The Relationship School

read: the op-ed piece by David Brooks

OPINION

The Relationship School

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: March 22, 2012

The New American Academy in Brooklyn is an exciting experiment in education reform that centers everything around the teacher-student relationship.

The New American Academy has many structural similarities to the IGSS program.  What is super interesting is to read the comments following the article.  So many nay-sayers out there who seem fearful of giving educational innovation a chance, or just think we've been there and done that. 

Does Mr. Markham exist?

Students give arguments for the existence of Markham, based on their reading of Plato.

Does this chair exist?

Does Plato think that things you can see, feel, or touch are not a genuine article, but merely a shadow of the real thing?

Is the outward circumstance a dream?
We think we understand the real world, but because we are trapped in our bodies we can see only the shadows on the wall. According to Plato, we should not be a slave to our senses.

Shaw: "Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world".

What is the self? Is the self "consciousness"?

IGSS Science:
Lab - Analyzing Greenhouse Gases and Global Temperature Data Over Time
Students will determine whether amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been increasing by graphing temperatures over time and looking a projected trends that the group has established.

Part I: Analyzing the student graphs produced. Students compare their graph to Annual Mean Temperature Graph: 1866-1996

Part II: Historical Data of Carbon Dioxide
Questions:
Are all temperature changes related to human activity?
Does C02 lag temperature or do temperature changes lag C02? What does this imply?
Besides humans, what are other factors that could related to carbon dioxide emissions?
How can ice cores, sea floor sediments and tree rings tell us about the past?

Part III: C02 --Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii
Assuming the current rate of increase continues for the level of C02, predict the levels of atmospheric C02 in the year 2025? 2050?

Part IV: How has the C02 concentration changed over long time scales? What were the pre-industrial concentrations? How has the CH4 concentration changed over long time scales? What were the pre-industrial concentrations. Looking at graphs, determine how the N20 concentrations have changed over long time scales? What were the pre-industrial concentrations?

Environmental Readings

"A Good Oak" - Aldo Leopold
Explain how Leopold connects the life of a tree with his depiction of U.S. History.
According to Leopold, what should our relationship to the land be?

How does this connect to Thoreau's Walden?
Will nature outlast humans?

"A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf" - John Muir
Summarize Muir's view of creation and the implications this has for us as humans.

What suggestions might Muir have for 21st Century Americans?

"Prosperity" - Gifford Pinchot
What is Pinchot's vision of our nation's relation to the land? Why is he arguing for national parks and forest preserves?

"The More Factor" - Laurence Shames

What is the More Factor? What national relationship with the land is Shames proposing?

String Game: connecting species with the web of life

Tuesday @ IGSS

Our first science pre-lab readings for the new unit:

GLOBE - A Introduction to the Carbon Cycle (UNH); Goldilocks and The Three Planets (Level 4; Life of a Carbon Atom PreLab-Reading

Science Lab Carbon Cycle activities in the context of Climate Change.

Social Studies readings: break into small groups
Read/discuss/annotate
1) Look at source; content; bias
2) Find out about relationship to environment
3) Figure out historical context

Christopher Columbus' journal
Amerigo Vespucci's journal
John Smith's description of Virginia
Etching 1764
William Oglethorpe's founding of Georgia
William Bradford & Thomas Morton - sources on Puritan America

Green Chicago?

Discussion of three assigned readings/articles:

1) The Greening of Chicago --Daley as a green mayor


2) A Green City Skeptic -Questions Chicago's ability to become green; not as green as it seems


3) America's 50 Greenest Cities -- Chicago ranked 9th of 11 top green American cities


Students develop their own questions based upon teacher questions:

**Write tough questions for the mayor of Chicago.

1) Why isn't Chicago doing more recycling?
2) What can be done about Chicago transportation infrastructure?
3) What can be done to provide more bike lanes?
4) Why aren't there more opportunities for recreation at the Chicago River? The NT rowing team members have staph infections from the river.
5) What can be done about light pollution?
6) How can Chicago promote LED lightbulbs?
7) How efficient is our electricity use
8) How is going green helpful to the poor?
9) How can we say Chicago is "green" when the Chicago River is in such bad shape?
10)What is your plan to bring in grassroots ideas to the political machine in Chicago?
11) How can we implement green architecture and green urban planning so that Chicago builders have incentives to become more green?
12) Is it possible to get energy from the Chicago River?
13) How do you spend on some green initiatives that are so many other demands, such as education?
14) How can Chicago reduce rush hour traffic and increase car pools?


