December 2003 Newsletter

On December 11, 2003, the Office of High School Renewal brought together over 150 teachers, students and community partners for the Building a Culture for Learning conference.The conference's themes of Improving Instruction to Help All Students Reach Academic Proficiency and Building Positive Climates for Learning were evident throughout the workshops, which all featured projects by Boston teachers and students.

This issue of the newsletter features some of these and other projects, as well as lots of photos from Boston high school activities that we hope you will find are fun, inspiring and energizing as we start what looks like a very long and snowy winter. Enjoy photos of Odyssey students conducting field studies at the Boston Harbor Islands, Hyde Park students working together after school to build robots, wood duck nesting boxes built by West Roxbury students, Terrapin turtles raised by Odyssey students and more.

Contents
Resource Shelf
 Resource Shelf: High School Renewal Readings
Images from Boston High Schools - Classroom and Community Projects
 Odyssey High School: Terrapins, Field Studies, ROVs and More
 Hyde Park High School: Robotics Team Generates Excitement at Hyde Park
 West Roxbury High School: Nesting Boxes
 East Boston High School: MGH Rotations
 Charlestown High School: Charlestown Students Visit WPI Labs
Saying Thank You and Giving Back - Partnerships Inside and Outside the School
 Madison Park: Madison Thanks Citizens Bank Partners
 Madison Park: Alumna, Internationally-Recognized Restaurant Owner Comes Back to Visit
 Brighton High School: Principals for a Day
 TEACHBoston: TEACHBoston Connections
 Economics and Business Academy: Blood Drive Held in Honor of EBA Teacher

Odyssey High School

Terrapins, Field Studies, ROVs and More

In a workshop titled Integrated Curriculum: Promoting Intellectual Engagement and Habits of Mind, Robert Bonanno, Math Teacher, and Robert Healey, Science Teacher described some of the interdisciplinary projects that teachers and students are enjoying at Odyssey High School.

Sea Perch (ROV) Project
In this new interdisciplinary project, ninth grade students are building a remote operated vehicle -- the Sea Perch -- which they will use for environmental data collection. This project will integrate Ocean Exploration into Math, Physics, English and History and will provide students with exposure to experts in the field of engineering.

Beach Profiling Project / Coastal Geology on the Boston Harbor Islands.
In this project, ninth grade students measure and chart dunes, identify sediments, and monitor changes in the islands, while learning data collection and analysis skills, graphing skills, and learning island history. The project contributes to ongoing research at the Boston Harbor Islands Park.

The Perfect Storm Project
In English, students read Sebastian Junger’s book The Perfect Storm to kick off the project. Students discuss literary themes of humanity’s relationship to Nature; compare to classics like Moby Dick or The Old Man and the Sea, discuss journalistic and rhetorical techniques Junger uses; and conduct interviews during field trip to Gloucester, MA.

In History, students study the historical context surrounding the Gloucester fishing industry, the Coast Guard, and the Storm itself. Students discuss the culture of New England fishing industry and towns like Gloucester; research the impact of legislation and economics on New England fishing; and research the history of coastal rescues.

In Biology, students study the ecological and biological contexts of the New England fishing industries. They study the marine biology of fish routinely involved in the New England fishing industries, and assess the environmental causes of fluctuations in New England fish populations.

In Mathematics, students apply mathematical principles to the economic, navigational, and environmental issues raised in the book. They apply mathematical formulae to models of fish populations; explore the mathematical applications of the economics of the fishing industry; learn how fishermen, the Coast Guard and others make use of mathematics for maritime navigation, fishing, and rescue operations; and discover the ways math is used in weather forecasting.

Some of the other interdisciplinary and environmental projects at Odyssey include:

• The Diamondback Terrapin Project, in which students provide a "head start" for this local threatened species;
  
  
• The Summer Rangers program, in which students work as tour guides at the Boston Harbor Islands;
  
  
• In The Living On Earth project, students are working with the organization Living on Earth and with teacher Ken Brissette to produce radio commentaries about local environmental issues.
  
  
• Field study projects with the Urban Ecology Institute and Boston Harbor Islands staff, the Aquaculture Project, which focuses on the fishing industry, and the Stone Zoo Captive Coyote Study.

Hyde Park High School

Robotics Team Generates Excitement at Hyde Park

Robotics Team at Hyde Park
There is a room hidden on the second floor of Hyde Park High School that comes to life after the final bell of the day has rung. As hundreds of students flood out to buses waiting to take them home, a small group called the Hyde Park High Robotics Team gathers in this room for an unusual extracurricular activity. The team is preparing to build a 130-lb robot that will compete in an Annual Robotics Competition sponsored by US First; the room buzzes with energy as servo motors whiz, computer terminals beep, and a dozen students chat about gears and wheels in conversations of mixed English and Creole. The products of their efforts line the room on shelves and tables - a robot arm that twists and writhes in the corner, an aluminum frame car whose wheels spin in opposite directions, and a half-finished team logo on a computer monitor. The students are curious and dedicated, and they are learning valuable skills that will open new doors to colleges and careers.

