CM Commowealth School Magazie Fall 2014 I this issue: Aswers ad Questios: What it s Like to Teach at Commowealth
Why I Made It Commowealth Quilt by Allyso Edwards 14 From afar, you re aware oly of the mai picture: the Commowealth mermaid i the ceter. However, as you get closer, you ca see origial drawigs by all the studets, teachers, ad staff (yes, all!) at Commowealth. I this way the quilt represets our school. If you walk up to ay oe perso here, you fid a uique idividual; steppig back you see how everyoe together forms the commuity we kow ad love. My Commowealth Quilt became what it is today because of curiosity ad mistakes, ad because I m a kitter. It started whe I foud a patter olie for a beehive quilt, which was made by kittig small, six-sided, stuffed pockets called hexipuffs ad joiig them together. I brought pritmakig teacher Rusty Crump a hexipuff I had made ad asked him, Do you thik I could prit o this? He was skeptical but to our surprise the first attempt came out perfectly! We discovered that blocks of foam could be carved or icised with desigs, iked, ad used to trasfer the desig to the hexipuff. Before log I had haded out dozes of hexipuff-sized foam squares for people to draw o. My idea was still half-baked: kittig, pritig, ad coectig as may hexipuffs as I eeded would be o problem, I thought. They re so small; it ca t be that time cosumig. That was the first mistake. By the time Seior Projects came alog i March, I looked at my measly output aroud 200 of the 1,575 hexipuffs my desig called for ad blached. I realized I had to recruit my ow kittig army. My mistake tured the quilt ito a true picture of the commuity. You ca see i the varyig shapes, sizes, ad textures of the mermaid s red hexipuffs how may voluteers made them. Eve the coectig seams show the sigs of differet hads at work. The way people came together to help from kittig to drawig to desig suggestios makes the quilt special. It may have started as my idea, but at the ed of the project, it s the bits ad pieces from everyoe I kow, sprikled throughout, that have made my idea beautiful. The quilt ow hags at the top of the stairs from the Commowealth lobby to the secod floor. Photos by Trista Davies CM 1
FROM THE EDITOR Every year, Project Week ad Seior Project free studets from the routie of school ad homework ad give them time to explore persoal iterests. Some studets work o metored idividual projects, writig or paitig for example. Most are welcomed ad do challegig work i social justice orgaizatios, shelters, child care ceters, restaurats ad bakeries, busiesses, startups, state ad atioal parks, uiversity libraries ad laboratories; or with idividual elected officials, doctors, prosecutors, attoreys, scietists, ad artists. But oe week ca prove frustratigly short. I remember a couple of years where just whe I thought I was gettig ito the swig of thigs, my time was up. I order to exted the spirit of Projects ito more sustaied ad deeper ivestigatio, Commowealth has iitiated a Seior Capstoe program. With a metor of their choice, studets egage i a yearlog research ad scholarship project, for academic credit. Last sprig, a committee approved three capstoe proposals from risig seiors: Mattie Glehaber, a accomplished artist ad historia (her teth-grade research paper was published i the Cocord Review), has udertake a examiatio of why comic books have bee maliged ad feared especially i mid-twetieth-cetury America. Fittigly eough, she will compose her fial report presetig her research ad aalysis i comic-book form! Ia Polakiewicz (whose photography appears regularly i CM ad our caledar) studies philosophy idepedetly, readig texts by Plato, Kat, Heidegger, ad Nietzsche. Ia chose to ivestigate coectios betwee the developmet of Existetialism ad the Nietzschea theme of eteral recurrece, the ifiite cyclig of everythig i the uiverse matter ad occurrece. Rachel Tils, herself a taleted actor, is writig a set of moologues based o the experieces of wome durig the Civil War. Her project is a atural offshoot of her U.S. History research paper o public portrayals ad perceptios of wome i the ieteeth cetury (see a excerpt o page 18). Commowealth has always bee kow for the itellectual teacity of its studets. I m excited to see how far capstoe projects will take them. Issue 7 Fall 2014 Headmaster William D. Wharto Editor Trista Davies 83 tdavies@commschool.org (617) 266-7525 x290 Desig Jeae Abboud Associate Editor Rebecca Folkma Class Notes Editor Grayso Palmer Cotributig Writers Alisha Atlas-Corbett 01 Allyso Edwards 14 Jaetta Strigfellow Rachel Tils 15 Special Thaks Jacqueli Harris www.commschool.org/cm www.facebook.com/commschoolalums CM is published twice a year by Commowealth School, 151 Commowealth Aveue, Bosto, MA 02116 ad distributed without charge to alumi/ae, curret ad former parets, ad other members of the Commowealth commuity. Opiios expressed i CM are those of the authors ad subjects, ad do ot ecessarily represet the views of the school or its faculty ad studets. We welcome your commets ad ews at commowealth@commschool.org. Letters may be edited for style, legth, clarity, ad grammar. Prited o recycled paper. Please recycle. Do you remember a favorite project? Tell us about it at www.facebook.com/commschool. Trista Davies 83 Director of Commuicatios, Editor tdavies@commschool.org 2 CM
CM Commowealth School Magazie Fall 2014 Cotets Why I Made It 1 A modular quilt for the Commowealth commuity. 7 News 4 Preparig for Chage Have You See the Pla? New Faces Academic Hoors 4 A Complex Character 7 The rewards of teachig a difficult laguage 8 Aswers ad Questios 8 What it s like to teach at Commowealth Grace Uder Pressure 18 Rachel Tils 15 o how coflictig images of ieteeth-cetury America wome fractured societal ideals. History of a Friedship: Opportuities ad Lifetimes 20 A coectio across geeratios matures ito a self-declared family The Alumi/ae Associatio 24 Greetigs from the ew presidet A ew way to coect alumi/ae 20 Class Notes 25 I Memoriam 31 Alumus Perspective: A Mermaid i Mexico 32 Whe tryig somethig ew becomes a familiar experiece. O the cover: Momets of discovery ad isight take place i every corer of the school. Chaces are a teacher was ivolved, either directly or idirectly, as a itellectual guide, advisor, metor, or cheerleader. Begiig o page 8, a group of Commowealth teachers spaig the school s etire history talk about the challeges ad triumphs of what they do. Illustratio by JooHee Yoo. CM 3
News commowealth Preparig for Chage Now that the ew strategic pla has bee officially adopted, plas are movig forward for some importat reovatios to the school. The first phase, scheduled for summer 2015, icludes major upgrades to the biology ad chemistry spaces, rooms 1B ad 1C, located o the alley-facig side of the first floor. Architects from Watertow-based Imai Keller Moore (IKM) have bee meetig with sciece teachers over the last two years to discuss a array of pressig eeds. The classrooms themselves, otes architect Radall Imai, are used for both lecture ad demostratio teachig as well as the hads-o activities of the laboratory. We looked at ways of arragig the room with better furishigs that allowed for the small-group activities of the lab at the perimeter of the rooms with the lecture/discussio/ demostratio activities focused i the ceter ad o a combied whiteboard ad projectio scree teachig wall. Sice differet teachers ofte use these rooms i cosecutive class periods, IKM also studied how to icrease the amout of space where teachers ca prepare demostratio or lab materials while the classrooms are occupied. This led to the cocept show i the fial pla (see below, where the reovatios are illustrated i a elevated perspective from the alley side). The area betwee the classrooms, ow beig used as offices ad chemical storage, is elarged by extedig it over the stairwell from the first floor to the basemet. Doubled i size, the larger space will provide two offices as well as two prep rooms, ad slightly elarges the classrooms themselves. A primary goal is to maximize opportuities for studets to discuss sciece with each other, with faculty, ad for faculty to discuss issues of teachig amog themselves, says Imai. Elargig or addig widows o the hallway side of the rooms addresses a secod goal: to make sciece more visible to visitors ad to o-sciece studets as a way of egagig them i this aspect of the Commowealth academic commuity. The decisio to add the ew office areas led to aother questio: how to coect the first floor to the lower level? The aswer was simple (i cocept at least): exted the stairway o the Dartmouth St. side of the buildig dow. Doig so will make it easier to go from upper floors to the basemet, ad it will help fuel that traffic ito a recofigured lower level, icludig a elarged ad reorgaized food service area. As a bous, addig the ew staircase will wide the ucomfortably cramped passage betwee the Dartmouth ad Commowealth lobbies. Sciece Classroom/ Lab/ (show i lecture demostratio cofiguratio) 2-sided chemical fumehood (i classroom ad prep lab spaces) PREP LABS (2) allows teachers to set up while the classroom/lab is i use 2-sided chemical fumehood (i classroom ad prep lab spaces) Teachig wall SCIENCE CLASSROOM/LAB 2 (show i discussio ad lab cofiguratio) IKM Architects Teachig wall Faculty Offices (total of 3 desks) 4 CM
