At Madison Buffalo jump, Montana

Today at 9:30, we hit the road for Maddison Buffalo Jump for sightseeing and definitely for taking more pictures... It was such a nice spring day that followed some five snowy days.. You can imagine how fresh and renewed everybody should have felt.. We were all there in a van and a car.. We had to get out of the highway and drive on an unpaved road up a few hills to the site.. The way up was so typical of the American west, a few ranches scattered here and there, with the cattle and horses making the extension. The fields are not blooming yet but shades of greenness can be spotted if you try seeing from different angles..

The first thing we saw when we the van stopped was that there was a big car, a young strong woman leaning on it and a number of tables around the place.. I could not guess the connection.. We could see the items on the table, some tools and items that had to do with traditional hunting, but still I could not know why there and what for! So surprisingly and energitically, the young woman introduced herself as Nikki Dixon, a social studies teacher, interested in native American History, and wasted no time in getting us into the students position.. She handed out some worksheets and embarked on her lesson enthusiastically and confidently.. we were to learn about the place-based learning method.. learning about the Buffalo Jump was the example at hand.. we were divided in four groups, and every group was assigned to one table.. we were to observe the items placed on the table and come out with a binding hypothesis: what were the items used for? She kept reminding us about the time left, and then we had to stop at every table and listen to the expert group descriptions and interpretations.. The first table was about the different types of arrows and spears used in hunting buffalos.. The second was about the animals skins and furs used for the camouflage. The third was about the different tools used for skinning the buffalo and for slicing the meat.. the last one was about the fossils found in the place, the skulls and the bones.. the sequence of the tables made up the hunting story.. The teacher elaborated on every stage... She was a convincing teacher in command of the knowledge she was imparting..

We had to learn about the site and about the teaching method.. this has been the first time I learned about teaching in this active way.. After that we had to go down into the valley under the cliff. we had to guess what would have happened there long years ago, when Indian tribes made it to that place to chase the American bisons down the cliffs.. It was a large valley where the Buffaloes fell and brought to final death if they were still alive.. the women took charge of skinning and cleaning the needed parts..She refered to the tipis that had beenthere, set up before the chase.

Nikki asked us how we can use the site in relation to our content areas.. We discussed our suggestions and briskly said bye and left: MISSION COMPLETED.

She structured the lesson very well that she covered both the content and teaching skills very convincingly..I do not think I would ever disconnect the Maddison Buffalo Jump from the place based teaching method.. This seems to be burnt into the memory..

In a History Class

History is the same story retold over and over again. This sounds like the default phrase we use to comment on the atrocities of politics.. But today the word story was  exactly the key label that lingered in my mind while observing  a history lesson.. Again It was with the AP combined class. The lesson was about the States' involvement in World War Two.. the teacher projected some power point slides on major aspects of the war.. And the lesson was a story with an exciting and suspenseful plot that everybody was eager to follow.. We knew about the isolationism, the lure of pacifism and neutrality that marked the American policy at the beginning of the war, then into the war with all the mobilising energy of a strong nation and finally into the destructive atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The students seemed engaged in the sequences of events turning from patriotic enthusiasm to disturbingly destructive attacks on Japan..

I appreciated the meaninful and sequential way in which the events were presented.. I also liked the aside issues that history classes in my country might not draw on, such as the significant change in the conception of womanhood during the war as found in posters (Rosie the Riveter).. Such as the new ironical propaganda for union between whites and blacks during war times while lynchings were still a prevalent practice in some places in the states.. This kind of minute issues made the story more real and appealing to listen to..

But what struck me was that there was no focus on events, military actions, places, treaties, schemes and all the historical staff I expect to find in a history class.. well, there were some events, but as many as to fit in  the story.. What forced me to think of this idea and for the idea to live in me for more than seven hours, to pop up in this posting, was a question by a student towards the end of the session. She seemed anxious to know and insisted to ask though the teacher could not see that there was a hand raised asking for permission to talk.

The Question was: Was it just the States involved in the war??

I guess it is good to find a story line to history, but we simply can not do without the arid detailed information.. I know it is difficult to talk about exactness with history versions, but we can still agree on exact places and venues of the recent history chapters.. there is simply no way to sacrifice them for the sake of coming up with a neat story! Otherwise, we will end up with the type of understandings the question above reveal.. And luckily, this question finds a way to be revised.. we do not know what other ideas are in the people' minds laying deeply not anxious to be questioned..

Big Talk

The event at Bozeman Allen theatre turned out GREAT! Bozeman High School Hawker Speech and Debate Team held us captivated in their fervent and enthralling ambience for two hours.. Watching them debating, cross-examining, attacking, reasoning and also lamenting, shrivelling, singing, crossing dangerous self- spaces  and dominating the stage was  a life- instilling pleasure! Except for some blatant political stereotypes in the debates, the performers showed great talents of original thinking and self-expressiveness.. I feel like going on talking about each  part exclusively.. But I will let you first get the feel of the whole thing.. hit the video! I' ll be back to the topic sooooooooooon.

