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22/08/2011

Today I handed back my work laptop and the Gold hard drive... Also delivered the completed final report to Craig for printing... So that's it I guess! It's officially over. Been working on the report for a long time now (first intensively and then just tidying bits and pieces) so it is quite scary to think that I can no longer tinker with it... Canna wait to see the final production though! And of course, to see all Greg’s hard work come together on the DVD.

Changed the format of the wikispace a peerie bit – I bet the rest of LS will panic should they come for a look and see that pages have disappeared (They haven’t, you just access them from different spots now!) I hope that the new format makes it easier for people to make use of the wiki as a resource for learning.

I head off to Aberdeen tomorrow to embark on a teaching career. It is always strange to be at this stage; teetering between the end of something great and the start of something new. I am sure that the great experience that has been that Learning School will diffuse into this new challenge. I certainly intend to continue our work with Rich Tasks in the future J

All the best for now,

Jenny

11/05/2011

Alrighty then!

So we are nearing the end of our time in Zlin, and I must say it's a very different place, the nature is just stunning and the school works so well, the teachers are friendly and open to our ideas which is fantastic. We have been observing classes and today we carried out an Art Rich task based on the topic of "What is a House what is a Home?" and it was really good, the students engaged so well with the task, and worked steadily for 90mins on the project and what they produced was both impressive and creative! The sun is shining here in Zlin today and despite being in shorts I am still melting with the heat! I have NO idea how it can be so warm here! We've been in Australia and South Africa, yet the heat here is getting to me more than in those exotic far flung places. So my experience of the Czech Republic and Zlin so far is that it's a lovely place to be and it's busy enough for you to be kept occupied but not too busy! The language barrier has put an interesting spin on our experience! Despite the fact some people speak no English and we speak no Czech we still can communicate through excessive hand gestures and lots of nodding, we have even made friends with the lovely woman who works in the schools tuck shop, well I think we're friends as we are always overly hand gesturey and smiley when we "communicate" with each other, it's nice. The one strange thing about here is when ever people here me speak I get stared at! Which can be quite awkward on a packed bus. Now the Zlin buses are something else! I have never seen so many people packed onto one bus in my life! We are literally packed in like sardines with arms and legs everywhere and very little breathing space! It's quite amusing :) My Host family took me to the Zoo at the weekend and it was the most amazing Zoo I have ever been to, it was so relaxed and MASSIVE!!! The animals has so much space to themselves and there was wooded areas you could go and chill out in, or grassy parks you could lie down in and enjoy the day, I was very impressed.



I am getting so excited for Sweden and the Conference now, as we get to show everyone what we've been doing, and I just hope it lives up to expectations. Also only 1 month till my Birthday! :D I am so excited to spend my Birthday with all the people at the conference, it's strange, I never realised when I left home that, that would be the last time I would be 18 at home! Eeee 19! I remember when people who were 19 looked so old. Time flies, for sure, and Learning School is such a good example of that, despite the fact that America feels so long ago, this trip has gone so fast. I have loved every moment of it and even though I can't wait to get home to my own bed, I can hardly bear the thought of having to say good bye to my friends and my home away from home. These wonderful people who make up the Learning School team, have been there for me for the past 4 months, through the good times and the bad. They were their when I cried and needed a hug, and after the earthquake Carl stayed with me so that I wasn't alone and then we all stuck together in the West Coast and became so much closer. They were there to share the laughs that we will never forget, like when Jenny drove an automatic car for the first time, or when Lizzie did her comical run through the forest. We've all supported each other through the whole trip, and essentially, for me that makes a home. I will always feel at home with these people, they make me feel like a better person, and that's what true friendship is all about really and their friendship means everything to me.



Okay sorry I didn't mean to get all emotional on you guys, but this trip has changed me so much, and opened my eyes to a lot of things, despite being tired and stressed at times, this experience has been a breath of fresh air!!

ANYWAY! Back to Zlin, this evening we are going to relax in the art department and draw/paint, then we are going to head into town and play an exhilarating game called "The Laser Game", which is so fun! After "The Laser Game" we are all gonna head for pizza with our hosts and have a nice chilled out evening, and I am looking forward to it very much :)

So yeah that's really all I have to say!

Over and out!

