Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetos
Status: Endangered
By Ashli McMahon
Golden EagleAquila chrysaetos Status: Endangered By Ashli McMahon |
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Daily Reflections |
Personal Teaching Connection |
| Monday This morning, I woke up in a fog. I was not quite ready for the 7:14am alarm, as my body is still in summer mode. The cold weather didn't help motivate me either...but I made it to my first cup of coffee, and things started to look up. I loved seeing the friendly smiles of my summit companions, and Lennie shared a lovely reading with us. We moved on down to our work space and delved right into the business of designing web pages. This work is extremely exciting to me, because we created a web site with our kids this year. It is so awesome to come to a professional learning experience that actually directly affects the work that I do in my classroom and addresses an immediate need for growth. I really enjoyed exploring the Fading Footprints web site, and it was cool to talk about both the layout of the site and the structure of the expedition itself. Despite my gusto, I became quickly overwhelmed with the next part of our morning. The computer jargon that David shared with us started flying in one ear and out the other. I understand that he wanted to give us "the big picture" before we jumped into creating our individual pages. But for me, it was hard to take it all in at once. I took a breather and then returned to start my work on the golden eagle. Once I figured out how to open the page (ha, ha), I found it was really quite simple to make my own page. Even making anchors and links was a snap! Who knew?! After lunch, I had the most fun watching David Sparks present his animals and tell his hilarious tales. He seems to be entertained by his job and his daily life, and he was a trip. I was psyched that our Oakhurst crew was able to have our picture taken with David Sparks and the barred owl. That pic is sure to go on our Oakhurst owl bulletin board at school. : ) Next, we had our art lesson. This was a challenge for me, to say the least. I am not an artist, and I tend to lean towards the perfectionist side of things, so I really wanted to get this right. I felt myself becoming more and more tense as I drew. I realize the value in this feeling. For one, I know that I need to let go! Also, it takes me back to the way that students feel when they are faced with a task or a concept that is new to them or just not a strength of theirs. Increased sensitivity to the needs of my children is always welcome. It makes me a better teacher, and a more understanding person. And, let's face it, doing anything (even something that is difficult for me) is fabulous when looking out over the ocean. Dinner was lovely and this evening was a laid back time to work and reflect. It's time to wind down now. More tomorrow. |
Product
Design Today, I learned so many ways to use technology to make our expeditions better for the kids and for us teachers. Although I feel like I could be overwhelmed by the pure number of the steps I learned, I feel calm. It is totally comforting to know that everything we are being taught this week in on the King web site. I know that I won't remember every step or every shortcut, but I know that I can find it all online. That is extremely reassuring. Thanks to David and Scott. As far as what I am taking away today...I am looking forward to having our kid-made web site really be constructed by the kids. I know that if I can follow these steps, so can my kids. I know that I can teach them about taking better pictures, how to load and share them, how to take video, how to create anchors and links, etc. Also, I appreciate the organization of the whole expedition. We can set this up for the children and our future expeditions will be more successful. Learning how to better navigate and construct web sites also makes for faster work! I feel like I have been fumbling around with these tasks and I know that we will be able to actually save time by being better versed in the language of the computer and the web. Learning how to share photos is exciting, too. Often we take pictures and they sit on our cameras just waiting to be printed or uploaded. Now I feel better equipped to quickly and efficiently organize and share photos. It's a lot to take in all at once, but I know it will make us more efficient in the long run. I am extraordinarily pleased that I am here with my teammates and with Kira, because we will be able to help each other remember and manage our new skills. |
