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Three SLA Teachers Achieve National Board Certification

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Natasha Ashby

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011, three SLA teachers were certified by the National Board: Science Teachers Stephanie Dunda and Tim Best, and English Teacher Meenoo Rami.

National Board Certification strengthens a teachers’ teaching credential. It is valid for 10 years. To achieve the National Board Certification title, one must complete an assessment program that is designed to acknowledge successful teachers who excel in the classroom.

As part of the certification process, candidates complete 10 assessments that are reviewed by trained teachers in their specific areas. The assessments include four portfolio entries which consist of examples of teaching practices and six response exercises that assess content knowledge.

” I am hoping that this achievement will allow me to have a voice in the national dialogue around education.” said Rami.

“There are many discussions currently taking place around role of schools and teachers in our society, I hope to be part of these discussions as a National Board Certified Teacher.”

Dunda had four portfolios to complete for the Adult Young Adult Science area in topics like whole class instruction and classroom inquiry.

“The process itself is really educational, as you take a good look at your teaching,” said Mr. Best. “I figured it would make me a better teacher.”

“Also, it allows you to teach in any state, which is great if I move somewhere in the future. The school district of Philadelphia has a good stipend for national board certified teachers, too.”

” I decided to apply because I was looking to challenge myself as a teacher,” said Rami. “I wanted to reflect on my practice and see how my efforts to meet my students’ needs would measure up against the National Boards standards. “.

The process towards applying takes a lot of commitment considering how much work needs to be put in before submitting a well thought out finished piece.

“ I had to complete 4 entries starting in September and ending the process in March”, said Rami. “Each entry related to an aspect of my teaching such as how I led whole and small group discussions, how I helped my students become better readers and writers and finally reflection on my role as learner and a leader.”

“The process was lengthy, but I didn’t really start until December,” said Dunda. “I made a big wall in my bedroom from paper. The wall had on it all the standards and then all of the portfolios and what they expected. I added a hundred sticky notes to it as I brainstormed all of the ideas and all of the students I thought about when I reflected on my teaching”

The three teachers join three who have already achieved National Board Certification in previous years: English and History Teacher Josh Block, History Teacher Diana Laufenberg, and Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel.

“ I’m actually extremely proud of my teachers to be able to teach anywhere they like in the U.S,” said Junior Imani Johnson.

“It’s amazing to know that I’ve been taught by such amazing teachers and that their greatness is seriously official and recognized.”

SLA breaks down “Breaking Dawn”

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2011-12-09 at 11.27.55 AM — One example of student reaction to the "Twilight" craze.

By Sam Lovett-Perkins

Staff Writers

For those who have lived under a rock for the past five years, vampires have become a huge trend in popular culture. Its spread has been caused TV sensations such a The CW’s Vampire Diaries and HBO’s True Blood, but the biggest contribution to this wildfire of bloodsucking is Stephanie Meyer’s Twlight series.

Most recently, the Twlight franchise has come out with their fourth movie in the series based off of of the book: Twilight: Breaking Dawn.

In this installment, Bella Swan is getting married to her vampire lover Edward Cullen. However, during the honeymoon, Bella becomes pregnant. The union of vampire and human angers a native Indian tribe, and so conflict stirs between the Indians and the Vampires.

Believability of the plot aside, there is a wide range of response from the Twilight teenage audience, going from enthusiastic die hard fans, or Twi-hards, to a negative reaction to those fans.

Freshman Betty Louis was nothing but thrilled about the latest film. “Ever since I read the book I have been very excited to see the movie, it was a great experience for me.”

Many students report having seen the movies multiple times, and sport Twilight t-shirts, buttons, and stickers in school.

Not all students are so excited, however. Senior Mike Dea had mixed feelings about the series. “I saw Breaking Dawn: Part 1, and had very low expectations, and it still could have done a lot better.”

However, he wasn’t completely negative. “It did have some redeeming traits, a fair amount of action…I guess it was a good laugh”.

As a teenage romance film it would make more sense that it would receive appraise from a female audience. While this might be obvious, there is actually a science behind the writing from the books that might make it that attractive.

English teacher Alexa Dunn, who has taught the first Twilight book in a senior english class, explained part of the appeal.

“We use Bella as the everyone girl, she’s made very general to make every teenager girl and Twi-hard mom to fit into Bella’s mind — so they too can live the fantasy.” After all, what is more enjoyable than being chased after by two attractive men?

While the movies might be geared towards girls, Stephanie Meyer and the filmmakers have stilled try to compensate for the other gender.

“ I think boys are drawn to it because of the werewolf and vampire thing,” Dunn said. “Those battles get more frequent as the series goes on. For the films there’s more CGI and each film has gotten better in its dramatic flair.”

With only one movie left to go, it is questioned is the next movie going to be similar to the Harry Potters finally or more of a Spy Kids?

