May 12, 2023

This morning I ventured to Mrs. Mandzhukova-Wamboldt's science classroom to meet with Guszti Sztermen '24 and Jack Taylor '24 who are partnering this semester on a Royce Research independent study.

Guszti had taken Mrs. M's Honors BioTechnology course this fall, and together he and Jack determined that they would like to learn more about CRISPR genome editing technology and the history of genetic engineering. They ordered kits to become familiarized with the techniques so that they could then work to modify the epistatic genes of zebra fish to block their expression of pigmentation, making them translucent.

Guszti and Jack have been practicing PCR protocol with an e coli bacteria kit, creating cultures in an incubator and then amplifying the amount of DNA they have in the PCR machine.

They taught me that the PCR machine disjoints the double helix of the DNA and can enable the editing of both strands, which can then be replicated to create many identical copies through cycles of heating and cooling. They have learned that the proteins and enzymes used in this process are expensive and easily denatured, so meticulous work is important!

The boys are simultaneously trying to breed the zebra fish to harvest the embryos, which are then washed in a solution and electrically shocked to make their membranes permeable to CRISPR proteins, which in turn edit the genes. Guszti and Jack shared that it's slower in practice than they thought, and that they have a newfound respect for all the prep work that Mrs. M does to set up labs for her students! Their first round of embryos died, so they're sticking with it and hope to continue their independent study in the fall. I look forward to seeing some translucent zebra fish swimming around in classroom 102 before 2023 is out!

April 26, 2023

This morning Ms. Moltz's third-form English class enjoyed a special presentation from history teacher and school archivist Mr. Latham on Brooks School in the 1940's.

This institutional history was helpful in creating context for the book students are currently reading, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The 16-year-old protagonist, Holden Caulfield, finds himself immersed in a new environment at Pencey Prep in New Jersey and contending with new socioeconomic dynamics, among other challenges.

Mr. Latham talked about the wartime and post-WWII years at Brooks, highlighting students' contributions to the war effort at 1160 Great Pond Road and abroad. He familiarized the students with the physical campus, school traditions and the much-celebrated faculty whose names we still recognize, in addition to sharing many photographs of daily life.

Pictured here is former faculty member Mr. Spock reading to Whitney House residents at bedtime, a tradition that I for one would like to see return!

April 24, 2023

Piaget reigned supreme in Mrs. Hajdukiewicz's Honors Neuroscience class today, as students participated in pitches for toys they created with different childhood developmental stages in mind.

I was one of three guest panelists serving as part of the SharkTank. Innovations included an interactive sensory mat, a textured hide-the-bunny book, letter-tracing puzzle pieces, a Montessori activity board and an online instructional play doh modeling kit.

Suffice it to say that the "sharks" were thoroughly impressed by the depth of research and ingenuity in coming up with enriching age-appropriate toys!

March 31, 2023

Today was our inaugural Beloved Community Day as led by our new Dean of DEIB, Rev. Terri Ofori. The central themes of the day were: Sankofa, which is reaching back to gather the best of what our past has to teach us so that we can achieve our full potential moving forward, and Ubuntu, the realization of who you are through other people.

In an introductory chapel, we heard Mr. Jones talk about the importance of Ubuntu to Celtics team culture under Coach Doc Rivers when they won the NBA championship in 2008. We moved into the dining hall for a Kente cloth lesson from Dr. David Ofori, a chief of Akyem people in eastern Ghana, and chose symbols that best represented our advisory groups. Pictured here is my advisee, Mari Munoz de Leon '24, and Owen Bedrosian '23, learning how to wear the Kente cloth from Rev. Ofori. 

Next, we moved in our advisory groups to the Center for the Arts and collaboratively composed a contribution to an exquisite corpse activity, during which each group is either responsible for a head, torso or legs and that were then combined to create whimsical creatures.

It was a nice tie-in to a guest from visiting artist Shelby Myerhoff, who presented on her transformative practice of painting herself after animals or vegetation that inspire her from nature.

For me, the most memorable aspect of the day was hearing from Dr. Pascale Losambe, a trained neuroscientist, who talked to us about both the history and science of belonging.

In this final picture, you can see our community gathered outside the chapel for a drum circle and libation offered by Dr. Ofori:

A part of that ceremony was an acknowledgment of the Pennacook people, on whose ancestral lands Brooks School resides. Beloved Community Day proved to be a fun and educational day!

February 23, 2023

A snowy afternoon without childcare provided me with the opportunity to strap my one-year old, Camilla, into a backpack and take a trip through the Center for the Arts to see what entertainment I might offer her. No sooner had we entered the building than we stumbled across a third-form, Arts Exploratory cohort engaging in a critique outside their visual arts classroom with Mrs. Wheelden.

We followed the sound of their peers to a nearby classroom where we found another ArtsEx group fully engrossed in singing under the direction of Dr. DiAngelo.

Camilla and I journeyed downstairs to check out the whimsical monsters being sewn together in 3D Studio Art with Ms. McLoughlin, and then enjoyed a hallway piano concert by Daniel Reyes '23, who was making the most of his free block.

Mutual enjoyment was evident between the toddler and performers, which made for a successful tour of the arts building! 

February 16, 2023

I was moving about the school building Thursday morning when I was happily sidetracked by the celebratory shouts of Jagger Carreiro '26, Trokon Harris '26 and Tristan Yepdo '26 as they succeeded in getting their Rube Goldberg machine to work in the Science Atrium.

The physics students have been learning about three types of potential energy: kinetic, elastic and gravitational. They taught me that kinetic is anything that moves, elastic is something like a spring that bends and has a release, and gravitational depends on an object's weight and height above the ground.

The task at hand was to create a machine that features all three types of potential energy with two simple machine components. Simple machine components include wheel and axle, ramps, levers, pulleys, gears and screws. Students had to predict what the outcome of their machine would be in regard to potential energy, and the boys' celebration was an indication that their hypotheses proved correct!

February 2, 2023

If you want to beat the winter blues, spend your February in French class! Madame Medved highlights cultural observances of both Chandeleur and Mardi Gras, and today meant learning about the former, or what the English call "Candlemas."

See an album of photos from the celebration on brooksschoolphotos.com.

Symbolically forty days after Christmas, Chandeleur also enjoys pre-Christian origins, marking the midway point of winter, much like Groundhog Day. A mix of both traditions, the holiday now focuses on crêpes, which are thin, round pancakes that are meant to represent the life-giving sun.

Eating the crêpes also invokes the papal tradition of distributing food to those in need at this time of year. Madame Medved cooked the crêpes the night before and brought in blueberries, strawberries, bananas, nutella and more to add on. They were delicious and the students ate heartily while enjoying the cultural lesson!

JANUARY 21, 2022

Winter Term 2023 featured some perennial favorite courses, including Car Wars, The Great Outdoors, Walking Boston and SCUBA, while also introducing some new courses: Aviation, NYCinema, Sherlock Holmes and Learn to Snowboard. Emerging from the pandemic, students enjoyed a bump in travel opportunities both domestic and international, including trips to Cooperstown, New York; Philadelphia; New York City and Washington D.C., as well as further afield to Honduras, Portugal and Spain. 

As a co-teacher of Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (shown above), I joined the students in learning about Portuguese history and culture.

Stateside, the students took part in an authentic cooking lesson from a first generation Azorean chef and made croquettes, paella and queijadas.

See an album of photos from the lesson and trip on brooksschoolphotos.com.

