In the Classroom November 2008
Posted by msnl in : In the Classroom, November 2008Teaching and Learning: New Efforts, New Horizons
Rebecca Tatum, Director of Middle School
Three stories in this section share our faculty’s new learning, thinking and risk-taking. Middle School Art teacher Hanne Gradinger describes one new project – everyday objects made art, in the style of Claes Oldenburg – and shares images of students’ creations. Tom Kim, seventh and eighth grade Language Arts teacher, articulates his thoughts on 9/11 through his choice of two poems for students and their reflections in class that day. And Rebecca Tatum highlights four curricular offerings that open new horizons of teaching and learning in diverse subjects: Civics, Physical Science, Latin, and Quakerism, Arts, Design, and Service.
An Election Year Project
Civics teachers Cassandra Aldridge and Hannah Jacoby-Rupp first proposed a new eighth grade election project a full year ago – at the conclusion of last year’s Williamsburg Project, long a keystone experience for eighth graders and a third of the year’s work in civics. Throughout last year and last summer, Mrs. Aldridge and Mrs. Jacoby-Rupp created a project which would engage our students in this important presidential election, while teaching them to understand the country’s electoral process through the lens of a full-scale mock election in the Middle School. Just as our national election is well underway, so, too, is our eighth graders’ creation: we are in the thick of voter registration, have begun to hear public service announcements about the right to vote, and specific candidate proposals will follow. Stay tuned for our results, and for a recap of this new process which has engaged students in public speaking, media analysis and political commentary – all new risks for our students and their teachers.
Portable Probes – Data at a new Level
Physical science teacher Parveen Roberts was busy this summer, working with Upper School physics teacher Lorre Gifford to plan new lab experiments using the science department’s Vernier LabQuest. Armed with attachments such as a thermometer, a pH sensor, and (my favorite) a radar-like motion device, Mrs. Roberts, along with colleague Patrick McDonough, has guided students to measure velocity and acceleration using moving bodies (themselves), graphing results instantly onto the handheld devices connected to the probes. The result is a visual record of data which reinforces students’ intuitive knowledge – and which supports concepts with algebraic content, in step with students’ learning in math.
Cambridge Latin-Real Stories Make Latin a Living Language
Middle School Latin teacher Jim Fiorile worked in partnership with departmental colleagues to review and choose a new Latin text, which he introduced this year in grade seven. The slim red text, from Cambridge University Press, intersperses learning in Latin grammar and vocabulary with real-life stories from a family living in Pompeii and unearthed through classical scholarship and archaeology. Thus, while learning Latin in its most foundational stage, students also learn the rich work of classical studies, including the powerful link between the classical world of learning and our own. Look for a longer article on this new text – and course – in our January newsletter.
Oral History and Technology = Quakerism Come Alive
Sometimes, a new technology and a new idea meet to bring fresh perspective. In her seventh grade Quakerism, Art, Design, and Service (QUADS) class, Assistant Head of School Stephanie Judson, with her co-teacher Hanne Gradinger, decided to shift students' focus from a previous project on historical Quaker figures to a study of living Quakers in our community. Simultaneously, Middle School Technology Coordinator Carol Sukoneck spent a week of her summer studying the technologies used to teach students in-depth oral history work, including digital filming and recording. QUADS students recently taped their team interviews with some of Penn Charter's Quaker faculty, and then worked with Mrs. Sukoneck to edit their films.
Middle School Art: Foundations and New Ideas
Hanne Gradinger, MS Visual Arts, QUADS
For a quarter of the year, eighth graders have the opportunity to solidify their knowledge and expertise in two-dimensional and three-dimensional art forms while taking a studio art course. They begin a dialogue about conceptual art and learn to analyze and critique art while broadening their understanding of the artistic and creative world.
During this intensive course, working with sculpture is always an exciting component. For our most recent project, we viewed and analyzed the work of Claes Oldenburg, a sculpture artist who takes ordinary objects and recreates them on a grandiose scale, rendering their original function useless. As we sat in the studio encircling our own inspired reproductions, our discussion led to a debate on how large the watermelon would actually have to be to
produce a “slice” as big as the one in front of us. Then we turned our attention to the massive pink sunglasses that are fit for a giant but look so real. These observations are snippets of the conversation you would have heard during the eighth grade critique.
Mastering the fundamentals, learning about the history of art, and working with new techniques and materials are highlights for all Middle School art students. But for sixth graders, I have always been a firm believer that art should be about exploration and self-awareness. We discuss how art is a medium in which to express emotions, as a way to strengthen our problem-solving skills, as well as how planning and organization play vital roles in our processes. Most recently, we wrapped up a project looking at the collage artist Romare Bearden. Bearden created paper collages representing the people and life in his neighborhood in Harlem, New York. Students created their own torn paper collages representing a cityscape or neighborhood scene that was important to them. We also studied human proportion and learned to draw figures in action. Students had fun “striking a pose” for each other as they worked with partners to draw figures in motion.
Every year I find I am more and more inspired by the ideas and enthusiasm brought forth by the students. The first weeks of school have already brought cheerful color and incredible works of art to our Middle School. I look forward to seeing future creations from our students and invite everyone to explore student works in the hallways of the Middle School.
