Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to our IPians, their families, the Kildonan community, and all of our loyal followers!

~ The IP Faculty

Micki: An Installation Space Emerges

Micki is increasingly exploring the universe and cosmological entities (such as supernovae and black holes) according to her strengths:  visual art and poetry.  Her inquiries have provided her - and the IP community - with profound artistic representations of the unimaginable. Now she wishes to capture the same experience for Kildonan students, faculty, and community members.

Micki quickly realized that she needed a small room, a studio with which she could realize her vision of three-dimensional experiences.  After some initial inquiries, the IP faculty are happy to report that a space has been located!

Kildonan's administration has proven gracious by granting Micki exclusive access to a room that the IP community has affectionately termed "Room 9 3/​4" (a sly reference to Harry Potter).  This area is located next to Ms. Gross's Spanish class (Room 10) on the second floor of the Schoolhouse.  The pictures accompanying this post were taken during a recent exploration of the room by Micki, Ms. Charlap, and Mr. Bisson.

Do you have thoughts on Micki's space or research? Please post in the comments section below.

A Special Message

Jonathan: "I Can't Breathe" Protests in NYC (12/​13/​14)

America is suffering from a crisis of race.  The deaths of black men such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, and Tamir Rice have inflamed this instability, of course.  Some argue that these men died for reasons other than their race, that they possessed criminal records, for instance, that necessitated forceful reactons by white police officers.  But even if these deaths did not arise from racial considerations, the fact that they have come to encapsulate U.S. race relations is indisputable.  They highlight triumphs and traumas of black inclusion in the U.S. that began, arguably, with the racialization of Native Americans during the 17th century.  They echo the voices of American authors - contemporary and traditional, black and white - who have long confronted and continue to highlight the topic with varying degrees of agonized cries and silence.

These riots, unavoidably, are "an issue"...but they are saddening particularly because they have BEEN an issue for centuries.

Tens of thousands of protesters have flocked to city streets across the country to protest the killing of black men by white police officers.  Activists have launched large demonstrations particularly in Washington, D.C. and New York City with signs reading "Black Lives Matter" (#BlackLivesMatter) and "I Can't Breathe" (#ICantBreathe), echoing Eric Garner's last words.  Many of these protests have proven peaceful, but increasingly participants are calling for, and actually attacking, police (such as in NYC and near UC Berkeley.

One of our IPians, Jonathan, happened to attend a protest in NYC last weekend.  Exploring #photojournalism as his topic in IP, this situation gave Jonathan the organic opportunity to continue his research.  All photos attacked to this post are his shots of the scenes and participants he witnessed.

What are your thoughts on these photos? Are these ongoing protests likely to effect change, especially as some of these devolve into violence? Please post in the comments section below.

For a brief video of the NYC protests (12/​13/​14), please click here.

6th Annual Academic and Art Expo

What an engaging day! The IP faculty would like to thank parents, family members, and - of course - the IPians in helping to make today's 6th Annual Academic and Art Expo a hit.  The tentacles constructed by the students allowed for easy yet playful navigation, and the conversations among and between families proved deliciously complex.  Thank you, everyone, for continuing to push this community within @KildonanSchool to explore ever more innovative and fascinating interdisciplinary work.

For those students and families who missed the event, please consult the accompanying photos.

           

Expo!

Come join us tomorrow for Kildonan's 6th Annual Academic and Art Expo! The IPians are ready to discuss their work with any interested family and community members, and the building is decorated and looking great.



Description of image:  A middle school expo.  Photo located at chairo.vic.edu.au.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the picture above.

John Seely Brown: "Tinkering as a Mode of Knowledge Production" (2008)

In his A New Culture of Learning:  Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, researcher John Seely Brown (@jseelybrown) explores imagination, play, and innovation as they can influence current education paradigms.  In a brief video talk, he breaks down some of his theories:

What could we do better in schools today? ... We have to kind of find a way to get today's kids to embrace change.  We have to get them to want to constantly learn new types of things.  And the catch, to me, is somehow we have to find a way to get kids to play with knowledge.  To play with finding information.  To play with creating knowledge.  Not always believing that it's already known, but basically being willing to believe that maybe they should be able to create knowledge on the fly by experimenting with things.