More tha T-shirts Commowealth fas, take ote! This fall the school lauched a ew olie store (ru by Amerasport), which offers a wide rage of Commowealth merchadise. You ll fid hats, shirts, shorts, fleece, tote bags, umbrellas, ad more. Items are custom-made whe ordered. To lear more or make a purchase, go to www.commschool.org/store. Strategic PrioritieS Have you see the Pla? The Board of Trustees vote i May to approve a ew strategic pla set may chages i motio. A ew booklet outlies the pla s priorities ad ew iitiatives i fiacial aid, faculty support, ad accessibility, as well as major improvemets to the school buildig. If you did t receive a copy of the booklet show here, you ca fid it olie at www.commschool.org/pla. New Faces Melissa Lydsto Kathy Taroff Debbie Offer Chris Barsi Mike Broida Nate Gordo Yig-Ju Lai Ebe Lasker Margaret Sabi Melissa Lydsto is our ew libraria ad director of academic ad istructive techology. With a solid backgroud i moder library sciece, Melissa will maage ad develop the library s book collectio, olie databases, ad resources. Melissa replaced Mega Kae, who durig the past eight years rejuveated the library ad substatially icreased its access to olie databases, while simultaeously stregtheig the school s athletic program. Mega is ow the upper school libraria at the Spece School i Mahatta. Kathy Taroff, the ew director of athletics ad welless, is expadig that job to raise the profile of sports, utritio, ad exercise across the school commuity. Dr. Debbie Offer, for may years Commowealth s cosultig psychologist, has joied the staff as director of studet life. She works with studets ad their families to idetify ad address cogitive, behavioral, or metal health issues that affect academic success. Other ew faces: Chris Barsi, physics teacher ad robotics club advisor Mike Broida, admissios associate Nate Gordo, tutor ad math teacher Yig-Ju Lai, teacher of fictio ad short story Ebe Lasker, school couselor Margaret Sabi, history teacher replacig Barbara Grat, who is o sabbatical i Idia. CM 5
Academic Hoors The begiig of the school year oce agai brought a log list of academic hoors for Commowealth studets. Twety-five seiors early two-thirds of the class were recogized by the Natioal Merit Scholarship Program. Natioal Merit Semifialists Mega Berry, Cambridge Matthew Boudreau, Norfolk Catherie Cray, Melrose Mehitabel Glehaber, Somerville Abigail Kuchir, Southborough Natioal Merit Commeded Studets Daiel Albert-Rozeberg, Cambridge Emma Applbaum, Newtoville Philip Buddig, Arligto Amada Dai, Newto Fracesco Drake, Arligto Rachelle Flowers, Marblehead Sarah Joffe, Cambridge Katria Lee, Watertow Arthur Mateos, Arligto Bejami Powell, Dedham Tamjid Rahma, Cambridge Jackso Scholl, Needham Aa Koch, Brooklie Mary Pedicii, Bosto Ia Polakiewicz, Lexigto Haah Pucker, Newto Maria Rochi, Marblehead Rachel Tils, West Newto Zoe Weerholm, Bosto Kyle Yee, Melrose Seior Samatha Robiso was recogized as a Outstadig Participat i the Natioal Achievemet Scholarship Program, which hoors academically-promisig Black America high school studets. Forty-oe curret ad former studets received hoors from the College Board s AP Scholar Program: Natioal AP Scholar (Studets who received a average score of 4 or higher o all of their Advaced Placemet [AP] exams ad scores of 4 or higher o at least eight of their exams) Taeer Bar-Yam 14, ow at Corell Uiversity Daiel Beett 14, ow at Columbia Uiversity Yoah Bors-Weil 14, ow at MIT Tamjid Rahma 15 Thorto Uhl 14, ow at Northwester Uiversity AP Scholar with Distictio (Average score of at least 3.5 o all exams ad scores of 3 or higher o at least five exams) João Paulo de Mello Barreto 14, ow at Columbia Uiversity Mehitabel Glehaber 15 Harry Huchra 14, ow at Swarthmore College Katria Lee 15 Isabelle Lorio 14, ow at New York Uiversity Arthur Mateos 15 Laura Moraff 14, ow at Corell Uiversity Eliza Passell 14, ow at the Uiversity of Chicago Ia Polakiewicz 15 Bejami Powell 15 Feyga Saksoov 14, ow at Bosto Uiversity Rachel Tils 15 Clark Uhl 15, Marblehead Kyle Yee 15 AP Scholar with Hoor (Average score of at least 3.25 o all AP exams ad scores of 3 or higher o at least four exams) Catherie Cray 15 Fracesco Drake 15 Allyso Edwards 14, ow at Wellesley College Jorda Helfad 15, Newto Ceter Sarah Joffe 15 Thomas MacDoald 14, ow at McGill Uiversity Sally Rifki 14, ow at Washigto Uiversity i St. Louis Maria Rochi 15 Lydia Symchych 14, ow at Carleto College AP Scholar (Average score of at least 3 o at least three exams) Diaa Abbas 14, ow at Bosto Uiversity Sajal Akkipeddi 16, Framigham Emma Applbaum 15 Matthew Boudreau 15 Mary Pedicii 15 Haah Pucker 15 Jackso Scholl 15 Akibayo Akiwade 14, ow at MIT Daiel Albert-Rozeberg 15 Adrew Barry 14, ow at Williams College Mega Berry 15 Philip Buddig 15 Amada Dai 14 6 CM
Kathlee Dooher FACULTY PROFIle: stacy ta A Complex Character Whe Madari teacher Stacy Ta was a college studet i Beijig, she gave Eglish classes to the childre of migrat workers. Because of the household registry system i Chia, migrat workers childre caot go to local public schools, she explais, so some o-govermetal orgaizatios establish schools ad recruit college studets to teach. I foud the experiece both itriguig ad challegig, especially whe she ad a co-worker had to maage a class of sixty first graders. At Remi Uiversity of Chia, Stacy majored i Germa coordiatig ad iterpretig for the Germa house at the 2008 Olympics ad developed a iterest i psychology ad laguage acquisitio. Though she first plaed study abroad i Germay, she chose Bosto istead, whe she realized that the America system was more flexible (ad more highly regarded i Chia), earig a M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Educatio i 2010. Madari at Commowealth started small; at first, the school arraged sessios with a outside tutor. Recetly, however, with the laguage icreasigly offered i middle schools, more studets arrive at Commowealth ready for advaced courses. So i 2011, the school put Madari ito the curriculum, ad hired Stacy. I remember classes with Ms. Ta beig more like coversatios, says Jay Husso 13. We discussed issues relatig to Chia, makig the class far more i-depth ad iterestig tha a regular Chiese class. She was quick to smile ad laugh but also quick to call us out whe she thought we could work harder, recalls Be Koger 12. Sometimes o a slow day, she told us to us switch seats. She said we eeded a chage of perspective. It s surprisig what a differece movig from oe side of a table to aother ca make. Some parets, otig the rise of Chia as a world power, thik Madari is a vital secod laguage, but Stacy cousels cautio, explaiig that Madari is a exceptioally difficult laguage for Eglish speakers to lear. I do t thik Madari is a good choice for everyoe: it takes a lot of motivatio ad self-disciplie. Some high-schoolers are either ot mature eough or too busy with their other iterests to put i the effort eeded. That said, Stacy fids her studets polite, hardworkig, eager to lear, ad creative i usig the laguage, which is admirable ad sometimes amusig. Though she expresses satisfactio i her work Commowealth s small size ad its eormously taleted commuity make my job edlessly ispirig Stacy oetheless poits out that as a Buddhist, I m a believer i impermaece. We ca t predict or pla our future, as both our objective circumstace ad our subjective thikig chage all the time. Stacy Ta, Commowealth s first Madari teacher, says she likes to egage with taleted ad hardworkig studets, ad that helpig her studets lear such a difficult laguage is meaigful ad rewardig. CM 7
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Aswers ad Questios What it s Like to Teach at Commowealth A few days after school eded i Jue, six curret ad past Commowealth teachers gathered uder the elaborately paited ceilig of room 2C to talk about their subjects, their studets, ad how ad what they teach ad have taught. Together they offered perspectives o educatio at the school spaig fifty-five years. Discussio moderated by Trista Davies Illustratios by JooHee Yoo Tim Barclay, Commowealth s first teacher, taught math, physics, chemistry, ad educatio util 1970. Durig the late 60s, he also led the Urba School, a eveig school at Commowealth for ier-city teeagers. Eric Davis, Commowealth s logest servig teacher, retired i 2013 after 41 years i the Eglish departmet. Al Letarte, math teacher at Commowealth sice 2012, previously worked i a public high school i Raleigh, N.C., ad at Drury Uiversity i Sprigfield, Mo. Judith Sipori has bee teachig Eglish sice 1973, addig art history i 1983. Rikita Tyso, scholar of Shakespeare, fiished her Ph.D. at Harvard i 2012 ad was completig her first year as a Eglish teacher whe the group met. Bob Vollrath arrived at Commowealth i 1982 as a mid-year sabbatical fill-i ad has taught Frech ad, occasioally, math ever sice. CM 9
