It's time for report cards again!

What is this boy thinking as he goes over his report card? Is he happy with how he prepared for tests and quizzes? Did he do all of his assigned homework? How will his parents respond when they see the report card?

Use as many descriptive words (especially adjectives) as you can in order to construct a wonderful response. Also, think about using a resource like m-w.com to find fantastic words and spell them correctly.

First real snow

Saturday the first substantial snow of the season fell. For some, snow means wonderful things. Snow signals sledding, snowball fights, snowmen, and outdoor frolicking followed by warm dry clothes and a mug of hot chocolate. For others snow means shoveling sidewalks and driveways, driving in hazardous conditions, slipping and falling, and puddles on the floor from melted, tracked-in snow.

What does snow mean for you? What are some of your favorite aspects of snowy days? What are some of your least favorite aspects of powdery precipitation?

Three and a Half Weeks

Three and a half weeks from today, we'll be taking our Winter Break. What important events will happen between then and now? Will you be busy with family obligations? How will this potentially frantic time of year impact your ability to do well in school? How will you make sure to do your best to focus on performing magnificently within the classroom with so many distractions?

Finally, three and a half weeks from now will you look back on the time with pride and excitement on what you've done, or will you regret opportunities lost?

Thankfulness

We often think about Thanksgiving as a time to gorge ourselves on vast quantities of scrumptious food, stare at hours of football, and travel too many hours on highways that are way too crowded. It can also be a great time to take stock of a year gone by.

Since last Thanksgiving my wife and I have welcomed a wonderful, charming, healthy daughter into our family, and that is the thing for which I am most thankful. I am learning to be more conscientious, more thoughtful, and more giving because now there is a person who depends in part on me for her survival in this cold world.

What has happened since last Thanksgiving that you are most thankful for?

Arguing or bickering?

One character posits that an argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. In other words, a group of thoughts should work together in order to persuade somebody of something. However, bickering generally consists of just disagreeing with whatever another person says.

When you disagree with friends, classmates, siblings, parents, and teachers, do you tend to argue or bicker? How does that work out for you?

Another pandemic?

Click on the link above to learn about the effect of the Flu Epidemic of 1918 on upstate New York (and the world). Are you at all concerned that the Swine Flu will be as serious as the Spanish Flu was almost 90 years ago? Why or why not?

Make sure to use some specific details to support your opinions.

Disagree with me

Summer vacation is the biggest obstacle to having our students achieve their academic potential. Currently we have four ten-week quarters, which totals 200 school days. We should shift to a year-round school model, with only a two week break in early July. As a trade-off, we would not have school on Mondays. Fifty weeks with four school days per week would still give us 200 school days. Teachers, students, and administrators alike enjoy three day weekends - just imagine if every weekend was a three day weekend! I don't even think we would miss summer vacation all that much. Most of us are bored by the end of the break, and we are excited to get back to school to see our friends again.

Finally, with only a two-week break, students would forget less. Teachers could invest time in teaching lots of fun and exciting new things rather than boring the students by reviewing the things they had already "learned" but had forgotten over the summer.

In your comment, disagree with what I am saying above. Make sure to use as many good reasons as you can think of.

On what do you base your opinions?

Recently we celebrated Columbus Day. Many of the contemporaries of Christopher Columbus believed that the world was flat. We know today that they were wrong. However, many of them were basing their opinions on the best information available to them at the time.

Imagine being a young student in 1430. Everybody you know believes that the world is flat. Your parents believe that the world is flat. Your teachers believe that the world is flat. You can see with your eyes that the part of the earth where you live is flat. One day somebody tells you that the world is curved. How would you react? On what would you base your belief or disbelief?

Use good words to write better

1. The pig sat near the courthouse.

2. Cleverly disguised as a judge, the pig rested in the shade of a small maple in front of the courthouse.

3. Porky looked nervously around, wondering whether Fred the Farmer would recognize him in his costume and regretting choosing such a public place for his meeting with Chewy the Chicken.


All of the sentences above describe the picture. Which sentence do you like best? Why? Re-write sentence one to make it more descriptive. Feel free to add extra information that reveals more of the plot of the story (use sentence 3 as a guide).