And...

So I think we can construct new kinds of learning environments.  Not only are we learning with and from each other, not only are we teaching each other as well, but we're actually understanding that authority - to some extent - lies in whether or not this thing I've just built is as good as I think it could be ....

What suggestions do you have for students and teachers who wish to implement more "tinkering" and "playful" scenarios in the classroom and in life? Please post in the comments below.  For Maria Popova's (@brainpicker) article on A New Culture of Learning available on Brain Pickings (@brainpickings), please click here.

Description of image:  A child "tinkering" away.  Photo located at graphics8.nytimes.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above picture.

Donald Clark: "More pedagogic change in 10 years than last 1000 years" @ TEDxGlasgow

CEO and one of the founders of Epic Group PLC, Donald Clark (@DonaldClarke63) is committed to the idea that #technology does - and must - play a role in education (passages taken from Clark's bio).  Having spent "30 years experience in online learning, games, simulations, social media and mobile learning projects," Clark had this to say about technology in education during a 2012 @TEDxGlasgow event:

The real scalability in education comes with the Internet because it gives us a world of digital replication for free.  A world of digital abundance where some aspects of learning content are available for anyone, anywhere, at any time.  It absolutely frees us from the tyranny of time and location. ... And that's the trick:  freeing education from a place, from a specific time.

Now if - as is clearly the case - the Internet and #socialmedia can lead young people to change the tyrannical and corrupt governments, can we really say that social media will have no role in education? How do you think those kids in Tahrir Square (@3alTahrir) learned to avoid tear gas by using Pepsi Cola (@pepsi)? How do you think those revolutions arose first through blogging, then through Facebook, then through Twitter, then through YouTube, and the ubiquity of mobile devices? We'd be fools to ignore the pedagogic lessons that are right in front of our eyes, politically and in terms of education.

What do you think? How can we use social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube educationally? Please post in the comments below.

Description of image:  Various social media channels.  Picture located at cdn.socialmediaexaminer.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above graphic.

Cameron Herold: "Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs" @ TEDxEdmonton

Speaker, author of Double, Double:  How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less, and an influential source in increasing the revenue of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? from $2 million to $106 million in just six years, Cameron Herold (@CameronHerold) is - first and foremost - an #entrepreneur.  Four years ago, he delivered a TED Talk (@TEDTalks) at TEDxEdmonton (@TEDxEdmonton) during which he called upon parents and teachers to alter their rearing and educational practices in one fundamental way:  by instilling entrepreneurial skills in ALL children.  Herold, after all, "has been a entrepreneurial innovator since launching his first company at the age of 21" (passage taken from Herold's bio); he began acquiring business strategies at a very young age, so he understands the importance of nurture AND nature in developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

Herold goes on to frame a sort of psychological and educational profile of entrepreneurs.  Does this sound familiar...?

I just came back from speaking in Barcelona at the YPO global conference, and everyone that I met over there who's an entrepreneur struggled with school. I have 18 out of the 19 signs of attention deficit disorder diagnosed. ... Attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder. Do you know that bipolar disorder is nicknamed the CEO disease? Ted Turner (@TedTurnerIII)'s got it. Steve Jobs has it. All three of the founders of Netscape had it. I could go on and on. Kids -- you can see these signs in kids. And what we're doing is we're giving them Ritalin and saying, 'Don't be an entrepreneurial type. Fit into this other system and try to become a student.' Sorry, entrepreneurs aren't students. We fast-track. We figure out the game.

Are our dyslexic students/​children predisposed to greater entrepreneurial prowess? Do you have a strategy, lesson plan, etc. to help our kids practice innovation in life and in the classroom? Please write in the comments section below.

Description of image:  Herold delivering his "Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs" @ TEDxEdmonton.  Picture located at static.squarespace.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above photo.