They got a crash course in Portuguese history, focusing in particular on the age of exploration and empire when “discoverers” sailed the seas motivated by God, Gold and Glory. Mrs. Mandzhukova-Wamboldt taught a lesson on Portuguese language, equipping students with the ability to offer greetings, express gratitude and order food, among other essential skills. Students began the process of journaling, and each prepared individual presentations on two or three historical sites that we planned to visit in Portugal.

We then crossed the Atlantic and landed in sunny Lisbon, where we canvassed the historic district, and visited St. George’s Castle, Belém Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery before enjoying a traditional Fado concert. We continued on to Évora to see the Roman temple of Diana and the Chapel of the Bones, with a special stop to Monsaraz Castle at sunset. Our journey then took us north to the coastal towns of Cascais, Nazaré and Aveiro, where respectively we enjoyed a scenic bicycle ride, trip to a surf museum and lighthouse and a gondola ride to learn about the local salt industry.

Next we walked the fortifications at Óbidos, before arriving in Porto. There we toured the palace, climbed up a clock tower, and learned how Port wine is made. To close the trip, we headed to the university town of Coimbra for some shopping, before checking out the Batalha monastery on our return to Lisbon. Along the way, olives and octopus galore were eaten, many photographs were taken, and countless memories were made in a beautiful country!

Travel changed my life when I was a high school student. It opened up the world as an expansive, inspiring and culturally rich classroom and showed me just how much there is to learn. I am grateful to Brooks for the opportunity to provide the same chance to another generation of students!

November 15, 2022

Dr. Neissa's AP Spanish Literature class has recently begun reading and analyzing Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Dr. Neissa led the students through an exploration into what it was like to live in early 17th century southern Spain, and had them consider how the protagonist might go a little crazy after reading stories of knighthood.

The class discussed the cultural ideals of masculinity during that age as informed by patriarchal tradition and compared them to modern day. Dr. Neissa characterized the Baroque era of literature as one of pessimism and over-intellectualizing simple values. The students impressed me with their high-level literary discussion conducted entirely in fluent Spanish. 

OCTOBER 24, 2022

Last week, I heard that Kyle Joyce '23 was on the hunt for zip ties, and it piqued my curiosity as to why he would need so many. I decided to investigate, and this query resulted in an invitation to Mr. Bauer's Introduction to Electromechanical Engineering class! During the extended block this morning, I found students happily tinkering with two, three and four-wheeled vehicles to add or modify motors to the vehicles. 

Jake Lipani '23 explained to me that his group was transforming a beach cruiser donated by Dean of Students Mr. Forrest to become an Ebike. Since it is a rear-braking bike, the students needed to swap out the back tire for a wheel with a motor in it, which then necessitated prying open the metal frame for it to fit. The group then unscrewed the pedals and flipped the chain to be on the opposite side, while having to contend with different gear mechanisms.

Kendall Eddy '23 and Sarah Benjavitvilai '23 relayed that they are now working on the wiring, and troubleshooting an issue where the brakes are too strong and signaling the motor to stop. Their team has replaced the handle bar, added a throttle, and once they figure out the brake wiring, they will 3D print an enclosure for the wires. 

In another corner, Shane Burns '23 and Brett Niland '23 were working on motorizing a Razor scooter, after having accidentally burned out a brushless motor controller. Mr. Bauer was reviewing the magnetization of motors, which need the two positive sides of magnets to repel so that the polarity enables the revolution. He acknowledged that some AP Physics started creeping into his lesson!

Across the room, Cali Bernier '23 and Jerry Chen '23 were working on souping up a kid's Power Wheels cop car with a motor that has ten times the power of the original. They were in the process of 3D printing a gear box enclosure.

Next to them, classmates Evan Wirth '23, Kerr Sjostrom '23, Connor O'Neill '23 and Kyle Joyce '23 were in between two impressive projects. First, they added a four-stroke engine to a tricycle, and explained to me how it works: gas goes into the cylinder, a spark plug ignites it, and the explosion moves the pistons. (They enlightened me that the "V" in a V8 engine refers to the orientation of the pistons.)

I learned that a four-stroke enables a slower build of power versus a two-stroke, which has more torque. Next, they are turning their attention to an ATV that Director of Communications Mr. Callahan lent them, in hopes of repairing and improving its performance. 

All class members appreciated that what they're learning will help them beyond Brooks, in terms of their comprehension of machines, how to build them or fix them, and their general individual handiness and resourcefulness.

Quite a few students shared that prior experience working on their dirt bikes, or helping to repair the family leaf blower, had prepared them well for this course. And, several commented that they hope to continue with electrical or mechanical engineering in college! 

September 19, 2022

Wilder DIning Hall was the place to be Monday night for the annual Brooks Club Fair.

Music was bumping, free candy abounded, and colorful signs graced tabletops as students endeavored to convince one another to sign up for Astronomy Club, the No Planet B consortium or Amnesty International.

I enjoyed a nice chat with Sofia Fortenberry '24 who started an organization called Better Letter that pairs youth with an elderly pen pal.

Affinity groups joined in the fun, with new cohorts SWIRL (multiracial) and ISA (international) in the mix. Students learned how they might get involved in a variety of student run initiatives, and will now have meetings to look forward to as the school year builds momentum.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

We are off and running, with 17 new colleagues and 113 new students to create new memories together. As ever, I am thrilled to kick off the first two days of classes with an eager group of third-form history students. Together, we will study Ancient Africa over the course of the semester. It was particularly wonderful to see each of their faces fully. I missed those smiles behind masks last year! 

This year the schoolwide curriculum will benefit from additions like Electromechanical Engineering, Neuroscience, Biotechnology, Animal Behavior & Zoology, History of Human Health & Disease, Contemporary Novel, Contemporary Short Story, the reintroduction of AP Music Theory and a fourth form Modern World history redesign, featuring new electives!

I am excited to visit these classes and look forward to giving you a glimpse into the day to day of school life here at Brooks!

February 24, 2022

The Center for the Arts was a happening scene on Thursday night! The winter musical Rent opened and budding ceramicist Andrew Fair '22 exhibited his artwork to the delight of friends, family and teachers.

Building on skills he learned in Ceramics I and II, Andrew (above, third from right) has dedicated hours to advancing his abilities on the wheel, and has produced an impressive collection of tableware, including a chip and dip platter and citrus reamer. His functional art is both practical and beautiful, featuring an array of glazes.

Andrew's soccer teammates came out in full force to support the sixth-form artist, and it was a fun night to celebrate the arts — both visual and performing — as many attendees of the exhibition continued on to the musical!

October 4, 2021

Ms. Binder's English class was abuzz as I entered, with students at three different stations centered on close examination of etiquette, ceremony and social conventions related to their reading of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. In the opening chapters, Achebe describes Igbo rituals in great detail. For example, a tradition in which, "'The first cup went to Okonkwo, who must taste his wine before anyone else. Then the group drank, beginning with the eldest man. When everyone had drunk two or three horns, Nwakibie sent for his wives.'" (pp.19-20.) 

Ms. Binder asked the class, "What are the values and hierarchy reflected? Why does the author spend so much time describing cultural rituals?" Students then rotated around the room, attempting to set a formal table with help from an online tutorial provided by the butler at Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire, design a few different versions of wedding invitations for a range of scenarios, and practice introductions among Mr. Packard, the Queen of England, and Tom Brady, among others! For the students, it inspired thoughtful reflection as to why these social interactions matter in recognizing and establishing the dynamics of a scene. 

September 20, 2021

This morning I took another look at how our All Community Read, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, has been integrated into the curriculum. Ms. Johnston's Pre-Modern World History class, Making of the Muslim World, took some time today to learn about the history of apartheid in South Africa.