03/05/2011

Aloha Seniors and Senioritas!

I have taken a small break from our intensive presentation planning to update you all on our progress, I must apologise for becoming lazy with keeping you all up to day but my my we have been busy! Overall Australia was a fabulous country, the people were awesome and we were incredibly productive when we were in in the school. Then we moved onto the enchanting city of Cape Town, after a long flight, from Sydney to Jo'burg, the only flight I did not sleep on, which was sooo bad, I was sitting next to Max who then slept on my shoulder for a good hour or two, I didn't mind though, I watched 4 films, 1 documentary, 3 episodes of my favourite TV show and 2 and a half hours of the Disney Channel, which kept me occupied. When we finally arrived in Cape Town we were met by a wonderfully warm group of people, they made us feel so welcome! We were then whisked away to a guest house where our group stayed for 3 nights. On our first Wednesday in Cape Town we travelled home with our host families. Lizzie and I were allocated the same host and we had an awesome time. Everyone in South Africa was so welcoming, lovely and incredibly laid back, it would be difficult not to feel at home here.



South Peninsula High was a wonderful school, the happiness and cheer that radiated from the students made working there such a pleasure. The students were all very welcoming and receptive to us and Max in particular, and the Teachers always had a smile on their faces when ever we would approach them. In the school we did many observations, interviews, vox pops and we carried out several rich tasks, all of which were beneficial to our research and very interesting. The one rich task from SP I am impressed with was Lizzie and Jai's, Maths Rich Task, I have a lot of respect for the pair of them being able to go into a class that personally for me would be boring and make it interesting and interactive. I feel like we did not have enough time in SP and that makes me incredibly sad, it was such a lovely welcoming place and I wish we could have stayed longer.

However, now we are in the lovely area of Zlin enjoying heavily wooded areas and the fresh smell of cut grass. In exchange for having the opportunity to be here we had to spend a mammoth 40 hours travelling... 20 of which were spent waiting around with a dark cloud above our heads as we knew that each minute that passed was a minute closer to saying farewell to 3 of the family. For me that has been the hardest part of the journey, after becoming such a close knit group and supporting each other it was really tough saying good bye. Jai may only have joined us for 2 countries, but she fitted in so well with the whole group, and Jai and myself spent a lot of time together in Australia, and I feel we bonded so well it was so hard saying bye. After we watched Jai head off home, the group was down to 7. Then when it came time to part ways with Max and Carl, emotions were running high, and the tears began to flow, we left the boys in Heathrow waiting for their flight home, and we headed to Prague. It's very strange having only 5 left, I am always expecting the boys or Jai to walk through the door, and they never do. However being the determined young people that we are, we are not going let this hinder our work.

We have 6 weeks and 2 days until our presentation, and we are well underway with constructing what we feel will be an interesting and innovative display of our work over the past 10 months.

So be ready to be blown away.

Catch Y'all later!

Lindsey... x

**27-03-2011 - ‘Gooday’ from down under!**

Learning School has spent the past month in Australia, avoiding poisonous spiders and enjoying the sunshine.

We flew into Sydney on the 3rd of March and were greeted by a beautiful sunset, framed behind huge fruit bats flying around the trees. On Friday we were joined by Jai, thus the the seven became eight! It was a roasting hot day, so we decided to visit the famous Bondi Beach – busy yet beautiful! On Saturday we travelled South to Canberra and one by one we were collected from the bus station by our new hosts. Monday morning, bright and early, we congregated at Lake Ginninderra College (Lake G) – a school for grade 11 and 12 (i.e. 16-18 year olds) with a role of just over 500 students. I immediately warmed to the school; there was such a relaxed yet enthusiastic feel. We were given free reign over the spacious conference room, so, naturally, started filling it with our junk.

 We spent the first few days getting to know the school, meeting staff at morning tea, speaking to students and finding our way around. We were interested to see the wide variety of courses available and the large amount of choice and flexibility within subjects. We were also enthused by the practical options available in the school. Lake G is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and thus able to offer work-based training which has been approved at a national level. There are 12 vocational courses on offer (Automotive Technology, Furniture Construction, Business Administration, Hospitality, Information Technology, Social and Community Work, Sport and Recreation, Tourism, Metal Engineering, Outdoor Education, Media, and Music Industry). Lake G also offers Australian School Based Apprenticeships (ASBAs) which are part-time vocational apprenticeships or traineeships that can be undertaken by students studying at Lake G. Students combine the ASBA with regular studies (it generally equates to one course) and may do one to two days a week training (8-16 hours).




