Education? Page 10 Dear Canterbury Community
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
canterbury tales FALL 2014 WhAt is Modern education? pAge 10 DeAr CAnterBury Community: Canterbury is sad to report the passing of the rev. John s. Akers If my memory serves me correctly, it in April 2014, the first school chaplain and subsequent Chaplain was during my fourth grade year when emeritus. Father John was the recipient of the Distinguished service my teacher unveiled an incredible new Award in 2007. he touched thousands of lives, carrying his message classroom innovation: colored chalk. of god’s grace, hope, and love. Father John dedicated his life to I cannot begin to describe serving others as a son, friend, father, grandfather, Chaplain, coach, the amount of excitement that this Canterbury Tales saint, and inspiration to countless people. Believing everyone was a announcement generated, especially Fall 2014 child of god, he spent his life advocating for diversity and inclusion. after she distributed the pieces Head of School: Burns Jones and let us draw on the classroom’s Feature Writer: Susan Kelly chalkboards for the next hour. I would like to tell you that this innovation Cover Photo: Wendy Riley pAge 2 pAge 14 precipitated radical advances in the way Contributing Writers: Meghan Davis, Mary Dehnert, our teacher taught and in the way we Burns Jones, Jill Jones, Nicole Schutt, Justin Zappia learned, but, alas, all I really remember Contributing Editors: Mary Dehnert, Harriette Knox, is how much more fun it was to draw pictures. (The rockets shooting out of my Betsy Raulerson, Mary Winstead jet plane looked so much more realistic in color!) Perhaps the next most significant technological advancement came some Contributing Photographers: Mary Dehnert, years later when my college made the decision to replace blackboards with Wendy Riley whiteboards. Other than providing a different colored backdrop from which Canterbury Tales is published the professors could lecture, this innovation proved virtually meaningless. biannually by Canterbury School The blackboards had never been used anyway, and the traditionalists among 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Road the faculty expressed their disdain for this “new era” by refusing to use the Greensboro, NC 27455 whiteboards. (I wonder if their stance would have been different had they been Phone: (336) 288-2007 given a greater variety of colored markers to use.) 2 In the Classroom My, how times have changed. Much like society, education has entered a All editorial correspondence Summer Study, Welcome New Faculty and Staff, period of remarkable and radical change, and while many of these changes are should be directed to: 7th Grade Trip, Ketner Update creating better learning environments for our students, they are not without Canterbury School 10 What is modern education at Canterbury school? their complexities. Amidst calls for project-based learning, and problem- 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Road by Susan Kelly based learning, and differentiation, and design thinking, and collaboration, and Greensboro, NC 27455 technology, and cultural literacy, and media literacy, and multiple intelligences, Phone: (336) 288-2007 12 Campus events and emotional intelligence, and self-esteem, and common core, it is difficult to 8th Grade Sermon, Oklahoma!, Mad Science Auction, Postage Paid at Greensboro, NC distinguish fad from substance. The result, then, is that schools jump on the latest Graduation, Scene on Campus POSTMASTER, send address changes to: educational bandwagon while their students run the risk of becoming subjects 20 Cougar Corner Canterbury School of experimentation. Record Spring for Canterbury Teams! 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Road I think the best schools understand the need for balance. Take our approach Greensboro, NC 27455 22 Our Alumni are Amazing to iPads, for instance. Beginning this year, all students in grades 2 through 8 will 26 2013-14 Annual report have access to an iPad. This decision came after a three-year-long process that began when we received a grant for 25 middle school iPads. We took so much time because we wanted to make the right decision and learn from the mistakes GettinG it RiGht and successes of other schools. In the Spring 2014 Canterbury Tales, Web At the same time, however, we know that our work is not over. We must Farabow, not Gibson Farabow, attended continue to study, debate, and even struggle with striking the right balance Governor’s School. between use of and freedom from technology. We want our students to be technologically savvy. We also want them to be able to carry on a conversation. In the 2013 Annual Report, we inadvertently The point of all this, perhaps, is that we don’t have all the right answers (no omitted Betty Faulcon. The listing should have one does), but we continue to seek them, guided as we always are, by the