The class revisited Mr. Noah's comparison between the teaching of the Holocaust to German students and the teaching of apartheid to South African students. He wrote: “In South Africa, the atrocities of apartheid have never been taught that way. We weren’t taught judgment or shame.  . . . Facts, but not many, and never the emotional or moral dimension.”

Brooks students explored how Noah's assertion — one point of view — might suggest how historical memory is preserved for some groups and not for others, and students considered the importance of an emotional or moral dimension in recounting historical events.

While over in the library, I couldn't help but notice a fourth-form Self in Community class making the most of the gorgeous weather in the courtyard outside the Lehman Gallery.

I dropped into see what kind of lesson Mr. Musto (below) and Mr. Wheelden (above) were facilitating, and learned that as a part of the character development portion of the course, they were engaging students in an exploration of how they experience feelings of "comfort, stretch or panic" in different scenarios.

Examples included walking into a new classroom environment on the first day of school, entering the dining hall for lunch and finding a place to sit, and some more uncommon situations like being asked to donate blood. Students voted with their feet, and then discussed their feelings and the "why" behind them. 

September 7, 2021

What an incredible kickoff to what will undoubtedly be a year to remember . . . in the best of ways! Our community is so excited to be whole — to have every student and faculty member together, in person, on campus.

In his infinite wisdom, our Head of School John Packard made a great call in scheduling our first chapel of the year to be outside, overlooking Lake Cochichewick. Mother nature gave us her best and amplified our gratitude for being able to call the Brooks campus home. Our land acknowledgment, "At Brooks School, we live and learn on land once of the Pennacook people, and we acknowledge their enduring presence," felt particularly meaningful as we could envision those who came before us honoring the land, its beauty and bounty, centuries before us.

Pictured below is chapel prefect Amy Mojica '22, who offered a reading to supplement Mr. Packard's message about the importance of community (Watch a snippet here).

And then, the real fun began, with classes! I can't tell you how joyful it is to see the academic buildings come alive with the sounds of voices in the hallways, feet pounding the stairs, and laughter coming from classrooms. I was excited to get going with my third-form, Pre-Modern World History elective, Uncovering Ancient Africa, pictured here:

Not to worry: These kiddos are very mask compliant in our indoor spaces; against their better judgment some followed their teacher's directive to hold their breath and show their smiles for this photo!

Thank you for rejoining me as I restart my blog after a spring hiatus. I am looking forward to bringing you some glimpses of campus life this school year! 

January 21, 2021

This evening in AP Microeconomics, Mr. Smith's class modeled civil discourse around the (virtual) dinner table, while discussing Mankiw's five theoretical arguments one might make for trade protectionism. Every student created their own character, and prepared their stances on jobs, national security, infant industry, unfair competition, and bargaining chips: Were they proponents, or opponents?

At the end, the students provided each other feedback with constructive ideas that would make them more effective conversationalists in controversial matters where perspectives play a large role. It was surprisingly fun to watch this lesson unfold! The students enjoyed bringing their characters' economic views to life and had prepared impressive research to challenge their peers' positions. It had all the great ingredients of a dinner conversation: a diversity of perspectives, an eagerness to participate, inclusion of everyone, an upbeat tempo and lots of laughter! 

October 22, 2020

COVID-19 has presented institutions, states and countries with previously unfathomable challenges related to safety and infrastructure. In Mrs. Hajdukiewicz's Honors Anatomy courses, students have been tasked with learning about the virus and also the development of a strategic plan to mitigate its deadly effects in the United States.

I was invited to sit in on their presentations and was mightily impressed with the thoughtful research of what strategies have been most successful the world over. To generalize the different groups' approaches, I would characterize the students as more conservative than most state governments.

From an epidemiological standpoint, they conveyed an understanding of what human behaviors would be necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19, and also understood the magnitude of the social welfare component to support people as limitations to their livelihoods would be enforced.

Watch out Jeff Bezos — these sixth formers might soon be appealing to you for a substantial pledge to their COVID-19 fund, to support their new initiatives toward minimizing the impact of this pandemic!

October 7, 2020

Disclaimer: I have never seen a Star Wars movie. I am well aware there are memes across the internet making fun of this 1 percent of the population; I am among them.

While I could not appreciate the finer points of Ms. Binder's lesson on the Greek tragic hero using the story of Anakin Skywalker, I was savvy enough to be impressed by the comparison to the Things Fall Apart's protagonist, Okonkwo — and anyone could see the students were right there with her.

She further solidified the class's understanding of the tragic hero using other familiar characters like Simba from The Lion King and Buddy from The Incredibles, and explored the ingredients it takes to make one: a tragic flaw, pride/disinterest, a reversal, punishment and catharsis.

A group discussion followed where the group affirmed author Chinua Achebe's success in writing a fundamental novel about the Ibo people of Nigeria for a western audience by using a classic western form of character.

Student Newell Hale '23 articulated the political power the novel amassed in reaching a new audience, and how the book helped redefine the "single story" many westerners may have had about Africans, as their prior readership may have been limited to white authors from the outside looking in (Not to mention, Africa is a big continent — lots of countries and cultures!).

Of note in this lesson was also the technological fluency of the participants. It was in a hybrid format, with online students participating from home via Zoom and KanDao, and Ms. Binder was using JamBoard to fuse both a slide deck and whiteboard experience. We have arrived in the future! Very Star Wars, indeed. 

September 20, 2020

Mother Nature gifted Brooks with beautiful weather days for the opening weeks of having students back to campus, and for that we are very grateful. Students spread themselves out, in a physically distanced manner, across multiple sports fields and open green spaces looking out at Lake Cochichewick. Lacrosse balls and footballs flew through the air, frisbees were tossed in games of disc golf, and spike balls bounced merrily. Mr. Griffith led yoga classes, Mr. Smith taught rowing technique, and Mr. Haile (below) patrolled to enforce good health and safety protocol with his homemade sandwich board!

Pizza was served at the flagpole to happy teens who made the most of their day before heading into study hall post-sunset. We look forward to getting back into the classroom later this week, after staying online until we receive a second round of test results. Safety first!

June 4, 2020

Typically, my blog provides a weekly window into the student experience at Brooks. It matters that what our students experience in our classrooms, especially our students of color, reflects and affirms their identities. This week, I offer a “history department takeover,” to highlight the work our department chair Michele Musto (shown below) has led to more directly prioritize the study and appreciation for the lived experience of historically marginalized populations in our curricula.

On this topic, Mrs. Musto: 

As the history department sat down to our work this week, top on our minds as a department were recent events in the news, which have affected all of us in different ways. As we watched the news of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others over the last few weeks, we, as historians, are acutely aware that this is sadly nothing new. Since 1619, African Americans have been persecuted, discriminated against and killed. Just this Sunday, for example, was the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot in 1921 where mobs of white residents attacked and destroyed much of the primarily black Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The list of these acts of violence against people of color in U.S. history sadly could go on and on, and as historians we are acutely aware of this. We wish to stand with the many members of our community who face the realities of this history on a day-to-day basis, and we strive to make sure that all of our students learn about these events, as well as about the many wonderful contributions that communities of color have made to the rich fabric of American history.

One way the history department has taken to heart our need to address diversity, equity and inclusion in our curriculum was in our redesign of the sixth-form history electives. In past years, many of these electives were driven by the AP curriculum, but we recognized a need to spend more time on social justice issues and to present unheard voices in all of our senior classes in particular. To that end, our new slate of senior electives each will take time to address the topics of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation and others, as they relate to each particular content area. We hope that this will be at the heart of each and every elective next year.