Cody and kelly playing the role of a cancer-inflicted couple criss-crossing the zones of life and death

This is how the historic Montana Hall looked like when it snowed yesterday. before we got into the technology class.. This is to put you into the picture of the previous posting "snowy and delicious!"

In the technology class, ILEP fellows learning about bookmarking using Delicious.... Lian, Rahhal, Iwan and Jesus in the first row. Monica, Joseph, Simon and Abul behind.. Me taking the picture.. 

snowy but delicious

I

t has been snowing cats and dogs! I am not sure the expression cats and dogs can go with snowing as with raining but it fits the impression I got about the way it snowed today, so heavily! I ran into one of the American guys at a REID Hall corridor and she seemed more upset about the surprising weather change, but what she felt worse about was that the snow was not the packing type, the kind you can use for making a snow man!  I did not make full sense of what she was talking about! I had to ask her what type of snow it was snowing.. She said she would descride it as powder snow! ICE culture! goood cultural tips.. 

And Delicious! not the snow! the fabulous website Bill introduced us to in today's technology class.. A web site to keep your bookmarks in and a virtual place to share bookmarks with people of similar interests..  I' m thinking of sharing the steps of logging and making use of the site with my freinds back home using the JING.. May be this weekend! 

Acting out a Trial

My second observation session at BHS was a junior literature class. I was amazed how the average students I was with in a couple of sessions ago were exelling at acting out a trial. They read a story yesterday about a person who committed a murder while he was drunk and after he was physically and emotionally abused. They had to write their decision on how much he is guilty for the murder in the same evening. Today the teacher helped them with some notes and assign roles (the judge, the lawyers, the doctor, etc) to be acted.. Some students voluntreed and had to discuss the procedures of the trial for some time and then off on the stage! Iwas really  stunned how engaged and fervent the student were..  the lawyers coming out with smart questions, the judge sober and calm, and the doctor using medical terms and careful in what she says.. These kids learned to do that from TV.  I asked my mentor how many times they had done similar activities, and the answer was it was the first time. YEP it was watching movies.. They are learning a lot of things from Tv, how to get those things into the classroon grounds is the question at stake here. As a final procedure, the teacher asked the rest of the class who were in the position of the jury to think again of their decisions: Is the accused guilty or not guilty? After the poll the accused declared not guilty.. The teacher showed me some of the students sheets who decided some hours ago that the accused had been guilty and then changed their judgement after attending their colleagues' version of the trial to not guilty... So powerful and engaging! 

My New Friends

At BHS, I went into two different classes,  the first was an ESL class, and the second was a litrerature class. It was the first time I got into a language class so far.. only six students with different complexions and accents populated the classroom.. They were discussing some rival adolescents clubs in a novel they are working through..  From the first moment, I felt that I could do better with these learners.. They were somehow like me, finding rescue in smiling and more anxious to know who I was, unlike the self-contained and somehow nonchanlant students in the AP classes.. I sat next to one of them, they were setting in a circle facing each other..  The teacher went reading through some passages, and tried to ask students to make connections between the present scenes and previous events in the book..  I felt I could teach these students, they are somehow like my students back home..  I felt quite at home with them unlike in other classes where the students do not show any interest and are too immersed in their school work and self-sufficient with their school community to care about who you are or which damned place you come from.. There was a strong sense of being outsiders among my new six friends, that makes them seek shelter in knowing more people and get more confidence when knowing they are not alone there.. 

JELLY BEANS

A tough Wednesday, but I have been through a number of insightful ideas and practical techniques. Interesting! Not intersting in the way American people would say for "not bad", but in the way  I learnt the word in the Oxford dictionary! well I went through three major classes and I am positive that I learnt new things there..

Assessment Class

Today the lesson was how to develop rubrics for assessing performance products. It was a fun activity, especially to me, Rahhal and Simon. Lynn, the instructor, I guess I introduced her yesterday, explained what a rubric is and how it helps the teacher better assess students' performance products. Then on to practice. We had to develop  rubrics to assess jelly beans! I actually did not know what these are! I was sure I wouldl not do well in this type of work.. I was relieved when I found that Rahhal was at a loss, no better than me! Simon also seems to be in no better situation.. but Our American friends were really very helpful and generous to explain that jelly beans are a type of candies that people here like to eat and are even offered with Harry Potter books! Anyway, we have to come with three performance scales, and we chose after going for a vote: Ummm..., Ehhhhh....., Ekkkk........ I also voted for these.. just what we can feel for candies... Then we had to think of the three criteria for assessment. We came with: Appearance, flavour and texture.. Finally we had to develop the descriptions for the three levels of proficiency with regard to the three criteria.. Condensing the activity in these few lines may make you feel that it  was a kind of meticulous and somehow boring technical work.. But it was not.. It was a real fun.. I am sure that if I had had to develop rubrics for some couskous performance, I will have been more active, but It was also worth  learning about this JELLY BEANS culture. here are some quality descriptions:

Flavour: 1-Intense but not overwhelming/ 2-a few is enough/ 3-spit it out!

