A few pictures from the wonderful Lower School performance. Most of these were taken at the Friday’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day showing. Click to enlarge.
Tag: 2007
A Grand Grandfriends Day
Some came from New York City and much further – including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Denmark. Other came from closer to school but all were welcome at the annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We gathered in the dining room for breakfast and after brief remarks of welcome our visitors went to classes and then to a command performance…
Animal tails and African tales
Over one hundred lower school children having a wonderful time – bursting with joy and pride of accomplishment. More coming soon on this wonderful performance.
My Life as the Ink Monitor and How Not to Introduce 1:1 Laptops
Technology is always disruptive. Think of the introduction of the printing press, or the combine harvester, or the mechanical looms that destroyed a way of life for cottage industry weavers. Some of them took to frame breaking and gave us the unfairly derisive term of “Luddite” for those who resist technological change. Technology as disruption came to me early in…
Out to Lunch
A beautiful spring day and students took full advantage over lunch-time.
Disruptive Change in School: How Technology Ruined My Childhood
Technology is always disruptive. Think of the introduction of the printing press, or the combine harvester, or the mechanical looms that destroyed a way of life for cottage industry weavers. Some of them took to frame breaking and gave us the unfairly derisive term of “Luddite” for those who resist technological change. Technology as disruption came to me early in…
Seniors on their way
Seniors are on their way off to a final month of internships before they return to PDS for the Senior Week and commencement in June. Today was the farewell lunch on the front porch of Kenyon House. Seniors were welcomed into the Alumni Association. The sun shone, the breezes blew and the senior class were in fine form following, and…
Financial Aid and College Options
From today’s NYTimes: Timely advice on paying for college: Calculating Financial Aid THIS week, members of the (college) Class of 2011 are coming down to the wire in deciding which colleges they will attend and, more often than not, their choice is influenced by which offers the most generous financial aid package. Most students and their parents have until Tuesday…
Those Apocryphal Flying Cats of Borneo: The Real Story
The flying cats of Borneo – apocryphal? Hyperbole? Fantasy? Jungle legend? Imaginary animals? In response to a request from a professor at The University of Iowa I provided one piece of the story of Operation Cat Drop backed by the official record. When I first heard of this improbable story and the ridiculous claim of 14,00 cats parachuted by the…
Choreolab North
Last Friday’s Choreolab concert of ten original dances was the culmination of a central studies (CS) elective. Choreolab started at The Walden School in the 1980’s and was further developed as a student-led and directed experience by the work of Laurie Roth and Kirstin Been Spielman at Trevor Day School in New York City where the annual dance extravaganza is…
The Eagle Nation
The title and content of this entry have changed. The original title – A Challenge to Stephen Colbert – referred to the Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report where the grippy and relentless megamerican Stephen Colbert holds court. The show opens with dramatic graphics of eagles, waving flags and the swooping adjectives that Colbert proclaims for himself. Lincolnish and flagaphile have…
“Life on Earth” – an amazing multi-media musical
I had the great pleasure of attending Life on Earth – a student written, multi-media and very original musical by the students in a central studies elective. The script was impressive – witty, pointed and poignant. The modern day Olympians – from Dr. Freud and Robin Hood to Miss America, from Wonder Woman and Bacchus to Ben Franklin and all…
GHOTI spells what?
Quick, quick! – spell “yacht” New research on spelling and the brain English spelling and pronunciation are renowned for complexity and quirks. Spelling still matters and we all know how computer spell checkers can mislead**. So what goes on in our brains when we spell a word or try to? New research about exactly what happens in our brain when…
Detecting Tommyrot, Bunkum and Codswallop
When dealing with bunkum like the unsubstantiated and most unlikely claim of the 14,000 parachuted cats it would be good to have a handy little tool like the Quackometer. This tool provides an instant service for checking a website for obvious signs of fraud, quackery and pseudoscience. (I tested this site – my personal quack report below.* Clean (duck) bill…