AN OPEN CANOPY HAS ROOM FOR EVERYONE rentwood Borough SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
“ In America, we call those geese.”“ How long do those beautiful flowers last? And what do you call them?““ I am curious about this idea. How do they plan to try and keep the environment clean? How was it started? I like your idea.““ I love the smell of the earth after watering the ground, and I also like the picture you took; it looks beautiful.”
These snippets were taken from conversations that Brentwood High School students had with students from a high school in New Hampshire and two high schools in the country of Lebanon. It was a conversation that lasted 12 weeks!
Brentwood High School’ s Developing ESL class was invited to participate in a pilot program through The Open Canopy project at Harvard University’ s School of Education. Just four schools in the United States and four schools in Lebanon were selected to test a new curriculum for the project formerly known as Out of Eden. Since 2013, The Open Canopy has been connecting students from around the world to explore culture, geography, history and change.
Following in the footsteps of Paul Salopek, students learn the beauty of slow journalism. A journalist for National Geographic, Salopek was troubled by the rapid-fire journalism that permeates our world. Journalists fly into an area to cover a story and leave again less than 24 hours later. Salopek believes that the real stories are those that can only be understood by the people living them; that time in a community or with a person is the only way to begin to comprehend a situation organically.
And so, he began his journey literally walking the Earth. Salopek has walked across every continent experiencing the
The Brentwood Borough School District is excited to welcome Mr. Joe Michalski as the new Assistant Principal at Brentwood Middle / High School! He began his duties with the district in February.
Mr. Michalski is a native of the South Hills of Pittsburgh, having attended Seton LaSalle High School. Upon his high school graduation, he matriculated to Community College of Allegheny County( CCAC), where he obtained an Associate’ s Degree in Education and was a two-year starter on the men’ s basketball team. He then transferred to California University of Pennsylvania, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor’ s Degree in Education of the Mentally and Physically Handicapped in 2002.
Mr. Michalski began his teaching career at McKeesport Area High School as a Learning Support teacher. After earning
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world in a way that is almost incomprehensible. He takes time to appreciate every step, every culture, every land while sharing his journey with the world.
Obviously, a typical high school student and most people, will not get the opportunity to walk around the globe. However, The Open Canopy project is making the journey possible on a much smaller scale. Using a social media style, secure platform to communicate, the students were each encouraged to learn about their own communities on a deeper level and to share the things that only someone living their would know.
Students researched the Brentwood Public Library, Rowdy’ s Bar-B-Q, Brentwood Park, Squirrel Hill Medical Center, AHN, Brentwood Town Center and more. They conducted formal interviews with community leaders, workers, families and teachers. They took photos and documented their learning on the platform. They shared the very best of Brentwood with the world. And, in the process, they learned about the communities of the other schools and students involved.
While the students learned that they had more in common with their counterparts in the program than they expected, they also honed their journalistic skills. The participants learned how to write objectively about subjects close to them, to interview in a professional manner, to meet deadlines, to engage in online dialogue that is healthy, respectful, and inquisitive, and to think like journalists.
Brentwood was the only school ESL program in the United States to be selected. Unsurprisingly, the fourth period students rose to the challenge!
WELCOME MR. MICHALSKI TO BRENTWOOD MS-HS! his Master’ s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Gannon University in 2009 and his Principal’ s Certification from California University in 2014, he began his career as a school administrator with the Pittsburgh Public School District as an Assistant Principal at Brashear High School. Most recently, Mr. Michalski served as an Assistant Principal at Carrick High School.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Mr. Michalski is the head coach of the Seton LaSalle HS varsity girl’ s basketball team and somehow finds time to work as a professional disc jockey for local events.
Brentwood Middle / High School is looking forward to Mr. Michalski becoming an integral part of the Brentwood family and sharing his knowledge, experience and passion for education with the students and staff.