A Prayer for September 11
Tom Kim, 7th and 8th Grade Language Arts
It’s always difficult, both personally and pedagogically, to teach a lesson on a national day of mourning that is still so emotionally and politically immediate. You have to balance sensitivity with passion, educational relevance with memorial gravity. You take a hard look at what you know to find understanding for yourself and then wonder how any of it can make a difference to students. And yet, to teach is to try. The seventh grade theme in English is “Adjusting to Place,” and what is September 11 but a place we all needed to adjust to?
So I chose, in my seventh grade classes, to discuss a poem by Teresa Cader, which was a response to George Herbert’s “Prayer,” written some 370 years prior. We began by reading Herbert’s poem and making general observations about its tone and structure: that it is religious, measured, that it had a kind of timeless quality, that it rhymed in a pattern. I talked about how architects will often design a building to provide a specific experience, and we brainstormed about how the Middle School building that we were in had certain features that provided it with a unique feel.
Herbert’s poem is built like a cathedral. It has the classical structure of a sonnet, [following established traditions of form and logic]. Like a cathedral, it directs its audience upward in a prayer of praise to God. In fact, its center is the word “prayer,” the first word of the poem, followed by a series of phrases which explore an experience of prayer. Herbert exclaims, for example, that prayer is “the six daies world—transposing in an houre,” the glory and marvel of creation compressed into an ecstatic encounter with the divine.
We read Cader’s poem, “September 11,” next. Students noticed immediately that it sounded more casual, more modern. It rhymed in couplets, not interwoven lines, and had more everyday descriptions. Looking closer, they also noticed that words and phrases from Herbert’s poem were echoed throughout the poem, though now in a context so different that they were easily overlooked. Cader’s poem seemed to retain the spiritual intensity of Herbert’s but felt like it was a different building altogether — something more sparse and somber.
In fact, “September 11” picks up the last statement of Herbert’s poem— “[prayer is] something understood” — and responds to it directly: “Understanding something isn’t prayer, necessarily.” From there it uses, like Herbert’s poem, a series of phrases to build a description — but, this time, of a group of unsuspecting passengers boarding their plane at an airport. The rapturous “softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse” of Herbert’s prayer becomes the “softness of cruising, bliss of landing, love waiting in the wings,…. Muted joy at unfastening seatbelts” with its conspicuous absence of peace. Cader, in essence, takes Herbert’s sonnet, tears it down to its timbers, and from it builds her own church, a memorial. She takes the mundane (“six days”) world we all took for granted before 9/11 and points out how it got “transposed in one hour,” elevated into transcendence, into a prayer. Not a prayer one petitions, exults — or understands even, necessarily — but one that has taken what was and has indelibly translated it into a new reality.
I read the poem again, aloud. Students followed silently, respectfully, one poem faintly visible behind the page of the other.
The poems can be accessed at
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/prayer1.htm (Herbert) and
http://www.slate.com/?id=2070444 (Cader)
Webquest and Yearbook
Carol Sukoneck, MS Technology Coordinator
Are you wondering exactly what your child is doing online these days? Besides chatting incessantly with friends, they are participating in the Middle School Internet Quest. Each week a new question is posed to the students to research on the Internet or through PC library subscription services. The questions cover a multitude of topics such as sports, animals, geography, literature, and science, just to name a few. The first question asked how pitcher Denton True Young got his nickname “Cy.”
Penn Charter has always taken the approach that technology is best learned if it is integrated directly into the curriculum. The Quest helps us to solidify students’ use of email, web searching and library subscription services.
When not surfing the net, a group of students spend their free time after school and during lunch videotaping and editing the video for the Middle School in Motion video yearbook. The yearbook is a compilation of events that take place during the course of the school year. This is the sixth year for this project. Each year, the videos get better and better. This year there are 15 students who have committed to this yearlong project, the largest group ever. Completed projects will be posted on the Writings on the Wall website.
In the Classroom September 2008
Posted by msnl in : In the Classroom, September 2008Class Trips
Sixth Grade
Hannah Jacoby-Rupp, Sixth Grade Class Advisor
We continue a new tradition in sixth grade this year with our second annual two-day fall trip. Sixth graders stick to the Philadelphia area in two days of local service and fun activities on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 25-26, returning to school each afternoon to debrief (and clean up!).
Last year’s group spent a day planting trees in the Wissahickon section of Fairmount Park, then bonded during trust-building and hiking in the park. This year, we look forward to another outdoor service experience in Fairmount Park, with plenty of chances for students to get to know one another as they embark, together, on the adventure of Middle School. More information is on its way – watch your mail for the details!
Seventh Grade
Alice Bateman and Jim Fiorile, Seventh Grade Class Advisors
Seventh grade is a special year in middle school, as there is tremendous physical, emotional and social growth that takes place. Our Penn Charter seventh grade program seeks to support, challenge and inspire students during this time. Therefore, we begin the year with an exciting three-day camping trip in late September to Bloomsburg, Pa.
The purpose of the trip is twofold: we want to create opportunities for the class to bond and learn to work together in both small and large groups, and we also want to have some outdoor educational experiences which tie into the curriculum and the seventh grade theme of “Perspective.” The team-building experiences, which will include a session on conflict resolution, are especially important for the grade as there are many new students.
The trip this year will be Wednesday, Sept. 24 to Friday, Sept. 26. We will leave school by 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, travel in tour buses to the camp, and return by 2:55 p.m. on Friday. Parents, look for more information in upcoming days.
