The weather played havoc with the Winter Festival and instead of an all-school event it was presented in segments. We managed to celebrate with some beautiful music and dance nevertheless. Here are a few pictures from two events.
PDS has new science laboratories. Time for a poem from the Czech poet-scientist Miroslav Holub. In the Microscope Here too are the dreaming landscapes, lunar, derelict. Here too are the masses, tillers of the soil. And cells, fighters who lay down their lives for a song. Here too are cemeteries, fame and snow. And I … Read more
Question: What do you need to be creative and succeed in the future? Point number one: We want less formality in schools and more creativity in the classroom Here’s an interesting story from the UK: students from schools all over the country met at the Tate Modern to plan and design a manifesto for creativity. … Read more
In a new book, The Venturesome Economy Amar Bhidé challenges The World is Flat notion proposed by Thomas Friedman in his book of that name. Bhidé concludes that: a.) the world is not flat and b.) that the people he calls the “techno-nationalists”— have got it wrong. (At the very least we could agree that … Read more
Santa had his elves and Liz had her cadre of helpers too. They spent last weekend getting the transformed Kenyon ready for everyone to return on Monday. And they did a great job. Here is the thoughtful message they left on the board in Bernadette’s new room on the first floor. PDS has had gnomes … Read more
Just a sample of some of the reactions from the high school when they returned to school today. Kenyon House is transformed and restored. Yes – this is a high school. Flowers included. Take a look at these pictures and come to Founders Day on January 15th for a tour of the real thing. In … Read more
Take Paul Barnwell’s “test” in this article from NEA Today. How do your answers compare? Did he miss any questions? What’s in an ‘A’? Take this test and compare your answers with mine. By Paul Barnwell Fill in the blank: 1. Grades are a great way to ___ (a) provide meaningful feedback; (b) sort … Read more
… I was always interested in trying to communicate, to have a feeling from someone to make me feel that I was worthwhile. So when my teacher, Mrs. Bishop — I will never forget her, beautiful, brown-skinned lady at P.S. 136 in Harlem — she gave me a poem because she realized I was having … Read more
Teachers often take a jaundiced eye to films that claim to depict the classroom experience. It’s akin to being skeptical about the newspapers because every time they present a story with which you have actual familiarity they rarely seem to get it right. I saw two excellent films last week. One was Entre les Murs … Read more
If you’re going to MoMA for the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night – good luck. It’s a wonderful exhibit, of course, and very much worth the visit. But the popularity, my timing, and the rather haphazard MoMA crowd management made it a less than stellar gallery experience when I was there last … Read more
This time along the Appalachian Trail by the side of the Housatonic River, north out of Kent. The snow was mostly gone, although – as is the way with micro-climates – there were patches glazed with ice and slick with melting snow. But mostly it was soggy and brown with leaves. The going was easy … Read more
Suddenly there’s Poughkeepsie what a hard time the Hudson River has had trying to get to the sea it seemed easy enough to rise out of Tear of the Cloud and tumble and jumps draining a swamp here and and other smaller longings for the wide except for its spelling ocean sixty miles away is … Read more
First the music and the record stores closed. And then the books – Posman’s on Broadway, Ivy’s and too many others across Manhattan. And then it was the international news and magazine shop – Global Ink – on the corner of 112th street where it was possible to browse obscure journals, pick up yesterday’s Guardian … Read more
An article by Alfie Kohn in The Nation is a timely reminder of how language is so easily co-opted to mean quite the reverse of the usual understanding. The polluters bring us “Clear Skies” and the armaments industry brings us the B36 bomber – “The Peacemaker”. And now those touted as school “reformers” are heralded … Read more
Lots of talk in recent years of the new essential skills to survive in the 21st century economy. Tony Wagner’s book The Global Achievement Gap- why even our best schools don’t teach the survival skills our children need and what we can do about it has received lots of attention. See this summary to review … Read more