Explorers Exhibitions

Exhibitions were a little different this fall than they were last year, and the second round, slated for January, will be a further evolution of the concept.

This time around, the kids were required to teach two fifteen-minute lessons, as they were in 2012-2013. Topics were selected from the theme of Explorers. This was a little tricky, since the word 'exploration' and its relatives are so spongy. 'I'm going to explore how much I like to eat Kit Kats' or 'I want to explore how much I love my stuffed unicorn, Andy' proved tempting topics. These and their ilk were vetoed.

Instead, we had the following collection (this is a complete list):

• Martian rovers
• minimalist music
• early French film
• the evolution of Antarctic transportation
• Ponce de Leon
• royalty in London
• the colonization of Australia
• photonic matter
• life on Mars
• touring Maastricht
• Annie Edson Taylor and Jessica Watson
• theatre in London
• the emergence of New York City
• Chinese exploration
• the European Age of Exploration
• early navigation
• early cartography
• traditional African housing
• comparing Diana Nyad and Michael Phelps
• Ponce de Leon
• the Silk Road
• missions to Mars
• a history of computers
• the palace of Knossos
• Eurycleia, Odysseus' maid

As always, students were expected to engage their attendees and provide activities that would enable us to process the material. The kids did this in a variety of ways befitting their variety of interests. Danny showed an early French film, providing annotations and answering questions throughout. Ryan played samples of minimalist music. Aristea created a game show on Minoan civilization. Mike asked his audience to use Pei Xiu's six principles of cartography to map out one of our project rooms. Lily walked us through an activity-filled six-stop tour of London.

Faculty came out in force, for which we're grateful: Josh, Monica, Joanna, Imogen, Val, Sam, Rachel, Karen, Mary and Fran all attended at least one Exhibition.

For the next round, engaging the theme of Identity, three changes will be implemented.

1. Instead of teaching two fifteen-minute lessons, students will teach one thirty-minute lesson.
2. Each student will have an adult mentor, identified via the topic selected.
3. A full round of rehearsals will be formally scheduled.

Once students have finished reading the Identity coursepack, the preparation and proposal of individual projects will get underway. Topics will be selected and mentors identified before the holiday break. Exhibitions will take place in the third week of January.

Further Adventures of the AAA

Our latest away game was at the Friends School in Detroit, where we toured their school--our kids loved their huge art room--before running a lap around the school and playing two games of their devising: Aerobic Bowling and Sinking Ships. Friends has a little quarter-sized gym space, and we chatted about how such spaces can be maximized. Our kids really hit it off with our Quaker brethren and sistren. Bryan and I made sure that every team had both SK and FSD students on it, and all two dozen of the kids dove right in. We look forward to hosting them in return, hopefully sooner rather than later.

What will we do when they come? Playground Parkour? Calvinball? Multi-Sphere Futbol?

The County Farm Park Mile Run, perhaps?

Northern Odyssey

It was an early trip for us, possibly a bellwether for future years. Before September was out we took off on a Wednesday afternoon, travelling straight up I-75 and over the Mackinac Bridge. We were fourteen in number, the extra seat on the bus crammed with sleeping bags, fishing gear, maps, and contraband snacks.


The first night was all about acclimation, camp set-up, cooking, and chatter. Tents were pitched all over the lakeside lawn of the property, with a view across the Straits of Mackinac, the bridge a soft creamy green to the southeast. We switched off cooking and cleaning, ending up with home-cooked meals of pancakes, bacon, pasties, pizzas, curry, braised fish, sandwiches, and plates piled high with leftovers. The kids frolicked on the rocky northern shore of Lake Michigan well into the late dusk. After dinner Rachel and I introduced the Our Whole Lives curriculum to the kids. Mike tended the fire and we all got to sleep at a decent hour, some indoors, some out.

The next morning we scarfed breakfast, packed lunches, and headed north to Tahquamenon Falls. A short rainy hike off the park entrance brought us to the Lower Falls. We rented three rowboats which traced routes across the river so circuitous they made Odysseus' trip look like the express train. Then we hiked the circumference of the island, wading under the falls on both the east and west branches of the river. Kids are oblivious to cold when they feel like it. This was doubly true at Whitefish Point, where we took off our shoes to walk on the Lake Superior beach, holding collection there amidst the whipping winds of the sweetwater sea.


We drove back to the Straits. We made dinner, held a delightful two-hour OWL session, held another collection under the stars. Then we watched O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen Brothers' Depression-era version of Odysseus' story, and hit the sack after midnight.

