Middle School Choice Mayhem Part II

It's a little confusing, the new middle school application, which gives Mark Twain its own spot. In previous years, parents pre–applied to magnet programs at Mark Twain, Bay Academy, David A. Boody and other schools in District 21, a result of a 1974 desegregation court order. Those children who met the ELA and Math cut-off scores received a special application, students auditioned/tested and then the fortunate received acceptance to two middle schools: the one in their district and the Mark Twain/Bay Academy.

Although the court order was overturned in 2008, Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted and Talented remains the only school in District 21 that still accepts applications from all five boroughs. This little hot house of self–selected over–achievers at the very end of Coney Island produces a high ratio of graduates accepted into the specialized high schools.

Let's hope that the Office of Student Enrollment, Planning and Operations (OSEPO) has shaken out all the kinks that high school applicants experienced in their school selection process. Not to make you soon–to–be middle schoolers scared for the next three years, but there were accusations that Brooklyn students were purposefully excluded from the Millennium High School pool — even though all Department of Education publications indicate that there was no geographic restriction. Also, according to insideschools.org, three popular high schools were allegedly accidentally omitted or not filled from the Main Round (occurring after the specialized high school round); no one received acceptances to Bard HS-Manhattan and open seats mysteriously remained at Millennium and Leon M. Goldstein in Brooklyn.

Middle school choice is much simpler, since the vast majority of students will stay within the district of their elementary school, with the exception of NEST+m, Professional Performing Arts and Mark Twain.

But I worry… a new application with a new option… does that mean new ways for the DOE to mess up?

Sesame Street Ode

Well, parents of teens can't believe that Sesame Street is 40 years old.

I remember my first grade teacher telling our class about a new television show that we should watch. I went home not knowing what to expect — would it be a cartoon? A variety show? Was she tricking us into watching some news show?

I remember asking my mother to turn to channel 13. How weird, the pacing, normal–seeming people talking to puppets. It wasn't shrill, or wise-cracking; it was respectful, and cool.

Sesame Street changed my little life, and changed children’s television.

Saturday Workshops at Bard HS

www.knowledgecollege2010.com 

Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) PTA presents 

KNOWLEDGE COLLEGE   

Please join us for an afternoon of engaging workshops and seminars by BHSEC faculty and special guest lecturers.

When: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Time: 1:00 to 4:30 PM, Cafe open until 5:00 PM

Who: Everyone! Current students and parents, alumni, alumni parents, faculty, friends, family and anyone looking for a stimulating way to pass a February afternoon!  This is a public event so please FORWARD THIS EMAIL. 

        

Tickets: $50 in advance, $60 the day of the event. Purchase online at www.knowledgecollege2010.com - select the 2 classes of  your choice. 

Where: 525 East Houston Street (just west of the FDR Drive on Mangin Street) 

IMPORTANT! You must bring a photo I.D. to enter the building!

                   

Need directions? Here’s a map.  

Classes include:

Madman, Architect, Carpenter, Judge: A Writer’s Workshop

Instructor: Peter Hedges; novelist, playwright, screenwriter, film director. He wrote the novel and screenplay for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Have you wanted to write a novel, a play, or a screenplay, and you don’t know where or how to begin? 

Light and Dark: A History of New York City in the Early 1900s

Instructors: Daniel Freund, PhD and Michael Lerner, PhD; BHSEC Manhattan

Explore the history of New York City in the early 20th century through the framework of Light and Dark. 

The Wrath of Achilles

Instructor: David Clark, PhD; BHSEC Manhattan

Homer’s Iliad, as the poet tells us in the very first line, is about the wrath of Achilles. How does Achilles’ wrath define this epic? 

The Mexican Muralists of the 1920s: Artists and Agents of Renewal

Instructor: Patricio Hernandez, PhD; BHSEC Manhattan

With the triumph of the Mexican revolution in 1920, the Mexican government commissioned artists to create murals on public buildings. Who were these muralists, and what were their role and influence? 

A Discussion: Why is Obesity an Ethical Issue?

Instructors: Tom Berner, JD and Wendy Phillips Kahn, MS; BHSEC Manhattan

What is responsible for the significant rise in levels of obesity in this country, and the world, during the last 30 years - and what should we do about it? 

Developing Your Voice: A Workshop on Storytelling

Instructor: Meghann Walk, MSLIS; BHSEC Manhattan

Does the mere thought of public speaking inspire anxiety or, perhaps, fear in you? 

Strength and Conditioning for High School Athletes

Instructors: Chris Gagstetter and Maryah Nardone; BHSEC Manhattan

Building Crosswords: Your Clue to Solving Crosswords

Instructor: Caleb Madison; crossword puzzle constructor, BHSEC student

Do you love solving crossword puzzles? Are you ready to start building crosswords yourself? 

