--- title: Friends School Blog | Tom Buck, Upper School English teacher description: Friends School of Baltimore’s private school blog provides thought-provoking ideas and trends in Pre-K-12 education. The Thinking Cap focuses on a wide range of topics, from the importance of play in problem solving and the maker movement, to technology in the middle school classroom and the A.P. curriculum. Friends School of Baltimore – the world needs what our children can do. --- ![ThinkingCapHeader.jpg](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/hs-fs/hubfs/ThinkingCapHeader.jpg?width=4000&name=ThinkingCapHeader.jpg "ThinkingCapHeader.jpg") # Friends School of Baltimore Private School Blog ## Tom Buck, Upper School English teacher ### Recent Posts ## [Students need city's arts, cultural institutions (and vice versa)](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/students-need-the-citys-arts-cultural-institutions) Posted by [Tom Buck, Upper School English teacher](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/author/tom-buck-upper-school-english-teacher) on Jan 16, 2018 4:20:30 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/hubfs/Jan12Tom%20Buck.jpg)](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/students-need-the-citys-arts-cultural-institutions) I have been teaching high school and college English for more than 40 years and, although I’m way too old to wallow in regret, it wasn’t until practically the third decade of my career that I understood the transcendent importance of [exposing my students to what Baltimore and the metropolitan area have to offer](https://www.friendsbalt.org/page/community/community-partnerships) – culturally, historically, and educationally. Our kids have priceless opportunities to see and learn from the myriad museums, theaters, and galleries that surround them; What’s more, these cultural institutions need us almost as badly as we need them. Last spring one of my English elective classes went to a [Towson University student matinee](https://www.towson.edu/campus/artsculture/index.html) of “X,” a play about Malcom X's struggle with Elijah Mohammed and the Nation of Islam. Based on what he subsequently shared and wrote in class, one of my students clearly learned more from that production than anything I taught him. This statement is less a knock on my teaching ability than it is a monument to the power of live theater. A few years back I had an idea to send pairs of students off to explore area theaters and then report back to the class about their experiences. Last year, two kids visited a small theater in the Station North arts district to see an evening performance of a noir play. I am certain the performance itself was illuminating, but the fact that they witnessed  a community theater surviving in a tiny space in a marginal neighborhood thanks to the will and chutzpah of a struggling management team made even more of an impression than the play. Over the past five or so years, I’ve taken groups of kids to [Everyman Theatre](http://everymantheatre.org/), [Center Stage](https://www.centerstage.org/education), the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, [Theatre Project](http://www.theatreproject.org/), Towson University, and [UMBC](https://theatre.umbc.edu/). Typically these organizations give us great deals because they need to cultivate young audiences in order to survive. Because of the relationship my Friends School colleague Helen Berkeley has cultivated over the years with Towson University, our aforementioned trip to the production of X was comped. [Read More](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/students-need-the-citys-arts-cultural-institutions) 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/students-need-the-citys-arts-cultural-institutions#comments-listing) Topics: [schools and cultural institutions](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/topic/schools-and-cultural-institutions) [All posts](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/all) ## Considering an Independent School?  ### Download Friends School's "15 Important Questions to Ask when visiting an independent school."  - Learn *the right questions* to ask when evaluating school options.  - Gain confidence in making the important decision of where to send your child to school.  [![15 Questions to Ask](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2241609/557274a3-d5bd-483e-b05a-38749edfaf21.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2241609/557274a3-d5bd-483e-b05a-38749edfaf21) ### Subscribe to Email Updates ### Other blog posts ## Experience Friends  ### Experience our culture and campus like never before.  [![](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/hs-fs/hubfs/experience%20friends%20crop.jpg?width=390&height=195&name=experience%20friends%20crop.jpg "experience friends crop.jpg")](http://experience.friendsbalt.org/) [![Inquire at Friends](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2241609/bc7b32da-058b-4329-963b-f235b0318869.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2241609/bc7b32da-058b-4329-963b-f235b0318869) ![Site-Footer-Wordmark.png](https://blog.friendsbalt.org/hs-fs/hubfs/LogosSeals/Site-Footer-Wordmark.png?width=320&name=Site-Footer-Wordmark.png "Site-Footer-Wordmark.png") Friends School of Baltimore is a private coeducational Quaker school founded in 1784 and serving students in Pre-K through 12th grade. 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