Joshua Block Public Feed

Art in the Open Performances, 5/13/16

Posted by Joshua Block on
SLA 11th graders have been ​creating site specific dance pieces for the Art in the Open Festival. We began with an intro workshop with the Leah Stein Dance Company where students learned the process for creating this type of site specific work. Then student groups chose sites. Each day we begin class with a short meeting in the classroom to go over the tasks and goals for the day. Then students are on-site where dancers visit them to consult and see their progress. The process is scary, challenging, quirky, and so much fun!

Performances will be on Friday, 5/13/16 between 1:00-3:00. Here is a schedule with sites and times. Schedules also will be available at the front door of SLA. This is a link to the photo gallery of the project. This is a link to a short documentary on the process from 2012.
20160510_084853
20160510_084853

Sample Climate Change Monologue Blog Post

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​Create a SLATE post in our World History course.

Title the post: Climate Change Monologue Project (Spell it correctly!) 

Part I: Write a paragraph that summarizes our unit of study and your goals while writing your monologues. Make this paragraph polished and clear for readers that have done little thinking about climate change or humans' relationships with the environment.

Part II: The monologues! Make sure they are polished and revised. Make sure each monologue has a title and that stage directions are in parenthesis. Make sure the formatting of the whole post is neat.

Part III: The video(s). Post the video to Vimeo. After Vimeo has processed it get the embed code and paste it into the html/embed code section of your blog post. If you do this correctly your video will show up within the blog post itself. (It should not be a link.) Make it clear which monologue is in the video.

SLA Playwrights Shine!

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​Many SLA students won awards in Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Annual Playwriting Festival! Their plays are awesome!

Myrna Yousuf won third place for her play Love in Bangladesh.
Hikma Salhe won third place for her play False Happiness.
Lindsey Jones won second place for her play Two Drops of Genesis.
Zack Hersh won second place Father, Mother, Son.
Mitchell Berven-Stotz won second place for his play Double Takes.
Mia Weathers-Fowler won first place for her play Mirrors and Windows.

Mia's play will be performed at Temple University between Oct 2-11 as part of the New Voices Workshop Productions. Woo hoo!

New Voices 2014 Postcard_Page_1 (565x800)
New Voices 2014 Postcard_Page_1 (565x800)

Sample Revolution Blog Post

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Please create a SLATE post in our World History course.

Title it: Revolution Guidebook Project

Use the tags: Digital Story, Revolution, and any others you want...

Part I: Write two paragraphs that summarize our unit of study and your learning in this unit. Make these paragraph polished and clear for readers who know nothing about our class or our unit of study.

Part II: The video. Make sure the video has a title page that includes your name and citations (url's) at the end. Do no upload your video until you have watched it one last time and confirmed that it is a polished final product. 

Post the video to Vimeo. After Vimeo has processed it click share and get the embed code. Paste this code into the multimedia section of your blog post. If you do this correctly your video will show up within the blog post itself. (I will not grade projects that are posted as a link.)

Sample Pipeline Monologue Blog Post

Posted by Joshua Block on
Please create a SLATE post in our World History course.

Title it: Pipeline Monologue Project

Part I: Write a paragraph that summarizes our unit of study and what you feel you have learned in this unit. Make this paragraph polished and clear for readers that know nothing about the pipeline or our unit of study.

Part II: List five key facts or short quotes that you feel everyone should know about the pipeline and/or humans relationship to the environment. For each point put the title of the source in parenthesis after the bullet point.

Part III: The monologues! Make sure they are polished and revised (double check the blue page in the room). Make sure each monologue has a title and that stage directions are in parenthesis.

Part IV: The video(s). Make sure the video has a title page with the title of the monologue and your name. Post the video to Vimeo. After Vimeo has processed it get the embed code and paste it into the multimedia section of your blog post. If you do this correctly your video will show up within the blog post itself. (It should not be a link.)

 

SLA Playwrights Win Big!

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Two different SLA students are first place winners in the Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Annual Playwriting Festival and will have their plays produced as part of the New Voices Festival at Temple University this year! 11th grader Naihema Powell won first place for her play Jack in the Box, and 12th grader Byshera Moore won first place for her play Star Dance. 

In addition, several other SLA students earned awards! Enthony Chin won second place for The Ticket, Margaret Hohenstein won second place for Silence, Marlyn Mooney won second place for her play Society's Idea of Perfection, Betty Louis won third place for The Struggle for Survival: Ayiti, Bryanna Jones won third place for her play Refuge, and Amani Bey won third place for Grey Boundaries. 

According to PYPF, "So many strong plays, and so many voices and stories that we do not see represented often."

Way to go SLA playwrights!

