I had no expectation of teaching To Kill a Mockingbird this year. After all, The Beekman School is a high school, and most American students encounter Harper Lee's seminal work in middle school. But, to my astonishment, many of my students (and not just the international ones!) had not read the book. I myself had not cracked it open since the 8th grade. Teaching this book not only reacquainted me with Lee’s lifelike characters, but it also reminded me of why I chose to teach literature in the first place.
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Ask any New Yorker with children what’s the hardest part of living in the city. Having enough living space is high on the list; perhaps even higher is choosing the right high school.
New Yorkers cherish the city for its variety and diversity. There are more school choices than flavors in a Häagen-Dazs ice cream shop. Yet, despite the amount of research parents do and how many school visits they make, no one is guaranteed to make the right choice.
Science is elegant. Mathematics is beautiful.
That was the insight that came to me as I unexpectedly found myself leafing through a whole slew of Scientific American magazines from years gone by. And with that insight came a whole new appreciation of the subject of mathematics that I had devoted my life to teaching. I was struck by how quickly some of the science articles had become outdated, while the math articles retained a timelessness that reflected the one-pointedness of mathematics itself--the fact that the truths of mathematics belong to eternity.
In love with science since childhood, Vanilla Macias-Rodriguez had plans to become a pediatrician. In college, however, she realized she was too tender-hearted to work with sick children. Instead, she decided to bring her love of science to young minds. After earning a B.A. in Biology with a double minor in Chemistry and Speech Communications at Texas A&M University, she taught in her native Texas before relocating to New York with her husband.
Can you roll your tongue like this? (Click on the picture to see the full image.)
If you can, chances are one or more of your family members can too. This trait along with other characteristics like blue eyes, curly hair and lactose intolerance, is inherited or built into your genes and passed on from one generation to the next.
While some inherited genes code for severe and sometimes lethal genetic disorders, others can give insight into the workings of the human body in ways that would amaze you.
One-on-one attention from the right tutor can make all the difference in your child’s academic success.
“If kids are out sick when the class is learning five-paragraph essay writing or they just never grasped fractions, they will stumble and get farther behind every time those things come up,” explains Maren Holmen, Academic Liaison at The Beekman School in Manhattan, which specializes in accredited tutoring for high school students. “The right tutor can help get those skills bumped up so your child can continue learning with everyone else at grade level.”
We’re pleased to offer The Beekman School's Merit Scholarship, a program offering each recipient 50 percent tuition remission for each year that he or she remains a student in good standing with a minimum 3.0 GPA. For students enrolled at Beekman for four years, this award will be worth more than $90,000 in tuition value.
From an infant’s first days, parents make choices for their child representing the family’s values and interests – taking into consideration the child’s own personality. And yet when children enter school, we relinquish much of this participation. The child becomes a student. But now more parents are asserting that education needn’t happen at the expense of individuality.
Having sent three children through New York City independent schools, I believed I was well acquainted with what they had to offer – that is, until I arrived at The Beekman School as an English teacher, after 25 years as an editor.
Here we are, summer around the corner, the sidewalks soon heating up, and dreams of beach vacations approaching. But wait. Maybe you’re just realizing your son has fallen behind in that geometry class. Maybe your daughter needs better language prep in Spanish or Latin. Perhaps English is a second language and your child will be more comfortable with classes next term by continuing English studies during the summer. Or maybe your child wants to go deeper in a topic of interest.