SEVEN HILLS
December 15, 2011
The Buzz
A Brief Word from Chris Garten
Seven Hills to host regional Roundtable on Innovation in the Classroom
On Wednesday morning, I spent some time attending the fourth grade’s Medieval Feast at Lotspeich. It is difficult to convey adequately the level of excitement felt by students who experienced a glimpse of medieval life in this rich simulation.
Seven Hills will host “New Directions in Assessment: A Roundtable on Innovation in the Classroom,” sponsored by Independent Curriculum Group, on January 11 from 9:00am to 3:00pm. New Directions in Assessment will draw on ICG’s National Assessment Project, in which schools across the nation are examining classroom assessments that touch on critical inquiry, creative problem solving, oral communication, and collaboration. Five such Roundtables will take place across the country, and Seven Hills is hosting the Roundtable for Midwestern independent schools.
Served by parent volunteers (very good sports!) in period costumes and regaled by their teachers, students also heard from a visiting expert, dressed as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, who answered many of their questions about the nuances of medieval life. Learning in this experiential way fosters one the principal goals of our history and social studies curriculum, helping students to develop an empathetic understanding of lives, past and present, so very different from their own. And, it was a lot of fun! I will hope to see many of you at a host of other events this week. All the best to you and to your families in the holiday season! Chris Garten, Head of School
From its website: “Independent Curriculum Group is a
national organization of schools dedicated to promoting student-centered, future-ready education that is studentcentered not test-centered. ICG schools are guided by research about how students learn, and by an ongoing effort to align practice and theory more fully. ICG schools create learning that is authentic and connected to the world. ICG schools put students at the center of the education process by providing opportunities for them to initiate, analyze, manage, create, and collaborate. ICG schools place particular emphasis on the development of middle school and high school courses that maintain the spirit of lifelong learning so often begun in the elementary grades.”
Senior Linnea Head is recipient of 2012 YMCA Character Award Congratulations to senior Linnea Head, one of 40 area teens who are recipients of 2012 YMCA Character Awards for demonstrating outstanding qualities of leadership and character and for working to strengthen their schools and communities. The teens will be honored at the 15th Annual YMCA Character Awards on April 17. Susan Marrs, Director of Studies for Grades 6–12, Assistant Head of School, and Director of College Counseling, wrote in her nomination of Linnea, in part, “Linnea is a rare young woman. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered a student more happily, warmly, whole-heartedly and infectiously involved in making her world a better place. Her
influence on the community of this school is already legendary, but her energies extend far beyond our walls—to abused women and children in Cincinnati, to cancer patients in any number of communities, even to villages in Africa. In large ways and small, Linnea lives her wonderful values every day, and she inspires others to do the same. Continued next page
Inside this Buzz Upper School News
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Middle School News
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Lotspeich News
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Doherty News
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Linnea Head continued from page 1
“How does she also manage to carry a demanding load of college preparatory courses, to work on college applications, play varsity soccer, babysit and live a normal teenage life in addition to devoting untold hours to the commitments I’ve listed? I have no idea. But she does it all with warmth, energy, and the world’s biggest, most welcoming smile. As I said—she’s a rare and wonderful creature, richly deserving recognition.” page 2
Tony Award winner for M. Butterfly Lecture Luncheon & Book Signing Friday, Feb. 3, 11:00 AM Cintas Center at X.U. Craig Schwartz
“Examples of her initiative, her generosity of spirit and her effectiveness: “She is always thinking of others. Last winter when she learned about Bethany House, Cincinnati’s shelter for battered women and their children, Linnea sensed those women might feel especially sad on Valentine’s Day, when the rest of world is receiving messages of love. So she organized a drive to provide flowers for each resident as well as toys for their children. “Last spring she learned about Unified for Unifat (U4U), begun several years ago by a Cincinnati high school student and now an important source of support for a Ugandan elementary school for children from displacement camps, those whose parents died of AIDS, those who escaped from abduction, and so on. Linnea immediately embraced its cause and has rallied dramatic support for it by the students of this school. “A few other projects Linnea has initiated and is shepherding: a partnership with Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts that will produce a student art fair to raise money for student service groups to use in making sandwiches for a downtown soup kitchen; KESHA Club (Keeping Everyone Safe, Happy and Aware); Mowvember, a prostate cancer fundraiser that involves asking the males in the community to stop shaving until a particular date and then stages a mass shave-in; and designing logos for the Community Arts Center, the source of after-school arts programming for five local public schools.
Watch your mail for your invitation to Books for Lunch 2012!
Recent news: David Henry Hwang’s hilarious new play Chinglish was named by TIME Magazine as the Number 3 show out of the Top 10 Broadway shows of this year!
Dinner with the Author Thursday, Feb. 2, 6:30 PM At the home of Lisa and Dirk Schneider For more information, go to http://www.7hills.org/booksforlunch or contact Books for Lunch 2012 Committee Chairs Nancy Silverman at ngsilverman@cinci.rr.com or Kari Ellis at kaellis2@aol.com.
