The following press article was written by 11th grader Yada P. during the Global Classrooms Model United Nations, which was held on May 16-18, 2013. To learn more about the event and see other examples of Yada’s articles, you can view Ambika Dani’s full write-up here.

Mr. Rafal Szczurowski, professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) and City Hall, spoke for the Historical Security Council. In his presentation, “3 Wars, 3 Resolutions, 1 Country,” he discussed the development of the United Nations’ method of human rights implementation and the Security Council’s power.

The first of three wars that he described was between Iran and Iraq and resulted in Resolution 598, which was passed in accordance with Chapter 7 in the UN Charter. This Chapter, which notably includes articles 31, 40 and 41, focuses on acts of aggression and threats to peace. These articles specify the powers of the Security Council, stating that it may determine actions between warring countries, call temporary measures and sanctions, and assert its authority with legally binding force. The peacekeeping operation in Iraq and Iran was executed in the typical and traditional way. The UN troops, or “blue helmets,” did not need to use force – both Iran and Iraq continued to support the peace.

The second war, which was the Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait, resulted in Resolutions 678 and 866 – also in accordance to Chapter 7. In 1990, Iraq attacked Kuwait, and after 12 resolutions aimed at extracting Iraq from Kuwait, Resolution 678 authorized the use of force against Iraq. Critics said that there was not a specific timeline and that the resolution was pushed mainly by the US as an abuse of power. Resolution 688, passed on April 1991, aimed at recognizing and establishing the human rights of the Shea and Kurdish population in Iraq. These people were under the control of Saddam Hussein, and this measure marked the first Security Council recognition of a break in human rights as a threat to global peace and security.

The third war, which was a war against weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs, was directed at Saddam Hussein. The speaker emphasized the danger of such weapons, attributing their threat to the fact “there is no defense” against them. Resolution 687, which was passed in response to the situation, urged Hussein to give up all such weapons. Hussein refused, storing hidden supplies during foreign inspections and expelling foreign inspectors out by 1998. In 2002, inspections resumed and inspectors found traces of nuclear weapons. As Mr. Szczurowski said, ”Saddam was playing a very dangerous game.” The problem was that even though there was a resolution made, it did not properly handle the case in which Hussein would not cooperate with the international community at any level.

Mr. Szczurowski believes that the Iraq situation is extremely important in the examination of current issues since it provides context. He further believes that the Historical Security Council at GCIMUN will be “significant for the participants” in that they learn how the internal policies and procedures of the council work. He said that international peace and security was “always” most important. Even though it is possible for all topics to be discussed “hand in hand” without security, there would be no possibility of debating other topics such as the environment and women’s rights. As further research topics for delegates, Mr. Szczurowski suggested Tom Wise, a member of the European Parliament for the East of England, and Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian diplomat and former Secretary-General of the United Nations.

During the dates of May 16-18, twelve of our students (Maya, Yada, Paul, Megan, Hannah, Charis, A’ntonia, Fatima, Tiana, Joseph, YuanYuan, and Anat) participated in the annual Global Classrooms Model United Nations conference. This conference, held in NYC, was unlike the previous ones that TGS has attended as it allowed our students the opportunity to visit the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations Headquarters for both the opening and closing ceremonies. We were almost graced with the presence of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; however, he was unable to attend the ceremony and sent his Envoy on Youth to deliver a message to our delegates.

The conference hosted schools from all over the world and a total of 2,800 delegates were in attendance. Our students did a phenomenal job representing Canada (the country we were assigned) and debating issues such as migration, non-native invasive species, the Millenium Development Goals, generic drugs, and childhood immunization.

Although each of our TGS delegates and press corps members were great participants, a few of them were recognized by the organization for excellence in specific areas. I would like to congratulate Maya on her award for the best photographer of the press corps, Yada on her award for the best reporter of the press corps, Paul and Megan on their verbal commendation in their committee, and Hannah and Charis on their award for the best position paper in their committee. A’ntonia, Fatima, Tiana, Joseph, YuanYuan, and Anat were all key players in their committees as well and were main sponsors of resolutions – quite an achievement!

