April 22

The SAN Script Wednesday, April Earth Day

A Banyan is a fig that starts its life as an epiphyte (a plant growing on another plant) when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree (or on structures like buildings and bridges). “Banyan” often refers specifically to the Indian banyan (Ficus benghalensis), which is the national tree of India, though the term has been generalized to include all figs that share a characteristic life cycle.

A Banyan is a fig that starts its life as an epiphyte (a plant growing on another plant) when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree (or on structures like buildings and bridges). “Banyan” often refers specifically to the Indian banyan (Ficus benghalensis), which is the national tree of India, though the term has been generalized to include all figs that share a characteristic life cycle.

 

Let’s celebrate Earth Day

How to relate to the natural world around us is not a scientific question. It is the most ancient of spiritual issues.

The Buddhists tell it this way: Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of the mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover that there was nothing there to steal.

Ryokan returned and discovered him in the act. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.

“Poor fellow,” Ryokan mused. “I wish I could give him the beautiful moon.”

Ryokan gave the thief everything he had. What he could not give him—a stark and elemental grasp of nature, an appreciation of the beauty that is life—was what the thief needed most. It is what we may need most as well.

And Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your God in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

It’s what we have when we have nothing that defines our relation to nature and the effect of nature on the soul. Then we begin to realize that we do not exist outside of nature or above nature or independent of nature; we are simply its most vulnerable part. What we learn from nature may make the whole difference in the way we go through life, and what we want from it, and what we consider important in it, and—most of all—what we are capable of learning by being alive.

Updated April 20 Schedule and Location for each class:8:40-9:00- FDK and Grade 1 classes to pick up garbage in the schoolyard

9:00-9:30- All classes invited to the gym for the Ottawa Hydro Presentation

(award presented to Grade 4/5 class)

At 9:30, all students return to their classrooms for snack, daily classroom routines,

Earth Day activities, etc.

9:45 RECESS

10:00-10:30- PLC and Grade 1/2 classes to pick up garbage and compost materials

(leaves and twigs) outside of the schoolyard (the perimeter of the school)

Grade 2/3 class to weed the flowerbeds in the playground and to pick up compost

materials

10:30-11:00- Grade 4/5 to pick up garbage and compost materials (leaves and twigs)

in the parking lot

10:30-11:00- Grade 5/6 to pick up garbage and compost materials (leaves and twigs)

in the playground

11:00-11:30- Tree planting location (dig hole, etc.)

11:30- Tree planting

When you are finished, please leave your garbage and compost bags in the

playground near the gate to the parking lot or near the dumpster in the parking lot

for Mr. Lavergne to dispose of.

Thank-you, The Green Club

6 WAYS TO MAKE LEARNING VISIBLE

learningHow do we distinguish knowledge, skills, and thinking from….learning? How do we make learning visible, so that we might surface and document powerful discoveries about the influence of our teaching on learners? These questions will guide several of my conversations with teachers on the ground this week, as we begin exploring John Hattie’s work and the Reggio Emilia approach.Both concern themselves with the moves that students and teachers make as learning occurs, and both inspire teachers to commit to documentation, as the evidence captured helps teachers and students assess the impact of their efforts far better than grades do.

HERE ARE SIX WAYS TO MAKE LEARNING VISIBLE:

1. Display student work collected over time, and invite learners to reflect:

  • How is each piece distinct from the others?
  • What specific moves were made in the creation of each piece? How were the moves distinct as well?
  • Describe what was learned, using evidence from the work to support your thinking.

2. Make time and space for exhibition:

  • Exhibition differs from celebration in that the emphasis is on the learning rather than the product.
  • When learners participate in exhibitions, they identified key learning and strive to make it transparent to others who may benefit from it.
  • Exhibition doesn’t have to take significant amounts of time. Reserving a few moments at the end of a class period for learners to share their expertise and reflect on how it was gained is often enough.

3. Shoot your data:

  • Photos enable us to capture learning made transparent without disrupting the process.
  • Zooming in helps us notice things we may not have otherwise.
  • Photos serve to illustrate the stories that students tell about their learning, and stories can reveal different things that matter more than numbers might.

4. Audio record the learning:

  • Apps like Dragon Dictation and Storykit enable teachers and learners to audio record their work and relevant reflections.
  • Audiences and reviewers can add audio layers of their own to the original recording, so that learners may benefit from their observations and feedback.

5. Film the learning:

  • Like photos, video enables us to record learning without disrupting it.
  • Video enables learners to record experiences over time, though. Rather than capturing isolated moments, recordings like these allow us to study the moves that learners make from the beginning of an experience right up until the end.
  • Video is also dynamic, enabling us to study multiple aspects of the learning experience at once.

6. Sketchbooks are expansive and enable creative reflection:

  • Rather than reducing learning to numbers, sketchbooks provide teachers and learners a place where they can collect and organize learning made visible.
  • Most importantly, sketchbooks provide learners and teachers plenty of white space to fill. As bits of evidence find their way into the book, users reflect in the spaces in between. Data aren’t just for spreadsheets anymore.
  • Sketchbooks inspire doodling, visual note-taking, and the use of mixed media. These are beautiful ways to make learning visible and surface unexpected discoveries.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , ,

Posted April 22, 2015 by mcguirp in category SAN Today

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*