 wrote for the 8th grade orientation night:

CAS was the most positive educational experience I've ever had. It allowed me to forge deep and lasting relationships with several of my teachers, provided me with a

supportive and small community without which I doubt I would've made it through Berkeley High, instilled in me a commitment to social justice and a passion for learning, taught me how to understand and analyze difficult ideas in a deep, analytical and creative way, and facilitated the most eye-opening, powerful and mature class discussions I've ever had. In addition to providing me with a great high school experience, now that I'm in college, I'm realizing that CAS prepared me for life beyond Berkeley High in ways I couldn't even imagine. I can't even count the number of times in my classes now that we've been discussing a concept or reading an article that I've already seen three years ago in one of my CAS classes. So many of the things that are new to my friends in college--finding internships, writing long research papers and communicating with people that are different--I have already experienced in CAS. CAS really did teach me how to be an active, informed, passionate world citizen, and I feel so lucky for that.

-Ellen Cushing, NYU '10

That's all for now. I hope all of you are well.

Sincerely,

Phil Halpern and Amy Crawford

PS: Below, you'll find several documents that you might want to review and save. I'm pasting them in so as to avoid some problems we've had with attachments and the e-tree.

1) Advisory curriculum overview

2) CAS Wednesday Calendar

3) Independent Project Proposal 

CAS Advisory Curriculum Overview 2007-2008

1^st Semester

Goal:  Build Community within CAS and Advisories.  Develop and familiarize students with IP structure and requirements.

Artifacts:  Community building curriculum.  IP/ASC exhibition report

Meeting 1 (9.19.07)—Only 3^rd Period Meeting:  Orientation and IP Proposals are approved or revised

Meeting 2 (9.26.07)—Advisory Norms and Purpose

Meeting 3 (10.10.07)—Each advisory will develop a community building curriculum that will be taught to another advisory

Meeting 4 (10.17.07)—Develop community building curriculum

Meeting 5 (10.24.07)—IP/ASC Check-in.  3 minute presentations given by all students on what they are doing with their IP time.

Meeting 6 (10.31.07)—Combine advisories and teach curriculum that was developed (rotation #1)

Meeting 7 (11.14.07)—Combine advisories and teach curriculum that was developed (rotation #2)

Meeting 8 (11.21.07)—Cultural sharing around Thanksgiving

Meeting 9 (11.28.07)—Whole CAS assembly—can be moved

Meeting 10 (12.12.07)—IP/ASC Exhibition preparation and advisory evaluations

Meeting 11 (12.19.07)—IP/ASC Exhibitions (NO IP TIME)—IP/ASC Reports Due

2^nd Semester

Goals:  Focus on College and Career Planning

Artifacts:  Students will develop a 4-year plan, a Career Plan and an IP/ASC Exhibition Report.

Meeting 1 (1.30.08)—College Goals & Personality Profile

Meeting 2 (2.13.08)—College Goals and College Overview

Meeting 3 (2.20.08)—CSU & UC Systems

Meeting 4 (2.27.08)—Private & Out of State Schools

Meeting 5 (3.12.08)—IP/ASC Check-in.  3 minute presentations

Meeting 6 (3.19.08)—4 Year Plan

Meeting 7 (3.26.08)—4 Year Plan

Meeting 8 (4.16.08)—Career Plan

Meeting 9 (4.30.08)—Career Plan

Meeting 10 (5.14.08)—Whole CAS Assembly

Meeting 11 (5.21.08)—Exhibition Prep and Advisory Evaluations

Meeting 12 (5.28.08)—IP/ASC Exhibitions (NO IP TIME)—IP/ASC Reports Due

CAS Wednesday Calendar 2007-2008

Advisory A—Periods 1,2,3 are in the afternoon Advisory B—Period  4,5,6 are in the afternoon

