5 Voices from History
A daily pleasure of mine is listening as students react to the primary texts we read in class. Though the vocabulary of colonial English and the complex sentences of offi cial texts present challenges, students engage. Why did Jefferson blame King George and not Parliament for the abuses listed in the Declaration? Why did the authors of the Constitution set up the electoral college and need urging for the Bill of Rights? Other readers connect with the humanity—sometimes cloaked, sometimes fully expressed—in the words left behind. We use primary documents in all our history classes. What...
Read MoreA 14-Minute Talk For Seniors: A Reflection on Spending Time
By Lisa Baker Some of the very best moments of my year have been running with Malia. She’s my daughter, 10 years old and coltish, limby and awkward, ankles poking out of her pants, her foot already a women’s size nine. But she’s all-girl, too—breathless and silly, amused by her sister’s potty humor and still willing to snuggle. “Wanna go for a run, honey?” I say to her after school, and she says, “Sure,” every time. Running had become a tedious routine, the washed-up athlete in me needing to hold on to the daily run, an efficient way to keep in shape, to claim a little for...
Read MoreTalking It Out in Grade 2
It can start with a simple misunderstanding over whose turn is next. A child whispers to another and someone feels left out. A ball is grabbed playfully, or not so playfully, and there is foot-stamping outrage. Every day in classrooms, hallways and playgrounds, conflicts big and small play out between children of all ages. Equipping them with the tools to manage these conflicts is an important part of early childhood education, particularly in second grade. “Second grade is a big year, socially,” says Sachiyo Unger, Grade 2 teacher in Milton’s K–8. “The academic piece goes hand in...
Read MoreStudent Journalism in 2012: Defining the craft, and learning accountability
Milton graduates beginning in the late 1980s remember looking forward to Friday mornings, when The Milton Paper, Milton’s independent student newspaper, was hot off the press. With a dedicated following and a proud staff, the Paper has always been a strong publication. When Adam Beckman ’12 and Cydney Grannan ’12 became editors-in-chief, they decided to define and meet a new level of quality, while print and online publications in the public domain were busy sorting out this issue for themselves. What should “their public,” Cydney and Adam effectively asked, be able to expect from...
Read MoreInsight, Fall 2012
At the Harkness table today, David Smith and his students in Studies in English and American Literature
Read MoreNOH8
Advanced Photography student Claire Robertson ’13 turned her lens on fellow students to promote a message of tolerance and inclusion. Claire, a board member of the student group GASP! (Gay and Straight People), says the independent project was inspired by the NOH8 Campaign, a photographic silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska in response to the passage of Proposition 8 in California. In the official campaign, various celebrities appear posed with duct tape covering their mouths and “NOH8” written on their cheeks. Claire and other GASP! members decided to give the...
Read MoreAnatomy of a 1212 Performance
As the audience filters out of each 1212 performance, the final scene has yet to unfold. Peter Parisi, performing arts department chair and director, gathers the small cast and crew around him. Together, they absorb the evening’s performance before scattering to collect the congratulations. This moment culminates months of work—planning, auditioning, reading, memorizing, staging and rehearsing. The play that Peter and company staged in February 2012 was Love and Intrigue by Friedrich Von Schiller, a German dramatist and major figure in German literature in the late 1700s. Peter came...
Read MoreWhy respect your opponent? Teaching sportsmanship must be explicit, coaches find.
Sports idols perform touchdown dances, update Twitter feeds constantly, and are often caught behaving badly off the field. Young athletes connected with social media are engulfed by an athletics culture where civility, respect and general sportsmanship are hard to find. Neither athletes nor coaches can ignore the prevailing tides. In this environment, how do coaches impress student-athletes with the value of fair conduct; respect for oppo nents, teammates and offi cials; winning and losing graciously? How do you make sure athletes practice the skills that are bound to help them succeed in...
Read MoreDare to Be True, the Version with Love
I don’t naturally fall into reflective rhythms during the year, and I relish the opportunity summer brings to slow down and reflect. Marlborough, New Hampshire, where my wife Nancy and I have been going since we were 18 years old, is one of those places that actually feels lost in time. Recently, I had the opportunity to hear some particularly apt reflections from the Right Reverend Mark Beckwith, Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. Bishop Beckwith talked about the fundamental balance between truth and love. Love and truth cannot separately fulfill their potential, he said. They reach full...
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