Day: November 24, 2008

History of New Belgrade

billkralovec

Ljiljana Blagojević in her blog, “Art-E-Fact” has a nice post on the history of New Belgrade.

“New Belgrade is a modern city, built in the second half of the twentieth century, on the marshy plain bordered by the rivers Sava and Danube, stretching between the historical cities of Zemun and Belgrade.[1] The terrain of this modern development, most dramatically beheld from the position of the ancient Belgrade fortress, served for centuries as a no-man’s-land between the borders of the two empires, the Ottoman and the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian.[2] Devoid of any urban structure, it fulfilled the function of a cordon sanitaire, observed and controlled as no-connection-zone between the Orient, where Belgrade, as it were, marked its end point, and the Occident, of which Zemun was the, first, even if modest and marginal, port of call. In the short period between the World Wars, with the unification of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia, when the river Sava ceased being a state border, various planning strategies for the urbanization of this terrain were elaborated. Common denominator of all of these, otherwise widely divergent strategies was that they primarily envisaged the new development on this site as an expansion of, already uncontrollably sprawling, city of Belgrade. When the actual construction began in 1948, albeit in the changed socio-political conditions after the Second World War, the new city was conceived upon totally different premises. Most significantly, New Belgrade carried a potent symbolic function of being conceived as a new capital city of the new Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia.”

Above is a photo of a typical New Belgrade apartment building I took in September of 2008.

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Monday November 24, 2008

billkralovec

I am posting my Daily Bulletin this week in anticipation of my Principal – Parent Coffee evening on Wednesday. The Bulletin will be posted on our school’s web site beginning in January 2009.

Today is Day #3. I will be in the High School.

Illness: Milica is not going to be in school today as she is under the weather.


HS Health Screening: Dr. Lily will be screening students today so expect students to be pulled out of classes sometime this morning. This is the annual hearing, vision, etc. testing.


Second Quarter Progress Reports: A full report will be distributed to teachers later today in anticipation of today’s faculty meeting. Thanks to Bojana for compiling these and the teachers for getting them in on time.


HS Faculty Meeting: We will be meeting in the HS Computer Lab. If everyone can make it, we’ll begin at 3:15 PM and be out of here by 4:00 PM. Topics include the following:
•    analysis of second quarter progress reports (10 minutes)
•    compile list of students to be put on academic probation for second semester (10 minutes)
•    discussion of tardies / use of Serbian in classroom (10 minutes)
•    arranging of after school “extended learning opportunities” (students that need to make up a missed homework assignment) (10 minutes)
•    teacher professional development / evaluation – goal setting (5 minutes)
•    divide grade 10 students into two even groups for next semester’s non-math classes (5 minutes) – grade 10 teachers only
Please let me know if there are any other agenda items for possible inclusion. Thanks.


HS Boys’ Basketball Practices: The boys will have the following practice tmes this week:
•    Monday Nov 24  4:30 – 6:00 PM
•    Tuesday Nov 25 3:00 – 4:30 PM (Tuesdays are with the marines)
•    Friday November 28 4:30 – 6:00 PM (Faculty vs. Team)

Knowledge Bowl: Mr. Slough will be hosting an organizational meeting after school today for all interested students. Everyone is invited to attend.


ISB Time This Week: Our CAS Coordinator Vladamir has organized our NGO Community Service Fair. This will take place during the ISB time 10:50 – 11:50 AM. The grades 9-11 will attend the fair as well as guests from the Anglo-American School of Belgrade.


Discipline Update:
A student will be serving a lunch time detention today for using facebook in DT class and being argumentative with a teacher.


The top 20 tardy students served a lunchtime detention with me on Friday. I feel stronger measures need to be taken and parent meetings with me will be arranged for this week.


Performing Arts Update: Students are getting ready to perform at the ISB Holiday Dinner on Thursday evening. Both MS and HS students are also holding extra rehearsals for next Thursday’s Winter Music Concert.
Sign up sheets for ONE ACTS auditions are posted on the Performing Arts Bulletin Board. The auditions will be Tuesday December 9 and Wednesday December 10. One Acts are SHORT plays (5-15 minutes in duration) that rehearse once or twice a week after school. These sign ups are open to ALL HS students! Students who have other after-school commitments can also participate in One-Acts, provided they have some free time after school. Some of the one acts are student-directed, some teacher-directed. If any teachers want to act or direct, please let Mrs. Sands know.
One Acts performances are March 20 and 21.  Rehearsals will begin in January.The One Acts are sponsored by the ISB Thespian Society Chapter 7335.
MS/HS WINTER CONCERT: Thursday December 4, 2008
HS PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO
7:00-7:30 MS CONCERT
(6A and 7A General Music Classes AND MS CHOIR)
7:45-8:30 HS CONCERT
(HS JAZZ/BLUES COMBO, HS String Duet, HS CHOIR)
We ask that MS Parents attend the MS portion of the concert, and HS Parents attend the HS portion.  We do not have enough space in the Performing Arts studio to accommodate all parents from both levels at the same time. Please plan to attend and support the MS and/or HS musicians as you will hear a variety of musical selections from music classes and performance ensembles at ISB.