Teacher questions:
Is a zero emissions bus a possibility? Each bus costs $2 million
What has Chicago done to take natural gas emissions byproducts(which releases C02 and water)to help make more energy? They are using the water to make steam = more energy.
Do solar panels work without a lot of sun?
How can homes be heated with waste?
How do underwater turbine engines produce energy? The Hudson River uses this technology now. It works like a wind turbine.

Chicago Through Three Lenses

Boy, have we been busy on Chicago!
Monday students came for an hour to do more research on their Chicago topics. Students were given time to put together presentations from Friday's field trip exploring the Geology of Michigan Ave. and "looking for the soul" of Chicago via architecture.

Tuesday we heard presentations from students on Chicago architecture and continued to work on research. In class research today for a primary source on a historical Chicago event to prepare with a partner some materials to teach others what this event reveals about Chicago and how it impacts the U.S. as a whole.

After presentations, students broke into Junior and Senior sections.

Juniors: History lesson
Short history lesson - timeline of events post-fire 1871 to present.

Seniors: English lesson- writing techniques --how to integrate quotes into your paper

Groups switched teachers after about 1 hour, so they had benefit of history and English instruction today.

Chicago Through 3 Lenses:


Student presentations on:

Today, Lens #1 Chicago, City of Really Great Parties


1893 Columbian Exposition



1934 World's Fair - Century of Progress


1968 Democratic Nation Convention

Lens #2 - Change Starts Here

1877 Great Railroad Strike
1984 Pullman Strike
1966 Chicago Freedom Movement

Next Monday: Lens# 3

Haymarket Riot 1886
Race Riots of 1919
1929 St. Valenine's Day Massacre
1969 Fred Hampton and the Black Panthers

Geology of Michigan Avenue - Friday Field Trip

The mixed architecture of downtown Chicago includes a variety of building stones. These provide conveniently located and accessible "urban outcrops" The rocks used in Chicago architecture come from all over the world and represent a wide variety of rock types. Each group of students will observe buildings on Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago and observe limestone, dolomite, basalt granite gabbro, brano-diorite, marble travertine and serpentine.

Part I. Buildings of significance for study of geology:
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington
Crowne Fountain, Millenium Park
Aon Building, 200 E. Randolph
Carbide and Carbon building, 230 N. Michigan Ave
343 N. Michigan Ave
Wrigley Building, 410 N. Michigan Ave
Tribune Building, 435 N. Michigan Ave
Woman's Athletic Club 626 N. Michigan Ave
Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station
John Hancock Center, 875 N. Michigan

In the rain on Friday, students worked in small groups on a walking tour of these buildings and are responsible for studying one buildin in-depth and reporting back to the class using a photo journal/powerpoint presentation.


Part II. Architectural and Photo Reflection Tour
What architectural features and styles seem to dominate the downtown area? What does Chicago's downtown reveal about our relationship with nature? What attitudes about wealth, consumption and progress are revealed through downtown Chicago's architecture and layout? What is distinctly Chicago about Chicago?

Using your background in local geology, Chicago history, architecture and Chicago poetry and literature make some connections as you explore:

The Rookery
Board of Trade Building
Reliance Building
The Monadnock Block
Marina City
Inland Steel Building
The Marquette

What a marvelous experience; I loved my role as a chaperone!

"Our Neighborhood" Literature Circles Today

It is every group member's responsibility to be current with all group determined reading assignments and uphold their group responsibility. Here are the descriptions of roles within the Literature circle:

Group Leader: summarizes work keeps everyone on schedule and organizes all sheets

Passage Selector: find 3 key passages for each assignment; complement what group leader has done --complete passage selector sheet

Word Specialist: look for interesting and important words and word usage in your book.--complete word specialist sheet

Chicago Historian: research on a significant location mentioned in each reading assignment; provide images and historical information; keep your eyes open for interesting references in the book

Discussion Leader: lead a discussion on each section of the book and prepare aseries of factual and inferential questions.

Meeting Dates: 10/22; 10/29; 11/5; and 11/12.

Science Lab: Room 102 --Prepare for Geology of Michigan Avenue Trip - Rock Cycle

Field Trip tomorrow to Chicago!

