Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Project Time!

Students will be working over the next several weeks on a project that involves the cooperation of Historic Saranac Lake, Pendragon Theater, Mark Kurtz, and others.
More details in an upcoming post...
Today, students will continue research in the library, using the Historic Saranac Lake Wiki. Among the topics students will investigate are:

People for 7th Grade Projects


(stars indicate the person had a connection to the Helen Hill neighborhood)

* Adelaide Crapsey -- a young talented poet whose life was cut short by TB. Wrote some beautiful poetry while here. One poem is about Pine Ridge Cemetery. She cured in Helen Hill

* Eddie Diamond -- brother of the gangster Legs Diamond. Cured at the Altavista hotel on Franklin Ave., now burned down.

* Jack Kenney -- cured on Franklin Ave. On wiki are some letters he wrote while curing there and photos of him.

* Eva Long -- cured at Prescott. On wiki are pages from a scrapbook of hers and some great photos.

* Mary Prescott -- a philanthopist, owner of the Prescott house. A lot about her on the wiki

* Daniel Riddle -- came as a patient, worked for Dr. Trudeau, built Franklin Manor on Franklin Ave., which later became a convent.

* Jack Carrier -- stayed on Franklin Ave., we have some photos from albums of his

Béla Bartók -- We have a book called “My Father” that has some letters from him to his son written while here. The cottage where he stayed is over by Kiwassa / Riverside Drive. We show the cottage to the public.

Isabel Smith -- cured at San for 17 years, wrote an autobiography called “Wish I Might”, Students could take passages from it to present in her own words. There are some beautiful photos taken of her here online (I can send a link) and HSL can lend the school her autobiography.

Norwegian Sailors -- stayed all over town. On wiki are some good photos of some of them and letters written in their own words. Their graves are in Pine Ridge Cemetery with an interesting marker in Norwegian.

Beanie Barnet -- a patient at the San. who launched a publication that would ultimately sell four million copies called “Trotty Veck Messages”

John Black -- The room at the lab was built for him. We have letters that he wrote while in the war and photos of him here. He cured at 3 addresses in town, none on Helen HIll but one on Church St.

Jack Dalton -- a young patient at the Sanatorium and a poet. We have some of his poems on the wiki.

Walker Percy -- a doctor who cured at the San who became a famous novelist

Norman Bethune -- a doctor who cured at the San who became a hero of the Maoist Revolution in China.

Martha Reben -- cured at the San and then in the woods with ADK guide Fred Rice. Wrote bestselling books about her experience.

Robert Louis Stevenson -- cured here at the height of his fame as one of greatest American writers. The house is a museum.

Albert Charles Badasarian -- cured here, ran a shoe shine stand downtown, was friends with author W. Somerset Maugham, worked for WNBZ radio.

Richard Ray -- cured at San and Ray Brook. Took photos and kept a journal. We have a book of his photos and notes while curing.

Ed Worthington -- cured at San, made radios for himself and other patients to pass the time, had many neat hobbies, taught at the Study and Craft guild. Married a patient and had a child they raised here.

Topics:

- Bootlegging

- People settled in SL after the cure and established businesses, sometimes making a living from a craft they learned in occupational therapy (example: Temming)

- Wartime (WWI and WWII)

- see the thematic index http://hsl.wikispot.org/Thematic_Index for links to pages on wiki that relate to other themes and issues in American history such as immigration, the flu pandemic, the labor movement, etc.

- see the list of reminiscences and oral histories at http://hsl.wikispot.org/Reminiscences_%26_Oral_Histories for more first hand photos and accounts.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Longer School Day, Longer School Year?


In class we've begun to have very interesting discussions about a proposal to lengthen the school day or year or both.
After reading an Achieve 3000 article about this topic, we began to explore how Governor Cuomo's idea to expand learning in New York could play out.
We discussed how other public officials like President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan support expanded learning time as well.
Students have expressed their own opinions, while also considering other's views about the pros and cons of altering the traditional school calendar.