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Key Themes and Guiding Principles There is a set of key ideas, themes, and principles within our philosophy that inspire, guide, and inform our understanding and educational practices. Below are some introductory remarks for each of these concepts. Included are a variety of links to lengthier discussions, including published articles and book chapters. These key ideas, themes and principles are: Holistic Awareness and Understanding The Value of Philosophy Possibility and the Adventure of the Future Virtue Development and Ethical Evolution Wisdom and Enlightenment Our central educational purpose is the enhancement of future consciousness. Future consciousness is the human capacity to have thoughts, feelings, and goals about the future; future consciousness involves the ability to envision future possibilities and act with competence and purpose toward the realization of one’s hopes and aspirations. Future consciousness is the total integrative set of psychological abilities and processes humans use in understanding and dealing with the future. These abilities and processes include emotions, such as fear and hope, imagination and foresight, motivation and desire, planning, decision making, valuing, and purposeful behavior. All basic psychological processes are involved in future consciousness. Every normal human being possesses some level of future consciousness. Future consciousness is an essential dimension of the normal human mind. In fact, we could not function in the world without it. It is absolutely necessary for normal human life. Without the mental abilities of anticipation, hope, goal setting, and planning, we would be aimless, lost, mentally deficient, passive, and reactive. We would not seem intelligent or even human. Read more on the Importance of Future Consciousness. Future consciousness is part of our general awareness of time, our temporal consciousness of past, present, and future. Future consciousness includes the normal human capacities to anticipate, predict, and imagine the future, to have hopes and dreams about the future, and to set future goals and plans for the future. Future consciousness includes thinking about the future, evaluating different possibilities and choices, and having feelings, motives, and attitudes about tomorrow. Future consciousness includes the total set of ideas, visions, theories, and beliefs humans have about the future. Future consciousness in humans has been evolving throughout history. Our capacities to delve deeper into the past and look farther out into the future have grown both in power and sophistication. Our temporal horizons are expanding. Read more in The Origins of Future Consciousness, Ancient Myth, Religion, and Philosophy, and The Evolution and Psychology of Future Consciousness. In educating people to further develop their future consciousness – their temporal horizon into the future - we are simply contributing to the ongoing evolution of temporal consciousness by purposefully and thoughtfully applying scientific, philosophical, and psychological ideas to the process. The purposeful development of future consciousness is part of what the futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard means by “conscious evolution” – the conscious and purposeful evolution of ourselves and our world. The multi-faceted capacity of future consciousness can be tremendously enhanced in all people. There are many benefits associated with the development of future consciousness. Our cognitive capacities, our emotional life, our mental health and sense of personal identity all benefit from the enhancement of future consciousness. Read more on The Psychology and Value of Future Consciousness. We also use the expression “future consciousness” to refer to the future of consciousness. How might we envision consciousness transforming, expanding, or evolving in the future? In this sense, exploring the idea of future consciousness takes us into the general theme of psychological evolution, one of the key areas of interest of the Center. (See Psychological Evolution below.) There are many ways that consciousness potentially could be enhanced in the future – both in the short term and long term. We believe that the study and pursuit of wisdom, enlightenment, and character virtues all can contribute to the individual development of one’s consciousness – to its scope, depth, and various capacities. Further, the study and practice of philosophical thinking expands and enriches individual consciousness. (See Philosophy below.) In the long term, all the same factors apply with many additional ones progressively coming more into play, including technological, biological, genetic, and cosmological (adaptations to living in space or on other worlds.) Understanding the nature of consciousness is a central theme that permeates through many of our courses and workshops. Understanding consciousness and how consciousness connects with the natural world have been long-standing inquiries and highly challenging, perplexing issues in the histories of psychology, philosophy, science, and spirituality. There are many different definitions, descriptions, and theories of consciousness, but it is clear that consciousness is the personal arena of human existence; it is within consciousness that each of us experiences and knows ourselves and the world – it is within consciousness that each of us lives our lives. There may be more to human nature than consciousness (for example, that we are biological and physical beings) but our conscious minds and conscious selves are at the core of who we are and what we are. Further, it is also clear that throughout human history many individuals have sought ways to enhance, empower, extend, deepen, elevate, or enrich human consciousness; it is one of the central philosophical, humanistic, and religious-spiritual goals to evolve human consciousness. Science and technology, in fact, in contemporary times promise to both better understand and further empower this quintessential dimension of human existence. Will science continue to expand our understanding of how the brain is connected with consciousness? In what ways will this knowledge empower us in modifying the human brain and enhancing human consciousness? In what ways will computer technology (and nanotechnology) provide ways to enhance our mental and conscious capacities? When we speak about the future evolution of the human psyche, we need to highlight the evolution of consciousness (including specific aspects of it such as future consciousness) and how physical and social technologies may amplify and expand our conscious minds. Since the Center focuses on future consciousness, we are interested in the general phenomenon of consciousness. We can not understand future consciousness without understanding how consciousness works. Because we think about our future psychological evolution, we need to understand the qualities and capacities of consciousness if we are going to intelligently consider how these features of consciousness could be enhanced and what that would mean. If we wish to pursue the further development of wisdom and enlightenment, then understanding consciousness is essential. Finally, there are the related questions of what the connection is between the human mind and consciousness and the human self and consciousness; these are questions that have been repeatedly raised in the past and will continue to occupy the attention of philosophers, psychologists, humanists, scientists, and religious-spiritual thinkers; they are core questions regarding human identity. Whatever knowledge we gain relevant to these questions will contribute to the future evolution of human consciousness. Holistic Awareness and Understanding Our theoretical and educational perspective is holistic, expansive, and integrative. According to the evolutionary biologist John Stewart, evolution moves from adaptation to the “immediate here and now” to the ever expansive “there and then” – from a totally localized and singular space-time perspective to an increasing broader perspective on life. Overall, the evolutionary process is from an egocentric to a cosmic perspective. The capacity to entertain and consider multiple points of view is an expansion of consciousness beyond egocentricity. Becoming increasingly aware of our global reality, as well as our natural, ecological, and cosmic realities, involves an expansion of consciousness beyond the “here”. The ongoing evolution of historical and future consciousness involves the expansion of consciousness beyond the “now”. The study of philosophy moves us from specific bits of information and knowledge to a deeper understanding of the broadest and most fundamental issues and themes of life and existence. In the spirit of this general evolutionary direction toward the expansion of consciousness, in our educational presentations and workshops we look for the “big picture” of things in both space and time. We examine history and connect it to the present and the future, and we consider ecological, global, and cosmic perspectives in understanding the human condition. We think holistically – we stretch our minds outward, placing ourselves in the context of the whole. We follow Spinoza, viewing all facets of reality “through the eyes of eternity.” As well as thinking holistically about the future, we also adopt an integrative point of view. We pull together the scientific-technological and the humanistic-spiritual – we integrate the physical dimensions of the future with the psychological and social. We look at how all these aspects of the future are connected and explore how they might interact with each other. The future is a multi-faceted reality covering the environment, technology, economics and politics, education and culture, and religion and the human psyche. All these pieces to the puzzle of the future are included in our educational presentations and workshops. We believe that the enhancement of future consciousness should be the central goal of education. “Education spends much more time teaching the past than teaching the future.” We begin from the idea that the best way to prepare individuals for the future is to educate them on the future. Futures education vastly improves one’s capacities to create a better future. Since the future is the only reality we can do anything about, futures education is the most practical of all educational approaches. Education is clearly the doorway to the future and the future of education is education on the future. A preferable image of education in the future – an ideal vision – is to infuse futures education across all levels of the academic curriculum. Since wisdom is the highest expression of future consciousness, our preferable image of the future of education is that the pursuit and practice of wisdom should be the main focus of education. Wisdom should be the central character trait we practice and model as educators, and the central virtue we attempt to instill and develop in our students. This conclusion aligns with the idea that the development of virtues and ethical values, rather than simply the accumulation of knowledge and skills, should be at the core of education and academic inquiry. The Center for Future Consciousness applies a unique and powerful synthesis of contemporary psychology, educational theory, philosophy, and science to educational programs designed to help individuals and organizations increase their understanding of the future and constructively approach its challenges and possibilities. As a key theme, the development of character virtues, such as wisdom, optimism, courage and self-responsibility, is tied to the enhancement of future consciousness; personal growth and self-empowerment; mental health and well-being; the evolution of human society; and realizing purpose and meaning in life. In essence, the Center for Future Consciousness connects an understanding of the future – through a broad and integrative education in trends, theories, and possibilities – with human psychology – our emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and other mental abilities for dealing with the future. Applying contemporary educational theory in our workshops, we facilitate the deepest and most personal level of learning for all participants. And combining recent research in the field of positive psychology with a focus on the development of character virtues, we provide participants with strategies for how to create a happier life, now and in the future. The Unique and Powerful Synthesis of the Center for Future Consciousness There are two fundamental components to enhancing future consciousness. On one hand, we must increase our awareness and understanding of the trends, the challenges, and the possibilities of the future. Taking the big picture of things, we must look critically at what is going on in the world and consider where it might all be leading, and indeed, where we might hope it could lead. The Center for Future Consciousness provides a holistic and comprehensive review of all the major dimensions of the future, from science and technology to education and spirituality. The second piece involves the psychology of future consciousness. How do emotion, motivation, learning, thinking, and personality impact our attitudes and behaviors toward the future? The Center for Future Consciousness provides a thorough and up-to-date overview of the psychology of the future and addresses the ways the various capacities of future consciousness can be heightened and strengthened. Further, we apply educational principles of deep learning to personalize and make effective the learning process. The powerful synthesis of these two pieces is one thing that makes the Center for Future Consciousness unique. By showing how our psychological abilities that deal with the future can be consciously and effectively enhanced to face the future with its myriad possibilities, we connect human psychology with the study of the future. Second, we provide a totally original framework for understanding how to enhance our psychological abilities pertaining to the future. We ground our approach in the development of character virtues. Future consciousness can best be enhanced through the cultivation of a core set of virtues, such as courage, optimism, self-responsibility, and wisdom. The character virtues which contribute to future consciousness also contribute to authentic human happiness and enhanced mental health. These characters virtues empower. We demonstrate how these virtues, if pursued and cultivated, will improve the quality of life, both now and into the future. It is through our own self-development – informed and guided by an understanding of world we live in and its trends, challenges, and possibilities – that we will create a positive future for ourselves and others. The Importance of Futures Education Futures education is of central and critical importance to the whole educational process. Education, though acknowledging and building upon the accrued wisdom of the past, should focus on the future – its possibilities and desired values. Education should be grounded in history, but it should point toward the future. Nothing opens the mind like the study of the future – all the important academic, personal and professional skills can best be taught within the context of the future. Our educational approach to the future is multi-disciplinary and integrative. The future can only be understood by looking at all the fundamental dimensions of human reality from science and technology to the humanities and the social sciences. These dimensions of human life need to be interconnected in the educational experience, rather than presented piecemeal as in much of traditional education. The challenges and issues of our contemporary world cut across disciplines and require an integrative perspective for both understanding them and guiding our actions. Futures education, in fact, provides an ideal vehicle for integrative education. The future provides a focus for pulling together and energizing all the basic components and goals of the educational experience. Within the context of futures education, all the following skills, attitudes and values can be developed and reinforced: - Self –Development, Realistic Optimism, and a Proactive Attitude to Growth and Change - Development of Ethical Values, Character Virtues, and Ethical Thinking - Communication Skills - Interpersonal Social Skills and Awareness - Information Research skills - Higher Cognitive Skills, including: - Foresight, Creativity, Imagination, Visioning and Possibility Thinking - Planning and Goal Setting - Synthesis and Analysis - Critical Thinking Skills - Problem Solving - Deep Learning In general, futures education should be psychologically holistic, addressing all the fundamental dimensions of the person and the human mind from thinking, imagination, and creativity to perception and behavior, emotional, motivational, and personal development, and ethics and values. Futures education is at once practical and theoretical, personal and cosmic. Read more on The Pursuit of Wisdom and the Future of Education, Ethical Character Development and Personal and Academic Excellence, Understanding and Teaching Future Consciousness, and Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Futures Education. Also see the introductory discussions below on virtue and on wisdom. Evolution is the best way to understand the dynamics of reality, the nature of time, and the future. “No matter how far we go into the future, there will always be new things happening, new information coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness, and memory.” “Evolution is the story of us all.” We live in a dynamic universe and a world of change and the future will be different from the past. Nature is not static. Change is inevitable. Nature has shown a history of change, and there is a pattern to this change – evolution. Evolution appears to be a fundamental and necessary dimension of reality and nature. The evolutionary history of nature is well documented and corroborated across all levels of organization within the universe from cosmic, atomic, and molecular evolution to biological and ecological evolution and human history. This general process of evolution across all dimensions and levels of reality is cosmic evolution. Evolutionary thinking is perhaps the most significant dimension of contemporary science. Most, if not all, scientific disciplines conceptualize their specific areas of study in evolutionary terms. Natural reality is evolutionary and humans are participants in the ongoing process of evolution. We are evolutionary beings with an evolutionary history in an evolutionary and creative universe. Our future – a future of change, progression, novelty, and transcendence – will reflect (and even contribute to) this general evolutionary pattern of nature. Humans have faced challenges of abrupt and dramatic change and increasing complexity throughout history. As the world has transformed and evolved, humans have evolved as well. Humans and the world have evolved together in complexity and rate of change. This co-evolutionary process is reciprocal evolution. The history of evolution reveals an overall progressive direction to nature, one that includes the history of humankind. The history of nature beginning with the “Big Bang” and continuing through the formation of atoms, stars, galaxies, complex molecules, planetary ecosystems, life, and human societies exhibits a progressive direction. Rejecting Plato’s elevation of eternity and the primordial as the highest level of reality, standing above time (where time, in essence, is a “fall from perfection”), the evolutionary model of reality sees order, complexity, intelligence, freedom, uniqueness, consciousness, and other “higher” qualities increasing or amplifying through time. Understanding this evolutionary direction within nature is essential to understanding human progress. Human progress is embedded within evolutionary progress and is an expression of it. Applying the evolutionary framework to humans means that there is no stable human nature or human psychology – it is in evolution and it is inherent in the very nature of the human mind to strive toward greater evolution. We are, to quote Huxley, “evolution become conscious of itself.” There appears to be a set of deep principles which describe the evolutionary process, such as random mutation and natural selection, self-organization, “punctuated equilibrium,” and non-linear jumps in complexity occurring on the heels of extreme fluctuation, chaos, and bifurcation points. As another general evolutionary principle, evolution as a process may be becoming more complex and efficient, and accelerating across time; that is, evolution is evolving. Evolution shows both cumulative growth and creative novelty. Although nature builds upon itself, nature is also creative. The same process of cumulative growth and creativity also applies to human history. Hence the future both builds upon the past and transcends it. Humans engage in purposeful evolution. Humans are self-conscious and self-evaluative beings with ideals; we think about and evaluate ourselves relative to values. Though interactive with the environment, humans are centers of control within the ecological system and attempt to direct both their own evolution and, in accordance with their values, the evolution of the environment. But this purposeful evolution is participatory rather than detached; humans are ecologically embedded within the reality that they are trying to influence and exist in an interactive feedback loop with the world; the effects of our actions reflect back upon us. Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks of “conscious evolution” – to consciously direct our evolutionary future. Humans have been attempting to do this all through our history, in accordance with our evolving values. We are going to purposefully direct our evolution in the future as we have done in the past. An evolutionary perspective on reality is both scientifically informed and psychologically constructive and provides a rational and inspiring basis for approaching the future of humanity. The history and future of humanity should be seen in an evolutionary context. Evolution supports an attitude and set of values that give us realistic hope and optimism about tomorrow. Read more on evolution in The Future of Science and Technology and Science, Enlightenment, Progress, and Evolution. We teach that all of reality should be seen in terms of reciprocities. he who wants to have right without wrong, Order without disorder, Does not understand the principles Of heaven and earth. He does not know how Things hang together.” Contemporary science reveals that nature is a network of interdependencies, of balances, of complementary oppositions, and reciprocities. Because of the inter-connectivity of everything, all change involves reciprocal evolution. Nature, technology, and humanity change together, in interaction with each other. Humans are participatory in change, and as we influence the world around us, the world will affect and change us. Hence, it is important to take an inter-disciplinary view of the future, looking at all the main variables of human reality and how they interactively evolve. Especially within the last century, our basic scientific mode of thinking about nature, human society, and the human mind has changed dramatically – science has evolved. Aside from the emergence of a more dynamic perspective on nature, where increasingly everything is seen as fluid and changing (which includes the idea of evolution), nature appears to be a much more interdependent and interconnected network than previously believed. We cannot understand the world and our future as a set of distinct and separate entities. The principle of reciprocity captures this new philosophy and science of interconnectedness, providing a new way to understand both reality and our involvement in the creation of the future. Reciprocity is a central idea within modern scientific theories of open systems, order and chaos, quantum physics, biology, ecology, and the evolution of history and time. It is also a central idea in many areas of contemporary social and psychological thinking. The idea of reciprocity means distinct yet mutually interdependent realities. From the perspective of reciprocity, nature consists of a set of systems and realities that are distinct yet mutually supportive. The elements of nature support each other and feed off of each other. Reciprocity means a logic and ontology of complementarity, in contrast to the dualistic logic and ontology that have dominated Western thought for thousands of years. Instead of describing reality in terms of distinct dualities, such as mind and matter, the whole versus the parts, or humankind versus machines, each of these fundamental contrasts can be understood as interdependent and interactive. The ancient Eastern symbol of the Taoist Yin-Yang captures the modern meaning of reciprocity very well. In essence, the symbol integrates the cosmic dimensions of unity and difference. Within Taoist philosophy, Yin is the feminine principle of reality whereas Yang is the masculine principle. In general, Yin and Yang refer to the basic polarities of existence, such as light and darkness, active and passive, etc., but these two principles are mirror images of each other and are united in their complementarity and balance with each other. Reciprocity rejects all forms of dualism; that is, all the classic philosophical dichotomies should be seen as interdependencies. Reality is both a one/whole and a many/plurality; reality is both stability (being) and change (becoming and passing away); reality necessarily contains both order and chaos, which in effect depend upon each other. Ecological reciprocity, applied to human psychology, entails that humans and the environment are open and interpenetrating systems and form an interdependent whole. Within a framework of ecological reciprocity there is no absolute boundary between humans and the environment and neither can be defined independently of the other. Mind, intelligence, personal self-identity, and even consciousness are ecological emergent realities realized in a supporting environment. Read more on reciprocity in The Future of Science and Technology and The Evolution of the Ecology of Mind. The Value of Philosphy The study of philosophy expands and empowers the human mind and contributes to the development of wisdom, enlightenment, and ethical character Philosophy is the thoughtful and passionate examination of the basic issues and questions of life and existence. Philosophy concerns itself with what is most abstract and fundamental, such as, the nature of reality; the limits and scope of knowledge; what the good is and how to pursue the good life; what beauty is; what the mind is; and what the ideal society is. Philosophy is the quest for deep and fundamental knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment. Philosophy is thinking as opposed to just believing. Although philosophy often emphasizes the importance of reason and logic in the pursuit of knowledge, it also emphasizes an openness and freedom of inquiry. Nothing is assumed or taken for granted - all ideas and principles are open to reflection, debate and discussion. Philosophy is mental democracy in practice. Philosophy is more, though, than just an intellectual enterprise - philosophy is a passion and a love for thinking, inquiry, and insight. Philosophy is a sense of wonder in the face of existence. Philosophy is both imaginative and practical; the ideas of philosophy are frequently applied to life. Philosophy asks the question of how humans should live, individually and collectively. There are answers in philosophy, but many as opposed to one, and there are questions, disagreements, and perplexities. The ideal of philosophy – in fact, of all wisdom and thinking - is to journey rather than arrive. The fundamental values of philosophy are that it opens and frees the mind; vastly extends one’s understanding and appreciation of life and existence; develops and sharpens one’s thinking skills; and creates a passion for learning, knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment. Philosophy enhances human consciousness; philosophy enhances self-awareness. There are many important connections between philosophy and both the study of the future and the evolution of the human mind. Philosophy empowers the capacities and expands the scope and depth of the human mind; philosophy provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of intellectual thought, which serves as a foundation for understanding theories and visions of the future; and philosophy teaches one how to search for and identify the underlying and most fundamental principles and values in approaches to the future (to see the forest and not just the trees). Possibility and the Adventure of the Future We teach that the future is possibilities and consequently an adventure. "It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all that the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening." The future is open-ended – it is not set in stone. Humans may not be totally in control of the future, but we are not simply victims in the face of overpowering forces. What will be realized in the future will be a result of human choices and purposeful actions among a myriad of possibilities. The future is fundamentally an adventure. Although scientific laws and principles allow for some degree of prediction regarding the future, there is also an irreducible element of uncertainty to the unfolding of time. The uncertainty of tomorrow is partially a reflection of the nature of reality itself (it appears that we do not live in a totally deterministic universe), but our uncertainty about the future is also due to the present limitations of our knowledge, predictive powers, and imagination. What will we discover in the future? What will we create? What great wonders lie beyond the horizon of tomorrow? Where is human society headed? How might humanity, biologically or psychologically, be transformed? What new revelations and achievements, technologically, scientifically, and even spiritually, will emerge? Is humanity a stepping-stone on the journey of life and mind within the cosmos? What unbelievable realities will evolve in the universe and will we participate in their creation? The vast reaches and mysteries of the future seem to extend to infinity, challenging our intellect and expanding our consciousness and imagination. The future is the journey of ultimate possibilities - the ultimate adventure. The future is the ultimate adventure because it is possible that anything is possible in the future. What is thought to be impossible in a given era is often achieved at some later point in time. Throughout history many of humankind’s most cherished and deepest beliefs have been contradicted and transformed. In imagining possible futures, it is critical to open our minds to the miracles, wonders, and counter-intuitive realities that may lie ahead of us. What we think is impossible may become possible. We may be only at “the beginning of the beginning”. We may be only just awakening. What, indeed, can we say is impossible forever and always? What are the boundaries and the potentialities of reality? What are the limits to life, intelligence, technology, and civilization – to truth, beauty, and the good? And what may lie beyond these human categories of existence? The surest bet of all is that the future will surprise us beyond our wildest dreams. Aside from its sheer scope and cosmic dimensions, the future is also the ultimate adventure because we will personally participate in its creation and be changed in the process. The future is not simply the ultimate adventure of mind and imagination, but the ultimate personal adventure as well. The word “odyssey” suggests itself as an appropriate term for describing the future. It derives from the ancient Homeric tale of the Greek king Odysseus who, after emerging victorious from the battle and siege of Troy, wandered through unknown lands in search of his home in the Greek city of Ithaca. Just as Odysseus wandered through the ancient Mediterranean world, buffeted about and challenged by forces and mythological beings often beyond his control, so will we be inexorably and personally drawn into the future and tossed about within our odyssey through time. We cannot avoid this journey into tomorrow, for we are all temporal beings, travelers in the currents of time. The future is perpetually unfolding in front of us and through us, capturing our hearts and permeating our souls. We do not watch the future as detached observers; we are in the flow, navigating as Odysseus did through strange lands. Faced with potential risks and opportunities, our emotions, fortitude and convictions, and, most importantly, our sense of who and what we are, will be tested, engaged, and transformed in the odyssey of the future. We believe that we should aspire toward continued psychological evolution. Speculative visions of humans in the future, although often set in strange high-tech environments, usually portray humans, quite naively, as possessing the same type of psychology and mental make-up as they have today. This assumption about the future of human psychology is highly doubtful. Human nature is transformative and evolving, and not some single unchanging reality. Future developments in biotechnology and computer technology, the sciences of psychology and the brain, education, spirituality, human society and culture, and even space travel will transform and hopefully enhance the human mind. All aspects of human psychology, from perception, emotion, and motivation to cognition and personal identity will be affected. The evolutionary nature of humans is clearly supported through evidence from natural history. The last few million years demonstrates a series of significant biological changes; of special importance, the size of the brain has tripled. Since our psychology is intimately tied to the workings of our brain, our psychological capacities and traits have undoubtedly transformed. These psychological changes almost certainly include all basic features of the human mind, from cognition and language to emotional, motivational, personal, and social dimensions. Archeological evidence shows ongoing developments in tools, habitats, behaviors, and artifacts accompanying psychological changes. Further, biological and psychological evolution has not come to a standstill but has continued up to the present; genetic evolution is ongoing and modes of thinking have dramatically changed in the last few thousand years. The static view of humanity, argued by creationists, is totally contradicted by scientific evidence. Following from the idea of reciprocal evolution, the mental and physical dimensions of human reality will co-evolve together in the future. Our beliefs, values, attitudes, and mental capacities will stimulate and guide changes in our physical and technological world and through our evolving technologies and changes in our material world, the human mind and self will be affected and transformed. The evolution of mind and consciousness will be driven by both practical ecological and social challenges, as well as deep cosmological principles. Because of various global problems facing human society today, for many contemporary writers and visionaries, a new enhanced mode of thinking and level of consciousness is needed to flourish in the world of tomorrow. A “new enlightenment” is called for. I propose that key features of this new enlightenment include heightened future consciousness and holistic consciousness, along with the development of character virtues and, in particular, wisdom. Yet, I also propose that contemporary science and philosophy suggest that the central evolutionary trajectory of mind is towards the progressive realization of cosmic consciousness – of consciousness spreading outward into the cosmos, infusing the universe with intelligence, and aspiring toward a holistic and highly personalized awareness of existence. This never-ending evolutionary process, forever embodying a dimension of awe, mystery, and wonder, will be, in essence, the universe becoming self-conscious and self-empowered. Read more on psychological evolution in The Future Evolution of the Ecology of Mind. Virtue Development and Ethical Evolution We teach that the development of virtues and ethics is the key to human happiness, mental well-being, and a positive future. The pursuit of virtue is necessary to meet the challenges facing us in the world today and to create a better world tomorrow. The quality of the future will depend on the future quality of human beings. We face a set of significant global challenges, including ecological deterioration, economic inequality, stress and information overload, and continued population growth. Various solutions, economic, ecological, political, and technological, have been proposed to address these problems and we may, in fact, be making progress on multiple fronts. Yet, we argue that the most effective and penetrating solution to most of these problems is a psychological and ethical evolution in humanity. Through the development of a core set of ethical character virtues as a central agenda for humanity world wide we can ameliorate these problems. This solution makes perfect sense since most of today’s global problems are due to deficiencies in character virtues. The quality of the future will pivot on improving the ethical quality of humans. The idea that the “good life” can be achieved through the internalization of character virtues goes back at least as far as Aristotle. For Aristotle, a life of virtue not only creates happiness in the individual but equally contributes to the well being of the community. Virtues are not simply self-centered or self-serving. Further, for Aristotle happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure is a good feeling; happiness is an accomplishment, a form of excellence, and a way of life. Happiness is not achieved through practicing a “hedonism of the present.” Virtues are connected with values, in that a virtue is a value lived and internalized into the character of a person. If truth is a value, honesty and forthrightness are the corresponding virtues. Images of the future often highlight technological advances, and although technological development is both a natural and critically important dimension of our evolution, it is equally important that we focus on our ethical evolution. Although there is much to learn from our moral traditions and history, ethical evolution involves considering our ethical decisions and practices in light of our best contemporary modes of thinking and knowledge, with an eye on the future. By definition, ethical evolution means going beyond our present ideas and practices regarding morals and values. Increased human happiness, mental health, and the improvement of human society are intimately connected with our ethical evolution. Ethics and values impact numerous areas of the future. Our future success in education is tied to issues of ethics and value. Ethics and values are connected with technological development and the future of the environment. Psychological and social evolution embodies an ethical dimension. Read more on virtue in Evolving Future Consciousness through the Pursuit of Virtue. Wisdom and Enlightenment We identify wisdom as a critical virtue for the future. We see enlightenment as an ongoing developmental process involving the expansion and deepening of consciousness and human understanding – an ideal direction we should aspire toward in the future evolution of the human mind. Wisdom can be defined as the highest expression of self-development and future consciousness. It is the continually evolving understanding of and fascination with the big picture of life, of what is important, ethical, and meaningful, and the desire and ability to apply this understanding to enhance the well being of life, both for oneself and others. Wisdom is connected with an expansiveness of consciousness, into the past and the future. Wisdom connects the heritage and lessons of the past with the thoughtfulness, openness, and creativity needed for the future. Wisdom involves an expansive synthesis of temporal consciousness – it combats the excessive narrow “presentism” of today. The virtue of wisdom is essential in dealing with the complexity of our times – wisdom involves the capacity for integration and abstraction and the application of such knowledge to life. Wisdom unites the heart and the head – there is both an affective and cognitive dimension to wisdom. Wisdom empowers and liberates, being closely connected with enhanced self-awareness and the capacity to make thoughtful and informed choices in life. Further, wisdom is a virtue which pulls together many other human virtues, for example, courage, freedom, balance, and transcendence. It is a common argument that a new way of thinking is needed to successfully address the challenges and problems of contemporary society; this new way of thinking requires an enhanced capacity for future consciousness. Indeed, a new enlightenment is called for – one which will be implemented and taught within our educational systems. Our modern educational practices and pedagogies need to be transformed so that instead of reflecting various problems and deficiencies in modern culture, they will help to identify solutions to major social and cultural problems. The pursuit of wisdom should serve as the guiding principle for both the new enlightenment and the re-structuring of our educational philosophy and practices. Enlightenment is a goal pursued in both philosophy and spiritual practices. Enlightenment can be defined as the illumination of consciousness, that is, a state of increased clarity, understanding, and scope within the human mind – of more deeply and clearly perceiving reality. But it is important to see that enlightenment is not some ideal end point of conscious evolution or development; enlightenment is a directional process with no ultimate and final realization; enlightenment can occur progressively throughout a person’s life. Within an evolutionary framework, enlightenment is dynamic and progressive rather than static and complete. If one argues that wisdom is the capacity for leading the good life; then enlightenment could be seen as the ongoing realization and increasing understanding of what the good life is. Being able to apprehend what is fundamental and important in life is a frequently identified quality of wisdom; enlightenment would be the experience of gaining this knowledge – in which case, wisdom requires enlightenment. Read more on wisdom in The Pursuit of Wisdom and the Future of Education and Philosophy, Wisdom, and the Future.

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Importance of Teachers Understanding Learning Preferences Why Should Teachers Be Concerened With How Students Learn? Although Gardner’s (1993) theory of multiple intelligences suggests that there are a variety of methods to learn material, this writer prefers the simplicity of Fleming’s (2006) VARK taxonomy— which classifies people as having four major learning preferences: visual, aural, reading/writing and kinesthetic. A tenant of Fleming’s VARK method is the thought that exposure to a non-preferred learning preference does not hinder student understanding, however it may not fully engage the learner to understanding. As such, non-preferred learning styles serve as a sort of preview or review of material, and may help aid comprehension but not ignite complete understanding. John and Rajakshmi (2011) further assert that “study skills, attitude and habits play a crucial role” in determining if effective learning will occur, meaning that the engaged students will have better academic success (p. 92). When teachers vary their teaching techniques to incorporate all the major learning styles, it encourages student success, and ultimately a joy of learning. Not surprisingly, Fleming (2006) suggests that teachers tend to instruct classes in the manner that they themself prefer learning. For example, the teacher that prefers the reading/writing learning preference might assign bulky required reading and large writing assignments. When teachers consider the needs of the students above the ease and preference of the teacher, students can learn new material and reinforce concepts. Interestingly, Reed, Banks and Carlisle (2004) assert “students achieve higher test scores and seem to enjoy learning more when personal learning styles are considered” (p. 25). How then can teachers naturally integrate this knowledge into the classroom? Reed et. al. suggest getting to know your students personally and understanding their learning tendencies. Discussion of Key Terms As the term “learning preference” implies, each student has a distinct inclination for learning material in a particular manner. The VARK theory does not, however, imply that a student cannot learn through another teaching method, rather it means that a student responds best to material that is presented in the manner that most appeals to him. While several students in a classroom will likely prefer the same learning style, it is improbable that a classroom would be made up of students with all the same preference. The VARK taxonomy classifies preferences into four categories: visual, aural, reading/writing and kinesthetic. Despite the need to teach material to students in a way that matches their preference, Carson (2009) suggests that students need classrooms that teach course material in several different methods in order to truly comprehend it, noting that “no one approach or single presentation style maximizes learning for all student” (p. 96). Students benefit from frequent exposure to content through a variety of teaching methods. In addition to a predominant learning preference, Fleming (2006) notes that many students are multimodal, meaning that they equally enjoy learning material through one method as they do another. Even if a student prefers one method to another exposure to other methods is still helpful to student comprehension. About Learning Preferences Although other complex learning style models exists, Fleming (2006) suggests that determining one’s preference may be as simple as considering how someone prefers to get or give directions. For example, someone who frequently describes landmarks when giving directions is likely a visual learner. Someone who writes the directions down is likely a reading/writing learner. Someone who repeats directions orally is likely an aural learner. Someone who would want to follow someone else in a car or take a trial run at traveling the route is likely a kinesthetic learner, because he prefers to experience things. Just as one method of giving or getting directions is not good or necessarily bad, no way of learning is necessarily better than another method; it all comes down to preference. Although Fleming (2006) uses the word “strength” to describe a person’s affinity toward a preference, he is careful to avoid using the word “strength” with regard to quality of the learning preference. For example, Fleming states that the VARK questionnaire is framed to reflect the student’s decisions when learning “whether you have a skill or not, is not the focus” (p. 5). A preference may be a strength to someone, but that does not mean another person who does not use that preference is weak. Fleming’s (2006) VARK taxonomy categorizes learning preferences into four groups: visual, aural, reading/writing and kinesthetic. Each preferences has its own distinct tendencies, strengths and inclinations. Visual learners think graphically and tend to underline words in text, use symbols, and different colors when taking notes; often those with a strong visual preference may be able to visualize the textbook when taking tests. Fleming (2006) notes that these students enjoy “textbooks with diagrams”, especially those with “different spatial arrangements on the page” that help make the information stand out on the page (p. 75). To play on the strengths of this preference, Fleming suggests that visual learners study for tests by drawing diagrams and turning visual cues such as acronyms into words. Aural learners acquire information best by both hearing and speaking ideas aloud. Fleming (2006) suggests that aural learners process information by explaining ideas aloud, participating in discussions, and listening to prerecorded lectures. Aural learners best recall information when teachers use stories, analogies and tell jokes during lectures. Fleming suggests that aural learners prepare for test by reading summarized notes aloud, or discussing material with another aural learner. Students with the reading/writing preference enjoy making lists, taking notes, reading textbooks and writing essays. Teachers help the read/write learner by using interesting words, distributing handouts and using giving definitions of words. To help students prepare for tests, Fleming suggests that students with the reading/writing preference rewrite their notes and complete extra reading assignments suggested by the teachers. Kinesthetic learners find traditional learning environments difficult because they prefer “reality and concrete situations” to abstract situations (Fleming, 2006, p. 101). Hands-on activities, such as field trips and applied opportunities allow kinesthetic learners to use their preferences and learn information best. Fleming suggests that kinesthetic learners remember practice what they learned, perform notes, and recall previous lectures and exams; roleplaying activities also allows kinesthetic students to put their knowledge into practical application. The relationship between the teacher and the learner being so similar indicates that learning preference and teacher tendencies are not in as much opposition as this writer originally thought. Just as some students have a strong preference toward one learning preference, some students are multimodal meaning that they enjoy learning through several methods. Other students may have a void or deficiency in a preference. According to Fleming (2006), these students “dislike” or do not use these methods. Fleming carefully notes that a void or low preference “does not mean a low level of skill”; rather it indicates a low preference for the mode (p. 13). Identifying Personal Learning Preferences Just as each student has a tendency to prefer one learning technique to another, teachers also have a tendency to utilize some teaching methods over another. If a teacher’s tendency is to lecture in class, this will of course reach the aural students well, and perhaps the reading/writing students who like to take notes from lectures, however students from the visual and kinesthetic reading preference may be lost and disconnected from the course material. Teachers who understand their own learning preference and teaching tendencies can better evaluate how to alter their lesson plans to reach students with other modalities. Identifying preferences may also involve taking the online questionnaire or seeing where instructional changes can be made. For example, instead of merely lecturing during class time, a teacher could integrate visuals — such as charts and graphs— into a PowerPoint presentation. Instead of only assigning written reports, teachers could integrate more classroom discussions and oral presentations, to suite the needs of aural learners. Teachers could also implement more hands-on activities to help kinesthetic learners connect better with the course material. Fleming (2006) notes that a teacher’s preferences often dictate how they teach a class, how they give instructions and how they expect assignments to be turned in. For example, Fleming notes that teachers with a void or deficiency of the visual preference may think that students and peers spend too much time on the appearance of a project and focus too little on the “point” of the project. Conversely, a teacher with an aural preference expects their students to contribute to classroom discussions and prefer to learn from the experts. Plan in Action In situations where a formal evaluation of learning preferences is not feasible, teachers can extract information more informally by bringing up a classroom discussion at the beginning of the year. For example, a teacher could ask for a show of hands in class to a few simple learning-related questions, or ask students to turn in a 3x5 card with a list of preferences. This information on the make-up of a classroom could help a teacher gear material more appropriately, such as integrating more papers into the curriculum or by devoting more time to classroom discussion. Identifying Student Learning Preferences While some students may recognize they enjoy certain learning activities and do not enjoy others, not all students truly recognize their preferences and understand how they best learn. Although teachers could require students to take the VARK questionnaire, the availability of time and constricts of the format could prove difficult for some class situations. Additionally, some students may not want to provide their teacher with what may be deemed as personal information. During a one-on-one tutoring situation, the teacher may be able to ask specific questions of the student to determine how to best proceed with review and instruction. While determining a student’s prefered learning method may take some time from instruction, it may help make the session more productive than if the teacher attempts give instruction in a method that the student has a void in. While students in a particular major may have similar tendencies toward learning, teachers should be careful to not generalize too much. In an attempt to identify learning preferences and the effectiveness of problem based learning activities for nursing students, Alkhasawneh, Mrayyan, Docherty, Alashram and Yousef (2008) conducted a study of students in their third year of the nursing program. Ultimately Alkhasawneh et. al found that their research agreed with a previous study conducted by Murphy et al (2004), that there was little difference between the preferences of male and female students. Similarly, Drago and Wagner (2004) were interested in how the learning preferences of online students compared with those of their traditional classroom counterparts. Based on their research, Drago and Wagner came up with several significant findings, including that online courses tended to attract students with the reading/writing and visual preference. Interestingly, Drago and Wagner suggested that meeting learning style preferences of online students was not as critical to the learning process as in the traditional classroom, likely because many students are multi-modal, and can process several forms of information and put together the pieces. Alkhasawneh, I.M., Mrayyan, M.T., Docherty, C., Alashram, S. & Yousef, H.Y. (2008). Problem-based learning (PBL): Assessing student learning preferences using VARK. Nurse Education Today (28), 572-579. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2007.09.012 Barney, S., Brown-Sederberg, J., Collins, E., Griggs, L., Iannacci, L., & Keith, S. (2009). Varying pedagogy to address student multiple intelligences. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, 7(1), 55-60. Black, J.M. (2004). Assessing learning preferences. Plastic Surgical Nursing, 24(2), 68-69. Carson, D. (2009). Is style everything? Teaching that achieves its objectives. Cinema Journal, 48(3), 95-101. doi: 1876730441 Craciun, B. & Dumitru, S.B. (2011). Knowledge management— The importance of learning theory. Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology 7, 1-8. Drago, W.A. & Wagner, R.J. (2004). VARK preferred learning styles and online education. Management Research News. (27)7, 1-13. Dunn, J.L. (2009). Using learning preferences to improve coaching and athletic performance: are your players or students kinesthetic learners? Visual? Multimodal? Knowing who is which will help you coach or teach effectively. The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (80)3, 30-37. Fleming, N. (2006). Teaching and learning styles: VARK strategies. The Digital Print and Copy Centre: New Zealand. Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books, New York. Jack, M, Kenkare, S., Saville, B., Beidler, S., Saba, S., West, A., Hanemann, M. & van Aalst, J. (2010). Improving education under work-hour restriction: Comparing learning and teaching preferences of faculty, residents, and students. Journal of Surgical Education (67)5, 290-296. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2010.07.001 John, C., Rajalakshmi, & Suresh, K. P. (2011). Fostering study skills, attitudes and habits among students using the multiple intelligences approach. Language In India, 11(10), 92-109. McClellan, J., & Conti, G. (2008). Identifying the multiple intelligences of your students. Journal of Adult Education, 37(1), 13-32D. doi: 1593464571 VARK: A Guide to Learning Styles. (2011). What’s New? Retrieved on June 16, 2012 from http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=whatsnew Rovai, A., & Grooms, L. (2004). The relationship of personality-based learning style preferences and learning among online graduate students. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 16(1), 30-47. doi:1975935191 Statistics on Learning Preferences The online VARK questionnaire is comprised of 13 questions, where participants indicate their learning preference in certain situations; students are allowed to indicate more or more than one preference to each question if desired. The survey reports scores for each learning style in numerical values in the respective “VARK” order. For example, if a student scored 2, 2, 3, 7 the visual, aural and reading/writing learning preferences respectively were preferred least, and the kinesthetic modality was preferred most. Fleming (2006) reports that about 40% of respondents had a predominately single learning preference while the other 60% were multimodal, meaning that they preferred more than one learning preference (p. 11). Fleming further reports that about 15% of respondents were bimodal— meaning that they preferred two modes— about 12% were trimodal— meaning that they preferred three modes— and 32% used the four learning styles equally (p. 10). When compared to other VARK survey results, these statistics bear generally statistically true with other adult learners. Interestingly,Fleming (2006) also compares the preferences of students to teachers and found very similar results between the two groups. For example, both student and teacher groups registered at a 15.2% of the visual preference tendency (p. 10). Similarly, students registered a 22.9% at the aural preference and teachers registered at 22.3% tendency (p. 10). These findings depicted those who had more than one preference for learning, also known as being multimodal. Nuances of Learning Preferences Barney, Brown-Sederberg, Collins, Griggs, Iannacci and Keith (2009) suggest that when students understand their learning preference they might have more opportunities for educational success, since they can alter their study habits to suit their strengths. Interestingly Fleming (2011) notes that knowing one’s LP does not necessarily affect the learning process, possibly stating: Merely knowing that you learn best by writing does not mean that you will use only that mode for your learning. Many learners copy the learning modes of successful peers instead of using their own preferences. [For example] knowing your weight does not make you take action to reduce (or increase) it. It is the action after "knowing" that determines whether there is a useful link between learning and knowing your VARK preferences. (Vark-Learn.com, 2011). Essentially, students and teachers must put the knowledge of learning preference into practical application in order for the knowledge to be truly successful. Reed et. al (2004) suggest that creating lesson plans that suit all learning styles “is not a cure-all; rather, it is an important element that impacts the learning environment” (p. 27). Implications of Learning Preferences Just as teachers in the traditional classroom have a responsibility to reach as many students as possible, teachers in the online classroom have a responsibility to provide different teaching methods to their students. Craciun and Dumitru (2011) note that “the more comprehensive, voluminous and various [instruction] is, the more new knowledge can be integrated and applied” by students (p. 3). Similarly, Rovai and Grooms (2004) suggest that online instructors do not necessarily need to consider the learning needs of their online students, but that they should vary assignments to create an equitable learning environment (p.43). Researchers agree that teachers should look to include ‘active learning’ assignments that help create meaningful educational experiences and engage learners. When teachers consider the learning needs of their students it allows for a more “engaging and relevant lessons” notes Barney et. al (2009, p. 55). Although Jack, Kenkare, Saville, Beidler, Saba, West, Hanemann, and van Aalst (2010) researched a different learning preference taxonomy than VARK, they concluded that matching faculty and students together who had similar preferences creates an “ideal learning environment” because students related better to the teacher and coursework (p. 294). While Black (2004) wrote an article geared toward medical professionals, his suggestion of writing down patient preferences in a chart works similarly with teachers in the grade book. Knowing and understanding your student’s preferences may help when working one-on-one or when giving instructions for an assignment. For example, for a student with aural preferences you may need to repeat assignment instructions aloud, using common non-jargon words for best comprehension. Similarly, students with a read/write preference may want you to provide a written list of instructions or a sample document for their benefit. Opportunities for Further Research Although McClellan and Conti (2088) suggest that mature adults are more capable of facilitating personal learning than younger students, this writer wonders how LP and life experience factor into teaching people of varied learning inclinations. Of course since the differences in level of content taught to a middleschooler and an adult learner are so different, it may be difficult to determine the relationship between learning preferences and motivation to learn with regard to ways of learning. For example, McClellan and Conti note that adult learners prefer learning things that apply to them immediately, whereas younger students like to learn for learning’s sake. This writer suggests that further opportunities for research lie in comparing the preferences of older and younger students, and adaptability to voided preferences between the two age groups. Dunn (2009) notes that “students learn best when teachers present new material through main perceptual preferences and reinforce that material through secondary preferences. When teachers accommodate different learning preferences, learner motivating increases” (p. 30). All effective teachers want their students to not only understand concepts, but ultimately succeed educationally. The theory of learning preferences and varied learning theories has far-reaching application than just presentation methods, assigning grades and delivering assignments in a classroom. School administrators as well as coaches on the field can all glean information from this theory on how to better relate to others and learn how to better teach and train and teach their subordinates. More by this Author Visual aids enhance the classroom and learning experience, but only when used effectively. Learn how, when, and why you should use visual aids to help students understand concepts better. Learn more about medieval education with this brief article on the differences in education between the social clases. Planning a trip to Pensacola or the surrounding area? Here's basic list of things to do and places to see from a former local who still visits Pensacola almost every summer. No comments yet.

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Verifying Student Identities Online From E-Learning Faculty Modules Digital identities are increasingly being used to facilitate online learning, in a context of social networking, virtual collaborations, information sharing, and live real-time interactivity. Digital identities may be names in a learning / course management system (L/CMS); they may be three-dimensional avatars in virtual worlds. This module defines digital identities and then discusses the importance of verifying student identities in online courses. - Describe what digital identities are - Understand the importance of digital identities for e-learning - Explain the importance of verification of digital identities - Consider the importance of learner privacy - Identify ways to verify student identities online - Consider the uses of “controlled” anonymity in online learning 1. What is a digital identity? What does it consist of? 2. What is the role of a digital identity for an online learner? For an online instructor? 3. Why are digital identities important for e-learning? For social reasons? For identity authentication reasons? 4. Why is it important to verify digital identities of online learners? 5. Why is learner privacy (especially in the context of identity) important? 6. What are some ways to verify student identities online? 7. What is “controlled anonymity”? How is controlled anonymity useful in online learning (in some contexts)? Digital identities come from a variety of information sources, some of it shared purposefully and others created from other sources and individuals. One conceptualization of a digital identity involves three tiers. “My Identity” is the most specific and informational. A “Shared Identity” involves pieces of the core identity. The “Abstracted Identity” is the most general, even though it does reflect the real world (Rowe, 2010, p. 36). In the same way individual identities are a social construct—based on interactions with other people—digital identities may also be shaped in that way. Identities are partially cultural constructs, partially psychological ones (Rowe, 2010, p. 36). What Digital Identities Are A “digital identity” is “the electronic representation of the information known about a specific individual or organization. Such information can be used for different purposes, ranging from allowing one to prove his/her claim to identity (e.g. the use of a birth certificate or passport) to establishing rights (e.g. the use of a driver’s license to establish the right to operate a vehicle). In principle, strong authentication technologies, such as smart cards and biometrics, may be used to link an individual with his/her own digital identities” (Jones, Antón, & Earp, 2007, p. 91). Digital identities are linked to unique individuals, and these convey certain aspects of personality for self-expression as well as for interactivity and socializing with others. They involve access to information and certain defined privileges. These identities are “markers” that verify their identities and reinforce their trustworthiness. The poverty or absence of identity may lead to diminished trust because of the lowered accountability. Some authors note that lack of identity may free individuals to act in “socially undesirable and harmful ways” and diminishes the “integrity of information” and its provenance and source (Johnson & Miller, 1998, p. 37). Identity fraud is “the common denominator of all serious crime” (Boongoen & Shen, 2009), so much effort has been put into the effective verification of human identities. Many technology-based digital identities work within particular systems and are not “federated” over multiple systems (Schwartz, 2010). Identity federation allows a user to access multiple service providers seamlessly through “single sign-on” for identity coherence and ease-of-access. Without federated identity systems, people who want to function in different systems need to create new identities in each in order to function. Some systems have light security such as a password sort of authentication; others use biometrics (physiological characteristics and behaviors). Common biometrics measures involve the uses of fingerprints, iris scans, facial scans, hand geometry, keystrokes, voice, and retinal identification (Ahmed & Moskowitz, 2005, p. 137), and others use a combination of information to verify user identities. On a very basic level, many systems use Internet Protocol (IP) address tracking to link to individual users and their respective locations; IPs and real people are closely related (Clauβ & Schiffner, 2006, p. 55). Personally identifiable information (PII) consists of information that may reveal the core identity of an individual. Systems designed to unmask identities use matching features to coalesce partial or inaccurate identities. While some aspects of digital identities (and image management) are created by the person represented by the identity (such as through maintenance of their social networking accounts), there are many aspects of people’s digital identities that are created by their circumstances and their behaviors. For example, “data doubles” are the electronic trails left by people that may be coalesced for a more coherent vision of them. They may leave an electronic image on closed circuit televisions. There are nuanced ways of identifying and verifying identities—including something as subtle as keystroke latencies in word-processing (the pauses between the hitting of certain keys—that may be patterned for different individuals) (Joyce & Gupta, 1990). Individuals are interpreted by their associations—the networks of friends that they deal with, with research finding that people socialize with similar individuals. Others interpret a digital identity based to how their search interests have evolved over time (Rowe, 2010, p. 36). Another indirect way of telling an identity is tracking individuals through “access network providers” to evaluate the transported traffic through a network (Barisch, 2009, p. 45), with inferences about identities. Reputation systems in online communities may rank users based on their contributions, online behaviors, and interactions with others in that community; these offer automated ways to understand reputation, social connections, and “value.” Other reputation systems depend on peer evaluations based on what people post about them. Text analyses of the posted comments may offer insights about peer opinions. “Metaidentities” are those that are formed from various closed systems—and the information is brought together into a coherent sense of an individual. In e-learning, digital identities are sometimes known as “telepresence” or how an individual manifests electronically. This telepresence is created not only by the inclusion of biographical details but how the individual communicates and interacts with others in a shared online space. Group presence is often labeled “social presence.” The Importance of Digital Identities for E-Learning Identity fraud has been quite common on the WWW, with people using others’ images and identities for various financial and other criminal scams. Identities are “poisoned” through fraudulent accounts, with individuals impersonating others. Fake accounts are created to spam others with unwanted advertising or obnoxious messages. Different types of phishing attacks are launched to try to get people’s private identity and access information—for financial gain and information access. So-called “doppelganger attacks” involve the faking of a site’s interface to get privy information. Recovering an identity that has been compromised is onerous and expensive. Individuals have to provide documentary proof of their identity to rectify a situation. Some harms to reputations may be hard to erase. Others experiment with different senses of selves and identities for creativity. People have cybersquatted on others’ names to try to make money. In e-learning, digital identities are critical in two main ways. The authenticated identities are critical for making sure that the actual person signed up for the learning is the one taking the course. This is important for academic honesty, and it’s absolutely critical for the reputations of the universities. A second way digital identities are critical is for learner role plays, experimentation, creativity, and “play.” These may be imaginary or assigned or role-play-based identities. Avatars stand in for the individual selves in the virtual world and recreate social conditions from the real world. For both purposes, learners need to closely guard their digital identities and authentication methods, through passwords or other methods. One researcher calls this “responsibilization,” which is defined as a “process of encouraging individuals to become more involved in managing the risks they face” (Whitson, 2009, pp. 41 – 42). Also, universities have responsibilities to verify student identities in an online context, based on impending federal legislation. As e-learning moves into mobile learning and wireless interactivity, the issues of privacy and digital identity protections will become even more critical. The Importance of the Verification of Digital Identities Universities need to verify who learners are to ensure that the training and credential are going to the correct person. When people graduate and take on responsible jobs, the decisions they make can have long-term implications on other people’s lives, the environment, the economy, and the larger society. Also, students have plenty of personal information that they share in an online course. They share personal information. Their work may be highly revealing about the individuals. The access to that information should be protected along with learner grades and personal information. Students are also now building e-portfolios in their online classrooms. These may be wholly private, disseminated among a small group, or published on the WWW, but whatever the case, the learner has intellectual property (IP) rights (oftentimes) to his or her own work, and that IP should also be protected. Protecting Learner Privacy One common online instructor role involves facilitation of the learning. Here, they create a safe environment in the classroom for acquiring knowledge and skills and even integrating into a professional field. They need to interact with learners with some sense of each one’s interests and capabilities in order to customize and tailor the learning. Identity is important here in terms of tracking learners and understanding their performance over a period of time. Online learning may not allow instructors to get a full sense of learners in a way that interacting with them face-to-face may (in terms of offering informal channels for learning about students). They may have fewer cues from each learner, and they may have opportunities to misread learners or confuse one with another. Instructors must also protect learner privacy, codified in the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA). Ways to Verify Student Identities Online There are different types of attestations of identity in online environments. Learning / course management systems (L/CMSes) can track user IPs and log-in patterns in terms of time. There are some biometric add-ons to computer systems to verify identity. High-value exams are given in the context of proctored exams, with live human verifiers. Researchers have found varying familiarity with authentication technologies, with the most widely known ones as passwords (93.9% familiarity). Then, in descending order, the respondents were next most familiar with fingerprint scans (51.3%), signature analysis (47%), voice recognition (43.5%), RFID tags (36.5%), digital certificates (31.3%), smart cards (31.3%), iris / retina scans (27.8%), face recognition (25.1%), hand geometry (20%), and other tokens (16.5%) (Jones, Antón, & Earp, 2007, p. 93). There are concerns about the possible misuses of certain types of authentication information, with nuanced attitudes about when certain types of authentication may be used (with high reliability in financial domains but leeriness in others). There are fears of privacy compromises and misuses of such data. These attitudes will likely affect what may be used to verify online learner identities. Various technological methods are used to detect deceptive identities. For example, logging in with a particular identity from various IPs in geographically dispersed locations may be one way of identifying concerns. There may be patterning learned from fraudulent academic activities, such as the tracking of plagiarized files through comparisons of submitted work with data repositories of known student works. Beyond technological means, there are social ones for encouraging accurate digital identities and academic honesty. Some universities have students sign on to honor codes—and have methods for addressing academic dishonesty—that may encourage student supports of honor codes and peer pressures for academic honesty. The Uses of Controlled Anonymity in Online Learning Some instructors use controlled anonymity for some aspects of online learning. In situations of controlled anonymity, user identities are accessible, but not to the common learner. Rather, the digital identities used are non-representational of the learners. “Anonymity” refers to the fact of not being identifiable within a certain set of subjects. This is related to the amount of uncertainty associated with a particular identity. The less identifiable an identity, the more anonymous it is. The mere absence of identification is not anonymity. There is not a current widely used metric for anonymity. More information does not always necessarily reduce anonymity, but disambiguation of identity may occur with more relevant information. Anonymity may allow learners the freedom to express a range of ideas and to role-play without real-world repercussions. These may offer a kind of protection from real-world identities. On the WWW, anonymizers may be used to mask the IP addresses of those surfing to particular sites (Rowe, 2010, p. 36); they may hide the originating email addresses of email senders. Others argue that anonymity will allow for privacy and freedom-of-speech (including whistleblowing). Digital identity authentication systems must be difficult to hack. They must be verifiable, non-repudiate-able, and tamper-proof. In federated systems, each part of the system must be robust and not introduce vulnerabilities into the rest of the systems. To balance anonymity and managed digital identities, some suggest that third-party escrow accounts may be held—to protect the person’s original identity from discovery but to still make that individual discoverable if necessary. “The basic idea is that under ordinary circumstances, a person can act anonymously, but in case of a special situation, the identity of the involved person can be specified. This is achieved by preparing two tiers of identity in which the first tier carries the minimal amount of information required for online activities (i.e., practically anonymous), and the second tier bears the full identity to specify that person,” write the researchers (Taniguchi, Chida, Shionoiri, & Kanai, 2005, p. 37). Such identity systems may use certificates to identify users and their status within a system. Other systems enable the creation of public pseudonyms. Avatars are a kind of pseudo-identity that may or may not have direct connections with the particular human embodying the avatar. 3D humanoid avatars used in immersive virtual worlds may convey personality through appearances, histories, real voices, and a range of behaviors and stances. People may maintain multiple avatars or quick-changes of looks and feels of existing avatars for playfulness, learning, and intentional deception. These various identities may allow people to socialize in the digital “third places” of society. Indeed, some researchers have found a poor match of avatar cues to the same information in the real world (Junglas, Johnson, Steel, Abraham, & Loughlin, 2007, p. 91), which suggests a greater range of identity exploration and differentiation. Such variant identities may allow them to pursue various games and casual entertainment. The ease of changing digital identities has resulted in a low commitment to the particular online identity by many (Junglas, Johnson, Steel, Abraham, & Loughlin, 2007). Many advocate against digital identity anonymity because of the fear that anonymity would result in misdeeds. The creation of identity is seen as a way to modify behavior and enhance skills acquisitions (Mamykina, Miller, Mynatt, & Greenblatt, 2010). Another aspect is storytelling through avatars as a way to raise learner awareness and to enhance the modification of their behaviors. Performance communities exist online for learning through dramaturgy and machinima creations. Student electronic identifications and passwords are one layer of verification of student identities. Depending on university strategies and official policies, instructors may use back-end tracking of learners to understand their behaviors in the learning / course management system. Digital identities may be misleading. Authentications of learner identities need to be non-intrusive, and they must also not compromise learner privacy. There may be perfectly clear explanations why certain authentications did not function as they should. Instructors will need to finesse this situation with wisdom and legality. 1. What are some forms of digital identities used for online learning? (Consider the identities used in learning / course management systems, virtual worlds, social networking spaces, wikis, and blogs, for example.) 2. What is the importance of digital identities for e-learning? 3. Why is it important for instructors and institutions of higher education to verify digital identities? 4. Why is learner privacy important? (Consider both FERPA and professionalism.) 5. What are some technological methods to verify student identities online? What are some pedagogical methods to verify student identities online? 6. How is “controlled” anonymity sometimes useful for online learning? Ahmed, F. & Moskowitz, I.S. (2005). Composite signature based watermarking for fingerprint authentication. In the proceedings of the 7th Workshop on Multimedia and Security (MM & Sec ’05): New York, New York. 137 – 142. Barisch, M. (2009). Modelling the impact of virtual identities on communication infrastructures. In the proceedings of the Digital Identity Management (DIM ’09): Chicago, Illinois. Association of Computing Machinery. 45 – 52. Boongoen, T. & Shen, Q. (2009). Intelligent hybrid approach to false identity detection. In the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law (ICAIL-2009): Barcelona, Spain. Association of Computing Machinery: 147 – 156. Clauβ, S. & Schiffner, S. (2006). Structuring anonymity metrics. In the proceedings of the second ACM workshop on Digital Identity Management (DIM ’06): Alexandria, Virginia. Association of Computing Machinery. 55 – 62. Johnson, D.G. & Miller, K. (1998). Anonymity, pseudonymity, or inescapable identity on the Net. Computers and Society. ACM Policy. 37 – 38. Jones, L.A., Antón, A.I., & Earp, J.B. (2007). Towards understanding user perceptions of authentication technologies. In the proceedings of the Workshop on Privacy in Electronic Society (WPES ’07): Alexandria, Virginia: 91 – 98. Joyce, R. & Gupta, G. (1990). Identity authentication based on keystroke latencies. Communications of the ACM: 33(2), 168 – 176. Junglas, I.A., Johnson, N.A., Steel, D.J., Abraham, D.C., & Loughlin, P.M. (2007). Identity formation, learning styles and trust in virtual worlds. The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems: 38(4), 90 – 96. Mamykina, L., Miller, A.D., Mynatt, E.D., & Greenblatt, D. (2010). Constructing identities through storytelling in diabetes management. In the proceedings of the Computer Human Interactions (CHI 2010): Atlanta, Georgia. 1203 – 1212. Rowe, M. (2010). The credibility of digital identity information on the social web: A user study. IN the proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Information Credibility on the Web (WICOW ’10): Raleigh, North Carolina. 35 – 42. Schwartz, M. (2010). Federated identity: A recipe for higher education. Educause Quarterly. Retrieved July 16, 2010, from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/FederatedIdentityARecipeforHig/206550. Taniguchi, N., Chida, K., Shionoiri, O., & Kanai, A. (2005). DECIDE: A scheme for decentralized identity escrow. In the proceedings of Digital Identity Management (DIM ’05): Fairfax, Virginia. 37 – 45. Whitson, J. (2009). Identity theft and the challenges of caring for your virtual self. Interactions. 41 – 45. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching: Themed Issue: Integrity and Identity Authentication in Online Education Camilla Jones Roberts and Shalin Hai-Jew’s “An Online Course for Students Addressing Academic Dishonesty” Jeffrey L. Bailie and Michael A. Jortberg’s “Online Learner Authentication: Verifying the Identity of Online Users” Lori McNabb and Alicia Olmstead’s “Communities of Integrity in Online Courses: Faculty Member Beliefs and Strategies” Wayne Bedford, Janie Gregg, and Suzanne Clinton’s “Implementing Technology to Prevent Online Cheating: A Case Study at a Small Southern Regional University" (SSRU)

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From Freud to Brazelton: 100 Years of Child & Parenting Development Theories by Dr. Marty Rossmann 1 ©Learning ZoneExpress Child Development Through The Ages ©Learning ZoneExpress 6th - 15th Centuries Medieval Period 2 Child Development Through The Ages ©Learning ZoneExpress 16th Century Reformation Period 3 Child Development Through The Ages 17th Century Age of Enlightenment John Locke believed in tabula rasa ©Learning ZoneExpress Children develop in response to nurturing. Forerunner of behaviorism 18th Century Age of Reason Jean-Jacques Rousseau – 4 children were noble savages, born with an innate sense of morality; the timing of growth should not be interfered with. Rousseau used the idea of stages of development. Forerunner of maturationist beliefs Child Development Through The Ages 19th Century Industrial Revolution ©Learning ZoneExpress 5 Charles Darwin – theories of natural selection and survival of the fittest Darwin made parallels between human prenatal growth and other animals. 20th Century Theories about children's development expanded around the world. Childhood was seen as worthy of special attention. Laws were passed to protect children, Child Development Definition: – Periods of development: – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – – – 6 Change in the child that occurs over time. Changes follow an orderly pattern that moves toward greater complexity and enhances survival. Prenatal period: from conception to birth Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years Early childhood: 2-6 years old Middle childhood: 6-12 years old Adolescence: 12-19 years old Domains of Development Development is described in three domains, but growth in one domain influences the other domains. Physical Domain: – Cognitive Domain: ©Learning ZoneExpress – thought processes and intellectual abilities including attention, memory, problem solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, metacognition, and language. Social/Emotional Domain: – 7 body size, body proportions, appearance, brain development, motor development, perception capacities, physical health. self-knowledge (self-esteem, metacognition, sexual identity, ethnic identity), moral reasoning, understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation, temperament, understanding others, interpersonal skills, and friendships. Theories What is a theory? – What do theories accomplish? – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 8 Orderly set of ideas which describe, explain, and predict behavior. To give meaning to what we observe. As a basis for action -- finding ways to improve the lives and education of children. Why Study Child & Parenting Development Theories? ©Learning ZoneExpress 1. Helps you understand yourself better 2. It helps understanding of future generations 3. Learn skills and techniques for interaction with children 4. Allows a measure of normal behavior 5. Grants a greater appreciation of development throughout life. Sigmund Freud • Erik Erikson • Maria Montessori Jean Piaget • Urie Bronfenbrenner • Lev Semenovich Vygotsky Abraham Maslow • Arnold Gesell • John Bowlby • Rudolph Dreikurs Lawrence Kohlberg • B.F. Skinner • Benjamin Spock Diana Baumrind • T. Berry Brazelton • Howard Gardner 9 Why Study the Selected Theories? ©Learning ZoneExpress 10 The selected theories: – Have been popular and influential. – Represent different approaches to parent-child interaction. – Offer help in the “real world” of daily child-rearing. – Make good common sense. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory The unconscious is the source of motivations. ©Learning ZoneExpress 11 Individuals go through stages in childhood and adolescence that shape their adult personality. Behavior is influenced by the unconscious mind. Early experiences affect development in later life. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory ©Learning ZoneExpress The unconscious is the source of motivations. 12 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory The unconscious is the source of motivations. The personality development of a child is complex. Psychic Life Functions: – ID - present at birth; directs need gratification; ©Learning ZoneExpress pleasure seeking; and pain avoidance. 13 – EGO - Responsible for contact with day to day reality; – SUPEREGO - Internal interpretation of the rules and predicts probable outcomes of behavior choices. values of the environment. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory ©Learning ZoneExpress The unconscious is the source of motivations. 14 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory The unconscious is the source of motivations. Defense Mechanisms: – Repression - pushing depressing matters out of consciousness. – Sublimation - substituting acceptable ways of expressing feelings. – Regression - returning to an earlier way of adjusting to problems. – Compensation - substituting success in one area for failure in ©Learning ZoneExpress another. 15 – Rationalization - giving a socially accepted reason for a behavior – Escape - leaving a distressing situation, either physically or that was not socially acceptable. psychologically. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) Psychosocial Theory There are stages of psychological development. ©Learning ZoneExpress 16 Focus is on: – Developing a healthy personality. – Humans develop throughout their life span in eight stages. – Individuals need to develop identity at each stage. – Culture is a part of a person’s socialization. – If an individual does not achieve a stage, the consequences may be alterable later in life. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) Psychosocial Theory There are stages of psychological development. Psychosocial Stages: – Trust vs. Mistrust (0-12 to 18 mos.) – Autonomy vs. Doubt (18 mos. to 3 years) ©Learning ZoneExpress 17 – Infant forms a loving, trusting relationship with parent or is frustrated and lacks self-confidence. Child needs to develop self-control with firm, gradual and kindly support of parents so the child does not lose selfesteem. Initiative vs. Guilt (4-6 years) Child gains skill in language and exploring and needs guidance from parents to proceed in life in a selfconfident, guilt-free way. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) Psychosocial Theory There are stages of psychological development. Psychosocial Stages: – Industry vs. Inferiority (7-12+ years) – Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-18 years) ©Learning ZoneExpress 18 Child pursues and completes activities that produce something and gain recognition from parents, teachers and friends. Failure makes the child feel inadequate and inferior. The sense of “who I am” and what part I play in society (occupation, politics, sex roles, religion, etc.) is determined. Parents have new expectations for the adolescent. Those who don’t develop effective steps toward a tangible future may be insecure, confused and lack self-esteem. (There are more stages for adults, not shown here.) Erik Erikson (1902-1994) Psychosocial Theory ©Learning ZoneExpress There are stages of psychological development. 19 Maria Montessori (1870-1952) Parents as Preschool Educators Parents guide their children’s development. ©Learning ZoneExpress 20 Each child has an innate unique talent. Children should be guided with love and affection to expected behavior. Children should use hands-on activities to learn how to care for themselves and a home. Parents should be aware that learning takes place in a sequence. Parents should not be too quick to criticize or correct. Parents should encourage their child to do as much as possible on their own. Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) Developmental Maturational Theory Heredity plays a role in children’s development. ©Learning ZoneExpress 21 Children develop in an orderly sequence set by heredity. No developmental event will take place until the child is ready for it to happen. Maturity traits are identified in steps in areas such as: – – – – Motor activity, personal function Emotional expression, fears Sexuality Social relations and playtime Dr. Arnold Gesell Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Cognitive Development Theory Understanding & supporting a child’s learning. Two processes are essential for development: – Assimilation ©Learning ZoneExpress – 22 Learning to understand events or objects, based on existing structure. Accommodation Expanding understanding, based on new information. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Cognitive Development Theory Understanding & supporting a child’s learning. Sensorimotor (Birth – 2 years) – – – – – ©Learning ZoneExpress 23 Learning about world through 5 senses (see, feel, hear, smell & taste). Learning to control and manipulate muscles (small & large motor skills). Learning about self (egocentric). Learning from trial and error (12-18 months). Thinking about how to do something without actually doing it. Preoperational (2-7 years) – – – – Learning by using language and mental images. Learning to internalize thought process. Continuing to be egocentric. Learning by watching and performing. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Cognitive Development Theory Understanding & supporting a child’s learning. ©Learning ZoneExpress 24 Concrete Operational (6 or 7-12 years) – Learning to understand someone else’s point of view. – Learning to resolve problems with logic. – Learning conservation (amounts of liquid remain the same, even if the shape changes). Formal Operations (13 years – adult) – Thinking logically, abstractly, and hypothetically. – Testing theories by hypotheses. – Understanding right vs. wrong. – Glimpse of complexity of knowledge in teens leads some to believe they understand nothing and others to believe they are on the verge of understanding everything. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) Socio-Cultural Theory Culture & experiences play a role in a child’s learning. Patterns and ways of learning are outcomes of the practices experienced by the child in the culture where the child grew up. Five Step Process: – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 25 – – Step 1 - Adult provides tools, modeling, guidance, interaction and encouragement. Step 2 - Child performs task under adult guidance and adult asks appropriate questions and expands on the child’s responses. Step 3 - Adult helps child develop tasks into smaller segments and assesses child’s understanding. Step 4 - Adult provides the “scaffolding” (support) necessary in a learning situation. Step 5 - Adult guides child into new situations by having child transfer familiar knowledge to the unfamiliar. ©Learning ZoneExpress Socio-Cultural Theory 26 Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917- ) Human Ecology Theory Influences on parents and child are complex. ©Learning ZoneExpress 27 Interactions with others and environments influence parent-child relations. To understand a child, one must understand not only their relationships with their parents and siblings, but also the complex network of interrelated behavior patterns and roles among all family members that comprise the system. Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917- ) Human Ecology Theory Influences on parents and child are complex. ©Learning ZoneExpress 29 Interactions among parts of the system impact parent-child relationships: – Child’s self esteem. – Relationships between parent(s) and child. – Relationships between parents. – Relationships among all family members. – Informal supports (such as neighbors). – Institutional relationships (such as faith community). – Socio-economic, culture and political influences. – Natural environments (such as air and water quality). 30 ©Learning ZoneExpress Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) Human Needs Theory Human needs influence each person’s development. ©Learning ZoneExpress 31 Influence of a hierarchy of human needs on personality. Lower need must be filled before upper-level needs receive attention. Child’s genetic potential will not flourish unless they are nurtured by adults as the child grows. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Need to maximize one’s potential. Need for self-respect and self-esteem and for the esteem of others. Need for community, family, friends, lover, affection & intimacy. Need for security, stability, freedom from fear, structure & order. Need for shelter, food, clothes, air, sleep, and activity. John Bowlby (1907-1990) Attachment Theory Bonding is an essential part of a child’s development. Attachment describes the strong feeling that binds children emotionally to their parents. Parent’s ability to adjust and accommodate to their child’s behavior style is the key determinant of a child’s attachment to a parent. – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 33 – If a parent is warm and responsive then a child will be securely attached (cry when parent leaves, greets parent happily upon their return). If a parent is not sensitive or responsive then the child will be anxious avoidant (rarely frets when parent leaves and avoids the parent when they return). If a parent is inconsistent, sometimes responsive, sometimes not, then the child will be anxious resistant (frets before parent leaves, seeks contact when parent returns, but also resists contact by pushing away). Rudolph Dreikurs (1897-1972) Children of Challenge Principles to guide a parent raising a child. Children are motivated by a desire to belong. Children are expert observers, but make mistakes in interpreting what they observe. Children exhibit goal-seeking behaviors. Selected principles: ©Learning ZoneExpress – 34 – – Understand the child’s goals — usually the goal will be for attention, power, revenge or to appear to be inadequate. Encourage the child. Avoid punishment and rewards. Rudolph Dreikurs (1897-1972) Children of Challenge Principles to guide a parent raising a child. – – – – – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 35 – – – – Use natural and logical consequences. Be firm without dominating. Respect the child. Maintain routines. Sidestep power struggles. Refrain from over-protection. Follow through — be consistent. Listen. Have fun together. Talk WITH your child, not TO them. Establish a family council. Lawrence Kohlberg ( 1927-1987) Moral Development Theory Identifies steps toward character development. Children are moral philosophers. Children experience a series of predictable stages in their moral reasoning. Levels of Moral Development: ©Learning ZoneExpress – 36 Level 1 – Preconventional (4-10 years) Decisions are based on consequences. Stage 1 - Children respond to threat of punishment. Stage 2 - Children learn that correct action brings reward. Lawrence Kohlberg ( 1927-1987) Moral Development Theory Identifies steps toward character development. – Level 2 – Conventional (10 years and older) Decisions are based on social rules and expectations. ©Learning ZoneExpress – 37 Stage 3 - Children are concerned about other’s opinions and that “good” behavior pleases others. Stage 4 - Law and order are important. Level 3 – Postconventional (some adolescents and adults) Decisions are based on personal ethics of what is morally right. Stage 5 - Moral decisions are made through understanding that society’s rules are for everyone and were made by consensus. Stage 6 - Universal principles determine right from wrong. John Watson Behaviorism Theory ©Learning ZoneExpress 38 Early 20th century, "Father of American Behaviorist theory.” Based his work on Pavlov's experiments on the digestive system of dogs. Researched classical conditioning Children are passive beings who can be molded by controlling the stimulus-response associations. B.F.Skinner (1904-1990) Operant Conditioning Theory Role parents play in shaping child’s behavior. ©Learning ZoneExpress 39 Emphasizes the role of the parent in reinforcing (rewarding) the child’s behaviors. Consequences of a behavior lead to changes in its frequency. Behavior patterns will change if the child is rewarded, ignored or punished. B.F.Skinner (1904-1990) Operant Conditioning Theory Role parents play in shaping child’s behavior. Conditioning functions: – – Consequences include: ©Learning ZoneExpress – 40 Shaping behavior - reinforcing a behavior “close” to the desired behavior. Chaining behavior - linking together a series of small steps toward the desired behavior. – – Positive reinforcement - something that causes an act to increase in the future, i.e. a child smiles and gets a hug. Negative reinforcement - child causes unpleasantness to cease, i.e. parents “lecture” stops when child cleans room. Punishment - unpleasant act by parent discourages behavior in the future, i.e. T.V. privileges taken away. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) Baby and Child Care Encourages parents to trust themselves and enjoy their baby. Parents should: – – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 41 – – – Understand there are great differences between individual children — and that some children are more difficult than others. Understand that parents have needs that should be met. Understand that it’s hard work to be a parent. Love and respect their children. Feed babies when they’re hungry. Let their tired babies cry, after checking to make sure they aren’t hungry, cold or need a diaper changed. Understand there is a need to be flexible. Diana Baumrind (1926- ) Parenting Styles Theory The way parents set limits and love their children. Permissive: – – – Authoritarian: ©Learning ZoneExpress – 42 Parent accepts the child’s wishes and is passive in discipline. Parent makes few demands on child. Child may wonder if the parent cares about them. – – – Parent values obedience. Parent teaches respect for work, others, and order. Parent shapes, controls and evaluates behavior of child with set of conduct rules. Child may feel anger; and be resentful of parents. Diana Baumrind (1926- ) Parenting Styles Theory The way parents set limits and love their children. Authoritative: – – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 43 Parents encourage verbal give and take. Parents provide firm limits with love and support. Parents affirm child’s good attributes. Child feels cared about and knows family rules are consistently enforced. T. Berry Brazelton (1919- ) Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale Early physical, neurological & emotional development. The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) ©Learning ZoneExpress 44 Brazelton Assesses the physical and neurological responses of newborns as well as their emotional well-being and individual differences. Focuses on individual differences of newborns and cross-cultural studies of infant behavior and early parenting practices. Stresses the importance of early intervention for at-risk parents and their babies. Emphasizes the development of attachment in the first four months. Identifies opportunities in early infancy for strengthening families. Howard Gardner (1943- ) Multiple Intelligences Theory Eight innate “intelligences” of learning. There are eight distinct forms of intelligence that everyone possesses in varying degrees. Parents should focus on the intelligences of their children. Different cultures emphasize different intelligences. Verbal/Linguistic: – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 45 – Able to use words and languages — communicates effectively by speaking, listening, reading & writing. Uses reason, logic and numbers. Sensitive to the meaning of words and enjoys writing, reading and crossword puzzles. Logical/Mathematical: – – Thinks in logical & numerical patterns, and detects patterns. Incorporates mathematical and scientific abilities and drawn to strategic games and experiments. Howard Gardner (1943- ) Multiple Intelligences Theory Eight innate “intelligences” of learning. Musical/Rhythmic: – – – Visual/Spatial: – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 46 – Appreciates and produces music — is a discriminating listener. Thinks in sounds, rhythms, and patterns. Sings and drums to him or herself. Thinks in pictures, remembers with vivid mental images. Perceives the visual and represents spatial information graphically. Controls body movements and handles objects with skill. Spends free time drawing, using building blocks, or daydreaming. Bodily/Kinesthetic – – – Processes knowledge through sensations in the body. Expresses him or herself through movement. Has good eye-hand coordination and balance. Howard Gardner (1943- ) Multiple Intelligences Theory Eight innate “intelligences” of learning. Interpersonal – – – Intrapersonal – – ©Learning ZoneExpress – 47 Relates to others and understands other’s feelings and intentions. Detects differences among people. Likes to maintain peace and have everyone cooperate. Reflects on oneself and is aware of one’s inner state of being. Self-motivated and understands his/her role in relation to others. Understands one’s emotions can direct one’s behavior. Naturalist – – Advocates or practices naturalism — and recognizes dangerous species and categorizes new and different organisms. Identifies manmade species (“artificial taxonomies”) such as wearing apparel or cars. Related Activities Complete one of the following activities: Study one theorist and present your findings to the class pretending YOU are that theorist. In a group of 3 or more, work with and observe young children (at daycare or playschool). Based on your observations: – – ©Learning ZoneExpress 48 Determine which theories your group feels are most “valid”. OR come up with your own theory about child behavior. View a movie about parent-child relationships and write a review — include how the theories apply to the story. Class Activity: – – Tape an index card with the name of a theorist and their theory on the back of each student. Students then ask questions that can be answered “yes” or “no” to try to guess which theorist is on their card. Who am I? - Theorists Quiz Name each of the following theorists: 1. My theory states that human needs must be met at more basic levels before they move up to more complex levels. ©Learning ZoneExpress 2. My theory states that children learn cognitively at four distinct levels. 49 3. My theory says that there are numerous distinct forms of intelligence that everyone possesses to some degree. Who am I? - Theorists Quiz Name each of the following theorists: 4. My theory lists stages people travel through during their entire lifetime. ©Learning ZoneExpress 5. I believed that freedom for children enables them to do things independently. 50 6. My theory about moral decisions goes through stages ending with the one when people make decisions based on what is morally right or wrong. Web Resources Here are some suggested web sites for additional information on child and parenting development: – http://www.zerotothree.org/ – http://npen.crc.uiuc.edu/ ©Learning ZoneExpress – 51 National Parenting Education Network http://www.pathfinder.com/ParentTime/ – Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families Parent time http://www.hec.ohip-state.edu/famlife/nnfr/pfp/ Partners for Parenting database Please note that web sites are constantly changing and being updated. You may need to revise this list.

