Discovering Geometry through Islamic Patterns

Two eighth grade geometry students spent two weeks studying the blending of math and art in Islamic patterns, which use properties of regular polygons, symmetry, and transformations to create beautiful patterns for contemplation and inner-peace.

Specifically, they studied a famous pattern displaying six-, eight- and twelve-pointed stars, from the 14th-century Córdoba Synagogue in Spain by re-creating it with a 21st century tool: the math app Geogebra. The design begins with the famous “flower of life” motif, a series of overlapping circles whose arcs form a six-pointed petal design that creates a template of vertices for the underlying hexagonal grid.

Once the hexagons begin to appear, then the stars start coming out by connecting the line segments created by the various points of intersection of the circles. Eventually, the Cordoba design begins to show forth. 

E.K., after a lot of hard work on his computer, created this design:

One student also created his design on his computer using Geogebra.

Even with the modern tools of computer mouses and software, given the precise and repetitive steps necessary for replicating the Cordoba Synagogue design, the project took a lot of time, increasing the students appreciation for the stunning designs created centuries ago with just the hand tools of compasses and straight edges.

Writing Is Art: The Creative Nonfiction Unit

The middle school students are wrapping up an English Language Arts unit on creative nonfiction writing focused on food that paired with a science unit about sustainability. Their final assignment for this unit (informed by their work as young scientists) is to produce an essay that told the story of a meal they planned, cooked, and served. The journey to creating this final essay and the wide array of results speak to how writing at Seabury Middle School is all about developing as a thinker and an artist.

Before We Could Write:

The unit began with Ratatouille, the movie, not the dish. We talked about the idea of being a food critic and did a close reading of Anton Ego's speech:

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. 

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. 

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

The students began to think about making food and describing or critiquing food as parallel art forms. Students asked questions. They shared understandings. 

Reading as Writers:

Before students wrote their first creative nonfiction essay, they read models of food writing. 

 

They shared favorite sentences from these model texts:

"This isn’t a dish you’ll find in a Pakistani restaurant—it’s that special, simple meal you make at home for your loved ones—and it doesn’t even have a name" (Saadat, "The Homestyle Pakistani Curry You Won't Find On Restaurant Menus").

and

"But this is not a food story that comes without cost" (Twitty, "I  Had Never Eaten in Ghana Before. But My Ancestors Had").

Our reading discussions focused on  what made the examples they read work or speak to them. Some of the students had had practice reading as writers in years past. Some were new to thinking about what they read in this way. They pushed each other to think in new ways or recognize new ways of thinking.

Together, we built rubrics. What does a successful piece of food writing look like? The morning and afternoon ELA classes came up with similar, but distinct rubrics:

Rubric 1

Rubric 2

Feedback-The First Workshop:

The students' first pieces matched the prompt or subject of their model texts. Then, they bravely shared their writing with small groups of classmates. Someone who did not write the piece read it out loud, and then the students in the group asked questions. As a reader, what did they want to know? What questions did they have that would help them better understand? They also highlighted portions of each piece that were working really well.

And then Again:

Students then began a second round of reading, discussing, writing, and workshopping. The model texts were a bit more personal, a bit more about a story having a message: 

Some stand-out sentences from this crop of model texts:

“The telltale brick-shaped carton encasing a Dayglo orange matter that 

provided equal parts sustenance and humiliation: government cheese” (Dempsey, "The Tyranny and the Comfort of Government Cheese").

and

"Anh and I were transfixed by the bright red cylinder and the mustache grin on Mr. Pringles’s broad, pale face. The Heidenga girl pried off the top and crammed a handful of chips into her mouth. We watched the crumbs fall from her fingers to the floor" (Nguyen, "Pringles").

Even their choice of favorite sentences reveals their growth as writers.

This chance to embrace more personal narratives and put more of themselves into their stories gave some of the students a necessary push from descriptive writing into narrative writing. The students opened windows into who they are and how food connects them to their world.

Revision:

Students chose one of these first two pieces to revise. I gave them detailed feedback as a reader and as a teacher. The crafted more compelling sentences, they reorganized, they shifted tense and perspective, and then they hit "submit." 

