Tuttle, Dan
Hi again from Kansas City! Well, actually Carolynn and I are staying with her WONDERFUL Aunt Margaret (1953 Punahou grad.) and her significant other 'Snow' (gotta love that name!) in Lawrence, Kansas just a 30-minute drive from KC. This town is absolutely crazy for KU (University of Kansas) basketball. Oh, before I forget, Carolynn got on my case about the comment in my last blog entry about how there isn't much in western/central Kansas (I called it 'Nowhere, Kansas'). She pointed out to me that every farmer in Kansas produces enough food for 128 people. There may not be that much to see in western Kansas, but their farms provide a significant contribution to our food supply.
While in the area, we visited two wonderful private independent schools in Kansas City, Pembroke Hill Academy and The Barstow School. Both are schools located in the suburbs of Kansas City and offer unique student-oriented program.
Pembroke Hill (home of pro-golfer Tom Watson) is a PreK – 12 school with 1200 students over two campuses. Their middle school (6th – 8th) has about 80 students per grade level (team) with a very organized and strong advisory program. Many educators will say that an advisory program is the core of a good middle school. I can certainly say that this is the case for Pembroke Hill Academy. Their everyday advisory is organized in two ways. Each student is a member of an advisory composed of 9 other students in the same grade level. Each student is also a member of an advisory that is composed of students from all the middle school grade levels (6th – 8th). I thought that this is a unique and effective idea to purposefully mix the advisories for various 'across the grade level' activities. As with several teams at Punahou, Pembroke Hill Middle School (actually called Boocock Middle School) has an advisory theme for each month. These monthly advisory themes include leadership, kindness, goal setting, integrity/honesty, responsibility, and team building. When visiting a few science classes I saw a small class size of 15 very engaged students. The middle school science curricular sequence showed pretty much the same trend as I'm seeing in most schools that we visit, life science is taught at the 7th grade level with 6th and 8th grades focusing on the physical sciences. In the area of technology, the science classrooms have smart boards and several classroom computers for the students to use in collecting data. I did not see any students with their own laptops, but the school has a computer lab in their library that was composed of PCs. Pembroke Hill Academy has a new head of the middle school with, from what I saw, very dedicated and passionate teachers that truly has the student's best interest at heart.
The Barstow School (also a PreK – 12 school) has a slightly smaller 6th – 8th grade middle school (compared to Pembroke Hill) with between 50 and 60 students per grade level. Like, Pembroke Hill, Barstow School seems to have an emphasis on their advisory program (four advisories per grade level). Their advisory meets every day for 25 minutes and seems to focus on a variety of topics with an emphasis on study / planning skills and character education issues. In the area of technology, Barstow has a one-to-one laptop program in the middle school using the PC tablets. Each family purchases their own computer with all the applications that the school requires for the students (i.e. 'One Note'). They are also exploring the lease-to-own method of managing their computers. In visiting a variety of classes, the students were all actively engaged in using their PCs in a wide variety of activities. Their science curriculum, once again, follows the trend I'm seeing of offering the life sciences in the 7th grade. Barstow's sequence is: 6th grade – physical science; 7th grade life science; and 8th grade earth science. It might be of interest for my math colleagues to know that their math sequence is as follows: 7th grade foundations of math ("typical 6th grade math"); 7th grade splits into a pre-algebra class and an algebra class (depending on the results of their 6th grade math year); 8th grade is split into one algebra class and one geometry class. In the 9th grade, all students take algebra 2. For me, the most impressive aspect to The Barstow School is the curricular integration. Most of the integration that was shared with us centered around class trips that the students take with their teachers and chaperones. One long-standing trip is to take their 8th graders to Boston that encompasses the study of history (an obvious connection), literature (they visit Walden Pond), and even geometry as they visit various architecture examples and measure angles to the buildings. At the end of the trip, each student creates a power point presentation that includes what they've learned on the trip. Another impressive example of integration is the newly formed 7th grade trip to the Heifer International facility in Perryville, Arkansas. In short, each group of students live for several days in Heifer's global village that includes a Guatemala home, an Appalachian house, a Thai house, a Zambia house, urban slums, and a refugee camp. Each group of students (a family) is given a resource bucket (with very limited resources) that a typical family in that area of the world might have. In addition, each student within a group was given a role to play, including one student being pregnant, one being blind, one being maimed, etc. Students, over a period of a couple of days had to problem solve and co-operate to get through the night and morning. Many students went to bed hungry and on solid ground. The experiences helped students realize cultural differences and allowed them to get a glimpse what it takes to survive in many parts of the world in tough conditions. When they return to school, each student then writes about their experience. A few of the essays where shared with us … a very impressive program with impressionable results on the students. Makes me think about some possibilities for our 8th grade Mokuleia experience.