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
August 27	28	29	30	31
September 3	4	5	6	7
10	11	12	13	14
17	18	19  ADVISORY A	20	21
24	25	26  ADVISORY B	27	28
October 1	2	3   LATE START	4	5
8 Staff Devo.	9	10  ADVISORY A	11	12
15	16	17  ADVISORY B	18	19
22	23	24  ADVISORY A	25	26
29	30	31  ADVISORY B	November 1	2
5	6	7   LATE START	8	9 Staff Devo.
12  Veteran’s Day	13	14  ADVISORY A	15	16
19	20	21  ADVISORY B	22 Thanksgiving	23
26	27	28  ADVISORY A	29	30
December 3	4	5   LATE START	6	7
10	11	12  ADVISORY B	13	14
17	18	19  IP EXHIBITIONS       Advisory A	20	21 Winter Break
24	25	26	27	28
31	January 1	2	3	4
7	8	9	10	11
14  DEAD WEEK	15	16	17	18
21 MLK	22  FINALS	23	24	25
28 Semester Break	29	30  ADVISORY A	31	February 1
4	5	6   LATE START	7	8
11	12	13  ADVISORY B	14	15 Lincoln’s B-day
18 President’s Day	19	20  ADVISORY A	21	22
25	26	27  ADVISORY B	28	29
March 3	4	5  LATE START	6	7
10	11	12  ADVISORY A	13	14
17	18	19  ADVISORY B	20	21
24	25	26  ADVISORY A	27	28
31 Spring Break	April 1	2	3	4
7	8	9  LATE START	10	11
14	15	16 ADVISORY B	17	18
21  STAR Test	22	23	24	25
28	29	30 ADVISORY A	May 1	2
5	6	7  LATE START	8	9
12	13	14 ADVISORY B	15	16
19 Malcolm X	20	21 ADVISORY A	22	23
26 Memorial Day	27	28  IP EXHIBITIONS        Advisory B	29	30
June 2	3 Dead Week	4	5	6
9 Finals	10	11	12	13

CAS Independent Project Proposal
Student Name:	Grade:
Description
What will you be doing?
Why did you pick this project?
Contact Information
Location of Project		Parent/Guardian	Name:
			Phone #:
			Email:
IP Supervisor	Name:	Parent/Guardian Signature*:
	Phone #:	Advisor		Name:
	Email:			Signature*:
Supervisor’s Signature*:

*You signature signifies that you are aware of, and approve, the IP the above student will be completing during 8:30 am to 10:30 am on Wednesdays.

COMMENTS:

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Old News

CAS Winter Reunion Party for Alums and Teachers
December 19 , 2007
The CAS Winter Reunion Party.

Join your "CAS-mates" for a memorable evening. No, you don't have to bring an artifact. Yes, bring food (if you remember to). Definitely come, even if you don't have food.


Saturday, December 22, 2007


6:00 PM to 9:00 PM


Home of Rick Ayers & Ilene Abrams in Oakland

23 Randwick Ave.

Oakland, CA 94611 (Yahoo-map it if you don’t know where it is).


Parents: We love you but in fact parents are NOT supposed to come (we don’t have room!). This is for students and teachers.

Pass the word. See you Saturday!



Best wishes,


Rick Ayers rayers@berkeley.edu

Phil Halpern

Amy Crawford

Posted at 01:40 PM to Events

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First PCC Meeting
September 9 , 2007
The first PCC meeting of the fall will be on Monday Sept. 10 at 7 pm at the Berkeley Covenant church, 1632 Hopkins. The PCC will meet on the 1st Monday or Tuesday of each month from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Posted at 02:44 PM to Events

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First PTSA Meeting
September 9 , 2007
Tuesday, September 11th at 7:00pm in the Little Theatre is the first PTSA meeting. This is an important meeting to attend because the parent reps for BHS School Governance Council (SGC) and BHS Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP) will be voted on. These parent reps work with BHS Administrator and Teachers to make important decisions about school policy and program funding. Please support BHS and CAS by attending the meeting and VOTING.


Continue Reading | Posted at 12:46 PM to Events

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Welcome new and returning CAS families!
September 5 , 2007
We are excited to have begun a new year and to be working with you and your children. The consensus among the staff is that we are going to have a great year! We are writing to let you know about some changes to CAS and about some of the things we are planning. (Please save this letter. It contains information you'll want to have later in the school
year.)


