Updated: July 10, 2008

The Principal's Newsletter, June 2008

The Arts
Congratulations to all our actors, artists and musicians who displayed outstanding initiative, leadership and teamwork at our second annual Arts Awards Banquet, 'ish'! From all the Arts teachers, we want you to know how proud we are of your hard work and successes. Special congratulations to all the award winners and their families. Without your talents, determination and support, we would not be able to offer the dynamic program we do. A big thanks to all the students who worked so hard this year on the Integrated Arts Council and their subject specific organizations, DICE, Music Lynx and VAB. Without your vision, leadership and determination we could not have had hosted two successful Arts evenings this year.

Visual and Media Arts
We have had a very busy year! Our semester one Grade 11 Visual Arts students and our Grade 10 Media Arts students participated in the exhibit, Self and Surrounding, at Badley House through the Museums of Mississauga. We also had many of our senior and junior students participate in the eighth annual Walk the Art exhibit at the Living Arts Center. The Visual Arts Board completed the mural in Applewood School—congratulations to all of those who worked on the piece. A big fabulous 'THANK YOU' to our Yearbook crew! Our budding designers have worked very hard on completing the second yearbook for SLSS and are excited about the release in the fall. Lastly, we would like to say 'well done' to all our Visual, Media and Photography students who have been developing their looking and creativity skills to become greater critical thinkers and artists.

Music
Here at SLSS’s Music Department we have something for everyone in which to be involved. Our extra-curricular groups include: Integrated Arts Council, Music Lynx Leadership Council, Senior Concert Band, Junior Concert Band, Jazz Band, Guitar Ensemble, World Drumming, Wind Ensemble, Saxophone Quartet, Flute Quartet and Theory Tutorial. All our extra-curricular groups are interactive and provide students with the opportunity to challenge themselves at their own pace. This is one of the reasons why the music department is so dynamic!

On February 20 , 2008, our Junior Concert Band performed and competed at the Golden Horseshoe MusicFest (in Hamilton), and received a stellar SILVER placing. Further, under the direction of Mr. Brard, our Senior Concert Band received an outstanding GOLD, which qualified them to perform in Ottawa for a National standing. The Ottawa excursion was held May 13–15. The Senior Concert Band looked great with their uniform shirts that were personalized to every music student. Competing with over 9,000 students and over fifty bands, our Senior Band received an amazing BRONZE placing! In addition, the National Arts Center Award was presented to Carolyn for her leadership, commitment and overall musicality.

We also participated in many other events: Music Monday on May 5 was a day to celebrate music education across Canada. It is also a positive message because Music Monday honours all the important values music education provides students —community, respect, excellence and, diversity! On this day, the World Drumming Ensemble played in the front foyer at lunch.

The music department works hard to include absolutely everyone into our events and programs, which is why we invite Applewood School to drum with us and participate when we have such events.

The music department had a wonderful year-end trip to Wonderland on May 30th, to perform at the music festival. We are continuously working on our music web pages.

In addition, we are planning for next year, as we welcome new participants and our new grade 9s into the music department. Here at Stephen Lewis Secondary School, we emphasize Learning for All. Specifically, in the music department, we redefine what this philosophy means and we try our best to bring you an artistic approach on how to experience music. Music provides students with more than just a basic education that all students learn in class. Music encourages life-lessons that will accompany students through their melody of life. So, do something you enjoy, because music is everywhere and in everyone, and if we all grasp the opportunities around us, like the influence of music, it is then we can begin to change the world.

Drama
S.L.S.S. Drama had a busy year. DICE (Drama in Community and Education) was responsible for creating and organizing many of the opportunities for students to get involved in drama. DICE members wrote and performed a murder mystery video to celebrate Halloween. All students in the school were encouraged to solve the mystery in order to receive a prize. DICE also created a very moving performance piece for the Remembrance Day assembly to honour all of those who have sacrificed for our freedom.

In addition to activities taking place within the school, several students took advantage of opportunities to create drama in the larger community. Three students wrote a play for Studentwrights, a playwrighting festival hosted by Meadowvale S.S. They were able to perform a staged reading of their script and receive feedback from professional playwrights in order to improve their work. Five students entered plays in the Sears Ontario Drama Festival. After a lot of work by the actors and directors and many long rehearsals, a decision had to be made. Nathalie's play was selected to enter the competition at Meadowvale S.S. where all of the actors did a fantastic job and Nathalie received an Award of Distinctive Merit for Playwrighting.

Many of our drama students in DICE and in drama classes participated in our Winter Arts Night and Spring Awards Night performing voice dubbing, movement to music, monologues and role-playing.

Overall, we had a very successful year and look forward to more opportunities to showcase our talents next year!

The Arts are about creativity, problem-solving, independent and group work, critical thinking, and leadership. Visual Arts curriculum focuses on the creation and deconstruction of visual imagery; imagery that expresses our experiences and beliefs of our world and our creative desires.

Here at Stephen Lewis, we offer traditional visual arts, non-traditional media arts and photography. In future, we hope to offer additional specialty courses such as animation and design.

Thank you for visiting the Arts pages on the Stephen Lewis website. We hope you find them enjoyable and informative.

Why Arts?
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate -- the talents of many brilliant people. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: "If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now." Here is the link.

About The Arts

The Arts are an integral part of our society; look at the rich history of art, dance, drama, and music that every culture is built on. We believe the Arts are not an add-on to be taken only when time allows, but instead are just as necessary for the future doctor, lawyer and engineer as they are for the future artist, music chart-topper and blockbuster actor. It is our hope that the Art web pages will explain why.

As a revered part of our curriculum and education system, the Arts are fully supported at Stephen Lewis Secondary School through the offering of Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts programming. Youth who participate in the arts through high school are often regarded as having a full, comprehensive education and bring skill sets not available from the traditional core courses.

Advertising, web design, art galleries, film and theatre productions, music videos, the music on our iPods and our favourite television shows exist directly from our love of The Arts. Every student in the Ontario education system is a required to take a minimum of one Arts credit. This can be a confusing choice for youth as they may have more than one interest in the arts or they may not be entirely sure where their interests yet lie. These Art web pages are designed to help with those choices.

While all of our programs encourage critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and creative exploration, the way each discipline investigates these skill sets are different. Students are encouraged to follow their passions while continuing to challenge themselves in various areas. The Art web pages will outline pathways from junior to senior courses, provide course outlines for each of our discipline areas, show career possibilities from the study of our disciplines, as well as answer some of our most frequently asked questions by parents and students. Of course our phones are always open and any questions you may have regarding the arts and their benefits are always welcome.