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SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS FOR THE CRUCIBLE Go to the Learning Guide for this film. Pre-Viewing Enrichment Worksheet Enrichment Worksheets are a TWM innovation containing text and questions designed to get students thinking. Questions are focused on comprehension, application, analysis, syntheses or evaluation. Questions can be answered in class or as homework, as quickwrites, journal entries, formal essays, or research papers. For a version of the Worksheet in word processing format, click here. Worksheets should be reviewed and modified as necessary to make sure they are suitable for the class. The Witchcraft Trials of 1692 and the Red Scare of 1947 - 1956 Witchcraft hysterias occurred in both Catholic and Protestant areas of Europe from about 1480 through the end of the 1600s. Scholars estimate that from 1500 to 1660, some 50,000 to 80,000 suspected witches, 80% of them women, were executed. Persecutions continued into the 1700s. In Europe, witchcraft persecutions often led to more devastating effects than the hysteria in Salem. In some cities hundreds were executed as witches. In a few Swiss villages, after the waves of anti-witch hysteria, there were scarcely any women left. The Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692 led to the imprisonment of more than 100 people and the execution of 20. Four died in prison. Men were executed as well as women. The accusations were made by a group of young women demonstrating symptoms of hysteria. They accused various people in the village of appearing to them as specters that would pinch, suffocate or stab them. Often the only way those accused could avoid being hanged was to confess guilt and to give the names of other alleged witches. Question 1: What is your image of how a witch would look and behave and how would such an image engender fear even in powerful men and women? The twenty people executed in Salem were those who continued to maintain their innocence, refused to confess, and would not name others. Nineteen were hanged. One man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death, a method of torture used in England on people who would not plead in court. A plea was necessary before the court could take jurisdiction and condemn the prisoner. It was thought that the weight of rocks on the chests of the accused would push the words "guilty" or "not guilty" from their lips. The only words that pressing got out of Giles Corey were, "more weight, more weight." Historians believe that Corey thought he would be condemned anyway and by refusing to plead he prevented the court from finding that he was a witch. Upon conviction as a witch, his property would have been confiscated and his children would have been without an inheritance. This suggests that for some, the witch trials were motivated by a desire for material gain. In writing about the Salem witch trials, Arthur Miller sought to re-create the atmosphere in which hysteria can thrive and spread to others; he never claimed that his play was historically accurate. Most historians agree that he gets the sense of the times right: the fear, the intensity, the infectious nature of the hysteria, the retribution brought down upon those who doubted the accusers, and the use of the situation by certain individuals to expropriate and sell the land of the accused. Arthur Miller was clearly more interested in the story of the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for the Red Scare of the period 1947-1956 than in a study of American history in colonial times. In the years after World War II, competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union became intense. Spies from the Soviet Union stole secrets of making an atomic bomb. There was great fear of communists in the country, which was fanned by politicians from both parties. President Truman established Loyalty Boards to ferret out communists in the federal government. Other politicians sought headlines and political advantage by making unsupported accusations about the presence of communists in the government or other institutions. Suspicion was extended to people who had joined non-communist political organizations that were later labeled as communist front organizations because they took the same positions as the Communist Party. The most notorious politician to foment the Red Scare was Senator Joseph McCarthy. He came to prominence with by chairing a special Senate investigating committee and by making mostly baseless claims that communists had infiltrated the State Department and other agencies of the government. When he attacked the U.S. Army in televised hearings, the irresponsibility of this conduct was made manifest and McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate. McCarthy's name has come to be associated with political attack using guilt by association, innuendo, and unsupported charges. Question 2: Why would an ordinary person care if another person's freedom of speech is restricted due to extreme political beliefs? The main vehicle for what came to be known as the "McCarthyites" or the "redbaiters," because of the association of the color red with communism, was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). This was a committee of the House of Representatives which would call witnesses to testify and demand that they disclose their past political associations. Witnesses were required to repent their connection with the Communist Party of the USA or left wing political organizations and to identify other people who had attended legal political meetings. Refusal to cooperate with the HUAC would ruin careers. If a witness refused to testify about past political associations, relying on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the witness would be cited for contempt of Congress. The government would then prosecute the witness for criminal contempt of Congress. Some people were convicted and sent to federal prison for several years. Witnesses who cooperated with the HUAC and the McCarthyites, who disavowed their prior leftist connections, and who named others with liberal political associations, were exonerated. Loyalty boards, both state and federal, conducted thousands of loyalty hearings in which public employees and people who held licenses issued by the states were accused of harboring communist sympathies. Persons accused of disloyalty were required to demonstrate that they were not communists. Often these hearings were not conducted by judges and there were no rules of evidence. Unsupported suspicion was often enough to cost a person his or her job or license to practice a profession. Proceedings could be leaked to the press resulting in ruined careers and reputations. There was never any demonstration that these hearings increased the security of the United States. Private industry also capitulated to the redbaiters, firing people based on unsupported accusations and placing their names on blacklists which prevented them from getting other jobs in their profession. One of the most infamous blacklists was in the entertainment industry. It included the names of more than a hundred people and was extended to include those who had supported many of the reforms that the communists had also supported and even those who simply opposed the blacklist. Hollywood studios hired a business called "Red Channels" to investigate the background of people seeking to work in the film industry. The redbaiters came to have a financial interest, in addition to their political interests, in extending the hysteria, just as some of the participants in the witch hunts centuries earlier obtained an economic benefit from the hysteria. Question 3: What was so frightening about individual American's participating in the Communist Party that society would respond as if they were serious threats to the democratic system? The Communist Party of the United States was organized in 1919. In the 1930s and early 1940s, in response to the inability of the American economy to provide jobs and financial security during the Great Depression, many socially conscious Americans joined liberal organizations. Some joined the Communist Party. However, voters in the U.S. have never supported the Communist Party; it has never elected a representative to Congress nor has it been popular with the "oppressed masses" it sought to champion. After the Second World War, as the authoritarian and anti-U.S. nature of the Soviet Union became apparent, membership in the Communist Party, USA dropped to virtually nothing. Because of protections specified in the First Amendment, it has never been illegal to belong to the Communist Party. The Communist Party, USA was thoroughly penetrated by the FBI. An old joke goes that at some communist party meetings, there were more undercover FBI agents, posing as members of the party, than real communists. [End of Worksheet] Additional Helpful Background: The first film version of the play was produced in France in 1957 and entitled "Les Sorcieres de Salem". The screenplay was written by Jean Paul Sartre and the film was directed by Raymond Rouleau. It was produced in France because movie makers in the United States were afraid of being branded as communist sympathizers if they made the film. The play was not made into a movie until 1996, some five years after the Soviet Union collapsed. Arthur Miller (1915 - 2005) was one of America's greatest playwrights. His works include "Death of a Salesman" and All My Sons; Miller and his plays have been the recipient of many awards including the Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the New York Drama Critics Awards. Most of Miller's plays concern the responsibility of people to each other in light of the common goals shared by Additional Discussion Questions: Continued from the Learning Guide... QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIALS AS A METAPHOR FOR THE RED SCARE OF 1947 - 1956: 5. Miller reports the following facts at the end of the play: Twenty years after the last execution, the government awarded compensation to the victims still living and to the families of the dead. However, it is evident that some people still were unwilling to admit their total guilt, and also that the factionalism was still alive, for some beneficiaries were actually not victims at all, but informers .... How do you account for the facts that Miller notes? Suggested Response: As time passed and the hysteria was long gone, people were able to look back and see rationally what had really happened. They no longer felt threatened. [Within 20 years after the witchcraft trials] to all intents and purposes, the power of theocracy in Massachusetts was broken. 6. Name other situations in which a feeling of hysteria caused the deaths of innocent people? Suggested Response: There are many. They include: anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia; the Holocaust; the genocide in Cambodia, 1975 to 1997, and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. 7. Do you believe that the torture of prisoners by U.S. authorities at Abu Ghraib, the prison at Guantanamo and other locations, was justified or did it betray American core values? Suggested Response: This is a matter of debate, but most people would answer that torture is against basic American values. In addition, torture has not been shown to be an effective interrogation technique. People in great pain will tell the interrogator anything to get the pain to stop. 8. One of the explanatory paragraphs Miller inserted into his play states the following: When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we [America during the Red Scare] shall be pitied someday. It is impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom. Identify some social repressions in your life. Suggested Response: There is no one correct answer. Examples that students might cite are: clothing regulations at schools, restrictions on what students can write in the student newspaper, restrictions on the use of profanity or hate speech, etc. 9. Does the fact that there were a few Soviet spies who may have been able to cause serious harm to the country justify the denial of rights to thousands of innocent individuals? Give your reasons. Suggested Response: A good discussion will include the following: The First Amendment protects the rights to free speech and political association. Membership in the Communist Party has never been illegal. One of the foundations of the American society, from the Founding Fathers onward, has been that it is much worse for innocents to be punished than for some of the guilty to go free. People are considered innocent until proven guilty. The government has many other resources with which to catch spies. As the character of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons said "If you tear down all the protections of the law, when the wind blows again where will you find shelter?" QUESTIONS RELATING TO LITERARY ELEMENTS 10. In terms of story, rather than historical accuracy, which character serves as the narrative's protagonist? Suggested Response: John Proctor is the protagonist. The story is his. It is his sexual philandering that rouses Abigail to generate the hysteria against witchcraft, he is the one who grows in terms of honor, and it is through his character that the moral lessons of the play are taught. 11. Which character serves as the antagonist? Suggested Response: Abigail is the antagonist. Her desire to seek revenge against John Proctor or to win his affections causes the tension in the film and provokes the changes in both John and his wife, Elizabeth, that create theme. It could also be said that the community which allows itself to become the prosecutor of John Proctor is also the antagonist. Abigail acts through the community. 12. What gives Abigail the power to disrupt the community and to get many young women to follow her lead in claiming witchcraft? Suggested Response: Answers will vary. Students may suggest that a general sense of sexual repression existed in the time period in which the film is set and this may have given rise to pent up sexual frustrations released in the hysteria. The opening scene, with the fire and nude dancing exemplifies this. Guilt may have been a factor as well as fear of reprisal. It was easier for these girls to blame witchcraft for sexual longing than to admit the feelings themselves. Others may decide that John Proctor gave Abigail the power to provoke the hysteria with his sexuality and by his provocative behavior; Abigail seems to believe that it is Elizabeth Proctor who keeps John away from her, rather than his own desire. 13. In what ways does Elizabeth Proctor change through the course of the story? Suggested Response: Elizabeth Proctor is a cold and punitive woman until the moment she realizes that her husband is threatened. At this point she lies to protect him, choosing to value love over honesty. Ironically, this dooms her husband. She then forgives him for his adultery, admits her feelings of jealousy and insecurity, apologizes for her coldness and encourages him to remain true to himself. Her redemption results in her death. 14. Before Elizabeth forgives him, Proctor is willing to sign the false confession in order to save his life and hers. But after she forgives him he chooses to die rather than to admit to something he didn't do. Can you explain this change of mind? Suggested Response: Here is one explanation. Once his wife absolves him of his guilt, Proctor is able to regain his self-respect and act according to his higher nature. He will not falsely name others. In his refusal, with his new found self-respect, he comes to the point where he will not name himself; he tears up the confession and gets on the wagon with the other doomed townspeople. 15. What irony can be found in the scene in which John Proctor and two others are hanged? Suggested Response: The three condemned citizens are reciting the Lord's Prayer which includes the words: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." This recitation brings into clear focus the merciless, even murderous nature of the good Christian people of the village who are watching the hanging. Those being trespassed against are doing the forgiving. TWM's Standard Questions for Use With Any Film That is a Work of Fiction and Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays help stimulate student interest and assist in the exploration of characterization, plot, theme, and other literary devices. Social-Emotional Learning Discussion Questions See Discussion Questions 1 and 2 in the Learning Guide and 5 - 8 above. 1. Was Elizabeth Proctor in any way responsible for her husband's infidelity? Suggested Response: John Proctor was responsible for his actions. Many people misunderstand this type of question and take it as a question about factual causation. Certainly, a cold and unloving spouse will, as a matter of fact, contribute to any infidelity by the other spouse. This is especially true in societies in which divorce was not a practical option. However, people are responsible for their own actions and while John Proctor may have had complaints against his wife, he is the one who committed adultery. 2. Should Elizabeth have forgiven her husband's infidelity? Suggested Response: Forgiveness liberates both the person who forgives and the person who is forgiven. When the transgressor is truly remorseful, forgiveness is a win/win proposition. Once Elizabeth forgave her husband, he was able to regain his self-respect and act according to his higher nature. Forgiveness allowed Elizabeth to get in touch with her feelings of love for her husband. Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues will facilitate the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. Additional questions are set out below. (Be honest; Don't deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable -- do what you say you'll do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Build a good reputation; Be loyal -- stand by your family, friends and country) 1. Are there any circumstances in which a person should admit to doing something that he or she didn't do? If so, when? Suggested Response: While it might be easier in the short run, many untoward consequences can flow when a person admits to crimes or offenses that he or she did not commit. Once the admission is made, it is very hard to withdraw it. In a criminal court, once a conviction occurs based on the admission, it is like any other conviction. Punishments for later infractions will be worse. Jobs may be lost, etc. 2. If you were John Proctor, or any of the other people accused of being witches, and you were faced with the choice of the hangman's noose or confessing your own guilt to imaginary crimes while accusing innocent people of conspiring with you, what would you have done? Suggested Response: Condemning yourself is one thing. It's risky, as described in the preceding questions, but implicating other people is clearly unethical. (Play by the rules; Take turns and share; Be open-minded; listen to others; Don't take advantage of others; Don't blame others carelessly) 3. What is wrong with guilt by association? What can we tell from the fact that one person associates with another? Suggested Response: That one person associates with another, tells us very little about each of those persons. For example, if a person is seen talking to a member of Al Qaeda, this doesn't tell us that the other person is a terrorist. It might be grounds for suspicion and heightened surveillance, but the fact of the association or of repeated association proves nothing. There is also a constitutional aspect to this question, since the First Amendment protects freedom of association. It is illegal for the government to take action against a person because of mere political association. Post-Viewing Enrichment Worksheet The following Enrichment Worksheet will give students valuable information and is suitable to distribute after they see the film, either before or after class discussion. Click here for a version of the worksheet in word-processing format. Notes on "The Crucible" Arthur Miller, the man who wrote "The Crucible" commented on the connection between the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare. Describing the time he spent going over original documents from the time of the trials. He said, . . . [G]radually, over the weeks a living connection between myself and Salem, and between Salem and Washington, was made in my mind & for whatever else they might be, I saw that the hearings in Washington were profoundly and even avowedly ritualistic. After all, in almost every case the [House Un-American Activities] Committee knew in advance what they wanted the witness to give them: the names of his comrades in the [Communist] Party. The FBI had long since infiltrated the [Communist] Party, and informers had long ago identified the participants in various meetings. The main point of the hearings, precisely as in Seventeenth Century Salem, was that the accused make public confession, damn his confederates as well as his Devil master, and guarantee his sterling new allegiance by breaking disgusting old vows -- whereupon he was let loose to rejoin the society of extremely decent people. In other words, the same spiritual nugget lay folded within both procedures -- an act of contrition done not in solemn privacy but out in the public air. The Salem prosecution was actually on more solid legal ground since the defendant, if guilty of familiarity with the Unclean One, had broken a law against the practice of witchcraft, a civil as well as a religious offense; whereas the offender against HUAC could not be accused of any such violation but only of a spiritual crime, subservience to a political enemy's desires and ideology. He was summoned before the Committee to be called a bad name, but one that could destroy his career. . . . Timebends, A Life by Arthur Miller, page 331. Several years after he wrote "The Crucible," Arthur Miller himself was called to testify before the HUAC. He refused to answer the Committee's questions about the names of persons who had been present at meetings of writers that he had attended in the 1930s. As a result, he was charged with criminal contempt of congress, tried and then convicted. The conviction was later thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court. Question 1: Why would one of the country's most celebrated playwrights risk going to jail for refusing to give names that the HUAC already had in its files? It has been argued that there were no real witches while there actually were real communists, some of whom were subservient to the Soviet Union, a real threat. Miller responds that during the time of the Salem trials, the best minds in America and in Europe believed in the existence of witches. He notes that on three occasions, the Bible warns against witches. Historians, both secular and religious, confirm that witches have existed and continue to exist, though not in the stereotypical image used to raise hysterical fear in centuries past; they never rode broomsticks nor did they have green skin, although they may have used frogs in some of their traditional remedies. Both witches and communists were feared, both reviled. Both were seen as a serious threat to the dominant paradigm and as such had to be eliminated, especially when there was economic or political gain to be had in the process. Miller comments on the offense of the accused in both situations: The House Un-American Activities Committee [had] been in existence since 1938, but the tinder of guilt was not so available when the New Deal and Roosevelt were openly espousing a policy of vast social engineering often reminiscent of socialist methods. But as in Salem, a point arrived, in the late forties, when the rules of social intercourse quite suddenly changed, or were changed, and attitudes that had merely been anti-capitalist-antiestablishment were now made unholy, morally repulsive, and if not actually treasonous then implicitly so. America had always been a religious country. Timebends, A Life by Arthur Miller, pages 341 & 342. The House Un-American Activities Committee was abolished in 1975. The religious fervor Miller mentions can be seen in the term "godless communists" that was commonly used in the period following World War II and in the sudden inclusion of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Question 2: How does religion play a role in the anti-terrorist campaign being waged around the globe today? The universality of the "The Crucible" is demonstrated by the fact that people in countries other than the U.S. can use the play/film as a window through which to view their own efforts to gain the personal freedom. Miller, in his autobiography, describes the following incident: In Shanghai in 1980, ["The Crucible"] served as a metaphor for life under Mao and the Cultural Revolution, decades when accusation and enforced guilt ruled China and all but destroyed the last signs of intelligent life. The writer Nien Cheng, who had spent six and a half years in solitary confinement and whose daughter was murdered by the Red Guards, could not believe that a non-Chinese had written the play. "Some of the interrogations," she said, "were precisely the same ones used on us in the Cultural Revolution." It was chilling to realize what had never occurred to me until she mentioned it -- that the tyranny of teenagers was almost identical in both instances. Timebends, A Life by Arthur Miller, page 348. "The tyranny of teenagers," is the focus of action in the "The Crucible" but not in the American experience during the Red Scare. No youthful exuberance can explain the excess of the McCarthy and HUAC hearings, or the two hundred years of persecution suffered by witches prior to the events in Salem. Miller's play brought forth the universal truth of religious and political intolerance and as such it is important in the world-wide battle for rights clearly spelled out in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. [End of Worksheet] Continued from the Learning Guide... 4. "The Crucible" provides opportunities for teachers to develop expository writing skills in a format that is important in terms of mass media today. Students can be asked to write investigative reports, as might appear in a newspaper or on an internet site dedicated to explaining in-depth information. The reports are expository, but are addressed to an audience other than a teacher. Students need to understand their audience and try to keep interest levels high as they explain the information necessary to hold the attention of an intelligent reader. Any of the following topics are ideal offshoots of the concepts presented in "The Crucible". - The Inquisition as oppression of pagans; - Witch trials worldwide; - The underlying causes of McCarthy era investigations; and - Propaganda in film promoting government causes, such as WWII [Note that TWM has Learning Guides to Allied propaganda films from the Second World War: "Mrs. Miniver" (England) and "Ballad of a Soldier" (Soviet Union).] 5. Opinion pieces are an excellent tool to teach persuasion. Keeping with mass media as the audience for their essays, students can be asked to develop logical, informed papers that are supported with facts and pointed argumentation. Either side of the following posits can be addressed: - Fear is a potent tool of a repressive governmental system; - The First Amendment does not mean the government must accept as valid, religions that frighten the population; - The anti-pagan movement, including the witch trials, was misogynistic, directed primarily against women; - The Great Depression was the result of panic and fear. Debates can be organized for any of the topics raised in the discussion questions or in the assignments. More sophisticated classes may want to address the following: Which of the two Proctors, John or Elizabeth, was most culpable in creating the situation that resulted in their deaths? All students can be asked to memorize the First Amendment and to recite this crucial addition to the U.S. Constitution aloud. Any of the writing assignments can be presented to the class as oral reports by one or a group of students. See also additional Assignments for use with any Film that is a Work of Fiction and TWM's guide to Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays. Other Lesson Plans: Bridges to Reading: This play was written to be read as well as performed. Miller has inserted explanatory paragraphs which describe the various characters in the play and which set out his views. See, for example, the first explanatory insert in Act One, in which Miller describes the fact that the dangers of Indians and famine, which the Puritan theocracy was organized to combat, were lessening and that certain people in Salem were chafing at the restrictions of Puritan society: The Salem tragedy, which is about to begin in these pages, developed from a paradox. It is a paradox in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply, it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. It was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose. But all organization is and must be grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition, just as two objects cannot occupy the same space. Evidently the time came in New England when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against which the order was organized. The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom. Classes can also read the following passages of Miller's autobiography Timebends, A Life. Pages 332 - 335 contain a description of his meeting with Elia Kazan, the famous director of plays and television, when Kazan tried to explain his decision to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. At pages 336 and 337 Miller describes his examination of the original court records in Salem and his discovery of the dramatic center of the play. When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we [America during the Red Scare] shall be pitied someday. It is impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom. Historical novels suitable for middle school and junior high readers concerning the Salem witchcraft trials and witchcraft trials in general include: Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky; Hester Bidgood - Investigatrix of Evill Deedes by H.W. Hildick; Tituba of Salem Village by Ann Petry, Crowell. For an interesting look into the concept of witches, students may want to read The Seventh Son, by Orson Scott Card and Bless Me Ultima, by Rodolfo Anaya. Links to the Internet: Selected Awards, Cast and Director: Selected Awards: 1997 Academy Awards Nominations: Best Writing, Best Screenplay based on Material from Another Medium (Miller); Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen); 1997 Golden Globe Awards Nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Scofield). Featured Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield, Joan Allen, Bruce Davison, Rob Campbell. In addition to websites which may be linked in the Guide and selected film reviews listed on the Movie Review Query Engine, the following resources were consulted in the preparation of this Learning Guide: - A Delusion of Satan, the Full Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials by Frances Hill; Doubleday; 1995; - Timebends, A Life, Arthur Miller, Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1987; - The Portable Arthur Miller; edited by Christopher Bigsby; Penguin Books; 1977. Spread the GOOD NEWS about © by TeachWithMovies.com, Inc. All rights reserved. Note that unless otherwise indicated any quotations attributed to a source, photographs, illustrations, maps, diagrams or paintings were copied from public domain sources or are included based upon the "fair use" doctrine. No claim to copyright is made as to those items. DVD or VHS covers are in the public domain. TeachWithMovies.org®, TeachWithMovies.com®, Talking and Playing with Movies, and the pencil and filmstrip logo are trademarks of TeachWithMovies.com, Inc.

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Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. Atty. MICHAEL JHON M. TAMAYAO manages this blog. Contact: email@example.com. Aristotle occupies an indispensable position in the study of moral philosophy. So much of what he said has shaped up our thinking today. No serious student or teacher of this subject could intelligently absorb himself in a philosophical discussion without coming to terms with Aristotle’s thoughts. Together with Socrates and Plato, Aristotle (384-322 BC) completed the triumvirate of the great Greek philosophers. He was born in Stagira in northern Greece and educated for twenty years in the Academy, the famous school instituted by Plato.1 Although he did not become the chosen successor of Plato in the Academy, Aristotle became the most notable pupil of Plato and whose achievement was the only thing that exceeded Plato’s promethian work. After Plato’s death, he returned to Macedonia and became a tutor to Alexander, the son of King Philip of Macedonia and who later created one of the greatest empires in human history. He came back to Athens and established his own school, which he named Lyceum. He devoted the rest of his life to teaching, writing, and research in a surprisingly broad range of topics, which included metaphysics, logic, ethics, and other philosophical subjects, and physics, biology, psychology, and other empirical sciences. Although he compartmentalized knowledge into many sciences, he did this in line with his over all thrust of constructing a “system” of knowledge that sought to explain everything coherently. Ethics is one of the major intellectual preoccupations of Aristotle. It may not be as precise as his other scientific treatises, but his ethics, which is based on “character-formation,” serves as a systematic, if not complete, guide to living a good life. He believes that a good life is achieved through a long and rigorous process of habituation to good practices. What were the works of Aristotle in ethics? Aristotle’s ethical teachings were compiled under three titles, each of which was written in a different stage in his career. These include Eudemian Ethics, Magnia Moralia, and Nicomachean Ethics. For most scholars, among these three, the Nicomachean Ethics (NE) is the most complete work that explains his mature views in ethics.2 In this light, our discussion will revolve much around the basic themes of the NE, with special emphasis on character-building and virtues; after all, “ethics” refers essentially and originally to “ethos,” the Greek word for character. It is particularly important to note that for Aristotle, although ethics has its own distinctive subject matter, it is intimately entwined with politics. As a matter of fact, NE is just the first volume of a two-volume study of politics. Aristotle, in Book I of NE, says that his inquiry is a kind of political science.3 The second volume is entitled “Politics,” which is suppose to be a sequel to the former. Both are practical sciences, dealing with the practical aspects of the human society and how the state and the individual could make good life possible. What is “teleological” and “naturalistic” ethics? Aristotle’s ethical account is distinctively labeled as teleological and naturalistic. Teleological because it embraces the belief that man, like any other being, has an “end” (telos), towards which his very existence intends and finds meaning. All actions terminate in this end. His ethics is also naturalistic because it describes the “end” as something natural to man. Thus, the end towards which man’s life is intended is in accordance with his nature. Happiness as the ultimate end… Aristotle was seeking for man’s ultimate end, that is, the ultimate “product” of all human acts. It is not just an end as activity but an end as the ultimate product of all activities. If this end is that towards which everything terminates and that which does not refer to further ends, then this end is an end-in-itself. For the human beings, this ultimate good or end is Happiness (eudaimonia). Happiness is that which people always choose for the sake of itself and not for something else. Money is not our end, since it is just useful for getting something else. Even intelligence and virtue are not good in themselves, but good only because they make people happy. Happiness is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which all actions are directed. People may have different opinions about the meaning of happiness. However, the happiness thought of by Aristotle and other Greeks is very much different from its English counterpart. They construed eudaimonia not as a feeling or emotional well-being, but as fulfillment, success, or flourishing, which reflect very significant aspects of the social life of ancient Greeks. For the Greeks, happiness is a matter of living (energeia) the right way. In addition, Aristotle stressed that happiness is something that does not happen in the flickering moments of our lives. Rather it is something that lasts. Good things that happen once in a while are forgetful, but constant joy bears a lasting impact and qualifies for true happiness. True happiness lasts because it is a product of rigorous training and constant application of rules that remain stable and universal throughout our life’s journey. Happiness as the proper exercise of reason… Happiness is the intended product of virtuous living. If happiness is the highest human good then it consists of the proper function of man, not just of some of his parts but of his whole being. Man is a hegemony of reason, so to function properly, he must use his highest faculty, which is reason, in ordering all his actions and endeavors. Happiness is then said to be man’s proper and constant exercise of reason. It would be hard to appreciate Aristotle’s happiness philosophy without going into the intricate details of his discussion of the particular virtues. Happiness is an activity, achieved through a constant and habitual practice, just as a flutist in order to be good constantly develops his skill with the flute. Through his study of the virtue, we are led into a plausible path towards the happiness. What are virtues? As the “mean” disposition… If something functions properly, then it becomes good. But if it malfunctions, then it falls short of goodness. For man, he is said to function correctly if he does the right actions. Actions are product of deliberation or choice. Someone is said to have done the right act if he has made the right choice. And right choice is that which follows the rule of the “golden mean,” which states that the good is always found somewhere between what is deficient and excessive. Generosity or liberality is the mean in relation to wealth, i.e. to the taking and giving of wealth, more especially the giving.7 Its excess is prodigality or squander, and its deficiency is illiberality. The former vice is for Aristotle more favorable than the latter because it can be checked by teaching the value of money. Magnificence, which also involves the sphere of getting and spending but in a major sense, requires a good sense of taste. The deficiency of this state is called niggardliness, and its excess vulgarity.8 In face of honor (in the smaller scale), it is good to have a proper ambition, but vicious if excessive or deficient.9 Magnanimity, which also involves the sphere of honor and dishonor, but in a major sense, is the disposition of knowing the honor your worthy of.10 A magnanimous person is great and always seeks his rightful place. Its excess is vanity or conceit, and its deficiency is pusillanimity. Character is derived from the Greek word χαρακτερ which originally connotes a mark impressed upon a coin. It then evolved into the word used generally to mean a distinctive mark by which one thing is distinguished from another. Today, it primarily means the assemblage of qualities that distinguish one individual from another. Character, inasmuch as it is an observable phenomenon, is now a subject matter properly tackled by psychology. Nonetheless, modern empirical psychologists trace their roots in the philosophical treaties of Aristotle with regards to his discussion of character. Among the Greek moralists, he has provided the most psychologically insightful account on character for the modern empirical psychologist. His account provided them with an ample amount of data regarding character-building very much applicable to child rearing and other socially oriented matters. As a part of the soul… According to Aristotle, character is a part of the soul. The soul has three components: passions, faculties and states of character. The passions are man’s feelings, desires, fears, anger, ambitions, and others. The faculties are man’s natural capacities and potencies for feeling and acting. And the states of character are thought to be the complex tendencies or dispositions to act and feel in certain ways under certain circumstances. Nature allows us to have characters because they are ingrained in our souls. Nonetheless, they are just ingrained “potencies” and it is up to us to perfect them through habit. As a disposition… Character is a disposition: it is a disposition to act and also a disposition to feel. For Aristotle, character is determined by actions and at the same time it determines future actions. It is determined by a long-term practice of actions developed into habits, which in turn will be the pattern for which actions are to be undertaken. Character also involves emotions so it is a disposition to feel. By emotions we mean the cultivated and habituated, and not the immediate impulses. Virtue is a character or disposition.21 It is not a feeling or a faculty. Feeling may move us to act and faculty determine our capacity for feeling, but only in virtue is man a subject of praise or blame. Virtuous and Vicious… A person who always does virtuous things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way by striking the mean, will certainly be a virtuous person. While a person who always does vicious things by repeated actions of extremes and deficiency will certainly be a vicious person. The character of a virtuous person is cultivated first by habituation. Eventually, this constant practice will lead to knowledge and understanding of the action itself. And when one fully understands the whys of his actions then he will learn to enjoy and continue choosing them for their own sake, and thus act out of a settled state of character.22 A virtuous person necessarily takes pleasure in his actions. Thus, one’s enjoyment of his actions serves as a proof that he is a virtuous person. Continent and Incontinent… When a virtuous person reacts to the things around him, there is harmony in his emotions and reason.24 The virtuous person’s soul then, is whole, unified and not tattered. This is what distinguishes the virtuous person from other states of being such as continence, incontinence and vice. The continent and the incontinent persons are divided by the conflict of their desire and will. Like the vicious person, one part of their soul is upset at being restrained, and another is delighted by the intended action.25 This dichotomy tears them apart. In contrast to a vicious person, the continent and incontinent persons have internal conflicts, but are, nevertheless, more aware of their inner conflicts than the morally vicious person. Continence is essentially a kind of self-mastery; right reason overcoming negative desires.26 The continent person recognizes what he should do and does it, but to do so he must struggle against the pull of recalcitrant feelings. On the other hand, incontinence is a kind of softness or inconsistency. He knows that his actions are wrong, but still does them because of his feelings.27 The incontinent person in some way knows what he should do, but fails to do so because of recalcitrant feelings. Divine Virtue and Brutishness… For Aristotle, divine virtue and brutishness are the best and worst moral states possible to every individual. Divine virtue, on the one hand, is considered as virtue that exceeds the usual human mode of virtuosity. It is virtue in the fullest sense; a state close to divinity. Brutishness, on the other hand, is a moral state close to being an animal. It is a disposition wherein thoughtful action is absent and, therefore, only involuntary wrongdoings are present. In a sense, the agent in this state looses the highest part of his nature and tends to be an animalistic and irresponsible agent. By giving the correct fundamentals… The human mind starts to know something either in an a priori or a posteriori manner. The goodness of virtue or habit is not a naturally acquired knowledge innate to us since birth. They are known a posteriorily in the sense that we acknowledge them first as given to us as “the that.”28 But the human mind must justify the “that” taught to them in their initial encounters of what is good. So, the essentiality of the “that”, the good fundamentals, could only be fulfilled when one understands and applies it from the heart. The “that” must be complemented by the “because” for it to be complete. So in order for one to become familiar with common beliefs he needs a good upbringing.29 To have good fundamentals is the first step in having a good character. If one has a good upbringing and correct fundamentals then he has the correct starting point.30 The importance therefore of the fundamentals lies in its being an indispensable starting ground or origin for the development of a good character. This is why, for Aristotle, goodness could only be found and achieved in a selected few. For Aristotle, the proper way of acquiring the fundamentals is through habituation.31 There are three modes of acquisition: induction, perception and habituation. The starting points for ethical actions are acquired through habituation just as bodily actions are acquired through perception of some bodily necessity. As stated above, the origin of a good character is the acquisition of good fundamentals through habituation and internalization. Habituation, therefore, is the process by which the origins of character development take shape. It is a developmental process in which one increases his power of discernment in his perceptual, affective and deliberative capacities. It is not solely a rigid process of constructing a mind of tabula rasa into a mechanistic one. Aristotle insinuated that in the process of habituation the agent must be able to know that he is doing a virtuous action, decide on them and do the actions from a firm and unchanging state.32 Habits are therefore voluntary and moral actions. Aristotle says that all are born with the potential to be morally virtuous, but it is only by behaving in the right way that people train themselves to be virtuous. Aristotle’s theory of habituation speaks loudly of his general goal of imparting a practical science. Ethics is practical and it becomes useless if it remains in the domain of the abstract. Habituation is not mere theoria; it is essentially praxis. The notion therefore of character is not merely an abstract concept equally the same as modern concept of “personality” but a state which necessarily arises from the repetition of similar activities.33 Are we Responsible for our Character? Since habituation is a product of active deliberation and voluntary action, it is evident that character, the result of habituation, accounts for the responsibility of the person. Yet, one might object that people should not be held responsible for their voluntary actions because being negligent or evil may be part of their character. But Aristotle firmly holds that a person is always responsible for his character as well as his actions arising from his character: “…A man is himself responsible for becoming careless, because he lives in a loose and carefree manner; he is likewise responsible for being unjust or self-indulgent… For a given kind of activity produces a corresponding character.”35 Is a solitary life better than a shared life? For Aristotle, contemplation is the excellence of man’s intellect. Since the intellect is the highest thing in man, and the objects that it apprehends are the highest things that can be known,contemplation is the highest form of activity.36 Man can therefore be happy by himself when he engages in contemplation. Unlike any other activity, contemplation is the most continuous activity. It is also the most pleasant and most self-sufficient. Aristotle also says that contemplative life is a god-like life because we come closer to the Divine realities. In Book X, chapters 7–8, he gives it a special position, making it the pinnacle of a well-lived life, the highest of all human activities. Although one can achieve happiness in his solitude through contemplation, Aristotle asserts that friendship is a better condition than solitariness. A self-sufficient life is one whose activities are intrinsically worthy. It has its ends which are worth choosing regardless of what may become of them. Aristotle is not concerned to justify friendship because it conduces to or promotes self-development but because it is part of a self-contained, fully realized life. Aristotle says that even the contemplative man needs external goods in order to be happy. These goods may be good birth, good children, and beauty. Man is a political animal and there is nothing more that affirms this statement than his life as essentially openness for friendship. It is remarkable to note that two of the ten books of the Nicomachean Ethics is devoted to friendship (philia). This is because philia involves a wide variety of human relationships, and not because it is of more importance than the subject on contemplative life. There are three types of friendship: friendship based on utility (pragma), friendship based on pleasure, and friendship based on goodness of character. The first two are superficial and not long-lasting because they are based on an unstable foundation. The third, however, is the best type because it is based on a stable ground. It is the love for “who” the other person is and not the love for “what” the other person can give. A virtuous person treats others according to their personhood and not according to what they can give him. He treats others as individuals who has persons and not merely as objects of his personal interests. To know the goodness of one’s life, one needs to have intimate friends whose lives are similarly good, since one will be able to evaluate life when it is not his own. Man knows the kind of life that he has through his friends; his alter egos. It is in living in activity with others that one becomes more continuously active and more fully happy. A solitary life will be a hard life, for it is not easy to keep up a continuous activity by yourself as you will easily get tired of what you’re doing. Unlike the solitary person, one who engages in activity with others will have the joy of companionship.37 According to Aristotle, our life’s project is to be happy, and building a good character is necessary. Put simply, our happiness consists in having a balanced life. For many reasons contrary to our present understanding, Happiness for Aristotle is living a moral life. It is having the stability and consistency of character. It is thriving in a strong disposition, a flourishing, that neutralizes the seducing power of pleasure. In order to achieve happiness, it is imperative that one has already developed a good character. A virtuous person is a happy person while a vicious person is a miserable person, even though it may seem, as usually the case, that the latter enjoys more the luxuries in life.

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The Stickleback: Evidence of evolution? Published: 8 September 2009 (GMT+10) Photo by sam2cents, flickr.com The stickleback—an evolutionary ‘superstar’? Charles Darwin did not mention the stickleback in his 1859 On the Origin of Species. In his subsequent writings, Darwin briefly referred to the stickleback when he was struggling with the question of how animals select mates, and the male stickleback’s devoted care of the young. But today, the stickleback has become an ‘icon’ of evolution. “One of the most compelling case studies of evolution” is how one leading biologist labelled the stickleback fish (Gasterosteus spp.).1 A Science journal writer termed it a “star” of evolutionary research.2 Another science reporter went even further, dubbing it as a “superstar of evolutionary science”, adding that “Sticklebacks are so central to the new wave of evolutionary research that they may well eclipse Darwin’s finches in importance and earn the honorary title of ‘Darwin’s finches’.”3 But on what evidence do they base these grandiose claims? Differences between saltwater and freshwater sticklebacks Threespine sticklebacks can be found in oceans and coastal rivers and streams in north America, Japan and northern Asia and Europe. The oceangoing sticklebacks spend most of their adult life in the sea, returning to freshwater to breed.5 The saltwater form is morphologically similar all around the Northern Hemisphere, with adults typically between 6–10 cm (2–4 in.) in length, with long dorsal and pelvic spines. Lacking scales, their bodies are covered by as many as 36 armour plates covering their sides6 —believed to protect sticklebacks against predatory fish. Certainly the spines seem to serve that purpose, because when a larger fish tries to eat a marine stickleback, the stickleback defends itself by extending the spines on its back and pelvis. In contrast to the saltwater form, freshwater populations are extremely morphologically diverse, with great variation between sticklebacks from different streams or lakes.7 They also have generally shorter dorsal and pelvic spines and substantially fewer armour plates (normally 12 or less) than their marine counterparts. In fact, many freshwater sticklebacks have no pelvic spines or armour plates at all. These differences between saltwater and freshwater forms of the stickleback are paraded as evidence of evolution, i.e. the marine form “evolved” into the freshwater form over evolutionary timescales: “Sticklebacks were once a solely saltwater species that migrated from the sea to streams and lakes to breed; as the glaciers retreated up to 22,000 years ago, some settled in lakes. Although they evolved to look very different from their ancestors, they often came to resemble their counterparts who were evolving in a similar way in lakes that are geographically distant.”2,8 It is certainly not unreasonable to conclude that the freshwater stickleback is descended from the saltwater form. After all, ocean-going sticklebacks migrate up streams to inland freshwater lakes to spawn, both freshwater and saltwater populations can interbreed, and, as we shall see, recent observations certainly support this. But are the changes in stickleback morphology really evolutionary? Is the stickleback’s “disappearing armour” truly evidence for the capacity of fish to have gradually evolved into philosophers over supposed hundreds of millions of years? Somewhat ironically, thanks to evolutionary scientists’ eagerly directing their attention to the stickleback and various freshwater lakes as “natural laboratories for evolutionary studies”, these questions have been answered—by evolutionists themselves. As we shall see, stickleback changes have been acknowledged as not only providing no support for molecules-to-man evolution, but have also upset the “slow-and-gradual” long-age evolutionary mindset. Recolonization of a freshwater lake by ocean sticklebacks, and subsequent adaptation Loberg Lake is a small (~4.5 hectares) lake in Southern Alaska. In 1982 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game poisoned all the fish in Loberg Lake to improve the lake for recreational fishing (i.e. as preparation for restocking the lake with salmon and trout). Thus Loberg’s native freshwater stickleback population was exterminated. However, eight years later, researchers sampling Lake Loberg found that the sticklebacks were back. But these new sticklebacks were strikingly different from the pre-1982 population, as they were heavily armoured, like ocean-going sticklebacks. The researchers surmised, quite reasonably, that saltwater sticklebacks had made their way upstream from Cook Inlet and colonized Lake Loberg sometime between 1983 and 1989.9 In the years since 1990, however, annual sampling of the lake’s sticklebacks revealed a progressive reduction in body armour. In 1990, fully-plated sticklebacks made up 96% of the population, but just three years later, only 39% had the full suite of bony body plates.10 Individuals with only the front plates first appeared in 1991, but by 2001 their numbers had increased to 75%. Thus after just a few generations (sticklebacks take 1–3 years to reach maturity), the sticklebacks in Lake Loberg increasingly resembled the pre-1982 native stickleback population, and their freshwater counterparts in other Alaskan lakes and streams. So what had driven this rapid reduction of armour plating and pelvic spines? Natural selection at work Looking past the hype of researchers’ claims that this is “rapid evolution”,9 it is in fact a classic example of “strong natural selection acting on variation that was carried by the anadromous11 fish that colonized the lake”.9 Notice that natural selection acted on existing variation in the colonizing stickleback population. In other words, the so-called “rapid evolution” did not result in the addition of any new features but rather the reduction or even complete loss of existing features—bony plates and pelvic spines. The researchers have made several reasonable suggestions as to why the selection pressure should be so strong, i.e. favouring the fast loss of spines and plates in freshwater habitat: - As a trade-off for the bulky armour, sticklebacks likely gain in speed and agility, so as lakes typically have places to hide, the fish can escape from any larger predators lurking, assuming the sticklebacks can dart into ‘hiding holes’ quickly enough.2 - As many lakes lack the large predatory fish typical of ocean waters, the selection pressure for armour no longer applies, hence fish lacking pelvic spines and/or with less bony plate covering survive. Also, because fresh water lacks the rich calcium reserves of sea water, bony armour could be “too costly to make”.2 Supporting this, biologists have documented that sticklebacks with reduced armour are significantly larger in size. One of the researchers explained, “If the fish aren’t expending resources growing bones—which may be significantly more difficult in fresh water due to its lack of ions—they can devote more energy to increasing biomass. This in turn allows them to breed earlier and improves over-winter survival rate.”12 - On the lake bottom, in the absence of a threat from larger predators, pelvic spines not only lose their defensive value, but turn out to be a handicap when dragonfly larvae and other bottom-dwelling predator larvae are present. University of Utah biologist Michael Shapiro explained, “[D]ragonfly larvae can grab sticklebacks by the [belly] spines, reel them in and eat them. They wait for sticklebacks to swim by and grab them.”13,14 A decline in armour in stickleback populations has also been reported in other freshwater locations. For example, when researchers relocated 200 marine sticklebacks to freshwater ponds on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus, they soon observed in the offspring that “natural selection favours reduced armour in freshwater”.12 From that and other studies, geneticists have now identified that a mutated genetic switch is responsible for the loss of armour. Specifically, it affects expression of the Pitx gene. In the pelvic region, the corrupted genetic switch prevents spines forming in that area. Elsewhere, it can affect “a whole suite of bony characters”2 not just the external bony plates but also jaw shape and bones associated with protecting the gills. Hence this now gives us a better understanding of genetic factors undergirding the great morphological variation in freshwater sticklebacks,7 even such differences as jaw shape, upon which natural selection can act. (Note that studies have found that the genetic basis for low-platedness is present in populations of ocean-going sticklebacks, albeit at low frequencies.)15 Note that at root here is brokenness or corruption—right in line with the Bible’s account of the Creation being corrupted, in “bondage to decay” (Romans 8:19–22). It is certainly no support for fish-to-philosopher evolution, as there is no new genetic information here, rather the mutated (i.e. broken) genetic switch simply prevents expression of a gene. That is in no way evolution but rather devolution—see The evolution train’s a-comin (Sorry, a-goin’—in the wrong direction) and Mutations: evolution’s engine becomes evolution’s end! Even leading evolutionary proponent Jerry Coyne (University of Chicago) has candidly admitted as much: “these examples represent the loss of traits, rather than the origin of evolutionary novelties.”16 Despite Coyne and other evolutionists recognizing this, they are not backing away from their belief in evolution. Prominent evolutionist Sean Carroll (with two colleagues), writing in Scientific American of the stickleback’s disappearing pelvic spine under the heading “A Beneficial Loss” (emphasis added), nevertheless claims it “offers another vivid example of adaptation through the evolution of a gene-regulating enhancer sequence.”17 Similar pro-evolution “spin” on the pelvic spine loss comes from Neil Shubin and Randall Dahn, writing in Nature: “Surprisingly, some of the most significant novelties in the history of life are associated not with the evolution of new structures but with the loss or reduction of primitive ones.”18 Incredibly, they (and other evolutionists)17,19 refer to the stickback’s pelvic spine as being a limb, and therefore the observed “limb reduction” in freshwater stickleback populations can be equated with “hindlimb loss” in whales and manatees!20 (Whales and manatees, aquatic mammals, are presumed over tens of millions of years of supposed earth history to have evolved from terrestrial quadrupeds. However, as we have written previously (see, e.g., Not at all like a whale), such creative storytelling (with, of necessity, it’s ever-changing storyline to fit each new discovery of contradicting evidence) is completely without credible foundation.) “Slow-and-gradual” notions debunked An article in Science journal explained, “Since the 1930s, the prevailing view has been that evolution moves in a slow shuffle, advancing in small increments, propelled by numerous, minor genetic changes.”2 However, by evolutionists’ own admission, the stickleback findings represent a challenge to that view. As we’ve seen, dramatic changes in the fish’s bony armour were traced to an already-existing corrupted form of just one gene switch. The article in Science conceded, “from an evolutionary perspective, this gene may change at lightning speeds.”2 While evolutionists are describing this as “rapid evolution”, the reality, in their own words, is simply that “natural selection had taken its toll on the armored fish in just a few years”.2 As The Scientist put it, “when these marine fish move to a new freshwater environment, the low-plated phenotype has a selective advantage, and the low-plated fish can appear quickly through natural selection at a higher frequency of the preexisting genetic change.”21 (Emphasis added.) Of course, this is right in line with a biblical perspective. (See Brisk biters—fast changes in mosquitoes astonish evolutionists, but delight creationists.) It’s most certainly not “rapid evolution” at work as there is nowhere in evidence any sort of processes that might have been able to change pond scum into people over billions of years. Rather, it is just natural selection operating on existing genetic information, acting to favour a corrupted gene switch,22 which thus becomes predominant in the stickleback population after just a few generations. Such rapid changes within the stickleback ought be no surprise. Rapid reversal, too! (and it’s not evolution, either) Despite the lessons evolutionary researchers learned from having observed rapid changes in saltwater sticklebacks colonizing freshwater lakes, they were in for another stickleback surprise. The ScienceDaily headline summed it up, “Rapid, dramatic ‘reverse evolution’ documented in tiny fish species”. The article went on to explain that “Evolution is supposed to inch forward over eons,” but in Lake Washington (near Seattle), stickleback researchers had observed that “the process can go in relative warp-speed reverse”.23 (Emphasis added.) Other reports used similar language. “While evolution is usually expected to creep along over eons, the stickleback has managed to evolve in full-speed reverse … ”, explained a newspaper article, citing it as “a rare example of animal reverting to an earlier evolutionary version to survive a rapid change in its environment.”24 That report quoted one researcher as saying, “It was very surprising.” So what actually happened? Five decades ago, when Lake Washington was so polluted that visibility was limited to about 75 cm (30 inches), only about 6% of the lake’s sticklebacks were fully plated (like the saltwater form)—the remainder having little or no armour. But since a pollution cleanup operation began in the mid-1960s, the researchers, “to their surprise”,24 recorded that the proportion of fully-plated sticklebacks (i.e. from snout-to-tail) has increased to about 49% today, with an additional 35% having at least half of their bodies shielded in bony armour. The researchers surmise that prior to the cleanup, the murky water provided sticklebacks with “an opaque blanket of security” against their primary predator in Lake Washington, cutthroat trout, so armour plating was of little advantage. But as visibility improved—by the early 1970s it was up to 3 metres (10 ft); today water clarity is approaching 7.5 metres (25 ft)—low-armour sticklebacks became more vulnerable to the cutthroat trout that suddenly could now see, and eat, them. Of course, this has nothing to do with microbes-to-man evolution, ‘reverse’ or otherwise. It is simply yet another example of natural selection operating on existing genetic information—note that just prior to the cleanup, a small proportion (6%) of the stickleback population were fully-plated. With increased water transparency, there was now a stronger selection pressure against low-plating, and so natural selection favoured fish with more armour. In the researchers’ own words summing up their paper in Current Biology (when we look past their claims of “reverse evolution” and “rapid evolution”), we see natural selection for sure, but no evidence of any new genetic information of the sort needed to turn sticklebacks into scientists, whether over a short time or long: “On the basis of our genetic studies and simulations, we propose that the most likely cause of reverse evolution is increased selection for the completely plated morph, which we suggest could result from higher levels of trout predation after a sudden increase in water transparency during the early 1970s. Rapid evolution was facilitated by the existence of standing allelic variation in Ectodysplasin (Eda), the gene that underlies the major plate-morph locus. The Lake Washington stickleback thus provides a novel example of reverse evolution, which is probably caused by a change in allele frequency at the major plate locus in response to a changing predation regime.”25 (Emphasis added.) This is not the first time that evolutionists have tried to claim shifting gene frequencies in a population as evidence for molecules-to-man evolution—see Goodbye, peppered moths and Don’t fall for the bait and switch. At the end of five decades of supposed “rapid, reverse evolution”, Lake Washington’s stickleback population is still a population of sticklebacks. No evolution has taken place. Stickleback speciation is not evolution As mentioned at the start of this article, Nature journal has this year decreed the stickleback to be one of “15 Evolutionary Gems”. (There were five “Gems from the Fossil Record”, four “Gems from Molecular Processes” with the stickleback being one of six “Gems from Habitats”; specifically tagged: “Natural selection in speciation”.)4 The journal cited its own 2004 paper by the University of Wisconsin’s Jeffrey McKinnon and his colleagues reporting that reproductive isolation in sticklebacks “can evolve as a by-product of selection on body size”.26 Put simply, the basis for the claim that this is evidence of evolution can be summed up as follows: - Individual sticklebacks tend to mate with individuals like themselves, i.e. of similar size and occupying similar ecological niche.27 E.g. the long and heavy-bodied benthic form (feeds on invertebrates at the lake bottom; has a relatively horizontal jaw and small eyes) usually prefers not to mate with the shorter, slimmer limnetic form (sticklebacks that live in the surface waters of lakes, feeding on plankton; they can have an upturned jaw and large eyes). Thus the different forms can be said to be reproductively isolated. - Having demonstrated that forms with distinctively different physical features are also reproductively isolated from each other, biologists can declare the different forms to be different species, i.e. there has been speciation. - Speciation is evidence of evolution. The argument that speciation is evidence of evolution has been thoroughly rebutted in our earlier publications—see e.g. Chapter 4 of Refuting Evolution II. Rapid speciation is no surprise from a biblical perspective—see Speedy Species Surprise. In short, species are subsets of the originally created kinds, as can be readily seen by examples of inter-species hybridization (see, e.g. Ligers and wholphins? What next?) In sticklebacks, although the benthic and limnetic forms in the wild are reproductively isolated, and therefore can technically be declared to be separate species, they can still mate with each other. E.g. benthic and limnetic sticklebacks in Lake Enos on Vancouver Island are now known to be interbreeding and are no longer two distinct species.28 And of course, as already mentioned, freshwater sticklebacks can be readily crossed with ocean-going sticklebacks—in fact, it was through careful observation of such crosses that the Pitx gene was identified. The stickleback provides us with great examples of natural selection, mutations, rapid adaptation and speciation. Claims that these are evidence for evolution are completely without foundation. The observed changes in stickleback populations today are in no way the sorts of changes needed to have changed fish into philosophers—ever. - Sean B. Carroll is a developmental biologist at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Wisconsin, USA. The quote comes from p. 193 of his 2005 book Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, W.W. Norton & Co., New York. For a review see Williams, A., Evo Devo refutes neo-Darwinism, supports creation, Journal of Creation 19(3):40–44, 2005. Return to text. - Pennisi, E., Evolutionary Biology: Changing a fish’s bony armor in the wink of a gene, Science 304(5678):1736–1739, 18 June 2004. Return to text. - Doughton, S., Darwin’s fishes: the threespine stickleback of the Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Times, <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008746246_darwinfishes15m.html>, 15 February 2009. Return to text. - Gee, H., Howlett, R. and Campbell, P., 15 Evolutionary Gems—A resource from Nature for those wishing to spread awareness of evidence for evolution by natural selection, <www.nature.com/evolutiongems>, 2009. Return to text. - I.e. they are anadromous, going from the sea up rivers to spawn (as opposed to catadromous fish which go down rivers to the ocean to spawn). Return to text. - Gibson, G., The synthesis and evolution of a supermodel, Science 307(5717):1890–1891, 2005. Return to text. - For example, sticklebacks in deep lakes typically feed in the surface waters (on plankton) and frequently have large eyes, an upturned jaw and short, slim bodies. In shallow lakes, however, sticklebacks are primarily bottom-feeders with smaller eyes, a relatively horizontal jaw, and long, heavier bodies. Return to text. - At the end of the extracted text was a reference to: Pennisi, E., Nature steers a predictable course, Science 287(5451):207–209, 14 January 2000. Return to text. - Bell, M. et al., Contemporary evolution of threespine stickleback in Loberg Lake, Alaska; The Bell Lab: Bridging the gap between developmental genetics and paleontology, <http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/ee/belllab/loberg.html>, accessed 29 July 2009. Return to text. - Bell, M.A., Aguirre, W.E., and Buck, N.J., Twelve years of contemporary armor evolution in a threespine stickleback population. Evolution 58:814-824, 2004. Return to text. - For explanation of “anadromous”, see Footnote 5. Return to text. - ‘Armored’ fish study helps strengthen Darwin’s natural selection theory, ScienceDaily, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080828162604.htm>, 1 September 2008. Return to text. - Different genes cause loss of body parts—pelvis and body armor—in similar fish, ScienceDaily, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604124021.htm>, 5 June 2009. Return to text. - University of Utah press release, Pelvis has left the building, <http://unews.utah.edu/p/?r=060109-1>, 4 June 2009. Return to text. - Colosimo, P., Hosemann, K., Balabhadra, S., Villarreal, G., Dickson, M., Grimwood, J., Schmutz, J., Myers, R., Schluter, D., Kingsley, D., Widespread parallel evolution in sticklebacks by repeated fixation of ectodysplasin alleles, Science 307(5717):1928–1933, 2005. Return to text. - Coyne, J.A., Switching on evolution—how does evo-devo explain the huge diversity of life on Earth? Nature 435(7046):1029–1030, 2005. Return to text. - Carroll, S., Prud’homme, B., Gompel, N., Regulating evolution, Scientific American 296(5):38–45, 2008. Return to text. - Shubin, N. and Dahn, R., Lost and found, Nature 428(6984):703–704, 2004. Return to text. - Shapiro, M., Marks, M., Peichel, C., Blackman, B., Nereng, K., Jonsson, B., Schluter, D. and Kingsley, D., Genetic and developmental basis of evolutionary pelvic reduction in threespine sticklebacks, Nature 428(6984):717–723, 2004. Return to text. - Not surprisingly, the news media duly relayed the idea to the general public. One hopes that thinking people might have had cause to see the vacuity in statements like this from the BBC News: “Limb loss is implicated in a number of big steps in evolution.” Rincon, P., Genome reveals limb number recipe, BBC News, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3625235.stm>, 14 April 2004. Return to text. - Lovinger, S., Eda controls stickleback armor—Finding reinforces idea that small genetic changes control widespread and major evolution, News from The Scientist 6(1):20050328-01, <www.biomedcentral.com/news/20050328/01>, 28 March 2005. Return to text. - More recent research has revealed that loss of armour can be traced to different genes, not just one as first thought. Shapiro, M., Summers, B., Balabhadra, S., Aldenhoven, J., Miller, A., Cunningham, C., Bell, M., Kingsley, D., Current Biology 19(13):1140–1145, 14 July 2009; also: Different genes cause loss of body parts—pelvis and body armor—in similar fish, ScienceDaily, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604124021.htm>, 5 June 2009. Return to text. - Rapid, dramatic ‘reverse evolution’ documented in tiny fish species, ScienceDaily, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515120759.htm>, 16 May 2008. Return to text. - Mapes, L., Stickleback fish may teach us lessons in adaptation, The Seattle Times, <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004418397_stickleback16m.html>, 16 May 2008. Return to text. - Kitano, J., Bolnick, D., Beauchamp, D., Mazur, M., Mori, S., Nakano, T., Peichel, C., Reverse Evolution of Armor Plates in the Threespine Stickleback, Current Biology 18(10):769–774, 20 May 2008. Return to text. - McKinnon, J.S., Mori, S., Blackman, L., Kingsley, D., Jamieson, L., Chou, J., Schluter, D., Evidence for ecology’s role in speciation, Nature 429(6989):294–298, 2004. Return to text. - Rundle, H., Nagel, L., Boughman, J., and Schluter, D., Natural selection and parallel speciation in sympatric sticklebacks, Science 287(5451):306–308, 14 January 2000. Return to text. - Acroloxus Wetlands Consultancy, Stickleback Recovery Planning, <http://www.acroloxus.com/stickleback-recovery-planning.html>, accessed 6 August 2009. Return to text. This article is very interesting in that it clarifies the reality of why changes have been and can be observed in stickleback morphology. The whole notion of evolution from the simple to the complex demands that new information be somehow generated from nothing by blind chance. The article makes it very clear that any observed changes are based on the survival of the fittest. Of course, the fittest ALWAYS survive the best! What is overlooked by many evolutionist folks is the fact that Life is NOT based only on any special recipe of chemicals and mild environmental temperatures. Rather, All of Life is based on special coded information that directs the constitution of the chemical recipe and how and when it is to be assembled into whatever life form is indicated. I keep asking for even one single example of a true code that demonstrably has NO author, but only blind chance assembly. Just as the old alchemists were unable to stew up some gold from cheaper stuff, scientists today will remain unable to stew up any living cells without the prerequisite code. No cutting and pasting of any existing code allowed!

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School and public libraries have much more than informational resources available to youth. Whether you're addressing specific curriculum standards for a health unit or designing informal learning activities for a Saturday crafts club, electronic materials are available to faciliate learning. Young people enjoy mobile apps because of their ease of use and portability. For instance, teens can practice for the SAT, learn Spanish, or review science videos using their smartphone. From the very youngest children to mature young adults, there are endless opportunities for electronic materials in learning. Fish School HD teaches preschoolers letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. Interactive Alphabet helps young children learn the alphabet through a touchable tour and interactive games (below left). With Writing Wizard, young children learn to write letters and words (below right). Talking ABC... is another favorite. Super Why is only one of many PBS Kids learning apps available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. In Martha Speaks Dog Party, children play vocabulary games and in Corporal Cup's Food Camp, users learn about preparing healthy recipes. Software and Apps Over the past decade there's been a huge turnover in instructional software publishing. Companies have been bought, sold, and rearranged. Although many companies distribute software, very few producers remain. You'll find that many software packages provide online resources, tools and lessons to go with their software. For instance, Tool Factory contains many online materials. Rosetta Stone is a great example of software that has bridged computer platforms. One of the most popular tools for language learning, it's available in both traditional CD-ROM as well as online and on mobile apps through subscription. Increasingly, learning resources are moving to online subscriptions. For instance A.D.A.M. Education provides award-winning resources for science and health including animations, 3D images, and quizes. Go to A.D.A.M. Education and explore an online demo. You'll find exciting electronic materials for children and young adults across subject areas and grade levels. When computers first became popular as educational tools, many of the instructional resources were simple drill programs designed to help students practice skills such as math or spelling. Instructional software has evolved to include sophisticated simulations and problem-solving software. The problem solving series Freddi Fish (shown on right) by Humongous Entertainment focuses on the adventures of a supersleuth fish who explores underwater caves, canyons, and reefs while solving problems. Today, many companies provide their software as a download rather than on CD or DVD. For instance, Crazy Machines is a game involving creating machines. Like many of the new software packages, it's downloaded from the Internet to your hard drive. Updates are available online as well as a demo. Think about how these resources might be integrated into your library. For instance in the public library, parents often ask for ways to help their children with study skills and academic skills. Many learning opportunities are available on mobile devices such as iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. A growing number of educational producers are developing applications across the curriculum. These are particularly popular with home-school parents. For instance, iHomeEducator is a company that specializes in educational applications for the iPad. They produce a series of apps called iLive focusing on topics such as science, math, and language arts. The website contains lots of demonstration videos to give you a feel for the apps. Tutorials present step-by-step instruction teaching new concepts. They are designed to provide new information along with examples and nonexamples of concepts. In addition, practice and feedback is often incorporated into the program. Tutorials work well when introducing new concepts, reviewing difficult ideas, or providing enrichment Essay Express from Fablevision helps young people learn to create short essays through a series of fun activities. Download a free trial to see how it works. Some tutorials are linear. In other words, they provide the same information and examples to all learners in a predetermined order. Sometimes called "electronic pageturners" they don't address the needs of individual students. On the other hand, branching software provides alternative paths through the program. Each student receives that instruction he The strength of tutorials lies in their consistency and accuracy. They allow students to work at their own pace and provide individualized practice and feedback which is difficult to do in the traditional classroom environment. Typing software such as the popular Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing from the Broderbund is a great example of popular tutorial software. You've probably seen tutorials for applications software. These packages take new users step-by-step through all the skills needed to use the software. Many new computers come with tutorials to get you started using the technology. Want to learn how to plan an instrument? The computer is patient. Many packages will provide a student with endless examples and practice to assist the student in learning the concept. For example, Guitar for Dummies is one of many software options in the Dummies series available through eMedia. The package contains more than 80 lessons on CD-ROM. These are particular popular in public libraries. Think about both formal and information learning situations. For instance, many young people like to learn sign language on their own. When selecting tutorials consider the instructional strategies incorporated into the program. Ask yourself: - Does it teach the concepts like you would teach them? - Do you like the quality and quantity of examples and nonexamples provided? - Does the vocabulary match what you teach in class? It can be confusing for a student to learn one approach on the computer and be expected to demonstrate a different technique in class. Is the software a good use of instructional time in your classroom? Drill and practice software was the first widespread application of computers in the classroom. Other than fancier "bells and whistles", many of today's approaches have changed very little since the 1960s. Knowledge Adventure is well-known for their traditional drill and practice software. The Jumpstart series focuses on age-appropriate levels that allow children to progress at their own pace. Reading and Math Blasters are intended to reinforce concepts and allow opportunities for students to practice. Sunburst was one of the first educational software companies. In Sunburst's Key Skills for Math: Basic Number Concepts (see graphic below), students develop number sense, prepare for basic operations and measurement challenges, and receive reports on their progress. Advantage Elementary is a practical environment focusing on subjects areas such as math, English, and language learning providing lots of opportunities to practive with feedback. Programs are also available for middle school. Although some software provides instruction in addition to practice, it is not intended to replace traditional instruction. Instead, it is intended to support classroom instruction. The strength of these programs is their ability to provide endless practice and immediate feedback to meet the individual needs of students. Increasingly, producers are creating series of learning experiences for youth. For instance, SlateMath is a family of apps for kindergarten through grade 6. Much of the new software for young children provides fun situations, modeling, and corrective feedback. Many of the situations let students explore for answers rather than being posed with traditional multiple choice questions on the screen. For example, the Reader Rabbit series by The Learning Company (now owned by Hougton Miffin Harcourt) is a popular way to teach and reinforce early reading and math concepts. Students search for words that begin with the "s" sound and listen to and read stories. Reader Rabbit products are available through both CD-ROM and mobile apps. A popular series by Edmark provides students with a positive environment to explore early learning concepts. The subject specific series includes Bailey’s Book House, Millie’s Math House, Sammy’s Science House, and Trudy’s Time and Place House. Some of these are also available as apps. The Zurk series by Soleil Software featuring titles related to a rainforest and Alaskan safari are also popular. Go to Edmark from Riverdeep. Explore some of the software such as Bailey's Book House, Millie's Math House, Sammy's Science House, Trudy's Time & Place, Thinkin' Science, and Thinkin' Things. Try some of their free downloads. Many software packages help students practice for exams. The Princeton Review series provides help preparing for the SAT, GMAT, LSAT, and GRE. You’ll find much of this software in the areas of math, language arts, reading, and foreign language where practice and repetition is important in mastery learning. A growing number of companies are provide integrated learning systems that include testing, standards-aligned software, lesson places, and management systems. An increasing number of games are being produced for hand-held devices such as the Nintendo DS. Many of these involve opportunities for practice. A majority of the apps available focus on practicing skills. For instance, Stack the States is a fun way to learn about the shape and locations of states (see below left). In Rocket Math, children create rockets as a reward for solving math problems and in Idioms users try to identify the idiom. An progress meter shows how a user is doing (see above center). Many practice apps use a flashcard approach such as the Kaplan TOEFL Vocabulary Flashcards (see above right). Before selecting this type of approach to learning, make certain the program fits your philosophy of teaching. Ask yourself: - Is it important for students to practice until mastery? - Is overlearning really needed? - Should the computer take the role of instructor and evaluator? You’ll find both effective and ineffective drill and practice software. Look for the quality of the feedback. Ask yourself: - Is positive reinforcement used? - What happens if students fail? - Will students get bored or frustrated using this program? - Are students given quality corrective feedback that will help in their learning? - Are variations in the musical, graphical, or text environment provided to keep the practice interesting? - Is paper and pencil cheaper, easier, or better for the type of practice required? When evaluating practice software, be aware of the screen layout. This is particularly important in spelling and math problems. Ask yourself: - In spelling, is the word read aloud or does it flash on the screen? - Will students be selecting the word from a list or typing the word from memory? - In math, consider the placement of the response. - Do students write in the tens or ones column first? - How were they taught? - Is the activity timed? Simulations and Gaming Simulations help students apply their skills to "real life" situations by providing an environment to manipulate variables, examine relationships, and make decisions. This software is generally used after initial instruction as part of application, review, or remediation. Virtual Business and Virtual History are a suite of simulations from Knowledge Matters. Many simulations places users in a particular time or place. For instance in the Civilization series by Aspyr Media, users participate in the golden age of exploration in the 17th and 18th centuries by building, trading, exploring, and declaring battles on land and sea. The Learning Company's series of social studies simulations are long-time favorites including Oregon Trail (shown on right), Yukon Trail, African Trail, and Amazon Trail. With teacher guided activities, these packages can give students a sense for what life was like in an earlier time. While working through the simulation, students might write a biography of one of the characters, explore information about historical locations along the trail. Oregon Trail is available on CD-ROM, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii. Unfortunately, it’s easy to send students to the corner of the room to “play” on the computer rather than provide specific guidance in using the simulation. Much of the value of the software is lost without teacher direction. Another classic computer program that remains popular is Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Now available in CD-ROM, Nintendo Wii and DS, and mobile app. Many different games are available along with lesson plans and teaching guides. There are also math adventures. The Sim series by Electronic Arts, best known for SimCity, provides challenges in particular environments such as the human body and the world of ants. Civilization by Infogrames Entertainment provides an entire world for students to create and manage. Go to the Sims from Electronic Arts. Explore the many Sims software options. While some simulations have a specific “mission” to accomplish, others are intended to help students explore a particular situation or environment. The Magic School Bus series by Microsoft lets students explore under the ocean, in the human body, or through the solar system. TheCluefinders series challenges students to complete adventures in reading, math, geography, and science. Although simulations can be fun, they are often overused. In most cases, simulations should be used as a culminating activity after students have basic skills in the concepts being addressed in the software. Otherwise it is difficult for them to make informed decisions during the program. Without background skills, the simulation may become a game rather than a meaningful learning experience. When selecting simulations, consider activities that are difficult to duplicate in the classroom other ways. For example, activities that involve dangerous situations, time consuming processes, spending money, or "impossible" projects like an interstellar flight. There are many types of simulations. Physical simulations involve students in using objects or machines such as microscopes or airplanes. Procedural simulations involve a series of actions or steps such as medical diagnosis or frog dissection. Situational simulations involve critical incidents within particular settings such as interactions with customers. Process simulations involve decisionmaking skills related to topics such as economics, genetics, or geology. Students must choose among alternative paths. When selecting simulations consider the amount of time you have to dedicate to the program. Some simulations can be time-consuming if done well. Also consider the grouping of students. Ask yourself: - Will students complete the simulation as individuals, in small groups, or as a class? Ask yourself about the content of the simulation. - Does the simulation support the activities you are doing in the rest of your unit? In other words, does the simulation match your vocabulary and instructional approach? - Is the content realistic enough to involve the students? - Will they really "get into" the simulation or simply treat it like a game? For example, does it make a difference that the students aren't responsible for real money or lives. Problem-solving software is intended to assist students in developing skills related to making effective decisions. Although similar to a simulation, more emphasis is placed on reasoning, logic, and critical thinking. For instance, Brain Play by Scholastic provide 4 CD-ROMs and workbooks to explore thinking across the curriculum for grades 1-3. In Go Solve, youth learn to solve math word problems. Problem solving software generally involves a set of procedures to accomplish some type of goal. Students may identify a problem, plan an approach, gather information, develop strategies, test hypotheses, and develop plans of action during the program. In most cases, the program focuses on a core set of principles or strategies. For example, the Thinkin’ series by Edmark contains thought-provoking activities for young children. Users try to repeat a series of sounds. They can also create a series of sounds and try the patterns in the dark. The Thinkin' Science program focuses on problem solving in science. Look for features that let the child or the teacher vary the level of difficulty. Teachers can choose by level or topic. Words and Their Stories from FableVision Learning combines vocabuary building activities with critical thinking activities. BrainCogs from FableVision Learning engages learners in an interactive multi-sensory program focusing on developing thinking, learning, and study skills. Scholastic is known for their apps. In the I Spy series by Scholastic, young learners go on adventures and become critical observers. Go to Scholastic Apps. Notice their wide variety of learning software. Download and try an app. Although some of these packages are content specific, others are general problem-solving tools. For example, Tom Snyder Productions has a series of programs called Science Seekers that deal with realistic concerns, interests, and problems facing young people such as the environment. Go to Tom Snyder Productions from Scholastic. Try one of their trials for Science Seekers. Notice that resources are provided both online and on CD. Many of the instructional programs combine instructional activities with games, simulations, and adventures. Some even have off-computer activities. Science Court from Tom Snyder connects video and animation with hands-on activities. One thing to watch for in educational software is the appeal to individual children. Many programs use the child's name in the program. In some software, children select whether they would like to play with a male or female playmate. Some use fictional creatures rather than human children as their main characters, so it isn't possible to tell the race or gender. It is hoped that this will make all children feel comfortable relating to the characters. When selecting problem solving software, consider your educational objectives. Ask yourself: - What do you want students to be able to do when they complete the problem solving experience? - Will they be able to transfer their skills to new situations? - How will these skills relate to specific content area goals? Beyond learning resources, much of the software for children and young adults falls into the category of edutainment or gaming. Think about ways to incorporate software into popular library topics. For instance, combine the softwareChessmaster from Ubisoft with books and videos about chess. Think about popular topics such as cooking. Cooking Mama is educational software for many computer and game station formats. Combine it with cook books, videos, and live library demonstrations. Music is another topic that bridges education and entertainment. Discover Bach is great multigenerational software providing games, activities, audio, and audio materials. Keep in mind that many of the new software programs are developed for gaming stations and hand held devices rather than home computers. Before purchasing these games, be sure that you explore different types of players to determine whether there's enough interest. For instance, the wii format is gaining support. Again, look for book and game connections such as Goosebumps. You can purchase Goosebumps games for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, wii and others. Well-known publishers such as Discovery Education are also getting involved with the development of apps. Using a company called Phunware, they're creating apps for popular television shows such as MythBusters (shown below) as well as educational software. For instance, U.S. Geography explores regions of the United States. Also look for movie connections. However keep in mind that the popularity of movie characters may be long or short. LucasArts has produces software and games based on popular movie characters such as Lego Indiana Jones that combines the movie and the love of Lego. Go to Electronic Arts. Explore the range of popular electronic games for children and young adults. Go to Legacy Interactive. Check out games based on TV shows. Check out Zoo Vet for kids. Look for apps that make use of the mobile aspects of the technology. Keep in mind that some of these apps require a wifi connection, while others will work in airplane mode or without wifi capability. The Dot from FableVision Learning introduces youth to the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. It includes the e-book itself along with a Meet the Author video, audio recording tool, discussion prompts, glossary, and interactive activities. Many of the English Language Learning tools such as A+English provide audio support to improve English speaking, listening, and reading skills. As you evaluate audio-enhanced resources, look for whether the app contains control over the audio volume or other features. Many foreign language learning resources are available such as ByKi Arabic. Karjan Beginner is an easy-to-use music and ear training application for learning about music and music theory. Internet Enhancements. Many of the game environments provide the option to connect to social networks such as Facebook. In Geomaster, users complete a map quiz game and can share their results on Facebook. Read What Makes an App "Educational"? (September 8, 2010). Read Learning: Is There An App for That? (PDF) by Cynthia Chiong & Carly Shuler (November 2010) and iLearn: A Content Analysis of the iTunes App Stores' Education Section (PDF) by Carly Shuler (November 2009). Interactives are much more than text, graphics, audio, and video information on a Web page. They provide an engaging environment where learners can organize resources, manipulate information, and even create new content. Students aren't simply consumers of information; they become part of an active, learning experience. Read Interactives: Dynamic Learning Environments by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson in School Library Monthly (January 2010). Interactives may include elements of tutorials, practice, simulation, and problem solving games for a wide range of instructional situations. Make interactives come alive with connected, off-computer activities. Combine a hands-on activity with data collection tools. Go to Make Your Verdict. This website explores famous outlaws from around the world. Use the interactive to learn about the court cases. Then, hold a live mock trial. Go to NASA City. After using the interactive create your own project in the classroom. Preparing for the Oath is a great interactive that helps people prepare for the U.S. Naturalization Test. Shouldn't everyone have this experience? By the time students are in high school, they've seen most of the online interactives. Reach beyond the classics and introduce resources where students can draw comparisons. For instance, use the interactives from the Puke Ariki Museum in New Zealand or the National Museum of Australia. Ask students to examine an interactive and compare this experience with a current classroom topic. - The Gold Rush: Australia. Compare the information found on this interactive with the California or Klondike Gold Rush. How are they alike and different? Go to the interactive. - Heroes of the Air: Australia. Compare the Australian experience with flight with the American experience. Go to the Interactive. - European Voyages: Australia. Compare this voyage to other early explorers. Go to theinteractive. Online interactives are great for informal learning environments in public libraries. For instance, the mystery game Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island is an inexpensive download. Participants photograph birds during a cross-country adventure. Armed with a camera and a field guide, users must capture portraits of birds in close-up, in flight and perched in trees in order to complete your life list and solve the mysterious disappearance of your grandfather. Create a display with books and videos about birds. Create a bulletin board featured birds created during the game. Hold a bird watching nature walk around the library and invite the local bird club to participate. Try Mission US. Think about how you could connect these interactives to school curriculum or public library programming. How might they be connected with literature in your library? Begin with the following list of general websites that contain interactive for youth. - Annenberg Learner Interactives - BBC Schools - Ben US Government - The Biology Project - Curriculum Bits - Edsitement Interactives - Eduplace Activities - Get the Math - Illuminations Math Activities - Just for Kids - Math Cats - National Geographic Games - Nobel Prize Interactives and Games - NOVA Interactives Archive - OMSI Activities - Our Story - American History - PBS Kids - PBS Interactive Whiteboard Games - PBS Interactives and Games - Physics Classroom - ReadWriteThink Interactives - Scholastic Student Activities - Sesame Street Games - Smithsonian Games - Thinkport Interactive Media - Windows into Wonderland Check out the Hand Symphony. - General: PBS Learning Media - Dance: PBS Great Performances: Free To Dance - Music: PBS Interactives, Pandora, PBS: Strange Fruit/Protest Music, Pitch Perfect, - Theater: Cinema - Visual Arts: Art Interactives, George Washington Portrait, PBS Interactives, Masterpiece Me, Monet2010, MOMA's Bauhaus, Johnny Cash Project, Picasso, Popart, NGA Tools,Illustration Friday, Art Education 2.0 - Acrostic Poem, Alphabet Organizer, BioCube, CD/DVD Creator,Comic Creator,Comparison Map, Compare/Contrast, Crossword Puzzles, Diamante Poem, Doodle Splash, Drama Map, Essay Map, FlipBook, Graphic Map, Letter Generator, Persuasion Map, Profile Publisher, Timeline, 2 Circle Venn, 3 Circle Venn, Word Matrix Go to Smithsonian Ocean. Notice the features. - General: PBS Science Interactives, PBS LearningMedia, Nobelprize Physics/Chemistry Games, Scientific American Interactives, Edheads, National Geographic Interactives,Scholastic Interactives, Science Links, Science View - Elementary: Arkive, Edheads, Engaging Science, KidsHealth Interactives, - Earth and Space: Dynamic Earth, Climate Time Machine, Drinking Water, Sea Level Viewer, Geology Toolbit, Global Ice Viewer, Rock Cycle, We Choose the Moon,Volcanoes, Weather, Astronomy Interactives, Carbon Cycle Game, Dynamic Earth - Life Science: eskeletons, American Museum of Natural History's Science Bulletins (Google Earth), Bang Biology Challenge, Digestive System, DNA, Ecology Lab, Garbage,Infectious Diseases, Kitchen Chaos, Putting DNA to Work, Unzip Your Genes, Virtual Ecosphere, Design a Panda Habitat, Diabetic Dog, EnviroMysteries, Learn Genetics,Virus or bacteria game - Physical Science: Amusement Park Physics, Auditory Illusion, Periodic Table, Spark It,Bay Trippers, Crayon Physics, FreezeRay, Litmus Reactions - Eco-Calculator widget - Scales: Drought Severity, Beaufort Scale, Modified Mercalli Earthquake Intensity Scale,Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale, Fujita Scale - PBS LearningMedia - PBS Math Interactives - Math in Daily Life - Learning objects from WISC-Online - Illuminations Activities - Math in Daily Life - Math Snacks from New Mexico State - National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Wolfram Demonstrations Project - Feed the Pig for Tweens - Geometry 3D Shapes - Let Roly Go - Lure of the Labyrinth - Manga High Games - Math by Design - Math Tall Tales and Short Stories - Metric Conversions - Mr. Nussbaum - Rock N Roll Tour - Scale City - Seeing Math - Middle School Mathematics and High School Mathematics - Sense & Dollars - PBS Science Interactives (Check under topics for specific areas) - Bang Robot Challenge, Big Transport Challenge, Computers are Everywhere, Electronic Dreams, NASA City, - How Stuff Works - General: PBS LearningMedia - Literature: Dante's World, - Reading and Viewing: What Makes a Good Short Story? - Writing and Speaking: Writing with Writers - Games: Lord of the Flies, Shakespeare Subject to Change - Transmedia: Inanimate Alice Look for games and interactives to connect with books and reading. - HarperCollins Books and Games - Hatchette Kids - Penguin Games - Random House Kids - Scholastic Games - Turtlepond Books - ReadWriteThink Interactives - Acrostic Poem, Alphabet Organizer, BioCube, CD/DVD Creator, Character Trading Cards, Circle Plot Diagram, Comic Creator, Comparison Map, Compare/Contrast,Crossword Puzzles, Diamante Poem, Doodle Splash, Drama Map, Essay Map, FlipBook,Fractured Fairy Tales, Graphic Map, Hero's Journey, Letter Generator, Letter Poem,Literary Elements Map, Mystery Cube, Persuasion Map, Plot Diagram, Profile Publisher,StoryMap, Timeline, 2 Circle Venn, 3 Circle Venn, Word Matrix, - General: PBS LearningMedia, Conflict Map Game, Nuclear Weapons Game, Red Cross Game - Civics and Government: PBS Interactives, Democracies in the World, Architect's Virtual Capitol, Top Secret America, To Lie or Not Lie - Culture, Sociology & Psychology: PBS Interactives, Autism Quiz, Mind Lab, This Emotional Life, The Responsibility Project, Brainstretcher, Photofit Me, Photographic Memory Test, - Economics: PBS Interactives, Trade Theory Game, Economics - Geography: PBS Interactives, National Geographic, BBC: Dimensions - U.S. History: Colonial people, PBS Interactives (check topics for more), John Smith Historical Map Interactive, Freedom Riders, History Games, Historical and Cultural Contexts - World History: PBS Nova, PBS Interactives (check topics for more), 19th Century France,Out My Window, Tiziano Project, Collapse, Great Thinkers, Industrial Revolution in Britain, Middle Ages, Renaissance - DocsTeach from National Archives - Life Timeline - National Archives: Create a Movie - Propaganda Filmaker PE and Health Check out the Hand Symphony. - Medline Health Games - Interactive Health Tutorials - Nobel Prize: Medicine Games - PBS LearningMedia - PBS Health and Fitness Interactives - Games: About High Blood Pressure, BetheBeat, BMI Teen Calculator, HandsOnlyCPR,Longevity Game, The Brain & Addiction, Making the Change, Sara's Quest, Water, Bone Up on Milk, Calcium Quiz, Heart360, Personal Health Tools, MyLifeCheck, Teen Beat: Are You Active Enough? - Physical Education: Fitness Partner - Health Check Tools - InteliHealth Tools - Your Disease Risk - WebMD Tools and Quizzes - Stopwatch tool and determine targe heart rate, find percent of a number, and round g numbers. - Use fitness tools such as BMI for Teens (CDC) - Option 1, Calories Burned Running - Option 1, Running Calculator - Option 1, - Access, Analyze, Act - Your Life Your Money - Test Your Money Smarts - Virtual Stock Exchange Games Financial Calculators and Conversions - Currency Conversion - Option 1, Option 2 - Inflation Conversion - Best Option (formulas) - Income Calculator - Option 1, - Interest Calculator - Easy Option - Money Counter - Option 1, - Monthly Payments Calculator - Option 1 - Payroll - Best Option (formulas) - Phone Bill Calculator - Option 1, - Savings Estimator - Option 1 - Sales Tax Calculator - Option 1 - Tip Calculator - Option 1 - Content: Occupational Outlook Handbook - General Resources; CareerOneStop, - Services: CareerBuilder, Monster - General Games: OnlineLanguages, BabLa - Language Songs: Languages Online - Language Training: Vocabulary - Chinese Language: BBC, Chinese Module, Zon - English Language: English Module, Freerice - French Language: BBC, Tex's French Grammar, French Module - German Language: BBC, German Module - Italian: BBC, Italian Module - Japanese: BBC - Spanish Language: BBC, Asisehace, Don Quijote, Mundo Ninos, Cuentos y Leyendas,Nueva Biblioteca, Spanish Language, ToxTown Website Ads and Evaluation - Ad Decoder - CoCo's AdverSmarts - Don't Buy It: Get Media Smart - Hints about Print - Teacher Tap: Evaluation - You Are Here Family, Consumer Science, Health Child Development: Childhood Milestones Nutrition and Foods: AllRecipes, Home Care and Design: RepairClinic, - Clothing: Finding a Bra that Fits - Children Development: Baby's Growth Timeline, Childhood Immunization, Children Development Timeline, Childproofing Your Home, Taking Care of an Infant, Pregnancy ID Card, - Health: About High Blood Pressure, BetheBeat, BMI Teen Calculator, HandsOnlyCPR,Longevity Game, The Brain & Addiction, Making the Change, Sara's Quest, Water,Heart360, Personal Health Tools, MyLifeCheck, Teen Beat: Are Your Active Enough? - Family Living: Depression Self-Assessment, Fuel Consumption - Option 1, Option 2, Option 3 - Nutrition: Virtual Herb Garden, Meal Planning Tools, Bone Up on Milk, Calcium Quiz,Nutritional Values. Select an interactive. Design an assignment that combines an online interactive with a physical activity. Spend some time designing an assignment or programming activity with physical, virtual, and relevant elements into a content-connected activity that involves critical and creative thinking.

