March Madness

I.Newson senior project: Blue Print

Month/ theme: March Madness

Intro- personal dream. Open eyes, Maat, light, Eric, a door, night, students? waiting.

  • Lesson: What does it all mean?

Brainstorm Activity

Pick a topic, any topic, let us hop to March.

Write down as many associations to March as you can? 15 seconds and go:

I gave my answers in a video. How did we match? Now underline one item on the list. And repeat the same process. Go:

Then ask three questions: 1. What is its function? (just the facts- description). 2. What is it used for? (how many purposes can you think of?) 3. How does it relate to you? (what is your association with it? What do you automatically think of?)

Example: March, I picked. Hare. Madness. I’ll chose the rabbit, thank you, I’m Mad enough. Rabbit. 1. furry, soft, big eyes, multi colored, feet. 2. Used for fur, food, (sorry, it just hopped in my head), ah, hem. Cute lovable cartoon characters! 3. The White rabbit and the Mad Hatter From Alice in Wonderland. Queen of Hearts. Question? What ever happened to her?

  • Question: Justification (points) NAEP

  • Nations Report Card- 2026 Assessment Links. Feel free to read as much or none. I have read it, been analyzing it, and will give you summaries in i.school-in up and yonder days. Not relevant enough to pay attention to now, I’d say.

Math-

Reading-

  • Reflection Pool 

What about you? What are you Marching for? Do you stand up or down? On what grounds? What do you love? Are there varying definitions and perspectives of: new year resolution, groundhog day, valentines day? March- ing band, music, drums, lines, LOUD discipline. a silent voice.

For the love of ______? After you answer, ask this, what are you doing today?

  • Final Word: 

You. I am marching for you. Past current and future students. Mama Bear Hugs!

March Madness:

hot dogs

“What do you and Eric talk about?” Here is today’s conversation:

And the fairy tale begins.

Why Eric is my knight in shining armor. Afternoon conversation. 

Me- In my I-school fairy tale land. Thinking, thinking, thinking.

Eric: Do you like hotdogs?

Me: (Thinking bubble bursts. Spit water out laugh). Oh my god that was the perfect thing to say at the perfect time. (Still laughing)

Eric: That was not rhetorical.

Me-thinking… That is a very difficult question to answer. When you say hotdog, my first thought was burning hot dogs with my brother when I was about 7 years old. We put the hotdogs in the pan and went out front to play. Smoke, alarm. It turned out all right, but the pan became the pan with the ‘burnt handle’. Then I thought well, what kind of hot dog? I I used to dislike the gritty ones and then there is the bun. Too much, to dry ruins the experience. Too big, ew. Then my thought went to college when my roommates and I would go to the gas station on late nights and get gnarly dogs- mayonnaise and jalapeños. yum. I also remember throwing up many hot dogs in my days. Then is it like a summer coney island kind of hot dog wrapped in tinfoil? Toppings, especially mustard is key. Then I remembered turkey dogs for a brief fad. Laughing with my dad in a cabin about how his own dog wouldn’t eat the turkey hot dog. hey, i wonder what other people talk about? Then the vegetarian years on/off/on/off.. so they still sort of gross me out. So its not like I would run out to the store for some hot dogs Id rather eat my beans, and Erics home made tortillas. Yes, I have some fond memories of hot dogs, and some painful ones too. Then those sad feelings started burbling up- 

Eric: You still haven’t answered my question, because I would get a bagel dog.

Me: (grateful for the interruption- laughs!) God, I love you… now is a bagel dog considered a hot dog? 

Eric: Yup

Me- that is the beauty and simplicity that is the man I married. 

Eric: Unless the bagel to bun ratio is off then (own rant about differential dogs). 

10 minutes later…

Laughing together. 

Eric: Cuz I was thinking we could have hot dogs.

Me: Nope. 

Eric: Where are you going?

Me: to go write this down.

(The purpose of the hotdog story, for I.School, is to demonstrate my thought processes. I do not take questions lightly. I may seem aloof on the outside, but I assure you, I think about things. A lot. My approach to education is very serious. And with that being said, the flip side is to have fun. Enjoy life. Especially with a life-partner who can make you laugh!)

I. March madness

What? Wait, I’m late for… a make-believe holiday. i.school style. solutions.

What if I mixed together New Years Resolution + Groundhog Day + Valentines Day = ? What could we create?

Question 1: What do you ‘know about New Years, Groundhog day and Valentines Day?

Question 2: How about March?

Question 3: How much do you want to know?

First, take 14 seconds to write down as much as you know about said 3-4 holidays. Go!

Times up!

Basics: Essentials

Proficient: “make due” useable

Advanced: mature, ready to move forward

Your answers depend on level of genuine interest and maturity.

Check your answers:

Basic Level I answers include- colors, numbers, shapes and/or animals

Proficient- anything about clothing, emotions, festivities, time of year, stories

Advanced- would be a question leading to more questions.

A Game of Questions! Yea. Wait, what was that question?

Do you know how to play? (if you answered, try again). What questions do you have for

I.School? You get 3. Today only.

and yes. YES, there are stupid questions! A stupid question in my school is one that you think you already have the answer to. Why ask me a question at all? I have No time for foolish games.

Here are some honest, actual questions given to me:

Why is there a leap year? What is the point of groundhog day? Where did Valentines Day come from?

Ok. Good questions. I’ll do some digging and answer the best that I can. Insert Video-

New Year's Resolutions

Do we have new year “resolution(s)” backwards?

