February 2012
29 posts
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O (The Oprah Magazine): What Oprah Knows for Sure... →
by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey on Transcendental Meditation
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NY Times: Shame Is Not the Solution →
by Bill Gates
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New York Review of Books: Schools We Can Envy →
by Diane Ravitch
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Wisdom 2.0: Personal Reflections & Take-Home...
One of the most important, spiritually enriching relationships I have in my life is my relationship with the Camino de Santiago. When I walk that path I feel right, present, alive, and in the company of my tribe. I felt like I was on the Camino again at Wisdom 2.0. I think part of it was being in the company of so many incredible people who have an interest in both the Wisdom tradition and...
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Wisdom 2.0: Language & Code
One of the first things I notice and tune into is language. Especially at conferences and workshops: any time highly specialized groups / subcultures gather, a sort of code is used (for example in educational settings you would never use the world “problem” you would code-switch to “challenge” or “development opportunity” or “potential growth area”...
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Wisdom 2.0: Notes from day two
Below are my notes from Wisdom 2.0 (2012), day two. A follow up post to my notes from day one. Again, I state my…
Disclaimer: like with all of my published notes from workshops or conferences, these are in no way comprehensive. Nor are they a literal summation of what was said. They are simply my notes, my interpreted, perspectived jottings that occasionally combine my own thoughts...
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Wisdom 2.0: Notes from day one
For any and all who are interested, below are my notes from the first day of Wisdom 2.0 (2012). Disclaimer: like with all of my published notes from workshops or conferences, these are in no way comprehensive. Nor are they a literal summation of what was said. They are simply my notes, my interpreted, perspectived jottings that occasionally combine my own thoughts with those of the speakers....
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Painting with Body Parts
I saw this activity years ago online, and also participated in a version of it at the Luna Dance SI last summer. 1) Ask students to spread out in the space. 2) Ask students to create an imaginary bucket of paint close to them. 3) Have students “dip” various body parts into the paint and then write their names in space. Body Part Suggestions: - finger - hand - elbow - wrist - back -...
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And a sea of hands went up.
On Friday at the Benefit for Mindful Schools, Jon Kabat-Zinn asked this question: “How many of you remember the name of a teacher in elementary school who had a big impact on you? Someone who you know changed the course of your life?” Zellerbach Hall is big. It was a full house. I was sitting toward the front the of the auditorium and I looked back to see a sea of hands go up. Almost...
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What is technique?
Luna posed this question on their blog a few weeks ago. I’ve been mulling it over. When I think back to my dance classes in college, so much of what I grew up unquestioningly accepting, learning, and trying to perfect was a codified system of movements and rules that, from the teacher’s perspective, were necessary in order for me to dance without injuring myself, and accurately...
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WatchArgonne’s Lunar New Year Celebration 2012: Lion Dance by Gee Yung Lion Dance Troop
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A few thoughts on learning, agendas, and charlatan...
I have always been intrigued by the idea of teaching and learning, in institutionalized settings and even more so on the level of personal relationships and interactions. What happens, deep down, when one person learns from another? And what kind of learning happens when one or both parties are coming to the table with an agenda? I think about this stuff all the time. If my memory serves me...
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Big Think: Do students need to learn lower-level... →
by Scott McLeod
The meat & potatoes of this article:
“The problem with taking a sequential approach to Bloom’s taxonomy is that many students - especially those from traditionally-underserved populations - rarely, if ever, get to engage in the ‘higher-level’ thinking work that is critically necessary these days. Instead, they remain mired in the...
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Education Week: States Mulling Creativity Indexes... →
by Erik W. Robelen
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IAE Newsletter: Creating an Appropriate 21st... →
by Mary Kay Morrison, Humor Quest
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"Learning made visible" via Twitter
Below is a screenshot of feedback I received from a Mom about her 1st grade daughter’s experience performing Waka Waka at Argonne Elementary.
Learning and impact made visible via Twitter. Thank you for the positive feedback Lisa! :)
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Wayfarer: 10 Ways Being a Theatre Major Prepared... →
by Tom Vander Well
I adore this article. I was a theatre major in college as well (and yes, I still snootily spell it with an “re” - from my time studying Shakespeare at Oxford ;). I wholeheartedly believe that it prepared me for life and all of it’s challenges. I left college understanding that anything I wanted to do, anything that would be worth taking on, would be...
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Transcendental Meditation: Quiet Time Program
Last weekend I was trained in transcendental meditation through the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education. This center implements the Quiet Time Program (funded by the David Lynch Foundation) in several SFUSD schools. Longfellow Elementary is currently participating in a research study on the effects of transcendental meditation and because I work at Longfellow, I’m fortunate...
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Big Think: Standardized Testing: The Monster That... →
by Megan Erickson
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WatchBig Think: Diane Ravitch: Standardized Testing: The Monster That Ate American Education
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WatchBig Think: Joi Ito’s Deep Dive
From the Big Think Website:
“Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, followed a very unorthodox career path. He dropped out of college but became a lifelong learner and a highly successful venture capitalist. At the MIT Media Lab, Ito has championed that institution’s inter-disciplinary approach to problem-solving. That means instead of...
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January 2012
43 posts
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Big Think: Laurie Anderson’s Vision of Art in the... →
by Bob Duggan
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Luna Dance Summer Institute Mid-Year Reunion
This weekend all the Summer Institute alumnae gathered for a mid-year meeting at Mills College. It was wonderful to see everyone again, hear teaching adventures, and draw support from a fantastic group of dedicated, kindhearted, forward thinking, dance teacher artists. Below are my notes. Again, and as always, they are my particular, perspective-d extraction of salient points and by no means...
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“The point is not to convert anyone to our view, but rather to help people wake...”
– Chogyam Trungpa, Smile at Fear
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Mindful Schools Presentation @ Monroe
On Wednesday, I attended a Mindful Schools presentation at Monroe Elementary. I’m really interested in the whole “mindfulness” movement in education in the Bay Area right now. The very simple and profound idea of just being present, and being able to create some space between stimulus (experience / thought / emotion) and response, is something that can be beneficial for everyone...
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WatchA video about the Fishman Prize for Superlative Teaching Practice.
“The Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice is awarded annually to a select group of public school teachers who demonstrate exceptionally effective teaching with students from high-poverty communities. No more than five teachers are awarded the prize each year. Each winner is recognized with a $25,000 award...
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NPR's On Point: Po Bronson: The Problem with... →
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Gurdjieff Movements
A friend of mine just forwarded me a video of the sacred dances of Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff believed that in his movement was embedded concrete knowledge that could be passes down from from generation to generation. Initiates into his tradition had to learn the movements like a sort of alphabet or code. When performed, these movements would represent cosmic truths that other initiates (already...
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WatchTED Talks: Clay Shirky: Why SOPA is a bad idea
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Online Colleges: 10 Salient Studies on the Arts in... →