This isn't your Grandma's note taking method.

Senior Jack T. explains how he has been using Evernote to keep track of his research for Ryan Staude's senior seminar on 20th century American history.

Power to the People! How Democracy and Technology Can Change the World

Reading the news can depress even the most resilient optimists: poverty, workers without any rights, medical mishaps, suicide. But what if you had the power to change the world? Since Clay Shirky’s publication of Here Comes Everybody: the power of organizing without organizations in 2008 and the constant news about how social media technologies help disparate groups to organize protests and even overthrow their governments, few would question the strength of networked technologies to empower common citizens. 

Three days may not be a reasonable timeline for 8th graders to imagine solutions to the world’s ills, but last week they did just that. In a three day intensive course that combined both current events and technology, eight groups of students chose a social problem and addressed it with a future or emerging technology. Co-Directors of the CTL and minimester leaders Jim Bologna and Larisa Showalter were both impressed with the wide variety of topics that students chose to address. Here is a taste of some of the projects:

Click to read more ...

What's With All the Giant Stickies in Room 440?

 Memorizing dates in history--ugh!  Who wants to bother memorizing when you can just Google whatever date you need?  But how can a history class, particularly a European history class, be able to have a sense of when and where certain events happened and how they relate to other events happening over an expanse of time without memorizing all the dates of wars and rulers?  How can history students see connections across time...literally?

Students in Daniel Gutierrez’s AP European History prepared for their midterm this week by creating a giant, wall-sized chart of key events and people, listed by country, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.  Sophomore Nick A. explained, “We’re building a chronology to see how countries develop over time and also how countries interact in the same time period, as well as who’s contemporary within certain countries.  It’s to give us the bigger picture.”   

 

Get a glimpse of the negotiations that were a part of the creation process here:

10th Grade AP Euro Prepares for Their Midterm from Windward School on Vimeo.

Senior History Students Continue In-Depth Research at Los Angeles Public Library

Author Ray Bradbury was educated here. Where is here? California public libraries. Unable to afford a college education, Ray Bradbury has long attributed his learning to the many hours spent reading in public libraries.

With over 6 million books, periodicals, DVDs and other material resources, the Los Angeles Public Library is an invaluable asset for Los Angeles residents, including Windward students. As part of a year-long research project, students from Ryan Staude’s 20th Century American History Senior Seminar recently visited Los Angeles Public Library’s downtown central location. Each student has selected a topic and crafted a research question addressing some aspect of American life in the past century. Their rigorous, in-depth research will culminate in a 20 page paper and an oral presentation of their research to their peers.

9th Grade History Students Study for a Test

The CTL is a popular place to study with a group of friends. Many students take advantage of the study rooms to work through ideas and learn together.

In this video, a group of 9th grade students take advantage of the CTL study rooms to study for an upcoming history test in Rob Latimer's class.