The Hills are alive with the sound of music!
December (especially this week before Winter Break) is filled with wonderful musical performances in all divisions! Here is just a glimpse, with more photos to come in the first Buzz after the break!
Happy Winter Break!
A look at what’s happening at Upper School
See page 5 for Middle School, page 6 for Lotspeich, and page 8 for Doherty Physics teacher Tim Drew described his tire changing lab: “The lab is used to take data on the use of a simple machine. It shows that there has to be very little force put into the jack over a long distance and the product is lifting a lot of weight, over a small distance. It is the practical application of why we use simple machines to make work easier.”
Jason Knarr
“As part of a unit on personal narratives and memoirs, students in English 12 recently read and discussed Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, by Art Spiegelman,” said teacher Nate Gleiner. “The story follows his father’s experiences during the Holocaust, and the book, which Spiegelman presents in graphic novel format, was seen as groundbreaking when it was published in 1986. In 1992, the text won a Pulitzer Prize Special Award.” Mr. Gleiner continued, “On December 7, art teacher Jason Knarr visited the English 12 classes to provide students with the historical and social context leading to the publication of Maus. In addition, he talked in detail about the form of the graphic novel, and the many examples he brought and shared helped to put Maus in dialogue with other works in the genre.” Teacher Tim Drew said, “For a review for a test, my freshman biology class had to do a rap or song using vocabulary from mitosis and meiosis (splitting of cells). They were really funny!” page 3
Mr. Drew continued, ”I want the students to be aware of their cars and how they work. We have an engine and a braking system from a Volkswagon Jetta in the classroom to discuss the efficiencies of the fossil fuel car and the maintenance necessary to keep them running at peak performance. Since most juniors drive, the car is a wonderful tool to apply the physics they are
learning.” He added, “Remember the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig? I do this lesson in a similar way.”
Sharing our students’ talent with the community
The Upper School Chorus’s December 8 concert tour included performances at the PNC Bank Building and the Chemed Center downtown, at Doherty, and on the Hillsdale Campus for fourth through eighth graders.
Big “BRAVOS!” to the cast, crew, Director Kate Riley, and Tech Director Katie Hamilton (’97) for a thoroughly delightful production of Georges Feydeau’s French farce, Get Out of My Hair! The production and the performances mastered every element of the genre—from broad physical comedy to perfect delivery of witty dialogue. The audience loved it!
Diane Kruer’s Materials and Design classes are creating a sculpture out of painted 8-foot sticks that will be a major installation on the campus. Each student submitted a design and constructed a model, using 8” sticks. The third bell class chose the model by Chris Baggott. The chosen colors were inspired by Sam Ellis’ shoes. Every step of the process has been collaborative, including choice of colors to paint the 8-foot sticks. The seventh bell class chose Ben Sorscher’s design. The classes will decide together where on campus the sculpture will be installed. Watch an upcoming edition of The Buzz!
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A look at what’s happening at Middle School Congratulations to seventh grader Vaibhav Vagal, who earned Honorable Mention for his essay in the Cassini Scientist for A Day essay contest. Math teacher Theresa Keller said, “We have just started our first Eureka Packet. Every Middle School student in grades 6, 7, and 8 works on a Eureka Packet. These are problem-solving questions that can be solved in many different ways. Students need to explain how they came about their answer. The packets are given over a 6–7 week period of time to be worked on independently.”
Science teacher Jennifer Licata said, “Jacquie Kovach, GE Aircraft Customer Support Engineer and parent of sixth grader Louann, visited sixth grade science classes on December 13 to talk to the students about how the study of ornithology is important in the development of aircraft engines. Students explored various parts of the FAA’s website to look at how the aircraft industry conducts research examining wildlife strikes and to develop methods to prevent them.” Congratulations to the Middle School for its HUGE collection of clothing, games and toys for The Caring Place! page 5
The Middle School’s “Evening of Festive Instrumental Music” was billed as “Featuring the Extremely Exciting Middle School Instrumental Ensembles”and “the best instrumental concert ever,” and the concert lived up to its billing for the capacity crowd. The performances by the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Ensembles, under the direction of John Rising, were outstanding!
Eighth grade science teacher Judy Wiesemann explained, “In this lab, the students investigated the motion of a bowling ball rolling along a flat surface. The students used a shallow ramp to launch the bowling ball with the same force for each trial. The students measured the time it took for the ball to roll 13 meters in one meter increments.
“The students did a second experiment using a steeper ramp to launch the ball with more force that resulted in the ball rolling at a higher constant speed. The students used Excel to graph the speed of the ball created by the two different ramp angles in order to see what constant speed looks like on a graph and how the speed of the ball is related to the slope of the line on the graph.”
