IT'S A FIELD TRIP!!!

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."                                                                Dr. Seuss 

With that being said.......

Quote found on pinterest.com

Field trips are great! They are a fabulous way to experience what you are learning about. 

     Our class had the opportunity to take a field trip to Michigan City to visit a homestead that was a working farm over one hundred years ago. We embarked on a journey to Bailly-Chellberg Homestead.

   It was a great day and we learned and saw many things, including that our GPS could be set to "Boy Band" and sing us the directions! We carpooled for the trip over. This leg of the journey is always so much fun with this group!

Our trusty driver Mike and his 'boy band' gps, with Krystle and Lynnette....

Clare and Krystle cheesin' it up....

and Maria and Jeni flashing their 'orbit smiles'...

The first half of our field trip, we had a guide that took us through many outbuildings including a fur trappers storage house.... and explained about how life was back then. We were able to tour these cabins, homes and outbuildings.

Our fearless guide, Kelly, Steph, Syd and Krystle are paying close attention...

Some of us really jumped into that time and really got a "feel" for what it might have been like........

Mike and Lynnette...Checking things out from a different perspective....

And some of us were a wee bit skittish about the very steep stairs in this cabin....

Steph....being so brave....

But, if you really look at those steep, steep stairs, it is easy to see why Steph may have been slightly nervous...I know I was....take a peek.....

The oh so uncomfortable feeling of falling forever was at my minds forefront....

Explored a little more....

Then we took a walk through the woods following a gorgeous path.

Randy and Mike

 Nature was abundant and it was a beautiful day!  "Look Steph...more stairs!! LOL

Part of our gorgeous walk, it couldn't have been a better day for this walk....

We had to stop and investigate, snap a picture or two...

Wendy and Clare...I wonder what she sees?

There was so much nature, and when the time is taken to enjoy your surroundings, there is so much magic in nature that so often goes unnoticed.....Do you see it? It's an enchanted place.....

Look closely.....

....use your imagination. A picture like this would make a fabulous writing prompt.....

A perfect little home for fairy's is found off of the beaten path
 on its own little circle of moss. Can you imagine?
These little toadstools were so tiny....

And then some of us really got into it and looked very close...and gained a different perspective with a "worms eye view...."

...and that would be Clare. (Do you think she found the fairy homes?)
Kelly looks like she is saying "Shut up! You did not just do that!"
Hahaha...we know each other so well...

Along the way, were more old buildings from the homestead....How interesting....

And then the path opened up into a beautiful meadow, and there was .....

It was really fun to see as well as imagine how they lived so long ago. What we take for granted, such as running water would have been considered a luxury...

After touring the inside, it was time to go outside.

Maria patiently awaits....

 This place is so peaceful and so beautiful...I know I would be very happy and content to if this was where I could call my home.

After poking around outside, and taking some more pictures, it was time to take another walk to the family cemetery where we would all sit down for a picnic. 

The Catalpa Tree!

Syd, our fearless fearless leader ;)

Lynnette, Mike (with his eyes closed), Kelly and Krystle

     I was simply amazed when we got to the family cemetery. There were no upright grave stones any longer, but there was a raised square that was huge. You had to walk up the steps and it was covered in soft grass with this beautiful wooden cross in the very center. There was a concrete walkway all around the perimeter and around the cross. It was absolutely gorgeous..... 

So many ways to learn....

"Anything that is worth teaching can be presented in many different ways......."

                                                                                                 Howard Gardner

Diversity: The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  Definition found at http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html

Block 3~Each one of us is different. 

     Look at the picture above. This is our Social Studies class. Each of us is different. We do not all have the same gloves, our skin tones are different, the size of our hands are different, and each one of us learn in a different way. Some of us may learn in similar ways to another, but each one has their own unique style of learning. Each one of us will have our own unique style of teaching, and each one of us is learning about reaching all of our students by being creative teachers. 

Found on thehuffingtonpost.com

By being creative teachers, we are setting our students up for success.........

     We learned about Gardner's Multiple Intelligences during one of our first classes in Social Studies. As with the Cultural Backpack, students learn in many diverse ways. Because of this, it is conducive and beneficial that we know how to teach in many diverse ways. 

     Isn't that what one of the definitions of creativity is? To think outside of the box? Why then, would we as teachers choose to teach only inside of the box when we have alot of students that are.................

So with so many students learning outside of the box because they learn in diverse ways, it only seems logical that teachers should teach outside of the box to try and reach all of our diverse learners. 