Continuing Library Research today on Chicago Unit

Science - Las Vegas Rock Cycle game

Students will be going to 11 stations to learn about individual parts of the Rock cycle and to determine length of time in each cycle:

Compaction and Cementation
High Temperature and Pressing
Sediments Igneous Rocks
To the Surface
Metamorphic Rock
Sedimentary Rock
Melting
Cooling and Hardening
Magma
Weathering and Erosion

Library Research continues
Working Bibliographies and thesis statements are due today.

Geology of Chicago & Chicago Research

Science Lesson:

***Glacial Geology of Chicago

***Quaternary Geology of Illinois
"The landscape of Illinois is the product of its most recent past, the Quaternary Period, roughly the last 2 to 2.5 million years. This period of geologic time, in which we live today, has been characterized by alternating glacial and interglacial episodes reflecting Earth's climate flip-flops between cooler and warmer intervals. During the Quaternary Period, over 90% of Illinois was glaciated, and the remaining 10% of the state was affected by glacier meltwater, dust storms, and a climate more frigid than that of today."

15,000 - 20,000 years ago was the last time a glacier moved through Illinois.

See: Why we study glacial and quaternary geology.

Review: What is a moraine? Unconsolidated material which glaciers pick up (debris) --it's a mile thick---. During warming trend, glacier starts to melt and no longer has the power and strength to move the material. Moraines are these deposits of glacial material that has been dumped.

Assignment: Turn in Geology/Natural History of Illinois Summaries by Monday

First Quarter assessments delivered for Science
1) Infectious Disease Lab - group activity
2) TB Essay and handwashing/bacterial growth lab.
3) Visible Light Lab
4) Cosmic Object/Electromagnet Spectrum Visual Presentation

Write a brief reflective statement about yourself and your IGSS experience. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a student? Your accomplishments thus far? your challenges. Individual conferences are next week Wednesday Oct 21.

Seniors & Juniors work on framing a thesis for Chicago research projects.
"How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One" -- Indiana Univ.
Practice working in groups to develop thesis statements.


Monday Oct 19th - more library work; thesis statements due & preliminary bibliographies due on Tuesday. Neighborhood maps due next Tuesday as well!

Brief Reading Quiz - early Chicago history; explanation of scoring.

Town Hall meeting today! Committee work today:
Mix CD --sharing via Facebook
IGSS movie day - Ferris Bueller's Day Off next Wed. during conferences
IGSS service project--
Advisery/PR visits --junior/senior pairs will sign up.

Northshore Geology Field Trip presentations

Each of 3 student groups visited 2 locations on the Northshore and presented their findings. I was unable to attend the trip, so I thoroughly enjoyed the video presentations:

Students shared findings with other groups to complete packets of questions/information.

Winnetka Grand Canyon - using a topographic map, create a vertical profile of one of the ravines. See "R" is for Ravines for more information.

Tower Beach - visually document the topography

Glencoe Beach - How are bluffs formed? What is a moraine and how are they formed?

Southern Winnetka - Using the topographic map calculate the approximate gradient of the Highland Park moraine in southern Winnetka.
Gradient = slope = rise/run

Skokie Lagoons Collect/document something representative of this region and visually document your experience. What is a lagoon? What environmental crises occurred in the 1970s at the lagoons and how was it addressed? Where and in which direction does the water flow?

Wilmette Sand spit
The spit was created thousands of years ago when Lake Chicago was at a high water mark (60 ft. higher than Lake Michigan today). Longshore currents swept around the tip of the Highland Park moraine and deposited sediment beyond it, called a sandspit. Visually document the sandspit and the dune field on the grounds of Westmoreland Country Club.


Walking the Beach - Gilson Park: identify and document a sand dune; collect a sample of granite rocks (contains pink), basalt rocks (all black) and a white rock (dolomite). What are Petoskey stones and how did they form?

Continue with Paradigm Shift presentations.

Library research: Chicago as an archetypal American city and "culture factory"

Library Research Today!

For the "My Neighborhood" Unit: Juniors will be exploring Chicago as the "most American of American cities, research the city historically, politically, economically and demographically.

see: Chicago - Quintessential American City for unit resources.


