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Melissa passes the 1812 log cabin on her way to horseback riding.
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History - The History department's goal is to give students a thorough foundation in understanding the history and cultures of the world.
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A 70 degree day in April brings out Mr. Curtis and his Current Events class.
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Social Studies 1: World Geography
This 7th grade course is an introduction to the concept of ‘where’. Students learn geographic skills and use them to study physical and cultural aspects of the major world regions. Strong emphasis is placed on acquiring good student skills and geographic literacy.
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Gracie does some research on coral reefs in Mrs. Curtis' class.
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Social Studies 2: World Cultures
This 8th grade course is all about general human culture, specific world culture regions, and related social issues. Strong emphasis is placed on acquiring good student skills and geographic literacy.
Political Science
A survey course covering the political systems within the U.S. government as well as those existing in foreign countries.
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A Civil War re-enactment brings history to life for Grier students and faculty on the school's lower field.
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These prehistoric people emerged from Mrs. Curtis' cave!
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World History
This 9th grade course (with Honors, A and B sections) is a survey of World History from the dawn of Humanity to the end of the European Middle Ages, ca. 1500 AD. Strong emphasis is placed on developing good student skills, particularly reading and writing. How to do a research project is taught and practiced. (An ESL section is available for 9th-12th grade students).
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Fa, from Bangkok, discusses the crisis in Burma with her Current Events class.
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Current Events/Modern Global Issues
The emphasis of this one semester course is on international affairs, although important national issues are studied as well.
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Harriet Grier at the Medieval Festival in March, 2007.
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U.S. History I
This 10th grade course is a survey of American History from colonial times to the Progressive Era.
U.S. History II
This half-year 11th grade course covers American history from the Progressive Era through modern times.
Modern Global Issues
The emphasis of this current events course is on international affairs, although important national issues are studied as well.
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Mr. Porter takes his exam review session into Grier's new Reading Room.
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European History
This course studies the events, influential individuals, and politics of Europe from the Renaissance to Napolean.
Senior History
This course is designed to give seniors an understanding of the geographical and historical inter-relationships affecting today's world.
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Chynna and Courtnee use the library as a spot to take a test.
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Electives
Western Civilization
This course, which is intended for 10th 11th or 12th grade students, is a survey of key events of the western experience. Specifically, students will be exposed to events in Europe from the 15th century renaissance to the European Union of the 20th century.
Modern Chinese History
Students will first get a sense of the historical context of modern China by surveying key aspects of late imperial Chinese history, but the majority of the course will be used to examine the most recent one hundred years of Chinese history in more detail. This is a one-semester course geared toward understanding present-day China, one of the most dynamic nations in the world, through its recent past.
Women In History
This one-semester course highlights the achievements of women in history.
Comparative Religions
The world's major religions are studied in terms of their historical theological connections.
A.P. Art History -
The Advanced Placement course in Art History is designed to meet the
requirements outlined for an introductory college course in Art History: an
understanding and knowledge of architecture, sculpture, painting, and other
art forms within diverse historical and cultural contexts.
Students will
examine major forms of artistic expression from the past and the present
from a variety of cultures and will learn to look at works of art
critically, with intelligence and sensitivity. Students will learn
strategies of analysis and develop appropriate language for analyzing works
of art and architecture. Although some periods of non-western art are
studied, emphasis is placed on Western European art. Finally, students will
be asked to develop a firm understanding of the Elements of Art and
Principles of Design as well as to become fluent in the use of fundamental
art historical terminology.
Mrs. Curtis is offering a new course called, "Goat to Garment" in the winter and spring semester of 2006. The course will cover topics related to animal fibers and how they are processed creatively into beautiful and practical things.
Topics covered:
- Animals & Shearing
- Fiber processing
- Handspinning
- Felting
- Knit and crochet techniques
Required field trips:
- Fiber farm visit
- Dying day
- Supply shopping
- Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
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FACULTY PROFILE
Robert Porter has been part of the Grier community for the past few years. He and his wife, Kimberly, reside on campus and are the parents of two daughters (Abigail and Allison) and three sons (Ryan, Lewis and Anthony). Abby was a 2001 graduate of the Grier School.
Robert is a history teacher, a former coach and a “remodeling specialist” at the Grier School. Robert teaches two levels of United States history, current events and western civilization. Kimberly works with the housemothers in the evening as Dorm Coordinator. In this capacity, she oversees many of the issues that affect the lives of Grier girls in the evening hours of the school week.
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Kim and Bob porter with their sons Ryan, Louis and Anthony.
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Abby Curtis has been teaching at The Grier School since the fall of 1990
when she joined her husband Charlie Curtis in the History Department.
With BA and MS degrees in Geography, she enjoys sharing her love of the
world, its people, and its history with the younger students, mostly
grades 7-9. She is devoted to helping each student develop her potential
in the classroom and spends as much time as possible during the school
day giving individualized attention to her girls.
When not at Grier, Mrs. Curtis can be found at home on the family
'farmette.' There, the Curtises keep various pets and raise farm animals
for food and fiber. Their flock of angora goats keeps them busy with
regular chores and with the preparation of their mohair for handspinning.