Dea is doubtful that he will be going to the next film. “If I get shang-highed into it, but I wasn’t planning to.”

Ms. Dunn agrees. “ I’m not going to rush into the theater… this trend is starting to trend out.”

The Long Days of SLA Basketball

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov 1 Comment

By Ayanna Robinson

Staff Writer

At SLA, school starts at 8:15am and allowing for the special “SLA time” that can even be pushed to 8:20.

However, for a different type of student, days start much earlier.

Meet the SLA basketball teams, two groups of hardworking athletes dedicated to waking up earlier and even forgoing sleep to pursue a dream or even just a hobby.

You may find these kids sleeping at their desks or laid out in the middle of the hall and just think they’re lazy, but to truly understand why they seem less engaged during the winter months, you’ll have to live a day in their lives.

4:25am

Freshmen Allen Harmon and Kenayah Cerdan have just woken up. They need a couple extra hours in the morning to make sure they look their best not only for practice but also for the school day that lies ahead.

Showering is a must and for Allen, who lives an hour away from school, it just cant be done at night. But morning showers are a perfect way to wake yourself up that early.

6:00am

Juniors Eryn James and Andrew Chalfen both take SEPTA lines to school. Lucky for them, this means they won’t have to lose any Z’s for practice. Senior Sam Sirochman catches a ride, happy that this morning was a good morning for his mother to drive him to practice.

6:30am

Both girls and boys practice begin at 6:30am, but since the girl’s team is small there’s not enough people to scrimmage. Unfortunately, Coach Garvey knows there is enough people to run laps!

The team has mixed feelings about diving headfirst into practice this early. While Eryn excitedly begins to run, Kenayah lags behind, not nearly ready to begin. As the practice wears on she perks up and reminds herself, “Once it comes to that games, its all worth it.”

The boys’ team starts off a little slower with shooting as the rest of the team trickles in. As a senior, Sam should be used to this already, but even with his headstart in the car he still arrives at practice groggy.

Two other seniors, Tyler Hankinson and Nadif Bracey are already running around the court, forcing others to play defence on them. There’s no time to waste for a basketball senior, they have to be ready for college recruiters at every game!

Only one SLA basketball player remains sleeping. Sterling Perry is still in his bed as he takes a year off from playing ball.

“Last year the practices in the morning were messing up my grades and sleep schedule.” Sterling comments. “But I’m taking this year to get my grades back up.”

7:45am

Although girls’ practice may begin earlier, Garvey lets them out early, knowing girls need a little extra time to prepare for school. Kenayah is worn out from the work out, but she continues to remind herself what it will lead to.

8:00am

Kay uses his extra 15 minutes to do full court drills. He pushes his boys to the absolute best and holds them to the same standard he holds himself.

Finally awake, Andrew hurries to play defense on the tall upperclassmen in a drill.

When he finally dismisses them, Tyler and Nadif join Senior Rick Kinard in some teasing about their behavior in practice. They are examples of how once you let the routine become a part of you, you’ll recover from tiredness.

9:00am

Halfway into the first class we can find Allen sleeping at his table, but he knew this would happen. “I’m always falling asleep during my first class.”

10:30am

Lunch has finally come and for the athletes, this is the sleepiest part of the day.

“First period and a half you’re ballin’,” Andrew says. “At around the second or third you crash.”

“It’s a slow decline.” Sam adds. Luckily for these two they have plenty of time to regain their strength during their double lunch periods.

On a Tuesday, you can be sure to find Nadif wasting no time getting to lunch. “I’m hungry from cookin’ Rick.”

He’ll find his friends eventually, but for now its time for food.

11:40am

At the second lunch period, we find Sam and Andrew in the same place, unfortunately, with no food.

“You can get hungry at all parts of the day.” Sam groans, wondering who will be nice enough to give him a snack.

“I could eat thanksgiving dinner and still be hungry.” Andrew comments. “But whenever I’m eating, I’m doing ok.”

3:00pm

Rick and Tyler compare schools trying to recruit them. Tyler lists his plethora of schools and scholarships: Alvernia, St. John Fisher, Lycoming, and Drexel. And Rick counters with “A nice school.”

6:00pm

By this time, all the athletes should be home. For Eryn, shes just now reaching home after some extra time socializing. For Allen, he’s just reaching home after a long commute. There’s no space for the teams to practice afterschool so for now they’ll have to make do with early days and late nights.

7:00pm

While the seniors spend nights adjusting college applications and possibly talking to some neglected friends, Allen is already in bed waiting for the morning. He admits, “Sometimes I really go to bed four hours early.”

10:00pm

Finally all the athletes are tucked away in bed. None of them are even tempted to stay away. Eryn even has a statement prepared. If any of her friends try to make her stay up she says, “No. I like my sleep.”