Pig farm

Family farm

A bonanza of information

Click on the picture above to get all kinds of great information on corporate farming. In Gaia Girls Elizabeth does a little research into corporate farming, figuring that the more she knows the better she'll be able to defend her family's farm. What is the main benefit of corporate farming? Who reaps this benefit? What are two costs of corporate farming? Who bears these costs? Is this fair?

By the way, STC dudes, in eighth grade you'll take a field trip on which you'll learn all about the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Cooperstown is at the northern-most edge of the waters that feed the Chesapeake Bay, so water quality issues from farms here have a direct effect on water quality around the Bay. It's important to leisure activities and delicious crabs that people 500 miles from you take good care of their water!

How's the Weather?

As we move deeper into autumn, the weather can vary widely from being gorgeous to being downright miserable. What are some of your favorite outdoor autumn activities? How does the weather affect your enjoyment of these activities?

For example, I enjoy playing soccer in the autumn, and I find that even playing in cool weather is quite enjoyable, since my running around warms me up. However, a cold rain makes playing soccer outside completely unappealing to me.

Recess - good or bad?

Read the article below. What are Anthony's strongest two points? Do you agree with him, or are you skeptical of his argument?

Anthony Pantalena

Age 13

Recess

Some schools are taking away recess from kids, but that may hurt them more then help. Recess helps students focus, and can improve your school’s reputation. Also, students with recess have better social skills. Recess should be a part of the curriculum of HKMS. Studies at Texas University have shown that kids who have recess work better in school than kids who don’t. The studies show that kids need a break to run around after a lot of work. Then they will be less stressed and more focused on stuff like class work. Like one time I had a ton of homework on the weekend, and taking breaks after finishing something helped me to keep relaxed and stay focused. Also, the brain needs down time to recycle chemicals that help long term memory. This way, they will remember about a lesson a teacher gave, a project that is due, or what homework is due. Overall, recess will help the kids have better grades in every class.

Because kids will get better grades, recess should help your school to get a better reputation. People looking for a place to move would look to Easton for their wonderful school reputation. Thus, more people would move to the great town of Easton, bringing more money to our town because more people means more people buying houses, property, and paying taxes. Also, more kids in our school would mean more friends for everyone, for everyone would find new friends in the new kids.

Recess gives kids a taste of the real world. In recess, kids have to learn how to resolve conflicts on their own, without adult help. Also, they learn how to work with each other, and cooperate. Like if there is a controversial incident in a game, the teams must work it out with each other. This gives the kids a taste of the real world, because they will have to work it out without any adult help, and that is what life is like. This will help the kids build character, and make more friends. Making recess go back in HKMS should make these kids grow in to good, responsible young adults.

So overall, recess helps kids concentrate, raises your reputation, and if you don’t do it, bullying will increase. I hope that this has convinced you to add recess to HKMS.

© Copyright 2007 Anthony Pantalena (UN: tonythetiger at Writing.Com). All rights reserved. Anthony Pantalena has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Cost - Benefit Analysis

Often when a decision that will affect lots of people needs to be made (greasy small burger/delicious steak with fresh peas), those who will make the decision do a cost - benefit analysis. What would the extra cost be of serving some of the delicious dishes that were suggested? For example, what might it cost to set up a seafood buffet? We could start by figuring the cost per student of a certain amount of seafood, but that might not give us accurate figures. Sometimes students go for bigger portions of food that they love, especially if they only get to have it occasionally. So the costs of providing a seafood buffet to middle school and high school students could be exorbitant.
What would the benefit be? The students might really enjoy the buffet, but what is the real benefit to a school of having students enjoy their lunch? Do happy students work any harder? Do they behave impeccably? Do they even tell their parents how wonderful lunch was?

It seems possible that the school doesn't care whether students like lunch - the school just needs to make sure that the students have an opportunity to eat a certain amount of nutritious food. Beyond that, any extra cost incurred doesn't result in any benefit, so it would be a waste of precious money. Is this a fair way to look at things?

Predictable?

