Megan Leppla

I’m feeling particularly grateful this week that I get to work with some very curious kids, and that their curiosity is supported in such a special school. My students and I are trying to make sense of things through art-making. How likely is Trump's mass deportation plan? Why do people cross borders, and how did those borders form? How does the natural world cross those borders freely?

Build a Biosphere

Building your own closed, self-regulating system can be difficult, but experimenting with those systems under a close watch is fascinating! Our Earth is one big biosphere, and although we haven’t successfully recreated it (yet), we’re learning so much from these experiments. Making these experiments allows us to think like artists, and react like scientists. Artists like Olafur Eliasson and Robert Smithson are manipulating Earth’s systems in their work to remind others how precious our Earth really is.

Black Present

How has Black History Month changed over time? I asked my students this question at the start of February, and invited them to share past experiences of celebrating Black History Month in school. Many of them talked about writing their own “I Have a Dream” speech, or reading about Rosa Parks. Outside of Obama and Beyoncé, few of them knew many present-day black heroes. So I asked them, “Should we take time during Black History Month to celebrate Black Present? Should we take time to acknowledge black makers currently making?” They responded with a unanimous “Yes!” One student even added: “We need to celebrate Black Present to remind us of past racism and acknowledge great black makers today.”

This year I updated my Black Present list (see last year’s list here) to include makers of all types:

Black Present Makers, 2016

Artists: Ellen Gallagher, Mark Bradford, Joshua Mays, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Mickalene Thomas

Scientists: Mae Jemison, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephanie Wilson

Entrepreneurs: Kimberly Bryant, James E. West

Designer: Justin Edmonds

Students were asked to make a present for Black Present, to choose a maker that inspired them the most, and make something for them. You can see some of their work, and read their reflections on Black Present here:

“I chose to make a piece of art inspired by Mark Bradford because I really like the style of his works and his idea of reusing materials that one would think of as trash and make it into art. The piece I made today was inspired by his painting the tears of a tree.”

You can play this student’s game here.

Crystallization

It’s been a while, but I’m back at it! I’ll be sharing Edugifs each month, illustrating projects my students and I are currently making in the classroom. This month’s Edugif is inspired by the Earth science inquiry project my students are currently working on. Making crystals was a lot of fun, and gave my students a chance to observe how Earth’s systems can change over time.  

Making While Teaching 

In an effort to celebrate the creative journey of teaching, I'm inviting educators—of all types—to document their own process of making while teaching. Share your works in progress on Instagram and use #MakingWhileTeaching to see the work from other educators making along the way. A culmination of the work made during this time will take place at the end of the school year, June 2016.

"Lava Mae" shower bus cleans homeless in San Francisco

It’s Hour of Code next week, and I’m giving students the following assignment:

Your Mission:

Experiment with one or more of these coding resources

Record your observations in your research workbook (What was easy? What was challenging? What do you know now that you didn't before about coding? How do you know you know?)

Teach someone else the things you learned from the coding resources you experimented with

Learn something new from the coding resources someone else experimented with

Record your observations in your research workbook (What was easy? What was challenging? What do you know now that you didn't before about coding? How do you know you know?)

Why Hour of Code?

A Computer Science major can earn 40% more than the college average

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be over 1 million computing job openings by 2022

Students who learn introductory computer science show improved math scores

It's fun!