 * We organised several Rich Tasks at Lake G: **

Jai and Lindsey organised a Fashion and Drama show to raise awareness and over $200 for Shirley Boys High School. Students were invited to contribute in many ways – the show needed designers, models, actors, organisers, musicians and technicians. The drama students were keen to work on acts for the show and their enthusiasm encouraged their teacher to make the show part of their course assessment.

 Several of our group carried out a Rich Task with the architecture class, asking students to design their ‘ideal classroom’ using CAD programs. The students were keen to take this Rich Task further than the designated three lessons, and their teacher agreed that they could continue the project as their assessment piece, until the end of their unit.

Another Rich Task was offered to students studying Media. We invited students to create a video on ‘Poverty’ which could be used to introduce the topic at the GC conference.

We spent a few lessons speaking with the English as a Second Language class, finding out how this class benefits the students and how important it is to them. We also carried out a short Rich Task, where we asked the students to draw a traditional house from a country they have lived in, then present to the class the key features of this house.

We also visited Kaleen High School, which is a feeder school for Lake G. Here, we learned more about learning support, visited their school farm and carried out a day-long Rich Task with an English-enrichment class. The Rich Task was based around the theme ‘Identity’ and involved students creating a large mural which depicted all the things that affect a person’s identity. 

During our stay, Lake Ginninderra College formally changed its name to signify its increasing links with the University of Canberra. The school is now called: UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra…Quite a mouthful! The school will benefit from increased access to facilities, some University courses available to senior students (H-courses) and more trainee teacher participation. The link will also be useful in marketing the school to prospective students.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Whilst busy finding out about life at Lake G, we were also busy enjoying life in Australia - with Trash and Treasure stalls, canoeing, sausage sizzles, hill walking, wildlife-spotting, barbeques and tennis… We were lucky to catch Skyfire – a massive firework show above Canberra on the 19th March. We were not expecting it to be quite so spectacular and left feeling pretty blown over! We also visited the National War Museum, which was pretty awesome. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 0px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; overflow: hidden;">

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">With our time in Canberra drawing to a close we now look forward to the Easter holidays which sees some of us travelling to holiday in Sydney and some to explore the coast by campervan!

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Cheers for now, <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Jenny

26-02-2011 - After the Quake

Well, the past few days have been both eventful and unexpected. On Tuesday the 22nd of February 2011, learning school were busy carrying out Rich Tasks, planning interviews and printing off evaluation sheets. The school closed at lunch time; teachers had a Union meeting to attend. We decided to sit outside, eat our lunch and play some Ninja. Good decision.

At 12.51pm a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook Christchurch. This earthquake was actually an aftershock, the epicentre of which lay a shallow-5km below Lyttelton, on the East side of the city. Whilst the timing of September’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake was fortunate, this time round the same could not be said. Mid-day, everyone going about their daily business, oblivious to the approaching disaster.



I (Jenny) will try to describe my thoughts at the time. The ground, the buildings - everything – just moved. At first I thought it was happening in my head; the feeling was a bit like when you are about to feint. And it was so loud - a huge rumbling noise came from everywhere. I remember looking up and seeing all the gulls taking off into the air. And looking down and seeing the concrete paving rolling and cracking. It didn’t feel solid under my feet; it was like standing on grass-covered bog. I looked over to where everyone else was and registered that they were standing near and under metal pillars. I called out that they should move, for fear that they collapse, but my voice was swallowed up by the noise. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over – silence.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. We took a moment to register what had happened. Double-check that everyone was okay. Teachers who had remained at the school appeared; everyone looked pretty shook up. Water and liquefaction began to surface and very quickly the area we were standing in began to flood. By the time we reached the car park it was knee-deep with water. After staring in shock at the huge crack through the road, it was time to get moving. Our group hastily split; half went with Tony and the other half with his wife. As we drove along dodging the newly developed cracks, lumps and bumps, I slowly began to realise how damaging the 20-so seconds of movement had been. It only got worse – soon we were driving through flood and deep liquefaction. We couldn’t get Lindsey and Carl to their door – the liquefaction was too thick and slippery. And as we drove further, the traffic got worse and worse. Myself and Lizzie were going back to Tony’s house – a journey that would involve crossing a bridge. We decided to ditch the car. Removing our shoes, we then waded the rest of the way. Me and Lizzie held on to each other pretty much all the way… You couldn’t see your feet, so it was a bit treacherous!