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Scissors cut paper. Paper wraps rock. Rock blunts scissors. These sentences are not only the ‘unspoken rules’ of the game; they are the game. The players also understand other unspoken rules. Let us consider them as a ‘rule of three’. (i) Each sentence must contain two items and an action. (ii) The order of words shows which item is acting (‘the subject’) and which is acted upon (‘the object’). (iii) The rules alone are not enough; the meaning must make sense to both players. As we speak, we create ‘story’. We do this using the unspoken rules of our language (the grammar and syntax) to ‘make sense’ of our words and those of others. The rules used are specific to each language; there is no underlying structure of language (a ‘universal grammar’) as Chomsky has suggested. Instead, a universal principle applies; all languages, even the simplest of creoles, quickly evolve their own patterns of grammar and syntax. These patterns produce the attributes of ‘story’, the structure which allows a language to work. Stories have a structure. Stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end… But not necessarily in that order (Jean Luc Godard) The mimed game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ tells the story of how these objects interact. The sentences build relationships between the objects. The rules of grammar and syntax allow us to organise the words into sequences that show what these relationships are. We use this structure to code meaning into our speech. As we learn words, so we ‘imprint’ the structure of our language. We also acquire common expressions, such as sayings and other phrases or ideas with metaphorical meanings (e.g. characters from fairy tales) that are understood by our cultural group. Many songbirds and other animals also produce imprinted learned calls made of ordered sequences (phrases) of sounds. We recognise these repeating patterns in the speech we hear and ‘imprint’ as children. The differences in our childhood learning environments give rise to variations in the way we produce sounds, such as regional accents. Speaking involves learning and repeating these sound-generating movement patterns, along with other movements such as facial expressions and hand gestures. In this sense, our speech is formed from a set of stylised vocal and non-vocal movement patterns. We learn this ‘dance’ from our cultural group. Most of our words, phrases, sayings, metaphors and inferences result from inherited patterns in our cultural context. This ‘local effect’ has also been observed in ‘dialects’ (local pattern variations) of birdsong. Stories ‘move us’ physically and through emotions. Movement is part of all types of communication. In the course of the action (the verb) within a speech phrase, the ‘subject’ (the ‘character’ which is active) moves between physical states as a result of having made this action. We understand that this change has taken place through the emotional shift we associate with this change. The very word ‘emotion’ contains the Latin root movere, to move, and the prefix ‘e-’ means ‘out of’. We code our words with symbolic meaning by tagging our understanding of what they represent with how we feel. Our words are therefore symbols that contain both semantic and emotional content. This content is conveyed into our speech through the pitch, timbre, tone and pace of our voice, as well as the rhythm and stress patterns within our speech. Vital as this is, usually we are not conscious of this musical content, known as ‘prosody’, which transmits emotional information. Beyond ourselves, we can also discern and infer emotional cues in the involuntary vocal calls and facial expressions (‘facial gestures’) of other primates. Producing speech with mouths, hands, or even through remote means such as writing, involves movement. Indeed, the same neural pathways, involving the so-called ‘mirror neurons’, are activated both when we either think of or hear a word, and when we encounter the experience which the word symbolises. This neural network extends into the emotional centres of our brains, allowing us to code the meaning of words by relating emotions to our experiences. Spoken words are rhythmical ‘vocal gestures’ made with our eating apparatus (the mouth and throat), and are coordinated with the rhythm of our breathing. Controlling these movements involves coupling and modifying rhythmic outputs from multiple Central Pattern Generator circuits. These ‘neural metronomes’ generate autonomous rhythmic nerve impulses that drive repetitive movements like chewing and walking. Higher brain centres initiate and coordinate these signals, integrating them via the basal ganglia into ordered sequences of finely controlled motor movements. The order, pace and musicality of our speech results from combining sets of these neural patterns with pattern modulations and interruptions, in a way which works with the rules that structure our language. Our body movements, like our language use and accents, follow patterns that we learn as children from ‘our tribe’. The unique rules and patterns of a language, like its vocabulary, are indicators of the cultural content and perspective they express. A speaker and listener must agree the meaning of the words and phrase structure they use. Communication then, involves creating ‘story’ using movements which are simultaneously a whole body and a whole society activity. Stories have something to say. In the game ‘scissors, rock, paper’, both players understand the meaning of the symbolic gestures used and the relationship between them. Their interaction is understood as an event in time and space. In language, we ‘tell stories’ using ordered words and phrases in order to convey an intended meaning. ‘Scissors cut paper’ The sentence describes an event which may have happened, is happening or could happen. An object acts upon another object in time and space, until there is a resolution. The objects are represented as gestures. Considering words as gestures in sound, when we hear or read a simple sentence from the game, we internally reproduce (‘represent’) the associated objects, actions and representing gestures in our mirror neuron circuits along with the experiences they symbolise. The mirror system, associated with areas of motor activity, allows us to revisit the embodied experience of movements associated with these ideas. We perceive the word symbols and emotional content of speech as patterns. Mammals may be particularly competent at recognising patterns and edges, but our pattern recognition ability is exceptional. When we speak, we use sound pattern motifs (words) coded with symbolic ideas, and then order these into sequences. Forming our words and phrases involve making a series of movement patterns. Our speech and body posture reveals how we understand ourselves. As our children progress in learning to speak, they reveal the progress of their capacity to take charge of their thoughts. The story that emerges through our spoken words reveals what we think and how we feel. We craft this narrative from the meaning we assign to our observations, and use music and movement to mirror this back to ourselves and others. How could this story mechanism have begun, and how has it evolved? Did our stories begin with singing? Amongst the apes, our ability to sing is unique. The musicality of our speech has many components, including variations in rhythm, phrasing, pitch and tone. Speech is inherently rhythmical. Indeed in English, we even shift the stress of a word to maintain that rhythm. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy has suggested that syntax evolved from the same basic (open-close) ‘oscillating motor’ mechanism by which we also organise our articulated sounds into ‘consonant-vowel-consonant’ syllables. Alternation is discernible in the rhythm of speech, and appears also in word order, such as the object-action-object structure of ‘paper wraps rock’. Every human culture has some form of music with a beat. Rhythm determines how we perceive and process musical information. Syllables and small clauses have a bimodal rhythmic structure which helps to articulate the sounds within the phrase; for example: ‘PAper wraps ROCK’. Asif Ghazanfar suggests that rhythmic communication is found throughout the higher primates, in the form of behaviours such as chimpanzee pant-hoots and rhythmical facial gestures such as lipsmacks. This implies that a similar bimodal rhythm mechanism was present in the communication behaviours of our shared ancestors. William Tecumseh Fitch suggests that speaking began with prosody; he proposes that our hominin ancestors’ ‘proto-language’ may have initially used intonation (controlling the pitch of sounds) rather than word-based syllables. Many current world languages are based on tones rather than word forms. Fitch argues that the vocal control which allowed our ancestors to sing may have been later ‘exapted’ to produce such pitch-based proto-syllables, and that articulation of vowel and consonant sounds came later as a means of expanding the diversity of this sound repertoire. This makes a plausible case for the origins of our ability to articulate syllables arising from song. The human male larynx descends during puberty, giving a deeper formant (resonant frequency) which enables us to distinguish male from female voices mainly by their pitch and tone. In contrast to most songbirds, our ability to speak (and sing) is balanced between the sexes. This suggests that however human speech arose, it was not primarily to attract mates, as is the case in most songbirds and vocal mammals. This may be true, but David Puts and colleagues have found that the pitch of a man’s voice alters in the presence of other males, inferring an element of between-male competition in the establishment of dominance. The second descent of the human male larynx may therefore have evolved as a cue to signal the individual’s status within the tribe, or to defend territorial boundaries. In addition, low sounds travel further. Deeper male voices may have proven more effective at coordinating the tribe when hunting in low visibility conditions such as dense forest or over long distances in the open savannah. (iii) Musical phrasing In English, we use variations in relative pitch to shape our phrases and code emotional meanings. These ‘melodies’ overlay variations in pitch on to the rhythmic patterns within words. Shifts in pitch give stress and emphasis, so shaping these phrases. This musicality is crucial to reveal our intended meaning to others, while intonation makes it easier for a listener to distinguish the endings of our phrases. As children we learn to make these musical (prosodic) sound patterns alongside our capacity to articulate the vowels and consonants. Both young songbirds and human children have sensitive periods of vocal learning that requires social feedback from adults. Like human babies, songbirds have a ‘babbling’ phase where they try out sounds prior to rehearsing and imprinting their adult call. These birds build phrased sequences from repeating syllable elements, punctuated with explicit pauses. Repeated elements may add emphasis, although modifying the order does not seem to alter the meaning of the call, which advertises their suitability as a mate. Sequence variations may however serve to identify individuals within the flock for some species, such as starlings. Steven Brown shows that the most complex song forms in birds and in other primates arises amongst monogamous pairs of duetting tropical songbirds and gibbons. These calls appear to be significant in the defence of territories and maintaining social bonds. He notes that courtship calls are rare to non-existent in our sub-clade of the higher primates; neither chimps nor bonobos vocalise complex learned song. Although in theory their vocal tract anatomy would enable them to produce some vowel and consonant sounds, no chimps have ever done so. In contrast, territorial calls are found throughout the entire primate clade. A deeper male voice may permit a means to distinguish authority and hierarchy within the tribe, and may have been influential in ‘vocal grooming’ amongst our hominin ancestors. In order to produce sequences of symbolically coded, articulated sounds, however, our ancestors must have been capable of organising their proposed actions into sequences. Neurological studies show that organising our thoughts into sequences requires a high degree of brain connectivity. This would mean that the developmental shift in the degree of connectedness between neurons that allowed hominins to enact organised sequences of behaviours, may have provided the circuitry that was later ‘exapted’ for language syntax. How did our storytelling behaviour evolve? Other animals’ behaviours are driven broadly by instinctual need. Whilst humans do operate at this level, what is distinctive about our behaviour is the capacity to produce actions to achieve an intended purpose. Our speech is unique because we can intentionally use it to order our thoughts and tasks in time. At the cognitive level, this is in essence the same type of task as ordering a sequence of actions using manual tools to achieve a goal. We use words as tools to share information by constructing an idea before we can share this information with others. In both cases, we construct the tasks in a sequence, formulating the goal (the completed manual task or the delivering of the information) before we begin. This structuring is an active process that takes place even for a remembered event. As we revisit our memories, we include only certain details in our narrative; these details trigger pattern recognition in our own thinking (and that of our listener). This processing and editing of information is the essence a structuring of patterned information. The establishment of a ‘narrative’ (a sequence of events) applies equally to using a manual tool and ‘telling a ‘story’. Our repertoire of stories, folk tales and fairy tales are amongst the tools by which we share culturally what is important to us and how we think. Using story in this way reveals patterns; we discern deeper meanings and lessons from the presented information, which is a mechanism to share understanding. Being able to project different interpretations to evaluate cues from the environment provide a means for assessing risk, and resulting in different types of behaviour choices. The means to effectively evaluate a cue such as rustling in the undergrowth as either an opportunity (a potential food item such as a small mammal) or a threat (a wolf) would quickly prove a selectable advantage. Many animals recognise cues which index the presence of another animal (e.g. a scent, or footprints). It is easy to imagine how our ancestors’ capacity to evaluate these cues strategically using their ‘thinking tools’ would quickly change their chances of survival. Being able to share these thoughts and coordinate their responses with others would radically shift the ecology of the tribe into a mode where sensory awareness and experience held and understood collectively by the ‘quorum’. Words then are tools that define boundaries between ideas, and help to structure our collective thinking. The making and using of tools requires the execution of sequences of patterns, in the form of intentional fine motor movements. Philip Lieberman suggests that our upright posture may have pre-adapted our ancestors for the enhanced motor control needed for tool-making, tool using and speech. Walking itself is a simple patterned, repetitive movement. Our basic ‘walking instinct’ initially activates a Central Pattern Generator circuit driving movement in all four limbs. Our newborns’ initial locomotion usually involves crawling. The subcortical basal ganglia of the language network in the brain also regulate the muscles controlling our upright posture. Walking, and other sequences of behaviour such as speech, are learned gradually over years. Heel strike, which marks efficient bipedal locomotion, takes years to develop. Learning to use words as symbols requires repetition of the word and an internal coding of it as a pattern motif. The characteristic of any pattern is that it contains repeating elements, and that repetition stimulates our memory to the degree of the strength (i.e. our familiarity with) that pattern. The sequence of word order determined by a language’s grammar and syntax provides in essence a framework for creating patterns. This ability to associate gestures with ideas and order them into sequences is present to a limited degree in our primate relatives. Wild bonobos combine call types together into longer mixed sequences upon finding a food cache. Other tribe members understand information about the quality of this find from these different sound sequences, and respond with appropriate types of foraging behaviour. Higher primates have a mirror neuron network which is triggered by facial expressions and grasping movements associated with obtaining food, although they cannot mirror mimed actions. Why do we tell stories? Communication involves transmitting and receiving a message that is understood the same way by sender and recipient. Human speech is the same, but is driven by the intention to share a meaning. As well as a repertoire of pre-arranged signals with agreed meanings, we need to have something to say. We tell stories therefore to communicate an intention. This means that our ancestors must have felt compelled to convey the contents of their thoughts to others. We speak to communicate the contents of our minds. It is perhaps then the patterns of our thinking, rather than our speaking, which are the truly unique feature of human communication. Our ability to combine ideas into a syntactic structure and create new associations demarcates a boundary between our thinking and that of our closest relatives, the chimps. Captive chimpanzees and bonobos can be taught to understand some signed words or use pictorial symbols, and the most accomplished of these learners can combine certain of their vocabulary into ‘small clause’ forms, for example ‘agent + action’ or ‘action + object’. Ljiljana Progovac argues that these ‘small clauses’ are the basic units of word combination that all languages share. She proposes these forms as the ‘proto-syntax’ from which our more complex structures have evolved. If this is correct, then this suggests that the most basic components of our ability to combine words into language were present in our common ancestors with chimpanzees. The way we acquire language reveals the process by which we develop a sense of self-identity. Our children’s awareness of ‘self’ and ‘other’ is expressed in their language, although it is not dependent upon it. An understanding that others share similar experiences (known as a ‘theory of mind’) develops gradually during their first five years. The ability to organise words into small clauses such as ‘scissors cut’, or ‘cut paper’ appears in human children at between 1 and 2 years of age. The more accomplished language learning primates, such as the bonobo Kansi, associate sounds and symbols with objects and even seemed to understand abstract concepts such as ‘happy’. Bonobos at the Georgia State University primate language research project use a lexigram (symbols board) to create two-word small clauses. None of these animals, however, has ever attempted a self-description such as ‘I think…’, ‘I feel…’ or ‘I want…’ This ability develops in human children between 2 and 3 years of age. The bonobo’s use of human symbol-based language, in contrast, arrests at a stage roughly equivalent to a human child of around two years. All young mammals play, but perhaps the most intriguing part of human communication is that play is incorporated into our information sharing. The simple story of scissors, rock and paper is fiction in that the items do not need to exist to be ‘present’ and interact in the game. Fiction captivates our attention and holds it far more easily than factual narratives. Within a story, our thoughts project information based upon past experience into the future, allowing us to ‘play out’ the actions in drama in mime before attempting the task. Studies on primate mirror neuron responses report that these animals typically do not respond to such mimed gestures. The act of telling stories shifts our ecology into the ‘cognitive niche’; we operate in a world of endlessly combined and recombined ideas. Emotions are the source of meaning for these ideas. Perhaps our evolved story mechanism can be considered as a means of evolved emotional language, conveying higher orders of meaning and inferred understanding to our experiences. This combining of ideas, putting one into another to make a new meaning which is different from that of the ideas on their own, is known as ‘recursion’. It is considered to be a defining characteristic of our capacity for creativity in our thoughts. In summary then, our ‘story mechanism’ translates thoughts into actions, and enables us to bring new things and events into being. Coding information in story form makes it possible to share past experiences, ‘reword’ them into new sequences, and by communicating with others, project these imaginings into the future. It is clear that our hominin ancestors developed neural pathways that allowed them to copy and learn movement sequences, including vocal movements, and used these skills to share their intentions with others. What is less clear is how they came to understand that others had minds like their own, prompting their yearning for connection. Whatever its cause, however, an expansion of conscious awareness drove our ancestors to share their ideas and understanding, and to begin to tell each other their story. - Our speech comprises a complexity of coded sounds that we are able to order and organise. This organisation has ‘rules’ that a listener can use to perceive and translate what they hear into meaning. - Using speech-based language allows us to put our thoughts in an order, and then control our actions in a defined and directed way. Neurologically there is no difference between using manual tools and word tools in an ordered sequence; the brain codes both of these as a set of gesture-based motor movements. - Some birds and other animals are able to learn complex sound sequence patterns, mostly as a display signal for sexual selection. In contrast, human speech and other forms of communication are gender balanced. We use our communication sequences to bond socially and carry and transmit collectively held ideas. - The behavioural choices of other animals and birds is the result of reactions to their circumstances. Humans put their thinking into words, and voice their intentions. - There is nothing biologically unique about the behaviours that allow us to speak. Our language function suggests instead a greater level of connection between these abilities than is found in other animals. This has allowed us to assume fine control over our movements that produce vocalisations and other actions, and also by implication our thoughts. This may be a result of the physical changes needed to allow our ancestors to walk upright. - What human language enables us to express is a sense of self-identity; it is a means of defining ‘our story’. Text copyright © 2015 Mags Leighton. All rights reserved. Amandor, A. et al. 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FOUNDATIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING The Old Testament has nothing to say about the origin of writing, which seems to have been invented early in the fourth millennium B.C. but it does assume writing on the part of Moses, who wrote the Law not earlier than about 1450 B.C. Many earlier records of writing have been discovered in various places. But, what was the character of those records? Were they drawings? Symbols? If so, what did they symbolize? Three stages in the development of writing may be discerned: pictograms, ideograms, and phonograms. These were representations that long antedated the origin of writing and played a role in the development of it. They were actually crude pictures that represented objects such as the sun, an old man, an eagle, an ox, a lion. As long as pictograms represented nothing other than the objects themselves, there was no difficulty in using them. However, as time passed the use of pictures to depict ideas appeared, and pictograms lost their dominant position in recorded communication. Ideograms superseded pictograms. They were pictures that actually represented ideas rather than The Picture of ||an old man Thus, a long stride toward writing was taken, although writing in the modern sense was still a long way off. But ideograms, actually a particular use of pictograms, were not the only extension of pictograms. Still another extension of pictograms, phonograms was really representations of sounds rather than objects or ideas. Thus, a representation of the sun might speak of a son rather than the sun; a picture of a bear might be used to express the verb 'to bear'; the picture of a bee to express the verb 'to be.' As a result, another step was taken in the direction of written languages, but there was still a long succession of events necessary before writing in the modern sense was achieved. Ideographic and phonographic writings were later intermingled with simple syllabic writing, and that with a more sophisticated system wedge-shaped signs was used by the Sumerians. Merrill F. Unger adequately summarizes the situation: "Those who first attempted to reduce human speech to writing did not at once perceive the chasm that separates the spoken words from the characters in which they are symbolized. They wrote as they spoke in unbroken succession, inscribing the letters in closest proximity to each other, without separating them into words, much less into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. Although letters were used in writing by the time of Moses, they were consonants only, as vowels were added much later. Hence, an unbroken succession of consonants covering an entire tablet, later a scroll, and still later a codex (sheets of papyrus bound into a book form) would appear before the reader of a given text. Needless to say, even that was still far from the modern concept of writing. Although the witnesses to writing in antiquity are far from abundant, there is sufficient evidence available to indicate that it was the hallmark of cultural achievement. During the second millennium B.C. there were several experiments that led to the development of the alphabet and written documents. In Palestine itself there have been very few documents that have survived from the pre-exilic period, but the evidence from surrounding territories makes it reasonable to assume that the Israelites shared in the act of writing even earlier than the beginning of the Davidic kingdom. Several lines of evidence may be called upon to witness to the fact that writing was most certainly practiced by the Israelites prior to the time of the Moabite Stone of Mesha, king of Moab, which dates from about It was this item that was used by the late-nineteenth-century higher critical writers, for example, Graf and Wellhausen, as the earliest example of writing in Palestine. Evidence from Mesopotamia This dates from about 3500 B.C. and includes cuneiform tablets of the Sumerians. The successors to the Sumerians used the latter's cuneiform script in developing their own individual |From 3500 B.C. ||The above are antedated by many other tablets, including some dating to about 3500 B.C. found in Erech of Gen. 10:10) and Kish. |From 2100 B.C ||Leonard Woolley discovered many temple tablets in the ruins of ancient Ur of the Chaldees that date from about 2100 B.C. narrative found at Nippur dates from about 2100 B.C. These confirm those found in Mesopotamia, and they are dated about 3100 B.C. |From 3100 B.C. ||The hieroglyphic script first appeared in Egypt just prior to the founding of Dynasty I (c. 3100 B.C.), whereas its successors, the hieratic and demotic scripts, both appeared prior to the exilic period in Israel's history. |From 2700 B.C. ||Among the early Egyptian writings are The Teachings for Kagemni and The Teaching of Ptah-Hetep, which date from about 2700 B.C. There are, in addition to those witnesses, other testimonies that illustrate the use of writing in Egypt prior to the time of Moses, Joseph, and even Abraham, regardless of the dates ascribed to each of those individuals. Furthermore, the Israelites must have been aware of writing techniques prior to their exodus from Egypt, for Moses was raised as a child with great position in the household of the pharaoh during the New Kingdom period. The New Testament record indicates the Hebrew traditional position, as Stephen bears witness in his famous sermon when he relates that "Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22). That learning most likely included writing on papyrus, as papyrus was used in writing earlier than (c. 2500 B.C.). East Mediterranean testimony |From 3100 B.C. ||As early as about 3100 B.C. there was writing used on cylinder seal impressions in Byblos. |From 2500 B.C. ||Evidence from about 2500 B.C., shows that pictographic signs were used in Byblos (Gebal) and Syria. Leonard Woolley's discoveries at Atchana (in northern Syria) appear to have been contemporaneous to the records found by Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos, Crete. These records date into the mid-second millennium B.C. and they indicate that connection between the mainland of Asia and the island bridge of Europe, namely, Crete. Early Palestinian and Syrian contributions |From 2300 B.C. ||From 1947 to 1976, excavations at Tell-Mardikh (ancient Elba) south of Aleppo in northern Syrian uncovered over 15,000 clay tablets inscribed in the cuneiform script with an early northwest Semitic dialect of 2300 B.C. The tablets are from the time of the Babylonian king Naram-Sin (equated by some with Nimrod of Gen. 10:9) who campaigned in the area. ||Included among the tablets are portions of the Epic of Gilgamesh and other kinds of literature from later Syria (Ugarit). Thus they attest to an early literary tradition, as already well known from Babylonia. addition, they have caused Old Testament scholars to reevaluate the accuracy of the Bible patriarchs as well as names and events recorded in Mitchell Dahood provides specific examples of clarification of the Hebrew text from Eblaic evidence in his article "Ebla, Ugarit, and the |From 1800 to |A pottery fragment from Gezer is dated from about 1800 to 1500 B.C. The Lachish dagger inscription is contemporary, as are inscriptions from Shechem, Beth-Shemesh, Razor, and |From 1500 to |Alphabetic inscriptions from the turquoise mines in southern Sinai date from about The Ras Shamra tablets, from the coastal site in northwest Syria identified as Ugarit, date from about 1500 to 1300 B.C. employed the same diplomatic language as the Tel el-Amarna tablets (c. 1380 B.C.) from the ancient Egyptian capital of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton). At Ras Shamra were also found specimens of the Canaanite language written in alphabetic form. Those writings were made by inscribing unique cuneiform signs on clay tablets, known as the Ugaritic tablets. All of the above evidence is extant from the period prior to the Moabite Stone of Mesha, king of Moab. The event recorded on the Moabite Stone is that revolt against Israel recorded in 2 Kings 1:1 and 3:4-27. the preceding evidence is not direct, it is overwhelming in its denunciation of the negative higher critical position. It is also overwhelming in its demarcation of the history of writing before the time As a result, the more than 450 biblical references to writing may be seen as reflective of the cultural diffusion between Israel and her Activity of Biblical writers within literate history The foregoing discussion makes the assertion that "Moses and the other biblical writers wrote during the literate age of man" almost redundant. Nevertheless, the biblical record itself asserts that its writers wrote. Several of the more 450 biblical references may be called upon to indicate The Torah (Law) makes reference to several kinds of writing done by Moses and his predecessors: This is the book (the written record, the history) of the generations of the offspring of Adam. When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "... Write each man's name on his rod. And you shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi." So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests And the LORD said to Moses: "... Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves" Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book... The Prophets (Nevi'im) indicate that writing was employed by several individuals even prior to the time of the Moabite as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law Then the men arose to go away; and Joshua charged those who went to survey the land, saying, "Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh." So the men went, passed through the land, and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by cities... Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. These Kethuvi'im (Writings) also relate that individuals were writing before the time of the Moabite insurrection recorded in 2 Kings 1:1 (2 Kings 1:1 - "Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge. |2 Chronicles 35:4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses, according to your divisions, following the written instruction of David king of Israel and the written instruction of Solomon his son. The materials upon which the ancients wrote were also used by the writers Clay was not only used in ancient Sumer as early as about 3500 B.C., but it was used by Ezekiel (4:1 - "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem.). This material would be inscribed while it was still damp or soft. It would then be either dried in the sun or baked in a kiln to make a The clause "this is the account of" or "the book of the generations of" occurs twelve times in Genesis and probably indicates the divisions of early family records of the patriarchs: ||"This is the history of the heavens and the earth" ||"This is the book of the genealogy of Adam" ||"This is the genealogy of Noah" ||"Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah" ||"These were the sons of Shem, according to their ||"This is the genealogy of Shem" ||"This is the genealogy of Terah" ||"Now this is the genealogy of ||"This is the genealogy of Isaac" ||"Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom." ||"And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir" ||"This is the history of Jacob" This was used in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Palestine, as is evidenced biblical writers also made use of stone as a writing material Then the LORD said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them." (NKJV) Now Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: "an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool." And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. (NKJV) Also, at the Dog River in Lebanon and at Behistun in Iran royal inscriptions were carved on cliff faces. Papyrus was used in ancient Gebal (Byblos) and Egypt from about It was made by pressing and gluing two layers of split papyrus reeds together in order to form a sheet. A series of papyrus sheets were joined together to form a scroll. It is that type of papyrus "scroll" that is mentioned in Revelation 5:1 (though it is translated "book" in The apostle John used papyrus for his epistles (cf. 2 John 12). And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. |3 John 13 Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink (NKJV) Vellum - Parchment These are various quality grades of writing material made from animal skins of: |calf or antelope ||The finest material - prepared for writing on both sides, as in a codex |sheep or goat ||Prepared for writing on both sides, as in a codex |cow or bull ||Prepared for writing on only one side, as in a Although these substances are not mentioned directly as writing materials in the Bible, some kind of animal skin may have been in mind in Jeremiah 36:23 It could hardly have been vellum, for Frederic Kenyon has indicated that vellum was not known prior to about 200 B.C. Most likely it was leather, for the king used a knife on it. And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe's knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. (NKJV) Parchments are, on the other hand, clearly mentioned in Paul's request to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:13). |2 Timothy 4:13 Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come — and the books, especially the parchments. (NKJV) Writing also was done in the biblical narrative upon such things as - Metal - (Ex. 28:36; Job 19:24; Matt. 22:19-20) writing board recessed to hold a wax writing surface - (cf. Isa. 8:1; 30:8; Hab. 2:2; Luke 1:63); Precious stones - (Ex. 28:9, II, 21; 39:6-14) Potsherds - (Job 2:8), better known as ostraca, as found in such locations as Samaria and Lachish in Palestine. They were broken bits and pieces of pottery. Linen - Still another item used in ancient writing in Egypt, Greece, Etruscan and Roman Italy, but not mentioned in the Bible, was linen. instruments were necessary in the production of written records on the various materials mentioned above: A three-sided instrument with a beveled head, the stylus was used to make incursions into clay and wax tablets. It was sometimes called a "pen," as in Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with the point of a diamond it is engraved (NKJV) A chisel was used in making inscriptions in stone, as in Joshua 8:31-32. Job wished that his words might be engraved with "an iron stylus" in the rock forever. "an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron A pen was employed in writing on papyrus, vellum, leather, and parchment, as indicated in 3 John 13 (above). This was used in Jeremiah 36:23 to destroy a scroll (see reference above), the material of which was probably tougher than papyrus. It was also used to sharpen the writer's pen after it had begun to wear down. Inkhorn and Ink These were necessary concomitants of the pen, and they served as the container and fluid used for writing on papyrus, vellum, leather, and parchment. Thus, just as writing and its materials were available for the biblical writers, so were the instruments necessary for their vital task.

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Psychological curricula deals with the AFFECT, or emotions. The movement has been labeled Affective Education by educators, and includes a wide range of programs and curricula which attempt to change the values and behavior of students. Public schools, and even some private schools, spend valuable classroom time engaged in "cooperative" learning (group learning) encounter sessions and discussion groups that employ pop psychology. These programs are designed for a very specific purpose -- to change the attitudes, values and beliefs of children in order to prepare them to be proper environmental citizens in the "sustainable" global village. Such behavior-modification programs are the very root of the destruction of America's public education system. With the rise of whole-brain research in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the concurrent development of humanistic education, affective education got its start with a program called Quest. Quest was first marketed as a "humanistic values education curriculum" in 1975. The Quest program has been revised considerably since the first 400-page curriculum was published. A second version was released in 1982, and six versions of the program have been published since. Some programs are specifically targeted at resolving social problems such as drug abuse, the reduction of teen pregnancy, the reduction of school dropout rates, crime, and other social ills. Even though described as "value-free," most of the programs do deal with values, or their clarification. Almost all claim positive outcomes such as: - Enhancement of self-esteem - Promotion of good decision-making - Reduction of stress - Improvement of academic performance - Improvement of a student's sensitivity to others Almost without exception, the psychological curricula use a foundation of moral relativism and self-interest as the primary motivation for character development or behavior modification. A lucrative market has been developed since their inception in the mid-1970s. Estimates of the number of affective education programs range up to 300 now being marketed in U.S. public schools. They are often funded by civic groups such as Lions Club or Kiwanis, or large companies. Most are identified as "living or coping skills development" programs. Collectively they are called Affective Education Programs, dealing with the emotional content of a child's learning processes, as opposed to cognitive education programs, which deal with academics such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most importantly, they attempt to change values, therefore coming into conflict with parents, because they influence the value systems of students exposed to them. Affective education employs a number of psychological and pedagogic principles as primary to their success. The most significant of these principles includes beliefs such as: - The meaning of life lies in subjective experience. - Self-Interest is and should be the foundation for all moral decisions. - The teacher should be child advocate and therapist. - Problem-solving through the application of moral relativism. - Teaching by facilitation, giving no knowledge of opinions. - Children are capable of making sophisticated judgments. - Peer group pressure is more influential in establishing values than is home, school, or church. - Commitment to a "clinical-therapeutic" education approach. One of the founders of value-free education, Dr. W.R. Coulson, now admits that he made a costly mistake in pushing affective education programs on the American school system: "Youthful experimentation with sex, alcohol, marijuana, and a variety of other drugs -- whatever's popular at the time -- has been shown to follow value-free education quite predictably. We now know that after these classes, students become more prone to give into temptation than if they'd never been enrolled." The following are some of the more popular Affective Education Programs: Project Self-Esteem is an elementary level program which purports to enhance self-esteem, improve memory, improve communication skills, stress individuality, increase sensitivity to others, and improve self responsibility. Project Self-Esteem is based upon a form of moral relativism (situation ethics), which uses self- interest as the primary motivator for character development. One example from the section on stealing -- The objectives state that the child will: - understand the difference between borrowing and stealing. - State the reasons why people steal. - Understand that stealing hurts himself and the victim. - Understand it lowers his self-esteem. No judgment is made concerning the wrongness of stealing, and teachers are instructed to refrain from making judgments about the rightness or wrongness of the act or injecting their own moral values. Self-interest, not society, is the norm of behavior. The child is asked to assess the short-term and long-term benefits, his feelings and the feelings of the people affected by his actions, and then to decide a course of action based upon what is best for him. This is a sophisticated and mature line of reasoning for a child, requiring him to assess long-term over short-term benefits. For a child, at what the learning theorist Piaget called the "pre-operational stage of development," such reasoning power is highly questionable. A substantial part of the Project Self-Esteem program focuses on personal feelings, beliefs, and attitudes, with the object of changing them. Such activities could be identified as a form of psychological testing and treatment. Quest was originally published as a Humanistic Values Curriculum in 1975. The Quest program is divided into two main curricula: Skills for Living -- High school level; and Skills for Adolescence for grades 6-8. The program has undergone substantial modification, and at least seven different producers have marketed the program. The promotion of Skills for Adolescence is a special project of the Lions Club International. Local Lions Clubs promote and often finance the adoption of the Quest program at the local level. Its most serious fault is the use of values clarification techniques. The program places "overwhelming emphasis on students feelings, emotions, and private family information, compared to the much lesser significance given to facts about the danger of drugs and alcohol." The most common question concerning Quest is: "Is it a drug education program or isn't it?" The Skills for Adolescence program is composed of seven instructional units, only one of which is about the facts and dangers of drugs and alcohol. The other "dimensions" of the program deal with thinking, feeling, decision-making, communication and action. Since 1982, when the second edition of the program was published, it has been "used in more than 8,000 communities and schools throughout the world." One of the co-authors described the program as "... a humanistic education curriculum ... a curriculum designed to enhance students self-esteem ... It has lots of values clarification in it ... lots of communication skills ... lots of self-talk ... It's, I think, you know, a really fine synthesis of a live humanistic education" (Howard Kirschenbaum, ASCD Convention, 1984). The program has come under considerable fire in its long history. Parents have objected to the program's intrusive nature and seeming lack of emphasis on its purported purpose. Prominent psychologist Joseph Adelson, Ph.D. Professor of psychology at the University of Michigan Psychological Clinic in Ann Arbor, has stated that "Certain parts of the syllabus qualify as personality testing." The author of this manual is California psychologist, Jack Canfield. He recommends a variety of techniques, which include Eastern religions precepts like guided imagery, meditation, relaxation exercises, and yoga exercises. Canfield's theory of self-esteem is based on a distinction between the left and right brain. He claims the brain has two hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the logical thinking while the right hemisphere controls feelings and impulses. Canfield asserts that working with guided imagery stimulates the right brain and will help students solve all their problems -- not just academic ones, but physical ones as well. Guided imagery will help them to be smarter and more creative, will increase their memory capacity, allow them to answer any troubling questions they have, will increase their athletic performance, and even help to relieve headaches! Guided Imagery exercises are usually introduced by asking students to discuss their dreams, nightmares, recurring dreams, and the importance of dreams to our physical and mental health. A typical guided imagery exercise is preceded with a brief period of relaxation. Then, students are told to notice how their stomach and chest rise and expand. Parents in Stockton, California learned that a Canfield curriculum was being used in a 10th grade English class. Students told their parents they were practicing mind-relaxing exercises in the class. When parents checked with the teacher to find out what the purpose of these exercises was, he said he was teaching students to learn how to relax to reduce tensions before bedtime or to minimize stress in their lives. (This was supposed to help them do better work in their English class.) The curriculum used in the class was Canfield's 18-page manual on Introduction to Guided Imagery, which the teacher had obtained at a workshop on "self-esteem." Over 600 concerned citizens protested the use of this curriculum, which was eventually removed after a dialogue with the school board and administration. This is supposedly a reading program for Grades 1-6. The emphasis, however, is on attitude changes and developing feelings of self-worth. Among the philosophical statements of Workshop Way are: 1) The foremost goal in Workshop Way is to protect each child's dignity. 2) Growing a positive self-concept is feasible for all students because the self-concept is never associated with knowledge, skills or right answers. 3) Obstacles to Workshop Way include report cards and morning recesses (which destroy any chance of developing concentration in most students) as well as parents demanding papers with work marked right or wrong. Workshop Way uses a series of concentration tasks to develop self-esteem. There are ten motor coordination tasks that pupils perform daily. One exercise is called "Pouring." The pupil practices pouring water from one container into another without spilling it. He repeats this until he wishes to quit. Parents in Jenks, Oklahoma describe Workshop Way as being anti-intellectual and anti-education, because academic skills are subordinated to the "self-actualization" of the child. The program clearly states that one of the major goals is to lead pupils toward "higher levels of consciousness and deepening awareness in students by leading them to self-discovery." This program, produced by the Quest organization in Ohio, is very popular all over the country. It promises to improve communication skills and self-esteem by teaching students to make "responsible" decisions. Students engage in rap sessions resembling group psychotherapy during which they discuss their private emotions and attitudes -- what makes them sad or happy, what worries them. They also participate in touchy-feely games which are supposed to make them feel good about themselves. Some of these games include: "Machine" (groups of students create machines using their bodies and sounds); "Open Fist Simulation" (attempt to open partner's fist); "Pretzel" (untwist body contortions); and imagination games like "Elevator" (pretend the floor is a certain year of your life and describe that year). Six classroom sessions of the Skills for Adolescence curriculum are devoted to the topic of private emotions. In one assignment, students are supposed to fill in an "Emotional Clock" indicating what time of day they feel anger, happiness, frustration, nervousness, surprise, anxiety, or sadness, and then must write down the reason for the particular emotion. This is a very popular self-esteem program written by Jill Anderson and published by Timberline Press in Eugene, Oregon. Pumsy is a girl dragon who has three parts to her mind. These include her Sparkler Mind, her Clear Mind, and her Mud Mind. The author defines the Sparkler Mind as a mind that runs and plays like tiny pieces of happy lightning. Pumsy wishes the Sparkler Mind would last forever. The Clear Mind is defined as a pond, still and quiet, in the middle of a spring meadow. When Pumsy is in her Clear Mind, she feels good about herself and at peace. The Mud mind is defined as a puddle of mud that does not allow her to think clearly. When she is in her Mud Mind, she doesn't feel good about herself. All 39 pages of Pumsy are devoted to the self-analysis of the three parts of the mind. In a school district in Sonoma, California which uses Pumsy, the children in a second-grade class (8-year-olds) were told to get rid of their "mud" mind by writing down their "mud" (negative) thoughts to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." One little boy wrote the following illiterate ditty expressing self-hatred: "I'v ben worken on my mud mind. I'v ben work en hard. I hate my self. I am no good. I wish I could kill my self." When the boy brought this assignment home, his mother asked him whether he really felt this way. His answer was "No!" Then she asked why he wrote these things. His reply was, "Because I thought that's what the teacher wanted me to write." The boy received the idea of hating himself directly from the "Pumsy Storybook." There are several pages about the Mud Mind. In one section, Pumsy lets her Mud Mind say, "I'm no good," 100 times. The phrase ,"I'm no good," written by the child came directly from the text. Because of the requirement that the children write their "mud" thoughts down on paper, this little boy was forced to write negative things about himself -- whether or not he really believed them. An even more tragic event was reported in Beverly Eakman's book Educating for the New World Order. On March 24, 1990, an 8-year-old boy in Michigan, Stephen Nalepa, saw a film entitled "Nobody's Useless" as part of a self-esteem exercise in his second-grade class. One purpose was to encourage compassion for the physically handicapped. There was an explicit description in the film of how to hang oneself, showing how to apply a rope to the carotid artery and cut off air supply. Unlike the boy in the film, who was rescued from his suicide attempt, Stephen Nalepa was found dead in his bedroom, his feet a couple of inches off the ground. This program, "DUSO--Developing Understanding of Self and Others," contains 42 guided imagery lessons in which children are ordered by teachers, the same way a hypnotist orders his subjects, to relax and close their eyes. Then the children are told to imagine they're traveling to strange planets, meeting friendly creatures. Former Las Vegas hypnotist Phil Potter (El Cajon, Calif.) reviewed DUSO and says that it is "exactly what we call hypnotism." As a result of parental complaints about DUSO in New Mexico and other mind-altering programs, a resolution was passed in 1988 that the teaching of or counseling by certain mind-altering psychological techniques be entirely eliminated in New Mexico public schools. Many parents have sought to protect their children from the behavior-modification programs (described above) that have taken the place of academic education in public schools. To escape the assault of Outcome-Based Education (OBE), multi-culturalism, and workforce training programs, parents in ever-increasing numbers are placing their children in private schools or are home-schooling. In spite of the "school wars," parents have felt safe taking their children to Sunday School to help build a solid moral foundation. But, your church's Sunday School curriculum may be as bad as that in the public schools -- tree-hugging, earth-worshipping paganism intermixed in the Christian lessons. Many churches are now using a Sunday School curriculum created by an organization in Colorado called "Group." There is nothing in Group's publications that tells who they are, what they believe in, or anything about the backgrounds of the creators of the materials. Nevertheless, Group curriculum is now sold in most Christian bookstores. The Group material offers "Hands-on Bible curriculum" and advocates a "new approach to learning." However, a close inspection of Group's materials and teaching methods shows it bears a close resemblance to the behavior-modification techniques of OBE. For example, under the sub-head "Successful Teaching: You can do it!," the teacher's manual asks the question: "What does active learning mean to you as a teacher? It takes a lot of pressure off because the spotlight shifts from you to the students. Instead of being the principle player, you become a guide and FACILITATOR." This is basic OBE classroom organization where students are not taught by a teacher, but are guided to learn on their own, as the class FACILITATOR simply suggests and gently directs toward a pre-programmed, psychology-driven lesson plan. Just as in OBE behavior-modification exercises, the Group curriculum provides "Problem Cards" for student discussion of personal and family issues. Some examples from the Group workbook for fifth and sixth grade Sunday School classes: 1. PROBLEM CARD: "It seems like my parents fight all the time. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm afraid they're going to split up." 2. PROBLEM CARD: "The cool kids at school treat me like a total nothing. It's like I don't even exist." 3. PROBLEM CARD: "My dad is afraid he's going to lose his job, so we don't get to go anywhere on vacation this summer." 4. PROBLEM CARD: "I got in trouble for not cleaning up my room. Now I'm grounded for the weekend and can't go to my friend's birthday party. Doesn't that stink?" Each of these examples are designed for group discussions in which the entire class takes on one child's personal problem. Personal family business is disclosed, parental authority is questioned, and student "self-esteem" becomes the central concern. This is Outcome-Based Education at work in the Sunday School class. Worse, all of it is done under the authority of the local church. Then, there's pagan earth-worshipping. In a Group lesson entitled "Hug a Tree," students are led outside to an area with trees. A child is blindfolded and led to a tree where he/she is to hug it, and then feel the tree very carefully: "Try to learn everything about the tree that you can without looking at it." The student is led back to the group, spun around three times, and the blindfold is removed. The Group tree-hugging lesson goes on to instruct the facilitator: "After everyone has hugged a tree, been spun around and sat down, remove the blindfolds and find out how many kids can identify the trees they hugged. If it's a nice day, sit down on the grass and discuss the experience." Questions for the "facilitator" to ask: (1) How did it feel to hug a tree?; (2) How did you feel when you recognized the tree you hugged?; and (3) What do you like about trees? Another part of the lesson is called "Life Applications." Children are to be taken on a walk around the outdoor area of the church. Once back inside, "Ask about the natural surroundings and human-made sounds. Talk about natural beauty and human-made pollution. If you want, have the kids go back outside and pick up any trash they saw on the walk." Question for the "facilitator to ask: “How do you think God feels when He sees how people have messed up the beautiful world he created?" Children are then given a game to play to simulate pollution. In a Group Workbook entitled, "Sunday School Specials," a chapter tells students that "real conservation means remembering to turn off lights, hiking or biking instead of hitching a car ride, and cooling off in the shade instead of in the air conditioning. Kids are often tempted to do things the easy way instead of the 'green' way. They need lots of encouragement and affirmation to develop and stick to an environment-conscious lifestyle ..." That one line demonstrates an important key to the purpose of Group's Sunday School curriculum -- to promote a political agenda based on pagan earth worship rather than Christian values. In many self-esteem classes, confidential questionnaires are given to students in order to determine how students feel about themselves and their family. One questionnaire called "The Doctor is In" lists 20 statements and asks students in all grade levels to "put a check next to each statement that applies to you." A few of these statements follow: - I get very little support at home. - I'm too shy. - Many/things/people make me nervous. - I fail at many things. - I'm not physically attractive. - I feel inferior to others. - I'm unhappy a lot of the time. - I don't get along with my family. - I think I'm prejudiced (race, religion). - I don't think I'll succeed in life. - I argue a lot. - I'm sometimes immature. After completing the questionnaire, students are instructed to select three statements that are true for them personally, and to write an essay discussing at least three of their choices and why they feel that way. There has been a barrage of criticism leveled against self-esteem programs: 1) They teach "New Age" and Eastern religious precepts which violate separation of church and state. 2) They violate the child's right of privacy by probing into private feelings and attitudes resembling group psychotherapy. 3) They have not been proven to be beneficial to the child either emotionally or academically. To the contrary, there are legitimate concerns that by probing into the child's psyche, there is a potential for emotional harm. 4) They waste valuable academic time. A recent study published in the book entitled The Social Importance of Self-Esteem, and based on research by several University of California psychologists and sociologists, indicates that there is NO correlation between self-esteem and academic performance. In addition, these social "scientists" could find no conclusive evidence indicating a relationship between self-esteem and teen pregnancy rates; self-esteem and alcohol/drug use; and self-esteem and child abuse. Edward Wynne, Professor of Education at the University of Illinois (Chicago Circle campus), and Kevin Ryan, Professor of Education at Boston University, question the benefits of the obsession with self-esteem in America's schools. In their recently published book Reclaiming Our Schools, they note: "The self-esteem movement puts a false and infectious pressure on teachers. They are more and more expected to keep students feeling good about themselves. In other eras, teachers were expected to provide pupils with an environment and educational opportunity to grow and achieve." A 1990 study contrasting the performance of American students in mathematics skills with five other countries revealed that the math scores of American 5th-graders were the lowest of the six countries. The Koreans were first. The test asked pupils to say whether they felt they would be "good at mathematics in high school." Of the Americans, 68% said "yes" while only 26% of the high-scoring Koreans gave that reply. Commenting on Workshop Way, psychiatrist Twilah Fox (Tulsa, Oklahoma), says the methods used are definitely based on dangerous "New Age" ideas which are a prescription for mental chaos, rebellion, and degradation. Dr. David Shaffer, M.D., Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School (New York City), thinks total self-esteem may reduce motivation. He says, "We know that anxiety in small doses is a powerful, motivating force, and that a lack of concern and indifference to the opinion of others can actually be quite handicapping." 1) Under the Freedom of Information Act, parents have the right to examine all school curricula. 2) Parents have the right to exempt their children from any portion of or all of any psychological programs. Many of these programs are an invasion of child and family privacy and violate the moral and religious freedom of the student and his family. * Most of this material has been excerpted from a June 1990 Citizens for Excellence in Education special report (Report #18--"Psychological Curriculum: An Overview ... With a Special Emphasis on Quest and Project Self-Esteem") [NACE/CEE, Costa Mesa, CA] and from an August 1993 National Monitor of Education pamphlet ("The dangers of Self-Esteem Programs"). The section on "Group" was adapted from a 1/05 NewsWithViews.com article by Tom DeWeese: "Is Your Church Teaching Pagan Earth Worship in Sunday School?"

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Identity designates the attempt to differentiate and integrate a sense of self along different social and personal dimensions such as gender, age, race, occupation, gangs, socio-economic status, ethnicity, class, nation states, or regional territory. Any claim of identity faces three dilemmas: (a) sameness of a sense of self over time in the face of constant change; (b) uniqueness of the individual vis-à-vis others faced with being the same as everyone else; and (c) the construction of agency as constituted by self (with a self-to-world direction of fit) and world (with a world-to-self direction of fit). Claims to identity begin with the continuity/change dilemma and from there venture into issues of uniqueness and agency; self and sense of self begin by constructing agency and differentiating self from others and then go on to navigate the waters of continuity and change. Engaging in any activity requires acts of self-identification by relying on repertoires that identify and contextualize speakers/writers along varying socio-cultural categories, often compared to mental or linguistic representations (Emmott & Alexander → Schemata) that are less fixed depending on context and function. Narrating, a speech activity that involves ordering characters in space and time, is a privileged genre for identity construction because it requires situating characters in time and space through gesture, posture, facial cues, and gaze in coordination with speech. In addition, narrating, whether in the form of fictional or factual narration (Schaeffer → Fictional vs. Factual Narration), tends toward “human life”—something more than what is reportable or tellable (Baroni → Tellability), something that is life- and live-worthy (Taylor 1989). Thus, narrating enables speakers/writers to disassociate the speaking/writing self from the act of speaking, to take a reflective position vis-à-vis self as character (Jannidis → Character). Taking a reflective position on self as character has been elaborated in the narratological differentiation between author (Schönert → Author), narrator (Margolin → Narrator), and character. The reflective process takes place in the present but refers to past or fictitious time-space, making past (or imagined) events relevant for the act of telling, pointing toward the meaningfulness of relationships and worthwhile lives, and exemplifying “the human good” (Aristotle 1996: 1461a). It is against this backdrop that narrating in recent decades has established itself as a privileged site for identity analysis—a new territory for inquiry (cf. Ricœur 1992; Strawson 2004). Designing characters in fictitious timespace has the potential of opening up territory for exploring identity, reaching beyond traditional boundaries, and testing out novel identities. Narratives rooted in factual past-time events, by contrast, are dominated by an opposite orientation. The delineation of what happened, whose agency was involved, and the potential transformation of characters from one state to another serve to demarcate the identity of the reflective self under investigation. If past-time narration is triggered by the question “Who am I?,” having the narrator’s quest for identity or sense of self as its goal, the leeway for ambiguity, transgression of boundaries, or exploration of novel identities is more restricted: the goal is rather to condense and unite, to resolve ambiguity, and to deliver answers that lay further inquiry into past and identity to rest. However, the reduction of identity to the depiction of characters and their development in a story leaves out the communicative space within which identities are negotiated in interaction with others. Limiting narratives to what they are about restricts identity to the referential or cognitive level of speech activities and disregards real life, where identities are under construction, formed, performed, and change over time. It is within the space of everyday talk in interaction with others that narration plays its constitutive role in the formation and navigation of identities as part of everyday practices and that the potential for orientation toward human values takes form. When considering the emergence of identity, the narrating subject must be regarded: (a) as neither locked into stability nor drifting through constant change, but rather as something that is multiple, contradictory, and distributed over time and place, held together contextually and locally; (b) in terms of membership positions vis-à-vis others that help to trace the narrator’s identity within the context of social relationships, groups, and institutions; and (c) as the active and agentive locus of control, though simultaneously attributing agency to outside forces that are situated in a broader socio-historical context. Along these lines, identity is not confined by just one societal discourse but open to change. Identity is able to transform itself and adapt to the challenges of growing cultural multiplicities in increasingly globalizing environments. Based on the assumption that narration at its origin was a verbal act performed locally in interactional contexts and from there evolved toward other, differently constituted and contextualized media (writing, electronic, and digital media, etc.; cf. Ryan 2006), the function of narration in identity formation processes cannot be reduced to the verbal means used or to the messages conveyed. Rather, the local interactional environments in which narrative units emerge form the foundation for inquiry into identity formation and the sense of self. While transformations from oral to written forms of expression have been studied (e.g. Ong 1982) and text-critical analysis has been undertaken from the perspective of the hermeneutic circle, work with transcripts from audio recordings is relatively new. More recent are concerted efforts to record narratives audio-visually and to analyze the way they emerge in interaction, including the sophisticated ways in which they are performed. Audio-visual material, of course, can be more fully (micro-analytically) scrutinized in terms of the contextualized coordination of narrative form, content, and performance features (Berns → Performativity) in the service of identity formation processes. Recently, this type of micro-analytic analysis has been applied to identity as achieved in narration under the heading of “positioning analysis” (Bamberg 1997, 2003; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou 2008) in order to focus more effectively on the situated nature of identification processes that emerge from the three identity dilemmas mentioned above. Navigating and connecting temporal continuity and discontinuity, self and other differentiation, and the direction of fit between person and world, take place in the small stories told on everyday occasions in which tellers affirm a sense of who they are. It is precisely this sense of self and identity grounded in sequential, moment-by-moment interactive engagements, largely undertheorized and often dismissed in traditional identity inquiry, that operates on verbal texts or cognitive representations (Herman → Cognitive Narratology). Self and identity are traditionally bound up with what is taken to be the essence of the individual person which continues over time and space in phylo- as well as in socio- and onto-genetic terms. However, this overlooks how conceptions of self and identity have evolved historically and culturally and also how each individual’s personal ontogenesis undergoes continuous change. In addition, essentialist views of self and identity camouflage the links between these concepts and their counterparts in narration and narrative practices. Section 3.1 will further explore the connection between self and identity dilemmas (b) and (c), while section 3.2 will be devoted to identity and dilemma (a). Although self, like “I” and “me,” are highly specific morphological items of the English lexicon, they are commonly assumed to refer universally to corresponding concepts in other languages—an assumption that has been contested, however. A closer look reveals that these concepts most often have a history of their own that varies in illuminating ways (cf. Heelas & Lock eds. 1981; Triandis 1989). Modern notions of self and individuality (cf. Elias 1991; Gergen 1991) are taken to be closely intertwined with the emergence of local communities, nation states, new forms of knowledge and reflection (“rationalization”), feeling, and perception—all in conjunction with increasing interiorization and psychologization. In this process of becoming individualized, self-narration (autobiography, life-writing, autofiction) springs to the fore as the basic practice-ground for marking the self off from “I” as speaker/agent and “me” as character/actor (cf. the narratological distinctions between “narrating self” and “narrated self” and between narrator and protagonist). Acts of thematizing and displacing the self as character in past time and space become the basis for other self-related actions such as self-disclosure, self-reflection and self-criticism, potentially leading to self-control, self-constraint, and self-discipline. What further comes to light in this process is an increasing differentiation between (and integration of) “I” and “me” (James 1989), and simultaneously between “I-we-us” and “them-other” (Elias 1991). Thus, self, apparently, is the product of an “I” that manages three processes of differentiation and integration: (a) it can posit a “me” (as distinct from “I”); (b) it can posit and balance this “I-me” distinction with “we”; and (c) it can differentiate this “we” as “us” from “them” as “other.” This process of differentiation must be taken into account when talking about “self” as different from “other” and viewing self “in relation to self” (as in self-reflection and self-control). Self, as differentiated from other by developing the ability to account for itself (as agent or as undergoer), to self-reflect, and to self-augment, can now begin to look for something like temporal continuity, unity, and coherence, i.e. identity across a life (cf. Ricœur 1992). The ability to conceive of life as an integrated narrative forms the cornerstone for what Erikson ( 1963) called “ego identity.” The underlying assumption here is that life begins to co-jell into building blocks that, when placed in the right order, cohere: important moments tie into important events, events into episodes, and episodes into a life story. It is this analogy between life and story—or better: the metaphoric process of seeing life as storied (in narratological terms: story and discourse) that has given substantive fuel to the narrative turn. The strength of how scholars (and laypeople) in the past have made use of this connection, though, varies: on the one hand, there is a relatively loose connection according to which we tell stories of lives by using particular narrative formats. Lives can be told as following an epic script or as if consisting of unconnected patches. Most often, though, lives are told by depicting characters and how they develop. Character, particularly in modern times, rests on an internal and an external form of organization. The former is typically a complex interiority, a set of traits organizing underlying actions and the course of events as outcomes of motives that spring from this interiority. The latter, an external condition of character development, takes plot as the overarching principle that lends order to human action in response to the threat of a discontinuous and seemingly meaningless life by a set of possible continuities (often referred to by cognitive narratologists as “schemata” or “scripts”; cf. Herman 2002: chap. 3). This interplay of human (and humane) interiority and culturally available models of continuity (plots) gives narrative a powerful role in the process of seeing life as narrative. It also should be noted that the arrangement of interiority as governed by the availability of plots gives answers—at least to a degree—to the “direction-of-fit” or “agency” identity dilemma. With narration thus defined, life transcends the animalistic and unruly body so that narration gains the power to organize “human temporality” (Punday 2003; see also Ricœur 1990): the answer to non-human, a-temporal, and discontinuous chaos. Another, and probably stronger reason for employing the narrative metaphor for life starts with the assumption of a “narrative mode of thinking.” Bruner (1986) and Polkinghorne (1988) similarly vie for the argument that there is a particular cognitive mode of making sense of the (social) world which is organized “narratively” (an important theme in cognitive psychology; cf. Herman 2002, 2009). Freeman’s (1993) and Mishler’s (1986) work with autobiographical memories focuses particularly on the interrelationship between memory, autobiographical memory, and narrative. Mishler early on propagated the use of autobiographic narrative interview data in the form of a “contextual approach” which is not limited to recording data about human experience or to looking “behind” the author, but that focuses on interaction and relationships. McAdams (1985), building on narrative theorists such as Bruner, Polkinghorne, and Sarbin, has turned the assumption of selves plotting themselves in and across time into a life-story model of identity. His model clearly states that life stories are more than recapitulations of past events and episodes, that they have a defining character: “our narrative identities are the stories we live by” (McAdams et al. 2006: 4). McAdams’ efforts to connect the study of lives to life stories is paralleled in a wider turn to biographic methods in the social sciences, leading to Lieblich & Josselson’s eleven-volume series titled The Narrative Study of Lives. The origins of these efforts stretch across a wide range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Goodson & Sikes (2001: 129) date the origins of life history methods in the form of autobiographies back to the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, life history methods have spread from the study of attitudes in social psychology to community studies in sociology, particularly within the Chicago School, and forty years later back into psychology. Retrospectively, it can be argued that the early studies by the members of the Chicago School, and in particular “oral history” popularized by the works of Studs Terkel, lacked the analytic component of modern day narrative inquiry. However, without these origins and the works of Bertaux (1981) and Plummer (1983), the foundation of the Research Committee on Biography and Society (within the International Sociological Association) would have been unthinkable. The methodological principles were laid out in the early work by Schütze (1977) and later picked up and refined in current narrative interview approaches by Fischer-Rosenthal & Rosenthal (1997). Thanks to these developments, it is clearer how the relatively massive turn in the social sciences toward biography and life writing was able to gain ground as a new approach to identity research. It emerged as a concerted attempt to wed self-differentiation (self that can reflect upon itself) and narration (plotting a sense of characterhood across time)—in narratological terms: “narrating self” and “narrated self”—into an answer that addresses the three dilemmas of identity laid out earlier. A teller accounts for how s/he (a) has emerged (as character) over time, (b) as different from others (but same), and simultaneously (c) how s/he views her-/himself as a (responsible) agent. Managing these three dilemmas in concert is taken to establish what is essential to identity. Consequently, life-writing and biography, preferably as autobiography or life story, become privileged arenas for identity research. The link between life and narration and the exploration of lives (including selves and identity) through the exploration of narratives have traditions going back to Freud ( 1913), Allport (1937), and Murray (1938). However, this close connection between life and narrative is said to require a particular retrospectiveness that values “life as reflected” and discredits “life as lived.” Sartwell (2000) has questioned (a) whether life really has the purpose and meaningfulness that narrative theorists metaphorically attempt to attribute to it and (b) whether narratives themselves have the kind of coherence (Toolan → Coherence) and telic quality that narrative theorists often assume. The problem Sartwell sees in this kind of approach is that the lived moment, the way it is “sensed” and experienced, is said to gain its life-worthy quality only in light of its surrounding moments. Rather than empowering the subject with meaning in life, Sartwell argues, narrative, conceived this way, drains and blocks him or her from finding pleasure and joy in the here-and-now. The subject is overpowered by narrative as a normalizing machine. Another difficulty resulting from the close linkage between life, narration, and identity consists in what Lejeune ( 1989) termed “the autobiographical pact.” According to Lejeune, what counts as autobiography is somewhat blurry, since it is based on a “pact” between author and reader that is not directly traceable down into the textual qualities. Thus, while a life story can employ the first-person pronoun to feign the identity of author, narrator, and character, use of the third-person pronoun may serve to camouflage this identity (cf. narrative unreliability; Shen → Unreliability). Autobiographical fiction thrives on the blurring of these boundaries. Of interest here are “the perennial theoretical questions of authenticity and reference” (Porter 2008: 25) leading up to the larger issue of the connection between referentiality and narration (cf. Genette’s 1990 distinction between fictional narrative and factual narrative). While most research on biography has been quite aware of the situated and locally occasioned nature of people’s accounts (often in institutional settings) and the problems this poses for claims with regard to the speaker/narrator’s sense of self or identity, a number of researchers have launched a large-scale critique of the biographic turn as reducing language to its referential and ideational functions and thereby overextending (and simplifying) narration as the root metaphor for the person, (sense of) self, and identity. At the core of these voices is the call for a much “needed antidote to the longstanding tradition of ‘big stories’ which, be they in the form of life stories or of stories of landmark events, have monopolized the inquiry into tellers’ representations of past events and themselves in light of these events” (Georgakopoulou 2007: 147; cf. Strawson 2004). Attempts to transport interactional context and performance-oriented aspects of narration into the analysis of identities reach back to Burke (1945) and Goffman (1959) and have been reiterated repeatedly by others in the field of biography research (e.g. Mishler 1986; Riessman 2008). More recent attempts to integrate this acknowledgment into empirical analysis center around a number of key positions. First is the proposal to resituate narration as performative moves (cf. Langellier & Peterson 2004), calling for the analysis of embodied practices and material conditions of narrative productions. Similarly, Gubrium & Holstein (2008) argue for a narrative ethnography—one that is able to analyze the complex interplay between “experience, storying practices, descriptive resources, purposes at hand, audiences, and the environments that condition storytelling” (250). Georgakopoulou (2006, 2007) and Bamberg (1997, 2003; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou 2008) have tried to develop an alternative approach to big story narrative research that takes “narratives-in-interaction,” i.e. the way stories surface in everyday conversation (small stories), as the locus where identities are continuously practiced and tested out. This approach allows for exploring self at the level of the talked-about and at the level of tellership in the here-and-now of a storytelling situation. Both of these levels feed into the larger project at work in the global situatedness within which selves are already positioned, i.e. with more or less implicit and indirect referencing and orientation to social positions and discourses above and beyond the here-and-now. Placing emphasis on small stories allows for the study of how people as agentive actors position themselves—and in doing so become positioned. This model of positioning affords the possibility of viewing identity constructions as two-fold: analyzing the way the referential world is constructed, with characters (self and others) emerging in time and space as protagonists and antagonists. Simultaneously, it is possible to show how the referential world (what the story is about) is constructed as a function of interactive engagement, i.e. the way the referential world is put together points to how tellers “want to be understood,” how they index their sense of self. Consequently, it is the action orientation of the participants in small story events that forms the basic point of departure for this functionalist-informed approach to narration and, to a lesser degree, what is represented or reflected upon in the stories told. This seems to be what makes this type of work with small stories crucially different from work with big stories: the aim is to analyze how people use small stories in their interactive engagements to construct a sense of who they are, while big story research analyzes the stories as representations of world and identities within them. Behind this way of approaching and working with stories is an action orientation that urges the analyst to look at constructions of self and identity as necessarily dialogical and relational, fashioned and refashioned in local interactive practices (cf. Antaki & Widdicombe eds. 1998; Shepherd → Dialogism). At the same time, it recognizes that small story participants generally attune their stories to various local, interpersonal purposes, sequentially gauging themselves to prior and upcoming talk, continuously challenging and confirming each others’ positions. It is in and through this type of relational activity that representations in the form of content, i.e. what the talk is intended to be about, are brought off and come into existence. By contrast, story analyses that remain fixated on the represented contents of the story in order to conclude from there how the teller reflects on him-/herself miss out on the very interactive and relational constructedness of content and reflection. Furthermore, this kind of analysis aims at scrutinizing the inconsistencies, ambiguities, contradictions, moments of trouble and tension, and the tellers’ constant navigation and finessing between different versions of selfhood and identity in local interactional contexts. However well-established the line of identities-in-interaction may be in the context of the analysis of conversational data, this emphasis still contrasts with the longstanding privileging of coherence by traditional approaches to narrative theory. Through the scrutiny of small stories in a variety of sites and contexts, the aim becomes to legitimize the management of different and often competing and contradictory positions as the mainstay of identity through narrative. A final aim is to advance a project of documenting identity as a process of constant change that, when practiced over and over again, has the potential to result in a sense of constancy and sameness, i.e. big stories that can be elicited under certain conditions. (a) Whether narratives actually constitute a privileged territory for inquiry into life and identity requires further theoretical and empirical inquiry. Usually, this question is decided on the basis of a pre-theoretical, epistemological (if not ontological) stance. But the question itself may be open to different interpretations. (b) The use of narrative methods in the exploration of hybrid or hyphenated identities constitutes an interesting new development in recent trends of social science research in a turn to questions of citizenship, cultural exclusion, imagined communities, symbolic representations of belonging, and even general processes of globalization. (c) Illness and traumatic experiences are typically viewed as disruptions of continuity and coherence, posing challenges to the formation of a sense of self and (biographic) identity as well as to our sense of agency. Recent discussions about the plot-types employed in illness narratives and how patients’ narrative accounts can be made use of more productively in narrative medicine bring up interesting questions with regard to the construction of paths and trajectories of experiences, their inherent action potential, and the relationship to mapping out possible reconstructions from being re-active to becoming pro-active in the construction of patients’ “healing dramas.” (d) The increasing diversification into different narrative methods and approaches (content/thematic vs. structural/formal methods, now joined by discursive/performative approaches) has led to the question whether there is still a common core to the original “narrative approach” as an alternative to the study of subjectivity, self, and identity—the way, in retrospect, it seemed to have begun about thirty-five years ago.

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Clue by Clues are fun mystery games I came up with to share my love of solving mysteries with my classes. They also are perfect critical thinking activities! Clue by Clues make great warm-up activities, fillers, or time killers for those last minutes of class and early finishers. Students work in small groups to solve a puzzle or mystery The catch is that they are given each clue one at a time. This slows down the mystery solving process, meaning students spend more time discussing each clue and revising their theories. And that means more time using critical thinking skills. It also means more talk time as students discuss the importance of each clue and reevaluate their previous ideas. And of course, try to persuade others of their point of view. Each Clue by Clue Activity is available to download and print. Inside you’ll find an introduction to the mystery for students to read, clue cards to distribute to students, hints to help them along, a full solution, and some follow-up discussion questions to extend the lesson. Each activity comes with complete teacher notes on how to use it. Why Clue by Clues? Research shows that a good critical thinking activity is one where students evaluate a range of facts and opinions (Moore and Parker, 1986), combine ideas in various ways (Smith, Ward and Finke, 1995), use complex thinking patterns (Feldman, 1997), and express or defend their opinions with evidence (Lipman, 1988). Solving a mystery helps students practice all those critical thinking skills by noticing clues, evaluating evidence, synthesizing information from different clues, applying logic, and then explaining their solution. And to do that they have to use their close reading skills, as well. Furthermore, students are solving the mysteries they are also developing their spoken language skills, such as: Modal verbs of speculation: She must have forgotten her keys, It could have been the butler Opinion language: I think…., I’m positive…, I’m not sure… Hedging: It’s possible, probably, maybe, it’s not impossible. Conclusions: That means that… Emphasis: There’s no way that… Hypotheticals: What if he didn’t do it, If he was at the movies, he couldn’t have done it. And of course, students love mysteries! Reading and solving them are a lot of fun! So check out the collection. Each one is low-prep and ready to use in class today. Click on the pictures below for more information and a preview before you download and buy them. My Clue by Clue Mystery Critical Thinking Activities Or save money! Get all 6 in one bundle for the price of 4! Do-nows are one of my most important go-to teaching tools. They aren’t suitable for every lesson in every classroom in the world. But when they do work, they solve one of the biggest problems a teacher can face: How to get students to transition smoothly into class time. When I first started teaching, I did a lot of one-to-one tutoring. So my first time teaching a big class took some adjusting. I got to class ten minutes early, and students started shuffling in shortly thereafter. As they came in, they threw down their bags on their desks and started congregating in the back to chat. Some students sat down, but leaned sideways in their desks to talk across the aisle. A few students would come in to cries of, “Hey, Peter. What’s going on?” A handful of students would come in, settle into their seats, getting out books and pencils. But as class hadn’t quite started yet, the quickly got bored and started playing on their cellphones or doodling. When it came time to start class, no one was looking up at me and there was quite a bit of background noise. After trying to talk over it several times with no result, I ended up turning out the lights. That quieted them down, but it was hardly a permanent solution. The Solution: Do-Nows Instead of letting students get distracted in all that dead time before class, give them a focus as soon as they walk into class. That’s what a do-now (or bell ringer) is: an activity students do as they walk in the door. It sets the tone for the class–this is a place where we work. There’s a nice story here that suggests that do-nows are particularly effective on the first day of school because they set the tone for the whole school year. What Makes a Good Do-Now? They Do it on Their Own In order for students to be able to do a do-now as they walk in, it needs to be a clear task that students can do with no input from the teacher. That means the directions should be available and obvious, whether it be on the board or on a handout. They shouldn’t need to check their answers with you from part one in order to go on to part two, either. A do-now is something they can do on their own, while you are getting ready for class. (I gather these are sometimes called teacherless tasks (And Rachel Roberts has a rather nice post up on what makes a good teacherless task). One great way to make sure students grasp the task without teacher input is to have a limited set of kinds of Do-Now activities. In my classroom, if students walk into class and see a proverb on the board, they know that their job is to interpret the meaning and decide if they agree or disagree. If they see a word cloud, they know they must guess the connection or the theme of the class. Being able to do it on their own also means that they shouldn’t need any additional materials. Everything they need should be readily available to them. A student can’t do something now, if they are waiting on something you give them, or even waiting for a partner to arrive. Ideally, they shouldn’t need anything more than a pen and perhaps a handout that you leave in a conspicious location. Since do-nows are a sort of warm-up activity, you don’t want students spending 10 minutes finding a book on the bookshelf or collecting objects around the room or looking up a lot of information on a website. You also don’t want to give students an excuse not to do the activity, so make sure they have everything they need. Real Work, Just Faster Doing it on their own also means that the activity is leveled to the students. It shouldn’t be too hard for the student to need assistance, but not too easy to be boring. And there should be a clear time limit. I like a good do-now that takes 10 minutes, with the possibility of an extension. My rule of thumb is 5 minutes before class time and 5 minutes into class. A good do-now shouldn’t be busy work. It should relate to the theme of the class. Some teachers use class activities or test questions as do-nows. As an English teacher, I like using a do-now that is a bit more fun and engaging than a typical grammar activity, for example. But my do-nows always have students working with the English language. It shouldn’t be meaningless fun. Students shouldn’t feel that they have wasted their time. In fact, some teachers argue that a do-now should result in written output which is assessed by the teacher. Otherwise, students will not take it seriously. I don’t necessarily agree that every time you start class, you need an activity that requires an output and a grade. But there should definitely be some result that is a t the very least discussed openly in class. The Perfect Do-Now My go-to do-now is a proverb or quotation on the board. As I mentioned, students can then figure out what it means and decide if they agree or not. Then we discuss it briefly. I then try to link the proverb to the theme of the class. Other great follow-ups include: Translate the proverb into your language Think of a proverb from your culture that is similar. Think of a story that proves or disproves the proverb Since proverbs often contain an idiom or metaphor or some nonstandard grammar, we can talk about that language feature and try to use it elsewhere. If you’re looking for a collection of quick and easy do-nows, check out my book, On the Board. It’s full of 200 proverbs, brain-teasers, riddles, puzzles, and jokes that make perfect fast, no-prep do-nows for your classroom! This is a collection of proverbs, quotes, riddles, and brainteasers and other fun stuff I’ve curated over the years. Put one up on the board and get students thinking and working. It’s the perfect no-prep warmup, do-now, bell-ringer, filler, or fast-finisher activity. The Make Your Own Icebreaker Chart outlines the four steps of most icebreakers and ways to go about implementing them to help you make original icebreakers. In this post, I walk through those four steps and how you can use the chart to make a new original icebreaker or adapt an old favorite. When I was working on 50 Activities for the First Day of School, I was reading so many icebreakers and getting to know you activities that I started to wonder if there was a common framework to icebreakers. Was there a standard set of steps teachers could improvise around? How could you make make your own icebreaker, something original, but not unfamiliar to students? I played with a lot of ideas before I came up with this Make Your Own Icebreaker Chart. The chart outlines the four major steps of an icebreaker activity, although you can usually skip or abbreviate one of those steps. Students usually acquire information from each other or the classroom or teacher. From the other side of the coin, they are sharing or giving information Then they usually have to record that information somewhere, and usually as they record it, they are manipulating it, doing something with it. Then they share or distribute the information. Finally, they use that information in someway. This step can be as simple as reporting back to the class or as complex as writing a biographical essay about a partner. For each step, the chart has a number of examples of how that could be done. You can also think back on your favorite icebreaker and reverse engineer it to see how it accomplishes each of these steps. You can find the Make Your Own Icebreaker Chart at Alphabet Publishing, along with other free downloadable worksheets for icebreakers and getting to know you activities. I probably shouldn’t be sharing this, as it might put me out of business! Who needs a book of activities when you can make your own? But I can’t resist sharing this, and maybe getting some feedback on it! So how does the Make Your Own Icebreaker chart work? I identified four steps that students go through in a typical icebreaker, or getting to know you activity. I’ll explain them below and illustrate them with a very simple interview-style icebreaker. I should not that not all icebreakers have these steps, or have them in this order. In fact, I’d say most icebreakers have three of the four steps here. And sometimes there’s a prep stage, where you make a worksheet or students think about what they are going to say. I’d also note that the steps don’t always go in this order. In Find Someone Who, the teacher records information in a chart and then makes the students acquire it. Or sometimes the steps happen simultaneously. When students are asking and answering questions, they are acquiring and recording information at the same time. Step 1: Acquire Information So usually the first step of an icebreaker is to get some information from a partner. It might come from asking questions or reading a name tag or a worksheet the teacher has handed out. In some cases, the teacher or student does some prep work before, in creating the information. You might have students fill in a profile. In a simple interview-style icebreaker, students acquire information by asking their partner questions such as “What’s your favorite color?” or “What did you do over summer break?” Step 2: Record and Manipulate Now that students have asked their questions of their partner, or read their teacher’s profile, they have to do something with the information. Having students manipulate information helps them to remember it and evaluate it. You want students to remember what they have learned from their friends and classmates beyond the first day. You also want them to make connections–“Hey, he likes baseball. I wonder if he likes other sports, too.” Otherwise, there’s point in doing a getting to know you activity at all. In an interview, students would be taking notes on their partner, or perhaps filling out a class profile worksheet the teacher gave them. Step 3: Distribute This may be the step that is most often skipped. Usually students jump from recording information to telling someone about it. In our interview example, students would now jump to step 4, reporting the information to the class or another partner. But adding a step where students leave the information somewhere–on a bulletin board, mixed up at random, thrown in a snowball, adds an extra element to the icebreaker. It allows you to have students find a new partner by chance, as in Who Wrote That? Or students can hang a fact they have collected about their partner on the wall, and every one in the class can read about everyone else. This opens up the icebreaker so that the whole class is learning about the whole class. Step 4: Use the Information Finally, you want students to do something with what they learned, whether it be report back to the class, report to another pair, or go home and write a paragraph about their new friend. In Two Truths and a Lie, students evaluate the truth of what they were told. As a wrap-up to Who Wrote That, students may expand on a simple fact to tell a whole story about themselves or their partner. Students can act, sing, dance, or do interpretive dance (although that might be a bit intimidating on the first day of class). So there you go. You have all the tools you need to make amazing icebreakers. Let me know what you come up with! Although, I freely admit that I’ve planned movie lessons upon occasion in order to get out of preparing a real less, students actually can get a lot out of videos and films. When students are watching a video, they’re listening and also absorbing body language. Videos are full of visual cues that students can pick up on. Finally, films are often fun and engaging, so students want to pay attention. But without a plan, a film-based lesson can turn into kids just watching a movie. Now there are some great sites for using films in class, such as I’ll also Film English . But what if you have a film you love, and you want to use it in class. But no one’s done a lesson about it yet? How to Use Films in Class Here’s a basic framework for how I like to use videos in class, along with some examples of how it can be used with a video that I love: Mr Bean. It does require breaking the video into shorter sections. I recommend watching the video before class to get an idea of how it logically breaks down into sections. Note the times when each section begins and ends. You’ll also need to prepare a few sets of questions. First you need questions that students can answer while watching the film. These questions should have clear and concrete answers. They should guide the student to understand the important parts of the film such as “Why did the man go into the building?”, “Who did he see in there?” Avoid questions about small details, like “What color was the man’s suit.” On the other hand, if the film maker is using color or clothing to depict a theme, it’s good to direct students’ attention to that while they are watching. The second set of questions should be more abstract and focus on the themes of the film or larger artistic issues. Ideally, these should be questions that require an understanding of various parts of the film, and be open to debate: “What kind of person do you think the hero is?” or “Do you agree with the mother that people are always cruel to each other?” If the film is not one that lends itself to heavy themes, or it’s a non-fiction film, you can ask questions such as, “Have you ever been in that situation?” or “What do you think would happen if something was a bit different?” 1. Put students in pairs or small groups. 2. Play the video bit by bit. Have students watch and try to answer questions related to that section. For the Mr. Bean video, I’d divide it into the parts where he makes the sandwich, eats the sandwich, and perhaps making tea/the ending. So I’d give students a worksheet with three sets of questions to answer as they are watching. As for what would be good questions: I’d ask lots of questions about what he pulls out of his coat and why. Very concrete questions about what he does. Incidentally, this would be a good video for practicing vocabulary or verb tenses as students describe Mr. Bean’s actions. 3. Have them check their answers with another pair. At the end of each section, stop the video and give them a chance to check their answers with another pair or group. This lets them help each other recap what happened, too. If you hear confused students, hopefully you’ll also hear other students explaining what happened to them. 4. If the whole class is completely lost, replay that section. If 75% of the class, can’t figure it out, give them another chance or two, before stepping in to help. 5. Discuss the questions and any other questions students have to make sure they are following the video. Before going on to the next section, give students a chance to ask any burning questions or quickly underline any key points. You might say something as simple as, “So, we’ve seen Mr. Bean make a sandwich in a very odd way. And his neighbor, well, his neighbor is pretty surprised. He probably thinks this is pretty gross.” 6. Have students predict what will happen next. You may also want to give them any information they might need to interpret the next section. 7. For the next section of the video, repeat steps 2-6. 8. When the video is over, review the video as a whole. Discuss questions about the general theme or objective of the video. You might do a quick summarizing activity, such as having students write a short summary or each tell one thing that happened. I sometimes do paragraph frames with key words missing and have students fill in the missing words. Then move on to thematic questions. For Mr. Bean, questions about intercultural understanding often work well, as well as the theme of clowning. Clowns show us why we do things the way we do them, by showing what happens if you do them the wrong way. At the same time, clowns are very consistent in their own universe. You might ask students what is the normal way to make a sandwich? Why do you think Mr. Bean does it his way? Does Mr. Bean think we are strange? Can you think of different ways to do the same thing? You could discuss the performance. Why doesn’t Mr. Bean talk? How does the actor use his face to make us laugh? What is the role of the straight man? 9. Move on to talking about how the video relates to something personal. This is a good time to do a writing or task where students apply something from the video to their lives. Students could also create their own scenes, or talk about a time they saw a clown or comedy performance. I hope that framework works for you. I’d love to hear how it goes for your film-based lessons. Let me know in the comments. The Clue by Clue Mystery Bundle contains 7 of my Clue by Clue Mystery Activities. What is a Clue by Clue Mystery? It’s a great warm-up, filler, or time killer for early finishers. Students are given a mystery to solve–whodunit or how did they do it or why. They have to figure it out by reading a series of clues, one at a time. As they receive each clue, they speculate on its significance and what it tells them about the situation. Once they have received all the clues, they should have enough information to figure it out! Clue by Clues make great warm-up activities, fillers, or time killers for those last minutes of class and early finishers. They can be critical reading activities that teach students to read closely for details, synthesize information from different sources, apply prior knowledge about the world, and to recognize the logic of a claim and evaluate its validity. They are also a lot of fun! While students are solving the mysteries they are also developing their spoken language skills, such as: * Modal verbs of speculation: She must have forgotten her keys, It could have been the butler * Opinion language: I think…., I’m positive…, I’m not sure… * Hedging: It’s possible, probably, maybe, it’s not impossible. * Conclusions: That means that… * Emphasis: There’s no way that… * Hypotheticals: What if he didn’t do it; If he was at the movies, he couldn’t have done it. Teacher Notes are included with hints and the solution along with a students sheet that contains the clues for you to copy and cut-up. The activities included (with previews for each one) are: The Break-In This is a collection of riddles, puzzles, puns and jokes I’ve collected over the years. These are the world’s easiest, no-prep, ready-made class openers or do-nows. Pick a brain teaser or a funny headline, write it on the board, and get the students to solve the riddle or find the joke. Done. I even use them as class fillers or time-killers for that last 5 minutes of class. Or put one on the board during a quiz or test for early finishers. You could even copy a bunch onto a worksheet and make an early finisher “brainteaser test”. Besides the riddles, you’ll also find 42 funny headlines that I use in the same way. Each headline has a double-entendre it in. Students have to find the double meanings. These often get big laughs and draw attention to homophones and words with two meanings. Finally, I have 64 proverbs students can try to figure out the meaning of. In my ESL or EFL class, thinking about proverbs is a great way to teach idioms, as well as similes and metaphors. The preview includes just a handful of each category of do-now so you can get a taste of what this includes. With Christmas just around the corner, many of us are looking for ways to bring a festive spirit into our classrooms. Have you got any suggestions for class activities that can help us to animate the last days of term? Here are just a few quick and easy things you can do to bring the holidays into your classroom! Presents. Buy the students small gifts like a pencil for the final exam Bring in snacks like hot chocolate or Christmas cookies Write Christmas cards to your students. Include one highlight and one thing they can do better. Have students write Christmas cards to each other. Have students write New Year’s resolutions. Have students choose a local charity and collect money from the school for it–that could involve writing advertising flyers, going to other classrooms and giving persuasive speeches, or selling crafts. Have students write a holiday memory. Turn it into a narrative essay. Read to students. Every day for a week read them A Christmas Carol or some other Christmas book. Right now I have a genre-based creative writing lesson plan where students analyze a short scary story and then write one of their own. I also have a handout that introduces Halloween to students by asking them to decide which statements about Halloween are true and which are false. If you have any requests or queries, do let me know. This is one of my go-to activities for having students compare verb tenses. It’s really nice in that it allows for a lot of flexibility on which tenses you want to practice. You can limit it to the present and past simple or throw in the present perfect and continuous tenses. You could even work the future in. The activity involves students sharing details of their lives from the present and another time period. This requires them to pay attention to meanings of various verb tenses as they relate to times of events, changes or lack of changes, and how verb tenses relate to each other.

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History: Late Summer 480 BC The Battle at Thermopylae, chronicled in Herodotus's Histories, was an early chapter in King Xerxes' carefully planned campaign to fold Greece into the Persian Empire. The progress of his impossibly large army ground to a halt in central Greece as it was funneled through a narrow pass between cliffs and sea on the Malian Gulf between Locris and Thessaly and into the spear tips of the most highly trained soldiers the ancient world ever produced. the Spartan king Leonidas had led some 7000 troops to Thermopylae in an effort to prevent, or at the very least delay, the Persian invaders from spilling into the Greek heartland. There he positioned his men in what the locals referred to as the "Hot Gates," a corridor roughly two meters wide at its narrowest that would negate the Persian advantage of numbers. For several days, Xerxes' soldiers were fed into impenetrable Spartan phalanxes. Their losses were considerable. The Persian king himself noted "he had in his army many men, indeed, but few soldiers." On the third day, Xerxes caught a break when the Greeks were betrayed by Ephialtes, a local who revealed to the Persians a path that would allow them to outflank Leonidas and his men. Hearing of the treachery, Leonidas sent the bulk of the Greek army home to mobilize a stronger resistance. Those selected to remain behind included the famous 300 Spartan heavy infantry, plus 1100 Boeotians and at least 900 helots (Spartan state-owned slaves). Surrounded and facing certain death, the 300 fought ferociously to the last. When spears shattered they switched to swords. When swords broke they fought with bare hands and teeth. Xerxes' forces, fearing to close with even unarmed Spartans, stood off and delivered them to the afterlife on a tidal wave of arrow heads. Not long after Thermopylae, Xerxes met defeat against the Hellenic League, suffering a debilitating blow at the naval Battle of Salamis. The following year, Spartan-led Greek forces defeated the Persian army definitively at the Battle of Leonidas' suicidal standoff gave inspiration to the remaining Greek allies and remains a magnificent example of how a small, highly disciplined, and well-led body of men can resist a vastly larger enemy force. Thermopylae marked the origin of the "Spartan Mirage"—the myth of the invincible Spartan warrior whose choice in combat was a brutal one: win or die. Graphic Novel: May 1998 The graphic novel adaptation of the Battle of Thermopylae was published by Dark Horse Comics as a five-issue series of comic books: Honor (May 1998), Duty (June 1998), (July 1998), Combat (August 1998), Victory (May 1999), and was quickly collected into a single hardcover volume (August 1999). The series enjoyed instant critical and commercial success, due largely to the reputation and talent of iconoclastic writer/artist Frank Miller's career began essentially in 1979 in the pages of Marvel Comics' Daredevil, which writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett had launched in 1964. Miller started as penciler on the series but quickly established himself as an adept writer and was soon pulling double duty on the monthly book. He breathed new life into a tired character that had been on the brink of cancellation with stories that transcended the typical "superhero foils supervillain" formula. Daredevil evolved into an introspective, morally complex character. A highlight of Miller's thirty-three month run on the series was the introduction (and eventual death) of femme fatale, Elektra Natchious, a Greek assassin named after Agamemnon's vengeful Years later, without Miller's participation, Marvel Comics gave Elektra her own monthly comic book series. In 2005, 20th Century Fox produced the film Elektra (2005), a critical disaster that Miller cannot even bring himself to watch: "She's my daughter so I'll always love her, but she's been sleeping around all over town. I don't talk to her anymore." In 1986, after a long, successful run on Daredevil, Miller composed a work for DC Comics that completely revitalized the comic book industry, establishing comics as an artistically powerful and socially significant medium. Originally released as four individual books and later collected into a best-selling volume, The Dark Knight Returns ignited a renaissance in the superhero genre. Written and drawn by Miller, inked by Janson, and colored by Lynn Varley (who broke from conventional coloring techniques by actually painting the comic book's panels), The Dark Knight Returns supplanted the campy Adam West-style Batman with a completely retooled hero who spoke to a sophisticated, modern audience. A fifty-five-year-old Batman emerges from a ten-year, self-imposed retirement to put a crumbling and chaotic Gotham City back on the rails. The sixty-year foundation DC Comics had given the character was an important subtext of the narrative, though the key to the title's breakout success was Miller's filtering of that history through a dark lens. The book "deconstructed and criticized nearly fifty years of comics history, and stretched the boundaries of the genre … bringing new meaning to its stock formula." Miller's Batman was an "anti-hero," rejecting heroism in the classic sense. Several times during the narrative, the postmodern Dark Knight Detective denies himself the reward of martyrdom, choosing instead to instruct a younger generation and perpetuate his ideals. |#1 - The Dark |#2 -Hunt the |#3 - The Dark Knight |#4 - The Dark Comic books were never the same again. Frank Miller had brought grown-up, complex themes and controversial storylines to what had previously been breezy entertainments for kids (and adults who lived in their mother's basement). The Dark Knight Returns garnered massive media attention, which expanded its audience well beyond the subculture of comic book collectors. It has been a perennial bestseller and has never gone out of print. This retailored Batman so enthralled fans that the entire industry entered what came to be known as the "grim and gritty" period. Reinterpretations of many classic heroes swept across the pages of comic books with varying degrees of success. Miller followed up The Dark Knight with a series of solid works and began focusing on creator-owned properties that allowed him full creative and legal control over his own characters and stories. His greatest success in this arena is the hard-boiled black-and-white Sin City (1991– ). This brutally violent crime noir anthology features recurring characters that double-cross, bully, murder, and scheme their way through intertwining stories. Miller stocks these stories with short-lived heroes who rarely ride off into the sunset. The tough-talking protagonists often sacrifice themselves (usually for a "dame") at the expense of their reputations, their honorable intentions known only to themselves and |A Dame to Kill For #1 ||The Big Fat Kill #4 ||That Yellow Bastard #1 ||That Yellow Bastard Miller's next undertaking represents the first time Herodotus's account of Leonidas at Thermopylae was put in comic book form. His interest in the Spartan culture began with Rudolph Maté's 1962 film The 300 Spartans. "I was about perhaps six years old when it came out, and my parents took me and my brother to see it, and I was utterly astonished by the power of the story, the pure heroism involved. And that led to a lifelong fascination with ancient Greek history...." This was a formative experience for him, defining the theme of heroic sacrifice that motivates nearly all his protagonists, including Elektra, Ronin, Batman, Marv, Hartigan, Carl Seltz, among others. "It was an epiphany to realize that the hero wasn't necessarily the guy who won." Before undertaking the Thermopylae project percolating in the back of his mind since The Dark Knight Returns, Miller spent several weeks in Greece studying the terrain and steeping himself in the history. "I couldn't have understood it properly had I not seen the cliffs and that angry sea and actually sailed on it." 300 is an idiosyncratic interpretation of Herodotus's account. Miller hones the already spare original narrative down to its barest essentials. He eliminates much of the historical back-story, offering little character development and no subplots or extraneous elements that might distract from the singular theme of heroic sacrifice. The Spartans in 300 are amplified versions of their historical selves—pared down to capes, shields, and hair, evoking the "heroic nude" style of Greek vase painters and sculptors. "It was very important to streamline the appearance of characters to make them more dynamic and to lose the sense of this being an old story. It's not an old story; it's an Miller's execution of his vision breaches standard comic book formatting. Rather than confining the artwork within fixed panels on each page, Miller depicts individual scenes in full-page spreads. The dialogue is minimal, the story driven by the actions of simple figures drawn in bold, deliberate lines. Greatly enhancing the work is the expert painting of long-time collaborator (and wife) Lynn Varley, whose dramatic red and gold palette and watercolor washes give the artwork a rich texture and gritty atmosphere that intensify Miller's characteristic engrossing compositions and camera angles. "I didn't know how I could do it without her. I knew it had to be a color story. It wouldn't work without the atmosphere, and without those red capes. And I also couldn't imagine anyone else working on it, so I did the logical Printed on glossy, heavy-stock paper, the whole project takes on a coffee-table art book aesthetic. |300 - Honor ||300 - Duty ||300 - Glory ||300 - Combat ||300 - Victory The series was a massive success. Individual issues sold out quickly and the over-sized hardcover, which beautifully presents each two-page spread in the comic as a single undivided page, has been a bestseller, running through multiple printings. 300 won three Eisner Awards and two Harveys in 1999. Movie: March 2007 Although Frank Miller had had a positive experience translating Sin City into a successful movie, he bristled at the prospect of working within the Hollywood system to film what he considered the "crown jewel" of his career: "'300' means an awful lot to me, so to see it homogenized into something like 'Troy,' which manages to turn the Iliad inside out, would betray it." Despite hesitations, he was eventually won over by producer Gianni Nunnari and director Zack Snyder's enthusiasm for the project and dedication to preserving the visual integrity of the book. The movie was shot in sixty days inside a Montreal Studio on bare-bones sets in front of blue screens. After the live actors had been filmed, Computer Graphic (CG) artists spent months in post-production adding sweeping backdrops, dramatic weather effects, legions of soldiers, and oceans of spraying blood. This "digital backlot" technique makes for a challenging acting environment, but gives maximum control to the art director. This is the same technology weathermen have been using on television for decades, now realized with a technical polish that makes it impossible to discriminate a virtual wheat field from the real Despite the incredible scope of the film, the lack of elaborate sets, expensive shooting locales, and pricey A-list actors kept costs to a reasonable $65 million (for comparison, less than a third the production costs for Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 sword and sandals epic Troy). The movie earned back that investment in its first three days of release, with the entire theatrical run grossing nearly half a billion dollars world-wide. 300 was not the first major studio release shot entirely on blue screen. Paramount Pictures' Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) originated on a Macintosh IIci in director Kerry Conrad's living room. Sky Captain captured the tone of low-budget sci-fi serials of the 30s and 40s, Hollywood's "Golden Age." The stylized visuals lent themselves well to the blue-screen technique, allowing the filmmakers to hide limitations in the technology. Starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie, Sky Captain was filmed almost exclusively in a warehouse in Van Nuys. Promotion of the movie (mis)led audiences to expect a more traditional action-adventure film. Consequently, though it was a critical success, the film's theatrical run recouped barely half its production costs. Frank Miller's screen adaptation of Sin City (2005) was spearheaded by maverick director Robert Rodriguez, who persuaded Miller to oversee production and share a co-directing credit. Filmed at Rodriguez's ranch in Austin, Texas, Sin City was a slavishly faithful adaptation of the comic. Stark black-and-white visuals alleviated the technical difficulties of "digital backlot" film-making. Dialogue, locations, and even camera angles were pulled directly off the pages of the books. The result was an enormously successful film with a unique |Kerry Conrad (right) & ||Robert Rodriguez (left) ||Frank Miller, San 300 represents a marked improvement in the blue-screen film-making technique. The Greek countrysides are an idealized version of reality posing technical challenges beyond the stylized environs of Sin City and Sky Captain. Over a dozen special effects companies scrupulously refined the cinematography to create a vivid, sometimes dream-like reality. Each scene is beautifully framed for maximum balance and visual appeal. Lynn Varley's (prominently credited) artistry underlies the film's rich color palettes and moment-by-moment visual texture. Jeffery Silver, 300's producer, said "Zack [Snyder, the film's director] developed a recipe where you'd crush the black content of the image and enhance the color saturation to change the contrast ratio of the film …. Every image in this film went through a post-image processing. The crush is what gives this film its distinct look and feel." This nuanced, carefully calculated cinematography is in sharp juxtaposition with the brutal violence of the combat sequences. The rigorously choreographed fight scenes unravel in a variety of film speeds like an ethereal, blood-soaked ballet. There are moments when the action slows dramatically, allowing viewers just enough time to drink in the chaos before returning to normal speed. The combat strikes a high note of historical realism with the depiction of the Spartan phalanx. This hallmark of Hellenic heavy-infantry warfare involved locking shields in an impenetrable wall. The close-quarter ground-level perspective thrusts the audience right into the thick of the battle. 300 unfolds with the broad, exaggerated strokes of a Wagnerian opera. Those hoping for a straight recital of Herodotus's Thermopylae account will be disappointed. 300 is, like Sin City, an exceptionally faithful adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel and can fairly be judged only as such. The spirit of Leonidas's accomplishment is intact, but art wins out over Where history is concerned, the movie provides more than a striking rendition of phalanx warfare. The basic elements are preserved: messengers kicked down a well, marching 300 red-caped Spartans to fend off vast numbers of Persian invaders, Xerxes' "Immortals" and countless archers, the treacherous Ephialtes—but these are just an armature on which to hang a gory operatic retelling. The many departures from Herodotus's narrative do not keep the film from delivering the underlying meaning of the event. 300, like The Histories, demonstrates how Leonidas' heroic sacrifice achieved an inspirational moral victory. In Miller's words, "Heroic sacrifice is the essence of Still, inaccuracies and outright absurdities in the film are as commonplace as decapitations. The elevation of the Spartans into the rarified air of comic book superheroism pales beside the outrageously superfluous parade of Persian sideshow freaks. It doesn't take a classical scholar to surmise there were probably no ten-foot mutants with axe-hands in the ancient world. Ephialtes has been transformed from greedy miscreant into deformed abomination anxious to don a Spartan uniform but too disfigured to fight effectively. The physical stature of the man now matches his unseemly betrayal. And was that actually a lute-playing goat-man in Xerxes' tent of malformed debauchery? As repellent as these details are to the historian, they neatly forestall any assumption of historical veracity by viewers unacquainted with the ancient The film departs from the graphic novel's appealing, straightforward approach to the story by, in particular, completely fabricating the side story of Queen Gorgo (wonderfully played by the foxy Lena Headey), which unfortunately hinders the momentum of the action. Gorgo, looking for a troop surge to save her king, schemes with the diabolically over-the-top politician Theron (Dominic West). It's all a minor distraction from the heart of the epic tale, valuable only for its rare portrayal of a strong feminine The action of the film is recounted by one which somewhat mitigates the fantastic embellishments and gross inaccuracies. As Miller himself put it, "I always wanted this to be like a story told by a soldier over a campfire." * * * Response to 300 has been sharply divided along generational lines. The film was savaged in the establishment but Leonidas and his unwaveringly noble ideals found acclaim in publications, both print and online, catering to a younger crowd, including military personnel. However mixed the critical reaction, the film has enjoyed spectacular financial success. 300 shattered box office records for the month of March; its opening weekend take was the third highest for an R-rated movie, after Matrix: Reloaded and The Passion of the Christ. It clearly resonates among those who choose not to be encumbered by the baggage of history. It's a short jump to postulate how the timing of the release contributed to its exceptional success. 300's clear, concise military operation is a refreshing change of pace from the exhausting stream of disheartening reports emerging from the quagmire in Iraq. Watching a highly trained force engage in a straightforward military operation has an almost restorative effect. The thematic stakes are high. Leonidas and his men fight with unflinching heroic resolve, with the burden of defending freedom and democracy upon their well-muscled shoulders as they strike terror in the hearts of a culturally distinct enemy. The movie delivers an uncomplicated truth—a comforting escape in the midst of the gleeful wanton violence. The overt moral dichotomy between the Spartans and the Persians is as simple as good and evil, right and wrong. Both the film and the book idealize the Spartan way of life—the 300 have been purified of the complicated facts of history. Leonidas extols the virtues of freedom, but fails to mention Sparta's quarter million helots, who were regularly terrorized and murdered by their brutal masters. Spartans could afford to devote themselves from childhood to rigorous military training, since the helots handled their agricultural needs. Spartan warriors are depicted as charismatic Caucasians with chiseled By contrast, storming the shores of Greece are "the Others." Decadent, tyrannical, and often deformed, the Persians of 300 are easy to identify and play strongly to racial biases. Xerxes himself is sexually ambiguous and his Immortals inhuman creatures. Such historical distortions aside, the film provides fast-paced entertainment that speaks with a visual language rooted in comic books. The cinematography is simply beautiful. Every shot is thoughtfully composed. The combat is intense and wonderfully choreographed. The goal was to bring 300 the comic book to the screen, and on that front it succeeds wildly. As always with Hollywood, entertainment is the first imperative, historical fidelity a distant second. It is difficult, however, not to consider the abandoned historical narrative. 300 wouldn't require much editing to accommodate Herodotus: the excision of approximately ten minutes of flagrantly unhistorical material spread throughout the film, the toning down of Persian deviancies, and the insertion of some helots into Sparta's golden digital wheat fields. The result would have made Herodotus proud with no loss of appeal to modern audiences. We've been given an impressive, artistically exaggerated version of history, but I can't help wondering, wasn't history * * * "This is the best damn story I've ever gotten my hands on." —Frank Miller Histories, rev. ed., trans. A. de Sélincourt, ed. J.M. Marincola (NY: Penguin, 1996) 7.210. See, for a recent, very readable account of the campaign, Paul Cartledge, Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World (Woodstock & New York, NY: Overlook Pr, 2006), with Donald Lateiner's review at MWSR 2007.01.01 <link>. Foreshadowing the dangers of the mission, Leonidas had selected only men with living sons to carry on their family line (Herodotus 7.205). these, 700 were Thespians who stayed (and died) voluntarily, 400 were disloyal Thebans, who defected to the enemy as soon as the outcome was clear (Herodotus 7.222). axiom so ingrained in the culture, a Spartan mother handing a shield to her son departing for battle once said: "son, either with this or on this"—Plutarch, Moralia 241, in Richard J.A. Talbert, ed. & tr., Plutarch on Sparta (NY: Penguin, 1988) 161. created many other famous heroes, including Spiderman, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, et al. Klaus Janson handled the inking; the two men collaborated productively for years to come. The assembly of a comic book typically requires the efforts of a writer, an editor, a penciler, an inker, a colorist, and a letterer. As Miller's career progressed, he would assume nearly all these roles. Miller, in Daniel Robert Epstein, "Frank Miller, 300 Interview," UnderGroundOnline (n.d.) <link>. Anne Magnussen & Hans-Christian Christiansen, eds., Comics & Culture: Analytical and Theoretical Approaches to Comics (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, "Over 1 million copies in print"—Business Wire (5 Dec 2001) 1. Frank Miller, in Shawna Ervin-Gore, "Interview: Frank Miller," DarkHorse.com (n.d.) <link>. NY Times (26 Nov 2006) 2.9. Frank Miller in "300 Part One," fxguide (25 Feb 2007) <link>. Eisners for "Best Coloring," "Best Writer/Artist," "Best Limited Series"; Harveys for "Best Limited Series," "Best Colorist." These awards are the comic book equivalents of Oscars. Star Wars director George Lucas prophesied that with the advancements in special effects technology, it would not be long before the next Hollywood blockbuster was filmed by a couple kids in a garage. Miller had been soured on film-making in general after a bad experience developing the scripts for the second and third Robocop films. Even though it was a comic book property lacking high profile characters such as Spiderman or Superman, thanks to the film's considerable box-office receipts, Sin City became the greatest creator-owned success in the comic book industry. Conflated from the run-up to the battle of Marathon ten years earlier: see Herodotus 7.133. is worth noting the exceptional performance delivered by Gerard Butler, who inhabits a note-perfect Leonidas. He's a magnetic presence on the screen, exuding leadership and inspiration. Will Lawrence, "The High Priest of Heroism," Telegraph (9 Mar Before the final, fatal engagement in the pass, Dilios, who has sustained an eye injury, is given orders to return to Sparta and preserve the memory of Leonidas's accomplishment. This may be a tip of the hat to Herodotus, who recounts (at 7.229-231) the story of Aristodemus, who missed the battle because of a severe eye inflammation, much to his Scott, NY Times (9 Mar 2007): "the script for '300,' which [Zack Snyder] wrote with Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon, is weighed down by the lumbering portentousness of the original book, whose arresting images are themselves undermined by the kind of pomposity that frequently mistakes itself for genius.... '300' may find its cultural niche as an object of camp derision .... At present, though, its muscle-bound, grunting self-seriousness is more tiresome than entertaining" <link>. Stephen Hunter, Washington Post (25 Mar 2007): "There's no sinuous continuity in his film, which is mostly geared toward re-creating images from the comic book, as if that's [sic] David Denby, New Yorker (2 Apr 2007): "the movie is a porno-military curiosity—a muscle-magazine fantasy crossed with a video game and an Army recruiting film" <link>. Peter Travers, Rolling Stone (7 Mar 2007): "prepare your eyes for popping—hell, they just might fly out of their sockets—in the face of such turbocharged visuals" <link>. Todd Gilchrist, IGN Movies (12 Feb 2007): "Ultimately, this film combines an archetypal conflict, an ancient storytelling tradition reaching back as far as the Greeks themselves, and technique that makes it relevant to modern audiences. In other words, it's not clear whether great movie myths are born or bred, but 300 is unequivocally one of them" <link>. Chuck Vinch, Army Times (n.d.): " culminates in an ending that will raise the neck hairs and moisten the eyes of anyone who has ever felt that freedom and liberty are ideals worth defending—with the East vs. West theme sure to resonate strongly against the landscape of our own age. A sensory feast from start to finish, '300' is larger-than-life storytelling that qualifies as the first true CGI-enhanced epic" <link>. told everyone, "You guys have got to be in crazy shape, in superhero shape,"' … [director] Snyder said. To inspire the troops, he had T-shirts made that read, 'I died at Thermopylae'"—see note 11, above.