Below are some of the thoughts from your history teachers on their sixth-form electives and the work of diversity, equity and inclusion in the history classroom:

Ms. Johnston writes about her elective on Sports History and Culture — “Sports and DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion] work go hand-in-hand. Sports have a complex history of both empowering and disempowering individuals and groups fighting for equality. Many, like Jake Kyler of the Sports Business Journal, state, ‘Sport has the intrinsic ability to bring about positive social change in the communities where we live, work and play.’ There are also examples where sports have not been inclusive to athletes. You need to look no further than Colin Kaepernick, who was ostracized by the NFL for using his professional athletic platform to fight for those who have been silenced and killed, or Billie Jean King, who was fearful of losing her tennis career if news broke that she identified as LGBTQ. Sports can oftentimes be a mouthpiece for change. However, the history of sports is complicated and one that must be acknowledged and discussed.”

Ms. McDonough, in speaking of her history of the Middle East course, writes — “For supplementary materials, I've tried over the years to read from authors of the places or of the religions we are studying. I'm making a real commitment to this for next year to ONLY read these authors. I want to be sure I am elevating and celebrating the stories and voices from the areas and cultures covered in the course.”

Mr. Latham, who will be teaching our new Economic History courses, writes — “Helping students develop empathy for others is one of the reasons I teach at boarding school. Our students will have an inordinate influence on the world. The quality of our future depends on their respect for all people. This is vitally important for all of us to learn and practice.”

Mr. Waters, who will be teaching new Civics courses, shares — “My goal is always for students to feel like they can engage with the government and find their own voice. I am excited to focus more deeply on elections and local politics in the coming year with students, as the power of young people will play a vital role in the 2020 elections. It is important for students to understand their rights, to be able to discuss differences with peers, and to exercise their own civic duty.”

Ms. Nasser, who will be teaching a new Global Humanities course, writes — “I have been taking this time to reflect on my privilege, to learn more about racism through reading articles and books, and to having open discussions with my friends and family. I recognize that it is a privilege to learn more about racism instead of experiencing it. I continue to think about how I can incorporate all voices into my world history classes and encourage discussions on race. I recognize that there is more to be done than just talk and I am taking steps to change the things that I cannot accept about our country.”

Mrs. Waters, reflecting on additional offerings like Criminal Justice, International Relations, and Race, Gender & Class, that will be taught by Mr. Veit and Ms. Sauceda, offers — “Challenging American exceptionalism by better understanding the inequities transcending generations that have shaped our nation helps position students to engage in critical thinking and develop informed opinions. That’s who we want as our future leaders — informed citizens! We look forward to running electives in African American and Latinx Studies in 2021, as well."

All of this we recognize is just the beginning. The work to teach a truly inclusive history of the world is ongoing and ever changing. The work to fight against discrimination and injustice is work we must all partake in on an everyday basis. We also recognize that there are times when we may fail. However, the history department wants all of the Brooks Community to know this is front and center in our minds, and we are ready to contribute to the hard work ahead. Hold us to this and let us know when we fail!

Mrs. Musto and the Brooks History Department

May 20, 2020

Today the Davis Foundation Scholars enjoyed a year-end meeting together, during which they all offered well wishes to departing senior Janelle Umana-Limon! The cohort is made up of ten students (next year, 12!), who were identified as Davis Scholars because they distinguished themselves as outstanding community members at their prior schools, and no surprise, have continued to contribute meaningfully while at Brooks.

The group gathers periodically throughout the year to talk about classes, extracurriculars, life, you name it! The students today discussed how to welcome their three new members in the fall: Kiara, Selene and Phillip. We are looking forward to having them on board!

May 13, 2020

This tree is right outside my front door. I have lived in Chace House since it was built in 2012. Eight years I have woken up, in all kinds of weather, and walked outdoors to load my kids in the car for school or walk toward main street to make my way to the academic building, with this tree right in my line of vision. 

I LOVE trees. This time of year I rejoice at their buds, blossoms and leaves that mark the arrival of spring. I am also grateful for their summertime shade, celebrate their autumnal beauty in all shades, and marvel at their snowy majesty in wintertime. I become inordinately sad when we lose a tree on campus, although I know Mr. St. Cyr takes incredible care of them and makes decisions in the best interest of our campus ecosystems . . . I still am so bummed to lose what feels like an old friend!

The history enthusiast in me revels in the idea of witness trees; the idea that these leafy soldiers bear witness to history over hundreds of years, become living history themselves, and help to create a sense of place. 

How is it that I don't even know what species the tree, right outside my front door, is? How can one become so accustomed to something's presence, reliant on it, and not even know it's name? It produces pods . . .  I think it might be a locust of some sort . . . .  but I can't say for sure! I find myself needing to know. 

This is what happens when you slow down, and have the time and presence of mind to see what is right in front of you with greater clarity. While my school life remains as busy as ever, slower moments walking around campus with my children have allowed me to take note of seasonal campus features I hadn't appreciated before. 

What else might I be able to see more clearly, right in front of me, that I couldn't before our lives changed this year? I am excited to find out. 

April 30, 2020

I visited Mrs. Miller's Spanish Third Level Honors students who were crushing some serious grammar this morning. Past, present and future perfect tenses were the name of the game, with a little conditional and preterite review mixed in.

Also happening in the language department today with Mr. Dinescu: Jack Frimet '21 talking about how to grill a hot dog, Christian Duran '22 demonstrating how to care for fish, and Addie Branca '22 giving a crash course in laundry . . . all in Spanish!

April 22, 2020

This week I enjoyed a window into Ms. Rooney's Physics class through the work of third-form student Kerr Sjostrom, who created a harp for a project on the science behind musical instruments.

The students were asked to research the physics of frequency, pitch, loudness, resonance, wavelength, harmonics and interference. Not only did they create a presentation, but they had to build the instrument and play it for the class! 

April 17, 2020

In the span of an hour, I watched sixth-formers code a panda bear to play "Duck, Duck Goose" in Robotics class (see below) and third-form students tackle new choreography in Introduction to Dance. They tuned in for synchronous class from Thailand, from Kenya, and lots of places in between.

Though we may not prefer the distance learning mode we are in, it was a powerful demonstration of the connectivity that technology can provide.

Mr. Hesse was giving tips on mBlock, the coding platform, at the same time that Ms. O'Brien was providing her class (see below) choreography set to the tune of Jess Glynne's "Hold My Hand" from her basement dance studio.

The class's chosen theme for their new dance? Togetherness. I felt it!

April 7, 2020

Celebrity spotlight post from Dean of Students and boys 1st soccer coach, Mr. Waters:

"As I find myself looking for ways to create or maintain community, I thought it would be fun to connect the 2019 soccer team with alumni. I am hoping to make this a weekly event where the current players talk with a team that won an ISL championship while they were at Brooks.

Last night, we had our first talk with the 2016 (above) and 2017 (below) teams which was fun because there is a lot of overlap.

Andres Rosas '21 and Coll Sutherland '21 were third formers on the 2017 team and Zach Pearce '20 and Abhay Gandhi '20 were fourth formers on that team.

We also had siblings on the call, Alex '17 and Max Chaban '20, Jacob '18 and Saul Iwowo '22, Thomas '21 and Jack O'Connell '20 and Coll and Duncan Sutherland '20. The kids each introduced themselves and then shared a moment that has stood out to them or what Brooks soccer has meant to them.

I didn't know what to expect, but was blown away by where the players took it as the call lasted two and a half hours, and we had 37 people on the call. We will have the next installment next week, talking with the 2012 team, and many of the 2016 and 2017 players have already asked if they can join that call as we look to connect!

