Last year I was visiting a beautiful new school building (that’s you, Minnehaha), a facility rebuilt after a horrific explosion that destroyed much of the former campus. The staff spent countless hours with architects and builders to imagine the new space. Walking into a place that has been so thoughtfully imagined, so intentionally designed, so intimately prepared felt like a … Read More
A Few Short Questions to Aid Year End Reflection
In the mad rush to finish a school year we become calendar driven and event oriented. What we sometimes miss is the opportunity to reflect well – we push that off to June after school is over, but by then we are too tired to want to take too much time for reflection. The missed opportunity of reflection robs us … Read More
Deeper Understanding Through Art: the ‘Word’ in ‘Flesh’
When I was in the classroom I liked to challenge students to create images to represent an idea. Equally challenging, to look at images and infer the ideas they represented. Class discussions (remember to use protocols!) often yielded a deeper, nuanced understanding by thinking in pictures and picturing thoughts. Adults too! I participated in a workshop with a group of … Read More