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Author: Brianna Parker

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News, Seminars
September 27, 2019

Imani Yasin has made a career of working with students in a mentoring capacity. She first became acquainted with TCS when she was working with the mentoring program Sisters Circle as their High School Programs Coordinator. Imani has been a sponsor for students in the school for 2 years now and her niece also attended TCS. This spring Imani was awarded as a “Woman to Watch” by the Baltimore Philomathians. Imani is also a local hip hop artist when she isn’t doing amazing work with youth. Imani has led a Conversation With at TCS before, focusing on her music and career. Today, she came back to share her experience traveling in South Africa and Mozambique over the summer. Ronan observes two rings that Imani bought at a market in South Africa. In early summer, Imani co-lead a study abroad program for high school students through the group called The Experiment in International Living. The program aims to teach the students about leadership, human rights, peace, and politics. They embed themselves in the local communities, learn about the culture and unlearn stereotypes.  Because the majority of the program was in various South African cities, a major learning experience for Imani and the students focused on the history of Apartheid. Unlike American segregation which split people by white and not-white, South African Apartheid split people into multiple categories based on the lightness and darkness of their skin.  Imani shows a video of a market in Mozambique. As a part of the program, Imani got to experience a diverse range of ways of life...

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News
September 25, 2019

To start P.E. class today the students met with Ms. Liz Dover, Head of School at the GreenMount School. Ms. Liz told the students about the history of the GreenMount School. In the early 1990s, six parents weren’t happy with the public school system and applied to start a charter school. Back then, there were no charter schools yet in Baltimore and the parent group was denied by the city. The parents started the GreenMount School as a one-room, church basement nonprofit. It has grown over the years to include grades K-8 and hosts 100 students. Much like how our own sponsors volunteer to help TCS run, GreenMount is a “parent cooperative”. Each GreenMount parent agrees to contribute 40 hours a year to the school’s operations.  Ms. Liz also shared a little about herself. She used to be a science teacher, and she particularly loves earth science. She wasn’t sure about being an administrator at first, because she loves the interaction with students that comes with being a teacher. However, she felt the call to grow and take on new roles. Being an administrator in a small school helps, because she still gets to interact with all of the students. Ms. Liz says she knows all of her students names, and their families.  GreenMount loves to give back to the community, and has been working with TCS for several years. In an extension of this partnership, Ms. Liz invited the TCS students to apply to work at the school's after school program. At the end of the...

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News
September 20, 2019

All of our voices matter - this is the takeaway that author Hena Khan emphasized in today’s Conversation With. Hena is an author of children/young adult books. While she has written books on a variety of topics for publishers, her personal works tend to focus on Muslim kids in America, with themes of finding who you are, family relationships, and friends. The students have been reading Hena’s book Amina’s Voice, a novel about a Muslim girl in middle school grappling with fitting in and her changing relationship with her best friend.  When Hena was a kid, she read many books from her local library in Rockville, MD. However, she was never able to see herself in the books she read; none of the characters were like her. A child of two Pakistani immigrants, Hena would write a family newspaper she called the Khanicles. Looking back as an adult, she noticed her newspaper never touched on the parts of her family that reflected her family’s culture. When Hena had a son, she wanted him to grow up with what she didn’t have - books that represent people like him. Hena said, “When people are ignorant about things, they can be easily mislead with misinformation… I believe in the power of stories to show that people aren’t that different”.  As always, the TCS students asked some probing, insightful questions. Many students thanked her for writing the book, because they wouldn’t normally be exposed to this kind of narrative. They also discussed the publishing process, what it’s like financially to...

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News, Seminars
September 18, 2019

What better way to start learning a new topic than a hands-on example? With the Freshman Physical Science class starting a new unit on density, the Johns Hopkins CSI volunteers led a lab to demonstrate the concept. Ms. Rebecca explains, “This is a measurement that communicates how much mass is in an amount of space (or volume). Density is what makes oil float on top of water, or ice cubes float in water”.  In this lab, students mixed sugar with water at different concentrations of sugar. Sugar adds mass to the water, so each mixture has a different density. To show each density visually, CSI gave the students food dye to color each sugar water mixture. Then, the students poured each mixture into one graduated cylinder. The mixtures with the highest density slid to the bottom, and the mixtures with the lowest density stayed at the top. This creates a rainbow of liquid mixtures and demonstrates density in a physical way.  Experiments are the best way to understand concepts, because it takes the abstract and makes it real. We are grateful to the CSI volunteers for starting this unit with our Physical Science class! ...

