The Laramie Project,

It's had to believe, but this will be Lane's last performance in a play at Latin (Well unless you count "The Morgans," the play he wrote that will have a staged reading next month).
Because I was getting a bit sentimental, I decided to design this poster to have something to look at to remember.

• The Laramie Project, 7 p.m., Wrigley Theatre, Latin School of Chicago

..... and now the festive meal.

Passover Memories

We have a tendency to accelerate through the Seder at a speed equal to the religious level of the people attending. If I was better at math, I assume there is a simple formula for predicting the duration of the service providing you knew the variable of the expectation of the most religious
adult attending.    

The Passover holiday will never be the same.

To answer the above formula, Ed would push for "More" rather than less, but always did so
with a smile and a collections of jokes.
 

To anyone watching who are not Jewish-No a napkin is not a new item of religious significance
to Jews, it's presence is the result of discovering, a moment before sitting down, that we can't remember where we put the Yamakas.   

Latin Class of 2014

Latin School, as a part of celebrating their 125th year, commissioned a company to come out and take a photo of all of the kids and teachers, K-12, to line-up to spell out the 125. The photographer made use of a large Cherry-picker to get to the height needed to get the shoot. But then they realized that the process of getting some 1,200 people to crowd together in carefully designated positions, dictated by several math teachers capable of factoring in perspective, was an event worthy of documentation. Based on two previous, unsolicited, short videos of parent "Pot-Luck parties," coupled with the understanding that Lane knows how to make movies; the task fell to us to make the video.

The head of the committee emailed me an example of a college that had spelled-out their age, and was asked to "Make something like that." The heart of the video was time lapse footage condensing the event to three minutes. That seemed like a logical approach which led to several issues, the need to obtain a camera that was designed to shoot time-lapse, the need to guess how long the process would take in an attempt to select the best interval to compress the action; and finally, how with my pronounced fear of heights was I going to shoot from a 60 foot elevation. Lucky for me, Lane had the answer to all three questions; he used a GoPro camera to shoot time-lapse of a construction site while at an internship with a video production studio; he calculated the interval needed, and he was willing to go up in that cherry-picker. The only thing was, as a student, he needed to be IN the photo; so he had to set up the camera, confirm it was working correctly, then ride back to the ground to be a member of the class. So we decided that I would be down on the nice safe ground with the Canon 7D on a tripod,he would set the GoPro and help in shooting the kids arriving, and being arranged, including close-ups,till the moment he had to join the seniors in the photo.

The editing, took a while because of the need to cut 45 minutes of footage from the 7D down to under 3 minutes, That's cutting that involves both aesthetic choices as well as providing a fair distribution of ages and perhaps not cutting the wrong people. This is version of the 125 video Latin has on their website. They made Lane use their fight song instead the better music he had planned- Something about alumni and money. But I understand the difficult nature of being the head of the committee having to please so many people; so the plan was to give them what they wanted. They asked us to help, and after all that the school has done for Lane; we were looking at this as gift, and would cut it anyway they requested.

http://youtu.be/GXcWkngeHPM

Moments after, the plan was to shoot a photo of the senior class. Well, as long as we had the equipment set-up, it seemed natural for Lane and I to shoot a video for the class of 2014. I hope it will be fun for the class of 2014 to see now, and bring back memories years from now, in a way that a single still photo can't match.