Besides the school visitations in the KC area, CC and I visited the Truman museum and home in Independence, Mo. Although not as impressive as the Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas, the Truman museum had a lot to offer. Truman, had some very important and scary decisions during his presidency such as the use of the atomic bomb during and the events of the cold war. Not the proudest moments in our country's history. It seemed that Truman couldn't wait to get back to his roots in Missouri after his presidency was completed. As we toured his house (actually Bess's childhood home), we heard several stories from a stuffy, self-absorbed national park volunteer about Truman's battle with the secret service over his personal privacy and his close relationship with the community of Independence.
CC and I will be in the Kansas City/Lawrence area until next Tuesday where we will continue to enjoy visiting with CC's aunt and cousins. On Tuesday we will leave Kansas/Missouri to travel up to Council Bluffs, Iowa to stay with Mike and Tammy Pavich for a few days. Many of you know that Mike is a former Punahou math teacher and coach. This visit will allow me to visit with my adopted Iowa family (the Phiilips family … Tammy's parents) that I was blessed with during my RAGBRAI days (the bike ride across Iowa). Bye for now!
While in the area, we visited two wonderful private independent schools in Kansas City, Pembroke Hill Academy and The Barstow School. Both are schools located in the suburbs of Kansas City and offer unique student-oriented program.
Pembroke Hill (home of pro-golfer Tom Watson) is a PreK – 12 school with 1200 students over two campuses. Their middle school (6th – 8th) has about 80 students per grade level (team) with a very organized and strong advisory program. Many educators will say that an advisory program is the core of a good middle school. I can certainly say that this is the case for Pembroke Hill Academy. Their everyday advisory is organized in two ways. Each student is a member of an advisory composed of 9 other students in the same grade level. Each student is also a member of an advisory that is composed of students from all the middle school grade levels (6th – 8th). I thought that this is a unique and effective idea to purposefully mix the advisories for various 'across the grade level' activities. As with several teams at Punahou, Pembroke Hill Middle School (actually called Boocock Middle School) has an advisory theme for each month. These monthly advisory themes include leadership, kindness, goal setting, integrity/honesty, responsibility, and team building. When visiting a few science classes I saw a small class size of 15 very engaged students. The middle school science curricular sequence showed pretty much the same trend as I'm seeing in most schools that we visit, life science is taught at the 7th grade level with 6th and 8th grades focusing on the physical sciences. In the area of technology, the science classrooms have smart boards and several classroom computers for the students to use in collecting data. I did not see any students with their own laptops, but the school has a computer lab in their library that was composed of PCs. Pembroke Hill Academy has a new head of the middle school with, from what I saw, very dedicated and passionate teachers that truly has the student's best interest at heart.
