Writing by:
Hanna Greenberg
Blog post |
It’s already the first week of July and it is only now that I finally am rested enough to have a modicum of perspective about the hectic crazy busy last month of school.
The annual five day camping trip to Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod requires a… Read more ›
Blog post |
All too often parents, educators, and even students ask us why we are so adamant about not offering any courses at SVS, and why we only teach in response to the students’ initiatives. They wonder why we don’t just offer a few “required” subjects and… Read more ›
Blog post |
I myself am tired of my stories about SVS trips in general and of skiing trips in particular. But I just can’t help it!
The truth probably is that what I see happening on trips happens all the time at school, but it happens so privately that I… Read more ›
Blog post |
For many years now a Halloween dance has taken place in the barn. Wearing a costume is optional but most people come wearing something funky, beautiful or amusing. The dances are totally organized by students, while staff serve as chaperones who are… Read more ›
Essay post |
There is a question which I dread and which I am invariably always asked. It is: “If you say that the children at SVS are supposed to be in charge of their lives at the school and do and learn what they want when and how they want, what then is that… Read more ›
Essay post |
One day in late summer Danny came home from school with a very grim face. I knew that he had bad news for me and he indeed said that something terrible happened. Of course, being me, I thought that someone I cared about died. Danny said, “Yes, it’s… Read more ›
Essay post |
For years and years every Wednesday the upstairs piano room is taken over by Sharon Kane and her students. When I glance through the door’s window I see kids of all ages working with Sharon, but I have always wondered what is really going on in… Read more ›
Essay post |
“When God began to create heaven and earth, the universe was chaos and disorder, and darkness enveloped the void.”
Genesis 1:1
One day not long ago I was driving along, listening to the radio. I don’t remember what the subject was but the word “… Read more ›
Essay post |
Sometimes it is a wonder to me that I keep on working at the school. I am saying this not because I am bored with the sameness of the things that we encounter, or with the lack of new challenges that being in the same institution for over thirty… Read more ›
Essay post |
This is a confession: It took me many many years to learn how not to pounce and use what are called "teaching moments" at home with my own children and here at school.
Like most people I like to tell stories, to talk about things that I know and… Read more ›
Essay post |
A young girl of nine or ten asked me to teach her math. I gave her some problems which she enjoyed doing. Next day she came to me with many sheets of paper covered with similar problems which she made for herself and then solved. She is obviously… Read more ›
Essay post |
Shortly after the oral thesis defenses were completed one of the students who participated in this new procedure suggested to me that I should sit together with all the students and talk about their experiences. They agreed to have the conversation… Read more ›