Neil Stilphen | Tribute to a Great Man

Yesterday, Neil's obituary was released.  Below is a selection of this lovingly written tribute.  To read it in entirety, please click here.

Neil, a consummate educator, began his teaching career in Boston's inner-city Youth Corp, moved to an innovative, public elementary-school program in Hartford, Conn., and later became director of a Living and Learning School in Springfield and then Methuen, Mass. Mid-career, he worked for the Department of Social Services and Children's Protective Services in Lawrence, Mass., and, as an LCSW, he did court investigations for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1994 he returned to the field of education, serving with great pride as Math Chair and Science teacher at Sparhawk School in Amesbury, Mass., until 2005 when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Guiding the development of Sparhawk, founded in 1994 by his wife, Louise, brought great joy to Neil's life. Together, they honed a mission and philosophy, trained teachers and taught students in progressive education methods. Neil developed the math and science programs at Sparhawk and oversaw their growth until his teaching retirement. He retained his love, input, and commitment to Sparhawk all of his days through his continued role as Executive Vice President.

New Noises

Sparhawk Student Plays Performed In Boston

Sparhawk High School has again been invited to participate in the Massachusetts Young Playwrights Project Festival sponsored by Boston University. The MYPP festival is a celebration of student work which gives high school playwrights a chance to have their 10 minute plays directed and performed by Boston area theater professionals. The festival takes place at Boston University's Playwrights Theater in April, and we are excited to be participating, along with many other high schools throughout the state, once again.

The process begins in January when students start the process of writing/revising their plays, and continues through February and into March. During that time we are visited by a Boston area playwright who comes in to help the students polish their pieces. Plays then get submitted to the festival committee and some lucky students' pieces are chosen to be performed. In the past 2 years we have had several of our students' plays chosen, and they have had the opportunity to work with a professional director and actors to ready their play for the festival. It is truly an exciting opportunity, and we feel privileged to be part of it for the third year in a row.

Annual Young Playwrights Showcase

Next Friday and Saturday evenings, March 9 & 10 at 7PM, Sparhawk School will present its Third Annual Young Playwrights Showcase. The showcase is a night of original 10 minute plays written by Sparhawk High School students. The pieces range from humorous to dramatic, cover a variety of topics, and always provide a thought provoking experience. Aside from simply writing the pieces, they students are given the opportunity to cast and direct their play as well, giving them a deeper, broader, and more intimate theatrical experience.

This year we will add the element of a short audience Q & A with our writers and performers. Over the past 2 years, the Young Playwrights showcase has become a favorite of many faculty and students alike. If you have not yet taken in the March show, you owe it to yourself to come and view it. Our students work extremely hard on these pieces, and truly love seeing the audience filled with family and friends. The show will run roughly 75 minutes. Please take the time to support our students and be part of this wonderfully creative experience.

Artist Research Project

Progressive Arts Education

The 4th and 5th grade students have begun research on their chosen artists for the 10th anniversary of the Annual Artist Research project which is a three part project consisting of a research paper, an art project paying homage to the artist and a live artist "Wax Museum" where the students assume the role of their chosen artists and present their work. The 10th anniversary goes beyond just tradition. This project embodies the Sparhawk way.

We kicked off the experience by heading to the Addison Gallery of American Art to see the diverse array of artwork in the galleries as well as artwork specifically curated for our viewing. What a treat! The goal is to expose the students to a wide variety of artists, styles, subject matter and media. During class time, the students peruse stacks of artist biographies and begin to narrow down the type of work that inspires them, ultimately honing in on one chosen artist for their studies. From there, they delve into the research process, gleaning facts and information as they get closer to answering the why and the how did this artist create this work?

As the students get closer to understanding their artists, they focus on a particular work or style of their chosen artist that they connect to or admire. This becomes the inspiration for their art project. In art class, they create a work of art that pays homage to their artist, be it a literal or creative interpretation of a specific work or a completely original piece using the artist's style and similar subject matter. The reflection, planning and creation process and the dialogue and interaction with the art materials foster an even more intimate experience between student and artist, deepening the original acquaintance introduced through the research. They create in the manner which their artist created.

The last phase and further expansion of this relationship between student and artist takes place when the students literally become the artists during the Famous Artist Wax Museum. Donning similar clothing, mustaches, wigs, props and examples of art, the students come alive so to speak, taking on the persona of their artists as they present facts and share their works of art to visiting audience members and student peers. Its kind of epic.

At Sparhawk, we honor the diverse modalities of learning beyond teacher direction and book studies. We learn by seeing, doing , being . This process immerses students fully into the life and experience of the artists in addition to creating bridges to Language Arts, Humanities, History, Drama and Visual Art and fosters the practices of critical and creative thinking, understanding the human condition, research, risk-taking and stamina.

Lunar New Year Celebration

Cross-curricular Connections

We harnessed the enthusiasm from explorations in Mandarin class of Chinese New Year traditions and celebrations. During both Mandarin and Art time, students across the grades created elaborate dragon masks for a Chinese New Year parade featuring the magnificent , large scale dragon puppet created by our two upper elementary classes (grades 3-5). Thanks to some good weather, we paraded across the lower campus on the Friday before break, making noise with instruments and wearing our colors, and dragons with pride!

Printmaking 

An Intensive Study of Process & Product

Students in both the Middle and Upper School are learning various printmaking techniques. Some of the questions we explored: What advantages does printmaking have on drawing or painting? What cultures first explored this art making technique? What were the purposes for first creating in this way? How has printmaking influenced what we know and understand today? 