Eighth Grade
Cassandra Aldridge and Hannah Jacoby-Rupp, Eighth Grade Civics Teachers
As anyone who follows politics knows, this is a big year. We’re witnessing a remarkable campaign, and the fall promises to bring this exciting race to the finish.
Our civics program links students’ learning about our government and electoral system to the very real process of electing a president. In this unique year, our eighth graders will follow the elections through their own visit to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., for their class trip on Oct. 15-17. This is a new experience for students and teachers, and ties into an exciting fall project for students, a new take on the independent work often considered one of the highlights of the eighth grade year. Stay tuned for details on the Washington, D.C., trip, and for information on our Election Night event in the Middle School. We’re excited to share this new experience with you.
New This Year: Drama Club
As many of us discover during the spring Middle School play, our students can act! This year, we have a new outlet for those actors and actresses dying to try out a new scene, or play a new character, or find something to do with those costumes and props. Middle School teachers Elizabeth Jones and Michael Roche have created a new Drama Club, which will meet both during and after school, throughout the year. Drama Club is open to any interested student. Participants will help to shape the club’s activities, and may be called upon to entertain the occasional Monday morning assembly. More than anything, they’ll have fun while exploring.
Summer Explorations: Family, Culture and Language
Elizabeth Pago-Taylor, Middle School French
I am certain that home is wherever you are. I like the idea of living in the moment, but there is something about origins that tugs at your core. My husband, Rodney, and I decided to take our son Sebastien to four islands to celebrate my 40th birthday. We started on a little island in New York, traveled to Trinidad, then continued on to Martinique and finally to Puerto Rico. At three, Seba understands that we explore the islands to learn our history, remember our past and change our future. We ate the best mango in Trinidad, the best avocados in Puerto Rico and the best pineapples in Martinique. The food! The ocean! Family! Languages!
Since the earthquakes and Hurricane Dean, things have changed on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, yet things remain the same. People go about living the lives they know. Shared meals, traditions, hot days, cool nights, rain and tree-ripened fruit. Did I mention the ocean? Sebastien refused to go into the pool alone, yet he got into the ocean, descending on his own from the boat that we rode into the choppy waters of the Atlantic during Martinique's magnificent yole rondes competition. He learned a few more words in Creole and he ran errands with my mother in downtown Fort-de-France, where she showed him the hospital in which I was born. We walked passed the Bibliotheque Schoelcher, the ornate library dedicated to the abolitionist who helped end slavery in the French islands in 1848.
A few weeks earlier Sebastien accompanied us for a tribute to the great Martinican poet Aime Cesaire. He watched his father join other scholars to read from the monumental Cahier du Retour au Pays Natal by Cesaire. Cesaire was leader of the Negritude movement and a politician instrumental in Martinique becoming not just a colony, but a full-fledged department of France in 1948 (just as Hawaii became a state of the United States). When we landed on the island, Sebastien was the first to notice the pictures and poetry banners of Aime Cesaire hanging in the terminal of the airport, which has now been named in Aime Cesaire's honor.
Some call the island paradise. I call Martinique that special part of me – the intriguing and colorful blend of France and Africa. It is essential to regularly visit and remember one's origins. It was a joy to experience the return visit through Sebastien's eyes.
In the Classroom May 2008
Posted by msnl in : In the Classroom, May 2008
The Middle School Book Club’s Fave Books
The Middle School Book Club meets most Mondays during lunch and has a blast talking about books we choose to read together, as well as books we have read on our own, and many other topics along the way. We are drawn together by our love of reading and of talking about books.
I would like to share with you some favorite books from this year, hoping that you may enjoy reading some of them this summer. We started out the year reading one of my personal favorites, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time,” by Mark Haddon. It is the very entertaining and well-written story of a bright autistic boy in England who sets out to solve the mystery of who killed a neighbor’s dog.
“Kiki Strike: Inside the Underground City,” by Kirsten Miller, was a hit with students as well. There are a number of Kiki Strike titles; in this book, Kiki and the Irregulars embark on underworld — and underground — adventures to protect New York City from “gangsters, rodents, diamond merchants, society figures and assorted forces of evil.”
Lance Armstrong’s memoir, “It’s Not About the Bike,” was our only non-fiction read this year, and we enjoyed it. “Speak,” by Laurie Halse Anderson, was well-written and another one of my favorites, but some of our members found it “too sad.”
We enjoyed the graphic novel “American- Born Chinese,” by Gene Yang, and finished out the year with “Maus,” by Art Spiegelman. If you haven’t read any graphic novels yet, these are two great choices. Karen Hesse’s poem/novel, “Out of the Dust,” was another of our good reads, about a 14-year-old girl coming of age during the Dust Bowl/Depression era of the 1930s. It’s beautifully written and very compelling.
Finally, I encourage you all to check out the many audio books available at your local public library this summer. It’s a great way for the whole family to experience and discuss literature while passing the time on long car trips. Happy reading!
Judith Hill
Director of Libraries
Spiritual Autobiographies in QUADS
What is your religious heritage from your family? What images of God/G-d did you have as a child? How, if at all, has your image changed? What are important values that you live by as best you can? What Quaker testimonies are important to you? What do you want your life to be like in 10 years? 20 years?
