Ting님의 프로필Walking in the Clouds사진블로그리스트 도구 도움말

Walking in the Clouds

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11월 30일

失眠



本想写上“失眠的困扰”,可是转念一想,它已经是多年紧紧跟随的“老朋友”,已无所谓忧心了。

《红楼梦》里林妹妹曾对湘云说:我睡不着觉,也不是一天两天了,之中,只有十夜能睡足觉。 高中时细细读到此句,暗暗惊奇。

自高中分班以后,就开始失眠,持续到现在,每天睡4-6小时,久而久之,渐成习惯。

大学的室友大多得悉我这一“恶习”,当年每晚11点熄灯后,常常有辗转反侧的声音或者摇曳的手电筒光,“肇事者”舍我无人。

各种方法,包括心理医生、中西医都试过,大学毕业后吃了一贴中药,效果甚好,可是停药不久,又复原状。

药是毒,不可常吃,中药也不例外,多有硫磺,为保鲜防虫。

自此,渐“忘记”自己失眠这回事儿,每天该做什么做什么,不过,咖啡和绿茶,已然成为身边常备。

于我而言,人生有很多值得郑重珍惜的幸福,其中一个就是能够甜美安眠。

漫漫黑夜,不能入眠的时候,只得起身点亮一盏灯,读些书,写些字,或尝试将思绪理顺,偶尔会意外捕到小小火花。

有时会渴望累极的时刻,可能会带来一晚好睡。

这些年来,失眠的时间有增无减,不过幸运的是,睡眠的质量在改善;而小小的遗撼是,很少再见“夜场电影”,那些真实逼人又离奇的梦中故事,曾让自己忍俊不禁。

六祖慧能大师说,
菩提本非树,明镜亦无台。本来无一物,何处染尘埃。

别把如题放在心上,向慧能大师学习,要走的路还长着呢。

近来的严重失眠,导致两次周末的篮球运动都缺席,惭愧!

11월 26일

华政纽约校友会

 

11月21日纽约华东政法大学校友会。

第一次参加华政在纽约的校友会,心情很激动。

这也是华政在纽约首次规模较大的聚会。

见到了罗培新老师,刘海涛律师,众多的师兄师姐师妹,并,意外地见到了当年“狮城舌战”的季翔。

当年,《狮城舌战》可是我高一辩论赛的重点参考书。

这个世界很小,师妹中有的来自我出生的江西小城,而师兄里有的有和我共同认识的朋友。

大家大部分都从事老本行,说起诉讼、提审、并购、上市如数家珍。

虽然自己并不能插上很多话,可是坐在旁边感受那样热烈的气氛,很开心。

能在这样一个海外的城市聚齐两桌,可不是容易的事儿!

11월 25일

《蜗居》

这几天国内的朋友推荐我看《蜗居》,时下热议的一个电视剧。

好奇导演会怎样拍小人物购房的艰辛,于是,昨晚一边打扫房间一边把这个片子找出来消遣。

看了两集,再研究了一下剧情,略有些了解了,无非是名牌大学(复旦)毕业生们以买房为目标的“奋斗”之路,以海藻和她的姐姐为典型的故事。以江州(上海)为城市背景,她们在奋斗的过程中,由于不同的原因,失去了很多追悔莫及的东西。

影片有些细节拍得很真实,比如海藻的姐姐看房的那一段,也有些细节描述过多而使全剧的中心“失重”,比如海藻的“小三”爱情,从愧疚到挣扎到爱上有妇之夫。

《蜗居》到底要告诉我们什么?老百姓包括外地大学毕业生们在中国房地产热潮下生活的艰辛,还是为追求物质不择手段的不得善终 --有妇之夫以权谋私的落马和“小三”最终的悲惨结局?

剧情好像变得越来越不明朗。

而剧情本身并不重要。

我能“读“到的是剧中人物的不幸福感。作为一帆风顺的天之骄子们,为什么会有这样的不幸福感?

是因为买房这样一个“黑云压城城欲摧”的社会压力吗?

