Yesterday we finished our last Histories and Literature classes and had one of the last few exploration times. During exploration many students went “Slack-lining” time next to the boathouse or went to some of their favorite spots such as current cut and fourth hole. In Literature class we finished Omeros while sitting on the dock. We closed our eyes and listened to the sounds of the waves hitting the dock as Ashley read the last two pages of the Omeros. This was a symbolic moment for us because Omeros is about the sea and finally we were reading by the ocean. We felt accomplished that we had finished the difficult text and jumped in the water to celebrate. The water felt refreshing and it felt like the perfect way to end a story about the sea.

In Histories class, we talked about all the major concepts that we have covered this semester in order to prepare us for our Eleutheros with the cumulative prompt: So What? Why does what you’ve learned at Island School matter? This last Eleutheros is a very important aspect of the semester because it allows students to reflect on what they have learned and begin to try and figure out how it matters for the future. I began brain storming ideas for my “So what?” Eleutheros and talked about my experience in Literature class. I told a story about my initial confusion about the text Omeros that then lead to a group effort to clarify the text. I remember at the beginning of the semester in one of the very first harnesses, I said, “I think that this story is about the divorce of a woman named Helen and a man named Plunkett”. This theory is completely off from the actual plot of the text but in that moment I said that phrase with confidence and truly thought that this may be the answer to the text. I remember that Ashley did not node her head in approval or shake her head no she simply smiled. None of the students in the class criticized my idea, but rather began building off what I had said. Through this experience I have realized that by taking a risk and stating my theory I was able to help further the discussion and ultimately come to conclusions about the text. This is one example of the types of things that students can reflect on from the semester. This last week at The Island School will be a time for reflection of the last 100 days. The last Eleutheros along with our Demonstration of Learning’s will prepare us to come home with a clearer vision of how we will apply what we have learned.

Hello, my name is Caroline Muggia, and I will be updating the blog for the next week. The rainy weather has continued, but has not put a damper on the spirit at The Island School. Yesterday, run track and swim track had their last workouts before the big events this weekend! Nerves and excitement are building throughout the campus as we prepare to accomplish our own events and to support our friends. The sign making and hydration has begun. The four mile swim and half marathon are going to be incredible events where the community will come together to support each other.

Yesterday, during advisory time some students opted to go on a dive to hole in the wall in a rainstorm. I went on this 90 foot dive a few weeks ago and it is incredibly beautiful. The wall drops off 4,000 feet into the Exuma sound, it was at first daunting when deciding to go on the dive but definitely an awesome experience. In literature class we wrote letters to our sending schools, students wrote about challenges they have encountered and the growth that they have seen within themselves. We have also begun working on our Demonstration of Learning. This is a chance for students to creativity show the community all that they have learned this semester. I cannot wait to see the presentations from my peers. Students have been working hard on their human ecology projects and the final projects are approaching. All of the projects are tackling hard issues either directly in the community or outside of the community and seem to be succeeding with their solutions.

Today we have Literature, Histories, and Research class. It is crazy that today is our last field day in research! In Histories we will be having a stakeholder discussion, debating marine management decisions. Literature class will be exciting as we are close to the end of the epic poem Omeros and share our own epic poems that we wrote earlier this week.

Today is the first day in a long time I have gone to sleep and woken up cold. It has rained for the last three days almost non-stop, and I am starting to forget where I am. Not so sunny for the Land of Sun and Sea. Despite the cold, wet weather, the final weeks of Island School are still moving along. While we have Eleutheros papers and math assessments on the horizon, the thing on everyone’s mind is the long run and swim. With only a few days remaining before the event, our morning workouts have become more mellow with the intention of resting before the weekend. By mellow I mean in our swim workout we only had to swim against the current once or twice, rather than the entire time. Even though everyone is fairly nervous about completing the final event, I am confident that the semester’s worth of training we have done will help us accomplish our goals. As long as it doesn’t rain all weekend…

Yesterday students spent an hour and a half preparing for their final Demonstration of Learning that is coming up next week. Our DOL is meant to replace traditional assessments like final exams with a more creative and open ended assignment. With no restrictive structure or format, DOL typically include both academic and extra-curricular experiences, and are presented in a wide variety of forms. My idea is to take my audience on a tour of my favorite places on the Cape and weave in my personal and intellectual growth into the trip. These presentations are meant to show our peers and faculty what information has stuck with us over the course of the semester, without putting the whole audience to sleep.

Even with the rain, our community celebrated Matt’s birthday yesterday with multiple rounds of “Happy Birthday” and a delicious chocolate cake. Everyone made it to the dining hall right on time even though it was pouring rain, maybe they should offer us sweets more often if they want us to be punctual.

While everyone would prefer sun, a little rain doesn’t faze the Island School community in the slightest. It can rain all it wants, just more water for our cisterns.