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Rachel Perkins

Ms Perkins is an established filmmaker who has contributed extensively to the development of indigenous filmmakers in Australia and, more broadly, the Australian film industry. In addition to her experience as an executive producer for both the ABC and SBS, Ms Perkins has had a successful film and documentary-making career. Ms Perkins is from the Arrernte and Kalkadoon nations. She has previously served on the Council of the Australian Film Television and Radio School, the NSW FTO, the Australia Film Commission, and is a founding member of the National Indigenous Television Service. From blackfellafilms.com.au

Alice Wu

Alice Wu is a American film director and screenwriter. Alice Wu was born and raised in San Jose, California, where she graduated from Los Altos High School. In 1990, she received her B.A. in Computer Science from Stanford University. Two years later, she completed her Master's degree in Computer Science at Stanford. Before being a filmmaker, Wu worked as a software engineer for Microsoft in Seattle. She then left the corporate world to pursue a filmmaking career full time. Wu's most noted work is her 2004 film, Saving Face. It was inspired by her own experiences coming out as a lesbian in the Chinese American community. ¨       - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/alice_wu/biography.php, Alice Wu Biography, Rotten Tomatoes

Image Credit: 
Image by Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage

Cauleen Smith

“Cauleen Smith was born in Riverside, California and grew up in the Sacramento area. She completed her B.A. at San Francisco State University in 1991 and her M.F.A. in Film at UCLA in 1998. Her feature length film Drylongso received a lot of attention after its showing at the Sundance Film Festival. It earned Smith the Movado Someone to Watch Award as well as Best Feature Film at the Urbanworld Film Festival and the Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival in 2000. Since then she has been very busy, completing many films including The Fullness of Time which was filmed in New Orleans only two years after Hurricane Katrina hit. Her most recent project is an experimental documentary about the late Chicago-based jazz artist Sun-Ra, whose eclectic style changed the Chicago jazz scene forever. Smith teaches in the Visual Arts department at the University of California, San Diego and continues to write, direct, and produce.” ("IMDB" - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0807646/bio)

Image Credit: 
Sisters in Cinema

Terence Nance

Terence Nance is comes from a Dallas family of actors, photographers, and musicians.. He studied visual art at New York University where he developed his art making practice to include mixed-media installation, music, and film. Terence is currently bicoastal, residing in both Oakland, CA and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn - along with the rest of The Swarm, an independent collective for artists of color in NYC. -Festival Scope, https://www.festivalscope.com/director/nance-terence

Ngozi Onwurah

Black British filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah takes on the issues of time and space in her work which embraces heterogeneity and multiple sites of subjectivity. Onwurah consistently navigates and challenges the limits of narrative and ethnographic cinema by insisting that the body is the central landscape of an anti-imperialist cinematic discourse. An accomplished director with several episodes of the top British TV drama series "Heartbeat" to her credit, Ngozi Onwurah also wrote and directed the prize-winning feature "Welcome II the Terrordome." Sometimes fierce and at others more gently humorous, Onwurah tackles the clashes and ironies of the apparent gulf separating black and white, whilst showing that under the skin, emotions are universal. Onwurah’s films have won prizes at the Berlin Film Festival, Germany; Melbourne Film Festival, Australia; Toronto Film Festival, Canada; and at NBPC, USA. (“Women Make Movies” - http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm280.shtml)

Tina Mabry

A native of Tupelo, Miss., Tina Mabry graduated from the University of Southern California, School of Cinema-Television, with an MFA in Film Production in 2005. Her first short film, Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan, which she wrote and directed, has been screened in more than 50 film festivals worldwide. In 2007, she also co-wrote a feature screenplay entitled Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit. In 2008, Tina participated in the FIND Directors Lab with her feature film, Mississippi Damned, which an impressive 13 awards from participation in 15 film festivals, including the awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the Chicago International Film Festival (2009). The film premiered on Showtime in February 2011.Tina was named among the 25 New Faces of Independent Film in Filmmaker Magazine in July 2009 and was recognized by Out magazine as one of the most inspirational and outstanding people of 2009. Huffington post description- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-mabry

blendedlearning's picture

Glossary of EduTech Jargon

The jargon in this field gets pulled from both the computer and the educational industries and can be daunting for the uninitiated. Feel free to submit any additional terms you come across.