Last week, The Washington Huskies beat Idaho to end a losing streak that extended back into last season. This week the Huskies knocked off the perennial power USC Trojans. The Huskies were unranked and 1-1. The Trojans were 2-0 and coming off of a huge win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. USC has better recruits every year and a very successful program. Why was this result somewhat predictable?

Making predictions

Observing patterns can help us make predictions. What patterns in your day at school have you observed? What characteristics do your teachers have that make them predictable?

Tom Terrific

When you are young and extremely talented, it can be difficult to receive criticism. In twenty to thirty words, describe the lesson that Gil Hodges tried to pass on to Tom Seaver. How might somebody with less character than Tom have reacted?

In a perfect world . . .

In twenty to thirty words, describe what you wish the cafeteria would serve for lunch. Why would this be the best meal?

A picture is worth a bunch of words

In twenty to thirty words, describe the action in the picture. Michigan's #45 is Obi Ezeh, and the quarterback for Western Michigan is Tim Hiller. For the best possible score, describe the action from the point of view of somebody in the picture.

Making Predictions (part two)

How do you think your seventh grade year will be going in October? What kind of grades will you be earning? What class will you enjoy the most? What will you be doing at recess? What sport will you be playing? What position?

On what are you basing these predictions? What clues from this year, and what inferences that you draw from your teachers' comments are you using to form these predictions? And, finally, how many stars would you give your predictions, and why?

Tbhose of you who respond and then check back in October will set yourself up for a really cool experience. By reviewing the thoughts that we've put together in the past and the things on which we based those thougts we can check in on ourselves, and monitor our own learning and thinking. When we harness the ability to think well metacognitively, we will harness the ability to think well.

Making Predictions (parallel reading prompt)

As good readers, it is important for you to make predictions as you read. You use the information that the authur gives you, make inferences, and build a prediction. It is equally important for you to check on the accuracy of your predictions, and think about why they were accurate or inaccurate. Sometimes the author includes misleading information so that he can surprise you later on. Sometimes you will mis-infer. Sometimes, though, your prediction will be spot on, a wonderful reward for the time and thought you have put into making the prediction.

What was one prediction you made while reading Treasure Island? On what did you base this prediction? Knowing what you know now, was it a good prediction?

What is your current PR book? Make a prediction about something that will happen in the book, and tell me the information and inferences on which you are basing this prediction. Finally, tell me how many stars you would give this prediction, and why.

It's been a long year

Look back at some of the posts from early in the year, as well as the comments posted to them. What are some of your favorite posts from this academic year? Who made some of the most insightful comments? If you could change one of your responses because of something you have learned, what would you change? Why?

As vacation time approaches . . .

Which of the countries from which we've had a visitor (click on the ClustrMap to get a list of all of them) would you most like to visit? Why?

Harder but at the same time easier.

In Latin, there are different cases of nouns, so that 'boy' could be puer, pueri, puero, or puerum depending on its use in the sentence. 'Boys' could be pueri, puerorum, pueris, or pueros. This can be a bit confusing to learn, but once you have a firm grasp on it, grammar becomes easier. For example, in Latin the noun that receives the direct object is written in the dative case. In English, the recipient of the direct object is sometimes the indirect object, but at other times it is the object of a preposition.

In both of the following sentences, 'boy' receives the direct object 'homework'. In Latin it is in the dative case in both sentences; in English it's the indirect object in sentence one and an OP in sentence two.

1. The mean teacher gave the boy homework.
2. The mean teacher gave homework to the boy.

As you can see from the following clip from The Life of Brian, this made things difficult for the graffiti writers in ancient Rome.

The Catch

We have talked some about how mastering the basics allows you to accomplish the extraordinary. The 49ers practiced the game-winning play over and over and over again throughout the season, but they never practiced it with this ending. However, along with the scripted play Montana practiced skills like pump-faking to get defenders off of their feet, and Clark practiced coming back to the quarterback in a scramble situation. The time behind the scenes preparing for various contingencies allowed a great play to blossom from a broken situation. Years later when a football fan talks about "The Catch", all of the other fans know he's referring to Montana heaving the ball off of his back foot over the outstretched arms of the Cowboys defenders, and Clark soaring over his defender to secure the ball and win the game.