best been: Linwood and Betty Faulcon. interests of the students we are so fortunate to serve. Very truly yours, Burns Jones, Head of School M Summer Study by Nicole Schutt in the classrooin Beginning last year, Canterbury offered a grant for summer Most people are familiar with the fact that darwin’s theory of Day 2: MonDay, June 30, 2014 display seeking a mate. However, on the ride back study to returning faculty. This grant provides up to $3,000 natural selection comes from the observations that he made while After a short bus ride to the entrance of the to port with a beautiful sunset in the background, for opportunities for renewal, rejuvenation, and professional studying the flora and fauna of the Galapagosi slands during his National Park, I walk one and a half miles along I see numerous feeding sea turtles coming to the growth. Full-time teaching faculty members are eligible to apply five-year voyage on theh Ms beagle. however, not many people a rock trail to Tortuga Bay. Along the way, I see surface periodically to breathe. It is the perfect after completing their second year at Canterbury School. have read both The Voyage of the Beagle and On the Origin of the Species. 100-year-old Galapagos Giant Cacti (Opuntia end to an amazing day! The requirements of the application process include: even fewer can attest that they read them in high school (purely for echios) that look like pine trees from the ground 1. A description of the course of summer study being proposed. enjoyment!) and visited darwin’s burial site at Westminster abbey. until displaying their prickly pads adorned with Day 3: tuesDay, July 1, 2014 2. An explanation of how the course of summer study connects now you have a better perspective on my thought process when fruit 10-15 feet up in the air. Giant tortoises and Today I take a boat to Santa Fe Island for hiking and to or will enhance the school’s curriculum and especially i heard of canterbury’s summer study stipend being offered to land iguanas feed on the pads and fruit once they snorkeling. I am greeted by a colony of sea lions that within the faculty member’s area of teaching expertise. faculty for the purpose of renewal, rejuvenation, and professional fall to the ground. Lava lizards scamper along allow us to observe them quite closely at length in 3. An explanation of how the project will enhance the growth. as a biologist and darwin enthusiast, there was no better the trail while Darwin’s finches infiltrate every the absence of any male sea lions. The young ones faculty member’s professional knowledge and teaching opportunity that i could think of to fit those criteria for me than niche of the ecosystem – feeding on the ground, are particularly curious and make it quite difficult at Canterbury. nesting in cacti, lighting on tree branches. I am yet to keep our six-foot mandatory distance. A hike up 4. A cost estimate of the summer work. (Costs may include visiting the Galapagos islands 600 miles off the coast of ecuador. to a hill overlooking the sea lion colony produces travel, housing, supplies, and/or course work at another again astounded by how tame the wildlife seems accredited institution.) on the Galapagos – without large mammalian land iguanas, nesting Galapagos mockingbirds, and Day 1: sunDay, June 29, 2014 predators, the reptiles and birds have no need to dozens of Darwin’s finches. After taking some The first recipient was middle school science teacher Nicole Schutt. As the plane descends on the final leg of the trip from mainland Ecuador, I press my fear humans. time to snap a few last pictures with the sea lions, Upon return, Nicole made a formal presentation of her trip to the nose to the window for my first glimpse of one of the 1,000 islands belonging to the Finally, I reach Tortuga Bay, which was I head back to the boat for snorkeling. The water staff. She also submitted the following article about her experience Galapagos Archipelago. After viewing some of the hundreds of islets, I finally see Baltra formed by quickly cooling black lava rock slowly is stunningly blue and clear. Usually, the water to this edition of Canterbury Tales. – one of only two islands with an airport big enough to accommodate large planes. I am being covered in the finest, softest, white sand would be quite cold due to the Humboldt Current; prepared for the fact that Baltra looks like a desert island that some have compared to imaginable. The natives tell a story of God but, lucky for me, it is unseasonably warm and landing on the surface of Mars, but not prepared for the goose bumps that I get as our creating the island of Santa Cruz out of the ocean comfortable without a wetsuit. I observe dozens of plane lands. depths with its black rocky façade, and a large different fish and I am struck by how much larger From Baltra, I take a boat across the Ithaca Channel to Santa Cruz, the island bird pooping on the spot that is now Tortuga the species are from tropical fish.