Isn’t the word resolution- already Resolved? Not something else to add to an already hectic shame-driven space in time (more exercise, for example) but a solution. A solution re-solved. An answer that already exists. You already know it. Deep down you have the solution.

January 31st honors everything backward with National Backward Day. The day provides an opportunity to reverse our ways, our direction or simply _____________. (fill in the blank). Our perceptions, perhaps?

Chances are any changes you want to make quickly, ‘new year new me’, have already been well established. Slowly and over time. What you are, now, and what you were last year -will probably be the same -are and were today- and tomorrow and so on. It is already been resolved. Simply keep doing what you have been doing. Why do anything different? It just adds more metaphoric weight. Now, if that makes you squirm, well-

Consider the origin of the word Resolution: Etymology Dictionary.

;a firm decision to do or not to do something. The quality of being determined or resolute.

Noun. late 14c., resolucioun, "a breaking or reducing into parts; process of breaking up, dissolution,”

"process of resolving or reducing a non-material thing into simpler forms" as a method of problem-solving comes the sense of "a solving" (as of mathematical problems), which is recorded by 1540s, as is that of "power of holding firmly, character of acting with a fixed purpose."

"frame of mind," 

"melt, dissolve, reduce to liquid; separate into component parts; alter, alter in form or nature by application of physical process," "to loosen, untie, release, explain, divide, cut apart." separate into components" determine, decide upon" after analysis (1520s), hence "pass a resolution" (1580s); "decide, settle" a dispute, etc. (1610s). 

From dissonant to consonant. Sharpness. Like pixels 2024. Clearer resolution. See Resolved.

Easy. Simple. Once you are resolved. Now what? What about our wicked problem?

Easy. Simple… example I am resolved to Four Truths:

  1. Education is currently suffering. Kids are suffering.

  2. We are all (adults) responsible for its current state of suffering.

  3. There is a way out.

  4. Okay, this is what I.School is all about. Once you see it. The disillusion of what you think education is supposed to be, compared to its current state. It is simple. A new place to begin. A resolution.

Three Ideas

  1. Take your time. Slow down.

  2. Establish your space in time. Be aware of your surroundings.

  3. Figure out what you need today. Prioritize your needs.

Two essential observations:

  1. How is your time being used?

  2. What are your current conditions- in space. Body, physical environment.

One.

I. That is YOU. The I in I.School. Now what do you want need with your I? Today. Now!

Zero.

Bottom Line. You and I both know this system is rigged. Ok, at least I am resolved to this knowledge. You are only one. One person. One student. You can only do what you are capable of. Nothing more. So,

Stop doing more (things that are pointless). DO LESS! Reclaim your time, space and mind. More you #1. Less catering to business management systems #2’s.

For further reading.

Ugly Truth

time quote:

Our time is our most valuable and precious commodity and cannot be replaced. Quoting the great philosopher, Seneca: “We're tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should be the toughest misers.”

How do you “spend” your time in school?

2024 Resolutions

New Years Resolution for I.School. Resolved!

  1. To promote my own physical and mental health. (and I wish that for you students.)

  2. To honestly research education- and provide information in order to empower students. (I will provide information for your own defense.)

  3. To manifest the best out of life! Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock… now.

  4. To balance; walk the tightrope between bummer news and an optimistic zest for life. (see #3).

  5. To Listen to students. Fight for students.

*I do not see a way out of education; I see a way through.

Reflect on the past year.

1. Time

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave
Without leaving a piece of youth- Billy Corgan

X= Time

1:1 Ratio

1: Hour= 1 Hour 1:Day= 1 Day 1:Year= 1 Year

Federal Laws require states to mandate schooling for ages 5-18.

Pre K Ages 2-4 years Old not mandatory but funded and encouraged.

0-8. *Considered the most formative years with the fastest neurobiological development.

8-13 Early Adolescent

13-18 Adolescent

18-24 (Adults expected to work or go to school)

US Compulsory Education by state. (Laws requiring mandatory education). Average 5-18.

physical growth, cognitive development, emotional and social development, language development, and sensory and motor development.

Average retirement age: 67

0- A Wicked Problem

A Wicked Problem- (Education).

“refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fixed, where there is no single solution to the problem; and "wicked" denotes resistance to resolution, rather than evil (*). Another definition is "a problem whose social complexity means that it has no determinable stopping point". Wikipedia

A wicked problem IS- Circular O

Wicked Problem Examples: Education design, financial crises, health care, hunger, income disparity, obesity, poverty, terrorism, and sustainability.

Video. Highlight (3min35sec): A circular/ paradox to wicked problems is Transparency. Transparency of- Intention, Process and Objectives.

Original Question: What is the Purpose of education? What is the intention? The Process and Objectives?

I.School discovered a paradox- often conflicting and paradoxical results.

My intention is to draw attention to education as a wicked problem. This is my process and my objectives are to create, live by, and lead by examples of wicked-loopholes. Loopholes are by means of understanding the nature of education today and ‘bending the curve’.

Wicked solutions to wicked problems. Understand the problem FIRST.

On to Step One. Time. The Problem of Time and Education.

*”wicked denotes resistance to resolution, rather than evil.” Although, if evil is defined as “profoundly immoral” (by Webster), and education is immoral (with proof), then education can be considered___________. (Debatable, but I have a hunch I could win that debate).