These are some of the questions that seventh graders write about in their spiritual autobiography in QUADS (Quakerism, Art, Design and Service). They write thoughtfully and, often, very movingly.
Once students have written and handed in their spiritual autobiographies, they move to the art studio. Here they make a “creation” that depicts important aspects of their spiritual autobiographies, which range from poster-size, 2-D pictures to 3-dimensional churches, Stars of David, nature scenes and abstract art.
Finally, each student writes about their creation, then comes in front of the class to explain an important part of their spirituality and why they chose to make their particular creation.
As their QUADS teachers, Ruth McGee and I are honored to be part of our seventh grade students’ searching, in writing, artistic expression and brief public speaking.
Stephanie Judson, Assistant Head of School
Ruth McGee-Barrett, Middle School Art Teacher and Religious Life Committee
Co-Teachers of QUADS
From Biomes to Bodies: Middle School Science
Students in sixth and seventh grade sciences follow a two-year process that explores the full extent of the living world, from weather to the Wissahickon, from biomes to bacteria.
Whatever the scope of living things out there, spring is the time for nature’s diversity. Sixth grade students led into spring with a structured project on the world’s biomes, ranging from the desert to the tropical rainforest to our very own temperate zone. With the aid of science teacher Pat McDonough and Middle School Technology Coordinator Carol Sukoneck, students surfed the Internet in search of biome information, finding pictures, relevant details (how much does it rain in the rainforest?), and examples of the plants and animals that live in each region. The end result: a PowerPoint document that lays out information for classmates in a final presentation, as well as a poster designed to give at-a-glance details for passers-by lingering in the hallway outside McDonough’s room. Meanwhile, the seventh graders entered their spring while finishing a weeks-long study of the human body, culminating in a tour brochure inviting visitors to see the body as a part of a cruise, a package tour, or (my favorite) a Duck Boat exploration. Jeff Humble and Rebecca Tatum’s classes paired their learning with several key dissections: many parents and grandparents helped with cow heart, brain or eyeball dissections during Visiting Day, and students mastered the fine art of heart-palpitation (the best way to tell the left from the right side of the heart.
As the spring moves to a close, seventh graders are growing and testing plants, keeping field journals and exploring the Penn Charter campus, and learning the difference between a monocot and a dicot (hint: look at the leaves). For those students interested in further field study, remember Humble’s summer class, which will wander the Wissahickon for several weeks in June, investigating our local plants and insects.
Test of Champions: Penn Charter Physical Education
I know what to expect every morning when stepping foot inside the Middle School building. “Ms. Gunning, what are we doing in PE today!?” screams one boy. “What are we doing in PE today!?” scream ten more students as though I did not hear the question the first time. It is comforting knowing the question at hand each and every day. The majority of the time, my answer is greeeted with a cheer or a “yessssssssss.” Sixth graders love to play team sports, and that is exactly what we do. We have played field hockey, football, basketball, volleyball and baseball to name a few. With the effort put in by the students, you would assume we were playing in the Super Bowl, World Cup or the Olympic Games. We start with the basics and eventually conclude with a round-robin tournament. The talent is diverse in the beginning of each unit. Some students may have played the sport competitively before, and others may never have picked up a stick. This is no issue! By the end of the unit, everyone can feel as though they are a key contributor to their team, and they feel supported by each other. I am proud to say that the sixth grade students always encourage each other.
My favorite unit so far has been volleyball. It is one of the most difficult sports played in physical education. We concluded our skill work with a beginner’s game of volleyball called Nukem, where students catch and throw the ball, instead of hitting it. The students worked together well, and they mastered communication and movement during this game. Although I was content to finish the unit with this game, the sixth graders wanted more. So, I agreed to some “real volleyball” time. The first few games lasted forever! The ball hit the floor on every serve, and that was only if it made it over the net! They could barely score a point.
The first time the students completed a two-person volley, I scared them with an out-of-no-where yell. “Ahhhhhh, you just played volleyball!” From that point on, something just clicked. They played like volleyball machines — bumping, setting and serving like pros. Our volleyball tournament turned into great excitement on the court. I could see the sense of accomplishment the sixth graders felt after each close game, win or lose. I was so confident with our abilities, I even challenged one Upper School teacher’s class to a match. This volleyball unit is exactly what sixth grade PE is all about: teamwork, cooperation and sportsmanship. No matter the sport or ability level, the students come as beginners and leave as true champions.
Renee Gunning
Heath and PE Teacher
6th Grade Advisor
Middle School in Motion
The end of the school year is just upon us, but for one group of students, it is the busiest time of year. I am speaking of the members of the Middle School in Motion video yearbook. These students have been working since September documenting life as they see it in the Middle School. Taking video and photos of intramurals, sports, special events and the daily life that happens here at Penn Charter, these students will tell the story of the 2007-08 school year. Before finals begin, these students will compile all the videos, create a start page and label for the DVD, and then burn enough DVDs for each eighth grader to receive one at the closing assembly on June 5. Included on the video will be all of the eighth grade movie trailer projects, scenes from the Memoir presentations, eighth grade music classes performing their original pieces, and Color Day.