Human Rights Violations and the Media

Instructor: Thomas Keenan, PhD; Bard College

What are the effects of media on situations in which human rights are abused or challenged?  And do the media actually play a role in these situations? 

Transitions and the Turbulent Teen Years: The Psychology of Adolescence

Instructor: Susan Spieler, PsyD; clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, BHSEC parent

Many adults and teens find adolescence puzzling. Why is there often so much turbulence? What if there is no drama? What are the key concerns of most teens? What do teens need from parents? 

Oriental Medicine: Ancient Origins, Modern Applications

Instructor: Peggy Schubert, MS, LAc; acupuncturist, BHSEC parent

Oriental medicine is thousands of years old and is considered mainstream medical care in Asia. Why has it been used for so long, and how can you apply it to your life? 

Embodied Yoga

Instructor: Roxlyn Moret; World Yoga instructor, BHSEC parent

Peace. Quiet. Contentment. Don’t know how to find them anymore? You may discover them again in this class. 

What Should I Do With My Banana Peel?  (If I’m Concerned About Global Warming)

Instructor:  Kendall Christiansen; expert on solid waste recycling, BHSEC parent

What can we and our communities do about the challenge of disposing of food waste?  “Food fights”—intense competition over re-directing food “scraps” (no longer “waste”) —are emerging into one or more forms of beneficial reuse. 

  

WALKING TOUR:

East Side, West Side, and In Between: An Architectural Walking Tour of 57th Street 

(an off-campus event held on June 5th)

Guide: David Fishman; architectural historian, author, and BHSEC parent

Explore the architectural treasures of 57th Street, Manhattan, from river to river! 

See complete list of classes at www.knowledgecollege2010.com

Questions? Email bhsecpta@gmail.com

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS

www.knowledgecollege2010.com 

Inspiring People Across the Earth

More than 25 years ago, four kids from another country wrote a couple of songs for Martin Luther King, Jr. Here's one.

And here is U2 in 2009, singing the same song at the Barack Obama Inauguration Concert on the Mall in Washington DC. I wonder what was going through their minds?

Even four boys from Ireland felt Martin Luther King, Jr.'s impact. Will American and children all over the world always remember and take heart?

Pride — in the Name of Love.

High School Admissions Peril Part V

Today is the deadline to submit completed high school applications to the guidance counselors.

Kids waited anxiously outside unfamiliar buildings in unfamiliar neighborhoods in the cold, in a queue that started 90-minutes before the 7:30am arrival time.

Kids have sat through the SHSAT.

Kids survived the auditions and call back/look-agains at LaGuardia, Frank Sinatra, Talent Unlimited, Professional Performing Arts, Art & Design, Brooklyn High School of the Arts, Edward R. Murrow, etc.

Kids suffered through the assessment tests at places like Bard High School/Early College and Bard HSEC II, NEST+M.

Kids made it through the individual or small group interviews.

Kids wrote new essays (what has been your most challenging moment in your 13 years of sheltered, over-scheduled, helicoptered life on this planet?), sent their best old schoolwork, forwarded recommendations from their 6th and 7th grade teachers.

Kids and parents tracked package shipping numbers to confirm the delivery of "portfolios".

Kids expressed interest/skill in sports/science research/playing the oboe, bassoon, viola, sousaphone or some other attractive unusual underpopulated area of talent.

Kids jumped through the hoops, swung on trapezes, juggled chain saws, talked through dummies while drinking water, stood with each foot on the backs of two elephants and rode around the ring while overworked, underpaid, jaded, self-important strangers watched impassively and made notes that are neither accurate nor relevant yet will affect the next ten years of the kids' lives.

And parents had no control except to choose which 12 tortures through which to put their pre-teen children.

It's thrilling, it's exciting, it's interesting, it's important, it's a learning experience at a young age.

It's bull.

Other than scoring well–enough on the SHSAT, a fairly objective series of trick questions (read carefully!) and math problems of which no ordinary 8th grader has been exposed, how does one pick 25-60 promising artists out of 5,000 candidates? How can there only be 25-60 excellent dancers who've been dancing since they were three years old? Of all the flute players in NYC public schools, only five can play a high–E-flat clearly? Sing to match notes played on a piano?

Seventh-grade averages help narrow down the selection process (unless the 7th grade teachers decide this is the year to get tough and score hard to make everyone work harder), as do statewide ESL and math test scores, except everyone seems to score a "3" — a 625 gets in but a 623 does not?

Okay, use the absence and lateness records as ways to weed out the disaffected. Of course, there's no excuse for insomnia, 5 hours of homework until midnight, bad luck, bad transportation, bad home life or a contagious baby brother who takes his infected little fingers out of his mouth/nose/diaper to touch the remote control/door knobs/refrigerator/video game controller/older sibling's homework. Every week.

