Students And Teachers

The student: Claire Boman, 17 School: Mount Hebron High Special achievement: Claire is a teen columnist for the local newspaper, The View. She alternates weekly columns with another student. "My first article for the paper was about a Back Street Boys concert when I was in seventh grade. Miss Phyllis [editor Phyllis Greenbaum] really likes to have articles from kids and teen-agers - she encourages it." How did she get the job? "It's actually kind of funny. Miss Phyllis came to me because she knows I'm a good writer.

Tailor teaching to meet needs of all students Kudos to Woodlawn High School Principal C. Anthony Thompson for taking a positive approach to reaching under-achieving students ("A lesson in confidence," Sept. 24). I, too, am a firm believer that when you expect more from students, you get more. All students have the capacity to learn. As educators, we face the challenge of instructing students with a variety of backgrounds, experiences and cultures. Teaching such students involves more than following a pre-established curriculum: It involves reaching out to students in ways they can understand -- ways that can help them succeed.

A spike in burglaries in Northeast Baltimore and truancy records of some Northern High School students led to the arrest of five students this week, police officials said yesterday. The five Northern students are accused in five of 26 burglaries of houses near the school, Col. Robert M. Stanton, chief of detectives, said at a news conference at police headquarters. Police would not identify the juveniles by age or say what grades they are in. School system spokeswoman Edie House referred questions to police.

At the front of the room is one of math teacher Katrina Comp's baggy pants-wearing, sneaker-shuffling students. Following the shouted instructions of his classmates, he walks forward, then backward, then faster, then slower -- his every movement graphed electronically on the overhead projector screen behind him. He is a living, breathing human graph -- and suddenly the three days of lessons about algebraic functions and slopes click, and these Eastern Technical...

A plan to standardize grades in Anne Arundel County's 117 public schools - to ensure that an A in one classroom means an A in another - has drawn fire from students, parents and teachers for its heavy emphasis on final exams. The plan would require high school teachers to count final exams as 30 percent of a student's overall grade, up from 20 percent. Some students and parents say the change would put too much weight on a two-hour exam. "It takes a lot of emphasis off of time in the classroom, and that's where the majority of learning goes on," said Lauren Hall, a junior at Broadneck High School in Annapolis.

A double dose of tragedy has rattled students and teachers at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson in recent weeks, putting a damper on festive graduation parties and the start of summer recess. The deaths of two students - Patrick J. Cunningham and Andrew G. Carlson, both 17 - in separate car accidents within a month has made it difficult for students to concentrate on schoolwork and final exams. "The whole reality of losing two classmates, it's tough," said Chris Miller, 17, a junior at Calvert Hall.

With every snip and subsequent stitch, healing was taking place. And so by the time the students at Long Reach High School had finished the 9-foot-by-9-foot quilt that will hang in the school's most often-traveled hallway, smiles were replacing tears and a hopeful message was beginning to cloud the memories of a traumatic year. The purple Peace Quilt unveiled yesterday in the school's auditorium is more than just beautiful and more than just a symbol. The students who helped make it hope that the quilt will be a constant reminder of two classmates whose lives were lost this school year: 14-year-old Ashley Mason and 18-year-old Andre Corinaldi.

A 15-year-old student at Randallstown High School has died of bacterial meningitis, Baltimore County school officials said yesterday. Christina "Tina" Lennon, a sophomore honor student and member of the junior varsity volleyball and softball teams, contracted the disease about a week ago. She died Tuesday, said Charles A. Herndon, spokesman for the school system. "We were all very hopeful because she was breathing on her own," said an aunt who visited Christina and her mother at Sinai Hospital on Sunday and asked that her name not be used.

Five county schools seek grant money to plan improvements County school officials are seeking a $248,000 federal grant to create smaller "communities" for students and teachers within five of Anne Arundel's largest high schools. Recent educational research shows that more personalized education increases the likelihood of improved academic performance, lower dropout rates and better student-teacher relationships, according to the grant application. The money - available through the U.S. Department of Education - would be distributed among five high schools: Annapolis, Arundel, Glen Burnie, Old Mill and North County.

WITH ITS network of study centers and field trips for 37,000 school kids annually, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has always had one foot in education. Now it's getting in with both feet. This summer, the foundation will launch three-year "partnerships" with nine Maryland schools chosen competitively for their commitment to improving academic achievement, student behavior and environmental sensitivity. Although the foundation has produced curriculum on the bay, this is its first foray into school operations.