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British Romantic Literature Main Lesson In this main lesson, students are introduced to several major British Romantic poets: Burns, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Shelley. In addition to studying the biographies and major works of these poets, students learn about the ideals and themes of Romanticism, and the social and political upheavals that led artists and intellectuals to reject the values of the Age of Enlightenment. Students create an artistic anthology containing favorite poems by each author, and write poetry and essays on their interpretations of the styles and themes in the primary poetry. Medieval Literature, Parzival Main Lesson This main lesson focuses on Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval romance, Parzival, the story of the quest for the Holy Grail. The legend gives rise to many modern day parallels and metaphors which address questions juniors often ask. As an experiential component, the class travels to Pennsylvania for a week at the Kimberton Hills Camp Hill Village, a community for developmentally handicapped adults, founded on the social principles of Rudolf Steiner. English III: Full Year Class In this course, grammar studies are reviewed with an emphasis on refining writing skills. The literature relates to themes of individualism and self-transformation. Readings reflect the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; ideals of the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Romanticism are also studied. A year-long research project on an author of the student’s choice deepens their ability to analyze and discuss literary topics as well as develop skills in citation and critical reading. Advanced Literature Elective * This course offers students with a keen interest in literary topics a venue for discussion, research and creative writing. Much of the work involves a coordination between reading primary texts and literary criticism so students develop their own position vis-à-vis a particular work of literature. Such works as Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn are complemented with Wayne C. Booth’s The Company We Keep: an Ethics of Fiction. The autobiography might be pursued by reading excerpts from Benjamin Franklin, Vladimir Nabokov or Barak Obama; then writing one’s own life story. The concept of rhetoric might be deepened by discussing two pieces of classical philosophy, The Gorgias by Plato and Aristotle’s The Rhetoric. Narrative genre and technique might be examined in the short stories of James Joyce, The Dubliners, or his novel, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, both works revealing the literary idea of “epiphany” and the “limited point of view.” Creative Writing Elective * This course addresses the genres of poetry, playwriting, short story and journalism through a workshop format in which students read their work aloud and learn from one another. * Not all electives or courses are offered every year. Medieval/Renaissance History Main Lesson This main lesson chronicles the rise of Christianity and Islam as world religions, and the interaction between Christians and Muslims. It also examines Europe’s emergence as a distinct cultural area, and the continent’s increasing global predominance in the High Middle Ages and Early Modern period. Other topics covered may include the fall of Rome, Byzantium, feudalism and the Crusades. Social History Elective The Social History elective is a discussion based course where students practice sharing ideas, analyzing texts, taking notes, and writing papers. As course reading, students generally work their way through a series of complete social history monographs. Past topics have included the lives of slaves and free blacks; women and public virtue in the antebellum U.S.; the Western frontier; Native Americans; the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities; and gender in peasant society. Each unit concludes with a major writing assessment that challenges students to synthesize ideas from class and readings. 20th Century History Elective The 20th Century elective is a discussion based course, where students practice sharing ideas, analyzing texts, and writing papers. As course reading, students generally work their way through a series of complete monographs in 20th century history. Past topics have included Gandhi and Indian independence; communism in Eastern Europe; post-Mao and contemporary China; the Cuban Revolution; the industrialization of Japan; World War II; and war and peace in the Middle East. Each unit concludes with a major writing assessment that challenges students to synthesize ideas from class and readings. Mathematics and Allied Sciences Introduction to Calculus Main Lesson This main lesson provides a guided exploration of the exotic borderland where finite and infinite meet. One path is to investigate sequences and series, looking for patterns of convergence. Another is to distinguish structures or procedures with finite, countably infinite, and otherwise infinite elements or steps. A third way is to concentrate on the idea of one-to-one correspondence as the cornerstone or mathematical reasoning about transfinite things. Other essential concepts include counting number (cardinal), neighborhood, rate of change, bound, limit, and, ultimately, derivative. Students also encounter the binomial theorem, the number e, and the rudiments of proofs. Advanced Geometry Main Lesson This course introduces the mathematical concept of projection in conjunction with the basic trigonometry of the sphere. One direction emphasizes visual relations, as in perspective drawing techniques and solid geometry principles, while a second emphasizes analytic relations, as in invertible functions and trigonometric ratios. A natural union to these directions is the idea of a map, and the course gradually builds to a twofold exploration of this thought: via the Mercator Projection to get a picture of the entire Earth, and via the Law of Cosines to calculate the distance between any two points on the planet. Sequences and Series Main Lesson This main lesson provides an introduction to mathematical reasoning that requires the quantitatively infinite. Sequences, series, and patterns of convergence are the leading ideas, and their gradual development yields new formulas for calculation, new ways to evaluate boundaries, and even new numbers—viz. the all-important constant e. The concept of one-to-one correspondence receives special emphasis in proofs, perhaps most vividly in a comparison of the harmonic series with seemingly related forms. The course usually finishes with a derivation of Binet’s Theorem (yielding the Fibonacci numbers) via an inquiry into recursively defined structures that are equivalently sequences, series, and polynomials. Math III, Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry and Allied Sciences: Full Year Class The accelerated 11th grade course in math introduces essential language and techniques for handling elementary functions (polynomial, exponential, trigonometric), and gives special attention to new modes of representation (polar coordinates, complex plane, column vectors). Though abstract structures receive special emphasis, practical manifestations or departures include the calculation of continuously compounded interest, the estimation of a formula for sunrise times of a given locality, and the construction of electrical circuits as an exercise in logic. Undoubtedly, the program is intellectually demanding, but it is not a race to “cover” a set number of topics; instead, the recurring challenge to see one structure as another (e.g. regular polygons as the nth roots of 1) is also both an important manner of review and a first glimpse at the network of higher mathematics. The standard 11th grade math course works largely with graphing algebraic functions and associated concepts. The beginning of the year focuses on inequalities, circles, and parabolas and the second half of the year includes factoring and graphing polynomials, and analytic geometry as pertains to circles, parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas. In addition to this work,the entire eleventh grade comes together to complete blocks on graphing sine waves, using slides rules, and manipulating electric circuits. Botany Main Lesson The Botany main lesson is an in-depth look into the world of plants. Students compare plant and animal cells, and identify the characteristics that make plants unique, in particular photosynthesis. The class discusses plant anatomy by examining major taxonomic groups of plants with regard to the order in which they evolved and the structures they developed. Students grow plants, look at slides, observe plants in the park, and make observations during a field trip to the New York Botanical Gardens. History of Chemistry Main Lesson The junior History of Chemistry block recaps the development of chemistry from its roots in Greece to the time of John Dalton in the mid-19th century. Although chemistry, as such, did not exist in Greece, two approaches to the world were recognized: the work of the craftsmen who studied the manipulation of natural materials and the production of goods; and the philosophical approach of scholars who studied the world at large. Though the atomic theory of Democritus remained unpopular for two millennia, the philosophy of Aristotle took root and lead to Alchemy. For centuries, alchemists probed the chemical properties and reactions of substances, and developed much of what later evolved into modern chemistry. The History of Chemistry lab takes students back to traditional experiments. Extracting metals from their ores as it was done two thousand years ago leads to the exploration of mass ratios and the development of the Law of Fixed Ratios and the Law of Multiple Proportions. Students also explore the reactions of alchemy and its eventual yield to quantitative chemistry. Finally, with the advent of Lavoisier and the rise of the British Empire and the Royal Society, modern chemistry and rudimentary atomic theory began to take root. By re-doing and re-evaluating many earlier experiments, the class establishes the precepts through which chemistry has grown. By examining the phenomena themselves and thinking the thoughts of the giants who led science forward, we too determine some of the pathways of substance as it created our world. The Ecology elective is an opportunity for interested 10th and 11th graders to explore ecology on several levels. The course focuses on the ecology of New York City including ecosystems found in Central Park and the Hudson River. As the year progresses other topics explored include global warming, air and water pollution, and human ecology. Lab activities and Central Park are used as often as possible and much attention is given to current events with regard to ecological issues. Students complete independent research projects each term on a topic related to what is being discussed in class. In addition to research projects grades are based on tests, assignments, and class participation. Physics Main Lesson: Electricity and Magnetism In the eleventh grade, students are ready to take up the invisible and intangible phenomena of physics. Juniors cross the conceptual divide between the discrete, solid bodies we studied in tenth grade, to the continuous, immaterial field. Now they are challenged to form an exact understanding of an area of effect detectable only by its influence on other bodies. We consider electric and magnetic fields first separately and then united in the phenomena of electromagnetic radiation. French Level III This course focuses on a thorough review of the grammar from levels I and II and the study of advanced grammar and vocabulary. Reading materials include: Suivez la piste, a detective thriller based on a French language television course produced by BBC; the synopsis of the film, Papa, maman, la bonne et moi, and selected chapters from Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. These materials develop the students’ vocabulary, conversational and writing skills through numerous class discussions and written assignments. In the second semester, a substantial amount of class time is dedicated to the students’ preparation for the French language SAT II. French Level IV This course promotes a greater knowledge of French culture and language. It aims to further the development of students’ proficiency in speech, writing and comprehension. Students read, discuss, and analyze unabridged modern and classic French novels, French press, watch French films, and write essays based on the material. In addition to the above curriculum and depending on the students’ choice, this course can be used to prepare for the Advanced Placement French language test. German Level III German III focuses on reading original texts by German authors, such as J.W. Goethe, Franz Kafka, Ilse Aichinger and Gabriele Wohmann. The majority of the coursework consists of reading, and developing conversational skills. There is usually an oral presentation of an artist and his work. This class deepens the understanding of grammar by learning advanced topics, such as the passive voice and subjunctive. Students write summaries and submit compositions about themes evolving around the texts that are read. The class also prepares for SAT II tests, depending on student’s needs. This class also watches and discusses a German movie. German Level IV German IV is geared towards the needs of students to review and deepen grammar. Reading texts include newspaper articles, short stories and novels that are reviewed and discussed orally and in writing; the students also present a basis for essays. The course strives to reach greater fluency in conversation and discussion, and focuses on student’s everyday life, personal interests, and a deepening of his understanding of German culture. Spanish Level III The class works with the book and workbooks, activities, grammar and vocabulary, culture and literature in Expresate! Spanish Level III. The goal of this course is to improve technical skills in grammar, thereby increasing fluency in reading, writing, and oral communication. The class reviews grammar covered in Level I and Level II. Systematic acquisition of vocabulary and improvement of listening skills are stressed. Selected cultural and literary texts are examined. Students write summaries and submit their interpretation of certain themes in these stories. Students also work with Spanish idioms and take practice SAT II tests to prepare for the exam. At least one film is shown and one play is seen. Spanish Level IV This is an advanced course in Spanish composition and conversation. The course focuses on extensive reading, the enrichment of vocabulary and idioms, and the further development of conversational skills. Students are expected to recognize and discuss the literary merits of highlighted authors and their contributions and influence on Spanish culture. A great deal of emphasis is placed on sentence structure, especially the most difficult points of grammar and usage. Students study the work of Spanish painters and watch various films related to their work and life. Oral presentations are assigned, and at least one play will be seen during the year. Watercolor and Mixed Media Painting This course in Watercolor and Mixed Media seeks to develop each individual’s skill with the medium of watercolor, both in terms of color and composition. Students learn to mix paint with the intention of achieving subtle nuances of tone as well as vivid contrasts. Pastel and/or pencil are also available to students who wish to incorporate them into their long-term projects, thus creating a mixed media painting. Students explore form and volume through diversified subject matter. In Bookbinding, students learn to use materials and tools to make paste paper, and they create a book using these papers for the cover. They fold drawing paper to create four signatures, each consisting of twenty pages, giving their books a total of eighty blank pages. These are sewn to the spine, and the front and back covers are held together with binding tape. This is one of many ways to create a book. Each book is unique; some are made with care and precision, others with great artistic decoration, and a few combine both qualities. The process of bookbinding requires attention to detail and awareness and care of materials, especially keeping paper flat and using glue with precision. Each student’s goal is to create a beautiful and well-crafted book. This course is designed to give students the opportunity to do one major project in wood or stone. They are given a wide range of choices with respect to material, shape and size, and then challenged to imagine the sleeping forms inherent in the piece of material. The students try to realize their own mental pictures by cutting away and shaping their work. Students in this course use chisels, various rasps, and sandpaper, and develop their skills of gouging. Besides realizing their ideas in a three dimensional form, the students in this class also work to reveal the beauty of the material they have chosen. Shakespearian Drama Main Lesson The Shakespearian Drama block provides the opportunity for the 11th Grade to experience the genius of William Shakespeare. The students delve deeply into the texts of his tragedies, not only through reading and discussion, but by preparing scenes and monologues as well. Students are encouraged to find meaning and connection to the characters they portray as they discover qualities about themselves as individuals. An evening performance for family and friends is traditionally connected with this performance art block. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth are among the plays explored by the students in this block. Eurythmy is a series of expressive movement exercises unique to Waldorf education. In Eurythmy classes, students learn how to bring music and poetry into physical expression, thereby gaining a better understanding of these arts. Eurythmy also teaches dexterity, grace, poise, balance, and concentration. History Through Music Main Lesson Beginning in ancient Greece and moving through to the present day, this course explores the development of music through the cultural and historical settings in which it was created. Students listen to a variety of masterworks, discuss and analyze the elements within a given piece in terms of melody, such as Tuvan throat chanting, aboriginal ritual dances, and Japanese Zen monk mantras. Participation in Chorus for one and a half periods per week is required. Students sing a wide range of music and experience a variety of genres. Self-expression becomes a window into communal music-making and into other cultures. The process of preparing music is as important as the final result; students are graded on their participation in the Thanksgiving, Holiday and Spring Assemblies, and graduation. Guitar and Fretted Instruments Elective The goals of this class include playing in time together, sight reading and playing by ear, building up left- and right-hand technique, and caring for the instrument. An even more important aim is to encourage both a regular habit of practice and a willingness to explore music one might not initially prefer. Though fretted instruments are the focus, other string instruments are welcome in the mix. Although the ensemble is principally instrumental, singing with accompaniment happens nearly every week. Jazz Band Elective The Jazz Band plays music from standard jazz charts as well as big band and swing arrangements. Students are taught basic jazz theory and improvisational skills and are encouraged to perform solos at each concert. The Jazz Band is frequently featured at school benefit functions, and also performs at assemblies, the annual Spring Concert, and graduation. The Jazz Band meets weekly. The orchestra plays music from the standard symphonic repertoire. Works from the Baroque through our own era are featured at school assemblies, concerts and various community functions. Music performed in recent years includes Bizet’s Carmen Suite, excerpts from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, and Copland’s Hoedown from his ballet Rodeo. The orchestra meets weekly. West African Drumming Ensemble, Caribbean Drumming, Brazilian Drumming These ensembles provide students without prior training an entry point for community music-making. Percussion is taught through imitation, similar to the way young people are taught in an indigenous setting. Students are also exposed to the cultural and ethnic context of the music, and learn the reasons for and meaning of the music. Classes meet weekly and ensembles perform at concerts and assemblies. Recorder Ensemble Elective This beginning ensemble provides students with little or no musical training an entry point for group music making. Students learn the fundamentals of pitch, rhythm and notation and learn to play in a group. Although students begin on the soprano recorder, they are also encouraged to pick up alto and tenor recorders to learn the various qualities and challenges of each instrument. The advanced ensemble is for students with prior recorder training who wish to advance their skills.

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“…for he has no right to give names to objects which he cannot define.” –Charles Darwin Do “races” exist as meaningful biological categories? Physical anthropologists and human biologists have been studying race (i.e., blacks vs. whites, or Europeans vs. Asians) for centuries. For most of that time, they subscribed to the perspective that race was a taxonomic category, and they sought to identify the biological characteristics (such as cranial shape or skin color) that characterized and defined these different groups. This perspective assumed that each individual was a member of a single racial category, that the differences between racial categories were biological, and that these categories were predictive of other traits (such as ancestry, temperament, intelligence, or health). But it gradually became clear that this understanding was not scientifically sound. Groupings of people by skin color did not produce the same result as groupings of people by skull shape, nor of blood type. Furthermore, as scientists began to study human variation with the tools of genetics (in the process creating my fields, anthropological genetics and human population genetics), it became apparent that human genetic variation does not divide humans into a few discrete groups. There are virtually no sharp boundaries, either with physical features or with patterns of genetic diversity, that show where one population “ends” and the next “begins”. These observations have led the majority of physical anthropologists, human biologists, and human geneticists in recent decades to conclude that the racial groups we recognize are social categories constructed in a specific cultural and historical setting, even if we consider physical features when categorizing people. These social categories can have biological consequences (for example, someone who experiences the stress of racism may be more likely to develop high blood pressure and hypertension than someone who does not). Racial groupings differ from culture to culture. For example, although in the United States Chinese and Japanese peoples are usually viewed as one “race” (Asian), they are seen as members of different racial groups in South Africa. Racial groupings also vary over time within a single culture, as can be seen below in the United States census classifications of race over several decades. However, according to former New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade, we should never have stopped thinking of race as a biological taxonomic category. In his new book, “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History”, Wade takes it upon himself to educate scientists about the errors of our interpretations of human genetic diversity. Wade claims that the latest genomic findings actually support dividing humans into discrete races, and that the genetic makeup of different races contributes to behavioral and economic disparities. In a spectacular failure of logic, he asserts that those who disagree that races are meaningful biological categories in humans must ALSO think that human populations do not differ genetically, or have not been affected by evolution. There is a lot to criticize in this book, particularly Wade’s imaginative storytelling in chapters 6-10 (“a much more speculative arena,” as he puts it). He explains that English populations have a “willingness to save and delay gratification”, which “seems considerably weaker in tribal societies” (pp. 184-185), and these differences must be genetically based, despite his admission that “the genetic underpinnings of human social behavior are for the most part still unknown” (p. 15), and numerous critiques of this hypothesis. In chapter 8, he asserts that Jews are adapted for capitalism in a manner analogous to the Eskimo’s adaptation to survival in an Arctic environment (p. 214) — an assertion unsupported by scientific evidence, to put it mildly. (Wade seems to be unaware of the consequences of laws prohibiting Jews from owning land and farming over much of Europe for centuries – and instead speculates that “their genes were adapted for success in capitalism”). But others have already critiqued these aspects of his book. I’m far more interested in the central premise of Wade’s argument, which is passing unchallenged by all but a few reviews: “At least at the level of continental populations, races can be distinguished genetically, and this is sufficient to establish that they exist” (p. 122). If Wade is right and races are distinct biological categories, then we would reasonably expect that they would be unambiguously different from each other genetically and physically (as well as behaviorally, according to Wade). One should be able to define each race with a set of objective criteria, which could be used by any person to independently reach the same classifications (and number of classifications) as Wade. Furthermore, these categories should have predictive power; that is, features that define race should be in concordance with new discoveries of genetic diversity. What is race? To begin with, Wade can’t provide a clear definition of “race.” He tries to rely instead on loose associations rather than definitive characteristics, which forces him to conclude both that physical traits define race but that the traits can vary from person to person: “races are identified by clusters of traits, and to belong to a certain race, it’s not necessary to possess all of the identifying traits” (p. 121). With such a shifty, casual footing, it’s no surprise that Wade’s conclusions are unsound. He can’t keep the number of races straight: Wade can’t settle on a definite number of races because he can’t come up with a consistent, rigorous definition of what “race” means. He uses terms like “major race”, “race”, “subrace”, “group”, or “population,” but doesn’t provide any serious, objective ways to distinguish between these terms for arbitrary groupings of people arbitrary groups. Rather than just announcing his subjective opinions about race, Wade wants to ground them in science. He tries to use genetics: “Such an arrangement, of portioning human variation into five continental races, is to some extent arbitrary. But it makes practical sense. The three major races are easy to recognize. The five-way division matches the known events of human population history. And, most significant of all, the division by continent is supported by genetics.” (p. 94) To support his claim, Wade relies heavily on a 2002 paper (by Rosenberg et al.) that used a program called structure to group people based on similarities in markers distributed across the genome. He notes that the program identified five major clusters in this 2002 study, which corresponded to the major geographic regions (Africa, Eurasia, East Asia, Oceania, and America) of the world. Therefore, Wade argues, these results clearly show that humans are divided up into racial categories that match continents. Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, who recently reviewed Wade’s book in the Wall Street Journal, agrees: A computer given a random sampling of bits of DNA that are known to vary among humans—from among the millions of them—will cluster them into groups that correspond to the self-identified race or ethnicity of the subjects. This is not because the software assigns the computer that objective but because those are the clusters that provide the best statistical fit. But Wade and Murray are both wrong. Structure didn’t simply identify five clusters. It also identified two, three, four, six, and seven clusters. (Rosenberg et al. 2002 actually identified up to 20 divisions, but 1-7 are the primary ones they discussed. They also divided their worldwide sample up into regions, and then ran structure within those regions, to look at more fine-scale population structure.) Why? Researchers using structure have to define the number (K) of clusters in advance, because that’s what the program requires. The program was designed to partition individuals into whatever pre-specified number of clusters the researcher requests, regardless of whether that number of divisions really exists in nature. In other words, if the researcher tells structure to divide the sampled individuals into 4 clusters, structure will identify 4 groups no matter what–even if there is really only 1 group, or even if there are really 14 groups. So, when Rosenberg et al. (2002) told structure to use K=6? They got six clusters, with the sixth corresponding to a northwestern Pakistani group, the Kalash. Does this make the Kalash a separate race? Wade doesn’t think so. When they told structure to use K=3? They got three clusters back, corresponding to Africa, Europe/Middle East/South Asia, and East Asia/Oceania/Americas. So are Native Americans and Australians not separate races? Rosenberg et al. never published any statistical evidence that justifies picking 5 races instead of 7, or 4, or 2 (although such methods do exist–see Bolnick et al. 2008). Wade seems to like K=5 simply because it matches his pre-conceived notions of what race should be: “It might be reasonable to elevate the Indian and Middle Eastern groups to the level of major races, making seven in all. But then many more subpopulations could be declared races, so to keep things simple, the five-race, continent-based scheme seems the most practical for most purposes.” (p. 100) Practical. Simple. Wade wants us to cut up human diversity into five races not because that’s what the statistical analyses show, but because thinking about it as a gradient is hard. Wade isn’t even using the tools of genetics competently. The authors of the paper he relied on, as well as subsequent studies, showed that different runs of the program with the same data can even produce different results (Bolnick, 2008). Structure’s results are extremely sensitive to many different factors, including models, the type and number of genetic variants studied, and the number of populations included in the analysis (Rosenberg et al. 2005). When Rosenberg et al. (2005) expanded the 2002 dataset to include more genetic markers for the same population samples, they identified a somewhat different set of genetic clusters when K=6 (Native Americans were divided into two clusters and the Kalash of Central/South Asia did not form a separate cluster). In fact, Rosenberg et al. (2005) explicitly said: “Our evidence for clustering should not be taken as evidence of our support of any particular concept of ‘biological race.’” Finally, the creators of structure themselves caution that it will produce rather arbitrary clusters when sampled populations have been influenced by gene flow that is restricted by geographic distance (i.e. where more mating occurs between members of nearby populations than between populations that are located farther apart, a pattern we geneticists refer to as isolation by distance). As this pattern applies to the majority of human populations, it makes the results of structure problematic and difficult to interpret in many cases. These limitations are acknowledged by anthropological geneticists and population biologists, who interpret the results of structure cautiously. It’s very telling that Wade, a science reporter, chose to ignore the interpretations of the experts in favor of his own. Human biological variation is real and important. I’ve studied it my entire professional career. We can see this variation most easily in physical traits and allele frequency differences between populations at extreme ends of a geographic continuum. Nobody is denying that. Let me repeat this: no one is denying that humans vary physically and genetically. All anthropologists and geneticists recognize that human differences exist. But Wade, and others who agree with him, have decided that certain patterns of variation—those which happen to support their predefined notions of what “races” must be—are more important than others. Wade’s perspective fits with a larger pattern seen throughout history and around the world. Folk notions of what constitutes a race and how many races exist are extremely variable and culturally specific. For example, the Bible claims that all peoples of the world are descended from Noah’s three sons, mirroring the popular concept of three racial divisions (Caucasians, Africans, and Asians). On the other hand, the five-part division of races seems most “logical” to Wade. Anticipating confusion on this point he claims: “Those who assert that human races don’t exist like to point to the many, mutually inconsistent classification schemes that have recognized anywhere from 3 to 60 races. But the lack of agreement doesn’t mean that races don’t exist, only that it is a matter of judgment as to how to define them” (p. 92). A matter of judgment. So, rather than being defined by empirical criteria, as Wade had asserted so confidently earlier in the book, it really is just a subjective judgment call. The differences between groups are so subtle and gradual that no objective lines can be drawn, so Wade draws his own on the basis of his own preconceptions. How subtle is the gradient that Wade is chopping up? Humans are incredibly similar genetically. We only differ by about 0.1% of our genome. Compare that to chimpanzees, our closest relative. Individual chimps from the same population show more genetic differences than humans from different continents. The genetic differences that exist in human populations are important, because they help us understand our evolutionary history. The most genetic diversity is found in populations in Africa, where our species originated. Subsequent migrations across the continents resulted in sampling a subset of the genetic diversity present in the ancestral populations; thousands of years of localized evolution and cultural practices have produced region-specific adaptations, such as the ability to thrive at high altitudes. These adaptations have influenced particular genes and traits, but the overall pattern of genetic variation is clinal, meaning that for the most part it varies gradually with geographic distance. Groups that live close together are more closely related to each other (and more genetically similar) than they are to groups farther away. (People marry and have children more frequently with people who live close to them than they do with people who live farther away). Other evolutionary forces (founder effects, selection, drift, and migration) have all contributed to patterns of genetic diversity that we see in populations today. But these patterns of human diversity don’t give us a scientifically viable definition of race as a taxonomic unit. As Agustin Fuentes puts it, with emphasis added: “when you compare people from Nigeria, Western Europe and Beijing you do get some patterned differences…but these specific groups do not reflect the entire continental areas of Africa, Europe, and Asia (the proposed “continental races” of African, Caucasian and Asian). There are no genetic patterns that link all populations in just Africa, just Asia or just Europe to one another to the exclusion of other populations in other places. If you compare geographically separated populations within the “continental” areas you get the same kind of variation as you would between them. Comparing Nigerians to Western Europeans to people from Beijing gives us the same kind of differences in variation patterns as does comparing people from Siberia, Tibet and Java, or from Finland, Wales and Yemen, or even Somalia, Liberia and South Africa— and none of these comparisons demonstrates “races.” In fact if you use the common level of genetic differentiation between populations used by zoologists to classify biological races (which they called subspecies) in other mammals, all humans consistently show up as just one biological race.” (Also see Templeton AR, 2013. Biological races in humans. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.04.010) Wade even seems to agree with population geneticists that there aren’t any races, just clinal distributions of genetic diversity: “Because there is no clear dividing line, there are no distinct races—that is the nature of variation within a species.” (p 92). In other words, he can’t define distinct races. He just knows them when he sees them I’ve focused a lot of this review on numerous technical details because I think that it’s very important that non-geneticists understand the degree to which Wade is distorting the results of recent research on genome-wide human variation. I won’t speculate whether this distortion is deliberate or a result of simple ignorance about genetics, but it is serious. There is a great deal more in this book that also needs to be critiqued, such as Wade’s assertion that the genetic differences between human groups determine behavioral differences, resurrecting the specter of “national character” and “racial temperaments”. But as I’ve shown here, Wade’s book is all pseudoscientific rubbish because he can’t justify his first and primary point: his claim that the human racial groups we recognize today culturally are scientifically meaningful, discrete biological divisions of humans. This claim provides a direct basis for the whole second half of the book where he makes those “speculative” arguments about national character. In other words, the entire book is a house of cards. It’s also worth noting the extent to which Wade’s argument here is a variation on the Galileo fallacy: the fact that one bravely holds a minority view in science is considered to be sufficient evidence of the worth of one’s position. I’ve seen it used over and over again in responses to my criticisms of pseudoscience, and it’s no more persuasive for Wade than it is for creationists or homeopaths. “If scientists were to make the arbitrary decision that biological race is real, can you think of a positive outcome?” –a nice piece by Holly Dunsworth: http://ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2014/05/if-scientists-were-to-make-arbitrary.html Agustin Fuentes’ online debate with Wade: (https://aaanetevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/recording/recordAction.do?theAction=poprecord&AT=pb&internalRecordTicket=00000001fcaac3649dadd2c6e78a2511ed436c75acea0fcceaf7ff0731dc4216dec6996b&isurlact=true&renewticket=0&recordID=8614987&apiname=lsr.php&needFilter=false&format=short&&SP=EC&rID=8614987&RCID=e801bfd96855006077205e3d2e023699&siteurl=aaanetevents&actappname=ec0606l&actname=%2Feventcenter%2Fframe%2Fg.do&rnd=4944230866&entactname=%2FnbrRecordingURL.do&entappname=url0108l) “The troublesome ignorance of Nicholas Wade”, also by Agustin Fuentes: “On the origin of white power” by Eric Michael Johnson: A critique of Structure: Bolnick DA. Individual ancestry inference and the reification of race as a biological phenomenon. In: Koenig BA, Lee SS-J, Richardson SS, editors. Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 2008. pp. 77–85. Jon Marks: “The genes made us do it: The new pseudoscience of race.” Barbujani and Colonna, 2010. Human genome diversity: frequently asked questions. Many thanks to Deborah Bolnick, Colin McRoberts, Jay Kaufman, Jonathan Kahn, Troy Duster, and Rick Smith. Please review my Site Policies before commenting. Disagreement with me is fine; bigotry is not.

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European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) Rabbit is the common name for small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, characterized by long ears and legs, large hind feet, a short and bushy tail, and young born without fur and with closed eyes. All other members of Leporidae are placed in the Lepus genus and are known as hares, characterized by longer ears, generally larger size and faster running speed, and young born with fur and with open eyes (Angerbjörn 2004). The term, "rabbit" sometimes is used as a collective term for all members of the Leporidae family, including the hares, and sometimes for all members of the Lagomorpha order, a group that also includes the pikas, which are placed in family Ochotonidae. Some true hares (genus Lepus) also have the name rabbit (jackrabbits). This article will encompass all members of Leporidae family placed in genera other than Lepus. Rabbits are an important component of their native ecosystems in which their high reproductive rate makes them integral to terrestrial food chains, as they consume plant matter and provide food for such animals as foxes, raptors, cats, ferrets, and raccoons. Where humans have introduced rabbits into ecosystems like those of Australia in which there are few controlling predators, however, rabbits have proliferated excessively and caused environmental problems, including habitat degradation, loss of unique native flora and fauna, and agricultural damage. Humans in many parts of the world have used rabbits as a source of food and fur, hunted them for sport, used them in laboratory research, and raised them as pets. Rabbits add to the human enjoyment of nature and are a feature in culture, whether in books and paintings, or as symbols, such as for fertility or rebirth. Rabbits, hares, and pikas comprise the order Lagomorpha, which is divided into two families: Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and Ochotonidae (pikas). Originally classified as rodents (order Rodentia), the lagomorphs are separated based on having a second, small, peg-like upper incisor sitting behind the first, large, continually growing incisor, whereas rodents possess only a single, upper incisor (Smith 2004). Also, lagomorphs have a single layer of enamel in the front incisors versus the double layer in rodents (Smith 2004). Lagomorphs have relatively large to huge ears, short tails (not visible in pikas), and cannot grasp food with their paws (Smith 2004). Lagomorphs have a very large digestive system, apparently adapted to digesting large amounts of plant material whose nutrient content is difficult to extract (Smith 2004). The caecum tends to be giant—up to ten times larger than the stomach—and it has a rich fauna of bacteria and other microorganisms that help to break down the plant matter (Smith 2004). Lagomorphs also practice coprophagy, whereby they eat their feces to undergo re-digestion, which helps yield up to five times as many vitamins as in the original food (Smith 2004). The Leporidae family comprises 11 extant genera and 61 species of hares and rabbits (Angerbjörn 2004) with one genus, Lepus, comprising all the true hares, while rabbits are classified into the other 10 genera. Leporids tend to have brown or gray as the base of the soft fur, although some forms turn white for winter, and two species are striped (Angerbjörn 2004). There also is the black Amami rabbit, Pentalagus furnessi, of Japan. Leporids all have long legs, long ears, and large hind feet, as well as a short and bushy tail. Each foot has five digits (one reduced); rabbits and hares move about on the tips of the digits in a fashion known as digitigrade locomotion. Full-bodied and egg-shaped, wild rabbits are rather uniform in body proportions and stance. Rabbits tend to range in size from 25 to 50 centimeters (cm) in length (10 to 20 inches), and weigh from 400 to 3,000 grams (14 ounces to 6.6 pounds) (Angerbjörn 2004). Hares tend to be larger in size, ranging up to 6,000 grams (13.2 pounds) and 75 centimeters (30 inches) (Angerbjörn 2004). Hares tend to have longer legs and ears (often with black markings on the fur of their ears) and tend to be faster. The smallest rabbit is the pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis, at only 20 cm in length and 0.4 kg (0.9 pound) in weight. Rabbits are clearly distinguished from hares in that rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless. In contrast, hares are generally born with hair and are able to see (precocial). Rabbits are often known affectionately by the pet name "bunny" or "bunny rabbit," especially when referring to young, domesticated rabbits. Originally, the word for an adult rabbit was "coney" or "cony," while "rabbit" referred to the young animals. More recently, the term "kit" or "kitten" has been used to refer to a young rabbit. A group of young rabbits is referred to as a "kindle." Young hares are called "leverets," and this term is sometimes informally applied to any young rabbit. Male adult rabbits are called "bucks" and female adult rabbits are known as "does." A group of rabbits or hares is often called a "fluffle" in parts of Northern Canada. A group of rabbits is called a "herd." Rabbits are ground dwellers that live in environments ranging from desert to tropical forest and wetland. Most rabbits are found in forest and shrubs and live underground in burrows or warrens (interconnected maze of burrows); hares are more common to open areas and live in simple nests above the ground. Some rabbits do not build burrows, but live in dense cover or hollows underground. The eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus, nests in holes, where the young are raised (Angerbjörn 2004). Rabbits are found in most areas of the world. The natural geographic range of rabbits encompasses the middle latitudes of the Western Hemisphere, and in the Eastern Hemisphere, rabbits are found in Europe, portions of Central and Southern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Sumatra, and Japan. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has been introduced to many locations around the world, and all breeds of domestic rabbit originate from the European. Most rabbits live solitary lives and are non-territorial, although the European rabbit is "extremely social," living in a warren (a maze of burrows connected together) with 6 to 12 adults and controlled by a dominant male at the top of a linear dominance hierarchy (Smith 2004). Rabbits tend to stay in the vicinity of safe hiding places in home ranges or territories and to escape predation by running into burrows and holes (Angerbjörn 2004). Hares, on the other hand, may travel considerable distances and have large home ranges, and tend to escape predators by running away (Angerbjörn 2004). Many species of rabbits and hares have distress calls or thump their hind feet to warm of predators (Angerbjörn 2004). The large, laterally set eyes of rabbits provide a nearly circular field of vision, which allows them to detect motion and avoid predators (Smith 2004). Rabbits have a keen ability to detect odors and communicate largely through the sense of smell (Smith 2004). Utilizing glands on their cheeks, groin, or chin, they rub pheromones on their fur during grooming and deposit scent marks on rocks or shrubs, or use urine or feces to leave scent markings (Smith 2004). Such odors advertise their reproductive status or mark territories (Smith 2004). Their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem by coprophagia—ingesting their own droppings (feces), as is common with all lagomorphs. Rabbits are hindgut digesters. This means that most of their digestion takes place in their large intestine and caecum. A soft feces is excreted from the caecum and reingested and then digested in the stomach and small intestine (Smith 2004). They also produce hard round dry pellets, separated in the digestive system by a mechanical separation, and generally consisting of poorer quality particles; these hard pellets are passed quickly (Smith 2004). While literature often states that hard pellets are not eaten, research has shown that lagomorphs also regularly eat hard feces (Smith 2004). Basically, leporids tend to feed on fresh food during the evening and night and excrete the hard and soft feces during the day and reingest them (Smith 2004). Males and females are promiscuous, not forming lasting pair-bonds, but rather mating with different individuals. Females of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)—and presumably other rabbits—are reflex (or induced) ovulators that require the act of copulation to stimulate ovulation, which occurs about 12 hours after mating (Smith 2004). Most rabbits produce many offspring each year, although scarcity of resources may cause this potential to be suppressed. A combination of factors allows the high rates of reproduction commonly associated with rabbits. Rabbits generally are able to breed at a young age, and many regularly conceive litters of up to seven young, often doing so four or five times a year due to the fact that a rabbit's gestation period is only about 30 days (Smith 2004). They may mate again soon after giving birth. (Some hares actually mate and are impregnated again prior to giving birth.) As an example, the eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus, normally has three to five litters per year, but can have up to seven, and the mean litter size is typically two to six individuals, with fifty percent of the juveniles breeding their first year (Angerbjörn 2004). Newborn rabbits are naked, blind, and helpless at birth (altricial). While the European rabbit is social, for most other rabbits the young do not receive much parental care (Smith 2004). While mothers typically make a nest, sometimes lined with fur from their own belly and plant material, they may nurse their young only one time a day, for a few minutes, although the milk is highly nutritious (Smith 2004). This rare attention to the young may be an adaptation to reduce the likelihood of predators finding the juveniles (Angerbjörn 2004). Angerbjörn (2004) reports that there are 29 extant species of rabbits in 10 genera: Oryctolagus (1 species, the European rabbit), Sylvilagus (17 species, cottantails), Brachylagus (1 species, pygmy rabbit), Bunolagus (1 species, riverine rabbit), Pentalagus (1 species, Amami rabbit), Pronolagus (3 species, red rock-hares), Caprolagus (1 species, hispid hare), Poelagus (1 species, Bunyoro rabbit), Nesolagas (2 species, striped rabbits), and Romerolagus (1 species, volcano rabbit). The following is one taxonomy, with a partial listing of the Sylvilagus species: Rabbit breeds are notably different varieties of domestic rabbit created through selective breeding or natural selection both as pets and as a meat source. Breeds recognized by organizations such as the American Rabbit Breeders' Association (ARBA) may be exhibited and judged in rabbit shows. Breeders attempt to emulate the breed standard by which each breed is judged. The ARBA lists more than 40 different rabbit breeds. They range in size from the 3 pound Dwarf Hotot to the giant German Grey rabbit, which has attained a record weight of 23 pounds and has been imported into North Korea as a new food animal. Colors range from white to brown, grey, and black, with a variety of spotting patterns. The "lop" varieties are notable for their long floppy ears. Rabbits are an important component of many ecosystems. They also provide humans with economic, nutritional, and recreational benefits and as well play a part in the aesthetic dimensions of diverse cultures. Rabbits are integral to food chains, as they consume vegetative materials and in turn are eaten by predators, including foxes, raptors (such as eagles), lynxes and other cats, ferrets, and raccoons. Rabbits are a favorite food item of large pythons, such as Burmese pythons and reticulated pythons, both in the wild, as well as pet pythons. Rabbits are a meat source for humans in Europe, South America, North America, some parts of the Middle East, and China, among other places. Rabbit is still commonly sold in United Kingdom markets, although not frequently in supermarkets. At farmers markets and the famous Borough Market in London, rabbits will be displayed dead and hanging unbutchered in the traditional style next to braces of pheasant and other small game. Rabbit meat was once commonly sold in Sydney, Australia, but quickly became unpopular after the disease myxomatosis was introduced in an attempt to wipe out the feral rabbit population. When used for food, rabbits are both hunted and bred for meat. Snares or guns, along with dogs, are usually employed when catching wild rabbits for food. In many regions, rabbits are also bred for meat, a practice called cuniculture. Rabbits can then be killed by hitting the back of their heads, a practice from which the term rabbit punch is derived. Rabbit meat is a source of high quality protein. It can be used in most ways chicken meat is used. Rabbit meat is leaner than beef, pork, and chicken meat. Rabbit products are generally labeled in three ways, the first being fryer. This is a young rabbit between 1½ and 3½ pounds and up to 12 weeks in age. This type of meat is tender and fine grained. The next product is a roaster; they are usually over 4 pounds and over 8 months in age. The flesh is firm and coarse grained and less tender than a fryer. Then there are giblets, which include the liver and heart. One of the most common types of rabbit to be bred for meat is New Zealand white rabbit. There are several health issues associated with the use of rabbits for meat, one of which is tularemia or rabbit fever. Caused by a bacteria, Francisella tularensis, tularemia can affect both animals and humans and can be contracted by eating rabbit meat that is not cooked well, among other means (UTDH 2001). Another illness is called rabbit starvation, and it is the form of acute malnutrition caused by excess consumption of any lean meat (specifically rabbit) coupled with a lack of other sources of nutrients. It is due most likely to essential amino acid deficiencies in rabbit meat and synthesis limitations in human beings. Another economic value of rabbits is as a source of fur, such as the pelt of the cottontail rabbit (genus Sylvilagus) sometimes being used for clothing and accessories, such as scarves or hats. Rabbits are very good producers of manure; additionally, their urine, being high in nitrogen, makes lemon trees very productive. Rabbits also are a source of hunting for sport, with cottontail rabbit particularly popular in North America. Rabbits also are kept as pets. They typically are kept in hutches—small, wooden, house-like boxes—that protect the rabbits from the environment and predators. Rabbits kept in a home as pets for companionship are referred to as house rabbits. They typically have an indoor pen and a rabbit-safe place to run and exercise, such as a living or family room. Rabbits can be trained to use a litter box and can learn to respond when called. Their diet typically consists of unlimited timothy hay, a small amount of pellets, and fresh vegetables. House rabbits are quiet pets, but are unsuitable for households with small children as they are easily frightened by loud noises and can be harmed by mishandling. Domestic rabbits that are not house rabbits also often serve as companions for their owners, typically living in an easily accessible hutch outside the home. Rabbits as pets can find their companionship with a variety of creatures, including humans, other rabbits, guinea pigs, and sometimes even cats and dogs. It was commonly believed that pregnancy tests were based on the idea that a rabbit would die if injected with a pregnant woman's urine. This is not true. However, in the 1920s, it was discovered that if the urine contained the hCG, a hormone found in the bodies of pregnant women, the rabbit would display ovarian changes. The rabbit would then be killed to have its ovaries inspected, but the death of the rabbit was not the indicator of the results. Later revisions of the test allowed technicians to inspect the ovaries without killing the animal. A similar test involved injecting Xenopus frogs to make them lay eggs, but animal assays for pregnancy have been made obsolete by faster, cheaper, and simpler modern methods. Rabbits can provide an aesthetic joy in the wild. They also have been used as objects for paintings, novels, and other art works, and have symbolic value in culture as well. Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are often used as symbols of playful sexuality, which also relates to the human perception of innocence, as well as its reputation as a prolific breeder. The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies. In Chinese literature, rabbits accompany Chang'e on the Moon. Also associated with the Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year), rabbits are also one of the twelve celestial animals in the Chinese Zodiac for the Chinese calendar. It is interesting to note that the Vietnamese lunar new year replaced the rabbit with a cat in their calendar, as rabbits did not inhabit Vietnam. In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they make mochi, the popular snack of mashed sticky rice. This comes from interpreting the pattern of dark patches on the moon as a rabbit standing on tiptoes on the left pounding on an usu, a Japanese mortar. A popular culture manifestation of this tradition can be found in the character title character of Sailor Moon, whose name is Usagi Tsukino, a Japanese pun on the words "rabbit of the moon." A Korean myth similar to the Japanese counterpart also presents rabbits living on the moon making rice cakes (Tteok in Korean), although not specified as mochi (rice cakes that have sweet red bean paste fillings). A Vietnamese mythological story portrays the rabbit of innocence and youthfulness. The Gods of the myth are shown to be hunting and killing rabbits to show off their power. In Aztec mythology, a pantheon of four hundred rabbit gods known as Centzon Totochtin, led by Ometotchtli, or Two Rabbit, represented fertility, parties, and drunkenness. In Ugandan folklore, Shufti the rabbit was the leader of the peoples when the sun God burnt the crops to the ground after the skull of the golden albatross was left out on the plains on the first day of the year. In Native American Ojibwe mythology, Nanabozho, or Great Rabbit, is an important deity related to the creation of the world. On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, United Kingdom, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and speaking its name can cause upset with older residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the quarrying industry, where piles of extracted stone (not fit for sale) were built into tall rough walls (to save space) directly behind the working quarry face; the rabbit's natural tendency to burrow would weaken these "walls" and cause collapse, often resulting in injuries or even death. The name rabbit is often substituted with words such as “long ears” or “underground mutton,” so as not to have to say the actual word and bring bad luck to oneself. It is said that a public house (on the island) can be cleared of people by calling out the word rabbit and while this was very true in the past, it has gradually become more fable than fact over the past 50 years. In the African-American slave culture of the Southern United States, the trickster Bre'r Rabbit is thought to have emerged as a conflation of a hare trickster that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in Central and Southern Africa and rabbit trickster myths of the Native American Cherokee. Many have suggested that Br'er Rabbit represents the black slave who uses his wits to overcome circumstances and to exact revenge on his adversaries, representing the white slave-owners. Though not always successful, his efforts made him a folk hero. These stories were popularized in printed form in the late nineteenth century by Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote them up using the voice of an old former slave, Uncle Remus, telling stories to the grandson of his former owner. Bre'r Rabbit and his nemesis Bre'r Fox are central protagonists in episodes filled with intrigue, humor, wit, deception, and moral and practical lessons. In one noted example, Bre'r Fox used a tar baby, a human figure made of tar, to capture Br'er Rabbit by playing on Br'er Rabbit's vanity and gullibility to goad him into attacking the fake baby and becoming stuck. Walt Disney made an animated movie of three of the stories in the mid-twentieth century. The stories have fallen out of popularity due to their being deemed racially offensive by some and the Disney Company has declined to release a home video version of the film for the same reason. Bugs Bunny, a rabbit-like cartoon character, is an animated icon of American popular culture. Created in the 1930s, Bugs Bunny has feuded on screen with such cartoon characters as Elmer Fudd, Bucky Buzzard, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote. He usually wins these conflicts, but maintains the sympathy of the audience because the antagonist characters repeatedly attempt to bully, cheat or threaten him. In 2002, TV Guide celebrated Bugs Bunny as the No. 1 greatest cartoon character of all time. Cases in which rabbits have been introduced into an ecosystem that lacks natural predators to control their population provide, by counterexample, a good illustration of the balance and harmony of nature. The most striking case may be the introduction of the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, to Australia in 1859. Twenty-four introduced rabbits multiplied to an estimated 750 million rabbits by 1950 (Smith 2004). As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, uncontrolled wild rabbit populations raise major problems for both agriculture and the environment. In Australia, rabbits have degraded the habitat, caused the loss of many of Australia's unique flora and fauna, and affected the livestock. Rabbits in Australia are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them. Efforts to control rabbits in areas to which they have been introduced have included gassing, barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting. The disease myxomatosis was used in Australia as a biological control agent and was initially very effective, killing nearly all rabbits in most populations, but subsequently the rabbit populations have developed immunity and have rebounded (Smith 2004). The disease calicivirus also has been used in areas. In Europe, where rabbits are farmed on a large scale, they are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus with a genetically modified virus. The virus was developed in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers, but there remains a risk of this virus getting into introduced populations and creating a population boom. |Extant Lagomorpha species| New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. 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Return to IB English How to write a Poetry Commentary In order to write a proper IB Paper 1 style essay, the following guidelines must be followed. For the IB commentary, you are expected to explain a given poem or prose. While it is not to be confused with a detailed explanation as you might expect in college which would be anywhere from 5-15 pages in length, the commentary is less formulaic and structured than the World Literature papers, but at the same time, it adheres to formal standard English. There are several disagreements as to what constitutes a commentary. Some hold that by nature, it is not formal--it can be a running "commentary"(hence the term, "commentary") of what the examinee sees in a given poem. Though this approach runs the risk of seeming like a literary version of a grocery list, as long as the examinee sees some overarching, organizing method--an idea, concept, or literary device that the poet uses to hold the poem together cohesively--the commentary need not be as tightly formulaic as the five paragraph thesis paper (which is generally despised in most circles because it discourages divergent thinking). Others say that this organic approach makes it impossible to surmise any actual literary analysis. A beginning "thesis" of the poem's focus, followed by organizing the analysis into patterns, strands, or organizational groups, makes it easy to follow a persuasive, holistic presentation. All agree, however, on the paramount importance of framing one's literary analysis within the terms and devices of poetry; one must both identify literary elements, analyze its purpose and effect, and speak intelligently as to tone, diction, structure, mood, and form. Below are some literary devices to get you started. - Accent: refers to the stressed portion of a word. An accent is used to place emphasis on a word. - Note: accent and stress can be used interchangeably. - Allegory: A description that has a second, usually moral meaning. - Alliteration: is the repetition of initial (at the beginning) CONSONANT sounds (if it's a vowel repetition, you would call it assonance. Assonance includes any repetition of a vowel sound in any part of the word. It usually occurs in the middle of words). - Allusion: refers to an event from an external content. It is understandable only to those with prior knowledge of the reference in question (as the writer assumes the reader has). - Apostrophe: Something that addresses an object or person or idea who is not present as though he/she/it could reply. - Antithesis: The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to create a feeling of balance (e.g Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell) - Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds may also add to euphony. - Aubade: Poetry referring to either the dawn, a love song or about parting lovers. - Ballad: A form of poetry in a specific meter meant to be sung. There is always a repeating refrain and it is always narrative in form. See below for more information. - Blank verse: Iambic Pentameter that doesn't rhyme. (Much of Shakespeare's plays for example were written in blank verse.) - Caesura: A cut or break in a line, could be a comma or a semicolon. - Cacophony: Harsh sounding and generally unpleasant. - Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds NOT in the beginning of a word (which would be alliteration). Enforces relation. - Continuous Form: Lines follow each other without any type of structural organization except by blocks of meaning. - Didactic Poetry: Poetry with a directly morally teaching purpose. - Ethos: the validity of the source or narrator/ speaker. - Euphony: Pleasant sounding. - Extended Figure: An apostrophe, simile, metaphor, etc. which is developed throughout a poem. - Imagery: Language which appeals to each of the five senses. - Visual imagery: Sight. The most frequent type. - Aural or auditory imagery: Sound. - Olfactory imagery: Smell. - Gustatory imagery: Taste. - Tactile imagery: Touch, tangibility. - Organic imagery: Human sensations, hunger for example. - Irony: Dramatic or otherwise, conveying an aspect that is intrinsically unexpected or self-contradictory. - Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things without using the words "like" or "as". - Onomatopoeia: Words which are written to mimic a sound. (SHAZAM! SPLAT! PLOP!) - Paradox: A statement which appears to contradict itself but makes sense (usually in an abstract sense). - Personification: Animals and inanimate objects are given human characteristics. - Phonetic Intensive: A word whose sound emphasizes its meaning. - Prose: Language which is not in meter. - Refrain: A repeated line, phrase, sentence, etc. which appears throughout a poem. - Rhetorical Poetry: Poetry written in superfluous language with the intention of being overdramatic. - Scansion: The process of measuring verse. - Simile: The comparison of two subjects using "like" or "as" or something similar - Sonnet: See link. - Tone: The writer's attitude toward the subject. Advanced Vocabulary for the Daring - Anaphora: Repetition of the same word or words from the beginning of sentences, lines, or phrases. - Ars Poetica: A poem about poetry - Conceit: The comparison of two dissimilar things. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" - Dramatic monologue: Narrator speaks to himself. The speaker is not the author. - Epiphany: A realization or comprehension of the essence of something. - Feminine Rhyme: Two syllable (Disyllabic) rhyme consisting of stressed syllable followed by unstressed - Incantation: Use of words to create an archaic effect. (Opening scene of Macbeth and the Weird Sisters) - Incremental repetition: Repetition of succeeding stanzas with small substitutions of changes. - Masculine rhyme: Monosyllabic rhymes. - Metonymy: Substitutes the name of one thing with something closely associated with it. - Synecdoche: Substitutes a part of one thing to represent the whole, or vice versa. - Pathetic fallacy: A reflection of the action/events through nature/weather. (A thunderstorm during the creation of Frankenstein's monster sequence) - Persona: The character created by the narrator. - Synaesthesia: A blending of sensations. - Trope: A way of extending the meanings of words beyond the literal. Types of Poems - Alexandrine: Twelve-syllable poetic line of French origin. - Couplet: A poem or section consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought. - Elegy: A poem of loss and consolation. - Panegyric: Praise for an individual, a group of people, or a body. - Sonnet: A poem of fourteen lines, usually following a strict rhyme scheme/structure. - Stichic: A poem which is a continuous sequence of lines without any division into stanzas. - Villanelle: 19 lines divided into 6 stanzas 5 of 3 and 1 of 4. - Apostrophe: A poem directed to a person or thing not present/alive. Step 1: Reading the Poem - Read the poem silently once. Take a mental note or actually write down if you can't remember any impressions, emotions, or confusions the poem may originally stir. - Read the poem once more; try to understand its meaning or the course of events it may describe. - Read the poem aloud if possible. If you're in an exam room you can read the poem under your breath. Take note of the tone and speed of the poem. - Read the poem again and take notes about the literal and figurative context of the poem. This should include its meaning on the literal level and any figurative meanings it may include. - Read the poem again, this time looking for literary devices. These should be, but not limited to: - Onomatopoeia and Phonetic Intensive words - Metaphors, Similes, and Personifications. - Juxtaposition and Contrast - Once you're sure you've found these literary devices, proceed to look further for: - What does the title suggest- is it related to our understanding of the poem? - Note: Compare your first impression of the title to its actual meaning. - Does the poem have an apostrophe? - Are sections cacophonic or euphonic? If so, do the previous literature features make them so? - Is there any irony? - Does the poem have an extensive figure? - Is there a refrain? - Next, once you've gone through the poem's meaning and its literary devices- it's time to look for form! - Note: Knowing a poem's scansion is not necessarily required. You don't need to state this poem is written in dactylic hectometre, but it’s pretty obvious if a poem is written in iambic pentameter and counting meter isn't too difficult. - Is the poem in a continuous form, a stanzaic form, or a fixed form? (Such as a Ballad or a Sonnet) - Take note of the poem's structure- how many stanzas, how many lines, etc. - Make extra note of the author's tone and how this influences the poem. Step 2: Looking for Detail - Now that you've found the poem's literal and figurative meanings, its form, and its literary devices - it's time to get to work! - Make connections - in what ways do the poem's literary devices add to the poem's meaning? - What effect does the writer's tone have on the reader's perception of the poem? - What effect does meter and form have on meaning? An excellent way of keeping your entire commentary in focus is, asking yourself these simple yet significant questions: 1) What's being said (content, maybe theme, character, ideas, relationships, ideas, love, peace etc.) 2) How is it being said (stylistic devices, rhyme, structure, diction, etc.) 3) So What? (I.e. for what ends, purposes, extrapolation chances, personal connection and response, etc.) Remember it's not a grocery list of memorized terms- barfed out in a time period of 2 hours. It is supposed to be an intricate and insightful response to what you as a reader, understand from the text, the author's intended message. The planning phase is perhaps the most important, even more important than the writing phase (which comes naturally succeeding it, if planning goes well the written should be equally responsive). Step 3: Structuring your Commentary - There is no definitive structure to a poetry commentary; this isn't like writing a history essay. However, structure is an important aspect in writing a poem commentary and you can prepare yourself in advance by having some notion of the order in which you will write. Here is an example of a possible essay structure: - Note: Everyone is different, if you want to write your poetry commentary in a different form, by all means do so- this is merely a suggestion aimed at guiding your writing. - State the poem's title, author, and a small introduction to the poem's overall literal meaning. - State the poem's form, and any important literary devices which appear throughout it. - Write about an important aspect of the poem which you will further discuss in your wildcard paragraph and eventually conclude in your last paragraph. - Paragraph One: Structure and Narration - Paragraph Two: Meaning - State the poem's literal meaning. - State the poem's figurative meaning. - Paragraph Three: Devices - Write about the poem's literary devices. - Write about important themes present in the poem. - Paragraph Four: Combine - Write how literary devices and meaning interconnect. - This paragraph should begin to bring things together. - Paragraph Five: The Wild Card - Introduce an important theme or aspect of the poem in great detail. This could be a refrain, an extended figure or an apostrophe. - The conclusion should combine the Wild Card with the above paragraphs. In this case, one could talk about how literary devices or the poem's structure aid in supporting an extended figure. Here is another suggestion for a structure which requires about 10-15 minutes of planning, but is still just as efficient- - State the poem's title, author, and a small introduction to the poem's overall literal meaning. - If any, state the relevance of the background of the author (i.e. their philosophies, causes, a message..) - Construct a 'map' to your answer. Concisely, write one sentence on each idea that will be put forth in the essay - Paragraph One: Idea One - Use PETER - Point: State the point you are trying to prove, e.g. The conflict in the extract symbolizes change - Evidence: Give evidence for the conflict by quoting - Technique: State the literary features - Elaboration: Develop your point further and give a deeper explanation on your point. Also state the reason for the point that the author was trying to make, or the reason for which the literary feature was used - Response: Describe the emotions or ideas evoked into the reader, if any - Paragraph Two: Idea Two - e.g. Point: The first person narrative is used to gain empathy from the reader. - (Follow the same pattern as used for the first idea) (An ideal commentary has 3-5 ideas. Remember to focus more on developing the ideas than to have more of them. 3 well developed ideas will fetch more marks than 6 baseless points.) - (Off record: One must realize that a conclusion is usually just the introduction which is paraphrased with a more conclusive tone and possibly a fact or two more!) - The conclusion must contain a brief summation of all the points you have made and why were they the most important. It could also include some personal interpretation that you are not confident about adding in the body of your essay. Step 4: Example Commentary I wandered lonely as a cloud - That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, - A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine - And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretched in never-ending line - Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but they - Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A Poet could not but be gay, - In such a jocund company: I gazed--and gazed--but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie - In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye - Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. - Try to do it by yourself first- even if roughly. - First impression: The poem is extremely euphonic and uses quite a bit of pleasant imagery. When spoken, it rolls off the tongue naturally. This reinforces the poem's joyful tone which proceeds through out the poem except for momentarily in the fourth stanza where the first two lines are cacophonic. The poem deals with an extended figure which may be considered an apostrophe. - Structure: The poem is in a stanzaic form of four stanzas of six lines each. The rhyming scheme alternates at first, ABAB, but ends in a rhyming couplet CC which adds to the euphony of the poem and the ease at which it's spoken. The lines are in iambic tetrameter. - Note: Meter can be found by counting the syllables in each line and simply dividing them by two. If this is the same for each line, then the poem is written in a specific meter. - Speaker: The speaker is obviously the poet himself. By sharing his own first experiences with such a crowd of daffodils the reader gains the same first impressions. - Literal Meaning: The poet recalls his first experience of seeing such a wondrous crowd of daffodils beside a bay. The blowing wind moves them in an awesome formation, a spectacle of nature of which the poet remembers in order to lift his spirits. - Figurative Meaning: Everyone has had their good experiences in life. Perhaps it's the sensation of getting a new dog or seeing a beautiful bird take flight. It's important for us to remember those experiences, in times when we are down. - Imagery: Lots of visual imagery - "Golden daffodils" (4) - "Sparkling waves" (14) - "stars that shine / and twinkle on the milky way" (7-8) - Kinesthetic imagery - "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" (6) - "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance" (12) - "The waves beside them danced" (13) - Metaphors and Similes - "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (1) - "Continuous as the stars" (7) - Personification of the Daffodils - I saw a crowd / a host, of golden daffodils (3-4) - Tossing their heads in sprightly dance (12) - In such a jocund company (16) - A host of golden daffodils (3) - Beside the lake, beneath the trees (6) - For oft when on my couch (19) - heart with pleasures fills (23) - Beside... beneath... breeze (5-6) - stars...stretch...shine (7-8) - glee...gay...gazed...gazed (13-15) - Dance (6), (12), (13), (24) - Gazed (15) - Wildcard: Importance of the Speaker - The speaker shows a great tranquility and appreciation of nature. The juxtaposition of the first two lines of the last paragraph with the rest of the poem and the use of the word "couch" suggest unhappiness with the material surroundings. - Great! Now that we've written down the basic aspects of the poem- it's time for us to connect their meanings and effects! "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth describes the poet's sight of a spectacular field of daffodils situated by a bay. He uses worldly imagery to magnify such a small feat of nature in an attempt to demonstrate how both nature and memories are important in dealing with many of the woes of a modern society. The personified daffodils are the center of the poem which is written in a stanzaic form with a consistent rhyming scheme. Through the use of literary devices and intensive visual and kinesthetic imagery, the reader is able to adopt the same feeling of awe at this simplistic spectacle as once felt by the poet. The poem is written in stanzaic form of four stanzas each consisting of six lines with each line written in iambic tetrameter. For the first four lines of each stanza, the rhyming scheme alternates as ABAB, but ends with a rhyming couplet. This stanzaic form serves to reinforce the poem's euphony, with the ending the consistent rhyming scheme serving to ensure that the poem progresses smoothly. Indeed, the structure of the poem may even serve to reflect the extended figure of the poem, for like the daffodils, we too are entranced by the product of its general simplicity. The poem is told through the eyes of the poet himself. The poem describes in detail, a simplistic wonder of nature, a "crowd, / a host, of golden daffodils" (3-4) situated "along the margin of a bay" (10). The daffodils "dance" (6) and though not mentioned directly, this dance is most likely caused by the wind. The poet is amazed at two things, the sheer number of daffodils, comparing their numbers to the number of stars in the "the milky way" (7) and the intricate dance that they produce. He then states that the waves of the lake also danced, most likely ripples once again caused by the wind, but the effect the wind had on the flowers "Out-did the sparkling waves in glee"(13). The sight was so beautiful that the poet "gazed and gazed" (17), clueless of the "wealth" (18) gained from the experience. From then on, when the Poet is in a "vacant mood" (20), he recalls this experience in his mind and his "heart [fills] with pleasures" (23) as he too "dances with the daffodils" (24). (Note: this commentary isn't the best example... the use of the quotes at the end is exactly what IB doesn't want. Additionally it's far too short - a commentary should be about one thousand words)

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What it is:Plan It Green, the Big Switch is an online game/simulation from National Geographic that allows students to create their own energy-efficient city of the future. In the game, students build new energy technologies and advance energy research; gain points based on their eco-friendliness, energy production, and citizen happiness; compete with others for the highest city rating; tackle challenges and quests; and explore and build a diverse energy portfolio. Through Plan It Green, students begin to better understand various energy options and can experiment with different energy sources and see their impact through this game/simulation. How to integrate Plan It Green, the Big Switch into the classroom: This game from National Geographic is a great way to help your students understand different kinds of energy, and think through the ways that the energy we rely on in our daily lives impact the environment. Use Plan It Green, the Big Switch as a provocation for an inquiry unit about energy. The game could be a great catalyst for further research and understanding of energy options and how our decisions impact the rest of the ecosystem. Students can test out theories in this SIM-City like game and watch the way their decisions impact citizens and the larger ecosystem. Plan It Green would also be a great way to end a unit, after students have learned about different types of energy. This game would be a great simulation reflection to see how different decisions about energy play out. If you don’t have access to a 1:1 environment, this would make a great center on classroom computers during a study on energy or even for whole-class play on an interactive whiteboard throughout a unit on energy. I like the way Plan It Green puts students in control of decisions and shows them the consequences (or unintended consequences) of those decisions. Tips: The downfall of Plan It Green is that it requires a Flash Player, so while students can register for the site using an iPad, actual play requires a Flash enabled browser. What it is:Aurasma is an app (also a website) that allows learners to quickly create augmented reality experiences for others. Augmented reality is the mix of technology and the real world. Probably the most popular or, at least the most commonly used, augmented reality is the use of Snapchat filters. Funny faces and masks are overlaid on top of the real world (i.e. whatever you are taking a picture of). Aurasma makes it simple to quickly create these types of experiences for others. Learners start by uploading, or taking, a “Trigger” photo. This photo is what the Aurasma app will look for to trigger the event that has been layered on top of the photo. Next, learners add overlay images. These are the images that will popup when the Trigger Photo is within the camera viewfinder. It might sound cumbersome, but it really isn’t! It is like having QR codes embedded right in any environment…without the QR code! How to integrate Aurasma into the classroom: Because learners can create augmented reality experiences for any environment, the possibilities are seriously endless. Below are a few ways I can see our teachers and learners using Aurasma: A few years ago, our students explored How the World Works through the PBS series, and book, How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson. As a result of their learning, the students decided to build a Domino Museum (you can read about that here). At the time, they put QR codes all around their museum. Some QR codes explained how the museum worked, and others expanded on the information that was presented on each domino. Aurasma could take an experience like this to the next level by allowing students to embed information and instructions all around the museum. As people walked through their Domino Museum with the Aurasma app opened up, additional information would have automatically populated based on where they placed Triggers. Anastasis students are SUPER creative in presenting their learning at the end of an inquiry block. During the last block, one of our students explored the history of dance. In one of our learning spaces she created a time machine that students could get into. Then she themed other learning spaces for each time period. With Aurasma, she could have had the students actually see the dancers/costumes/etc. of each time period as if they were really in the room, using the room as a trigger. In a foreign language class, students could use objects/items in the room as triggers for vocabulary overlays. As students look through their iPhone/iPad/Android’s camera in the Aurasma app, all of that vocabulary would pop up as others explored the room. Our students go on a field trip on average once a week. They explore all kinds of incredible places for learning in context. Often, another class might end up at the same location later in the month or even in another year. As students visit somewhere new, they can overlay their learning on a place. When other classes, or another year’s students visit, they can see the learning that took place when others visited. (How cool would it be to get a network of schools doing this so that we could all learn together!) We have a strong social justice component at Anastasis. Last year, our Jr. High kids spent time at Network Coffee House. During their time there, they spent a day in the life of a homeless person. They held cardboard signs on street corners and panhandled, they met other homeless, and got a tour of where these people sleep, get warm, etc. Afterward they had incredible reflections about their experience. It would have been a neat exercise to have them end the day by taking pictures of landmarks at the various stops around their tour as Triggers. When they got back to school, they could have created an augmented reality reflection tour for others. In art class, students could take a photo of their creation and then overlay an explanation about how they created their art, their inspiration, etc. During a school art show, those in attendance would get to experience the heart behind each piece. In social studies, students could snap a photo of a place on the map, and then overlay their learning on top. As others explored the map with the Aurasma app, all of that information would populate as they explored the map. Learners could take a photo of the cover of a book (or book spine) that they just read. They can overlay the trigger image with their review of the book. As students are searching the library through the Aurasma app, they will see the reviews that other students have left behind. Teachers can use Aurasma to embed instructions or norms around their classrooms. I’m imagining this being useful for special equipment use in a maker space or science lab. This would also be a great way to embed instructions when you have different learning happening in the classroom in a center like environment. Multiply your reach by layering the instructions or a demonstration of each center at its location in the classroom. Teachers could also use Aurasma to amplify the usefulness of posters or bulletin boards around the classroom. Snap a photo of either as your trigger and then layer additional helpful information over top. It could be fun to “hide” a writing prompt or brain teaser in your classroom each day. Just snap a photo of something in the classroom so that when students look through their camera with Aurasma, the overlay pops up with instructions. This would also be a fun way to lead students through problem solving of a mystery where they are discovering clues and following directions. At the beginning of the year, you could create a tour of the school or scavenger hunt around the school to help students get acclimated to their new surroundings. Sooo…the possibilities really are endless with this one! Tips: Learners can create augmented reality experiences from the Aurasma website, but to actually view the augmented reality, an iPhone/iPad/Android device with the Aurasma app is needed. What it is: Do you know about Stanford’s YouCubed? If you are a math teacher (and even if you aren’t) you need to know about this awesome resource! It is packed full of goodness for teachers and parents alike. Fantastic (and approachable) articles about brain science, mathematical thinking, and mindset. Outstanding ideas that you can use RIGHT NOW! Links to really wonderful math apps and games, videos and radio shows, tasks (also known as mathematical brain teasers), and visual mathematics resources. My favorite portion of YouCubed is the Week of iMath. There are 5 days of lessons, each one comes with a lesson plan, video, and list of materials needed. How to integrate YouCubed into your classroom: There are SO many resources that can transform your classroom! I love the articles and research as references to send parents throughout the year. These are also great for reading with your older students who may assume that math is not their gig. The articles and research included show that math is for all of us, but our mindset may need a bit of a shift! What I love about the articles is the way they quickly dispel so many myths about maths, I guarantee you’ve heard all of this from parents over the years and now you have research to share to help them understand the truth about mathematical thinking and brain science. The links to math games and apps is really helpful. You’ll find some old favorites, but likely be introduced to something new to use with your class. One of my very favorites listed is an app called Dragon Box…it is truly so brilliant for teaching students algebraic concepts and math thinking without any numbers or mathematical symbols at all! The iMath section gives you a wonderful inspirational math lesson for each day of the week. These lessons go far beyond your typical math drill/skill/learn-a-new-formula. Instead, they are all about helping your students develop a growth mindset when it comes to math, and arming them with the necessary tools to think like a mathematician. Depth of learning! The approach in each lesson is playful and inquiry driven, it encourages risk taking and mistake making as they work with numbers, patterns, and relationships between concepts. I cannot say enough about this section of YouCubed! Each lesson is broken down into grade ranges so that no matter what age you teach, you can find the fit for your class. Tips: This is an ideal site to start the year with, and then use as a reference all year long! You should also be sure to check out Jo Boaler’s books and articles. If you’ve ever felt under prepared/qualified to teach math, Jo will help you shift your own mindset and equip you to teach math like a master! What it is:My Simple Show Video Creator lets students easily create professional level “explainer” videos. The finished product looks just like a Common Craft video, so cool! The step-by-step tool helps students think about storyline and the flow of explaining a concept. How to integrate My Simple Show into the classroom:My Simple Show is a fantastic option for digital storytelling. Students begin by choosing to write their own script, or by uploading a Power Point presentation. Next, they can choose from one of many templates to start from, or alternately, start from scratch. The templates are an awesome option because they give kids an outline and break down the story telling/explaining process. For each step in the process, it guides students with a prompt and with some examples. My Simple Show auto-magically picks up words in the script and suggests pictures. Students can use the pre-selected images, choose an image from the My Simple Show library of images, or upload their own image or picture. In the final step, students add audio. This can be computer generated or students can record their own audio. The finished product is pretty impressive! Below is a video I made quickly today. My Simple Show’s obvious use is for explanatory digital storytelling, but it would also be a great way for students to reflect on a field trip, tell a story, retell new learning (pssst. this is an awesome way to check for understanding!), or create their own “textbooks.” Students can use My Simple Show to explain a historical event, introduce a biological process, introduce a physical law, summarize literature, summarize a biography, discuss pros and cons, explain a law, etc. Use My Simple Show to create whole class stories where each student contributes a portion of the explanation or story. This type of video can be made over a few weeks using classroom devices as a writing center. This would be a fun way to create an A to Z type book of learning, reflections by students after a unit, a 100 day video, fact vs. opinion video, a class video of poems, a phonics video, or a class video about a field trip that students took. Students can take pictures of science experiments and create a digital video detailing the experiment with text, images, and student voice reflections included. The finished product can be shared with parents and families easily through YouTube, Vimeo, or downloaded as a MP4 file. For a back to school night activity, take a picture of each student to add to a class video and record students sharing an explanation of a school day. This same idea could be used in preparation for parent-teacher conferences. Students can create a video about their learning during the quarter/trimester, record thoughts about why they are proud of the work they did, and add reflections. These can be shared as a starting point for conferences, at the end of the conference, parents have a keepsake. My Simple Show could also be used for character education. Give the students a scenario or problem, and have them work out a step-by-step explanation or solution. Because of the voice recording capabilities, My Simple Show, would be a great way for students to practice a foreign language. They can illustrate a word or phrase accompanied by the audio. Classes could work together to create a “living” digital glossary. Be sure to give your students access to My Simple Show in your Maker Space, it is a great option for students to choose! Tips: My Simple Show has video guides that lead students through each step of the process…I definitely recommend watching these at least once as a class or for the first round of creation! What it is: Swift Playground is an awesome new app from Apple that teaches kids how to code in Swift. This free app for iPads uses games to teach kids Apple’s coding language used to create apps. Students can drag and drop code, and easily edit the code to customize it. The code can be instantly run so students can test out their code and see if it works. Best of all, in those instances that the code they put together doesn’t work, Swift Playground has debugging tools and hints built-in to help students rectify any problems. Students can also code with Swift from scratch making the app endlessly adaptable to any skill level. How to integrate Swift Playground into your classroom:Swift Playground requires no previous coding knowledge, making it the perfect tool for learning how to code. For those students who have experience with coding, Swift Playground is robust enough for even seasoned programmers to bring new ideas to life. Swift Playground begins with a series of challenges to help students master the basics, students use code to help characters navigate a 3D world. When the challenges have been mastered, students can build and manipulate their own code to dream up new creations. Use Swift Playground to get your students thinking logically and solving problems from new perspectives. The skills built as students learn to code are the same skills that will help students in other disciplines like math and science. I love the way Swift Playground starts out by giving students a fun environment of challenges to learn the basics of Swift, but also allows them the flexibility of drag and drop code, and allowing students to edit and write their own code. Swift Playground even features a special keyboard that includes the most common coding characters so that students don’t have to hunt through keyboards to find what they are looking for. As students advance in their skills, they can use code templates that allow customization with code. Beyond what most learning platforms allow, students will be able to adjust multi-touch interactions, the accelerometer, and the gyroscope. These features and abilities are such an awesome tie-in to conversations about complex math and physics! When students are finished with their creation, they can share it with others using Messages, Mail, or Airdrop. Students can even post videos of their creation for others to see! For those who are really soaring, Swift Playground code can be exported to Xcode (where the pros create apps). Many classrooms don’t yet have time built into the day that is dedicated to coding. But perhaps once a week you use coding in math class as applied math, or use Swift Playground as part of a 20% time offering in your classroom. If those are unavailable, consider participating in Hour of Code. Play with Swift Playground yourself and you’ll start recognizing tie-ins with other learning that your students are doing. When your students are proficient with coding in Swift Playground, they can start creating and reflecting on learning with the code they know. Swift Playground is a fantastic resource to have available as part of your Maker Space! Maybe they create a new game to help them remember vocabulary, or math facts. Perhaps they build a world based on a historical event. Once those basics are mastered the application possibilities are endless! Tips: Everyone can code! This isn’t a skill that only a few should possess. Even the youngest students can use Swift Playground, I’m talking kindergarten can use this app! If you are new to the concept of code, check out this crash course from Apple. What it is:Woot Math uses adaptive technology to personalize the math learning experience in new ways for 3rd-6th grade students. With a focus on fractions and decimals, Woot Math allows students many inroads to understanding. Flexible implementation options mean that Woot Math can be used in any classroom configuration whether it be 1:1 devices, shared devices, whole-class, or as intervention. The Woot Math system works on the web, iPads, or Chromebooks seamlessly…it truly is a great option for any classroom! It is super user-friendly, and gives teachers the ability to customize for each student in the class as a starting point. Woot Math is adaptive, as students use it, it gets “smart” and creates learning pathways based on the specific needs of the student. Beginning with foundational rational math concepts, Woot Math makes these necessary foundational skills accessible for all students. It is like having a personal tutor sitting beside them as they work through new learning. If a student doesn’t understand a problem, the program adapts to approach the learning in a new way. The illustration of concepts is brilliant! Woot Math gives students a solid understanding of fractions, laying the necessary ground work for algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, and statistics. Sign up TODAY, Woot Math is totally free for the 2015-2016 school year! How to integrate Woot Math into your classroom: To begin with Woot Math, decide how you will use it in your classroom. Do all of your students have access to a technology device? Do you have a bank of devices that they can rotate through? Do you have a projector/interactive whiteboard? If you are using Woot Math with limited technology access, beginning with the Interactive Problem Bank is best. Here you can quickly access thousands of hands-on fraction and decimal problems for students to work through together. You can project the problems on a whiteboard or use an interactive whiteboard. Problems can be selected by topic or standard and then by model type. Students can either work together in community solving problems, or as a center in a math rotation. If you have better access to technology, and students can work independently on a device, the Adaptive Practice is the place to start. Here you can print out student login cards, assign an initial topic, and the program will adaptively generate and assess thousands of interactive problems. This is also the place where you can track student progress and understanding through concepts and skills. The visual examples and leading through problems is fantastic, it is truly an engaging process for students to learn with! This is the best way (in my humble opinion) to use Woot Math, because it allows students to work in exactly the way they need to increase understanding and build a solid foundation of understanding. Be sure to go through Woot Math independently of your students to truly appreciate the interactive learning modules and visual representation of concepts…they are brilliant! Tips: Be sure to sign up soon, take advantage of this timing when Woot Math is 100% free! There are some great teacher resources to download to help you as you implement Woot Math. What it is: You guys, the World Education Games is back again, taking place around the world October 13-15, 2015! More than 5 million students from over 200 countries and territories will participate in the games for 2015. This is an exciting online challenge for students around the world. The competition begins tomorrow and continues through October 15. The World Education Games includes World Literacy Day, World Math Day (which has been around since the first World Education Games), and World Science Day. Just by participating through the answering of questions, students will be earning UNICEF points which are converted into money that goes directly toward supporting UNICEF education programs where class and school resources are desperately needed. In World Literacy Day, students will enter the Spellodrome to compete with students from around the world. A sentence will be read aloud and it is the student’s job to spell the missing word. For World Maths Day, students will enter Mathletics, to compete with students around the world. This is a place for students to practice and work on math fluency speed and accuracy. World Science Day will bring students to the IntoScience dashboard where students will test their knowledge with a panel containing 16 question boxes, split into four categories of science. Each question is worth one, two or thee points based on the difficulty. In this game, you must answer faster than your opponents. How to Integrate World Education Games into your classroom: I love the World Education Games for the fun way that it helps students (k-12) practice facts in math, spelling, and science knowledge. This makes drill/skill infinitely more fun. Students can practice with their own classmates and with those around the world. When I was still in the classroom, World Math Day was a time of year that students looked forward to. They ASKED for homework (can I keep playing at home?). True story. The kids loved finding out which country they would be paired with. It was always very motivating to see someone half way around the world playing the same game at the same time. My students worked hard to see if they could be paired with someone on every continent before the Games were over. Keep track of the countries that your students get matched with on a Google Map or on the printable maps offered on the World Education Games Website. For at least one week, ditch the worksheets (or do it like we do at Anastasis and ditch them every day!) and practice math facts and spelling with fun games instead. This is a few days of fun, friendly competition for your students. The adjacent learning opportunities during the World Education Games is great (similar to what the Olympic games brings!). Geography, math, spelling, and science investigations are the obvious adjacent possible. This year, UNICEF is partnering in on the Games and the points that your students earn goes toward a very worthy cause, for every point your students earn, money is being donated to UNICEF for education. In addition to the drill/skill, your students can inquire into the Power of One (as our students at Anastasis Academy are doing), or can inquire into organizations that make a difference in the world (like UNICEF) and explore the social issues that these types of organizations are working to solve. Tips: Using an Android or iPads in the classroom? World Games Day has Apps for that! Download the Mathletics app here for free! What it is: I’m telling you, the edublog alliance I created in 2010 is like the gift that keeps on giving. Year after year I continue to be inspired, excited, and made to think by my edublog alliance PLN! These are my go to blogs before all others! Karen Ogen recently posted about a Virtual Escape room. It is so much fun, I had to share here as well on the off-chance you don’t already follow Karen’s blog (iTeach with Technology). Virtual Escape Room is reminiscent of the Clue Rooms or Escape Rooms that are popping up all over the US (I assume they are happening overseas, can anyone confirm that?). These real-life rooms are not only fun, they are a great way for students to think critically and problem solve together. The premies of the rooms is this: You find yourself locked in a room and, using the clues in the room, must find your way out. There are props, puzzles, and clues all over the room and a time limit. The Arizona Science Collaborative has created a virtual version of the escape room (cue cheers from me!). While a real-life escape room would be amazing, often this is not a realistic school field-trip because of funding, class size, and transportation. Enter the virtual version! How to use Virtual Escape Room in your classroom: The Virtual Escape Room is a great way for your students to work in small groups to solve a mystery together using critical thinking and problem solving. Students must work together to find their way out of a dark virtual room using the clues in the room and solving some puzzles. Students learn how to work together in teams, communicate effectively, go through the scientific method, and solve problems creatively. Put students together in groups of 3-4 students to solve these problems on classroom computers, using an interactive whiteboard as a center, or on individual devices. Before completing the room, discuss what makes a good team member. How can we best solve problems together quickly? Students can go through the room together. Find out which team can get through the virtual challenge the most quickly. Follow up with discussion about what clues they used, how the students worked together as a team, and what things slowed them down. How was the scientific method used? Tips: If you aren’t familiar with Breakout/Escape rooms, check out http://www.breakoutedu.com to find out how other teachers are creating their own! The virtual room could be a great introduction to a larger room. Even better, introduce your students to this idea using the virtual room, and ask them to create their own escape room challenge (in-real-life) for each other! What it is:123D Design is a free super powerful, but simple to use, 3D creation and editing tool. As if that wasn’t great enough, it also supports many new 3D printers! The 3D creation tool is available for PC, Mac, and iPad download ensuring that no matter what devices you have at your disposal, you can take advantage of this awesome tool. The 123D app is incredibly intuitive, within just a few minutes, you can be creating like a pro (really!). Not feeling like a pro? There is also a quick start guide and a library of video tutorials that will explain how the different tools within the app work. The app has lots of 3D designs to start with that can be altered, but it also gives students complete creative license to create all on their own. So cool! How to integrate 123D Design into your classroom:123D Design is a fantastic tool that brings the principles of geometry to life while giving students an outlet for creative design and invention. The app is easy enough to use that even young primary students can use it successfully to create. I introduced this app to some of our students who have been learning the basics about coordinate planes. They quickly were able to identify the coordinate planes and were able to understand x, y, and z! This is the type of creation tool that helps students understand the application possibilities of the math they are learning (math in context, what a novel idea!) At Anastasis, we’ve been playing with the iPad version of 123D Design. In the app version, students begin by choosing a basic shape and then can edit it to be exactly what they want it to be. They can easily connect shapes to make really detailed creations. Example projects help them to play with the tools in the app until they understand and can start from scratch on their own. When students are finished, they save it to “My Projects” which is accessible in the 123D Design web and desktop app. If you are lucky enough to have access to a 3D printer, the kids can even print out their creations! This is a great addition to any maker space/prototype lab/design thinking routine. Don’t have any of that fanciness at your school? No problem! Adding this app to your classroom gives students an outlet to do some design thinking and work through ideas and inventions right in your classroom. Instant prototype lab! Our students often engage in design thinking as they engage inquiry. Right now one of our 4th grade students is inquiring into how much water is wasted in our daily activities. One area of waste is when we brush our teeth. This student is designing and creating a toothbrush with the water built-in so that the faucet doesn’t have to be turned on to wet the toothbrush. She’s been experimenting to find out how much waste there is in this activity in our prototype lab. Next, she’ll begin to bring her designs to life with 123D Design and we’re hopeful that she’ll be able to print out a prototype on our Printrbot (still experimenting with how to do that!). Tips: Sign up to become a member of Autodesk 123D. This gives you access to 3D models, tutorials, 10 free premium models each month, ability to send the 3D model directly to your own 3D printer (or if you don’t have one, to a printing service), unlimited cloud storage of your student designs, and access to the Autodesk forums. In November, I wrote a post about the book/PBS documentary series “How We Got to Now” by Steven Johnson. If you haven’t read this book or watched the series, it is a must! Truly, this is one of those books that has stayed with me. I’m not the only one. Students from 1st-8th grade at Anastasis have become fascinated with Steven Johnson’s journey through the six innovations that made the modern world. The way that Steven weaves the story is remarkable. It reminds us just how interconnected the world is and that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation, but as a result of connection. This book, perhaps more than any we’ve read as a school, has reminded us of the beauty of inquiry. What happens when hunches collide and people pursue those hunches. I love the way that Johnson explores innovation through these 6 lenses. Instead of offering up the typical “heroes” of invention, Johnson introduces students to concepts that span hundreds of years of invention and many of the unsung heroes. The six innovations include: glass, time, clean, light, sound, and cold. I’m telling you, the way that Johnson helps kids see connections in innovation and invention is brilliant! So much the way that inquiry works. In my first post, I wrote about how our students had imagined these innovations as a series of dominoes. Each new discovery leads to the next. Much like dominoes creating a chain reaction. The students have spent the last months exploring each of the 6 innovations in-depth. In addition to the PBS series, they’ve spent time really digging into each innovation that led to the next. @dweissmo really took on this project with her students. The process wasn’t without it’s frustrations (for teacher and students) but the end result was absolutely incredible! Honestly, I couldn’t have imagined a better outcome than what I saw today when Deb’s class unveiled their mini museum. Before I get to that, let me lead you through the process of how this project came together. First, Deb’s class watched each of the How We Got to Now @PBS documentary series. The students took notes (in Evernote, through sketchnotes, etc.) about each innovation. The class would also debrief after each video and talk about what surprised them, encouraged them about the invention process, the key players, and the timeline. @dweissmo is a master at leading these conversations. Her enthusiasm is infectious and the students caught her passion. Steven Johnson also has a way of presenting the unfolding of each innovation in a way that hooks your interests and keeps you marveling and making connections long after the video is over. After watching the documentary series, Deb put each of the six innovations up on her wall and asked students to write their names on a sticky note and choose which innovation that they were most excited to learn more about. Students chose which innovation they wanted to do a more in-depth study of and would, ultimately, create dominoes based on. For the dominoes, we snagged a bunch of the flat-rate shipping boxes from USPS. The students painted them different colors according to the innovation they were studying (a different color for each innovation). Next they took all of their notes and research and started creating their “dominoes” with information about that innovation. They quickly realized that there was SO much to say about each innovation, that it didn’t fit on their domino. The kids decided to create websites where they could add a little more in-depth information about the innovation. To make it easier for the museum audience, they connected the websites and webpages they built to QR codes for each domino. You guys, these are 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students!!! I’m so proud of them I could burst. They built their websites using Wix (a wonderful and amazing WYSIWYG editor). The QR codes were built using Google’s URL shortener which also happens to include a QR code. On the back of each domino, the kids affixed their QR codes. Some of the kids also created videos that were included on their website. (If you are interested in seeing these websites, all are linked here.) All of this was done over the course of a few months as the kids continued on their inquiry journey of How We Express Ourselves, and How the World Works. Then came the full moon. Any teacher will tell you that the full moon does something to children. Perfectly wonderful, reasonable children are suddenly unrecognizable and cannot make a decision or work together to save their lives. This is a real thing! This full moon coincided with class decisions about how to set up their museum. And much chaos ensued. Despite the full moon, the kids were able to come to a decision about how they would set up their museum for the rest of Team Anastasis and families to enjoy. For all of the trouble they had coming to a decision, they did a remarkable job in the end! They created a sort of maze/labyrinth to walk through with dominoes along the journey. They decided to organize the dominoes not by innovation, but instead as a timeline so that you could see the interconnectedness of innovation. They had a station set up with clips from the How We Got to Now PBS series, a station where kids/parents could download a QR code scanner and learn how to use it before going through the museum, the actual domino mini-museum, and a place to reflect on the museum afterward. It was incredible!! What was truly inspiring was watching the other classes (and parents) journey through the museum. Kids of all ages were SO engaged and impressed with what Team Weissman had put on. They spent time sitting at each domino and learning more about the innovations. They asked questions. They told Team Weissman what a neat website they had built. They connected with each other and learned together. Seriously, I couldn’t have dreamed up a better scenario. As the 1st-3rd grade class was leaving, they stopped and asked some of Team Weissman, “could you show us how to do QR codes and websites for our Body Tracings?” This is what learning looks like! After all their hard work, the kids sat down and reflected on what could have gone better. What they would like to do differently for their next museum. They congratulated each other for a job well done. They talked about how hard the project felt at times and how very proud of themselves they were when they persevered through the hard parts. They made plans for the next opportunity to share it. And now for our next trick, Team Weissman is creating their own inventions…How We Get to Next! These are so brilliant, I can’t wait to share them! If you are joining us for the 5sigma Education Conference (and I hope you are!!), you will get a first hand look at the How We Got to Now mini domino museum and hear from the students who created it.