A Brief History
The Hyde Park High School Robotics Team was founded last year by biology teacher Byron Livernois in association with professors at Brandeis University and Roxbury Community College. Despite a late start last year, the students were able to construct a robot and compete head-to-head against dozens of other robots in the annual US First Robotics Competition (http://www.usfirst.org). This busload of students came home with the Coach's Award, eager to build a bigger, better robot next year.

The Team Today
Six months later, on the first day of school, members were lining up outside the biology room's door wanting to know when the robotics team was going to start - and they brought their friends. Some were interested in designing the robot's systems, some wanted to build a high-tech website to publicize the group, and others were already planning fund-raising events to boost our meager budget. After shopping around at local colleges, we put together an equally excited group of adults to mentor the various interests of the students - professors from Brandeis, high school teachers, and college students from Olin and MIT. All we need to do now is to raise the funds necessary to purchase equipment and parts and to finance our trip, so that these students can get the chance to engineer the ultimate robot. Financial assistance will go a long way to keep this program viable. For further information, please contact Mr. Powell at dcpowell@post.harvard.edu or call 617-635-8948.

West Roxbury High School

Nesting Boxes

Over the past four months, West Roxbury's Landscaping Design class designed and constructed nesting boxes to improve the habitat for wood ducks. Wood ducks require very specific nesting places. Ducks will usually choose a hole or a squirrel's nest in a tree. They do not nest on the ground like other ducks. In an effort to improve the wood duck habitat, the class designed and constructed nesting boxes made of pine. Students had to scale measurements, draw, measure lumber, cut components, and assemble. Cement was mixed and poured to anchor the poles that support the nests. Once the boxes were completed, students selected appropriate sites in the wooded area adjacent to the wetlands. The nests can be seen from the classroom for student observation.

East Boston High School

MGH Rotations

On November 25, 2003, fifty juniors from the Academy of Health and Human Services who are interested in applying for a Pro-Tech Internship attended a day of Rotations through two departments at MGH. At the Radiology/Ultrasound Department, the students were able to perform actual ultrasounds on each other. In one session, students reviewed the ultrasound results of STC Coordinator, Mary Shea, and found that she did not show a high evidence of plaque and cholesterol.

Students also visited the Nursing Department where every room and every patient's heartbeat is monitored on one computer screen. Students also visited Histology, Pharmacy, Animal Research, and the Burn Unit. At the end of the day, the students completed a reflection while having lunch. Most students felt, based on the rotation experience, that they now know where they would like to do their internship. The next step is the formal interview conducted by the MGH Human Resources Department. Interviews took place at East Boston High School on December 9th, 10th and 11th.

Charlestown High School

Charlestown Students Visit Labs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

On Wednesday, December 3, a group of 28 juniors and seniors made up of Web Design and Cisco Networking students had the opportunity to visit Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The day was terrific – WPI planned several labs just for the Charlestown High students. The first was a robotics lab where students saw a car which had been designed, built and entered into competition by engineering students. The car goes from 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds and has a better turning ratio than the racing car, the Viper. Fortunately, WPI did not let the teens drive the car.

Next, the robotics professors demonstrated a student designed, engineered and built robot – also a competition entry [WPI usually beats out schools like MIT, Cornell, etc. in these competitions.] The robot moved forward and backwards and could turn right or left in addition to sideways when a special control is activated. The sideways movement occurs when a second set of wheels drops to make the robot rise up slightly and turn in this direction. Specially designed arms can embrace an object to pick it up and move it. For competition, the robot is completely programmed to move a specific distance turn and then commence to move objects from one side of a field to another. The programming has to not only perform this task, but also be flexible enough to react to competitors' robots that may try to deflect the teams' robots. The students did get a chance to "drive" this robot and try to accomplish specific tasks. The kids loved it!

The fire prevention professors showed a captivity video illustrating a fire from its onset until its totally lethal stage – only about 3 minutes later. They then showed their state of the art testing facilities for measuring elements such as oxygen content, CO2 and CO. They involved the students in a lively discussion of oxygen content versus other atmospheric components.

WPI provided a tasty pizza luncheon hosted by representatives from the admission office who spoke about the WPI application process including grade average and SAT requirements. They encouraged the students to contact them and to apply. This exploration of an engineering environment was an exciting and valuable learning experience on the varied opportunities available at WPI.

Madison Park

Madison Thanks Citizens Bank Partners

On Friday, November 7th, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School hosted a luncheon for Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank has been a partner of the school for the past three years, providing summer employment opportunities. The luncheon was given as a thank you to Citizens Bank supervisors for the employment opportunities they provided for the students of Madison Park this past summer. Citizens Bank employed twenty Madison Park students during the summer from the Hi-Tech and Health Academies. The luncheon would not have been possible without the hard work of the students and teachers from the Culinary program who provided a delicious meal and wonderful service.

Madison Park

Alumna, Internationally-Recognized Restaurant Owner Comes Back to Visit

When Barbara Lynch graduated from Madison Park in the early 80s, she had a dream of owning her own restaurant, serving good food and traveling around the world to sample what other people like to eat. Three restaurants later, international recognition of her culinary skills and souvenirs from far away places, Barbara Lynch came back to Madison Park to have lunch, talk with students and see what's cooking at her alma mater!

