I’ve done a deal of packing and moving and unpacking in the last couple of years. And amid all the pains is the pleasure of the unexpected find. Unearthed this week is this school report from the 1950’s. I remember Miss Kempster well, although I cannot say with fondness my chief memory being that of a generalized fear and the…
What is this life if full of care We have no time to stand and stare – WH Davies “The most important thing you need to do… is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking.” (Barack Obama in conversation with British conservative party leader David Cameron.) But how do you do that?…
Who knew that behind the east bookshelf in the back of the Kenyon library there was another lovely window? And that underneath the mustard colored carpet was a parquet floor just waiting to be cleaned and polished? They will certainly be lovely features for the new faculty-student center for the high school.
I caught this Lehrer Newshour segment on cash payments for learning – one of the latest in a series of appalling ideas spawned by testing mania. Surprise: A startling effect- the cash only made things worse. Watch the video and see what you think about this latest example of disincentives for learning. Can you think of a better use for…
I just finished A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines – Janna Levin‘s novel that weaves threads from the lives of Kurt Godel and Alan Turing. I was already familiar with Turing and his code-breaking exploits that enabled the allied victory in the battle of the Atlantic from Robert Harris’s thriller Enigma and various historical accounts including the fascinating Most Secret…
Did you catch this NYTimes article on open-source science and seeking collaborative solutions to new challenges? “If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone”. The process, according to John Seely Brown, a theorist of information technology and former director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, reflects “a huge shift in popular culture, from consuming to participating” enabled by the interactivity…
Solar panels, wind turbines, solid waste fuel, electronic generators and all manner of imaginative and greener ways to power cars, boats, tanks, military transporters, barges and trucks The task for the first and second grade was to imagine a vehicle powered by an alternate fuel source. And then build the model. With the rise in gas prices this spring it…
Solar panels, wind turbines, solid waste fuel, electronic generators and all manner of imaginative and greener ways to power cars, boats, tanks, military transporters, barges and trucks The task for the first and second grade was to imagine a vehicle powered by an alternate fuel source. And then build the model. With the rise in gas prices this spring it…
And they smell good and feel good too! In a fascinating article in the current New York Review of Books the historian Robert Darnton provides some good historical context to the hand-wringing over the instability of texts and the unreliability of information in the age of information overload. Darnton argues that texts have always been unstable and that news and…
Empathy – the ability to understand and identify with another’s situation, feelings, motives. Emotional Intelligence – the ability to understand your own emotions and those of people around you. To be emotionally intelligent means having a self-awareness that enables the recognition of feelings and helps you manage emotions. At a personal level, it involves motivation and being able to focus…
Some attributes of creativity: Challenge assumptions Be receptive to new ideas Recognize similarities or differences Make unlikely connections Take risks Build on ideas to make better ideas Look at things in new ways Take advantage of the unexpected from The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
Still Life with Fruit Basket – Paul Cezanne Think globally with awareness and understanding of complexity and multiple perspectives Predators have eyes in the front so they can see their prey. Prey have eyes on each side so they can watch out for predators. Flatfish, like the flounder, have eyes on one side so they can blend into the sea…
Out with the old hoops, in with the new floor. The gym is looking good. Checking the plans in the parking lot, checking the rock shelf in front of Gilkeson Moving the rock in the playground and the summer camp has lunch on the porch of Kenyon House.
I came to work after a drilling at the dentist to the joyous sound of jackhammers at work. The posts are in, the fence erected and the Gilkeson enhancement project is underway. The fence surrounds the front of the building where the new science labs will be. The backhoe is already at work. The playground area is also fenced off…
Children are natural learners. It’s what they do. And the learning is joyful and the thirst for knowledge, understanding and mastery of skills insatiable. The primary task of school is to keep that connection with joyful learning vibrant and intact. The second task is to expand the horizons of learners – to provide opportunity, to create new contexts and scaffold…