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In most traditional societies, religion is an important form of social 'togetherness'. It augments a feeling of 'community' and promotes a set of shared values and beliefs in some form of god. Religion also plays a central role in cultural life; people often synthesize religious symbols and rituals into the material and artistic culture of the society: literature, storytelling, painting, music, and dance. It is the focus of the 'society' that is of interest to religious sociologists, in particular theories concerning the way religious behaviour differs between and within societies. Beckford notes that theories' revolving around 'how social interaction benefits or holds back societies', has made sociology a renowned area of study. Positive social knowledge could offer the means for peaceful reconstruction of social order by the elite of enlightened scientists and intellectuals"¦Social change need not depend upon revolutionary violence and the manipulation of the mob' Comte was able to make use of the new science for the progression of society and the re-establishment of order as well as being able to apply the positive method to social theory . Comte and his fellow Frenchman Durkheim are said to be the forerunners in creating the discipline of sociology. Thompson (1982) describes Comte as 'giving the subject its name and an ambitious prospectus,' whilst Durkheim gave it, 'academic credibility and influence.' Functionalist sociologists focus their attention on the 'nature of institutional relationships in society'. To understand this further, one can use Talcott Parsons' functionalist ideas as an example. Parsons, [who supported functionalism in the United States] used the functionalist perspective to group institutions in society into four related functional sub-systems; economic, political, kinship, and cultural. This theory stressed the importance of interdependence among all behaviour patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival. In a similar way Durkheim In trying to explain the value of social and cultural character, illuminated them in terms of their contribution to the operation of an 'overall' system. Furthermore, Malinowski, who promoted functionalism in England, endorsed the idea that cultural practices had psychological and physiological functions, such as the reduction of fear and anxiety, and the satisfaction of desires. Another Englishman Radcliffe-Brown contended that, 'all instituted practices ultimately contribute to the maintenance, and hence the survival, of the entire social system, determining the character of inter-group relations.' It is Parsons 'sub-system' of culture that encompasses religion that we now turn to. A functional definition of religion is fundamentally based on the 'social structure' and 'drawing together' of people, it pays particular attention to how religion guides and influences the lives of people who are actively involved, and through this promotes 'unity and social cohesiveness'. Durkheim believed and argued that, religion was a socially constructed institution, serving the needs of society by socialising members into the same norms, values and beliefs, therefore reinforcing the collective conscience upon which the stability of society rests. He looked in depth at the origins, meaning, and function of religion in society. His belief was that religion was not so much about God, but more about the consolidation of society and the sense of identity that this creates within a particular society. He fully believed that individuals who accepted their role within their own society develop a form of 'social conscience' as part of that role, which Durkheim labels as the 'Conscience collective,' which in simpler terms could be labelled as, ' a common understanding'. Published in 1921 and penned by Durkheim,' The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life', is renowned as the best-known study on the sociology of religion. Using secondary data, Durkheim studied native totemism in primitive Australian tribes, in effect the totem is a symbol that is an integral part of the group, and during ceremonies will be the magnet that draws everyone together to form a collective whole. Therefore, totemism in this instance is explained not in terms of what it is, [what the content of its doctrines and beliefs are] - but what it does, that is, the function it performs for the social system. Durkheim claims that, 'the totem, the sacred object is a representation, by which society symbolises itself,' which according to Fulcher and Scott, he believed to be the 'real basis of social solidarity.' From his observations Durkheim developed his theory of the sacred and profane, believing that all things in society can be separated into these distinct categories, as a fundamental dichotomy the sacred and profane are seen as two separate domains or worlds. For Durkheim the sacred meant the unity of the group embodied in symbols, as in his example of totems, the profane was more about the mundane or the individual, and less concerned with the 'group'. However the British anthropologist Evans-Pritchard (1937) observed that sacred things may be profane at certain times, an example he gives is the case of the Azande , who, when their shrines were not in ritual use, were used as props to rest their spears. This analysis of the sacred and the profane was extended to all religions by Durkheim and his followers, making a focus on what is similar about what they each do, and about the integrative functions all these religions perform on their social systems. He therefore viewed religion within the context of the entire society and acknowledged its place in influencing the thinking and behaviour of the members of society. Furthermore he believed that order flowed from consensus, from the existence of shared norms and values, for him the key cause of social upheaval stems from anomie, the lack of 'regulating' norms. 'Without norms constraining behaviour', explains Durkheim, 'humans develop insatiable appetites, limitless desires and general feelings of irritation and dissatisfaction.' Radcliffe-Brown continued Durkheim's sociological perspective of society; he particularly focused on the institutions of kinship and descent and suggested that, at least in tribal societies, they determined the character of family organization, politics, economy, and inter-group relations. Thus, in structural-functionalist thought, individuals are not significant in and of themselves but only in terms of their social status: their position in patterns of social relations. When regarding religious ceremonies Radcliffe-Brown contends that ceremonies, for example, in the form of communal dancing, promoted unity and harmony and functioned to enhance social solidarity and the survival of the society, in this he agreed with another renowned anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Malinowski's functionalism was highly influential in the 1920s and 1930s, a British anthropologist, he conducted one of the first major studies of religion from an ethnocentric perspective, on the people of the Trobriand Islands. The first anthropologist to undertake a long-term piece of field research, Malinowski lived among the Trobriand islanders for four years. In studying the functions of religion in a small scale, he agreed with Durkheim that 'religion reinforced social norms, values and promoted social solidarity.' Malinowski also believed that religion could relieve social anxiety and could provide a sense of security especially when people are faced with situations in which they have no control, an example Malinowski gives is based on his observation of the Trobriand islanders fishing in a calm lagoon, no religious practice was attached, however when faced with the perils of fishing in the open ocean, religious rituals were always performed. In this way Malinowski believed humans could exert a perceived control over a world in which they held no significant, individual power. This individual, perceived control can be seen to be used by people facing a personal crisis. Often in a situation where they have no control over the outcome, people will turn to religion looking for guidance and sanctuary; thereby giving them a sense of power. For Malinowski then, religion also helped to conciliate periods of life crises and events such as death, marriage and birth, these rituals, known as 'rites of passage' are marked by ceremonies, that by their very nature, are a form of 'social togetherness' that help to create social order and contentment. These 'rites' however can be seen to be controlled in that to a certain extent one is prepared for new life, death and marriage, these events form part the 'circle of life' and therefore come with some prior knowledge. Ceremonies that relate to these life events could be seen as a 'predictable' common bond that will help to reinforce social solidarity. Malinowski argues that religion minimizes the disruption, in particular, of death. He believes that the assertion of immortality gives rise to feelings of comfort for the bereaved, whilst the act of a funeral ceremony binds the survivors together. Coser (1977) explains further: Religion can counter a sense of loss, which, as in the case of death, may be experienced on both the individual and the collective level therefore religion as a social institution serves to give meaning to man's existential predicaments by tying the individual to that supra-individual sphere of transcendent values which is ultimately rooted in his society. So far we have seen that collective or communal gatherings are generally aimed at promoting social solidarity and cohesion, this is backed by the empirical evidence offered by Malinowski in his study of the Trobriand Islands. Hamilton (1995) offers that these gatherings can also be interpreted as involving the 'recognition of divisions, conflict and disharmonies inherent in the society and rituals may be seen as a means of coping with and defusing them'. Concerning Malinowski's empirical evidence, a contrasting point is noted by Casanova (1995) who questions functionalism on empirical grounds, he argues that religion does not provide consensus and unity, instead he says that most conflicts [an example he gives is the Iran/Iraq war] in society have religious foundations. Marxist sociologists also criticise functionalists on a theoretical level. Marx claims that religion does not create societal consensus, instead it creates conflict between those that have wealth in the ruling class and those that do not in the working class. Therefore according to Marx, the only norms and values that are conserved by religion are those of the ruling class. Functionalist theory could therefore be said to neglect the areas in which religion has been dysfunctional for society, whereby religious divisions have caused disruption and conflict rather than promoting social order. History provides numerous examples of this including the aforementioned Iran/Iraq dispute, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. An "Extreme functionalist assessment of religion," declares William Stevens, is put forward by American sociologist Robert Bellah. Bellah fuses Parsons' argument that America derives its values from Protestantism, with Durkheim's belief that the worship of god is the disguised worship of society. From this Bellah develops a new kind of religious concept, that of a 'civil' religion. Therefore despite the individual belief systems of American citizens, it is the overarching faith in America that unites Americans. Wallis (1983:44) cited in Jones, explains that Bellah finds evidence of civil religion in Presidential inaugurations and ceremonials such as Thanksgiving Day and Memorial Day are similarly held to integrate families into the civil religion, or to unify the community around its values. A further point to be made here is that generally civil religion does not hold to a belief in the supernatural. Bellah disagrees and says examples of confirmation in the supernatural can be seen or heard on a daily basis, phrases such as "God Bless America" and the words 'In God we trust' on the national currency, he believes are prime examples of this. However Stevens asserts that this is not the god of any particular creed, but a god of America. For Bellah then civil religion creates a social cohesiveness by gathering people together to collectively partake in some form of ceremonial event. Therefore flag waving at a sporting event or lining the street to celebrate a royal marriage or death can bring about a united outpouring of joy or grief that in itself generates order. A contemporary example is the untimely death of Princess Diana. Her funeral witnessed a monumental combining of people, faiths and nations in a symbolic act of grief. Functionalist sociologists tend to emphasize what maintains society, not what changes it and are criticized for being unable to account for social change because it focuses so intently on social order and equilibrium in society. Functionalists have to take into account that change does happen in societies and that change is a good thing, and can represent progress. Jones says that the functionalist way around this is to use an organic analogy - social progress occurs as it does with organisms - as an evolutionary change. Bilton et al explain that this takes shape in the form of structural differentiation"¦'differentiation is a type of splitting or separation of a previously undivided unit, the new units differ in that they are more specialised in the functions they perform'. Talcott Parsons, in his approach to social change, emphasises differentiation. According to Parsons, 'Institutions change, if the need of the system changes.' An example of a system change stems from The Industrial Revolution, which was facilitated by capitalism, was increasingly demanding technological advances to increase profit. In order to make this possible there was a need for more educated workforces. As a result the industrial economy needed a new form of family to perform these specialist functions. Thus, as one aspect of society changed - the economy and production - it required a comparable change in the educational system, bringing social life back into equilibrium. This new modernization of society, explains Marske, 'is associated with the increasing indifference of the individual from the traditional social bonds of an intimate network of diffuse social relationships.' Due to a greater demand in the workforce people from all walks of life came together causing an increase in the cultural diversity within a particular society. As a result individuality became a more prominent feature; religion it seems was becoming less social and more personal. Durkheim would disagree with this statement as he believed it was possible to be an individual as well as social institution, he explains, In reality, the religion of the individual is a social institution like all known religions. It is society which assigns us this ideal as the sole common end which is today capable of providing a focus for men's wills. Dillon (2003) explains that social scientists and Western intellectuals have been promising the end of Religion for centuries, Comte announced that, as a result of modernization, human society was outgrowing the 'theological stage' of social evolution and a new age was dawning which the science of sociology would replace religion as the basis or moral judgements. Durkheim predicted the gradual decrease in formal world religions; in post-enlightenment society he felt that there would be a greater emphasis on the 'individual'. This he believed would lead to a 'weakening of ties' in the modern world. In addition he envisaged that 'social solidarity' and the 'collective conscience' would be taken up by other institutions that would evolve into new forms of religious experience. Furthermore a maturing modernity would see scientific thinking replace religious thinking. As a consequence, Durkheim considered the 'concept of "God" to be on the verge of extinction. In its place he envisioned society as promoting civil religion, in which, for example, civic celebrations, parades, and patriotism take the place of church services. If traditional religion were to continue, he believed it would do so only as a means to preserve social cohesion and order. Parsons disagrees with this synopsis, 'with modern life will come structural frameworks that are more competitive and specialised, however they would still persist because religion is an adaptable structural framework for the explanation of inexplicable social phenomena.' A criticism applied to the functionalist's perspective stems from Durkheim's analogy that societies and social institutions have personalities. To imagine that a 'society' is a living, breathing organism is a difficult concept when in fact it is seen as an inorganic object. This creates what can said to be a philosophical problem and an ontological argument that society does not have needs as a human being does; and even if society does have needs they need not be met. The view here is that society is alive in the sense that it is made up of living individuals. What is not taken into account is that each individual is a different entity, with their own wants and needs. As part of the unit they can function and integrate within the group as a viable member. However individual life choices may not always create a positive function for the society as a whole. Functionalists in general tend to have a too positive view by believing that everything that exists in society does so because it has some kind of functional purpose. Robert Merton believed that it was entirely plausible for society to have dysfunctional elements. Durkheim also recognised that some forms of social life could be seen in the same way, however he did not use the term dysfunctional. In his work on crime, he noted that crime was functional to society, this seems to be a contradiction in that he also said, 'too high a level of crime' might not be functional, because it could create a state of confusion regarding what constitutes the 'norms' that applied to peoples lives. As a society dysfunctional actions, in particular criminal actions are frowned upon, and as a society we can become 'mob-handed' in the way people come together to condemn an act of crime. Durkheim has a point to make here in that, 'people combine together, forming a collective cohesion in defining themselves against what they are not.' Picturing society like a vast machine, Merton argues that a society should best be considered as a cross between the cultural "goals" of a society-what it holds its members should strive for-and the "means" that are believed, legally or morally, to be legitimate ways that individuals should attain these goals. In an ideally organized society, the means will be available to deliver all of its members to their goals. One must take into account when analysing such theories that at the time of writing the world was a very different place to the one we live in today. Social anthropology has come under criticism for looking into primitive societies as a representation of unchanged societies - criticism in particular stems from the lack of historical records that could confirm or deny any findings. Radcliffe-Brown considered this type of work a mistake"¦his belief was that the religious and ritual systems 'had to be understood in the context of the existing society and their role in that society. One could linger on Durkheim's prediction that religion would decrease with modernity, religion here being in reference to the act of attending a social gathering in the worship of some form, whether it be totemic or divine. However an important point to note is that at the time when the 'Sociology of Religion' was in its infancy, religious practice was more of a regular occurrence than one would perhaps find in today's society. However individuals are still irrevocably influenced by the role of religion in their own lives. Their beliefs and values allow them to feel supported in their everyday life; religion sets aside certain values and infuses them with special significance. Culture plays an important part here, as values, customs and beliefs combine to become a moral code by which societies adhere to and live by and pass on to future generations. Religion encourages collective worship be it in a church, mosque, temple, home or some other specified gathering place. Through the act of collective worship the individual is encouraged to feel part of a wider community. Today, societies are classed as more secular in their nature, yet if one consider the earlier statement about religion being an important form of social 'togetherness' it would be easy to make analogies with the different groups that make up the society we inhabit. For example schools hold assemblies, awards evenings and performances all which can be seen as an example of community spirit and social cohesion. People as individuals, have interests outside of their immediate social groupings, this does not make them an outcast or outsider, and instead it promotes a sense of identity, individualism and the 'self'. The writings of sociologists such as Durkheim, Comte, Radcliffe-Brown and Parsons are still important today, especially in comparing the way society sees religion. However, in contemporary society sociologists have a different set of problems to contend with as belief in 'modern society' and 'materialism' for many becomes a more vital 'moral value' than partaking in a religious practice.

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Please click on the links below to read more about the different subjects we are able to offer our students here at The Blue Coat School. - Stimulate and maintain student interest and enjoyment in biology - Offer students a broad and balanced curriculum, and where possible to provide opportunities to develop skills and gain an understanding of science concepts through first hand experience - Make learning in biology relevant to every day life and the world of work - Provide opportunities for students to carry out investigations on their own and in groups to foster team work - To develop practical skills and techniques that can be employed in a variety of situations as well as those necessary to complete the ISA tests at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 - Employ teaching methods and resources which allow students equal access to biology (irrespective of their gender, ethnicity or ability) - Encourage students to be thoughtful citizens by offering them opportunities to reflect on how scientific and technological developments impinge on the environment, personal health and ethics - Contribute to the development of the specialist science status of the school. Key Stages 3 The department follows the AQA suite of examinations. In Year 7 and Year 8 a “fast track” course has been developed to prepare our able students for GCSE Biology which they will start in Year 9. - Year 7 Students will explore some of the key biological themes during this course. These include cell biology, reproduction, the environment and digestion. They will also start to develop some of the key skills which underpin the study of biology at KS4 eg. How to analyse and interpret data and how scientists work. - Year 8 This course begins with an understanding of the main body systems. The effects of poor lifestyle choices are investigated and this is followed with a study of disease and disease prevention. Plants are not forgotten and the crucial process of photosynthesis is covered during the summer term. Key Stage 4 We study GCSE Biology as a separate science. This means we will cover more content than the GCSE combined science courses. The new AQA GCSE Biology provides a perfect preparation for AS and A- level without duplicating or overlapping the content. The main topics taught over the 3 year course are: - Cell Biology - Infection and response - Homeostasis and response - Inheritance, variation and evolution Practical work remains at the heart of biology and there are eight required practical’s that students have to carry out, although the department will cover many more than this. There are two terminal examination papers. They will both assess knowledge and understanding from the seven different topics. The new AQA specification will help to nurture a passion for biology and provide the ideal foundation for further study of the biological sciences or medicine. Preconditions for taking the course A grade B or above in GCSE Biology and a grade B or above in Mathematics are needed or at least a grade A in core and a grade A in Additional science if you have not taken separate sciences. Overall, at least 10% of the marks in assessments will require the use of mathematical skills. These skills will be applied in biological contexts and will be at least the standard of higher tier GCSE mathematics. You are strongly advised to take another science or mathematics with your AS biology course. Students who choose arts based subjects and biology alone will struggle at this level. Students will sit all of their external examinations at the end of the A- level course at the end of Year 13. The core content topics are: - Biological molecules - Organisms exchange substances with their environment - Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms - Energy transfer in and between organisms - Organisms respond to changes in the environment - Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems - The control of gene expression Key Stage 3 Each year the Biology Department holds a Year 7 Flanimals competition. This is based on the book series written by the comedian Ricky Gervais. Students are asked to design an animal with specific and unusual adaptations to a particular habitat. It is judged by the Department and the three most imaginative designs based on sound biology, win a copy of the first book in the series. Key Stage 5 The department appoints a number of biology prefects each year. This is an opportunity for students who are passionate about biology to develop their leadership and communication skills. The prefects are involved in developing revision seminars for struggling students and act as ambassadors for the department at open and information evenings. Over the years, many students have had the opportunity to attend field trips to local conservation areas and zoos. More recently, biology staff have taken students to South Africa to take part in Operation Wallacea. As well as developing leadership and team work skills, students on this trip also learn about specific scientific techniques related to conservation and ecology. The Chemistry Department is dedicated to engendering in its students a sense of excitement in the face of the complex wonder of the nature of matter. The Department seeks to give deeper understanding through scientific enquiry as exciting and absorbing as those who work in the Department sincerely believe it to be. Equally, the Department is determined that each student should achieve his or her full academic potential, not least in terms of examination success at all levels, and we aim to give personal encouragement and support unstintingly to all students. We employ a variety of teaching methods, with the aim of stretching and challenging all students and there is a strong emphasis on practical chemistry and putting chemistry into context. Key Stage 3 Almost all lessons in Year 7 and Year 8 involve either class practical work or teacher demonstration and seek to enthuse students whilst giving a good understanding of basic chemical concepts. There is emphasis on appropriate recording of scientific enquiry. Key Stage 4 Students have three years in which to study the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification. This allows for solid grounding in the more difficult concepts and opportunities to study some ares more deeply or widely as dictated by student’s interests. In the sixth form, AQA AS and A2 modular courses are offered, running in parallel: (i) Physical/ Theoretical Chemistry; (ii) Organic/ Inorganic Chemistry. Practical Examinations taken at the end of the lower and upper sixth years make up 12.5% of the total marks. These courses of study promote the acquisition of deep and detailed scientific knowledge and insight. Further, students learn an advanced degree of refinement in the practice of analytical techniques, both instrumental and experimental. Students are given enthusiastic encouragement to pursue the subject beyond A2 level. The School is a regular participant in The Chemistry Olympiad, having won gold, silver and bronze medals and recently having a student reach the final group for International Olympiad selection. Year 12 students participate in the “Young Analyst of the Year” Competition and the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. Our Year 9-11 students regularly perform well in the National “Top of the Bench” Competition in which we have been placed first and, most recently, ninth in the country. Every year 4 Year 10 students attend Salter’s Chemistry Camps at a variety of Universities and younger students compete in local Salter’s competitions. A variety of university lab experiences and trips to museums and industry are also offered. At all Key Stages we aim to foster a love of literature, writing and oracy. We seek to encourage the individual student to take responsibility for his or her work and progress. Key Stage 3 At Key Stage 3, we offer a range of modules, each devised to promote varied language activities, and each containing tasks designed to address the requirements of the National Curriculum. Thus we are confident that all students are supported and challenged in their learning. Literature is at the heart of all Key Stages and we aim to give Year 7 and 8 students an overview of the development of literature in English including the principle achievements in poetry and prose. Two Shakespeare plays are studied during the Key Stage. We foster the students’ own creative writing and aim to help them develop their skills and style through the promotion of accurate grammar and spelling. Key Stage 4 At Key Stage 4, (GCSE), all students are entered for both WJEC English Language and English Literature. In the final year of the course, practice in doing comprehension exercises, answering questions on the literature set texts and writing discursive, informative and short descriptive pieces are activities which are systematically undertaken. The overwhelming majority of students achieve at least grade A in both Language and Literature. At Key Stage 5, we offer two A level courses for sixth-formers, following AQA English Literature Syllabus B and AQA English Language and Literature. In English Literature, texts under the umbrella theme of tragedy are studied such as “Othello”, the poetry of John Keats and Arthur Miller’s play “The Death of a Salesman”. A level English Language and Literature involves the study of an Anthology of thematically linked spoken and written texts which offer candidates the opportunity to consider the three major literary genres and a range of non-literary texts. It also involves a study of set texts such as “Frankenstein” and the poetry of Robert Browning. The syllabus has a strong creative writing element which asks students to re-cast aspects of the set texts in different forms. The ways in which meaning is conveyed in spoken language and how power is displayed through language are also considered. At Key Stage 5, students are given a strong intellectual lead, and then are encouraged to become increasingly discerning, increasingly independent readers. They learn, in line with current tendencies in scholarship, to appreciate literature in the context of social and historical change, and in the process understanding, and critically evaluating, literary conventions and theories. Each year several students who have studied an English A level at Blue Coat go on to take English at degree level. Individual tuition is offered to students who wish to apply for Oxbridge entrance. The Department promotes a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including a creative writing club and close involvement with the annual school show. Theatre visits and other educational trips are also organised for the benefit and enjoyment of students. Students are encouraged to write in both creative and journalistic modes for a range of local publications and competitions (such as the School Magazine “The Squirrel”, various poetry anthologies and an annual young journalism competition). A book club meets monthly to discuss students’ book choices and includes members from across the Key Stages. The department is an official partner of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres allowing access to a range of theatre workshops, theatre tours and technical assistance with shows. The department is also taking part in “Work Bard Play Bard”, a project run by the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres in association with Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Geography at The Blue Coat School encourages students to find out about the world around them and look at how natural and human environments act together. We have a passion for our subject and how it affects all our everyday lives. We take great pride in developing the very best resources and fieldwork to enable students to thoroughly enjoy lessons and want to follow the subject right through to GCSE and A Level. Key Stage 3 At Key Stage 3, Schemes of Work are designed to deliver the requisite knowledge in a clear and systematic fashion. The Department provides an enquiry-based approach to geographical themes and concepts. Students will develop the skills of recognising and describing patterns of the inter-relatedness of factors which affect the local, national, and global environment. Key Stage 4 At Key Stage 4 (GCSE), students study AQA Syllabus B, covering topics relating the UK, the EU, and some wider, global issues. Students will develop an awareness of Physical, Human and Environmental forces which operate in the world today, and begin to develop a mature understanding of how they may be dealt with by the people of our age. They will also receive a grounding in the techniques and skills which are needed to perform serious and scientific geographical enquiries. Geography is a popular choice at A-Level. Topics in physical geography include: volcanoes, earthquakes and tropical storms. There is a separate unit on glaciation as well as a new topic on the importance of water and carbon to the planet system. In human geography we shall explore the economic, political and social changes associated with globalisation. We examine in detail a local place in the Liverpool area and another contrasting place. We also look at the emergence of megacities and the opportunities and problems that may arise. There are six days of new fieldwork to be arranged. Geography deals practically all of the major issues in the world today. These are included in lessons and ‘Geography in the News’ discussions and displays. In its academic work, the focus is on providing a breadth of musical experiences through music-making. Investment in computer programs has ensured that every student can move easily and naturally from imagining notes in the head to testing them on the ear. Classes will listen to music of different styles and periods; they will be involved in practical music-making; they will develop both their critical and creative skills through their own compositions. Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Those who opt to study Music for GCSE will compose music in a range of different styles, and gain some insight into the theory of musical composition. They will begin to assess music using formal criteria, and play music either as a soloist, or member of an ensemble. Music can be studied at both AS and A2 Levels, and those who choose to do so, rapidly develop their technical skills as composers, learn analytical skills in the study of famous pieces, and are given the opportunity to study a musical area of personal interest. Many choose to develop their performance skills even further. The Department also oversees the work of peripatetic music teachers, so that any Blue Coat student who is committed to progressing with his or her instrument has the opportunity – and day-to-day encouragement – to do so. Personal Development lessons at The Blue Coat School aim to help equip and develop students’ knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive and responsible lives. Personal Development encompasses the statutory requirements for Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), Citizenship education and Careers IAG (information, advice and guidance). It is a planned programme to help children and young people develop fully as individuals and as members of families and social and economic communities. Teaching will develop students’ understanding of democracy, government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Students will use and apply their knowledge and understanding whilst developing skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints, present reasoned arguments and take informed action. They will experience and evaluate different ways that citizens can act together to solve problems and contribute to society. Across all 3 key stages students reflect on and evaluate their achievements and strengths in all areas of their lives and recognise their own worth. They will learn about respecting the differences between people. They will learn to recognise some strong emotions and identify ways of managing these emotions positively (for example talking with a friend or teacher about their feelings on divorce or falling in love). Students will work on career plans and be prepared for the world of work and managing their personal finances. Healthy Body and Mind Students will learn how to stay physically and mentally healthy. They should be able to make informed choices to maintain their health and well-being, and explain reasons for these choices regarding healthy lifestyles, travel and personal safety. Students will study health disorders such as stress and depression, including the link between eating disorders and self-image and be able to identify strategies for preventing and addressing these. The dangers and laws relating to alcohol, tobacco and legal and illegal drugs will be taught whilst equipping students with the resilience skills to resist negative pressure, including from their peers. They will discuss the importance of relationships to marriage, parenthood and family life. They will learn how to assess the risks and benefits associated with lifestyle choices such as sexual activity. Students will learn to recognise difference and diversity (for example in culture, lifestyles, sexuality or relationships) and demonstrate understanding and empathy towards others who live their lives in different ways. They will learn to assertively challenge prejudice and discrimination (for example that relate to gender, race, disability, etc.) Society and Politics Students will be taught about the political system of democratic government in the United Kingdom, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarchy. They will learn how voting and elections work and the role of political parties. Students will learn about laws and the justice system and take part in a mock trial. There will be the opportunity to contribute to community and school-based voluntary activities. Key Stage 5 In Key Stage 5 students follow a comprehensive programme that has been designed specifically to meet the needs of Blue Coat students. Much of the focus is around preparing for life after Blue Coat, at University or in the world of work. Students will be given advice and guidance on the various post-18 options available, spend time working on developing their speaking and leadership skills and learn, develop interview skills for both work and university and practise these and be guided through the university application process. They will explore a range of life skill topics such as applying for loans and booking holidays. In addition to this students will learn how to stay safe in social situations and when abroad. There will be some basic first aid training and an introduction to the key skills required for living independently. As most students reach the age when they can vote, practical advice will be given and students will be guided in how to make informed decisions. Students will revisit issues surrounding diversity, different ethnicities and the issues surrounding radicalisation and extremism. The philosophy of the Physical Education Department is aptly summed up in the familiar slogan, ‘Sport for All’. We seek to promote all aspects of P.E. and active recreation, and encourage our students to develop physically, personally, socially and morally. To these ends, all teaching and learning styles are employed (including the traditional academic, as an aspect of sixth form study). Group and independent learning are central to our work. Key Stage 3 At Key Stage 3, we set about building upon the foundation of the previous Key Stage, and further develop our pupils’ skills relating to the six areas of prescribed study: dance, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, outdoor education, and games (the last being compulsory for all). Pupils’ knowledge base is considerably extended, new skills are acquired, and insight is gained into sporting tactics and decision-making. Key Stage 4 At Key Stage 4, students begin to specialise, following their own preferences, and opting for two of the areas studied at Key Stage 3. Physical activity is clearly (and practically) related to issues of health and well-being: training, fitness, and dietary techniques are demonstrated and taught. Skills are further developed and refined, and the mental and character-building aspects of physical striving are given due emphasis. Students are introduced to the sophisticated and rewarding arts of officiating and coaching. The successes of the Blue Coat School in sporting competitions have been, over recent years, many and great. It is almost unknown for Blue Coat football and basketball teams not to figure in local and regional finals – generally in the role of outright winners! Moreover, football and basketball teams have on several occasions returned triumphant with National trophies. The dedication and expertise of our teachers ensures that we have highly skilled and ambitious teams at all age levels in football, basketball, cricket and athletics, and are now seeing success in our hockey, netball and cross-country teams to the same standard. The Aim of the Physics Department is two-fold. Firstly and most importantly to develop appreciation and understanding of the physical principles which both underpin and power the physical universe, from the most minute particles to the largest things which exist. Secondly to prepare students effectively to apply this understanding to achieve exam results at the highest grades. A range of teaching methods is employed, from the traditional to the innovative, all designed to introduce the key concepts of physics, and develop a critical and rigorously analytical approach to the study of the physical world. We value highly the academic standards our students achieve and so, unusually, all of the students are taught Physics from Year 7 to Year 13 by specialist Physics teachers only. Key Stage 3 In common with other subjects the Key Stage three program of study is completed in years Seven and Eight. Following the Activate programme of study students meet, at a relatively basic level, all of the major branches of classical physics. They develop their understanding and knowledge of heat, light, electricity and magnetism, the effect of forces, and the position of the Earth in the universe. Students are thus enabled to acquire a primary knowledge of a wide range of physical phenomena, and develop the techniques and skills necessary to investigate them systematically. Key Stage 4 At Key Stage students study the topics introduced in Key Stage 3 in greater depth, and are introduced to radioactivity, and atomic and nuclear structure and stability. These studies follow, and lead towards, the AQA Physics GCSE which is part of the ‘trilogy’ suite of science GCSEs. At this Stage, students begin to perceive the links between seemingly disparate phenomena. In practical work, they develop their ability to investigate, scientifically, a quantitative relationship between variables by completion of a range of experiments and investigations, including a series of compulsory activities set down by the examination board. In the Sixth Form, in following the AQA Physics Syllabus, students study the full range of the physical processes and effects addressed by physicists and the sometimes complex theoretical constructs used to understand them. This course is characterised by an increase in the use of mathematical methods to gain a full understanding of the topics already familiar from Key Stages 3 and 4, and in addition students are introduced to fundamental particle physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. These last two topics form the basis of the optional section of the final module of A’level entitled ‘Turning Points in Physics’ Practical skills are developed by regular experiments which serve to underline and illuminate the theoretical side and, equally importantly, develop the investigative skills expected at this level. These skills are assessed by the teacher according to strict criteria laid down by the examination boards and in questions appearing in the final examinations. The skills and qualities developed in successfully completing this demanding A’level course are highly valued by employers and admissions tutors in a wide range of disciplines seeming unrelated to Physical sciences. In addition our Physics Department has a proven record of stretching and developing the most able students, and has prepared a large number of them for study of physics, engineering and related disciplines at prestigious universities. With such a large number of Physics and Maths students it is, perhaps, not surprising that there are thriving Physics and Engineering societies. There are also opportunities for students to attend lectures and hear visiting speakers. We also have a large number of entries into the Physics Olympiad and Physics challenges at GCSE and A’level and have had a good deal of success in these competitions. A smaller number of students are selected as subject prefects and these form an important part of the department, organising activities for open days and academic support for students who need a helping hand. Information coming soon.

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In this easy-prep, “taste of engineering” activity, youngsters see the separation of ink into its components. They place permanent marker ink on coffee filter paper that is dipped into isopropyl alcohol; then they repeat with water to see if the results are different. The process—called chromatography—is a way to look at complex mixtures by separating them into their components. It’s not a chemical process; it’s a physical process because the mixture components are not chemically combined. To wrap up the 45-minute activity, students share their findings and learn that different inks have different properties such as how well they dissolve in certain types of solvents—which is important for many real-world applications like criminal evidence investigation and pollution cleanup. This engaging “sprinkle” is ideal for after-school clubs and scouts, and is also available in Spanish! Glaciers, Water and Wind, Oh My! Activity What is erosion and how does it relate to math and engineering? In this hands-on, math-enriched activity designed for fifth graders, students learn about five types of erosion (chemical, water, wind, glacier and temperature) as they rotate through stations and model each type on rocks, soils and minerals. Students learn about the effects of each erosion type and discover that engineers study erosion in order to design ways to protect our environment, structures and people’s lives. In a series of real-world scenarios (math word problems), students make calculations about the effects of erosion, including calculating erosion damage on forest, personal property and mountains, as well as determining the cost of damage. This activity includes two student worksheets and is part of a nine-lesson and 16-activity elementary-level unit called “Engineering for the Earth.” The activity meets several state and national math standards including CCMS, and science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. "I love this curriculum. It’s scalable for middle and high school students, and it’s an important skill that is typically overlooked," said one of our partner teachers. While years of research have linked spatial visualization skills to success in engineering, NEW research shows that spatial visualization skills can be LEARNED. To begin this lesson, students complete a 12-question, multiple-choice spatial visualization practice quiz. Then, through four associated activities, students work through hands-on, interactive and tangible exercises on the topics of isometric drawings and coded plans, orthographic views, one-axis rotations and two-axis rotations. Finally, students take the quiz again to see how they've improved. This curriculum is the result of years of testing with first-year engineering college students, and has proved successful in improving student spatial visualization skills—thereby setting them up for success in engineering. Bring SV into your classroom today! How can engineers display data and results in an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-understand way? In this high school lesson, students learn the value of—and connections between—art and writing in both science and engineering. They learn the principles of visual design (contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity) as well as the elements of visual design (line, color, texture, shape, size, value and space) to acquire the vocabulary to describe visual art and design. Engineers often need to convey their designs and ideas visually to create buy-in, appeal to clients or win research funding. So engineers must be able to creatively and clearly communicate their work and designs—often using art. Students also learn about the science and engineering research funding process and heat flow/thermal conductivity basics, which prepare them for the associated engineering design activity in which they create visual representations to communicate their collected experimental data. This lesson and activity meet many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Just Breathe Activity Breathe in. Breathe out. What is happening to your lungs as you inhale and exhale? In this popular hands-on activity, students learn about the respiratory system and explore the inhalation/exhalation process of the lungs. Using everyday materials (2-liter plastic bottles and balloons), students act as engineers and create model lungs to analyze their function and the overall breathing process. They learn that during inhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases while pressure in the lungs decreases, and that during exhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity decreases while pressure in the lungs increases. By studying the respiratory system, engineers have been able to create life-saving technologies such as the heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive during heart transplant procedures. Students learn about the many engineering advancements that have helped people who have respiratory system difficulties. At activity end, student teams demonstrate their models and explore what happens to the respiratory system if punctured. This upper elementary-level activity meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Can you improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant through engineering analysis and design? In this thought-provoking activity, students attempt to improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant that is financially struggling due to inefficient daily routines by considering trade-offs and constraints. Acting as engineers, students identify strengths and weaknesses in the existing system and generate a plan to improve efficiency—such as restructuring employee responsibilities, revising a floor plan and delegating tasks—while following requirements and limitations. Students culminate their analyses by writing argumentative essays summarizing and defending their suggested changes and improvements. This activity is especially engaging for students with workforce experience, helping them make meaningful connections between their everyday experiences and engineering. The activity is suitable for middle and high school students and meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Alloy the Way to Mars Activity NASA needs your help! What alloy would you recommend they use for a new engine intended to transport astronauts to Mars? In this straightforward activity that requires few materials, students must think like real-world engineers to help NASA decide which material to use for its RS-25 engine and turbine design. Student groups work as engineering teams, taking various measurements and performing calculations to determine the specific strength of different alloys. Students test to look for a material that is both strong and lightweight and discover that a higher specific strength yields a stronger, more lightweight material. Students learn about the ultimate tensile strength, the maximum amount of stress a material can sustain before failing, and use that and the material density to calculate specific strength of the various alloys. The activity culminates in a creative writing project as students compose letters to the Deputy Program Manager at NASA outlining their recommendations. Geared towards middle school students, this activity meets science and technology standards including NGSS and ITEEA, and comes with a preparatory lesson. Imagine one day that you open your eyes and realize that you can only see a small portion of your surroundings—much of your range of vision is gone! Many people with glaucoma experience this every day. In this engaging activity, middle school students experience how engineers help people; they act as biomedical engineers to design pressure sensors that measure eye pressure and use 3D software to design and print 3D prototypes of their sensors (or modeling clay as an alternative). Presented with personal stories of two people with glaucoma, student teams are challenged to develop prototypes that can help them identify pressure changes in the eyes. Students learn about radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and conduct research on pressure gauges. They are given project requirements: designs must use RFID technology, be lightweight and small, and measure eye pressure. Over seven days, teams determine an appropriate pressure gauge, design an intraocular pressor sensor prototype given constraints, 3D print the prototypes, and present them to the class. This activity meets many STEM standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Imagine you are a runner, but you lost a leg in an accident—how can you keep running? In this easy-to-prep informal learning "sprinkle," middle school students design, build and test prosthetic legs in two hours using ordinary household materials. First, students learn about prostheses, the importance of replacement legs for individuals who have lost their leg(s) to accident or injury, and are tasked to follow the steps of the engineering design process to make prosthetic leg prototypes. Student teams discuss important features of replacement legs and brainstorm design ideas. They choose fabrication materials from provided supplies, sketch their design plan and gain instructor design approval prior to constructing their prototypes. After building, students test the prosthetic limbs, making sure they can be used to walk successfully around the classroom (crude but functional!). Students improve their designs as necessary and present them to the class at the end. This engaging and fun "sprinkle" is also available in Spanish! Growing and Graphing Activity How tall are you? In this kindergarten activity, students get to meet older schoolmates and explore their schools while measuring the heights of the older students using large building blocks, which they later translate into pictorial bar graphs. This activity provides a fun and refreshing way to introduce young students to measurement and graphing at an early age; they learn how to take real-world measurements and then graph and examine the data. The kindergarteners visit second and fourth grade classes and work in pairs to make height measurements of students and adults by using large building blocks and keeping tallies. Back in their classroom, they glue pre-cut construction paper rectangles (~1-3 inches in size, representing the building blocks they used for measurement) onto lined chart paper to make bar graphs of the different height measurements. Then they compare the heights of second-graders, fourth-graders and adults—discussing the differences and patterns, sorting the heights from tallest to shortest and determining the median height. This activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Right on Target: Catapult Game Activity Ready, set, catapult! In this hands-on activity, student groups are tasked with designing and constructing precise and accurate catapults using everyday materials and guidance from the engineering design process. With the goal to launch ping-pong balls to hit different targets, student teams experiment with different designs. Will the catapult shoot the ping-pong ball far enough to hit the target? Students must apply an understanding of projectile motion to determine the best launch angle to travel the farthest distance. They analyze the different forces acting on their catapults and make their structures robust enough to withstand them. After constructing their catapults, students test their structures and see how many targets they can successfully hit. Teams earn points for hitting targets and tally their scores to determine a winning team. Students present their designs to the class, suggest improvements and discuss the characteristics of successful catapults. This engaging and playful activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Physics of Roller Coasters Lesson Ack! You are at the top of a roller coaster about to drop—then, thanks to physics and engineering, you make a safe landing despite all the jitters! In this lesson, middle school students learn about the physics behind roller coasters, investigating potential and kinetic energy as well as friction and gravity, and explore how engineers apply the basics of physics to roller coaster designs. They learn how the force of gravity drives roller coasters and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to its motion. In addition, they learn how roller coasters slow down due to friction and the role that velocity and acceleration play in the motion of these exhilarating rides. This imaginative lesson provides the necessary background knowledge for its associated activity, "Building Roller Coasters," in which students design and build model roller coasters. This lesson geared towards upper middle school students meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Zero-Energy Housing Activity Brrr! It's a chilly March night—can you think of a way to heat your house without using an electric or gas heater? In this hands-on activity, teens design and construct one-bedroom model houses within specified constraints (and a variety of material options) and are challenged to warm up their houses as much as they can and maintain the heated temperatures for as long as possible using passive solar heating design techniques. Students learn about solar heating (including how insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors and site orientation are all essential in design), and apply learned concepts to the design and construction of their model houses. After constructing, students test their model homes during simulated daytime and nighttime conditions to examine thermal gains and losses. Finally, students present and compare their designs and suggest improvements. This engaging high school activity meets multiple science and technology standards, and is NGSS and ITEEA aligned. Quick! The power is out, you're in the dark and immediately grab your flashlight. Ever wondered how flashlights work? What makes them light up so easily? In this easy-prep informal learning sprinkle, elementary students design, build and test their own flashlights. Student first learn and discuss the essential components of flashlights: the importance of a switch, how flashlights are composed of a simple series circuit, and that the batteries and switch must be correctly oriented to work. Given a list of available supplies, they sketch their own flashlight designs that incorporate a switch, a reflector-enhanced light (such as with foil) and batteries contained in a paper tube. After building, students test for reliability, checking to see if the light can be turned on three times in a row. Students improve their designs as necessary and present their flashlights to the class at the end. This is a great starter engineering project—good for afterschool clubs and rainy afternoons. Also available in Spanish! Engineering a Mountain Rescue Litter Activity Imagine hiking in the mountains, suddenly getting injured and being unable to walk. In this hands-on design challenge, elementary-age students consider this situation and act as engineers to create rescue litters/baskets for use in hard-to-get-to places such as mountainous terrain. Using a potato to model an injured person, teams build small-sized prototypes that meet given criteria and constraints: lightweight and inexpensive, break down to be small and portable, quick assembly and stable transport of an injured body. They learn about the human bodys nerves and spinal cord and the importance of protecting it. They "purchase" ordinary building materials such as toothpicks, paper towels, craft sticks, foil and sponges to design and build prototypes. Through timed tests, they assess their design success in assembly and transport of the injured person (potato). Then students compare statistics (litter mass, cost, stability and rescue time) and graph all team data, analyzing the results to determine which designs performed best. Part of a biomedical engineering unit, this engaging activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Clearing a Path to the Heart Activity Can you think of a way to unclog blood vessels? In this open-ended design project, student teams act as biomedical engineers to create and build devices capable of removing and/or flattening plaque build-up inside artery walls. They follow the steps of the engineering design process, apply their knowledge of the circulatory system and learn about existing methods to treat blocked arteries (angioplasty/stent and coronary bypass surgery). First they gain an understanding of the need (chest pain, heart attacks), then brainstorm ideas, design and plan, create and test a prototype, and then refine their designs. Students assess their success by first observing how two liters of water flows through model clogged arteries (tubes with play dough or peanut butter in them) and then timing how fast the water flows through the cleared arteries. Students present their designs to the class, explaining what worked and what improvements are needed. This middle school activity is part of a larger biomedical engineering unit and meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Mars Rover App Creation Activity Did you know that the Mars Curiosity rover discovered water on Mars?! How do engineers develop such an intelligent vehicle capable of such vast exploration? In this activity, students explore the programming and technology realms to discover and create Android apps capable of controlling LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robots to simulate a planetary rover remote sensing task. Using MIT's App Inventor software, student teams create their own mobile applications that they execute on Android devices to control specific aspects of an NXT robot. They might program actions such as driving the robot, moving an arm, detecting objects, applying a game or using a light sensor. Student teams follow the steps of the software/systems design process and gain programming design experience. Groups present their apps to the class and demonstrate how they control a robot. This middle/high school activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Most people take no notice of above-ground storage tanks in their communities! The tanks might contain water or petrochemicals in liquid or gas form, or other industrial explosive and toxic materials. What's important is that engineers design the tanks to be structurally sound—and hopefully strong enough to remain intact during major storms and hurricanes! In this activity, teens act as engineers in design teams tasked to examine the stability of certain above-ground storage tanks (and demonstrate their understanding of Archimedes' principle and Pascal's law). Guided by worksheets and during five class periods, they derive equations and make analyses to determine whether the storage tanks will displace or remain stationary in the event of flooding. Then they are challenged to think of improved designs to prevent displacement and buckling. They present their results and design ideas to the class. This high school activity concludes the Above-Ground Storage Tanks in the Houston Ship Channel lesson, which is part of The Physics of Fluid Mechanics unit, and meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS and Common Core Math. Youngsters know the foods they eat and the clothes they wear, but may have never made the connection to climate. In this elementary-level lesson, students learn the effects of climate on our food options and water sources, as well as on our clothing and shelter types. In small groups, students role-play families living in different regions around the globe and determine where they live based on their clothing and food (provided on notecards). They discuss factors that affect the climate such as latitude, elevation, land features and weather, and learn about different climates such as tropical, desert, alpine, oceanic. They also learn how engineers develop technologies to predict and be protected from weather and climate. In the associated activity, students learn the steps of the engineering design process as they explore ways to provide water to a (hypothetical) community facing a water crisis. This lesson is part of a nine-lesson unit, "Engineering for the Earth." What happens to trash when you throw it away? What does it mean to be "environmentally friendly"? Elementary school students build and then observe small model landfills over five days as a way to learn about biodegradability and the processes that engineers use to reduce solid waste. The simple model landfills are created in cut-apart two-liter plastic bottles with four garbage samples tested: paper, apple, lettuce and plastic. Students make predictions and then note how the different items biodegrade over time. From this, they learn that engineers optimize the composting process and improve landfills so food, animal and other waste are converted into high-nutrient soil. They experience modeling; a common engineering approach to understand and improve how things work. This fun activity meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS and Common Core Math. What is an anemometer? And how is it useful? In this easy-prep informal learning sprinkle (which takes less than an hour to conduct!) student pairs build and use simple paper-cup anemometers to measure wind speed as if they were engineers identifying good locations for wind turbines. Elementary students are able to determine relative speeds by counting rotations of the spinning paper cups. By measuring wind speed at five outside locations, students see how it varies and where it is strongest, which helps them understand how knowing wind speed at multiple locations is important. For wind turbines, stronger winds generate more electricity! Real-time wind speed data collected at airports helps pilots safely take off and land. Continuously measuring wind speed at uncountable locations around the planet provides essential data for weather prediction and public safety alerts. Animals and Engineering Lesson What do animals have to do with engineering? Some students might be surprised to hear that animals are directly related to engineering! In fact, some of the most remarkable engineering innovations were inspired by animals and nature. In this lesson, students learn the role of animals in engineering innovation, particularly how animal characteristics and features are mimicked in engineering design to create new technologies—otherwise known as biomimicry. Such examples of biomimicry include airplanes, boats, underwater sea vessels, and antibiotics and healing drugs. Additionally, students learn about animal interactions and the basic animal classifications to better understanding how animals live and to relate the natural world to engineering innovation. This informative and interesting lesson, targeted for elementary school students, meets both NGSS and Common Core Math standards. Image source: Dreamstime.com Ice, Ice, PV! Activity As the use of renewable energy grows, most teenagers have seen photovoltaic solar panels in their communities and on everyday items such as back packs, battery chargers and outdoor lighting devices. These photovoltaic (PV) solar panels generate power that can be used in many applications in their lives. In this activity, students explore variables that affect the power output of PV panels to answer the question: “If engineers installed the exact same power plant in Las Vegas, NV, and Fargo, ND, would it produce the exact same amount of power over the course of a year?” Student teams collect data in this engaging hands-on activity and apply mathematical equations based on electrical power and the temperature coefficient to learn how temperature and climate affect PV panels and to predict the power output of PV panels at different temperatures. This activity also meets NGSS and Common Core Math standards. Photo credit: Candice Nyando, Black Rock Solar. Imagine having to carry water dozens of miles, up and around mountains, just to be able to boil that water for cooking and cleaning! Students learn the important role engineers play in the management of groundwater, and the importance of clean, accessible water. The realities of how water is acquired, and subsequently used, for daily survival—especially in developing countries—can be a new concept for students, especially Americans used to readily available clean water. Creating a system to transport water, helps “water poor” populations whose water does not come directly from a faucet! Students learn exactly how such a water transportation system is developed and used. This middle school-level activity meets one NGSS design problem standard. Making solar ovens is a classic, fun and delicious engineering activity—and one with great potential to help others worldwide. Middle school students learn the value of solar ovens as they use cardboard, insulation, foil and Plexiglas to design, construct and test devices that apply their understanding of thermal energy transfer. Student teams devise solutions to meet problem criteria and constraints, as well as collect and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of their designs. Then, expand students' context for how a project like this can help others by showing them a video clip about Infinity Bakery—a low-cost solar oven design being prototyped in Burundi to enable smoke-free and fuel-free cooking and baking. This activity fits into many areas of study, including energy, social studies, planets and seasons, graphing and analysis—and meets many NGSS and Common Core Math standards. In this NGSS-aligned unit, high school students learn about environmental and biomedical engineering through the study of nanotechnology and its relationship to skin cancer. Through three lessons and three associated activities, students learn about the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelengths and how the ozone helps block ultraviolet radiation; how repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation impacts our skin with harmful, long-lasting effects; and how persons with skin cancer are treated with nanoparticles, a result of modern technological advancements employed by engineers around the world. After this unit, students will have an understanding of the causes, diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer and an appreciation of the vital role biomedical engineers and nanoparticle research play in preventing humans from the (oftentimes life-threatening) condition of skin cancer. This unit requires approximately 12 days (60-minute periods) to complete. Sugar Spill! (for Informal Learning) Sprinkle Oh no! There has been a major pollutant spill, and environmental engineers must clean it up fast. How can it be done? What can be used to "soak up" the spill? In this informal learning sprinkle, students see how environmental spills are contained through "bioremediation"—a process that plays an important role for engineers to quickly and efficiently clean up toxic (or non-toxic, but messy) spills. Through the use of common household products—in this case sugar, yeast and vinegar—students learn that engineers do not actually "soak up" environmental spills, but use chemicals to safely degrade (or "eat up") harmful bacteria to restore balance to an area affected by a contaminant. Oil on the Ocean Activity Engineering design activities can play an important role in helping students make connections among the STEM subjects. This activity does that by engaging fifth-grade students in a fun, hands-on project to design, build, and re-design prototype oil booms to contain oil spills. This project weaves together a range of scientific concepts and topics, including ecosystems, material properties, density and pollution as well as considerations for the impact on wildlife, habitat and food supplies, related economic and political issues, and the use of technology by humans. Over three, hour-long class periods, student teams experience the full engineering design process, from understanding the problem and brainstorming solutions to drawing, prototyping, testing and redesigning solutions. Like real-world engineers, students work within given requirements and constraints, use assorted ordinary materials—duct tape, cotton balls, straws, sponges—and test their designs in miniature oil spill simulations. As a bonus, teaching this activity meets numerous NGSS (science) and ITEEA (technology) educational standards. Solar Water Heater Activity It is easy to take for granted the luxury of a hot shower or bath. An engineering mind wonders: How did the water get heated? How much energy is used? What types of energy are used? Could we use energy from the sun to heat it? Ask your high school students these questions to engage them in this NGSS- and Common Core Math-aligned activity to create miniature solar water heaters. In the process, they deepen their understanding of conduction, convection and radiation—each of which plays a role in the heater design. After the hands-on design/build projects are completed, students perform efficiency calculations, compare designs and think of improvements—just like engineers—thereby also experiencing the analysis phase of the engineering design process. This activity also passed the extensive review process of the Climate Literacy & Energy Network (CLEAN). Power, Work and the Waterwheel Activity Water is one of our world's most precious resources. Imagine if water could be put to work to make even another resource. Well it can! Water, on its own has a lot of power, but create a mechanism to harness that water power, and you can generate a lot of electrical energy. Why do we care about using water for creating energy? Well, energy is another precious resource for the inhabitants of our planet. This hands-on activity teaches middle school students about the power of water and why we care about harnessing water for energy use. Using simple supplies found at home or at a recycling center, students design and build their own water wheels, simulating hydroelectric power plants. They learn how engineers measure water power, and troubleshoot ways to increase that power. This activity is aligned to numerous standards, including NGSS, Common Core Math and ITEEA.

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A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that's drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made after the earliest times, it isn't until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, a large number of painters, sculptors and printmakers tried a few form of self-portraiture. Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 might well be the earliest known panel self-portrait. He painted a separate portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits, already more common among wealthy Netherlanders than south of the Alps. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, did it become truly popular. A self-portrait might be a portrait of the artist, or a portrait included in a larger work, including a group portrait. Many painters are said to have included depictions of specific individuals, including themselves, in painting figures in religious or additional types of composition. Such paintings weren't intended publicly to depict the actual persons as themselves, but the facts would have been known at the time to artist and patron, creating a talking point as well as a public test of the artist's skill. In the earliest surviving examples of mediaeval and renaissance self-portraiture, historical or mythical scenes (from the Bible or classical literature) were depicted using a number of actual persons as models, often including the artist, giving the work a multiple function as portraiture, self-portraiture and history/myth painting. In these works, the artist usually appears as a face in the crowd or group, often towards the edges or corner of the work and behind the main participants. Rubens's The Four Philosophers (1611–12) is a good example. This culminated in the seventeenth century with the work of Jan de Bray. Many artistic media have been used; apart from paintings, drawings and prints have been especially important. In the famous Arnolfini Portrait (1434), Jan van Eyck is probably one of two figures glimpsed in a mirror – a surprisingly modern conceit. The Van Eyck painting might have inspired Diego Velázquez to depict himself in full view as the painter creating Las Meninas (1656), as the Van Eyck hung in the palace in Madrid where he worked. This was another modern flourish, given that he appears as the painter (previously unseen in official royal portraiture) and standing close to the King's family group who were the supposed main subjects of the painting. In what might be one of the earliest childhood self-portraits now surviving, Albrecht Dürer depicts himself as in naturalistic style as a 13-year-old boy in 1484. In later years he appears variously as a merchant in the background of Biblical scenes and as Christ. In the seventeenth century, Rembrandt painted a range of self-portraits. In The Prodigal Son in the Tavern (c1637), one of the earliest self-portraits with family, the painting probably includes Saskia, Rembrandt's wife, one of the earliest depictions of a family member by a famous artist. Family and professional group paintings, including the artist's depiction, became increasingly common from the seventeenth century on. From the later twentieth century on, video plays an increasing part in self-portraiture, and adds the dimension of audio as well, allowing the person to speak to us in their own voice. Gallery: Inserted self-portraits Women artists are notable producers of self-portraits; almost all significant women painters have left an example, from Caterina van Hemessen to the prolific Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, and Frida Kahlo, as well as Alice Neel, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Jenny Saville who painted themselves in the nude. Vigée-Lebrun painted a total of 37 self-portraits, a large number of of which were copies of earlier ones, painted for sale. Until the twentieth century women were usually unable to train in drawing the nude, which made it difficult for them to paint large figure compositions, leading a large number of artists to specialise in portrait work. Women artists have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. Most common is the artist at work, showing themselves in the act of painting, or at least holding a brush and palette. Often, the viewer wonders if the clothes worn were those they normally painted in, as the elaborate nature of a large number of ensembles was an artistic choice to show her skill at fine detail. Images of artists at work are encountered in Ancient Egyptian painting, and sculpture and additionally on Ancient Greek vases. One of the first self-portraits was made by the Pharaoh Akhenaten's chief sculptor Bak in 1365 BC. Plutarch mentions that the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias had included a likeness of himself in a number of characters in the "Battle of the Amazons" on the Parthenon, and there are classical references to painted self-portraits, none of which have survived. Portraits and self-portraits have a longer continuous history in Asian art than in Europe. Many in the scholar gentleman tradition are quite small, depicting the artist in a large landscape, illustrating a poem in calligraphy on his experience of the scene. An Additional tradition, associated with Zen Buddhism, produced lively semi-caricatured self-portraits, whilst others remain closer to the conventions of the formal portrait. Illuminated manuscripts contain a number of obvious self-portraits, notably those of Saint Dunstan and Matthew Paris. Most of these either show the artist at work, or presenting the finished book to either a donor or a sacred figure, or venerating such a figure. Orcagna is believed to have painted himself as a figure in a fresco of 1359, which became, at least according to art historians — Vasari records a number of such traditions — a common practise of artists. Notwithstanding for earlier artists, with no additional portrait to compare to, these descriptions are necessarily rather speculative. Among the earliest self-portraits are additionally two frescos by Johannes Aquila, one in Velemér (1378), western Hungary, and one in Martjanci (1392), northeastern Slovenia. In Italy Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337) included himself in the cycle of "eminent men" in the Castle of Naples, Masaccio (1401–1428) depicted himself as one of the apostles in the painting of the Brancacci Chapel, and Benozzo Gozzoli includes himself, with additional portraits, in the Palazzo Medici Procession of the Magi (1459), with his name written on his hat. This is imitated a few years later by Sandro Botticelli, as a spectator of the Adoration of the Magi (1475), who turns from the scene to look at us. Fourteenth-century sculpted portrait busts of and by the Parler family in Prague Cathedral include self-portraits, and are among the earliest such busts of non-royal figures. Ghiberti included a small head of himself in his most famous work. Notably, the earliest self-portrait painted in England, additional than in a manuscript, is the miniature painted in oils on panel by the German artist Gerlach Flicke, 1554. Albrecht Dürer, 1471–1528, the first prolific self-portraitist Albrecht Dürer was an artist highly conscious of his public image and reputation, whose main income came from his old master prints, all containing his famous monogram, which were sold throughout Europe. He probably depicted himself more often than any artist before him, producing at least twelve images, including three oil portraits, and figures in four altarpieces. The earliest is a silverpoint drawing created when he was thirteen years old. At twenty-two Dürer painted the Self-portrait with Carnation (1493, Louvre), probably to send to his new fiancée. The Madrid self-portrait (1498, Prado) depicts Dürer as a dandy in fashionable Italian dress, reflecting the international success he had achieved by then. In his last self-portrait, sold or given to the city of Nuremberg, and displayed publicly, which quite few portraits then were, the artist depicted himself with an unmistakable resemblance to Jesus Christ (Munich, Alte Pinakothek). He later re-used the face in a religious engraving of, revealingly, the Veil of Veronica, Christ's own "self-portrait" (B.25). A self-portrait in gouache he sent to Raphael hasn't survived. A woodcut of a bathhouse and a drawing show virtually nude self-portraits. Renaissance and Baroque The great Italian painters of the Renaissance made comparatively few formal painted self-portraits, but often included themselves in larger works. Most individual self-portraits they have left were straightforward depictions; Dürer's showmanship was rarely followed, although a controversially attributed Self-portrait as David by Giorgione would have something of the same spirit, if it is a self-portrait. There is a portrait by Pietro Perugino of about 1500 (Collegio del Cambio of Perugia), and one by the young Parmigianino showing the view in a convex mirror. There is additionally a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci (1512), and self-portraits in larger works by Michelangelo, who gave his face to the skin of St. Bartholomew in the Last Judgement of the Sistine Chapel (1536–1541), and Raphael who's seen in the characters of School of Athens 1510, or with a friend who holds his shoulder (1518). Also notable are two portraits of Titian as an old man in the 1560s. Paolo Veronese appears as a violinist clothed in white in his Marriage at Cana, accompanied by Titian on the bass viol (1562). Northern artists continued to make more individual portraits, often looking quite much like their additional bourgeois sitters. Johan Gregor van der Schardt produced a painted terracotta bust of himself (c.1573). Titian's Allegory of Prudence (c. 1565–70) is thought to depict Titian, his son Orazio, and a young cousin, Marco Vecellio. Titian additionally painted a late self-portrait in 1567; apparently his first. Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi's La Pittura (Self-portrait as the allegory of painting) presents herself embodying the classical allegorical representation of Painting, seen in the dramatic mask worn around Gentileschi's neck which Painting often carries. The artist's focus on her work, away from the viewer, highlights the drama of the Baroque period, and the changing role of the artist from craftsperson to singular innovator. Caravaggio painted himself in Bacchus at the beginning of his career, then appears in the staffage of a few of his larger paintings. Finally, the head of Goliath held by David (1605–10, Galleria Borghese) is Caravaggio's own. Rembrandt and the seventeenth century in Northern Europe In the seventeenth century, Flemish and Dutch artists painted themselves far more often; by this date most successful artists had a position in society where a member of any trade would consider having their portrait painted. Many additionally include their families, again following the normal practise for the middle-classes. Mary Beale, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens gave us numerous images of themselves, the latter additionally often painting his family. This practise was especially common for women artists, whose inclusion of their families was often a deliberate attempt to mitigate criticism of their profession causing distraction from their "natural role" as mothers. Rembrandt was the most frequent self-portraitist, at least until the self-obsessed modern period, additionally often painting his wife, son and mistress. At one time about ninety paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits, but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to something over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include a large number of of the most remarkable images of the group. Many show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself. His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man to the dapper and quite successful portrait-painter of the 1630s to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age. In Spain, there were self-portraits of Bartolomé Estéban Murillo and Diego Velázquez. Francisco de Zurbarán represented himself in Luke the Evangelist at the feet of Christ on the cross (around 1635). In the nineteenth century, Goya painted himself numerous times. French self-portraits, at least after Nicolas Poussin tend to show the social status of the artist, although Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and a few additional instead showed their real working costume quite realistically. This was a decision all 18th-century self-portraitists needed to make, although a large number of painted themselves in both formal and informal costume in different paintings. Thereafter, one can say that most significant painters left us at least one self-portrait, even after the decline of the painted portrait with the arrival of photography. Gustave Courbet (see below) was perhaps the most creative self-portraitist of the nineteenth century, and The Artist's studio and Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet are perhaps the largest self-portraits ever painted. Both contain a large number of figures, but are firmly centred on the heroic figure of the artist. Prolific modern self-portraitists One of the most famous and most prolific of self-portraitists was Vincent van Gogh, who drew and painted himself more than 43 times between 1886 and 1889. In all of these self-portraits one is struck that the gaze of the painter is seldom directed at us; even when it is a fixed gaze, he seems to look elsewhere. These paintings vary in intensity and colour and a few portray the artist with bandages; representing the episode in which he severed one of his ears. The a large number of self-portraits of Egon Schiele set new standards of openness, or perhaps exhibitionism, representing him naked in a large number of positions, at times masturbating or with an erection, as in Eros (1911). Stanley Spencer was to follow somewhat in this vein. Max Beckmann was a prolific painter of self-portraits as was Edvard Munch who made great numbers of self-portrait paintings (70), prints (20) and drawings or watercolours (over 100) throughout his life, a large number of showing him being badly treated by life, and especially by women. Obsessively using the self-portrait as a personal and introspective artistic expression was Horst Janssen, who produced hundreds of self-portraits depicting him a wide range of contexts most notably in relation to sickness, moodyness and death. The 2004 exhibition "Schiele, Janssen. Selbstinszenierung, Eros, Tod" (Schiele, Janssen: Self-dramatisation, Eros, Death) at the Leopold Museum in Vienna paralleled the works of Egon Schiele and Horst Janssen, both heavily drawing on sujets of erotica and death in combination with relentless self-portraiture. Frida Kahlo, who following a terrible accident spent a large number of years bedridden, with only herself for a model, was another painter whose self-portraits depict great pain, in her case physical as well as mental. Her 55-odd self-portraits include a large number of of herself from the waist up, and additionally a few nightmarish representations which symbolise her physical sufferings. Throughout his long career, Pablo Picasso often used self-portraits to depict himself in the a large number of different guises, disguises and incarnations of his autobiographical artistic persona. From the young unknown "Yo Picasso" period to the "Minotaur in the Labyrinth" period, to the "old Cavalier" and the "lecherous old artist and model" periods. Often Picasso's self-portraits depicted and revealed complicated psychological insights, both personal and profound about the inner state and well being of the artist. An Additional artist who painted interestingly personal and revealing self-portraits throughout his career was Pierre Bonnard. Bonnard additionally painted dozens of portraits of his wife Marthe throughout her life as well. Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Egon Schiele and Horst Janssen in particular made intense (at times disturbingly so) and self-revealing self-portraits throughout their careers. Self-portraits in general Gallery: painters at work Many of the mediaeval portraits show the artist at work, and Jan van Eyck (above) his chaperon hat has the parts normally hanging loose tied up on his head, giving the misleading impression he's wearing a turban, presumably for convenience whilst he paints. In the early modern period, increasingly, men as well as women who painted themselves at work had to choose whether to present themselves in their best clothes, and best room, or to depict studio practise realistically. See additionally the Gallery of Women painters above. Art critic Galina Vasilyeva-Shlyapina separates two basic forms of the self-portrait: "professional" portraits, in which the artist is depicted at work, and "personal" portraits, which reveal moral and psychological features. She additionally proposes a more detailed taxonomy: (1) the "insertable" self-portrait, where the artist inserts their own portrait into, for example, a group of characters related to a few subject; (2) the "prestigious, or symbolic" self-portrait, where an artist depicts him- or herself in the guise of a historical person or religious hero; (3) the "group portrait" where artist is depicted with members of family or additional real persons; (4) the "separate or natural" self-portrait, where the artist is depicted alone. However it might be thought these classes are rather rigid; a large number of portraits manage to combine several of them. With new media came a chance to create different kinds of self-portraits besides simply static painting or photographs. Many people, especially teens, use social networking sites to form their own personal identity on the internet. Still others use blogs or create personal web pages to create a space for self-expression and self-portraiture. Mirrors and poses The self-portrait supposes in theory the use of a mirror; glass mirrors became available in Europe in the fifteenth century. The first mirrors used were convex, introducing deformations that the artist at times preserved. A painting by Parmigianino in 1524 Self-portrait in a mirror, demonstrates the phenomenon. Mirrors permit surprising compositions like the Triple self-portrait by Johannes Gumpp (1646), or more recently that of Salvador Dalí shown from the back painting his wife, Gala (1972–73). This use of the mirror often results in right-handed painters representing themselves as left-handed (and vice versa). Usually the face painted is therefore a mirror image of that the rest of the world saw, unless two mirrors were used. Most of Rembrandt's self-portraits before 1660 show only one hand – the painting hand is left unpainted. He appears to have bought a larger mirror in about 1652, after which his self-portraits become larger. In 1658 a large mirror in a wood frame broke whilst being transported to his house; nonetheless, in this year he completed his Frick self-portrait, his largest. The size of single-sheet mirrors was restricted until technical advances made in France in 1688 by Bernard Perrot. They additionally remained quite fragile, and large ones were much more expensive pro-rata than small ones – the breakages were recut into small pieces. About 80 cm, or two and a half feet, seems to have been the maximum size until then – roughly the size of the palace mirror in Las Meninas (the convex mirror in the Arnolfini Portrait is considered by historians impractically large, one of Van Eyck's a large number of cunning distortions of scale). Largely for this reason, most early self-portraits show painters at no more than half-length. Self-portraits of the artist at work were, as mentioned above, the commonest form of mediaeval self-portrait, and these have continued to be popular, with a specially large number from the eighteenth century on. One particular type in the mediaeval and Renaissance periods was the artist shown as Saint Luke (patron saint of artists) painting the Virgin Mary. Many of these were presented to the local Guild of Saint Luke, to be placed in their chapel. A famous large view of the artist in his studio is The Artist's Studio by Gustave Courbet (1855), an immense "Allegory" of objects and characters amid which the painter sits. Gallery: mortality in the self-portrait Other meanings, storytelling The self-portraits of a large number of Contemporary artists and Modernists often are characterised by a strong sense of narrative, often but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artists life-story. Sometimes the narrative resembles fantasy, roleplaying and fiction. Besides Diego Velázquez, (in his painting Las Meninas), Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jan de Bray, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin additional artists whose self-portraits reveal complex narratives include Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud, Arshile Gorky, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, Lucas Samaras, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Gilbert and George. The self-portrait can be a quite effective form of advertising for an artist, especially of course for a portrait painter. Dürer wasn't really interested in portraits commercially, but made good use of his extraordinary self-portraits to advertise himself as an artist, something he was quite sophisticated in doing. Sofonisba Anguissola painted intricate miniatures which served as advertisements for her skill as well as novelty items, considered such because the rarity of successful women painters provided them with an oddity quality. Rembrandt made his living principally from portrait-painting throughout his most successful period, and like Van Dyck and Joshua Reynolds, a large number of of his portraits were certainly intended to advertise his skills. With the advent of regular Academy shows, a large number of artists tried to produce memorable self-portraits to make an impression on the artistic stage. A recent exhibition at the National Gallery, London, Rebels and Martyrs, didn't shrink from the comic bathos that at times resulted. An example from the twenty-first century is Arnaud Prinstet, an otherwise little-known contemporary artist who has generated good amounts of publicity by undertaking to paint his self-portrait every day. On the additional hand, a few artists depicted themselves quite much as they did additional clients. Diagnosing the self-portrait Some artists who suffered neurological or physical diseases have left self-portraits of themselves that have allowed later physicians to attempt to analyse disruptions of mental processes; and a large number of of these analyses have entered into the textbooks of neurology. The self-portraits of artists who suffered mental illnesses give a unique possibility to physicians for investigating self-perception in people with psychological, psychiatric or neurologic disturbances. Russian sexologist Igor Kon in his article about masturbation notes that a habit of masturbating might be depicted in works of art, particularly paintings. So Austrian artist Egon Schiele depicted himself so occupied in one of his self-portraits. Kon observes that this painting doesn't portray pleasure from the masturbation, but a feeling of solitude. Creations of Schiele are analysed by additional researchers in terms of sexuality, and particularly pedophilia. One of the most distinguished, and oldest, collections of self-portraits is in the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was originally the collection by the Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the second part of the seventeenth century and has been maintained and expanded until the present time. It is mostly not on view for general visitors, although a few paintings are shown in the main galleries. Many famous artists haven't been able to resist an invitation to donate a self-portrait to the collection. It comprises more than 200 portraits, in particular those of Pietro da Cortona, Charles Le Brun, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Marc Chagall. Other important collections are housed at the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom) in London (with various satellite outstations elsewhere), and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.. Two methods of obtaining photographic self-portraits are widespread. One is photographing a reflection in the mirror, and the additional photographing one's self with the camera in an outstretched hand. Eleazar Langman photographed his reflection on the surface of a nickel-plated teapot. Another method involves setting the camera or capture device upon a tripod, or surface. One might then set the camera's timer, or use a remote controlled shutter release. Finally, setting up the camera, entering the scene and having an assistant release the shutter (i.e., if the presence of a cable release is unwanted in the photo) can arguably be regarded as a photographic self-portrait, as well. The speed of creating photographic self-portraits allowed for a range of images with more of a "play" atmosphere than traditional methods. One such example is Frances Benjamin Johnson's Self-Portrait, c. 1896, an image which demonstrates the photo-portrait's ability to play with gender roles.

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The teacher or facilitator places the text and images throughout the room evenly to avoid congestion in one area. They can be placed on walls on their own or attached to chart paper for participants to write on. When the images are ready, participants are instructed to either write comments on a post-it note and place it next to the image/text, or write on a piece of chart paper under the image. A question can be posed at the beginning of the gallery walk to focus participants on a specific aspect of the content. For example, “As you are walking around, think about where you see the impact of go-go in DC.” Participants are asked to walk around the space as though they were at an art gallery. There is no talking during the gallery walk. This gives participants a chance to reflect silently. Give participants 10-15 minutes to write down their thoughts. Allow more time if necessary. The teacher or facilitator places the text and images throughout the room evenly to avoid congestion in one area. They can be placed on walls on their own or attached to chart paper for participants to write on. This is an introductory lesson to acquaint students with key people and issues in a unit of study on go-go in the DC metro area. It serves as a pre-reading activity for books and articles on go-go. Following the lessons, it is our hope that students will want to learn more and generate their own list of questions for further study. The lesson format is a “mixer” or “meet and greet” where students take on the role of a key person, place, institution, or object. In their role, they try to find answers to a designated list of questions by interviewing their peers, who are also in role. They begin with informational questions and then regroup for questions that require critical thinking and analysis, such as: - What role does go-go play in understanding gentrification? - Why did go-go emerge in DC and why is DC one of the few cities in the U.S. to have its own music form? Public historian Marya McQuirter wrote the bios. She provided this description of the multiples goals she had for them: "First, I wanted to use the bios as a way to tell smaller stories about go-go that would add up to a big story (or bigger stories) or history about go-go. Second, I wanted to show that the history of go-go is not simple, it is complex and that it involves musicians, singers, educators, politicians, history, money, property owners, a desire to dance, etc. Third, I wanted to place go-go within a history of music. I wanted to give weight to the idea that go-go is a true musical form. And to emphasize its musicality, its use of a wide range of instruments (particularly in the first decades) and that go-go musicians also played, enjoyed, influenced and were influenced by other music genres. Finally, I hoped to provide a context for teachers and students to appreciate how go-go is such a beloved music and culture in the city and to create a space to think critically about its past, present and future." For classes where some or all the students are not familiar with the go-go beat, we recommend beginning by introducing students to some audio clips. For all classes, we recommend playing go-go music during the mixer activity. Go-go cannot be understood on paper alone. Materials and Preparation - Music clips: Have clips of these two songs cued up and ready to play: “Bustin' Loose, “Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers & “Welcome to DC,” Mambo Sauce - Name tags - Handout #1: Brief Bios.” There are 38 biographies in this handout. Print the handout and cut the paper into individual strips, with each strip displaying one biography. Each student or workshop participant and the instructor should receive one bio each. If there are more bios than participants, you can either give two bios to a few participants or reduce the number of bios distributed. If you reduce the number of bios, reduce them in multiples of six and delete the respective names from Handout No. 2. - Handout #2: Questionnaires: What’s My Name? What’s My Story? There are six (2A-2F) versions of this questionnaire to ensure students receive different questions. Print all six versions and make enough copies to cover the total number of students who will participate in the activity. Each student will receive one of the six versions of the handout. - Do a quick check-in with questions such as: - Who's heard of go-go? (If quite a few have, ask what bands/songs they can name or that they like.) - Who's seen a live go-go performance? - Whose parents/grandparents listen(ed) to go-go? - Explain that go-go has a multi-generational history in DC, so there are more people and places than the ones they named and luckily today you will get a chance to “meet” them. - If one or more students have not heard go-go, play two music clips: “Bustin' Loose” by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers and “Welcome to DC” by Mambo Sauce. Ask students: What do you hear? What are the similarities? What are the differences? Meet and Greet - Distribute one bio, questionnaire, and name tag to each student. Explain that for the rest of the class, they will take on the identity of the person, place, or thing on the bio they received. Point out that these biographies are simply brief introductions; the full stories could fill entire books. - Ask them to take a few minutes to read their bio. Then have them respond to the first two questions on the top section of the questionnaire, and to let you know if they have any questions. The two questions are: - What is your name? - What is one thing of significance about your own identity? - Have them put their role play name on their name tag and put it on. - Explain to students that they have the rare opportunity to attend a conference on go-go. In order to make the most of their time at this conference, they have a brief questionnaire to complete. This questionnaire will help them meet and learn about others at the conference. As they participate in the conference, they should stay in role, responding to questions from other participants, and in turn ask them questions. Each student should try to “meet” the people or places on their questionnaire that can help them answer their questions. Their conversations with each other should reveal the necessary clues for the student to figure out the names and fill in the blanks. - Launch the activity. At the beginning, you may need to remind students to stay in role. (If you have not done a mixer like this with your students before, you could model some interactions so they get the idea that they should meet and talk with people to try to find the answers to their questions.) - Once you have determined that most students have had enough time to complete their questionnaire, have everyone return to their seats. - Ask for a couple of volunteers to share what they found to be most surprising and/or interesting during the activity. Deepening Our Understanding of Go-Go - Explain that now the conference participants have been asked by the media to respond to some challenging questions. You can group participants so that they have the background needed to grapple with both questions. Group them according to what works best in your class. There is not a definitive answer to either question, so the challenge is to develop an informed response based on the knowledge and experience of the roles represented in each group. - What role does go-go play in understanding gentrification? (Bios 2, 7, 13, 35, 37) - Why did go-go emerge in DC and why is DC one of the few cities in the U.S. to have its own music form? (Bios 2, 5, 6, 8, 15, 19. 21, 33, 37, 38) - This is the conclusion of the activity. There are many possible next steps. For example, students can - Conduct research on the person, place, or thing they represented in the activity. They can share what they learned in the form of an essay, bulletin board display, a children's book, Wikipedia entry, radio theater, or iMovie. - Draft a description of go-go for the DC history textbook. If they were given one page in the book, what should it say? - Teach others in their school or community about the history and culture of go-go. Bios and questions developed by Marya McQuirter. Lesson developed by Deborah Menkart based on a “meet and greet” format used in many pre-reading lessons. On July 9, 2011, the D.C. community convened for a beat, the Go-Go beat. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum hosted Evolution of the Go-Go Beat in Washington, D.C., the second program in a series devoted to Washington, D.C.’s homegrown genre of music. Go-Go music, the history of which has been carefully chronicled in The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C., has West African roots and is recognized for its infectious heartbeat-based rhythm courtesy of its signature instruments, the congo, cowbell, and drum. Kip Lornell and Charles Stephenson, Jr., co-authors of The Beat!, invited the D.C. community-at-large to listen to talks from Go-Go artists. Sweet Cherie, Howard University Graduate and keyboard player of the all-female Go-Go band Be’la Dona, spoke highly of the Go-Go community describing it as “family.” Having just returned on a red-eye flight from a performance with the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, in North Carolina, she warmly presented several audio recordings evidencing Go-Go’s past and continued employ in other musical genres like R&B, Pop, and Gospel. The audience’s response ranged from toe-tapping to nostalgic grins as Sweet Cherie played excerpts of Grace Jones’ Slave to the Rhythm, Jill Scott’s It’s Love, Beyonce’s Crazy in Love, Kirk Franklin’s Before I Die, Karen Clark Sheard’s Prayed Up, Cee Lo’s I’ll Be Around, Kelly Rowland’s Bump Like This…the list goes on like the beat. Gregory “Sugar Bear” Elliot, lead talker and bass player of Experience Unlimited (E.U.), whose ’80s hit, “Da Butt” featured in Spike Lee’s School Daze and gave Go-Go music one of its first national platforms, detailed the group’s quick rise from playing in small local Go-Go venues to performing in 20,000-person capacity stadiums. He also expressed disappointment with the school system’s removal of music programs from public education claiming “there may be many Miles Davises among us, but we’d never know it” for the lack of access to standard musical training. Similar to the sun’s unrelenting blaze on this hot D.C. afternoon, Faycez U Know gave a smoking live performance on the grassy area of the Anacostia Community Museum’s grounds as approximately 20 teachers stayed indoors to attend to the business of developing a Go-Go curriculum. The goal of the meeting, led by Teaching for Change, was to build a collaborative community of educators who will develop, field test, and promote lessons centered on Go-Go. Teachers separated into groups of three to brainstorm interactive and effective ways to address the five core areas of knowledge based on Go-Go music and using The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. as a primary textual source. As the teachers regrouped, they shared many well-constructed ideas inspired by the homegrown sound. Three teachers (Michele Bollinger from Wilson Senior High School, Monét Cooper from Capital City Public Charter School, and Michael Bolds from Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy) talked about engaging students in a long-term multi-media project in which the students would create documentaries to include original photos, interviews, and primary documents. Felecia Wright from Anacostia High School thought students could use research and critical thinking skills to explore the relationship between Hip-Hop and Go-Go including why one has gained more national attention and the relationship between the musical/cultural forms. Reginald Dwayne Betts, a creative writing teacher, will entitle his lesson Rhetoric: The Art of an Illusion, exploring incidents of violence and Go-Go’s perceived association with them. Payne Elementary School teacher Mary Johnson is planning a lesson, The Language of Go-Go: Poetry and Figurative Language, Regional Language, Biography, and City Culture. Other ideas that surfaced included developing a business plan to promote a band as well as creating the social media and publicity for the band. Students would also learn some aspects of marketing by creating web pages, flyers and other promotional materials. Teaching for Change Associate Director, Allyson Criner, ended the gathering by asking teachers to name a student they will have in mind as they develop their ideas into actual lessons plans. The lessons will be field-tested. Teachers can still get involved by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org The Beat: Go-Go Music from Washington, DC by Kip Lornell and Charles Stephenson, Jr. University Press of Mississippi in 2009. One of the first books on Go-Go, The Beat set the stage for how we understand Go-Go. The Beat was originally published by Billboard Music in 2001. In some very fundamental respects, a go-go bears striking parallels to an African American Pentecostal church service. Both events, for example tend to be long, extending for hours with no predetermined endpoint. Nor do they hand out nearly printed programs detailing the event when you enter a Holiness church or as they check your ID when you come through the door at Deno's Club in Northeast. A go-go and a sanctified church service also blur the clear demarcations that separate performers from the audience. ...both a go-go and a Pentecostal church service succeed only when the majority of the people in attendance fully participate and become integrated into the event. The Washington Post, in particular, generally continues to report only negative stories on go-go. The Washington City Paper sometimes covers go-go events, mainly live performances and the occasional compact disc release. The city's other daily, the Washington Times, doesn't even seen seem to now that go-go exists. The latest information about D.C.'s go-go scene can be found on the internet....most folks turn to Kato's [ Kato Hammond's] "Take Me Out to the GoGo" website. Most go-go fans, have TMOTTGoGo.com bookmarked. I am a woman who happens to love and appreciate go-go music. I happen to be a woman involved in music. I also happen to be a woman at the go-go. My being a woman should not be an issue in go-go, but it is. Go-go is a man's world, a man's music, according to men. They may not say it, but they think it for sure. I'm here to dispute that, to debate it and to prove that the men are wrong about the women in go-go.... Percussion, not only the conventional drum and traps set but congas and timbales, remains one of go-go's core elements. Here is where the educational system in the District of Columbia helped to further the cause. In the 1960s the rivalry between the city's high schools really heated up, particularly on the athletic field. In the District of Columbia, marching bands are as much a part of the football field as the team itself. A Darryll Brooks observed, "There used to be a lot of competition between uptown bands and Southeast, like Spingarn and Eastern bands. We were very educated, musically." Go-go benefited from this phenomenon because so many of the students were involved with marching bands.... The role of the D.C. public schools did not cease with the involvement of young men (and they were mostly males) with percussion. The junior and senior high school marching bands at Taft, Woodson, Coolidge, Cardozo, Dunbar, McKinley, and others included horn and reed players...and many of the first generation of go-go bands utilized saxophones and trumpet players (part of the soul and funk legacy). The high school band experience helped the aspiring musicians in a number of ways. First, it taught them how to read standard musical notation. Secondly, they were placed in a context where they made music in large ensembles that required a great deal of cooperation. Finally, it reinforced the (essentially African American) concept that motion and music are highly compatible. The public schools' musical instruction received strong reinforcement from the D.C. Department of Recreation, which also played a vital role in educating D.C.'s aspiring musicians. The Department of Recreation also provided music lessons, especially for horn players, and assisted in sending a "Showmobile" with musical groups into the city's neighborhoods. Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City by Natalie Hopkinson Duke University Press 2012. Go-Go Live explores the place of go-go within the development of Washington, DC since the 1970s. It is an important reference for teachers who are unfamiliar with go-go and for teachers who are seeking content on how go-go is part of a larger and international history of black music and culture. The book contains photographs and extensive excerpts from oral histories Hopkinson conducted Indeed, three generations of Washington-area residents had been grooving to go-go ever since the guitarist [Chuck] Brown had created the sound in the mid-1970s, borrowing the Caribbean flavor he had picked up playing for a Washington Top 40 band called Los Latinos. Go-go has been compared to everything from funk to hip-hop and reggae, but it is best described as popular music--party music--that can take many forms. When you hear it, you know it's go-go by the beat: slow-boiling congas, bass drums, timbales, cowbells, and rototoms layered with synthesizers and a horn section. You also know it's go-go because the audience is part of the band. Together the musicians onstage and the people below it create the music live--always live--through a dialogue of sounds, movements, and chants. ...the essence of go-go is the live show....It is live and direct. Simple. True. For lives (and deaths) that are often made invisible in the mainstream media, go-go rituals comfort and reassure the crowd that they exist, that they are part of a community, able to hear news that may not necessarily be black and white. The violence and mayhem that erupted following King's death set the physical stage for the birth of go-go. The rebellion of 1968 reflected a distinctly consumerist, capitalistic, and hedonistic rage. The go-go scene filled a power vacuum, bringing together a steady crowd of Washingtonians in and around the city's core for fellowship, communion, and the expression of a postriot, post-civil rights movement urban reality. This new musical form helped bring new life to the charred urban core. Go-go flourished both because of and in spite of the decades of adversity that preceded the riots and intensified after them. Go-go established musical spaces in the ruins of social upheaval: in crumbling historic performance spaces such as the Howard Theater, in hole-in-the-wall nightclubs, such as the Maverick Room; in backyards, community centers, and parks. Once black and youth cultures possessed regional quirks, textures, and accents that reflected the places of the music's creation. Thanks to the dynamic rise of hip-hop, that is now less frequently the case. Go-go took such a wildly different trajectory to hip-hop that it could be seen as counterdiscourse to this standardization of youth culture. Both art forms have roots in urban youth culture, and their origins are both a byproduct of the urban centers' sociopolitical outlook following the collapse of the industrial economy in the 1970s, which caused middle-class flight and required the emergence of new urban public spheres. This power vacuum led to the rise of underground economies that snatched their own cultural and economic power. In the mid-1970s Bronx, that was hip-hop. In the mid-1970s Washington, D.C., it came in the form of go-go. Go-go's divergent path allowed it to maintain its function as a uniquely black public sphere. Its fidelity to time-honored cultural scripts such as live call and response, as well as its locally rooted distribution and economic system, makes a statement about how a public sphere should be structured culturally, aesthetically, and economically. Simply put: go-go never sold out. Go-go, with its live, heavily percussive instrumentation and discursive, non-linear narrative forms, remains aesthetically faithful to a long history of uniquely black public spheres. It lacks the polish and sheen of the high-tech production of contemporary hip-hop recordings or other kinds of popular music. There is a grit and texture to the music that accurately reflects, represents, and speaks to the communities of its creation, the communities where it is consumed and from which profits are taken. The content of the recordings are aggressively zoned toward individuals and neighborhoods otherwise ignored by mainstream news media. The lyrical content is not devoid of the negative influences that exist in all communities. However, the individuals both calling and responding to the messages reflect on black life in a way that is not distorted by multinational profit motives or the international gaze. - Two to four 50 minute periods to read, collect information and organize it - One to three 50 minute periods to draft a statement and present it. - Is anything ever completely independent of the influence of others? - In what ways do we connect with each other? - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. - Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). - Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. Students will be able to identify elements from other musical and cultural traditions that have been incorporated into go-go. (Identify elements that influence the creation of something new) Students will be able to make an argument for which elements adapted by go-go were the most influential and necessary in the development of go-go music. One page outline for argument that defends student statement around the most important musical influences on gogo this argument should include: a clear position, a statement describing go-go, quotes from the text, references to video or audio clips Students should be prepared to present their statements in whole class or small group presentation, or formal class discussion. Before embarking on this lesson students should already know how to identify valid supporting evidence, know the structures used in class for formal discussion, and how to craft a clear a clear position statement. Lesson Plan - Hook Have students create comparison charts in which they compare themselves to parents and/or grandparents identifying features both physical and behavioral that they have inherited and then identify those elements that are strictly their own. Show images of a modern instrument and its predecessors allowing students to identify the elements that were kept and those that are unique to the modern instrument. (This comparison will allow the teacher to facilitate a conversation, where students are able to notice how particular elements taken from one place can influence the development of something new.) counterpart, syncopation, antiphony, lineage, vernacular, disenfranchised, predecessor, secular, traits Teachers will provide students with student friendly definitions of the terms above and then have them provide examples and non-examples of each. As they read students will locate and record sentences in the text where the words are used. Read Aloud and Modeling Teacher will provide students with a chart/timeline/or map, that allows them to record the different types of musical traditions influential to the development of go-go, mentioned in the text. Teacher will read the first two paragraphs of “The Roots and Emergence of Go-Go” Pg. 11-12 and model his/her thinking: She/he will identify the musical tradition, then list the elements of that tradition that can be found in go-go music. The teacher should chart this example so that students may use it as a reference. The teacher will ask students to read pages 12-15 and identify either a new musical tradition that influenced Go-Go or a particular element within the already identified musical tradition to add to the list already charted. After a set period of time students will be broken up into groups and assigned a section or sections of the chapter and tasked with looking for musical traditions and the elements in these that were influential in the development of Go-Go, they may also identify similarities in the development of other musical styles. After students have read their sections they should chart and post their findings and present to the class. Students listening to the presentation should have a format for collecting the information presented by their classmates. Teacher will then show students clips of the different types of music mentioned in the chapter and students will add to their lists based on the visual and/or audio clips presented. Video Clips and Audio Clips of Live performances from each of these genres: West African Ju-Ju http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC0Tw4PmarA, R&B, Afro-Cuban/Latino, DC High School Marching Bands, Funk, Hip Hop, Latin, Go-Go Once students have collected all of their information they will be asked to choose one of the musical traditions that they believe was the most influential in the development of go-go and prepare for discussion by identifying textual evidence as well as evidence from the video and audio selection that will support their claim. Students will organize this information into an outline and use this outline as a guide for a class discussion (format to be determined by teacher). This outline and notes from the discussion may then be used to develop on page papers that show students ability to state a claim and support that claim with evidence.

