Affection for Place: Re-Enchanting the Classroom

This summer I had the privilege of participating in a seminar for teachers funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The seminar, Re-Enchanting Nature: Humanities Perspectives, brought together 16 educators from across the country to spend three weeks in Montana and Wyoming, exploring how religious, cultural, literary, fine arts, and cinematic perspectives influence our connection to the environment.

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Elizabeth Schibuk Comment
Announcing our first publication: The Journey of El Sistema at Conservatory Lab

We are pleased to announce that we've finished our first collaborative publication as an organization! I've worked with Josue Gonzalez, the Director of El Sistema at Conservatory Lab Charter School, to write a document about the implementation and best practices of Conservatory Lab's El Sistema-inspired music program, and how similar music programs can be initiated in other schools

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Linda Nathan Comment
A New Bridge from Old Stones

More than 50 years of an oppressive US blockade of Cuba have never deterred the people of Cienfuegos and its hamlet of Pepito Tey. They continue to welcome and embrace American visitors. After a third visit to this island nation I feel more than ever that people, not politics, will pave the way to lasting change.

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Linda NathanComment
The Balcony and the Dance Floor

At the end of any school year there is a total whirlwind of activity: state testing, grades to wrap up, concerts, staffing decisions, etc. All of this happens while teachers and administrators have to strategize and plan ahead for what is to come in the fall and the subsequent school year(s).

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Pre-text in 7th Grade

I was trying to explain what Pre-text is to a colleague. I began by trying to explain the different activities that we took part in, and then I started to talk about the tangent line. I started to explain the debrief process, and then I realized that I was rambling and making something so simple seem very difficult. So I quickly followed up in saying, “It’s magic; pre-text is magic!”

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Valencia PatillaComment
Hip Hop High Crosses the Continental Divide: Transporting Charter School Programming from St. Paul, Minnesota to Montreal, Quebec

How does one transport a school model across international contexts? What components of the school model are transferable, what components are not? How does one discover the appropriate balance between fidelity and flexibility in the original model so as to properly adapt the model to a new context with respect for the local community’s needs?

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Michael LipsetComment
Introduction

Do you remember that time when you heard about an idea and thought about how you could apply it to another setting in your life? That feeling when you couldn’t wait to tell someone about your wild, innovative idea?

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Seth RacineComment