Discovery by Design

The challenge is this. Use Tinkercad, a 3D modeling program, and a 3D printer to fill the 2x5 inch cutouts in the student tables in Mrs. Blackley's classroom. Prototypes are often among the early steps in the design process, but like those first baby steps in our lives, they can be exhilarating and self-affirming, and can open a seam into previously unforeseen possibilities. That's how we arrived at this photo to the left.


Like most inventions, this design thinking challenge arose out of necessity. Mrs. Blackley's student tables had cutouts to provide an outlet for power cords and cables for electronic devices. A black plastic grommet insert sat on top of the cutout, providing a grooved outlet for cables. The thing is with well-charged, wireless devices these portholes were not necessary, while the grommet became a "bump" on the table.


Enter the lead design challenge team. They are the lead team, not just because they have been assigned this initial task, but they will also assume responsibilities for helping to train other fourth grade students, all of whom will receive their own design challenges this year. With guidance and instruction from Mr. Fitzpatrick, these students are contemplating how to redesign the grommet or make use of the cutout.


So in Tinkercad, they designed prototypes that improve upon the original grommet. Some prototypes sit more flush with the table surface, so there's less of a bump. Some took advantage of the cutout and used it as storage. Another iteration looked at building up from the hole, rather than concealing its presence, to create a fashionable school supply organizer. For students today, the possibilities are endless, when they believe they can pursue them. In the end, this challenge is indicative of learning in schools today that is meaningful to students and elicit their best efforts out of the sheer desire to achieve a measure of success that they have a hand in defining. - Paul Tomizawa

Edgewood's Library Learning Commons

Roosevelt Place view.

The Edgewood Library is currently undergoing a structural makeover, but when it emerges from drop cloths and protective sheetrock, it will be remade as our Library Learning Commons. The term "learning commons" dates back to the 1990s as higher ed began to rethink the purpose of the library and how it meets the needs of today's learners. Today's learning commons have been influenced by the thinking of a number of educators and librarians, including most recently David Loertscher, who view the library as the heart of the school community.

It is a creative space for participatory learning where teachers and students collaborate, design, and build in flexible learning spaces. The learning commons provides the school community with access to information, by way of traditional media (books, photos, magazines, etc) and archives. It provides spaces for small and whole group discussion and collaboration, as well as quiet spaces where learners can immerse themselves in the joy of reading, writing, and making.

Thoughtful and comfortable in
Mrs. Blackley's room.

The task of designing the Edgewood Library Learning Commons will rest with the students and staff of Edgewood school. In the coming months, we'll invite them to participate in conversations on how physical and virtual space impacts student and professional learning. This, however, is not a new conversation. Last year, we began these discussions using a district Center for Innovation grant to examine flexible learning spaces through our use of Room 18, which became a laboratory for reconfiguring classroom space. Since then, teachers have been busy reworking their own classrooms. More to come. - Paul Tomizawa

Mrs. Theall's students surveying library construction

Edgewood U Finale

Edgewood University, the building-wide collaborative learning experience, in which staff and students explored more than 20 special interest topics, has ended its ground-breaking and at times inspiring six Friday semester. The concept of Edgewood U was driven by a desire to rethink school, in which learning is driven by passion and the need to develop skills for learning, rather than an obligation to absorb content. Below is a great write-up on our Edgewood U experience.
- Paul Tomizawa

The Frosty Diversion

The Edgewood Winter Assembly is never without surprises. But this year's was probably the most stunning of them all. There were outstanding performances from vocalists Christina Semple and William Goh, as well as the Edgewood String Ensemble. And there was Sajiv Mehta, this year's Teacher-in-Charge for a Day, who tag teamed with Teacher-in-Charge Mr. Yang to emcee the program with Dr. Houseknecht. But let there be no mistake. The Winter Assembly has become known for one haunting question-- "Who do you think will play Frosty in this year's Winter Assembly?"

Edgewood News runs an online poll in the days prior to the assembly. The voting is wild and never predicts the actual winner, but it's fun to watch the tallies roll in! Among the highest votes went to Nurse Duffy and 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Nedwick. In the end, our Frosty turned out to be Mrs. Pinto's teacher's aide, Mr. Destefano, who called in "sick" that day giving us this one unforgettable moment as Mrs. Pinto's students erupted in sheer jubilation after Frosty's identity was revealed onstage. Happy Holidays everyone!
- Paul Tomizawa

Watch Video of Frosty Dancing

Team Special

The tallest nest tower at 15"!

What does the first day of school sound like? At Edgewood this year, it included over a hundred children shouting encouragement to their teammates during a special collaborative event in the gym. For the second year in a row, the out of the classroom teachers banded together for a unique Scarsdale event. These "special" teachers --Mr. Brown, (music), Ms. Forte (music), Ms. Houston (Spanish), Mr. Fitzpatrick (art), Mrs. Stokes (library), Mr. Weigel (PE), and myself (technology), organized two interactive events on the first day of school. One for students in Grades 1 & 2 and a second for grades 3-5.

Students were randomly selected to represent their teams, Blue versus White (yes, our school colors) to compete in activities that reflected their knowledge and skills in our special areas.