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|This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)| Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities." Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed. John Dewey was the most famous proponent of experiential education, writing Experience and Education (1938). It expressed his ideas about curriculum theory in the context of historical debates about school organization and the need to have experience as central in the educational process; hence, experiential education is referred to as a philosophy. Dewey's fame during that period rested on relentlessly critiquing public education and pointing out that the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge, and not enough with understanding students' experiences. Dewey's work influenced dozens of other prominent experiential models and advocates in the later 20th century, including Foxfire, service learning, Kurt Hahn and Outward Bound, and Paulo Freire. Freire is often cited in works on experiential education. He focused on the participation by students in experience and radical democracy, and the creation of praxis among learners. John Dewey was an educator, but he was foremost a philosopher. His interests included political philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, logic, and philosophy of education. Political philosophy was one of his many philosophical interests. He saw weaknesses in both the traditional and progressive styles of education. He explains in length his criticisms of both forms of education in his book, Experience & Education (1938). In essence, he did not believe that they met the goals of education, which he defined as obtaining freedom of thought. Dewey did not believe in freedom of thought in any kind of absolute sense. Dewey advocated that education be based upon the quality of experience. For an experience to be educational, Dewey believed that certain parameters had to be met, the most important of which is that the experience has continuity and interaction. Continuity is the idea that the experience comes from and leads to other experiences, in essence propelling the person to learn more. Interaction is when the experience meets the internal needs or goals of a person. Dewey also categorizes experiences as possibly being mis-educative and non-educative. A mis-educative experience is one that stops or distorts growth for future experiences. A non-educative experience is one in which a person has not done any reflection and so has obtained nothing for mental growth that is lasting (Experience & Education, Dewey). In addition to the notions raised by Dewey, recent research has shown that experiential learning does not replace traditional methods of learning. Instead, experiential learning is designed to improve one's understanding by giving one the freedom to explore and find the learning path that is most suitable for him or her. The methodologies reflected in experiential education have evolved since the time of Hahn and Dewey. For experiential education to become efficient pedagogy, physical experience must be combined with reflection. Adding reflective practice, allows for personal introspection of challenges and key learnings. That is, physical challenges provide a gateway in which we can observe qualities about ourselves, and those whom we are working with. Further, for the efficacy of experiential education, experiences must be separated, giving the learner sufficient time to process the information. Experiential education informs many educational practices underway in schools (formal education) and out-of-school (informal education) programs. Many teaching methods rely on experiential education to provide context and frameworks for learning through action and reflection. - Outdoor education uses organized learning activities that occur in the outdoors, and uses environmental experiences as a learning tool. - Service learning is a combination of community service with stated learning goals, relying on experience as the foundation for meaning. - Cooperative learning alters homogeneous groupings in order to support diverse learning styles and needs within a group. - Active learning, a term popular in US education circles in the 1980s, encourages learners to take responsibility for their learning, requiring their experience in education to inform their process of learning. - Environmental education is based in educating learners about relationships within the natural environment and how those relationships are interdependent. Students participate in outdoor activities as part of their learning experience. Experiential education serves as an umbrella for linking many diverse practices into a coherent whole. Its philosophy is closely linked to numerous other educational theories, but it should not be conflated with progressive education, critical pedagogy, youth empowerment, feminist-based education, and constructivism. The development of experiential education as a philosophy has been intertwined with the development of these other educational theories; their contrasts have clarified differences. Fellowships and other training programs are available for experiential educators; but, formal training in experiential methods is lacking for K-12 undergraduate teaching programs (see Wendel, A. and Mantil, A., (2008) and the National Society for Experiential Education). Examples of experiential education abound in all disciplines. The educator Lucy Calkins writes, If we asked our students for the highlight of their school careers, most would choose a time when they dedicated themselves to an endeavor of great importance...I am thinking of youngsters from P.S. 321, who have launched a save-the-tree campaign to prevent the oaks outside their school from being cut down. I am thinking of children who write the school newspaper, act in the school play, organize the playground building committee.... On projects such as these, youngsters will work before school, after school, during lunch. Our youngsters want to work hard on endeavors they deem significant. Writing journals proves to be quite effective as part of English classes. Specifically, by writing "personal" and "text-related" journals, students find meaning in their own thoughts as well as in concepts learned in class. Personal journaling is the recording of past and present personal thoughts and events in the student's life to enhance self-awareness, student interest, and learning. Text-related journaling is writing about concepts learned in class in relation to students' personal experiences, to promote understanding. High school English classes in Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, Georgia earned national attention for using their research and writing to publish the Foxfire journal. (Wigginton, 1985). Students researched the culture of the Appalachian Mountains through taped interviews with local people. They wrote and edited articles based upon their interviews. Foxfire has inspired hundreds of similar cultural journalism projects around the country. Christchurch School, in the tidewater area of Virginia, has an experiential program called Great Journeys Begin at the River. The hands-on, skill-based, inside/outside curriculum is based on using the school's location on the Rappahannock River, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Students recycle aluminum to raise money for the school's oyster farm, which they tend in an effort to help save the Bay. The Nicodemus Wilderness Project provides an environmental experiential education program with a global reach called the "Apprentice Ecologist Initiative". This scholarship-based opportunity is targeted for youth volunteers who want to help protect the environment. The initiative seeks to develop young people for leadership roles by engaging them in environmental cleanup and conservation projects, empower volunteers to rebuild the environmental and social well-being of our communities, and improve local living conditions for both citizens and wildlife. Project OASES (Occupational and Academic Skills for the Employment of Students) emphasizes experiential education in the Pittsburgh public schools. Eighth graders, identified as potential dropouts, spend three periods a day involved in renovating a homeless shelter as part of a service project carried out within their industrial arts class. Students in such programs learn enduring skills, such as planning, communicating with a variety of age groups and types of people, and group decisionmaking. In their activities and in reflection, they come to new insights and integrate diverse knowledge from fields such as English, political science, mathematics, and sociology. Presidential Classroom, a non-profit civic education organization in Washington D.C., is open to high school students from across the country and abroad. They meet and interact with government officials, media correspondents, congressman, and key players on the world stage to learn how public policy shapes many aspects of citizens’ lives. Students travel to Washington and spend a week hearing from prominent speakers, meet with interest group spokesmen and tour the national capital. Students participate in a group project directed by experienced instructors; they have mediated debates on current issues facing the country. The focus of the week is to give students a hands-on introduction to how "real world" politics take place. The Advantage Foundation, a not-for-profit education organization in Western Australia, helps bridge the gap between university and employment via the Australian Business Icon program. The program engages young and emerging entrepreneurs in direct experience and focused reflection to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify values. It requires students with innovative, strategic thinking, and analytical skills, to take on four (4) pre-organized innovative and entrepreneurial business-related tasks. The goal is to develop the communication, ethics, innovation and enterprise of students. Global College, a four-year international study program offered by Long Island University, is based on self-guided, experiential learning while a student is immersed in foreign cultures. Regional centers employ mostly advisors rather than teaching faculty; these advisors guide the individual students in preparing a "portfolio of learning" each semester to display the results of their experiences and projects. The New England Literature Program in the English Department at the University of Michigan is a 45-day program, in which University instructors live and work together with 40 UM students in the woods of Maine in early spring. They intensively study 19th and 20th-century New England literature, in a program that includes creative writing in the form of academic journaling, as well as a deep physical engagement with the landscape of New England. NELP students and staff take hiking trips into the White Mountains and other parts of the New England natural areas each week, integrating their experience of the landscape with writing and discussion of texts. The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture is the only nonprofit and independent experiential educational program for college students in the United States. The Chicago Center is distinguished by unique seminars characterized by a 'First Voice' pedagogy, its location in the multi-ethnic Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and development of several hundred internship sites in Chicago. While many of the students who attend Chicago Center grew up in cities, the majority are from suburban, rural and farming communities. Students participate individually in its Semester, May Term and Summer Session. The Chicago Center also designs and staffs programs for groups, what it calls "LearnChicago!", which promise non-tourist experiences in the city. The Philadelphia Center is an off-campus program based on a model of experiential education. Recognized by The Great Lakes Colleges Association, The Philadelphia Center is currently the only undergraduate level program that supports independent living and encourages the use of the city as a learning space. Several Australian high schools have established experiential education programmes, including Caulfield Grammar School's five-week internationalism programme in Nanjing, China and Geelong Grammar School's Timbertop outdoor education programme. Other projects and "capstone" programs have included student teams writing their own international development plans and presenting them to presidents and foreign media and publishing their studies as textbooks in development studies, to running their own businesses, NGOs, or community development banks. At the professional school level, experiential education is often integrated into curricula in "clinical" courses following the medical school model of "See one, Do one, Teach one", in which students learn by practicing medicine. This approach is being introduced in other professions in which skills are directly worked into courses to teach every concept (starting with interviewing, listening skills, negotiation, contract writing and advocacy, for example) to larger-scale projects in which students run legal aid clinics or community loan programs, or write legislation or community development plans. The Boys and Girls Club of America provides a framework for youth development professionals to employ experiential learning methods. Lifeworks International offers experiential, service-learning programs for high school students. Trips combine adventure travel, cultural immersion, community service, and global education during expeditions in China, Thailand, India, Costa Rica, Peru, the British Virgin Islands, and Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Youth development programs have used experiential education methods to reach at-risk youth. An example is "Circus Harmony", based in St. Louis, Missouri. Their mission is to "teach the art of life through circus education". By learning circus arts skills, students come together from diverse backgrounds and experiences and learn from each other as well. In Legal Education, critical pedagogy is associated with devising more equitable methods of teaching, helping students develop consciousness of freedom, and helping them connect knowledge to power. Change in roles and structures Whether teachers employ experiential education in cultural journalism, service learning, environmental education, or more traditional school subjects, its key idea involves engaging student voice in active roles for the purpose of learning. Armstrong (2012) claims that students should be responsible of learning not the teachers. Students participate in a real activity with real consequences for the purpose of meeting learning objectives. Some experts in the field make the distinction between "democratic experiential education" in which students help design curricula and run their own projects and even do their own grading (through objective contracted standards) and other forms of "experiential education" that put students in existing organizations in inferior roles (such as service learning and internships) or in which faculty design the field work. Experiential education uses various tools like games, simulations, role plays, stories in classrooms. The experiential education mindset changes the way the teachers and students view knowledge. Knowledge is no longer just some letters on a page. It becomes active, something that is transacted with in life or lifelike situations. It starts to make teachers experience providers, and not just transmitters of the written word. Besides changing student roles, experiential education requires a change in the role of teachers. When students are active learners, their endeavors often take them outside the classroom walls. Because action precedes attempts to synthesize knowledge, teachers generally cannot plan a curriculum unit as a neat, predictable package. Teachers become active learners, too, experimenting together with their students, reflecting upon the learning activities they have designed, and responding to their students' reactions to the activities. In this way, teachers themselves become more active; they come to view themselves as more than just recipients of school district policy and curriculum decisions. It is also important to point out that not all learners learn the same. As a result, there are diverse learners that have unique learning styles pertinent to their success as students. Studies have shown that cooperative learning is strongly suggested in a diverse learning atmosphere. “Contemporary views of learning and their pedagogical applications have begun to change traditional classroom interaction patterns, shaping the communicative roles of the teacher and students as participants in a classroom learning community,” writes David Wray & Kristiina Kumpulainen. This paradigm shift in education gives both the student and teacher shared responsibility of the learning process. The teacher’s participation in discussion sessions is to act as a facilitator, maintain classroom decorum, provide individual and group feedback, and alleviate concerns or issues in the lesson. Critical thinking strategies are pertinent to the success of student oriented learning. When students are engaged in active discussions, high level thinking skills are put into practice to the point where students are synthesizing the information at a deeper level of understanding. According to Elliot Eisner, “We need to provide opportunities for youngsters and adolescents to engage in challenging kinds of conversation, and we need to help them know how to do so. Such conversation is all too rare in schools. I use 'conversation' seriously, for challenging conversation is an intellectual affair. It has to do with thinking about what people have said and responding reflectively, analytically, and imaginatively to that process. The practice of conversation is almost a lost art. The most significant intellectual achievement is not so much in problem solving, but in question posing.” Through experimental education, students are capable of finding their voice through peer-to-peer interaction. Students are now seen as active participants in the learning process. Vygotsky`s social development theory requires students to play untraditional roles as they collaborate with one another through critical thinking and conversational skills. According to Ann Ketch, author of Conversation: The comprehension connection writes, “The oral process helps students clarify and solidify their thoughts. The thinking changes from what it was before the conversation took place. Through conversation, the student is in charge of his or her own mental processing. The teacher acts as a facilitator, pushing the student to rely upon and monitor his or her own comprehension, which fosters critical thinking.” This is very vital because student conversation can elicit new ideas that may not have been mentioned or even thought of by another student. Therefore, student dialogue is very important because it helps individuals make sense of what is being learned. It also helps build respect for other’s opinions while taking ownership of his or her learning process. In experimental education, students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills by making connections to the real world. Therefore, effective learning entails active experimentation with a hands-on approach to learning. It is perceived that students learn more by being active. Students are interdependent in establishing group goals and decision-making skills. As a result, students are also capable of developing leadership skills, which can also enhance student motivation and confidence. When students are given a choice in terms of content to be learned, it ensures the teacher that his or her learners are interactive in the learning process. According to Ernie Stringer, “Action learners move through continuous cycles of this inquiry process to improve their understanding, extend their knowledge, or refine their skills.” When given a preference, students may feel motivated to take control of his or her learning experience. Student incentives are tied to progress in academic achievement. “Research indicates that intrinsic motivation stems from one’s interests and capacities to surmount challenge s when presented or pursued,” says Fenice B. Boyd. Many schools are encouraging teachers to tap into student interests with the hope that they transfer that motivation into the classroom. Through the continuous cycle of learning, teacher’s often work with students to develop a framework of knowledge, which is to be evaluated based on student input to the lessons content. Therefore, the teacher should establish criteria of what is to be learned as related to the student(s) choice in learning material. Ernie Stringer draws on the importance that “action research provides a process for developing a rich, engaging curriculum relevant to the lives and purposes of students, engaging their interests and abilities, and serving the broad human needs of community, society, and the planet. Creative construction of curricula or syllabi provides the means whereby the needs, perspectives, and/or interests of diverse stakeholders can be incorporated into vital, creative, effective programs of learning.” In essence, a well-planned curriculum is designed for learning that encompasses a broad range of goals and individual needs that ensures the active learning process. As students and teachers take on new roles, the traditional organizational structures of the school also may meet challenges. For example, at the Challenger Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, service activities are an integral part of the academic program. Such nontraditional activities require teachers and administrators to look at traditional practices in new ways. For instance, they may consider reorganizing time blocks. They may also teach research methods by involving students in investigations of the community, rather than restricting research activities to the library (Rolzinski, 1990). At the University Heights Alternative School in the Bronx, the Project Adventure experiential learning program has led the faculty to adopt an all-day time block as an alternative to the traditional 45-minute periods. The faculty now organizes the curriculum by project instead of by separate disciplines. Schools that promote meaningful student involvement actively engage students as partners in education improvement activities. These young people learn while planning, researching, teaching, and making decisions that affect the entire education system. At the university level, including universities like Stanford and the University of California Berkeley, students are often the initiators of courses and demand more role in changing the curriculum and making it truly responsive to their needs. In some cases, universities have offered alternatives for student-designed faculty approved courses. In other cases, students have formed movements or even their own NGOs like Unseen America Projects, Inc., to promote democratic experiential learning and to design and accredit their own alternative curricula. Other university level programs are entirely field-taught on outdoor expeditions. These courses combine traditional academic readings and written assignments with field observations, service projects, open discussions of course material, and meetings with local speakers who are involved with the course subjects. These "hybrid" experiential/traditional programs aim to provide the academic rigor of a classroom course with the breadth and personal connections of experiential education. Transitions from traditional to experiential At first, these new roles and structures may seem unfamiliar and uncomfortable to both students and adults in the school. Traditionally, students have most often been rewarded for competing rather than cooperating with one another. Teachers are not often called upon for collaborative work either. Teaching has traditionally been an activity carried out in isolation from one's peers, behind closed doors. Principals, accustomed to the traditional hierarchical structure of schools, often do not know how to help their teachers constitute self-managed work teams or how to help teachers coach students to work in cooperative teams. The techniques of experiential education can help students and staff adjust to teamwork, an important part of the process of reforming schools. Adventure education may use the philosophy of experiential education in developing team and group skills in both students and adults (Rohnke, 1989). Initially, groups work to solve problems that are unrelated to the problems in their actual school environment. For example, in a ropes course designed to build the skills required by teamwork, a faculty or student team might work together to get the entire group over a 12-foot wall or through an intricate web of rope. After each challenge in a series of this kind, the group looks at how it functioned as a team: - Who took the leadership roles? - Did the planning process help or hinder progress? - Did people listen to one another in the group and use the strengths of all group members? - Did everyone feel that the group was a supportive environment in which they felt comfortable making a contribution and taking risks? The wall or web of rope can then become a metaphor for the classroom or school environment. While the problems and challenges of the classroom or school are different from the physical challenges of the adventure activity, many skills needed to respond successfully as a team are the same in both settings. These skills — listening, recognizing each other's strengths, and supporting each other through difficulties — can apply equally well to an academic Socratic Method of questioning or problem-solving toward schoolwide improvement efforts. For example, the Kane School in Lawrence, Massachusetts has been using adventure as a tool for school restructuring. The entire faculty — particularly the Faculty Advisory Council, which shares the decisionmaking responsibilities with the principal — has honed group skills through experiential education activities developed by Project Adventure. These skills include open communication, methods of conflict resolution, and mechanisms for decision making (High Strides, 1990). Experiential education in other countries The development of experiential education in Asian countries Established in 1973, Breakthrough in Hong Kong was the first non-profit organization that applied the concepts of experiential education (though primarily conceptualized in terms of outdoor adventure education) in youth works. Since then, development in experiential education has proceeded in Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, and some large cities in China. Experiential methods in education have existed in China for thousands of years. However, it should be noted that John Dewey was in China in the early 1900s and his ideas were extremely popular. Interest in Dewey's experience in China and contribution is growing. Experiential education started in Qatar in 2010 through AL-Bairaq, which is an outreach, non-traditional educational program that targets high school students and focuses on a curriculum based on STEM fields. The idea behind AL-Bairaq is to offer high school students the opportunity to connect with the research environment in the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) at Qatar University. Faculty members train and mentor the students and help develop and enhance their critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills, using a hands-on-activities approach. There are many ways in which experiential education is practiced. Six of them include: simulation-based learning, active-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, service-learning and place-based learning. All of these use the pattern of problem, plan, test and reflect as their foundation for the educative experience. This is by no means an exhaustive list of methods used reflecting the philosophy of experiential education. Simulation-based learning—A combination of active, problem, project, and place-based learning; Participants are placed in a simulated environment and given objectives requiring constant attention and care. Active-based learning—All participants in the group must engage actively in working together toward the stated objectives. Problem-based learning—Provides a structure for discovery that helps students internalize learning and leads to greater comprehension. Project-based learning—An instructional method that uses projects as the central focus of instruction in a variety of disciplines. Service-learning—Providing meaningful service to a community agency or organization while simultaneously gaining new skills, knowledge and understanding as an integrated aspect of an academic program. Place-based learning—the process of using local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and other subjects across the curriculum. - Active learning - Cooperative education - Hands On Learning Australia - David A. Kolb - Deep learning - Design-based learning - Hands-on learning - John Dewey - Laboratory school - Learning environment - Learning space - Minnesota State University, Mankato Masters Degree in Experiential Education - Outdoor education - Place-based education - Problem-based learning - Project-based learning - Itin, C. M. (1999). Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the 21st Century. 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Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday. - Association for Experiential Education - The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning - National Society for Experiential Education - New York State Cooperative & Experiential Education Association - Shiralkar, Shreekant W (2016).IT Through Experiential Learning, ISBN 978-1-4842-2420-5. - Experiential Learning & Experiential Education: Philosophy, Theory, Practice & Resources - New Horizons for Learning - Business Icon Program - Changing Schools through Experiential Education. ERIC Digest. The original version of this Wikipedia article is based on the public domain text at this site. - Experiential Learning in Higher Education: Linking Classroom and Community. ERIC Digest. - Incorporating Student Voice into Teaching Practice. ERIC Digest. - Improving Evaluation in Experiential Education. ERIC Digest. - Outdoor, Experiential, and Environmental Education: Converging or Diverging Approaches? ERIC Digest. - Seven Steps to be an Efficient Science Teacher - Butterfly Fields Limited, India. - School Reform Through „Experiential Therapy“

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Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1819-1820) begins as a posthumous secret hidden within the collection of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. It reads, “Found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker,” notifying the reader of a long-lost legend. Here an intimacy is formed between Irving and the reader, one that continues to exist almost 200 years later, though Sleepy Hollow is separated from the original anthology. Americans still read and know the text and feel a sense of familiarity with the tale. It is, of course, America’s legend. Irving makes it easy on us by pointing it out in the title. Why wait for a story to become a legend when one can simply authorize it to be so? Hubris aside, Irving’s short story strikes a chord with multiple generations of American readers and viewers due to the fluidity of meaning and multiple cultural contexts associated with it. As a folkloric element, a legend can morph and change to serve its cultural environment. Irving designated “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” as such in 1819 and due to its revitalization through culture-producer, Walt Disney, the “Legend” takes a new form as a cartoon film. However, a singular message of Americanness remains. Though the function changes, later generations of young people discover the American tale through this popular adaptation released in 1949 as a part of a double feature titled Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and was paired with Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows. Disney’s take on Irving’s tale stays close to the original narrative, illustrating visuals and characters by the American author’s description. In fact, there is little alteration from the nineteenth-century story, aside from the softening that occurred due to its cartoon aesthetics. Three important aspects of the film apply to its public reception: first, the date of release occurs when Americans were moving toward a return to conservative domestic life after World War II; second, Irving’s tale is paired with a story highlighting pastoral England by British children’s author Kenneth Graham, which displays a connection between the two nations fostered by the war; finally, Disney’s portrayal of the American pastoral landscape displays a shift in environmental values and an alteration in cultural perception of man’s relationship with nature. In Search of a Legend Like other folk genres, the origin of a “legend” can be elusive. A legend transforms and adapts to meet the needs of the generation who requests its instructions and value. As a result of this fluidity, it requires investigatory skills to discover the starting point of a narrative and trace it through history. A second problem is that there are numerous definitions of a “legend” that depend on its historical origins. In her book, Legend and Belief: Dialetics of a Folklore Genre, folklorist Linda Dégh meticulously considers all of the elements towards what constitutes a legend and determines that there are too many variations to form a succinct definition, while posing further questions to be answered. She summons the reader: "Even if we tried to cite only the most common criteria, chosen at random, they would be disturbingly numerous. Are the sources of a legend a personal experience or folk tradition? How does the teller relate it – in first or third person? Does it concern familial, local, or a more general topic? How far has the story spread? Does it stay within a limited circle or does it tend to migrate? Is it national or international, rural or urban? What kind of belief does it express?" (emphasis mine). It is too much to exhaustively analyze “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” with all of the questions Dégh presents; so here the primary question of interest is “what kind of belief does it express?” As folklorist Richard Dorson writes, “Folklore is recognized as an expression of its times,” and it is an exploration “of the living, not the dying culture.” What matters is “its adaptability and suitability to the needs of a particular period.” If a legend is a fluid narrative “handed down” through generations and believed to have historical roots that alter and change to meet the needs of the living, then the evolution of Irving’s “Sleepy Hollow” in popular media is an illustration of this occurrence. Its origins are tricky, though, not because of the ambiguity, but because we know exactly when it was created and this knowledge causes problems for the folklorist who expects a legend to be of an equivocal nature. While it may not have been a legend at the time of Irving’s writing in 1819, it develops legendary status in the contemporary American mind through popular films like Walt Disney’s. Irving’s narrative is enjoyable to read. His writing is elegant, descriptive, and exciting. The tale can be terrifying when told on Halloween night. Certainly, the legend settles comfortably in a lineage of traditional storytelling, but this fact is not the singular reason for its continued veneration in American popular culture. After the “Disneyfication” of “Legend,” the tale acquired a place in the collective memory of twentieth-century children. The Disneyfication of Washington Irving Previous scholars such as Laurie A. Meamber define the term “Disneyfication” as “an approach to literature and history that simplifies and cleanses an object of unpleasantness,” and while typically referencing Walt Disney productions, it can indicate other “cleansed unpleasantness.” Here the term is directly applicable to a Disney product. The studio remained within the boundaries of Irving’s very detailed narration of characters and the American landscape, but simplified the images for visual appeal. The illustrated Ichabod Crane of 1949 is a line-by-line recreation of Irving’s depiction, narrated by Bing Crosby: "[Ichabod Crane] was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew." This description exists word-for-word in both the original short story and the film. Disney employs this narrative method in segments throughout as a sign to the viewer that they have no intention of veering from the original language or plot. The setting also remains close to text, as Disney relies on Irving’s words for guidance on illustrated scenery. Of the Van Tassel farm, Irving writes: "His stronghold was situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks in which the Dutch farmers are so fond of nestling. A great elm-tree spread its broad branches over it; at the foot of which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well, formed of a barrel; and then stole sparking away through the grass, to a neighboring brook, that bubbled along among alders and dwarf willows. Hard by the farm-house was a vast barn, that might have served for a church; every window and crevice of which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm." From here, Irving proceeds to elaborate on the quality of the flora and fauna, proudly proclaiming the bounty of the New York landscape. The Disney illustrators simplify the imagery, but successfully display the lush landscape of abundance. Panoramic views of a cartooned upstate New York serve as a background to the Halloween film: golden fields of grain, quaint Dutch windmills, large oak trees, and a perfectly proportioned red gambrel roof barn. Irving intended for the cultivated American land to be a character within the short story, and in cartoon form it remains the same. Though twentieth-century narrative seems to flow line-by-line, Disney leaves out quite a bit of text in order to portray a very specific message. Americanist Constance Rourke notes Irving’s ability to create “a comic mythology as though comic myth-making were a native habit, formed early; and [Irving’s] writings show the habitual playing off of one regional type against another." But rather than satirize contemporary characters, Irving reaches to the past for comedy. The setting is post-Revolutionary War America in an isolated village established by Dutch settlers. Irving does not criticize contemporary Americans, but pokes fun at non-English characters of the past. The writer is establishing a new form of American literature, yet by placing the narrative in pre-revolutionary history he is fooling the audience into thinking the past is laden with the values of the present. According to cultural historian Daniel G. Hoffman, the “clash of the regional characters,” and the clash of urban and rural, had “emerged as the dominate types” in literature during the first half of the nineteenth century, but the author managed to conceal it in a historical narrative and through caricatures of Dutch villagers. Though humorous, they come out on top, which both Rourke and Hoffman take note of in their analyses. In fact, Hoffman asserts that Irving’s “Legend” is the first instance of the “Yankee vs. the backwoodsman,” and that “When the Yankee meets the frontiersman instead of English fops or New York dandies, his role is reversed and he now becomes the representative of culture facing the unfettered natural man of the frontier.” Focusing on the backwoodsman, Dorson writes, “First attracting attention as a clownish figure in local legends, some of these slattern characters ascended toward heroic or at least mock-heroic stature.” The Yankee is no longer the hero, and the “city slicker” Ichabod Crane is destroyed. By re-issuing the narrative with little change, the Walt Disney Studios build upon the values presented originally by Washington Irving. While the storyline stays the same, a slight alteration in character emphasis shifts twentieth century values of manhood and wealth to the forefront. Irving intended for Brom Bones to be the sympathetic, heroic character and Ichabod Crane to be the fool. Disney shifts the sympathy to Crane as Bones settles into the background. In the 1949 cartoon, like Irving’s tale, Ichabod Crane is the primary character, Katrina is the love interest, and there is still competition with Brom Bones. However, in the Disney adaptation, Katrina and Brom are more one-dimensional than originally portrayed. Irving presents Brom as the frontiersman antithesis to Crane’s urban intellect while Disney’s Brom serves comedic purposes and is a channel to relay the tale of the Headless Horseman. Disney’s Katrina is a superficial sketch without a line of dialogue. Granted, Crane does not speak through the film, either, but he is the film’s namesake. Crane is a more sympathetic character in Disney’s adaptation, and the audience empathizes with him through his struggles for love and success, in spite of – or even because of – his comedic fallacies. He is long-limbed, physically and socially awkward, and self-serving. But he sings well, is loved by the ladies of the community, and is endearing in his self-centeredness. All he wants is to be loved by Katrina – and he wants her family’s wealth. He dreams of marrying a beautiful woman, settling down into a comfortable home, and accumulating worldly comforts. After World War II, many Americans felt the same way. In her celebrated book Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, historian Elaine Tyler May argues that it is too simplistic to think that post-war Americans were only “eager to put the disruptions and hardships of war behind them and enjoy the abundance of home,” which led to the increased marriage and birth rates and economic prosperity. Rather, she argues, the reasons are more complex, rooted in race, gender, and class issues, and encouraged by political policies. It is not my intention to refute her argument because it is a valid and a necessary element to our understanding of Cold War America. However, underlying ideals in Disney’s “Legend” confirm the interest of both men and women to return to the comfortable domestic lives after the war. The relevance of this rush towards a domestic ideal, and the sexual tension that accompanied it, is not simply found in the Ichabod-Katrina-Brom love triangle. Its emphasis is found in the transition – and change – between Irving’s short story and Disney’s adaptation. Through a gender analysis of the nineteenth-century text, historians Laura Plummer and Michael Nelson contend, “the ‘feminine’ in Ichabod is his unmanly, superstitious, trembling, and gullible side – he himself seems, in this tale, begrudgingly to acquiesce to the female sphere of Sleepy Hollow.” Nineteenth-century Ichabod Crane is unlikable to Irving’s contemporary audience due to the juxtaposition of the clueless Yankee to the manly frontiersman Brom Bones. In contrast, Disney’s version of the story places Crane as the likeable – albeit awkward – hero. He is attractive to the twentieth-century American audience for two reasons: first, he embodies the desires of post-war consumerism and prosperity, and second, Americans no longer contend with the wilderness, so there is less importance in the strong backwoodsman. The attainment of worldly goods and the accomplishment of a comfortable married life are the markers of success. Historian Michael Kammen writes that the post-WWII era had “distinctive manifestations” of nostalgia and heritage: “a growing concern with collective memory on the part of some individuals in response to apparent social amnesia on the part of many; a fitful desire that waxed and waned to recover vernacular culture along with a gradually growing interest in the history of ordinary folk and everyday life.” According to Kammen, Walt Disney was distinctly a part of this movement with the opening of Disneyland in California in 1955, influenced by Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Michigan, and through the historic districts in the theme park Disney “makes the past orderly, sanitized, seemingly innocent, and, of course, fabulously unreal." A false legend, fabricated for the generation of the 1820s by Irving to uphold the symbol of the robust country, is perfectly suitable for continued fabrication of American heritage by Disney Studios. Americans seized anything that allowed them to reaffirm the success of the American spirit. Irving created “Legend” to assert post-War of 1812 values of American stability and permanency by drawing on the strength and caricatures of rural people; Disney illustrated “Legend” post-WWII, and it confirmed American stability and the permanency of democracy. A part of this narrative was the country’s connection to Great Britain as a sister-nation. Though seemingly a trivial detail, it is significant that Disney paired “Legend” with “Wind in the Willows” by British children’s author Kenneth Graham. Throughout the war, the United States’ close alignment with Great Britain was part of the success of the conflict. The Lend-Lease program between the U.S. and British governments was the first step into war for many Americans and provided a way of participation without sending manpower. Though many were in disagreement with this kind of war involvement before Pearl Harbor, continued support throughout the war signified a connection between the two nations that many Americans linked with historical tradition. Post-WWII viewers would be intimately familiar with the relationship and regard it as a natural one, they would even esteem “Wind in the Willows” as a part of their own national heritage. However, before 1940, many Americans were not of British lineage, and there was a push toward a more democratic – a more “American” – view of heritage. Kammen argues that after World War I, Americans believed that Great Britain had pushed them into an unnecessary war, causing a great loss of life and exasperating economic struggles. This frustration was a catalyst for changes in the educational system and the "upshot," for Kammen, "was a surge of Anglophobia, nationwide attempts to purge schoolbooks of any positive content regarding Great Britain…Patriotic societies distributed [pamphlets] and belabored school boards to scrutinize potential texts.” Of course, these kinds of sentiments against Great Britain were part of an ebb and flow throughout the years, like a child that wishes to grow out from under the shadow of an older sibling. The back and forth between cherished relationship and independent disinterest swings again toward cultural (and political) bonds at the onset of World War II. One of the most famous features of WWII is the “special relationship” between the United States and England, symbolized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Historians argue that it is this relationship that allowed for the strength of the Allies. Yet, it was not without tension. In the early years, regular Americans were still not ready for a transition to a close relationship with the British again, and as historians David Dimbleby and David Reynolds point out, articles like that published in Life magazine in 1942 expressed American sentiments about not wanting to fight “to hold the British Empire together.” Through the war, as American and British soldiers fought alongside each other, as American soldiers met British women and families overseas, and as the media portrayed the strength of the British character through the war, American sympathies grew. After the war ended, and subsequently American political/economic support waned, a shock to the “special relationship” occurred. America was no longer in need of a partnership with the powerful Great Britain, but could function as a world leader without help. Following WWII, disputes escalated with the Soviet Union and thus the United States and Great Britain formed the partnership again in 1947. Dimbleby and Reynolds write, “The ‘special relationship’ seemed to work, after all. As the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Lewis Douglas, cabled Washington in August 1948, ‘Anglo-American unity today is more firmly established than ever before in peacetime.’” What about regular Americans? If the meaning of a legend is to work, the American people must be involved. The significance of a political alliance between the United States and Britain means nothing to the “special relationship” between Irving’s “Legend” and Graham’s “Wind in the Willows” if not for the general public’s interest. Culturally through the war, anglophilia started to rise. Distinguished essayist and former editor of The American Scholar, Joseph Epstein, writes (under the pseudonym “Aristides”), "For an American Boy growing up in the middlewest, World War II was fought at the movies. I fought it at the side of such gallant – and elegant – officers as Major Ronald Colman, Colonel Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Captain Noël Coward, Commander Cary Grant and Lieu (actually Lef)tenant Errol Flynn. Even in American movies, the English officers always came off as the most suave, most intelligent, most heroic of fighters." Though politicians make the “big decisions” of the war, the people make the judgment. Epstein brilliantly expresses how a 1940s child thought about world outside of United States boundaries. The English were heroic, “gallant,” and “elegant.” He could “see” them move through the movies and in his young mind, which how he was a part of the war. Through a different cultural outlet, Epstein connected with another element of British culture: literature. He writes, “In the public schools of Chicago, such literature as was studied, apart from the thin gruel of a bit of Longfellow and Washington Irving, was English literature. Christmas, as I understood it, was practically invented by Charles Dickens.” As patriotic societies attempted to rid the American school system of English influence, children like Epstein would grow to be producers of culture in their own right and delighted themselves in the works of the great British authors. Dickens taught them social struggles and heroism, Shakespeare taught them history, and Irving spoke Americanness. The two cultures melded together. “In America, our conceptions of honor, courage, romance and decency were all imported from England,” explains Epstein. This connection was reaffirmed through the Disney release of “Legend” alongside “Wind in the Willows” in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949. The American Pastoral Landscape: An Identity Crisis When Irving wrote rich descriptions of the American landscape and the people who worked it, he grasped for a mythology of the land that connected to the personality of the United States and lore embedded in history. In 1820, the American people were in the process of rejecting intellectualism for practical, homegrown intuition found in the symbol of Andrew Jackson. Ultimately, Richard Dorson writes, “Folk heroes even more than culture heroes [statesmen] emphasized the manners of democracy…[They were] shaggy heroes of a democratic folk, mocking the genteel dandies of the drawing room.” In the nineteenth century, by scorning tradition and formal learning, Americans rejected Old World Europe and embraced nature and natural wisdom rooted in the landscape. As John William Ward notes, they were forming the American personality. It was an effortless transition for Americans to reach for language that directly connected the success of a nation to the environment, since unlike the Old World’s established monuments and sacred sites, the New World’s cathedrals were mountains, the monuments were trees, and the mythological beings were the animals that roamed through it. An example of this language is Irving’s description of the abundant land in “Legend” – as a character it is more successful in seducing Crane than the coquette Katrina van Tassel. The land is a “character” in Irving’s tale and a manifestation of symbolic American abundance, prosperity, and promise; thus, the illustrated environment in Disney’s adaptation is a reflection of twentieth-century sensibilities about the purpose of the land. How one portrays the natural environment is a reflection of the worldview. The artists used Irving’s elaborate descriptions to form illustration, but the writers neglected to place emphasis on the unique aspects of the American landscape as Irving did originally. The primary worth of the land in the 1949 cartoon is its monetary value. While Crane daydreams about Katrina, his thoughts shift quickly to the wealth she would bring with her into marriage: a prosperous farm equals a source of abundant fortune. In the film, the golden wheat turns to gold coins and the green heads of lettuce become piles of dollar bills. The value of the land as portrayed by Disney is clear: it is not the unique flora and fauna, it is not the sense of independence and possibility – it is the potential for money-making on the farm that grabs Crane’s attention. While Irving describes the awkward character’s interest in affluence through the narrative, it is not as prominent of a detail as the abundance of the land. In fact, the personality of the landscape in the story stands alone, outside of economics. Only in the later version does it become a primary concern. During and after WWII, the importance of a piece of land was found in its profit value. After the economic depression of the 1930s, entrenched in the country’s ability to produce agricultural products, the development of a greater number of pesticides, innovations in farm equipment, and the need for agricultural production created a boom in the farm industry. Farm production increased by over twenty percent between 1935 and 1950. In 1946, the federal government passed more legislation to provide funding for agricultural research than years past. According to Julian M. Alston and Philip G. Pardey, the Research and Marketing Act served to “maintain a balanced farming and industrial economy” and “introduced open-ended appropriations for research and linked spending in agricultural research and development to national welfare.” Whereas funding for research remained in the thousands of dollars in the 1920s, it increased slowly through the New Deal Era, and by 1950, $15 million was granted for “new uses” research; $6 million for cooperative research into farm product utilization; and in one year funding increased from $2.5 million to $20 million for marketing research of agricultural products. The United States government placed significant weight behind America’s farming industry, hoping to squeeze out every bit of economic value from the land. This escalation in funds sparked a rising trend in American farming production, assisted by advancements in farm equipment, scientific developments in pesticides, and marketing of products. The increase in population due to the Baby Boom after World War II also encouraged agricultural growth. Though a sign of a healthy economy after the war, the river of funds flowing into America’s agribusiness also provoked concerns over the health of the land. In the 1940s, biologist and environmental activist Rachel Carson began voicing her concerns about the use of pesticides in farming, particularly DDT, while working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Before her post as editor in chief of the agency’s publications, she struggled to get other national magazines to publish her writings on the matter. “The pollution of the environment by the profligate use of toxic chemicals was the ultimate act of hubris, a product of ignorance and greed that she felt compelled to bear witness against,” writes Carson’s biographer Linda Lear. Cries of warning coincided with advancements in agribusiness and federal funding. It was too much too soon for many environmentalists, but prosperity was in the air. After the war ended, the United States economy was healthy compared to that of their European brothers and sisters. Advertising increased across all markets. Suburban homes were built in record numbers, consuming previously unused land. American men and women returned from war, weary and broken, wishing for comfortable prosperity. Strong sentiments like these found their way to popular entertainment like Disney’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in subtle ways, morphing Irving’s luscious landscape to dollars and cents. In his consideration of the evolution of historical thought in America, Kammen writes, “At a time when discontinuity seemed so perplexing, a sense of permanence and timelessness carried enormous appeal.” Patriotism of the 1950s connected directly with national heritage, a sentiment that begins to rise in the 1930s, but really reaches a peak after the war, corresponding with a rise in accessibility of automobiles for many Americans and an affinity for vacationing and tourism. Americans knew more about the country’s history from a popular culture perspective by traveling to historic sites and reaching into their past for entertainment. As Walt Disney’s influence upon American culture intensified through film and tourist destinations, he selected narratives that were directly connected to the American spirit. Other scholars have noted the importance of more prominent films, like the blockbuster Cinderella (1950), yet due to its American roots the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” connects to very national themes. Irving invented a legend to meet the needs of Americans in 1820 through humor, conflict between urban and rural personifications, and the natural landscape of abundance. The Walt Disney Studios reinvented the legend to illustrate concerns and changes in postwar America. The 1949 adaptation of Irving’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is not only firmly settled into the American mind as a part of historical narrative, but as a legend it moves and changes to meet the needs of the time. Disney tailored the story – while keeping all necessary elements – to meet the needs of a postwar American society entering on a new period of their history. From guest contributor Sarah Ruth Wilson, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

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JESSICA L. HOFFMAN, WILLIAM H. TEALE, AND JUNKO YOKOTA Virtually all teachers in the early grades value reading aloud as an essential classroom literacy practice. Decades of research document that reading aloud to kindergartners through second-graders promotes development of early literacy skills and establishes a foundation for positive attitudes toward literacy (Van Kleeck, Stahl, & Bauer 2003; Trelease 2013). Specifically, reading aloud builds oral language and vocabulary (e.g., Hargrave & Sénéchal 2000; Wasik & Bond 2001; Blewitt et al. 2009), listening comprehension—a precursor to reading comprehension (e.g., Brabham & Lynch-Brown 2002; Zucker et al. 2010)—content knowledge (Pappas & Varelas 2004; Hoffman, Collins, & Schickedanz 2015), concepts of print (Piasta et al. 2012), and alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness (Aram 2006; Brabham, Murray, & Bowden 2006). Equally important, reading aloud is one way we enculturate young children into literacy—helping them acquire the language, values, practices, and dispositions of the literate world (Heath 1983). Interacting with complex texts through read-aloud discussions Not all read-alouds are created equal, however. Different approaches to reading aloud in early childhood classrooms have recently garnered increased attention in the United States because of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The standards call for all students to engage with complex texts that offer opportunities for higher-level thinking (for a discussion of complex text, see CCSS for English Language Arts, Appendix A [NGA & CCSSO 2010]). Because most children kindergarten through second grade have not yet developed foundational reading skills well enough to independently read complex picture books, read-alouds offer the most robust opportunities for such interactions to occur (IRA 2012) (see “Literacy Instruction With Complex Literature Aligned With Common Core State Standards”). Read-alouds that engage young children with complex texts rely on interactive discussions focused on interpretations of texts that may vary with the backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of the children listening. In other words, discussing multiple interpretations of texts helps children realize that there are many possible responses to complex literature. Interactive read-aloud discussions focused on interpretations of complex texts promote basic comprehension and have the potential to extend from basic comprehension to analysis of text elements, integration of ideas to make connections, and critical evaluation of the texts themselves and the ideas in them. Read-aloud discussions that include complex processing of texts by young children have been considered in terms of children’s literary understanding (Sipe 2000, 2007; Pantaleo 2007; Hoffman 2011), and in studies of children’s development of critical literacies (Vasquez 2010) and multiliteracies (Crafton, Brennan, & Silvers 2007). These studies reveal how teachers and 5- to 8-year-old children can work collaboratively to construct multilayered interpretations of texts in read-alouds (see “Why the Book Matters for Literary Discussion in the Early Grades”). Characteristics of literature that support complex processing in read-aloud discussions Although how to read is a frequent topic of studies in the read-aloud literature, much less often researched is the issue of what to read—how the quality of literature impacts the quality of the read-aloud discussion (Teale, Yokota, & Martinez 2008). Essentially, some children’s books provide more to think and talk about than others. To help children process complex texts in read-aloud discussions, it is important for teachers to first choose texts that can support complex interpretations. Although this article focuses on choosing high-quality narrative literature or stories, similar principles apply to selecting informational books. Appropriate narratives for young children contain accounts of connected events that typically surround a central problem and lead to a resolution. The following sections outline characteristics of high-quality narrative children’s literature to guide teachers’ selections of texts. For each characteristic, we begin with a definition and explanation, followed by an exemplar text. The exemplar texts include all of the characteristics of quality narrative literature. In the interest of space, we use each book selection to illustrate a single characteristic. We also present online and print resources to help teachers find and select complex children’s literature (see “Resources for Locating Complex Children’s Literature”). Thematically rich issues Theme is a broad, overarching idea in a text that is usually communicated implicitly through multiple features of the narrative, including plot, character, character actions, dialogue, and setting. Theme is considered a central literary element of narrative, and thus discussion of theme is important in building young readers’ capacity to understand narratives as more than sequences of events. In some cases, the theme may be expressed as a moral, but many books appropriate for children kindergarten through second grade express themes in more subtle and multifaceted ways, much like literature for older children and adults. Because theme is abstract and implicit, readers must engage deeply with a book to consider theme and will often interpret different themes within the same text. One book with rich thematic possibilities implied through character and plot is The Empty Pot, by Demi (1990). In this book, the aging emperor of China announces that the next emperor will be the child who grows a seed in a year’s time. Children from all over China come to receive their seed from the emperor. A year later, they return with their flowering plants—all except Ping, who, despite his best efforts, has been unable to grow anything at all. It turns out the emperor had cooked all the seeds before distributing them. Ping, the only honest child to come before the emperor, is rewarded with an appointment as the next emperor. The following are examples of themes in this story: Sense of self. Ping experiences both shame and pride when he goes before the emperor. Doing one’s best. Though Ping appears to be unsuccessful at fulfilling the emperor’s task, he does not give up. Honesty. Despite feeling incompetent, Ping brings his empty pot before the emperor amidst a sea of children with beautiful flowering plants. High-quality narratives include round characters—characters who are dynamic, changing, and malleable. In contrast, flat (stock) characters are stable, fixed, and unresponsive to differences in particular events or characters. In other words, round characters are like real people—they act, think, and speak differently depending on the immediate context. Kevin Henkes is a master of character development in children’s books. In his book Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (1996), readers are introduced to a girl-mouse character with a new purse who is quite self-absorbed. Lilly cannot wait to show the other children at school the purple purse, but when she shares it with them at an inopportune time, her teacher takes the purse away and says he will keep it until the end of the day. Lilly grows despondent at having her prized possession confiscated and then becomes increasingly enraged at being put in time-out. By the end of the day she is furious with her teacher, even drawing a picture depicting him as a monstrous figure. However, when her teacher hands her the purse as she leaves for the day, Lilly finds a note and treats from the teacher inside it and suddenly realizes how “small” she feels. Thus, Lilly is depicted as a round character who exhibits a range of emotions and also grows through her experience. As she becomes less self-centered, she learns to temper her emotions and behavior more appropriately for the social situation. Engaging, complex illustrations Narrative picture books are a unique form of narrative literature in that they construct meaning through the interaction between text and illustrations. High-quality narrative picture books involve an artful, synergistic blending of text and illustration in which the meaning from the text and the illustrations are interconnected so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This complex relationship between text and illustration is known as transmediation, and it demands constant construction and reconstruction of meaning from text to image and back (Sipe 1998). Research on children’s use of illustrations to construct meaning in picture books during teacher read-alouds has demonstrated that even young children are quite capable of transmediating text and image, especially when supported by the teacher (Sipe & Bauer 2001; Sipe 2007). The book April and Esme, Tooth Fairies, by Bob Graham (2010), is a sophisticated example of how an author artfully combines words and illustrations to create a rich, sophisticated narrative. This fantasy book depicts the first time two young tooth fairies exchange a lost tooth for a coin. Graham’s story begins before the title page, as 7-year-old tooth fairy April is shown on her cell phone. The text, which provides her side of the conversation, indicates a request to pay a tooth fairy visit to the caller’s grandson, Daniel. April, thrilled beyond belief to be asked, convinces her (ponytailed) father and her (tattooed) mother that she and her younger sister Esme are up to the task. After a number of tense moments on the mission to collect Daniel’s tooth and deliver the coin, the sisters prevail and return home, travelling across a dangerous highway, to excited and proud parents. Throughout the book Graham creates a subtle interplay between text and illustration. Good examples of this are the three double-page spreads in the book depicting the formidable highway, with its constant string of huge, fast-moving 18-wheelers, contrasted with the tiny tooth fairy cottage and the almost minuscule tooth fairies. In one illustration the parents are shown in the lower left corner of the page while April and Esme hover in the upper right corner, framed by the white moon, “lift(ing) off into the night.” Large trucks loom between these two images. The visual contrast effectively conveys the scale and danger of April and Esme’s mission. High-quality narrative literature includes rich and mature language—words and phrases that develop complex meaning and imagery for the reader. Such text introduces young readers to words that may be new or somewhat unknown as well as to familiar words used in new ways (e.g., figurative language). Rich language is not flowery or longwinded; rather, it is carefully crafted by the author, who chooses each word and structures each sentence to create an original, artistic, and tightly constructed text. Jamela’s Dress, by Niki Daly (1999), is the story of a young girl in South Africa who unintentionally destroys fabric that her mother was going to use to make a new dress, when she gets wrapped up (literally) in her own desire to dress up. Daly carefully constructs his language to create imagery for the reader through word meanings and sound quality. For example, in a close reading of the sentence, “Dreamily, Jamela swayed between the folds of material as they flapped and wrapped around her into a dress,” readers feel the breeze blowing through the material, long and slow at first, “swayed between the folds of material,” followed by two short, quick snaps of wind that “flapped and wrapped” the material around Jamela, seemingly through no fault of her own. In other places, Daly fluidly infuses imagery through simile—“Down the road went Jamela, proud as a peacock.” At other times, it is the simplicity of language that contributes to the meaning, such as the dawning dread readers experience when Jamela’s mother calls to check on her but “there was no answer.” Words and language are Daly’s artistic tools to create rich images for his readers. Engaging, complex plot Plot is the series of events in a story and the relationships among the events, particularly how they relate to the narrative’s problem and resolution. An engaging, complex plot interests readers and drives their desire to know what happens next, especially in relation to a story’s resolution. Although older, more sophisticated readers can engage with problems far removed from their life experiences, younger children typically engage best with plots that relate to their more limited experiences and perspectives (Schickedanz & Collins 2012). In Maurice Sendak’s classic Where the Wild Things Are (1963), Max misbehaves and is sent to bed without his supper. His room transforms into a forest, and soon he sails into the land of the Wild Things, who name him King and honor him with a Wild Rumpus. But Max becomes homesick and returns to his house to find his supper waiting for him, still hot. This plot essentially revolves around disobedience, frustration with parents, thoughts and dreams, and perhaps even real instances of running away—all issues that resonate in young children’s lives. Sendak’s text and illustrations work together in a seamless exploration of plot paralleled with character—Max’s journey is both a dream of a physical journey (the plot) and an instance of an emotional journey (character). Sendak’s plot prompts children to consider issues central to childhood. In this article, we have provided examples of features of high-quality narrative literature that can support complex processing of texts in read-aloud discussions. The texts are not meant to be used as a short reading list for teachers, but rather as exemplars of the wide body of high quality children’s literature available. Children’s literature that is carefully crafted with the characteristics we discussed can support read-aloud experiences through which teachers apprentice children into complex processing of texts. Frequent opportunities to collaboratively process complex texts in the early grades help children learn how to approach such texts both as emergent readers and, later, as independent ones, thus contributing to their lifelong development as skilled readers. Aram, D. 2006. “Early Literacy Interventions: The Relative Roles of Storybook Reading, Alphabetic Activities, and Their Combination.” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 19 (5): 489–515. Blewitt, P., K.M. Rump, S.E. Shealy, & S.A. Cook. 2009. “Shared Book Reading: When and How Questions Affect Young Children’s Word Learning.” Journal of Educational Psychology 101 (2): 294–304. Brabham, E.G., & C. Lynch-Brown, C. 2002. “Effects of Teachers’ Reading Aloud Styles on Vocabulary Acquisition and Comprehension of Students in the Early Elementary Grades.” Journal of Educational Psychology 94 (3): 465–73. Brabham, E.G., B.A. Murray, & S.H. Bowden. 2006. “Reading Alphabet Books in Kindergarten: Effects of Instructional Emphasis and Media Practice.” Journal of Research in Childhood Education 20 (3): 219–34. Crafton, L.K., M. Brennan, & P. Silvers. 2007. “Critical Inquiry and Multiliteracies in a First-Grade Classroom.” Language Arts 84 (6): 510–18. Hargrave, A.C., & M. Sénéchal. 2000. “A Book Reading Intervention With Preschool Children Who Have Limited Vocabularies: The Benefits of Regular Reading and Dialogic Reading.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 15 (1): 75–90. Heath, S.B. 1983. Ways With Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press. Hoffman, J.L. 2011. “Co-Constructing Meaning: Interactive Literary Discussions in Kindergarten Read-Alouds.” The Reading Teacher 65 (3): 183–94. Hoffman, J.L., M. Collins, & J.A. Schickedanz. 2015. “Instructional Challenges in Developing Young Children’s Science Concepts: Using Informational Text Read-Alouds.” The Reading Teacher 68 (5): 363–72. IRA (International Reading Association). 2012. Literacy Implementation Guidance for the ELA Common Core State Standards. Newark, DE: IRA. NGA (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices) & CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers). 2010. Common Core State Standards. Washington DC: NGA & CCSSO. www.corestandards.org/. Pantaleo, S. 2007. “Interthinking: Young Children Using Language to Think Collectively During Interactive Read-Alouds.” Early Childhood Education Journal 34 (6): 439–47. Pappas, C.C., & M. Varelas. 2004. “Promoting Dialogic Inquiry in Information Book Read Alouds: Young Urban Children’s Ways of Making Sense in Science.” In Crossing Borders in Literacy and Science Instruction: Perspectives on Theory and Practice, ed. E.W. Saul, 161–89. Newark, DE: IRA. Piasta, S.B., L.M. Justice, A.S. McGinty, & J.N. Kaderavek. 2012. “Increasing Young Children’s Contact With Print During Shared Reading: Longitudinal Effects on Literacy Achievement.” Child Development 83 (3): 810–20. Schickedanz, J., & M.F. Collins,. 2012. So Much More Than the ABCs: The Early Phases of Reading and Writing. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Sipe, L.R. 1998. “How Picture Books Work: A Semiotically Framed Theory of Text–Picture Relationships.” Children’s Literature in Education 29 (2): 97–108. Sipe, L.R. 2000. “The Construction of Literary Understanding by First and Second Graders in Oral Response to Picture Storybook Read-Alouds.” Reading Research Quarterly 35 (2): 252–75. Sipe, L.R. 2007. Storytime: Young Children’s Literary Understanding in the Classroom. Language and Literacy series. New York: Teachers College Press. Sipe, L., & J. Bauer. 2001. “Urban Kindergartners’ Literary Understanding of Picture Storybooks.” The New Advocate 14 (4): 329–42. Teale, W.H., J. Yokota, & M. Martinez. 2008. “The Book Matters: Evaluating and Selecting What to Read Aloud to Young Children.” In Effective Early Literacy Practice: Here’s How, Here’s Why, ed. A. DeBruin-Parecki, 101–21. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. Trelease, J. 2013. The Read-Aloud Handbook. New York: Penguin. Van Kleeck, A., S. Stahl, & E.B. Bauer, eds. 2003. On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Vasquez, V. 2010. Getting Beyond “I Like the Book”: Creating Space for Critical Literacy in K–6 Classrooms. 2nd ed. Kids Insight series. Newark, DE: IRA. Wasik, B.A., & M.A. Bond. 2001. “Beyond the Pages of a Book: Interactive Book Reading and Language Development in Preschool Classrooms.” Journal of Educational Psychology 93 (2): 243–50. Zucker, T.A., L.M. Justice, S.B. Piasta, & J.N. Kaderavek. 2010. “Preschool Teachers’ Literal and Inferential Questions and Children’s Responses During Whole Class Shared Reading.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 25 (1): 65–83.

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Two types of routines that is really predominate and potentially harmful in the classroom is how teachers reward and punish students in the classroom. Too many times teachers use food as a reward or punish and/or use physical activity as a punishment, this creates negative perceptions of food and physical activities. To help promote child's health food should not be used as a reward and physical activity should not be used as a punishment but it should be used as a reward. One specific way to use physical activity as a reward is having a dance party be a reward; this is slightly mentioned in this article but I have linked at the bottom more details and teachers reactions to dance parties. To help make having dance parties become a routine way of rewarding the class, the teacher can create a point system of how the class can get points and have to work as a class to get a certain number of points. This also helps foster the necessary skills for PBL to happen because this forces students to work as a whole group by collaborating and communicating on how to keep the whole class on track as well as establishing conference when there is a problem with the group efforts (e.g. one student reminding another student to behave so they can get points for the dance party). This link really addresses all the questions for this project on space, as it shows what kind of spaces to create and materials needed but there are links below that I used to help support my findings and to define the purpose of learning centers. This link shows that a classroom should have separate spaces (centers) for a small group to work with a teacher, computers, literacy, math, science, and writing; also link one adds the need for a whole group area and a listening area, while link two has many more such as an art center. In this original link it shows that students are assigned to a particular activity for the literacy and math center and the other centers are free centers with many activities and games that they can freely pick from. Each activity in the center is put into labeled boxes on shelves with any additional materials needed and students names are on clips that are put on paper plates that are posted on the wall. Link two gives an amazing detailed descriptions of the purpose of each center and the skills that are gained from each center; this document breaks it down by how centers can help students with sensory, cognitive, emotional, social and physical skills. For example the art center allows student to use sensory skills through seeing and feeling different materials of art, cognitive skills through decision making and problem solving, emotional skills through expressing their feelings through art, social skills through group activity or side by side play, and physical skills though fine motor development by painting and drawing. My purpose of having such a variety of centers is to help encourage students to do what they like, as well as encouraging the whole child development by the way students always have engaging activities that they can work on at almost any time and they have challenging activities to learn from that have been personalized and supported by the teacher. All the activities in these centers are changed weekly and the literacy and math center activities are personally assigned to help give students appropriately challenging work. This also creates a resilient worker because students know that when they are done with their work early they are to persist their learning and go to a learning center. Students need to be adaptive, empathetic and flexible (resilient dispositions) because they might not be able to go to the center they want (i.e. too many people are at one center or didn't finish their literacy and/or math center work). The centers forces students to practice resilient skills as they problem solve with the math and science centers and are creative in the art center, as well as the whole time students are using reasoning, communication, and decision making skills to be able to choose and work within a center with other people. General purpose for each center: 1) Small Group Area - teachers need an area to help give about four or five students on the same ability level individual attention to help reenforce learning. 2) Computers - students need to learn 21st centers skills and should have the exposer to computers. 3) Literacy - students need a reading area to encourage independent reading and to give extra practice. 4) Math - for students that like math this is an opportunity for extra math and often students need extra practice with math no matter how proficient they are. Also can help encourage STEAM. 5)Science - encouraging STEAM is now very important even though time for science has be continually minimized. Students need the extra time and encouragement to enjoy and engage in science. The teacher in this original link only had literacy and math centers be centers with required work, but I might include science and writing as well in my classroom. 6)Writing - it is an important practice and this center would encourage creative writing which is becoming more and more rare in schools. 7)Listening Center - fun way to practice reading and comprehension (I would include comprehension questions to the recordings). 8)Art - this is also something becoming rare in schools and I think it is important to try and support any students aspirations to art. Also another mention from this original link is that the seats are in grouped in pods which will help PBL because they are constantly working in groups. I found another link on seating arrangement that I did not link but it suggested using zip-ties to hold desks together. I thought that was a good idea because these pods have a lot of group baskets that can fall through the cracks or as the link says desks can become a mess by being all moved around with the group work. Zip-ties are a ways to create a table to help assist PBL but each student will have their own learning space. So I feel that routines is hardest group of this project to sum up because there are so many routines that go on in the classroom. This is quite a long list of mostly "must have routines" in the classroom, the list is long but limiting! Having all of these routines, plus a few other necessary ones, are all extremely imperative for supporting a classroom that uses a lot of PBL because it is necessary for students to be able to walk around the class and know how to get their materials. With set routines, students know how to move around in the classroom without creating conflicts and will have the access the things they need to anything. This link did not provide steps on how to implement these routines so I found a video page (link one, at bottom) that talks about many of these routines and some additional routines. Also my link on space (link two here) has a lot of pictures that imply how I would implement a lot of these routines on this original link. Link one has four videos; one about morning routines and the others about attendance and schedules, through out the day routines, and ending the day. The video on morning routines says that the teacher posts the morning routine outside of the classroom so students always know what to do as they walk in. As the student walk in they are to unpack their backpacks (put lunches in a lunch bin, turn in homework and hand in any notes from home), put away backpack and jacket, move their attendance pin (or person) to "present," make sure they have two sharpened pencils, and check the front board for further instruction. The front board will then have instructions about the morning work; I would have morning work already at their desk waiting for them (in my experience this has worked the best). The attendance video says that as students walk in they should mark themselves into the classroom because then it is quick to see who is missing and then the teachers don't have to take the time to check in students individually (in addition to this, for spacial reasoning the markers should be away from the backpacks to avoid major over crowding in the class). For routines through out the day video, most of the video talked about how students leave to and from the class room and how to walk in the halls. When students need to go to the bathroom they are to see if there is a boy bathroom pass or a girl bathroom pass and they are allowed to go to bathroom as long as there is a pass for them and the teacher has not otherwise said no bathrooms; also students are to sign out when they go to the bathroom so they can be thinking about time management and for the teacher to be overseeing their time management. Also when students with special services have to leave the classroom for those services they are to sign themselves out as well. As for when students line up, there should be a specific order to the line that the teacher has created. The front and back of the line should have the students that have not had any behavioral problems because they can help move by the line and don't create problems with holding the door. To help students remember the order the teachers can assign students a number and put a number on a tile on the floor so they know their space in line. The end of the day video is when they gave a description of all the jobs that students should do because most of the jobs should be done at the end of the day so everyone comes to the class the next morning totally fresh because they have all just helped clean up the classroom. So at the end of the day there will be time for students to do their jobs which can be jobs like pencil monitor, floor monitor, board cleaner, librarian and so on. Then they will grab their homework folders and check their mailbox for any notices that need to go home. Then they will pack up all their belongings and wait in their space in line. The link two shows how some more specific routines that would be carried out. For example with pencil sharpening, students are to not bother sharpening their pencil and should just get a new sharp pencil from the pencil box and return unsharpened pencils in the unsharpened pencil box. Also when students miss work they can use the morning time to go over to the baskets (individual baskets for each day of the week) that have all the work that students did that day; I would ask the students to go get their work themselves and then come to me for further instructions. This tactic is also beneficial if someone has to leave early for the day without notice or if someone is going to be out for the next few days because then students can still grab all the work they need and can just ask the teacher for the extra details. I think that they most important routine that link two had was the mailboxes. Students need mailboxes to get their work back and teachers need a mailboxes to receive homework and letters from home. Students will know to turn in their mail to their teacher and to go pick up mail from their mailbox as part of the morning routine; part of the end of the day routines will include someone being a mailman and putting students work into their mailboxes so they can be collected the next morning. All of this helps the class be more functional for PBL because students will know all the routines of when it is okay to get out of their desks and will know where recourses are. When students feel what they need to do is outside of all the normal routines and expectations then they can signal to the teacher that they are in need of assistance. By setting clear expectations on day 1, students understand what you're looking for from the start. Allowing them to help set expectations increases their engagement and gives them sense of ownership over classroom rules. Michaela Vila's insight: Trying to look for ways to establish these dispositions in the class room, I found this video on how the teacher sets expectations in the classroom with the students on day one. First the teacher tells the students about a classroom management device he uses called "give me five." When the teacher says "give me five" students are expected to keep hands to themselves, keep their feet still, be silent, have their eyes on the speaker, and have a ready mind. I thought this was useful because this is a really basic expectation of the students to help keep the class calm before they have begun to do any work; it is simple, easy to learn, and has a catchy phrase to help students remember the five things, so even though this isn't talking about dispositions I would like to use this idea to just create the initial classroom management tactic and then focus on generating the dispositions that are important for our class. After the teacher taught them "give me five," he had the students work in groups to come up with rules that they think are important in the classroom. With the group's work, they had a whole class discussion about what are the most important rules that they came up with. To tailor this so it focuses on dispositions rather than rules, I would have the class discussion talk about what those rules means and what dispositions they are connected to. I would let this conversation help raise all the dispositions that I want to have in the classroom. The rules that they create are usefully examples of what this dispositions mean and if they come up with rules that support more dispositions than I had originally in mind, I will still add that those dispositions to the list that year because it is important that children feel that they are creating the rules (allows them to be more engaged and feel safe) but I will make sure that they still are mentioning all the dispositions that I want to have in the classroom. I found this article as following up to the class management article on inclusive classrooms, because this is all new to me. This article makes it more clear to me how to do this peer mediators. Now only does there need to peer relations but everyone in the classroom must be apart of the "peacemaker program" and it starts with all students learning how to negotiate conflict which is a very important life skill. I think that this a great way to create a classroom climate for inclusive classrooms and regular classrooms. My insight major from this is that maybe all classrooms should have these peer mediators because it seems to stimulate many important life skills! Today's guest blogger is Thom Markham, a psychologist, educator, and president of Global Redesigns, an international consulting organization focused on project-based learning, social-emotional learnin Michaela Vila's insight: Before reading this article most of the time when I thought about or visualized social-emotional education, I saw it as something totally separate from normal classroom instructions and mostly revolving around a class meeting, where students work out their own problems. After reading this article I realized that social-emotional learning can very easily be apart of the normal classroom instruction, as it parallels with PBL very nicely and it does not have to be the students working out their own problems because social-emotional education can also be about teaching social-emotional issue from around the world that do not have to directly effect the student. Using PBL can facilitate social-emotional learning into the classroom because teachers can provide students with projects that moves them emotionally to want to learn more or be active about a topic and it can teach them how to live amongst this highly globally socialized world. I learned how these type of projects can establish a "drive and thrive" culture where students feel emotionally driven to thrive in this social world by using PBL and because of this social-emotional education does not have to be limited to class meetings and helping students through their own problems. In its comprehensive case study report on socially inclusive schools, Special Olympics' Project UNIFY identified the common factors across schools that had created a bridge from social inclusion pro Michaela Vila's insight: One thing that I have been particularly interested in this semester in learning about how to effectively handle an inclusive classroom. I thought this article was very interesting because it might suggest that using project-based learning can help inclusive classrooms be more socially oriented. The article says that activities are to be interesting to the student and student centered, which are some of the main attributes of project-based learning. I thought that suggestion #5 was very insightful because it changed my idea that in an inclusive classroom we should focus on having students help other students with disabilities. Now I see that we should find ways to have everyone play an active part in the learning process; if everyone feels like they have their own contributing part in the classroom then there is a more positive social environment created in this inclusive classroom rather than the inclusive students feeling like they have to always be helped. I liked this articles idea on how to use the buddy system. I liked that using the buddy system didn't have to use pairs, it could use trios as well. In my future classroom, if I had a lot of students with disabilities in it I would use this idea of a trio buddy system to help there be more of a positive social dynamic in the class between the students with disabilities and regular students. See how the skill development and acquisition of core content needed to develop globally competent citizens comes together with the rigorous skills and core content needed for college and careers. Michaela Vila's insight: After reading this I was surprised by how closely related Common Core is with global competence. I wish that CCSS made global competence and awareness more explicit, but this article points out how Common Core allows teachers to have many opportunities to use global competence and awareness as a tool to incorporate these standards. As I have been finding readings for content curation, I found a lot of people stating that CCSS allows for global competence but I didn't understand how till now. Common Core's standards require students to perform skills that are needed in each of the four domains of global competence but there is no direct mention of global competence, so I am really left wondering why isn't this more explicit when there is so much connection! For many of us, Oscar week can serve as the annual reminder of how many great grown-up films we have yet to see, and how many kids' movies we've already seen -- over and over and over. Next time you Michaela Vila's insight: I think this is a really great way for teachers to make the best use of the "down time" or extra indoor time in their classrooms. Showing children foreign films lets children analysis culture in a way that is easily understandable for them. I would like to use this in my own future class time because children always get excited over movies but I am left wondering, after the movie how can I get them to want to investigate the new part of the world that is being discovering on their own and get them to take action beyond what we do in the classroom. I think this would be a good outlet to inspire global competency at home because maybe if students are introduced topics at school they can go home to do the investigations on their own. At the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, a low-income area of Los Angeles, California, we began thinking seriously about all of these issues six years ago. Since then, we have globalized the curriculum for the K-12 students at our five schools. The result is that the 2,700 students from our low-income, mostly Hispanic community have recently become some of the nation's most globally-savvy young people. We are in a Global Age! This article does a really great job of highlighting why we need to make children globally competent. What I need to do in my classroom is not just raise global awareness, but I need to stress why all countries are so interrelated and then inspire students to take action. In my future class I will use this term a Global Age to help stress the need for global awareness and competence. In class we talk a lot about how PBL calls for many subject areas to come together. This is a very useful chart that I should be using in my future classrooms when creating a PBL project that facilitate CCSS. This chart is limiting but I think this is a great example of what I should be doing in the future to best combine PBL and CCSS. Actively engage students with our ELA (English Language Arts) and Math Common Core State Standards (CCSS) kits! Each kit includes a “best-in-class” assortment of CCSS-aligned tools to cover all the domains for kindergarten through grade 4. Wow this is something new to me. The company Learning Resources created kits for teachers and parents that have games and workbooks to support the CCSS. The company identifies what items go with what CCSS and has example activities. Great resource if you are unsure how to make a CCSS fun. 10 Tips for Raising a Global Child Huffington Post As our children become adults, going off to college or into the workforce, we must help them apply these skills so they can become the global workers that organizations demand whether they're in... This connects what we have been talking about in class but goes deeper and focuses about the home. A key take away is that children must feel confident in their home in order to help understand other cultures and to feel comfortable in different places around the world. Teachers should understand the importance of home when trying to teach global competency because the home acts as an explore base. Yoga article: Yoga teachers, parents, and educators team up to bring yoga to elementary schoolchildren. Michaela Vila's insight: For another unique activity that I would like to have in the classroom is yoga. With the decrease in physical education, despite younger students need to move around and have physical activity, I thought that yoga was an important activity to put in the classroom. It gets students to do (and be encouraged to do) physical activity which is important for students in elementary education because it is getting students to have a healthier life style through exercise and yoga can do a lot for mental health by learning how to relax and mediate (whole child development). A teacher could chose to use yoga to help build global competence because yoga originated in a foreign country and has a lot of language and references based off of another culture. I thought that this was a really fun and potentially a really culturally fun activity to put into the classroom. The link suggests doing yoga once every other week but I think I would want to do it at least once every week to reinforce the importance to physical activity. For each yoga lesson I would want to do a warm up, introduce or continue working on two poses and then finish with a game and/or an activity talking about its cultural relevance. With PBL being in the classroom and calling for so much collaboration and communication, I thought that peer mediation was an important unique routine to put into the classroom. Peer mediation allows students to work on the conflict resolution skills and thinking about someone else's perspective (a skill needed for global competency). I thought that was partially useful for PBL because with PBL the teacher is going to be having to do a lot of overseeing projects, making sure students are on the right path, and making interjections and comments about what students should be doing next. Students should take it upon themselves to try and solve the conflict first before they ask for the assistance of the teacher. This link was rather specific and seemed to be for more serious conflict but I would like to adapt a more general approach to peer mediation to serve for both minor and more serious conflicts. Steps for my peer mediation. 1) Identify there is a problem between two parties and agree for the need of mediation. 2) Call on mediator. 3) Both sides tell the mediator what happened. Mediator asks if there is anything that either party would like to add. 4) Mediator asses the situation and proposes a few alternatives. 5) If no settlement can be made then they can tell the teacher that there is a problem. 6) If the teacher feels the need to address the conflict in that moment they can, otherwise then they can ask all three groups to fill out a mediation sheet (shown in the link) about what has been done for the mediation so far and sign an agreement to "keep cool" until a solution has been agreed to. Classroom Rules - RESPECT Change the C to Clean Up! Great for Art room Michaela Vila's insight: I feel like this is how teachers displayed rules a lot in the classrooms that I had growing up, but I think it is an even better way to display dispositions in the classroom because you can have the one disposition up at the top like "respect" and then spell out the disposition vertically and have rules that are examples of the disposition (I think rules are necessary even when you have a focus on dispositions just because the classroom calls for many specific expectations and having rules with dispositions makes it clear what the overall expectation is). In this example for respect, the R which stands for "respect yourself and others" is an example of what respect is in the classroom. This tactic allows children to have a reminder of what they are striding to perform and learn (e.g. respect) and specific rules of what they need to do to allow for this performance and learning. This allows adults to actively support how children are learning the depositions and students can feel this support with the abundance of visuals of what the expectations are in the classroom (whole child development). When I was looking for ways to display rules, I think that this kind of chart was one of the most common ways that I saw teachers displaying rules and I liked it because one thing that I found interesting about my findings was how specific some teachers got. If you look at link one below, you can see an example of a teacher that did one of these charts that was rules just for group work. So instead of writing a disposition vertically you would write the topic that rules apply to (e.g. groups). I like this idea because it highlights the specific expectations for particular situations. Other examples that I saw were charts for when a sub was there or rules for a learning center. I think it is important to have a lot of these expectations written around the room because it acts as a constant reminder for students and is a good point of reference when addressing a conflict in the classroom. Because I think it is important to build student's autonomy so they can feel safe and engaged in the classroom, I really liked this idea of a class creating a venn diagram of the expectations of the teacher and the expectations of the students with hula hoops, link two; to make this an autonomy building activity I would make sure that the students are generating the expectations of the teacher themselves. It is my belief that in order to create a positive learning environment students must feel that teachers need to follow the rules too so they don't have the attitude that the teacher is only telling them what to do because students are not going to want to respond well to that. If students see that teachers also have expectations to uphold, then they will be more understanding that they are both working together to create this learning environment. From this I liked the idea of it's visual representation, as well as the idea that teachers need to have explicit expectations that students know they are being upheld to. After our discussion in class, I think that it is important to establish and create a focus on dispositions in the classroom (even when working with the younger elementary students). This article extends on our class discussion by saying if teachers were to teach specific rules and skills (i.e. wait to talk when someone else is talking) important dispositions (i.e. respect) become ignored. The article claims that learning dispositions is what facilitates the motivation to be a life-long learner. This claim shows why dispositions are so important to our mission, creating a life-long learner allows students to be continually expanding their knowledge of the rapidly changing world and thus allowing them to sustain and/or find a place for themselves in the world. Also being a life-long learner supports people being resilient because it creates the persistence of learner and it makes them take initiative and responsibility for their own learning. From this life-long learning, students can also gain important skills of resilience such as problem solving, creativity, and decision making. Also life-long learning can arguably help establish global competence because it can create the desire to investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action as they are aware of the world being in constant change. This article highlights four of the dispositions that I would like to establish in my classroom, independence, creativity, self-motivation, and resilience, but I would also like to add respect and responsibility in my classroom. These specific dispositions helps assures whole development of children because students learn how to be and feel safe through practicing respect and responsibility, they learn to be engaged though practicing creativity, self-motivation, and resilience and they learn to be challenge themselves through practicing self-motivation and resilience. Finally creating these dispositions in the classroom will help support PBL because these dispositions are important to put into place in order for PBL to work smoothly by having the class most effectively collaborate, create, communicate, discover, and publish content together. For example, teaching the dispositions of respect and responsibility will teach children to work more constructively with each other because the will be polite and understanding of the people they are working with. Another example is resilience, PBL calls for a lot of resilience because most PBL projects don't give students explicit instructions and forces children create the type of finished products that they chose to design; students will need resilience to get through the problem solving, organizing, reasoning, communication and decision making that is needed for creating a final product in PBL. I notice several students listening to music while busy at work. I have no good reason to ask that they remove their headphones and turn off their devices. As I walk around the room, I admire the ele Michaela Vila's insight: What a controversy that seems to be created over whether listening to music helps study or hinders it (Read comments to this article as well)! I really did not like this article because it was too one sided and it about older students, but I found it on my tweetdeck and I think the idea of music in the classroom is very interesting. The one argument in this article had that is important to keep in mind is that listening to music can decrease memory capacity on other tasks done at the same time; I would have to agree with this on a minor note. In the comments in the article and from my own experience it is also said that music helps to distress the studying process and allows people to keep working when they don't want to, so I wanted find an article that talks about music being a good thing in the classroom. This was a surprising difficult task. I did find this article linked below that says it can be a good way for students to block out other students and it keeps them focused; I would also agree with this and go one further to say that it probably keeps more students quite because they are listening rather than talking.The article focuses on allowing students to use their iPods in a classroom and also mentions that it is a good reward system. Even though I really did not like this first attached article, I am so glad it left me thinking about how to approach using music in the classroom because I think it is a great idea. http://www.centerdigitaled.com/classtech/Music-in-the-Classroom-Distraction-or-Study-Tool.html "The whole morning meeting not only sets a really good tone for the students, but it sets a tone for me." - Teacher in Louisville, Kentucky When I first learned about the Morning Meeting model, I wa Michaela Vila's insight: Before this article I viewed a morning meeting as a tool for organizing the classroom, to establish a plan, make any clarifications and to start things off on a positive note, but after reading this article I was surprised on how much is can help create a positive classroom climate. I think that this gives students a chance to work out issues at the begin of the day on their own in a constructive environment, maybe before they rise into a bigger conflict later in the day. I use morning meetings at the camp I work at, but again it has been only for organization and a pick-me-up starter activity. From now on I want to use this time to focus on any issues in the classroom to give students a chance to work out their own issues in the morning before they arise into a bigger conflict. Disruptive behavior continues to be one of the most challenging issues that schools face today. Even one seriously incompliant student can threaten teaching and learning for the rest of the class. An Michaela Vila's insight: This is an amazing persuasive article that left me thinking we should never expel or suspend students. After this read, I gained insight on the shocking racial discrepancies between the expulsion and suspensions of African American students and white students. At first African American students doubled white students in expulsions and suspensions, but now it more like three and a half times. The zero tolerance is not working, but creating a positive classroom climate does help (in some cases by over 50%). At the end of this article is nine helpful alternative approaches. I was really interested in number nine, by having peer mediation to resolve classroom conflicts. I want to look more into peer mediation because I think it potentially something I want to use in my classroom. How you can encourage global perspectives in your students: Teachers from John Stanford International School in Seattle share a few favorite strategies. Michaela Vila's insight: This video gives me insight on how to give meaning to raising global competency and awareness, by asking students to reflect on why it is important to examine cultures outside of their own. In my future classroom I would like to foliow this teacher's practice of not always telling the students why they are investigating an essential question, but asking them to reflect and share why they think this investigation is important. Also there is a really interesting "festival of lights" project to help examine religions in this video that I would like to learn more about. I liked that the teacher used this project to focus on global competence and told them to take action by creating presentations. This gave me insight that "taking action" doesn't always have to be big and elaborate, just as long as the child are engaged and teaching others. I liked this video in particular because think that learning religion is a lot an important part of global competence and awareness when often teachers find it a touchy subject and refrain from teaching it. Have you ever wondered how a student could interact with a classmate who lives on the other side of the world? This video explains just some of the ways in w... Michaela Vila's insight: This is a very literal sense of global competence in a classroom because student's peers and teachers can all be from different countries. In this video one of the students highlights how culturally rich her classroom becomes since her classes are online with people in other countries. I feel like the chances of me working in an environment like this is slim, but this video helps me understand that it maybe more of a possibility than I think. One would think after watching these videos that these types of classrooms are effective and might gain popularity, College Park Academy has a model that is very similar to this, so future teachers like me should become familiarized with these kinds of schools. Though some of us like myself might find this classroom a little too futuristic, but lets think the opportunities to build globally competent/aware classrooms is endless. Maybe this is a good thing for our future! Wow so many little weird things about this article! It says that charter schools are focus on PBL more than traditional public schools and that elementary school grades are more likely to combined subject areas for PBL projects. I wish this article talked more about how we should challenge this! Not to mention I hate this last line "Together these findings suggest caution in embracing this practice unless the conditions for success are in place." I think we need more of a practice makes perfect attitude here! Previously in this series on going deeper with project-based learning, we've explored the importance of teacher reflection in teacher reflection in PBL, considered how to plan interdisciplinary proje... This article addresses how to bring together global competency and PBL. It contains links to on going projects that teachers can get their classes involved in. It make take some time, but pulling all of this together will help create meaningful experiences for children. Educators from the John Stanford International School, in Seattle, Washington, have provided these resources and tools for teaching global competence. Michaela Vila's insight: These are some great example units starting at 3rd grade. These units allow students to learn tolerance of other cultures and religion, compare and contrast cultures, and create arguments. This dealt more with the investigating part of global competency but there was also this attacked article about an example school taking action. http://www.edutopia.org/stw-global-competence-k-5 Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers. How to integrate my topics' content to my website? Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work. Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility. Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.

