Posts Tagged ‘Academic Report’

Academic Report- Literatura

Monday, February 15th, 2010

All of my English students are reading and writing up a storm! Classes have been full of thoughtful discussions, inspiring authors, and story, essay and poem construction. If that doesn’t sound like paradise, bear in mind that all this occurs outdoors, perhaps under a shady tree, with a breathtaking view of the volcano.

Our daily schedule begins with Taylor and I furiously scribbling sentences in Creative Writing; currently, we are dissecting Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Taylor’s passion for words makes her a delight to have in class! My AP English seniors, Stephen, Matti and Tracy,  are analyzing their opinions on the effects of war and the possibility of peace as we read Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.  Zoe and Kyle are busy discussing Alice in Wonderland as an allegory for adolescence, and writing endlessly, developing skills to construct the perfect essay. In World Literature, Eric, Alex and Clay just finished essays on the importance of freedom after reading Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Now we are studying Chilean history as we embark on The House of the Spirits, a political, semi-autobiographical novel by Isabel Allende, one of Chile’s best-known authors. My British Lit students, Jessica and Chase, are reading poetry by Chaucer and Shakespeare as they dream up sonnets and soliloquys of their own.

Student dynamics are great in all of my classes, and I am thrilled with the level of cooperation and the willingness to discuss.

Callie Morgigno

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Academics, Kayak School | Comments Off

In appreciation of the photography students

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

I am incredibly proud of my photography students: Zoe Ross, Taylor Cote and Matt Hill.  Being a photographer at New River Academy is no easy task. A camera and the necessary gear such as batteries, film cards, cables, lenses, tripods and cleaning supplies, are delicate, heavy, and expensive things. Caring for them, particularly under our circumstances of constant travel and camping, can be quite an arduous task.

With each adventure we take as a school, the photo students have an added task to contend with. They carry their boat over their shoulder, their paddle in one hand and their pelican box in the other.  While the rest of us contemplate our perfect line down the waterfall, the photo students are computing in their heads the equation of light + action+ and available vantage point for shooting. They climb cliffs, scramble down into river beds, fight through steep hillsides of bamboo and thorns, and drag themselves across zip lines to get the most innovative shot.
Being a photography teacher has given me a new appreciation for a photographer’s role in their photographs. This should seem obvious- who else but the photographer could be responsible for their own shot?  But before this semester, I never payed homage to the photographer at all. Looking at a photograph of David Hughes running a huge waterfall, I would think to myself, “David is doing something so awesome! And that waterfall is beautiful! I wish I did things like David did so I could have photos of me like that!” I gave the subject all the credit! And while it’s true, without the handsome boys and girls running big drops in pretty places, none of us would have the portfolio we do. But I never would think, “Wow, what composition this photographer achieved! The exposure is perfect, look how the water seems to be suspended mid air, it must have been difficult to use such a fast shutter speed in that limited light. And the area is so remote- amazing that photographer lugged her giant lens and delicate camera so far into the wilderness!”

Watching Zoe, Taylor and Matt constantly adjusting their focus, change out lenses, climb trees and give up their own oppertunity to run a drop in order to shoot someone else running it,  really makes me appreciate how far they go and how hard they work. Photography is one of those rare things that everyone benefits from. The photo students glow with pride when others admire their work, and the subjects of those photos glow with pride when they put them up on facebook and everyone at home raves about their latest big adventure.

Of course, then there is the hours spent in front of their screen touching up photos, uploading them to Flikr, giving slide shows and writing blog posts.  With internet that flickers in and out, this can be a long a tedious process. My students work for hours at a time perfecting and sharing their photos, and always with positive, energetic diligence.

Thank you Zoe, Taylor and Matt, I am so proud of the work you do!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

New River Academy Poetry Reading

Saturday, November 28th, 2009
Photo by Taylor Cote

Photo by Taylor Cote

Over a beautiful Thanksgiving meal high up in the Andes in a remote lodge on the banks of the Achibueno, the New River Academy enjoyed an inspired poetry reading. Zoe Ross read aloud the poem which was a collaborative effort of the American Literature Class. Zoe, Clay Whitiker, Alex Anderson and Eric Bartl had slaved away on this poem for four consecutive days while we were in Pichilemu, sitting on the beach and using the surf and sand as inspiration. They used their vocab words in the poem; and you could see the jaws drop as they rhymed Convivial with Unbelievable and Unspeakable, Eremitic with Roll the Credits, and many more….Taylor Cote, my ultra-creative creative writing student, read her own poem, the product of many hours of class and free time. Hers utilized an intricate rhyme scheme that pulled us right into her words, and she mentioned every single one of us in her epic.  There was a collective murmur of delight when she rhymed “the scenery is breathtaking, even though we be test taking…” Double syllabic feminine rhymes rock!!

