If you're one of the lucky people going to the TEDxPhilly event tomorrow, know this: the people above are the hard working, dedicated and generally awesome unpaid volunteers doing it for the love of the game.
Over the summer, a friend of mine asked me to take some photos of her performing yoga. She's a yoga instructor over at Studio 34 among other places. While I gave her the images right away, I'm just now getting to them for posting. Here's Fatima atop one of the rocky sections behind the PMA. Forgive me, I have no idea what the poses are.
Here's Fatima in the Azalea Garden behind the PMA.
Fatima relaxing while I tune the lights by the Waterworks gazeebo.
Fatima holding a pose while I dial in the lights. This was just a test pop, but ended up being one of my favorites from the [hot hot] afternoon.
I can't imagine doing this pose. But she hit this pose for awhile, switched to the other side and another similar pose, but straight on. The stones her hands are on were really hot too, probably 100°+.
One last shot to close it out. My arms don't bend like this.
Fatima currently teaches the Tuesday morning Forrest Yoga class which is one of those hot yoga classes. Check her out!
I spent a few hours with the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, Chris Lehmann, last week to take a peek into the inner workings of one of the nation's top high schools. Lehmann, along with Stanford Thompson, will be one of the 16 speakers at the upcoming TEDxPhilly on November 18, 2010. While tickets are sold out, you'll be able to watch online. Earlier this year, Lehmann spoke at TEDxNYED and his talk can be seen here. What sets SLA apart from the other magnet schools in Philly are its incredible partnerships with the Franklin Institute [The Museum Experience] and Apple [Apple in Education Profile]. A little more about Lehmann and the Science Leadership Academy:
Chris is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia that is pioneering the School 2.0 movement. The school has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School in 2009 and 2010.
Chris has received many honors including being named as one of the "30 Most Influential People in EdTech" by Technology & Learning Magazine in June 2010. He has spoken at many conferences including TEDxNYED, and he has been published in Principal Leadership magazine. Chris is the author of the edu-blog Practical Theory and is father to Jakob and Theo.
I followed Lehmann through some of the classrooms to see what kids are doing these days. I graduated from, what was at the time, one of the country's top schools waaaaay back in 1998, Scarsdale High School. But that was before the super prevalence of technology in classrooms. Sure we had a few computers here and there, but this was an era of dial-up internet access. AOL was king and a 56k modem with a dedicated phone line (so you didn't tie up all the lines at your house) meant you were really connected. Laptops in the classroom were unheard of. The most mobile computers got were desktop computers wheeled through the halls on an A/V cart by the tech crew downstairs. The principal didn't just pop into classrooms to peer over the shoulders of kids working on 13" Macbooks. I felt like a geezer 12 years removed from this technology-filled high school environment. I was jealous of the kids and happy for them at the same time.
Sure there were more traditional (to me) environments, like the science classrooms. Flasks, beakers, Bunsen burners, safety goggles, slate top stations… All that good stuff.
Walking through the halls, there were those familiar lockers, like this one adorned with photos. I had those lockers with photos in high school, but these were most definitely printed from a digital camera or cell phone. No sending off film to the store and waiting for negatives and prints to then enlarge on a photocopier. The photos on that locker could be snapped, cropped, printed and stuck on a locker in 10 minutes. These kids have no idea how good they have it. Back in my day, you'd have to walk uphill, 10 miles, each way, to the photo store, with no shoes! Once again, those pangs of joy and jealousy shot through me. But back to Lehmann and these awesome kids.
70 of Philly's 74 zip codes learn within the walls of the SLA at 22nd St and Arch St. The new 9th graders are given Macbooks and put through a technology infusion workshop. They learn the guts of the creative software that comes with their shiny Macs: iMovie, Keynote and GarageBand for starters. Each one of those kids could probably whip up a nice TED Talk by the end of their freshman year.
The kids all seemed happy to be there. They were engaged in what was going on. When Lehmann stepped into a classroom, walked up to a table and asked the kids what they were up to, they started on a breathless stream of info. He'd ask more questions and he'd get more answers. The students would pull him to their laptops to further delve into what they were studying.
The library was a cool space too. If I recall correctly, either band or chorus uses this space as a practice facility. A big class was in there discussing which celebrities they'd cast in a play (I didn't catch the name). The students had to justify their castings with explanations – references to other roles played by the actor or character traits they had in common with the characters in the play. It was an interesting exercise to watch.