Carol Sukoneck
Middle School Technology Coordinator
A Final Binder Check – Thank You to William J. Goulding
Students who know Bill Goulding can attest to the rigor of his binder checks. They are as much a staple of his class as are the creative, innovative SmartBoard lessons, the practice of standing to greet any class visitor, and the thoughtful, detailed support which Goulding offers for any student who needs a little extra help. These small details, and many moments over years of teaching, coaching and leadership, mark Goulding’s gifts to Penn Charter students over a distinguished and full career. This year marks Goulding’s 29th as a mathematics teacher and coach at Penn Charter, and his final year with us in Middle School before embarking on the new adventure of retirement. Faculty and staff, Bill’s wife Roberta, his son Todd Goulding OPC ’92, and close friends honored Bill at a retirement party in April.
William J. Goulding received the John F. Gummere Distinguished Teacher Award during celebrations marking Alumni Reunion Weekend 2005. The award is presented by the Alumni Society to the person who, as a member of the faculty for at least five years, “has demonstrated outstanding scholarship, teaching and character, and has been an especially constructive influence upon others in all phases of Penn Charter life.”
Goulding received the award at the annual Alumni Banquet, a packed house in the school's Meeting Room. “There are so many of my colleagues whom I admire and who are able to do things in their classroom that I’m not able to do,” Goulding said. “I really am humbled.” Goulding recalled that, in the weeks after students, parents and colleagues heard of the honor, he had received notes and e-mails of encouragement and congratulations. “Years ago a colleague suggested that I start a ‘happy file,’” Goulding said, recounting that he had taken the advice and, over years of collecting notes, had expanded to more than one file. “But, with this recognition from colleagues and friends, my happy file overfloweth.”
Join us in Middle School in congratulating and thanking Bill Goulding for his distinguished work at Penn Charter, and in wishing him well!
In the Classroom March 2008
Posted by msnl in : In the Classroom, March 2008The Naturalization Ceremony
On Feb. 21, I took my Eighth Grade Civics class to the Federal Building in Philadelphia, at Sixth and Market Streets, to watch 96 people from 41 countries take the oath of U.S. citizenship. Other classes made the same trip, on different dates throughout the winter. One of the reasons we teach Civics as part of our Eighth Grade curriculum is because we want our students to understand and begin to appreciate the very nature of the freedom and the political system that we enjoy and sometimes take for granted as citizens of the United States. It is very easy for us to forget that the American colonial experiment in government, which began just blocks from the Federal Building, had never been tried before, nor was its success a forgone conclusion. Clearly, the crush of immigrants who have come to our country, over many generations, are proof of our founders’ successful venture. And if one finds him or herself in need personal verification, there is nothing like witnessing the naturalization ceremony of new United States citizens.
Sixteen of us filed into the federal courtroom at 10:30 a.m. and discovered that we had been given seats of honor in the front of the room. After we sat down, the naturalization clerk, wearing an American flag scarf, asked me to come back and meet the judge, court officials and the day’s speakers in the judge’s chambers. U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe asked questions about what our class had been studying, and then told me how delighted she was that students were in attendance. I really hadn’t been expecting this type of treatment, and it was wonderful for us to be made to feel so welcome.
Judge Rufe came out of her chambers, we were told to rise, and the ceremony began. She opened with a short speech that was a sincere effort to make the new citizens feel special and welcomed. As she spoke, I scanned the room, and I was amazed at the variety of people present. Some were with families and friends; some were with their young children. And soon, they were standing as the oath of citizenship was administered. They were asked to renounce their allegiance to their country of birth, and swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
This was a “lump in the throat” moment for me. I didn’t think it would cause the emotion in me that it did. After all, I am a cynical civics teacher who teaches his students to question everything and to analyze our political process. But the importance of that moment, particularly for the new citizens in that courtroom, will stay with me forever.
Of course, long speeches followed, and much was said to make the 96 people feel welcome and special. The best speech, and as they say, worth the price of admission, was a speech by a new citizen, a young woman from Nicaragua, which closed the ceremony. She spoke of why she was here, and how much more opportunity there was than in her former country. She spoke about how important this day was to her. It was a great day to be an American.
Jon Saltzman
Civics Teacher, 8th Grade
Immigrants in Philadelphia Neighborhoods
The Immigrants in Philadelphia Neighborhoods (IPN) project has been a recurring unit in the seventh grade for several years now. It involves assigning each seventh grader a local neighborhood and an ethnic immigrant group that dominates that neighborhood. Seventh graders research their assigned group, demonstrate their knowledge in a creative story or presentation, and celebrate the process with a guided trip through that neighborhood.
This unit is special in that it involves several dimensions. First, it is interdisciplinary. Though the project takes place in their English classes, seventh graders explore topics of immigration and migration more deeply in their Social Studies classes at the same time. Students are also reminded about issues of social responsibility and service and subtly reminded about the application of these Quaker values and testimonies to their learning.
Prior to the official start of the unit, students have begun touching upon relevant academic issues the unit requires. In the winter they started reading short stories from the anthology “First Crossings,” edited by Donald Gallo. These fictional stories personalize and vivify issues of the immigrant experience, especially as they relate to pre-teens and adolescents. Students are asked not only to consider and empathize with these issues but also examine the structure of these narratives and create their own short stories.
At the end of the second trimester, students also did a unit centering around “The Adventures of Marco Polo,” a nonfiction introduction to “The Description of the World,” Marco Polo's epic account of his travels in Asia. This unit allowed them to explore issues of critical literacy and authenticity of sources; students were encouraged to question Marco Polo's claims and examine his biases. Students looked at both secondary and primary sources and discussed how a text's context informs its meaning and influence. These are fundamental issues of research that go beyond merely finding facts.