Dare to be that teacher!

 Below is a picture explaining Howard Gardner's Theory  of Multiple Intelligences. 

Chart found on thedailyomnivore.net

There are nine different intellegences according to Gardner. Which I translate to mean that there are nine different ways people learn the best according to their strengths. 

What are your strengths? Which intelligence(s) are you? To take a quick test to find out, click on the link.

http://www.literacynet.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

Our class took a test to determine what our strengths are and which intellegence(s) we were the strongest.

     My strongest intelligences are Interpersonal, Kinesthetic and Verbal. This makes total sense to me as I am a hands on learner, I am keenly aware of others around me and I am quite the chatty gal, as well as love to write.

     It would be fun as well as beneficial I think to conduct this type of test in my own classroom. It would help me to categorize which way students learn the best. This could greatly help me to modify or adapt my instruction to try to reach all of my students. 

  

It is up to us to find a way to teach our students in the ways that they learn the best. 

What's in Your Backpack?

"If you don't have any baggage                                                       then you don't have a pulse."                                                                              Ilyana Vanzant                         

I wonder.......

     Who are you? What are you carrying with you in your backpack. Where did you come from? What made you the person you are today? What defined you as a person, and did it really define you?

     In one of our very first Social Studies class, we did a Cultural Backpack activity. This activity consisted of each of us taking some time to think about what we carried around that is not always apparent to everyone else. We were asked to think back to our childhood, and try and remember who we were at that time. We specifically were asked to answer the question.....

Who was your 5th grade self?

     We were to come to the next class loaded with an outline of who we were in 5th grade. It was to be a simple bullet outline using key words that described who we were at that time. We were given an outline of a backpack as a visual to use and told we could make our list directly on the outline if we wished, as we could ask our 5th grade students to do.

Again, easy task right? Again, wrong answer.

     We knew that once this outline was finished, we would be asked to write it on the board for the entire class to view....and possibly judge.....That alone evoked feelings of vulnerability in myself. My classmates, who have become my very good friends, know only what I have chosen to let them know about me. Some more than others, but mainly they know the current "me" and not who I was in my past. No one, however knew who my 5th grade self was. (Even I had trouble remembering that far back. It was a challenge to put myself back in my 5th grade mind and remember.)

     Below is a snapshot of my Cultural Backpack, which is next to my friend Krystle's. It is easy to see that we are different, and each of us have very different things in our backpacks that we carried around with us throughout our school years. These backpack lists are only a snippet from our 5th grade selves.

     Again, the assignment hit pay dirt! The mission of teaching us preservice teachers to "think outside of the box," paid off. As we went around the room and viewed all of each others backpacks, we were amazed at what we found. Our classroom environment was established as a safe and supportive environment. It was clear to see this as we divulged a lot of our pasts that a lot of us did not know about, yet not one of us judged who we are now, and who we were in 5th grade. 

     I had not really thought about all that was happening in my life when I was in 5th grade. In reflection, I remember being judged by some of my teachers, not only in elementary, but in my high school as well. I was prejudged according to who my family was and what those before me had done. I remember hearing more than once in a discouraged and resigned tone "Oh, you're related to....? Oh....your brothers are Guy and Doug? Who are your cousins? etc...... I even heard "If you think I am going to put up with....like I did with your brothers and cousins...." Geesh, I was not them, and I knew right then and there, at that moment that the rest of my school year would be defined before my new teacher even knew me. Great!

     As I got older, I began to say back with a big grin, "Yep, they sure are my cousins and brothers and I would not have it any other way." (slight defiance, but I was proud to be related.)

Retrieved from pinterest.com

     Those teachers who chose to prejudge are forever defined in my eyes as narrow minded. Even then, as a student, I knew I was being prejudged, which set not only the course of their actions, but then mine as well. 

     As teachers, this needs to be at the forefront of our minds. We do not know our students as individuals based on just what we see, and think we know, or what we know about those that came before them. Sometimes we will see a bright and shiny new backpack.......

And sometimes we will see torn and worn backpacks.....

     Regardless of the condition, there is still a child and a student that is wearing that backpack that deserves our respect. They deserve to be viewed and known for who they are, not what their baggage may be. But until I as the teacher unpacks that backpack, shiny and new, or worn and torn, I will not know the whole student. Until I take into consideration all that my student comes from, deals with, and all that my student is, I will not know my student. I will not know their beliefs, or traditions, or even their personality. 