And then, after those filters, it's all up to the algorithms of a computer who takes into account children's ranking on the application, school's ranking of the candidates, and balances geography, middle school, race, sex ratios…

So a computer does it in the end.

It's all so arbitrary.

Parents and children list the schools that they can hold their nose in order to attend for four years, submit applications, and pray.

I pray everyone is happy with the outcomes.

In the meantime, until February or March, enjoy the last winter spent at your current middle school, for most of your classmates will be going to high schools spread across the City next year.

Why You Should Maybe See "The Road" but I Can't

The Road novel ruined my Christmas vacation.

But every American who does or will eventually vote, must read this book or, at last resort, see the film opening November 25.

Two years ago I received a copy of the novel as a Christmas present. My gift–giver and I only knew that it was an Oprah book and we loved The Poisonwood Bible and respect Toni Morrison and the other authors that she has recommended. (The books in her club are not fluff).

Had some quiet down time on vacation, so I figured I’d read the first few chapters and save the rest for my subway rides to work the following week.

I finished it in four hours, never taking a break, and probably holding my breath the whole time.

Upon finishing it, I cried. I felt changed.

I felt scared for my children.

I felt afraid for the world.

Cormac McCarthy’s depiction of what would happen if civilization suffered from (some unnamed) disaster was so detailed, so plausible, such a speaking-out-loud of what I, as a child of the cold war and no-nukes was too scared to think–through so fully, that it just devastated me.

The book pulled all the situations and scenarios and images that I kept in the back in the farthest corner of my head, under locks and keys.

Oh-no-he-didn't! Yes, McCarthy went there.

THIS IS NOT A DISASTER ADVENTURE NOVEL. Maybe the film will be, but the novel is an intense story of a father and his son who love and care for each other through most extreme circumstances. There is a fleeting story of a wife/mother’s-love, albeit obviously expanded in the movie so that there can be a significant female character cast with an A-list actress (Charlize Theron).

But this is, beyond the tragedies, a heart-warming story of father of son. McCarthy has put on a human face, pulls you in, walks along the road with the main characters, makes it deep. Makes you care.

Makes you think.

It’s depressing as hell.

When the 2008 Presidential race kicked into full gear, I prayed and wished that every candidate would read The Road. I wished that every American citizen of voting age read the book before Election Day. All terrorists. It would have changed the world–view of some of them.

I hoped Oprah gave the Obamas a copy. Maybe they have read it.

[Deep sigh here]

I never thought anyone would be able to make a movie version of this novel.

That’s not entirely true.

I never wanted a movie version to be made.

In spite of my wanting everyone to read the novel, I wanted to protect everyone from not reading the novel. A film version would be too much. I didn't want to dredge up those raw fears again, that I had worked hard to fight back into the farthest corner of my mind, and put back under locks and keys.

I wouldn't want to subject my children to it. It would make them feel less safe in the world.

But you and your older teens should.

Now, to the film, which happens to open not only when the weather begins mimic the climate in the novel, it’s also sadistically–near to the holidays.

As with every person who is disappointed by the movie version of a favorite novel (Eragon the movie is so horrible that all copies should be burned and remade; Eragon the book is a revelation), of course there are doubts about making The Road. The casting of the main male character (no characters have proper names in the novel) — Viggo Mortensen — is perfect. The son is played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. A tough part. Other cast members include Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall (bless him; Duvall is one of the most brilliant actors ever). The director, John Hillcoat and adapter of the screenplay, Joe Penhall, are from Australia and the the U.K., respectively, and not well–known in the U.S.

I hope the filmmakers haven't just exploited the titillating and sensational aspects of the story and forsaken its heart, its never–ending senses of love and hope.

In spite of my struggle with two conflicting emotions/opinions (should or shouldn’t), logic prevails and I recommend everyone take a journey on some version of The Road.

But you most likely not see me there again.

LaGuardia HS of the Arts Dance Audition Info

Here’s the deal on the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts dance audition process, as told by the head of the dance department to a friend of mine:

BRING: bring Pens for writing the essay. Please bring drink and food because people who are auditioning for multiple talents will be there all day.

Wear: Leotard, tights, ballet slippers. Boys wear close–fitting tees and dance tights or tight sweatpants — they need to see the line of your leg and body. No baggy clothes.

Important – Strategy: Go to Music/Vocals first because they take the least amount of time. Arrive a 8am sharp and get them over–with. Do Dance and/or Drama last; it’s a longer process. Art is definitely at least two hours because of the drawing–from–memory assignment. Those auditioning for more than two studios may need to come back.