The Barstow School (also a PreK – 12 school) has a slightly smaller 6th – 8th grade middle school (compared to Pembroke Hill) with between 50 and 60 students per grade level. Like, Pembroke Hill, Barstow School seems to have an emphasis on their advisory program (four advisories per grade level). Their advisory meets every day for 25 minutes and seems to focus on a variety of topics with an emphasis on study / planning skills and character education issues. In the area of technology, Barstow has a one-to-one laptop program in the middle school using the PC tablets. Each family purchases their own computer with all the applications that the school requires for the students (i.e. 'One Note'). They are also exploring the lease-to-own method of managing their computers. In visiting a variety of classes, the students were all actively engaged in using their PCs in a wide variety of activities. Their science curriculum, once again, follows the trend I'm seeing of offering the life sciences in the 7th grade. Barstow's sequence is: 6th grade – physical science; 7th grade life science; and 8th grade earth science. It might be of interest for my math colleagues to know that their math sequence is as follows: 7th grade foundations of math ("typical 6th grade math"); 7th grade splits into a pre-algebra class and an algebra class (depending on the results of their 6th grade math year); 8th grade is split into one algebra class and one geometry class. In the 9th grade, all students take algebra 2. For me, the most impressive aspect to The Barstow School is the curricular integration. Most of the integration that was shared with us centered around class trips that the students take with their teachers and chaperones. One long-standing trip is to take their 8th graders to Boston that encompasses the study of history (an obvious connection), literature (they visit Walden Pond), and even geometry as they visit various architecture examples and measure angles to the buildings. At the end of the trip, each student creates a power point presentation that includes what they've learned on the trip. Another impressive example of integration is the newly formed 7th grade trip to the Heifer International facility in Perryville, Arkansas. In short, each group of students live for several days in Heifer's global village that includes a Guatemala home, an Appalachian house, a Thai house, a Zambia house, urban slums, and a refugee camp. Each group of students (a family) is given a resource bucket (with very limited resources) that a typical family in that area of the world might have. In addition, each student within a group was given a role to play, including one student being pregnant, one being blind, one being maimed, etc. Students, over a period of a couple of days had to problem solve and co-operate to get through the night and morning. Many students went to bed hungry and on solid ground. The experiences helped students realize cultural differences and allowed them to get a glimpse what it takes to survive in many parts of the world in tough conditions. When they return to school, each student then writes about their experience. A few of the essays where shared with us … a very impressive program with impressionable results on the students. Makes me think about some possibilities for our 8th grade Mokuleia experience.
Besides the school visitations in the KC area, CC and I visited the Truman museum and home in Independence, Mo. Although not as impressive as the Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas, the Truman museum had a lot to offer. Truman, had some very important and scary decisions during his presidency such as the use of the atomic bomb during and the events of the cold war. Not the proudest moments in our country's history. It seemed that Truman couldn't wait to get back to his roots in Missouri after his presidency was completed. As we toured his house (actually Bess's childhood home), we heard several stories from a stuffy, self-absorbed national park volunteer about Truman's battle with the secret service over his personal privacy and his close relationship with the community of Independence.
CC and I will be in the Kansas City/Lawrence area until next Tuesday where we will continue to enjoy visiting with CC's aunt and cousins. On Tuesday we will leave Kansas/Missouri to travel up to Council Bluffs, Iowa to stay with Mike and Tammy Pavich for a few days. Many of you know that Mike is a former Punahou math teacher and coach. This visit will allow me to visit with my adopted Iowa family (the Phiilips family … Tammy's parents) that I was blessed with during my RAGBRAI days (the bike ride across Iowa). Bye for now!
Comments
Emily Jampel (unauthenticated)
Oct 18, 2009
Those games sound really interesting, we should definitely have something like that at Camp Mokuleia!
Emily Jampel (unauthenticated)
Oct 20, 2009
I paid Monaco Sensei a visit yesterday. She told me that they have camp next week and also that they might not be doing the skits this time around...I then asked her if this change was because of our advisory last year and our dreadful skit (or whatever that was). Do you remember that skit my advisory did? We were so unprepared...I bet it was even more painful to watch...sorry you had to see that. Anyways, I told Monaco Sensei that you had a good idea and mentioned that group activity you said the other school had done. After I (sort of) described it, she seemed to think it was a good idea....or at least an interesting one.
Also, Bio is much easier than it would have been if you hadn't taught our class so much! Thanks to you everyone in Team 8W already knows about a lot of the things we're learning/ just learned in class now, like Mitosis, Endorgonic/Exergonic
Emily!!! (unauthenticated)
Mar 14, 2012
Hey!!! I go to Barstow. I really like it. I've gone on all of the middle school trips and some people from my grade are going the Sweden as a school trip. Overall, its a great school.