Students showcased their Spanish knowledge by slapping a fly swatter on top of images that matched the spoken words. They were challenged to alphabetize themselves by their last names. They shot free throws and tossed balls through hoops taped to the wall. They organized simulated "lunch waste" into the appropriate compost and trash bins. They pushed themselves to engineer a tall nest made of pipe cleaners to provide a safe haven for an eagle's egg. And they screamed encouragement to their classmates as they scrambled to arrange the bars of a xylophone in the correct musical order, shown below.

We're told this event only happens at Edgewood. And we know it afforded our classroom teaching colleagues a common preparation window, which is especially needed at the start of the new school year. But most important, we watched highly motivated students compete with skill, knowledge, and a strong sense of team. Go Edgewood!

Paul Tomizawa

Why Nina the Dog Matters

     Nina is a poodle in Mrs. Lamonaca's first grade class. Everything about her is a dog. She eats. Plays. Sleeps in a bed. And provides her friends with love and companionship. Nina is about as real as a dog can be, even if she's made out of pillow stuffing and fabric. These two classmates (pictured on the right) fashioned her out of supplies from the classroom materials center and then gave her an identity and a heart, as one would expect children to do. Nina is what happens when students are motivated to learn more than what is required by the curriculum. The possibility of Nina inspires creativity, collaboration, the use of language, while preserving a child's innate desire to make the imagined world part of her real one.
-- Paul Tomizawa

New Talent Show Technology

Talent Show production crew silently
communicates with Today's Meet

In the final February Talent Show the production crew experimented with new technology. It's a site called Today's Meet. The audience didn't see or hear it, but it kept the adult and student production team on the same page. Today's Meet is an online "backchannel" tool. The balcony and backstage crew used it to silently share information through on screen texts. For instance, the backstage "projector" light is still on or the emcee is causing feedback when he talks into the mic while underneath the PA speaker or giving the whole crew a heads up on an unplanned stage entrance. In a live show, scripted events change and the production crew needs to be ready to jump in, make adjustments, and keep the show rolling. People come out to watch our talented young performers, but the behind-the-scenes work of the backstage and balcony crew is in itself a performance worth seating an audience. Whether their work involves adjusting wireless microphones on stage or balancing vocals with recorded music through a mixer in the sound booth, each production crew member, working outside the spotlight, contributes to the show's successes. And Today's Meet, I think, will make our jobs this much easier. -- Paul Tomizawa

Girls Who Engineer Their Future

Girls design 3D models in Tinkercad.

About 20 girls took part in our first lunchtime Coding & Design club of the year. These girls will engage in coding with Scratch and/or Tynker, but we began our lunch sessions in design. In Mr. Fitzpatrick's art studio (STEAM Lab), the girls used Tinkercad, an online 3D modeling program, to create artifacts that represent Edgewood history. Our school just turned 97 years old on January 5 and with our Centennial seemingly just around the corner and with the upcoming launch of the Edgewood History Club, the 3D design work seemed timely.

This club is available to both girls and boys, but as the old saying goes...girls first. It's well-known that while girls are drawn towards the creative problem-solving and "making" aspect of the STEM fields, keeping them in these fields as they get older is a challenge. But educators and corporate experts believe it's possible to attract girls for the long haul.

We agree. - Paul Tomizawa

Sculpting an Act of Faith and Charity

   

4th grade donated over 700 cans
of food with this sculpture.

     At the holiday assembly, the 4th grade unveiled an impressive sculpture of the American Flag. It was a work of art consisting of 373 cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup and 174 cans of Starkist tuna cans. But like any collaborative project or novel approach to learning, there were doubts. Would it work? Would it be appreciated? And considering the many needs of building a classroom community, teaching/learning the curriculum, and meeting the diverse needs and interests of an energetic student body, would it be a worth the time invested in this learning experience? So the teachers, Mrs. Aberman, Mrs. Mraz, Mrs. Nedwick, and myself and our students, slogged through the doubts, looking for reasons to believe and persevere.
    Students and teachers discussed construction strategies, engineering and mathematics, elements of design, and we experimented in the computer lab by building short towers of cans and wondered how high we could build, before they toppled. We had begun collecting cans in early November. Parents quickly responded to our requests for donations. And while we had ambitious designs on completing the sculpture in time for the Thanksgiving assembly, things...you know... happen. Still we persisted and took advantage of the extra time to sort through questions across the grade level and experiment with ideas that were sprouting across the grade level. We debated whether we should build a single layer construction or a double layer.
    The original Canstruction sculpture from which we drew our inspiration, used a double layer. But a double layer meant asking parents for nearly 100 additional soup cans, to match our original goal. A single layer could be built against a backboard, but would probably mean that we'd lose the bend in our sculpture that would make our flag look like it was waving in the breeze. It was clear that students wanted to keep the flag-wave, but acknowledged that we didn't have time to collect more cans. Fortunately, in visiting the rules for creating Canstruction sculptures, we learned we could use tape. YES! So teams of students began binding the cans that we had and later stacked them in columns on stage.
    Today, this sculpture only lives in memories and photos. Shortly after we unveiled this beautiful work of art, we deconstructed it, and donated over 700 cans of food to the Soup Kitchen at St. Peter's Church in Portchester, NY. Looking back, it was clear that this project was not just about collaboration, engineering, and design. It was an act of conscience shared by parents, students, and their teachers.  - Paul Tomizawa