Oh, hippocampus…How amazing you are!
Let me count the ways: – You are integral in the formation of long term memories.-You help to coordinate spatial memory.-You integrate emotions and learning.-You connect auditory sounds with memory.Learning means to understand material and in such a way that you can remember it and apply it to new situations. This is impossible without the…
Can humans live together in harmony?
In the midst of the students learning about World War II and the holocaust, we posed this question to the students. Their responses were very real and showcased their shift towards adulthood. The students agreed that citizens of Earth would never live together in total harmony. They said that there would always be someone who…
Interpreting art from the Masters
When the inspiration strikes, just Gogh for it! Each week, one student chooses a piece of art that inspires them. In this case, the chosen piece was a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh. The students were tasked with the job of recreating their own version of the portrait through a medium of their choosing. From…
Work Shadowing as a Marketing Specialist
We have a guest writer this week – Oak! Oak is a student at Bridgemont who recently completed his Work Shadow week by playing the role of a Marketing Specialist. He helped with social media planning, a little content writing (including this blog post!) and some graphic design work. His favorite “assignment” of the week…
Math skills, eXtra dark chocolate, and cognitive abilities
Even though I am the math guide, I have to admit…not a lot of the math skills taught will be used in everyday life. Let’s think about it. Have you ever been at the grocery store and needed to solve a system of equations in order to choose which brand of spaghetti to buy? I…
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Nutrition, body image, and social media
Over the past several weeks, the students delved into nutrition, body image, and the effects social media can have on teen confidence and self worth. By the end of this unit, the students felt very strongly about this topic and created social media messages to share. Below we are highlighting some of those messages that…
Cultivating kindness
Our very small intimate school community has recently experienced a loss. Our students, in their own ways, found ways to support the collective community. In a world where adolescents are often described as cruel, or mean, our students took it upon themselves to appropriately provide support. While this may seem trivial, and vague (for privacy), even if not…
This is our community
Community can be challenging in almost all circumstances. There is always room for miscommunication; hurt feelings; social anxieties; differences of opinion. I think that is why I am always in awe of the beautiful community that is emerging in our fully virtual online school. It goes against the commonly believed idea that online equals less community,…
Who gets to decide what is beautiful?
People often ask me why I choose to work with adolescents. Other than the reason that adolescents and I both like chocolate a lot, I tend to answer this question by providing stories that I have collected over time. Last week, I had the opportunity to add one more story to my memory bank.Over the past…
Community, Connection and Gratitude
Having just finished the first long stretch of class before the Thanksgiving break, we asked our students about what they are thankful for. As an online school, to be honest, creating community has always been our greatest challenge, a regular concern, while also our top priority. As this sense of community and connection is so…