Seniors will be looking at how Chicago influenced American arts, architecture, music, dance, sports...researching all cultural aspects.
see: Chicago as a Cultural Factory

Chicago Lit Circles will be formed

Chicago book choices include:

Dybek, Stuart. The Coast of Chicago: Stories
Ferber, Edna So Big
Kotlowitz, Alex. Never a City So Real
Langer, Adam. Crossing California
Lombardo, Billy. The Logic of the Rose: Chicago Stories
Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler's Wife
Paretsky, Sara. Hardball

Illinois Geology - Glacial Geology of Chicago and vicinity
Interpret geologic maps and develop a geologic history of Illinois:

Geologists are said to be "story tellers". Using the maps and info provided, tell the story of Illinois as would be written by a geologist. Use as much information and detail from the maps that have been provided. Please cite at least three of the readings/resources.

Writing tips: Common wrong turns on essays for Sirens of Titan: Reflections on in-class essays
You slipped into a summary of the book for either part or for the entire essay. Here, you lost contact with the prompt. Why?

You need to directly respond to the prompt, "someone up there likes me"...

You made a point about the very end of the book without mentioning that the very end is a delusion. Why?

The prompt asked you to reflect on the overall message of the book. You didn't why?

You tended to figure out what you wanted to say as you went. Did you choose to write without making some sort of outline. Why?

Did you make another sort of mistake? Why did you make this mistake?

Poetry Slam

Class poets on light and life and nature: vote for the poem you like best.

Today in IGSS

Recap Orienteering Field Trip with video/pics/stories:
Highlights from Northshore orienteering:
Wilmette Historcial Society --learning about Skokie Lagoons, a CCC project during the Great Depression; Martin Luther King Memorial in Winnetka, oldest Jeweler in Wilmette; Kenilworth Water tower; Frank Lloyd Wright inspired houses; Kerrigan Plumbing in Wilmette; Roemer Park built from donated farm land in 1953; Crow Island woods; 1837 Schmidt-Burnham log house, Centennial Park in Winnetka, Indian Hill Golf Club; Wagner Farm in Glenview - interview with Todd, 8th generation farmer from Iowa; interview with Mr. Mort Balaban house builder on the northshore; Winnetka Ravines; Glencoe Beach; Wilmette Historical Society; Tower Rd. Beach Water Filtration Plant; Plaza del Lago.

Continuing Paradigm Shift presentations:

Space Travel - a clash of science and religion
Is Obama's policy on cutting funding to NASA so that he can focus on domestic issues a prudent policy?


Darwin - clash of science and religion
Natural selection skit: Does Darwin believe in God? How has Darwin changed science forever?

Science Lab: North Shore Geology: Introduction

Early Chicago History Readings ---due next Tuesday the 13th.

Geocaching and Orienteering Mon Oct 5th

Suburban Orienteering on Monday periods 5-9.Those of you biking, don't forget your bike & helmet on Monday. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online.Very exciting to launch "My Neighborhood" unit.
Complete Journal Entry #3 (summarize your findings) on Monday.

Tracy Kidder author event: Wed. Oct 7th - next week 7:30 pm $10 donation to Partners in Health
Winnetka Congregational Church
630 Lincoln Ave
Winnetka, IL 60093

His new book is:Strength in What Remains is about Deo, a young
medical student who fled the genocidal civil war in Burundi in 1994 for the
uncertainty of New York City. Against absurd odds--he arrived with little money
and less English and slept in Central Park while delivering groceries for
starvation wages--his own ambition and a few kind New Yorkers led him to
Columbia University and, beyond that, to medical school and American
citizenship. Writing with the same modest but dogged empathy that made his
recent Mountains Beyond Mountains (about Deo's colleague and mentor, Dr. Paul Farmer) amodern classic, Tracy Kidder follows Deo back to Burundi, where he recalls the horrors of his narrow escape from the war and begins to build a medical clinic where none had been before.

I can arrange to get tickets and meet you there. If someone absolutely needs a ride let me know.
J. Gressel
gresselj@newtrier.k12.il.us

Paradigm Shift Presentations Today:
Monotheism - How has monotheism shaped our country?
Photography How has photography changed our world? Our perceptions have shifted. Does photography dilute storytelling or enhance it?

Paradigm Shifts That Rocked our World: Presentations

First Presentation - Freudian Psychoanalysis - explanation of Id, Ego, and Superego; lesson with newscast demonstrating pre and post Freudian thinking.

Second Presentation - Nationalism
War games - make flag, gang sign/symbol, song/chant, reasons for attacking, choosing a country to attack
Film - The Wave - extremism
Film - examples of historical nationalism





Third Presentation: Genetics simulation, video - Gattica clip & discussion.
1) How does genetics chang your perception of what we are?
2) Does genetic engineering limit human potential or expand it?
3) How did the discovery of genetics change your view of a human's place in the universe?
4) Would you be comfortable living in a world with human genetic engineering?

