Extra chocolate sauce, hold the whipped cream
Creativity is an essential part of life, producer David Kennard told me in a video interview Monday for a story about his documentary work in Oklahoma.
I particularly liked his analogy about creativity to ice cream, because who doesn’t like anything involving ice cream?
Here’s what Kennard had to say (or, listen to Kennard’s quote here):
“Sometimes people think about creativity, it’s like dessert after the meal — you know, we do all the serious stuff and everything else and then if you’ve got still room for a little ice cream with a little chocolate sauce on top, that’s creativity. …
“No. Wrong. It is fundamental to our survival as an individual, as a family, as a community, as a city, … as a state, … as a nation, as a species, as a planet.”
I consider myself a creative person, but I’ll admit I can be hesitant to step outside of the proverbial box.
Then there are people like my brother, who, I believe, isn’t aware there’s a box in the first place. I guess that puts him on the higher end of the creativity spectrum.
Still, creativity is a great thing, especially if it comes with a little chocolate sauce on top.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
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Summer science
Ten students recently started an intense, eight-week program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
The nine Fleming Scholars and one Presidential Scholar are getting hands-on experience with scientific research, conducting experiments and learning from those whose shoes they one day hope to fill.
2008 OMRF FLEMING & PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS
Seated, left to right: Sishir Mannava of Edmond; Meaghan Wierzbic of Harrah; Anne Alger of Shawnee; Stephanie Wilburn of Fitzhugh; Sara Moore of Norman; and Leah Henry of Oklahoma City. Standing, left to right: Johnnie West of Lawton; Jack Laurent of Oklahoma City; James Harding of Lancaster, Texas (Presidential Scholar and Langston University student); and Alia Ramirez of Oklahoma City.
Have you participated in the OMRF program or something similar? What was your experience like?
Share your thoughts here on NewsOK’s Education Station.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Lights, camera, science
Science is not my strong suit, despite having hands-on science kits packed with a microscope, test tubes and powdery chemicals like borax when I was a kid.
Discovery Education, which is affiliated with the Discovery Channel, wants Oklahomans who do have a knack for science to submit video entries for a contest.
A spokeswoman for the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge, Pat McMurray, said there are too few entries from Oklahoma right now.
The competition is open to students in grades 5 through 8. The video entries must demonstrate how well students understand and explain scientific concepts.
A winner will be selected from each state, and 10 finalists will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, where a national winner will be crowned and handed a $50,000 savings bond.
More information about the contest is available at www.DiscoveryEducation.com/YoungScientist.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Send Some Okie History Out West
We got a letter this week from Gloria, a 5th-grade student in Napa, Calif.
Gloria is writing a school report on the State of Oklahoma and she’s asking readers of The Oklahoman and its Web site for facts, postcards, brochures or souvenirs that tell about the Sooner State.
Well, Gloria, I grew up on an Oklahoma farm so I can tell you a bit about rural life here. The dirt is an orangey-red, the people are hardworking and proud, and sometimes a farmer’s most prized possession is John Deer-green.
Gloria says she’ll be writing about the state’s agriculture, history, economy, historical figures and events in her report. She signs her letter “Thank you very much for your support in making me a great researcher of your beautiful state.” Well, she’s already got the Okie-trait of politeness down pat.
You can write Gloria Maravilla at 2700 Kilburn Ave., Napa, Calif. 94558.
You can also post a comment on this blog or by e-mailing me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com and I’ll forward appropriate responses to Gloria.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
You Won’t Learn This in the Guide Books
Parlez-vous Francais?
Is so, please don’t answer in French. Unless it involves bathroom fixtures, I probably won’t understand it.
I took French in high school — many many years ago. The only thing I remember, and won’t burden you with trying to spell it in French, is “Stick your head in the toilet.”
The instructor taught us that the first day of class. An ice-breaker, I guess. And I still remember it.
But not much else. Of course, I never went to France or Canada, so after high school it all just slipped away like butter on a hot croissant.
Many schools today are trying new ways to help students learn and retain a new language. They have language immersion sessions and connect students of different languages via the Internet. Many schools also start earlier teaching foreign languages because students retain more at a young age.