Teachig: Always a Choice? I d like to begi by askig how each of you became iterested i the subjects you teach, ad how that iterest led to teachig. Trista Davies Judith Sipori It s hard to say how I got iterested i literature. I thik it s from readig so much whe I was youg. It s ot as though I chose this field; it was just the thig that I loved to do. But I ever eve thought of teachig. I was extraordiarily shy about public speakig terrified of it, i fact. I came to Commowealth to work i the frot office because I wated a ie-to-five job that would let me go home ad write stuff for myself. I oly started to teach uder duress. Charles Merrill told me I had to: a studet was goig to leave the school because there was o fictio writig class. So he said I had to make oe up. Ad the four kids siged o, ad they were iterestig writers, ad I had a good time. But, agai, I ever imagied beig a teacher. Rikita Tyso Like Judith, I ve always bee iterested i literature. My parets used to frisk me for books before we wet to family evets. But I would seak them ito the car before we left the house. I always kew I would major i Eglish because they allowed you to read books for four years ad gave you a degree at the ed of it! I high school, seior year, we wet through Hamlet with a fie-toothed comb, a rich, kid of alie experiece. The I took a itroductory class i Shakespeare at Amherst, ad it tured ito this allcosumig, all-shakespeare-all-the-time sort of party. I chaged my cocetratio to sixteeth- ad seveteeth-cetury Eglish literature ad got the chace to sped two weeks at the Folger Shakespeare Library. That opeed my eyes to how deeply oe could study Shakespeare, ad I did my udergraduate thesis o geder ad performace i two of the comedies. Somehow, I decided that I was t doe, wet o to the Ph.D., ad just kept goig dow the rabbit hole, ad woud up here. Eric Davis I was always a big reader. But a lot of the rabbit-hole effect, for me, had to do with how much fu it was to talk with other people about what you read I had a surrogate family whe I was i high school, icludig a girlfried who had three older sibligs, ad we talked all the time. At college, we would sit aroud aalyzig thigs to death, with great pleasure. Later, i New York, I d talk all ight with a writer fried. Ad that kid of thig just kept o happeig. I was lucky to get set to Oxford o a school scholarship after college. My tutor there was the gradephew of William Wordsworth, Joatha Wordsworth. He taught me how to ot write such bullshitty seteces, ad how to drik Scotch, stuff like that. Ad the, of course, studets came alog, ad they were a awful lot of fu to talk to. I Remember......a first year filled with stories. I thik oe of the thigs I ve loved is that the studets actually brig themselves ito the classroom. They do t just show up ad say, Okay, well I m goig to sit here ad write dow my otes, ad tur off all those other bits of myself that actually make me a perso. They brig their sese of humor ito the classroom, ad they brig their other iterests, ad they make those coectios betwee the thigs they re iterested i from aother class to your class. We had a buch of those momets where someoe would say, Oh, this is just like i Lati class. Ad the other kids would groa, but it was always right. It was like, Yes, it is like Lati; that is the imperative. Good job! Ad I remember pu battles amog differet studets. For example, how may pus they could make o Great Expectatios: You kow, I thought you d be able to choose all the books for the class, but I guess my expectatios were too great. Ad the someoe else would say, That was a terrible pu. We had greater expectatios of you. Ad it wet o ad o ad o. The fact that they could have that sort of rapport with each other ad were willig to iclude me, that was memorable. Rikita Tyso Al Letarte For me, although I was iterested i math from a early age, it was a great math ad physics teacher I had i high school who made me serious about it. I ever doubted that I would go ito mathematics. I do t remember whe I kew that I would teach, but searchig my memory, I ca t recall a time whe I did ot thik I d be teachig math for a livig. 10 CM
Tim Barclay I liked workig with people, so teachig seemed like a appropriate field. Ad I was good i math ad sciece, so whe I applied for a teachig job, I decided that s what I d better teach. Why high school teachig i particular? I ve wodered, but I have t fathomed that oe, actually; it s just where I eded up. Bob Vollrath Growig up i rural Miesota, I loved Eglish ad the humaities. But sice I also was pretty good at sciece, that s what I plaed to do i college. At the Uiversity of Miesota, i what they called the Istitute of Techology, it was all sciece. Toward the ed of my sophomore year, I felt I was t goig aywhere, ad I did t feel comfortable aroud the people I was studyig with. So I wet to see a couselor, ad she said, Well, why do t you take some humaities courses? It had t eve occurred to me! As a juior, I erolled i Frech 1 ad immediately felt a pull. Now, lookig back, it was almost as though I was starvig for the stuff. I took art history courses; I took poetry courses; America literature; philosophy courses. Ad I still fiished college i four years; I did the degree, the Frech bachelor s, i that two-year spa. Somehow Frech was a callig I discovered way late ad I ve read it ad studied it ad loved it ever sice. The Uaticipated Ca you talk about the preparatio you do for your courses? How much do you pla out, ad to what extet is teachig istictive kowig what you wat to teach ad havig a gut feelig about how to do it? Al Letarte I pla, but I ll also say that some of the best teachig experieces I have are uplaed. Ad whe those momets come alog, I ve leared to go with the flow. I thik you have to do both. Judith Sipori Ad you might pla a questio you thik is goig to stimulate a lot of discussio, ad it does t go aywhere. So you have to be ready to abado what you thought you were goig to do. O the other had, sometimes a questio that you thought would just be a little warm-up geerates a ethusiastic discussio that occupies the whole period. So I thik beig flexible ad ope to the give-adtake is importat. It s hard to predict what s goig to ope up somethig for somebody. Rikita Tyso Exactly! I m always surprised at those momets where I thik, Okay, I m goig to ask them this brief questio about a particular lie of a play, ad the they fid uaces that I was t expectig at all, ad we ll have a great coversatio. This past year I was teachig two sectios of the same class. Ad it s iterestig that several times whe somethig wet icredibly well i the first group, ad I could t wait to try it with the secod sectio, it just taked. Bob Vollrath I laguage teachig, o oe had, you have to pla, because there s a lot of imitatio ad repetitio ivolved, ad a set curriculum you have to get through. O the other had, there s a dager of thigs gettig stale whe you teach the same basic material. But I ve foud that if you ca keep the fire goig, o, say, a particular part of the curriculum, or a text that you re usig, it becomes more ad more fu to play with the kids reactios. You lear that you ca ofte aticipate what those reactios will be. I thik I ve gotte better at hadlig the ship as it moves ad particularly at beig able to improvise spotaeously, maybe because I did a lot of actig throughout school, ad partly because I have a umber of years of experiece. Tim Barclay My memories of eighth-grade sciece were all egative, so I decided to ot use ay existig curricula or textbooks. We read paperbacks, such as George Gamow s book o the Big Bag ad aother o the evolvig uiverse, which gave competig theories about the begiig ad ature of the uiverse. Aother book, The Chemical History of the Cadle, by Michael Faraday, collected the Christmas Lectures he gave at Cambridge Uiversity ad icluded lab experimets, which we were able to do as well. We also looked at optical illusios ad tried alterig parts of the illusio to see their effects. The whole course was a evolvig set of ivestigatios. My sese, though, is that the studet populatio i those early years was quite differet from the studet populatio ow more diverse, ot i terms of socioecoomic or racial diversities so much as i academic diversity, ad also i their academic goals ad their abilities. I ve always said that at that time Commowealth was a fatastic place to succeed, ad a terrible place to fail. CM 11