Barbara Lynch has continued to have a relationship with the place where she first learned to cook. Teachers from the then Madison Park High School continue to flock to her restaurant, No. 9 Park, just across the street from Park Street Station downtown, to dine on some of Boston's best pasta and fine desserts. In addition, Barbara has been loyal to the PIC Job Shadow, taking a Culinary Arts student or two under her wing for the day and showing Madison students what restaurant life is really like.

After touring the facility, Barbara tried to compare the state of the art kitchen and baking kitchens run by Susan Lambert, Bob Buoniconti and David Lucas to the tiny home economics suite where she first picked up a chef's knife. "How lucky you are," she told them, "to have all this really cool stuff to cook with everyday!" She admired their knives, the cold and hot stations and all the bells and whistles that were not available when she began her journey to being one of the Best of Boston and beyond.

As Barbara was preparing to return to her new restaurant in the South End, The Butcher Shop and then to her third business, B & G Oyster Bar around the corner, she promised to return to not just eat but to cook with the students and her fellow chefs after the holidays. We won't be taking reservations but we will be taking lots of notes!!!

Brighton High School

An Inside Look at Brighton High as Principals for a Day

During the month of November, Brighton High School was honored to host Bill Van Faasen of Blue Cross Blue Shield and Al Wallis of Brown, Rudnick, Berlack and Israels, LLP as Principals for a day. During their visit they saw Danielle Murray's English class, Jamilla Wade and Jessica Fuoco's Peer Leadership class, and Monica Smalls' Accounting class. In addition, they were introduced to the BHS administrative process through an ILT and the CCL group meetings.

Pictured are Principal Charlie Skidmore, Al Wallis, Ms. Smalls and Bill Van Faasen taking time out to capture a special moment!

TEACHBoston

TEACHBoston Connections

TEACHBoston Students Think About Education By Taking a College Class

10th, 11th and 12th grade TEACHBoston students spent their summer on the UMASS Boston campus participating in a unique teaching and learning opportunity - the TEACHBoston /UMASS Boston Summer Teaching Academy. TEACHBoston students had the opportunity to serve as mentors/teaching assistants for BPS ELL middle and high school students, while participating in classes. They attended a college-planning seminar, a reflective practice seminar taught by two veteran BPS teachers and Introduction to Teaching I - a college level theory course taught by a UMASS faculty member.

The Introduction to Teaching I seminar taught Dr. Denise Patmon, Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the Graduate College of Education was focused on providing TEACHBoston students with a time to study in depth the concepts of pedagogy and to apply the knowledge in their field placements. The learning was carefully constructed to have the students become critical thinkers, observers and reflectors of their practice and experiences.

This fall, students have a unique opportunity to continue their learning with Dr. Patmon by participating in a year-long Follow-up Seminar - Introduction to Teaching II.

The yearlong Introduction to Teaching II seminar will convene once a month and will focus on sustaining the educational journey embarked upon by the students in their summer class. The goals are:

• To provide a teaching and learning environment for students who are thinking about becoming teachers;
• To provide exposure and a forum for students to grapple with the compelling and intellectual ideas surrounding teaching and learning in urban America;
• To provide an opportunity for students to meet and interact with university faculty and to become acquainted with university life. (Seeing college as an accessible and welcoming place for Boston Public School students).

As future educators, students will be faced with compelling and intellectual ideas surrounding teaching and learning in urban America. TEACHBoston programs will continue to provide opportunities for student to explore these ideas.

TEACHBoston Teachers Go Back To College

TEACHBoston Teacher professional development is an important element of the TEACHBoston program. TEACHBoston teachers play an intimate role in designing their own professional development.

Last year, TEACHBoston teachers engaged in an intensive yearlong professional development project focused on curriculum design. The primary product of that year’s work was the two-year TEACHBoston curriculum. It is an academically rigorous, literacy-based course which is designed to acquaint students with concepts, philosophy, and theories of education as well as practical application to ensure that knowledge gained can be put to use. As a result, this September, all TEACHBoston teachers in all TEACHBoston schools are implementing the newly redesigned TEACHBoston curriculum.

This year's work focuses on curriculum implementation and refinement. TB teachers have designed a professional development plan to do action research on teacher education programs and undergraduate education programs. They are interested in finding out:

• What knowledge about teaching/learning/students does this class seek to impart and how might this knowledge be applicable to TEACHBoston students and curriculum?
• How does this class seem to be preparing future teachers and how might this teacher preparation affect TEACHBoston’s curriculum and program?

Economics and Business Academy

Blood Drive Held in Honor of EBA Teacher

Students and staff at the newly established Dorchester Education Complex donated more than 30 pints of blood in honor of Edward Noonan. Mr.Noonan, a widely respected lead teacher in the Economics and Business Academy, has been quite ill for the past few months.

Rachel Cummings, the literacy coach for EBA, initiated the blood drive along with Joan Dolan, the School to Career Coordinator. The Red Cross staff set up the auditorium with portable beds, computers and a canteen to help facilitate the donation process, while students and staff volunteered as registrars. More than 50 teachers and students participated in this event.