Here are some anonymous highlights from their works of art:

"Grilled cheese. It’s one of the only foods I can make without burning something or nearly exploding the microwave because I forgot I left a fork in it."

and

"Bread is cool because it tastes like bread. It's also made out of a brown grass called wheat (or even rye), so that's pretty great. Bread is also usually brown. If you bake your bread on flour or with a light dusting on top, it might look more appetizing to some people. Perhaps you could call it artisan."

and

"Either way, it will probably not be like how my abuela used to make it, but some will do anything for that taste of home." 

Meanwhile:

Meanwhile, the students were researching sustainable food production in science. They prepared meal plans and ingredients lists. They worked with Mr. MacKenzie to design a meal.

We also looked at food photography, discussed aesthetic preferences, and learned some food styling tips. The students practiced taking and editing pictures of food.

A Chance to Hone a Skill:

The chance to practice writing about food again after having finished the workshopping process and thinking so deeply about the food they eat and where it comes from allowed the students to stretch and grow. They could be more creative because they were more comfortable with the genre. Through meetings with me and, in some cases, each other, they talked through and planned their final pieces. They wrote and revised and wrote some more.

These final essays have voice and power. They tell stories that convince. They draw on evidence and research to tie food to its origins while also crafting character. 

Great Artists:

No one sits down at the piano the first time and plays like a maestro. 

I think often about the first four minutes of this video when I think about teaching students to write in any new genre. Their first attempts, those ones that are more likely to plod along, are so important. They are foundational. Young writers need to hear that they are plodding along and also those moments when their writing flows, when jokes they wrote land, when their voices shine. They also need to read successful examples just like a young musician needs to listen to music. Then, they can improve. Becoming an artist takes work and it takes low stakes opportunities to just be okay, to hit some missed notes.

Bravery

It is brave to put yourself on the page. It is brave to try something new. It is brave to ask someone else to look at something you have created and make it better. 

This is the work of being a Seabury student and the work of being an artist. 

The Last Word:

Anonymous Excerpts from the Sustainable Cuisine Essays:

"My hands were lightning fast, whizzing back and forth. It was a blur of motion as I grabbed the tomato and threw it in the air. I grabbed a knife and chopped it before it hit the ground, Kung-fu style.2 It was a little less dramatic, but who cares. I slapped the potatoes down and vigorously stabbed them with a fork3. I wrapped them in a towel and put them in the microwave. Despite my efforts, there was no nuclear explosion, phew."

"When I think of fall and winter, I think of potatoes: those round and imperfect roots. But add some butter, maybe cream, salt, pepper, and a masher, and you have one of the most imperfect perfect things in the world."

"There were bubbles everywhere. It had exploded to the top of the mason jar with all of the little yeast working.  

One last day of being outside. One big feeding. Being in the fridge would will slow him down and not eat as fast.  I took a few cautious sniffs. And made my lemon face.

This was ready."

I think you'll agree: these student writers are artists.

Open-ended - an opportunity to jump in at your level

 On Dot Day we traditionally celebrate student creativity, so this activity is a good example of how an assignment can allow students to jump in at their level. The students were given some parameters and assisted with some tech tips on how they could make their assignments more interactive. Many students are very capable in creating slides and presentations and using various web apps, while for others this may have been their first project on a laptop. Setting up challenges and choices gives them the opportunity to focus on strengths. Each project is unique and imperfect, but shows the students' abilities with technologies. It also gets them thinking about the world outside their homes and neighborhoods.

Make sure you click on some of the images in the slides to see where they take you.

Seabury Middle School Student Mission Statement 2020-2021

 This is the mission statement that our amazing middle schoolers wrote for this school year:

During the 2020-2021 school year, Seabury Middle School students will develop, recognize, and pursue our goals. We will ask thoughtful questions, indulge in our passions, use our strengths, develop our talents, work toward having grit to overcome difficulties, and explore our own identities. As students, we will try to think creatively and attempt to be open-minded and flexible. We will love learning and share that love while also seeking joy even when studying subjects or topics that aren’t our favorites. We will strive to be members of a kind, helpful, and supportive community.

We will do all of this in order to take pride in ourselves, expand our intelligence, be better equipped to face obstacles or difficulties, improve as people, work toward being our best selves, and make progress toward being outstanding members of a global community.

During these unprecedented times, our goal is to learn no matter where we are, whether in school or at home.

Community is a Feeling

During middle school (in any year) creating a community of learners is one of our top priorities, and we spend the first weeks teaching students the tools they need to do school and building that community.