March 31, 2020

Day two of Distance Learning! Featured below is my six-year-old daughter, Ainsley, on a quick (physically distanced!) jaunt around the neighborhood. Her teachers had asked her to find a change in nature and she alighted upon some determined plants sprouting up to greet the New England spring.

In the time it took us to walk back to our home, some friendly neighbors had chalked our front walk with a welcome home message:

Community, especially the Brooks community, means so much at a time like this.

I feel grateful for reminders from nature that the earth will keep turning, the seasons will change, and that we should find joy in the small moments. I look forward to "walking the halls" of our virtual school over the coming weeks to share joyful moments shared amongst teachers and students as we continue to draw meaning and inspiration from our community. Stay tuned!

february 22, 2020

This morning I joined Mr. Jester's Algebra 2 class, and observed students "playing" Marbleslides on Desmos to graph exponential functions.

If a student tinkered with an equation to change the slope of a line, they could reroute the path of the marble and pick up stars. The program was interactive and students could see other people's predictions. An example of this was guessing what might happen if they swapped coordinates — could they find the inverse and plot it on an x/y plane?

The students loved this, and asked Mr. Jester for more time to play. It was fun to see the gamification of learning in a traditional classroom setting (reminded me of Idriss Aberkane's theorizing — look him up!). The class then enjoyed an introduction to a new function: logarithms. Mr. Jester explained logs are the inverse of exponentials, which helped the students to better under the relationship of what they had just been studying to this new topic. 

February 14, 2020

We sweat because evaporation helps cooling. But why does the sweat band of your hat turn white as it dries after a long, hot jog?

I learned today in Mr. Lafond's chemistry class, that this residue is comprised of sodium, chloride and potassium. This salty substance is the reason why your dog likes to lick your skin after a good workout. What does this mean for your body's composition, and how does it relate to what we put in it? Think Gatorade, which advertises its merits on electrolyte replacement. We need electrolytes like sodium, chloride and potassium to help conduct electrical charges around our body to help encourage normal cell function and organ health. 

Mr. Lafond started class today diagramming ionic compounds and examining how they conduct electricity. They separate into charge particles whereas molecular compounds, like water, separate into molecules that have no charge. Mr. Lafond asked the class to envision a brick wall. Molecular compound fall apart like bricks if the mortar were to dissolve, whereas ionic compounds would see the bricks themselves come apart. This visualization helped me a great deal to understand the difference! I also learned that water is a polar molecular compound that is very good at shredding substances with charge, aka ionic compounds, and that's why so many things dissolve in water!

Next up, the students are going to take open electrical circuits and place them in different solutions to see if there are any ionic compounds that will close the circuit and generate a charge. This will help the students to evaluate the different electrolytes' conductivity.

Maybe the biggest lesson of the day was that if you follow a healthy diet and eat balanced meals, you shouldn't need Gatorade unless you're an ultra-marathoner!

February 3, 2020

"À la Chandeleur, l'hiver cesse ou reprend vigueur." This translates to: "On Candlemas, winter ends or strengthens."

Similar to Groundhog Day, the French celebrate the holiday La Chandeleur on February 2nd. This was my second annual visit to French Second Level in observance of this tradition, and I once again delighted in Madame Medved showering her students with crêpes!

Thought to represent the shape of the sun and the circle of life, the custom most importantly gathers people together and reminds them of papal generosity in providing food to the less fortunate once the stores from harvest run out. 

January 28, 2020

Return of the backpacks! Following a fun and productive Winter Term, students and faculty gathered on Tuesday morning in the Chapel to hear from Mr. Packard.

The Head of School spoke about 2020 being a big year in our collective national consciousness with a general election on the horizon. He spoke candidly about the importance of being able to talk — and really listen to each other — without having to agree, but with respect.

In sharing some of his own perspectives, and in providing compelling Pew Research Center data on voter turnout, he emboldened students and faculty alike to treat their civic responsibility thoughtfully and seriously. Mr. Packard's speech inspired many a classroom discussion throughout the day and was a great way to kick off the second semester. 

January 22, 2020

This past November, I attended a Leadership + Design conference in Santa Fe during which we talked about the dangers of early onset adult seriousness disorder. While a tongue-in-cheek examination of why we sometimes take ourselves so seriously while being in the business of kids — who are inherently creative and playful — it resonated deeply with me. A resolution for 2020 is to play more!

Featured here are history teachers Willie Waters '02, Amanda Nasser and Joanna McDonough, along with Joanna's husband Koosha, and Spanish and Dance teacher Tess O'Brien.

We played some good old fashioned broomball and had a blast falling down all over the place together. I definitely paid that positive energy forward, and am looking forward to the next time!

January 13, 2020

Featured here are third-form students from the Winter Term course I am co-teaching, "How Did Massachusetts Get Its Name?" The students traveled to the Peabody Archaeology Museum at Phillips Academy and worked with resident archaeologist Ryan Wheeler to simulate an excavation site typical of the region.

Students hypothesized about soil conditions, food and animal remains, tool use and materials as they sifted through artifacts. Corn kernels, moose bones, ceramic shards, ash, stone adze heads and shell fragments all helped students to put together the pieces of what a seasonal settlement of the Pennacook people might have looked like along the Merrimack River at a site like Shattuck farm.

This hands-on learning helped the students to better connect the resources of local environs to the people who were using them — a lot of history right under their feet!

September 20, 2019

This afternoon, the Brooks School boys' 1st soccer team faced off against the Roxbury Latin foxes on our turf. Sun and high spirits made for an upbeat crowd and the students arrived dressed for a "white out." Our school spirit prefects, Stephen Higgins '20 and Jennifer Connolly '20, led the crowd in cheers of "B-R-O-O-K-S" and ran the school flag up and down the sidelines.

Stephen was dressed as the unofficial mascot, the Brooks Bishop, whose presence always gets the crowd riled up. Fourth-form student Jack Brown '22 scored an early goal and Brooks dominated on offense for a time before Roxbury Latin got a couple past the boys in green. Brooks was down 2-1 with less than ten minutes to go in the game, when fourth-form student Saul Iwowo '22 was able to convert a corner kick from classmate Christian Bejar '22! The crowd went wild and the refs had to clear students off the field. Unfortunately, the game ended in a tie but it was a great ISL match up to kick off league competition this season!

september 6, 2019

Welcome to a new school year! After a couple days of registration, orientation and pre-season practices, it was nice to begin classes this morning and get down to the good stuff, as far as I'm concerned!

This year, I'm excited to teach Building the American Republic, which is our first semester United States history elective. Featured here are my 13 students, all shiny, new and ready to learn.

We are beginning the year by examining political, social, religious and economics differences among early American colonies. How did life differ in New England, versus the Chesapeake, or deep South? Ask one of these 13 and they can tell you!

Featured above and below are members of the Gender & Sexuality Alliance, Investment Club and Alianza Latina, all getting ready for a club, organization and affinity group fair that took place in the Wilder Dining Hall.

Students visit different stations to learn about student led groups and to sign up if they wish to join! It's a fun and lively evening that gets the community excited about an inspiring and productive year ahead. 

May 6, 2019

Once a week, I share fifty minutes with thirteen sixth-form students as a part of our Self in Community curriculum. In their senior year, the students focus on leadership, ethical thinking, health and life skills. Enter in today's lesson, which occurred at Facilities under the expert guidance of Mr. Gallo: how to change a tire. Featured here are Dokyung Yang '19 and Marty Graham '19 learning how to use jacks and wrenches to get the job done!
 

April 27, 2019

This morning a group of third-form physics students shed some light on electricity for me. They were creating circuits to examine how electricity works, and to illustrate the difference between parallel and series circuits. For example, holiday lights that one might string around a tree, are series. If one bulb goes out, the ones after it go out, too, because they share a charge.

