Staff News
Congratulations to Math teacher Chrissie Bolan and her husband as they celebrate the arrival of Jay Abbott Bolan, a beautiful healthy 8 pound 11 ounce baby boy!

Guidance Secretary Shelly Santantonio’s father was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. They do not yet know the severity of the diagnosis, but he is in good spirits. Please keep Shelly and her family in your prayers.

Secretary Karen McCullough officially joined our team on Monday, February 22nd! I have seen several you of stopping by her desk to introduce yourselves and to make her feel welcomed. Thanks to Beth Johnston for helping her transition into her new position.

Please welcome long-term math substitute teacher Tyler Rogers to Team NAHS. He is taking over the reigns for Chrissie Bolan. I would like to thank math teachers Karen Morlan, Chrissie, and Lindsay Bennett for leading the interview process to select Tyler to join us.

English teacher Lynette Turner, Math teacher Sara Shon, and Science teacher Clair Monk recently attended a dynamic EdLeader21 Workshop held at the Columbus Museum. EdLeader21 is one of the premiere education organizations that develop rubrics to measure student creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills. They were able to connect with a number of educators from Ohio and other parts of the country. Following are the learning targets for workshop attendees:

Learning targets:
• Understand the key elements in the EL21 Critical Thinking rubric
• Learn how to design performance tasks that strategically integrate Critical Thinking in the context of ELA, science and mathematics
• Learn strategies for helping students self-assess Critical Thinking skills
• Use the EdLeader21 Critical Thinking Toolkit to strengthen your systematic implementation of 4Cs instruction and assessment

They participated in several design challenges as they examined the key global skills previously listed. Following is a list of potential design challenges EdLeader21 recommends for students:
1. How can we improve the landscape of our school?
2. How can we design a blade that generates the most speed and electricity on a turbine?
3. How can we, as biographers, create a legacy for our local heroes?
What they learned aligns perfectly with our Rigor work as we challenge ourselves to examine our instructional design and student learning to ensure students are developing the necessary skills for success.

Students As Learners
Congratulations to our Science Olympiad Team for their outstanding performance in at the New Albany Invitational last Saturday! Following is a recap by Coach Sudha Ganesan:

Our varsity team won a fourth place trophy, while our JV came in 25th place. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of your students. They took such initiative to set up the HS on Friday last, they made sure each room had the right signage, the right number of tables, chairs, all school property was secured away from testing areas, all teacher’s resources put away safely. On Saturday morning, they were there in the lobby, greeting schools, walking them to their homerooms, getting rooms unlocked, lights turned on – true school ambassadors. During the day they helped visiting teams navigate our school campus to events, helped event supervisors with overhead projectors, internet connections, all this while they successfully competed in their many events earning a rich haul of medals and ribbons.
Our students are confident that we are on track to bringing home a top three trophy at the Grandview Heights Regionals in two weeks. Congratulations to our our amazing medal/ribbon winners.

Bhagee G. – Anatomy & Physiology (2nd), Experimental Design (3rd),
Protein Modeling (3rd), Cell Biology (7th)
Nishant C. – Wind Power (3rd), Wright Stuff (3rd), Air Trajectory (5th),
Robot Arm (7th)
Gunnar W. – Bridges (3rd), Wright Stuff (3rd),, Air Trajectory (5th)
Aditya M. – Protein Modeling (3rd), Wind Power (3rd), Write It Do It (7th)
Nikhil P. – Protein Modeling (3rd), Detectives (4th), Chem Lab (6th)
Harshitha K. – Hydrogeology (3rd), Dynamic Planet (4th)
Mihir P. – Bridges (3rd), Fossils (6th), Chem Lab (6th)
Olivia S. – Hydrogeology (3rd), Fossils (6th)
Parker L. – Game On (1st)
Wilson W. – Game On (1st)
Jovitha N. – Anatomy & Physiology (2nd)
David Tan – Astronomy (4th), Dynamic Planet (4th), Forensics (5th)
Nikhil M. – Astronomy (4th), Disease Detectives (4th), Cell Biology (7th),
Pranav G. – Robot Arm (4th)
Sidharth S.- Robot Arm (4th)
Shota N. – Forensics (5th)
Aayush S. – Experimental Design (7th)
Arjun K. – Robot Arm (7th)
Catherine T. – Write it Do It (7th)
Shanvanth A. -Experimental Design (7th)
Tejal R. – Experimental Design (7th)

American History teacher Jeremiah Hunt introduced his students to a concept called, “the silent debate”, which led to high level academic discussion and student engagement. As I observed the class, the depth of student learning impressed me, and asked Mr. Hunt to provide a description of the activity to share:

The night before the debate, I asked half the class to read a document supporting the Truman Doctrine and half the class was assigned to read/analyze a document criticizing the Truman Doctrine. The next day, students partnered up with a person in the class who read the opposing viewpoint. Instead of debating back and forth verbally the students took turns debating back and forth by writing their positions on a piece of paper. Each statement the students wrote was taken from the document and used text evidence as support. The activities allowed me to emphasize document analysis skills and supporting a position with text evidence.

I am certain this can be used in a variety of courses, so consider giving it a try. Thanks, Mr. Hunt!

Each year, students in American Literature 11 write their own poems based on a significant historical event or historical artifact in America. Before students begin writing, they study poetic structure through the works of Gwendolyn Brooks, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and they learn to “scan” a poem and write explications. After studying the poetic art form, students begin writing and then present their poems along with a 3-D project. This year, the students worked harder than ever and Regina Morlan and Nicki Cray were so impressed with their efforts. The final products ranged in topics from Columbine to Vietnam Protests to Dr. Martin Luther King and The Statue of Liberty. Here is an excerpt from junior and new student, Yvonne Ologo: “The American Dream:”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, the wind blew
Rushing leaves form my feet and toward her flew
There stood a silhouette, grey, pasted in the blue
Even with no expression my agitation grew.

Why do I have to shut up and follow the crowd?
Why can’t I do something, be creative, make myself proud?
She reached out to touch me, so gentle with care
Her face was so graceful, couldn’t help but revere…
The Statue of Liberty
And there it was in her silence she had answered me
America, yes, the land to be
Land of persistent differences but unity…

A job well done by Mrs. Morlan and Mrs. Cray!

Upcoming Events
Monday, March 7th- Department Chair Meeting 3:00 pm Professional Library
Wednesday, March 9th- Staff Meeting 7:15 am Jefferson Room;
Senior Brunch
Thursday, March 10th- Staff Meeting 7:15 am; House Jeopardy
Saturday, March 11th- SAT

Articles Worth Reading
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Be Great,

Dwight