That wasn't the end. The next morning we spent three hours packing and cleaning, following a master list posted on the wall, writing fourteen thank-you notes. (I understand that both the list and the thank-you notes are still on display in the house.) There was one last trip to the lakeshore, a sandy beach at Michigan Dunes ten minutes west of the house, before we hit the bridge again, traversed the Lower Peninsula like the good Trolls we are*, and made it back to SK at 3:30 on the dot.

* The good people of the Upper Peninsula, also known as Yoopers, sometimes refer to residents of the Lower Peninsula as Trolls, because we live under the bridge.

The Alternative Athletic Association

Our AAA is underway.

We opened the program with a visit to Upland Hills School in northern Oakland County. UHS is a small, progressive school, just about our size: they have 17 students in their 7-8 class. They also have a series of Howell-like woods activities, including two zip-wires, a climbing wall, and a low-ropes course.

On Friday, October 4, we travelled to UHS for pizza, gaga ball, and outdoor exercise. Aristea, Ryan, Jianmarco and Saul stole the show by flying through the air on the high zip-wire, but all of the kids toured the campus, tried out one or more of the activities, participated in the Friday afternoon all-school ball game, a sort of amped-up capture the flag in a grassy meadow, and made connections.

It wasn't a conventional away game, which is part of the point. I played a lot of away games in school, but I never wrote a thank-you note afterward. Ours was happily received by the folks at UHS, and we are in the process of scheduling their return visit for a round of playground parkour, a tour of County Farm Park, and some mapping out of where our own equipment might be built, once our students write the project proposal that is the required first step for such an endeavor.

In other news, we are scheduling home-and-away visits with the Friends School of Detroit and a soccer workshop with professional player Kevin Taylor. We have identified two possible Washtenaw County schools to possibly step in for original partner Clonlara. More to come, of course.

Friday's PE Class

Friday I had both the 5-6 class and our 7-8 group for Wake-Up PE first thing in the morning.

The previous day, I had introduced the 5-6 class to the fantastically named fartlek, a Swedish form of exercise in which one alternates aerobic and anaerobic exercise--a fancy way of saying you speed up and slow down. We tried it over at County Farm Park in its simplest form: people walk in a straight line of pairs; the last pair in the line sprints to the front.

Earlier still, I had introduced the 7-8 class to less naughtily named parkour, a French for of exercise in which one creates obstacle courses, using found objects as barriers--a fancy way of saying you jump over things. We concentrated on playground parkour, where the students climbed on monkey bars, balance-walked around the rim of the gaga court, skipped over boulders, and jumped over fallen logs.

Friday's class was a combination of these activities. In nine mixed groups of three, the students created nine parkour events, building a course on the playground. Then each group contributed one member to a fresh group of nine, which learned and then ran the course. Meanwhile, the other eighteen students ran a fartlek around the school building, before forming a high-fiving Gauntlet of Congratulation to welcome the nine parkour runners. Then the groups rotated.

I liked this exercise for its creativity, flexibility, agility--you can do it anywhere--and reliability on the kids' efforts. Also, they were all breathing hard when we were done.

Space Odyssey

I would like to take the kids to see Gravity in Imax during Friday afternoon homeroom time, depending on how prepared they are for next week's round of Exhibitions. Gravity is rated PG-13, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about it. I have seen the movie already, so I can speak specifically to what is and isn't scary about it.

Gravity is an odyssey, to be sure. Like Homer's tale, it is an odyssey that originates in a spirit of exploration and adventure, and which, ultimately, is only about trying to get home.

We'd be back to school for pick-up at 3:30.

SK's Odyssey

IN ITHACA
Penelope	Lily	Odysseus' wife
Telemachus	Jianmarco	Odysseus' son
Antinous	Denali	suitor
Eurymachus	Isobel	suitor
Amphinomus	Kaeli	suitor
Ctesippus	Karenna	suitor
Leiodes	Adi	suitor
Halitherses	Ryan	hapless prophet
Phemios	Sydney	musician
Eumaeus	Danny	Odysseus' loyal swineherd
Eurycleia	Aristea	Penelope's loyal maid
Suitors	3s & 4s
AT SEA
Eurylochus	Jonathan	sailor
Eurybates	Saul	sailor
Polites	David	sailor
Elpenos	Matthew	sailor
Antiphus	Luke	sailor
Circe	Mike	witchy goddess
Polyphemos	Trent	one-eyed monster
Aeolus	Marcellin	kindhearted king
Odysseus	Maya	adventurer extraordinaire
Tiresias	Emma	shade
Anticleia	Margaret	shade
Shades	3s & 4s
Sailors	3s & 4s
IN THE CLOUDS
Gods	Ks, 1s & 2s