The Indian or the Arrow?

When I was in middle school, Rickey Henderson was lighting up the basepaths for the Oakland A's, my favorite baseball team. Rickey was the best lead-off hitter of all time. He could hit for power, but more important to the offense of the A's was his ability to get on base and create havoc for the defense. The all-time stolen base leader, Rickey turned walks and singles into doubles and sometimes triples. Rickey was fast and had great timing; he also had the coolest batting gloves ever. When everybody else was wearing fairly standard Franklin batting gloves that were white with a team colored area on the back of the hand, Mizuno made Rickey some sweet neon green gloves with padding on the back. The gloves were as unique and flashy as Rickey was, and I desperately wanted a pair. I was certain that if only I had a pair of Rickey's gloves, I would a great baseball player, and probably I'd be at least a step or two faster. As soon as I was on base the fielder's would all get a little nervous and the pitcher would go into a cold sweat. The catcher would feel sick. They would all be consumed with the fear that if they made even the slightest mistake, I would be tearing around third, slidding head (and awesome gloves) first into home, and celebrating with my teammates.

I never got the gloves. I never made it to the majors. I'm beginning to think it might have had more to do with my inability to hit a curve ball than my lack of awesome gloves. But I'm not completely positive.

Leadership

There are many different styles that successful leaders adopt. Some demand perfection from their teammates; others are more supportive and encouraging. Some effective leaders are cool-headed, never showing their emotions; others get fired up and try to spread the fire to those around them. Some lead quietly with their example, while others use inspiring speeches to motivate those around them.

Long John Silver and Captain Smollett had very different leadership styles. You could argue that Smollett had a better supporting cast; because of the other members of his 'team' Silver was doomed to be a great leader who never achieved the pinnacle of success, like Dan Marino of the Dolphins. Which leader would you most want to lead your team? If you were losing in the last moments of a game, whom do you think could turn things around and pull victory from the jaws of defeat?

Practicing for a Known Purpose

I love going to practice. I especially enjoy wrestling practice, because I actually get to practice against our guys. By wrestling around with our individual wrestlers, I can help each fine-tune a few moves and work on improving situations in which he's been giving up points. I also get some selfish rewards; it helps me stay in shape and it's a lot of fun to compete against such good athletes. This year Chris Gill (second from the left) made huge strides toward the end of the year. At both the State and Prep National tournaments, he beat somebody who had beaten him just seven days earlier, and in both cases the benefit to him and the team was enormous. At States he beat the Bishop O'Connell kid who beat him the week before at St. Alban's, finishing ahead of him to help the Saints narrowly beat the Knights for the state title. Later in States, Chris got worked over by the kid from Liberty Christian, a defending State Champ. The next weekend, Chris beat the Liberty Christian kid up at the Prep Nationals tournament in Lehigh. By winning this match, Chris qualified as a Prep National All American. He was one of five Saints All Americans, the most we've ever had in one year.
How was he able to beat the people to whom he had so recently lost? Losing to the O'Connell and Liberty Christian kids taught him what he needed to work on. Each week we worked on those specific strategies and skills, practicing them over and over until they were near perfect. While drilling the same moves again and again and again is not the most exciting thing in the world, Chris knew he had to do it. If he didn't get better, he would lose to people the team needed him to beat.
Some people run into difficulty and give up. They lose confidence in the face of a tough adversary and give less effort the next time around because they think they won't succeed. Others take a lesson from every loss, coming back stronger the next time around. Which type of person will you be? When you do poorly on a test or quiz, what is your reaction?

One good deed

A friend and I were recently talking, and she said she had a basketball signed by some retired 76er's players, including Maurice "Mo" Cheeks. Cheeks was a successful player and coach in the NBA for years, but for me his career was defined by the moment captured in this video. In a split second he made a decision to do something he'd never done before, something nobody had ever done before. In doing so he acted with love, empathy, and compassion for a stranger, helping her out in arguably the most difficult moment of her life.

Baseball Season is Here!

