Olaf The Snowman

A student gave me a Christmas present ... it's his semester final art project. 

... but I think he's missing arms and feet ... ?

I know what you're thinking ... it's the thought that counts!

Whiteboard Art: Christopher Bartholomew Trinidad

... I guess my middle name is Bartholomew?

Woodblock Door Jam

I rehearse the Men of Faith choir at lunch on Wednesdays and quick access to a men's room in the music complex is surely helpful!  How appropriate that they would use a woodblock, of all things, as a door jam!  Genius, I say!

Note the cool ... eighth note on the tiled floor!

Will do!

Five Hundred Retweets

Finals are coming up and some students in one of my classes are tried to bargain with me.  If they got 500 retweets of the following screen shot, then I was to forego giving out my final synthesis project for the semester.  

First of all, I had no idea what was in it for me, and I made mention of this to the students. (In hindsight, it's kind of funny that they didn't mention to me that I'd have nothing to mark at the end of the semester!)  So, they decided to sweeten the deal by adding two Canucks vs Sharks tickets to the pot.  The deal became 500 retweets or a pair of tickets to a hockey game.  They quickly broke down the math and figured they could all chip in a few bucks to get me a pair of tickets. 

Secondly, they also had to figure that the time they would spend trying to get retweets versus working on the project was risky given that they had other exams to study for and other projects to work on.  It seemed like a risk they were willing to take.

Of course to be sure, I was not going to let the students off by getting away with no final synthesis project for the semester as that would amount to a educational malpractice on my part, but I let them entertain the possibility.  It's cruel, I know.  And, I could very well pay for my own tickets to any game, but it was fun to keep the carrot going. 

And, I was curious to see if they could actually get 500 retweets.  It was an interesting experiment to validate our human desire to take the path of least resistance when available.  It was also interesting to see if they could rally their friends around a particular social media initiative, even if it's something as lame as getting away with no final synthesis project. 

So, did they get 500 retweets?

Looks like they did it.  Anyway, we had a good chat as a class, and I acknowledged the power of social media, or rather, their power with social media.  Somehow, I managed to convince them that doing the final synthesis project was essential to their learning.  

How did the projects turn out?  Well, here is an example of one such final synthesis project's essential question: "What drives the unconquerable soul?"  

... Can you believe it?  A sophomore Religious Studies class trying to answer a question that has confounded philosophers and theologians for ages.  And, here they were trying to take a crack at it.  

I'm proud of all of them.  I'm glad they got the 500 retweets, but the true reward was the quality of the presentations.  And, I promised the instigating student who drove the retweet campaign that we're going to put that social media prowess to good use the following semester. 

Cardboard Box Boat

Our physics teachers give some pretty interesting assignments to their students.  One such assignment takes advantage of our school's pool.  The students task: build a cardboard box boat that will hold two students.  And, that boat needs to complete a series of laps and needs to float longer than any other boat to win the competition.  The students can use as much cardboard as they want, but they only get a single roll of duct tape. 

It's a brilliant assignment that's fun, engaging, and has real-life application in case ... you know ... you need to build a cardboard box boat when you're stranded on a deserted island!

So far, so good!

Holding onto the frame of the boat before it disintegrates.  Bonus points for neat design, though!

Trying to bail out water!  Needless to say, this boat didn't make it for very much longer.