We made it back – the garden was completely filled with the grey liquefaction, but damage inside the house was, thankfully, minimal. But no power. And no water. We ran off the remaining water into containers and dug a trench through the silt to allow water to run-off. Tony had a transistor radio, given to him after the last earthquake, so we listened to that as the day turned to night. Again, I had the growing feeling of realisation: this was bad. Really bad. And the after-shocks kept coming. At first, big ones (around 3.9-4.2) every quarter of an hour. It was hard to get much sleep that night. They sound like a rumbling lorry and you hear them before you feel them, before they shake your bed.

In the morning, again, growing realisation: dozens dead.

We went to Shirley Boy’s and found it still flooded. Here the liquefaction had come up inside the buildings. We retrieved some food from the cookery room and rescued some drowning instruments from the music room. Myself and Lizzie where picked up by our hosts, Siobhan and Christopher and it was a relief to get back to their farm house, out near Darfield (the epicentre of September’s earthquake). We could charge our mobiles and managed to get in touch with all our group. We could also now watch the news – that was a hard-hitter. The CBD was absolute destruction and a death toll of hundreds seemed unbearably high.

That night was spent trying to formulate a plan to get everyone out of the immediate city: a normally easy job was confounded by difficultly in communication, petrol shortages, and advice to stay off the Chritchurch roads.

Things (thankfully) went to plan on Thursday: myself and Lindsey arrived at Kaiapoi to stay with Barnaby and his family, Max an Cheryl went back to stay with Lizzie at the farm, Greg stayed with his hosts (who drove out to Alexandra on Friday) and Carl stayed with his hosts up in Hamner. It was relief to know that everyone now had communication, water and electricity sorted, as well as just being a bit out of the way.



So, it’s been a crazy few days. Certainly an experience, but it has been quite soul destroying to see all the damage where people had been focusing on repair and to hear of all those lost or missing: mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, neighbours, colleagues… However, there are also all the survivors. And the people across Christchurch, New Zealand, and even the world, who have shown such compassion and kindness in the face of this tragedy. Hundreds of emergency personnel, search and rescue workers, fire fighters, policemen, soldiers, medical staff and volunteers have been working round the clock. Christchurch has seen the return of ‘the student army’ – students carrying shovels and wearing gum boots, ready to scoop and scrape liquefaction. Today, myself and Lindsey joined hundreds of volunteers at Rangiora race course, where donated food needed stocked, opened, prepared, cooked then distributed. There were massive quantities of donated food: everything from vegetables to sugar, ready meals to rice, tinned beetroot to powdered custard! Two private helicopters had been offered up for the cause, at the owner’s expense - so food could be moved into the worst affected areas, reaching people before it had even gone cold. Everyone was busy busy busy; happy to be doing something productive.

I will leave New Zealand with memories of uncertainty, anxiety and tragedy. But, importantly, I will also leave with memories of robust community spirit, resilience and bravery. And I thank all the wonderful people that have given us beds, food and lifts, going out of their way when they have so many other things to worry about. I hope that Christchurch gets back on its feet as soon as is possible.

