What images of our human earth would you hope might last longer than humanity itself? That is the question artist Trevor Paglen asked himself in compiling a collection of 100 “Last Pictures” of earth, recorded on an ultra-archival disc and encased in a gold-plated shell. Paglen spent five years interviewing scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers … Continue reading
Class blogs can be a fabulous way to motivate students to write and to provide families with insight into your class. Sites like Edublogs and Kidblog make it easy to get started. But if students are to blog safely, it is important to have clear and effective blogging guidelines. Luckily, such things are not hard … Continue reading
Don’t you hate it when you find out about something wonderful and it just ended? That’s what happened to me with Caine’s Arcade Part 2. You saw the original Caine’s Arcade video, right? Caine was a 9-year-old boy who built a cardboard arcade that became an Internet sensation. If you haven’t seen it, stop now … Continue reading
This post is about short stories. Really short. Only some of them in language arts. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story using only 6 words. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” It is said that the story was the result of a bet with friends—who paid up. Hemingway thought it was one of his … Continue reading
Fall in Michigan can be beautiful. I will admit Ann Arbor can’t hold a candle to the Susquehanna Valley, where I used to see colors blaze on the mountains along the river, but still, the colors are lovely. And so for October, our family fun activities are all about leaves. 1. We eat a lot … Continue reading
What happens when you mix Carl Sagan, profound ideas from science, illustration, and video/music remix techniques? Magical things. Recently I came across a video, created as a thesis project at Sheridan College. In it, student Adam Winnik used animation to bring part of Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot to video life. It made me wonder how … Continue reading
The Artful Thinking website, from Harvard’s Project Zero, is a fine resource for teaching art—and just about anything else. The program uses the image of an artist’s palette to outline six dispositions, or ways of thinking, that can be mixed to create masterpieces of teaching and learning. The dispositions include: Reasoning Exploring Viewpoints Questioning … Continue reading
It seems impossible that we are in the waning days of summer, but so it is. So, this will be the last weekly “Family Fun” collection for now, as I go back to a focus on creativity in school settings. But Family Fun, has been way too much fun—really—to give up entirely, so for the … Continue reading
What is summer without popsicles and other icy treats? This week’s family fun activities center around popsicles and ice cubes—just the thing for hot August days. 1. There are lots of ways to paint with ice. You can buy Popsicles and different flavored Kool-aid powder. Sprinkle the powder on paper and then use the popsicles … Continue reading
One of the things I love about living in Ann Arbor is that we have fairies living here. Lots of them. You doubt? We have fairy doors all over town. We have a fairy car that appears regularly at our annual car show. And of course we all know that in the summer the woods … Continue reading
creativiteach 