Kathlee Dooher Reachig Every Studet So, Tim, what did you do about that? Ad what do you all do to esure that your studets succeed? There s a multi-track system i math, though ot i the humaities Eglish, for example. But i every class, there must be some studets who move fast ad others who do t. How do you hadle that? Especially cosiderig that from a academic poit of view, you likely have the same goals for them all. I Remember......the first couple of years I taught, I filled blue book after blue book with plas for this ad that to teach ext, all the questios worked out. But after a while, you kow, you figure out that you do t eed to do all that. You ask questios, ad the kids say the damedest thigs. Ad the you say, What were they thikig whe they said that? Ad so you start to ask them differet questios questios havig to do with what they said. Ad that s whe everythig gets iterestig. Eric Davis Tim Barclay I taught a eleveth grade math course with three very differet categories of studets. Some had failed Algebra 2 ad had to take it agai, some eeded to stregthe their math before goig o to calculus, ad some were i the class oly because they were required to take aother year of math. It was a fuy mix. Agai, as with the eighth grade sciece class, I did ot use a textbook; however, midway through the year I said, Okay, you are goig to write a trigoometry textbook. We re goig to do trig, ad as we go, each of you will decide what your trig text book will look like. Oe very bright studet, who did t wat to be i the class but eeded oe more math course, was just coastig, ad his trig book was a disappoitigly pro forma job. Other kids with less raw talet did really creative thigs, but I felt frustrated I ever maaged to challege that bright studet. Al Letarte I kow precisely what you mea by coastig. Before comig to Commowealth, I taught i public school for te years. Ad some of the most taleted studets did just that. I felt that we were short-chagig them o their educatio. Oe of the thigs I love about this school is that we re able to challege all our studets. I ve bee teachig at both eds of the spectrum i the short time I ve bee here. We have a course called Itermediate Algebra, which is for the most mathematically challeged kids who come i. But we also have several electives that are as advaced as ay course I ever taught for uiversity math majors. Ad so I feel we re addressig all levels of eed: there are choices for eve the most advaced kids, while at the same time, we devise excitig courses for studets at the lower ed of the math spectrum ad some of my most rewardig momets i the classroom have happeed with those kids. Bob Vollrath I laguage teachig, we pick up homework ad we call o studets i class every day for the first two years, so we have a pretty good idea of where they are. With a studet who may be missig some basic elemets of, say, the grammar, I ll meet oe-o-oe. Ad most ofte that s a reliable fix. We ca hit o those poits quickly, whereas it might be wastig everybody s time to do that i a classroom with that oe studet. Judith? Rikita? How do you approach keepig everyoe o track? Rikita Tyso I m still tryig to figure it out, because it is a difficulty. The strogest studets are ofte the oes who wat to lead the discussio, ad that makes it easier for the studets who do t grasp thigs quite as quickly to sit back. So it ca be 12 CM
hard to tell how much these studets get or do t get o a dayto-day basis. You have to make a cocetrated effort to draw them out, or meet with them oce a week, or somethig like that. Of course they had i writte work, which shows you what kids of thigs they re oticig, ad you ca offer them suggestios that way. But I also thik there s somethig to be said for the idea that just doig it over ad over agai is how you get better at Eglish: you start oticig more ad more i a passage the more passages you look at. So eve if studets are strugglig, as log as they re improvig, as log as they re gettig to see more tha they did whe they first sat dow with, say, Macbeth, that s what you re hopig for. Judith Sipori I agree, but I also thik that it s very importat i those class discussios to aim high, so that studets who may ot be the best right away get exposed to a kid of discourse that they may ot have ever heard before, ad they lear from the way the other kids are talkig. It s like playig teis with somebody who s better tha you are you get much better tha if you re playig with somebody who ca hardly hit the ball. Ad it s importat to keep i mid that kids who may ot write very good essays (or might ot yet write good essays!) sometimes are woderful talkers. They say the most marvelous thigs spotaeously i class. So there are all kids of ways of doig well. Eric Davis But if a kid s just sittig there, you do t have to just let him go o sittig there. You should give him a hard time. Beyod the Classroom: Office, Sidewalk, Sailboat Let s talk about the oe-o-oe meetigs Rikita ad Bob metioed. Commowealth teachers sped a tremedous amout of time i cofereces with studets. Ca you say somethig about those cofereces what you do; what you thik they accomplish; why they are importat for the studets ad for you? Judith Sipori Beig able to sit side by side ad talk about seteces, to ask Why did you say it this way? is essetial for teachig people how to write i a coferece you ca figure out the process of thikig that wet o but that s ot o the page. It s also useful to look i a studet s book ad see the aotatios. The you ca ask, Why did you mark this but ot talk about it i your argumet? If all you get is a fiished essay, you ca t have those discussios. I feel that so much of what you re teachig i Eglish is ot just about a fiished product. You re teachig a whole way of thikig about literature that s quite itrospective ad has a lot to do with learig to express the private life of the imagiatio. There s o substitute for oeo-oe coversatios eve though they re very labor-itesive ad time-cosumig. Al Letarte I see the classroom ad coferece experieces as tied together. Some studets do t eed to meet outside of class. Some kids eed to meet with me to discover that I m safe to talk to, ad that they ca therefore raise questios i class they eed oe experiece to figure out that they ca also have the other. Judith Sipori I usually idetify a few kids who would beefit from comig every week to talk to me, whether it s because of their writig, or because I ca see they re havig trouble i class, or because they re completely silet. Cofereces are great for studets who are very self-doubtig ad self-critical. I ve oticed that these kids sometimes omit their most iterestig ideas they thik that those ideas are trivial, whereas, i fact, they may be ispired ad woderful. It s oly i the private coversatios that I ca discover their thoughts. Ad the I say somethig like, If you write dow a observatio ad the you thik it may be stupid, put a squiggle uder that part, but keep it i. Do t leave it out. The self-cesorig ca be a real disease. Bob Vollrath I advaced literature courses we re lucky, because studets are older ad have already bee well traied i critical writig by their Eglish ad history courses. So those meetigs are less grammatically remedial, I could say. I use them to ecourage people to talk more i class, or to discuss the shape of a argumet for a paper. What Judith says about cofereces CM 13
Kathlee dooher beig time cosumig is true ad I ll add that with everythig we have to do here we have very, very little free time. But this year i oe laguage course, I had a studet who was far ahead of the rest of the class. Ad I decided to meet ot oly with my weaker studets but to set aside coferece time for her as well. It turs out that we were both really happy to have the opportuity to work together o extra fu material. I worry sometimes i faculty meetigs that we do t have time to talk eough about kids who are breezig through. I Remember......a story that has to do with the subject that you teach meaig much, much more to your studets tha just doig work for a course. I had a studet who was a woderful guy, a real straight shooter, a icredibly hoest perso, who always tried his best. Ad he struggled i Eglish. We used to meet all the time, ad he did advace, but he was t a easily ituitive kid of studet. He worked terribly hard at it. I twelfthgrade Eglish, we read, at the begiig, a lot of Wordsworth s poetry, ad later i the year, we read a Hardy ovel, Tess of the d Urbervilles. Ad these two works had a tremedous ifluece o him, because he loved hikig! He loved moutai climbig, ad he loved beig i beautiful coutryside. Ad so whe he graduated, his aim was to visit all the places that are metioed i Tess. The book has a itese sese of a locale that s ot very extesive i terms of miles, but where the terrai chages greatly, ad it s ivested