Sir Ken Robinson: "How to escape education's death valley" @ TED Talks Education (2013)

More words from  English author, speaker and international advisor on education Sir Ken Robinson (@SirKenRobinson):

Not far from where I live is a place called Death Valley. Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in America, and nothing grows there. Nothing grows there because it doesn't rain. Hence, Death Valley. In the winter of 2004, it rained in Death Valley. Seven inches of rain fell over a very short period. And in the spring of 2005, there was a phenomenon. The whole floor of Death Valley was carpeted in flowers for a while. What it proved is this: that Death Valley isn't dead. It's dormant. Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about, and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, life is inevitable. It happens all the time. You take an area, a school, a district, you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibility, a different set of expectations, a broader range of opportunities, you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, you offer people the discretion to be creative and to innovate in what they do, and schools that were once bereft spring to life.

For a post discussing Robinson's "RSA Animate:  Changing Education Paradigms," please click here.

For a post discussing Robinson's "How schools kill creativity," please click here. 

For a post discussing Robinson's "Bring on the learning revolution!," please click here.

Max D.: The Neuroscience of Humor

 

Recently returned from viewing The Illusionists (@Illusionists7) on Broadway, Max D. is inspired to hone his routine further by exploring one key trait of magic:  humor.  I (Jonathan Bisson) write that humor is key because this argument comes directly from Max himself.  Every single trick, he emphatically emphasizes, consists of comedy; there are merely tricks that overtly use humor and those that do not.  

I was a little confused about what he meant, so I decided to delve further into the neuroscience of humor; this search seemed prudent, for Max was already exploring this subject himself.  

For anyone interested in conducting a similar search, I would immediately recommend Peter McGraw (@PeterMcGraw)'s "What Makes Things Funny?" at TEDxBoulder (@TEDxBoulder) (shown below).  In his talk, McGraw emphasizes that humor primarily operates in a situation characterized as a "benign violation."  Such a situation, he goes on, consists of an idea or perspective that threatens the way that you believe the world should be ("violation") made less threatening by distance ("benign").  He goes on to discuss stairs as a way of demonstrating his theory:  

Walking down a flight of stairs =​ No Violation =​ Not Funny.  Falling down a flight of stairs, but being unhurt =​ Benign Violation =​ Funny.  Falling down that flight of stairs and being badly hurt =​ Malign Violation =​ Not Funny.

But perhaps the greatest crux of McGraw's talk (for myself, at least) was when, only a minute in, he states that "humor influences your choices," that it fundamentally impacts the way that we conceive of the world and those elements to which we pay attention.  This seems to relate EXACTLY to the sleight of hand with which magicians divert an audience's attention.  Perhaps, then, for some magicians - like Max - humor becomes the greatest "trick."

For another TED Talk on neuroscience and humor, please click here.

Charles Bingham: "Why we should shred our diplomas" @TEDxSFU

Epistemenarchist, philosopher, and professor Charles Bingham (@bingbingham) offers an intriguing perspective on higher education (#highered) and the implications of a diploma.  Let these words be food for thought for all of our budding graduates:

I think the main way the myth of schooling continues is through a small piece of paper called the diploma.  The diploma has two lives, really.  On one hand, a diploma is that thing that we all know and love.  It's a sign that I graduated from high school, or college, or university.  On the other hand, with every diploma that's printed, the diploma says, 'Knowledge is scarce, and it's supposed to be obtained only at this or that school.'

Khaled: J.R.R. Tolkien and Children's Literature

In addition to producing content for his graphic novel and collaborating with Shane, Khaled has been exploring the theory behind fantasy, mythology and fairy tales.  This search has led him, inevitably, to English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor J. R. R. Tolkien.  K. did not jump into a re-reading of The Lord of the Rings, however.  Instead, he began researching an article by Maria Popova (@brainpicker) and a lesser-known work called Tales from the Perilous Realm, a collection of short pieces, fairy tales, and an essay called "On Fairy-Stories."