     If I as a teacher am not willing to accept the diversity of my students and do not create that safe and supportive environment where they can thrive and grow, I am doing them a great disservice. If I can not accept who they are and celebrate their differences, I can not know them and therefore can not teach the whole student. 

My Little Shoe box.....

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view~until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

                                                    ~To Kill A Mockingbird

                                                                    retrieved from pinerest.com

     Real empathy, have you ever taken the time to really think about it? What is it? Why is it important? How do you get it? How do you show it? Again, what is it?

                                                                                                       retrieved from coetail.com

     Empathy~what it means to me is the ability to feel another's emotions and feelings as if they were my own. 

Being able to put myself in someone else's shoes, knowing in my own mind how the situation that they are going through will affect me personally. 

What about Historical Empathy? What exactly is that?

     Historical empathy in my eyes is the same thing. It is imagining that I were someone else in their situation, and imagining how I would handle it, how I would feel or cope. There really is no difference to me. A situation is given and your imagination and heart is all that is needed to feel empathy for another, whether it be someone you know going through something, or someone that went through something one hundred years ago.  

The $64,000.00 questions are.....

1. How as teachers can we teach our students to have empathy for one another? 
2. How can we teach them historical empathy, for someone they do not know, that went through an event in our history long, long ago?
3. How can we make that historical event, and all that happened relevant and meaningful to our students?
4. How can we once again, bring our students into, and make them a part of our History? 
5. How can we bring History to our students?

     In our Social Studies class, we were asked to contemplate these types of questions. We then did a whole class activity to simulate how to get kids connected to historical events and to the people who lived through them. This activity simulated how these people had to make very difficult decisions when forced to flee from all that they know due to an event in our history. These events can be far back in our history, such as Anne Frank and the Holocaust, or as recent as the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The object is to help students foster empathy, which will then bring them into the History lesson, making it more relevant to them because it is now personal. 

The activity that was simulated in class was called 

the "Shoe-box Activity"

     The only materials required for this activity was a simple shoe-box......

and everything that we deem to be so important that we could not live without if we were forced to flee our homes and all that we know. 

The directions were simple and are as follows:

1. Before leaving for school on the day it is due....give yourself ONLY 5 minutes to gather what you can that you can not live without, because you are "fleeing."
2. However......everything that you grab, MUST fit inside your shoe-box, AND....your shoe-box must be able to close.

Sounds pretty simple right? 

WRONG.......

     This activity was much harder than even choosing the five artifacts that would represent who and all that I am to the world one hundred years from now. 

     How in 5 incredibly short minutes, basically just a fraction of a second, am I supposed to grab what is important to me, that I can not live without? Some of the things that were running through my mind as I was racing the clock were "Do I grab personal possessions, or survival things? Should I try and grab pictures? Identification? What!? What!? There is not enough time! This is impossible! How can I fit my entire life in a stupid shoe-box in 5 short minutes!?" 

and........there was not any panic involved, my life was not in jeopardy, and my worldly possessions would still be accessible at the end of the day when I returned home. In a real situation.....wow, that would be a real test I hope to never have to make. If I was feeling this way without any real peril, how my heart aches for those who have actually had to live this situation and flee from their life! 

Mission Accomplished

BINGO!

     I now know how to answer the 5 above questions, and a great way to teach my students empathy/historical empathy. I now know how to bring History to them, and be able to make it relevant and meaningful. I now know how to take my students into History and make them a part of it.  

      How? By creating a simulated event where my students have to try and have the mindset of those in history that have had to flee. 

     We brought our shoe-boxes in and then found our "Clock Buddies" and discussed why we chose the items that we did and their significance to us. 

      It was great to see the different strategies that my classmates used to determine what was the most important.

 

Some chose to be practical and survival....like my friend Kasey....

Some chose their childhood......Like my friend Lynnette because.......

     This holds true for my friend Maria below.......as she holds her shoe-box close to her heart.....

      This activity really put a personal twist on an abstract concept. Because of this personal twist, I became very interested in the lesson, I became a part of the lesson. It was easier to imagine myself in another's shoes and situation, and what they must have felt and thought. It made me want to know more....

My shoe-box.....

My Marriage License...Grandmothers Hankie....My Family's Birth Certificates

Journals....Pictures...My Art Pencils.....My Camera and charger...A Picture of my Family....