with eormous persoal sigificace. Those places lived i my studet s imagiatio, ad he wated to physically be there. Ad the he actually walked through them. Judith Sipori Eric Davis But you kow, the kids who are breezig through academically are sometimes ot such great experts i just beig huma beigs, or adolescet huma beigs, so there s always plety to talk about. You lear a lot about them ad about how these guys sittig i your classroom are very complicated creatures. I ofte have cofereces durig luch, ad I ve bee very happy to do that, partly because I ve grow icredibly fod of a awful lot of really lovely people. Sometimes, to have a coversatio, you just leave school ad have a walk aroud a few blocks. I had a iterestig meetig of that sort with a kid who was havig a tough time, ad I made him come walk with me. But out o Commowealth Aveue, he started to walk so fast I could t keep up with him, so I could t talk to him. He completely got me that time utter failure. Tim Barclay I had those walks, too, because I taught sailig, ad so we had to walk dow to Commuity Boatig ad back. We did t all walk as a crowd, but you walked with oe or two or three studets each way, ad the you were i a boat with oe or two or three studets. That was a opportuity to talk about sailig or about whatever. Those were good times. Oce I was teachig oe girl how to weave betwee the sailboats that were moored o the far side. She asked me, Why are we doig this? I do t wat to race. Ad I said, It does t matter. Whatever you do, you have to be able to hadle sharp turs ad gettig aroud at close quarters. It s about sailig. It s ot about racig. Well, she later wrote i the Commowealth magazie that ow she s teachig sailig. Al Letarte It s fuy how hard it is to predict which thigs you said to studets will sik i. You do t fid out util years later, I guess. I the Begiig What was it like startig to teach at Commowealth? What kid of support did ad do ew teachers have? Judith Sipori I remember my first class. My legs were shakig so much I had to sit dow. But i retrospect, I thik I leared a tremedous amout from havig that sese of desperatio, havig to figure out how to do it. For me, temperametally, because of my extreme self-cosciousess, I do t thik it would have helped to have somebody observe my first classes ad make suggestios. It was much better for me to just establish rapport with my studets, ad lear step by step what to do, ad make mistakes, ad figure out how to remedy the mistakes. Ad I do feel as if that trial by fire was tremedously valuable. 14 CM
trista davies Tim Barclay Oe thig about Charles Merrill he ever imposed ay kid of guidace about what we should do as teachers. Ad i a way, that was too bad. There were a awful lot of marvelous thigs about the school, but that was oe fault. Fortuately, I shared a office, first with Elle Kapla ad the with Dae Morga. So we did talk ad I could ask all sorts of questios. Ad may, may eds of the day, Joh Hughes ad I wet to his apartmet right over the river ad talked, typically about what was goig o i school, ad about studets. Bob Vollrath My first semester, which was the secod semester of the year, I remember I had o idea what kids of grades I was supposed to produce. So I figured somethig out ad wet to the headmaster, Jay Featherstoe, ad asked, How do these look? Ad they were okay, accordig to him. I Remember......defiig momets of what it s like to teach at Commowealth. I m thikig of two exchages with studets I ve had i my first two years here, kids at opposite eds of the math spectrum. Oe was a studet whose stregths lay i the humaities ad history, but who requested me as a advisor after strugglig through ith-grade math with me. That was gratifyig, ad the times I had with that studet ad the coversatios we had were some of the most memorable momets for me. O the other ed, I had a kid come back from math camp at the begiig of the school year, ad he was tryig to use the advaced thigs we d bee doig i abstract algebra to aswer questios about my Ph.D. research area. It s amazig to me, that we ca get kids of both types, ad that they re equally rewardig to have as studets. They make it woderful to teach here. Al Letarte Eric Davis It was the same for me the first couple years. Nobody told me about how thigs work aroud here. But I had to walk through Elle Kapla s office to get to my office, which was really just a closet, ad I must have asked her five hudred questios over the course of my first few moths. She was very patiet. She explaied all kids of stuff to me. Ad I do t kow where I would have bee without that. Because a lot of it was ot about how to do the teachig, but more what you were supposed to do with these fuy creatures, kids, i geeral, ad what you were supposed to do before you wet to this or that meetig, or what happeed with the parets. That was icredibly helpful. Same thig with ruig ito Charlie Chatfield o the stairs ad gaiig words of wisdom that it took you a couple of moths to uderstad, which it did. There was t some kid of factory for makig you ito a teacher. Rikita ad Al, how does that compare with the experiece the two of you have had as ew arrivals? Rikita Tyso I thik i some ways, we ve had the best of both worlds. There were ew-faculty meetigs every week for the first half of the year. That was helpful, partly so that we could hear, Okay, paret-teacher cofereces are comig up, ad here s how it usually goes. But it s also really great to feel free to stop a colleague i the hall ad say, Hey, could I just ask you this quick questio, or could we make a time to sit dow at luch ad talk? Al Letarte For me, it was outside the classroom where I eeded help with thigs like the mechaics of commet writig ad letter writig ad what has to be doe whe. There, people have bee extremely helpful. But let me say that whe I iterviewed for the job here, I realized about halfway through that this place was very differet from aywhere else I had iterviewed or worked because most everyoe here is a teacher. The headmaster is a teacher. The public school where I worked was admiistered, I thik it s safe to say, by people who had fled the classroom because they did t like teachig. I thik that s oe of the thigs that sets Commowealth apart: eve at its most admiistrative, this school ever gets far from questios about teachig, ad what s good for studets, ad what s good for learig. For ayoe who comes here, that makes a huge differece. CM 15
Do ay of you ever feel you get bured out? What do you do about that? Bob Vollrath I try to disrupt the routie i some way of course we all have so may differet hats we re wearig at the same time that ca be hard to do. But eve goig out to luch with a colleague or a fried or a studet that helps. kathlee dooher Rikita Tyso It does. This year there were times whe I foud myself gettig sort of tired, ad ot kowig etirely what to do; it was t burout, but it was the sese of, Okay, how do I keep makig sure that we re doig somethig differet i the classroom? Ad oe day I thought, I m just goig to sit over there. I sat i a differet chair. Ad it freaked them out. They did t kow what to do with themselves, ad it was great. Judith Sipori Well, there are Hughes grats, which are terrific, ad sabbaticals are absolutely marvelous. Eric Davis Yes. You ve had some ikligs of ethusiasm for somethig, or kids have said, why do t you do a course o such ad such? You ca the go ad lear all about it. Probably the most adveture I had of this kid was a sabbatical I spet o Africa literature. It all came from a collectio of Africa folk tales that I happeed upo i the Harvard Coop, with a zippy cover desig i yellow ad gree. Ad so, you kow, you start there, ad you read the foototes, look at this ad look at that. It s a lot of fu to do that kid of thig, ad with a sabbatical you have a whole year free to do it. I Remember......the opportuities the school offers us as teachers to look i ew directios or with a fresh eye strike me as extraordiary. Hughes grats ad sabbaticals, for me, have worked together to let me follow ew iterests ad re-examie old oes. I ve almost always made Frace part of what I do, but I ve ofte tured oto uexpected paths. For example, whe I leared that there are four routes of the St. James pilgrimage that go through Frace, I thought, Why do t I just follow those? Oe year, whe I read that Marguerite Yourcear had a home i Maie, I thought, Oh, this is kid of amazig. Ad so I wet up ad explored her home, ad talked to the people who ru it. Coicidetally, util just this year, we had a exchage with a lycée i Alsace amed Lycée Marguerite Yourcear. So almost always, for me, it s bee travel. Ad always, it seems, the elemets erich my uderstadig of Frace ad my iterest i its history ad culture ad literature. Ad what s exhilaratig is that I the brig a lot of that material ad a lot of my excitemet back to my studets. Bob Vollrath 16 CM
