Thursday, September 22, 2011

Civics is coming to Cardin!

This year our 10th grade Modern Western Civilization course will include a trimester study of pathways to American citizenship. The goal is for students to gain insights to understanding American citizenship and their role in impacting our democratic system. Developing a more profound understanding of and appreciation for the fundamental principles and values of a free society is another theme for this grading period.

The following are major units of study:
• How have the values and principles embodied in the Constitution shaped American institutions and practices?
• What rights does the Bill of Rights protect?
• What is the importance of civic engagement to American constitutional democracy?

We expect all students to pass a basic citizenship exam that would be required of all perspective citizens to the United States. This twelve week course will provide the foundation to develop proactive citizens who understand how to get involved to generate change in a democracy. I look forward to teaching this course and observing changes in civic understanding and responsibility in our students.

Bob Cantor
Social Studies Chair

Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Great Moment at Cardin

This week particularly, I am so proud to be a part of this community! After studying the history and consequences of 9/11, the students (assisted by our talented faculty) put together a presentation to commemorate that terrible day. It was so moving I was brought almost to tears at several points. Groups presented through the media of ritual, art, music, video, slides, creative writing, and then ended with a note of hope regarding possible paths to healing through gemillut hasadim. Having been at this school since its inception, I can say it was truly one of the great moments of Cardin. Kudos to all involved!

~Leslie Smith Rosen
Dean of General Studies

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Learning and Growing at Cardin

In March I chose to take a different path than most teens for the summer. I chose to travel to Poland and Israel. I have gone to Camp Ramah in Palmer for 8 summers and this was the final summer to be a "camper". From March until June I studied the Holocaust. I read Night, watched Shindler’s List, and read assorted readings about Poland and the Holocaust. The day finally came that I left. My family and I drove to New York and met the group there, and I was then on my way. After a six hour layover in Austria I was finally in Poland. There was no time to waste; we went straight to our first site. It was a cemetery in Warsaw. The first thing we were told when we entered was to not be sad. This wasn’t a sad cemetery like all the other ones that we had ever visited. This cemetery had survived the Holocaust. A lot of stones were still there and there was a wall made of all the stones that had been destroyed. This wall was made to honor the memory of the people whose graves had been destroyed. After that we stayed our first night in Warsaw. We stayed in Warsaw for 2 days, then Lublin for 1, and Krakow for Shabbat. One of the most memorable sites that we visited was the Rema Shul and his grave. As my tour guide, Moshe Gold, told us about this, a light bulb went off in my head. I had learned about Rabbi Moshe Isserles in school the year before. It was ingrained in my head who he was and why he was important. When my tour guide asked my group if anyone knew who he was, I knew. I felt proud that I was among people who had been going to day school their whole lives and I knew something that everyone else’s schools didn’t cover. Through the whole Poland trip this happened to me. I was very knowledgeable about the sites that we went to because of my time at Cardin. I was very grateful for this and I look forward to another great year of learning and growing as a student at Cardin.

Adina Golob
Class of 2012

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Little Latin Lesson

As the Latin saying goes tempus fugit (time flies), especially during the summer and here we are starting another school year. I remember, as a student, feeling the excitement and anticipation of what is to come, while setting up my new notebooks and folders for each class to start the year with a tabula rasa (clean slate), so to speak. Today, I see that same eagerness in my son, who started fourth grade this week, again tempus fugit. As we sat down to cover his new textbooks after the second day of school or rather to stretch on the “booksocks” (I am not sure exactly when book covers went from paper to strategically designed pillow cases) and he was showing me the table of contents, talking about the topics discussed and flipping through the pages, I was reminded of how early Latin becomes part of our everyday experience and yet most of us never know. Of course, we all know some Latin, it’s at the root of roughly 55-60% of the words that we use. While no one has to know Latin to learn the meaning of vocabulary words (there are dictionaries for that), it certainly gives you a greater appreciation and understanding of our language and makes it much easier. However, while we were looking through the science text, it wasn’t the words that I was noticing; it was the abbreviations and notes at the ends of sections, which I was coincidentally teaching the next day. So I pointed to the “e.g.” after an explanation of external stimulus and said, “You know that’s Latin.” We talked about it for a few minutes, I gave the meaning, which I’m sure he promptly forgot, and we went back to our sock stretching. The next day, I handed a list of six or seven common text abbreviations to my new Latin students and one said, “Hey, now I actually know what that means.” So, here is a little Latin lesson so that you will not just glance over the “ect..” or “i.e” in your textbook, cookbook, or how-to guide but will, “actually know what that means.”

N.B. (nota bene) – “Note well,” pay special attention to something.

e.g. (exempli gratiĆ¢) – “for the sake of example,” indicates an example is given.

i.e. (id est) – “that is,” clarification, indicates the specifics

etc. (et cetera) – “And the rest of the things,” the continuation of a list

a.m. (ante meridiem) – “before midday,” morning

p.m (post meridiem) – “after midday,” afternoon

Enjoy and have a great rest of the year.

~Maureen Beabout