Such considerations are particularly important when the Internet has become so crucial to research for both amateurs and seasoned academics. For the IPN project, students are encouraged to use technology for research and for production but are then taught to critically evaluate the efficacy and validity of their use. They discuss, for example, the advantages and limitations of sources like Wikipedia, an online open-source encyclopedia. They are entrusted with digital cameras and video cameras on their field trip to document their experience, and then they are asked to consider how they might edit their footage to present it in a compelling and coherent way — and in a way that is compassionate and fair.
When the seventh grade splits up on March 19 to go on their five separate field trips, students get to see first-hand the neighborhoods and people they have only considered somewhat abstractly. These trips include a guided walking tour and ethnic lunch. Students are coached in behaving courteously and appropriately in unfamiliar environments. The trip becomes both a celebration of the work they have done and yet another dimension of their learning experience. In other words, students are asked not only to open their hearts and minds to the diversity of the city, but also to become more sophisticated in their learning and reflection. As students try their first taste of a foreign dish, they do so as a citizen of the world.
Tom Kim
Language Arts Teacher, 7th and 8th Grade
Meeting for Business
On Thursday, March 13, the Middle School faculty and student body will conduct a “Meeting for Business” around the upcoming Day of Service on April 18. This style of worship and method of decision-making has been a hallmark of Quaker discernment since the formation of the Religious Society of Friends under George Fox. For our school, these gatherings take place instead of Meeting for Worship on Thursdays and this is a method of decision-making that is used in a variety of settings by faculty, administration and students throughout our school.
The Middle School meetings for business take a variety of forms. Sometimes there is a clear decision we need to make as a community. Other times, the meeting for business can take the form of a “threshing session” in which different ideas and concepts are brought to the table for our review as a community. Whatever the format and style, the following quote from Michael Sheeran helps describe the spirit of any meeting for business:
Meeting for business always begins with silence and closes in silence – a clear reminder that an atmosphere of worshipfully seeking God’s will is to mark the gathering. Douglas Steere puts it well: ‘The Quaker meeting for business opens an in unhurried period of waiting silence, and if the meeting is properly carried through, there emerges something of this mood of openness not to my wishes and my designs and my surface preferences, but to openness to the deeper levels of where the Guide’s bidding may have its way and where the problem may be resolved in quite a different way than had ever occurred to me.’” (Michael Sheeran S.J. Beyond Majority Rule: Voteless Decisions in the Religious Society of Friends (Regis College: Denver, CO. 1996)
For our upcoming Meeting for business, we are excited to hear students’ experiences and reflections on service in the Middle School. We are coming up on our second full day of service on April 18 and we would like to hear of ideas for service, suggestions for reflection and analysis, and other aspects of our time together. This is a day that has become a community-led event and we are excited to utilize our Quaker practices in order to encourage this sense of ownership for our time together. Students will “clerk” the meeting and also record minutes so that we can share and revisit our collective time together. We are open to where the Guide will lead us.
Tom Rickard
Middle School Service Coordinator
Chair, Religion Department
Pennsylvania Math League
Penn Charter chooses to participate in the Pennsylvania Math League (PAML) contest each February. All Middle School students take the 30-minute, 40-question contest administered according to grade level. The top five scores from each grade are then submitted to represent a team from Penn Charter. These scores are compared to scores from other Pennsylvania schools that choose to participate. It is a nice way to recognize students who may excel in these types of problem-solving activities and who may not be as strong in a traditional classroom setting. Students on the team are presented with certificates at an assembly at the end of the school year. Please contact Jennifer Ketler if you have questions about the PAML contest.
Jennifer Ketler
Middle School Math Coordinator
National Latin Exam
By Friday, March 14, seventh and eighth grade Latin students will have taken the National Latin Exam. More than 100,000 students from all over the English-speaking world take the test each year. The National Latin Exam contains 40 multiple-choice questions that cover Roman culture and the Latin language. Awards are given by the American Classical League to students who score above the national average. Students who earn a perfect score receive a letter of commendation from the American Classical League. In addition, Penn Charter gives internal prizes to the student who scores best in each class. The National Latin Exam does not count in students’ trimester grades but does provide a valuable assessment of our Latin program. College scholarships and fellowships to classical organizations are available to students who score well year after year on the National Latin Exam. For more information, please see the website of the test: nle.org.
James Fiorile
Teacher of Middle School Latin
Coordinator of Middle School Foreign Languages
In the Classroom January 2008
Posted by msnl in : In the Classroom, January 2008Sixth Grade - Museum Night Festival
Sixth grade students will celebrate two months of hard work and effort with the annual Ancient Civilizations Festival. This year’s festival will be on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, starting at 6:00 p.m. The evening’s events will be a culmination of our sixth graders’ study of the ancient cultures of China, India, Greece and the Aztec Empire. The students have gone through a multi-disciplinary study of these civilizations, learning about different material and construction of artifacts in art class, various amazing facets and factual information in social studies, the involvement and development of music in each culture, and, in math class, the study of two-dimensional pictures. The evening will feature beautiful artifacts, delicious ethnic foods, educational skits, interesting visual representations/decorations, as well as a well-crafted museum space, all created by our students. Please join us and see the results of our sixth graders’ hard work.