appearance: 1-natural looking/2-bright colour/3-dull

Texture: 1-juicy and chewy/ 2-soft yet dry/ rock hard and runny

I hope you have had some insights on what jelly beans can be and a few ideas on  what the process of rubrics development can get you into!      

ongoing assessment

I still have another story to tell you, keep awake! 

so far I have been at Bozeman High School twice. And It happened that with every session there was some assessment work to be done. My mentor teaches American literature to a combined Junoir class.. He works with a history teacher all the time and they seem to do well together.. The students are familiar with this sort of classes and good enough  to move smoothly between the two subjects.. And sometimes they seem to deal with the two subjects with a great confidence and absorb the overlapping zones and the complex nature of the relations between the two subject contents with a mature mind and a flexible approach.. This kind of combined classes are so much important in pushing the boundaries of the curriculum to incorporate significant, world related and authentic school interests.. They make students understand the complexities of the real life issues and lessen the burden of having to create specific compartment in one's mind for one specific weird subject.. It' s a way out to the world.

Anyway, back to assessment, what was new to me was that my mentor and also the history teacher provided a kind of scaffolding for all the quizzes they gave.. I will try to list below some of the ways how they did this:

1- The teacher asked two students to the board and showed them a note of a scene or event in the story. The students had to draw what was in the note and their peers had to infer what that was. This had gone in rotation for about 8 times. The quiz questions hovered on the same events and scenes.

2-The history teacher  conducted a question and answer revision,which helped me too to answer the MCQ quiz, before putting students to assessemnt..

3- The teacher pasted four large sheets on the wall, and each was was headed  with a specific historical era. The students had to dash down major notes on every sheet.. They went around and they discussed with one another..  The teacher also went around and tried to cue them with questions and stimulate their ideas and arguments.. 

4- The teacher wrote a number of characters' names from The Great Gatsby and read out  descriptions or events they were involved in. The students had to pick out  the character they decided fitting with the description.. this was a pre-assessment quiz, which the teacher administers before getting on a new work..

there has not literally been a session without some sort of assessment so far.. Assesment seems to be an integral part of learning in the classes I obeserve.. I am meanwhile considering how to tune this into my classes.. 

Jigsaw Process

I should have written this yesterday.. but it was such a busy day that my mind couldn't pop up any straight meaningful sentences.. I do not want to miss talking about it anyway.  

At 10,  I went to the Foundations of Assessment class.. The way the instructor, Lynn Kilting-Gibson, conducted the lesson was marvellous. what I like about this class is that I learn about assessment and also I get a lot of ideas about the different techniques of conducting learner-centered lessons. At the outset of every session, Lynn, the first elegant American I 've met, projects a p.p. slide which shows the title of the lesson and the technique she is going to use throughout the lesson.. And she is really successful at that.  So far, We have been led to use a wide range of techniques that I can tell that every lesson has been  ran differently.  The assessment  item to be learnt yesterday was the portflio. And the technique was The jigsaw process.. And this is how she made us work:

1- she went around with a basket full of coloured beads, and every student has to choose one

2- she asked the students with similar beads to come together to form groups of seven members

3- the seven group members were given different sheets on the steps that constitute the portfolio development and evaluation process. They were also listed from one to seven

4- She asked members with identical sheets to sit together, discuss the stage they have in common and have recourse to some content sheets from the course packet.

5- The members were back to their home groups again  and explain the stages to one another starting from stage one and ending with stage seven....

The technique used was so much effectivethat we were all responsible for building up the lesson. we were not only concerned about taking in the information, but also responsible for cascading it to our home  group members..   I seem to  learn to my maximum capacity when I am responsible for teaching that element... Below is the technique as it was posted in the slide: 

1- “Home” groups, assign concept/step/task

2- Move to “expert” group.

3-Utilize materials from packet (19-24) and text chapter

3- Move back to “home” group to share your expertise

I wonder what the technique will be tomorrow.. I ll try to keep you informed!

using Jing

I am now in the technology class, learning how to create lessons using the JING software.. it sounds interesting and a very useful tool to introduce our learners to the web content we want them to be familiar with. It can also be important for the workshops we will conduct with our peers back home..... So guys , we are becoming technological sound teachers!!! ha ha ha ha! are we?? 

Creating a Web Page

It was not a usual Tuesday.. I had to get up very early to see off my husband to the airport. The English Language teachers team had ample time in the morning as we did not go into The ESL class.. So we came into the technology class with fresh minds and high spirits.. 

And the objective in the agenda was: creating a Web Page! Wow, I heard a lot about that, but  I always felt that it was beyond my simple technological skills...  well this is a good time to push the boundaries further and add on more tecknical skills. What I learned was that I needn't do that from scratch, and I can have access to a number of templates to set the background, and hit a number of options to incorporate infoermation, pictures and links. Thanks Bill, this sounds feasible, even though I am sure I 'll have to struggle with the first page.. 

So now I am going to download Seamonkey, the browser that Bill suggested to use for such a task..

Let' start