Level 8: Mapping the Future
Level 8 Humanities students have been seeking inspiration from maps. In an effort to capture their path toward graduation, students made individual maps of their experiences and memories. Using the poem "Ithaka" by C.P. Cavafy as a model, students also started writing their own graduation poems. Below is an excerpt from the poem:
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
As a separate assignment, students used davidrumsey.com to compare historical maps of Washington D.C. Students found numerous differences between a 1795 map of the "Territory of Columbia" and an 1880 map of Washington D.C. Besides pointing out differences in streets, nautical depths, bridges, and historical monuments, students commented on the tremendous growth that occurred in our nation's capital over an eighty year period. Level 8's map investigations will come in handy for this April's study tour to the East coast; navigating the streets of Washington D.C. and Philadelphia should be a great deal easier!
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