Due to the short school weeks surrounding the Easter holiday, the out-going Mini- and Nano-Brains made the decision to use a round-robin of coin tossing to choose a four-day Mini-Brain from among the previously unelected. Vlad fulfilled his duties admirably, with his trademark blend of easy-going friendliness, firmness, and responsibility.
This week, our nomination process was slightly altered, after a decision made by an assembly of Mini- and Nano-Brains past and present. Now, in addition to citing positive leadership qualities in a nominee, the nominator needs to provide concrete evidence of the nominee having demonstrated those qualities. This step didn’t prevent this week’s election from being the most tightly packed since the first!
After a few reminders about the need for campaigners to keep a minimum distance from the polling station (“ahem” *Kevin* “ahem”), another tense and close election was held, and for the second time this year, the results ended in a tie, and therefore with co-Mini-Brains.
Both are very capable leaders; how will Meera’s generosity and pro-active leadership meld with Kevin’s boisterous sense of humor and openly stated need to be “the dominant one” in their Co-Brain-ness? The next two weeks will tell!
Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come to the student-led conferences. And thank you for humoring my vision of these conferences as a chance for the older folk to get a sense of some of the things that the younger folk get up to every day.
Here are some of your timed, drawn index card responses to the quote by Maya Angelou:
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And here’s some photos of y’all practicing group work with the Paper Tower Challenge:
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And here’s a photo of the Connection board before we started making connections (students had 20 minutes in their university teams to write down everything they remembered from Term One, and got one point for each idea/concept they had that no other team had – as a way of building the board but also to help cement some of Term One’s learning and not have it just drift away in the ether of “done-ness”…):
And here’s a photo of the Connection board after the conferences:
And here’s some photos of students showing some of you things in the room (before my old nemesis, the full phone, reared its ugly head…):
And here are the students’ timed, drawn index card responses to the prompt, the next day, “Draw an image of a moment you felt good about yourself during your student-led conference” (including some fantasy moments from those who were unable to attend):
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Again, thank you all, students and parents. There were a lot of very tender moments that I felt privileged to witness. Thank you, as always, for having such wonderfully curious children; and thank you, kids, for having such caring, game parents!
In Term Two, as we prepared for our Inquiry Projects, we engaged in an exploration of the sketchnoting technique while watching episodes of the amazing Cosmos mini-series, which has a wonderfully direct correlation to the Big Ideas and content of the grade 6 and 7 Science Curriculum.
Sketchnoting is a powerful learning tool, as it encourages metacognitive thinking (thinking about thinking). Students are required to actively analyze the information they are viewing in order to classify and sort it, create visual mnemonics, and delineate different kinds and strengths of connections between ideas. I can report a 100% engagement level every Friday morning in our class, as we watched and sketchnoted from Sagan, Druyan, and deGrasse Tyson’s remarkable series.
It fills me with joy to see how differently each student works with the same material and concepts, and one of the beautiful aspects of sketchnoting is that you do it in the way that makes sense to you – as long as you are experimenting with a hierarchy of information, using structure and organization to sort the information, and using visuals when appropriate to capture ideas and concepts, anything goes. This form of active viewing and this way of thinking about thinking increases memory retention and makes plagiarism impossible, as you have used a minimum number of words to capture the information viewed or read. It’s also a lot of fun. Thank you, Mrs. Osiris of Chaffey-Burke (one of the most creative people I know), for turning me on to this amazing technique!
Here are some of the fruits of our labors (if I missed your work, it was because my phone ran out of room to store photos – I am plagued by this issue…).
Practice Round:
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Submitted Work, Round 1:
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Submitted Work, Round 2:
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A good intro to sketchnoting can be found here. Be a Thought Curator and try it out! And while you’re at it, take a look at the original 1980 version of the Cosmos series – despite (or perhaps because of) the turtlenecks and the adenoidal tone, there are still few people who can bring the same sense of wonder and refinement of thought to science as Carl Sagan. Hop aboard the Ship of the Imagination and click on the first episode, here.
On Friday, we held our first Mini-Brain election of Term Three. Election regulations prohibit consecutive terms for the MIni-Brain, so Anika and her Nano-Brain, David, were ineligible for this election cycle. As per tradition, students stood to nominate those in Division 2 whom they thought best exemplified positive leadership qualities, giving evidence to support their nominations.