Enjoying the beauty and productivity of cental Pennsylvania is an
important part of her life and Mrs. Curtis shares her rural hobbies with
her students by incorporating them into her classroom curriculum whenever
possible and by bringing students out for visits. She is always looking
for kindred spirits to nurture.
When the opportunity arises, Mrs. Curtis loves to travel and bring home
new experiences and souvenirs to share in the classroom. Since coming to
teach at Grier, Mrs. Curtis has chaperoned a school trip to Italy and
Greece, she has taken a summer faculty-enrichment excursion to Costa Rica
on a Fulbright Scholarship, and she travelled to China in the
summer of 2002 to teach English near Chengdu in the Szechuan province.
Charles M. Curtis did his undergrad work at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He traveled within the US extensively after college, learning about America and taking various jobs along the way, including mining in Leadville, CO, and proof-reading the Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago. He went on to do graduate work and earned his teaching certification and masters degrees in history and geography at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
From there, he came to State College for more graduate work at the Pennsylvania State University. He got married, started a family, bought a farmette and started teaching history at the Grier School, where he is now the History Department head. His hobbies include extensive reading on current events and politics, playing strategy games like chess and Go, and enjoying the out-of-doors.
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Faculty Enrichment
(Grier offers faculty funding for teachers to pursue continuing educational experiences. One summer, Mrs. Curtis organized a teaching position in China which she describes in this letter.)
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A LETTER FROM MRS. CURTIS - JULY 25, 2002
I have been in China now for two and a half weeks. The first week was taken up with travel,
just getting here. We started off in the city of Chingqing, in the Sichuan basin in central China. It
is one of the hottest cities in China called 'the 3 furnaces'! Coincidentally, they were having a
heat wave...lucky us. We assumed the heat was normal! This city is under a constant haze, day and
night, all year long! We moved by train to Mianyang. It took 13 hours, it was the milk run. But we
were able to see the country side with many small homes and farms. It was hilly everywhere.
My school where I am teaching this summer is in Mianyang. It is the Mianyang Foreign Languages School. I think it is a branch of the U of Beijing. It is a boarding school, coed, and now they are having 'camp.' It is just like ESL camp at
the Grier School, except that there are very few activities for the kids. We teach 4 classes in the morning, take a siesta, and teach 2 classes in the afternoon. In the evenings, we help with activities
after dinner.
Overall, this is a very civilized place. The Chinese people seem to be very friendly and unaggressive. They are very curious about us and stare openly. They also get very close and just watch us when we are out in public...I feel like the critters in the zoo! Mianyang is a new city
built by the government specializing in scientific institutions.
The government is in the practice of moving
people from the east out to cities like this one...sometimes by mandate. The city is built on a grand
plan with big boulevards and endless high rise apartments. The number of people and number of cars do
not come close to filling the space at this time. There are many parks with lights and unbelievable
activity at night. People come out of the woodwork at night to stroll around in the cooler air. The
government provides big TV screens, music, lights, water fountains, etc. in the bigger parks.
Right now, this is a pretty nice city to live in. It lacks arts and museums, etc., unfortunately. It is
very easy to get around by taxi or bus at very low cost. All thing are very low in cost and one is
expected to bargain. The hard part is finding anything of true quality to buy. The Chinese seem to be
making up for years without consumer goods and they are manufacturing them at a fantastic rate. Every
building seems to have numerous stalls on the first level for selling...anything. There is great
repetition and I do not know how anyone makes any profit!
We will leave here in ten days and move on
to Beijing via Xian. In Xian we will see the terracotta warriors. In Beijing, we will visit the Great
Wall, shop, and teach for 1.5 weeks. I will return Aug 24. That's it for now. I hope you all are
enjoying your summers.
Abby Curtis
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Mr. Curtis bursts into his classroom saying, "It's too nice to stay inside!"
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The History classroom after Mr. Curtis took his students outside to the Gazeebo to enjoy the nice spring weather.
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(The following was written by Frances, a graduate of the Class of 1930.)
All Girls Education VS Co-Education
I thought about this as I was going to sleep and realize it is impossible for me to go back in time to Birmingham and try to figure what I thought at the time since there was no thought of anything else in those years. I was very happy there and never thought about how it would have been if boys were there also. So let me think of it in present times and try to put it back then. Remember, I grew up in a family of 5 girls and 3 boys so I knew what it was like to have boys around all of the time
I am sure I would not have liked having boys there. They would get in the way. No privacy in the dorms and in classes. As a rule at that age girls are ahead of boys and there would be vicious competition. Sports would have been difficult and that was what I enjoyed so much. Since we did not compete with other schools, we girls could not have competed with the boys so the school would have had to be larger for any sports. Some girls are so silly about boys at that age. Not that I did not have and enjoy dates but heaven forbid they were there all the time.
Remember that I went to an all girl college as well and do not think I'd have wanted to have had them there either. I had friends who attended coed colleges and knew I was happier at "Girls only."
With boys there would be competition among the girls over the boys and the other way around. Less attractive girls might be wallflowers which always hurts. I cannot think of any good reason to have boys at school.
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