Class #44--6th Grade English

Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 8:20 A.M. 6th Grade English Class. Class #44 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. It is first period, and the students are fully engaged as I walk into Mrs. Williams’s class a few moments after the bell rings. A class member kindly brings me up to speed on the plot of Parvana’s Journey, an award-winning novel about the war in Afghanistan. The main characters, most notably 13 year-old girl Parvana, have all experienced great loss, but they have “found each other,” so to speak. The book’s cover explains, “At times extremely sad, Parvana’s Journey provides an honest and compassionate look at the situation in Afghanistan, yet never loses sight of the courage and hope that can keep children afloat even in the most horrific circumstances.” The students have identified four main themes in the book: war, survival, loss, and children in an adult world. Today, the students are taking quotations from the book (on strips of paper) and gluing them under the appropriate theme. Mrs. Williams, who also serves as Dean of Students and Director of Summer Programs and Community Outreach, stresses that one can make a good argument for a quotation being placed in several different categories. The most important thing, she explains, is to clarify and “state your case” with evidence. Under Mrs. Williams’s skillful guidance, the students are discussing heavy material with maturity and thoughtfulness. They take turns reading the quotations aloud, with Mrs. Williams exhorting them to speak with the appropriate emotion and intonation, depending on the nature of the quotation. Next, students read excerpts from their homework assignment, which was to write about their own personal “Green Valley,” which in the novel is an imaginary place of health, peace, and bounty. In the final few minutes of class, the students stand in a circle and review vocabulary from their text, Worldly Wise. Mrs. Williams reads a definition, and then two students compete to say the corresponding vocabulary word. The winner advances to the next spot on the circle. Bravo to Mrs. Williams and her class!

Class #43--8th Grade Algebra I

Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 9:10 A.M. 8th Grade Algebra I Class. Class #43 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” marathon. Given two absences, this normally small class of eight students is even smaller today. The students better be sharp for Mrs. Yapsuga! The class moves directly into three warm-up problems. The first is as follows: “Find the slope of a line containing the points (2,6) and (-5, -8).” Boy, am I rusty! The students, however, complete the three problems, share their answers on the board, and then are quickly working on the next activity. They pivot 180 degrees and face the SmartBoard on the rear wall of the class. A graph showing “Oil Changes vs. Engine Repair” is projected, and the class discusses the slope of the line and what it means. This is a follow-up to yesterday’s lesson, in which the students created a scatter plot using their graphing calculators and then created a “line of best fit.” Next, the class examines a graph displaying the relationship between the weight of a bike and the height of a jump that can be executed. After looking at the data, the students discover that for every five pounds of bike weight, the height of the jump goes down by one foot. Next, the class evaluates winning times for the men’s Olympics 200 meter individual medley swim. The class digs into some meaty questions. What is the slope of the line and what it means? What might the times have been if the Olympics had been held in 1980? Is it reasonable to predict the winning time for the 2012 Summer Games? 2028 Olympic Games? At what point do the projections become questionable, i.e. how fast is it humanly possible to swim (or run)? Mrs. Yapsuga is employing technology very well to enhance the lesson. She is using the SmartBoard to project—and type on--a graphing calculator. (See pictures below). The students have their own individual graphing calculators and can follow along, offer suggestions, and compare and contrast their answers. A great class!

Class #42--7th Age Library Class

Friday, March 25, 2011, 1:25 P.M. 7th Age Library Class. Class #42 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. After enjoying a recess, the boys from Ms. Swiss’s class are ready to focus in library class, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Thomas. In 2010, Mrs. Thomas won the Deborah Dorsey Albert Award at Graduation for her “outstanding contribution to the life and mission of Calvert School.” The boys drop off their books onto the “return” cart and then take a seat at round tables in front of the SmartBoard. Mrs. Thomas asks the boys how they sort their books at home. The responses are varied: by alphabet, color, size, series, and chapter (vs. non-chapter books), to name a few. Mrs. Thomas then explains the contributions of Melvil Dewey, the creater of the Dewey Decimal classification system, which, as you know, is a uniform and consistent manner of sorting and classifying books in libraries. On a worksheet, the boys circle pictures of wild animals (found in the 500s in the Dewey system) and put a square abound the pictures of pets (found in the 600s). Next, the boys work diligently in pairs to group sea animal, mammal, and bird words. For the final fifteen minutes of class, the students enthusiastically look for books to check out for the weeks ahead!

