Happy Holidays

from all of us at Nora!

Art & Photography

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted... life, the website, Facebook, emails, all seem to have taken the steam out of blogging. Just so you know that I remember it's here, I'm posting a TEDx talk by photographer Chris Orwig for my photography class (which is doing fantastic work, by the way). Hope you enjoy it.

Building Community, version 48

As in each of the past 47 years, building a new and vibrant school community is an important task at the beginning of each school year, and as always we've been hard at work on it this year. As we finish up the first Advisory and begin the second, it's been interesting to look back at all we've done toward that end.

From our faculty first-aid training in August when we began to integrate Ave and Trey into our community, to the first day ice-breaking activities when we welcomed our new students, to the Billy Goat Trail hike which gave everyone something in common to struggle through, after the first week we had begun to get a sense of ourselves as a new community.

On to field trips to the King Memorial and the Occupy DC rallies, as well at trips closer to home, where classes had adventures that took them beyond the school walls.

The soccer season, while challenging in the "wins" department, allowed us to make some new friends at the Parkmont School.

Finally there are the retreats, four in all so far this year, with the Sophomore Rafting Trip still in line for May. The seniors went off to visit several colleges and work on their applications, then the SGA went off to plan social events for the year. This week, while the juniors were camping at the Sheridan Mountain Campus, the freshmen went off for a day of their own.

We've managed to create rain and muddy fields by scheduling the Student/Faculty Soccer game twice, without yet playing a single minute. Perhaps in the springtime when the weather is more cooperative we'll manage this. Coming up we have the Homecoming Dance tomorrow night and the Haunted Forest trip on Saturday.

So what have we learned about our new community so far this year? Academically they're doing very well, with Homework Club referrals at an all-time low. Socially they're a cohesive group. The seniors are serious about their plans for next year and are working hard to make them come to fruition. This year's juniors are braver than last year's juniors (sorry, guys, but they all did the leap of doom, er, faith from the top of that telephone pole). While there have been a few missteps, most have been recoverable. Our new teachers bring great energy and enthusiasm to their work, and we've all learned, once again, that creating community is hard, but rewarding, work.

Steve Jobs

Not a fan of the company, but definitely of the man...

Creating Community

Another school year brings with it the creation of an entirely new school community, containing the remnants of those gone by along with new DNA brought in by our newcomers. This is my 21st go-round at a new community at Nora, and my (gulp) 33rd as an educator... how time flies! It's always amazing how in ways both intentional and random our community comes together. With a first week hike along the Billy Goat Trail, a Senior Retreat, a trip to the new Martin Luther King Memorial, or just hanging out at lunchtime, our new students and teachers both affect and are affected by the Nora community. While some may think that "community" means that we all just get along, that's not what a real community is like. In fact, it's in working through conflict and difficulties, both stylistic and profound, that we become one community. While we might like to think it's already happened, that would be magical thinking. Communities evolve and change, for the better if we do our jobs well, and the Nora community next May will be different in many ways than the group of folks we are today. So I hope that everyone enjoys the journey, understanding that it will be more like the Billy Goat Trail than like the towpath, and that straight lines, in life as in hiking, are usually not all that interesting.

Some mad Photoshop skills for your summer amusement

Photographer Dave Hill takes you through his composite layers in Photoshop to create this 3-D video. Amazing stuff, and an interesting way to understand layers. Look out next year's Photography class!

Adventure Series - Exposed from Dave Hill on Vimeo.

So where is the problem?

My Home Town

A nice little documentary about the history of industrialization featuring my hometown. One has to wonder if there will be something similar about Apple or Intel in 100 years.

"Waltham's Watch" from Jonathan Boschen on Vimeo.

Cool fun summer stuff...

Winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011, shot on a cell phone.

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

Director: JW Griffiths
Producer: Kurban Kassam
Director of Photography: Christopher Moon
Editor: Marianne Kuopanportti
Sound Design: Mauricio d'Orey
Music composed by: Lennert Busch

Congratulations Class of 2011

Accepted to the following colleges and universities:

Arcadia University, University of Arizona, Bard College, California Institute of the Arts, Centre College, Clark College, Cornell College, Denison College, Elon College, Emerson College, Farleigh Dickinson University, Fitchburg State University, George Mason University, Grinell College, Guillford College, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampshire College, Hood College, Howard University, Lesley University, Lyndon State University, Marshall University, Maryland Institute College of Art, University of Maryland, St. Mary’s, Naropa University, New England College, University of North Carolina, Asheville, Ohio Wesleyan University, University of Oklahoma, Penn State University, Pratt Institute, Ringling College of Art and Design, Rutgers University, St. John’s College, School of the Visual Arts, Springfield College, SUNY Plattsburg, Susquehanna University, College of Wooster, Wheaton College, Worcester State University.

Good Luck!

From a grateful parent, after graduation yesterday

Dear Dave and Nora Staff,

Thank-you, all, for the lovely send-off you gave to the class of 2011 yesterday.