It takes real dedication to keep up a schedule like this for three months and even more dedication to keep it up for four years. This is why our athletes are able to rise above all the other teams, the kids who make it through these four years build up a special kind of endurance that no one can compete with. But still the question remains: Why?

Kenayah: “It’s all about the gameplay.”

Allen: “I’m just really interested.”

Eryn: “It’s all about college.”

Andrew: “I don’t want to do bear crawls next practice.”

Sam: “I want to play.”

Tyler: “Ball is hard.”

Rick: “It’s a routine.”

Nadif: “I want to work hard.”

So perhaps the next time you see one of these athletes too tired to even walk to their next class you’ll remember how much harder they’re working to be barely there. Before you look down on them, ask yourself if you have the endurance to do what they will do or have done for the next four years.

Freshmen Adapt To SLA Life

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Samantha Beattie

Staff Writer

When coming to high school, it takes time to adjust. Most high schools reflect what the

community is, but with a school like Science Leadership Academy, being a diverse community of its own, has created a completely different way of adjusting.

Three students from Rosalind Echols’ freshman advisory felt that adapting to an environment such as SLA took a little time with the work, but found the people at SLA very outgoing and friendly.

Freshman My Troung had no trouble joining the SLA community, but her parents had a difficult understanding the use of laptops and benchmarks.

“My first stress was family because, as you know, sla is different from other schools especially 15 years ago, comparing it between both time periods”, stated Truong. “Help from the counselor and my advisor got through with school and working on laptops, including projects.”

She feels strong about how he’s adapting with school.

“I feel like i do adapt to school. I do have more work to do, at the same time i don’t learn taking tests, but I do research and learn with help from the teacher. I think that i adapted to the school in a really good way.”

Fellow freshman advisee Pierce Meier, agreed that the work was what took time getting used to.

“I was mostly used to writing things down and using text books, assignments being due after school, no nice kids, suspensions, and being on top of my work.” Meier said.

Compared to his previous schooling experiences, “here, it’s more friendly, more kind, less trouble.”

For Meier, a lot of stress had come from a medical condition hitting during benchmark season.

“Stress came with early October right when benchmark season started. I had to catch up. I was 3 days or 4 days behind. I had no work done and not a lot of sleep. I had to make a commitment.” (He ended up with As and Bs for his first quarter.)

He still feels like he might need more adjusting, but he’s doing good with adjusting.

“I still need more time. Its gonna take a little time to adapt. Writing is what I’m used to. I need to get used to using a computer, make more friends.”

Another Echols advisee, Kenyatta Bundy, felt like he adapted well with SLA and the people very well.

“Not much drama, just stress,” she said. “I have a lot of friends, participate in a lot of stuff, i do well in classes.. I think I do that well.”

Just Blood, No Gore: SLA Seniors Host Blood Drives

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

It’s red and makes people faint. It stars in movies and is in every body.

American Red Cross website with info for First Time Donors

Blood is an afterthought for most people, unless you are in extreme need of more of it.People with diseases like Sickle Cell Anemia or victims of disaster and accidents depend on getting more of it.

This year, SLA will host two Red Cross blood drives of it’s very own. Seniors Uyen Ngyuen and Gisela Giolafina will host one on December 13, 2011 as well as Senior Shalia Wallace’s on May 22, 2012, all as their Senior Capstone Projects.

In conjunction with the Red Cross, SLA provides the people to donate and the space as well as a few student volunteers.

Wallace, already a certified blood drive volunteer, is hoping to spread the word about Sickle Cell and plans on having an information meeting to raise awareness.

Right here in Philly, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has one of the largest Sickle Cell treatment and research programs in the country.

According to their website, “sickle cell disease is the name of a group of inherited blood disorders that is characterized by chronic anemia, periodic episodes of pain and other complications.”

Blood drives are becoming something of an SLA tradition. Last school year former Senior Aimee Long (‘12) organized one with the Red Cross. Unfortunately, nurses from the Red Cross declared a strike on the day the drive was supposed to take place.

Despite the setback last year, these seniors all hope the tradition continues.

“I want to get more donors than the past years,” Wallace said.

Things potential donors should know are, they must be 16 or older to donate and if taller than 5’4 at least 110 pounds. Sixteen year-olds need a signed parental consent in PA.

Ngyuen advised that all donors should “have a lot of fluids, drink a lot of water and eat a lot of iron food like spinach, red meat and raisins.”

Walk-ins for students over seventeen are welcome, but you might not get your preferred time to donate. If you’ve donated before you are encouraged to bring your Red Cross Donor Card to speed up the registration process. Any questions can be answered by Uyen or Gisela by email or in person.

Donors for December 13 are encouraged to recruit donors for Wallace’s drive in the spring.