Discussion: The Five Eyes essay by C.T. Shen
How would the Bodhisattva answer the questions Who am I? Where am I? and What am I for?

Ultraviolet Lab Today & Constitution Test

Seniors went outside today (enjoying the sun) to use UVB sensors to measure UVB light. The objective was to determine the percent UVB light that is blocked by various kinds of sunglasses and regular eyeglasses. There was no difference in "cheap" sunglasses vs. "expensive" sunglasses in their ability to block UV radiation.

While seniors did the science experiments Juniors worked on a U.S. Constitution exam.


First Paradigm Shift Presentation - Ecology
Sustainability Lesson - shift happened with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. handout:
excerpts from Silent Spring (1962).

Paradigm Shift Presentation - Personal Computer - Exploring the world prior to and after personal computers.

Orienteering Excursion Next Week Oct 5

Survey: Do you have a bike/helmet for next Monday's excursion?




Assignment: The Five Eyes by C.T.Shen - annotate this essay by Thursday. Click here for online version.
Buddha said that "with the physical eye and the heavenly eye one sees the incomplete, changeable and unreal world as complete, permanent and real. One becomes attached to it and that is why man suffers." With the wisdom eye one sees that everything in the universe is impermanent and unreal --the other extreme. What is ideal is to see the world with a Dharma eye which automatically generates "an unconditional, non-discriminative, universal love and compassion. The dharma eye sees the infinite aspect of the truth (like space astronomers) and sees no attachment to self, to objects, to actions, or to time.

Due tomorrow: Major writing assignment Who am I? Where am I? What am I for?

Cosmic Objects assessment: student activity "By the Light of a Star"
Cosmic Objects presentation - Questions:
How do scientists determine the features of the cosmic object and why is it important to study it?

Work on Paradigm Shifts project today in collaborative groups. Presentations start tomorrow for seniors on Paradigm Shifts. Juniors have U.S. Constitution test.

Paradigm Shift Research began on Tuesday

Students spent about half the IGSS time in the library yesterday researching their paradigm shifts for presentations on Sept 30. Other half of IGSS was devoted to a Science lab review session for the Universe/Origins unit.

Juniors: Constitution Test Review session today. Each student became expert on an an amendment or topic or Constitutional concept to share out with the class.

Seniors: writing in-class essay

Review of expectations for Paradigm Shift project.
The project must be related to SOME of the essential questions for the Origins Unit:
What is the basic nature of the universe?
Does the universe have a purpose?
Was the universe created for a reason? Is it merely a giant accident?
What is consciousness? Is procreation really what it's all about? Am I here to help others or just myself and my people? Can I tell the difference between good and evil enough to act?

Seniors: Metaphysics and Argumentation
Reality is often science-based but metaphysics goes beyond disciplines to ask "what is real?"
Is reality made up of matter (objective world) or is the world what we see (my perceptions)?
Handouts: Hobbes and the Materialists
Reality Consists of Ideas - George Berkeley

Using Metaphysics and Argumentation to Decide about God
1. Anselm's Ontological Argument
2. Aquinas' Cosmological Argument
3. Paley's Teleological Argument (The Argument from Design)

Where am I? What am I? What am I for?

We started with a film: Powers of Ten (1977) about our place in the Universe. This scientific film essay, begins with a set of pictures of two picnickers in a Chicago park, with the area of each frame one-tenth the size of the one before. Starting from a view of the entire known universe, the camera gradually zooms in until we are viewing the subatomic particles on a man's hand.
What do we know about the Universe that has changed in the past 40 years?

English discussion with Seniors:
defining paradigm shift--see wikitionary definition:
paradigm shift

1." A radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new one, necessitated when new scientific discoveries produce anomalies in the current paradigm."
2." (US) A radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new belief."

1) Write down concise answers to the questions:

Where Am I?

What Am I?

What am I for?

2)Charting answers on white charts & examining others' viewspoints. Take your journal and copy down others' existential ideas. Collect the ideas as a tourist would.
Which better explores the limits of human understanding--Science or Religion?

Submit proposals for essay to answer the above. Discussion about how to approach the essay.

Juniors: Study U.S. Constitution
Break: Juniors and Seniors switch classrooms.