What's Happening at the Joslin Campus?
Parent Council power!
The Joslin Campus Parent Council put together the first annual Taste of Perspectives! Panther families generously donated dishes representing the rich cultural heritage of the campus, and we were able to have a lunch together and learn more about one another. South Loop community members and prospective PCS families joined us for an afternoon of music, dance and food.
The parent council raised $450 that they will use toward student trips and teacher appreciation week. Way to go Panther parents!!
Celebrating Cultural Diversity
The Joslin Campus enjoyed an evening of entertainment at the African American Heritage Celebration on Thursday, 2/18. Free Street Theater - directed by D-Nick the Microphone Misfit - kicked off the night with part of the group's student-written hiphop play entitled "Tips". The students were proud to show off their creativity and stage presence. The Art Club - instructed by Meg Peterson - was pleased to teach families about their self-created t-shirts. They discussed the process of creating stencils and why they chose to create the images that were stenciled onto the t-shirts. The audience was then treated to some amazing stepping by our very own Step Team. The all-girl team demonstrated traditional step moves, taught the audience about the history of step and performed some original and student-choreographed routines. The night was capped off in true College For Certain style with a visit by some special guests. Our very own Jonathan Daniels and some of his Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated - from Tau Chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - and Nu Delta Chapter at Chicago State University presented a snippet of their fraternities' history, and explained the significance of their organization on their respective campuses. They also demonstrated one of their fraternity's strolls as well as a chant. They were then followed by the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated who presented a brief history of their organization, talked about their professions and discussed other members of Alpha Kappa Alpha who are prominent contributors to African American heritage. They then entertained the audience with a very impressive step show. Finally, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated - Theta Zeta Chapter from Chicago State University - performed a step routine and stroll, as well as presented a brief history of their fraternity and their prominent members who made significant contributions to African American history.
Mattie C. Stewart Foundation visits Perspectives
Thank you to the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation for the presentation of The Choice Bus. 9th and 10th grade students were able to learn some shocking figures about the connection between levels of education, incarceration rates, and median income on Wednesday, February 10th. For instance, 80% of prison inmates are high school drop outs, over the course of a lifetime a person with a college education will earn an average of one million more dollars than a high school dropout, and that the median income of a high school dropout is only $9,000 a year. Then the students were shown a documentary of currently incarcerated individuals who spoke of their regret about not making positive choices in their life, especially about being educated. The presentation ended with the reveal that the back of the Choice Bus was a life size replication of a prison cell, exact to size and accommodations (cot, sink, and toilet). Students were surprised to see just how small the cell was, and got a first hand experience of what prison life would be like.
Creativity in the Classroom
Joslin's 9th graders demonstrated their creativity, as well as their grasp of the play Antigone, by creating a variety of projects as part of a Humanities summative assessment in late January. Students had the option of choosing to analyze characters, delve into cause-effect relationships, write a poem or rap extending the story of the play, or rewrite the ending using modern language. Several groups entertained and educated their peers with performances of revised endings that captured the mood of the play, while also introducing and resolving a new conflict. Because of their careful analysis of Antigone during Quarter 2, the 9th graders are well prepared to tackle Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet later this year. Way to go, Susan Lynch, for encouraging creativity in your summative assessments!Educational Opportunities
On Thursday, 1/28, and Friday, 1/29, Adrienne Metcalfe's 7th grade science classes had the opportunity to take part in U of I Extension's Mobile Science Lab. The students learned about robotics in a small group setting. They learned the difference between a machine, a computer and a robot. They were also given the opportunity to create their own program for a robot and then tested it and traced the robot's path as it followed the created program. Students were excited to learn about this technology and indicated an interest in pursuing more science related to robotics.
Guest Speakers
On Wednesday, February 10th, the high school students had an opportunity to hear about the life experience of one of "The Lost Boys of Sudan", Mabouc, who now lives in Chicago. Mabouc spoke to the students about the History of Sudan, about his journey as a Sudanese refugee living in Kenya, about his motivation to get an education once he reached the United States and about his goals for the future. The gravity of his life story inspired many students and sent a strong message of demonstrating perseverance and living each day better than the last! Thank you, Katie Williams, for organizing such an amazing speaking engagement for our students!
On Wednesday, January 6th, the Middle School students were treated to some very special guests. Local DJ giants: DJ Arkitek, DJ Flipside (of B96) and DJ Slugo all came out to speak with our students about their journeys and perform some amazing mixing. The students were fascinated to hear about DJ Slugo's message of perseverance during tough times; they were equally amazed to learn of DJ Flipside's incredible work ethic and ability to take initiative. The students asked thought-provoking questions and listened actively to both the performances, as well as the messages of inspiration. Perspectives was fortunate to have such talented musicians and technicians come out to inspire our youth. Special thanks to DJ Eddie Mills who organized the event.
Dissection!
Adrienne Metcalfe's 7th grade students recently finished their anatomy unit by dissecting a sheep's heart! In the dissection they learned that the structure and function of a sheep's heart is almost identical to a human's. The students had a very fun and educational experience! Thank you, Ms. Metcalfe, for challenging your students and providing them with an excellent classroom dissection opportunity.
Teachers are creating great Field Studies for their students:
- For their February Field study in physics, 9th graders traveled to Fermilab in Batavia, IL. Students had learned about some of the knowledge being pursued by scientists at Fermilab in order to prepare and generated tremendous questions that they worked hard to answer while visiting the facility. Groups of students were given tours of the machine room, control room, auditiorium and were introduced to the particle accelerator. The students were able to see first hand what a day is like in a real science lab where new knowledge of the universe is pursued each day! They culminated their visit with a question and answer session with a Fermilab scientist. Students challenged themselves intellectually and demonstrated their ability to be life long learners by asking some amazing questions. The docents, scientists and staff at Fermilab were quick to comment on the intellectual curiousity and outstanding behavior of our 9th graders and the students were eager to show their gratitude for such a great field study. A fantastic time was had by all!
- The 6th grade students have been exploring converting fractions, decimals and percents into each other. For their field study on December 2nd, the 6th graders went to the UIC bowling ally to demonstrate their knowledge of converting fractions, decimals and percents into each other. Students had a fun time while bowling a full game and strengthening their computation skills! Students had to do a variety of math computations related to what fraction of the pins they knocked down each time they bowled. Then students had to turn each fraction into a decimal, and finally, into a percent. Overall, students did a great job; they were excited to go bowling and it was a fun way for students to practice their computation with fractions, decimals and percents.
- On Wednesday, December 2nd, Ms. Loafman's 12th grade students visited the International Museum of Surgical Science. The intent of their visit was to investigate connections between the science of anatomy and the global history of surgical science. The museum is housed on 4 floors of a historic Lake Shore Drive mansion. Since its opening in 1954, this museum has continued to procure collections of surgical instruments, artifacts, and literature from surgical societies all over the world. In addition, the second floor of the museum holds 12 large stone statues in the "Hall of the Immortals." Another large room contains several mural paintings depicting surgical practices and their champions from throughout history. Many other paintings and pieces of artwork are scattered throughout the museum. The students were treated to "amputation" and "surgical instruments" demonstrations. They enjoyed these interactive presentations, as well as being able to understand the vast improvements in surgery and medicine from ancient times to today. They gained a sense of appreciation for modern medicine!