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Tag Archives: Pedagogy
The Top Of My Head Was Taken Off: At The Dodge Poetry Festival
By Sarah McCann, English Faculty
Poet Ezra Pound called poetry “news that stays news.” I subscribe to that. William Carlos Williams admonished:
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
but men and women die every day
for lack
of what is found there.
And Emily Dickinson, one of my favorites, wrote, “If I feel as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” (more…)
The In-between World of Chaplaincy
By Rev. Barbara Talcott, School Chaplain
I am a School Chaplain. “That’s a church person, right?” Well, no, not really—but yes, kind of. “Oh, so you’re a school person.” Yes, but also not really. It’s kind of complicated. To be honest, we chaplains don’t fit very well into any of the categories most people are comfortable with.
I knew from the start of my process toward ordination that I was called to be a school chaplain, but I didn’t realize until after I was ordained how unusual that made me. Chaplaincy is definitely a job that other ordained ministers—and even most churchgoers—have trouble understanding and appreciating, because although many of us have been ordained by the Church, we don’t work in churches. In fact, we spend much of our ministry serving people who are non-Christian, and even non-religious. We have very different rhythms to our weeks and years, and because of our school responsibilities we (more…)
Ebola Coverage: In the News, In Our Classroom
By Kimberly Berndt, Science Department Head
Do we have the time? It is the first, last, and interminable question educators ask when considering whether they should divert from their intended plans. This question came to mind immediately when Lindsey Lohwater and I considered pausing midway through our current Advanced Biology unit in order to focus entirely on the Ebola epidemic – not for one day, but for more than one week. But, to this (somewhat) rhetorical question, my mind, or perhaps my gut, immediately responded. No, we don’t have the time– but we can’t NOT do this.
There exists a palpable tension between meeting the expectations of an Advanced curriculum and providing students with unique, relevant, and dynamic learning opportunities. The expectation that our students will be prepared to perform well on pre-designed exams, such as many AP exams, that are devoid of current events often limits the opportunities that we (more…)
Why STEM? It Is All About Problems!
By Karen Bryant, Mathematics Faculty
I was in the Reagan National Airport waiting to fly home after an exciting and intense week at the Siemens STEM Institute. Wondering why my plane was not boarding when it was leaving in less than thirty minutes, I wandered over to the windows overlooking the tarmac. There was a person standing on the back of the small vehicle used to push the plane out of the gate looking up into an opening in the plane’s nose. There were approximately twenty people standing around watching, including people in business suits, people who looked like EMTs, and the grounds crew. I stood and watched for the next several minutes and also listened to the chatter of people around me. Soon, most of the people outside left except for a few who were gesturing as they tried to figure out how to get the vehicle out from under the plane. From listening to those around me, I discovered that somehow the small truck had gone out of control and driven under the nose of the plane and was entangled in the hose that was (more…)
On a Teacher’s Life
By Kimberly Berndt, Science Department Head
I have taught in East and Central LA, rural North Carolina, a small Catholic day school in Massachusetts, in Newton, at Choate, the cross town high school highlighted in Friday Night Lights, a K-12 private school in Midland, Texas, and at St. Mark’s. I have worked with students struggling to understand physics in suburban Cleveland and watched students cling to their one spiral-ring notebook on the top of a mountain in Haiti. What I have gleaned from this experience in a diversity of settings is that kids are kids wherever you go. (more…)
Donald Trump Is a Dinosaur–and You Can Be One, Too!
By James Wallace, Director of Music
“For which century are you educating your students?”
So began a faculty workshop with guest lecturer Charles Fadel, co-author of 21st Century Skills – Learning for Life in our Times[1] back in December. According to Fadel, economists now commonly say that due to advances in technology, most of the jobs current high school students will hold 15 years from now do not yet exist. How does a school prepare its students for a workplace that hasn’t yet come into existence? (more…)
Seeing Is Believing: Learning to Draw in Studio I
By Barbara Putnam, Art Faculty
An Interview with Our Resident Poet
Julie Geng, V Form, Interviews Sarah McCann, English Faculty
Q: Hi Ms. McCann. Thank you for letting me interview you. To start off, could you please talk a little bit about when and how you discovered your passion for poetry?
A: Sure. I actually love words always, and my parents read to us. And we told stories to each other, and all sorts of things. But I didn’t really know anything about poetry until I was forced to write a poem in fifth grade. And it was really my teacher that opened up that territory for me because I needed that encouragement. And he wrote (more…)
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