Matt Hill read two poems he wrote, both old fashion ballads utilizing an abab rhyme scheme. He is a buddy Robert Frost, which makes me, his Vermonter English Teacher, extremely proud.

Tracy d’Arbeloff and David Hughes read aloud from Pablo Neruda in both English and Spanish, and Tino Specht gave us an unusual treat by reading an EE Cummings poem in both languages as well. EE Cummings takes his poetic licence off-roading, so to speak, and he is a challenge to read aloud in English. So cheer to Tino for the beautiful reading in Spanish! Eric Bartl read aloud from Robert Frost’s The Road Less Taken, The official New River Academy Poem. And I read two poems, one I wrote in creative writing which I’ll post here, and one that I wrote nine years ago, when I attended a traveling adventure high school.

It was a lively, peaceful and rare gem of an evening.  There was candle light, fire light, steam on the thick glass windows and outside  a sky blazing with stars and a white moon. Inside we listened to one another, applauded each other, and each gave a small speech of personal thanks to each other, our families, the school, the country of Chile, and the people at home who helped us get here.

Thank you! We are so grateful!

–Melina

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Kayak School Academic Report | Us History Civil War Project

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Well the kayak school is back in session, and we hit the ground running. The students in my US History class are about to start studying one of the most pivotal moments in our countrie’s history, the Civil War. We spent all week analyzing the causes of the civil war and next week we will study the war itself.

Students will research the major battles of the Civil War and use this research to create a series of battle maps. Each map will describe a major battle of the war in order to help students understand how the war moved across the eastern US.

In addition to the map, students will create a comic strip style narrative, which will explain how the battles developed and were resolved. My students are always encouraged to be as creative as possible with their work and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Academics, Kayak Gap Year Abroad, Kayak School | 1 Comment »

New River Update

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Over the past few weeks, New River Academy has experienced world renowned whitewater. We’ve also had a chance to go to school in a unique environment, where there are nearly the same number of teachers as there are students. Our daily schedule has finally been figured out, and we’re all falling into a routine, at least as much of a routine as you can get in a traveling high school.

Our typical day starts with a 6:50 wakeup call. From there, two of us go to the kitchen and start cooking up breakfast while the rest of the group does our morning workout. At 7:30am we all gather in the kitchen and partake in our classmates creations, on which we vote at the end of the week. Our first class period starts at 8:00, so we all head off to class. We have four classes until the lunch bell rings at 12:40. At that time the cook crew will have a wonderful lunch prepared for us. After our 45 minute lunch period, we have two more classes. When the school day ends at 3:45, we scramble about the base camp, cleaning the buildings before we go out on the water. Once the cleaning is over, we get a short coaching session from our very own Tino Specht, a professional whitewater paddler. Once the coaching is over, we gear up and bomb it down to the river, and paddle the 500 feet to the play waves of McCoy’s. We get off the water at 6:30, change clothes, and head off down the road to Wilderness Tours, where we eat dinner. Following dinner is study hall, a one hour period of time to finish up any homework, and study for any classes we need to. Our day ends with an hour of free time to unwind and have fun.

The paddling around our home base is phenomenal, with world renowned surf waves in our back yard, literally. When we get on the river after school, we have a 2 minute paddle from the shore where we put in to McCoy’s, a rapid with two amazing surf waves, both ideal for practicing rodeo moves. A 10 minute paddle downstream lands us on Garberator, an exciting rapid with a small drop to run, an incredible surf wave, and a small play hole that is a blast to surf. An alternative route down the river brings us to the Dragons Tongue, a mind boggling drop down a granite slab, which we didn’t get a chance to run because of the water level. Safe to say, this river is one of the best rivers in the world for practicing moves, building confidence in your boating, and, of course, having fun.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Academics, Intructional, Kayak School, Kayaking | 2 Comments »

Academic Report: History and Government

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Welcome! Behold the latest academic report for New River Academy. This one written by our very own Jason Aytes, teacher of all things historical, governmental and the like. Enjoy!