In this latter piece, Tolkien argues that there is no such thing as "children's literature" as we know it.  He writes:

Among those who still have enough wisdom not to think fairy-stories pernicious, the common opinion seems to be that there is a natural connexion between the minds of children and fairy-stories, of the same order as the connexion between children’s bodies and milk. I think this is an error; at best an error of false sentiment, and one that is therefore most often made by those who, for whatever private reason (such as childlessness), tend to think of children as a special kind of creature, almost a different race, rather than as normal, if immature, members of a particular family, and of the human family at large. (347)

Though he finds this sentiment stimulating, K. disagrees.  He presents his position by arguing that a certain dream logic is bastardized in children's literature.  According to him, other branches of literature honor this logic while that directed toward children distort it, introduce it haphazardly, and never explain its functioning.

What do you think? Do you side with Tolkien, with K., or with a position in-between? Please leave a comment below.  For your enjoyment, enjoy the following trailer to Tolkien's own fairy-story:  The Hobbit (The Battle of the Five Armies).

Paige: Colored Overlays and Dyslexia

Paige is becoming increasingly sensitive to the controversies swirling in the field of dyslexic studies and education.  Just recently, for example, she has begun to study the use of colored overlays by dyslexic students while reading.  As Rello and Baeza-Yates (2012) relate:

The role of colors in readability has been extensively discussed in relationship to dyslexia [#dyslexia] ....  Previous user studies showed that specific text and background colors could be beneficial for reading on the screen (Gregor and Newell 2000; Rello, Baeza-Yates and Kanvinde, 2012). Moreover, text customization suggestions broadly agree that people with dyslexia normally prefer lower brightness and color differences among text and background compared to the average reader (Bradford, 2011; Pedley 2006; British Dyslexia Association, 2012). (par. 2-3)

Please click here to access another study.  To take a test comparable to working with colored overlays, please click here.  What color worked best for you? Do you think that these make a difference for reading comprehension and reading fluency? Please post in the comments below.

Description of image: A young child using a yellow-colored overlay.  Photo located at momsmustardseeds.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over this image.

A Visit to Marist College

Minus Piterson, who is currently exploring Mitchell College, the IPians joined the rest of the Kildonan juniors and seniors in touring Marist College (@Marist) yesterday.  Boasting an eclectic mix of Gothic and modern architecture, finely manicured lawns, and easy access to the Hudson River and Poughkeepsie, NY, Marist College gave The Kildonan School a warm welcome.  Our students learned of the LD services available at Marist through the Director of Special Services and an Admissions Officer.  They also received a tour of the campus and enjoyed a meal of the College's fine lunch offerings.

Our students were engaged throughout and are very thankful for the trip.  For some, yesterday marked the first of many such college visits.  We must pay thanks, then, to Joy Klvana, who arranged this wonderful opportunity as Kildonan's own College Counselor!

Will Richardson at TEDxNYED (2011)

American educator, parent, author, speaker, blogger, and co-publisher of Educating Modern Learners (EML) Will Richardson (@willrich45) at @TEDxNYED.

For a post discussing Richardson's "Education Leadership" at TEDxMelbourne, please click here.

Bull: "Born Gay? Is it a Choice?"

An interdisciplinary researcher and thinker, Bull continues to expand the breadth and depth of his "abyss of knowledge."  Most recently, his studies have taken him in a number of exciting directions.  He continues to work his way through Vladimir Nabokov's Stories, for example, a comprehensive collection of the Russian-American author's short stories.  He is also exploring historical and cultural considerations of the notion that women are inferior to men (#genderpolitics).  Why does this view persist, he asks, and on what grounds do its proponents propagate it?

Bull is examining this larger question by consulting Aristophanes' Lysistrata and myths such as "Pandora's Box" and "Adam and Eve."  However, he is also considering this inquiry alongside contemporary considerations of sexuality and the emergence of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (#LGBT) community.  As he conceives it, sexual identity and #gender consist of three fundamental components:  (1) one's physical make-up (i.e., the biological reality of a male or female sex organ), (2) one's introspective view (i.e., one's view of oneself), and (3) the social view (i.e., the views and gender expectations projected onto a person by those outside of oneself).  Do sexuality and gender roles exist along this spectrum, he wonders? If so, what are the implications upon gendered power?

