An inside look at the Waynflete experience
The Authenticity show in the Waynflete Gallery has enabled visitors of all ages to participate in various reinterpretations of famous “masterpieces.” The show invites viewers and participants to consider the very definitions of art and who is an artist, while posing questions about originality and ownership. The artists whose work is examined are Andy Warhol, Georges Seurat, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Sol Lewitt.
Many of you have already noted with great excitement that Colum McCann, the widely read and highly acclaimed Irish author of six novels and three collections of stories, is coming to speak at Waynflete during the evening of February 6, and again to an Upper School assembly on February 7. Not surprisingly, given his stature as a writer, the public event on the 6th is already sold out.
While Waynflete’s interest in hosting such an important writer would seem self-evident, you may be wondering why Mr. McCann is interested in coming to Waynflete, particularly since his public appearances are rare these days. It turns out that he has another mission in life besides creating great art. He is a co-founder and president of Narrative 4, an organization dedicated to equipping tomorrow’s leaders “to use their stories to build empathy, shatter stereotypes, break down barriers, and—ultimately—make the world a better place.” The Narrative 4 motto is “Fearless hope through radical empathy.” Check out the video on the Narrative 4 web page describing their signature program, “the story exchange” (linked here).
Continue reading “Why is Colum McCann coming to speak at Waynflete?”
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On Wednesday night a group of parents, Lower School math teachers, and Admission staff gathered to engage in some math puzzles and activities and to talk about Waynflete’s elementary school math program.
Lower School Curriculum Co-Coordinator and 4-5 teacher Kai Bicknell shared a classroom video of a Number Talk, a classroom technique used to build mental math skills, encourage flexible thinking, and develop a better conceptual understanding of the math we do every day. Students demonstrated six different approaches to the computational problem 5 x 19—all without pencil and paper!
Middle School seminar teacher and naturalist Kate Ziminsky recently presented a program called “Arthropods: Insects and their Relatives” to K-1 students.