Judith Sipori It s also great, though actually I thik it s uique i schools i the area that the Hughes grats ad the sabbaticals do ot have to have a pragmatic purpose, ad do ot have to be related to what you teach at Commowealth. I thik it s terribly importat to have a revival of your ow itellectual life, to study somethig that you actually do t kow aythig about ad that you re ot aimig to use i your teachig, ad just to revive that part of yourself. Because it does make you a better teacher, to come back refreshed i that way, ad have your mid alert ad alive ad ready. trista davies So what s particularly differet or easy or hard about beig a teacher here? Tim Barclay It was always pretty hard. Judith Sipori It s hard i differet ways. I mea, I thik it s hard to be a teacher. Ad Bob was sayig we re so busy, ad it s true. There s ot a free miute i the day. Bob Vollrath Ad yet, you kow, we forget, or I forget, I have to be remided sometimes, that class sizes are kid of amazig. For my subject, ayway, ad that s woderful. Al Letarte Ad we have a great deal of freedom to try to make thigs work. Eric Davis Yes, it s up to you to compose a year s worth of work. Now, that couts for a tremedous amout. I do t thik you get that very much ay more elsewhere. I thik that s a chage that s overcomig America educatio all over the place it s more ad more ru by busiesspeople ad admiistrators. Judith Sipori Gettig back to freedom, I thik it s marvelous to have the opportuity to make up a course that you would like to teach. It was like that for art history. I had a studet who had just a terrible time writig, ad some terrible verbal cofusio. But whe he was i Polly Chatfield s Reaissace course ad she did art history, he could look at a paitig ad say the most amazig thigs. He was the oe who said, I wish we could have a art history course that would just be lookig at paitig ad writig about paitig. Ad I said, Okay, I m iterested. I ll do it. Ad the I thought, Oh my god, what have I promised to do? So I focused o a cetury that iterests me, the ieteeth cetury, ad I spet the summer makig the course. Like Rikita, who has a ew Shakespeare course that s comig alog i September. I Remember......i the early days, there were two art studets, boys, I kew particularly well. Oe was very gifted, ad the other was very determied. They both wet to art school. Oe day, I asked the art teacher here which of them he thought would succeed better as a artist. He surprised me by amig the determied oe precisely because he s so determied, he explaied. Well, that studet did graduate from art school. The he got lost, ad he committed suicide. I wet to my former studet s memorial service, which was i Brooklie i the middle of the day, ad I had a math class to teach afterward. I came i ad sat dow. I said, I ve got to take a couple miutes, because I ve just bee to this memorial. Ad two of the studets stood up ad said, Do t bother, we ll teach it. Someday, I ll be able to tell that story without chokig up. Tim BarclAY Rikita Tyso I m so lookig forward to that class. Luckily, sice I taught some Shakespeare this past year I ca thik, what do they already kow? What do I wish we had gotte a chace to do? It will be a iterestig challege to use what I ve leared this year from teachig Romeo ad Juliet with my ith graders, ad Macbeth with my teth graders. The depth to which we ca go i our classes is extraordiary. But I also wat to sped some time thikig about early moder Eglish, ad how to covey it to studets, because I thik sometimes it s scary to them. I hope they ll ejoy it. I will, because, well, I ve oly bee here for a year, ad I get to go develop this course. I ca tell that kid of freedom has always bee essetial to teachig at Commowealth, ad it s very excitig. CM 17
studet writig GrACE Uder Pressure How Ladies Magazies of the Nieteeth Cetury Sowed Seeds of Femiism
This article is a excerpt of the U.S. History research paper Rachel wrote i the sprig of 2014. You ca read the full article at www.commschool.org/cm. By Rachel Tils 15 Paitig by Akio Watabe 17 The early ieteeth-cetury America woma was the image of grace. I the atio s highly Protestat ethos, her moral setimets were hooured ad cherished with more observace ad kidess tha i the old world, 1 a symbol of America patriotism ad of the advaced moral culture of the New World. Her getle ad delicate ature made her better suited for the comfort ad sereity of the private home, while a ma was aturally fierce, competitive, ad ambitious, desiged for supplyig fiacial security ad workig i professioal occupatios. Beautiful yet modest, pious yet practical, a woma calmed a society that was growig more turbulet aroud her. I the cutthroat public world of idustrializatio ad ecoomic gai, she had to make the home a oasis i the desert, 2 creatig a morally pure ad joyful eviromet as if to extract hoey as sweet ad pure from the thistles as from the rose. 3 Without her, the world would be a chaotic pit of vice with me urestraied by the moral ihibitios to which she was aturally iclied. Her love for her husbad, her childre, her housework, her appearace, ad her God were all perfectly orchestrated i a delicate yet precarious balace that grew more complex as she matured. Durig the Secod Great Awakeig, as Protestatism bega emphasizig the use of huma accomplishmets to wi salvatio, religio became a kid of traquilizer, 4 keepig wome grouded i their home life away from the materialistic temptatios of the public world. Their cofidig ature 5 made them more divie tha me, facilitatig the ifluece of wome over society ad allowig them to use their atural traits of morality, purity, ad steadfast virtue to love their husbads ad God. Wome s piety would thus tur me to better, holier emotios. 6 Commetary o wome who vetured ito the world beyod domesticity became icreasigly scathig. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Bosto s Ladies Magazie from 1818 to 1836, codemed the public sphere as a embarrassmet ad degradatio of the soul, 7 makig wome leadig a public life seem ot oly udesirable but shameful. If a woma wished to work i a mill or provide for her family through a wagepayig professio, magazies wet so far as to codem her for tamperig with society ad uderpiig civilizatio. 8 Moreover, magazies ofte asserted that higher educatio devalued a woma s role as a wife, ad would lead wome astray. Such opportuities were cosidered practical oly if they helped wome with their destied occupatio withi the home. I her book, The Youg Lady s Fried, Mrs. Joh Farrar praises bed makig as a repetitive exercise that builds moral character ad accetuates a woma s patiece, steadiess, ad resiliece. 9 The popular periodical Godey s Lady s Book ecouraged wome to read ovels ad poetry that depicted wome as the sole spiritual beigs who walk the earth ot usee 10 ad gave examples of female spirituality ad virtue. A woma, may sources claimed, should ot wat to pursue math, sciece, ad egieerig for the busiess of the world, but rather should wat to lear how to led her aid to improve the system of istructio for childre ad how to disciplie her ow mid, ad make her more capable of promotig the happiess ad success of others. 11 Evetually, fed up with the material of wome s literature, radicals writig for a later wome s magazie, The Lily, published from 1849 to 1853, sought to couter prevailig advice: the idea that every little Miss must seem thus, dress thus, walk, talk, ad look so ad so ad all for a beau 12 was harmful to a girl s self-worth as she could ever coform to the exactig ideals of a bride. The magazie also became a propoet for more rigorous educatioal opportuities for wome, particularly i the medical field. I the domestic sphere, medical traiig would improve a woma s roles as guardia of the health of her household, ad the urse at the bedside. 13 Ultimately, the magazies cotradictios attempts to expad wome s life choices vs. costat criticisms left wome straded. Some respoded with utter despair; some dismissed the istitutio of marriage altogether. A diarist from Lowell, Mass., Miss Burham, who chroicled the struggle of attedig to her job as a schoolteacher while tryig to fid herself a husbad, evetually admitted she felt a empty othig. Such wome slowly tured their focus from the ladies magazies ad toward strivig to awake ad arise, to ascertai the cause of this gloom. 14 I this way, they became the arbiters of their ow destiy, awakeig withi themselves the eed to assert their ow rights ad idetities. 1. The Coversazioe, Godey s Lady s Book, Jauary 1837, 2. 2. Nacy Cott, Bods of Womahood (New Have: Yale Uiversity Press, 1997), 64. 3. The Coversazioe, 2. 4. Barbara Welter, The Cult of True Womahood, America Quarterly 18, o. 2 (1966): 153. 5. ibid. 6. The Coversazioe, 6. 7. Bods of Womahood, 67. 8. The Cult of True Womahood, 172. 9. Mrs. Joh Farrar, The Youg Lady s Fried (New York: Samuel S. ad William Wood, 1838), 44, quoted i The Cult of True Womahood, 165. 10. The Coversazioe, 9. 11. The Coversazioe, 8. 12. Amelia Bloomer, Correspodece, Forest City Water Cure, The Lily, 1 July 1851, 5. 13. Forest City Water Cure, 2. 14. Miss Burham, diary, 14 July 1833, Schlesiger Library, Radcliffe College. CM 19
