“Some of the News That’s Fit to Print”
November 12, 2012
The VA Voice Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, Vermont 05154 “Discere verba et opera Dei”
Vermont Academy Pumpkin Run
By: Craig Calhoun Last Monday was the perfect day for a run! It was sunny, dry, and there was no chance of getting too hot at 35°. At the starting line, people were yelling and jumping around to stay warm. The front line was raring to go; everyone wanted to win the parade lap around the track. As Mr. Harrington tested the start horn, Sarah Nelb almost created a huge false start by jumping forward at the sound. At the real start, elbows flew, people jostled, and there was general chaos. After that people started getting into their natural rhythm either running to win it, running for a personal goal, or walking or jogging to enjoy the day and Courtesy of Vermont Academy companions. At the front of the pack, was Georgi Funtarov, the winner of the parade lap. He was quickly caught by two Nordic skiers who continued to push the pace all the way to the finish. The cross country team was close on their heels but they may have lost some time when their brains, running on low oxygen, steered them off the pumpkin run course and onto their normal XC course. With numb hands and feet, the winner, Craig Calhoun, powered up the hills and cruised down Long Walk to the finish, beating the course record he set last year by 15 seconds with a time of 19:31. “My hands hurt like crazy from the cold; actually I couldn’t really feel them, but those 15 seconds feel great!” Craig said after the finish. Another Nordic skier, Jamie Lumley, came in 56 seconds later for second place, with John Scoby close behind. Representing the crew team, Salty Pennington-Fitzgald had a strong finish in fourth for the third year in a row. The first faculty member, Matt Dall, came in sixth, beating out Alexei Sotkov and his dog, Shurick. For the women, Mikaela Paluszek had the winning time of 24:43 with Mrs. Edwards as competition. Overall, the 2012 Pumpkin Run was a great success. Runners had good times, everyone had a good time, and there was a lot of food donated to Our Place Drop In Center in Bellows Falls. Besides, when you’re numb you can’t feel the pain!
Volume 17, Issue 6
IN THE MARGIN Obama Wins Second Term Democrat Barack Obama won a second term on Tuesday in the presidential election. The House of Representatives remained in control of Republicans, and the Senate remained in control of Democrats. Obama carried all of the battle ground states except for North Carolina. This meant that Obama won the electoral vote by much more than the popular vote. David Petraeus Resigns David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA on Friday after emails confirmed that he had held an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell who was writing his biography. Petraeus was famous for heading the troop surge in Afghanistan. New Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was named the next archbishop of Canterbury on Friday. This position is held by the head of the Church of England. Welby was a former oil executive who is in favor of allowing female bishops, but opposes gay marriage.
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The VA Voice
Robert Parent on Harry Potter
While sitting in learning skills the other day, I happened to look over at Emma Roos who always has a unique sense of style. On that particular day, I could not help but notice the Harry Potter Ravenclaw scarf she was wearing. I thought to myself, “Wow, that would be cool to have a Harry Potter scarf.” I went onto Amazon.com to look at prices for the scarves, but I stopped at the search bar because it suddenly occurred to me that I did not know which Harry Potter house I wanted a scarf for. I had no idea which one I would belong to. As any fan of the series knows, when you enter into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry you are sorted into one of four houses. You could be in Gryffindor of the strong and bold spirited, Hufflepuff where you might dabble in a bit of everything and be a jack of all trades, Slytherin of the smart and cunning, or Ravenclaw of the intelligent knowledge-seeking scholars. I thought about what type of person I am and how it seems like I am constantly studying. I really do enjoy studying so I initially decided that I would probably be a Ravenclaw. It then occurred to me that I often do exhibit something of a dark side so I could also be a Slytherin. Well, to resolve this personal struggle I did what any Vermont Academy academic does during their free period and took to the internet to find a Harry Potter House placement quiz. I found a pretty comprehensive quiz online and immediately started putting in my answers. Some of the questions made me really think about who I was and what I stood for. It’s safe to say that by the end of the quiz, I definitely had a better idea http://www.personalitylab.org/tests/ ccq_hogwarts.htm
of what my identity was. After clicking “submit” on the quiz, I had confirmation that I was indeed a Ravenclaw. The scoring was done from 1-100 based on how close of a match you were to a house. I was able to see my scores for each house and saw that I had a 92 out of 100 for Ravenclaw which is quite close to a perfect score. Slytherin was second where I scored 82 out of 100. I could have seen that coming. The point of this quiz is not only to assign you to a Harry Potter house for fun but also to give you a couple moments to think about who you really are through some personal questions. I encourage you to go to the website listed here and take the quiz. Find out if you belong to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. I would also like to do a follow up article publishing some people’s scores. If you feel like sharing, email your four house scores to me and I will try to include them in the follow up article. We’ll just have to wait and see.