An incredible amount of hard work was put in by the students while preparing for this conference, and their enthusiasm and participation carried on over the course of the three days. We will be posting photos of the conference on SPOT very soon, but in the meantime you can find articles and photos from our very own press corps members (Yada and Maya) at the links below:

Yada

Earlier, I had arrived to witness the microphone being fitted to the stand by professional hands; hands that were not sweaty and did not shake. I observed with interest as the lighting was modified to capture the atmosphere that was deemed appropriate for effective presentation, which to others may have resembled a terrifying patchwork of shadows and light. Finally, there was the “main man” himself, Taylor Mali, conducting the sound check using a range of “voices” that were so natural and instilled even greater dread for those who were about to launch their careers as poetry presenters.

Yet after Taylor had commenced with a few poems and we had met the first of his guests, both who were received with rapturous applause, it was time for our own students to make that gut-wrenching walk to the loneliest place in New York: solo and on-stage at the Gotham Comedy Club.

Anat reads her powerful poem on Palestine

Adjusting the height of the microphone with aplomb (well, have you tried it?) required the will to dominate the shaking, and that was nothing compared to the first gaze into the room as the prelude to the opening line. But student after student controlled their terror, stood with poise and delivered their poem with conviction and a sense of the real power of the meaning of each word.

There is no greater feeling of vulnerability than to narrate a personal poem in front of an audience! There is no stronger dread than that one you feel when the words appear to disappear from your memory and everybody is waiting for you. But nothing arrested the deliveries. Each student performed as if they were born to be standing there, confident and committed to the words that they had chosen to express the beliefs or fears that they were willing to share with others.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and one that I sense might well have far reaching consequences for each of our young performers. I hope that they have discovered something about themselves: their courage. Believe me, to stand alone beneath the lights and to open your hearts to others is a fearful thing to contemplate. To do so is to cross a boundary and once crossed, who knows where it may lead you.

Term 1

The first term will see the school traveling to India. This amazing sub-continent has a rich history and wonderful cultural stories that will provide an exciting setting for our place-based learning opportunities. We are currently finalizing the partnership with our host school, and as soon as we have done so we will include a link to the school so as to share some valuable insights about where we will be living and learning.

Term 2

The second term will also provide an incredible site for our continuing studies: Hiroshima in Japan. The Hiroshima International School will be our partner school and you can visit their website here. Japan will also prove to be an exhilarating location with abundant cultural, historical and economic resources to form the basis for our inquiry-based curriculum. One thing that is apparent immediately is the symbol of peace that Hiroshima is using, the crane, which of course played such an important piece of our learning while we were in Bhutan.

The Intersession

The intersession will be in Tanzania, and our immediate base will be in the International School Moshi. Please check out their website. Our plan is that in cooperation with the IS Moshi Visiting Schools Programme, we will be engaged in community service activities as well as the wonderful local extensive Outdoor Pursuits Programme, which is designed to provide students with opportunities to face the challenge of a demanding range of outdoor activities in the superb environment centred on Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru.

We are very excited about all of the incredible opportunities on the horizon and look forward to sharing them with you.

Regards,

Alun Cooper
Head of School

Below is an excerpt from Simon Schama’s The Power of Art episode on Mark Rothko (the whole hour long documentary is lovely if you’re interested in Rothko). The first five minutes briefly contextualise Rothko and Pollock’s work.

An excerpt from the same documentary gives a great insight into the thoughts of Mark Rothko.

This short film was made in 1951 by Hans Namuth who returned to Pollock’s home to film him a year after taking the iconic photographs of Pollock painting. The film is narrated by Pollock and provides an understanding of the rhythm and purpose with which Pollock’s drip paintings were created.

Sarah Boxer wrote this great article for the New York Times, which not only tells the story of Namuth’s filming and Pollock’s reaction, but also discusses the influence of those initial photographs on the art world, and how they really shifted the way we look at art to also include the thoughts of the artist’s experience of making and the process of creating.

The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. The Empire City. The Capital of the World. It’s probably safe to say that the city of New York isn’t short on nicknames. In fact, there aren’t many things that the bustling metropolis lacks, making it one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Our first term in the United States wouldn’t be complete without a visit to NYC, and beginning tomorrow, May 11th, our students will have the opportunity to indulge themselves in New York’s captivating history and, of course, its world famous pizza.