走出了校园,进入社会,他们辜负了国家在高等教育中的投入,成为社会压力的牺牲品,不得不说是一种教育的失败。

“从众”的意识, 对姐姐的言听计从,放弃对自我的坚持,自我幸福感的缺失,都使海藻越走越远。

一个优秀的学生,却是一个失败的社会人,没有了”抗争“的勇气,在”小三“的爱情中沉沦。

教书,育人,前者陪着我们经历高考,后者陪伴我们一生。

什么是幸福?是和大家一样买房,买车,嫁个风生水起的人,生个每次考试前几名的孩子?那么,幸福的定义就要改写了,因为,到达这同一“攀比”水平线的时候,幸福便触及了最高点。

什么是幸福?不是追求虚无的目标,也不是增加在物质天平上面的砝码,而是内心真正的喜悦和满足,可以是对自己兴趣的一种坚持,也可以是对自己人生理念的一种捍卫。它无处不在,却又无处可寻,它凝聚于点点滴滴,又极易被伤害。但是可以肯定,它来源于平和、坚持和积极的态度。

我们的学校课程需要改革,基于兴趣培养人才,而不是基于分数、考级等形式,培养高分热门挣钱行业的无幸福感的“专才”。

一个钱学森,已足以令中国的军事技术翻天覆地。

而我们的教育体制下,已经泯灭了多少个“钱学森 ”。

温家宝总理提到的 “百年大计,教育为本;教育大计,教师为本”至关重要。

教师,学校课程的执行者,职责为教书育人,授人于“渔”,这“渔”中有学习的能力,更有面对自己人生的决心、恒心和勇气。

“渔”应在教学中体现,教会学生学会多角度看问题,不盲信书,亦不从众,有集体荣誉感,亦能保持自我、坚持自我。

暑假,在上海小学和五年级的小学生们聊天,已开始感受他们身上的进步,较之十几年前我们,在毫无提前安排的情况下,他们敢说,敢表达自己,争相回答我的问题,态度大方,有创造性,会用网络提交作业到班级论坛,会创作和课文相关的动画故事……从他们身上,我看到很多值得借鉴的地方。

从理念到实践,中国的教育改革已经不远。

而我们的下一代,会比我们更加幸福。

11월 23일

与“猪流感”近在咫尺



紧张的一周。

上周一,住在我斜对面的亚裔美国小姑娘Shiela不幸感染上了“猪流感”,让我们都大吃一惊。

她是我同系的“师妹”,平时还兼职公立学校的助教,美国的公立学校人流多,没有及时洗手,而埋下隐患。 

幸好发现得早,她体质也不错,迅速就医,打针,退烧,在房间“关”了一周就恢复了。

可难为她是这样一个活泼好动的人,在房间里待了一周,平时吃的东西大多都由周围邻居帮忙买,到了周末,好不容易好得差不多了,踏出房门,话匣子就关不上了。

虽然美国甲感的人数在上升,但都以病弱者为主,对青壮年群体来说,只要及时就医,就不会有太大问题。

从美国人对甲感的称呼变化上也可以看出他们对它的态度变化:swine flu >> piggy flu

还记得春季的时候,学校发现第一例甲感,副院长亲自发信到全院,告之,昨天几时几分,该甲感同学到了图书馆一楼用过了前排的电脑,请大家注意远离……

从那以后,教育学院的各层楼梯口、电梯口随处可见酒精洗手液。 

除了照顾我们这些大孩子,还要特别照顾小朋友们,他们是这里附属幼儿园和天才小学的学生,是全院的重点保护对象。

以上照片是中秋的时候我们这层女生聚餐的时候拍的 (照片居中是Shiela), 祝贺她的康复。

同时也希望其他国内、外的朋友保重。


11월 19일

补“贴”余老师光临纽约的照片

很荣幸的陪同人员:Mermaid & Ting SmileOpen-mouthedHot

  


11월 12일

幼儿园漫画书试验

近来研究低年级的小朋友使用教育软件创作“小人书”,非常有趣,以下是我做的一个教学示范试验:


    


11월 5일

An Autumn Morning

(See its e-poster here)

In the morning sunrise,
The school playground
was enclothed in ginkgo leaves.

The leaves were
Wandering, dancing and chatting
While awaiting naughty arrivers.

Suddenly
Uncle Wind came,
"Hi, lovely leaves!
Do you want to fly with me?"
He grinned with his mouth widely open.

"We do! We do!"
The leaves embraced Uncle Wind,
"Hooray! Hooray!"

They flied
Across the playground,
Through the garden,
Over the school buildings,

And stopped on the windows of a classroom.

There they saw a group of children
Who were sitting on a rug,
watching a big book about leaves.