Welcome Picnic

This past Sunday, about forty CAS families and members of the CAS staff assembled at BHS for our annual "Welcome to CAS" potluck, organized by members of the Parent Coordinating Committee. We all had a good time meeting one another, breaking bread and talking about the coming year.
Much of what we discussed at the picnic is described in this letter.


CAS Leadership Council

This year, Amy Crawford and I (Phil Halpern) intend to build upon past successes of the Leadership Council. On Friday, September 14 from 4:30-7:00, I'll be hosting a potluck bbq for parents/guardians who are considering serving on this important body. The event will take place at my house, 3037 Fulton St., Berkeley, 94705. The bbq will give us a chance to get to know one another better and to discuss our objectives for the year. I hope you will be able to attend.


Please RSVP so we can plan accordingly.


CAS Staff ---------------


We are sorry to have said goodbye to several staff members. Last year's counselor, Elisabeth Sandberg, has taken a leave of absence, Bill Pratt, our long-time history teacher, is on sabbatical, Spanish teacher Alexander Klose has gone to teach elementary school in Tanzania, and Maggie Heredia-Peltz, last year's administrator, is now working with the World Languages department and Academic Choice.


New to our staff this year are Ana-Luisa Delgado, CAS Spanish teacher, Amy Frey, the administrator assigned to small schools within BHS, Hasmig Minnassian, US History, and our new CAS PE teacher, Michael McEvoy. We are thrilled to have these fine people join the CAS community. To contact one of your student's teachers, consult the email directory, below. (At back to school night, teachers may provide other ways to reach them.)


Name/Email

Appel, Dan -- dappel@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Crawford, Amy -- acrawford@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Delgado, Ana-Luisa -- analuisa_delgado@yahoo.com

Eisen-Martin, Biko -- em_biko@yahoo.com or Biko_Eisen-Martin@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Frey, Amy --afrey@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Halpern, Phil -- philiphalpern@mac.com

Katz, Leah -- leahkatz@earthlink.net

McEvoy, Michael -- Michael_McEvoy@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Martinez, Ingrid -- bookworm@troublemaker.com

Minassian, Hasmig -- hminassian@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Moran, Dana -- dana_moran@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Murphy, Mary -- mmurphy@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Quindel, Jessica -- jquindel@berkeley.k12.ca.us

Rasiah, Dharini -- drasiah@berkeley.k12.ca.us


Regrettably, CAS still doesn't have a counselor. Over the course of the last month, we have interviewed several applicants with whom we've been eager to work but in each case credentialing issues have prevented them from being hired. The process has been long and frustrating and we are really looking forward to working with BHS and BUSD administration to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.


In the meantime, we have no choice but to rely on the generosity of the BHS counselors who have been incredibly generous with their time and energy. They've helped CAS with a variety of critical scheduling issues, often working eighteen-hour days to serve their students and CAS students as well. Because the time they can give CAS is limited, we are requesting their help with the most critical issues and asking students and families to wait if their issue is less pressing.


Posted at 11:10 PM to CAS Updates

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CAS Will Begin After School Support Program 9/4/07
September 1 , 2007
Dear CAS Families and Students,

Starting Tuesday next week, 9/4/07, CAS will begin our after school support program. The Academic Support Center, ASC, is designed to give CAS students a place to work after school. Tutors and certain teachers are available during this time to help students (especially in Math and Science). Students can come on a "drop-in" basis, unless they are enrolled in Mary Murphy's 7th period class. The ASC is held in Mary Murphy's room, G216, at the following times:

Monday: 3:15-4:30
Tuesday: 3:15-4:30
Thursday: 3:15-4:30

We are currently looking for volunteers who would be willing to help tutor students during these times. Also, CAS will provide a Wednesday morning ASC session that runs from 8:30am-10:30am. If you are interested in volunteering as a tutor during any of these times, please email me at dappel@berkeley.k12.ca.us. Also, if you are able to donate any healthy snacks for the ASC students they will be much appreciated. Finally, if you have any questions or need more information don't hesitate to contact me.

Dan Appel
CAS Math Teacher/ASC Coordinator
Berkeley High School
1980 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
dappel@berkeley.k12.ca.us
mr_appel@yahoo.com