If one were to create separate, parallel circuits, a singular light can succeed or fail on its own, but it will use more voltage. Parallel lights burn more brightly, but faster. This new knowledge tempers my annoyance at the annual tradition of trimming the tree and discovering burnt out strands — at least by design they consume less energy, which appeals to the environmentalist in me!

April 12, 2019

Welcome to the "Fab Lab," or Fabrications Laboratory, (re)located adjacent to the Science Center atrium! This makerspace, formally of the library basement, was able to transition to its permanent home after the opening of the Center of the Arts, which freed up the space from its temporary use as a visual arts classroom.

Ryan Dobbins, Director of Technology, has helped educate our community on the resources available, ranging from laser engraving and embossing of wood, vinyl, leather and ceramic, and the embroidering of textiles, to high quality (and mobile!) photo, video and audio recording studios. The objective is to have students try things and fail, to take things apart and put them back together again, and to become proficient at using the equipment and materials such that they can educate other students. Ryan has facilitated a "soft opening" of the space by partnering with third form Physics teachers Justine Rooney and Randy Hesse, working on Rube Goldberg and nerf gun labs, respectively. In the latter, the students used a 3D printer to create adapters for their mechanisms that would have been impossible to buy. Ryan shared that it enabled students to experience an iterative development process of rapid prototyping, meaning that they could use their product, determine its flaws, and immediately try to fix them.

When I visited the Fab Lab, I came across students Brandon Fogarty '19 and Myles Pember '19 working on their fashion label independent study, and heard that Sarah Fleischman '19 has plans to reconstruct a pinball machine this spring.

I myself am looking forward to partnering with Ryan on getting my students into the Fab Lab to create Islamic tiles each unique to a mosque in a city they have been studying along trade routes we have been simulating. I'll let you know how it goes!

February 27, 2019

It was a big day for sports fans at Brooks School! Our boys varsity basketball team, seeded third in the NEPSAC tournament, took on the St. George's School dragons and won 65-43.

The theme for the fan section was "beach" and the kids came dressed in their very best (some adults too!).

Our students have a strong tradition of incorporating aspects of school hymns into their cheers, and Wednesday was no exception. Strains of "Seek Ye First" and "Draw the Circle Wide" could be heard at impressive decibels ringing through the gym.

After the boys secured the win the beach party moved to the rink, where our girls varsity ice hockey team, seeded first in NEPSAC, took on the Vermont Academy wildcats.

We were all blown away by the level of play. Our girls' insane hustle, playmaking, and smart decision-making won the day and they beat Vermont 4-3. Regardless of how the weekend tournament games go, Brooksians are very proud of their athletes!

february 18, 2019

Centered, grounded, aware of my energy channels and feeling, not looking, at the clay whizzing between my hands. I relied upon the guidance of my colleague, Lynn McLoughlin, as I sat at the wheel in her ceramics class this afternoon.

In my adulthood, I have found that I really enjoy moments of uncomplicated inexperience. Lynn asked, "Do you know what you're doing?" I positively exclaimed, "No! I don't!" I was genuinely happy to be in the position of thinking, feeling, "Please, teach me."

Most of the time I feel I need to have answers, whether it's as an administrator with my colleagues, as a history teacher with my students, as a coach with my players, an advisor to my advisees, or as a parent with my own children. Blessed are the moments where I can be new to something, humbled entirely by my lack of knowledge, skills and experience.

And there I was today, with the snow falling softly outside the ceramics studio, a lump of clay in my hands and Lynn's encouragement in my ears. I was a student. 

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

I have commandeered a bulletin board in the main hallway of the link to post some good old fashioned print news, hoping that it will catch students' eyes as they walk by on their way to and from classes. Headlines so far have explored debates over whether or not the war in Afghanistan is winnable, if the EPA should exist and if your DNA should be used to help solve crimes without your knowledge. Other topics have included the crisis in Yemen and climate change affecting the gender of babies.

So far I have seen one adult stop to read the news over the past few weeks. I shall persist! In perhaps a more exciting development, a Winter Term class inspired the installation of a flat screen across from the Endicott Peabody bust that features surveys and sign ups via QR code. In this picture, you can see the musical and weekend events being advertised, and the QR code provides a way of signing up for the activities!

february 2, 2019

While Americans were observing Groundhog Day on February 2, the French — and Brooks School French Second Level students — were celebrating La Chandeleur!

Translated to "Candlemas," the holiday marks Jesus's presentation at the temple in Jerusalem. On this day, the French make crêpes, a tradition that many think started with Pope Gelasius I handing out pancakes to religious pilgrims in Rome. The circular shape of the crêpes is also believed to resemble the sun, a nod to the days getting longer with the anticipation of spring! 

January 24, 2019

Today I returned to A.P. European History to join in on a simulation of the 1814-1815 Congress of Vienna. Alas, I have no pictures to prove it, as I was busy playing the part of Robert Castlereagh, representing Great Britain.

I was joined around the table by Prussia, Austria, Russia and France, trying to decide what to make of post-Napoleonic Europe. Negotiations included territorial claims, indemnities and military occupations, among other considerations. Expertly facilitated, the Congress even included a break in the action when Napoleon returned from Elba and the Hundred Days ensued. The students were eager to forge alliances and put their 1789 and 1792 maps to use, appreciating the sacrifices of each country in helping to quell Napoleon's advances, yet wary of the countries' respective nationalist ambitions.

It was an enjoyable challenge to advocate for Great Britain's maritime interests and assure their colonial holdings while the other powers around the table vied for border regions and argued liberal vs. conservative stances on self-determination. We all came away appreciating the complexity of diplomacy and impressed by the 50 years peace that followed the Congress of Vienna. 

January 15, 2019

Lucky me, I benefitted from the good fortune of being picked as the female chaperone to accompany "The Complexity of War" Winter Term class to Washington, D.C.! Comprised of 14 third-form students, along with Mr. Packard and Mr. Waters, the group was high-energy and very engaged in their experiential learning.

On Tuesday, we visited the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, the Pentagon to meet with Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer '72, and Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects to Alexi Whitney '96.

On Wednesday, we visited the Vietnam, Korea and Lincoln Memorials, met with a CIA officer to hear more about Mr. Whitney and their line of work, and then spent enriching hours at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the Newseum. Needless to say, it was a stimulating and thought-provoking 48 hours! The students asked great questions of their hosts and docents wherever they went, and did not let the government shutdown get in the way of their educational tourism! 

November 1, 2018

Today, I was a “shark” in A.P. World History! Ms. Nasser had her class prepare presentations targeting the College Board, who are promoting a redesign to the A.P. World History curriculum that would start African history in 1500. That would mean that students would not learn about economically prospering, culturally rich African Empires, but only about Africa in the context of the Slave Trade. Well, not without a fight from our fourth formers!

The students presented on the government, commerce and religion of empires like Mali, Ghana and Songhai. They addressed me, in the style of the TV show "Shark Tank," imagining that I was a College Board representative whom they needed to convince. Let's just say that if I worked at the College Board, I would not dare to drop pre-1500 from the curriculum. The students were very convincing, indeed!

October 23, 2018

Francois-Marie Arouet, at your service. This morning, I took on the personage of Voltaire to attend an A.P. European History Enlightenment-era salon, hosted by Mrs. Musto as Madame du Deffand.

John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant were also present! We discussed rights of the individual, racial hierarchy, morality and the roles of religion and government in society, among other topics. I thoroughly enjoyed my preparation and participation in the discussion, and was so impressed by the quality of student contribution.