This activity put a lot of different things into perspective, as well as give strategies to make History come to life. As for myself, I realized that it is who we take with us, not what we take. I can see myself using these types of creative techniques to create empathy to entice, inspire, and engage my students in learning. 

Retrieved from pinterest.com

"What would you put in your shoe-box?"
                                                             Sydney Beauchamp

                                      

Artifacts....What story are you leaving behind?

                  “You know my name, not my story.                                                                                                                                        Jonathan Anthony Burkett, Neglected but Undefeated 

"What makes a good Social Studies Lesson?" 

This was asked of us during our Social Studies class.  So what does make a good Social Studies lesson? Our class did a little brainstorming and came up with the list of words to describe a good SS lesson below:

A Good Social Studies Lesson
 Contains, Involves, Gives, Creates.....

relevance

experience

music

poetry

interaction

integrating the Arts

field trips

acting out history

simulation

empathy

   Now I ask you, think about it, what do you think makes a good Social Studies lesson? Is it reading from a textbook, looking at a Power Point, watching a movie? What will make History and Social Studies content come to life? How can a teacher really bring her students into the lesson, make them a part of it, therefore making it theirs?

   These are questions I find myself thinking about not only for Social Studies and History, but for all subjects. The answer I have settled on is interaction, engagement and empathy. What better way to get a student involved in the lessons content than to physically and mentally bring them into the lesson? For Social Studies and History, creating empathy is one way to show a student what it may have been like. It gives the student a personal connection to those events of long ago. Simulating an event and making it personal creates connections to the content that students can't help but make. 

   One way this was done in my Social Studies class was to simulate a trade fair among us classmates. Everyone took a great part in this, and we had a lot of fun. This caused me to really think about currency "way back when." It opened up my eyes and generated more curiosity that I know I will follow up on. This simulation is definitely one I will incorporate into my own classroom.

   Another way we were brought into a lessons content was the Artifact activity. We were asked to think about what legacy we would leave behind if someone would dig up artifacts that pertained to us a hundred years from now. This seemed relatively easy, should be a piece of cake. All we had to do was collect 5 artifacts that would tell someone who we were if they were to find our artifacts a hundred years from now. If I created a time capsule, what would I put in it to represent me and all that I am? 

   After thinking about it for a while, I realized that it was not going to be "cake" like I had originally anticipated. This was really hard. How could I sum up my life, all that I am, was,have become, everything I believe in, and represent who I am in only 5 artifacts!?

   There are so many stages in my life, so many moments that have defined who and what I am. How was I to choose material artifacts that would accurately represent "ME?"

   Before the activity, we discussed "Artifacts" and what they were and what they represented. Again our class participated in a little brainstorming session and came up with the list below:

Artifacts, what are they,
 and what do they represent?

documents

authentic sources

they tell history

physical history

give perspective of:

how life was lived

what the culture was like

diverse culture

offers a concrete view of an abstract concept 

artifacts tell us about interests

roles in the community/tribe

migration

uses

luxury (wants/needs)

technology

   There it is, this is what I could use to determine which artifacts I would leave. Again, this should be easy right? After all, I had a list! NOT! This was going to involve some serious thought. After hurting my brain, these are 3 of the things I came up with that would somewhat represent "ME."

PHOTOS!! This is one way around my dilemma! This album contains many many photos of everything I hold dear!

My Marriage Licence...and a plaque about what it is to be a Teacher

 

My Journal, one of many that tell MY STORY

    The last artifact was a coffee mug that states "Everything tastes better with cat hair!".....and that should pretty much sum up that I am indeed a cat lover (or I just have a hairy house!) Really, I am just a cat lover :) 

   So what do my artifacts say about me? They say that my family, children and husband are what I hold most dear to my heart. They are my life, my very essence for being. I take my marriage to my best friend and hero very seriously. I am a teacher who likes to write and anyone reading my journal a hundred years from now, will learn all about me and my journey....and lastly....I love animals, cats in particular.

   After everyone walked around and viewed everyone's artifacts, we were asked to select someone and choose one of their artifacts. We were to write what we thought this artifact would say about about them to someone that may find them a hundred years from now.

       I chose Clare and focused on her family snapshot: What this picture says to me...

   I focused on one artifact The family picture is very relaxed. It is just a snapshot in time, but by looking at Clare, and looking into her eyes, it is very apparent, and so easy to see the love she has for her family. It is not a formal portrait, and looks like it was taken at the spur of the moment. It is real, not staged, or posed, but rather an authentic glimpse of her, and the love she carries for her family. When we then discussed our findings as a group, she reconfirmed what I already thought about her, as well as confirmed what i thought her family pictured portrayed.

