Last year the sixth grade class was awarded a $20,000 Anchorage Parks Challenge Grant for the work they did designing a more usable space in the northwest corner of Ruth Arcand Park. This work included presenting their ideas to other community members including the Abbott Loop Church, Abbott Loop Community Council, nearby schools (Hanshew and Spring Hill), Raven’s Roost, and the Equestrian Center in the municipal park itself. Since the sixth graders did this preliminary work, the project has moved with them to seventh grade. Their work on this project has only just begun. This year, to actually receive this grant, students must continue to plan, meet with the community, fundraise, and complete the project by November 1st of next year! This is a big deal and a lot of work!!! Fortunately we have been assigned a wonderful team of professionals to help us stay on track and keep the students completely involved in the process. These individuals are from The Anchorage Park Foundation, Anchorage Parks and Recreation, National Park Service, UAF, and Earthscape (landscape architecture). In the last few weeks we have been focusing in on this project, specifically mapping and access sites (site analysis). Students have been out in the park mapping key existing trails and areas usable for particular activities (programming). They have had to evaluate all obstacles that might be encountered entering the park from crossing streets to noisy roads to steepness of terrain. They have had to consider other community members’ perspectives such as use of private land for public access or the privacy issue of a trail just outside someone’s home. As they think of these they have also been reminded to keep in mind the north/south land orientation, parking lot snow removal, trash cans and trash collection, wayfinding signage, educational signage, access for strollers or wheelchairs… This list goes on and on. On Wednesday, Elise Huggins (Landscape Architect) led the class through a design charrette focussing mainly on the access to the park. Students were challenged to collaborate on a vision developing safe access routes in three different ways and then present these ideas to the class. This first stage allowed ALL ideas to be incorporated. Upcoming workshops with Elise will be focused on identifying the potential obstacles to the grand plans students have created. This way students can prepare their talking points for community members like the Abbott Loop Church and Community Council - two entities whose support will critically affect the success of this project. Stay tuned to see how these plans develop, how the community responds, and how these students handle the demands of this project on a public playing field! Writers at Work
10/21/2017
A few weeks ago we were asked to identify a “superpower” for our fundraising display. I decided that, as a lifelong reader and writer, my superpower is "literacy." Literacy, the ability to read and write, is an indispensable skill and an unimaginably treasured gift. When we think of literacy, reading is often the first thing that comes to mind, but the flip side of that coin is writing.
In the classroom, writing serves many purposes and forms a foundational and critical part of the learning experience. Writing helps students makes sense of their own thinking, learning, and of their own lives. Telling stories of life experiences provides students a sense of ownership and empowers them to discover who they are and who they are becoming. Students worked on a personal narrative the past few weeks as they told of an experience that taught them a lesson. Throughout that process, students received feedback from several sources: their teachers, their peers, and even from on online writing program. Twain's quote above was a frequent reminder to show, not tell the reader about their experiences. Each of those avenues of feedback provided students with ideas for crafting and shaping their words: feedback that they were free to use or not as they put themselves "on the line." For writing truly requires the author to be vulnerable; to put a small part of oneself out into the world for others to see and know and judge. It was truly impressive to watch students’ drafts move through the revision process, with each draft showing more clarity, better dialogue, clearer focus. Each draft showed growth and deeper thinking. Writing is a powerful medium for learning and critical thinking. We ask students to write to analyze and explain their thinking in math; to clarify their logic and provide evidence for their claims in science and social studies; to explore themes and universal truths in the literature they are reading; and to take a stand on issues they care about as we explore current events. We ask students to write, to rewrite, and to write yet again. Wrestling with words and making one’s thinking clear is no easy task. It is our constant challenge to help students see that writing helps them understand who they are, how they think, and what they’ve learned. “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” —Ernest Hemingway “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” — Anne Frank "Good writing is clear thinking made visible." --Bill Wheeler I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say. — Flannery O’Connor Image: http://cindyreed.me/show-dont-tell/ Parent Lunches
10/13/2017
Parent Lunches are a great way for students to share their learning with parents. Sometimes, the activities showcase the end results of what students have been learning,. Other times parents are thrown into the learning process itself and still other lunches are simply about engaging with class family members in a social setting. Of course, we would be remiss if we did not mention the amazing foods families bring to share with the group. This is always the highlight for our tastebuds and provides for the exchange of new recipes. If you came to the 7/8 Parent Lunch on Thursday, you might have experienced a little of everything. Thursday’s Parent Lunch helped to set the stage for learning about genetics in a fun, social, creative way that parents could participate. Students have just begun to learn about genetics. One way to help them understand complex processes such as meiosis and how the controlling factors of a trait (genes) combine is to have them create “pets” with known allele sets (different forms of the genes) and mate them with other “pets”. So, with a short burst of creativity and a few specific directions, students and parents created attractive “pets” that will be used to help them understand the probabilities of future genetic combinations. Stay tuned, parents, to see which pet thought yours was attractive enough to be its mate...! Students are also currently learning about the Central American and Caribbean Regions, so parents sent in foods from these areas to share for the lunch as well. There were plenty of frijoles y arroz, quesadillas, ensalada de aguacate y mango, horchata, platanos fritos, fruta, salchichas, etc. Many of these foods came with well known - and not-so-well-known histories. Do you know the history of the Panamanian hot dog?? Around the rooms used by the 7th and 8th grades, completed work projects and works in progress were on display for students to share with their parents. It’s always nice to have a captive audience to show off to! These events take a lot of shared work and contributions from everyone to put on. It warmed our hearts to see five students shoot their hands in the air when volunteers were needed to wash the dishes! Down in the Kitchen, these students quickly organized themselves into the most efficient and productive work force anyone could hope for! We are grateful and truly appreciate the “all in” community involvement from families at PNA. Parent Lunches reiterate this significance and it resonates in the success of our students! Making Learning Visible
10/7/2017
How do you know you are learning? How does the learning process become visible to the learner AND the "teacher"? Traditional tests or activities can only show a tiny part of the complex process that learning is. In the natural learning process the application of new skills; the creation of actual artifacts; the explanation of one's thinking; all are ways that we know learning is taking place. In our 7th and 8th grade classrooms, our learners are providing ample evidence of their learning. Through team activities, creation of models, oral presentations, thoughtful written responses, group discussions, and individual conferences, a picture of each learner emerges. One way to make one's learning visible is to share that learning with others. In Social Studies students had the opportunity to learn and teach about 13 different countries in the Central America/Caribbean region. Students chose their preferred method for presentation: posters, movies, slide shows, comic strips; all supplemented with the students presenting and answering questions as experts. We took notes, asked questions, and of course, we now have more questions. Why is there such a high rate of poverty in some of these countries? Why did so many of them "gain their independence"? Why are there so many devastating storms in some of these countries? As is so often the case, initial learning leads to more questions, further inquiry, and, ultimately, deeper understanding... Another way of making learning visible is to create a model to build and demonstrate understanding. In science students created models of various cell processes, using the act of creating the model and presenting it to the class to deepen their own learning. Creativity and flexible thinking were required, and students definitely rose to the challenge! The classroom is full of interesting representations of DNA replication, cell cycles, mitosis, and cancer. Mini-projects like this require students to transform - synthesize - the content they are learning. The words on the page take on meaning, and the teacher is able to see where misconceptions may be occurring. Writing personal narratives about a lesson learned; reflections and responses to the concept of "banned books;" mapping the Ruth Arcand Park trail system; playing arcade games created by our third grade friends; movie making and mountain biking.... it was a week full of challenges and opportunities, a week of exceptional learning! Thanks as always for all you do to support that. |
Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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