Class #41--5th Grade Library Class

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 9:10 A.M. 5th Grade Library Class. Class #41 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” expedition. It is unseasonably cold outside, but it is perfectly warm here in the Middle School Library! As our Middle School parents know, we had a highly successful Iditarod-themed program in 5th through 8th grades in the week preceding spring break. The students, working in teams, learned about both the Iditarod and Alaskan geography, history, and culture by moving to different stations and completing a wide variety of tasks throughout the building. The students were also treated to an assembly presentation from Dan Dent, who was a two-time participant in the grueling race. Today in class, the boys are working in pairs to write a follow-up, post-race letter to “their” musher. Mrs. Stone has the lesson well-organized and begins by reviewing proper letter form and possible topics to include. In the age of e-mail and text messaging, it still remains crucially important that our students know how to format and write a proper letter, be it hand-written or typed.

A Memorable Dance Assembly

After a hectic pre-vacation week of school and then a week of spring break, I am back in the office today and gearing up for the resumption of classes tomorrow. The buildings are quiet today, but they will be full of energy on Tuesday! On Friday, March 11--right before we adjourned for vacation--we held our annual 7th and 8th Age Dance Assembly. Always a festive affair, this year's version was extra special because it was the final one for retiring physical education teacher Jane Sewell, who is retiring in June after an outstanding career at Calvert that began in March 1974. Mrs. Sewell has orchestrated the dance assembly for decades, and will will surely miss her leadership next year. We thank Mrs. Sewell for her skillful teaching, passion for Calvert, and wonderful friendship!

Class #40--9th Age Art

Monday, March 7, 2011, 11:00 A.M. 9th Age Art Class. Class #40 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. Like a major league hitter “stuck” at 399 home runs while trying desperately to hit number 400, I was “stuck” at 39 classes for more than two weeks! Therefore, it feels great to be back in a classroom this morning. Mrs. Bishop’s eager 9th Age girls arrive with their smocks on and ready to work. In the spirit of Women’s History Month, the girls spent a few minutes discussing a piece of artwork by Eva Hesse. Mrs. Bishop then gives a detailed list of instructions to each table of students, and the girls return to work on their “Face Formula” project. This multi-period endeavor involves drawing five different people--with emphasis on the faces--weaving clothing for three of the five, and then incorporating fabric collages as well! Mrs. Bishop skillfully and kindly helps the students throughout the period. (I would offer to help, but I am not much of a clothing weaver, unfortunately). I am truly impressed by the girls’ creations! Enjoy the pictures below.

Lessons from an Adult Student

The highlights of my day are the moments I spend with students. As my readers know, I am shooting to observe 50 classes this year, meet with every Middle School advisory, and speak individually with every 8th grader. Today, I spent 30 minutes in 10-A (a fourth grade girls' homeroom) sharing my "Lessons from an Adult Student." I described the rigors of my doctoral program and stressed, above all, the importance of being a life-long learner. I shared four lessons that I learned during my three years at the University of Pennsylvania: 1) high-quality advising matters; 2) surround yourself with bright, talented people; 3) step up when a classmate needs help; 4) the "fast" tortoise wins the race, i.e. diligently adhering to a master schedule will allow one to complete a big project. The girls asked excellent questions throughout my presentation! The "cutest" one came from a girl who asked if I had to do any dissections while I was learning to be a "doctor"! I replied, "Fortunately, no, but we did dissect many, many books." :)