| Tuesday Today was a fun day. I really loved our little road trip to the beach.  It was a beautiful beach, and I was just dreaming of living in one of those beach front homes. Aaahhh, it's good to dream. To be honest, I wasn't all that interested in the bird watching. I know that sounds terrible, but it's true. It was really nice just to leave the house for a while and check out a different beach. Lunch was delicious and the weather was finally just right. I loved reading the article about the Fading Footprints expedition. I feel like it reinforced my understanding of the framework any expedition should have. Now it's just a matter of making it work for us in our real life expeditions. Art class was a bit daunting today. We learned about using water colors, and apparently I can paint an apple.  Not so much on the landscape scene. It was interesting to say the least. I am not quite the expert I'd like to be. We'll see how my actual eagle painting turns out tomorrow. |
Anatomy
of an Expedition My teaching connection for today? It's to get our expeditions together! I want our expeditions to be streamlined like the Fading Footprints expedition. I want the time to sit down and work on them, and I would love for an expert to actually help us know how to go from where we are to where we'd like to be. I am a bit confused about how to rework our expectations for our government web site so that they are more clearly defined and more simple. But, I know that needs to happen. I am feeling a bit like we are on the wrong track, and I'm not sure how to fix it. I bet some good sit down communication time with my friends and teammates would be a great start. When will that happen? |
| Wednesday Well, I made it to the van at 7:00 sharp. No problem! We headed out to Scarborough Marsh and got into our canoes. We spent about an hour traveling through the marsh, which I learned has brackish water. That's a combination of salt and fresh water. Hey- I am learning here! Tim, Melanie and I made a great team and we saw a variety of birds. (Did you see that link?!?!?!?) My favorites were the snowy egret and the willet. I really enjoyed our time canoeing out in the peaceful marsh. We had a top secret stop on our way home that you will soon find out all about. I was in tears from laughing so hard. When we got back, I learned all about making and editing movies. I found that it was much more simple than I ever imagined. I had a lot of fun editing the peanut butter and jelly film, and I even learned how to take video from the camera and import it into thumbnails on imovie. Whew! I am impressed with all of my new tricks! Next, we worked on our art projects. I practiced my watercolor eagle first. I was pleasantly surprised about the way my eagle looked, so I moved on to the final paper. I used a turquoise for the sky and then kind of blotted with tissue. This made a pretty cool looking sky with clouds. It even gets lighter towards the bottom like it is supposed to!! I am psyched about finishing it tomorrow, but here is my work in progress.  Now, Dave and Scott are pulling each of us outside to assess our new knowledge. Fingers crossed!! In just a few moments, we will actually be leaving the premesis to have some dinner and fun in Portland. I am so ready, I am about to explode! |
Fieldwork and Community Today, the connection is obvious. Giving children real life experiences is the very basic foundation of best practices in education. It's one of the first things I ever learned in my ECED program, and it is the core of the way I teach. Not only do real life opportunities make the longest lasting impressions on people, they also do the best job of motivating people and building interest. It's pretty much the only way I can learn, so I am super sensitive about teaching that way, too. Taking advantages of the opportunities for fieldwork in your own community is a key part of EL and that's exactly what we did today. |
| Thursday Today has been long, and I know I still have some work ahead of me. But, I thought I'd take some time to reflect. This morning, we learned how to create web sites using web2 tools. We learned how to make a web page on a Wiki site. It seems easy enough, and it's free. It's always good to know about free services to use with kids. Also, Scott gave a presentation about assessment and differentiation. I am consistently amazed by the organization of their expeditions. Tom videotaped while Scott was talking and I had an opportunity to play with the video and do some editing. I am just barely scratching the surface of movie making, but I still feel like I know a lot more now than I did when I got here. Before we broke for lunch, we divided into groups to create our concept pages. There aren't very many of us, so the groups are only made up of two or three people. This puts the pressure on us a bit more than in previous years at the summit. I am working with Tim on assessment and differentiation. We had a little brainstorming session, and got some things in place. I'm not feeling confident yet, but hopefully I will soon. After lunch I got to sit on the beach for ten whole minute. It is the most perfect day here. Blue sky, beautiful water, gentle breeze. I really had to force myself to get off of the beach and come back to work. Next, I completed my watercolor eagle. I feel a sense of accomplishment, for sure, and I am proud of my artwork. That is definitely a weakness of mine, but I am satisfied with my product. Now, I have lost my partner, and we really need to chat about our page before I move forward with the imovie, so I am at a stopping place. I hope that we will work it out so that it at least looks presentable. I know that time is short, so we will do what we can. I have fifteen minutes until dinner, and I'm going back to my happy place. |
