B-more moves towards empathy
We give young people the tools to express emotions that cannot be put into words. We help them understand empathy, and what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes.
High expectations for Baltimore’s youth
This August, Writers in Baltimore Schools held its first sleepaway writing camp, the weeklong Baltimore Young Writers Studio. We’ve held two-day writing studios in Baltimore before, but this year, we took fourteen kids between the ages of twelve to sixteen to the woods of western Maryland for an intensive writing experience. It was a homegrown project, staffed by local writers and Teach for America dynamos, and created in the image of the writing camp that perhaps changed the direction of my young life, the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
Raising achievement for all students
What makes America the most inventive culture on the planet? When I go to international meetings, why do leaders from countries with the highest test scores tell me they wish their kids could be more like ours? It’s because we value free thinking, creativity and innovation. We raise our kids to discover their talents and pursue them toward futures full of possibilities.
Michael Bloomberg Gives $5 Million to OSI-Baltimore
During his visit to Baltimore yesterday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a gift of $5 million to the Open Society Institute-Baltimore for its Accelerated Pathways Initiative. This five-year initiative will create rigorous, supportive and accelerated high school options in Baltimore that will significantly increase graduation rates and post-secondary success, particularly for the city’s African-American […]
Rowing to college scholarships
Inner city middle school youth from the poorest neighborhoods in Maryland—kids who once couldn’t swim—are now rowing in high-tech racing shells on the Middle Branch Basin as an avenue to college scholarships
Bringing poetry to life to make confident readers
Last April, the 7th grade writing workshop I teach at Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School studied an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem. Today, the group struts around the school, reciting lines from the poem: “We were very tired, we were very merry–, We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.” Writers in Baltimore […]
Leadership of counting sheep
G. has consistently led his team members to complete projects on time. In the Festival Committee, he helped to organize his peers to accomplish the production of promotional videos and prepare for public speaking events. –Taken from a Verified Resume issued by Wide Angle Youth Media. “Give me 8 sheep and then we will have […]
Enterprising Green3
Green can be a polarizing term. Especially when it brings about images of swimming polar bears, talk of carbon and climate change, or messaging to turn the thermostat down and put on your jumper, like ol’ Jimmy Carter. Environmentalism has typically cast a message about scarcity that only appeals to a relatively small number of […]
Every child should have a mentor
I attend a program called Higher Achievement where I meet with a different mentor each night. I have three mentors. Ms. Amanda teaches me Math, Ms. Sarah teaches me Literature and Mr. Joe teaches me Seminar. Ms. Amanda allows us to talk to her about anything. Ms. Sarah is really kind and she is a […]
Reducing power and water consumption
We’re all familiar with the litany of problems associated with our current electricity system. Households struggle to meet higher bills; the State faces the prospect of brownouts by 2011; and Maryland’s heavy reliance on coal-based power contributes to global warming. On top of that, the State may face a shortage of water in the future. […]
