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Exploring the World

Mr. Martinez' and Ms. Linda's World History class search a map for the cities they're assigned to research.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 22: Children’s Business Fair October 22, 2011 10AM–1PM, Pease Mansion

October 24: Pumpkin Carving Contest

October 31: Halloween

Congratulations to Grace London for accomplishing her first published song (Can't Take Me Away) which premiered on 20/20 last week.

Where in the World Wednesdays

Ms. Hannah's Cooking class explores tastes from around the globe as they learn how to cook (and pronounce) the Italian dish gnocchi.

(Left) Keaton offers the camera some of their tasty lunch creation.

(Right) Grace and Keaton add the Gnocchi to the boiling water.

Class Snapshot

Book Discussion of Endurance

English teacher Linda Dobbs led her English B students in a book discussion of Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. For some of the students, this was their first book discussion. But even those new to the forum quickly became active participants.

Endurance is a story of bravery, leadership, and survival. When Shackleton’s crew gets stranded on an exploration to Antarctica, he must make tough decisions to keep his crew alive and return them home safely.

The discussion began with one simple rule: Coach Strecker is always right (not surprisingly, this rule was made by Coach Strecker), before jumping right into the thick of things. Here are some of the highlights:

·  Question: What was the most important supply that was brought on the journey and why? The immediate position, as proposed by Jonah Kral, was that the dogs, which were eventually used for food, were the most important, but Andrew Parks presented a different side when he suggested that the journals they kept were more important because it allowed them to maintain their sound state of mind amidst the horror of their situation.

·  Question: How would you deal with a situation like the one in which Shackleton found himself? The conversation moved next into how surviving today in a world of interconnectivity would differ from the complete isolation that was once faced when setting out on a trip. Do we even know what it feels like to be alone anymore? Would you know what to do if you found yourself in a situation like that, and would you be able to execute in reality what you know to do in theory? Jonah said that he doesn’t think there’s any way to know how you would react until you’re in that moment and have to make a decision that could result in your death.

·  Question: What made Shakleton a great leader? Everyone had something to add to this topic. Ideas included bravery, ability to manage a group, knowing when to take a dominate position and when to let things go, the ability to make unwavering decisions, leading by example, having the necessary set of skills and experience, learning from the mistakes of others, being proactive, and being able to delegate.

· Question: What kind of person pursues polar exploration? This question elicited the most vibrant debate. Coach Strecker was adamant that all exploration comes from a desire to brag about it later, to be able to say, “I did that, that’s my flag right there,” while Liam Leddy got progressively more exasperated by what he considered a cynical view of human nature, arguing instead that humans’ desire to learn or to push our limits is enough to drive a man to risk his life.

Learning to Communicate With the World

This year, ATA CP has transitioned its language program over to the computer-based software Rosetta Stone to guide the students on their path towards multilingualism.

Rosetta Stone is the world-renown language system used by the U.S. Military to prepare officers and troops for overseas service, and has been proven fast and effective time and again.

Students will be conversational in the language upon completion of the third level, and virtually fluent by the end of the fifth. The curriculum utilizes pictures, sound, and voice recognition to guide students through their listening, writing, grammar, and pronunciation skills.

Students were able to take their pick of Latin, Spanish, French, and Chinese.

And the best part? It's actually a lot of fun.

Have any news worth mentioning? Awards? Birthdays? Projects? Field trips? Let us know!

Contact Claire Taylor: Clairefulness@aol.com