16-02-2011

Heyyy guys :) Well, well, well! It has been a while and for that I apologise, however you can hardly blame us, we have been so busy. So we've finished up our time in America and if you look at the "Ridgewood High" page on our wiki, you can see the work we've done in New Jersey. So! We are now in New Zealand and it is just WOW! It is so beautiful here, and the sun is shining (what more could we want?) We are one week into our time at Shirley Boys High School, and already we have alreasy planned out many Rich Tasks and obsereved a few classes! We have also been joined by Ethan Smith and Barnaby Scahill, and along with them I feel like we are going to have a very productive few weeks. We have decided to mainly focus mainly on Identity in this school because it is such a big part of this school. Already we have started a P.E rich task with a year 10 class, we have been given 3 lessons with them, one of which we have already done! We are getting them to look at identity and trust within a team sport and the objective of the 3 lessons is to get them to create a team game which is focussed around being fun and involving trust and teamwork. We have also planned out two English Rich Tasks, both looking at Identity one based around Frankenstein, so the kids will be able to create their own Frankenstein, made up of what the student believes to be their Identity. Another English class is currently reading the Kite Runner, and we've planned for them to create a diary from the perspective of someone living perhaps in war, or who is in an arranged marriage. We also have another English class which we are going to observe, the teacher of this class has very kindly created a Rich Task for us to do in her poetry class and we are going to be involved in that. Moving onto other subjects :) we have also planned out a Geography class, looking at identity in flags and a Biology class looking at Clones. There has also been a lesson planned for the students to design their own lesson, and we are going to talk to teachers today, to see which class we can do this in. Phew... I should take a deep breathe....that's alot of stuff! It is so exciting! I can barely contain myself. NOW onto our first weekend in the wonder that is New Zealand. So we rented a people carrier for the weekend, it was thee coolest people carrier around. Then we packed some tents and food and headed off to Lake Tekapo. WOW. It was just beautiful. The three hour drive there was most definately worth it. On the Friday we had a BBQ and enjoyed the view. Then on Saturday it was an early start and my 10 O'Clock we were at the top of Mount John, and it was awesome, we stopped off at the cafe on the mountain and had some juice, cake and a quick game of ninja before treekking back down the mountain. When we got back to the campsite we grabbed our towels and swimming gear and headed off to the lake, where we went swimming. Some people called us crazy for swimming in a Glacial Lake... what they fail to realise is...We are Shetlanders :) It was such a pretty sight, Me (Lindsey) and Lizzie swimming in the Lake whilst the others lay sun bathing on the pebbled beach. I must say it was a very relaxing afternoon. Later on once we'd dried off and had a spot of lunch we hopped back in the car and headed to Lake Pukaki for a small visit and on the way back we stopped off at a few shops and got some more food. In the evening we managed to cook our corn and meat on the BBQ despite the howling gail! We met a really cool French dude and his son, who spoke no English, and our French was very limited, but miraculously we still managed to communicate and we had a laugh. By the time we'd nearly finished cooking a few of the local ducks had wandered up for a nosey and we fed them some bread, which they ate out of our hand! It was cool. When it was time to return to our tents we played some games and headed to bed. In the morning we packed up our tents and headed back up to Christchurch. Overall it was a super weekend and we all had such a great time!

So far our time in New Zealand has been amazing :) and it's only been a week! So that is all I really have to say! Over and out!

31-01-2011 A great big good morning happy, campers! After a jam packed, tiring weekend, I feel we should update you on Fridays work! As I mentioned before we were given the opportunity to work with 3 different classes. We decided the best way to utilise our ideas was to give each class a different scenario, and asking them to come up with ideas based on the scenario. So the first class we had were given the scenario "In the future it is not possible to produce enough energy to meet demand, therefore a programme of energy rationing has been put in place. Every house must be capable of generating half of the electricity it plans to use. So if your lifestyle consumes 900 kilowatts per hour a ponth you must generate a total of 450 kilowatts an hour" The class we worked with was at the very beginning of the day and there was some bleary eyed students in the class, however that did not hinder their creativity, and many of them came up with fantastic ideas. All the students chose to work in groups at their own tables, so there was no mixing up of tables, although this did not in anyway inhibit the interaction between students. Some of the ideas were amazing for example one group came up with the idea that "The main source or energy for this house is the wind turbine located on the roof, but incase of lack of wind the house can rely on it's wood burning fire place or natural gas system that stores methane gas from the septic system. This house also includes insulated walls and windows. This house is almost completely self reliant except for piped in water." Which I think is a brilliant idea and I was so impressed with their idea. Another example would be a group that came up with was that noise vibrations could be used to power electrical equipment. Which we thought was very creative. A different group decided that their "house" would contain "Phase change materials" This would mean that " -During the day, sunshines in and it liquifies the columns in the house. - At night, you close the curtains, and the heat that was absorbed during the day is released to heat the house -Green house must be connected to house, with solar panels on top. - Have deciduous trees to shade area in summer" -Green house can also be used to produce their own food" This one was just bursting with great ideas and needless to say we were all very impressed.