October 12, 2018

My grandfather always reminded me that, "Variety is the spice of life." And for that reason, I love my job! No sooner had I taught my own history class first period, than I found myself standing on a table, serving as a model for Advanced Drawing during second period. By 9:45 a.m. I had a smock on and was trying my hand at using an ink brush to capture the likeness of a student.

I listened to Concert Chorale sing beautifully at School Meeting and then took a phone call with Ben Riggs '63 to discuss his participation in my upcoming Winter Term course titled "Six Feet Under." We discussed near death experiences, expansive consciousness and parapsychology.

Following a few meetings and a quick bite of lunch, I was invited into Honors Anatomy to hear them present their creative projects: brochures, PSA, songs and posters on diseases and conditions of the skin. I learned from Jadie DeLeon '19 about alopecia, Vicky Haghighi '19 about albinism, and Taylor Berberian '19 on melanoma before making my merry way back to the office.

Skip ahead to 9:15 p.m. in the Chace House common room and I found myself in the midst of 24 boys dressed in black ready to take on a rival dorm in dodge ball. They even let faculty child Kelly McVeigh join in the fun!

The emails and paperwork got done, but will quickly fade from memory. However, I don't think the students or I will soon forget my time as an art class model, the choral performance in front of the school, the real life prep work for becoming a doctor or pharmaceutical rep, or the competitive dodgeball match up during the "Friday Free." Hard to beat a work day like this one!

September 27, 2018

What is a robot? A good question to consider upon entering a Robotics class, and that is just what the students did to start off their semester. A brief survey of those gathered in the Robotics Lab informed me that robots are machines that can work autonomously.

I learned from Matt Costantino '20 and Owen Borek '19 that the first iterations of bomb-defusing robots weren't robots in the truest sense because they were controlled remotely by humans. The boys asserted that robots can sense, think, act and communicate on their own. They relayed this while huddled over their own creation, affixing a new sensory mechanism to its underbelly.

Mr. Hesse paused the class to teach them about While Loops, a coding feature that incorporates a control statement that allows the robot to repeat or skip a part of the program. This was important to the students' work, because in coding the robot to make its way through a maze, they were replacing the time factor with a distance-sensing factor. This allowed for the fact that robots might travel different distances in a set amount of time, but that if you code them to sense the distance they have traveled, then they can navigate a course with greater accuracy and consistency.

Using the While Loop, the code will prompt the robot to keep going back to test the condition until it's no longer true, then it will skip it. It asks the robot, "are we there yet?" and if so, then it can exit the While Loop and continue. I was impressed by the emergent fluency of the students using code-curly braces and everything in between!

September 13, 2018

Today was class trip day, and I enjoyed my time ushering a lively bunch of third-form students through different challenges set up by Project Adventure. The footage you see below shows the students as they set their brains to the task of memorization and deduction, making their way through a checkerboard as a team. For every wrong square they stepped into, trying to make it from one end to the other, a buzzer sounded and they had to go back to square one (literally!). The students then needed to recall their former path without error, ultimately selecting a new square in an effort to progress. It was slow-going but their teamwork and determination to complete the task were impressive!

Other challenges included moving the whole team through a giant jumprope based on numeric sequence puzzles, setting a record time for moving a hula hoop around a circle while holding the hands of the people next to you, and organizing themselves in order — silently — based on different prompts such as birth date and shoe size. It proved fun, and a great opportunity for bonding! 

September 6, 2018

School is underway and the Deans' Den Blog is back! To kick things off, a quick glimpse into 24 hours at Brooks during our first week: I had my first sixth-form Self in Community and third-form Uncovering Ancient Africa classes, led an academic orientation of our new students, enjoyed our first Chace House dormitory meeting, took a walk around the fields for morning practices, and visited Dr. Carabatsos's Physics class! 

The primary purpose of this blog is to provide insight into the daily life of a student at Brooks School, so I drop in casually to classes, club meetings, extracurriculars etc. to witness their engagement firsthand. It has proven a fun and rewarding experience to celebrate the learning that is happening across campus. 

Today I will spotlight Physics! On day one, the students were participating in an "Escape the Room" activity that had them problem solving, but also team building and orienting themselves in the classroom and the curriculum. The students had to figure out how to organize themselves based on a card they were assigned from a traditional deck.

Then, they were tasked with identifying a pattern on a cube covered in names and numbers that would help them to find the code to unlock a padlocked pencil case. The case contained a physics-based problem whose answer was a clue leading them to their teacher's office (so they know where to go for extra help!). There they found a key, to open a toolbox, that contained a pencil they had to balance on their fingertips. The students had a blast, and it certainly proved to be a memorable first day! Cool idea, Dr. C!

May 5, 2018

Today in my Making of the Muslim World elective, we welcomed Ms. Perkins to speak about her experience traveling in Afghanistan — specifically, about what it felt like to be a western white woman in a society where burqas are worn by Afghan women while outside their homes. She shared that the Afghan women wear them in part for safety, so they may be indistinguishable from one another and not draw attention to themselves. Her host family purchased one for her to wear in public, and also helped her to adjust her gait to not seem so obviously "American." Pictured here is Ms. Perkins and Tanay Kommareddi '21 wearing the burqa, followed by an image of Omolade Mebude '21, whose vision felt particularly challenged by the burqa!

April 16, 2018

I was delighted to have been invited to student presentations in Mr. Smith's Advanced Pre-Calculus class this afternoon on the subject of sinusoids, which are a graph of the continuous waves that represent the function sine.

I sat in on Jack Murphy '19 present on the moon orbiting the sun, and Amanda Monahan '19 on the sounds waves produced by two complimentary cello notes, C and G. The latter included a demonstration by Amanda on the cello, which she plays in the Chamber Ensemble at Brooks. It was a master class in mathematical thinking — the students described both their process and their data, helping those present to understand how they arrived at their findings.

March 1, 2018

I visited Advanced Rock Band today and found the group practicing for their WinterFest performance, slated for Saturday night. When I arrived, the students were finishing a song called "Real Love Baby," in which each student was playing an instrument (or singing vocals) outside his or her comfort zone. I wouldn't have known that had it not been pointed out to me — they did great! I love that the students have embraced growth mindset and are picking up new instruments.

At one point, a couple of songs later, Mr. Keller remarked to the kids that they had done a good job of playing through a mistake (I think they repeated a chorus), and said that was always important to do in rock band — just keep playing. I can tell you it worked, because again, I didn't even notice! Please enjoy the song featured in the video, titled "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man, featuring Sally Jong '18 on lead vocals.

February 16, 2018

I highly recommend starting your day with your own personal classical music concert. As I sat back and let the sonorous hums of cello and lyrical musings of violin wash over me, I thought that I might make a point of visiting Chamber Ensemble every Friday during first period!

The students were practicing Felix Mendelssohn's "Sinfonia II D-Dur," which was written during the Romantic Period for string quartet, though string ensembles often play it. The composition has three movements, and the students were focusing on the first, allegro. Mr. Griffith offered many thoughtful points for improvement throughout that demonstrated his expert ear. Whether it was instructing his musicians not to double the rhythm, or to watch being under pitch or too sharp, or to shorten the separation seconds, his advice was welcomed and adjustments were made. I have never sat in a class where a comment about a "rhythmic kerfuffle" was made, until today! I hope you enjoy listening to Jeff, Andrew, David, Clara, Janelle and Amanda.

February 5, 2018

I sidled up to my JV basketball player, third-form student Katherine Barenboim, in Mrs. Heinze's Geometry class first period. The students were working quietly and diligently on proportional segments, and so as not to disturb them further, I jumped across the hall to Dusty Richard's Discrete Math class.

