Loving David Peterson’s Muppet adaptation artwork, as featured in Lauren Davis’s article on io9 “Muppets illustrations reenact classic tales and legends”. These would be great to use for class- so playful and clever. They would be a wonderful springboard for many activities, conceptual and artistic.
io9 writer Cyriaque Lamar wrote a piece “In the 1870s, Charles Darwin was the theme of a downright deranged Mardi Gras parade” which directs us to Tulane University’s Louisiana Research Collection of Mardi Gras costume and float designs. Here is the Darwin collection, which mocked Reconstruction, and manipulated Darwin’s theories to suggest certain people were subspecies, or part animal.
The Sundance film Beasts of the Southern Wild looks incredible. It opens in the end of June and I look forward to seeing it and writing more.
In The Art of Teaching Writing, Lucy McCormick Calkins talks about making poetry anthologies throughout each year with students. They can be organized by a variety of categories, e.g., themes and authors and environments, and they can be reorganized depending on mood, desired adjustments, etc. The idea is that making meaningful collections full of things we love and resonate with builds, or adds layers (or removes), to what is inside of us- the deep rich stuff.
Pinterest is the modern anthology. Today we have access to more in the world through the Internet: it’s our ship to wherever we want to go. We can track our adventures, gather ideas and knowledge, and go over it and filter it and share it through a digital board.
Making Pinterest boards, in some way, with students, would be wonderful. Poetry could be a section, as well as other teacher and student selected categories. Love it.
Not sure who made this for sourcing and appreciation, but I love it- I think students could make their own list, and design posters, well, to post-
This video is a few years old, but I want to post it because there are so many ways this piece could be integrated into curriculums. It’s a springboard for deep questioning-
Glow @ Flavor Paper : Tasty Handscreened and Digital Wallcoverings.
Loving these wallpapers at Flavor Paper. Yes they have scratch-n-sniff banana and cherry papers, but they also have removable/reusable papers for renters like myself. The only catch is that it’s pricey…but wow-
The story “The Pinapple and the Hare” by Daniel Pinkwater made the rounds the past week for being part of a perplexing section of the 8th Grade NY State ELA exam this year. NPR covered some points in Eyder Peralta’s article “The Pinapple and the Hare: Can You Answer Two Bizarre State Exam Questions?” The idea that state exam questions can be confusing is not a new concept: a postmodernist would have a field day deconstructing exams and finding reams of meaning-making banana peels (and headaches).
Instead I draw my focus to the amusing op-ed Pinkwater penned for the NY Daily News, “Pinapple Idiots! Who Knew My Book Would Be Used for the World’s Dumbest Test Question?” He comments on the use of his nonsense work, “On the test, the story makes even less sense, (less sense than nonsense? Yes! I wouldn’t have thought it was possible), and then . . . get ready . . . there are multiple choice questions the kids are supposed to answer.Well, if a thing is absolutely illogical and meaningless, it’s not possible to ask questions like, “Which animal in the story was the most wise? Choose (a), (b), (c), (d), etc.” And, “Why did the animals eat the pineapple?”
“A close encounter between two mechanical cog-people speeding smoothly in ice-skating motions down metal tracks, falling apart and rejoining, seeking a way to be together in a world where paths are narrow, mistakes are fatal, and there is no way back.” NYICFF. Gorgeous film….for all my friends who like moving through life on wheels as much as possible-
Life Line – Életvonal
by tomek ducki
I want to bring attention to the multiple PitBull organizations founded and tirelessly run by the amazing Chris Hughes. His organizations rescue, rehabilitate, and find “furever” homes for pitbulls. His incredible organization Thera-Pits has successfully been implementing a literacy program in schools in Ohio. I met him and he’s the real deal, totally fantastic and inspirational. His programs are FREE!
Pig and Pepper 