Revised Performance Schedule for SLA's Rainy Hidden City

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Here is a revised schedule for Friday afternoon performances, due to the weather:

1:15: RECESS-- Croskey Street (North of Arch between 22nd and 23rd)  

1:25: HIDEOUT-- Appletree Street (north of Arch, enter next to Aya's, go next to playground)

1:35: PEBBLES-- Shack on 20th Street between Arch and JFK

1:45: UNDERBRIDGE-- Cobblestone Alley under RR across 22nd from SLA  


2:05: CLANK: Under RR bridge in parking lot @ 22nd Street & Arch

2:15: ANIMATRONIC SOLDIERS-- Van Pelt  (bet. 21st & 22nd, bet. Cherry & Race)

2:25: ESCAPE-- Stand on Walden street below Stairwells on side of SLA building

C360_2013-06-06-10-21-00-637
C360_2013-06-06-10-21-00-637

SLA's Hidden City: Performances Friday, 6/7, 1:00-3:00

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Help us celebrate the fifth year of our collaboration with the Leah Stein Dance Company!

Come out to see student-created site specific performance pieces on Friday, June 7th, between 1:00 and 3:00. A detailed schedule is in the attached PDF and will be available inside the front door of SLA on performance day.

You will never see the neighborhood around SLA in the same way...

To see a photo gallery of the project and the process, click here.

To see a documentary about last year's projects, click here.
HIdden City 2013

New Public Art Project on 22nd Street!

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We are very excited about the new public art project that is installed under the JFK overpass on 22nd Street! Come out and visit our "I Believe Wall" and add to the conversation!

The project was inspired by Candy Chang's Before I Die project. It is a collaboration between Ms. Manuel's Spanish 4 class and Mr. Block's English 2 classes. Special thanks to the Home and School for generously funding this project.

You can see more photos of the process and the project here.
Wish I Could
Wish I Could

Klarissa wins Essay Contest!!

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10th grader Klarissa Hudson won the youth essay contest held by the Human Rights Campaign!! Way to go Klarissa! She will be honored at the HRC Gala Dinner.

Here is an excerpt from her essay:

Happy..I don’t really hear that word come from my mouth when I’m asked how I’m feeling. It’s usually an “I don’t know,” a “I’m alright/fine,” or “I’m chilled.” Happy isn’t really in my vocabulary. I imagine it’s not in the vocabulary of most LGBT young people. The only time I use this word for myself is when I’m saying, “I wish I can someday be happy..” It’s not easy to be happy. Not everyone has a stress free and painless life. Not everyone has friends in school. Not everyone is loved. It’s not easy to be accepted.

You can read the full essay here...

Language Autobiography 2013: Title of my Paper

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(Notice that this post is in the English class and that I have made Language and English two tags for the post. You can add any other tags that you would like.)

This is where I will write a short paragraph that describes the unit and the Language Auto assignment. I will be sure to include a reflective statement about my learning and work. This paragraph should help readers understand the context for this project and to make them want to read what is below. Notice that this paragraph is in italics.

This is where I will paste in my Language Autobiography. After I paste it I will check for formatting issues that I need to correct. If I used outside sources I will list them in a Works Cited section at the end of my paper. (Luckily Mr. Block is a nice guy and created some of the citations from class in MLA format at the end of this post.)

This is where I will paste the embed code from Vimeo so that people can see my video and after they have read my language autobiography people can click on the video to see it (without having to go to another website).

Sample Citations:

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. New York: Vintage International, 1976. Print.

Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1999. Print.

Rodriguez, Richard. Hunger of Memory. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982. Print.

Baldwin, James. "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me What Is." New York Times. (July 29, 1979): <http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html>.

hooks, bell. Hooks on the Language of Power. New Learning. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-6-critical-literacies/hooks-on-the-language-of-power/>.

Tan , Amy. "Mother Tongue." Home is Where the Heart Dwells. N.p.. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/guorui/2008/02/06/mother-tongue-by-amy-tan/>.

SLA Playwrights Rake in the Prizes!!

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Seven different SLA playwrights had winning plays in the 2012 Annual Playwrighting Festival run by Philadelphia Young Playwrights!

Congratulations to the following students:

Byshera Moore for her play Star Dance (Second Place)
Ellen To for her play Breaking Borders (Second Place)
Alexis Babcock for her play The Stranger (Third Pace)
Sarah Charlotte Brown for her play Waiting for a Mother (Third Place)
Maria LaTorre for her play Sono la rosa nella mi storia (Third Place)
DeShawn Mcleod for her play Just Do It (Third Place)
James Prell for his play In A Foxhole  (Third Place)

See the complete winners list here.

SLA Students in the Art in the Open Festival!!

Posted by Joshua Block on
​For the fourth year in a row SLA students are collaborating with the Leah Stein Dance Company to create site specific performance pieces. The pieces are part of the Art in the Open Festival and will be performed on Friday, May 18th between 1:00-3:00.  All performance sites are within four blocks of the school. As always, the process has been stunning to watch...