Middle Schoolers are learning how to use relief printmaking techniques to carve their own designs out of linoleum. Students will create an edition of multi colored prints by reduction cutting their images and printing onto paper. In the upcoming weeks, Middle school students will take this same reverse image printing method and use it to create collagraph plates to be run over by a steamroller at our annual Steamroller Printmaking event on Saturday May 19th! We hope to see you there!

Printmaking students are putting finishing touches on their art work inspired by textiles from around the world. Did you know woodcut prints were first created in China to transfer images and text onto textiles? Students are using their own elements and processes on framed fabric using paint, stencils, Liquitex paint markers, and india ink. Next, students will begin working toward a collaborative wood carving project for our Steamroller Printmaking event in may. Our goal is to create collaboratively designed, transformable planks that can be organized in various ways to create a unique composition each time the steamroller completes a print. Stay tuned for more pictures and information on this exciting new project! 

Preview all of our in progress work at the Art Show on Thursday April 5th from 5-7 pm! All art work will go on sale starting at 5 pm.

Paper Arts

A Thematic Study of Paper

Our high school students are exploring how paper has been used as well as transformed in the Middle East and throughout Asia. Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together fibers of cellulose pulp from wood, plant matter and other fibers that are dried into a flexible sheet.Students are starting with a simple piece of paper and creating a variety of two and three diminutional art pieces by folding, cutting and breathing new life into the paper.

Students have and will continue to observe work from different artists and cultures to learn how paper has been manipulated over time. They began the semester off by learning techniques that other artists have used to bring life and demention to paper. They will dedicate the first half of the course learning how tradition has inspired current artist to keep the art alive. From Origami to Notans to Quilling as well as Paper Sculptures. Students will also visit and observe local artist to learn how they draw inspiration. Students will end the semester with their final self designed pieces that incorporate the skills they have developed.

Middle & High School Music

We Know How To Rock

The A block band (with a rocking band name to be announced soon...) has been trying out some repertoire from Motown to Southern Rock to the Beatles. Students are learning new instruments and learning how their parts can fit in to the band as a whole. Our goal is to get performance ready and show off our set! Students are stepping out of their comfort zone to try singing or playing the electric bass, even rumors of Colin Elmer free-styling! Who says 8:00 in the morning is too early to rock?!

Middle School definitely knows how to bring the noise. Spending a good chunk of time last semester on learning new instruments and concepts is really paying off this quarter. In just one class period we can now organize the basic rhythm and chord structures of pop songs, and we're getting ready to perform again soon. The enthusiasm of the group is apparent in the way they tackle new songs, or the smile they get when playing distorted guitar for the first time! Listen for some oldies, some pop and some PUNK being played in basements everywhere!

In choir we are working on ear training, singing in harmony and learning how to expand the range and quality of our voices. In every class period we warm up our voices using different vowel sounds and solfege (do, re, mi...) as well as trying to match pitch in the class. The group has different levels of experience, some never singing in front of their peers before and just a few weeks in to the semester the group is singing repertoire in two-part harmony! Being able to sing written music relies heavily on the ear recognizing intervals. Every day we drill being able to hear and recognize intervals of seconds, thirds, fifths, etc. It's a long process but there is progress every day!

Elementary Music

Thematic Explorations

While the beginning of this calendar year was primarily focused on preparing and then reflecting upon the Winter Concert, in the second semester we have been incorporating the Blue Planet theme more emphatically. With the Bald Eagles, Piping Plovers and Swans this has involved improvising short songs influenced by a water theme which are echoed by the class; they enjoy using their imaginations to do this! We have also been testing our listening skills with the song 'Sounds We Hear' in which the children identify different instruments and dynamics, including rain sticks and ocean drums.

The Atlantic Puffins and Sandlerlings have been reviewing 'Yellow Submarine' and 'The Water Cycle' song, adding glockenspiel parts and new verses. The Great Blue Herons and Dovekies have been listening to various orchestral pieces of music by composers who were inspired by water such as Handel's Water Music, Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave), Debussy's La Mer and Smetana's Vltava. It is interesting to the students' reactions to such impressionistic and powerful music! We will be continuing to learn educational songs about bodies of water as well as Sea Shanties and Hornpipes.

Instrumental lessons through the Seacoast Academy of Music continue after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Instrumental students will no doubt be noticing that what they are learning in their lessons ties in with class music with regards to rhythm, notation, Italian terms and theory. There will be an informal recital towards the end of the academic year as well as the Spring Concert for everyone.

Big Art for Little Humans

Community Art Class

For three years, Sparhawk has been offering a community PreK art class, Big Art for Little Humans, for the young members of our extended community.  This class offers families the opportunity to experience a Sparhawk art class with Lower School Art Teacher, Catherine Kulik.  Catherine introduces young students to a variety of mediums including clay, paint, paper, pastels and recycled arts materials.  

This class also offers prospective parents a window into the style of curriculum, and classroom feel available here at Sparhawk.  The class runs on Wednesdays at 9:30 AM, in five week semesters for $36 per semester.  

Family Dance Party

Bring your BOOGIE BEAT and you're DANCIN FEET to the Sparhawk  FAMILY Dance Party!  Hosted by the PTO, the party will be on Friday March 23rd from 5-8 at the SPARHAWK THEATER!  The Pre-K – 8 are invited to attend!  (This is NOT a drop off event).

Watch for the e-mail with more details and volunteer opportunities.