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history of a friedship Opportuities ad Lifetimes Lihua Lai 02 foud a ew school ad ew family i Larry Geffi 69 ad his wife, Yurika By Jaetta Strigfellow Photos by Kathlee Dooher Every studet who boards a bus or trai, or who catches a ride ito tow from a paret, or who eve walks a few blocks from home to reach the corer of Dartmouth ad Comm. Ave., leaves somethig behid. Larry Geffi 69 said goodbye to a group of pals i Dorchester who just wated to drik beer ad play cards. Some thirty years later Lihua Lai 02 stepped away from a buch of girls i Bosto s Chiatow who oly played with their cell phoes ad watched Chiese soap operas. As teeagers, either Larry or Lihua talked with family members about what wet o i the classrooms or stairwells of Commowealth. It was simply too differet from aythig that wet o at home. By the time Lihua came to Commowealth, Larry had bee teachig art here for more tha twety years, ad coutless studets had leared how to make first-rate drawigs ad paitigs uder his tutelage. His guidig had exteded outside the studio as well; several alumi/ae readily admit that they would ever have received diplomas if it had t bee for Larry s tireless perseverace, which eabled them to discover ad develop their iterests ad stregths. Larry s feelig of beig out of place as a studet at Commowealth, which he soo detected i some of his ow studets ad advisees, gave rise to a uquechable determiatio to help such studets succeed. CM 21
Lihua s family emigrated from Cato, Chia, to South Bosto whe she was eight. Soo after, they moved to Chiatow. Two years later they moved to Malde; a year after that they were back i Bosto, this time i Charlestow. Lihua was ow i eighth grade. Bumped to the bottom of the school-placemet lottery, ad too late to take the etrace exams for Bosto Lati or ay other school, she foud herself attedig middle school i Brighto. Betwee teachers who had trouble egagig with studets, ad studets who skipped classes, acted up, or were t iterested i learig oe of my teachers kept the widow up i the dead of witer to keep studets from fallig asleep Lihua was uhappy. But at this critical momet, there were people ready to help. A favorite teacher, Abraham Abadi, took some of Lihua s work, icludig a paper o Shakespeare, to show the school s pricipal Elaie Gibso 72. Recogizig a yougster who wated to be challeged, Elaie kew whom to call, ad Lihua headed for Commowealth. At first, Lihua (who wet by the ame Maria at the time) felt cofused. It did t look like a school; Commowealth was like aother plaet! People spoke a differet Eglish, behaved differetly, ad the differece from my middle school was ight ad day. Usettled, shy, ad still somewhat usure of her Eglish, Lihua was relieved to fid a few other kids from diverse backgrouds ad laguages. She became close with her classmate Diep Kiem, who was Vietamese ad Cambodia. Eve with frieds to sped time ad talk with, Lihua foud the challeges of Commowealth sometimes overwhelmig. The day she did t show up for her Eglish 9 midterm, Larry took ote. He worried had she ru away? She came back the ext day, ad from the o, he kept her o his radar: To see her retur, ad the guts that must have take, I just thought, Who is this girl? Whe her advisor, Claire Hoult, wet o sabbatical, Lihua had to fid a replacemet. She chose Larry because he was approachable ad told radom jokes characteristics that surely soud familiar to those who kow him. Lihua lived with her mother. Bila Zeg worked two jobs to make eds meet while cotedig with a imposig laguage barrier betwee her ad most of Bosto. So Lihua eded up jugglig the resposibilities of a adult alog with those of a high-school studet. Larry stepped i to help. Larry took me to the immigratio office, Lihua recalls. He helped me realize how importat it was to have advisor letters traslated ito Madari for my mother, ad the figured out how to make it happe. He was o me all the time about gettig health isurace. He told me to do my homework: Tuesday afteroos were the worst. He d fid me hidig i a ook ad chase me to the library sayig, You do t have sports today! You have o excuse! Larry also helped Lihua secure a summer job with Adam Kirsch 79 at his Allsto-based olie atique auctio busiess. The moey she eared bought her textbooks, a laptop, clothes, ad trasportatio to ad from Commowealth. It also gave her added cofidece ad aother place where she was appreciated. Adam s assistat, Lyelle, is still devoted to Lihua. As Larry says, Lyelle sees her. At the ed of each of my advisees time here, I give them a piece of my Japaese calligraphy with a special character depictig a characteristic that I see ad admire i them. I Lihua s case, I wrote what she meat to me. I chose the character for daughter. At first, Yurika Geffi, Larry s wife ad Commowealth s bookkeeper, kew about Lihua oly from the stories Larry told ad from hearig his ed of their phoe coversatios whe Lihua checked i, worried about work or a issue with a teacher. But the both Geffis took Lihua college visitig to Mout Holyoke ad UMass Amherst ad the friedship grew. They were thrilled whe Lihua decided o Bry Mawr; she atteded the college o a full scholarship from the Posse Foudatio, which recruits ad supports groups of studets with high academic ad leadership potetial. The studets i each Posse group support each other as they tackle college life. After graduatio it is t ucommo for studets to stay i touch with their advisors they stop by the school to say hi, or meet for a occasioal luch. But as ew iterests compete for their attetio, the time betwee visits ofte legthes. Larry, Yurika, ad Lihua stayed close. Yurika feels a special kiship: she left behid a family i Japa to come to the U.S., ad at first did t kow may people i Bosto. As with Lihua, Larry was her guide to America life ad Commowealth studets. We do t have childre, so Larry has more eergy to give his studets, she says. I m glad, because he is always oe hudred percet everythig. Each time I hear about someoe s success, I m so glad that Larry was a part of shapig their lives. Every time Lihua came home from college for a visit, she got i touch with the Geffis. The three might meet at the Number Oe Noodle House i Newto for oodle soup ad dumpligs, or Larry ad Yurika might ivite her over for shabu shabu. Oe time they showed her the video of their weddig Yurika took three hours to get ready ad Larry was dressed i Japaese clothig ad had a fa, she recalls with affectioate amusemet. The day Lihua graduated from Bry Mawr, Larry ad Yurika atteded the ceremoy. Soo after she fiished college, Lihua declared, This relatioship is meaigful ad more tha that of a former studet ad teacher. Let s ame it. They called it family. You ca t choose your family of origi, but I was lucky eough to choose my spouse ad daughter. At about the same time, Larry bega turig his persoal commitmet to studets from somewhere other ito a istitutioal support program. First was Eterig Commowealth, which offers early support ad advisig to icomig studets who may have the determiatio to succeed but lack some of the ecessary preparatio. As these ad other 22 CM
studets sometimes eed extra help, or have trouble fidig quiet places ad times to read, write, ad thik, Larry also lauched the Homework Project, a twice-weekly, volutary, proctored study hall. Now i its seveth year, the Homework Project draws studets of all sorts, from all grades; some studets who use the program as uderclassme go o to become metors. Larry is proud of this work, but he liks it to the culture of the school, ot to himself. It s the ature of this place. If somebody eeds somethig, you supply it or do your best to. Middle ad upper class kids get secod chaces. The others do t. It s ot about moey; it s about opportuity. Larry saw these programs as well as a meas of raisig awareess. I 2007 Lihua came back to Commowealth to work i admissios ad college advisig. But most otably, she became the school s first director of diversity. She took o this resposibility with a rare combiatio of sesitive awareess ad practicality. It was sometimes tough to balace idetifyig with the differet types of studets ad beig a more objective metor. Ivolvig the school commuity was also a challege, gettig studets iterested i their ow stories ad, at the same time, curious about those of others. We brig people ito this school, ad we ask them to mold to our culture. But the school eeds to see the ways i which these kids actually shape the commuity. They have chaged the