A look at what’s happening at Lotspeich Creative dramatic teacher Russell White gave us a look inside his classes: “Let’s put the focus on our fourth and fifth grade classes and see what took place during their Theatre Lab classes. When the students enter the Red Barn and take their seats for instructions, they soon discover that they will be working together as tech, playwrights, costume crew, props, set crew, sound crew, stage manager and performers. Soon the students have chosen the roles they desire for the class, and the stage manager is busy with clipboard, pen and paper, talking with the performing groups to get the title of their play, the cast list and tech needs like a song played or onstage or off-stage microphones. “The Red Barn is a flurry of activity while preparations are made. Then, it is time for the mini performance showcase. Working together and following set cues for sound effects or curtain opening, set pieces being carried in and out, and costume changes read: these students are very ready to entertain each other and share the joys of inspiration and collaboration. “One very memorable and hilarious fifth grade scene was titled, ‘ITC.’ When the scene began, we saw two men seated on stage. The man holding the laptop (donated by a student to use in class) starts telling his new employee about his training time and how he will instruct him in the proper ways of connecting the electrical equipment. The leader holds up an 18-inch metal rod and the audience anticipates the comedy that is soon to follow. The men work together on the equipment and soon are shaking and starting a sequence of events with shocking outcomes. The stage manger for this class saw the need and went off stage to provide the electrical buzzing sound on the live mic whenever the men were getting shocked. “They closed with the new employee on his knees facing the audience. In a woozy voice he announced that tomorrow’s lunch will be bologna sandwiches, then he promptly faints and falls to the carpet. Who were the creators of this scene? Ask around and find out as we look forward to the puppetry unit and many more performances to share in the new year.” page 6
Teacher Sara Snyder said, “The fourth grade students at Lotspeich have worked very hard for the last month learning about immigration. We have studied past and modern immigration. The students have also done a great job in researching a country of his/her own heritage. The research included information about the country, talking to family members about their heritage, and finding a food that is part of that country’s culture. The students presented their research and food to the class. The students had a great time sharing their heritage and food from around the world. We contributed the recipes to the Food for Thought project through iEarn.This iEarn project is an international cookbook with contributions from children from countries around the world. The recipes can be seen at the following address. http://foodforthoughtproject.org/.” Watch our next Buzz for photos from the fourth graders’ annual Medieval Feast!
The Second Grade Holiday Show, “December Nights, December Lights,” celebrated all of the December holidays and enchanted audiences in Founders Hall and at the New England Club retirement community.
The kindergarten students of teachers Karen Martin and Theresa Cohen invited their parents to an open house December 13. The Celebration of Lights celebrated the winter holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Santa Lucia, Las Posadas, and Chinese New Year.
It was another successful year for Lotspeich’s traditional Mitten Tree, benefiting the Madisonville Education and Assistance Center. page page 77
A look at what’s happening at Doherty Creative dramatic teacher Russell White wrote, “The arrival of our new Tascam DR-08 portable digital recorder has brightened many drama classes these last two weeks. With a microphone and cable with a 1/8 inch jack, students can record their voices and sound effects to the digital recorder where the files can then be saved to an iTunes account and then replayed over the drama room speaker system. Elin Antonsson and Ajay Gupta
“Planning the dialogue with classmates or stepping up to the mic for solo work has provided many creative sound files that are used during an acting scene the students cast and develop during drama class. “Some examples of scenes that have taken place include: Breaking News, Mario Song, Pizza Delivery and Mission Command. After our winter break, the puppetry unit will begin. Surely these fantastic drama students will find ways to use the Tascam recorder for cues or voice overs when they are working on puppet plays to share in class.”
Twelve enthusiastic participants from four Unit III homerooms participated in the Unit III Spelling Bee as part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest. Ari Gleich, Kevin Wang, Sophie Wydman, Stratton Papakirk, Courtney Zmich, Bruce Wyatt, Crawford Frutkin, Alex Grass, Alex Hood, and Annie Leeper all worked very hard to be the Unit champion. The honors went to Elin Antonsson, who clinched it from Ajay Gupta by spelling the word ‘unreadable.’ She will represent the school in the online contest in January 2012. We wish her all the best!
Art teacher Mimi Stricker told us, “Fourth graders learned about gesture drawing. The students got to model for each other and practiced capturing quick gestures of the human form. Each drawing was timed. The gesture session ranged from 30-second sketches to 3-minute drawings. They worked on large newsprint paper and used charcoal to rendure the figure. We had a blast!”
Watch our next Buzz for photos from the always wonderful, all-school Doherty Winter Program!
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Unit III students bonded with their Unit I buddies while making holiday cards for the staff who work on the riverboats. Former kindergarten teacher Priscilla Dunn started this project. She will be passing on these cards to the riverboat staff who ply the barges down the river and sometimes cannot get home for the holidays. Twenty-four Unit III students ventured out to Rockquest Climbing Center with the Doherty Outdoor Program to go rock climbing. The students received instruction on the equipment, techniques, and the safety of rock climbing. Several students were able to reach the top of their 40-foot walls, while others mastered the task of bouldering and were able to boulder over the top of their center rock wall. Everyone had a great time!
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