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April 30 has been designated as International Jazz Day by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). International Jazz Day celebrates the historical, cultural, and educational contribution of this popular genre of music. The day aims to spread international awareness about this unique musical style; and to promote the cultural, and social values that Jazz stands for. Jazz is a uniquely American musical style that emerged out of the slave experience, primarily in southern United States. It is deeply rooted in the rich musical, and cultural traditions of Africa, and is heavily influenced by European music. New Orleans is generally considered to be the birthplace of this popular musical form, which is now seen as a voice of freedom and empowerment, and a statement against injustice, and oppression all around the world. Today, Jazz has spread all over the globe, and is constantly evolving, being influenced by, and influencing other musical forms and genres. The initiative to create an International Day of Jazz came from American Jazz pianist, composer, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogues, Herbie Hancock. The purpose of the initiative was to focus global attention to the role that Jazz has played in breaking down race and gender barriers around the world; and in promoting cooperation; mutual understanding, and communication; peace and freedom. Several activities mark the celebration of International Jazz Day, including Jazz concerts and performances, film screenings, and conference and panel discussions. The United Nations (UN) officially observes the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare on April 29 each year. What do people do The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare gives people the chance to pay tribute to the victims of chemical warfare. It also allows governments and organizations to commit or reaffirm their commitment to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an organization that aims to end the threat of chemical weapons and promote the peace and security worldwide. The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is a UN observance and not a public holiday on April 29. In November 2005 the UN decided to observe a memorial “Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare” on April 29 each year. The date April 29 was chosen for this observance because it was when the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force. Organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN) actively promote the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28 every year. What do people do? The UN, ILO and other organizations, communities, individuals, and government bodies with an interest in workplace health and safety unite on or around April 28 to promote an international campaign known as World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The UN posts this event in its events calendar each year. Community leaders and organizational representatives often promote the day by speaking out on issues such as workplace health and safety standards. Various media have promoted the day through news articles and broadcast programs. Different types of events and activities that center on workplace health and safety are held in many countries on or around April 28 each year. The World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an observance and is not a public holiday. The International Labour Organization (ILO) started observing the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28, 2003. The ILO is devoted to advancing opportunities for people to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. It aims to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, boost social protection, and strengthen dialogue in work-related issues. World Intellectual Property Day is observed on April 26 each year with a variety of events and activities worldwide. It aims to increase people’s awareness and understanding of intellectual property (IP). World Intellectual Property Day is sometimes referred as World IP Day. What do people do? The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) works together with various government agencies, non-government organizations, community groups and individuals to hold different events and activities to promote World Intellectual Property Day each year. Activities and events may include (but are not exclusive to): Stage concerts or other public performances centered around the around the World IP Day theme, with the performers delivering messages which encourage respect for creators and creativity. Essay competitions for young people on themes relating to intellectual property, innovation, piracy, counterfeiting, and other similar issues. Seminars or free lectures in universities to build awareness of intellectual property and its benefits among students, faculty and researchers. Exhibits in museums, art galleries, schools and other educational institutions, with presentations explaining the link between exhibitions, innovation and intellectual property. Some local intellectual and copyright offices may have an open day on or around April 26 to promote World IP Day. Some educational institutions may choose World IP Day as a time to celebrate the works of a notable inventor, artist, designer, or entrepreneur, and link discussions with the important role of intellectual property. World Intellectual Property Day, also known as World IP Day, is an observance held in many places around the world. It is not designated as a special public holiday. WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest. WIPO decided in 2000 to designate an annual World Intellectual Property Day to address the perceived gap between IP as a business/legal concept and its relevance to people’s lives. April 26 was chosen as the date upon which the convention establishing WIPO first entered into force in 1970. WIPO plays a key role in organizing World IP Day. The activities, events and campaigns that focus on World IP Day seek to increase public understanding of what IP really means, and to demonstrate how the IP system fosters not only music, arts and entertainments, but also all products and technological innovations that help to shape the world. ELLEN TURNER; OPENED KITCHEN TO FEED THE NEEDY OF KNOXVILLE By LES NEUHAUS APRIL 25, 2015 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Ellen Turner, who with her twin sister founded the Love Kitchen, which feeds several hundred people a week and drew national attention, died here on Wednesday. She was 87. Her death was confirmed by Stanley Cash, her great-nephew. Ms. Turner and her twin sister, Helen Ashe, worked as nurses before founding the Love Kitchen in 1986 in a church basement here with the mission to serve what they called the five H’s: the hungry, homeless, helpless, hopeless and homebound. The Love Kitchen provides clothing and meals from a building on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and delivers food to people who cannot leave their homes. Dressed in matching outfits and aprons, Ms. Turner and her sister did the cooking and oversaw the work of dozens of volunteers. They appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Secret Millionaire” in 2011 and were the subject of segments on NBC News and CNN. Patrick Riggins, president of the Love Kitchen’s board, said the sisters often recounted three lessons their father had taught them: “There is only one father, and that is the Father in heaven. There is only one race, the human race. And never take the last piece of bread. Someone may come by in need of it.” Ms. Turner, who bragged that she was five minutes older than her sister, was born to sharecropper parents, John Liddell and the former Alice White, on March 8, 1928, in Abbeville, S.C. She and her sister were sent almost daily to what was called the “big house” on the farm property to do chores before school. “They grew up working,” Mr. Riggins said. “Ellen always said the people who owned the land treated them very well. But then there were others who didn’t.” Mr. Cash noted that Ms. Turner and her sister had a strict religious upbringing. “They grew up their whole life together,” he said. “Dating at that time wasn’t like it is today. Socializing with young ladies was done through a church, on the up and up, not in a dark movie theater.” He added: “So whenever one of the twins went on a date, the other sister was there, playing third wheel, like a chaperone. Sometimes they would mess with their dates, switching each other on their date to see if he could tell the difference.” They moved to Knoxville after high school to attend nursing school. Mr. Riggins said the idea to start the Love Kitchen, which is staffed solely by volunteers and operates strictly on donations, came from seeing indigent patients coming into the hospital. “Ellen was warm, genuine and compassionate,” Gov. Bill Haslam, a former Knoxville mayor, said in a statement. “Her smile could turn around a bad day instantly.” Ms. Turner’s husband, Leon, died in 2002. Besides her sister and Mr. Cash, survivors include several nephews and nieces. “It’s like a family there,” Jerri Shelley said of the Love Kitchen, where she has volunteered for nearly 25 years. “This is going to affect the Knoxville community tremendously. There’s so many people that these two women have touched over the years.” Mary Keefe, a 19-year-old Vermont telephone operator whom her neighbor Norman Rockwell immortalized as his model for the heroine of “Rosie the Riveter,” the World War II feminist anthem that empowered women to leave home and pinch-hit in military plants, died on Tuesday at her home in Simsbury, Conn. She was 92. Her death was confirmed by her daughter Mary Ellen Keefe. Mrs. Keefe was a redhead, like the Rosie who appeared on the cover of the Memorial Day issue of The Saturday Evening Post magazine in 1943, but she had never wielded a rivet gun (not until an appearance on the “Tonight” show in the 1990s). And as portrayed in the painting, she was considerably bulked up from her petite 110 pounds to embody muscular American can-do spirit — an image inspired by Michelangelo’s Isaiah on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. (It is often confused with J. Howard Miller’s wartime “We Can Do It” poster for Westinghouse Electric, from February 1943, showing a biceps-flexing uniformed woman in a red-and-white polka-dot bandanna.) “Except for the red hair I had at the time, and my face, the rest I don’t think is me at all,” Mrs. Keefe said in a 2002 interview for the Norman Rockwell Museum. Penny Colman, author of the 1995 book “Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II,” said the Rockwell painting “is iconic because it portrays a rarity — an image of a powerful woman with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude.” To Chris Crosman, the founding curator of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., which bought the painting in 2009 from a Colorado gallery, the work “is emblematic of a sea change in American culture.” “Importantly,” he said in a statement, “the artist’s depiction celebrates, even helps to invent, due to mass distribution as a War Bond poster and magazine cover, the beginnings of gender equality.” In the museum interview, Mrs. Keefe recalled that Rockwell “was trying to get people to realize that all the women could help out with the war effort when the men were away.” When she posed for his photographer, she wore dungarees, changed from saddle shoes into penny loafers and was equipped with both a visor and superfluous goggles. Rockwell added touches to make her look more feminine, she said, tucking a gold-trimmed compact and lace-edged handkerchief in her pocket and having her wear lipstick, rouge and polished nails — to “make you think of it being a feminist woman, but also working for the war effort,” she said. Mary Louise Doyle was born in Bennington, Vt., on July 30, 1922. Her father, John, was a logger. Her mother, the former Sarah Smith, operated a restaurant in nearby Arlington, took in boarders and ran a telephone exchange from her house, where neighbors, including Rockwell, came to pay their bill. Mary Doyle graduated from Temple University, became a dental hygienist and married Robert Keefe, who died in 2003. In addition to her daughter Mary Ellen, she is survived by another daughter, Barbara K. Boska; two sons, William and Robert; 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. She lived at various times in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Rockwell, who painted 321 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, was primed to create Rosie by a 1942 song, “Rosie the Riveter,” by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. They had apparently been inspired by a “Cholly Knickerbocker” syndicated newspaper column by Igor Cassini about Rosalind P. Walter, a 19-year-old high school graduate who had done her part for the war effort by going to work as a riveter in an aircraft factory in Stratford, Conn. (She became a noted benefactor of public television.) The bandleader Kay Kyser, the vocal harmony group the Four Vagabonds and others recorded the hit song, whose lyrics included these: All the day long, whether rain or shine She’s a part of the assembly line She’s making history, working for victory Rosie [mimicking the rat-a-tat-tat of a riveter] the riveter Mrs. Keefe posed as Rosie not for Rockwell but for his photographer, Gene Pelham, in two sessions, lasting about two hours in all. She was paid $5 (roughly $144 in today’s dollars) per session. In the finished 52-by-40-inch painting, Rosie’s red hair, white skin and blue work shirt are superimposed on an American flag. Her head is adorned by a halo, and her right loafer crushes a copy of Hitler’s manifesto, “Mein Kampf.” She is holding a ham sandwich. Her name is painted on her lunchbox. Promotional placards advertising the May 29, 1943, issue of The Post featured the cover and the title “Rosie the Riveter,” but the Curtis Publishing Company, according to the local Vermont newspaper, withdrew the placards for fear of infringing on the song’s copyright. The painting was eventually donated to the Treasury Department’s War Loan Drive, which raffled it off. The winner was identified as Mrs. P. R. Eichenberg of Mount Lebanon, Pa. Art dealers said it was later owned by Chicago Pneumatic and Dresser Industries, makers of rivet guns and drills, and S. B. Lewis, a New York arbitrageur, who auctioned it off at Sotheby’s to the Elliott Yeary Gallery of Aspen, Colo., in 2002 for $4.9 million, which was believed to be the highest price fetched for a Rockwell at public auction at that time. It was bought, presumably for more, in 2007 for the Crystal Bridges Museum, which was founded by Alice Walton, the Walmart heiress. A museum spokeswoman, Beth Bobbitt, would not disclose the sales figure. “When a work of art is acquired, it is chosen for its contribution to telling the American story,” she said. “The focus on price could detract from the importance of the work.” Mrs. Keefe was not the only neighbor whom Rockwell recruited to pose for paintings. An uncle of hers, for example, was in Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms.” “He called me one day and he said, ‘Mary, I apologize, but I made you very large,’ ” Mrs. Keefe recalled before the Sotheby’s sale. “Of course, as a young girl, I said, ‘Oh, that’s all right.’ But when I saw it, that was a different story.” She was mollified a bit in 1967, however, when she received a letter from Rockwell. “The kidding you took was all my fault,” he wrote, “because I really thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.” Richard Corliss, whose well-informed and spirited movie reviews appeared in Time magazine for 35 years, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 71. His wife, Mary, said the cause was complications of a stroke. He had been in a hospice care center. A prolific contributor to Time who also wrote profiles, essays on popular culture, and television and theater reviews, Mr. Corliss was known for his firm opinions and punchy prose, melding the forthright Time style and its compact format to a joy in deadline invention. An unabashed movie fan who believed that a couple of hours in a theater was time well spent no matter what the movie was — “Everything is worth seeing,” he often said, as Time’s Richard Zoglin wrote in an obituary on the magazine’s website — he was nonetheless hardly a pushover as a critic and occasionally relished the contrarian view. Among the popular films he disdained were Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H,” the basis for the television show about American Army surgeons during the Korean War, about which he wrote in The New York Times (before his tenure at Time began) that the supposedly charming and mischievous protagonists were boorish bullies; “Titanic,” the James Cameron hit whose special effects Mr. Corliss praised but whose dramatic storytelling he panned, and whose economic prospects he got spectacularly wrong (“Dead in the water,” he predicted); “A Chorus Line,” Richard Attenborough’s adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical that Mr. Corliss found, at best, inoffensive; and “The Full Monty,” the British comedy about laid-off steelworkers who concoct a striptease act, which he condemned as a formulaically sentimental audience-pleaser, lumping it with “Ghost,” “Cinema Paradiso” and other, in his phrase, “masterpieces of emotional pornography.” Even so, Mr. Corliss’s work shone brightest when he could vent his eclectic enthusiasms, from George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino to Ingmar Bergman and François Truffaut, from Chinese kung fu films to Disney animation, from high-minded, ambience-saturated dramas like Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient” to quirky teen tales like John Hughes’s “The Breakfast Club.” “For most folks, déjà vu may provoke a momentary shudder, the creepy sense of having sidestepped into the twilight zone,” he wrote in 1993. “For Hollywood, though, it is a guiding principle. The industry wants audiences to feel they have seen this thing before but don’t know where or when. Nearly every movie plot is a reprise of a story that has already worked. Recombinant familiarity means box office; originality is an orphan, subversive and suspect. So let’s all cheer the emergence of ‘Groundhog Day,’ a very original comedy about déjà vu.” Mr. Corliss promoted screenwriters against the headwind of opinion that said movies were made by auteur directors. He expressed adoration of movie stars as different as James Stewart and Cameron Diaz. In a 1985 review of the comedy-thriller “Into the Night,” he described Michelle Pfeiffer as “drop-dead gorgeous,” helping to popularize the phrase. Richard Nelson Corliss was born in Philadelphia on March 6, 1944. His father, Paul, ran a business that manufactured chain-link fencing. His mother, the former Elizabeth McKluskey, taught first grade. After graduation from St. Joseph’s College (now University) in Philadelphia, Mr. Corliss did graduate work in film studies at Columbia, where he earned a master’s degree, and New York University. In 1968, he met Mary Yushak, who was running the film stills department at the Museum of Modern Art; they married the next year. In addition to her, he is survived by a brother, Paul. Mr. Corliss wrote about film for The Times, National Review and other publications in the late 1960s and ’70s. In 1970 he became editor of Film Comment, a journal, founded in the early 1960s, that was devoted largely to so-called art films, then the catchall term for independent films and documentaries. During Mr. Corliss’s tenure, which lasted until the early 1980s, the magazine went from publishing quarterly to bimonthly and began including more essays and criticism about studio movies and Hollywood history. After the Film Society of Lincoln Center, sponsor of the New York Film Festival, took over the magazine’s publisher, Mr. Corliss served for many years on the festival’s selection committee. He joined Time in 1980 and shared movie critic’s duties there with Richard Schickel. His books include “Talking Pictures” (1974), a survey, and critical defense, of American screenwriters; a 1994 study of “Lolita,” the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of the Nabokov novel; and an illustrated history, “Mom in the Movies: The Iconic Screen Mothers You Love and a Few You Love to Hate” (2014). In 1990, exasperated by what he saw as a flourishing crop of glib critics on television and the onset of a thumbs-up/thumbs-down style of reviewing, Mr. Corliss defended his craft in an angry essay in Film Comment. “The long view of cinema aesthetics is irrelevant to a moviegoer for whom history began with ‘Star Wars’,” he wrote. “A well-turned phrase is so much throat-clearing to a reader who wants the critic to cut to the chase: What movie is worth my two hours and six bucks this weekend? Movie criticism of the elevated sort, as practiced over the past half-century by James Agee and Manny Farber, Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael, J. Hoberman and Dave Kehr — in the mainstream press and in magazines like ‘Film Comment’— is an endangered species. Once it flourished; soon it may perish, to be replaced by a consumer service that is no brains and all thumbs.” Johnny Kemp, a Bahamian R&B singer best known for the 1988 hit song “Just Got Paid,” was found dead on April 16 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was 55. The police said that his body was found floating at a beach and was believed to have drowned but provided no other details. Reach Media, the parent company of “The Tom Joyner Morning Show,” said that Mr. Kemp had been scheduled to be on a Caribbean cruise sponsored by the Tom Joyner Foundation. He had not yet boarded the ship, the company said. Mr. Kemp was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Just Got Paid,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 10 on the pop chart. He had been performing around the United States in recent years. He was born in the Bahamas on Aug. 2, 1959, and began singing in nightclubs there at 13. He moved to New York City in 1979, lived in Harlem and worked as a session vocalist and songwriter before landing a solo contract with Columbia Records, according to online biographies. “Just Got Paid” appeared on his second album for Columbia, “Secrets of Flying.” He is survived by his wife, Deirdre Fisher-Kemp, and their two sons. Correction: April 23, 2015 Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this obituary misstated the year Mr. Kemp’s song “Just Got Paid” was a hit. It was 1988, not 1989. World Malaria Day gives people the chance to promote or learn about the efforts made to prevent and reduce Malaria around the world. It is observed on April 25 each year. What do people do? Organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the United Nations’ (UN) directing and coordinating authority for health, actively play a role in promoting and supporting World Malaria Day. The activities and events that take place on or around World Malaria Day are often joint efforts between governments, non-government organizations, communities and individuals. Countries that have been involved in actively participating in World Malaria Day include (but are not exclusive to): Many people, as well as commercial businesses and not-for-profit organizations, will use the day as an opportunity to donate money towards key malaria interventions. Many fundraising events are held to support the prevention, treatment and control of malaria. Some people may also use the observance to write letters or petitions to political leaders, calling for greater support towards protecting and treating people who are at risk of malaria. Many newspapers, websites, and magazines, as well as television and radio stations, may use World Malaria Day as the chance to promote or publicize awareness campaigns about malaria. World Malaria Day is a global observance and not a public holiday. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. About half of the worlds’ population is at risk of malaria, particularly those in lower-income countries. It infects more than 500 million people each year and kills more than one million people, according to WHO. However, Malaria is preventable and curable. The World Health Assembly instituted World Malaria Day in May 2007. The purpose of the event is to give countries in affected regions the chance to learn from each other’s experiences and support one another’s efforts. World Malaria Day also enables new donors to join in a global partnership against malaria, and for research and academic institutions to reveal scientific advances to the public. The day also gives international partners, companies and foundations a chance to showcase their efforts and reflect on how to scale up what has worked. BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS OF MY BLACK SISTERS · A BLOGSITE FOR THE PRAISING OF ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL AND SUBLIME IN HONOR OF ALL BLACK WOMEN. "ONLY THE BLACK WOMAN CAN SAY WHEN AND WHERE I ENTER, IN THE QUIET, UNDISPUTED DIGNITY OF MY WOMANHOOD, WITHOUT VIOLENCE AND WITHOUT SUING OR SPECIAL PATRONAGE, THEN AND THERE THE WHOLE. . .RACE ENTERS WITH ME." ANNA JULIA COOPER, 1892

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Photograph of Sojourner Truth Credit: Courtesy of The American Memory Project at the Library of Congress. About one-third of Patriot soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill were African Americans (according to The Battle of Bunker Hill on the EDSITEment resource American Memory). Census data also reveal that there were slaves and free Blacks living in the North in 1790 and later years. What were the experiences of African-American individuals in the North in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War? In this lesson, students will meet some of those African Americans and practice the techniques authors use to transform information about individuals into readable biographies. Note: This lesson may be taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a sequel to the complementary EDSITEment lesson African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War. In the cold, nearly colorless light of a New England winter, two men on horseback traveled the coast road below Boston, heading north. A foot or more of snow covered the landscape, the remnants of a Christmas storm that had blanketed Massachusetts from one end of the province to the other. Beneath the snow, after weeks of severe cold, the ground was frozen solid to a depth of two feet. Packed ice in the road, ruts as hard as iron, made the going hazardous, and the riders, mindful of the horses, kept at a walk. … Dressed as they were in heavy cloaks, their hats pulled low against the wind, they were barely distinguishable even from each other, except that the older, stouter of the two did most of the talking. McCullough begins the book "in medias res," in the middle of a sequence of events, a familiar literary device. He will return to earlier events later, a technique reminiscent of a flashback. McCullough uses suspense in not immediately revealing the names of the two men. He uses description to add authenticity to the moment. But how did McCullough know the quality of the light on that particular day? Through the writing of one of the participants? Through his own experience of a New England winter? How did he know what was in the mind of the riders ("mindful of the horses")? Through the writing of one of the participants? Through a logical assumption? How did McCullough know they had their "hats pulled low against the wind"? Would one of the participants have mentioned such a fact in an account of that ride? It doesn't matter to the reader because the likelihood is great that they would have had their hats pulled down. The inclusion of the detail of the hats adds to the authenticity of the account while doing nothing to lessen the accuracy of the work. This lesson increases student awareness of the role of literary techniques and historical accuracy in biography and offers students the opportunity to deal with both issues in practice. [these] miniature portraits used as calling cards, were extremely popular during the American Civil War. These photographic calling cards, approximately 21/2 x 4 inches in size, had been invented in France in the early 1850s, and their popularity quickly spread throughout Europe and eventually to the United States, where the corollary development of the photograph album spurred a collecting craze in the 1860s that became known as Cartomania. In addition to assembling albums of family photographs, the public sought to collect images of celebrities… It was common practice during the war to acquire such portraits through gift or purchase … This card was created around 1864, before the end of the Civil War. Have students list their observations about the card. If desired, use the Photo Analysis Worksheet on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Digital Classroom. Then, prompt discussion about the card based on these observations. Does it seem that this card was sold or given away? (One possible hint is the caption, "I sell the shadow to support the substance." Sojourner did support herself, in part, through the sale of her photographs.) If the card was sold, that means people wanted it enough to pay for it. What does that imply about the subject? The subject is seen sewing. If she had been walking down the road with a knapsack or in a field holding a tool, how would that change one's impression of the subject? Now reveal the identity of Sojourner Truth and share with the class a brief account of her life, such as the Biography of Sojourner Truth available on the EDSITEment resource American Memory. What an eventful life! Born a slave in New York after the American Revolution, Isabella, as she was originally known, eventually became an important figure in America. It's not surprising that people like to read about her life. But how does an author make such an account lively? The class is going to compare the three brief accounts, below, of an event in Sojourner's life to see how authors employ specific literary elements. Tell students that they will eventually use the same techniques to write about an event in the life of an African American who lived between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Make a list of the techniques your class notices. As “property” of several slave owners, when she was ten years old, Isabella was sold for $100 and some sheep.Why such a brief account of this significant event? (The purpose of this piece of writing is to summarize an entire life in a few paragraphs. It can only provide the basic facts, and little else.) A slave auction is a terrible affair to its victims, and its incidents and consequences are graven on their hearts as with a pen of burning steel.What is added here? The thoughts and feelings of the subject are revealed-the consequences of slave auctions "are graven on their hearts." Sojourner's memory of the event is not clear in that she has “an impression.” Some additional detail is provided, such as the name of the farmer. Sojourner told her story to Olive Gilbert in hopes of making money. It is difficult to know with certainty how Gilbert may have added to or changed the narrative, either intentionally or through error. Though this version adds more than the very basic facts, Sojourner may have had an interest in finishing the project quickly. On the other hand, Gilbert had the advantage of having the speaker present as the story was related. When a story is told aloud, some information is conveyed by the facial expression. An author has to supply all the information with words only. The ability to review the material and make changes allows writers to shape their words exactly as they want. At this memorable time, Isabella was struck off, for the sum of one hundred dollars, to one John Nealy, of Ulster County, New York; and she has an impression that in this sale she was connected with a lot of sheep. She was now nine years of age, and her trials in life may be dated from this period. Strangers stared while the auctioneer poked and pointed at the girl with the stick-showing how tall and strong she was. He promised that since she was only about nine years old and already so tall, she'd soon be able to do the work of any man … Tall, and strong as she was, no one bid for the slave girl called Isabella at that auction in Kingston, New York, in 1806. The sun settled low in the sky and still she wasn't sold. Finally the auctioneer offered to throw in a flock of sheep if someone would just buy the girl so he could call it a day and go home for supper. Then a farmer did. This account is told more like a story. How does it differ from the others as history? What details are likely to have come from the imagination of the author? What elements are confirmed by Gilbert's account? How does Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth differ from the others as a piece of literature? The author uses images; she appeals to the reader's senses. For example, we see the expression on the faces of those observing the auction. We get an impression through implied speech of what the auctioneer said (“He promised that …”). We can almost feel the auctioneer's stick poking us. The short sentence set aside in its own paragraph emphasizes the dramatic end of this episode. On the basis of this passage, would students term Only Passing Through as biography or historical fiction? How do students distinguish between the two (historical fiction allows more embellishment by the author, but accuracy is still expected)? Using the list of writing techniques that you developed as a class in the last activity (i.e., using images to appeal to the senses; supplying a character's thoughts and/or emotions; structuring the piece with a beginning, middle, and end; and so on), the class will now work together to create an “excerpt” about Sojourner Truth. Begin by reviewing once again Sojourner Truth's carte de visite on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory. Remind students that images such as this one can help the writer provide images for the reader. For example, what clothing in the photograph might be typical of Sojourner (the cap and glasses)? Challenge students to include some physical description of Sojourner in the passage. Now review the following description of Sojourner's visit to the aged Mr. Dumont—her third, and last, master—who purchased Isabella from John Nealy when she was about 13 (available through the Narrative of Sojourner Truth on the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia): Sojourner … found him, still living, though advanced in age, and reduced in property, (as he had been for a number of years,) but greatly enlightened on the subject of slavery. He said he could then see that 'slavery was the wickedest thing in the world, the greatest curse the earth had ever felt-that it was then very clear to his mind that it was so, though, while he was a slaveholder himself, he did not see it so, and thought it was as right as holding any other property.' Sojourner remarked to him, that it might be the same with those who are now slaveholders. 'O, no,' replied he, with warmth, 'it cannot be. For, now, the sin of slavery is so clearly written out, and so much talked against,-(why, the whole world cries out against it!)-that if any one says he don't know, and has not heard, he must, I think, be a liar … Students will now create the excerpt about Sojourner, based on this episode. First, brainstorm as a class about what pictures an author could "paint" to make the scene come to life (the aged slave master, the decrepit property)? What was Sojourner probably thinking as she approached the property? When she first saw her former master? As she was talking to Mr. Dumont? We have the benefit of Mr. Dumont's words as Sojourner remembered them. Use quotation marks to turn some of his words into direct quotes. Ask a volunteer to suggest an opening sentence or even start the class with, “As Sojourner walked down the road to Mr. Dumont's house, she …” When the class has finished the excerpt, evaluate it. Would they categorize what they've come up with as biography or historical fiction? Working individually or in small groups, students now will be given some primary and secondary information on an African American who lived between the end of the American Revolution and the outbreak of the Civil War. Based on a specific event in that person's life, students will compose an “excerpt” from a biography of the individual or historical fiction with the individual as a character. One or more members of each group may serve as illustrators. In addition, each group should prepare a very brief summary of the individual's life based on one or more secondary accounts. I gave the King a testament and let him know by the interpreter the useful records contained in these books, and the great fountain they pointed to.could become: Handing the King a Bible, I told him through the interpreter, “This book contains many useful records, stories and guidance that will point you to a great fountain of knowledge and love.” A party of wild young men, with no motive but that of entertaining themselves by annoying and injuring the feelings of others, had assembled at the meeting, hooting and yelling, and in various ways interrupting the services, and causing much disturbance. Those who had the charge of the meeting, having tried their persuasive powers in vain, grew impatient and tried threatening. The young men, considering themselves insulted, collected their friends, to the number of a hundred or more, dispersed themselves through the grounds, making the most frightful noises, and threatening to fire the tents … Sojourner left the tent alone and unaided, and walking some thirty rods to the top of a small rise of ground, commenced to sing, in her most fervid manner, with all the strength of her most powerful voice … As she commenced to sing, the young men made a rush towards her, and she was immediately encircled by … rioters, many of them armed with sticks or clubs as their weapons of defense, if not of attack. As the circle narrowed around her, she ceased singing, and after a short pause, inquired, in a gentle but firm tone, 'Why do you come about me with clubs and sticks? I am not doing harm to any one.' 'We aren't a going to hurt you, old woman; we came to hear you sing,' cried many voices, simultaneously. 'Sing to us, old woman,' cries one. 'Talk to us, old woman,' says another. 'Pray, old woman,' says a third. 'Tell us your experience,' says a fourth. 'You stand and smoke so near me, I cannot sing or talk,' she answered. 'Stand back,' said several authoritative voices, with not the most gentle or courteous accompaniments, raising their rude weapons in the air. The crowd suddenly gave back, the circle became larger, as many voices again called for singing, talking, or praying, backed by assurances that no one should be allowed to hurt her-the speakers declaring with an oath, that they would 'knock down' any person who should offer her the least indignity. During the winter of 1773, the indications of disease had so much increased, that her physician advised a sea voyage. This was earnestly seconded by her friends; and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley being about to make a voyage to England to arrange a mercantile correspondence, it was settled that Phillis should accompany him, and she accordingly embarked in the summer of the same year. She was at this time but nineteen years old, and was at the highest point of her short and brilliant career. It is with emotions of sorrow that we approach the strange and splendid scenes which were now about to open upon her--to be succeeded by grief and desolation. Phillis was well received in England, and was presented to Lady Huntingdon, Lord Dartmouth, Mr. Thornton and many other individuals of distinction; but, says our informant, 'not all the attention she received, nor all the honors that were heaped upon her, had the slightest influence upon her temper or deportment. She was still the same single-hearted, unsophisticated being.' During her stay in England, her poems were given to the world, dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, and embellished with an engraving which is said to have been a striking representation of the original. It is supposed that one of these impressions was forwarded to her mistress, as soon as they were struck off; for a grand niece of Mrs. Wheatly's informs us that, during the absence of Phillis, she one day called upon her relative, who immediately directed her attention to a picture over the fire-place, exclaiming --'See! look at my Phillis! does she not seem as though she would speak to me!' Phillis arrived in London so late in the season, that the great mart of fashion was deserted. She was therefore urgently pressed by her distinguished friends to remain until the Court returned to St. James's, that she might be presented to the young monarch, George III. She would probably have consented to this arrangement, had not letters from America informed her of the declining health of her mistress, who intreated her to return, that she might once more behold her beloved protegee. Free labor provided possibilities for emancipation for some enslaved people. The most industrious and the most skilled of the enslaved could take greater advantage of these opportunities. Venture Smith had been born in the 1720s, the son of a West African prince who named him Broteer Furro. Slave traders captured him at the age of six, spirited him away to the coast, and transported him to a life of enslavement in Long Island and eastern Connecticut. After several changes of ownership, he was able to purchase his freedom by his labors at the age of 31. Those labors, along with his entrepreneurial activities such as fishing, working on a whaler, and agricultural activities, made possible the purchase of his son, daughter, and wife's liberty. Near the end of the 18th century he related his life history to Elisha Niles, a schoolteacher and Revolutionary war veteran. Published in 1798, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself recounted his successful negotiation of the slavery economy and recognition of free labor as the key to a free identity. About twelve years ago, I hired a whale-boat and four black men, and proceeded to Long-Island after a load of round clams. Having arrived there, I first purchased of James Webb, son of Orange Webb, six hundred and sixty clams, and afterwards, with the help of my men, finished loading my boat. The same evening, however, this Webb stole my boat, and went in her to Connecticut River, and fold her cargo for his own benefit. I thereupon pursued him, and at length, after an additional expense of nine crowns, recovered the boat; but for the proceeds of her cargo I never could obtain any compensation. My master owned a certain Irishman, named Heddy, who about that time formed a plan of secretly leaving his master. After he had long had this plan … he suggested it to me … after he had persuaded and much enchanted me with the prospect of gaining my freedom by such a method, I at length agreed to accompany him … We privately collected out of our master's store, six great old cheeses, two firkins of butter, and one whole batch of new bread. When we had gathered all our own clothes and some more, we took them all about midnight, and went to the waterside. We stole our master's boat, embarked, and then directed our course for the Mississippi river. We mutually confederated (agreed) not to betray or desert one another on pain of death. We first steered our course for Montauk Point, the east end of Long Island. After our arrival there we landed, and Heddy and I made an incursion into the island after fresh water, while our two comrades were left at a little distance from the boat, employed at cooking. When Heddy and I had sought some time for water, he returned to our companions, and I continued on looking ... When Heddy had performed his business with our companions who were engaged in cooking, he went directly to the boat, stole all the clothes in it, and then traveled away for East-Hampton, as I was informed. I returned to my fellows not long after. They informed me that our clothes were stolen, but could not determine who was the thief, yet they suspected Heddy as he was missing. The Mendingo Tribe professes Mohometanism. I became acquainted with two men of this tribe who were apparently men of considerable learning; indeed this tribe, generally, appeared to be a people of some education. Their learning appeared to be the Arabic. They do not allow spirituous liquors to be made use of in this tribe. They have declined the practice of selling their own tribe; but notwithstanding this, they continue to sell those of other tribes, and thought it hard that the traffic in slaves should be abolished, as they were made poor in consequence thereof. As they themselves were not willing to submit to the bonds of slavery, I endeavored to hold this out as a light to convince them of their error. But the prejudice of education had taken too firm hold of their minds to admit of much effect from reason on this subject. Realizing that their best chance of emancipation lay with the British army, as many as 100,000 enslaved African Americans became Loyalists during the War for Independence. They risked possible resale by the British or capture by the Americans, and many became refugees when the British withdrew at the end of the war. Born near Charleston, South Carolina, Boston King fled his owner to join the British. He escaped captivity several times and made his way to New York, the last American port to be evacuated by the British. King was listed in the "Book of Negroes" and issued a certificate of freedom, allowing him to board one of the military transport ships bound for the free black settlements in Nova Scotia. There, King worked as a carpenter and became a Methodist minister. He moved to Sierra Leone in 1792 and published his memoirs, one of a handful of first-person accounts by African-American Loyalist refugees.The following suggested event from Boston King Chooses Freedom, also available on History Matters, is the story of a slave who chose to fight with the British to earn his freedom: … about one o'clock in the morning I went down to the river side, and found the guards were either asleep or in the tavern. I instantly entered into the river, but when I was a little distance from the opposite shore, I heard the sentinels disputing among themselves: One said "I am sure I saw a man cross the river." Another replied, "There is no such thing." It seems they were afraid to fire at me, or make an alarm, lest they should be punished for their negligence. When I had got a little distance from the shore, I fell down upon my knees, and thanked God for the deliverance. I traveled till about five in the morning, and then concealed myself till seven o'clock at night, when I proceeded forward, thro' bushes and marshes, near the road, for fear of being discovered. When I came to the river, opposite Staten-Island, I found a boat; and altho' it was very near a whaleboat, yet I ventured into it, and cutting the rope, got safe over. The (British) commanding officer, when informed of my case, gave me a passport, and I proceeded to New-York. 3 class periods

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Sentimental ballads, also known as pop ballads, rock ballads or power ballads, are an emotional style of music that often deal with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, war (protest songs), loneliness, death, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ballads are generally melodic enough to get the listener's attention. Sentimental ballads are found in most music genres, such as, pop, R&B, soul, country, folk, rock and electronic music, among others. Ballads tend to have a lush musical arrangement, emphasizing melody and harmonies. Characteristically, ballads use acoustic instruments such as guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. However though, many modern, mainstream ballads tend to feature synthesizers, drum machines and even, to some extent, a dance rhythm. Sentimental ballads had their origins in the early Tin Pan Alley music industry of the later 19th century. Initially known as "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads", they were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera, descendants perhaps of broadside ballads. As new genres of music began to emerge in the early 20th century, their popularity faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards. Sentimental ballads have their roots from medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "danced songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in the Americas, Australia and North Africa. As a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling. Musically they were influenced by the Minnesinger. The earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is "Judas" in a 13th-century manuscript. A reference in William Langland's Piers Plowman indicates that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material is Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495. 18th century – early 20th century Ballads at this time were originally composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines. These refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. In the 18th century, ballad operas developed as a form of English stage entertainment, partly in opposition to the Italian domination of the London operatic scene. In America a distinction is drawn between ballads that are versions of European, particularly British and Irish songs, and 'Native American ballads', developed without reference to earlier songs. A further development was the evolution of the blues ballad, which mixed the genre with Afro-American music. In the late 19th century, Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig and Harvard professor Francis James Child attempted to record and classify all the known ballads and variants in their chosen regions. Since Child died before writing a commentary on his work it is uncertain exactly how and why he differentiated the 305 ballads printed that would be published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. There have been many different and contradictory attempts to classify traditional ballads by theme, but commonly identified types are the religious, supernatural, tragic, love ballads, historic, legendary and humorous. By the Victorian era, ballad had come to mean any sentimental popular song, especially so-called "royalty ballads". Some of Stephen Foster's songs exemplify this genre. By the 1920s, composers of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway used ballad to signify a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form. Jazz musicians sometimes broaden the term still further to embrace all slow-tempo pieces. Notable sentimental ballads of this period include, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1870), "After the Ball" (1892), and "Danny Boy" (1913). Popular sentimental ballad vocalists in this era were Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Andy Williams, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Liza Minnelli and Perry Como. Their custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs. The most popular and enduring songs from this style of music are known as "pop standards" or (where relevant) "American standards". Many vocalists became involved in 1960s' vocal jazz and the rebirth of swing music, which was sometimes referred to as "easy listening" and was, in essence, a revival of popularity of the "sweet bands" that had been popular during the swing era, but with more emphasis on the vocalist and the sentimentality. Soft rock, a subgenre that mainly consist of ballads, was derived from folk rock in the early 1970s, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major sentimental ballad artists of this decade included Barbra Streisand, Nana Mouskouri, Elton John, Engelbert Humperdinck, Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor. By the early 1970s, softer ballad songs by the Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Streisand, began to be played more often on "Top 40" radio. When the word ballad appears in the title of a song, as for example in The Beatles' "The Ballad of John and Yoko" (1969) or Billy Joel's "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" (1974), the folk music sense is generally implied. The term ballad is also sometimes applied to strophic story-songs more generally, such as Don McLean's "American Pie" (1971). Prominent artists who made sentimental ballads in the 1980s were Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Bonnie Tyler, George Michael, Phil Collins, Sheena Easton, Amy Grant, Lionel Richie, Christopher Cross, Dan Hill, Leo Sayer, Billy Ocean, Julio Iglesias, Bertie Higgins, Tommy Page and Laura Branigan. The 1990s mainstream pop/R&B singers such as All-4-One, Boyz II Men, Rob Thomas, Christina Aguilera, had made a number of successful, chart-topping ballads. In addition to Celine Dion, other artists with multiple number ones ballads on the AC chart in the 1990s included Phil Collins, Marc Anthony, Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey. Backstreet Boys and Savage Garden Newer female singer-songwriters such as Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow also broke through on the AC chart during this time owing to their ballad-sound. A popular trend in the early 2000s was remixing dance music hits into acoustic ballads (for example, the "Candlelight Mix" versions of "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, "Listen To Your Heart" by D.H.T., and "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada). Throughout this era, artists such as Nick Lachey, James Blunt, John Mayer, Bruno Mars, Jason Mraz, Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Clay Aiken, Susan Boyle, Michael Bublé and Josh Groban have become successful thanks to a ballad heavy sound. Rock artists such as Coldplay, Nickelback and Evanescence have also had made ballad music. Country musicians such as Faith Hill, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes and Carrie Underwood had also gained popularity for their ballads. In the early 2010s, indie musicians like Imagine Dragons, Mumford & Sons, Of Monsters and Men, the Lumineers and Ed Sheeran also had indie songs that crossed over to the adult contemporary charts, due to their ballad-heavy sound. Jazz and traditional pop Most pop standard and jazz ballads are built from a single, introductory verse, usually around 16 bars in length, and they end on the dominant – the chorus or refrain, usually 16 or 32 bars long and in AABA form (though other forms, such as ABAC, are not uncommon). In AABA forms, the B section is usually referred to as the bridge; often a brief coda, sometimes based on material from the bridge, is added, as in "Over the Rainbow". Examples of notable traditional pop and jazz ballads include: - "Always" (1925) by Irving Berlin - "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday (1941) - "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" (1945) by Cole Porter - "Autumn Leaves" (1945) by Nat King Cole - "You Mean Everything to Me" (1960) by Neil Sedaka - "I Will Wait For You" (1965) by Connie Francis. - "My Way" (1968) by Frank Sinatra - "Windmills of your Mind" (1968) by Noel Harrison - "If You Go Away" (1968) by Tom Jones - "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" (1970) by Andy Williams - "Speak Softly Love" (1972) by Andy Williams - "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack (1973) Pop and R&B ballads The most common use of the term "ballad" in modern pop and R&B music is for an emotional song about romance, breakup and/or longing. The singer would usually lament an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship. Some notable examples of pop ballads include: Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word", Delta Goodrem's "Lost Without You", George Michael's "Careless Whisper", Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness", Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" and Shakira's "Underneath Your Clothes". Examples of R&B ballads include Mariah Carey's "My All" and "Love Takes Time", Lionel Richie's "Hello", Ashanti's "The Way That I Love You", Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows", Labrinth's "Jealous", Rihanna's "Unfaithful", and Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart". Simon Frith, the British sociomusicologist and former rock critic, identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles, and the adaptation of this style by performers such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones, and Joe Cocker to produce slow-tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars, and sometimes choirs. According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences. Aaron argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974). The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" (1972) has also been identified as a prototype of the power ballad. Notable power ballad examples include Nazareth's version of "Love Hurts" (1975), Heart's "What About Love" (1985) and Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (1988). Journey's power ballad, "Faithfully", a late addition to the group's Frontiers (1983) album, inspired Prince, who obtained the blessing of Journey's singer/songwriter Jonathan Cain, before releasing what was to become Prince's signature song, "Purple Rain" (1984). During the mid to late 90's and early to mid 2000's a new form of rock ballad would appear, this time using post-grunge as the genre rather than hard rock, heavy metal and less often glam metal. A notable post-grunge ballad would be Bush's "Glycerine" from their debut album Sixteen Stone. What makes the ballad stand out of sorts from the other post-grunge ballads is that it features a cello. Another noted post-grunge ballad would be "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed from their album Human Clay in which the synthesizer is occasionally used. It is also not unusual for a post-grunge ballad to chart on the Adult Contemporary chart in addition to the rock charts. A great example of an artist having multiple post-grunge songs played on AC stations would be Nickelback. Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" has also charted on the AC chart as well reaching number 29 on the chart. While not considered a post-grunge song, 3 Doors Down (a band with ties to post-grunge music) also charted on the AC chart with "Here Without You", although it is considered a soft rock and symphonic rock song rather than post-grunge and almost never gets airplay on rock radio unlike their previous and future hits. - Adult contemporary music - Easy listening - Soft rock - Torch song - List of Irish ballads - List of rock ballads - "POP VIEW; The Male Rock Anthem: Going All to Pieces". The New York Times. Published February 1, 1998. - "Rock Concert Question: Are Lighter Salutes Bad for the Environment?" Live Science, July 15, 2006. - J. M. Curtis, Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954-1984 (Popular Press, 1987), p. 236. - Bronson, B., H. (1969). The Ballad as Song. Los Angeles: University of California Press - Ord, J. (1990). Bothy Songs and Ballads. Edinburgh: John Donald. - "Pop Music - What Is Pop Music - A Definition and Brief History". Top40.about.com. September 7, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - P. Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock (Rough Guides, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 378. - Witmer. See also Middleton (I,4,i). - W. Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (Harvard, 1944; 2nd edn., 1972), p. 70. - A. Jacobs, A Short History of Western Music (1972, Penguin, 1976), p. 21. - W. Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (1944, Harvard, 1972), pp. 70-72. - J. E. Housman, British Popular Ballads (1952, London: Ayer Publishing, 1969), p. 15. - A. Jacobs, A Short History of Western Music (Penguin 1972, 1976), p. 20. - A. N. Bold, The Ballad (Routledge, 1979), p. 5. - B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 45. - "'After the Ball': Lyrics from the Biggest Hit of the 1890s", History Matters - Smith, Kathleen E. R. (2003). God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 91. ISBN 0813122562. - "Popular Ballads", The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, p. 610. - M. Lubbock, The Complete Book of Light Opera (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962) pp. 467-68. - D. Head and I. Ousby, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 66. - T. A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art (ABC-CLIO, 1997), p. 352. - Child, F., J. (1898). The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co - Temperley (II,2). - N. Cohen, Folk Music: a Regional Exploration (Greenwood, 2005), p. 297. - Fusilli, Jim (May 13, 2008). "Sinatra as Idol – Not Artist". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 15, 2008. - "Project MUSE - Lounge Caravan: A Selective Discography". Muse.jhu.edu. February 23, 2005. doi:10.1353/not.2005.0059. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - "10 Best Soft Rock Ballads". Made Man. Retrieved December 6, 2010. "Journey fans can easily list a dozen soft rock ballads from the band..." - Soft Rock. "Soft Rock : Significant Albums, Artists and Songs, Most Viewed". AllMusic. Retrieved January 9, 2013. - "Soft Rock - Profile of the Mellow, Romantic Soft Rock of the '70s and Early '80s". 80music.about.com. April 12, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2013. - D. R. Adams, Rock 'n' roll and the Cleveland Connection Music of the Great Lakes (Kent State University Press, 2002), ISBN 0-87338-691-4, p. 70. - C. H. Sterling, M. C. Keith, Sounds of Change: a History of FM broadcasting in America (UNC Press, 2008), pp. 136-7. - "Journey: The band who did not stop believing". BBC News. November 12, 2010. Retrieved December 6, 2010. - Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Let's Talk About Love: Album review. Allmusic. Retrieved 12 October 2009. - Ruhlmann, William. "Amy Grant - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - Prato, Greg (January 21, 1950). "Billy Ocean - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - Fawthrop, Peter (May 24, 1970). "Tommy Page - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - Ruhlmann, William. "Phil Collins Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2014. - "All-4-One Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - "Mariah Carey Music News & Info". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits. New York City: Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-823-07693-2. - Whitburn, Joel (2007). Billboard Top Adult Songs 1961-2006 (Record Research Inc.), page 373. - "AMERICA'S MUSIC CHARTS -- 1 2 . 2 7 . 1 6 -- powered by MEDIABASE". - Has 'Indie' Become 'Adult Contemporary'? : The Record. NPR. Retrieved on September 29, 2013. - Kelley, Frannie (October 26, 2011). "Has 'Indie' Become 'Adult Contemporary'? : The Record". NPR. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - Fox, Charles. Killing Me Softly: My Life In Music. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD. ISBN 978-0-8108-6991-2. (2010) p. X - Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1973 - D. Randel, The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, (Cambridge MS: Harvard University Press, 1986) ISBN 0-674-61525-5, p. 68. - Buchan, D. (1972). The Ballad and the Folk. East Linton: Tuckwell Press - A. Forte, The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950 (Princeton University Press, 1995). - Hogan, Ed. "Song Review - Un-Break My Heart". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2012. - "Best-Selling Records of 1996". Billboard. BPI Communications Inc. 109 (3): 61. January 18, 1997. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 9, 2015. - "Best-Selling Records of 1997". Billboard. BPI Communications Inc. 110 (5): 76. January 31, 1998. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 9, 2015. - Smith, L.: Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, and the Torch Song Tradition, p. 9. Praeger Publishers, 2004. - Allan Forte, M. R.: Listening to Classic American Popular Songs, p. 203. Yale University Press, 2001. - Trust, Gary (September 13, 2011). "Is Adele's 'Someone Like You' The First No. 1 Piano-And-Vocal-Only Ballad?". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 16, 2012. - Midemblog, James (January 13, 2011). "Interview: Diane Warren, the "fiercely independent" hitmaker". Midem Blog. Retrieved March 24, 2012. - "500 Songs That Shaped Rock". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 15, 2014. - S. Frith, "Pop Music" in S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 100-1. - Aaron, Charles (2002). "Don't Fight the Power". In Jonathan Lethem, Paul Bresnick. Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country,and More. Da Capo Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-306-81166-1. - Perrone, Pierre (August 2, 2010). "Tony Peluso: Guitarist whose solos on The Carpenters' 'Goodbye to Love' ushered in the power-ballad era". The Independent. Retrieved February 4, 2013. - P. Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock: the definitive guide to more than 1200 artists and bands (Rough Guides, 2003) - H. George-Warren, P. Romanowski and J. Pareles, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Fireside, 3rd edn., 2001), p. 1060. - Graf, Gary Graff (April 26, 2016). "Why Prince asked for Journey's Blessing Before Releasing 'Purple Rain'". Billboard. - Smithsonian Global Sound: The Music of Poetry—audio samples of poems, hymns and songs in ballad meter. - The Oxford Book of Ballads, complete 1910 book by Arthur Quiller-Couch

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Normally, when you breathe in an irritant or are subjected to a stressor such as exercise, your airways relax and open, allowing the lungs to get rid of irritants or take in more air. In a person with asthma, muscles in the airways tighten and the lining of the air passages swells. The immune system gets involved, but instead of helping, it causes inflammation. Asthma is a disease of both adults and children. In fact, asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness. About half of all cases of asthma develop before the age of 10. Many children with asthma also have allergies. While there is no cure for asthma, it can be controlled. Asthma Signs and Symptoms Most people with asthma have periodic attacks separated by symptom-free periods. Some asthmatics have chronic shortness of breath with episodes of increased shortness of breath. Asthma attacks can last minutes to days and can become dangerous if the airflow becomes severely restricted. The primary symptoms of asthma include: - Shortness of breath - Wheezing -- usually begins suddenly; may be worse at night or early in the morning; aggravated by exposure to cold air, exercise, heartburn and relieved with the use of bronchodilators (drugs that open the airways; see Medications) - Chest tightness - Cough (dry or with sputum) -- sometimes this is the only symptom Call for emergency assistance if you have or are with someone having any of these serious symptoms: - Extreme difficulty breathing or cessation of breathing - Bluish color to the lips and face (called cyanosis) - Severe anxiety - Rapid pulse - Profuse sweating - Decreased level of consciousness (such as drowsiness or confusion) Additional symptoms that may be associated with an asthma attack include: - Flared nostrils - Abnormal breathing pattern, in which exhalation takes more than twice as long as inhalation - Use of the muscles between the ribs (called intercostals) to help with the increased work of breathing - Coughing up blood (called hemoptysis) Asthma is most likely caused by a combination of several factors. Experts suggest that in people who are susceptible (genetically predisposed), factors such as allergens (substances that commonly induce an allergic reaction), infections, dietary patterns, exercise, cigarette smoke, and stress can bring on an asthma attack. The following factors may increase the risk of developing asthma: - Allergies -- children with asthma often have allergies as well - Family history of asthma or allergies - Cigarette smoke, including second hand smoke from, for example, parents or a spouse - Food allergies - a true food allergy, particularly one that induces asthma, is difficult to identify and, therefore, it is not clear exactly how frequently (or infrequently) this contributes to asthma; it seems to be more common in children than in adults and the responsible foods include eggs, milk, wheat, soy, peanuts, fish, shellfish, and sulfite food perservatives. - Living in a Western or industrialized country - some experts believe that dietary habits (more processed foods, less fruits and vegetables), indoor living (resulting in overexposure to indoor allergens), energy- efficient homes (trapping allergenic dust mites inside), immunizations, and possibly, declining rates of breastfeeding contribute to the rising rates of asthma - Urban living - Gender -- among younger children, asthma develops twice as frequently in boys as in girls, but after puberty it may be more common in girls - Obesity - controversial; a recent study suggests that asthma is over-diagnosed among obese people Childhood asthma in particular can be triggered by almost all of the same things that trigger allergies, such as the following: - Sensitivity to allergens in the air, such as dust, cockroach waste, animal dander, indoor and outdoor mold, pollens - Respiratory infections - Air pollutants, such as smoke from tobacco or a fireplace, aerosols, perfumes, fresh newsprint, diesel particles, sulfur dioxide, elevated ozone levels, and fumes from paint, cleaning products, and gas stoves - Changes in the weather, especially in temperature (particularly cold) and humidity Other triggers include: - Behaviors that affect breathing (exercising, laughing, crying, yelling) The symptoms of asthma can mimic several other conditions, and a doctor must take a thorough history to rule out other diseases. Questions will likely be asked about how and when symptoms occur, and if there is a family history of allergies and asthma or occupational exposure to chemicals. If asthma is suspected, tests (called pulmonary function tests) will probably be done to measure, among other things, the volume of your lungs and how much air you exhale. Other tests may include chest and sinus x-rays, blood tests, or allergy tests. Preventive Care for Asthma Although there is no method guaranteed to prevent asthma, there are a number of measures parents can take to reduce their child's risk of developing asthma. These include: - Exclusively breastfeeding for the first 3 to 6 months of life; this issue is controversial, however, with the most recent (and largest) study suggesting that breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life helps to protect the child. - Delaying the introduction of solid food until age 6 months - Manipulating the child's environment (not smoking during pregnancy or around infants, eliminating household allergens such as mites and cockroaches. For example, to reduce exposure to dust mites, encase mattresses and pillows in special covers that are impermeable to allergens; also, remove carpets from bedrooms.) According to certain studies on adults, apples and selenium-rich food in the diet may protect against asthma, and moderate consumption of red wine may be associated with less severe asthma attacks. These foods are high in antioxidants (namely, flavonoids). It is too early to say definitively that these nutrients protect against asthma, however. Plus, it is important to note that in certain individuals, red wine may actually induce asthma symptoms if you have an allergy to sulfites, a food additive, or any other substance found in wine. Often, wine labels indicate if sulfites are present. Key steps in preventing asthma attacks include identifying the allergens and the triggers that bring on or worsen your asthma symptoms and then working to eliminate or avoid them. Sometimes it takes exposure to more than one of these factors before an asthma episode is triggered. Keeping a diary to determine triggers may be helpful. The following conditions are common triggers for asthma. Reduce your chances of exposure to them by taking some common-sense steps: - Viral infections (colds, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia) - stay away from people who you know are ill - Sinusitis and allergic rhinitis (hay fever or year-round allergies) - avoid seasonal allergens by staying indoors in air conditioning as much as possible and eliminating indoor allergens; fewer allergy attacks generally means fewer cases of sinusitis and asthma - Gastroesophageal reflux (heartburn) - avoid provoking foods, medication, and mealtime habits Avoid the following altogether: - If sensitive or allergic, aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - Beta-blockers (such as acebutolol, atenolol, esmolol, labetalol, metoprolol, nadolol, pindolol, propranolol, and timolol) including those in eye medication - If sensitive or allergic, processed potatoes, shrimp, dried fruit, beer, and wine - these often contain sulfite food preservatives Allergy desensitization, if you have a known allergy, may decrease the number of asthma attacks you experience, diminish the intensity of each attack, and lower the amount of medication that you need. Asthma Treatment Approach Avoiding asthma attacks, reducing inflammation, and preventing lung damage are the primary goals of treatment. This requires educating yourself about asthma, working closely with your doctor to determine the severity of your asthma and to define a treatment plan, and following recommendations. Adjusting your environment as much as possible to prevent exposure to allergens or irritants are important for the successful control of asthma. Certain nutritional changes, particularly increasing the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet and decreasing omega-6 fatty acids, and acupuncture may be useful adjuncts. - Quit smoking - Lose weight if you are overweight and already have asthma; although the connection between obesity and asthma is not entirely understood, excess weight may put pressure on the lungs and trigger an inflammatory response. - Keep a diary of respiratory complaints - this may help determine triggers. Asthma Nutrition and Dietary Supplements Studies indicate that people with asthma tend to have low levels of certain nutrients (for example, selenium and potassium) and that the Western diet (high in fast foods and low in fresh fruits and vegetables) has been associated with higher rates of asthma. In fact, fried foods and margarine may be particularly bad, especially in children. On the other hand, it has been suggested that adding onion, garlic, pungent spices, and antioxidants (such as foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids, and beta-carotene) to the diet may help reduce symptoms. Two large studies found that low dietary magnesium intake may be associated with risk of developing asthma in both children and adults. A review of scientific studies suggests that N-acetylcysteine may help dissolve mucus and improve symptoms associated with asthma. Omega-3 Fatty Acids Preliminary research on adults with asthma suggests that an omega-3 fatty acid supplement may reduce inflammation and improve lung function. One thing that can be said about omega-3 fatty acids is that if you enrich your diet with this type of essential fatty acid (from foods such as cold-water fish, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts) and reduce your intake of omega-6 fatty acids (from foods like meat, egg yolks, and certain cooking oils), this is likely to help improve your symptoms. Data from several studies suggest that compared to diets with normal amounts of potassium, diets low in potassium are associated with poor lung function and even asthma in children. Improving dietary intake of potassium through foods such as fish, fruits, and vegetables may therefore be valuable for preventing or treating asthma. Adequate amounts of magnesium are needed to maintain normal levels of potassium. In addition, the drug theophylline (used sometimes for asthma) may deplete potassium, as can excessive intake of salt or caffeine in the diet. Quercetin, which is a member of a group of antioxidants called flavonoids, inhibits the production and release of histamine and other allergic/inflammatory substances. Histamine is a substance that contributes to allergy symptoms such as a runny nose, watery eyes, and hives. Like other flavonoids, quercetin is a plant pigment responsible for colors seen in fruits and vegetables. Studies suggest that people with asthma tend to have low blood levels of selenium. In addition, a population-based study (studies that evaluate groups of people) suggested that eating selenium-rich foods may have a protective effect against asthma. Plus, taking selenium supplements may prove to be helpful as well. In a study of 24 people with asthma, for example, those who received selenium supplements for 14 weeks demonstrated a significant improvement in symptoms compared to those who received placebo. More studies, with larger numbers of people and lasting longer than 14 weeks, are needed to determine whether selenium supplementation is truly safe and effective for people with asthma. Although research is limited, there is some indication that vitamin C, particularly from fresh fruit in your diet, may be useful for treating allergy-related conditions such as asthma. Other supplements that may have benefit for asthma include: - Coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) - if you have asthma, you may have low levels of this antioxidant in your blood. It is not known at this time, however, whether taking CoQ10 supplements will make any difference in your symptoms. - Lactobacillus acidophilus - there is some evidence that this "good" organism (called a probiotic), which is found naturally in the gut, may reduce the risk of developing an allergic reaction, including asthma. In fact, some early evidence suggests that if mothers who have at least one relative with asthma, or some other allergy-related illness, take this probiotic while pregnant and breastfeeding, their babies may be less likely to develop asthma. - Lycopene and beta-carotene - preliminary data suggests that each of these two antioxidants may prove useful for preventing exercise induced asthma symptoms when taken daily. - Vitamin B6 - may be needed if you are taking theophylline because this medication can lower blood levels of this nutrient. Asthma Suggested Nutritional Supplementation - D-43 Bronchasthmol - 10-15 drops under tongue 3 times daily. Acute: 5 - 10 drops under tongue every 20 - 30 minutes. - 500-C Methoxyflavone - 3 tablets initially, then 1 tablet every 20-30 minutes until symptoms subside. 500-C Methoxyflavone is a synergistic formula that features a specialized complex of bioflavonoids combined with vitamin C. - Vitamin C and the bioflavonoids are known to be helpful in reducing the effects of allergy mediated bronchial asthma, sometimes stopping the attack in as little as five minutes. - Nazanol -1-2 tablets 2-3 times daily on empty stomach. Natural , stimulant-free herbal support for healthy sinus, nasal and lung function. - DMG Sublingual - 1 tablet under tongue every 20-30 minutes until symptoms subside. - Research has shown DMG to be a physiologically active ingredient that: 1) is an anti-stress agent that can significantly improve physical and mental performance; 2) can improve and stimulate oxygen utilization and thereby reduce hypoxic (low oxygen) states in the body; and 3) can increase resistance to disease and infection by strengthening both arms of the immune response system, including antibody and lymphocyte production. - Mega B12 / Folic - 4 drops three times daily Highly concentrated B12/folic acid liquid - NOTE: Childhood asthma has been shown to respond remarkably well to B12 therapy. - VentiMax - Adults: 2 capsules twice daily with meals. Children over 6 years: 1 capsule twice daily with meals. Children under 6 years: Use VentiMax PD VentiMax is the only scientifically designed nutritional supplement for asthma free of hidden herbal stimulants such as caffeine, theophylline, and ephedrine. - VentiMax PD - Children 1-3 years: 1-2 teaspoons twice daily mixed in apple or pear juice. Children 4-6 years: 1 Tablespoon twice daily mixed in apple or pear juice. - PerimineTM - 1-2 tablets twice daily with food. Patented, Flavonoid-Rich Perilla Seed Extract. In severe chronic asthma, Dr. Jeffrey Bland recommends adding - UltraInflamX Plus 360 - 2 scoops twice daily Multi-mechanistic support with key nutrients, phytonutrients, and selective kinase response modulators (SKRMs) to address underlying inflammation. Asthma Dietary Suggestions - Anti-Inflammatory Diet Asthma Supporting Research 1. Aligne CA, Auinger P, Byrd RS, Weitzman M. Risk factors for pediatric asthma. Contributions of poverty, race, and urban residence. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;162(3 Pt 1):873-877. 2. American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Accessed athttp://www.allergy.mcg.edu/patients/control.html on July 22, 2002. 3. Balon J, Aker PD, Crowther ER, et al. A comparison of active and simulated chiropractic manipulation as adjunctive treatment for childhood asthma. N Engl J Med. 1998;339:1013-1020. 4. Birkel DA, Edgren L. Hatha yoga: improved vital capacity of college students. Altern Ther Health Med. 2000;6(6):55-63. 5. Bronfort G, Evans RL, Kubic P, Filkin P. Chronic pediatric asthma and chiropractic spinal manipulation: a prospective clinical series and randomized clinical pilot study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001;24(6):369-377. 6. Carr AC, Frei B. Toward a new recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C based on antioxidant and health effects in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69(6):1086-1107. 7. Ciarallo L, Brousseau D, Reinert S. Higher-dose intravenous magnesium therapy for children with moderate to severe acute asthma. Arch Ped Adol Med. 2000;154(10):979-983. 8. Ciarallo L, Sauer AH, Shannon MW. Intravenous magnesium therapy for moderate to severe pediatric asthma: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. 9. J Pediatr. 1996;129(6):809-814. 10. Cummings S, Ullman D. Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam; 1997: 237-238. 11. Ernst E. Breathing techniques - adjunctive treatment modalities for asthma? A systematic review. Eur Respir J. 2000;15(5):969-972. 12. Field T, Henteleff T, Hernandez-Reif M, et al. Children with asthma have improved pulmonary functions after massage therapy. J Pediatr. 1998;132(50:854-858. 13. Fung KP, Chow OKW, So SY. Attentuation of exercise-induced asthma by acupuncture. Lancet. 1986;2(8521-8522): 1419-1421. 14. Gazdol F, Gvozdjakova A, Nadvornikova R, et al. Decreased levels of coenzyme Q(10) in patients with bronchial asthma. Allergy. 2002;57(9):811-814. 15. Gdalevich M, Mimouni D, Mimouni M. Breast-feeding and the risk of bronchial asthma in childhood: a systematic review with meta-analysis of prospective studies. J Pediatr. 2001;139(2):261-266. 16. Gilliland FD, Berhane KT, Li YF, Kim DH, Margolis HG. Dietary magnesium, potassium, sodium, and children's lung funtion. Am J Epidemiol. 2002. 15;155(2):125-131. 17. Graham RI, Pistolese RA. An impairment rating analysis of asthmatic children under chiropractic care. J Vertebr Sublux Res.1997;1(4):41-48. 18. Gupta I, Gupta V, Parihar A, et al. Effects of Boswellia serrata gum resin in patients with bronchial asthma: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 6-week clinical study. Eur J Medical Research. 1998;3(11):511-514. 19. Haby MM, Peat JK, Marks GB, Woolcock AJ, Leeder SR. Asthma in preschool children: prevalence and risk factors. Thorax. 2001;56(8):589-595. 20. Hackman RM, Stern JS, Gershwin ME. Hypnosis and asthma: a critical review. J Asthma. 2000;37(1):1-15. 21. Hasselmark L, Malmgren R, Zetterstrom O, Onge G. Selenium supplementation in intrinsic asthma. Allergy. 1993;48:30-36. 22. Hijazi N, Abalkhail B, Seaton A. Diet and childhood asthma in a society in transition: a study in urban and rural Saudi Arabia. Thorax. 2000;55:775-779. 23. Hondras MA, Linde K, Jones AP. Manual therapy for asthma (Cochrane Review). Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2001;(1):CD001002. 24. Hope BE, Massey DB, Fournier-Massey G. Hawaiian materia medica for asthma. Hawaii Med J. 1993;52:160-166. 25. Howes LG. Which drugs affect potassium? Drug Saf. 1995;12(4):240-244. 26. Huntley A, White AR, Ernst E. Relaxation therapies for asthma: a systematic review. Thorax. 2002;57(20:127-131. 27. Jain SC, Rai L, Valecha A, Jha UK, Bhatnagar SO, Ram K. Effect of yoga training on exercise tolerance in adolescents with childhood asthma. J Asthma. 1991;28(6):437-442. 28. Joos S, Schott C, Zou H, Daniel V, Martin E. Immunomodulatory effects of acupuncture in the treatment of allergic asthma: a randomized controlled study. J Alt Comp Med. 2000;6(6), 519-525. 29. Kadrabova J, Mad'aric A, Kovacikova Z, Podivinsky F, Ginter E, Gazdik F. Selenium status is decreased in patients with intrinsic asthma. Biol Trace Elem Res. 1996;52(3):241-248. 30. Kalliomaki M, Salminen S, Arvilommi H, Kero P, Koskinen P, Isolauri E. Probiotics in primary prevention of atopic disease: a randomized placebo controlled trial. Lancet. 2001;357(9262):1076-1079. 31. Kaur B, Rowe BH, Ram FS. Vitamin C supplementation for asthma (Cochrane Review). Cochrane Databse Syst Rev. 2001;4:CD000993. 32. Kleijnen J, ter Riet G, Knipschild P. Acupuncture and asthma: a review of controlled trials. Thorax. 1991;46:799-802. 33. Kohen DP, Wynne E. Applying hypnosis in a preschool family asthma education program; uses of storytelling, imagery, and relaxation. Am J Clin Hypnosis. 1997;39(3):169-181. 34. Kruzel T. The Homeopathic Emergency Guide. Berkeley, Calif: North Atlantic Books; 1992:21-27. 35. Lehrer P. Emotionally triggered asthma: a review of research literature and some hypotheses of self-regulation therapies. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 1998;23(1):13-41. 36. Lehrer P, Feldman J, Giardino N, Song HS, Schmaling K. Psychological aspects of asthma. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2002;70(3):691-711. 37. Levine M, Rumsey SC, Daruwala R, Park JB, Wang Y. Criteria and recommendations for vitamin C intake. JAMA. 1999;281(15):1415-1453. 38. Linde, K, Jobst K, Panton J. Acupuncture for chronic asthma (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2001. Oxford: Update Software. 39. Mazur LJ, De Ybarrondo L, Miller J, Colasurdo G. Use of alternative and complementary therapies for pediatric asthma. Tex Med. 2001;97(6):64-68. 40. Meydani SN, Ha WK. Immunologic effects of yogurt. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;71(4):861-872. 41. Middleton E, ed. Allergy: Principles and Practice. 5th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby-Year Book, Inc; 1998. 42. Miller AL. The etiologies, pathophysiology, and alternative/complementary treatment of asthma. Altern Med Rev. 2001;6(1):20-47. 43. Monteleone CA, Sherman AR. Nutrition and asthma. Arch Intern Med. 1997;157:23-24. 44. Nagakura T, Matsuda S, Shichijyo K, Sugimoto H, Hata K. Dietary supplementation with fish oil rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in children 45. with bronchial asthma. Eur Resp J. 2000;16(5):861-865. 46. Neuman I, Nahum H, Ben-Amotz A. Prevention of exercise-induced asthma by a natural isomer mixture of beta-carotene. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 1999;82(6):549-553. 47. Neuman I, Nahum H, Ben-Amotz A. Reduction of exercise-induced asthma oxidative stress by lycopene, a natural antioxidant. Allergy. 2000;55(12):1184-1189. 48. Newnham DM. Asthma medications and their potential adverse effects in the elderly: recommendations for prescribing. Drug Saf. 2001;24(14):1065-1080. 49. NIH Consensus Statement: Acupuncture. National Institutes of Health, Office of the Director. 1997;15(5):1-34. Accessed athttp://odp.od.nih.gov/consensus/cons/107/107_statement.htm on September 24, 2001. 50. Nielsen NH, Bronfort G, Bendix T, Madsen F, Weeke B. Chronic asthma and chiropractic spinal manipulation: a randomized clinical trial. Clin Exp Allergy. 1995;25:80-88. 51. Okamoto M, Misunobu F, Ashida K, Mifune T, Hosaki Y, Tsugeno H et al. Effects of dietary supplementation with n-3 fatty acids compared with n-6 fatty acids on bronchial asthma. Int Med. 2000;39(2):107-111. 52. Okamoto M, Misunobu F, Ashida K, et al. Effects of perilla seed oil supplementation on leukotriene generation by leucocytes in patients with asthma associated with lipometabolism. Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2000;122(2):137-142. 53. Rohdewald P. A review of the French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol), a herbal medication with a diverse clinical pharmacology. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2002;40(4):158-168. 54. Romieu I, Trenga C. Diet and obstructive lung diseases. Epidemiol Rev. 2001;23(2):268-287. 55. Rowe BH, Edmonds ML, Spooner CH, Camargo CA. Evidence-based treatments for acute asthma. [Review]. Respir Care. 2001;46(12):1380-1390. 56. Sancier KM. Therapeutic benefits of qigong exercises in combination with drugs. J Altern Complement Med. 1999;5(4):383-389. 57. Sanders R. Pine bark extract is a potent antioxidant, and may help boost the effects of vitamin C and other antioxidants, UC Berkeley scientists report [news release]. February 5, 1998. Accessed athttp://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/98legacy/02_05_98a.html on July 19, 2002. 58. Sathyaprabha TN, Murthy H, Murthy BT. Efficacy of naturopathy and yoga in bronchial asthma - a self controlled matched scientific study. Ind J Physiol Pharmacol. 2001;45(10:80-86. 59. Shaheen SO, Sterne JA, Thompson RL, Songhurst CE, Margetts BM, Burney PG. Dietary antioxidants and asthma in adults: population-based case-control study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;164(10 Pt 1):1823-1828. 60. Shimizu T, Maeda S, Arakawa H, et al. Relation between theophylline and circulating vitamin levels in children with asthma. Pharmacol. 1996;53:384-389. 61. Smit HA, Grievink L, Tabak C. Dietary influences on chronic obstructive lung disease and asthma: a review of the epidemiological evidence. Proc Nutr Soc. 1999;58(2):309-319. 62. Tamaoki J, Nakata J, Kawatani K, Tagaya E, Nagai A. Ginsenoside-induced relaxation of human bronchial smooth muscle via release of nitric oxide. Br J Pharmacol. 2000;130(8):1859-1864 63. Ullman D. Homeopathic Medicine for Children and Infants. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam; 1992: 46-48. 64. Ullman D. The Consumer's Guide to Homeopathy. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam; 1995: 260-261. 65. Urata Y, Yoshida S, Irie Y, et al. Treatment of asthma patients with herbal medicine TJ-96: a randomized controlled trial. Respir Med. 2002 Jun;96(6):469-474. 66. Vally H, Carr A, El-Saleh J, Thompson P. Wine-induced asthma: a placebo-controlled assessment of its pathogenesis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1999;103(1 Pt 1):41-46. 67. Vedanthan PK, Kesavalu LN, Murthy KC, et al. Clinical study of yoga techniques in university students with asthma: a controlled study. Allergy Asthma Proc. 1998;19(1):3-9. 68. Yoshida S. Herbalism for the treatment of asthma. Chest. 1999;116(2):582-583. 69. Ziment I, Tashkin DP. Alternative medicine for allergy and asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2000;106(4):603-614.

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*This is a slightly expanded version of an article that first appeared in Understanding Our Gifted is the first in a series of three articles about the processes of parenting an exceptionally gifted child. Assessing gifted children is similar to and different from assessing other types of children. Though areas to be assessed are similar for all, for gifted children, the assessment techniques and tests require special characteristics. While most professionals are trained to assess many kinds of children, few are specifically trained to assess in this particular area. The general perception is that these youngsters, with abilities and strengths in many areas, have no special needs, educational or otherwise, that merit serious clinical attention. For this reason, it is important that parents who suspect that their child may be gifted search for a professional with experience in working with this population. Knowledge about these practices can help parents with this search. Testing versus assessment. These two activities are frequently discussed together and criticized together, when, in fact, they are quite different. As a psychologist, I have done both and will continue to do both for very different reasons. Testing, or the individual administration of a standardized test, means presenting test items according to very specific pre-set directions and following an exact verbal script. The results are usually reported as numbers. This is a limited activity and the information that it provides is similarly limited. Assessment, on the other hand, includes standardized test administration but goes well beyond it. Good test administration should be the same from person to person; that is, it should be independent of personal experience and personal viewpoints. Assessment, especially clinical assessment, is highly dependent upon training, theoretical orientation, personal experience, research knowledge and clinical experience. In good test administration, the person administering the test should not have a major impact on the test results; in assessment, the person doing the assessment does have a major impact on the final result. For these reasons, assessing children is part science and part art. The science part is straightforward and largely concerns testing. The art part is difficult to describe, difficult to teach and essential. Age of child. All tests and assessments vary with the age of the child, as we expect that children will do different things at different ages. In general, we chose to use an instrument that has been standardized with children of a specific age without regard to their ability levels. Yet, gifted children will accomplish a variety of things earlier than other children or will accomplish them at a higher level than their age peers will. Assessment must adapt to this reality. There are two basic strategies for making this adaptation; the easiest is to use a test standardized for older children (this is the out of level testing that is used in the talent searches). For example, most children do not read before entering school, and therefore most assessments of preschool children do not routinely include reading. Some gifted preschool children do read early, and an adequate assessment of them should include measures of reading. One way to accomplish this is to give an above age or grade level of the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test. A second strategy is to informally look for behaviors and skills that usually appear in older children. For example, an informal strategy for reading assessment is to take an inventory of the books that the child has read in the 6 months prior to the assessment. The most important step is not to make assumptions about the child's level of accomplishment based upon age or upon grade, but rather select test materials that will permit a young child to demonstrate high level skills in a variety of areas. Each child, gifted or not, has his or her own history. When a child is tested, for example, in the admission process for private schools or selective programs, parent information is often not collected. In assessment, however, the first step is to interview the parents to obtain the child's history in the areas of general development, education, health, social interactions and family interactions. As a parent, you should be wary of any professional who plans to evaluate a child without taking a developmental history. The careful collection of information from parents, via report forms, checklists and most importantly direct interviewing, becomes the foundation upon which the individual nature of the assessment is built. Parents, speaking to a professional for the first time, should feel free to say that they think that their child may be gifted. They should then hear a question like-"Why do you think that your child may be gifted? What does your child do that suggests this?" thus opening the door for a frank and complete history of the child's development and behavior. As with any interview technique, the value of the information obtained depends upon the skill of the interviewer and upon the biases of the interviewer. Several remarkable studies have had a particular impact on my thinking about the developmental pathways of gifted children and I want to direct your attention to those studies (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). In the academic world, there are debates about the meaning and the value of intelligence tests in general; at parent and school meetings, I have been asked many questions about intelligence tests and the meanings of different score patterns. After working with hundreds of children, my own view of the value of intelligence tests is this: when I administer an individual intelligence test, I gain necessary but not sufficient information about an individual child. Among the most commonly used tests for assessing the gifted are the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition (SB:IV) and, yes, the Stanford-Binet: Form L-M (SB:LM). I use all three at different times. For gifted children, I have frequently observed that a score on one intelligence test cannot be converted to a score on another intelligence by means of any formula. These tests provide information that is not interchangeable and the scores that they generate are not interchangeable. If I think that a gifted child may have a learning disability, I use the WISC-III based upon my clinical experience and because there is a body of useful research on this application (6). If I am interested in a school age child's high-level math reasoning or visual-spatial reasoning, I use the SB: IV as I have had numerous experiences with young elementary school children who demonstrate skill in subtests normally reserved for older children, especially the subtests of number series, equation building, paper folding and matrices. However, both the WISC-III and the SB: IV have a serious general limitation due to their low ceiling. The tests were designed to be most useful for children who are close to average and are less useful for children who are far from average (e.g. retarded or gifted). In fact, the original creator of the Weschler tests, David Weschler stated that "My scales are meant for people who score between 70 and 130. They are clinical tests." When reminded that his tests were commonly used by psychologists for such children, he said, of the psychologists, "Then that is their misfortune. It's not what I tell them to do, and it's not what a good clinician ought to do. They should know better."(7, p xiv). One word about the SB:LM is in order. Many people mistakenly believe that the publication of the SB:IV meant that the SB: LM should not and could not be used. That is not true. There are serious and well documented reasons for continuing to use this test (3,8). I especially like the SB: LM for its very high level verbal reasoning items, which, in my experience, tap an ability to think, verbally and mathematically, in a complex way. However, there is a serious limitation in using this test, namely, the reluctance of school personnel to accept the test results. Several years ago, there was a lively debate about the relative merits of the SB: LM and the SB: IV in the identification of gifted children, with some favoring the use of the SB: IV (8) and others the use of the SB: LM (9). Putting the issue to the clinical test, by administering both tests to the same children, I have found that with the SB: IV, it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to distinguish between highly and exceptionally intellectually gifted children. To put it simply, if I want to know whether or not an individual child fits the characteristics of an exceptionally gifted child, as presented by Dr. Mirica Gross (3) in her extensive research, then I must administer the SB: LM. The Riverside Publishing Company reports plans to incorporate some of the best features of the SB: LM into the formation of a new test, the Stanford-Binet: Fifth Edition. However, it will be years until that new test is ready, and has proven to be useful for gifted students. One of the clear ways in which gifted children differ from other children is in the ease and speed with which they master academic skills. The more extreme the child is in intellectual ability, the more likely it is that the child will not fit in well with a standard curriculum. For that reason, I find that it is critical to evaluate the child's abilities to decode words, comprehend printed passages, understand math processes, complete math calculations, produce legible print or script and to write varied types of material. Gifted children, in the early school years, vary widely in the degree to which these skills are developed. Of the children I have seen, highly and exceptionally gifted children, often, but not always, have some school skills that are much more advanced than the skills of more moderately gifted children. These children, in turn, have some skills that are much more advanced than the skills of average children. To convincingly document extreme skill development in any of these areas, it is essential to use an individual educational assessment that has a very high ceiling as schools often do not possess or obtain this information. This occurs for several reasons: first, many schools do not routinely test all their elementary children until they reach a pre-established grade, which can be as late as 3rd or 4th grade, and, second, the types of standardized, normed, group-administered tests that are given in schools to classrooms of children often have such low ceilings that they cannot distinguish well among the children in the top 3 to 5 percentiles. Individual assessment can be adapted to document the differening academic levels of children in the top 3 percentiles on standardized tests. The talent searches, which are available for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders are very important tools in documenting highly developed math and verbal aptitude. For elementary children in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades, a good assessment practice is the use of individual tests that go up to a 12th grade level of difficulty. By using such tests, there is no pre-conceived ceiling that is imposed on a child by the nature of the test construction. There are several individually administered academic tests with high ceilings, for example, the Woodcock-Johnson and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. I prefer the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement for early elementary gifted students, as it includes what, I feel, is a more realistic assessment of reading. In the KTEA, the child is required to read and demonstrate comprehension of printed paragraphs. In many other tests, the child's reading comprehension skill is measured by merely filling in a missing word in a sentence. In my experience this less demanding task, the cloze procedure, can lead to inflated and inaccurate scores of reading comprehension. Gifted children often possess abilities in areas that are well outside the realm of standardized tests; they may possess talents in music, art, creative writing, scientific thinking and group leadership, to name only a few. Using these abilities, the children may complete activities or undertake projects that no one their age may have imagined or attempted. In order to understand these qualities and to begin to appreciate the importance of these activities in the lives of these children, I have had to be creative in my assessment strategies. Certainly, portfolios of art and writing are useful, as are videotapes of performances and activities. Constructions of all types have made an appearance in my office; some of them can be captured with a Polaroid camera. Children's efforts in these areas often represent hours of committed labor and may indicate unusual and emerging life interests. As these activities are often undertaken outside of school, parent information about these projects is vital. It is often equally important to brainstorm with parents about the ways they can encourage and support their children in these activities. There is no simple, standardized, normed method for accomplishing this; consequently, this is not a testing activity but it is an essential assessment activity. The role of intuition. This topic, which could also be called clinical judgment, is perhaps, the single most important one, in discussing the assessment of children and the one that is the most difficult to describe. To a substantial extent it is based upon reading the non-verbal communication from the child. This aspect of the communication includes many factors: the child's body position, body movements, use of gestures, eye glances, tone of voice, intonation and various approach and avoidance behaviors. Reading the non-verbal communication is a complex process and one that provides vital information about the child. The more children I evaluate, the more I depend upon this aspect of assessment. While it is important throughout the entire process, I am most aware of it during the first minutes after meeting a child. Mostly, it resembles a sensation of waiting, of alert waiting for the child. At those moments, I try to set aside all I have heard or read about the child and simply respond to what occurs. To do this successfully, I have to concentrate fully and I often respond in ways that I have not preplanned. To a great extent, I depend upon the initial impressions, feelings and ideas that occur to me in the moments after I meet the child. Children chose to bring in photographs, trophies, books, stuffed toys, construction projects, art or other projects; responding enthusiastically is easy and welcome. Other children, sometimes the ones who bring in nothing, make it plain that they would rather be anywhere else in the world. At times, I find myself saying almost before I say hello, "You look like you’d rather be anywhere but here." Children are usually grateful for the acceptance it implies. Other children, painfully shy, look like they wish they could just disappear. Sitting down in the waiting room, chatting with their parents, inviting their parents into the testing room allows the child to minimize the interaction with me. With my attention directed toward their parents, they feel less pressure to interact and they will often ease themselves into the conversation, as they are able. For children who are quiet or hesitant to speak, allowing periods of silence and offering non-verbal toys (origami, puzzles, markers and paper) helps ease the transition into the assessment process. Other children need to have a brief introductory session and then return, later, to a now somewhat familiar place for longer, more focused assessment sessions. While some of these variations can be anticipated in advance by discussions with parents, others are, essentially, spontaneous. The most useful preparatory technique is to tell the parents to help the child select something important or well loved to bring to the session. Allowing them to choose gives them an initial sense that their needs and opinions will be valued and it provides an immediate and engaging topic for conversation. Also importantly, this activity gives the child some small area of control over a process that will be largely outside of his or her control. Finally, it communicates the message that, at least part of, the assessment will be about what they like and value. My subjective experiences. I have found that assessing gifted children, is a qualitatively different experience than the assessment of other types of children. First of all, it takes 1 ½ to 2 times longer to administer high ceiling tests to gifted children than to average children. The more extreme the ability of the child, the longer the session. The reasons for this are straightforward. Gifted children generally answer more questions correctly, produce more elaborated answers, ask more detailed questions and become more deeply engaged in testing than do other children. For all these reasons, it can take along time to reach a test ceiling or the end of a subtest. The tendency of gifted children to be more positive and engaged during the testing means that they are more difficult to disengage and that they are more reluctant to leave at the end. Breaks and stopping points must, more often, be imposed on gifted children. Also, the interpersonal dynamics in the testing sessions are more complex. I often have the sensation that I am being closely observed and that the nuances of what I say and do are being noted. In short, I find that I need to be particularly focused, alert and engaged when I am assessing gifted children. I also need to offer more explanations for why I do what I do. Experience has taught me that if I do not offer explanations, the children will invent their own, sometime quite incorrect explanations, of what I am doing or thinking. All assessment processes involve providing information to parents and often to teachers. In the case of gifted children, I find that their parents ask more questions, expect more fully developed answers and appreciate references to relatively complex reading material. Teachers and parents alike often have to cope with feelings of uncertainty about how best to respond to the child's needs, and questions of best educational practices are constantly raised. Teachers and parents are often appreciative of straightforward information on practices like subject matter acceleration, grade skipping, radical acceleration and home schooling. Frequently, there is an urgently felt need to solve educational problems of fit and there is a great need for information on a variety of successful techniques. Obtaining and sharing this information is an important part of the assessment process. In many fascinating ways, the growth of the Internet has given parents quick access to each other and to information of varying quality. The resourcefulness and persistence of parents constantly impresses me as they seek appropriate adaptations for their children in the schools. My role, at that stage, is to provide links between the parent, the school and the body of knowledge about promising educational practices. In this regard, materials supplied by the ERIC system (10) and the work of the National Research Center on the Gifted and the Talented (11) has been invaluable and I encourage parents to obtain materials from both sources. It is my opinion that no assessment is complete until some meaningful changes have taken place in the daily life of the child, however, it is often the parents who must see to it that those changes take place. 1. Bloom, B. S. (1985) Developing Talent In Young People. New York: Ballantine Books. 2. Gottfried, A. W., Gottfried, A. E., Bathurst, K. & Guerin, D. W. (1994). Gifted IQ: Early Developmental Aspects: The Fullerton Longitudinal Study. New York: Plenum Press. 3. Gross, M. U. M., (1993) Exceptionally Gifted Children. London: Routledge. 4. Hart, B. & Risley, T. D. (1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Company. 5. Roedell, W. C., Jackson, N. E. and Robinson, H. B. (1980) Gifted Young Children. New York: Teachers College Press. 6. Fox., L. H., Brody, L. & Tobin, D. (1983) Learning-Disabled Gifted Children: Identification and Programming. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. 7. Kaufman, A. (1994) Intelligent Testing with the WISC-III. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 8. Robinson, N. (1992) Which Binet for the Brightest? Stanford-Binet IV, Of Course! Time Marches On! Roeper Review, 151, 32-34 9. Silverman, L. & Kearney, K (1992) Don’t Throw Away the Old Binet. Roeper Review, 1591, 32- 34. 10. The ERIC documents on gifted children can be obtained at: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, The Council for Exceptional Children, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, VA 22091-1589. 11. The Product list from NRCGT can be obtained by contacting the Dissemination Coordinator, University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, 362 Fairfield Rd., U-7 Storrs, CT 06269-2007. Reprinted by permission from Open Space Communications. This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people 18 and under. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org. The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institute's Database does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. All information presented is for informational purposes only and is solely the opinion of and the responsibility of the author. Although reasonable effort is made to present accurate information, the Davidson Institute makes no guarantees of any kind, including as to accuracy or completeness. Use of such information is at the sole risk of the reader.

