Joelle Langens – Connected with CES

K. The boy who was happy that he had to work for school

This Thursday morning was an early one. Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School (Parker for short) was a hour drive away by bus. Very relaxing after some busy days in New York. We were welcomed by Ruth and Alec who gave a short presentation about Parker. At Parker they teach 7th till 12th grade, 13 […]

An environment to create empowered learners

Today we visited Brooklyn New School (BNS). A very large school of about 600 students. The school is situated in the same building as the middle/high school. They also consist of about 600 students. So when children graduate primary school they can choose to continue their education in the same building, but on a different […]

‘How much time do you need?’

This morning we were checked (by a very no nonsense security woman) into the building that Central Park East is in. We were welcomed by the failed retiree (three times already) Bruce and principle Gabriel. Bruce was actually the first teacher that started working on Central Park East in 1974. Total population? 13 students. The […]

‘Even if you’re going through a tough time, you are still one of us.’

The first primary school of this week and it already seems hard to beat this experience. Castle Bridge is a small school, about 170 students, and is one of two schools in the building. They share spaces as the auditorium and playground. We were welcomed in the auditorium to join in on the community sing. […]

New York in a day

The time right now is 03.20. Okay, to be fair, that is the time in the Netherlands. In America it is 21.20. Because yes, I am finally here! It seems so long ago that we had our first meeting with all the CES participants. Time has flown by. Just like today. Yesterday was just getting […]

Blog 1: To prepare