The experiential teaching process utilized by Professor Gugick works like this.
Experience. Video. Document. Consider. Write.
Then eachweek craft a deliverable, be it written, oral, or video.
No hiding.
This guy.
Balinese hang drums. More tomorrow. Enjoy.
Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (go figure)
The Solar Eclipse – Alexander Balog
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE
By Alexander Balog
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY. NOT A CLOUD IN THE SKY. I WAS GENTLY LAYING IN A PATCH OF MOIST GRASS LOOKING UP AT THE SKY AS THE MOON WAS CREEPING UP TOWARDS THE SUN. I FELT AS IF I WERE ON ANOTHER PLANET AS I LISTENED TO THE BIRDS’ TUNES AND SMELLED THE FRESH LONG GRASS.
WHEN I CLOSED MY EYES, I IMAGINED I WAS FLOATING IN SPACE, GAZING IN WONDER AT THE SOLAR ECLIPSE. I PEALED MY EYE LIDS BACK AND SAW THE MOST SPECTACULAR LIGHT SHOW IN THE SKY. IT WAS LIKE A RING OF FIRE SNUGLY LATCHING AROUND A WHOLE PLANET. THEN THE BLUE SKY WAS SWALLOWED UP BY DARKNESS AND THE AIR GREW COLD.
AT THAT POINT THREE QUARTERS OF THE SUN HAD DISAPPEARED BEHIND THE MOON. I WAS SPEECHLESS. I WAS SIMPLY IN AWE OF THE SIGHT THAT I WAS SEEING. AFTER A MINUTE OR TWO, THE ECLIPSE WAS OVER. THE SKY WAS BLUE AGAIN AND THE ICY WIND BECAME WARM. “I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT MOMENT”, I THOUGHT.
FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON MY VISION WAS BLURRY. “IT’S JUST A SIDE EFFECT THAT EVERYONE GETS”, I THOUGHT, THEN FELL ASLEEP. I WOKE UP TO THE BEAMING SUN AND PEERED MY EYES OPEN. THERE WAS ONE PROBLEM. WHEN I OPENED MY EYES, I COULDN’T SEE ANYTHING…EVER.
Green Day, Bali, Indonesia (Guest Post from Professor Gugick)
Today we visited the Green School, a non-profit, private, international, K -12 school set in the heart of the Bali jungle. The Green School’s vision is to educate students to become eco-friendly global leaders through innovative educational pedagogy.
From their web site:
The school’s mission statement: A community of learners making our world sustainable.
The Green School Way: We educate for sustainability, through community-integrated, entrepreneurial learning, in a wall-less, natural environment. Our holistic, student-guided approach inspires and empowers us to be green leaders.
Values: We believe in three simple rules underlying every decision: be local, let your environment be your guide and envisage how your grandchildren will be affected by your actions. The eight iRespectvalues that guide us are:
The school has its own hydroponics garden, regular gardens, and is nearly self-sustainable with its array of solar panels.
Each building in the entire school is made from bamboo. There are separate buildings for the pre-school, kindergarten, lower grades, and middle school, but the most impressive building was the high school. No rectangular spaces. No corners. An entirely open building concept.
Everything was made out of bamboo: bridges, auditoriums, and stadiums
The school was a bit too non-traditional for me. I would only consider sending children to the school for a year or two during their middle school years. There seemed to be a lack of rigorous studies for kids in high school.
Read more about the school at www.greenschool.org
” The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again. “
— Homer, The Iliad