Lehmann couldn't help but crack a smile several times as the students came up with great reasons to cast celebs as certain characters.
I'm often a jaded son of a bitch about things, but walking through the halls of this place, in a city with an incredibly high poverty rate [25% as of 2009, US Census Bureau], nationwide unemployment still just under double digits [US v PA] and the cold of winter just around the corner, I was incredibly hopeful. How can a thing like SLA exist in these conditions? It's not a miracle, it's the result of a whole lot of hard work by an incredibly dedicated staff and faculty.
Watch out for more news about Lehmann, his staff and faculty and most definitely the graduates of the Science Leadership Academy. All of them are doing big things and going places I didn't know exist when I graduated high school a short 12 years ago.
The full flickr set of photos from the afternoon at the SLA:
Lehmann's TEDxNYED talk:
I had the pleasure of hanging out with musician and Director of Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's Tune Up Philly [pdf], Stanford Thompson a couple weeks ago. He was bubbling with a calm energy for the whole visit. Thompson is one of the speakers for the upcoming TEDxPhilly on November 18th, an independently organized, regional TED event. If you haven't heard of the TED Talks before, head on over and pick one at random to watch &emdash; they're all inspiring. Philly's Connector-in-Chief, and friend, Roz is one of the people making it all happen. She asked me to be a part of the process and I happily obliged.
So who is Stanford Thompson and what is Tune Up Philly? From the TEDxPhilly speakers page:
A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory's Abreu Fellows Program, Stanford Thompson is the Director of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's El Sistema-inspired program Tune Up Philly.
Modeled after the transformative social development and music education program of Venezuela, Tune Up Philly's mission is to nurture urban children living in challenging social and economic conditions by keeping them engaged in success through weekday out-of-school hours musical instruction. Tune Up Philly believes that music education is a powerful vehicle for children to master skills that will enable them to acquire valuable tools for cooperative learning, teamwork, academic success, and self esteem.
In addition to leading Tune Up Philly, Stanford serves as the Artistic Director of the Reading (PA) Summer Music Institute, Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium, and Meru (Kenya) Music Project and served as the founding Director of Operations for the Atlanta Trumpet Festival and CEO of Phinical Web Designs. He has presented over one hundred educational programs, master classes, and lectures for major and community orchestras, leading arts organizations, and educational institutions around the world.
We met Thompson outside the St. Francis de Sales School in West Philly on 47th St south of Baltimore Ave. We ventured inside to the sounds of classrooms full of kids a few weeks into learning new instruments. Our first stop was the trumpet class. Before selecting an instrument, the K through 8 kids get a chance to try out all the instruments available. They write down their top 2 choices and the staff does their best to give the kids what they want. But the classes are limited to about 8 students each so a few were left with a second choice.
I didn't catch the exact breakdown of boys to girls, and we didn't go to every classroom, but I was happy to see a good mix of each in just about every classroom we visited. For many of the teachers, this was the first foray into a 5-day-a-week teaching gig making the small sized classes even more important. I think we all know how hard it can be to manage a few kids, let alone a classroom full of them. I recall my camp counselor days when I had 25 or so 3rd graders all to myself. I ended up handling them well, better than counselors with fewer campers and additional help, but it was rough.
Here Thompson listens in at the back of a violin class. They played different scales and tempos as he listened with a big smile, proud of the progess. I can't remember the exact number of different countries Thompson said were represented at the program, but it was a couple dozen. The families living in the area were quite varied. Music acting as a common ground can be a powerful tool.
The clarinet class struck home for me, it was my instrument from 3rd through 9th grade or so. My wood Selma Bb clarinet lives in a crawlspace behind our bed here in Philly. Seeing the kids try hard to develop their embouchure almost made my mouth hurt from muscle memory.
A line of gorgeous cellos was next. I've always loved the look of the cello. They practiced proper bow position and the teacher had them practice the basics a few times with Thompson present.
We stepped outside just before the switch between classes. The doors opened up and the kids piled into the hallway. Several went up to Thompson for high 5s and pats on the back. Some stuck around longer to catch up for a minute before running off. Thompson obviously has a lot invested in the future of the kids. He cares about all of them.
We left Thompson to go back to his many meetings, class visits and probably another 100 things on his plate. It was a pleasure to peek behind the curtain of a great organization doing awesome things with kids, they are the future you know.
Today is the last day to register to see Thompson and 15 other speakers at TEDxPhilly. Register to attend here.
