On the other side of me was a line of pale Puerto Rican boys wearing identical white T-shirts, dark workman trousers, and black hair greased into ducktails. They were small and compact and gave the impression of stillness, and as I stared at their uniformity my heart quickened to realize they were girls. Eyes on the floor, shoulders hunched, they filed past, except for one, who pushed her hands into her pockets and gave me a look I had no way of categorizing, other than to know it made me jumpy and breathless.
From The Queens of Montague Street by Nancy Rommelmann.
I remember this like it was yesterday. I was nine years old, in Mrs Faling's fourth-grade class. It was the year I wrote the love note that was intercepted and read in front of the entire class; the year I won the city-wide spelling bee; the year I was a "millionaire monster" for Halloween; the year I got real nerdy. We all knew about the shuttle launch because the teacher was on board. Right before lunch, we were told the news of the explosion and from the first row, Keith P. said... "awesome". Our teacher wasn't happy. Ten minutes later, our student teacher rolled in the TV cart and while Mrs Faling was out of the room, we watched and he told us that it was in fact kind of an "awesome" event. Then he explained what the word meant. He always leaned on the podium almost bent in half. It seemed like he was always tired. I think he was even a little bit mean, but he tried to turn everything into an opportunity to teach something.
The committee worked to boost the aspirations of students, 69 percent of whom qualify for free lunches because of their families’ low incomes. Teachers were urged to make sure students heard the phrase, “When you go to college ...” in every class, every day.
4,100 Students Prove ‘Small Is Better’ Rule Wrong (NY Times)
Footage from a performance by Fang Island for the kindergarten and first grade classes of CVS Highlander Charter School in Providence, RI.
Markus Degerman, 2007
Torrpoolen
Alsike Elementary School, Sweden
Wood, linoleum, wall-to-wall carpet
Same old story: Jean Touitou (owner and designer of A.P.C.) didn't like the options for his daughter's preschool — so he started his own.
Ateliers de la Petite Enfance (A.P.E.) opened in January with 25 students. The student to teacher ratio is about 1 to 6. Tuition is "expensive by French standards" at $16,000 per year. A satellite space around the corner opens this spring as the A.P.E.'s art workshop and mini theater for concerts and plays. A partner at M/M enrolled his own kid and is now working on a "visual toolbox" for the school. Jessica Ogden is a part-time art teacher. The school was designed by A.P.C.'s architect, Laurent Deroo, who installed plywood closet doors that double as a climbing wall, little Aalto chairs and that rad black folding wall thing. The school is Touitou's way to "build something solid that might last longer than fashion."
From W, April 2008: "Even if you grow up to be an accountant, it's better to be surrounded by beautiful furniture than by ugly furniture." / "This is a nursery school, so you can't just put in a concrete floor because it looks good." / "Montessori has kept a lot of shrinks in business."
GET AN IDEA.
1. See, hear, smell, taste, touch something interesting.
2. Obsess about it (think and dream about your new interest).
DO YOUR RESEARCH.
3. Find several books at home, in the library, in the bookstore (exhibit A).
4. Look online.
5. Watch videos.
6. Take a field trip (exhibit B).
RECORD WHAT YOU FIND.
7. Take notes.
8. Take photographs (exhibit B).
9. Sketch (exhibit C).
PUT YOUR NEW-FOUND KNOWLEDGE TO WORK.
10. Make something (exhibit D).
11. Show someone, let them know all that you've learned.
WHAT IF SOMETHING ELSE CATCHES YOUR EYE?
12. Go back to step 1.
Enzo's Meat Research from the amazing Grecolaborativo.
