RattleBag and Rhubarb

Insects and Villains

If there was a villain in the Animal Tails of African Tales Lower School show it was perhaps the mosquito. Here, to provide some balance on behalf of the world of insects and their all-important place in our biospere, is biologist E.O. Wilson. His plea on behalf of his constituency – the insect world – is his acceptance speech for…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Learning is messy

There’s an interesting story over at Learning is messy It’s about the truth behind one of those email send arounds that are so easy to forward without thinking. Sometimes they are about dying children or bogus health alerts or product malfunctions. Snopes.com is dedicated to checking urban legends, internet rumors and the validity of such stories but helping students develop…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

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…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

“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…

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