I'm profoundly regretting leaving my laptop behind to fit in some more of lola's toys! Finding internet access is easy- but places which provide a terminal as well are few and far between. I'm currently sandwiched into the Apple shop, which is full of ipad buzz and hustle.
My visit to Urban School in the Haight on Friday was as amazing and inspiring as my visit to Mission High on Wednesday. The two schools sit at opposite ends of the spectrum- public/private etc etc, but both have an emphasis on service learning and are using media stuff to make real contributions to the community. The Urban School (www.urbanschool.org) has an unprepossessing frontage, but there is totally amazing stuff happening inside. Jonathan Howland, deputy principal made time for me to talk about the school's ethos and pedagogical philosophy. He showed me round the small but perfectly formed campus- all students have a ibook, and all teaching spaces have an interactive whiteboard. I then spent some time with Lori Hebert, one of the driving forces in the Urban School's service learning programme. I've been thinking lots over the last two days about the amazing stuff she's doing with her classes- and the amazing resources she has been generating. I also had a brief but exciting talk with Kelli Yon, who is the media/photography teacher.
This is a very abbreviated start to a longer discussion of what the Urban School and Mission High have been doing- a queue has developed behind me and I need to rescue hot and bothered lola. On MOnday i visit Baycat- www.baycat.org/education/index.php and hope to visit Tilt www.tiltmedia.org/ on Tuesday.