The week long trip, which we refer to as weXplore, will allow the TGS faculty to expand upon the concepts being covered in their curriculum by visiting actual historical locations and speaking to people with first hand experiences or a high level of expertise on a subject. A selection of our planned destinations include Chinatown, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Mathematics, and Ground Zero. The trip will also provide students with two days to explore the Big Apple themselves, no doubt providing ample fodder for energetic conversations on which borough is best.

This will be the first visit to New York City for many of our students, and they are eager to experience all that it has to offer. Four of our 10th grade students (Joseph, Gawa, Alejandro, and Liisa) sat down for a “pre-Xplore” roundtable last night to discuss their preconceived notions about the city, what they expect New York and New Yorkers to be like, how NYC became so famous, and how they plan on getting around the five boroughs. You can hear their roundtable in our newest podcast, and be sure to let us know if you have any suggestions for where they should visit in the comments below!

Trigonometry is often a part of mathematics that students struggle with because they find it too abstract to understand the practical applications of this field. My 10th grade mathematics class was recently introduced to right-angled trigonometry, and as we talked about its various applications including bearings, 3-D shapes, and angles of elevation and depression, I decided to take them outside of the classroom to apply these skills.

The task that was given to them was to create a “How-To” ebook on finding the height of a really tall building without physically measuring it. The students were told that they had one week before they would be taken to a very tall building in the downtown Boston area and asked to measure its height. I assigned my students into groups of three to four and gave each group a budget of $15 to buy the materials required for this activity.

The groups came up with various ways of calculating the height of the building. One group initially planned on taking a picture of a student pointing a ruler at the top of the building and then later use that picture to calculate the height. Another group went with the more traditional approach of creating a clinometer to measure the building’s angle of elevation from a certain distance, and then using that angle to measure its height.

Before taking the students to the building, I decided to use a class period for them to test out their methods by measuring the height of the classroom. The students had purchased some of the necessary materials already and were able to do a mock trial of the task. This trial was extremely beneficial for the groups, and after the activity the groups found ways to tweak their plans in order to make the measurements more accurate.

Photo by Alejandro R.

On the day of the activity, I took the students on a short walk to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. When choosing a building to measure, I looked for an especially tall building with a safe and large area surrounding it from which the students could reach a good distance away and measure the angle of elevation. What I did not consider was the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank’s security guards would find people measuring distances around the bank as suspicious activity! Luckily for us, the guard that came out to inquire about what we were doing was okay with the idea of students performing a math activity based on the bank.

It was very interesting to see the students carry out the activity. One group started by measuring a perpendicular distance of 100 feet away from the bank while the other group walked on a perpendicular route far away in order to determine a distance that would give them approximately a 60 degree angle of elevation. This allowed the groups to share their 100-foot measuring tape that they had been able to purchase by combining their individual budgets together. The groups did very well at measuring the angle of elevation to the building from various distances and submitting the averages of their calculations to me.

Photo by Alejandro R.

I promised a prize to the groups that were able to get within 5% of the actual height of the building. One group measured the building to be 181 meters (593.4 feet) tall while the other group submitted a measurement of 184 meters (603.7 feet) tall. The actual height of the building (according to a Google search) is 187 meters (614 feet), which means that the group that calculated the height closest to the actual height of the building had a percentage error of only 1.6%!

Overall, the students really enjoyed the activity and came away with a better understanding of the applications of trigonometry. The resulting ebooks will reflect this enthusiasm and hopefully spread the excitement for mathematics to any and all learners interested!

An image from Pema’s comic How I came to be: an episode of Frederick Douglass’ life

Some students loathe the word “assessment” and shudder in fear at any mention of the IB. Despite their hesitations, my students managed to build skills for their Written Task Assessments while demonstrating critical engagement with an aspect of a text or topic covered in my IB Language and Literature course. Once again, my students never cease to amaze me with their imaginative ways of exploring material covered in the course while making connections with critical global issues.

The Written Tasks require a student to produce any text type appropriate to the material covered. From sermon to screenplay, comic to guide, read how students incorporate lessons on slavery, drone wars, religious rhetoric, and infectious disease into the all-feared, but amazingly powerful and inspiring “assessment” pieces.

Beneath you can find the works created by students Pema, Bailey and Yada: