Olympic Paintings

I love the colors as well as the sense of action in Leroy Neiman's Olympic-themed paintings.






American painter LeRoy Neiman died in June at the age of 91; you can learn more about him and his work by visiting http://www.leroyneiman.com/leroy-neiman-biography.asp.

The Cotswolds

I just reserved a spot for a tour of the Cotswolds on August 4th!  The Cotswolds is an area of rolling hills and idyllic villages (characterized by narrow streets and stone cottages) near Oxford.

 

North Cotswolds Tour

10.00am – 5.30pm (Tuesday & Saturday)

"We travel via Burford to the village of Taynton. After a short walk to appreciate the peace and tranquillity we continue through the villages of Great Barrington, Little Barrington, Great Rissington to Bourton-on-the-Water (45 minutes stop). From here it is a short drive to Lower Slaughter (20 minutes stop) and Upper Slaughter. We then continue up the Windrush Valley passing through Naunton and up to Snowshill. Dropping down into the valley we make our lunch stop in Chipping Campden, the most beautiful of all the market towns, you will have time to explore after lunch (1.5 hours stop). Driving to Broadway (25 minutes stop), we move on to visit Stanton and Stanway, two scenic villages. Our return to Oxford takes us via Stow-on-the-Wold (45 minutes stop), Chipping Norton and Woodstock."

http://www.cotswold-roaming.co.uk/cotswold-tours/

Optical Illusions

What do you see?

Is this an old woman or young woman?

kids.niehs.nih.gov

Is this guy happy or sad about Snickers?

Do you see a woman or a skull?  http://www.magictom.com/optical_illusions.htm

 

 

 

 

Good Company

What draws me to Oxford is its sense of history and the incredible people who have studied there.

Famous Oxford graduates include:

Nicole DeClerck's J R R Tolkien

Authors
Jonathan Swift
Lewis Carroll
C.S. Lewis
J R R Tolkien
Aldous Huxley
Joseph Heller
William Golding

Unknown Artist John Donne (1595)

Poets 
John Donne
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Mathew Arnold
T.S. Eliot
W.H. Auden







Playwright Oscar Wilde
Lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson
Physicist Stephen Hawking
Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh


If you want to see a more complete list, check out:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/oxford_people/famous_oxonians/index.html

Torch Relay

http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/

Check out where the Olympic torch is today!

Only 13 days until Opening Ceremonies!

Rain Dance

I'm at home in Wisconsin right now where we need rain so badly.  Langston Hughes, help us out! 

In Time of Silver Rain

by Langston Hughes

 

In time of silver rain
The earth
Puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
      Of life,
      of life,
      of life! In time of silver rain
The butterflies
Lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
      When spring
      And life
      Are new.

Barbara Benedetti Newton's Spring Rain

Puffins Paint, Too

Who knew?

Marathon Poetry

http://www.youngpoetsnetwork.org.uk/2012/06/01/olypic-poem-relay-write-your-two-line-lap/

At the "Olympic Poem Relay" link above, poets of all ages are asked to write two lines of poetry relating to the Olympics, which will then be incorporated into a long "marathon" poem.  How fun!

A University

I ran across this quote about the value of universities today in one of my Oxford guidebooks.  English poet John Masefield wrote:

"There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university, a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see."

Jerome Blum's Portrait of John Masefield (1918)

 

Fund for Teachers

Here is a link to the Fund for Teachers program, the organization that awarded me the fellowship to study in England this summer:  http://www.fundforteachers.org/

The mission of Fund for Teachers is to enrich the "personal and professional growth of teachers by recognizing and supporting them as they identify and pursue opportunities around the globe that will have the greatest impact on their practice, the academic lives of their students and on their school communities."

And here is their statement on what they do:

"Believing the teacher knows best how they can make a better impact in their classroom, Fund for Teachers awards fellowships for self-designed professional growth to PreK-12 teachers who recognize the value of inquiry, the power of knowledge, and their ability to make a difference.