Josh Oberfield
Sixth Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher
Latin… What’s that all about?
Who ever said Latin was a “dead” language? Classical study endures partly because it allows students to synthesize knowledge and skills from a wide variety of disciplines.
A student learns much more in Latin class than grammar and vocabulary. Students in seventh grade Latin are currently learning about the major Olympian gods. They will use this information in class on a daily basis and also during the National Latin Exam, to be given in March. Using partner work and oral presentations, the students will learn this important lesson in a collaborative way. They will also get some valuable experience with public speaking. One partner in each group teaches a short lesson about the god they have been assigned: the Greek and Roman names, symbols associated, location of major temples, etc. The other partner tells one of the major myths associated with that god and then analyzes the myth: does it attempt to explain nature or teach a life lesson? Are there examples of ancient culture in the myth? Students are also encouraged to find sculptures, paintings, and other images associated with their god and display them on the SmartBoard as they speak.
If you have a seventh grade Latin student at home, please ask them about the project. With any luck, they have learned not only about ancient religion, but about art history, information technology, public speaking, and working with others.
James Fiorile
Teacher of Middle School Latin
Middle School Coordinator of Foreign Languages
And…Action!
For the past several years, the eighth grade class has researched and created Book Reviews in English. This work gives students a chance to critically read and discuss books not normally covered in the traditional curriculum. These include books of specific appeal and varying genres such as The Hot Zone, a nonfiction book by Richard Preston, Summerland, a fantasy book about baseball by Michael Chabon, and Pride and Prejudice, the classic novel by Jane Austen. From a menu of suggested readings, students elect their choice of books to read. Small reading groups are then formed, and students spend a month reading and discussing their respective books. These discussions are framed by an examination of narrative structure, style and theme.
Students are then expected to write a critical book review of their given book, drawing from their discussions of different narrative aspects of the book. A step beyond the mere book report, these book reviews hone the persuasive expository skills of the eighth grade.
Students also collaborate with their reading groups to create a movie trailer and poster for their book. Students consider the movie trailer as a genre itself, looking at several models before undertaking their own. The trailer project involves distilling the highlights of their book and translating them to a cinematic form. Students are encouraged to plan their trailer as through storyboards and scripts and further plan their management of time, personnel and resources to execute their visions. They receive instruction and support in the iMovie video editing software to complete their post-production work.
A final celebration of all this work takes place this year on January 31 as the eighth grade class holds its Second Annual Middle School Film Festival. Exemplary trailers are shown and awards are given in various areas of storytelling, performance and production.
The Book Review unit is both a fun and rigorous unit that spans several subject areas –English, Drama, Technology. Every year the work we receive for it gets more impressive and sophisticated, and we're always trying to refine our instruction and approach to this unique unit. We're especially grateful to the colleagues who cooperate to make this project possible: Elizabeth Jones, Jennifer Chernak, and Michael Roche.
Tom Kim, Middle School Language Arts Teacher
Carol Sukoneck, Middle School Technology Coordinator
Memoirs and Memories
The eighth grade will soon begin the exciting memoir project. By writing a memoir, students have an opportunity to share their voices and their lives in a very personal and reflective manner. We hope students will become confident writers as they set out to explore different “chapters” in their lives. Students will explore the craft of memoir writing by reading pieces from Roald Dahl, Sandra Cisneros and Bill Cosby, as well as writings from former students. By examining models of quality writing, students are able to observe the power of this writing genre and more confidently apply specific traits and tools to their own craft.
By May, individuals take tremendous pride in their work; they talk about the process of building a portfolio and making it as unique as possible. In the end, the memoir project serves as a powerful example to each student of his or her individual writing growth. As one student put it, “The memoir project has sharpened my writing skills, much like polishing and smoothing a stone. I feel more confident than ever before with written expression, a feeling I hope will follow me not only to Upper School, but throughout the rest of my life.”
As teachers, these portfolios are always a pleasure to read and a joy to behold. Two bound copies of the memoir will be due on Fri., May 2. Please see your child’s packet for more detailed information or visit the class web pages. We ask that parents be a supportive force behind this rewarding process. You are invited to join us as we host the Memoir Celebration during the afternoon of Fri., May 9 at 3:30 p.m., our official observance of the completed project. This event showcases the projects and allows each writer to read aloud from his/her project to a visiting audience. Please do not hesitate to contact me, Mr. Kim or Ms. Chernak with any questions or concerns about this extraordinary process.
