7 People To Have Dinner With

This is a sidetrack to my usual thinking, but again, I have been inspired by my fellow bloggers to think and learn about blogging, writing, dreams and life in general. So I was thinking, if I had to limit it to 7, who has inspired me to view my the world the way I do, and what if I can view their world through their eyes? I would love to sit down an talk to these people to ask them questions about their view of the world….and I also had to think about where I would want to have dinner (or lunch) with them to have this discussion.

7. Ronald Reagan. I would invite him out for a lunch in the foothills, on horseback. We would sit down, overlooking the Ca coast with the golden hills dotted with oak trees. We would talk about his acting career, (is it really as glamorous as it seems), his political life, (was it really as easy as he made it seem), and what was his favorite part of being president. Being president would be an amazing job.

6. Jane Goodall. I would ask her to lunch on top of a canopy in the jungle. We would overlook the forest and nature. We would talk about her research with the gorillas, what is the most important thing she has learned, and what about the “civilized” world she misses the most. I guess her answer to the last question would be “I don’t miss anything”. I would like to live among the gorillas….I think I would feel safer.

5. Galileo Galilei. I would ask him out for midnight snack under the stars where we would see the milky way as clear as day, and the aurora borealis paint the night sky. I would ask him if he could live in today’s world, with the knowledge we have gained about our existance among our universe, would he? I would talk about what inspired him to see the world differently than anyone else of his time. Also I would ask him, who inspired him. I would like to go to the moon….I think he would too.

4. Jonas Salk. I would ask Jonas to lunch in a school cafeteria. The food there is a contentious subject. I would ask him what he wanted to be when he was a kindergartener. Did he always want to be a medical researcher? I would also ask him what he thinks the number one medical problem is for our society today…and how he would try to cure it. I don’t think he would say it is obesity, because there is a cure for that already.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeyc/95191971/
3. Winston Churchill. I would ask Winston to have dinner with me on the shores of Normandy. I would ask him how he felt about all of those men giving up their lives for his vision of the future world without Hitler. His belief was so strong, so focused, so undaunted. He knew with all his heart and soul that no matter the sacrafice, that the world had to stop the lunatic. I would ask him what lunatic needs to be stopped today? I think he has several to choose from.

2. Rosa Parks. I would ask her to dinner in the most fancy, amazing restuarant I could find. She would probably say, no, and instead pick a corner diner, where you can get a great homemade meal. I would ask her what was the most scary part about not moving off that seat…saying no, or the moment before she said no. I would ask her what still needs to be done to help our world be more equitable, no matter what the color, sex, preference, religion or idealogy. I think she would be happy with how far we have come. I think she knows who needs to not get up anymore.

1. Walter Romaniuk. I would make my dad a nice bowl of borscht with sour cream, french bread and for dessert, a weak cup of tea, with a slice of apple pie and mom’s rum cake. It has been over 25 years since I lost my dad to cancer. I know he wanted 5 more years, but God needed him sooner. I am glad I asked him all the questions I needed to before he died. I recorded his thoughts, life story, ambitions, challenges and adventures. He was an amazing man…not so much for the world as a whole, but for my world as a whole. I would tell him I miss him very much.

Be sure to talk to the people who are important in your life, who have inspired you, who have made you, you. They won’t be around forever, so ask them the questions while you can.

Photo credit is in the order they appear:
photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert via photopin cc
photo credit: lorises via photopin cc
photo credit: Children of the Concrete via photopin cc
photo credit: EscoPhotog via photopin cc
photo credit: monkeyc.net via photopin cc
photo credit: cliff1066™ via photopin cc
photo credit: code_martial via photopin cc

Who are your 7 people that you would have dinner/lunch with?

Share with your friends, and get them thinking!

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Project Based Learning…What???

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Student made scale model of the planet Uranus, showing solid core and liquid/icy mantel with blue gaseous core.

I’m tired of learning about the planets….same thing….year after year….

My 6th graders needed a challenge. Reading the textbook is one thing (boring too)…but bringing the planets into our classroom was another. I wanted the students to understand the scale of the planets and the solar system, along with exhibiting the core of the planet. They came up with many clever ways to show the exterior and interior. Once planets were built to scale, the classroom was turned into a scale model of the solar system, with the sun being the front door. From there, the planets were measured by Astronomical Units (AU) from Earth being one AU to Pluto, Charon, Quaoar, and Sedna being 45 AU’s away.

Student created Neptune planet with “window” into the core and mantle.

While students were constructing their planets, and scaling out the classroom, they were also researching and writing up a report about their planets. Once the planets and solar system was complete, classes from within the school were invited to “Tour the Solar System”, and each sixth grader gave 4-5 minute oral presentation from their research about their planet. The entire “tour” took 20 minutes, but the presentations were “out of this world”.

[caption id="attachment_143" align="alignnone" width="168"] student contructed Saturn with rings around the planet. The other half (unseen) is the core and mantle.

Students were graded not only on their presentations, research, and construction of planets, but on collaboration and cooperation between peers. Some students obviously had smaller planets, (like Venus, Mercury, and Mars) and other students had enormous planets (like Jupiter and Saturn). Through daily observations of students, I watched how students volunteered to help eachother and work together, to finish the project together. It was a wonderful process to watch and facilitate. I can’t help to think my sixth grade students learned so much more about our planets and solar system doing this project, that they ever could have from the textbook.

Project Based Learning is a way to facilitate student learning, by putting the responsiblility of learning on them. As you can see by these projects, the unit was a success.

You can see by the 6 foot ladder that the planet is perched on, the planet is enormous.

DIagram of the interior of the planet.

Using Technology To Motivate

One of the most difficult tasks a teacher may have is to motivate an unmotivated student. There is an endless desire to reach students who don’t want to be reached. The teacher investigates every avenue they can think of to come up with an idea that will help. Getting into the student’s world, finding relavence, and using tools they are comfortable with, are all commonly mentioned techniques a teacher can use. But how to learn about students whose generation is 20, 30, 40 sometimes 50 years younger?
step in the latest technological device that every 12 year old clings to like a life saving machine.
A few years ago, my husband and I purchased an MP3 player….not because we wanted to have an MP3 player, but because we knew that the technology was moving so fast, that if we didn’t stay familiar with it, we would be dependant on our 5 year old to teach us how to run our Blue Ray. Now, with clouds and other ways to store information, MP3 players are nearly irrelavent. My students can absorb the new information and technology much quicker than (older) teachers. My advice for teachers: Do not be afraid of new technology, instead, purchase, practice and stay familiar with the new developing world around you…it may even motivate you to learn more….that is why I started this blog.

photo credit: rAmmoRRison via photopin cc

Toys Without Boundaries

Children today have a wide variety of choices to engage their minds during their free time. Electronic games have goals to reach, board games have a means to the end, and sporting games eventually have winners and losers. I encourage my students and children to do activities that have no “end game”. Toys like building blocks, connecting rods, and erector sets. Crafts like painting, working with crafts and modeling clay. And imaginative play, like role playing, building then playing creative instruments, and just playing. These activities engage the imagination, remove boundaries and and encourages creativity. The late amazing Walt Disney was asked if he thinks outside the box, and he replied, “why does there have to be a box?” Therefore, next time your child or student says “I’m bored”, answer them, “then you are not curious”.