My View from across the room » marshc

Outside, Inside, all Around the School

marshc — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:56 +0000

In the last month or so, energetic and willing 7th and 8th graders have helped create the beginnings of an outdoor classroom. They have learned about topsoil, mulch, planting techniques, landscape design, and fund-raising, to name but a few of the educational opportunities offered by this project.

It all started with one of our 7th grade science teachers. She wrote a grant and was awarded a small amount to create a wildlife-friendly area, to take the place of an empty space, left by the recent renovation of the middle school property. All her classes were involved, and then activity blocks at the end of the day, 4 days of the week. The project grew to be a circular hardspace, surrounded by a berm, planted with shrubs and trees and plants that would attract and perhaps feed wildlife. The existing garden beds in other areas have been worked on, added to, and continue to be maintained.

We are on the home stretch now, but what is so great is that this is an ongoing project, that generations of middle-school students can learn from, maintain, and be proud of. Community, Learning, Beauty—all come together at our middle school!

Essential Blog…..

marshc — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:12:44 +0000

There are so many many excellent blogs out in Edublog-land….but one that does stand out, in my opinion, is Leading From the Heart, written by Tracy Rosen. She is very involved with her students, as well as participating in a dazzling array of education leadership activities, attending conferences, writing curriculum, presenting workshops, etc. She has written about the uses, new and ongoing, of computer technology in her school. So much of her goals for her school and students are what we are trying to do here a KMS. When I look at her blog and wiki(leadership) , and recent work,I feel very optimistic about the future of education……and the education of our students.

moving away from a paper trail

marshc — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:02:29 +0000

Moving… I am an ‘Army Brat’, and as such, was moved many times in my life, but this move is different; 16 years is the longest time in one place. And that time has flown by.

Part of a move of this sort is the activity of sifting through my ‘paper chase’; tangible evidence of people, places, memories; evidence that can be held in the hand. A velvet flower, a letter from my mother, a photograph ; held, looked at, then either discarded or put into the ’save’ box. Save for…..what? to look over and sift through again, perhaps. This is my ‘paper trail’, and it is very hard to let go of what to anyone else would be useful in starting a fire in the wood stove.

I have been thinking about this and wondering about the students I work with, some of whom have also experienced a lot of ‘moving house’ in their lives. Most of these children are very much at home with computers, the internet, and the technology we are using now in our middle school. Will people always have a ‘paper trail’, or is this something peculiar to my age and generation? Writings, emails, photographs and more are stored on discs…the whole world is on disc. And these evidences of lives can be printed, sure. But will these printouts of the future lives of my students embody the same kind of sentiment/memories that I feel when gathering, sorting, saving, and sometimes discarding the tangible evidences of my life?

O brave new world…..

marshc — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:07:51 +0000

I do hope that my tech literacy will be increased by taking this class/workshop. I am at once excited and feeling waaaaay out of my league. But if not now, when……..?

Hello world!

marshc — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:06:12 +0000

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