Dear Gryphon Families,
When I look back over my career someday, I have no doubt that the fall of 2018 will stand out as a particularly exciting, challenging, and memorable period. Between the rush of opening our high school facility with moments to spare, operating a school while it’s still under construction, and juggling the logistics of Odyssey being a fully self-contained middle school program for the first time, I can honestly say that it has been equally exhausting and exhilarating. I am still energized every time I walk through Odyssey and see our kids engaged in Project-Based-Learning, however. It is truly a special place. Thank you for sending us such amazing kids!
Please take a moment to read a little about what our Gryphons have been up to this fall. I also encourage you to mark your calendar for our Discovery grand opening on Thursday, January 24 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. We sincerely appreciate your support as we continue to learn and grow together to help our Gryphons prepare for their futures. We wish you a relaxing and memorable holiday season and look forward to seeing you in the new year. Go Gryphons!
Sincerely,
Aaron Smith, Odyssey Principal
6th Grade
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
-Albert Einstein
What drives you as a learner? At Odyssey, we believe that when kids exhibit curiosity and learn to ask the right questions, they can guide their own learning. To develop these essential inquiry skills, the sixth graders have been “Curiosity Cruising”. While cruising, students were asked to explore those things in life that peak their curiosity, and then given a little time each day to research a topic, practice a skill, or create new work. Eventually, like all we do, students were asked to formally present their curiosities to other learners. What did your child share? Was it a musical talent? An art performance? Something they designed and engineered? Whatever it may have been, we hope the curiosities of today may become the seeds of lifelong passions.
As the new year looms, our learners are looking to the past, guided by the question,
“What makes a civilization successful?”
The Civilizations Project takes students back in history to study the Chang Dynasty in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and the Incan Empire in pre-colonial Peru. Collaborating in groups of four allows students to each take different expert roles—architects, daily citizens, culture experts, etc.—each tasked with gathering accurate information about the civilization they are studying. Students are using this information to write narratives with story arcs, build scale structures, and to learn how civilizations use resources to provide for the basic needs of their citizens. Mark your calendars! Our sixth graders will be opening a living history museum to share their learning on January 31st with family members, and again on Feb 1 for 5th grade students who will be touring Odyssey Middle School.
7th Grade
As winter break arrives, sounds of excitement ripple through 7th Grade Homebase. Chitter-chatter. Ringing bells. And if you listen closely... the sounds of learning. Presented with the question, “How can we think and communicate in sounds?” these gryphons are learning the science of sound while developing their research and communication skills by learning how to produce podcasts about topics of personal interest.
How can we think and communicate in sounds?
With topics ranging from “What happens when computers teach themselves?” to the story of how taking the No Sugar Challenge became a life-changing journey, to a very funny and engaging story about a dog, to “What is feminism?”, these learners are sharing the experiences, passions, and curiosities that matter in their lives.
Anchored by Jack Cheng’s novel See You in the Cosmos, this project tasked students to use elements of storytelling, interviewing skills, and digital sound editing and production, all important success skills used by professionals across fields ranging from journalism to music production.
After weeks of researching, writing, practicing, and recording, the seventh grade team gathered to listen to the top peer nominated podcasts and provide warm feedback. It is apparent that we have thoughtful, caring learners, when they provide feedback to each other like, “It was very inspiring.” “I like how you explained really complicated things.” “You did a great job of brining your personal voice into it; that was your story, and you told it well.” “I think your podcast kept it really entertaining.”
Like all our projects, our 7th grade podcasts will be shared with outside audiences. Students will be able to upload their work to the New York Times’ Student Podcast Project where they will be judged alongside podcasts produced by other 13-19 year olds from around the world. Winning podcasts will be featured on the New York Times Learning Network.
You can explore this project and listen to our podcasts by going to:
8th Grade
The act of learning takes us on a journey to new worlds. The 8th Grade Gryphons are taking this idea literally with their Commercial Space Travel Project. Pulling together concepts from Science, History, Language Arts, Math, and Design, students are collaborating to develop a business plan for a successful space tourism company. Their company’s success depends on how well they answer this challenging problem:
What are the economic, ethical, and health related concerns involving commercial space travel?”
Along their space odyssey, students will design and engineer a prototype spaceship that considers current space technology and use protoscience to predict and develop future technologies.
Since they are building a business, students need to know who their customers are and what their customers desire. To do this, each company is conducting market analysis and research through the development and distribution of surveys on social media.
Once in space, how will the space travel companies impact other worlds? Looking to history for examples, students have researched how treaties have protected resources on Earth. With the goal of protecting outer space resources, students studied maritime treaties, the Antarctic Treaty, and the current Outer Space Treaty, to research ideas to write their own treaty for the future.
One of the most exciting aspects of this project is the many connections it has to real-world careers. Drawing from our community, professionals were invited to visit Odyssey and share insights and teach skills to our students. We want to thank Jeannie Horton, who spoke to the students about strategies used in business to handle team conflict, and Erica Stupfel, who taught students basic features of Adobe Illustrator.
To prepare our galactic entrepreneurs for their final portion of this project—a Shark Tank pitch—another community member, Callie Christiansen will visit Odyssey. Callie is the inventor of Slumberkins and former Shark Tank contestant, who will share hot button topics that sharks want to hear.
Speaking of sharks, we are looking for community members with business, construction, or science backgrounds to judge pitches at 1:00 on January 18. If you can help, please reach out to one of our 8th grade teachers.
Credits:
Odyssey Middle School & Discovery High School