"Look! Are they our cousins, the maple leaves on the book?"
One of the leaves discovered.

"I saw the pine family."
"I saw the oak family. "
"I saw the palm family who lives far far away."
...

The teacher
Who overheard the conversation
Cannot help smiling.
She grasped the children's attention,
"Look what we have on the window!"

All eyes were on the leaves
Quietly,
Followed with a burst of excitement.

The children's faces glowed
And their eyes shined
While the leaves felt very shy.

As carefully as she could,
The teacher opened the window
And invited the leaves to the classroom.

The leaves blushed
As they turned redder and oranger.

Uncle Wind made a gentle blow.
They were flying into the classroom
Hovering over the children
And finally landing onto many small but warm palms.

...

It was a special day,
Happy and unforgettable,
For the children
And for the leaves too.


(Enlightened by recent school visits in Chinatown)

11월 2일

(Trailer) An Inconvenient Truth


    

What we can do: (?)


10월 31일

由“猪流感”到“绿色生活”倡导

老爸最近来信关切询问“猪流感”在纽约的疫情。


虽然学校早在暑假就开始在各楼层、电梯入口装上酒精洗手液(hand sanitizer),可是大家基本以“行动上重视,思想上轻视”的态度待之。


虽然奥总统宣布纽约进入“警戒”,可这里的气氛没有一丁点儿SARS时期的戒备状态。每个周围的人都照常上班、上学、实习、访问学校、访亲探友,日程不变。 对于我自己也是如此,每周有三个上午访问公立学校,白天进办公室,傍晚参加研讨会、上课等,唯一增加的是背包里的小瓶装酒精洗手液。


近些年,发生了很多灾难,以中、美为例,从美国的卡莱娜飓风造成新奥尔良近百万人的流离失所到令人心碎的四川大地震,从SARS、禽流感 (H5N1)到现在的猪流感(H1N1),不禁让我们去探究原因。


有相当多的中、美流行病防治专家都表示,在过去几十年中地球出现的传染病70%都来自动物,由仅存于动物之间的感染,发展到人与人之间的感染。


这些传染病不断出现的确切原因目前还不得而知,而不断变化的生态环境让地球的生存环境更加恶劣,其中是否有关联?


有待科学家们去求证,但是目前的状况足以让人忧心。


南北极气候反常,海平面上升,全球变暖,珠峰冰川大面积融化,海水污染程度加深导致鱼类生病(见近期《国家地理》节目)等等变异让人应接不暇。而直接的、间接的破坏仍在继续:大肆海洋捕捞,猎杀动物,大量饲养、宰杀动物,不断开采野生资源,各类工业、生活垃圾向公海、发展中国家倾倒……


数据让人震惊,而人类的“胃口”则让人恐惧。


保护生态环境理应成为每个人的日常行为。


谈及个体,每个人都向往幸福的小家庭生活,小康水平,收入盈余,一房一车。这美好且合理,但是应依城市和市政设施而定,如果没有安装过滤装置,没有使用新能源,一人一车,则地球全面污染指日可待。


而动物的饲养和宰杀,其中的“催肥”过程和“理所应当”的残忍是业内熟知的。


记得在PH工作时曾参与一个大型肉联集团的并购案,为工作需要,参观其猪肉宰杀和加工的过程,我仍清楚记得玻璃另一边的场景,太多太多等待被宰杀的猪, 经过电击、放血、悬挂、切割,一间间的"肉林"……动物已经成了工业产品,批量生产,无生命可言,喂养过程更可称残暴。


除去生命和养殖,畜牧业成了全球气候的另一个威胁因素,戈尔(克林顿搭档),07年诺贝尔和平奖获得者,拍了一部极好的全球环境记录片(An Inconvenient truth),其中提到:

“北极冰原急速融解,导致全球海平面上升6公尺,全球暖化将带来危机,上海会有4000万人受害,印度则有6000万人。联合国粮农组织报告指出,全球10亿 5000万头牛排放二氧化碳,佔全球总排放量的18%,超越如汽车、飞机等二氧化碳排放量,饲养牛所需燃烧燃料製造肥料种植牧草、运输处理等过程中,释放 二氧化碳就佔了9%。


由疫病到全球生态环境,这里讨论/反思仅是冰山一角。


追求个体生活质量,成就幸福的“小我”,应当如此。


可是如何以“小我”的生活来为保护生态出一分力,不让恶化的环境祸及后代子孙?


