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Category Archives: 2013 – 14 Academic Year
Sharing About Teaching and Learning
by Lynette Sumpter, Dean of Academics and Director of The Center
This year I’m teaching a religion elective called “Psychology and Religion.” The focus of the course is to examine religion through the lens of psychology, prompting deep thinking about religious phenomena and experiences. My primary work in graduate school was exploring the relationship between psychology and religion, and I found my graduate years of study extremely rewarding. What was most powerful was finishing graduate school with even more questions necessitating a life-long learner approach to engaging these questions! (more…)
Controlling the Handedness of Pesticides: STEM Fellowship Project
by Julie Geng, V Form
Synthesis of R-Furalaxyl Using D-Alanine Methyl Ester via Buchwald-Hartwig Cross Coupling Reaction Followed by Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution
Fundamentals of Chirality
This summer, I was enrolled in an intensive organic chemistry program at Stanford University. This program exposed me to the concept of stereochemistry.
Stereochemistry involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms that form the structure of (more…)
Experimenting with Hydrogen Through a Rotary Engine
by Alex Padron, VI Form
Last year, Pete Hopkinson and I discovered a shared interest in engineering. We heard about the Class of 1968 Fellowship Grant and decided to do a project, albeit not having any specific idea in mind. Over the weeks after hearing about the grant, we bandied about many different ideas. These projects included everything from working with holograms to generating electricity with tidal power. We came across the idea of a rotary engine in the end because Pete’s dad was working on a rotary engine project for the Navy, and we thought the technology (more…)
A Live Recording of “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso”
by Varun Shankar, VI Form
Inspiring, relieving and liberating, music has shaped my life just as much as education has. Not surprisingly, it also takes significant hours in my weekly routine, perhaps as much as 12-14 hours. I’ve played in orchestras, chamber groups, and solo recitals, in extravagant concert halls and in log cabins. Besides playing in the Saint Mark’s Orchestra, I’m actively involved with the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra that meets every Saturday for three hours of practice, culminating in three concerts every year at Jordan Hall in Boston, and (more…)
On Coming To America from Down Under
by Georgia Frizelle, V Form Australian Exchange Student
Some of the strange accents or the weird slang terms around St. Mark’s this fall have come from my friend, Zeldene, and me, Georgia Frizelle, both from Australia. We are here on a six-to-eight week international exchange program that is offered to sophomore girls, and soon also to boys, over the summer. Living on the beach, surfing, or holding a koala—these typical aspects of Australian life are what we left to come to the United States; I strongly encourage St. Markers to consider applying for the exchange for 2014 so that they can experience that (more…)
Do You Crave Crowds or Quiet Nooks?
by Lucy Holland, V Form
Last spring break, my mom and I went to Vieques, which is a little island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Before we got on the puddle jumper plane that took us to our destination, we stopped in Hudson News, the chain store mostly found in airports. A title grabbed my attention: Quiet: The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking. I had only a rough idea of what introverts and extroverts were, but the title intrigued me, seeing as I had always had a mini obsession with psychology because I think that the way the human mind works is intriguing (more…)
A Team-Based Approach in Algebra 2
by Allyson Brown, Mathematics Department
I have just begun my twentieth year of teaching high school mathematics. During the course of these years, I have guided over 1200 students through some sort of math curriculum. Working with these students taught me three important lessons:
1. Student learning is improved when they are given the opportunity to explain concepts to other students.
2. When I assign group projects, students will divide the work in order to either minimize or maximize their own contribution. (more…)
A Roadmap in Grading
by Stephen Hebert, Religion Department and Assistant Chaplain
I’m a religion teacher in search of meaning.
Last Spring I floated what appeared to be a straightforward question to my classes. On the tail end of an assignment that was not executed well (and for which the teacher was to blame), I asked students: “What does a grade really mean?” They stared at me. After a round of clarifying questions, we got to the heart of the matter: most students don’t really know what an “A” means, but they could guess at what it might mean— (more…)
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