Click here for a printable performance schedule. (This will also be at the front door of the school on May 18th.)

Enormous thanks to all our collaborators and for all of the wonderful collaborative energy everyone is bring to the project!

Hidden City Festival 2009

AiO Publicity Video (can you spot the SLA student?)
Armory
Armory

SLA Playwrights Shine!!

Posted by Joshua Block on
Numerous SLA students won awards in the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Annual Playwriting Festival!

Congratulations to Manna-Symone Middlebrooks for winning first place!! Her play will be performed at Temple November 3rd-5th. Click here to get a free ticket. (Also, check out the picture of Gina Dukes on the front page!)

Congratulations also to Aja Wallace, Martha Robles, Maddie Walls, Taylor Stover, and Bernicia Guercio for their awards. Look for their names to appear shortly on the Philadelphia Young Playwrights website (link above).

Click here to see all these play, videos, and other examples of amazing work students did last year during their World History class.

Pipeline Monologue Project (sample)

Posted by Joshua Block on
Create a blog post in your history class.​
Title Your Post: Pipeline Monologue Project
Intro Paragraph: Write a paragraph that describes the project and your goals in writing the monologues. (What did you want to show? What issues did you want to raise?) You can use language from the rubric or the chart paper at the front of the room in your paragraph.
Embed your video: 
The only type of video you can upload directly to SLATE is FLV (flash video). Your laptop has an application called "Flash Video Encoder" that can turn any video into an FLV. After you have converted your video to FLV click the Multimedia button and proceed from there.
Paste in your monologues: Make sure that each monologue has a title and any necessary stage directions. Make sure that the formatting looks good. If you worked with a partner each of you should post the entire collection of monologues as a blog post. (It is fine to indicate who wrote which monologue.)

SLA Art in the Open Performances: June 9th, 10:00-12:00

Posted by Joshua Block on

“Unusual movement in a public place will capture your eye, call your attention to the present, and expand your awareness of your surroundings…Site-specific refers to the fact that these dances take a particular place as both the inspiration and setting for the dance.”

                                                   -       from Site Dance edited by Kloetzel & Pavlik


Science Leadership Academy students have been working with the Leah Stein Dance Company to create a collection of alternative performance pieces as part of the Art in the Open festival along the Schuylkill River. Each performance is inspired by its specific site as inspiration. As you watch the dances notice the ways that they interact with the the different sites. Each piece is the product of extensive observation, experimentation, and collaboration. Allow yourself to take in the full range of possibilities that the performances create. We hope that these performances inspire new ways to see and experience this part of the city.

Thank you for your support!

Click here for full (printable) performance schedule.

AiO_2011
AiO_2011

​

SLA 10th Graders Write Plays about Hope, Resistance, & Change

Posted by Joshua Block on

10th Graders have been working with Kate McGrath from Philadelphia Young Playwrights on a five month playwrighting project. During this time students researched Enlightenment Philosophers and investigated the evolution of ideas of human rights. Then students choose an issue and a location to focus on. They researched and began crafting monologues that focused on one or more of our essential questions:


1) How do people find hope in the face of struggle?
2) How do people find ways to resist power?
3) How does individual change happen?

Throughout the winter students wrote, revised, heard their work out loud, got feedback, wrote, revised, heard their work out loud, got feedback…

The finished plays are the product of many, many hours of hard work.

See the completed plays and videos by clicking here.

This whole process could not have succeeded without the tireless efforts of Kate McGrath, play advisor extraordinaire. Thanks Kate!

Sample Monologue Project Post (Title of Your Project Here)

Posted by Joshua Block on
Go to your history class and create a blog post. Use the tags I have used for this post and any others you would like to add.

The different parts of your post:

1) ​1-2 paragraphs describing your project here. This should include background on your topic and background information about/description of the piece you have created.

2) Embed video here. You must have a recording of at least one part of your project. You can embed as many videos as you would like. All videos should be close-ups of the actor performing the piece. Info on how to upload videos available in class.

3) Your final, polished monologue project goes here. Be sure to include a cast of characters list, stage directions, and any other necessary information in order for the project to be performed (this may include a glossary, descriptions of staging, etc...) Pay attention to formatting-- make it clear and easy to read.

SLA Students Win Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Annual Playwrighting Festival!!

Posted by Joshua Block on

Congratulations to Gina Dukes for her play "God Makes No Mistakes," Jareese Long for her play "Circle," Julia Boyer for her play "Office 309," and Natalie Sanchez for her play "Karen's Battle." Their amazing plays won First Place, Second Place and two Third Place prizes. They have a lot to be proud of!

Gina's play, is being professionally directed and performed by Temple Undergraduate actors on Friday November 5th and Saturday November 6th. Come out to see it-- admission is free and no tickets or reservations are required.

See Philadelphia Young Playwrights for more information.

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