Guerilla Educators

PROFICIENT AND I KNOW IT!

From my good friends and colleagues at Tech Prep in DC.  Proficient and I Know It! >

Rafael Cordero Elementary School; Catano, Puerto Rico

In this video, Educational Facilities Planner Prakash Nair, President and Co-Founder of Fielding Nair International gives a walking tour of the teahing and learning spaces at Rafael Cordero Elementary school, located in Catano, just outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Cordero Elemental is the first re-designed school completed as part of the island-wide Schools for the 21st Century initiative, spearheaded by FNI.Cordero Elemental is the first re-designed school completed as part of the island-wide Schools for the 21st Century initiative, spearheaded by FNI. Take a look...

Click on the link to see a video at Isidro Sanchez High School, another FNI designed 21st century school, located in beautiful Luquillo.

Isidro Sanchez High School; Luquillo, Puerto Rico

As part of Fielding Nair International's 21st Century Schools initiative in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, FNI educators Chris Hazleton and John Sole were privileged to visit the Isidro Sanchez High School in the beautiful city of Luquillo.  The high school has undergone major renovations designed to enhance teaching and learning.  With Mr. Angel Gonzalez, Deputy Director of the Public Private Partnership Bank, we were hosted by Sanchez Principal, Ms MaryAnne Maldonado.  At the time of this post, the school is about 2 weeks from completed construction of all re-design work.  Take a look...

Click on the link to see a video of Rafael Cordero Elemental, another FNI designed 21st century school, in Catano, just outside of San Juan.

George Clinton at the Barack Obama Green Charter High School

On Tuesday, February 20, 2012, Mr. George Clinton was the guest of honor at the Barack Obama Green Charter High School, located in Plainfield, New Jersey.  Mr. Clinton was being recognized for his contributions to the school and to being, ahem, instrumental in the establishment of a world class music program there.  The evening also celebrated the release of the single, "RU Free?", an original song featuring Mr. Clinton, Dr. Cornel West, Mayor Corey Booker, and students from Obama Green.  "RU Free?" is available on iTunes. Proceeds go to the school.

See the wide version of the video on YouTube

SchraderGroup Architecture Project

SCHRADERGROUP Completes Project

for York Suburban School District

 

As part of a strategic plan to realign the grade structure within the District, Schradergroup worked with York Suburban School District to complete renovations and additions totaling 61,327 SF for Valley View Elementary School and to convert the facility from a K-1 to a K-2 school.   The project serves as an important lesson in the role of design as a valuable tool for successful strategic planning and adaptive re-use that maximizes educational resources. 

 

At Valley View, the design of the addition maintains the character of the existing building and features the reuse of the original cupola for the school, removed years ago.  The addition and renovations focus on creating parity in both the quantity and types of rooms in relation to Valley View's sister school, Yorkshire Elementary, which services the same population capacity. 

 

What had once been a series of disjointed additions beginning in the 1940s is replaced with a design seeking coherence in the sum of its parts.  The new entry hall provides a new physical and psychological 'center' for the building, marrying the old and new portions of the facility and their functions.  The entry hall was also conceived as a gallery space providing articulated and well-lit surfaces for showcasing student activities.

 

The renovations maintain and expand an educational campus firmly rooted in a thriving residential neighborhood context.  As part of the comprehensive campus approach to site design, a new bus loop design separates school bus, automobile, and pedestrian traffic, as well as removing bus idling from the busy township roads surrounding the facility.   Other practical achievements include eliminating barriers to accessibility throughout the building and the campus. New and renovated existing HVAC systems augment the efficiency of a campus-wide central energy plant strategy for both heating and cooling.

For more information about Valley View Elementary School and other similar projects, please visit www.sgarc.com.

 

These videos detail the SchraderGroup charrette process for the York Suburban School District:

 

Guerilla Educators was privileged to have played a role in this remarkable project.

The Red Tails

The Red Tails.
This recollection is inspired by a former student of mine at Cook-Wissahickon Elementary School who recently saw the movie, "Red Tails".  In 1996, my 4th grade students conducted a year long intergenerational Project with participants from the Interac Senior Center located in Roxborough/Manayunk in Philadelphia.  Among other historic gems we discovered with the participants, we learned that lifelong Manayunk resident, Mr. Nathaniel Stewart, was an original Tuskeegee Airman.  Mr. Stewart was 73 years old at the time and described himself as "a 95 pound weakling" when he was in high school who just so happened to have earned his pilot's wings from the US Air Force at Tuskeegee, Alabama and flew missions against the Germans during World War II. Inspired by my former student's enthusiasm for the movie, I looked through my archives and found a couple of the Oral History books we put together from that time. The illustration is the front cover of one of those precious books written by my former students and depicts Mr. Stewart as a VERY LARGE presence among my students. Thanks, Erica, for reminding me how privileged I was and how much I learned from my students.

Hamilton in 5D

This "quick and dirty" video captures in microcosm how a unifying theme for Project Based Learning can be effected systemically.  In this case, we captured a small slice of a post-industrial small midwest city.  Using the river that runs through it and where much of the history of the place has played out, the video underscores how the city can be used in 5 dimensions (including realtime and cyberspace) as a unifying theme to achieve proficiencies across a variety of curricular and civic objectives.  Take a look...

LBJ NetZero Middle School

On November, 11-12, a select group of educational facilities planners from CEFPI had the opportunity to visit and participate in a NetZero Symposium at the Lady Bird Johnson Middle School, located in Irving, Texas.  In this video, tech expert Glenn Meeks and I were given a tour of the school by Alejandro, a student there.  The school is virtually paperless and produces more energy than it uses which is then sold back to the local utility company.  Under the awesome direction of Principal Angie Gaylord, every aspect of the facility is used as a Project Based teaching and learning tool.  Take a look... Special thanks for Scott Layne, Assitant Superintendent for the Irving School District and all of the wonderful students and staff who made this a very special event.

To view the video in full screen visit our YouTube page.

 

Seeds to Trees, 2nd grade Best Practices; Science

Students in 2nd grade from an inner city school in South Philadelphia planted acorns  from native oak trees at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. They were part of an initiative to reestablish native deciduous hardwoods in the Schuylkill River Valley.  When the acorns germinated, half of those oak saplings went back to their public school in South Philly.  Seeds to Trees was a powerful catalyst to help these students achieve curricular proficiencies across a variety of disciplines, demonstrated the 12 Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning, and modeled the best citizenship and leadership skills.  Take a look...

Inquiry Based Teaching and Learning in High School; The Built Environment

In this video, students from the Education Research Center at the Rose Tree Media School District have been tasked with the real-world project of designing their art space.  The school is located in a mall and the ownership there has given the empty space adjacent to the school to be converted to the school's Art Center.  The Project will continue through the Spring of 2012 and all design activities will be connected across a variety of curricular objectives.  This is Inquiry Based Teaching and Learning at its finest.  Take a look,...