During distance learning, that has taken new forms. This post shares some of our activities and some of our process as we come together to learn and grow and challenge one another.

Seabury Middle School Student 2020-2021 Mission Statement

We worked in groups to draft Seabury Middle School Student Mission Statements for this school year. They will finalize their mission statement next week, and we will share the results with you.

This deliberate and careful task asked the student to collaborate, identify their collective aims, and determine which words best depicted their values and goals for the year. Mrs. Wollum, head of school, helped students see the import of careful language selection, serving as an expert for this assignment.

__________________________

Virtual class photo (totally optional, so not all are pictured):

_____________________________

Core Values Memes

We also asked students to work in small teams to create memes that depicted the middle school's core values. Here are some of their memes and definitions (more to come in a future post!):

Empathy: Empathy is about other people and how they are feeling. It is about thinking about and understanding other people’s feelings.

Agency: Agency is the capacity of an individual to make their own choices.

Grit: "Run and Duck": Grit means that you just keep going no matter what happens, that you are resilient.

Love of Learning

Community

Creativity

Just smile!

It makes everything a bit better.

Welcome Seabury Middle School Families!

2020-2021 - Overarching Theme: The Future We Want

 

The first two weeks of school, we bond, we set goals, we solve problems, and then we ease into an academic schedule. Here is the working schedule (subject to change as needed for the students and the curriculum--we will notify you of any changes in the Friday email.):

Book Recommendations for Summer Reading: Finding 'Good Fit' Books for Gifted Teens

Each reader is different, and not every reader is ready for the content they are able to read. That is the challenge of finding "good fit" books for advanced readers. These lists are just here to help you (and them) find some new books to read.

At each level, these are not all designed to be “challenge” books. Some are just strong middle-grade/YA fiction that students might enjoy reading or that a particular student may not have read yet. Students are—of course--welcome to seek a challenge on one of the older lists as well or to read a great book they’ve missed from an earlier recommended grade. Parents should advise re: content.

Also, the CCBC, an amazing children’s library resource out of the University of Wisconsin, has a
Web site full of lists. You can access their many recommendations here: https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/detailLists.asp?idBookListCat=4

I have made three lists:
Books for rising 6th and 7th graders,
Books for rising 7th and 8th graders
Books for rising 8th and 9th graders.

Within the second two lists, I made subcategories with classics on top. Please excuse any duplicates.

Happy Reading!

P.S. I am going to add a few after reports are turned in. I have a "from this year" list that I don't want to forget to include.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rising 6th and 7th Graders
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio
• Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord
• Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
• Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes
• Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
• The White House is Burning by Jane Sutcliffe
• Paperboy by Vince Vawter
• The Call of the Wild
• Al Capone Does My ShirtsI by Gennifer Choldenko
• Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle
• Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
• Refugee by Alan Gratz
• The Miracle Worker
• Anything by L’Engle
• Little Women
• The Once and Future King
• Surviving the Applewhites
• Watership Down
• Inherit the Wind
• Navigating Early
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Red Scarf Girl (a nonfiction memoir that reads like a story)
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• The Alchemist
• Echo
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• The House on Mango Street
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• The Princess Bride
• A Wizard of Earthsea

Rising 7th and 8th Graders

Classics:
• Gulliver’s Travels
• The Iliad
• The Odyssey (I prefer the Fagles translation)
• Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
• Austen’s Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and/or Sense and Sensibility
• Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop
• Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels
• The Joy Luck Club
• Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (The first mystery novel)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• P.G. Wodehouse (The Jeeves Stories)
• Agatha Christie’s mystery novels
• The James Bond novels
• John Le Carre’s spy novels

Newer Texts:
• The Flavia de Luce series of mystery novels (set in England, involve chemistry)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
• Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes  (and other Chris Crutcher novels—he’s from Spokane)
• The Fault in Our Stars
• Papertowns
• The Book Thief
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
• Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist (and everything else these co-authors wrote)
• Every Day by David Levithan
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
• The Highest Tide
• Life of Pi
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• The Martian Chronicles
• Ship Breaker
• Sophie’s World
• Bel Canto
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Box Out
• Howl’s Moving Castle
• The Rock and the River
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
- My Name is Not Easy

-Hearts Unbroken

-The Beast of Cretacea

-Clap when You Land

-Almost American Girl

Nonfiction (Check the nonfiction list at the end of the rising 8/rising 9 list, too.)
• Port Chicago
• I Am Malala
• Samurai Rising
• Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?