November 12, 2012
George Atkins on Sports: Field Hockey
In it’s first season as a Varsity sport, the VA field hockey team had a great season. They finished the year 4-9, but their accomplishments speak a louder truth than their record. Coached by a great duo of Mrs. Wendy Brennan and Mrs. Donna Parkhurst and captained by Ashley Potofsky and Ari Beauregard, the team had great chemistry and camaraderie all year. They had a big win against Wilbraham and Monson, and they held the NMH varsity to only one goal. They had two overtime wins, with one against NMH and the other against Proctor Academy. The team had a great day when they hosted Proctor for the Pink on the Field game, which raised money for breast cancer research.
VA VOICE STAFF Editor in Chief Eamon O’Keefe Assistant Editor George Atkins
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Words of Wisdom by Julian Stolper “Knowing how to laugh at yourself is very important; if you can’t do this find someone to laugh at yourself for you.”
Student Contributors Craig Calhoun, Ross Holzschuh, George Atkins, John Scoby, Robert Parent Faculty Contributors Mr. Hearon, Dr. Cohn Faculty Advisor: Mr. Frey, Dr. Cohn
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The VA Voice
Technology and Learning: A Help and a Hindrance A recent New York Times article reported on two studies showing that teachers overwhelmingly agree that technology has transformed student learning, in mostly detrimental ways (“Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say,” 11/1/12). I count myself as a teacher who is in full agreement with the idea that the technological revolution that has occurred in the last fifteen years or so has changed how young people approach learning. I am on the fence, however, about whether or not this shift is an entirely negative development. I am uniquely situated, age-wise, to understand these differences, because I grew up and completed most of my schooling just before the technological revolution occurred. My first email account was my college email, and I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 24. I never owned my own computer during my time in college; I was not unusual among my peers. My transition to a life of constant information and screen time therefore came after I had already developed my habits of
learning. Watching my students approach their studies, I have seen the enormous degree to which a childhood dominated by technology, screen time, and instant access to information has shaped their ability and willingness to grapple with difficult academic questions. Students may disagree with this, but I do believe that the “Wikipedia effect” is real: most of my students expect immediate gratification at all times and groan when asked to dig deeper into a question and really chew on it. They often look for and give quick, superficial answers, just as Wikipedia and other websites give us when we do our daily searches for information. In the past, people held the expectation that we would have to work to find knowledge. The lack of instant information forced us to do some serious wondering, sometimes for long hours, and sometimes without the gratification of an answer. I see far less wondering among my students, who expect easy answers and lose patience quickly when they are not forthcoming.
Questions Around Campus??? Favorite fast food restaurant, and why.
By: Ross Holzschuh
What is your least favorite barn animal? Why? Pigs. Because I’ve heard they will eat anything including trash and bones Roosters. They’re scary
Mr. McArdle
Subway. I always eat fresh.
Robin Wylke
Subway. I always get the same thing. Qdoba. Because I don’t like it’s better than horses. They’re Chipotle. terrifying.
Carly Radovich
That present that you got every year that you never wanted. Socks. And magazine subscriptions to science weekly. Those awkward $5 gift cards to nowhere. Hand soap because it made me think my parents thought I never washed my hands.
November 12, 2012 The internet has transformed our ability to access information in so many wonderful ways. Yet the fact that many students have been conditioned – through a lifetime of screen time and instant gratification - out of any willingness to engage in the often difficult work of pondering big questions deeply is unfortunate, in my eyes. I worry that they are missing out on a slower, but far richer intellectual life that was perhaps more common before the technological revolution. As a historian, I am aware that Americans have responded to technological change in a similar fashion throughout our history; cultural critics bemoaned every new gadget and development as having the potential to melt our children’s brains right out of their skulls. There was a time when comic books were viewed as a potential cause of juvenile delinquency. I sincerely doubt that the most recent changes we have gone through will spell doom for our society. I also think it oversimplifies the matter to view it in black and white, or before and after; there were students in my generation who wanted easy answers, and there are students in the current generation who are content to spend time thinking deeply about an intellectual question. As a teacher, I fully understand that these changes are irreversible; the new mode of learning is here to stay and it is my job to adjust to it. But I can also use my perspective as a person who experienced the technological revolution as a young adult rather than as a child to help bring a deeper intellectual life to my students. I can encourage them to work against their instincts to go for the quick answer and give them the satisfaction that comes with really giving time and thought to a big academic question. Finally, I can find creative ways to make use of the technology that exists to ignite their interest in ways that weren’t possible for my own teachers, who had
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November 12, 2012
The VA Voice
Mr. Hearon’s Top Ten: What to do at Community Meal
Hearon Top Ten ways to occupy yourself at Community Lunch/Formal Meal during that incredibly awkward time between sitting down and getting your food: 10. Do nothing. Stare off into space as the awkwardness sets in… 9. Evaluate table. Good group of Wildcats? Really weird assortment of strangers, including kids you have never seen before? Is Bopp messing with you AGAIN?!?! 8. Try to sneak a peek at your cell phone while faculty member makes really bizarre politically charged comments on climate change. Text your best friend: “SOS, sinking fast at Table 17!”