可以从生活的点滴中倡导“绿色”。


在此共勉之:

尽量,

少食肉,

垃圾分类,

对塑料说不,

多用公共交通,

多与大自然接触,


一起倡导绿色生活
10월 30일

小风波

无恨无怨, 不怒不嗔。

说来容易做来难。

《佛法要论》中有云:“忍辱度原包一切隐忍而言,题曰忍辱,取至重者名之也。凡情之所难忍,辱为甚。当之者,忿恨之气最易发动。”

前几天被邀参加中、英文书会,就去年参与编辑的一本中英合集。


英文书会的组织者是一名四十有余的美国人,我受作者邀请作英文演讲,准备了讲稿两页,让这里的美国好友通读, 并练习, 以示对作者的尊重。


书会时间在与会两天前突然改变,让我措手不及地相应改变行程。


除此之外,书会的前一天晚上,被电话告知,组织者认为书会的时间太过紧凑,建议取消我演讲的部分,但仍要求我一定出席。


我与书会的组织者并不熟悉,但曾有过几面之缘,有认识的中、美国朋友和她在同一机构工作,曾听说她异常讨好美国上司,而歧视中国同事。


没想到这等有悖职业精神的事会落到我头上,是否与“歧视”有关尚不清楚。


临时取消安排也许有原因,但是,她匆匆委托别人转告取消一事,而不是亲自说明致歉,让我非常不快,通话时,心中怒气骤现,又不便质问转告者,放下电话,马上红了脸。


首个书会,不得不去,但是心里对组织者的疙瘩很放不下,甚至想好了一些质问她的说辞,让她没有台阶可下。


结果,到了现场,见到久未有照面的她:发色混乱,半金半棕,形容枯槁。


当她目光闪烁地在门口和我打招呼时,我心里突然释然了一大半,只觉得应对她已经成了多余。


淡淡回应,调头欣然发现几位熟识的朋友在场,便离开了她。


偶然目光交错,竟发现她一直在看我,心里怪异,然后她走到我身边,我以为她有话可说,可仍目光闪烁,谈话空洞,难道这位美国人也会有说不出话心里不舒服的时候?


不禁好笑,不再和她浪费时间。即使心里有疑问,已经不重要。


书会现场最高兴的是作者了,这是他的第一本中英文双语书,大家的祝贺之词不绝,紧接着签名和庆祝酒会。 参加酒会的大多是他在纽约几十年的好友,我在其中,俨然是一名小朋友,和一些风度优雅的老爷爷老奶奶们相谈甚欢。


随后更加释然,既然来了,就应该分享他的快乐,何必与一个已经有“恶名”的人争执呢。


将来,有交集也好,无交集也罢,只要生活不再被打搅,以和为贵。


而她,既然做了不恰当的事,就要承担自己在别人心中的分数。


唏嘘,这是近来的一个小风波。 





10월 14일

我的纽约


纽约的天气一下子降到摄氏7度,我们不得不跳过了“金秋”提前过冬了。学院在本周一打开了暖气(而往年是在11月感恩节前)。傍晚,从教学楼中穿过庭院,被冷空气狠狠“冻”了一下。 

来美国访学的大学老师说,纽约并不是美国,它是一个独特的存在。在这里,你会看到最富有的投机者和最贫穷的哈林区流浪汉,壮美的蕴含欧洲建筑风的街道和阴暗、肮脏、老鼠肆虐的地铁站,中国城、韩国城、印度城、小意大利村、日本村等等并存。纽约是美国乃至全世界最特别的一个城市。美东以波士顿为代表,承袭了英格兰遗风,高贵内敛,又浸染长青藤诸校的浓郁书香。美西以旧金山、洛杉矶等海岸城市为代表,以商业、艺术、科技等为特色,华人居多。而美中西地区仍有 《飘》的影 子,重视种植和畜牧,保守,不接受同性恋,女性早婚(25岁前)居多。可以说,纽约不与上述任何地区的特征重合。它是一个矛盾体,也是一个众多矛盾存在的包容体。

