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..