The power of perseverance (or is it the perseverance for power?) has led to the election of our first Grade 6 Mini-Brain, Amy!
Amy has been a nominee in every cycle and brings with her the experience of one month as Nano-Brain during the inaugural Mini-Brain term. She also brings a promise of chocolate for everyone on Fridays…
Congratulations, Amy!
And remember, all: if we seem to be looking for and celebrating an embodiment of helpfulness, fairness, and a welcoming and inclusive attitude in our leaders, as evidenced in our nomination process, can we also seek out and bring those qualities to our interactions on social media and during recess and lunch? That is the challenge, going forward. Leaders of Tomorrow, Assemble!
As we wade into Term Three (already? How did that happen??), it is important to focus back on the notion of mindset. A lot of your work this term will be independent and require a kind of depth and attention to detail that can only emerge from Lynda Barry’s “calm and friendly” place: we will have open work blocks most days and it will be up to you to organize yourself and your mind to focus and get things done during those blocks (with my help – if you need it, ask! Remember: asking for help is a sign of strength – it means you have come up against your own limits and you might just need a little push or reorientation in order to move farther and deeper; there is no virtue in staying stuck).
In preparation for this work, please visit the revamped Mindset tab on the navigation bar of this site, and also explore the two poems below. Think about how you can apply these ideas to your work and to your life. We will discuss! (The video and music link are incidental – but can you make connections? These might be worth points for the Connections Game…)
The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty
You are sitting here with us,
but you are also out walking in a field at dawn.
You are yourself the animal we hunt
when you come with us on the hunt.
You are in your body
like a plant is solid in the ground,
yet you are wind.
You are the diver’s clothes
lying empty on the beach.
You are the fish.
In the ocean are many bright strands
and many dark strands like veins that are seen
when a wing is lifted up.
Your hidden self is blood in those,
those veins that are lute strings
that make ocean music,
not the sad edge of surf
but the sound of no shore.
Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Into a soul absolutely free
From thoughts and emotions,
Even the tiger finds no room
To insert its fierce claws.
One and the same breeze passes
Over the pines on the mountain
And the oak trees in the valley;
And why do they give different notes?
No thinking, no reflecting,
Perfect emptiness;
Yet therein something moves,
Following its own course.
The eye sees it,
But no hands can take hold of it —
The moon in the stream.
Clouds and mists,
They are midair transformations;
Above them eternally shine the sun and the moon.
Victory is for the one,
Even before the combat,
Who has no thought of himself,
Abiding the no-mind-ness of Great Origin.
A Taoist Priest, as quoted in Tao of Jeet Kun Do, by Bruce Lee
With the end of Jayee and Yoshin’s term as Co-Brains, the floor was again opened to nominations, with students standing to give examples of their nominee’s leadership qualities.
And again, all nominees received a fair share of the votes, but having placed a heart-wrenching second place in the last two election cycles, Anika was rewarded for her persistent and inclusive attitude (and well-worded catchphrase) with a win!
… means that this won’t last long, but the NPR website tonight is striking in its inclusion of many articles about things we are exploring in class. Check it out: npr.org
MACC-sters, I write this as much to myself as to you, but I think the topic of sleep, and how it relates to our class, is worth discussing. You may have noticed a trend in our morning check-ins: I don’t think we need empirical data from a statistician to tell us that the dot plot around the word “tired” would be pretty crowded…
We only have just over four months left with each other, and in the name of having the best, most fun, most supportive, most focused, most learn-y four months possible, I want to set a challenge: how many days of each week can you arrive ready to learn? By this I mean organized, focused, and ready to go by the time the second bell rings and our morning drawing exercises begin.