I found a seat next to sixth-form student Pat McCoy and found myself in the midst of a lesson on explicit formula (Cn=2n) and recurrence relation. The students were exploring the relationship between a left-hand column of numbers title "n" and a right-hand column titled "Cn". They were challenged with describing the right in terms of the left, and to remember that any term is defined in terms of the one that came before it.

Their discussion progressed to determining that the recurrence relation is true for all n. This was referred to as inductive proof, which assumes the extension of the pattern continues. Dusty used the example of a row of dominoes knocking over to illustrate this concept.

Before departing, I inquired as to the application of their topic of study. Dusty shared that if there were a group of 50+ representatives in the House, one could use the explicit formula to figure out the number of coalitions that could be formed amongst them. Perhaps, in turn, one could estimate the time it would take to get a bill passed. A useful projection these days, no doubt!

January 18, 2018

I love Winter Term. Today my class, Six Feet Under: The Art, Science and Business of Death, traveled together to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in the South End of Boston. There we met with Dr. Mindy Hull, who spoke to us about her work as a premier forensic pathologist. She also enthusiastically conveyed her dedication to living life to the fullest, since she is engaged in a profession that reminds her daily of her own mortality. Following her presentation, we toured the facility, which included a morgue and an opportunity to watch autopsies underway. The students were well prepared after a few weeks of studying death and dying from all angles, and after observing closely and asking thoughtful questions, did well to process their experiences. We rode the bus back to brooks with the Genealogy and Bliss Out classes, who filled us in on their research at the New England Historic Genealogical Society and visit to a residential meditation retreat center, respectively. I was struck by the intersection of our three topics, and appreciative of our students' opportunities to be out in the world experiencing their subjects of study in context. Way cool.

december 4, 2017

Today I found myself drawn into another Honors Biology class, this one taught by Mrs. Clay. I sat down at a table with fifth formers Amolina Bhat, Grace Handy and Martin Li. The students were equipped with cuvettes of algae beads floating in indicator fluid, aluminum foil and colorimeters. The object of the lab was to observe the differences between photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Both processes involve oxygen, water, glucose and carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis, using light, helps to produce glucose, whereas cellular respiration, in the absence of light, breaks down its glucose. The breakdown releases carbon dioxide which makes for an acidic environment. Mrs. Clay asked the students to offer their hypotheses before creating a continuous data set (taking observations every five minutes), and to consider controlled variables, such as distance of the cuvettes from the light source. A powerful reminder as to the power of light (or its absence) as we head toward the Solstice!

November 13, 2017

Today I ducked into Honors Biology with Mr. Davis. The students were working in small groups to diagram both Light Reaction and the Calvin Cycle. Kailey O'Neill and Finn Maitland explained explained how in the light reactions, light is used to create ATP and NADPH. ATP and NADPH provide energy and electrons, respectively, for the Calvin Cycle. Amanda Monahan then followed up to educate me on how the Calvin Cycle converts carbon dioxide into sugar. Meanwhile, in another small group, Mr. Davis asked the students to get on their feet so that he could better guide them through an understanding of (his words!): "the facilitated diffusion of H+ through ATP Synthase and how the flow of H+ allows for ATP to be created." I would imagine that the visual he provided will stick in their memories far better than a textbook explanation!

October 27, 2017

This afternoon I sat in on English I with Mr. Haile. The students were discussing Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" in a Harkness format. Biblical inferences, the newness of bright, fluorescent green-gold leaves emerging during a New England spring, and the fleeting nature of youth were all topics of conversation. The class also referenced the concept of an iceberg- what they see on the surface, versus the meaning that is underneath. They questioned what the poem is really about- both literally and figuratively. It was neat to see a few of my own history students in a different classroom environment using the same conversational etiquette to communicate their ideas with one another.

OCTOBER 16, 2017

I have no Spanish skills. I was a French student in high school, and though I have thought often about it, I have yet to commit to Rosetta Stone or Duolingo. So naturally, I thought the best class for me to visit would be AP Spanish Language! Assuming I would be adrift, I was pleasantly surprised to feel instead, immersed. The students sat around the circle of tables and Senora Miller opened the class with a topic of conversation: stress. As most of the students present were seniors, there was much to discuss with the college process looming! I was able to follow along, and loved the supportive atmosphere as each student jumped in to participate. Next, in preparation for the AP, they transitioned to a cultural comparison between Argentinean and British perspectives on the Falklands War. I have taught an elective on Latin America, so it was cool to hear history I was familiar with being discussed in Spanish!

October 2, 2017

This morning I dropped in on Dr. Davies English I class, and sat next to third formers Aria Uva and Austin Mermans. They were kind to include me in their discussion about sentence fragments, which they had identified and improved upon as a part of their homework. Dr. Davies then led the students through a lesson on subordinating conjunctions, which are parts of speech I use every day but would not have been able to identify by name until this morning! It brought me right back to the days of Schoolhouse Rock!

September 22, 2017

This morning, I accompanied my third form advisee, Anya Sanchorawala, to Intro 3-D Studio Art taught by Mrs. McLoughlin. The students are creating non-figurative, low-relief pieces featuring a number of natural materials like shells and driftwood. I learned that "relief" is a sculptural technique that refers to the dimension of the piece, originating off of a flat background. The class engaged in a critique of their unfinished pieces. Mrs. McLoughlin encouraged the students to look objectively at their work, holding it four different ways for them to take mental snapshots, and to squint at it so they don't get lost in the details. She talked about how sometimes your "doing" puts you ahead of experiencing the work, and that we need to make sure our hands don't get too busy before we can feel what we need to feel to gain perspective and direction.

During the critique of Molly Madigan's piece, Jami O'Shea and Brianna O'Neill could be heard discussing that when turned a certain way, the central element of her artwork appeared to be a person. Upon hearing this, Mrs. McLoughlin remarked that this is the challenge of non-figurative work; we humans search for meaning. We want an explanation to create a feeling of security. She said this is aligned with the study of history, or science, but not art. It reminded me of when we look up at the clouds, and ask children what they see. I am now looking forward to discussing clouds as non-figurative forms with my four year old, to try on my new perspective!

September 15, 2017

Math. If only I had been educated on Growth Mindset when I was in high school, I might have adopted a different outlook on the challenges that Algebra 2 and Trigonometry presented for me. But, now that I know brain science has debunked the notion that we are genetically predisposed to be innately "good" or "bad" in a subject, I believe that I, too, can learn math. And today, I did!

I shadowed two of my sixth-form advisees, Nalia and Emma, to their Calculus class with Ms. Mattison second period. The class was reviewing the algebraic concepts of limits and continuities.

Students demonstrated an ability to graph linear functions, which are always continuous, and then we learned about "jumps" and "holes," or piecewise functions, that are removable discontinuities. I learned some new terms, like "asymptote," which is a graph that has a line that is undefined going towards infinity.

I also learned WHY someone would find this skill set useful, and HOW they would use it in their career. Ms. Mattison expertly explained to the class how civil engineers need an understanding of limits and continuities to calculate where state borders meet each other (jump) or how a bridge spans two sides of a river (hole). This will change the way I see the world as I navigate around New England and beyond!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2017

What a fun and productive first week back at Brooks! Classes got underway on Wednesday, and it was terrific to have our classroom buildings come alive! While exiting the Deans' Den this morning, I stumbled across Mr. Wyatt's first level Chinese class traveling the halls working on their cultural competence. Here they are practicing their salutations, with a warm two-handed handshake. I love to see the kids up and about and practicing their new skills. Ni hao! Zaijian!

Dean's Den Blog: September 12, 2017 from Brooks School on Vimeo.