Elizabeth Crockett Jones (mejones@penncharter.com)
Middle School Coordinator of English
Service Update
We are gearing up for a busy winter in terms of service here at Penn Charter. Starting Friday, Jan. 11 and on each consecutive blue Friday until the end of February, each intramural house will have an opportunity to do service at a local site or agency. Here are some of the options available: Historic Rittenhouse: Local park that needs clean up and attention and they are right down the street across Lincoln Drive on Wissahickon Ave. Greene Street Tree Lab: We will be working nearby on a tree lab at Greene Street Friends School, cleaning up and getting ready for spring. Chamounix Equestrian Center: Work to Ride is a nonprofit providing disadvantaged urban youth from Philadelphia with constructive activities centered around horsemanship, equine sports and education. Located in Fairmount Park, the setting provides a unique opportunity to bring 7-to-19-year-old youth in contact with animals and nature. Hassel Residence: We will continue to work with the elderly at a personal care home on School House lane next to the squash courts. Students will work on arts and crafts, visit, and just be with some of the residents at this location. We are also gearing up for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan 21. We have a number of service opportunities both here on campus and off campus as well. We will begin the day in Balderston Commons (Middle School building) with an introduction and some reflection on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. at 9:00 a.m. We will then have a variety of projects that would end between 11:30 a.m. and noon. Please visit the Penn Charter service and service learning site for up-to-date information: http://blog.penncharter.com/service You can also contact me: Tom Rickards trickards@penncharter.com 215-844-1800 x226 or our parent chair of service Pam Gagne at pamgagne@comcast.net or 215-233-5737
We look forward to your help and participation and please contact us with any questions.
Tom Rickards
Middle School Service Coordinator
Chair, Religion Department
In the Classroom November 2007
Posted by msnl in : November 2007 Edition, In the Classroom
Middle School Reports At the end of the first trimester, students receive a grade in all classes and a comment if that grade is a C- or below. Those grades will be sent home just after Thanksgiving. Before the winter break, teachers will send an AFS (Accountability for Success) report home, alerting you if your child is struggling. Everyone will receive a mid-trimester comment in mid-January for Trimester 2, along with a similar set of reports in Trimester 3. When reports come home from school, it’s often our first inclination to talk first with a teacher to know how to fix any problems. While it is always fine to be in contact with your child’s teachers, there are some other great options. First, have a talk with your child. Remember, your child’s teachers have already been in daily contact with your child prior to sending a note home. Next, make the comment a learning experience for your child. Help him/her to develop a realistic plan to address the teacher’s comment. This plan may involve your child setting up an appointment to see a teacher, or going to either the Math Center or the Writing Center. Maybe your child needs to develop a special schedule to tackle a long-term project. All students will benefit from something as basic as putting every assignment into the student planner and hunkering down on homework each evening would do the trick. If none of these fit, direct your child to see the teacher or his/her advisor to get extra help to resolve the issue at hand. While parents should feel free to contact teachers, advisors, Charlie Brown, or Rebecca Tatum, Middle School is a time when students need to learn to negotiate their way. Help your child to take control of his academic life. If things really are “fine,” applaud your child and let her stay the course. If changes need to be made, help your student to see what works and what doesn’t.
It’s not unusual for an average middle schooler to describe the goings-on in classes as simply, “fine,” or “good,” thinking that they’ve covered the bases. If you’d like to know a bit more about how your son or daughter is doing in a class, know that there are many formal and informal ways to find out more.
Science Insights: Eighth Grade Physics
The eighth grade is having fun while learning about motion, forces, and Newton’s laws. So far, they have analyzed their movements using a motion detector and graphing calculator, calculated the rate of bubble gum chewing, and measured the acceleration of a matchbox car zooming down a ramp. Surprisingly, some students had a hard time chewing gum in front of their teacher. More experiments are soon to follow. Be sure to ask your eighth grader about the Parachuting Fireman, Bungee Jumping Barbie, and the Egg Catcher.
Global Challenge 20/20
How do you engage students in learning about global issues? And how do you empower them to become problem solvers in the world? Challenge 20/20 is a program that does both. The National Association of Independent Schools recently created Global Challenge 20/20 to “provide an opportunity for schools to develop globally based, experiential curricula and to build educational partnerships with schools around the world.” This year Penn Charter’s Middle School has been partnered with the Cloud Forest School in Monteverde, Costa Rica, to study the issue of education for all. A handful of sixth through eighth graders have committed their study periods and lunches to grappling with this serious issue. By communicating via e-mail, students at both Penn Charter and the Cloud Forest School have introduced themselves, exchanged ideas, and brainstormed some possible ways to overcome obstacles to education. Because educational issues vary across the world, this cross-cultural communication has provided students the opportunity to broaden their perspectives. They have learned that, while we may look forward to the occasional snow day, a recent flood in Costa Rica closed down our partnered school. As we move forward, our teams will seek solutions to local and global problems surrounding our issue.
"Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family."
These words by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan resonate with the group of students who are currently working on the Challenge 20/20. We have investigated the barriers to education in the world today. The findings are startling: UNESCO estimates that today, more than 90 million children do not have the opportunity to attend school. More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education. Our group also realized that sanitation and water issues are intimately connected to education issues. When students do not have access to clean water, they frequently become ill and cannot complete grade levels. We know that education is one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce global poverty. Now it is our job to find solutions to these problems. As future leaders, our Penn Charter Middle School students are working collaboratively to make a difference.
Alice Bateman
Social Studies
Williamsburg Presentations
Parents, faculty and students turned out in force to enjoy student exhibits and presentations of their Williamsburg craft projects on Tuesday, Nov. 13, in the Old Gym. From the home-cooked peanut soup, chicken dishes and cookies, to hand-crafted quilts and dresses, to tables and glass bottles, this night reflected the best of our eighth grade student efforts to learn about colonial life. Students shared a great depth and breadth of knowledge about a chosen craft, along with the impressive hours of work they had devoted to creation of a homemade item. Many thanks for the fine community support for this annual event, and congratulations to the students for a job well done!