The Solitude of Prime Numbers

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A prime number is a lonely thing. It can be divided by only itself or by one; it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia are both “primes” – misfits who seem destined to be alone. Haunted by childhood tragedies that mark their lives, they find themselves unable to reach out to anyone else. When the two meet as teenagers, they recognize in each other a kindred, damaged spirit. (Dust jacket description)

This book will keep your interest from cover to cover. The story is precise, meticulously unfolding with details that draw you in and shake your perception of regret and redemption. A similar theme runs through the movie, The Tracey Fragments by Bruce McDonald.

Paolo Giordano is a professional physicist, writing this, his first novel at just 27 years old, winning the Premio Strega literary award.

Running with Scissors

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Augusten Burroughs books are enjoyed by housewives, movie stars, alcoholics and even teenagers. Taken from his web site

Reading this book is like watching a train wreck  – you can hardly believe the mayhem, but your eyes are glued to the scene – horribly fascinated. It is easy to read, no superfluous descriptions, an intimate look at the growing pains of a very non-average kid.

Watch what I think is the companion movie, The Tracey Fragments by Bruce McDonald. An ordinary teen looks for love and acceptance and experiences devastating heartbreak and life shaking remorse. You won’t be disappointed with Bruce McDonald’s edgy treatment and razor sharp editing – a must see!

Westdale Film Festival

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Imagine the auditorium a buzz with excitement as the Oscar winners rush on stage to receive their prize. The audience laughs and gasps during the screening of the winning films. This is how student work should be  shared!

Former Westdale students, Stefan Pejic, David Gunn and Khalin Elliott, once the stars of the Media Art program, are now  celebrating the new talent and presenting the Oscars. We also had Nathan Fleet, an established musician and successful filmmaker and curator of the Hamilton Film Festival  return to present the best short films. All the films were judged by our returning student presenters, plus Lock 3 Media, a documentary film production company and Miles Davren, film editor.

Photos from the show, the crowd – Junior and Senior assemblies, Andre  for  tech, our student MCs, Dan, Taylor, Milos and John Connolly teacher MC.


The winners are posted on our Vimeo Channel

Next year I think that we will be combining the junior and senior assemblies in order to show all the films to all the students. It is good for the juniors to see what the seniors are producing.

Learning through Hip Hop

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A surgeon shows, through functional MRI imaging, that during improvisation the brain is working on many important levels, unlike when someone is using memorized material. Creativity is a neurological process that can be measured and this experiment measured brain activity while musicians were playing or rapping – comparing improvised jazz keyboard playing and hip hop rapping. The experimental question was: What happens in the brain during something that’s memorized and over-learned, and what happens in the brain during something that is spontaneously generated, or improvised, in a way that’s matched motorically and in terms of lower-level sensory motor features?

So if the brain is engaged on many levels during improv vs memorizing, then students should not be memorizing content. Why invest precious classroom time in a strategy that simply does not benefit the student? This speaks to the importance of learning through creativity, self-direction and discovery.