A

adaptive learning. A system designed to achieve the individualized results of working with a human teacher or personal tutor one-on-one using technology. Using a combination of assessments, tasks, and other methods of gathering feedback from students, computers tailor the material and emphases presented to each student, making computer-based instruction highly individualized and interactive.

authentic assessment. Using “real-world tasks” (i.e., a project, a presentation, or a paper) rather than quizzes, to assess students mastery of concepts and skills. Assessments are often based on a rubric.

B

blended learning. Term used to describe educational approaches that involve both traditional classroom and computer-mediated learning. Under some definitions, the computer-mediated component must reduce time spent in the classroom.

C

courseware. In most cases, used loosely to describe any digitized resource suitable for in a classroom -- including, for example, a video of a lecture, a text file lecture notes, or a .pdf of a worksheet. Not necessarily interactive.

et502's picture

What will schools be like in 100 years?

Hi everyone! 

I was thinking about the school-drawing prompts from both our group (Just Dewey It) and the group presenting about creativity (CHES)... So this event caught my attention. 

I've been following Lynda Barry, an artist/cartoonist/all around awesome person, on Tumblr. She recently hosted a workshop doing something similar to our prompt - but involving kids in the process of imagining. Here are some photos from that event: http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/post/47543409124/some-photos-from-the-counter-factual-campus 

and here's the poster for the event: http://wid.wisc.edu/content/uploads/2013/03/Drawing-Jam.pdf

Intersections between art, imagination, and planning.. wish I could have gone to this!

laik012's picture

Students Face Tougher Test That Outpace Lesson Plans

I have started reading the newspaper more often and I found something really striking today. The article “Students Face Tougher Test That Outpace Lesson Plans” is self-explanatory demonstrates the issues of our current education system. In my field placement, I often do wonder how much of the school’s curriculum really focuses on the children’s individual needs and also considering their limitations. To what extent is the education system really heading towards the right direction especially if these children’s’ lives are affected by early exposure to stressful situations in this vulnerable childhood development period? Perhaps this question hasn’t been addressed in our class. In terms of literacy, are parents really pushing their children to read beyond their level as fast as possible? Where is the value of failures, mistakes and patience? 

abenjamin's picture

Fieldnotes 4/12

New Spring term this week. (still working with Ms. A and Ms. B)

4-6 yr olds with Ms. B

9:30-11:30am

New boy, E (now there are two boys in the class)

E and A (girl) go to school together

E seems relaxed, gets to drawing in sketchbook right away, talks with other kids, tells me his full first name, but he goes by the shortened version

Today: Matisse Fishbowl paintings (sketch). Mixed Media, pink paint table and background, tempera paint patterns, tank, etc. Paper leaves and flowers, red tissue paper flowers in background

More planned out than usual, Ms. B mentions to me, I agree, comment that’s especially good for the first day. (she laughs, jokingly offended by my comment…)

Paint for the first half, then wash up

Story and snack: Ms. B reads while I clean up

E doesn’t want to sit during story time (he doesn’t have a snack), seems comfortable (happy?) standing for this time

After story, go to gallery. New show of animal art

Play I Spy (introduce to Eli, he asks and makes sure that everyone gets a chance)

Rather overexcited in the gallery, larger class, moving around a lot, not slowly, hiding things behind pedestals

Back to rom, add paper and tissue paper to paintings. When finished, kids go into other room to play (as usual) Some don’t feel like playing, stay and draw in sketchbooks. One doesn’t want to play or draw, seemed content to sit with us while others drew. 

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