=
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Second class we had were given the scenario " Every new house built must be constructed of 50% recycled materials and be prepared to recycle 50% of its waste." ===== <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This group was right after the first and they were just as productive as the first. Again there was no shifting from tables and the students formed their groups based on where they sat. One group produced a great idea stating “We will recycle our waste using that as fertilizer for our gardens where we will grow food. The roof will be used to collect rain water. The roof is made out of recycled glass to let in natural light. Exercise equipment will be used to generate energy to save money. Blankets will be made of old clothing and finally the driveway will be made out of recycled tires.” It was amazing to see so many good ideas coming from one group. Another group suggested that we use aluminum for wires and pipes, shredded paper for insulation and also we could recycle refrigerators, heat pumps, etc. Overall we found this class to be very productive and bursting with great ideas.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The third and final group were given the scenario " <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Due to very high fuel prices it is no longer economically viable to transport raw materials. Therefore all building materials must be sourced locally. Try to get them from as close as possible, but the state border is the furthest limit (in other words get as much as you can from Bergen<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> county, and nothing from outside New Jersey<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">)." This group were very enthusiastic and chatty. The energy in the room was incredible. In the group there was some movement from tables apart from that the students all decided that the tables they were sitting at were an appropriate place to work. There was alot of noise during this class as they were far more vocal in discussing topics and problems. As an end result they produced some super ideas. Several groups thought that renovating old buildings would be a good idea and another group researched and found that there was alot of bamboo somewhere in New Jersey and thought that they could utilise that supply. This class was incredible and they all did a fantastic job.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Overall the day was one of extreme productivity and we have grouped all the ideas together and created a big house picture with all their ideas on it. Well done guys! GREAT JOB! (Thumbs up :D )



27-01-2011 WOOHOO! It's so exciting, we have so much planned for this week! We are at a point where we can see our research coming together and although it's been tough at times, it's worth it when we can see our research and ideas from the past 4 months being actively used, well it's a great feeling. At this stage in our project we have realised how important deligation is, and how much more efficient we need to become in carrying out tasks. I hope the student body of Ridgewood will start to feel our presence as we start to interact with them, and can help contribute to our project. So we have already spoken to the Global Classroom Group which has got the ball rolling and now we have several classes to work with, 2 of which are debate classes that will take place today, which I think will be very interesting. I am SOOO excited for Friday, we have been given the opportunity to do a rich task! We are going to work with 3 different classes, and all their work will be brought together to create one big end product. As this is our first Rich Task we are all very excited, yet kind of scared as this is our first time carrying out a Rich Task, and we are all so hopeful that everything will go swimmingly. Anyhow we have a truck load of work to get done and we better get on with it. Over and out!

25-01-2011 It's getting really exciting, midterms finish today and we've been speaking to teachers about getting into classrooms - they've all been so welcoming, and excited about helping us! We should get some really cool stuff done here. We've spent the time so far getting the group integrated, writing interview questions, and have decided to introduce an observation section to our work. The reason for this is there are so many things being done at the school already, that it would be a waste of an important resource not to observe how they do things. We've been using observation methods from the internet, and combined them with the framework to make our own spin on the concept. OUTSIDE school, it's been amazing, we went ot New York and ended up watching the sunset over the city from the top of the Rockerfeller Center - unforgettable.



19-01-2011 Ridgewood, New Jersey! We got here on Monday night, courtesy of a yellow school bus. It was like the Simpsons, we feel like we are on television :D. On tuesday we went into school and were given a brilliant tour of the campus. After Mr Lorenz explaining the courses available, we all decided that we want to go to school here (even the university graduates). They're doing mid-term exams at the moment, which is giving us a chance to get the rich tasks really ready for taking into the classroom. Mr Lorenz is also going to organise a few visits for us outside the school, one in an economically poorer town really close to Ridgewood, and another at a school for the extremely gifted, which will both give us really different perspectives on education in the state of New Jersey.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">06-01-2011 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Here we are again, back in wir peerie office. 1 week to go!