https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ and play around for yourself!Sharing is my favorite part about life long learning. Thanks Reid for sharing this simple and highly sophisticated tool for developing color themes in presentations! I'm in love with the simplicity and endless creative potential already. Check out color.adobe.com and play around for yourself!

Every single time I step foot into another school, I learn at least ten times what I hoped to learn. This same phenomenon occured during my visit to Ogden International School of Chicago.

As a curious person on holiday in Chicago for the week (otherwise known as a nerd), I thought it would be the perfect time to explore a question that I have been asking for years. What are American schools really like? Having never worked in one myself and being fortunate enough to be teaching and learning in a fantastic school in Asia, I really had no idea any more. While I know that schools vary greatly depending on a wide range of factors, I was most interested in comparing apples to apples. I wanted to see what a PYP school in a metropolitan area in the US was like and how it compares to my beloved NIST. 

While researching schools before my trip, I found that all of the PYP schools in the Chicago metropolitan area are public schools- another area of understanding I have come to lack in my years abroad. Having no idea how public PYP schools operate, I was thrilled to receive a response and invitation to visit Ogden.

On the day of my visit I was instantly impressed by the large park and intricate architecture just across the street from campus. A high degree of professionalism and kindness glowed from the guards, secretaries and faculty. After exciting afternoon touring the school, meeting with teachers and discussing PYP curriculum with the passionate PYP Coordinator, Taneal Sanders, I have to say that I was impressed that all of this PYP enthusiasm exists right here in the Midwest. I have always been proud of Minnesota's schools but I had no idea that the PYP was being implemented so well here in downtown Chicago. The more I learned, the more impressed I was. I have very little knowledge of the Common Core Curriculum but find it reassuring that even under its expectations, these students are still just as curious about the world around them as my own students in Bangkok. They are living the Learner Profile, just like I have seen in other parts of the world. After years of thinking it would be difficult to find the kind of internationally-minded, global citizens I am used to anywhere outside of my bubble of experience, I was truly proud to such learning in my own country.

As for my own learning, here's the short list of tid-bits I have already begun to explore more:

• Endless Reader App for iPad: Highly engaging literacy app for lower elementary (Endless Alphabet and Endless Math also available) 
  
• Great Books: Picture books, ebooks and teacher resources for critical thinking and inquiry
• Class Dojo- Tablet or mobile phone based positive recognition system- could maybe be used to recognize attributes of the PYP in students? Parents can follow too
• Free the Children: Action website! International charity and educational partner that encourages youth to take action in sustainable, holistic ways
• We Day: Inspirational event for year-long youth action initiatives
• Me to We: Leadership and action camps, training and trips for youth
• Prezi for iPad: How did I not know that students could make Prezis on an iPad with the free app?!
• Common Sense in the Common Core: The IB is figuring out how to work with Common Core and offering continuum workshops on the topic- Interesting!
• The Homework Myth: book worth reading for knowledge in this ongoing debate
• Donors Choose: Teachers propose projects for funding and individual donors can support education initiatives
  
• Sakai- Learning Management System

There is a big part of me that would love to be an artist. I've always known that but keep thinking that I can just do it as a hobby while enjoying my other passion- education. From time to time I get inspired and actually start creating again. The most recent creative inspiration came from visiting the Diploma Art Exhibition at NIST. 

I paged through the graduating art students' journals and realized that I was missing a step in my artistic creation. I realized that they had searched for artists they liked and played around with copying bits from their work to build their own skills. As obvious as that seems, I hadn't thought of copying drawings that I like in an effort to build the abstract pattern toolbox that I lack when approaching new ideas. It is hard to draw interesting patterns without a starting point. I realized that I need to learn the language of the abstract black line drawings that I like in order to make the style my own.

The result? Pinterest boards for keeping track of designs, patterns and styles I like. After completing two drawings inspired (copied) from artists with styles I like, I think I'm already getting the hang of creating the kind of abstract black pen drawings that I love so much.