Home » 2015 (Page 5)
Yearly Archives: 2015
The End of Homework?
By Liz McColloch, French Faculty
The End of Homework?
As St. Mark’s anticipates our new schedule for next year, the question has come up repeatedly: How will we manage homework with only three class meetings a week? This question, in combination with our increased focused on collaborative work, has led us to think carefully about evening hours and how our students spend their time outside of class. For me, the answer lies in redeveloping our understanding of homework rather than the further restructuring of our schedule or manipulation of old curricula into a new timeframe. How do we make the most of our time, be it in or out of class? Have we moved beyond the concept of homework as we have traditionally known it? (more…)
Alternative Assessment and the Art of Exploring
By Brady Loomer, Science Faculty
Alternative Assessment and the Art of Exploring
Exploring can be described as the simple act of discovery. In a literature course, a student may explore meanings, interpretations, and characters’ lives. In an art course, a student may explore depth, shadow, and space. In a science course, a student may explore the structure of the atom, cellular structure, or action vs. reaction. All these are important aspects of a student’s education, however there is something still missing in that definition of exploring and discovery. Exploratory Sciences tries to delve into a distinctly human condition, the desire to explore new places. If human beings were not inherently curious about what lies over the next hill we would not be one of the most well adapted and expansive species on the (more…)
Books Are Better Than People
By Maggie Nixon, English Faculty
Books Are Better Than People
Or, the more accurate and less eye-catching, Why I Read Books
Or, Bibliophage
When I was in first grade, my brother and I got a really cool gift for Christmas. Or for a birthday. Or randomly. I don’t really remember when we got it – but it was really cool. It was a “design your own plate” kit–you drew your designs on a white circular piece of paper, shipped it off to a company, and in a few short weeks, BAM, you had plates with your drawings on them. My brother and I each made two plates. His were the “My Mom is Great” and “Hamerhead Shark” plates. He couldn’t spell yet. The misspellings resulted from me trying to be a teacher. I also made two plates. The first was the “Hawii” plate where I drew a lovely picture of a beach and wrote about the 50th state. Jokingly, my father refers (more…)
A Cake of Dante’s Inferno!
By William D’Angelo and Erica Christensen, VI Form
A Cake of Dante’s Inferno!
As the final project for our Independent Study reading and discussing Dante’s Divine Comedy, we baked and constructed a cake that featured the Circles of Dante’s “Inferno.” On the Saturday prior to Prize Day, during the Academic Showcase, we presented the cake. If students or faculty wanted a piece of cake, they needed to read all nine of our descriptions for each specific Circle and write down what Circle they would be in according to Dante. (The cake is designed upside down strictly for balancing purposes!)
The Yellow section (First through Fourth Circles): Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed
The Pink section (Fifth through Seventh Circles): Wrath, Heresy, Violence
The Red section (Eighth and Ninth Circles): Fraud, Treachery
Below are our explanations for each Circle: (more…)
Civil Rights or “Cis”vil Rights?
By Anya Harter, VI Form
Civil Rights or “Cis”vil Rights?
Wars have been fought over as much. The right of every person to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is the cornerstone of America’s foundation. The American Dream, in which so many so ardently believe, promises a job and an education for those who work hard and deserve it.
From this same belief originated federal laws regarding discrimination in the workforce. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states: “It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer … to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” While, there is the workforce is not rid of discrimination, victims of this discrimination are protected under law. The reference to sex is even defined as including but not limited to “pregnancy, childbirth, or related
medical conditions” (Title). However, there exists a glaring hole. There is no mention of sexual orientation or gender in the anti-discrimination law. The term “sex” and “gender” are not equivalent. Sex = male and female ( biological differences: chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs); Gender = masculine and feminine (sociological differences: characteristics that a society or culture deem as masculine or feminine) (more…)
Unjustly Accused: The Knights Templar or Philip the Fair?
By Matthew Flathers, VI Form
Unjustly Accused: The Knights Templar or Philip the Fair?
(A Product of the History Fellowship)
On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the twenty third and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned alive on a small island in the middle of the Siene.[1] Only a few years earlier, the organization under his command spanned across all of Europe and the Holy Land, and with the constant stream of donations pouring into the Order, there seemed to be no limit on what they could achieve. So the question remains: what chain of events could possibly have led to such a rapid destruction of an organization that once was a celebrated and glorious defender of the Christian Faith? (more…)
Against Birthday Celebrations
By Candice Wang, VI Form
Against Birthday Celebrations
Modern individualism has fathered many cultural phenomena. As the increase in society’s productivity promotes the quality of life, unnecessary personal luxuries have become an unquestioned part of contemporary life. Among these extravagances, birthday celebrations are the most ludicrous.
Contrary to popular belief, an individual deserves no merit for his or her existence. From the moment of conception to the last breath on the deathbed, a person’s life is a pure gift, and occasionally an accidental byproduct, from actions of other people. A baby exerts little effort in its birth; it is rather a miraculous feat on the part of its mother. As humans grow up, the sun shines, the Earth turns, and the plants perform photosynthesis to keep the them alive. The family and the society are responsible for feeding education to assimilate a new person into the cultural construct. Individual personhood is no more than a reaction to the course of nature combined with environmental circumstances. In the (more…)
Confession of My (Our) Ignorance: A Chapel Talk
By Julie Geng, VI Form
Confession of My (Our) Ignorance: A Chapel Talk
If there is one thing that I improved significantly over my senior year, it must be procrastination. When I received the chapel talk invitation from Rev. Talcott over the summer, I immediately signed up, and I picked sometime in April. I had the delusion that senior spring would give me more time to carry out some soul-searching. Uh, no.
I chose the date April the 7th to procrastinate, and I thought it was a brilliant idea, really. I could not imagine how my courageous classmates managed to craft amazingly inspiring chapel speeches during the college process. Again, I was wrong. Many topics that I wanted to talk about have already been extensively and successfully touched upon. I wanted to talk about my experience in a chemistry lab, but it would not be nearly as exciting as Liz Swain’s baby-delivering internship. I wanted to talk about my Chinese names (yes, there are two of them), but mine are not nearly as interesting as Winnie Yan’s “little buddha.” I wanted to talk about mindful eating and mental illness, but my words and story would not be nearly as compelling and powerful as Matt Flather’s or Jess Hutchinson’s. (more…)
LEO 