Director's Blog
— Renee Owen, Executive Director
Kaleidoscope – January 2019
Kaleidoscope January, 2019 From the age of six to fourteen I took violin lessons but had no luck with my teachers, for whom music did not transcend mechanical practicing. I really began to learn only after I had fallen in love with Mozart’s sonatas. The attempt to...
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope, October 2018 I wrote this Kaleidoscope before we had another national tragedy occur: The Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. It is with a broken heart that I add this “introduction” to Kaleidoscope. Collaborative for Spirituality in Education As I write, I...
The Heart of the Matter: What’s In a Mission?
What's in a mission? This school year I will be writing a series for Heart of the Matter based on our board Ends Policies. Ends Policies are written by the board as the guiding light for our school. They point the way toward who we want to be and where we want to go....
Alumni Performance After Rainbow
Academic Achievement of Rainbow Learners: Alumni Performance After Rainbow We wanted to track our alumni performance after Rainbow and share just how well our students perform. Finding data that accurately reflects how our holistic learners perform academically is...
Arming Teachers Is Not the Answer
A few years ago, I wrote a piece for the Mountain Express. It was after the Sandy Hook tragedy. I explore that why we as educators cannot resort to arming ourselves, but instead, embrace a hope for the future without arms. The article shows how this is still relevant...
Kaleidoscope – February 2018
February 2018 Kaleidoscope from Renee Owen. Announcements about health and safety, new division head structure, upcoming guests of the school, contract announcements, and more!
Kaleidoscope: Gratitude, Love In Action, and Much to Celebrate
Hallowed Eve. All Souls. Day of the Dead. Halloween. The various cultural traditions of mid-autumn have much in common. In general, the veil between the living and the dead is considered to be at its thinnest this time of year when the plants are dying and all...
Kaleidoscope September 2017
The Many Wonderful Things Going On At Rainbow Howdy! Welcome to the first Kaleidoscope issue for the 2017-18 school year. For those of you who are new to Rainbow, Kaleidoscope isn’t really a newsletter. While it does provide some news, it’s more of an...
Education in the Postmodern Era
From a historical perspective, transitions from one era to the next seem like they happened overnight. But in reality, each transition took lifetimes, and the people who lived through those transitions didn’t fully understand what was happening.
It is becoming clear that we are currently living in such a time of transition. The Modern Era is behind us, and a new era—the Postmodern Era—is ahead. What are the values and skills our students will need to thrive in the Postmodern Era?
A Welcome Letter to All Families
Dearest Families, Welcome to the 2017-18 school year at Rainbow Community School and Omega Middle School. This is a very special year; it is Rainbow’s 40th anniversary. In 1977, three visionary, highly educated women, who believed that education had the power to...
Kaleidoscope: May 2017
Happy end of year, everyone! You did it! If you are a parent, you did it all. Through sickness, crankiness, bad weather, and whatever particular trials your family endured, you got your precious ones to school…and most of you got them here on time, with lunch in hand....
Kaleidoscope: March 2017
Welcome to spring at Rainbow Community School! It’s a time of joyful activity, like overnight field trips and lots of celebrations and feasts. For teachers this can be a bitter sweet time. Last night, one teacher reflected that by this time of year her class is so...
The Times: Yes, They Are A-Changing
The Times: Yes, They Are A-Changing What is Postmodernism and What Skills will our Children Need in the New Era? Looking back over history, the transition from one era to another seems like it happened overnight, but in reality, each transition takes lifetimes, and...
Kaleidoscope, November 2016
Kaleidoscope, November 2016 Unfortunately, it has been too long since I have written you. I meant to release an edition of Kaleidoscope in early November, but, frankly, the election put me off-kilter. And with all the smoke in the air, it felt like the world...
Educating for Social Justice
Harvard Grad Delivers Powerfully Poetic Speech On Overcoming Injustice by Taryn Finley of The Huffington Post Last month, Rainbow added "social justice" to our mission statement. Now, more than ever, education needs to be a force for empowerment, rather than...
Kaleidoscope – April 2016
Kaleidoscope, April 2016 The Maypole gets wrapped on Monday at the annual Rainbow May Day Celebration – a quintessential Rainbow event. Fairies, elves, ancient dances, strawberries and cream – anyone who can slip away for the morning from 10:30 to about 11:30 will be...
Mwe: You, Me, and All Our Relations
https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/blog/getting-next-generation-fall-love-planet/ Check out this interview with Dan Siegel on the psychology and sociology of our environment. At Rainbow I often stress that helping students cultivate a deep and personal...
I have made a terrible mistake…
...is how this teacher begins her article, after being a student for two days and finding out what the experience is really like. Teacher Spends Two Days as a Student and is Shocked at What She Learns by Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post