   All of our artifacts as a class were collected and put in one place. What would this tell someone a hundred years from now about us?

      This table of artifacts holds so many stories about us, and what each of us has determined will represent the very essence of who we are, as individuals, and as a community the best. 

                                                       Image courtesy of pinterest

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature, it will never fail you...Frank Lloyd Write

     Nature, nature is full of so many artistic possibilities and challenges. Every form, whether it is broad such as landscapes or individual forms such as trees or flowers, presents its own set of challenges. Nature includes all of the Elements of Art and is its own blank canvas of possibilities.
     For my last Visual Arts piece, I selected to do a watercolor in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe, a brilliant artist who began her legacy in the early 1900's. She was a painter that is well known for her paintings focusing on nature, which include, landscapes, trees, leaves and flowers. O'Keeffe believed in self-expression which led to the exploration of Abstract Art. She, like any artist, experimented with several different types of mediums. She explored these mediums in stages that began with charcoal, moved into watercolor and then oils. 

"I have but one desire as a painter – that is to paint what I see, as I see it, in my own way..."

            Georgia O'Keeffe

     Water color was a new medium that I had not yet tried. I was a little apprehensive about it because I had always heard that it is a very unforgiving medium to work with as once the color is down, down is where it stays. I have always been told that if a mistake is made with water color, that mistake remains. There is no time like the present to dive in, so it was time to try something new and see where it led.

http://shop.fablevisionlearning.com

Peter H. Reynolds: Vashti and The Dot.

    My favorite flower is the Cone-flower, which I have everywhere in my gardens surrounding my home. It is delicate, but an incredibly sturdy and long lasting flower. It graces my gardens in midsummer all the way to late fall. The beauty doesn't stop there as I leave the flowers up all throughout the winter as a source of food for the birds. This flower not only gives me gorgeous color, but brings wildlife right to my door.  

Below is a picture of a purple cone flower taken this summer with my phone (for some dumb reason, it will not go through to my email so I can download :/ ) and the cone-flowers now....brrr.

Georgia O'Keeffe was famous for her water color paintings of flowers. 

image courtesy of pinterest

    It only made sense to paint a flower if I was going to try and do it within her style. Why not celebrate her style with attempting to paint a flower I dearly love? I began the process and became very involved.

    I used water color pencils for my first go around. I figured since water color has been said to be so unforgiving, it would be easier for me to control.

 I will have to say I loved it! I did have more control and since I am comfortable with pencils, I was able to use different hues of the same color to provide shading. After coloring with the pencils in different hues, I would add water. It was at this time that I fell in love with water color! It was actually pretty easy and the more comfortable I became, the more confident I became. When this happened, I began to experiment with color by adding additional colors that I would normally NOT think would be present. The addition of these colors actually enhanced the painting giving it depth and the illusion of texture. 

The results of playing with water color pencils....

 I was very pleased, yet I still wanted the flowers to stand out more, so I decided to add a light yellow background. I do not particularly care for this, so I will tweak it and add more colors until I get it the way I want. 

 After this painting, I wanted more! Georgia O'Keeffe also painted trees! She mainly used oils for her trees, but still, I was excited. 

image courtesy of pinterest

     I decided to have another go and create my own watercolor tree painting. I am not done with this piece as of yet, but I am very pleased with how it is turning out thus far. Again, I played around with colors that I wouldn't normally think belonged. Again I was pleased with the results. Oh the places I will go with this!

    These projects have been wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed stretching myself and trying new mediums. It is a wonderful feeling when something is tried and success is felt. I have never had "homework" that I have enjoyed more and was actually sad to see complete. I am once again inspired through these assignments where I was forced to "play" to meet the assignments requirements. Without the assignments, who knows when I would have the time to delve back into my art, let alone take the time to play and experiment. I do not think I will put my art away now that I have revisited how much I enjoy it and how it takes me to another place where the stresses and deadlines can't reach. It takes me to the place where their are no limits on my creativity. It is my happy place :)

    I found that I enjoyed not only the process of the art assignments, but I also enjoyed sharing my art with others. My art is something that is unique to me, and I like to hear it attached to who I am when others speak about it. I am an artist, mostly in my own mind, and always evolving, but none the less, I am an artist. 

Image courtesy of pinterest.