The Oakland A's are my favorite team (and I must admit I'm bummed that Kotsay isn't on the team anymore). I love the optimism that springs anew each season as young players are given a chance to shine and old favorites try to set new high marks. I also enjoy pulling for a low-budget team from a small market. There aren't many other A's fans around, and every A's fan right now is a true fan. The nice thing about being an average team is that nobody is trying to jump on the bandwagon. If the A's do pull off a great year, I'll be super stoked, and will feel rewarded for hanging in as a fan during the lean years.

Motivation

Into what circumstances are these pirates born? What are their options for providing for a family, as they see them? What do you do if you're not a "gentleman born", but you have aspirations for greatness?

Negotiating with Pirates

Anderson Cooper says that dealing with the pirates can be tricky because they can be unpredictable, unreliable, confrontational, and they generally are consuming a mind-altering substance. Has this changed much since the days of Long John Silver?

More Pirates!!

When we think of pirates attacking, we usually think of them looking for treasure that would easily be spent or traded; gold and silver coins and bars, precious stones, and so on. These pirates attacked a merchant ship carrying relief supplies. Why would they do something like this?

Pirates!!

Long John wasn't the last of the pirates. Although we think of pirates as sailing wooden ships and swinging swords, there are still those who are willing to risk life and limb to steal from lesser-armed nautical vehicles.

Inspiration and Dedication

In the Upper School chapel talk he gave on Tuesday, Mr. Schalles talked about 'failing to the top'. One example he gave concerned the invention of the lightbulb. We often think about Thomas Alva Edison as being a genius, and he was a truly intelligent individual.

Edison went through over a thousand failures before he finally invented a working lightbulb. Mr. Schalles used this point to emphasize that everybody fails. True failure is giving up before achieving that which you set out to accomplish.

Confidence, pt. 2

Learning to ride a bike can be challenging. The imagined danger of falling is sometimes worse than the actual danger that exists. It can be hard for parents to intentionally put children in harm's way, knowing that if a child falls a skinned knee or bloody elbow could bring a flood of tears.

Because of this, training wheels are a very popular option. They allow a child to ride on the bicycle without fear of falling. However, whenever the training wheels are in use, the child is mis-balanced. Relying on the training wheels reinforces bad habits. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see that the child isn't even on a bike; it's essentially a tricycle with an extra wheel in the middle of the back. Instead of helping this boy learn to balance and ride a bike, it instills a false sense of confidence. When he tries riding a real bike, he'll quickly find out that he hasn't gained the proper skills to ride.

When I learned to ride, my father took the pedals off of the bike and lowered the seat so that my feet could touch the ground. No training wheels were involved. I could push along with my feet, and lift them to coast along. With training wheels, you can keep riding for quite a while with a training wheel on the ground. This was not an option for me. I could go for a few feet without touching a foot down. The more I practiced, the longer I could go without touching down. Before long, I was ready for pedals, and I actually had learned to balance.

The most important part of the lesson has nothing to do with riding the bike; it has to do with the next batch of things I tried out. I knew that I had learned to ride a bike. That gave me the confidence to try new and seemingly risky things like climbing tree, catching a fast-moving baseball, and so on. I knew that I might be bad at first, but that by practicing doing the activity I wanted to learn, I would improve gradually until it was as natural as riding a bike.

Confidence

Confidence comes from doing things. It sounds simplistic, but it's really important. To gain confidence in something, you first have to try it. Trying something new takes courage, because you're likely not to be all that good at whatever you're trying the first time. Have the courage to try something new; keep working at it even though it will be rough the first few times through; do it again and again until it becomes routine. Then you'll have the confidence to accomplish what you need to when it matters the most.

The Coolest Thing I've Seen On YouTube Recently

First of all, many thanks to Mr. Ware for showing me this video. I think the most impressive thing is the ability of the border collies. The extent to which they can manage the sheep exactly as the men want, based on a series of whistles is astonishing! If we tried to do the same thing using 6th graders instead of sheep would we be able?

Whom do you trust?