Thank-you also for the past four years – Nora was the best thing that ever happened to my son academically. At Nora he found stability, support, respect, challenge, and community, and it has made a huge difference in his life. The Nora School held him to high academic and personal standards, but Nora’s teachers also “cut him slack” when needed, and helped him to develop confidence in himself and his abilities.

I’ve witnessed enough bad school experiences elsewhere to know that teachers can’t perform this way without backing from school administrators, and so am very grateful for The Nora School’s wise administrators who set the tone for the school environment, but also give teachers the freedom, trust, and respect necessary for them to adjust their teaching methods as needed for each student. I am also grateful for the many extra-curricular opportunities Nora gave my son, not only the sports and volunteer service programs, but also the many cultural events, foreign travel opportunities, and wonderful school traditions, and for the teachers and staff who gave of their time to make these events possible.

I have also been very impressed by the balance Nora has struck between school safety and student freedom, and the ease and grace with which teachers and staff have handled the occasional incident. I realize that this type of response is the result of careful contingency planning.

The Nora School is truly a unique and wonderful place, and I am very grateful for all that it has done for my son.

Just in time for Semester Exams

An Android app (perhaps available for iPhones as well)... StudyUp! Create quizzes, flashcards, and other study devises and review on your Metro trip into Nora this week!

Sligo Street Band in concert last night

Great tool for the ADDers among us!

I've been using Evernote for the past few months, and I must admit that I've become quite addicted to it. This tool runs as a website in your browser, or as an application on your computer, or as an app on your Android (and probably iPhone) smartphone. What's great about it? From any of those three places you can add a note and have it synced to the other two. From your phone you can save pictures, websites, and audio notes to yourself as well, and have these show up on your computer, or any computer that has a web browser. I've found it a great application for collecting the random bits of information that I'd like to follow up on later, as well as creating my "to-do" list for the day/week/month. It's well worth a look, and pretty low risk, as it's free!

Yearbook Tips: Book Design & Layout

Great Time at Prom!

Despite the late hour, well past my bedtime on a Friday night, I thoroughly enjoyed watching our kids have a great time at the prom. It's easy to get so caught up in the day to day academic struggles that we lose sight of the other parts of adolescent education that are equally, and sometimes more, important for adult success. Balancing work (or school), family, and a social life are tough enough, but throw in the stress of discovering your identity, personality, and life's work, and it's amazing they get out of bed at all! There was a wonderful article, Cherish the Good in Your Teen, in the Washington Post last week, in which a mom (Tracy Grant) does a great job of putting things in perspective as she struggles with raising a teenager. I had a long talk with a mom concerned with her son's academic struggles as he works his way through his first serious love interest. He's actually doing it very well, and in 16 months he's going to have to do it on his own, but we as parents (and teachers) are often so anxious that our children avoid pain and suffering (and poor grades) that they never learn to be resilient, to work through problems on their own, and to ask for help when they need to.

A Prom helps put all this in perspective. The joy of spinning wildly around the dance floor with youthful abandon is just as important to kids today as it was to us 35 years ago. We've just forgotten. And how well do we as adults balance work, family, and a social life? Do you even have a social life? If so, you're doing better than I am! So if you want to see what having a social life looks like, here are some more photos from the prom.

Nora School Photography Festival

Wow! Almost 400 photographs entered this year, with 236 selected to be shown this Saturday night. Students from the following 22 schools and teachers have works being shown...
Academy of the Holy Cross, Martha Schlabs and Mrs. Hoffman
Albert Einstein High School, Amber Carroll
Bethesda Chevy Chase High School
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Jerry Eisner
Clarksburg High School, Lynn Galloro
Earle B. Wood Middle School
Edmund Burke School, Allen Jackson
Gaithersburg High School, Stephen Walker
Green Acres School, Victor Stokoll
James Hubert Blake High School, Sarah Hartenstine
John F. Kennedy High School, Ms. Ingersoll-Gilbertson
The Nora School, Dave Mullen
Paint Branch High School, Emily Aumaitre
Poolesville High School, Nori Thorne and Shannon Heaton-Pembleton
The Potomac School, Elizabeth Kupersmith
School Without Walls, James Cunningham
Sherwood High School, Deborah Bernhardt
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, Mary Battaglia
Washington Waldorf School, Barbara Bancroft
Watkins Mill High School, James Wu
Westland Middle School, Mr. Ritter
Winston Churchill High School, Michael Foo

The exhibition begins at 7:30 pm, with the awards ceremony around 8:15pm.

A musical treat for Passover and Easter

Dan's revenge

The same kid who moaned and groaned while hiking and backpacking all the way through scouts, ten years later can't wait to show his mother and me the peak of Camelback Mountain... 1.5 miles straight up. Nice views of Phoenix from here, but it may take weeks for our knees to recover. Karma!

