Today we went to Gettysburg, PA and the National Battlefield. First, you have to know that this is the weekend of extreme heat warnings and 100°F temperatures, so standing out on an open field in the middle of the day is just a little bit this side of insane. But we have tools (air conditioned…
Category: Professional Development
Off the Beaten Path
My sister has joined me this year in my summer ramblings. We are attending the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepardstown, WV, literally across the Potomac River from Maryland. You could throw a rock from the festival site and hit Maryland. We are staying in Sharpsburg – nominally that is. Sharpsburg is right there, across…
CMK and why I go back as often as possible
Summers are important for me as a teacher. This is the time that I work in my garden, plan for next year, and immerse myself in professional development. For me PD comes in many forms. I read a metric ton of middle grade and YA books for the classroom library. I travel. I go to…
Still (happily) at it – Day 3 CMK
The third day of Constructing Modern Knowledge started with the incredible Carla Rinaldi. She is the President of Reggio Children – Loris Malaguzzi Centre Foundation in Reggio Emilia, Italy. And she was amazing. As she reminded us that children are at the center of what we do, I got that tightness in my chest that comes…
On second thought… Day 2 CMK18
Today we did not switch projects for a couple of reasons. One, it became so much more interesting when the Google Cardboard viewers arrived, and two, we found the whimsy in the project. The big revelation today was how much more engaging virtual reality /360° photography is when you are actually using a viewer that…
Back to New Hampshire and CMK18
Knowledge is the consequence of experience – Piaget. So – Choose your own adventure. Today was the first day of Constructing Modern Knowledge 2018, a teacher institute that I have had the pleasure of attending now for the fourth time. I love coming to Manchester and this institute, and this year we are in a…
Two Museums
We visited the National Gallery in Washington, DC and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD in one weekend. I love American art and artists, and even though the gentleman at the desk of the National Gallery really was steering us toward the Dutch Old Masters and the Renaissance painters, I made…
Antietam
The reality of Antietam was hard to grasp. The magnitude of the battle and the ferocity of fighting balanced with the peace of the place now has some cognitive dissonance for me. The peace of Antietam creek, the cornfields, the quiet – all of these make for a contemplative space now. During this decisive battle…
About the Place Names Around Here
I am attending a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for Teachers for the next three weeks. We are in Shepherdstown, WV – and it is a beautiful old town and a lovely old university (Shepherd University). The thing that initially is interesting to me is the power of the place name. Surrounding locations…
Driving on the left side of the road
Sunday in Dublin is quiet – so we decided to chance the line at the Trinity College library and their illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells. Now it’s a pretty cool thing, I will say, and I’m a big fan of illuminated manuscripts in general. The line was a bit daunting. But as it was…
It is a truth universally acknowledged….
Today is the 200th anniversary if the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.. I came to Austen later in my reading life. I read Georgette Heyer (which was just autocorrected as Heyerdahl – and that makes perfect sense, but only later) and all kinds of modern Regency romances in high school in the early…
York – part 1
I am in York on what is apparently the museum tour to end all museum tours. I really like the city. It’s old. Really old. Like AD71 old. Roman centurion old. And before Constantine showed up, people were living here, so it’s even older than that. So, for thousands of years people have been living…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 