If you would like to weigh in, please post in the comments below.  For a fascinating and brief examination into the biological and genetic factors that influence sexual orientation, please consult the following video:

Vladimir Nabokov: Lifelong IPian

Polyommatus blue, pictured above.  Image located at nytimes.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the photo above.

A Russian author who published works in English, Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) has received international recognition for texts such as Lolita, Pale Fire, and Speak, Memory:  An Autobiography Revisited.  He is respected even today for a beautifully precise diction and his post-modern considerations of literature and art.  He recently garnered attention, however, also as a lepidopterist (one who studies butterflies).  Having developed an extensive collection of butterflies, taken many butterfly excursions, and served as the curator for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, he was fascinated with a particular specimen:  the Polyommatus Blue.  He was so enthralled that he not only peppered his stories with vague descriptions of "blue" but also proposed an evolutionary theory concerning the species:  a series of migrations to the New World from Asia over millions of years.

Nabokov was primarily invested in literature during his life, so the scientific community did not take him seriously.  At first.  As hinted earlier, the The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London was recently shocked to learn that Nabokov's theory on the Polyommatus Blue is absolutely correct.  And the kicker? He was self-taught.  As a New York Times article explains, a teenage "Nabokov went on butterfly-hunting expeditions and carefully described the specimens he caught, imitating the scientific journals he read in his spare time."  What began as a hobby and informal explorations led to a lifelong passion and scientific acclaim.

Let us remember Nabokov, then, by cheering on our own "self-taught" IPians.  After all, what begins as a topic of choice may become something truly earth-shattering in the future.

Vladimir Nabokov, pictured above.  Image located at nytimes.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the photo above.

Marcus: GameSalad

As he continues to study computer programming, Marcus has begun to diversify his instruction by consulting sources other than Khan Academy.  His searches have taken him to GameSalad (@gamesalad), a site that he, another IP student, and Mr. Stark are working through together.

GameSalad is an Internet portal that allows for streamlined game design.  Whereas users traditionally need to acquire rudimentary programming skills before developing games, GameSalad allows novice and expert programmers to jump into the fray and promptly begin to design.  Consumers can immediately commence product tests, enjoy easy integration of images and videos, and publish to the App Store on Macs and iPads.

What fascinating and entertaining game(s) will Marcus design this year? Might we see a prototype in the near future? We encourage you to sample GameSalad products in anticipation.  For a video detailing the creation of a game of pong, please look below:

(GameSalad logo, pictured above.  Image located at gamestorming.com.br.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the graphic above.)

Will Richardson: "Education Leadership" at TEDxMelbourne

 
American educator, parent, author, speaker, blogger, and co-publisher of Educating Modern Learners (EML) Will Richardson (@willrich45) has been called "a trendsetter in education" by The New York Times.  He has spoken to tens of thousands of educators in more than a dozen countries about the value of online learning networks.  Two years ago, he presented at TEDxMelbourne (@TEDxMelbourne), an event that encouraged educators, parents, and students to think about the "changing nature of education and how technology can shape the future of learning" (passages taken from YouTube description of Richardson's talk).

Richardson raises some valid points that we in education must begin to discuss:

We have to start thinking differently about what school is. There's a great quote that I read by a guy by the name of Justin Reich (the Richard L. Menschel HarvardX Research Fellow, based in the Office of the President and Provost at Harvard University: @bjfr) who's a teacher at Harvard.  And he said, 'You know, the problem right now is that we're paying so much attention to the measurable part of learning that we risk neglecting the immeasurable part of learning."  And it's that immeasurable part that - right now, in a world where we have access to so much stuff - it's that immeasurable stuff, that hard-to-measure stuff that's much more important. It's that creativity, that gritty problem-solving, that persevering disposition that we have toward learning.  All that stuff that's really hard to measure? That's the stuff that our children need right now.

For a post discussing Richardson at TEDxNYED (2011), please click here.