正因为矛盾,所以它比一般城市更包容、更开放。这里的公立学校聚集了不同种族的孩子--亚裔、非裔、西班牙裔和欧美裔的小朋友往往彼此见惯不怪。政府报告甚至预测,鉴于每年的移民热潮,至2012年西班牙裔的孩子将占公立学校的三分之一。为了更好的教学,可苦了美国的老师。老师们竭尽全力地去了解学生们的文化。在这个移民遍地的城市,要了解一个教室中学生群体的多种文化可不是件容易的事。根据这一纽约特色,“多元文化教育”理念产生:教育不再是单一模式,不再是为主流英语社会服务,教育应基于学生之前的所学和经历加之其特定文化背景,与教学相结合,从而达到“个体潜力最大化”。

撇去复杂的人口构成和天渊之别的市政设施和贫富分布,纽约是一个璀璨的文化、艺术与时尚中心。而我眼中的纽约,尤其是一个“博物馆天堂”。凭纽约大学或哥大的学生证都可免费至本市90%以上的博物馆。纽约共有100多个博物馆,涵盖古典艺术、现当代艺术、动植物、科学、历史、宗教、文化、生活等诸方面。我最爱坐校门口的巴士去相隔30多条街的大都会博物馆 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), 内有我最爱看的常年陈列--龙门石窟造像和大幅佛像壁画,每次见到,心里都有复杂的感动,一尊尊佛造像目光慈爱,仿佛在静静注视每一位观众,然而大多都不见主干,残缺遍布,让人痛恨让他们飘洋过海的强取豪夺偷盗者。

除此之外,亚洲馆还珍藏书法作品,曾专门来看它的“书”展数次,依照年代,从商代纂刻拓本到唐宋八大家、江南四大才子、扬州八怪,历代名家名作,几乎凑齐,视觉盛宴,难以超越。我在大都会还有一个好去处:埃及馆。这是大都会引以为豪的馆藏所在,据馆方“夸口”,来过埃及馆便等于去过了埃及金字塔。一座玻璃金字塔里再现了埃及原址的一座金字塔内原貌,所有沙石、浮雕、法老像、墓棺、拱门等均从原址分拆运往大都会再重装修复。最爱在周末的晚上逛埃及馆,玻璃金字塔内的灯光衬着烟黑色的天幕,显得塔内的文物呈金黄色,拱门前有一个占内部平地面积一半的水池,灯影、水光交错,深深浅浅,充满庄严和神秘。






摄于2007年秋

纽约时报登载过一个绝好的比喻:“如果说中央公园是纽约的肺,那么大都会博物馆和纽约现代艺术馆(Museum of Modern Art)则是纽约的精神源泉。” 关于以珍藏印象派、“野兽派”、现当代先锋艺术作品的纽约现代艺术馆,有一个真实、有趣的故事。现代艺术馆曾于2002年闭馆整修,全部藏品运往长岛仓库,直至2004年才搬回现在的新建筑中,在这期间,有位学者作了一个关于该博物馆的关闭与其对曼哈顿市民心理影响的研究。研究结果显示,被调查的市民都不同程度地出现心理忧郁(沮丧、烦躁),主要原因归咎于无法前往现代艺术馆。

关于纽约的博物馆,可谈甚多。博物馆构成了我对纽约印象的重要部分,同时,它们也对我在这里四年的“生活成长期”有不可或缺的影响。在本月初,刚刚开始了一个研究项目,关于如何教小朋友“用电影片断来讲故事”(digital storytelling via movie making)。这个话题现在在美国的英文教学中大热。大多英文教育领域的教授都认为,在全球2.0网络时代来临的大环境下,英文教育面临“数字化”的必然改革。而教育与技术的胜利会师,将更好地培养学生在21世纪应具备的
全面才能。

在这个研究项目中,我和小组里的同学们,将从自己的亲身经历开始,学习制作电影短片。我们的共同主题为:《我的纽约》。

而我自己选取的角度为--“我的纽约,是一个艺术之都,是”博物馆天堂“,下面,请让我带你进入我的博物馆之旅……”




10월 12일

短歌行

这些日子以来匆匆忙忙的三点一线,让我几乎忘记了这里。几天前,与来美国访学的大学老师聊起我2006年的“常青藤之旅”,翻阅之前的随笔,才深省应继续好好记录自己的生活。新开的英文博客将更新学术思考,而这里,是我可以与父母、朋友分享的小憩站。

