Summer School

Say you're a teenager. It's June and summer is ready to roll around. You have a few choices. You can get a summer job, spend your summer sleeping in late and hanging at the pool, or go right back into a school building and learn more. Few would probably choose the last example. But spending the summer inside a school building is exactly what kids from the around the region are doing as part of the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts' annual Teen Professional Theatre. And from the popularity of the program, it seems most kids couldn't imagine a better way to spend their summers.

Baltimore city students will have a plethora of options for education and recreation this summer, under a new partnership between city agencies and school system that will expand the scope and length of programming for city youth. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakeand City schools CEO Andres Alonso announced Wednesday that with the help of non-profit and philanthropic communities, the city's recreation efforts will converge with the system's summer learning initiatives to create a unique structure of a full-day of summer programming.

Baltimore City school administrator Linda Eberhart envisions a scene straight from a high-tech, science-fiction film after students build robots as part of a new summer school math and science program. "It's all just going to come together," Eberhart said, as she described how about 2,000 students will gather in August to scrimmage the dozens of robots on a field in the city. "Students always ask, 'Why am I learning this?'" said Eberhart, the director of teaching and learning who is heading a host of summer school reforms in the city this year.

Say you're a teenager. It's June and summer is ready to roll around. You have a few choices. You can get a summer job, spend your summer sleeping in late and hanging at the pool, or go right back into a school building and learn more. Few would probably choose the last example. But spending the summer inside a school building is exactly what kids from the around the region are doing as part of the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts' annual Teen Professional Theatre. And from the popularity of the program, it seems most kids couldn't imagine a better way to spend their summers.

In addition to swimming with Michael Phelps ' instructors and battling with handmade robots, Baltimore summer school students will be building soapbox cars to help keep their minds revving until the next school year. In a program that began Tuesday, 2,000 middle school students will participate in what the district has themed a "Grand Prix" of summer learning in anticipation of the world-class auto racing event coming to the city in early September. It's the newest programming effort by the school system to join the nationwide campaign to combat summer learning loss and continue the district's emphasis on a summer science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

Hundreds of Baltimore City summer school students converged at the Maryland State Fairgrounds on Thursday to have their mechanical alter egos compete in a series of games for the first-ever title of Baltimore City STEM Academy Champion. More than 100 teams of middle-school students — named "Robogirls," "Souldjabots" and even "Wall-E" — pitted robots that they had built over the course of six weeks this summer against one another in the culmination of the city schools' Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Kenneth Witts is a happy man. He has 25 students who want to study geometry, who chose freely to spend 4 1/2 hours a day, five days a week for five weeks mastering pesky theorems in summer school.These aren't students who didn't get it the first time. This is their first time."I didn't like being in standard math when all my friends are in honors" or G-T [gifted and talented], said Nikki Pontello. By taking geometry with Mr. Witts at Loch Raven High School, she'll be able to take Algebra II as a sophomore at Towson High in the fall and then go on to trigonometry and college algebra.

What do teachers do in the summer?Some children believe that the teachers climb into the classroom closet and wait for September to roll around, when they step back out, ready to teach again.But Elkridge Elementary staff members are turning to other pursuits this summer.Traveling is on the agenda of Sharon Rollier, who is venturing with her husband to Southeast Asia; Amy Colman, who is visiting family members in Nashville, Tenn.; Steffi Zarikow and Freya Hill, who will travel to the Northwest together; and John Vanoosten, who will go to Chicago and Wisconsin, and then to Germany and France for nearly a month.

MY FRIEND LEVIN, the retired schoolteacher, tells the story of informing one of his students that he was likely to spend his vacation in summer school. "That's OK," this underachiever responded. "I believe in the school creed." He meant the blithe, in-your-face tribal creed regarding summer school. "What school creed?" said Levin. "`I ain't the only one,'" the lad replied, reciting it by heart and with gusto. The story comes to mind today because of the thing happening in the public schools of Baltimore, whose great thinkers announced this week that the city's classrooms will be filled this summer with hordes of the moping and the academically indigent.

The success of Baltimore's summer school seems to prove what common sense has told educators and parents for years: Children learn when they are in a small classroom with a good teacher who has lots of time to plan and expects high standards. In the words of school board president J. Tyson Tildon, "Hard work by people who understand and know the educational process pays off." The success also gives city and state school officials powerful evidence to support their proposals to create tough standards for students to pass from one grade to the next.

In addition to swimming with Michael Phelps ' instructors and battling with handmade robots, Baltimore summer school students will be building soapbox cars to help keep their minds revving until the next school year. In a program that began Tuesday, 2,000 middle school students will participate in what the district has themed a "Grand Prix" of summer learning in anticipation of the world-class auto racing event coming to the city in early September. It's the newest programming effort by the school system to join the nationwide campaign to combat summer learning loss and continue the district's emphasis on a summer science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

Until last summer, Baltimore City students probably didn't think that Michael Phelps and African step dancers would have much to do with their learning. But city school officials reported that middle-school students who used fractions to clock swimming lessons with the Olympic champion's coaches or calculated the proportion of rhythms by the performers showed significant progress in their ability to retain academic skills over the summer. The lessons were part of Baltimore's revamped 2010 summer-learning program, being hailed as a potential model for the country after it produced notable results that reversed a district trend of murky progress and low attendance.

Hundreds of Baltimore City summer school students converged at the Maryland State Fairgrounds on Thursday to have their mechanical alter egos compete in a series of games for the first-ever title of Baltimore City STEM Academy Champion. More than 100 teams of middle-school students — named "Robogirls," "Souldjabots" and even "Wall-E" — pitted robots that they had built over the course of six weeks this summer against one another in the culmination of the city schools' Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Baltimore native and 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps dove into a short lesson with city summer school students Wednesday on how to overcome fear of the water and to become successful and safe swimmers. Phelps joined about 40 excited students at the Polytechnic Institute pool to launch a partnership between the city schools' Summer Learning Academy and the Michael Phelps Swim School, which will offer 60 middle-school students up to 20 hours of swim lessons this summer, donated by its coaches.

Baltimore native and 14-time gold medal Olympian Michael Phelps is scheduled to make a splash with city summer school students Wednesday afternoon. Phelps will provide a swim lesson to students to kick off a partnership between the city schools' Summer Learning Academy and the Michael Phelps Swim School. The swim school will give 60 middle school students up to 20 hours of swim lessons donated by its coaches. The lesson and announcement will take place at the Polytechnic Institute.

Employers are offering financial incentives so workers will do the right things, and veteran mothers, who have been paying for everything from good grades to made beds for years, are, like, "Duh!" One program pays employees $10 to $100 a day to take their blood pressure medicine because the health care costs of not doing so can be so high. Another gives workers time to go to exercise classes and then cuts their share of health care premiums if they show up regularly. Another pays people to stop smoking.

Baltimore City school administrator Linda Eberhart envisions a scene straight from a high-tech, science-fiction film after students build robots as part of a new summer school math and science program. "It's all just going to come together," Eberhart said, as she described how about 2,000 students will gather in August to scrimmage the dozens of robots on a field in the city. "Students always ask, 'Why am I learning this?'" said Eberhart, the director of teaching and learning who is heading a host of summer school reforms in the city this year.

With the academic turnaround at Annapolis High School solidified, Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell has adjusted staff scheduling to return the majority of the staff to a 200-day-a-year schedule. Under Maxwell's plan, which was agreed to by collective bargaining units and announced last week, department chairs in the four core academic subject areas, special education and ESOL will remain on the 12-month schedules. The school's testing, International Baccalaureate, Middle Years Program and signature program coordinators will also remain as 12-month employees.