7. Get up, walk around, pretend to be getting some juice. Chat with Hassan or Haddad. 6. Stuff Head Waiters’ pockets with cash in order to get food FAST. Can’t hold on much longer…need food! 5. Play with napkin, create a pirate hat, or practice origami. Remember later to put napkin in lap in homage to your parents who raised you so well. 4. Inhale the dessert like you have not eaten in three days. Don’t even ask, just attack the sweets! 3. Meditate. Breathe deeply through your noise and exhale through your mouth. Think of a warm sandy beach, tropical waters lapping at your feet.
The New York Times article from November 1st, headlined “Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say,” made me think about the way that teachers teach and the way that students learn. In the article there were plenty of examples of veteran teachers explaining how they have noticed that as technology has become a bigger part of students’ lives, at school and at home, their attention spans have become shorter. One teacher complained that she had to work more one-onone with students to help them work through challenging assignments. Another teacher believed that the positive attributes of technology outweighed the negative, but he still believes that there are strong negatives. I am in high school and I see how teachers teach and how students learn, so when I read this article I was appalled at how the “veteran” teachers reacted to technology. As technology becomes more present in students’ life, it also becomes more present in the world that they are trying to succeed in, a world where plenty of people are successful without knowing who John C. Calhoun was, or what the square root of 196 is. The world that the teachers were taught in and developed their teaching habits has transformed. It is time for teaching styles to change as well.
Teachers should be preparing kids for the world they are going to be hurled into once they get their degree and need a job. The teachers think that they are doing exactly that, but just like one of the teachers quoted in this article said, “Spit, spit, and there’s the answer.” People do not need to know facts and figures, they need to know how to solve problems, how to interact effectively with other people, and most of all, how to use the technology to its full advantage. “In interviews, teachers described what might be called a ‘Wikipedia problem’.” This is a perfect example from the article of how teachers think about technology. First, Wikipedia is a great place to get quick answers to questions, and to spark and sustain curiosity, but it should not be used as a source for a research project. Plenty of other sources on the Internet are appropriate sources. Teachers do not teach kids how to use these great sources. Just as the teachers tell of being inspired by some book, or teacher when they were growing up, kids today should be inspired by the articles, paper, pictures, and videos available on the internet; kids just need guidance from the teachers. As a homeschooler growing up, my parents had a fair amount of control
Big Assignment for Teachers
Imagine whirled peas. 2. If you are a male Wildcat, immediately start talking sports out of nervousness. If you are a female Wildcat, immediately wish you weren’t sitting at a table with a bunch of boys talking about sports all the time. 1. ENGAGE, people! Take advantage of a great moment to actually sit down, be civil, meet new folks, and practice the fine (might I say “lost”) art of conversation. I dare you! These meals are excellent opportunities to come together as a community and enjoy each other’s company. Break bread with strangers and rejoice! over the technology that I used. I had as much access to the internet as I wanted, but through using the internet for school and other projects, I learned how to use it successfully. I learned how to find good sources, to look through the web to find good information, not just easy information, and how to be curious. If teachers could guide students, especially at a young age, toward successful usage of the internet they could achieve better attention, curiosity, and thought. Many teachers do not fully understand what the internet and all of technology has to offer, which makes it hard for them to teach it. The extra effort for teachers that are stuck in their old, pre-technology ways would pay off by preparing students for what they will face in their lifetimes. As it becomes easier and easier to find answers to questions on the internet, teachers feel more and more threatened. They feel as if people will replace them with technology and they will lose their jobs. And this is true. All of these negative “veteran” teachers should be fired if they do not change the way they teach to the way the new world and the world of the future works. These “veteran” teachers that feel threatened by technology do not want to do the extra work to retrain and adapt to teach in the new world. They do not want to put in the extra effort that they tell us that we need to do.