Each Fund for Teachers fellowship is as unique as the teacher who designed it, and since 2001, approximately 5,000 teachers have been awarded $17.8 million in Fund for Teachers grants-up to $5,000 for individuals, or $10,000 for teams. Fund for Teachers fellowships have taken place in 124 countries on every continent, empowering teachers to explore countless ideas, terrains, and cultures.

The Fund for Teachers fellowship application becomes available online each October, with an application deadline in January. Awardees are notified in April and fellowships take place during the summer. The fellowship application asks teachers to thoughtfully consider not only what objective they'd like to pursue, but also why, and how they foresee the proposed experience making a difference for them as teachers, for their students, and for their school community."

What the Olympics Mean to Me

I knew the Olympics were important in the summer of 1988 when I asked my mom why she made a pan of rice krispie treats and her answer was that they were in honor of the Olympics taking place in Seoul.  I was seven years old and I knew that rice krispie treats were only for special occasions.  Those rice krispie treats forever cemented the significance of the Games in my mind.

I am from West Allis, Wisconsin, the home of Olympic gold medal speedskater Dan Jansen and gymnast Chellsie Memmel, so many people in my hometown are especially interested in the Olympics. The Pettit National Ice Center is about ten minutes from my home in Milwaukee, and Olympians train there all the time. 

Since the Games in Athens in 2004, my husband and I have been hosting Olympic-viewing marathons every day of the Olympics at our home.  These nightly events include everyone competing in a "Race for Glory" where we have events such as a Trivia Night, an Egg on a Spoon Race, a Count How Many Times You Can Clap After Throwing a Ball in the Air Contest, and a Running Backwards Through an Obstacle Course Dash.

The fact that I will be in an Olympic city during the Games is absolutely mind-boggling to me.  This is a big Life Bucket List Checkmark.  I started this past school year with a London 2012 banner on my bulletin board which I had received as a gift from a former student, Kathy Hoffer, who was passing through London last year and knew how much I would appreciate the gesture.  The fact that I will now be in London during the Games is beyond exciting to me!

I will be spending most of my time in England in the city of Oxford (~50 miles northwest of London), but I added an additional day onto my trip to go into the city to feel the Olympic fever.  On Saturday, August 11, I plan to take a bus from Oxford to Heathrow where I will put my luggage into storage.  I will then start my journey through London in search of the Olympic Flame.  Once I have hopefully taken a picture of the flame, I am planning to watch some coverage of the Games on the large screens that they are setting up in the streets around town.  I've been pricing tickets for awhile, but they are pretty far outside of the average public school teacher's budget (for example, $800 for a ticket to boxing, a $3,000 package that includes one ticket to the gold medal women's beach volleyball final and one night in a hotel).  I've decided that I'm okay if I'm not able to get to see an event because it's really about being there with the world to experience something that is just as special for me today as it was when I was seven years old, watching Track and Field and munching a rice krispie treat.

Looking Up, Looking Down, Looking Out

Last week, my family and I went to Bishop's Beach in Homer, Alaska, with two biologists, my cousin Krissy and her husband Brad.  It was fascinating to see a beach through the eyes of two scientists.   Looking out we saw the mountains, a volcano, and the vastness of the ocean while looking down we saw kelp, crabs, anemone, rocks, and sea stars.

Macro/Micro

Jacques and Mary Regat's Arctic Shadow (1996)

V Rae's an inconvenient truth

An important part of the AP English Literature and Composition exam is being able to do a part/whole analysis.  Students look at a story, poem, novel, or play for its overall theme, message, or focus and then zero in on how a writer was able to achieve that theme or effect through his or her use of language.

I think that these two pieces are interesting in terms of another way to look at a part/whole analysis.  One piece is a sculpture of the entire body of a polar bear where another artist choose to zero in on a close-up of a polar bear's face.  These decisions that the artists made can be a springboard for a discussion in looking at what a poet decided to focus on in his work and how he was able to achieve a certain effect or impact.