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Tag Archives: Pedagogy
Engaging in 20% Time for Lifelong Learning
By Casey Pickett, English Faculty
Engaging in 20% Time for Lifelong Learning
From the time I was in kindergarten, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. As a child, I spent 
countless hours in my basement forcing my four siblings to be my students while I taught them whatever lessons my teachers had taught me earlier in the day. So, as I entered my Masters in the Arts of Teaching (MAT) program at Northeastern in the Fall of 2013, I couldn’t have been more excited to FINALLY learn my craft. I showed up to my first class ready to write down the formula for becoming a good teacher. I was expecting my professor to tell me EXACTLY what I needed to do in order to teach my students everything there was to know about reading, writing, and analyzing literature. Throughout my 18 months in the MAT program, I never did get that formula. What I did get, however, was a constant reminder that my job as a teacher was to prepare my students to become lifelong learners. So, with lifelong learning in mind, I decided to have my students engage in a 20% Time project (based off of Google’s 20% Time policy). (more…)
The Quest to Improve the Teaching of Electricity in the St. Mark’s Introductory Physics Course
By Jacob Backon, STEM Faculty
The Quest to Improve the Teaching of Electricity in the St. Mark’s Introductory Physics Course
Abstract
In response to research indicating significant conceptual misunderstandings of basic electrical concepts, the physics teachers at St. Mark’s incorporated the CASTLE curriculum into the introductory physics course. Over the past few years this curriculum has met with two significant challenges: delivering efficient feedback in response to student model building, and the time it takes to move through the curriculum. Canvas modules were used to address these challenges, and a concept test was administered before and after instruction to gather data on the effectiveness of these techniques. Preliminary data with a very small sample size indicates the CASTLE curriculum and Canvas modules did result in higher scores on the concept test than data reported from a more traditional style of instruction. (more…)
Un jour typique
By Kitty Chen V Form, Stephanie Moon III Form, and Rosanna Zhao III Form
Un jour typique
French 2 assessments this year have been largely project-based, and following each project, students submit video reflections through Voicethread. After finishing a video project this fall, their reflections offered three pieces of feedback: 1 – “We’d like to do bigger projects over longer periods of time. Sometimes it feels like we just do one project after the next.” 2 – “Working with others is fun, but sometimes it would be nice to do our own projects.” 3 – “What if we had more choices in HOW we present what we know?” Armed with this information, all 16 students and Ms. McCulloch brainstormed. (more…)
Outcomes in Team Based Learning in Algebra II
By Mr. Scott Dolesh, Mathematics Faculty
Outcomes in Team Based Learning in Algebra II
My project compares the outcomes of students in Team Based Learning (TBL) Algebra II courses versus students in traditional teacher directed Algebra II courses. I had one Algebra II course that I used the TBL approach, and I had one Algebra II course that I used a traditional teacher directed approach. I also had a colleague who had two Algebra II courses that she taught using the TBL approach, and another colleague who had one Algebra II course that she taught using a traditional teacher directed approach. I compared the outcomes on our two common assessments that we give in Algebra 2: the first being the midterm exam and the second being the final exam. (more…)
Like a Rock Star
By Charlie Sellers, Head of the Modern Languages Department
Like a Rock Star
I had a very busy summer vacation. It was also a phenomenal summer full of adventure and self-
discovery. A day after finishing my end of the year duties at St. Mark’s –advisee letters, grades, comments, and faculty meetings– I left for China with 10 St. Markers and our former Chinese teacher, Showjean Wu. After two weeks in Beijing at our partner school, I was back in the States. My wife and I were moving from the house across from the thirds’ soccer field to a bigger house at the end of the thirds’ soccer field, and I needed to pack. My wife, Michaela, was busy finishing up classes and end of the year events –she teaches 5th grade at a public school in Sharon, Massachusetts– and we had another big adventure planned for the day after she finished classes. We were about to embark on an 800-kilometer (about 500-miles, a little longer than the distance from (more…)
Searching for a Theme Song
By Colleen Worrell, Director of The Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning
Searching for a Theme Song
This is not an article; it is an invitation. I am searching for a theme song to define the work that The Center will do with and for St. Mark’s students this year (and beyond).
I cannot do this work alone and am inviting students to lead this process.
Why? (more…)
Flipsnacking: Nourishing Food for Thought or Junk Food for the Brain?
By Dr. Heather Harwood, Classics Department Head
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I am not a Luddite. I genuinely like technology. I own a smart phone, a laptop, and an ipad. I have both a Twitter and a Facebook account. I read the New York Times online and love that I can watch the videos that sometimes accompany the stories. I have a Netflix account and I’d be lost without my GPS (literally); I even sometimes Skype with my parents. As an educator, I was an early proponent of using technology to facilitate student learning. In fact, despite its stuffy, antiquated reputation, Classics was one of the first of the Humanities’ disciplines to jump on the technology train, and I have been using it effectively in my classroom for (more…)
Anatomy of a Course: Getting LOST
Anatomy of a Course: Getting LOST
By John Camp, English Department Head
mrcamp@stmarksschool.org
Twitter: @gettinglostcamp
In September of 2004, commercials ran for a new fall show on ABC called LOST. As a self-ascribed t.v. critic (and an acerbically judgmental one at that), I remember distinctly and succinctly saying to my wife Tara, “That looks stupid.” Interestingly, when Lloyd Braun, then the head of ABC, pitched the idea at a
network retreat, virtually all ABC execs had the same reaction that I had. Senior vice president Thom Sherman, however, was intrigued and pursued the idea with Braun and the writer Jeffrey Lieber. Through a few stages of scripting, Braun’s original idea became LOST–driven by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and eventually Lindelof and Carleton Cuse. In the summer of 2006, friends of mine implored me to watch the show, saying that they knew I, specifically, would love it. So, I borrowed the Season 1 box set, and Tara and I sat down to watch at least the pilot episode. From the initial moment of protagonist Jack’s eye-opening and its inherent symbolism (Eye of Horus, the Mind’s I, gateway to the soul), the mythology intrigued me, and binge-watching, of course, ensued. From those origins, LOST became a literal religion for me as well as the inspiration for what I consider to be the magnus opus of my teaching career, my course “Getting LOST.” (more…)
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