Rising 8th and 9th Graders (Some of the content contained in these novels is a little edgier, so consider discussing options with parents. These are just great books, not necessarily great books for every student.)

Classics:
Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie
John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden
Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
Ernest Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth
                        The Age of Innocence
Henry James: Daisy Miller and various short stories
Norman Mailer: The Naked and the Dead 
James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans (Or the whole set of the Leatherstocking Tales)
Richard Wright: Native Son
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Upton Sinclair: The Jungle
James Baldwin: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Frank Norris: The Octopus
Robert Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land
Alice Walker: The Color Purple
Willa Cather: My Antonia
Bernard Malamud: The Natural
Joseph Heller: Catch-22
Kurt Vonnegut: Cat’s Cradle
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
Dorothy Dunnet’s The Lymond Chronicles (a series)
Herodotus’ Histories (460 B.C.)
The Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides (431 B.C.)
Don Quixote (1605)
Wuthering Heights
Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities
Les Miserables
Crime and Punishment
An American Tragedy
The Time Machine
Anything by Wilde, especially The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dubliners by James Joyce
Siddhartha
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Lord of the Rings
One Hundred Years of Solitude


Newer Works:
The Wide Sargasso Sea
The Hate U Give
On the Come Up
Elena Ferrante’s Novels
Exit West
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Eva Luna
Speak
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Monkey Wrench Gang
The Magicians
Interpreter of Maladies (short stories)
A Separate Peace
The Night Circus
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents
In the time of the Butterflies

Long Way Down
Ghost

Americanah

House of the Spirits

Purple Hibiscus
The Overstory

White Teeth

Nonfiction
The Physics of the Future
Plato at the Googleplex
Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?
The End of Money
Freakonomics
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Mountains Beyond Mountains
The Color of Water
Kaffir Boy
Stamped

Success Is the Tip of the Iceberg

This sketchnote from Sylvia Duckworth illustrates a lesson that a lot of gifted middle school students are in the process of learning. For some, it is THE most important lesson they will learn in middle school. 

Some thoughts about success:

• At times, students who are new to Seabury Middle School express shock or surprise when they are not initially successful. 
• Success is not always easy.
• It can be easy at times. It can also take a lot of work. One type of success is not "worth" more than the other type.
• The end goal might look different to different people at different times.
• Being in a moment of failure, does not mean that a learner is at the end of their journey. It means they're on the path of learning. 
• Students learn through a process of action, reflection and feedback, and then re-attempting that action. Their writing, thinking, reading, and discussion skills all improve in this way.

Students who struggles a lot the first time they complete a particular type of assignment, like writing a thesis statement or doing a close reading chart, might find that the next time they try that same skill, it is easier. The feelings of disappointment and the appearance of failure at that one moment of time, coupled with dedication and hard work, pave the way for later success. As middle school teachers, we know that learning is a journey and that the set-backs and how students react to them are important moments on that journey.

Now, at the end of the school year, when students come to many summative assessments, many of them are also seeing the fruits of their hard work and past struggles. In the past few weeks, I have had many students do something in a way they could not have imagined doing it six months ago. They are impressing themselves. 

They are also starting new journeys, beginning next steps to new goals.

During distance learning, we have been able to see some of those process more closely than in an in-person classroom, and during in-person learning we are able to see some of them more clearly. In both cases, we are prioritizing helping students set goals, know where they are going, and helping them accurately assess where they are on the journey. 

Astronomy is a Great Distance Learning Subject

Seabury has an inquiry based science program. Inquiry is an investigative approach to teaching and learning. Students at Seabury get to explore solutions and develop explanations to phenomena they observe or learn about. This is much the same as what scientists do in the real world. They ask observe a phenomena, ask questions, and investigate. As they obtain new information their ideas and understanding change. Inquiry often begins with a counter intuitive or unexpected event. 