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News
September 13, 2019

Last night we welcomed everyone to the first sponsor meeting of the year. Students, parents, and sponsors filled every chair in the main classroom. We started the evening by inviting everyone to share how they feel the year is going so far, and we heard a very positive response from new and continuing community members alike.  The meeting first delved into the details of TCS academics. Mr. Tom answered questions about what the students are graded on, how often grades are published, quiz and testing policies, and the importance of homework.  Attendees were also treated to a first-look of the TCS Student News, typically published on Fridays. TCS Student News is a great way for families and sponsors to keep up with what is going on around the school, from birthdays to speakers to special projects. Watching the TCS Student News every week is a great way to support the student’s hard work, too; it is 100% student led, from the research and script to the filming and editing! We also took a moment to recognize everyone who has signed up for providing lunches so far. We have been very successful with filling this semester’s calendar with lunch volunteers and it wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated community members - thank you!  Our next big event, happening in a month on October 12th, is the 3rd Annual Bull Roast. Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Dave Bayer, handed out flyers and solicitation letters to be distributed at local businesses. The Bull Roast is our biggest fundraiser of the year...

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News
September 11, 2019

No matter your previous strengths and weaknesses, we want you to give your best effort. This lesson, a common theme throughout all of our courses at TCS, was at the heart of the first Physical Education class of the year. To start the class students got to know Mr. Eduardo, who is serving another year as our volunteer P.E. teacher.  The first activity the students did was a twist on the classic game of tag. After the game, Mr. Eduardo gathered everyone together. “I don’t care how good you are, or how good you think you are, which is not the same thing by the way. I want to see you try your best,” he told the students. The second half the class was spent practicing soccer skills with fun, creative games.  During the class debrief, Mr. Tom discussed how P.E. improves all three aspects of health that the students learn in health class- physical health, social health, and mental/emotional health. Improvements to physical health may be obvious, but if you watch, you can find evidence of social and mental health improvement as well.  Socially, P.E. helps bring the students together. Tyleiah said, “it helped me bond with the new students in a different way than in the classroom”.  Mr. Tom and Mr. Eduardo wrapped up the class by emphasizing that the goal of P.E. is to help students who aren’t usually active learn that you don’t have to feel embarrassed or nervous about physical activity. Thank you Mr. Eduardo for helping the students be healthy and well-rounded! ...

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News, Seminars
September 6, 2019

Those familiar with the TCS program know that Fridays are a time for writing and discussion. To kick off the first Friday of the year the Board of Trustees prepared lunch and led a conversation with the students. This important event is traditionally the first of the Conversation With series. It is a time for the Board to get to know the students, and for the students to learn more about how the Board functions and how they influence the school.  As always, the students asked some thought-provoking questions. They discussed what meetings are like and what happens when people have conflicting ideas, and what the Board does about tough decisions. The Board emphasized that they come to a consensus for every decision, and they do so by talking about it thoroughly. There is never much disagreement because each member of the Board approaches decisions through the framework of doing what is best for the school. The biggest responsibility that the Board has, they said, is ensuring that the school is here in the future. Mr. Tom added, “You made a commitment when you walked in the door to graduate, and we have to see that through”.  At the end of the discussion, Ed Gavin reminded the students that the Board is there to hear any concerns people might have. Students and families may write a letter to the Board, confidentially if need be, to bring up an issue. Although we try to resolve conflicts on a smaller level, it is important to know that the Board...

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News
September 4, 2019

Welcome back to another school year! The classroom was full with all twenty students this morning as the day started off, as always, with the important topic of current events. Students watched news stories and discussed the events, sharing their current knowledge and opinions. Mr. Tom emphasized that not only do we want students to have opinions, "we want you to move towards an informed opinion. If you stay tuned in this course, you will be extremely well-informed". After current events, we held an introduction session. Everyone paired off and interviewed each other, then used that information to introduce each other to the rest of the class. We have a diverse class this year with interests ranging from sports to cooking/baking to drawing and science and everything in between. The students spent the day switching between their classes and getting to know each teacher and subject. At lunch, we honored Aidan's birthday (which is today!) and all of the birthdays that happened over the summer. Fun fact- we have three students with birthdays on August 26th! The students dove right in to working in the afternoon in the independent study session, getting off to a good start with balancing the workload. It was a successful start to what will be a productive year full of learning and growth. Please click here to view the full photo gallery from the first day of the 2019-2020 school year! ...

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