Audition: Dance Students go upstairs in groups of 20’s or 25’s to fill out forms, write a short essay. Students take a mini ballet class and then a mini modern class. Once done, DO NOT LEAVE. Wait to receive a paper with instructions from the head of the dance department.

Scoring: They have specific quantifiers and standards and they are looking at body alignment, technique and performance. ONE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIN. She said that those who become professional ballet dancers after graduation will be thin, but Broadway and modern, etc dancers do not have to be thin.

They are looking for passion for movement, flexibility and strength. She said call her if one wants more details on the quantifiers and standards.

Experience: They take children with no experience; however they could reject some children who have been studying dance since they were 3 years–old IF they have had bad training. They can teach those who know nothing but they can't un-teach and re-train those who learned all wrong. Too late. They're not impressed by experience. And forget anyone put on pointe before the age of 11.5 years old. Bones were not developed.

(Frank Sinatra HS of the Arts only takes those with at least a year of experience and knowledge of basic terminology.)

Return Visit: they don't call it “call backs” because it’s not for narrowing down prospects. At the end of the first audition, kids may get a paper from the dance head telling them to come back in a couple of weeks. The call backs are for when they could not decide. A child will be admitted even if they only do the first group audition. Don’t read any more into whether or not one is asked to return or not.

Return Audition: will have a more extensive and demanding ballet and then modern class. You will then do a 1–minute solo using whatever techniques you do best: even karate, gymnastics, ethnic, pointe, hip-hop. They are looking for musicality. BRING YOUR MUSIC CD; no dancing without music. The solo will be done in front of three or five faculty plus the other students in the group. The scorers could stop you half–way so PUT YOUR BEST MOVES IN THE FIRST 30 SECONDS!

Note to Hip–Hop dancers: are asked if they are aware they will only learn ballet and modern in the school and that there is no jazz or hip–hop. They are asked if they are okay with that.

Do not Bring: photos, resumes, recommendations. They will be tossed without looking at.

Parents: Leave the students at the theater. Parents can go up to one of the cafeterias for PTA bake sale and chatting with PTA members. Go shopping. Go to an early movie (if auditioning for more than one studio). Go out for a meal.

Results: 85 will be accepted for 60 seats; 60–66 will likely enroll. No waiting list. Out–of–towners auditioned in the summer. Tours only after acceptance.

Second Chances: One can audition again in the 9th grade, or switch from another studio for 10th grade if already in LaGuardia. She said the other schools (ie Sinatra, Talent Unlimited) can enroll kids at any time.

If NOT Accepted: 1,500 audition for dance. The department head can give out names of other schools to which to apply once decisions are made.

SCHOOL LIFE

WARNING: she stressed that no one should audition if they are not really interested in their talent, for they will get discouraged by sophomore year. It’s that intense. The goal of the school is to turn out dancers/musicians/artists ready for professional career or Juilliard. Only 1/3 go on to academic colleges to be doctors, lawyers, business, engineers; the rest move onto conservatories or arts colleges.

So if you don't really love your art, and love it every day, don't audition for LaGuardia — and Frank Sinatra HS, for that matter.

Freshman Life: Arrive at 8:10am. They take one academic class followed by four periods of talent. Lunch is next (approx 12:30pm). The rest of the day is academics. School ends at 3:50pm. Freshman year is the toughest because there are so many academic requirements. It’s in the academic classes where they get to meet other types of students (and boys, since only 20% of dancers will likely be boys, not that the other talents are any better).

Dance Freshman are split into two groups and take ballet based on experience in a placement test. That’s why newbies are admitted even though they don’t know the terminology. All teachers have/had danced professionally themselves for at least six years.

AP/Honors Classes: The dance head was annoyed that because of the City budget cuts, the talent departments were cut but the academics were saved. (I wonder if all the talent heads have this peculiar twisted thinking). So LaGuardia is still offering all the AP classes. There is also the DaVinci Honors program for excellent students.

Dancers will learn: ballet, modern, tap, choreography, pointe, nutrition, career management.

Performing Opportunities: as a Conservatory school, no dance performances until the Junior year’s choreography course showcase. Then there is the Senior Showcase in February and the Graduates concert. Otherwise, they are there to study dance, not waste time in rehearsals. “If you want to perform, go somewhere else,” she said.

Summer Assignments: every student MUST take summer courses, somewhere, either at their neighborhood dance school or in the City. The dance head can help arrange for free summer courses through Paul Taylor, NYC Dance Alliances, ABT and Ballet Hispanico based on financial aid status.

Outside Dance Classes: Freshman should NOT take outside weekday dance classes. The academics are too rigorous. They can take weekend classes during the school year, as long as grades don’t suffer.

(According to the Frank Sinatra dance head, students are encouraged to take outside classes if they want to really become professional dancers. Just two hours in-school is not enough.)

That’s it!