Guns, Germs, and Steel part 2

I was interested in today's activity; reading and discussing examples of blogs, engaging in the Connect-Extend-Challenge thinking routine, and putting up yet another headline on our Wall of Thought. I'm looking forward to reading the students' posts to their blogs and the comments they make on their classmates'.

The one dimension of the movie, based on Jared Diamond's book of the same name, that I found interesting was his thought, research, and discussion about the domestication of animals and the importance they had in the advancement of civilization. My thinking was extended when he worked his way through the numerous species of animals on earth and determined that there were only 14 successfully domesticated herbivores. 14! And that 4 of them; cow, sheep, pig, and goat, all were found in the Fertile Crescent. Baffling.

To use the vernacular of 6th graders, it's really cool that he had a question that he researched and discovered some cool information and made some really cool conclusions! Good fun!

Well. Once again, I'm off to the store for some domesticated chicken to eat with my domesticated tomatoes and lettuce. Hopefully the bakery will still be open so that I can buy some bread made from, you guessed it, domesticated wheat, butter, oil, and eggs! Wait....does this mean that I am domesticated too?!?!?!?

Happy night, all.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

I love showing this movie in class, or at least the segment I selected, because it affords students with a chance to make connections between their research topics, prior knowledge, and their own lives in Kuala Lumpur. In many ways, Jared Diamond answers the question, how did we get as we are today? Certainly he does so in simplistic terms, but the reasoning and thinking is complex.

I have found that some students soar after watching this video, extending their thinking beyond the norm. Other students use the information as a supplement to what they have already studied. Tomorrow, I will ask the students to complete another Visible Thinking routine, Connect-Extend-Challenge, to check on their understanding and the direction we should go next. They will also write their headlines from the movie onto the class headline that we can put onto our thinking map.

I was happy to watch the interaction on the classroom folder begin as a support folder for a student absent from class that morphed into a discussion and rapid-fire poetry on what desserts and fruits students, and teacher(!), liked. Good fun, really.

I would prefer to say that I'm off to spoon some tiramisu from the refrigerator, but alas I will have to wait until Thursday.

Happy day!

Civilization

I look out over my balcony and see the gleaming lights and shimmering towers of Kuala Lumpur. The red lights make their way in an orderly fashion into the city, and the white lights come in my direction lined up one behind the other. The rain falls out of the clouds, onto the trees and roofs, down the gutters, into the storms drains and Klang River and out to sea. The air conditioning unit above our glass doors hum in activity, cooling our flat. Ice cubes are made in the freezer to go with a glass of filtered water. We have no weapons in our house for we feel safe from intruders. Every few days, I'll open my laptop and check my various mailboxes for communication from people in other parts of the city, the country and the world. I wonder when I'm old if I'll communicate with ex-students when they travel between planets? Music from Mali, England, Egypt, Lebanon, California, and Hawaii fill the room and bounce of sketches of sheesha pipes and whirling dervishes, mud cloths, rain drums, and a peasant hat taken from it's original use which is now art.

And so this an afternoon in the life of a teacher in Kuala Lumpur, a city filled with the elements and factors of a civilization. Sure, I have all the items of a civilization, but is it truly a civilization?

The last few days in humanities, the students have discussed the dimensions that make up a civilization, using their own prior knowledge and skills to come up with these lists and thoughts. The following is a list, in no particular order, of the categories required....or present in a civilization:

1. government /politics
2. entertainment /art
3. transportation
4. nature /environment
5. food
6. water
7. resources
8. shelters /buildings
9. economy
10. belief system
11. culture
12. education
13. technology
14. communication

They were asked to order, or rather, itemize or prioritize these factors that make a civilization. In doing so, they came up with a list. Students could not agree 100%, but did agree that water, food, resources, and nature/environment were a priority and culture and entertainment/art were not. A couple of students mentioned in discussion that technology is not limited to computers and iPhones, but includes simply using a rock to separate animal skin from meat. Additionally, one student mentioned that the A380 was not the only mode of transportation, but simply walking, as Homo Erectus did, is as well.

Connections, I think, are being made between what these 21st century students have in their civilization and what others need to simply survive.

Well, I think I need some food, so I'll just drive down to the market, buy some fish with money that I earned while working, and cook it in a pan over gas that's bottled in a tank. Ahh, civilization. Hopefully, all the other drivers obey the traffic laws and the fish hasn't been contaminated in an oil spill.

What do you think about civilization?

Happy night.

Blogging Discussion

Good evening, all.

I'm waiting while the squash cooks to make a roasted squash soup.  I roasted a head of garlic, as well, and will add some fresh rosemary later.  Then we'll have some bread and cheese and a healthy salad.  I don't think we have any chocolate in the house, but that's okay....I had some earlier!

Great discussion today about blogging, the audience who reads your blogs, and the appropriate voice to use in your posts.  I especially liked Sarah B.'s description.  I should have taken a photo of it to upload tonight.  I'll try to recreate it in a drawing program.

Hopefully you saw the homework on the BBS, but just to remind you, please blog about blogging.  Include in your blog any lingering or developed thoughts you may have from this afternoon's discussions.  A few of you were quiet today, so this is a good place to voice yourself.  I see a number of people have already posted.  This good because it's 9:15 pm and you should all think about getting to bed.

Update I

Here's the photo I took.  I had to use some old fashion means (paper and pen) to put it together, but hopefully the point is conveyed.  This is an attempt to replicate Sarah B.'s thinking.  Is it close, Sarah?

SPCA

First off, I want to thank the entire 6th grade class for the courtesy and respect you extended to our guest speaker, Ms. Jusinta Johnson. Judging from your attention, you were held captive by her presentation and your emotional heartstrings were tugged by the stories and images of the animals.

My excitement rose with the number of hands that went up when asked who wanted to spend Wednesday afternoons discussing, planning and implementing ways to help the SPCA and the animals. I think in the interest of the program the maximum number of students will remain at the original number of 12. In the 3rd trimester, however, I will offer the activity again and welcome a new group of SPCA Leaders.

I also wanted to introduce you all to our two cats, Bella and Lona. Bella was found in the jungle above KDE and we adopted her after a friend moved to New Zealand. Lona (after the city of Barcelona, Spain) followed a friend home one day a few weeks ago. Bella and Lona took some time to become friends and share the same space, but as you can see they are now playful.

I can't wait to read your blogs!

Blogging. Pt 1

Well done, 6th graders!

Strolling around the rooms, I gazed upon you all mesmerized by your computers, entering yourselves onto your blogs, sharing with the world your true person.  Keep up the enthusiasm and wander the nooks and crannies of the options to find what might else supplement your creation.

Tonight, I hope you have continued to enter information.  Tomorrow and this weekend I will gaze upon your creations.

If you have any questions, continue to ask away....that's how we learn and grow!

Literature Circles

I like literature circles.  Take 4 or 5 students who get to choose a book to read together.  Add multiple opportunities for them to share their thoughts, questions, and connections.  Continue to add time for reflection and extra thinking.  Stir in a little curiosity.  Sprinkle with effective communication.  And, of course, top it all off with bits of laughter!  Then you have a successful, and tasty, literature circle!

I look forward to hearing and reading more about your thinking, your responses, and your creative expressions on your blog!  Have fun with this!