Lane Lubell selected to speak on panel for EdLeader 21

I received an email from Dr. Roberts, the "Head of School" at Catherine Cook, in which he explained that a national educational conference was being held in Chicago and they asked him to suggest two former students that he felt would be up to the task of addressing 350 educators. He attached his letter to EdLeader21, recommending Lane Lubell. EdLeader21 is a national network of school and district leaders focused on integrating the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity) into education. Catherine Cook Garners National Exposure from EdLeader 21 The Catherine Cook School was invited to participate in the EdLeader 21 3rd annual national event from October 2 to 4. Focusing on the implementation of a 21st century education for all students, this event seeks to identify key 21st century competencies for students and to determine how to build them into teaching and learning strategies. CCS was the only independent junior school included in this conference, selected because of our high-tech/high-touch program and our success in preparing students for top tier high schools. We participated by sending two of our CCS alumni to speak on a panel for 350 educators at the Hyatt Regency on October 2. On October 4, 30 of these educators toured our school, listened to presentations by JD Pirtle and Brian Puerling, and observed a panel discussion with Dr. Roberts, Dr. Pifer, and Dr. Robbins. CCS alumni Samantha Erwin, Sophomore at Northside College Prep High School and Lane Lubell, Senior a Latin School of Chicago joined two superintendents and an independent school head from Kentucky for the October 2 panel discussion. The title of the discussion was Why the 4Cs Matter: A Perspective from Education Leaders and Students. The 4Cs are critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity (CCS adds a 5th C: character!). The panel focused on the importance of students mastering the content and the skills necessary to be successful in high school, college, and in their careers. Listening to Samantha and Lane speak made it incredibly apparent that they were set on a successful pathway to top tier high schools because of their education here at CCS. The panel discussion was an excellent opportunity to showcase CCS as an exemplar school, leading the way in current century teaching and learning styles that are designed to build capacity in students to be adaptive and effective problem solvers. The alumni were asked to speak in detail about their education at Catherine Cook. “At a smaller school it [the learning environment] was more individualized, and I felt I could be more creative with projects and assignments than I might in other places,” remarked Samantha. When asked to provide advice for the EdLeader 21 audience, Samantha told them, “When you’re trying to organize the model for teaching students … it’s really about tailoring it [the curriculum] to your students, your community.” Lane emphasized that students not only take in information to educate themselves, that they also put it to practical and customized use: “That’s really what learning should be about. Taking what’s in your head and what you know is right and translating it, making it tangible.” The EdLeader 21 event this year included 350 representatives from over 100 districts and schools across the country. We are so grateful that CCS was included in multiple portions of this event, and look forward to the benefits that will come from such national exposure. Our Twitter account was incredibly active on Friday due to all the positive and praising tweets from EdLeader 21. Here are just a few: “At @cathcookschool they don't use term "21st century", they are 13 years in with the 4cs. It's "current century" here #EdLeader21” We look forward to fostering the connections we made with the EdLeader 21 members and continuing to learn from each other. It is events like this that remind us how important effective collaboration is for educators, and how proud we are to be counted among the best schools in the country, preparing students for a current century high school experience and career.

Senior Year

Since the Big Bang, Time has has been progressing in a forward direction because the universe is expanding. I understand that as a law of physics, and grasp its meaning in the context of my own life. I suffer no illusions that I will escape the inevitable impacts of aging nor will any of the people whom I love. So why, despite 17 years of planning, am I still having a difficult time coming to terms with the notion that Lane's Senior year marks an unavoidable countdown towards that moment when he heads off to college?
Mind you it's not that I have not tried to delay the coming day, I can promise you his college councilor was caught slightly of guard by my inquiry concerning availabile spaces for the incoming Freshman class at Latin.

Don Jon

Wow it's hard to believe that another school-year is coming to a close. For Lane, he has but one more year before he takes off for some school out east.

There was a time when everything was about "Firsts". the first time Lane had chocolate, the first time he road a bike, but lately it's been hard not to slip into the recognition that this might be the last time we do _______ together. There is something rather sad about the "Rear-view-mirror" approach to life; even though I overwhelmingly feel good about the decisions Ilene and I have made and am very proud of Lane. I can at least walk around with the knowledge that I spent as much time with Lane as it was possible to spend. I missed nothing and I have the video and pictures to prove it.

But it is still a time for "Firsts;" like Lane's first prom which was last weekend.


 Malory also had her Prom on the same night, only in her case it was her Senior Prom.

The Kirsch family had another big event this month, Teddy graduated form the University of Michigan.

Lane in a performance at Latin