6th grade paused their unit on identity poetry to begin work on LAD Fair projects. LAD Fair is a great opportunity to showcase our students’ talents with writing and language and helps demonstrate to the community why we have the best kids around! There are several topics to choose from and students have been tasked with writing at least 4 submissions of varying lengths and requirements. These submissions will be edited and polished before they are submitted so that students can have the best chance of putting their best foot forward for the competition. Submission is not required, but is highly encouraged and is open to all students of The Summit. For more information about LAD Fair including deadlines, categories, and available scholarships, check out their website at https://ladfair.com/.
7th/8th grade also took a brief pause from their novel to work on LAD Fair submissions but got back in the saddle with Guy Montag from “Fahrenheit 451” on Tuesday. Now a dangerous fugitive from justice, Montag is on the run and looking for friends and allies wherever he can find them…and they are in short supply. Bradbury’s text continues to interest and challenge students with it’s extensive use of motif and metaphor, not to mention his brilliant imagery. The class will most likely finish the novel by the end of the week and move on to their final projects before shifting their focus to poetry in the weeks ahead.
High School finished “The Great Gatsby” this week and will move on to their final assessments next week. The book has been a challenging, yet rewarding read as it’s a novel that utilizes character to drive the plot much more so than action and adventure. This approach has caused students to have to dig deep and analyze motivations, personality quirks, and indirect characterization to interpret the events of the novel fully. Following the conclusion of “The Great Gatsby” we are moving onto an exciting companion piece entitled “Passing” by Nella Larsen. Written in the 1920’s by a woman of color (a rarity in those times) “Passing” tells the story of two friends, both women of color, who engage in the practice of “passing” in order to gain access to opportunities that might have otherwise been denied them; even marriage and family. It’s a fascinating look into racial politics of the time and, where Gatsby was very white and very male in it’s approach, this novel will give students a strong counter point to balance their understanding of the time period.