In both AP Government and AP History, Palmer Miller and Nelson Jones have been spending class time preparing for their exams. Their preparations have included studying chapter material, flash cards and taking practice test.  Both Palmer and Nelson have been putting ample time into studying for these college credit exams and are looking forward to putting the test behind them. These exams will be administered this week.

In Human Geography class at the beginning of the quarter I asked the students, “What are you most interested in studying in this class?” The response was, “The Middle East.” We have spent the first part of the quarter working on the history, culture and customs of Middle Eastern society. As a group we learned the geographical locations of Middle Eastern countries and capitals of these countries. Also, as a group we studied the chapter in our textbook on the Middle East. This included general information on this part of the world. We took a day to discuss modern day policy of the Gaza Strip and West Band area. The main focus on this unit involved each student preparing and teaching a lesson on different aspects of the Middle East. The students took this assignment very seriously and did a wonderful job with their presentation to the class. Stephen Forster chose modern day politics and economics in the Middle East. Zach Kathrein compared the religions of Islam and Judism. Emery Tillman tackled the task of reporting on modern culture. Jackson Conn taught us the differences between Shi’its and Shunnies. Alexandra Shallhorn prepared a report on the history of Islam. Tracy d’Arbeloff’s presentation included Middle Eastern human right’s issues. The students showed a great deal of interest in their particular areas and we also enjoyed listening to the presentations. Now in Human Geography class we are doing a unit on genocide. Each student picked their choice of a modern genocide and is presenting their research to the rest of the class. Presentations are due at the end of this week. This has been a sad but educational unit.

In U.S. History we have been doing a variety of activities. The quarter started out with the students researching and presenting history on where they grew up. Issac Holden presented Chattanooga, TN. Keegan Grady’s presentation was on Lapasse, ON. Eli Spiegal showed us the history of the Seattle, WA area. Along with these reports we added in a section featuring some of the area’s water basins and whitewater. This was especially easy for Keegan as he grew up in Whitewater County. Now we are also studying genocides in the U.S History class. This class showed interest in the subject after the Human Geography class started the same unit. We are studying genocides and the involvement or lack of involvement the U.S. had during these events. We are finishing up this unit by taking a non-bias look at Henry Kissinger who has been a controversial figure in American History.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Academics | Comments Off

Spanish Academic Report: The Heat of the Moment

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Hi all! Below is an academic report from Julia Fisher, New River Academy’s spanish teacher. I asked her to provide the report for this week because I’ve noticed a lot of laughter coming from her classes lately. Enjoy! –Melina

Academic Report::Spanish

Keenerville on the Ottawa is one of the best places we have had for classes. There are plenty of rooms, tables, and chairs so that each class has space to make its own unique classroom. We also have Internet, so students and teachers are able to research freely.

I am glad to write the academic report this week because I have been having some of the best Spanish classes of the quarter here in Canada. My Spanish II Class has finished the textbook, so we are free to have creative and fun lessons reviewing what they have learned throughout the quarter. My favorite class was earlier this week when the students and I translated a song that they often sing, “Heat of the Moment” by Asia. We translated the first half of the song and the chorus, and in the last few moments, sang it to a student who was feeling under the weather. He perked right up and the students and I were laughing and smiling for the remainder of the day.

In Spanish III, we have worked on simple translation, reading comprehension, and pronunciation. We are now polishing up some grammatical concepts in preparation for the final exam. I know that the students’ favorite class was when we played Spanish Scrabble. I believe that they were having so much fun that they forgot that they were still learning. It was a good way to reward them for working hard.

Advanced Spanish V has been awesome because we are studying Latin American Authors, which is what my background is in. We are studying works by award-winning authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, and Jorge Luis Borges. These authors are some of the main contributors to the literary Boom in Latin American in the mid-twentieth century. My students have done a wonderful job comprehending and analyzing these complex, layered short stories and poems. They will surely have the upper hand when they continue their Spanish studies at the college level.

Hard work is paying off and things are moving right along. Congratulations to all my Spanish students, I feel that they have learned so much by having such small classes in which I can cater the curriculum to meet their individual needs.

–Julia Fisher

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Academics | Comments Off

New River Academy
Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
New River Academy

Huge Kayaking