faculty s ad their classmates perspectives about diversity. It s a reciprocal relatioship. Luckily, because of Eterig Commowealth ad the Homework Project, there was already a mometum goig. I 2010, Lihua left Commowealth to become the director of studet developmet at the Asia Uiversity for Wome i Chittagog, Bagladesh the oly liberal arts uiversity for wome i South Asia. She briefly took over as actig dea of studets before a iteral coup the fouder usurped the chacellor caused the leadership to resig e masse. Sice the her travels ad work have led her through Idia, to Pesylvaia, back to Idia ad ow to New York, where she has just begu a ew job as assistat director for iteratioal admissios at Fordham Uiversity. Whe I first came to Commowealth, Larry would tell me I was strog ad courageous. He sees the best i you ad ecourages you to see who you ca become. Larry ad Yurika have accompaied Lihua i perso ad i spirit o her etire jourey. Oe loely ight i Cheai, Idia, she remembers askig herself, Where am I? What am I doig with my life? I so wated to call Larry ad Yurika, but was 3 a.m. i Bosto, ad I kew that Larry eeds his sleep. However, whe I thik about makig decisios about my life, the first people I thik of are Larry ad Yurika. That s who they are to me. For their part, Larry ad Yurika are proud of Lihua ad ethusiastic about everythig she has accomplished. As it turs out, you ca choose your family. Lihua, Larry, ad Yurika chose each other. A bod like theirs is a little like magic ad all about love. CM 23
cwsaa The Commowealth School Alumi/ae Associatio Trista Davies from the (New!) presidet A few years ago, after a very log, very busy day, I checked the mail ad fully expected the usual assortmet of juk ad bills. But betwee the coupos ad restaurat meus, there was a ivitatio to the Alisha Atlas-Corbett 01, Commowealth Fall Music Festival. presidet of the CWSAA I remembered lovig the assembly whe Joatha Brooke performed, so whe I saw her ame o the bill I bought my ticket ad marked it o the caledar. The cocert started, ad it might as well have bee talet ight at Hacock. It did t matter that the audiece comprised differet graduatig classes, or eve differet geeratios the affiity we shared was stroger tha age or cohort. Whe the last bad came o, we all jumped up, stacked the chairs alog the sides of the room (eatly, of course), ad laughed, sag, ad daced the ight away. Betwee umbers, I bumped i to a fellow alum, who served o the Commowealth Alumi/ae Associatio. He ivited me to joi the ext meetig, ad I was immediately take by this group of compassioate, dedicated alumi/ae. Over the last few years, I have made ew frieds ad recoected with old frieds through the CWSAA ad their related efforts. Whe Emily Bullitt aouced she would be steppig dow as presidet at the ed of the 2013 14 school year, I welcomed the possibility of followig i her footsteps. This sprig I was fortuate to be a part of the weddig of a close fried from Commowealth. Whe I sat dow to write my toast for the receptio, I wet back to my yearbooks for ispiratio. I cracked the spie, ad was immediately trasported back. As I read through the otes ad captios, I did t remember every iside joke ad referece, but the coectedess ad spirit came through o each page. All the highs ad lows of high-school agst had blurred ad left a ostalgic, coteted glow i their place. The Alumi/ae Associatio does ot seek to brig us all back to high school. Istead, it aims to create a opportuity for coectio for Commowealth alumi/ae locally ad aroud the world. So the ext time you go through your mail ad see a evelope with that sassy mermaid i the corer, thik about Hacock, Beach Day, ad ever roller-skatig i the hallways. Prit by Perry Wilso '17 Stay Coected with Commowealth ad Evertrue Oe of the most importat roles for the Alumi/ae Associatio is helpig former studets coect more easily with each other ad with the school. With that i mid, we recetly siged o with Evertrue, a atioal leader i olie alumi/ae commuities. With the Evertrue app for smartphoes, verified Commowealth alumi/ae ca joi the school s commuity ad have access to: A alumi/ae directory A caledar of evets A etworkig tool to help lik you to alumi/ae i your professio For more iformatio ad liks to dowload the app for ios ad Adroid, visit www.commschool.org/alumapp. 24 CM
alumus perspective A Mermaid i Mexico By Russell Weiss-Irwi 10 Paitig by Erika Escobar 16 Arrivig i Mexico City this past Jauary, I had little idea of what to expect. The city is vast ad complex, old ad ew, dese ad disordered ad diverse, ad the first few days felt overwhelmig. I had come to sped the semester five moths of studyig political sciece, to which I was accustomed, sice it s also my major at City College of New York, my U.S. uiversity, but i Spaish, to which I was much less accustomed. As I bega to make frieds with Mexica studets ad with exchage studets from Caada, Lati America, ad Europe, I foud myself challeged agai ad agai by ew ways of doig thigs ad differet ways of seeig the world. From matters as basic as the climate (remarkig o how hot it was) to those as complex as fidig the words to describe my culture to others, I discovered a path fraught with potetial for misuderstadig ad rich with potetial for learig. As I wrote essays o the eo-coloial, corporatist system that permeates Mexica politics ad sometimes atteded protests agaist it o the same day I thought back to my first experieces abroad. Whe I was a sophomore at Commowealth, we had a exchage with a high school i Madrid, ad durig the summer followig juior year, I joied the aual trip to Peru. O both trips, my best momets were the oes whe I was able to fid istaces that revealed the tesios beeath the surfaces of those societies. I Segovia, Spai, I saw ati-moarchical posters ad felt a mischievous joy i realizig that I got the jokes ad the deeper meaigs. I a moutai tow i Peru, I foud a local assembly of idigeous wome i brimmed caps ad listeed from the back of the hall as they heatedly discussed the directio their commuity should take. This spirit of respectful curiosity stayed with me i Mexico. I leared history i the legedary Museum of Athropology ad at the Pyramids of Teotihuaca, but also from my greegrocer, Lupe, who became oe of my closest frieds ad best teachers. We would talk oce or twice a week as I walked home from my bus stop whether I bought groceries or ot. Lupe taught me about his faith as a Evagelical Christia, a miority religio i predomiatly Catholic Mexico, ad told me about his time i the U.S., where he had worked as a cook i New York hotels ad o trasatlatic cruise ships. He was ethralled by the beauty of rivers like the Hudso, the Delaware, ad the Charles, that cut right through cities, somethig you hardly see i Mexico. We talked about the culiary traditios he leared i the U.S. ad about Mexico s ow diverse foods, the moles ad tamales of each state ad city. I spet most of my last day i Mexico shoppig with him ad cookig a Frech ad Mexica feast i his kitche a meal I will remember for a log time. Trips like these come at a cost, ad i my case happeed oly because I received fiacial help from my schools icludig Commowealth. Studyig abroad is a critical part of ay good educatio, ad I feel fortuate that it has already bee part of mie three times. Russell Weiss-Irwi 10 is i his fial year i the political sciece program at City College of New York. He loves cookig ad bikig aroud Bosto ad NYC. Goig to Mexico chaged his life. You ca read his day-by-day blog of the experiece at russellimexicocity.blogspot.mx 32 CM
May alums wat to hear about what s chaged, ad there s plety to fill up those coversatios. But I most ejoy talkig about what s the same. That the kids I teach today are as eager as ever to be part of the eterprise is aother kid of magic. No mere spectators, they re here to work hard, lear, ad build this commuity. Larry Geffi 69 Your gift to the Aual Fud has a impact o each studet ad each teacher at 151 Commowealth Aveue. Providig 12 percet of our aual budget, the Fud relies o sustaied yearly support from all our costituets. At a school this small, every dollar you provide makes a differece. Our latest fiacial report gives a list of doors. It also recouts stories of how your gifts have affected the lives ad the work of the people i our commuity. You will fid all this iformatio at www.commschool.org/aual2014, i the 2013-2014 Aual Report of Givig. To make a doatio, visit www.commschool.org/makeagift. For more iformatio, call Jaetta Strigfellow, Director of Developmet, at (617) 266-7525 ext. 293 or email jstrigfellow@commschool.org
Commowealth School 151 Commowealth Aveue Bosto, Massachusetts 02116 No-Profit Orgaizatio US Postage Paid North Readig, MA Permit No. 6 The wood stove i the Camp Wioa diig hall was a especially covivial gatherig spot durig this fall s chilly Hacock. Photo by Walter Crump.