今天,听到一首特殊的歌,他自编自唱给我听,魏晋诗歌,在吟唱中的大气和意境悠远,是我以前朗诵的时候从未体会过的。

短歌行

对酒当歌,人生几何?譬如朝露,去日苦多。
慨当以慷,忧思难忘。何以解忧?惟有杜康。
青青子衿,悠悠我心。但为君故,沉吟至今。
呦呦鹿鸣,食野之苹。我有嘉宾,鼓瑟吹笙。
明明如月,何时可辍?忧从中来,不可断绝。
越陌度阡,枉用相存。契阔谈宴,心念旧恩。
月明星稀,乌鹊南飞。绕树三匝,何枝可依?
山不厌高,水不厌深。周公吐哺,天下归心。

中学时,曾经无数次向往“左牵黄,右擎苍,锦帽貂裘,千骑卷平岗”中的豪迈气象,现在稍大一些了,收敛了些当年的“狂傲”,更能体会这“对酒当歌,人生几何”。酒我不能饮,但二十六年的人生足已让我 成长、回顾和感悟。从烈日下黄坳支教的倔犟,到隔着太平洋寂夜流泪的委屈,从初工作的懵懂和冲动,到临别的义无反顾,我看到的是一个渐入平静、渐入“忘 我”、渐入“小世界”中的我。


幸运如我,还“躲”在这小世界中;不幸如我,同窗们都已大多成家/立业,在”大世界”中风生水起。

而我,唯有做好这“小世界”中的一片天地,再慢慢地认真接近那“大世界”,轻轻聆听

那”千骑卷平岗“的豪情……

7월 21일

My Recent School Visit: St. Philips (redesigned from a chocolate factory)

Video by Frederick
 


Photo by Ting

  
             


An Integrated School Curriculum on History, Ecology, and Space

One of the main questions we brought with us during the visit was: How do environments/spaces influence teaching and learning at St. Philip's? As introduced by Ralph, the main designer and member of the school board, the school believes in a school curriculum built on student-centered real-life experiences. The redesigned space and the “green roof” extend the school’s options in its curricular development. It integrates the following curricular focuses (from space redesign) into teaching and learning:

History
The display of new interior design and elements of old building (i.e., an old chocolate factory) gives teachers a curricular focus on the history of Newark as a major industrial zone in the East Coast. Students will be able to reflect on the history through their daily hands-on experiences in the space.
 

Ecology and Sustainability
The new space lets students learn about how to utilize old buildings and how to work “green”. The design utilizes as many old resources as possible, including ceilings, walls (of the stairways), and old desks and chairs. It also pays attention to energy saving devices. Every classroom is installed with sensored lights and there is a solar-energy panel on top of the school which provides a small portion of energy for the building.

“Green Roof” Integration

“Green roof”, the school’s roof garden, is integrated to most of the academic subjects, including math, science, literacy, and social studies. Every class has got a spot on the roof and they do seeding, planting, and harvesting there. Lower-grade students use the garden to learn counting and recording numbers, while higher-grade students can learn and write about biological life cycles and geographical origins of the plants.
 

Nutrition
Meals served by the school’s dinning room are connected to the “green roof”, too. During the harvest season, students eat food from the garden and learn about nutrition as well as how to eat “green”. The nutrition program has a big impact on students’ lives, as told by Charity, students take “green” ideas home and “teach” their parents how to eat healthy.


Aesthetics, Design and Engineering
The color scheme of the school is “From Earth to Sky”, with each floor assigned with a main different color ranging from light yellow (earth) to light blue (sky). The redesigned space (with all the details in colors, interior display, and ecological devices) gives students a great opportunity to learn about aesthetics, design, as well as engineering from the angel of how to work “green” -- How to design a new space from an old building, how to do “green” interior design, how to match colors, how to design and put energy saving devices within the building?

***********

More School Information to Share

History of Newark Schools
As introduced by Ralph, Newark is a traditional industrial zone. Almost 85% of the products of the East Coast are produced from this city. However, the public school system failed in the last 40 years, thus a huge number of private and charter schools have been established. The neighborhood of St. Philips is close to Hispanic town. The neighborhood is also one of the roughest areas in western New Jersey. It gets high racial attention and a high need for new schools. The new St. Philips is located close to three higher education institutions (e.g., Rutgers and NJIT) for the purpose of getting the resources of those institutions’ secondary-school support. The location of St. Philips housed a chocolate factory and the school design started about three years ago.