My 4-year-old daughter knows some Spanish, thanks to a special daycare teacher and to Dora and Diego. She even corrected me once when I said green was “azul” in Spanish. (That would be blue.)
But she better watch out. I know at least one handy phrase in French. And she probably shouldn’t repeat it.
E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com and tell me about your experiences learning a new language.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Pot of gold – well, electronics – waits at end of the attendance rainbow
Students in Muskogee can win a laptop, an MP3 player or a cell phone just for showing up to class.
The 7th & 8th Grade Center there began the incentive program Feb. 18 and will end it this Friday, according to a school newsletter. The school plans to run two more similar incentive periods before the end of the school year.
Students must be in attendance and not tardy to be entered into a drawing for the electronics, which are paid for through local donors and other activities, according to the newsletter.
Do you think schools should offer incentives to attend school? What would you consider to be appropriate incentives?
Share your thoughts with me and with other readers on the Education Station blog at NewsOK.com.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Excuse to doodle
Google. It is a noun, a verb, and now, a competition.
The popular search engine is asking schoolchildren to design a Google logo for its homepage that is inspired by the question “What if…?”
Already, students from five Oklahoma campuses have submitted entries, Google spokesman Eitan Bencuya said.
The five schools are Southern Hills Elementary, Wilson Elementary, Christ the King Catholic School and Francis Tuttle Technology Center — Reno Campus in Oklahoma City; and Victory Life Academy in Durant.
The winning design of the “Doodle 4 Google” competition will be displayed at www.google.com on May 22, and the student who sketches it will win a $10,000 college scholarship plus a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school.
Schools must be registered by March 28 and entries must be postmarked by April 12. To participate and for more information, visit www.google.com/doodle4google.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Portrait of a Profession
You gotta hand it to some of those first nursing school graduates at OSU-OKC. They didn’t let their starched white nursing caps get in the way of a good bee-hive.
Portraits of graduating students from the past decades hang proudly on the walls of a hallway in the nursing building. They show a chronology of the school’s growth, and hair style fads through the ages.
But more has changed in the nursing profession than follicle fashion. Training has changed as dramatically as technology, and advanced education is more important than ever.
A few things have remained constant. It’s still mostly women — white women — seeking nursing credentials, although more minorities and men are entering the profession.
What’s your story? When did you become a nurse and why? I want to know more about the many pathways to education, jobs and maybe now, even retirement.
And maybe you can also explain the engineering of the bee-hive. It’s making a comeback, ala Amy Winehouse. But that’s another story altogether.
E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Dinner & a photo
Most folks buy artwork for their home or office from boutique shops and arts festivals. But some pick out a piece over dinner and a glass of wine, choosing art right off a restaurant’s walls.
On Thursday, an Oklahoma City eatery will give fifth-graders the same chance as professionals to show off and sell their black-and-white photographs.
Pictures taken by 16 students from Cleveland Elementary in Oklahoma City will be exhibited at Tom & Jerry’s, a steak and fish grill at 1501 NW 23, from 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Each student will get to display two pieces, for a total of 32 items, parent Nancy Woodard said. The subjects of the images vary, though the students were given some instructions — like to consider texture and motion, said Jeanne Davis, co-chairwoman of the school’s PTA yearbook committee.
Professional photographers Kay Wetmore and Michael Muller helped the students select and prepare their art for the dining-room gallery, said Davis, who helped organize the event.
All proceeds from the sale of the artwork will go to the Cleveland photography program, which is in its first year, they said, and 10 percent of food sales from the evening also will benefit the school.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Teach Me
It’s been a few years (read: decades) since my 8th grade Oklahoma history class.
But I got a refresher course at www.occc.edu/centennial today. Oklahoma City Community College has a handy outline of the Oklahoma Centennial Lecture Series coordinated by the Downtown College Consortium. Free lectures were held at campuses around the metro this fall. The last one is set for next week.
Power point presentations are online for the lectures “Oklahoma and the Great Depression” and “Places We Cried.” The latter is a chronicle of the Cherokee people.
Both presentations have photos and maps that poignantly illustrate these times in state history. The final lecture, “Heroes of Oklahoma,” takes place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at OCCC. Call 232-3382 for details.
For those who can’t attend, check out the Web site, which also is a great source for teachers who’ll be talking about statehood next week.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
