to Dale Chihuly's website. I discovered it a couple of years ago and my mom recently re-directed me to it. Here's a sample.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
New link
to Dale Chihuly's website. I discovered it a couple of years ago and my mom recently re-directed me to it. Here's a sample.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Civic Duty
I got summoned for jury duty about a week ago. It took hours for the attorneys to select 12 jurors. I was pretty sure I was home free when the clock struck 3 and I was still sitting on the sidelines, but then I ended up making it to the questions stage. I was a little surprised by how easy it was for people to lie their way out of it; a few people were pretty obviously making up stories about their biases and beliefs just so they wouldn't get chosen. But when I found out that I had been picked, I felt like I'd won a prize. Five free days away from school.
The trial itself was really interesting. It was a medical malpractice suit, so I got to learn all about catheters, fibroids, and the iliac arteries. We found in favor of the defendant, almost immediately unanimously. One juror held out for quite a while. Relating my experience to school: 1) It is very hard to sit still and be quiet (I couldn't even raise my hand to ask a question!) for several hours a day. BUT adults are capable of doing it! 2) It is very useful to require unanimity (as I sometimes do during groupwork), since it forces everyone to think more deeply to defend their opinion and listen carefully to what others think and why they think it. 3) Coming to a unanimous conclusion requires skilled facilitation. Luckily for us, our foreman was very gracious in how she made sure everyone was heard, and very intelligent in how she directed the conversation. We also set up ground rules (such as "No interrupting"; very 7th grade. Lots of times people broke the "Raise your hand to speak" rule, and it made me angry!), which may have seemed childish to some, but I think they were actually more useful than not. Anyway it reminded me of the roles I sometimes assign to girls in groupwork (Team Captain, Facilitator), and of how important those roles are, and how I could do better in training the girls to do them.
I only have two days of regular classes left.
After that, we'll have a week-long Intersession, during which the girls will prepare and deliver presentations to sum up the year.
I've booked my summer travel. Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, San Francisco. I'll be in the 'sco from August 3 to August 8. I'm REALLY excited--I just hope I survive the 80-something hours I'll be spending in airports and on planes!
The trial itself was really interesting. It was a medical malpractice suit, so I got to learn all about catheters, fibroids, and the iliac arteries. We found in favor of the defendant, almost immediately unanimously. One juror held out for quite a while. Relating my experience to school: 1) It is very hard to sit still and be quiet (I couldn't even raise my hand to ask a question!) for several hours a day. BUT adults are capable of doing it! 2) It is very useful to require unanimity (as I sometimes do during groupwork), since it forces everyone to think more deeply to defend their opinion and listen carefully to what others think and why they think it. 3) Coming to a unanimous conclusion requires skilled facilitation. Luckily for us, our foreman was very gracious in how she made sure everyone was heard, and very intelligent in how she directed the conversation. We also set up ground rules (such as "No interrupting"; very 7th grade. Lots of times people broke the "Raise your hand to speak" rule, and it made me angry!), which may have seemed childish to some, but I think they were actually more useful than not. Anyway it reminded me of the roles I sometimes assign to girls in groupwork (Team Captain, Facilitator), and of how important those roles are, and how I could do better in training the girls to do them.
I only have two days of regular classes left.
After that, we'll have a week-long Intersession, during which the girls will prepare and deliver presentations to sum up the year.
I've booked my summer travel. Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, San Francisco. I'll be in the 'sco from August 3 to August 8. I'm REALLY excited--I just hope I survive the 80-something hours I'll be spending in airports and on planes!
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