juniors, sophomores, and freshmen—a
total of 450 students—signed on and
began to apply to attend activities. In
the first weeks of the program, Karen
Thomas was overwhelmed by the
hundreds of requests waiting in her
approval queue. It was a great launch!
Naturally, the students took to the
idea of the electronic database with no
problem. The database gave the
students ownership of their own
pathway, allowing them to choose from
among hundreds of activities. We asked
them to challenge themselves to try
things they had never done before, and
they responded.
The core of the program, however,
was the creativity of our teachers. The
ideas poured in; there was even a bit of
competitiveness as the teachers vied to
“out-create” their colleagues. Activities
included guest speakers from a variety
of fields (finance, foreign relations,
energy); trips to cultural institutions
(Metropolitan Museum of Art, American
Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Opera); literature circles; a robotics
competition; political debates; poetry
readings; foreign films and foreign
restaurants; dance classes; and using
Rosetta Stone software to tackle a third
language. The following are just a few
examples.
organized a trip to one of Long Island’s
Gold Coast mansions to discuss the
novel and to help students visualize
some of the scenes Fitzgerald described.
The mansion offers public tours, and
the caretakers were enthusiastic about
students visiting and discussing the
novel in one of the main rooms. It was a
perfect setting for a spirited discussion.
Our guidance counselors led a literature circle on The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective Teens (Simon and Schuster,
1998), a book with strategies that
students can use to organize themselves
and define their goals. They recruited
the author, Sean Covey, to call in from
Colorado during one session to talk to
the students about his reasons for
writing the book and to answer their
questions.
students to raise funds to support entrepreneurs in a developing nation.
Students raised more than $500
through bake sales and car washes.
Then they researched worthy recipients
on the Kiva Web site ( www.kiva.org),
reviewing hundreds of applications from
people around the world—mostly shopkeepers and aspiring artisans—who
were looking for seed money to support
their entrepreneurial endeavors.
Students chose three individuals from
Nicaragua, Ghana, and Azerbaijan to
support with loans. Kiva has an excellent track record of being paid back in
full; when the funds are returned, the
students plan to lend them out to a new
round of recipients.
Our science director found a group
simulation activity called the Climate
We have been overwhelmed at the creativity
and enthusiasm of teachers, the response
of students, and the support of parents.
A Sampling of
21st Century Activities
A local church was hosting Step into
Africa, a travelling exhibit on the impact
of AIDS on sub-Saharan Africa. Several
teachers offered to take groups of
students to this interactive exhibit, and
the activity sold out quickly. Although
the exhibit highlighted topics being
taught in our Global History class, it
would probably have been impossible to
find time for it within the regular school
day. Offering the experience after school
gave 50 students the chance to participate, and they wrote beautiful and
moving essays about what they had seen.
In 11th grade, our students always
read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Fitzgerald (Scribner’s, 1925). A teacher
Cyberwarfare—the ability of one
nation to take control of the communication infrastructure of another
nation—is a hot topic in the information technology world. Three engineers
from Northrop Grumman came one
afternoon and talked to a fascinated
audience about what capabilities for
such a takeover already exist. They
demonstrated their own ability to view
all the cell phone activity in the room
(there was plenty) and explained how
technology enables people to do various
illegal things, such as making a message
appear to come from another phone or
viewing images that reside on someone
else’s phone. They extrapolated what
these capabilities mean to U.S. security.
The students were mesmerized by the
discussion. And two days later, when
the New York Times began a front-page
series on that very topic, the students
were informed media consumers.
One teacher organized a group of
Change Game created by an organization called Big Picture, Small World
( www.bigpicturesmallworld.com). In
the simulation, students assume the
roles of diplomats from various countries, corporate executives, and labor
leaders. Different scenarios are put
forth, and each student assumes the
policy position of the role he or she has
been assigned. More than 110 students
stayed after school to play the game for
three hours, using their critical-thinking
skills to explore an important topic in
depth—and enjoying it tremendously.
Several teachers and administrators
volunteered to moderate an online
current-events forum. Each week, they
post a link to a recent news article along
with a few discussion questions;
students enjoy participating in the electronic dialogue, posting their own
comments and reacting to the postings
of their peers. Topics have included
privacy issues related to global posi-