Differentiation and
Assessment My teaching connection for today...I know that I need to be better organized! I think that Scott's presentation really hit home with me. The organization makes all the difference. know, and my team knows, that we need to do better about that next year. I want to have product descriptors in place and a more streamlined plan of attack. We did great things this year, but today really helped me to see the giant difference that can be made by having all of the documents laid out for kids and us to use before we get started. I do really appreciate, however, that Scott was honest in saying that the first year they did Fading footprints they created their rubrics, checklists, and webs about a week or two before the kids got to that point. After doing that expedition for so many years, they have tweaked every aspect of it to perfection. I know that we can get there, because the key is communication. I am feel very lucky to be a member of a team that loves each other so much and bends over backwards to help one another become better in every sense. |
| Friday Well, I am crunching sand between my teeth and that makes me soooo happy. We just came off the beach, and it was a much needed break from the craziness of this expedition. It's kind of crazy that I paid (well, a grant paid) to work my ass off for an entire week. I must say that I have learned a ton. I am proud of my accomplishments, and I have truly enjoyed my stay in Maine. I had no idea just how beautiful this part of the country is.  We did a tuning protocol this morning and got to see everyone's web sites. I am really amazed by all of the web pages. Creativity and understanding permeate each page. It is evident that we have all come a long way this week. The site that Tim and I made was very well received. I was working until 2am and started again around 8 this morning. Once Dave helped me to find colors that I really felt comfortable putting on our page, I was able to work on the content. After the critique, Tim and I had some modifications to make. I actually added a "nav bar" all by myself and by about 2:00 this afternoon, I was toast. Dave was trying to teach us about compressing files and pixels...but I was already zoned out, dreaming of the beach. When I get to that point of no return, I know I have got to take care of myself for a while and just get away. My absolute favorite part of the day was when Dave happened upon our "Lenny" species page. Our super secret stop on Tuesday was to a chocolate shop close to Goose Rocks beach. We went inside and Scott showed us a 1,700 lb chocolate moose named Lenny. We blew through that store like a bunch of maniac tourists on a mission. We ate most of their sample bowls of peanut brittle and caramel corn, and we took some very silly photos in front of our giant new friend. By 10:06, we were back in our Town and Country cracking up. Courtney has spent secret moments over the past few days creating a species page for Lenny. I cried when I read it. It was absolutely hilarious. See for yourself. Lenny's page So, our time here is winding down, and I am sad to leave the beauty of this place. However, I can't wait to get back home to see my honey and continue my summer vacation. I have a few weeks left and I intend to use every second wisely. I have met some wonderful people here, and I really enjoyed working with them. I think we all have a real sense of togetherness and accomplishment. Hey, isn't that what EL is all about??? |
Technology I have learned so much this week about technology!! When I signed up for this summit, I thought I would be learning about endangered species. I had no idea I would learn how to create web pages in web 1 and web 2. (To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know what web 1 and web 2 meant!) I now know how to handle photos and movies and how to make anchors and links to all sorts of places. I worked with tables and color palates, wikis, and blogs. I am absolutely amazed at the wealth of technology tricks I learned while I was here. I used to just look at Courtney in amazement while she pointed, clicked, imported, exported, and linked. Now, I actually know what she is doing! ( Of course, she learned new stuff all week, too. I guess I will forever be trying to catch up to her technology prowess.) I feel awesome about the strides I have made here. I asked lots and lots of questions, and, thankfully, our instructors were extraordinarily patient with me. I feel like this experience has been incredibly valuable for me. I know that I will use these tools when I am back in Georgia in my own little classroom. And that is what makes a summit worthwhile. I am so glad that I came!  |