Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 29) Meet the Big Easy, Big Apple By Evantheia Schibsted design, because design is planning—from deciding what you’re going to wear to scheduling your day.” Biagas and thirty-nine other New Orleans educators were in New York to participate in A City of Neighborhoods, a five-day design-education workshop given by the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The event brought together community planners, civic leaders, environmentalists, architects, museum curators, and educators, who covered topics ranging from the purpose and importance of design to how it permeates the way we think and live. Through talks, discussions, and hands-on workshops, these experts offered practical tips to the New Orleans educators for incorporating design into their lesson plans and curricula and instilling in students the skills and understanding of how they can shape their neighborhoods and world—especially important in the destructive wake of the floods that ruined so much of their city. Typically, A City of Neighborhoods participants consist of public K–12 teachers from across the country. But for this workshop, Cooper-Hewitt chose to focus exclusively on teachers From devastated New Orleans they came. To learn and to heal. O ver lunch at a Chinatown restaurant in Manhattan, Michelle Biagas, principal of the Priestly School of Architecture and Construction, in New Orleans, spoke enthusiastically about her charter school’s mission. “We’re about the business of exposing our kids to everything that will give them opportunities to be a success—and that means academics, the labor force, and entrepreneurship,” said Biagas. “Exposure is the key to everything.” Joining Biagas at the large round table were four Priestly teachers. Judging from the exchange of knowing glances as she spoke, it was obvious Biagas’s colleagues shared her vision for the ninth- and tenth-grade students at the two-year-old school. (Priestly has since added an eleventh-grade class for the 2008– 09 school year, bringing the number of students to 300.) “Architecture is a springboard for our students,” she said. “Architecture is design, and in every aspect of our life we have “They wanted to walk down a street where the buildings weren’t falling down.” EDUTOPIA.ORG EDUTOPIA 29
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - June/July 2008 Edutopia - June/July 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design Young Minds, Fast Times Wii Love Learning No More Pencils, No More Books Tech Without Support All the Right Moves Room to Learn Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin Edutopia - June/July 2008 Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Edutopia - June/July 2008 (Page Cover1) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Edutopia - June/July 2008 (Page Cover2) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Contents (Page 1) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Contents (Page 2) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Contents (Page 4) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - UpFront (Page 5) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - UpFront (Page 6) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Feedback (Page 7) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Feedback (Page 8) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Feedback (Page 9) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Dispatches (Page 10) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Dispatches (Page 11) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Sage Advice (Page 12) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Sage Advice (Page 13) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Ask Ellen (Page 14) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Ask Ellen (Page 15) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Ask Ellen (Page 16) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 17) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 18) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 19) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 20) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 21) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 22) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page Bind-In1) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page Bind-In2) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Head of Class (Page 23) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Cool Schools (Page 24) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Cool Schools (Page 25) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Cool Schools (Page 26) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Cool Schools (Page 27) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Design (Page 28) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Design (Page 29) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Design (Page 30) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Design (Page 31) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Young Minds, Fast Times (Page 32) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Young Minds, Fast Times (Page 33) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Young Minds, Fast Times (Page 34) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Young Minds, Fast Times (Page 35) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Young Minds, Fast Times (Page 36) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Wii Love Learning (Page 37) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - No More Pencils, No More Books (Page 38) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - No More Pencils, No More Books (Page 39) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - No More Pencils, No More Books (Page 40) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - No More Pencils, No More Books (Page 41) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Tech Without Support (Page 42) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Tech Without Support (Page 43) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 44) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 45) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 46) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 47) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 48) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 49) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 50) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 51) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 52) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - All the Right Moves (Page 53) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Room to Learn (Page 54) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Room to Learn (Page 55) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Heart & Soul (Page 56) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Heart & Soul (Page 57) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Heart & Soul (Page 58) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Heart & Soul (Page 59) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin (Page 60) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin (Page Cover3) Edutopia - June/July 2008 - Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin (Page Cover4)
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