Faculty Highlights: Week of September 26

• Mr. Bogucki asked students in Spanish to identify their nose, face, arm, shoe and finger by pointing to them as he says the word for each body part in Spanish.  The physical activity of pointing to their own bodies was highly engaging for the students.  Mr. Bogucki then asked the vocabulary questions at an increasing pace and students had to keep up.    
• Mr. Godinez had students throw a ball as they rehearse Spanish numbers, days of the week, and months.  The ball engaged everyone as they rehearsed vocabulary words such as these that fit in a prescribed order. 
• Not only does Mr. Taylor allow students to re-write essays they struggled with on tests, he walks them through the process of tackling an essay question they’ve been exposed to.  This is yet another example of the concept of growth mindset alive in our classrooms.
• Mr. Collier collects his students’ notebooks to check the notes they take and the work they do during class.  He has also posted his Studium’s intramural captains for each trimester which shows he has distributed the leadership roles throughout the Studium. 
• As Mr. Sweany showed his students clips from Troy, he interrupted the film to fill students in on background mythology and asked students questions that require critical thinking like “Do the Greeks or the Trojans have the upper hand morally in this conflict?”  The visual images from the film coupled with Mr. Sweany’s periodic lectures throughout the filming provided students with a strong foundation for studying Greek and Roman mythology.   
• Mr. Hoerster had Mr. O’Connell, one of our University of Chicago writing coaches, provide feedback to his AP English III students on essays they wrote analyzing an advertisement.  Mr. O’Connell diligently combed through our juniors’ essays, fixing grammatical errors and providing feedback for improving ideas and structure in the essays.  Utilizing the help of our writing coaches teaches our students the process that goes into writing and allowing re-writes again promotes a growth mindset. 
• Mr. Kading’s Reading and Language Skills students read The Giver and researched other societies similar to the one presented in the book in order to compare and contrast the story with the researched societies.  This assignment grows our students’ ability to think critically, write clearly, research and evaluate information, and use technology to improve learning – 4 of our Essential Skills.  Mr. Kading will also be using our writing coaches to help students improve on their thinking and writing after papers our submitted.
• Mr. Sobucki and Mrs. Whitaker’s Chemistry students separated gun powder to learn how to divide heterogeneous mixtures through physical means. 
• Mr. Ehrenstrom’s Physics students worked in teams throughout the Graham Center to evaluate angles of ramps in order to predict the distance a ball would travel before stopping.  This lab used movement, competition, and higher-level thinking while it required students to think like scientists.