In aid of this, sleep will be our most powerful tool. Remember, at your age, you need between nine and twelve hours of sleep a day (at my age, you can get by with a few, slow blinks…). Not only does this help you process what you have learned and experienced during the day (think amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex), but it also balances your mood and makes you less likely to be thrown by difficult social interactions. It helps you be in control of you. It has also been proven that in order to enter a full and deep sleep, you need to have separated yourself from any screened device at least half an hour before you get into bed. Easier said than done…
For the scientifically minded, here are a few articles:
For the most romantically minded, groove on this (and think about how breathing, enunciation, and articulation, like we practiced with our speeches, is at play here) :
1. Social Studies: this is where your focus should be for the rest of the term. The graphic organizer we started this week (four words to describe your person, etc.) is due Tuesday. If you lost it or forgot to bring it home, a copy can be found here: graphic organizer. Use this document to help guide your thinking about the work below.
Review the project outline for the African-American History Altered Book project: SOCIALS African American History project. Please note the changes we discussed in class: the required elements are now Cover, Timeline, Story, Poem, Bibliography; all other items are solely for extension.
Pay close attention to the final pages about Applied Design – this is where we are at now. In your comp books or in a stapled together prototype, draft out your altered book. Remember that each page of an altered book should be a finished piece of art. Think about words, objects, layering, balance, color, and mood. The juice is in the details. If you have neglected to research altered book techniques, hop to it!
Things to think carefully about and to do quick sketches of before your doing your drafts:
What form will your timeline take? Vertical on one page? Horizontal across a two-page spread? Spiral? Other? It’s your choice, just so long as you are meeting all of the criteria as described in the timeline section of the outline.
How will you tell your story? Essay? Storybook? Pop-up? Abstract collage? Other? Will you tell the whole story of your person’s life or go into depth about a particularly important moment? How can you capture the essence of your person and share the big ideas, important details, ethical issues, and how they broke the established rules governing society and/or their field of work?
Poem – will you do a blackout poem or cut and paste?
If you do not yet have a book to alter, I strongly suggest going to a used book store or checking out the sale shelves at your local library. Remember: hard cover, stitched binding, visible signatures, not too thin or small. I only have about a dozen books to give away; it is much better to have a book that you have personally chosen than to have to work with a book you that has been forced upon you by the Random Deck of Terror.
If you have a book, begin to look for the pages that you will use for your platforms. Look for interesting words or images that can help support your theme. Put a sticky note on the pages you think you’d like to use.
Remember: you have a responsibility to the person whom you have invested so much time in getting to know to tell their story with respect, care, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail.
2. Goals: you should have created a key/legend for the two tasks you are going to do daily and the one task you will do weekly in order to work toward your social-emotional goal. The legend goes into the empty boxes in the bottom right of the February calendar. Your job this weekend is to enter your code/abbreviation into each day of the remaining dates in February (starting Tuesday, February 14) and all of March. This is due Tuesday.
3. Math. Grade 7s, your assessment on Circles, Triangles, Parallelograms, and Circle Graphs is on Tuesday. Grade 6s: those of you who were working on the lesson about perimeter, that work is due Tuesday, too.
4. Lit Circles. Remember what we learned this week about the value of coming to your meeting armed with thought-provoking ideas and deep thinking, based on textual evidence, and the importance of building off others’ ideas in order to create a rich, flowing discussion. Remember, too, the revised schedule due to the short week:
– Wednesday: One Crazy Summer and Chains
– Thursday: March and To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Tell each member of your family something you like about them.
6. Tell yourself something that you like about yourself.
On the final day of Shawn and Amy’s term as Mini- and Nano-Brain, we held our first election since the inaugural Mini-Brain vote in December. Students stood to nominate peers whom they felt had actively demonstrated positive leadership qualities over the past several weeks. This process produced a slate of nine candidates.
The electors agonized over their choices, some spending upwards of two minutes in the voting booth, weighing up their options while imagining the future under a new leader.
Although all candidates received multiple votes, the final tally resulted in a three-way tie between Anika, Jayee, and Yoshin, forcing us into a run-off vote.
The race continued to be close, with only one vote separating candidates – so close, in fact, that even the run-off resulted in a tie.
Shawn has promised a peaceful transference of power and will meet with the new Mini-Brains on Monday to discuss policy and procedure and to hand over the reins.
In the meanwhile, welcome your new co-Mini-Brains. At the risk of sounding greedy, why have one when you can have two?
Amy has been a nominee in every cycle and brings with her the experience of one month as Nano-Brain during the inaugural Mini-Brain term. She also brings a promise of chocolate for everyone on Fridays…