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Interesting questions from Rabbi Mitelman

I just read an interesting article on Huffington Post by Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman posing the propositiong that the question "Do You Believe In God?" is profoundly uninteresting. In Mitelman's view, those who ask the question generally believe that the answer is "yes," while for those of whom the question is asked the answer is generally "no" or "I don't know." The question itself, being closed ended, invites little dialog, and is often purposely provocative. The more interesting questions that Mitelman proposes we ask "How can we bring more kindness and justice into the world?" and "When have we felt moments of deep connection?" Interesting to ponder, and interesting to see what's left out. A link to the full article is here.

Rather bizarre photo movie

After all, who still shoots large format film?

Japan and US

From Mike Johnston at "The Online Photographer" blog...

"I worry about my own country; it seems natural at this time to think "what if." We are far less well prepared than Japan for such an event... Our government has been weakened by systematic antagonism from within, our economy made fragile by the irresponsible behavior of the greedy. Our response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was far less adequate than our response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and things aren't getting better: just days before the disaster in Japan, the newly elected majority in the House of Representatives passed a bill gutting the funding of, among many other things, California's tsunami early warning system—yet another irony in a dispiriting parade of ironies in America. Japan, with a far more homogenous population and greater political unity, arguably as much wealth, and far better preparation, is reeling terribly. How would we do?"

Could not be said any better.

Good Habits

With far too much attention given in popular media to teenagers making bad decisions, it was delightful to see our students beginning what I hope will be a lifelong habit of donating blood to the Red Cross. I first gave blood in college, around 1976 or so, and have been doing so ever since. It costs me nothing, as it's pretty nice to have an hour of uninterrupted reading time, and I imagine that someone, somewhere, is being helped by this act. Our kids were fantastic, as were the several teachers who set such a great example. I hope that they're all still giving in 35 years. I hope that I am as well!

Thomas Edison Plays Basketball (or could have)

Tough week, four basketball games in five days, ice skating, late nights, wild NonValentines Party going on here at Nora as I write this. Our team has had a tough season, but they keep playing hard and consistently display great sportsmanship. Courtney has done a great job keeping enthusiasm high even as three players went down to injury this week. Patrick's first aid kit has come in handy as well. Scott stepped in today to help Eric coach, and Mara, Chris, Norman, Hedy and many other teachers have made it to games this winter. Today is the birthday of Thomas Edison, who once said that "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Especially true for those who struggle in the face of daunting odds... Edison held over 1,200 patents when he died. He once said that he hadn't failed in 10,000 attempts to create an incandescent bulb, but had successfully found 10,000 ways that didn't work. Good things to think about in a time of adversity.

How to get your teenager's attention

If you like this graph, you'll love the "My Parents Joined Facebook" website. A sign of our times, alas, and as with so many things, can be used for good or ill.

Are things turning around?

Hopefully this means that our Great Recession is coming to an end. Conventional wisdom that employment is a lagging indicator, nonetheless the turnaround beginning with Obama's inauguration and the passing of the first stimulus would seem to be reflected in this chart. It will be nice when the highs soar as high as the lows of Dec08/Jan09 dip.

A Few Study Tips to Help With Semester Exams

Yes, you've heard this all before, but that's because it's TRUE! Good luck on semester exams next week... be like a boy scout and "Be Prepared."

1) Set aside scheduled time for yourself to study. Make this appointment something that can’t be changed or interrupted.

2) Take a (short) break every 20-30 minutes...get up, stretch, walk around...after 5 minutes get back to studying.

3) Set aside a space that is free from distractions (ie. TV, computer, stereo, kid brother, etc.).

4) Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food, drink plenty of water.

5) Practice! Complete all review worksheets, re-take old exams and quizzes (where do you think your teachers are getting their questions from?), go back to Chapter Tests and Reviews. Just like learning a musical instrument or improving a sports skill, you must practice the skills you’ll need on the exams, particularly in math and science.

6) Ask Questions of your teachers, particularly during review days and during the Reading Period.

7) Create a Study Group with a few classmates to meet at lunch, after school, and during the Reading Period. Find a Study Buddy to review with at home or on the phone.

8) Take notes during teachers’ review periods...and ask questions when you don’t understand something.

9) Make flashcards to review foreign languages, unfamiliar science terms, and other unique vocabulary.

10) Ask your teachers what will be on the exam. They’re not trying to surprise you ... in fact, they want you to do well!

11) When reviewing English and Social Studies, visualize events and people that occur in your readings.

12) When a teacher permits the use of notes or notecards, make them and use them!!!

13) Re-write or type your old notes to separate what’s important from what isn’t. Write important events, people, facts, vocabulary on notecards. The physical act of writing the information is one way of reviewing it.

14) Review what’s on old tests and quizzes...your teachers are likely to recycle many of these questions.

15) Read your notes aloud into a recording device and put it on your I-Pod to listen to as you ride to school.

16) When you take the test, do the easy questions first, then go back and tackle the tough ones.

17) When writing on an essay question, take a few minutes to outline your thoughts before you begin writing sentences.

18) Read all questions carefully and thoroughly, to be sure you understand what’s being asked.

19) Go back and review the questions on the exam. Often, a question you answered on the last page will spark a better answer on the first page.

20) When you feel stressed, take some deep breaths, get a drink of water, use the restroom, and start again.