Usually, I would put up a post about general registration opening today. However, in the few hours between actually opening registration and beginning this post, all available slots have already filled. That’s officially a new record for us!

But don’t dismay. If you had hoped to be involved next year, it may not be too late! I highly recommend signing up for our waitlist. It is not unusual for us to pull people off the waitlist as things shake out in the next month or so. Go ahead and register, so it’s YOUR name we pull!

• New York State History
• Elections
• Mixed Media Art
• Stained Glass
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Life Science

Contact us and tell us your favorites! Or, let us know what else you’d like us to explore!

We’ve been so busy at TEEN DAY this past semester, there’s been no time to post! But don’t think we’ve been just resting on our laurels. Please enjoy the Fall HIGHLIGHT Photo Reel for a snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We officially made it through Day One of the 2019-2020 academic year! We wrangled 25 participants between the ages of 12 and 17, 10 instructors, and various parents and siblings.

Classes were taught.
Books were received.
Art was created.
Friends were made.
Lunches were eaten.
Soccer was played.
And we laughed and we laughed and we laughed. (Especially those crazy Debate kids…)

And we all left somewhat overwhelmed, but so happy to be back. Sigh.

This is a guest blog post by Teen Day instructor Michael Smith. Michael led the 2018-2019 course Being a Citizen and will return to Teen Day in 2019-2020 to lead the course Understanding Where We Are.

I joined the staff of facilitators of learning experiences at TeenDay for the 2018-19 year.  As a homeschooling parent (though my spouse has primary responsibility for these efforts) for all of my two boys’ “school” years, and as a teacher at the collegiate level for 20 years, I have long thought that the word “teaching” does not adequately convey the relational dynamic that is at the heart of meaningful learning.  Nor does it embody a clear enough sense that the spirit of inquiry primarily comes from the learner, a spark that a good facilitator of learning can fan and shield and help to develop into a flame.  Or maybe an all-consuming blaze.  Or maybe nothing.  That’s part of the dynamic too.  Moreover, a teacher/learner binary tends to obscure the fact that one of the purest joys in my life is how often I learn from and with my students.

In planning “Being a Citizen,” the class I guided in 2018-19, I knew that I would gain valuable insights into the ways young people perceive our system of government, and maybe by seeing government and civic engagement through their eyes I would see anew the possibilities in our politics.  Moreover, I knew that the learning experience would refresh my own understanding of the Constitution, of the form of government it guides, and of the state and local systems of government most of us experience more directly.

The experience exceeded my expectations in every respect. Continue reading “On Facilitating Learning at Teen Day” →

Eight TEEN DAY fifth-period participants attended the Cornell Model United Nations Conference April 11-14 right in our own backyard. CMUNC is an annual high school model UN conference hosted by the Cornell International Affairs Society (CIAS) at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. CMUNC is a simulation of the United Nations and other international bodies, which allows students to take on the roles of diplomats from around the world.

Model UN seeks to promote awareness of the many issues facing the international community, and to give students the opportunity to engage in critical thinking about how to address those issues. Students or “delegates” must step into the shoes of the country or position they are assigned. Participants research their assigned country, write a country position paper for submission, get to know their particular role/committee, and finally, spend the weekend as a part of a simulated delegation at this international conference!

TEEN DAY delegates, from left to right:
Gina, MUN advisor; Emily, Delegate of Bolivia, Organization of American States (OAS); Naomi, Co-Delegate of Iran, United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ); Riley, Delegate of Hungary, Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC); Lillian, Delegate of Yemen, World Health Organization (WHO); Blake, Delegate of Philippines, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW); Drew, Delegate of Burkina Faso, African Union; Liam, Co-Delegate of Iran, United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ); Samuel, Delegate of Iran, Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN).

TEEN DAY will offer Model UN again in 2019-2020, and we plan to attend CMUNC again in the spring. But this session showed us we may be ready to take on a few more conferences. We’ll keep you posted (or JOIN US next year to see for yourself)!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Join us!

The Intro to Programming class is back, and this time with midterm projects! Check out what they were up to over the winter break. Note: The website is sometimes glitchy. Click the green flag on the upper right to reload the project, if needed.

After we found out one of our teen writing teams won the WSKG radio drama contest, we thought it would be fun to record the other groups’ radio dramas, too. So on our last day of class last year, that’s what we did.

Though these aren’t quite as slick sounding as the one that was professionally recorded and produced by WSKG, our teen writers did such a great job creating these stories that we wanted to share them, too.

Take a listen to “An Injection of Madness,” created by Rose, Romneya, Lexi, Allyson, Noah, and Henry.

And “The Experiment” by Emily, Takoda, Kieran, Drew, and Samuel.

Several groups of students from Teen Day’s Writing class entered WSKG’s “An Ear for Drama” radio contest last year. In a post at the end of the academic year last year, we announced that one of the Writing class groups – Torin Knapp, Riley Knapp and Oswald Tay – WON the contest! WSKG 90.9 FM produced the drama over the summer, with several students and siblings of students voicing characters, in addition to some of WSKG’s professional actors.

It was JUST released on the radio this past weekend, and it’s fantastic! Listen for yourselves! https://wskg.org/uncategorized/how-to-win-at-business-student-radio-drama/