The school hosted more than 1000 conferences on the last two Wednesdays. Parents will have a final chance to meet with their children’s teachers on Tuesday November 24. Both Monday and Tuesday classes will be asynchronous to allow teachers a chance to speak with parents about the first quarter, reflect on students’ strengths and growth opportunities and plan for the future. This is an excellent time to get to know your children’s teachers and hear about what they are learning in class. It is also a wonderful space to discuss strategies for distance learning and independent study. Parents can register for conferences on the website pickatime.com. Once on the website they should select “Washington Latin-Fall 2020 Conferences 11/23/2020.”
The Theatre department will livestream a presentation of Anna Deavere Smith’s play Twilight Los Angeles, 1992 on Friday the 20th and 27th at 7pm. The play was composed from the 300 interviews Deavere completed to cull reactions to the 1992 riots that followed the trial of police officers in California involved in the beating of Rodney King. The various roles include police officers, politicians, jurors on the trial, victims and participants in the riots in South Central Los Angeles. Several upper schoolers and two middle schoolers memorized and performed the roles, and Mr. Birkenhead and Mr. Baldwin helped direct and edit the production. Students will also engage in a “Talk Back” reflection on the roles after the performance on the 20th. While the events of the play took place almost 30 years ago, the topics are still timely and help students tap into the concepts of listening, discussing conflicts and completing research, areas that are central to the development of opinions that are informed, flexible, and reasoned.
Physics and AP Environmental science teacher and wrestling coach Mr. Torrence will be teaching a Wrestling Wednesdays event every week at 4pm for any interested students. The class will include self-defense, boxing, wrestling, and elements of mixed martial arts. He will join several other coaches and athletes around the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area to meet leaders in combat sports, talk to Division 1 athletes, and win prizes for attendance and completing light workouts. Interested students should fill out this Google form. Mr. Torrence leads a weekly Zoom call with wrestling coaches in the area to engage isolated athletes, encouraging students to stay in shape via pushups, situps and miles run or biked. The organization also started a campaign and hashtag #PullUpAboveRacism and mailed pull-up bars to 20 kids who set about doing 846 pull-ups to honor George Floyd. Washington Latin senior Jalen Richardson did over 1200 pull-ups this summer! Guest speakers on his meetings have included NCAA athletes, an Olympian, and the wrestling coaches from American University, Naval Academy, Coast Guard Academy, and Princeton, among others.
Professor Sarah Federman visited an 8th grade English class today to talk about conflict resolution. Federman, a professor at the University of Baltimore’s school of Public Policy, earned her PhD in conflict resolution at George Mason University. Federman is a scholar of World War II and other international conflicts. Her upcoming book The Last Train to Auschwitz: The French National Railways and the Journey to Accountability will be published in 2021. Dr. Federman spoke to students about the value of journaling and role playing to understand different sides of a conflict. Students will be starting a journaling project writing letters of conflict based on characters in the play Inherit the Wind. The story, which focuses on the Scopes Trial, contains legal, philosophical, and family conflicts. Students are also independently reading various choice books related to the quarterly theme of Justice, including All American Boys, The Crucible, The Boy Who Dared, Real Justice, A Police Mr. Big Sting Goes Wrong, and Chew on This. Throughout the unit students have worked on understanding different sides of a conflict through quote analysis and perspective writing.
Children’s book writer Emma Otheguy visited an eighth grade English class on Friday to share details about her recent mystery story Secrets of the Silver Lion, which is part of the Carmen Sandiego series. Eighth graders recently completed a mystery unit and wrote their own original mysteries for class. Students asked her questions about how she maps out a mystery, where she does research, and how long it takes to write a book. When the current eighth grade were fifth graders, Ms. Otheguy visited the school to read to them from her first book, a poetic bilingual biography called Marti’s Song of Freedom. She also visited the school the following year to read from her middle grades novel Silver Meadows Summer. Ms. Otheguy has published six books and is working on a new novel about the immigrant experience. Twenty-one years ago, she was Ms. Breitman’s seventh grade student!