School Information

St. Philips was established in 1988 with a first-grade class. In the recent 20 years, it has relocated three times from downtown area to a small piece of land close to Newark Museum before moving to the current “warehouse”. “It has tripled the size where we came from”, as introduced by Ralph. Currently it is a private k-8 school, with two classes per grade and 18 students per class. Though as a private school, it grants scholarships/financial aid to about 60% of its student population. The school’s ethnic information shows that 96% of the students are African American students, while Asian, Hispanic, and Caucasian American students constitute the rest of the student group. Most students are from lower or lower-middle socioeconomic classes.

Admission

The admissions are considered for families in need, as given by Ralph, the school believes that the admissions should consider more about students who can take the ability to learn rather than students with parents have the ability to pay. Besides, potential students need to go through a testing process. For younger students, the test is relatively subjective, while for older students, there are entrance tests prepared for them. As further introduced, most of the St. Philip’s graduates have been doing well in their high schools. For example, 80% of them take advanced math courses in the first year of high school. School Redesign The process of school redesign has involved Ralph and the main administrators of the school since January 2007.

Technology

Every classroom has a projector, a desktop computer, a SmartBoard, and a stereo radio/CD player. However, there is no separate media lab or computer lab at the school.

A Tour with a Group of High School Students

We were touring around the school with a group of 11 local high school students. We noticed that though students asked limited questions, but the garden and the gym were the places where students frequently talked to each other and raised the most questions (to Ralph). The following may reflect the part of school redesign that interests them most:
• “Did you get a good pay as a designer?”
• “How much is the project?”
• “Can the building be fully solar powered?”
• “What is the cost for electronic coil?”
• “Does every floor have a restroom?”
• “What is the cost of the grass?”
• …

Students seemed very interested in Ralph’s job, they asked several repeated questions about it at different places. However, when Ralph asked them about their future job plans, most students said they were not certain and only 1-2 of them answered that they would be interested in getting a job related to sustainability and environment. This observation indicates that students are interested/concerned about getting jobs, and education of design, sustainability and ecology at local high schools is to a large degree ignored.

7월 20일

(Quoted from a local Gifted Center) About Gifted Children

The characteristics of gifted children can be categorized into leadership, sympathy, concentration, persistence, inquiry, sense of social justice, as well as Gardner's multiple intelligences. Only five of the following are related to academic studies:

Organizes collections, people, ideas;能够组织物品,人众,和思想;

Learns rapidly and readily applies new knowledge;能够迅速学习新知识,并且马上实际使用;

Has good memory;记忆力强;

Holds a longer attention span;能够保持长时间注意力集中;

Demonstrates compassion for others;表现对他人的同情心;

Recognizes a strong sense of justice;具有强烈的正义感;

Demonstrates perfectionism;做事追求全美;

Has a high degree of energy;精力高度充沛;

Enjoys imaginative, creative play;喜爱具有想像力和创造性的活动;

Prefers older companions;喜欢与年长者为伴;

Demonstrates "common sense";常识性强;

Attracted to a wide range of interests or narrow one;兴趣广泛,或者兴趣专一;

Shows interest in experimenting and doing things differently;表现出对探索试验的兴趣,凡事总想找到不同的方法来做;

Sees relationships, identifies similarities, differences, analogies;能够发现事物之间的联系,识别相似,不同,类别;

Uses extensive vocabulary;用语词汇丰富;

Displays unusual sense of humour;表现非同寻常的幽默感;

Demonstrates ability with puzzles, mazes, or numbers;在拼块,迷宫,和数字方面具备能力;

Seems mature for age at times;看来比实际年龄成熟;

Shows an insatiable curiosity and persistence;表现不倦的好奇,并坚持不懈;

May have intense concentration;可能特别聚精会神;

Is unusually attentive to details or not concerned with details at all;对细节表现出非同寻常的注意,或者对细节完全不在意;

Recognizes patterns easily;能轻易识别出规律模式;

Demonstrates perseverance in areas of interest;在感兴趣的领域表现出追求不懈的精神;

May question authority;可能对权威提出疑问;

Displays an advanced senses of conscience;表现高度的理智;

Perceives abstract ideas, understands complex concepts;领悟抽象思想,理解复杂的概念;

May demonstrate intense emotional and/or physical sensitivity;可能显示情感和体能方面的强烈敏感度;

Seen as a leader by peers;被同学们当做领导者看待。

7월 18일

School Visit on AfterEd TV of Teachers College

 
 
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