Period 1 Blog #15

What Challenges Have You Overcome?

By 

KATHERINE SCHULTEN

MARCH 5, 2014 5:06 AM March 5, 2014 5:06 am

Kayla Montgomery (4) has become a top runner for Mount Tabor High School despite having multiple sclerosis. Related ArticleCredit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

— Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

— When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

— If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?” You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

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Period 2 Blog #15

What Challenges Have You Overcome?

By 

KATHERINE SCHULTEN

MARCH 5, 2014 5:06 AM March 5, 2014 5:06 am

Kayla Montgomery (4) has become a top runner for Mount Tabor High School despite having multiple sclerosis. Related ArticleCredit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

— Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

— When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

— If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?” You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

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Period 3 Blog #15

What Challenges Have You Overcome?

By 

KATHERINE SCHULTEN

MARCH 5, 2014 5:06 AM March 5, 2014 5:06 am

Kayla Montgomery (4) has become a top runner for Mount Tabor High School despite having multiple sclerosis. Related ArticleCredit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

— Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

— When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

— If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?” You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

---

Period 9/10 Blog #15

What Challenges Have You Overcome?

By 

KATHERINE SCHULTEN

MARCH 5, 2014 5:06 AM March 5, 2014 5:06 am

Kayla Montgomery (4) has become a top runner for Mount Tabor High School despite having multiple sclerosis. Related ArticleCredit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

— Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

— When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

— If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?” You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

---

Period 11 Blog #15

What Challenges Have You Overcome?

By 

KATHERINE SCHULTEN

MARCH 5, 2014 5:06 AM March 5, 2014 5:06 am

Kayla Montgomery (4) has become a top runner for Mount Tabor High School despite having multiple sclerosis. Related ArticleCredit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

— Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

— When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

— If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?” You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

---

Period 1 Blog #14

What Items Would You Place in a Time Capsule for Future Generations?

Student Opinion

By CAROLINE CROSSON GILPIN JAN. 24, 2017

The 1770 Ear Inn in Lower Manhattan has revealed many souvenirs of past owners, including pottery shards, bottles, keys and a shoe.

Have you ever discovered anything hidden away in an old house or apartment? Have you ever stashed away something so you — or others — could recover it years later?

What stories have you heard about the discoveries of old things in buildings left behind in secret places?

In “The History Hidden in the Walls,” Caitlin Kelly writes:

“The practice of burying or concealing items in the structure of a house is called immurement,” said Joseph Heathcott, an architectural historian and urbanist who teaches at the New School in New York.

“It is actually an ancient practice that cuts across many cultures and civilizations,” Dr. Heathcott added. The most famous examples are artifacts entombed with Egyptian pharaohs in the pyramids, but he said that ritual objects have often been found in the walls of Roman villas and ordinary houses during archaeological excavations. “The history of Freemasonry traces its origins to the rituals of concealment by masons, sealing up secrets in their buildings,” he said.

Objects were often hidden away as a way to bring good luck to inhabitants. This was the case in Ireland, he said, “where it was common when building a home to bury a horse skull in the floor or under the hearth, a Celtic practice that dates back centuries. Sometimes it would be the entire skull, other times just the front section or the top without the lower jaw.”

In England and Ireland, it was also customary in many regions to bury dead cats in the walls or under floors of houses to ward off malicious spirits, Dr. Heathcott added.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— What can everyday objects from the past tell us about life long ago? What have people learned from uncovering items left behind, either intentionally or accidentally, in homes and buildings?

— If you uncovered an item stashed away long ago, would you feel a connection to the person who left it behind? How curious would you feel about the item you found and the person who used it? Would you want research to find out more? Why or why not?

—What items would you put in a time capsule for future generations, and why?

Period 2 Blog #14

What Items Would You Place in a Time Capsule for Future Generations?

Student Opinion

By CAROLINE CROSSON GILPIN JAN. 24, 2017

The 1770 Ear Inn in Lower Manhattan has revealed many souvenirs of past owners, including pottery shards, bottles, keys and a shoe.

Have you ever discovered anything hidden away in an old house or apartment? Have you ever stashed away something so you — or others — could recover it years later?

What stories have you heard about the discoveries of old things in buildings left behind in secret places?

In “The History Hidden in the Walls,” Caitlin Kelly writes:

“The practice of burying or concealing items in the structure of a house is called immurement,” said Joseph Heathcott, an architectural historian and urbanist who teaches at the New School in New York.

“It is actually an ancient practice that cuts across many cultures and civilizations,” Dr. Heathcott added. The most famous examples are artifacts entombed with Egyptian pharaohs in the pyramids, but he said that ritual objects have often been found in the walls of Roman villas and ordinary houses during archaeological excavations. “The history of Freemasonry traces its origins to the rituals of concealment by masons, sealing up secrets in their buildings,” he said.

Objects were often hidden away as a way to bring good luck to inhabitants. This was the case in Ireland, he said, “where it was common when building a home to bury a horse skull in the floor or under the hearth, a Celtic practice that dates back centuries. Sometimes it would be the entire skull, other times just the front section or the top without the lower jaw.”

In England and Ireland, it was also customary in many regions to bury dead cats in the walls or under floors of houses to ward off malicious spirits, Dr. Heathcott added.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— What can everyday objects from the past tell us about life long ago? What have people learned from uncovering items left behind, either intentionally or accidentally, in homes and buildings?

— If you uncovered an item stashed away long ago, would you feel a connection to the person who left it behind? How curious would you feel about the item you found and the person who used it? Would you want research to find out more? Why or why not?

—What items would you put in a time capsule for future generations, and why?