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Thoughts from Blog Chore

by Cacique Update Editor Claire

It’s early morning and Annie and I are sitting on the dining hall deck as the sun rises in front of us. Each of us are busy at work writing blogs. This is the scene that unfolds every morning for me being on blog chores, each time with a different cacique. I have the pleasure of sitting with the cacique of the day and hearing about what was special for them that day. Often times it’s events that were barely memorable to me, but as they describe it, I get a brand new prospective on the past day. These past few days have been long workouts, then sleep-ins which means we don’t have chores. I have missed this tranquil time in the morning these past few days. I love the idea of reaching out to everyone at home through writing and I am glad that we’re back to chores, even though things are about to get even more busy and exciting here at The Island School! Eight-Day Kayak rotations start Monday!

 The anticipation of the coming weeks is buzzing on campus. In the short time we have been on campus everyone has come together so much it’s so strange to think half of us won’t be here. Kayak is another exciting event which the whole community comes together to enjoy and work through together. The sun has come out on Eleuthera! We hope the weather continues as our first group heads out on their kayak trip!

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Island School Math Class Takes on Water Issues

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Back at home, it’s easy to think that when you turn on a tap, water will come out. Here at The Island School, however, we have learned that water is not an unlimited resource. In fact, our water supply is contained within five underground cisterns on our campus. The water that fills our cisterns comes from the sky, and roofs across campus collect this water, which then flows directly into the cisterns. We draw water from one cistern at a time for drinking, cooking, showering, and various other purposes. Each morning during chores, the Cistern Crew is responsible for measuring the level of water in each of the five cisterns, and entering the data into an Excel spreadsheet. This data is then examined to determine how much water we have used up and how much is left. The problem is that, currently, there is no real system behind deciding which cistern we draw water from. Over the past few weeks in math class, we have been figuring out a solution to this problem.

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Cacique Update, Uncategorized

Cacique Update October 13, 2011

by Caciques Annie B. and Marius

Annie: Today I was truly inspired. In our Literature class, we had to write a 12 line “Found” poem, relating to the current book we’re reading, Omeros. In a “Found” poem, the idea is to find words or lines from a piece of work that stick out to you, and create a poem out of them. In this assignment, we were told to do this within our most recent assignment of reading from Omeros. Seeing as it wasn’t a graded assignment, I assumed most people would throw 12 lines about Achille’s identity struggles onto a sheet of paper ten minutes before class… but I was wrong. I was in awe as I sat in listening to the poems people had written in class the next day. Everyone had created such incredible pieces, and it really showed me how much people care about this place we’re in. It showed me that we really are in an incredible place with incredible power, and the fact that everyone put so much effort into their work was incredibly inspiring. One poem especially stuck out to me; Jane Drinkard wrote a phenomenal poem referencing the pain and inner struggles that protagonist Achille faced in Omeros. Continue reading →

Cacique Update, Uncategorized

Cacique Update October 10, 2011

by Caciques William and Katie H.

William: Waking up yesterday morning, the only thing on my mind was Morning Exercise. This was the day of our second timed Run/Swim. I thought of countless ways that I could improve my time from the previous Run/Swim. Listening to other students around me I could see that this was everyone’s goal, to do better. I feel that my time here at The Island School has nurtured within me the spirit of self-improvement and that between each student a motivation to cheer each other on. The inspiration to do better seemingly was the theme of the day. Continue reading →

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Eleutheros

This year, the Human Ecology, Histories, and Literature Departments have collaborated on a series ongoing assignments. Each week students are asked to write a reflective essay that demonstrates their understanding of the themes from their coursework and effectively links these themes to their unique thoughts and experiences.  Enjoy reading how our students have deeply and personally engage with essential questions, important to their course of study at The Island School…

This Weeks Prompt:  How does culture affect one’s relationship with the ocean?

“The Glue that Holds Us Together” by Helen Russell

My first memory is at the beach. I was four years old at Bethany Beach, Maryland with my dad’s side of the family and I was playing in the waves with my grandpa. It was the first year that my brother was with us, having been born the previous winter and everyone was obsessed with the baby. Like a typical four-year-old with a new baby in the family, I was feeling pretty neglected. But that day my grandpa had said that he wanted to go to the beach just me and him, to have “grandpa, granddaughter” time. So we make our way to the beach, me with my floaties around my arms and my towel dragging behind me. The only way that I remember all these details is because of pictures I have of myself that summer. So we played in the waves and for the first time in my life, I wondered when the ocean ended. So I asked my grandpa how the blue went on forever and he said that it was like glue that held all the continents together. He said that they were so far apart that the glue had to stretch over the sides of the Earth and that if I could swim all the way out to the horizon, then I could see the next continent. So that was my first definition of the Ocean: the glue that held the continents together. Continue reading →

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Thinking About Design

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Backwards design. It’s something that we think about a lot here, as teachers. Start with the results. What kinds of behaviors and ideas do we want to see in our students after a semester of classes? In Literature, I want to see my students thinking figuratively. I want them to look at the ocean and see more than just an expanse of water that spans 71% of the earth. Though, I want them to see that too. One of my students looks at the sea and thinks about her first memory. In her grandpa’s arms, playing in the waves, he told her that the ocean was the glue that holds us all together. To her, the ocean looks sticky. I want my students to look at the ocean and see the O in Omeros: the white foamy hair of Seven Seas and shells clinking like skulls from bodies lost in the Middle Passage. I want them to see livelihoods there, fishing regulations, conch preservation and conch fritters. I want them to see the first time they were stung by a jelly fish and how that made them feel. I want them to not want to lose these things (even the stingy jellyfish). I want them to look at the ocean see the complexities of an expansive and diverse ecosystem with the capacity to imagine the eventual possibility of a barren waterscape. A floating trash heap the size of Texas bobbing around in the Pacific Ocean. I hope they see that.  Continue reading →

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Lville Office Takes Point Pleasant By Storm

[slideshow] Congratulations to Mary Assini (S00), Hannah Mauck (F04) and Scotty Aland (S05) for their efforts in the Treasure Island Sprint Triathlon this past Sunday, October 2.  All first-timers, the three alumni donned their swim caps, bike shorts, and running shoes and showed ninety other participants what’s up. Mary took silver as the #2 female overall, while Hannah and Scotty took gold in their respective age groups. The shelves of the office are looking mighty shiny these days with some stellar new hardware, and the triathlon world will never be the same…

Congrats team!

–The Island School

Cape Eleuthera Institute, research, Uncategorized

F’11 First Flats Research Update

The Fall 2011 Flats Research program kicked off their first class with Sam Saccomanno, Annie Blanc, Kate Maroni, Tori Suslovitch, Brendan McDonnell, Franklin Rodriguez, and our research advisors, Justin, Liane, and Ally. The focus of our research group is to study and raise awareness about mangrove conservation.
[slideshow]
What are flats and mangroves? Flats are the area between land and sea where there is a broad surface level but shallow depth. Flats can be shallower than just a few centimeters and as deep as 2 meters. Mangroves are a plant species that thrive in the flats ecosystem and are very important on both an ecological and economic level. They are important nursery grounds and breeding sites for birds, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, reptiles and mammals, are renewable source of wood, accumulation sites for sediment, contaminants, carbon and nutrients, and offer protection against coastal erosion. Continue reading →