Astronomers investigate the universe using mathematics and electromagnetic radiation such as light, microwaves, and x-rays. Seabury students were presented with three interesting ways light interacts with with objects on earth to create images. One was its reflection on a spoon. The concave bowl of the spoon reflects a different image that the convex back of the spoon. Why? Students were asked to come up with their own question about the phenomena, this lead to ideas about why things appear smaller or larger at different distances. Students also investigated mirrors an infinite loops of reflections. Lastly the students constructed their own refracting telescopes which magnify far away objects. Many connections can be drawn between the way light acts in these situations. 

Seabury is also about hands-on and being there (actually experiencing things). In Astronomy class students have been taking stargazing challenges, trying to locate different constellations and witness events. Some students woke up at the crack of dawn to see an arch of planets or stayed up late to see the sunset. We will be using our new telescopes to focus in on planets and the moon. To document this students are creating their own web-pages using Padlet.   

Astronomy often occurs at night so this distance learning gives us an opportunity to bend our regular schedules and do some nighttime investigations. 

Color shift in infinite reflections

Asking Questions: The First Step toward Learning

Inquiry begins with wonder.

The middle school students are embarking on an exploration of world religions, and the first step that we took on our journey was one geared toward orienting themselves.

Students completed a short survey asking about their religious practices and beliefs as well as their initial thoughts on religion: "I know..." and "I think..."

Once they had shared their bearings, they could then discuss potential paths. Students wrote questions about what they want to know about religion based on what they already know and have experienced. When pasted into a word cloud, their questions look like this:



The next step will be some inspirations: virtual tours of famous religious sites from around the world, religious music, food associated with religious rituals, and religious art.

Students will then have a chance to ask questions again: Now that they know more, what questions are still resonating? What new questions have emerged?

From there, they can branch off and explore.

Giving students time to think about and develop questions before they engage in an inquiry-based learning experience ensures that their questions are of real interest to them.

Seabury Middle School - Digital Parent Night part 2

How to Upload a Math Assignment Using the Google Classroom app and Smartphone or Tablet with Camera

Some students are still struggling to post math assignments correctly. This is the easiest way to do it.

Ways We Can Communicate

The following video is just a reminder of all the ways you and your student can communicate with us about assignments, worries, concerns, and to get help.

Seabury Middle School: A Digital Parent Night - Post 1

We thought it might be helpful to share some information about what digital school looks like and some tips that might be useful to parents when navigating the at home aspects of digital schooling.

Thank you!
First and foremost, thank you for everything you are doing to help digital schooling run smoothly. We are so appreciative of your communication, your time, and your patience. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We are so fortunate to be in this together.


How to Help Your Child(ren) Make Daily Schedules/Manage Their Time

1) See if they can do it on their own--this is a great learning experience, and we are here as a safety net. They might have some missed assignments and meetings, but better to learn how to mange their time now than later. They will be okay. We are being really flexible during this transition.

2) They have made the transition pretty seamless and are mostly managing their time well in terms of assignment completion.

3) Google Classroom connects to Google Calendar, and that is a great tool!

If the video does not work, I am also sharing it as a Google Drive link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16GbIpZRnF-J0kylWJWk3Bvnr5sASoPLK


Attendance and Flipgrid

1) Flipgrid is an app the teachers are using, but that students do not need to download (unless they are using it on a phone or ipad instead of a computer).

2) The only people who can access our Flipgrid our people with seabury.org email addresses.

3) Right now, students are using flipgrid to post "morning talkings," which we are using in place of morning journaling. We will likely also use it for classwork in the coming weeks. In the past, some students have used it for current events assignments in social studies, for example.

4) Attendance: We are checking students in each day by whether or not they having completed morning talking by noon. It would make things a little easier if they could try to make sure they do that. If they do not submit it by noon, Jenn and Gabrielle will contact you and them.

5) Students should not share any other students' images or videos from flipgrid without explicit written permission from the other students' parents.

6) Here is what Flipgrid looks like:

Prioritizing Deep Thinking and Skill Building

Right now, we are trying to lower students' workload as compared to before the school building closures: they do not have homework in addition to school work, and they should have a little less than a full day's work load. In part, that is because sometimes assignments take longer at home. In part it is because families have a lot going on right now, and some students are spending a good portion of each day helping younger siblings with their work or doing tasks for their families.

At the same time, we want to make sure our students are still feeling challenged and having opportunities to engage in thoughtful and meaningful learning. We are also highly aware of the skills they need to continue moving forward academically. As we continue with digital school, we continue to prioritize necessary skill building and work in accordance with best practices in gifted education and learning sciences.

If you feel like your child is taking an extremely long time to complete work or is overwhelmed, please email us and let us know (or have them do that!!!). It is possible that a quick conference with us can help them with time management and focus. It is also possible that your middle school aged child is extremely adept at switching between a game screen and word: we have become experts at identifying the signs of screen switching. Perhaps you will too! Remember: this, too, is a learning opportunity.

Tune in for post 2:

Turning in Photos of Work (Mostly for Math): Tips and Tricks

Avenues of Communication

Dystopian Literature

In a recent conversation with a middle schooler about the role of the teacher in a project based learning school, the student said, "So, you are the back seat driver to my education."

The more I think about it, the more I feel like he hit the nail on the head.

As we have worked to make school remote, that conversation has been in the back of my mind. How are we, as teachers, coaching the students to continue being in the driver's seat. What opportunities are we giving them to discover themselves as learners. Where do we need to push and where do we need to let go a little?

Teachers should consider themselves life long learners, and this national switch to digital schooling exemplifies the strength of the teaching community: teachers who love technology have embraced the switch and gone out of their way to provide resources and assistance to novices. Novices have put their toe in the water and slowly waded in. The national teacher community is modeling project based learning for students on an enormous scale.

In an exploration of new tools and technological resources, I have made a commitment to expand my digital repertoire and learn some skills I have always wanted to learn because they seem like they would be so helpful to students.

Over the course of the past month, students have inductively identified major characteristics of dystopian stories. While reading "Harrison Bergeron," watching Wall-E, and reading Fahrenheit 451, the students observed common characteristics. Then, through discussion, they honed their ideas. Today, I asked them to post their findings. As the posts came in, I realized that their collective ideas deserved more than to just sit in our class notes document waiting to be used as a resource for when the students write their own dystopian stories.

To that end and in the spirit of being a lifelong learner, I learned how to make an infographic. I used a design rubric that an art teacher friend made with me years ago, and I set to work.

Now they can see how professional their trend assessments look when presented in this manner, they can use the information more easily when crafting their own stories, and they have a starting point to use when creating their own future infographics. I have no doubt that they will surpass me.

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

Out and About in Tacoma: A Recess Walk to the Spanish Steps

At Seabury Middle School, we have the chance to be out and about in Tacoma, and now that spring is springing and the weather is pleasant, we sometimes take walks during recess.

This week, we visited the Spanish Steps, and students asked questions about the Spanish Steps in Rome. Last week, we went to the Bridge of Glass, but I forgot to take photographs (sorry!).

It was a beautiful day for some sunshine. The walks are also a healthy way to add movement into our day and give students space to think and interact outside of the school's walls.

They have the chance to enjoy each other's company,

and talk with their teachers outside of academic contexts.

Model UN Practice: WHO Committee

In preparation for our Model UN conference in just over a month, the students participated in a World Health Organization Committee, representing nations ranging from Japan and China to the US and France. 

Gathered together, they worked to address what the nations of the world can do to destigmatize mental health, working to stay within the mandate of the committee and their nations' policies.

Throughout the process, they also practiced following the rules of procedure and using Model UN terminology.

While we have much work to do to prepare for their actual committee, this first run showed that their public speaking and conflict resolution skills will serve them well.

After a long morning of work and a short afternoon session, the presented a draft resolution that was unanimously approved by the committee.

Recycling Right!

Community experts are frequent visitors to Seabury Middle School. Whether they come as part of a community outreach or are here to help us evaluate student work or to be a real world audience for student presentations, experts are a welcome benefit to learning in downtown Tacoma.

Featured here is Preston Peck who was a recent visitor from the city's residential recycling program. He is a project specialist focused on community education about recycling. He provided our students with a presentation on where our recycling goes, what is safe to recycle, and how recycling is a business that is affected by the community's knowledge of what and how to recycle. We learned how important to the environment it is to sort our recycling properly. Our student's were highly engaged and shared great ideas about recycling now and in the future.

The knowledge and connections students gain from expert visitors, is part of an integral part of the education you receive at Seabury School.

Presenting to Experts: Authenticity when Crafting Fictional Worlds

This week, the middle schoolers had the chance to present their prototype societies to a panel of experts. This process of presenting their ideas and receiving in-person feedback on those ideas is a little nerve-wracking, but the middle schoolers were brave and thoughtful. They confidently presented their societies and fielded a wide range of questions.

We were so lucky to have so many thoughtful and interesting experts volunteer their time on our two days of panels.

Here are the expert's bios:

January 21st

Sandi Wollum

Dr. David Muller

I graduated in 1988 from Stanford University with a bachelors in sociology and honors in humanities.  For my undergraduate studies, I had specialized in organizational behavior, thinking that I would go into the business world as a management consultant or advertising executive.  However, my plans were waylaid by an opportunities to milk dairy cows in Belgium and to teach beginning piano in Seattle. Both experiences led me to think that perhaps teaching would be a better profession for me, and so I attended the University of Washington for a few years to earn minors in both mathematics and English, as well as a teaching certificate in both subjects for grades 4 thru 12.  I took some more time off to bicycle tour California, Arizona, New Mexico, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, and Alaska. Promptly after returning, I moved to Colorado, where I taught high school mathematics for 1 year, then 1 year in New Mexico at a Preparatory School for Native American Students, 1 year in Arizona on the Hopi Indian Reservation, and then for six years in Tucson, AZ, also at a high school for Native American students.  While teaching in Tucson, I earned a masters and then a doctorate in math education, and married a math post-doctoral assitant (not necessarily in that order). I moved back to Washington in 2008, where my wife began her professorship at Pacific Lutheran University. For the past ten years I have had a practice in house-husbandry, as well as mathematics tutoring. I bring to this panel my expertise in having pursued for the past 30 years my own imagined Utopia.

Cameron Seib District Scheduler for Representative Kilmer 

(he/him)

I went to the University of Washington and graduated in 2015 with an English degree. A few months after graduation, I moved to DC for an internship in Rep. Denny Heck’s office, where I eventually came on as a full-time Staff Assistant. After about a year, I moved back to Seattle and began working at the UW, helping with career services for information science students.

I was there for three years before joining Rep. Kilmer’s office in July 2019. As his District Scheduler, I help plan and implement the Congressman’s schedule when he’s back in the state. This involves liaising with community members and constituents to set up speaking engagements, roundtable discussions, town halls, school visits, etc.

Peter Plastrik (Skype) 

he/him

Peter Plastrik, an educational and environmental consultant and former speech writer for the Governor of Michigan, has written several books. He studied journalism at the University of Michigan and completed graduate students in Education at Michigan State University before pursuing other fields of work. He as written several books: Banishing Bureaucracy, Life after Carbon, and Connecting to Change the World: Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact. In addition, he has helped start and run University Prep, a charter school in Detroit, MI. Peter has traveled the world and seen many different societies. He also works with groups and organizations to help people work together better and more efficiently.

Robert Zwirner

he/him

Robert earned his B.A. in English from the University of Michigan. He is a world traveler and a soccer fan. He is an avid table top gamer and a student of the world. Robert has written travel narratives and has done literature graduate work at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Vicki Pastore

she/her

Vicki’s areas of expertise are managing a workforce of 70, marketing, event planning, interviewing, with some expertise in music. Vicki attended Eckerd College, where she earned her B.A. in Humanities; Literature, Philosophy, and Theater. She is one of the associate directors of admissions at the University of Puget Sound. She is also Isaac’s mom and the owner of two dogs.

Dr. Jessica Lensch Falk

she/her

Jessica Lensch-Falk is a scientist and educator who teaches hands-on science and engineering to K-8 students. She believes that all students are naturally scientists and are capable of  amazing and difficult accomplishments when given the opportunity and resources. Her previous work includes research on nanomaterials for energy applications at Sandia National Laboratories. She has also been involved in non-profit management as a current board member at her synagogue and former president of her children's PTO. Jessica holds a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University and a BS in Materials Science & Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.  In her free time Jessica loves spending time with her husband and two children, playing board games, reading, and baking.

January 22nd, 8:45-9:45

Tiffany Price

Jenn Parker

I graduated from the Univ. of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with a BFA in Art Education in 1994.  Upon graduation I was an art teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic School (a private school in Melrose, MA- a town outside of Boston).  During my summer breaks I did a little traveling -I rode a motorcycle across the country going East to West one summer and then rode my bicycle across the country going West to East the following summer.  So, to make a little extra “travel cash” I started working part time at a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop on Newbury Street in Boston scooping ice cream after school. During this time the owner of that scoop shop asked me if I would consider managing a new scoop shop that he was opening.  After much consideration I chose to leave teaching and jump into business management. Over the course of 6 years at Ben & Jerry’s I won the “Best Promotions Ever” contest, was awarded the “BIG-O” award for having the best franchise in the world, trained several perspective franchise owners from around the world, taught workshops at corporate meetings, and was promoted to the highest honor, which was to manage the corporate Ben & Jerry’s “Flagship” store in Burlington, VT (home of Ben & Jerry!) 

Over the years I traveled a bit more, managed a few other high profiled VT businesses, and participated and graduated from a continuing education program called, “The Women’s Small Business Program” at Trinity College in VT. This is where and when I wrote a couple of business plans.  One plan was to open my own bakery café which is what I did in 2005. In 2010 I hung up my apron and sold my shares of the bakery to my business co-owners and became a full time Mom. In the summer of 2016, my family moved from Vermont to Washington. That fall I began to work as a substitute teacher at Seabury and in the Tacoma School Systems.  In 2017 I started to work full time at Seabury doing what I am currently doing.

Dr. Toska Olson

she/her

Toska (Sulli's mom) is a social scientist who teaches at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. She studied anthropology in college and earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Washington. Toska teaches about a variety of topics, including criminology and criminal profiling, gender and sexuality, privilege and oppression, and health and well-being. She and her students have explored dystopias and utopias in many classes, especially as they relate to gender, race, and the body. Her students have researched, designed, and built 3-D models of their utopian visions in the forms of games, playgrounds, toys, and museum exhibits. 

Dr. Diane Bartels

she/her

My name is Diane Bartels and I’m a pediatrician In Gig Harbor, Washington (and Marc’s mom).  I grew up in Austin, Texas. I attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas for my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I then attended UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and completed a Pediatric Residency at Dell Childrens Hospital in Austin, Texas. After completing training, my family moved to Gig Harbor. We live on a 10 acre farm and have dabbled in homesteading including vegetable gardens (unsuccessfully), beekeeping (successful until they attacked me and I got stung 100 times), and (successfully) raising meat and egg chickens and turkeys and larger livestock (goats, sheep and now horses). We love to travel especially by boat and I love to read. I will be most helpful to your Utopia project with advice in public health and agriculture. 

Mark Friedman

he/him

EDUCATION

Oberlin College, B.A. 1975

Georgetown University Law School, J.D. cum laude 1980

Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, MSFS, 1980 (Joint Degree Program)

Columbia University School of Business, MBA, 1986

PROFESSIONAL AND OTHERWISE

I am a retired attorney whose twenty years of practice encompassed a variety of legal specialties and practice areas, mostly in greater Los Angeles. These included commercial litigation; negotiating and papering transactions for corporate clients at a major law firm; acting as regional counsel to Mitsui (U.S.A.), the subsidiary of a gigantic Japanese trading company; and serving as the general counsel of Core-Vent Bioengineering, one of the nation’s leading dental implant manufacturers. I have lived in Port Orchard with my wonderful Aracelly since 2004, and we now have two Seabury kids, Judah and younger brother Asher.

Steve Plastrik

he/him

Steve grew up in Michigan, but lived in Japan, Switzerland, and Vermont before settling in Seattle. He studied Political Science and Japanese at the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and then went back to Michigan to obtain a law degree. Steve has worked in immigration law as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a Project Specialist for Amazon, and in private practice. In his free time, Steve loves to travel (which led him to a career in immigration law), go hiking in National Parks (he's looking forward to Joshua Tree in a few weeks), and play Nintendo Switch (Mario Maker 2 right now).

One of the most powerful aspects of having experts ask questions in person is the way that the students refined their ideas in advance of the presentations. I saw some students pacing in circles, talking to themselves about their utopias, some students gathering with others to hash out their ideas, and some students digging into resource and reference material. One student wrote all over the white board walls, and another filled pages of a journal. Students had a chance to develop their ideas in ways that felt natural and useful to them. They also refined them mid-presentation, adjusting language and wording as they fielded questions.

Hearing their presentations one after the other also helps me, as their teacher, notice trends across their societies and target particular instructional needs. After their presentations, the students are focusing more on using the language of the discipline to be more precise with their terminology.