Who are some of the people in your life that you trust? Why do you trust them? Have they lied to you before? Who do you trust less? What have they done to lost your trust?

Buried Treasure

What would be some of the difficulties in protecting your fortune by keeping it buried on an island unkown to most people? How would you get it there? How would you keep it a secret? How would you go back to get it? How often would you need to check on it to make sure that nobody else took it?

Cinderella Time!

George Mason was the last Virginia team to make it to the Final Four, and they did so in impressive fashion by knocking off some very tough teams. While many of the major conference teams are seen frequently in match-ups and ESPN highlights, some of the smaller teams are quite good as well. Now, they will have a chance to shine. Who will wear the glass slipper this year?

Building on the Basics

We love to see the flashy, splashy play. The ridiculous dunk; the outlandish, over-the-shoulder, toes-dragging catch in the end zone; the bicycle kick finish to the bending centering pass. What we often miss is the hours and hours of work on the fundamentals that have been done in the background, setting up the ability and confidence to pull off the spectacular. Rather than practice the spectacular, we should be focused on mastering the basics. Then we will have a foundation on which to stand that will allow us to make the jaw-dropping play.

When giving up is good

Usually giving up is seen as a bad thing. As Mr. Steed reminded us on Friday, giving up something less important in your life can be a good thing; it can help us streamline a little and focus on the things in life that are truly important. It can also give us a chance to deny our impulses to just do whatever we want, by intentionally denying ourselves gratification. This year for Lent I'm giving up dessert. What will you give up?

Late February is the time for winning.

Late February 2001 was the last time there was a Virginia Independent School State Wrestling Championship held that the Saints didn't win. Remember how long ago that was? That's a pretty dominant steak!

Late February

What were you doing in late February 2001? I was about half-way through working on my Economics degree at the University of Richmond. Working at The Cellar and helping out with the St. Christopher's wrestling team occupied much of my free time.

After thinking about what you were doing, think about this: why would I ask this question?

Very Punny

What are some of your favorites? Which ones are just unbearably bad?


I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Shel Silverstein was one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, in my humble opinion. He told fantastic stories with great imagination, a marvelous sense of humor, and a creative vocabulary. He did a fantastic job of making gobbeldygook make perfect sense in the context of his writing. Check out shelsilverstein.com for some fun practice writing poems in the "just for kids" section.

Music Class

I hope you enjoyed class on Friday even though we didn't talk about English at all. For a little bonus, respond with a stanza or two from one of your favorite songs. After the lyrics, tell the rhyme scheme, the theme, and how many stars you would give out of 5 on the "making sense" scale. For ten bonus points, answer the following correctly: why is it easier to maintain meter in a song than in a poem? For help, rewatch "Rise", and compare with "Casey at the Bat".

Rise Together

Everybody falls down - the trick is getting back up again. When you've been knocked flat, it can seem as though all is lost. At times like this, it is important to dig deep for the strength and courage to get back up and face that which just a moment ago was our undoing. I believe it is crucial to see the positive; as they say in Ohio, "it's easier to tear down an old silo than to build a better one". Anybody can criticize; creating something better can be much harder.

"Rise" by the Flobots

What message do the lyrics and video send about moving forward as Americans?

How swords are made

In his inaugural address, President Obama mentioned that times of trial show our true character best. Have we read of any mythological figures that have shown, during difficult times, a strong character? What can you do to help your nation during the difficult times that lie ahead? (And, relating to the post title, how is a sword made?)

Hero Video

Thanks, Fleet, for your suggestions. To all others, feel free to suggest video that may help prove your point as to who is the Most Heroic.

What would your dream include?

Click on the picture of Dr. King to see his famous speech about the dream he had for America. Think about what your ideal vision would be for the country. What segments of society would you most want to help?

Heroes today

Who are your heroes? Why?

Alternate post - Who is the most heroic college basketball player of all time? Why?

Does being a hero mean going it alone?

Check out the story about Jason and his band of Argonauts. Why should we believe that Jason is a hero, given all of the support he received along the way? Shouldn't a hero be able to fulfill his quest all on his own? For contrast, read about Hercules (a.k.a. Heracles and Herakles).