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Home > Preview The flashcards below were created by user on FreezingBlue Flashcards. In schizophrenia, these symptoms reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. These active, abnormal symptoms may include: These beliefs are not based in reality and usually involve misinterpretation of perception or experience. They are the mot common of schizophrenic symptoms. These usually involve seeing or hearing things that don't exist, although they can be in any of the senses. Hearing voices is the most common example among people with schizophrenia. Difficulty speaking and organizing thoughts may result in stopping speech midsentence or putting together meaningless words, sometimes known as "word salad." This may show in a number of ways, ranging from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. refers to a diminishment or absence of characteristics of normal function. They may appear months or years before positive symptoms. They include: of interest in everyday activities to lack emotion ability to plan or carry out activities of personal hygiene Involves problems with thought processes. These symptoms may be the most disabling in schizophrenia, because they interfere with the ability to perform routine daily tasks. A person with schizophrenia may be born with these symptoms, but they may worsen when the disorder starts. They include: with making sense of information also can affect mood, causing depression or mood swings. In addition, people with schizophrenia often seem inappropriate and odd, causing others to avoid them, which leads to social isolation. Homelessness & Schizophrenia Mental illness is one of the main contributors to homelessness. - Schizophrenia and homelessness are dual conditions that plague nearly every - industrialized country in the world. The crisis is compounded by the fact that - many schizophrenics are drug addicts and/or alcoholics. Treatment is difficult, - if not impossible, and funding is a continuing issue. With the challenges of - treatment, increased legal issues, schizophrenics' tendency toward violence and - the fact that mentally ill homeless remain homeless longer than the general - homeless population , homeless schizophrenics have become modern - society's untouchables. According to HealthMad.com, in 2007, approximately 200,000 - people were schizophrenic and homeless. - Henry McMaster has named domestic violence as the number one crime problem - in South Carolina. More than 36,000 victims annually report a domestic - violence incident to law enforcement agencies around the state. Over the - past twelve years, an average of thirty-three (33) women have been killed each - year by their intimate partner. Currently South Carolina ranks eighth in - the nation for the amount of homicides caused by criminal domestic violence One in every four women will? There were 35,894 victims of domestic violence in South Carolina in 2005. 43% of reported domestic violence cases ended in an In South Carolina, 36% of aggravated assaults were domestic violence related in 1,809 forcible rapes were reported in South Carolina 28% of murders in South Carolina were domestic violence related in There were 32 domestic violence related homicides The most common relationship between homicide perpetrators and victims was boyfriend/girlfriend and the second most common relationship was between How long do you have to have the symptoms to classify as schizophrenia? Symptoms X30 days for >6Months How long for schizophrenoform DO? Symptoms < 6 months What is SAFD? Schizoaffetive Disorder….Symptoms with & without mood episode What is a delusional disorder? Non-bizarre delusion x 1month How long is a brief psychotic disorder? > 1 day <1 month What is a shared psychotic disorder? It takes on other delusions Some other psychotic disorders can be caused by what? What is the diagnosis criterion for schizophrenia? - 1. Positive or negative symptoms for 30 days for greater than 6 months - 2. Marked social/vocational dysfunction - 3. NOT due to: - …….. medical - …….. drugs - …….. SAFD - …….. Manic Depressive Disorder (MDD) with psychotic features What are the 4 types of POSITIVE symptoms? - 1. Delusions - 2. Hallucinations - 3. Disorganized Speech - 4. Catatonia Grandiosity, persecution, somatic, reference, thought insertion/withdrawal/broadcasting, ect? auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory? clang, neologisms, thought block, loose assoc, perseveration? stupor, posture, excitation? What are the NEGATIVE symptoms of schizophrenia? *Hint-Crazy 8's* - - Affective blunting - - Avolition - - Asociality - -Attention problems What are the subtypes of schizophrenia? Negative symptoms that persist inspite of resolution of positive symptoms What is the scope of schizophrenia? - •40 % attempt suicide within 10 yrs. - •10 % actually complete suicide - •9thleading cause of disability - •60-70% never marry/have children - •Occupy 25% of all hospital beds - •70%–80% are unemployed or underemployed - •10% of permanently disabled Americans - • 20%–30% of the homeless population Schizophrenia vs. Violence •Evidence mixed•Media sensationalized?•Schizophrenics 14% more likely to be victimrather than comit violent crime What are the demographics of Schizophrenia? •0.5 - 1.5 % of population•Urban > Rural•Uniform rates across racial and ethnic groupsin US, except for higher rates with racial minorities in large cities •Higher rates with maternal malnutrition What are the gender differences of Schizophrenia? •Male > Female (up to 20%)•Onset: male (18-25 yr); female (25-35 yr) •Second peak in onset women after 45 yrs.•Pre-morbid function females > males•Males – More positive symptoms•Females – More negative symptoms•Women have moreemotional/affectivesymptoms – misdiagnosed MDD or SAFD What are the etiological theories concerning Schizophrenia? •Genetic – familial ; 10% greater chance•Hormonal – onset S/P puberty, thyroid, DM•Apoptosis/Excessive pruning•Virus – selectivity; dormancy; triggered bystress/hormonal; alter cellular process without destroying cells•Neurotransmitter – drugs can either mimic or eleviatesymptoms What is the pathology behind Schizophrenia? •Up To 25% loss of graymatter•Enlarged ventricles •Enlarged amygdala •Neurological abnormalities•Impaired cognitive function•Decreased prefrontal brainfunction •Impaired awareness ofillness What are the 4 stages of progression when dealing with Schizophrenia? 1. Premorbid2. Prodromal3. Psychotic4. Recovery Asymptomatic withgenetic/environmental vulnerability. Premorbid (0-35 yrs.) Insidious decline inwork/school/social/adaptive functioning Prodromal (2-5 yrs.) Abrupt onset of (+) &significant worsening of (-) symptoms. Often hospitalized due to unable to care for self. Exacerbations & remissionswith 80% relapse rate. Degree of illness/level of functioning plateau after 10yrs. What are some ways to treat Schizophrenia without medications? •Supportive psychotherapy•Family therapy•Socialization/social skills training•Cognitive Behavioral Therapy•Hospitalization What are the two types of pharmacotherapeutics that treat Schizophrenia? 1. Typicals2. Atypicals These Alleviate positive symptoms, have More side effects, but are Lessexpensive These will alleviate positive symptoms, offer some help with negative symptoms, have fewer side effects, and MIGHT have neuroprotective effects???? What are the medication forms that treat Schizophrenia? •Pill/capsule•Elixir•Orally disintegrating tabs (ODT)•IV/IM•Deaconate What are the drug side effects for drugs that treat Schizophrenia? •Histaminic effects – Sedation•Adrenergic effects – Orthostasis•Anticholenergic effects – Dry mouth•Hyperprolactinemia – Sexual•Metabolic effects:- Weight gain- Hyperglycemia/diabetes- Hyperlipidemia What are the other med risks? •Seizures•Stroke•Sudden death (dementia)•QTcProlongation (Geodon & Melaril)•Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS)•Tardive dyskinesia(TD)•Neuroleptic malignant disorder (NMS)•Agranulocytosis (Clozaril) What does the nurse need to monitor the patient for that is receiving treatment for Schizophrenia? •Vital signs – include orthostatic BP (falls)•Weight & BMI•EKG•AIMS – Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (TD)•Labs – CBC, renal function,lipids, glucose, HgbA1C, LFTs, TFTs, prolactin•Suicidality This syndrome is probably, in part, a genetic condition. People with this syndrome have motor tics and vocal tics. Motor tics are movements of the muscles, blinking, head shaking, jerking of the arms, and shrugging. When a person with this syndrome suddenly begins shrugging, he or she may not be doing it on purpose. This may be a motor tic. These tics are sounds that a person with Tourette syndrome might make with his or her voice. Throat clearing, grunting, and humming are all common tics. A person with Tourette syndrome will sometimes have more than one type of tic happening Tics are usually worse when a person is under? Tourette syndrome is not a psychological condition, it is a ? one Tourette's However, psychological factors are very important in this condition. Psychological distress can make the tics worse, and kids with Tourette syndrome might feel very upset because of the tics and the problems that go with them. Counselors and Tourette syndrome organizations can help kids learn how to explain tics to others. It affects at least 1 in 1,000 to 2,000 people and maybe more. It is believed that about 100,000 Americans have Tourette syndrome. What drugs is ADHD treated with? - ADHD is usually treated - with the aid of stimulant drugs like Ritalin. Concerta - and with non-stimulant Straterra - as well as amphetamines, - such as Dexedrine - and Adderall. Stimulants are believed to work by increasing ? levels in the brain. Stimulant medications boost concentration and focus while reducing hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. ADD / ADHD come in both short and long-acting dosages. Short-acting stimulants peak after several hours, and must be taken (x) times a day. Long-acting or extended-release stimulants last 8-12 hours, and are usually taken (y)? - (x)= 2-3 times - (y)= 1 time per day The relationship between suicide risk and sexual orientation: results of a population-based study. There is evidence of a strong association between suicide risk and bisexuality or homosexuality in ? RESULTS: Suicide attempts were reported by 28. 1 % of bisexual/homosexual males, 20.5% of bisexual/homosexual females, 14.5% of heterosexual females, and 4.2% of heterosexual ? Limiting access to lethal means of self-harm is an ? strategy to prevent self-destructive behavior, including suicide. Some suicidal acts are ?, resulting from a combination of psychological pain or despair coupled with easy availability of the means to inflict self-injury: firearms, carbon monoxide, medications, sharp objects, tall structures. By limiting the individual's ? to the means of self-harm, a suicidal act may be prevented. The ? is to separate in time and space the individual experiencing an acute suicidal crisis from easy access to lethal means of self-injury and personal harm The hope is by making it harder for those intent on self-harm to act on that impulse, one can buy time for the ? to pass and for healing and recovery to occur. ? are the most common method of completed suicides nationwide (54%), followed by suffocation (20%), poisoning (17.5%), falls (2.3%), cut/pierce (1.8%), and drowning (1.2%) (CDC: This is true for men, women and adolescents who complete suicide. In New York, ? are also the predominant means of suicide, but by a much slimmer margin Suicide by firearms seems to be associated with their availability in the home and with victim Many homes contain guns and nearly half (43%) of all homicides and suicides occur in a ?. Most victims are shot: 67% of the homicides and 54% of the suicides in 2002 (CDC: WISQARS, 2005). In some studies, ? pose the greatest risk. Asperger syndrome and interpersonal relationships The lack of demonstrated ? is possibly the most dysfunctional aspect of Asperger with Asperger's Syndrome experience difficulties in basic elements of (1), which may include a failure to develop friendships or to seek shared enjoyments or achievements with others (for example, showing others objects of interest), a lack of social or emotional reciprocity, and impaired nonverbal behaviors in areas such as (2….4 items)? - 1= social interaction2= eye contact, facial expression, posture, and gesture Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following: (4 items) (A) marked impairments in the use of - multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body - posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction (B) failure to develop peer relationships - appropriate to developmental level (C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to - share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack - of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people) (D) lack of social or emotional (II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following: (4 items) (A) encompassing preoccupation with one - or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either - in intensity or focus (B) apparently inflexible adherence to - specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals (C) stereotyped and repetitive motor - mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body - preoccupation with parts of objects It is estimated that 8 million ? have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men Eating disorders have the highest ? rate of any mental illness A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only ? ever fully recover 30 – 40% 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and ? co-morbid conditions include ? (50% to 75%), sexual abuse (20% to 50%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (25% with anorexia nervosa), substance abuse (12% to 18% with anorexia nervosa, especially the binge-purge subtype, and 30% to 37% with bulimia nervosa), and bipolar disorder (4% to 13%). 1-4 major depressive disorder or dysthymia Medical Complications of Anorexia? - 1. Amenorrhea Bradycardia - 2. Orthostatic Blood Pressure Drop - 3. Osteoporosis - 4. Stress fractures Cold intolerance, constipation, cyanosis, edema, hypoglycemia, low albumin What are the Structural and functional brain changes associated with anorexia? What can appetite suppressant abuse cause? Anxiety, hypertension, tremors, tachycardia, Purging type reflux, parotid abnormalities, gastrointestinal - bleeding, hypokalemia, Dental caries, enamel erosion, dehydration, cardiac - arrhythmias, and Renal failure TREATING ANOREXIA involves what three components? · The ? in anorexia treatment is to address and stabilize any serious health issues. Hospitalization may be necessary to prevent starvation, suicide, or a medical crisis. Dangerously thin anorexics may also need to be hospitalized until they reach a less critical weight. Outpatient treatment is an option when the patient is not in immediate medical Explores the critical and unhealthy thoughts underlying anorexia. The focus is on increasing self-awareness, challenging distorted beliefs, and improving self-esteem and sense of control. Also involves education about anorexia. Promotes healthy eating behaviors through the use of rewards, reinforcements, self-monitoring, and goal setting. Teaches the patient to recognize anorexia triggers and deal with them using relaxation techniques and coping strategies. Examines the family dynamics that may contribute to anorexia or interfere with recovery. Often includes some therapy sessions without the anorexic patient—a particularly important element when the person with anorexia denies having an eating disorder. Allows people with anorexia to talk with each other in a supervised setting. Helps to reduce the isolation many anorexics may feel. Group members can support each other through recovery and share their experiences and advice. Genetic factors (nature) and childhood experiences (nurture) are predisposing causes for developing ? combined with genetic predisposition begins to explain complexity of development of child psychiatric illness to roles of ? and brain development Perhaps epigenetic mechanism mechanisms down-regulate stress reaction after ? has passed, returning brain to prior level of functioning and reversible during acute stress prolonged, severe, or repetitive stress, increased neurotransmitter activity Resilience: ability to withstand stress ØAffected - by individual characteristics, early life experiences - factors in their environment - competent, realistic, flexible, assured of their own inner resources and - strong sense of personal control - age-appropriate responsibility - quickly when faced with stressors - realistic, well-defined goals - to complex social needs - and advocate for child - comprehensive treatment plan that identifies and integrates child’s needs and - family resources - that behavior is cultural, must be viewed from sociocultural - goal: to establish therapeutic alliance with child and parents - child’s verbal communications vague or unclear, ask for more explanations - may not respond to problem-centered lines of communication - discuss more general aspects of child’s life (family members, school, friends) Communicating with Children - age-related development - respect and authenticity - familiar vocabulary at child’s level of understanding - child’s needs in immediate situation - child’s capacity to cope with change Communicating with Children - coping skills by creative, unstructured play - indirect age-appropriate communication techniques (storytelling, picture - drawing, creative writing) - alternative communication devices for children with special needs (sign - language, computer aids) Ego Competency Skills Important to learn - nursing assessment on specific skills all children need to become competent - of medical diagnosis, assess child for mastery of these skills: - closeness and trusting relationships - separation/independent decision making - joint decisions and interpersonal conflictØDealing - with frustration/unfavorable eventsØCelebrating - good feelings and experiencing pleasureØWorking - for delayed gratificationØRelaxing - and playingØCognitive - processing through words, symbols, imagesØEstablishing - adaptive sense of direction or purpose •More common childhood ADHD Depression Anxiety Behaviors for Children - from stressful situations - immediate response - more manageable situation - (manipulating or shaping) environment - good and bad as part of life - toward maintaining optimal conditions of adjustment, security, comfort - improve brain functioning - skills training: improve socialization - management: learn impulse control - therapy: practice problem solving and communication - education: integrate new behaviors and skills into child’s life Eating Regulation Responses and Eating Disorders Adaptive Eating Responses - eating patterns - caloric intake - weight appropriate for height - to regulate eating habits - overuse or underuse of food - biological, psychological, sociocultural integrity Maladaptive Eating Responses - associated with maladaptive eating regulation responses –Anorexia nervosa –Bulimia nervosa –Binge eating disorder –Night eating syndrome Adaptive Eating Responses - disorders more common among females; males more reluctant to seek treatment •Sociocultural norms result in - distorted body image - disorders can cause biological changes: altered metabolic rates, profound - malnutrition, possibly death - obsessions can cause psychological problems, e.g., depression, isolation, - emotional lability Eating Disorders: Anorexia - •Anorexia nervosa in approximately 0.5%-1% of females - •About 5%-10% of people with anorexia are male - •Usual onset between 13-20 years but can occur in any age Eating Disorders: Anorexia - •Although hungry, person with anorexia refuses to eat - because of distorted self-perception of fatness - •Starvation ensues - •Can become chronic illness - •Estimated mortality from anorexia nervosa: 5% of those - with the disorder Eating Disorders: Bulimia - •Bulimia nervosa more common - –Estimated in 1%-4% of - population, mostly females - –4%-15% of female high - school and college students - •Onset usually at 15-18 years old Eating Disorders: Bulimia - •Uncontrolled binge eating alternating with vomiting or - •Same patient may have bulimia and anorexia - •Bulimia usually occurs in people of normal weight but - people may be obese or thin Eating Disorders: Binge Eating - eating disorder: consuming large amounts of calories in contained amount of - from bulimia because person does not attempt to prevent weight gain - behaviors not used - approximately 2%-4% of population Eating Disorders: Night Eating - eating syndrome: pattern of awakening during night associated with food intake –Not yet listed as separate eating disorder in DSM-IV-TR –Estimated 1.5% in general population –Make up 27% of severely obese population seeking surgical treatment Overlapping Relationships Among Eating Disorders - biological, psychological, sociocultural evaluations - physical examination: vital signs; weight; skin; cardiovascular system; - evidence of laxatives, diet pills, diuretic abuse, and/or vomiting; dental - history: dieting and substance use, family assessment, medication Screening for Eating Disorders •Focus specific attention on assessment of eating - regulation responses •Several questionnaires and rating scales screen for - eating disorders •Adding these two questions may be as effective as more - extensive questionnaires to identify people with eating disorders: –Are you satisfied with your eating patterns? Assessment: Eating Disorders - and desired weight, weight history, menstruation - avoidances, restrictions, dieting, fasting patterns/unusual nutrition beliefs - extent, timing of binge eating, and/or purging/compulsive exercise patterns Assessment: Eating Disorders - of laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, other methods of purging/chewing and - spitting food - or shape preoccupation/body image disturbances - preferences, peculiarities - of illness on school, work, social life - consumption of much food in discrete period - on patient’s perception of loss of control, perceived excessive caloric intake - more important than total number of calories consumed, but must assess both - binge secretively, often feel shame - with bulimia typically average weight or slightly overweight with unsuccessful - dieting history - times weekly to more than 10 times/day, or occasional binges related to - stressful situations Behaviors: Fasting or Restricting - with anorexia eat 500-700 calories (as few as 200) daily - all meat, poultry, fish, dairy; do not substitute nonanimal protein, nutrients - be obsessive-compulsive: eat same foods repeatedly, foods in predetermined - order, bizarre food preferences, avoid fattening food, fast for days - or prescription diuretics, diet pills, laxatives, steroids - abuse common, inefficient way to - lose; abuse can increase to 60 doses/week Medical Complications of •Central nervous system •Renal •Hematological •GastrointestinaI •Metabolic Related to Anorexia - 30% below ideal body weight often have life-threatening clinical, laboratory - who vomit and use laxatives or diuretics, regardless of weight, usually have - health problems - and endocrine abnormalities result from malnutrition/starvation Related to Anorexia - see amenorrhea, osteoporosis, hypometabolic symptoms (cold intolerance, bradycardia) - may cause hypotension, constipation, acid-base, fluid-electrolyte disturbances, - e.g., pedal edema Related to Bulimia •Potassium depletion and hypokalemia from vomiting, - laxative or diuretic abuse •Symptoms of potassium depletion: muscle weakness, - cardiac arrhythmias, conduction abnormalities, hypotension •Gastric, esophageal, bowel abnormalities common in - patients with bulimia •May erode dental enamel, cause enlarged parotid glands Related to Binge Eating - weight: serious health problems - weight: exacerbate health problems - problems common - weight: hypertension, cardiac problems, sleep apnea, difficulties with - mobility, diabetes mellitus Co-morbid Mental Illnesses - or dysthymia in 50%-75% of people - with anorexia and bulimia - disorder in up to 25% of patients with anorexia nervosa - with bulimia have increased rates of anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress - disorder, substance abuse, mood disorders •Psychological: rigidity, perfectionism •Environmental: illnesses, sexual abuse, drug abuse, - media influences •Familial: increased risk in female relatives

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Identification. The name "Vanuatu" is an important aspect of national identity. Leaders of the Vanua'aku Party, which led the first independent government, invented the term in 1980 to replace the colonial name New Hebrides. Vanua means "land" in many of Vanuatu's one hundred five languages, and translations of the new name include "Our Land" and "Abiding Land." Culturally, Vanuatu is complex. Some of the people follow matrilineal descent rules, while others follow patrilineal rules. Leadership on some islands depends on advancement within men's societies, and in others it depends on possession of chiefly titles or personal ability. Although most people depend on subsistence farming and fishing, the economy of the seaboard differs from that of interior mountain plateaus. Political leaders have consciously cultivated national culture to foster a national identity, including political slogans such as "Unity in Diversity." Many rural people, however, are attached primarily to their home islands, while educated urbanites, refer to supranational identities such as Melanesian. Location and Geography. Vanuatu is a Y-shaped tropical archipelago of over eighty islands, sixty-five of which are inhabited. The Solomon Islands lie to the north, New Caledonia to the south, Fiji to the east, and the Coral Sea and Australia to the west. The mostly volcanic archipelago extends 560 miles (900 kilometers) from north to south and has an area of 5,700 square miles (14,760 square kilometers). Espiritu Santo is the largest island. Port Vila, the capital, which was also the colonial headquarters, is on the south-central island of Efate. Demography. The 1997 population of 185,000 is 94 percent Melanesian, 4 percent European (mostly French), and 4 percent other (Vietnamese, Chinese, and other Pacific Islander). Linguistic Affiliation. Bislama, the nation's pidgin English which emerged in the nineteenth century, is essential for public discourse. Many aspects of the national culture are phrased in Bislama, which has become an important marker of national identity. Alongside Bislama, English and French are recognized as "official languages." These languages overlie one hundred five indigenous Austronesian languages, three of which are Polynesian in origin. There are strong links between local language, place, and identity, but many people are multilingual. Most children pursue elementary schooling in English or French, although few residents are fluent in either language. Most national discourse takes place in Bislama, which is becoming creolized. Symbolism. The politicians who forged independence emphasized shared culture ( kastom ) and shared Christianity to create a national identity and iconography. The national motto is Long God Yumi Stanap ("In (or with) God We Stand/Develop"). Leaders of the Vanua'aku Party, which governed during the nation's first eleven years, came mostly from the central and northern areas. Objects selected to represent the nation come principally from those regions, including circle pig tusks, palm leaves, and carved slit gongs. The name of the national currency, the vatu ("stone") derives from central northern languages, as does the name "Vanuatu." After independence, holidays were established to celebrate the nation and promote national identity and unity. Emergence of the Nation. The New Hebrides was a unique "condominium" colony ruled jointly by Great Britain and France after 1906. Although they instituted a joint court and a few other combined services, each ran separate and parallel administrative The main parties in favor of independence in the 1970s were British-supported and Anglophone, drawing on English and Protestant roots more than on French and Roman Catholic. Still, all the citizens distinguish themselves from European colonialists as they assume their national identity. Since independence, the French have provided aid in periods when the country has been ruled by Francophone political parties. Australia and New Zealand have largely replaced British assistance and influence. Ethnic Relations. A relatively small population of Vietnamese (which the French recruited as plantation workers beginning in the 1920s) and overseas Chinese control a significant proportion of the economies of Port Vila and Luganville. These wealthy families are linked by kinship, economic, and other relations with the majority Melanesian population. Vanuatu is still a rural country. Most ni-Vanuatu live on their home islands, although the population of the two towns has increased significantly since independence. Town layout and architecture reflect French and British sensibilities. A huge American military base that grew up around Luganville during the World War II still displays that heritage. Rural architecture remains largely traditional. Local notions of gender and rank influence village layout. Women's mobility is more restricted than that of men, and in many churches, men and women sit on opposite sides of a central aisle. People use "bush" materials in the construction of housing, although they also use cement brick and aluminum sheet roofing. Houses have one or two rooms for sleeping and storage. Cooking is done in fireplaces or lean-to kitchens outdoors. After independence, the government erected several public buildings, including a national museum, the House of Parliament, and the House of Custom Chiefs. These buildings incorporate slit gongs and other architectural details that display the cultural heritage. The latter two also model the traditional nakamal (men's house or meeting ground), a ritual space where public discussion and decision making take place. In many cultures, men and occasionally women retire each evening to the nakamal to prepare and drink kava, an infusion of the pepper plant. Scores of urban kava bars have opened in Port Vila, Luganville, and government centers around the islands. Employed urbanites gather there at the end of the day, just as their rural kin congregate at nakamal on their home islands. Food in Daily Life. Ni-Vanuatu combine traditional south Pacific cuisine with introduced elements. Before contact with the West, staple foods included yam, taro, banana, coconut, sugarcane, tropical nuts, greens, pigs, fowl, and seafood. After contact, other tropical crops (manioc, plantain, sweet potato, papaya, mango) and temperate crops (cabbage, beans, corn, peppers, carrots, pumpkin) were added to the diet. Rural people typically produce most of what they eat, supplementing this with luxury foods (rice and tinned fish) purchased in stores. The urban diet relies on rice, bread, and tinned fish supplemented with rural products. Port Vila, and Luganville have restaurants that serve mostly the foreign and tourist communities. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Ceremonies typically involve an exchange of food, such as the traditional taro and yam, kava, fowl, pigs, and chicken, along with a feast. Pigs are exchanged and eaten at all important ritual occasions. The national ceremonial dish is laplap , pudding made of grated root crops or plantain mixed with coconut milk and sometimes greens and meat, wrapped in leaves, and baked for hours in a traditional earth oven. In rural areas, during the week many people rely on simple boiling to cook roots and greens. On weekends, they prepare earth ovens and bake laplap for the evening meal and a Sunday feast. The exchange, preparation, and consumption of kava are integral parts of ceremonial occasions. Basic Economy. Most ni-Vanuatu are subsistence farmers who do cash cropping on the side. The mode of production is swidden ("slash-and burn") horticulture, with farmers clearing and then burning new forest plots each season. Vanuatu has significant economic difficulties. Transportation costs are high, the economic infrastructure is undeveloped, and cyclone damage is common. Major export crops include copra, beef, tropical woods, squash, and cacao. Vanuatu is a tax haven that earns income from company registrations and fees and an offshore shipping registry. Tourism has become a major growth area. The government remains the largest employer of wage labor, and few employment activities exist outside the towns and regional government centers. Land Tenure and Property. After independence, all alienated plantation land reverted to the customary owners. Only citizens may own land, although they can lease it to foreigners and investors. Generally, land belongs jointly to the members of lineages or other kin groups. Men typically have greater management fights to land than do women, although women may control land, particularly in matrilineal areas. Commercial Activities, Major Industries, and Trade. Rural families produce cash crops (coconut, cacao, coffee, and foodstuffs) for sale in local markets. The opening of urban kava bars has stimulated an internal market for kava. With the growing tourist industry, there is a small market for traditional handicrafts, including woven baskets and mats, wood cavings, and jewelry. Manufacturing and industry contribute only 5 to 9 percent of the gross domestic product, and this mostly consists of fish, beef, and wood processing for export. The major trade partners are Australia, Japan, France, New Zealand, and New Caledonia Chiefly status exists in many of the indigenous cultures, though differences between chiefly and commoner lineages are slight. Symbolically, a man and his family's possession of a title is often marked in details of dance costume, adornment, and architecture. Leadership in the north rests largely on a man's success in "graded societies" which able individuals work their way up a ladder of status grades by killing and exchanging circle-tusked pigs. In the central and southern regions, the acquisition of titles also depends on individual effort and ability. Everywhere leadership correlates with ability, gender, and age, with able, older men typically being the most influential members of their villages. Since rural society is still rooted in subsistence agriculture, economic and political inequalities are muted. However, there is increasing economic stratification between the educated and employed, most of whom live in urban areas, and rural subsistence farmers. The middle-class elite is relatively small, and urbanites remain connected by important kin ties to their villages. Government. Vanuatu is a republic with a unicameral parliament with fifty seats. An electoral college elects a nonexecutive president every five years. There are six regions whose elected councils share responsibility for local governance with the national government. An elected national council of chiefs, the Malvatumaori, advises the parliament on land tenure and customs. Leadership and Political Officials. Since independence, elected officials have mostly been educated younger men who were originally pastors and leaders of Christian churches. The elders remain in the islands, serving as village chiefs, though the Social Problems and Control. The pattern of "circular migration" between rural village and urban center from the colonial era has broken down as more people have become permanent residents of Port Vila and Luganville. Many underemployed people live in periurban settlements, and urban migration has correlated with increasing rates of burglary and other property crimes. Demonstrations associated with political factions occur occasionally. The urban crime rate is very low. An informal system of "town chiefs" supplements the state police force and judiciary. Leading elders in the towns meet to resolve disputes and punish offenders. Punishment sometimes involves the informal banishment of an accused person back to his or her home island. Unofficial settlement procedures frequently are used to handle disputes in rural areas. Military Activity. The Vanuatu Mobile Force has been active only occasionally, mostly in international endeavors such as serving as peacekeepers. State and nongovernmental organizations have focused on developing economic infrastructure and public services. Most villages have no electricity, and many people lack access to piped water despite efforts to expand rural water systems. Several organizations work with rural youth and women. The National Council of Women sponsors programs to improve women's access to the cash economy and reduce domestic violence. A number of international and nongovernmental organizations are active in Vanuatu. Many international donors are encouraging a comprehensive reform program to make government more efficient and honest and lower deficit spending. The principal nongovernmental organizations are the Christian churches. Religious affiliation is second in importance only to kinship and neighborhood ties. A few labor unions have attempted to organize urban and rural salaried workers (such as schoolteachers) but have not been effective in industrial action and political campaigning. Generally, women have less control of land and other property, are less mobile, and have less of a say in marriage. In the northern region, women participate in graded societies that parallel those of men. In matrilineal regions, women have better land and sea rights. Many ni-Vanuatu continue to believe in the deleterious, polluting effects of menstrual blood and other body fluids, and men and women sleep apart during women's menstrual periods, when women often give up cooking. Both men and women farm, although men are responsible for clearing forest and brush for new garden plots. Both men and women fish and reef gather, though only men undertake deep-sea fishing. Although women have excelled in the school system, men continue to monopolize economic and political leadership positions. Few women drive cars, and only a handful have been elected to the parliament and the regional and town councils. Women do much of the work in town and roadside marketplaces. Marriage. The marriage rate approaches 100 percent. Traditionally, leaders of kin groups arrange the marriages of their children. Marriage is an important event in ongoing exchange relations between kin groups and neighborhoods and typically involves the exchange of goods. Some educated urban residents have adopted Western notions of romantic love and arrange their own marriages with or without family approval. Marriage rules identify certain kin groups as the source of appropriate spouses. In the southern region, marriage is patterned as "sister exchange," in which a man who marries a woman from another family owes a woman in return. In some cases, this woman is an actual sister who marries one of her brother's new wife's brothers; in other cases, the woman is a classificatory sister or even a future daughter. In other areas, notable amounts of goods (bride wealth) change hands, including money, pigs, kava, mats, food, and cotton cloth. Traditionally, powerful leading men might marry polygynously, although after missionization, monogamy became the norm. There are three types of marriages: religious, civil, and "customary." Divorce rates are very low. Domestic Unit. The nuclear family is the principal domestic unit, forming the basic household and being responsible for day-to-day economic production and consumption. Households, however, continue to rely on extended kin groups in significant Inheritance. Except in urban areas, where inheritance is modeled on European precedent, people follow local customs. Land rights pass patrilineally or matrilineally to surviving members of kin groups. In some areas, people destroy much of dead person's goods. Surviving spouses and children inherit what is left. Kin Groups. Families are organized into larger patrilineages or matrilineages, patricians or matriclans, and moieties. Lineages tend to be localized in one or two villages, as kin live together on or near lineage land. The membership of larger clans is dispersed across a region or island. Infant Care. Babies often nurse until they are three years old. Both parents are involved in child care, but siblings, especially older sisters, do much of the carrying, feeding, and amusing of infants. Babies are held by caregivers almost constantly until they can walk. Physical punishment of children is not common. Younger children may strike their older siblings, while older siblings are restrained from hitting back. Child Rearing and Education. Many communities and ensure the growth of children through ritual initiation ceremonies that involve the exchange of pigs, mats, kava, and other goods between a child's father's and mother's families. Boys age six to twelve typically undergo circumcision as part of a ritual event. Most children receive several years of primary education in English or French. Many walk to the nearest school or board there during the week. Less than 10 percent of children go on to attend one of the twenty-seven secondary schools. Higher Education. Tertiary education includes a teachers' training college, an agricultural school, several church seminaries, and a branch of the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila. A few students pursue university education abroad. The adult literacy rate has been estimated at 55 to 70 percent. Customary relationships are lubricated by the exchange of goods, and visitors often receive food and other gifts that should be reciprocated. Lines in rural stores are often amorphous, but clerks commonly serve overseas visitors first. People passing on the trails or streets commonly greet one another, and the handshake is an important aspect of initial encounters. A woman traveling alone through the countryside may receive unwelcome attention from men. Religious Beliefs. Most families have been Christian since the late nineteenth century. The largest denominations are Presbyterian, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Church of Christ. Baha'i and Mormon missionaries have attracted local followings. Some people reject Christianity and retain traditional religious practices. Others belong to syncretic religious organizations that mix Christianity and local belief. Nearly everyone maintains firm beliefs in the power and presence of ancestral spirits. Religious Practitioners. Christian priests, ministers, pastors, and deacons lead weekly services and conduct marriages and funerals. A number of people are recognized as clairvoyants and diviners, working sometimes within and sometimes outside the Christian churches. These people, who are often women, divine the causes of disease and other misfortunes, locate lost objects, and sometimes undertake antisorcery campaigns to uncover poesen (sorcery paraphernalia) hidden in a village. Other people specialize in rain, wind, earthquake, tidal wave, and other sorts of magical practice. Many ni-Vanuatu also suspect the existence of sorcerers. Rituals and Holy Places. Ni-Vanuatu celebrate the Christian calendar, particularly the Christmas and New Year's season, which they call Bonane .At the year's end, urbanites return to their home islands. In villages, people form choruses and visit neighboring hamlets to perform religious and secular songs. Ni-Vanuatu continue to celebrate traditional holidays. In many places, islanders organize first-fruit celebrations, particularly for the annual yam crop. The most spectacular celebration is the "land jump" on southern Pentecost Island. Tourists sometimes attend other traditional rites, such the dancing and feasting that accompany male initiation and grade-taking ceremonies in many of the cultures and the Toka (or Nakwiari ), a large-scale exchange of pigs and kava celebrated with two days of dancing. Every community recognizes important places associated with ancestral and other spirits. These "taboo places" may be mountain peaks, offshore reef formations, or rocky outcroppings. People avoid these locations or treat them with respect. Death and the Afterlife. Nearly all families turn to Christian funerary ritual to bury their dead. Ancestral ghosts continue to haunt their descendants. Many people experience their spiritual presence and receive their advice in dreams. The national health service emerged from the separate French and British colonial systems. Most sick people turn initially to local diviners and healers In addition to Independence Day (30 July), Constitution Day (5 October), and Unity Day (29 November), the government has established Family Day (26 December) and Custom Chiefs Day (5 March). Organized and impromptu sports matches are popular, as are money-raising carnivals, agricultural fairs, and arts festivals. Literature. Although nineteenth-century missionaries created orthographies and dictionaries for some of the languages, indigenous literature is mostly oral. Ni-Vanuatu appreciate oratory and storytelling and have large archives of oral tales, myths, and legends. Since independence, an orthography committee has attempted to standardize Bislama spelling. Publications mostly consist of biblical material and newspapers, newsletters, and pamphlets. Writers working in English or French have published poems and short stories, particularly at the University of the South Pacific. Graphic Arts. The tourist industry supports an active cottage handicraft and carving industry, including woven baskets and dyed mats, bark skirts, penis wrappers, miniature slit-gongs and other carvings, shell jewelry, bamboo flutes and panpipes. A few art galleries in Port Vila sell the work of local artists. Performance Arts. The string band is the preeminent musical genre. Hundreds of bands perform at village dances and weddings, and their music has been important in the emergence of a national culture. Young musicians sing of local and national issues in local languages and Bislama. Popularized on cassette tapes or broadcast on the two radio stations, some of those songs have become national standards. Many bands travel to Port Vila in June to compete in an annual competition. Small community theater organizations whose dramas often address national issues perform in Port Vila, and occasionally tour the hinterlands. Several international research associations, such as France's ORSTOM, have studied agriculture, volcanism, geology, geography, and marine biology in Vanuatu. A local amateur society, the Vanuatu Natural Science Society, emphasizes ornithology. The University of the South Pacific Centre in Port Vila houses that university's Pacific languages unit and law school. The Vanuatu Cultural Center supports a succesful local fieldwork program in which men and women are trained to study and document anthropological and linguistic information. Allen, Michael, ed. Vanuatu: Politics, Economics and Ritual in Island Melanesia , 1981. Bonnemaison, Joël. The Tree and the Canoe: History and Ethnography of Tanna , 1994. ——, Kirk Huffman, Christian Kaufmann, and Darrell Tryon, eds. Arts of Vanuatu , 1996. Coiffier, Christine. Traditional Architecture in Vanuatu , 1988. Crowley, Terry. Beach-La-Mar to Bislama: The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu , 1991. Foster, Robert J., ed. Nation Making: Emergent Identities in Postcolonial Melanesia , 1995. Haberkorn, Gerald. Port Vila: Transit Station or Final Stop? , 1989. Jolly, Margaret. Women of the Place: Kastom, Colonialism and Gender in Vanuatu , 1994. Lindstrom, Lamont. Knowledge and Power in a South Pacific Society , 1990. Lini, Walter. Beyond Pandemonium: From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu , 1980. McClancy, Jeremy. To Kill a Bird with Two Stones: A Short History of Vanuatu , 1980. Miles, William F. S. Bridging Mental Boundaries in a Postcolonial Microcosm: Identity and Development in Vanuatu , 1998. Rodman, Margaret C. Masters of Tradition: Consequences of Customary Land Tenure in Longana, Vanuatu , 1987. Van Trease, Howard, ed. Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu , 1995. Weightman, Barry. Agriculture in Vanuatu: A Historical Review , 1989. —L AMONT L INDSTROM

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Hamlet is a play of sad misfortune and determination that is all caused by the affects of revenge. Revenge like sin is a malfunction of the mind that grows like an uncontrolled cancer and once it has consumed the mind there is little one can do to focus its aim. Hamlet encapsulates all of humanity in this single feeling of revenge. Through his character the reader is allowed to explore the dangers of revenge and why one should avoid it. Revenge has consequences and in addition the reader is also able to embrace this vice by entering Shakespeare’s world without feeling the actual repercussions. Hamlet is a model that reinforces what the Bible teaches about when revenge is taken in the hands of sinful human beings. Hamlet is so intimately connected with posterity that one can see that revenge left uncontrolled can lead to madness, uncertainty followed by inaction and finally the destruction of the self. Hamlet’s conflict begins in Act II when he meets the ghost of Denmark, who is in the appearance of his father. Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus saw this ghost in the beginning of Act I. They tell Hamlet that they believe it was his father. Hamlet is a little unsettled yet he is interested in meeting this ghost. Consequently, Hamlet desires to know and decides to meet up with his three friends that night to see if the ghost is really his father. When night come almost suddenly the ghost does reappear and it demands Hamlets private attention. The ghost entices Hamlet by waving him three times to follow him. His friends attempt to not let him go but the ghost is successful by isolating Hamlet. This shows metaphorically that Hamlet would choose to reason with the dead rather then the living. During their encounter, Hamlet and his father begin discoursing. His father reveals to Hamlet the actual events that resulted in his death. He further discloses to Hamlet who killed him and to Hamlets surprise, the ghost tells him that it is his Uncle. His uncle apparently snook into the garden where Hamlet’s father was asleep and then poured poison in his ear. His father who is apparently upset, although he is dead, he wants to get even and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. The scene ends with some uncertainty on Hamlet’s part but when the next scene begins it is obvious that Hamlet starts to search out for the truth. Though there is little to no good reason for Hamlet to do this. Arguably speaking it is a way for Hamlet to get closure on his fathers death. He is terribly distressed that he has died, he is upset that his mother married his uncle, thus affecting his right to the throne, and Hamlet does not know what to do. He stated himself upon seeing the ghost, “let me not burst in ignorance” and yet, he decides against his wisdom for his hunger of adventure, a sense of duty, and primarily revenge to listen to the ghost. It is as if now the ghost has entwined its spirit to Hamlet. He becomes the metaphorical puppet that the ghost can control to finally accomplish the desire of his dead father. Evidence from a biblical perspective reveals other reasons why Hamlet should not have listened to this ghost. Four reasons that indicate that this was not a spirit from God but a demon. The first reason is that the ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his death. God never tells an individual to seek out vengeance. Matthew 5:39 states, “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” In Deuteronomy 32:35 and many others references it reads that God is the one who takes vengeance. Secondly, a divine spirit from God will not seek ways to fascinate one in a world that does not exist. Ephesians 2:2 states that Satan is, “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” If one relinquishes themselves to the temptations of Satan then it is within his power to do to that person what he wills. It is his intention to isolate people and place them in a fantasy world where rationality, the law, and gravity do not exist. Thus, he successfully removes one from reality, the actual world that God has created for man to have dominion over and work in, to a world that has no God and no existence. An imaginative world that has no God to keep one morally accountable can cause devastating results. This is the world that Hamlet has now entered. The third reason is that the ghost tells Hamlet himself that, “My hour is almost come, / When I to sulf’rous and tormenting flames / Must render up myself. The Bible portrays hell as a place of pain and torment (Rev. 14:10). Another reason is that Hamlet himself concludes that the ghost was a demon! I know my course. The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power/ T’assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps / Out of my weakness and my melancholy, / As he is very potent with such spirits, /Abuses me to damn me. It seems obvious that Hamlet knows with certainty that it is a demon telling him to do this work. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that, “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Hamlet has surrendered himself to the will of Satan. Although the answer from where the ghost actually comes from is never decisively known it seems explicit that the ghost is not good. The ghost is evil but it also seems to have done little to spur Hamlet’s madness though. The ghost simply gave Hamlet a purpose, a design for his madness to take hold of. Some of Hamlets most horrific lines begin when he is alone contemplating over his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to his uncle. Hamlet reflects on his own life and wishes to commit suicide if God did not prohibit it (1.2.129-35). He is deeply depressed, wishing that his skin would melt off and further states that all the things in this world are to him like nothing and “stale.” It is in this state that the ghost strategically appears to Hamlet. individuals are most vulnerable to mental illnesses. During a time of deep despair the ghost gives Hamlet one last reason to live before he takes his life. Nothing can bring him satisfaction and completion in his life then murderous revenge because he no longer begins to moan over the death of his father. This purpose is enough to distract Hamlets minds from his former misery but what he does not know is that his new aim is only going to lead him into more misery. The rest of the book unfolds the events on how Hamlet is going to accomplish this purpose. Hamlets inevitable future is foreshadowed by the words of Horatio, “What if it (the ghost) tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff . . . Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason / And draw you into madness.” Another example of Hamlet’s madness is seen when he spontaneously kills Polonius. Hamlet is told to meet up with his mother and he angrily agrees and begins lecturing to his mother about what a terrible person she is. Hamlet does not know whether or not his mother conspired in the death of his father but he assumes the worst. He demands her to look at herself in light of marrying Claudius just months after the death of Hamlets father. She cannot stand the conviction and begins to cry out for help. Polonius, who is hiding behind the curtains begins crying out for help too. Hamlet is surprised, and thinking it was Claudius, he thrust his sword into the curtain killing Polonius. This is strange. Hamlet is certainly willing to take a life and is not afraid to do it even if he is not certain of whom the life it maybe. But what is surprising is that his uncertainty did not cause him to hesitate when he drove his sword into uncertainty. This occurred only moments before Hamlet, who is still uncertain about Claudius, he hesitates to take action while he his praying. Hamlet’s character is certainly a conflicted one that is seeking for something else. Continuing however, back in the same scene with his mother the ghost reappears in Gertrude’s bedroom. The ghost comes to him to tell Hamlet that he has lost focus of his purpose and that he needs to stop procrastinating. Unlike before however, Gertrude cannot see the ghost. Before Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus all witnessed the ghost in Act I scene I. The ghost really did appear to these three in the beginning but in Gertrude’s bedroom however, the ghost is just a figment of Hamlets imagination. It is never made explicit if this conclusion is correct because perhaps the former King of Denmark did not want to reveal himself to his wife in the form of a ghost. But, accepting the scene as it is, Gertrude opinion does seem rational, “Alas, he’s mad.” After this encounter Hamlet has no problem then to drag out Polonius’ body and hid it somewhere in the castle. These are not normal events for one who is mentally sane. Death is not something that Hamlet is afraid of as further indicated by Hamlet’s character development when considering the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They were indirect targets of Hamlets insanity. Before, when Hamlet was in the room of Claudius he hesitated and decided not to kill him. If there is one person who honestly deserves to die it is Claudius. However, when Hamlet switches the letters that result in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern death he moves with impressive speed and a significant amount of wit. Hamlet is not completely foolish but his mind is obviously divided. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were doing the Kings will, yet despite their manipulation that would have lead Hamlet’s own death they did not deserve to die. Hamlet does not even seem to care that these two innocents died. Most of what we know about Hamlet is by his words and not his actions. Hamlets revenge has not only driven him to madness but his revenge has also led to a divided mind. His mind is divided. Hamlet contemplates life or death in his famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be (3.1.56).” His division leads to his downfall. In Mark 3:23 it says that, “a house divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Consequently, Hamlet never is able to decide whether or not he is certain of anything. Hamlets love with Ophelia displays symptoms like bipolar disease. One day he loves her and would give anything for her, and the other day he tells her to join a nunnery and then when she dies, Hamlet appears to be in love with her again. His mind is divided he tells the queen that he has been feigning madness but Hamlet treats Ophelia like she is less then human. No one would risk the possibility of losing the one true lover by mistreating the other person. Hamlet has no leash and is like a wild dog that cannot be controlled. Only one time out of the three encounters Hamlet has with Ophelia he shows his love for her. As a result it can be argued that Hamlet indirectly caused the death of Ophelia. His attitudes were certainly detrimental toward Ophelia and when she contemplated whether it was better to live or die, she chooses to die. This all supports possible neuroses that Hamlet suffered under as well. These mental illnesses unlike psychoses, which last continually, only occur spontaneously. It is, “manifested by disturbances of though, emotion and behavior which is irrational, unrealistic and inappropriate.” Hamlet shows signs of all three of these characteristics. Other example’s of his madness that is produced by his revenge leading to inaction is the time when he fails to act upon perfect opportunity to complete his purpose. Hamlet, who is uncertain whether the ghost is really telling him the truth decides to put on a play. The play is a reenactment of how Claudius killed Hamlet’s father. When the actor poor’s the poison in the other actors ear Claudius is frightened. He recognizes the scene and thinks that someone may know that he actually was responsible for the death of the former king. He leaves and demands everyone else to leave as well. Hamlet is convinced now but still uncertain whether or not Claudius really killed his father. His revenge has blinded him and he is incapable of judging correctly Claudius’s reasoning. Claudius the King goes into a private room and begins praying seeking a way to find forgiveness and freedom from his guilt. He admits to killing his brother and he is unable to find forgiveness because he does not want to give up his Kingdom and the Queen. Hamlet walks in behind seeking to kill Claudius but decides against to because he does not want Claudius to go to heaven. He concludes that it would not be revenge but a favor, and deliverance, an answer to Claudius’ prayer. Samuel Taylor Coleridge agrees and adds: The determination to allow the guilty King to escape at such a moment is only part of the indecision and irresoluteness of the hero. Hamlet seizes hold of a pretext for not acting, when he might have acted so instantly and effectually: therefore, he again defers the revenge he was bound to seek, and declares his determination to accomplish it at some time, ‘When he is drunk asleep or in his rage, / Or in Th.’ incestuous pleasures of his bed.’ His opportunity is there however to take the life of Claudius, to satisfy his purpose in this life but he refuses to. His madness has blinded him of his purpose and even though he has better reason now to believe that ghost was actually telling him the truth he chooses act by not acting. The ghost gave him one task and it has lead to inaction. Hamlet has lost the opportunity. It appears though, that his madness desires more then just to see the death of Claudius but for Claudius to suffer in excruciating pain. Hamlet entertains hundreds of ideas but fails to execute on any of them. What he does successfully is done spontaneously and unplanned. It might be because Hamlet does not actually want to kill king Claudius. The greatest fear in most people are accomplishing what they think is their pinnacle achievement and once it is accomplished they see no meaning in their life. Perhaps, like all those who aspire to achieve their dreams they wish to see it done in the most perfect way and Hamlet cannot decide what way that should be. There are many unexplained interpretations to why he decides not to choose life and pursue the ghost’ commands. One early example in the 20th century that illustrates Hamlet’s conflict is in the life of Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes was a billionaire who lived life much like a prince. He was a director and had a deep love for aviation. After a terrible plane crash that happened in 1946 he retreated from the world. For some unexplained reason he no longer enjoyed the public life and he locked himself up in a hotel room in Las Vegas and lived in different hotels to avoid paying taxes. While he was there, there was little to no interaction with the outside world. (Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness) He only made contact with his second wife, Jean Peters through phone, which eventually lead to a divorce. He was diagnosed with OCD and as a result of avoiding public appearances his business was indirectly affected. His uncertainty to participate in worldly affairs, due to his OCD, lead to his insignificant death because of his becoming reclusiveness. Hamlet’s revenge has not only leaded him to madness, uncertainty and inaction but also the destruction of himself. This is most clearly seen by his own death due to the inevitable consequences of revenge. When Hamlet is in the graveyard he begins to speak to the gravediggers and acting irregular around the corpses as the diggers through up the skulls. What normally gives people repulsion he sees fascination. He picks up one of the skulls and begins talking to it. It is as if he is willing to accept the consequences of his sins by looking into the skulls eyes and seeing the vanity of his own life. This behavior is certainly abnormal for a Prince. Presumably, he would have been brought up under the best treatments of being the Son of a King, he may have seen, and he shows a strong connection with death. He is even speaking to the skull, which implies that the body has rotten and already released a fowl odor and he acts completely indifferent to it, as if he was talking to a live human being. At the end Hamlet chooses to take the challenge against Laertes the son of Polonius. Laertes is also motivated by revenge and wants to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet accepts but even in this decision it indicates that Hamlet has lost sight of his purpose. He is supposed to avenge his father by killing Claudius. Once Laertes strikes Hamlet he discovers it is with a poisoned tipped sword, that lead to Laertes death when Hamlet strikes Laertes. At this point the queen has already drank from the poison in the cup and she dies. Hamlet then understands the cynical plan that Claudius and Laertes had planned to kill him. Thus, Hamlet strikes the king, and makes him drink the poison. When Hamlet dies, Fortinbras who came to visit Claudius assumes control of the Kingdom and everything is lost. Revenge has consequences and it should never be pursued no matter how small it is. Benjamin Franklin’s poem illustrates this well: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the Enemy, all for the want of care about a horse-shoe nail” Hamlet’s father had already died. There was nothing Hamlet could do to bring him back to life. He chooses revenge rather then to morn. His revenge caused him to loose focus of his purpose that directly affected all the people around him. As a result of his revenge losing focus Hamlet loses his life. This was all in want to take justice in his own hands by trying to avenge his father. Hamlet made his choice to take matters into his own hands. A sinner himself he would not deny but seems to think he can take justice into his own hands. God does not give human beings the power to avenge because of our sinfulness. Sin is a malfunction of the brain and it negatively affects the ability to discern what is true justice. God does however establish human judges in Roman 13. However, God is the ultimate avenger who will determine ones eternity because he is the only morally objective anchor that does not look at mans outside but mans heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The gospel’s never explicitly tell believers why one should not take vengeance in their own hands but it is obvious what the Bible does tell believers to do. For example, believers are to be forgiving (Matt. 18:22) and not let the sun go down on their anger (Eph. 4:26). In James he writes, “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (1:20).” The parable of the merciful King teaches individuals that one is “never more like God than when he forgives.” Therefore, the opposite is true, never is one more unlike Christ when we do not forgive. Metaphorically speaking, humanity is swimming in an ocean of God’s grace and forgiveness that is demanded of them to show unto others. Barlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele. Howard Hughes His Life & Madness. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. MacArthur, John. Matthew 16-23. Chicago: Moody Press, 1988. Milt, Harry. Basic Handbook on Mental Illness. New York: Scientific Aids Publications, 1965. Penn, Robert, and Benjamin Franklin. The Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin : For Satb Chorus, Unaccompanied. Macomb, Ill.: Roger Dean Pub. Co., 1975. Robert Ornstein, “From the Moral Vision of Jacobean Tragedy” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York, Ny Penguin Group 1998. Samuel Taylor, Coleridge, “From The Lectures of 1811-1812, Lecture XII,” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York, Ny, Penguin Group 1998. Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barent. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, Ny: Penguin Group, 1998. Sylvan Breach, “Introduction,” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet New York, Ny, Penguin Group, 1998 Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barent. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, Ny: Penguin Group. (1.4.46). I have used the ESV translation throughout this paper, unless otherwise noted. Lev. 19:18; Duet 32:35; 1 Sam. 26:10, 11; Ps. 94:1; Prov. 20:22; Rom. 12:17; Eph. 4:27; 1 Thess. 4:6; 2 Tim. 4:14 Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barent. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, Ny: Penguin Group.(1.5.4). For additional textual reason refer to: Sylvan Breach, “Introduction,” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet New York, Ny, Penguin Group, 1998.lxix. Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barent. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, Ny: Penguin Group. (1.2.129-35). Harry Milt, Basic Handbook on Mental Illness (New York: Scientific Aids Publications, 1965), 15. Samuel Taylor, Coleridge, “From The Lectures of 1811-1812, Lecture XII,” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York, Ny, Penguin Group. 175 Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barent. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, Ny: Penguin Group. Lxxxi. Barlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele. Howard Hughes : His Life & Madness. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. 226-250. Robert Ornstein, “From the Moral Vision of Jacobean Tragedy” in The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York, Ny Penguin Group. 220 I have personally talked with two gentlemen who are not only ethnically Malagasy but they were born and raised in Madagascar for the most part of their lives. They have told me that in Madagascar they practice a ritual called Famadihana or “turning of the bones.” This ritual occurs every year and they dig up all the remains of their ancestors to rewrap them. This is not a time of morning though. Apparently, they are celebrating and drinking in honor of their ancestors. My friends tell me that the stink is horrendous and they are not allowed to say anything about it because it would be disrespectful. Robert Penn and Benjamin Franklin, The Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin : For Satb Chorus, Unaccompanied (Macomb, Ill.: Roger Dean Pub. Co., 1975), 86. John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988). Ch. 15

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Presentation on theme: "Lesson 1. Learning Objective: Investigate the key features of legends. Investigate the popularity of legends."— Presentation transcript: Lesson 1. Learning Objective: Investigate the key features of legends. Investigate the popularity of legends. Features of Myths Features of Myths. Can you remember them? Use the picture clues to create a memory list. Story about Gods/ Goddesses Includes magical elements and powers Features heroic characters Features danger / revenge and violent acts Set in ancient times Uses powerful imagery May include strange creatures. Features of Legends: Story about People Sometimes mention Gods/ Goddesses Possible basis of truth Features heroic characters and brave deeds Battles and fights are likely Distinction made between honour and dishonour (good/ evil) A story or place that has achieved legendary fame. a. An unverified (not proven) story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical. b. A body or collection of such stories. c. One that inspires legends or achieves legendary fame. Legends are stories about people who may have once lived, but who have, over the years, grown larger than life! Through the ages the stories that have been woven around those heroes have glorified them and their deeds to such an extent that they now seem almost like gods. At the end of the 5th century, Britain came under the leadership of a man named Arthur. He was a real man but very little is known about him. There are lots of legends told about Arthur and his followers, known as the 'Knights of the Round Table'. Unfortunately, most of these are just made up stories. He may have been a brilliant commander in charge of the British army, or a High-King. Historians argue a lot about whether Arthur really existed. Most historians think that Arthur did exist because he is referred to in books written not long after his death. This is supposed to have been in the early 6th century. King Arthur in a tapestry dated about 1385: King Arthur has been written about: Gildas - 570 AD The Venerable Bede - 731 AD Nennius - 800 AD Geoffrey of Monmouth - 1130 AD Chretien de Troyes - 1185 AD Gerald of Wales - 1145 AD Sir Thomas Malory 1416 John Leland 1545 Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1892 T.H.White 1958 King Arthur has been painted: 1953 1981 2004 Disney 1963 http://www.y outube.com/ watch?v=1zj_ 8h22Fv4 http://www.y outube.com/ watch?v=1zj_ 8h22Fv4 BBC 2008- 2012 http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=RaBm WqQkKYE http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=RaBm WqQkKYE from 1 minute in. When King Pellinore arrives for Kay’s knighting, he brings important news: King Uther Pendragon has died without an heir. A sword, which has been stuck all the way through an iron anvil and into a stone underneath it, has appeared in front of a church in London. On the sword are inscribed the words, “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England.” A tournament has been proclaimed for New Year’s Day so that men from all over England can come to try to pull out the sword. Kay convinces Sir Ector, Sir Grummore, and Sir Pellinore that they should go to the tournament. The Sword in the Stone On the day of the tournament, Kay is so excited that he makes the group get up early and go to the jousting area an hour before the jousts begin. When he arrives, Kay realizes that he has left his sword at the inn, so he haughtily sends the Wart to go back and get it. The inn is closed, however, when the Wart (Arthur) gets there. In front of a nearby church, he sees a sword stuck in a stone. He makes two unsuccessful attempts to pull out the sword. There is a sudden stirring in the churchyard, and the Wart sees a congregation of his old animal friends. With their encouragement, the Wart pulls the sword from the stone with ease. The Wart brings the sword back to Kay. Kay recognizes it as the sword that will determine the next king of England and falsely claims that he was the one who pulled it out of the stone. When Sir Ector presses Kay, however, Kay admits that the Wart pulled it out. To the Wart’s horror, his beloved foster father and brother both kneel before him, and he tearfully wishes he had never found the sword. The Wart is accepted as king after repeatedly putting the sword into the anvil and drawing it back out again. He receives gifts from all over England. One day, Merlyn appears magically before him. He tells the Wart that the Wart’s father was Uther Pendragon and that Merlyn was the one who first brought the Wart to Sir Ector’s castle as an infant. Merlyn tells the Wart that from now on he will be known as King Arthur. Lesson 2 Learning Objective: Compare features of myths and legends. Consider what you know, and would like to know about the legend of Robin Hood Consider what you know, and would like to know about the legend of Robin Hood. Game: Myth or Legend? Write whether you think the story is a myth or a legend. Theseus and the Minotaur: Myth because... Features a heroic character (Theseus) Features violent acts Set in ancient times Mentions a strange creature Story about a God (Theseus is a half- God). Pandora’s Box: Myth because... Story includes Gods (Zeus and his two sons) Includes magical elements and powers Explains an important happening in nature Set in ancient times. The Lost City of Atlantis: Legend because... Possible basis of truth Mention of Gods- Poseidon Story about people (the Atlanteans) A story/ place that has achieved legendary fame. Robin Hood: Legend because... Story about people Possible basis of truth Features heroic characters Fights likely Distinction between honour and dishonour (good and evil) A story that has achieved legendary fame The Legend of Robin Hood The legend of Robin Hood is over 600 years old. In 1377, William Langland makes a throwaway reference to the "rymes of Robyn hood". In 1427, there's a reference to pay 20d (pence) to actors in a Robin Hood play. By 1600, there are more than 130 references to performances of the Robin Hood legend. By 1600, there are over two hundred references to Robin Hood. Officials called real outlaws "Robin Hoods". Was Robin Hood a real person? For centuries people have asked that. Robin of Loxley, and the Earl of Huntingdon are just two examples of real people and outlaws that may have inspired or been inspired by Robin Hood and the Merry Men. Sherwood Forest and Nottingham Castle. Disney http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=Cx_4C1cyUZ A http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=Cx_4C1cyUZ A http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=Cx_4C1cyUZ A BBC http://www.yo utube.com/wat ch?v=zau3kdi We6Q http://www.yo utube.com/wat ch?v=zau3kdi We6Q http://www.yo utube.com/wat ch?v=zau3kdi We6Q I know about Robin Hood... I want to know about Robin Hood... I have learned about Robin Hood... Lesson 3 Learning Objective: To identify where tension is built in the text and the impact on the reader How do I feel? During each of this video clip, write down how you feel. It may be: happy, worried, scared, excited, tense etc... Disney Robin Hood Video 9: http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=XSXM3Zg0eBo &list=PLAF99F7EC51A88 F09 http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=XSXM3Zg0eBo &list=PLAF99F7EC51A88 F09 http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=XSgUffCZZD0 http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=XSgUffCZZD0 Two men crept ever closer. Clouds shifted. Moonlight seeped into the dark night. The figures paused. “How on earth…?” Will Scarlett’s whisper was swallowed by the blackness as the battlements of Nottingham Castle were revealed. “We’ll never get in there, Robin.” No reply came so Will turned. He could see Robin’s furrowed brow as his eyes scanned the castle defences. It was six hours since Maid Marian had disappeared. Their clothes still reeked from the smoke of the hamlet the Sheriff’s men had torched and where Marion had been giving food to the poor. Robin’s face, taut with anger and determination, was reply enough. To their right was the drawbridge that led to the gatehouse. The sharpened teeth of the portcullis warned against entering the very mouth of the castle. The outer curtain walls reared above them, arrow slits within the crenulated stone. Chain mail rattled as they walked the battlements, their shadows gliding across the keep behind them. Portcullis Heavy grill door to protect caste entrances Crenulated: indented square notch battlements. With that Robin stepped out onto the highway. He hoisted his heavy sack onto his broad shoulders, nestling next to his bow and quiver. The smell of stale ale spread from Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem together with the sound of the last singing drunk. Robin ducked swiftly though the inn’s courtyard and to the stables behind. Will strode after him, shaking his head. Wherever he was going, he was sure to be going in to trouble. Will saw Robin flitting to the back of the stables, where an outcrop of rock jutted out below the castle. As he came up closer to him he stepped behind a huge tree trunk and began feeling along the sandstone wall. “Help me, Will.” “What am I looking for?” “ There should be an outline of a King’s crown chiselled into the rock. King Edward used it to get into the castle to murder Mortimer, long ago. They never knew how he got in.” “So how did you know…?” “My father served King Edward, the hole that is behind here leads right up into the castle, he was with him the night Mortimer was killed.” Will’s fingers slid across the rock, rough to the touch and cold as bone. Indentations caused him to stop and feel closer but then he would move on, exploring, exploring, exploring. He moved Robin’s sack to one side and felt along the ground. “It’s not on the wall at all but here, Robin, on the floor.” He placed Robin’s palm onto a carved crown. As soon as Robin felt it he stood up and kicked hard. Once. Silence. More silence. Will dared not breathe. Glancing down he saw that inside the crown was a heavy, iron ring. They both grasped it and heaved. The earth beneath them moved aside and revealed a gaping hole, Mortimer’s hole. We’ve no light, thought Will. No shields, no hauberks … no idea where we are going to come out…but then neither have they… The passage led down on sandstone steps but quickly it begin to rise up, winding their path into the castle. Robin and Will slipped stealthily into the heart of danger. At last their way was blocked by an iron gate that rose above them. "See that, Will. The light?” Will nodded. “That shines down onto the dungeon where I reckon they’ll have Marion. Some fool seems to have left the gate ajar. Come on.” Crouching as they eased their way up the steps, they prepared every muscle to spring should there be a trap. Robin glanced through the gaps, his eyes slowly finding the iron grille that covered the dungeon hole. They slid through the open gate and peered down into the dungeon. Eyes adjusted to the dark, cavernous pit. “There!” Will could see the cloak of a woman huddled and curled around her knees but with eyes of fire. Clink! Robin reeled around in time to evade a towering blow from a gleaming sword. “Trapped!” roared a voice that Robin knew only too well, “like rats at the cheese…” Now that we have decided on the main sections of our story, think about how dramatic they are and plot an X on your graph ( = a high, dramatic point, with lots of action, and = a low, calm point in the story. This might be when there is lots of description, instead of action.) Then join up your points so that we see how the story develops for readers. Robin Hood Trapped! Visualising the story through a heart rate graph. Name: Heart rate of the reader (beats per minute) Main sections of the story 60 bpm 150 bpm Main sections: 1.Will Scarlett and Robin Hood creeping up to the castle. 2.The men talk of Mortimer. Robin steps onto the highway and into the courtyard. Reaching the stable walls. 3.Robin says there should be a crown on the wall. Will finds the crown on the floor and Robin Hood kicks it hard. When the men pull on the ring they find a hole. 4.No light or protection in the dungeons. Passage leads down sandstone steps. They find a metal gate ajar. 5.They slide through the open gate and peer down into the dungeons. Cloaked woman? The men are TRAPPED by the Sheriff. Lesson 4. Learning Objective: To identify suspense techniques in a text. To compose and manipulate complex sentences. To compose and manipulate complex sentences. Suspense techniques: 1. Character’s reactions. 2. Varying sentence lengths for effect. 3. Flashback or detail. 4. Repetition for impact. 5. Powerful similes or metaphors. 6. Something hidden from view. 7. Ellipsis... Main clause: A clause contains a subject and verb and is independent (can be a sentence in itself) Conjunction: A conjunction links two clauses together. Subordinate clause: A subordinate clause adds further description or information, but does not make sense without the main clause. Robin crept silently up the stairs. becausehe did not want to alert the Sherriff’s men. Put these clauses and conjunctions in the correct box. Then use them to make complex sentences. Hint: some sentences have 3 or more clauses. Main clause: Conjunction: Subordinate clause: Since Robin had kicked the wall loudly, Will hadn’t dared to breathe, the risk of getting caught was too great. as Maid Marian was hiding in the corner when but she heard a loud knock, and the men guarding her cell went to inform the Sherriff. Lesson 5. Learning Objective: Explore thoughts, feelings and dialogue of key characters in the story. Game: Complex Sentences. Use the 2 subjects and the conjunction to create the most interesting, bizarre sentence you can. Hot Seating Questions How did you feel Robin when Marian disappeared? Why did you kidnap Marian? How did you feel Will when you found the iron ring to get into the castle? What were you doing when you were kidnapped Marian? Will, how do you feel now that you are also trapped in the dungeon? Sherriff, what are your plans for Marian, Robin and Will Scarlett now? Robin, how do you plan to escape? These are a few examples, try and be as creative as you can! Lesson 6 Learning Objective: To write a stream of consciousness in the role of a chosen character at a key point in the narrative. Stream of consciousness examples: Beauty and the Beast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZEcdBMLLU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZEcdBMLLU Robin Williams discovers Flubber http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJT2QOpnYb8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJT2QOpnYb8 stop at 2.30ish. Good example of thinking out loud- not logical. But he is kind of talking to Flubber? Lesson 7 Learning Objective: To show an understanding of chosen character through role play monologues. To suggest ways of improving writing. Lesson 8 Learning Objective: Explore and practise auditory storytelling techniques Begin to explore the importance of the storyteller/ narrator. Can you pick out the features of legends from the list below? Story about Gods/ Goddesses Features heroic characters and brave deeds Includes magical elements and powers Features heroic characters Features danger / revenge and violent acts Set in ancient times Story about People Sometimes mention Gods/ Goddesses Distinction made between honour and dishonour (good/ evil) Uses powerful imagery May include strange creatures. A story or place that has achieved legendary fame. It has a MORAL – the lesson to be learned. Possible basis of truth Battles and fights are likely Animals as characters Gather friends for I have a story to tell you. A story of good and a story of evil, a story of the brave and a story of the wicked. A story that begins many many moons ago when knights ruled the land and the castles ruled the very air that people breathed. It begins below one such castle owned by an evil sheriff, the sheriff of Nottingham, a man with a heart of stone and a temper as fierce as fire. The night, dark as it was, was lit by a moon and there below the towering battlements, two men stood wondering how they were going to breech the defences of one of the most feared places in Britain. Why did they want to place themselves in such danger? What reason would you have to risk certain death if caught? Come closer my friends and I will bring you closer to a village not far from Nottingham. A village where a woman lived. Maid Marian. A beautiful village that stands no more, and a beautiful woman who was now locked in the darkest dungeon by the darkest villain in christendom. The sheriff had captured her. The greatest treasure of his enemy Robin Hood and it was Robin who was waiting beneath the castle walls with his friend Will Scarlett. If I described to you the defences would you dare to enter, rampart so high no man could go over, buttresses so strong no man could go through, arrow slits murder holes such as no attacker could survive unless of course you knew a secret, which Robin did. As a mist swirled Will and Robin passed below the old Trip to Jerusalem, the oldest in England and a place where many of you have spend a drunken night I’ll bet. Anyway at its back behind the stables Robin led Will to an outcrop of rock. There he began a determined search while Will worried and kept watch. Fingers scrabbled rock on rock, stone on stone searching for the mark of a crown, King Edwards crown. ‘Here,’ whispered Will. Robin struck it and a large iron ring shone through together they heaved and pulled, gasping with the effort until at last there below them, forbidding and dark lay hole, Mortimer’s hole. But the story of Mortimer’s hole is for another time, another feast. It led through winding passages deep into the heart of the castle keep. Finally their way was blocked by a gate which, intriguingly, had been left open. Was this a trap? Would something or somebody… Battle-ready they spied through the gate to see and there below them the grill dropped in the dungeon dark. Listening, no sound, searching, a blue cloak, a huddled figure with fiery eyes of defiance and it was then in the moment that they almost tasted the victory of treasure found, that the clink of the sheriff’s sword told them otherwise. He was behind them. The Storyteller Aladdin storyteller: http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=VkiITQnrAY Mhttp://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=VkiITQnrAY M from 1.30 http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=VkiITQnrAY M Roald Dahl: Matilda http://www.youtu be.com/watch?v= REkalwqS3a8 http://www.youtu be.com/watch?v= REkalwqS3a8 until 2.20 http://www.youtu be.com/watch?v= REkalwqS3a8 It is bad enough when parents treat ordinary children as though they were scabs and bunions, but it becomes somehow a lot worse when the child in question is extra-ordinary, and by that I mean sensitive and brilliant. Matilda was both of these things, but above all she was brilliant. Her mind was so nimble and she was so quick to learn that her ability should have been obvious to the most half- witted of parents. But Mr and Mrs Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter. To tell the truth, I doubt they would have noticed had she crawled into the house with a broken leg. Lesson 9 Learning Objective Explore and practise visual storytelling techniques. Continue to explore the importance of the storyteller/ narrator. Lesson 10 and 11. Learning Objective: Plan oral retelling of the legend of Robin Hood by writing cues. Practise and record telling the story of The Legend of Robin Hood. Game: In the street I saw... Around the class one at a time think of something interesting. Here’s the trick: you need to remember and repeat what has been said beforehand. Success Criteria Audio Storytelling Techniques Visual Storytelling Techniques. Dramatic pause Character voices Expression Speak loudly or softly Speak quickly or slowly Address the audience Hand gestures Facial expressions to mimic characters Facial expressions to suggest action. Movement: closer or further away from the audience, turn head, stand up. Lesson 12 Learning Objective: Use form given to self- evaluate your performance against the storytelling techniques (success criteria) given. Evaluate classmates work looking for both positives and improvements Evaluate classmates work looking for both positives and improvements write 2 things you like about it. 2 stars: write 2 things you like about it. write 1 thing you think could improve it. 1 wish: write 1 thing you think could improve it.

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From Academic Kids A superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. Since the definitive superhero, Superman, debuted in 1938, the stories of superheroes - ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas - have become an entire genre of fiction, one that has dominated American comic books and crossed over into other media. Common superhero traits There are a range of attributes that are commonly part of a superhero's make up, although they are by no means definitive (see Divergent character examples). Most superheroes have a few of the following features: - Extraordinary powers and abilities, mastery of relevant skills, and/or advanced equipment. Although superhero powers vary, the ability to fly, superhuman strength, superhuman agility, and enhanced versions of any of the five senses are common superpowers. Many superheroes, such as Batman and The Green Hornet, possess no superpowers but have mastered skills such as martial arts and forensic sciences. Others have access to advanced equipment that imitates superpowers such as Iron Man's various suits of powered armor or Green Lantern's power ring. - A willingness to risk one's own safety in the service of good, without expectation of reward. - A special motivation, such as revenge (e.g. The Punisher), a sense of responsibility (e.g. Spider-Man), a formal calling (e.g. Green Lantern), or childhood emotional trauma (e.g. Batman). - A moral code that is more advanced and strict than that of most people and a tendency to take personal lapses to it very hard. - A secret identity - A flamboyant and distinctive costume that usually hides the secret identity. It often has a symbol, such as a stylized letter or visual icon, on the chest. Costumes often reflect the superhero's name and theme, for example Batman resembles a large bat and the design of Captain America's costume echoes that of the American flag. - An arch enemy and/or a collection of regular enemies that s/he fights repeatedly. - Is either independently wealthy (eg. Batman) or has an occupation that allows for minimal supervision so their whereabouts do not have to be strictly accounted for (e.g. Superman's civilian job as a reporter or Spider-Man's job as a photojournalist). - A secret headquarters or base - A backstory, called an "origin story," which explains the circumstances of the character acquiring his/her abilities, as well as his/her motivation for fighting evil. Although most superheroes usually work independently, many also work in teams. Some, such as The Fantastic Four and X-Men, have common origins and usually operate as a group. Others, such as the Justice League and The Avengers, are "all-star" groups consisting of heroes of separate origins who also operate individually. Many superheroes, especially those introduced in the 1940s, work with a child or teen sidekick (e.g. Batman and Robin). This has become less common since the Silver Age, as more sophisticated writing and older audiences have lessened the need for special characters for the reader to identify with, and made such obvious child endangerment seem less plausible. Superheroes most often appear in comic books, and superhero stories are the dominant genre of American comic books to the point that "superhero" and "comic book character" are often used synonymously. Superheroes have also been featured in comic strips, radio serials, prose novels, TV series, movies, and other media. Most of the superheroes that appear in these other media are adapted from comic books, but there are exceptions. Marvel Comics Group and DC Comics, Inc. share ownership of the United States trademark for the phrase "Super Heroes" as it applies to comics, and almost all of the world's most famous superheroes are owned by these two American companies. For example, DC owns Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and Marvel owns Spider-Man, Captain America, and the X-Men. However, throughout comic book history, there have been significant superheroes owned by others, such as Captain Marvel, owned by Fawcett Comics (but later acquired by DC) and Spawn owned by creator Todd McFarlane. Superheroes are largely an American creation, but there have been successful superheroes in other countries, most of which share many of the conventions of the American model. The most notable examples include Cybersix from Argentina, Marvelman from the United Kingdom, and Japanese tokusatsu series like Ultraman and Kamen Rider as well as anime and manga series like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Sailor Moon. Although superhero fiction is considered a subgenre of fantasy/science-fiction, it crosses into many other genres. Many superhero franchises contain aspects of crime fiction (Batman, Daredevil), others horror fiction (Spawn, Hellboy) and many are similar to "hard" science fiction (X-Men, Green Lantern). But because the fantastic nature of the superhero milieu allows almost anything to happen, some superhero series cross over into a variety of vastly different genres. For example, in the 1980s series, The New Teen Titans, the Titans faced off against a super villain who controlled a cult in one story, then went off to another galaxy to participate in a space war in the following story, then returned to Earth and became involved in a gritty urban crime drama involving young runaways. The content of each of these stories is quite different, yet the same principle characters are involved throughout the series. - "Brick": A character with a superhuman degree of strength and endurance and usually an oversized, muscular body, named after the rocky shape of The Thing, e.g. The Incredible Hulk, Colossus, Beast. - "Blaster": A hero whose main power is a distance attack, e.g. Cyclops, Havok, Starfire. - "Archer": A subvariant of this type who uses bow and arrow-like weapons that have a variety of specialized functions like explosives, glue, nets, rotary drill, etc., e.g. Green Arrow, Hawkeye. - "Mage": A subvariant of this type that is trained in the use of magic, which partially or wholly involves ranged attacks., e.g. Doctor Strange, Doctor Fate - "Martial Artist": A hero whose physical abilities are mostly human rather than superhuman, but whose combat skills are phenomenal, e.g. Daredevil, Captain America. - "Gadgeteer": A hero who invents special equipment that often imitates superpowers and who has the technical skills to use it to his or her best advantage, e.g. Forge, Nite Owl - "Speedster": A hero possessing superhuman speed and reflexes, e.g. The Flash, Quicksilver. - "Mentalist": A hero whose main abilities are psionic in nature such as telekinesis, telepathy and extra-sensory perception, e.g. Professor X and Jean Grey of the X-Men, Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes. - "Shapechanger": A hero who can manipulate his/her own body to suit his/her needs such as stretching, e.g. Mister Fantastic, Plastic Man or disguise, e.g. Changeling, Ela Vista. - "Substance oriented Bodychanger - A shapechanger who can change his/her body into the equivalent of a mass of a substance that can have variable density such as sand or water. e.g. Sand, Husk. - "Sizechanger": A shapechanger who can alter his/her size, e.g. the Atom (shrinking only), Colossal Boy (growth only), Hank Pym (both). These categories often overlap. For instance, Batman is a martial artist and a gadgeteer, and Superman is extremely strong and damage resistant like a brick and also has ranged attacks (heat vision, superbreath) like an energy blaster and can move quickly like a speedster. Divergent character examples While the typical superhero is described above, many break the mold. For example: - Wolverine of the X-Men has shown a willingness to kill and behave anti-socially. Wolverine belongs to an entire underclass of superhero anti-heroes who are grittier and more violent than classic superheroes, often putting members of the two groups at odds. Others include Rorschach, Daredevil, The Punisher, Green Arrow and, in some incarnations, Batman. - Spider-Man has been portrayed as an every-man hero, often showing poor judgment and being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of both costumed crime fighting and civilian life. After Spider-Man became popular, superheroes generally became more human and troubled so whether or not this makes Spider-Man a divergent character is questionable. - The Incredible Hulk is usually defined as a superhero, but he has little self-control and his actions have often either inadvertently or deliberately caused great destruction. As a result, he has been hunted by the military and by other superheroes. - Luke Cage (AKA Power Man) and his partner, Iron Fist, operated a business called Heroes for Hire which charged a fee for their services, though it was occasionally waived in certain circumstances. - Many superheroes have never had a secret identity, such as Wonder Woman (in her current version) and the members of The Fantastic Four. Others that once had a secret identity, like Steel or Captain America have later made their true identity public. - Some superheroes have been created and employed by national governments to serve their interests and defend the nation. Examples include Captain America, who was outfitted by and worked for the United States Army during World War II, and Alpha Flight, a superhero team that was created and is usually run by the Canadian federal government. - Spawn, The Demon and Ghost Rider are actual demons, who find themselves manipulated by circumstance to be allies for the forces of good. Hellboy, on the other hand, is a demon who is virtuous on his own accord. - Alternatively, The Mighty Thor and Hercules are gods of ancient mythologies reinterpreted as superheroes. Wonder Woman, while not a goddess, is a member of the Amazon tribe of Greek mythology. - Emma Frost, a member of the X-Men, was a supervillain for several years before she turned to the side of good. Other characters who have treaded the line between superhero and villain include Catwoman, Elektra, Rogue, Venom and Juggernaut. - Superheros may hide their powers from the public at large whilst not adopting a superhero identity through way of a costume, examples include the television characters Clark Kent in Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and later incarnations of Starman. In addition, some parodic super heroes have been introduced. While they keep some of the stereotypical attributes of "classical" super heroes, they introduce features that make them anti-heroes. - Super Dupont is a super-hero with all the stereotypical supposed characteristics of the typical Frenchman (including a beret) - Super Liar is a caricature of French president Jacques Chirac turning into a super hero to be able to lie more effectively. History and evolution of the character type The origins of superheroes can be found in several prior forms of fiction. Many of their traits are shared with protagonists of later Victorian literature, such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes and H. Rider Haggard's adventurer Alan Quatermain. The penny dreadful and dime novel stories of Spring Heeled Jack, Buffalo Bill, Zorro and Tarzan also influenced superheroes. Pulp magazine crime fighters, such as Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Spider, were probably the most direct influence. By modern standards, characters like Doc Savage could well be considered superheroes in their own right, but the appearance of Superman is generally considered to be the point at which the superhero genre truly began. The rise and fall of the Golden Age of comic books In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster introduced Superman in Action Comics #1. Although the character was preceded by the costumed crime fighter The Phantom, featured in comic strips, Superman is still considered the first superhero, introducing many of the conventions that have come to define the term including a secret identity, superhuman powers and a colorful costume including a symbol and cape. His name is also the source of the term "superhero." DC Comics (which published under the names National and All-American at the time) received an overwhelming response to Superman and, in the months that followed, introduced Aquaman, Hawkman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, his sidekick Robin, and Wonder Woman, the first female superhero and the only significant one for quite some time. Although DC dominated the superhero market at this time, hundreds of superheroes were created by companies large and small. Marvel Comics, then called Timely, found success with the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. Cartoonist Will Eisner's The Spirit, featured in a newspaper insert, was also a hit. Quality Comics also found its own niche with its own characters, most notably with the surreal humor of Jack Cole's Plastic Man. The era's most popular superhero, however, was Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel, who even outsold Superman during the 1940s. At this time, superheroes largely conformed to the model of lead characters in American popular fiction in the first half of the 20th century. Hence, the typical superhero was a white, middle to upper class, heterosexual, professional, young-to-middle-aged man. During World War II, superheroes grew in popularity, surviving paper rationing and the loss of many of their creators to service in the armed forces. The need for simple tales of good triumphing over evil may explain the war-time popularity of superheroes. Publishers responded with stories in which superheroes battled the Axis Powers and the introduction of patriotically themed superheroes, most notably Marvel's Captain America. After the war, superheroes lost popularity. Part of the reason was that the genre at that time was highly formulaic and the reading public began to tire of it outside of the major stars like Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Plastic Man. This shift led to the rise of other genres, especially horror and crime. The lurid nature of this material sparked a moral crusade which blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency. The movement was spearheaded by Dr. Fredric Wertham who argued, among other things, that "deviant" sexual undertones ran rampant in superhero comics. In response, the comic book industry adopted the Comics Code, which allowed for only the tamest superhero stories as originally conceived. The Silver Age and the beginning of ethnic and gender diversity In 1956, DC Comics, under the editorship of Julius Schwartz, decided to see if the superhero genre in a modernized science fiction format could be viable. So a new version of The Flash was introduced which became an immediate success. This led the company to revive Hawkman, Green Lantern, and several others - usually with a more modern, science-fiction angle - and to launch the all-star team the Justice League of America. Empowered by the return of the superhero at DC, Marvel Comics editor/writer Stan Lee and the artists/co-writers Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and other illustrators launched a line of superhero comic books, beginning with The Fantastic Four in 1961, which stressed personal conflict and character development as much as action and adventure. This led to many superheroes that differed greatly from the standards created in the 1940s with considerably more dramatic potential. Some examples: - The Thing, a member of The Fantastic Four, was a super strong, but monstrous creature with rock-like skin, whose appearance filled him with self pity. - Spider-Man was a teenager who struggled to earn money and maintain his social life in addition to his costumed exploits. - The Incredible Hulk shared a Jekyll/Hyde-like relationship with his alter ego and was driven by rage. - The X-Men were "mutants" who gained their powers through genetic mutation and who were hated and feared by the society they sought to protect. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, superheroes of other racial groups began to appear in Marvel Comics, including Black Panther, monarch of a fictional African nation, Luke Cage, an African-American "hero-for-hire," and Shang Chi, an Asian martial arts hero. Comic book companies were in the early stages of cultural expansion and many of these characters played to specific stereotypes. For example, Cage often employed lingo similar to that of blaxploitation films and Asians were often portrayed as master martial artists. Strong female characters also gained prominence, beginning in a low key manner with Julius Schwartz's comics having female supporting characters who were successful professionals, although Hawkgirl was largely the only new female superhero as a confident partner for Hawkman. In the early 1960s Marvel introduced The Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl and The X-Men's Marvel Girl as well as The Wasp, but these characters were physically weak and were portrayed primarily as romantic interests of other team members. The 1970s saw these characters become more confident and assertive and the introduction of popular new female heroes, such as Spider-Woman and Storm of the newly revived X-Men. Initially, some characters were preachy radical feminist stereotypes like Marvel's Ms. Marvel and DC's Power Girl until writers grew more accustomed with society's changing attitudes. 1980s "deconstruction" of the superhero and its aftereffects By the early 1980s, Marvel Comics had introduced several popular anti-heroes including The Punisher, Wolverine and writer/artist Frank Miller's darker version of Daredevil. These characters were deeply troubled from within, tormented by experiences such as the mob-related slaughter of The Punisher's family, Wolverine's battle with mutant animal instincts and Daredevil's rough childhood and continual exposure to slum life. The trend was taken to a new extreme in the successful 1986 mini-series Watchmen by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, which was published by DC, but took place outside the "DC Universe" with new characters. The superheroes of Watchmen were emotionally unsatisfied, psychologically withdrawn, and even sociopathic. Another story, The Dark Knight Returns (1985-1986) adapted the trend to a familiar character. The mini-series, written and illustrated by Frank Miller, featured a future Batman returning from retirement. The series portrayed the hero as a madman who takes out his inner rage, drawn from the childhood murder of his parents, in a violent quest to mold society to his will. Some critics believe that this trend is tied to the cynicism of the 1980s, when the idea of a person selflessly using his extraordinary abilities on a quest for good was no longer believable, but a person with a deep psychological impulse to destroy criminals was. Regardless, both series were heavily acclaimed for their artistic ambitiousness and psychological depth, and led to numerous imitations. Critic Geoff Klock associates the emergence of these anti-heroes specifically with Alan Moore and Frank Miller's examinations of a previously uniterrogated and fascistic will to order and moral certainty that informs the behaviour and actions of characters in the superhero tradition. As such, Moore and Miller's characters are as much pop philosophers as they are hero or anti-hero, and lack the 'a priori' ethical code and morally absolute motivations of their predecessors. But despite these complex literary conceits and deep psychological ambiguities, most artists following in the vein of "DKR" and "Watchmen" specifically emulated the visual style and ultra-violence of the texts without critically addressing their underlying politics and problematic behaviour. By the early 1990s, anti-heroes had become the rule rather than the exception. Wolverine, The Punisher and Batman were joined by X-Force’s Cable, the X-Men’s Bishop, the Spider-Man adversary Venom, DC Comics’ Lobo and countless others. Many critics complained these characters missed the essential artistic elements of redemption and tragedy of their inspirations, and were generic and psychologically paper-thin. The struggles of the 1990s In 1992, several former Marvel illustrators founded Image Comics, which featured creator-owned characters and became the biggest challenger ever to Marvel and DC's 30 years of co-dominance. Image introduced many popular, new heroes including Savage Dragon, Spawn and Witchblade and teams such as WildC.A.Ts, Gen 13 and The Authority. Many critics complained that the dominance of illustrators at Image made for superficial characters that, while sharing little with the long outdated 1940s model, were not overly complex or innovative and added to the glut of generic anti-heroes. In 1990s, a counter-trend to that excess occurred where notable talents like Kurt Busiek and Moore, himself, tried to reconstruct the superhero genre with titles like Busiek's Astro City and Moore's Tom Strong that combined artistic sophistication and idealism into a superheroic version of retro-futurism. While nostalgia features prominently in both works, Busiek's title expresses an unambiguous form that yearns for a golden age in which superheroes are wholly altruistic and the world basically good, whereas Moore's title extends his superhero-as-fascist metaphor to encompass the contemporary 'retro' trend. Despite this, Moore is not entirely cynical about the superhero genre, leaving his own progressive take on superhero comics to the feminism-inspired Promethea and its invocation of the non-linear and anti-masculinist tradition of Écriture féminine. To keep ahead, Marvel and DC made drastic changes to beloved characters. The hugely successful "Death of Superman" found the hero killed and resurrected, a new villain broke Batman's back leading to a replacement Batman, and a clone of Spider-Man vied with Peter Parker for the title. While these stories drummed up publicity, often in the mainstream media, fans began to complain and lose interest. By the beginning of the 2000s, a majority of classic superheroes had returned to their roots. By the 1990s, ethnic and gender diversity among superheroes was greater than ever before. Many characters in the X-Men, the most widely successful franchise of the time, were female, such as Storm and Rogue, or minorities, such as the Cajun Gambit and the African-American Bishop. There were also a few prominent gay superheroes, such as Alpha Flight's Northstar, Gen 13's Rainmaker and The Authority's gay couple Apollo and The Midnighter. The genre's dominance in American comic books The superhero genre has dominated American comic books for half a century. Before the 1960s, there were popular comics in many genres, including funny animal comics, westerns, romance, horror, war stories, and crime, with dozens of publishers small and large. This diversity disappeared rapidly in the 1950s, due to two factors. The first was a series of highly publicized campaigns against "unwholesome" children's comics, leading to the establishment of the highly restrictive Comics Code Authority. Although the Code severely constrained superhero comics, it completely banned the grittier genres. This wiped out many small publishers, but left the large superhero companies intact. Secondly, television drew away much of the audience for light entertainment in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the time publishers moved away from the Comics Code and produced something other than light entertainment, television and movies were far more profitable. However, comics were still able to depict outlandish action-oriented adventures such as superhero tales without expensive special effects and in a higher volume than the movie industry. Treatment in other media With the rise of television in the 1960s, superheroes have found success in animated series geared towards children. The late-1960s saw the rise of Filmation's Superman-Batman Adventure Hour, and several attempts at series based on Marvel characters, the most successful of which was Grantray-Lawrence Animation's Spider-Man, featuring the "does whatever a spider can" theme song. In 1970s Japan, there were anime attempts to emulate the American genre. By far the most successful was Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) which produced 3 separate series. The series also established an action idiom of the five member team of specific builds and temperament which was emulated by the live action sentai genre. In 1970s and 1980s American television broadcasting, superhero animated series were constrained by the broadcasting restrictions that activist groups like Action for Children's Television successfully lobbied for. The most popular series in this period, Super Friends, an adaptation of DC's Justice League of America was designed to be as nonviolent and inoffensive as possible. The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends were similarly tame and Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman was severely edited for violence in the translation called Battle of the Planets. Starting with Batman: The Animated Series, which debuted on the Fox Network in 1992, superhero animated series gained a new maturity and respect for the comic books on which they were based. This continued with Fox's X-Men, and Spider-Man series as well as the original series Gargoyles, which, like Batman were geared towards older audiences but accessible to children. The widely successful Batman: the Animated Series also had a significant influence on American animation. The show featured simple graphics but lavish animation, a style that was replicated in the sequel Batman Beyond, Static Shock and in Cartoon Network’s successful adaptations of DC's all-star Justice League and Teen Titans. While animated series found immediate success, live action series were often hampered by limited budgets and goofy writing. The 1950s The Adventures of Superman series starring George Reeves - an extension of the popular movie serials - featured very limited and unconvincing special effects. It was, however, hugely popular. Reeves made up for the lack of sophistication in special effects by injecting realism into the fight sequences, using his boxing skills. The live action Batman series of the late 1960s, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, was a ratings phenomenon. The psychedelically-colored series helped sell color televisions and introduced the characters to millions of viewers, but it was extremely campy and goofy and many comic book experts agree that it had a mostly negative effect on the public's perceptions of superheroes. Batman led to imitators like Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific but only The Green Hornet starring Van Williams as the Hornet and a young Bruce Lee as his sidekick Kato approached the popularity of Batman. Over in Japan, TV shows like Ultraman (1966) and Kamen Rider (1971) became the model superhero shows in Japan to this day, spawning countless sequels and imitations, few of which could match their successes. But unfortunately, because of rising standards against violence on American TV, only Ultraman (and a small handful of other shows) ever made it to the US, where they gained a niche following, compared to the wide audience in Japan and many other countries like Hawaii, Brazil, France, Italy and China (see tokusatsu). By the late 1970s, superhero-ish series, such as The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman, found limited success. This led to series which were explicitly superhero shows such as Wonder Woman starring Lynda Carter, which, like the previous decades’ Batman was a huge hit and continues to be a cult classic, despite an overhanging campiness. Children's programming frequently featured superhero characters, such as Shazam!, Isis, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (based on the Japanese Super Sentai series). The Incredible Hulk series of the late 1970s, starring Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, took a more thoughtful and dramatic approach. The show focused on Banner’s nomadic lifestyle and the curse that being the Hulk had placed upon him. The series was a ratings success and has proven to be the most durable of this period. The 1980s saw the launch of various live-action superhero series that did not have their origins in comic book lore, but only The Greatest American Hero, a series with a humorous yet respectful tone about a superhero who could barely control his powers, lasted for more than a few episodes. In 1993, the ABC Network had a success with Lois and Clark, which reformatted the Superman mythos as a romantic drama. This led to several non-traditional approaches to superheroes in live action television shows, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring a dyed-in-the-wool idealist superhero who exists within a consciously humorous take on the horror genre. 1993 also brought Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a TV show about five teenagers that were chosen to become superheroes. Based on the popular Super Sentai Series in Japan, Power Rangers, like Battle of the Planets, differed dramatically from its original Japanese counterparts (which were far more violent and had more challenging and complex stories). Smallville has proven very successful in reinterpreting the characters of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor in their younger years, with a greater focus on their personalities, in a narrative format more familiar to the mainstream television audience. Other recent TV superhero or superhero-ish series enjoying varying degrees of success include: Angel, Alias, Roswell, Dark Angel, and Mutant X. Almost immediately after superheroes rose to prominence in comic books, they were adapted into Saturday movie serials aimed at children, starting with 1941's The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Serials featuring The Phantom, Batman, Superman and Captain America followed. These films were successful despite their limited budgets, silly plotlines, dialogue, and primitive special effects. In late 1941, Superman became the first superhero to be depicted in animation, The Superman series of groundbreaking theatrical cartoons was produced by Fleischer/Famous Studios from 1941 to 1943, and featured the famous "It's a bird, it's a plane" introduction. In addition, the Superman-inspired Mighty Mouse was the flagship series of the Terrytoons company. In the coming decades, the decline of Saturday serials and turmoil in the comic book industry put an end to superhero motion pictures, an exception being 1966's Batman, an outgrowth of the television series. 1978's Superman, directed by Richard Donner, is considered the first, and often the best, modern superhero film. Almost a biopic of the character instead of an action movie, the film won praise for its state-of-the-art special effects, Christopher Reeve's sincere performance as Superman, and John Williams's majestic film score. Superman was an extraordinary success but its three sequels, produced throughout the 1980s, became increasingly silly and less lucrative. Nonetheless, the first two films' production values and respect for the source material influenced most later superhero films. The 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton, was the first attempt to create a superhero film with the darker mood of recent comic books. Fantastic set designs and acclaimed performances from Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker made the film a model for many later superhero movies. The Batman series continued throughout the 1990s, grossing millions and drawing several star actors, until the fourth film Batman and Robin (1997) became a huge critical and commercial failure. This film, along with unsuccessful movies based on DC's Steel, and Todd McFarlane's Spawn, made movie studios nervous about superhero movies. Nonetheless, several movies based on Marvel characters began production in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The company had a minor success with 1998's Blade, but 2000's blockbuster X-Men opened the door once again to highly successful superhero movies and 2002's Spider-Man broke the record for money grossed in a film's opening five days. Sequels, such as 2003's X2: X-Men United and 2004's Spider-Man 2 have also been highly successful. The X-Men and Spider-Man films led to a widespread revival, which included 2003's Daredevil, Hulk, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and 2004's Punisher and Hellboy, all of which met with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. There were also productions that created original superheroes for their own dramatic purposes. For instance, Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan is a dark tale about a man who learns from a mysterious comic book dealer that he is destined to be a superhero complete with superhuman strength, stamina and clairvoyance. Pixar's digitally-animated The Incredibles combined a more comedic, but affectionate, approach with commentary on the superhero genre and its long history. As of 2005, anticipated superhero films include Batman Begins, a new Batman movie unrelated to any of the previous ones, a new Superman film by X-Men director Bryan Singer, and a handful of additional Marvel-based films, including Fantastic Four. Popular superheroes have occasionally been adapted into prose fiction, starting with the 1942 novel Superman by George Lowther. Elliot S! Maggin also wrote two popular Superman novels, Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday, in the 1970s. - List of female superheroes - List of Jewish superheroes - List of superhero teams and groups - List of DC Comics characters - List of Marvel Comics characters - Evil genius - Top superhero (and supervillain) hide-outs and bases - Category: Real-life Superheroes - Category:Nedor Comics superheroes - The Great Net Book of Real Heroes (http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/) - Guardians of the North! (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/superheroes) a virtual museum tour through the history of Canadian superheroes, hosted by the National Library and Archives of Canada. - A site devoted to developing superhero fiction online (http://www.superherofiction.com) - Japan Hero - A site devoted to Japanese superheroes, both tokusatsu and anime. (http://www.japanhero.com/)da:Superhelt

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The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca," from "pícaro," for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction which depicts the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. Picaresque novels typically adopt a realistic style, with elements of comedy and satire. This style of novel originated in 16th-century Spain and flourished throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It continues to influence modern literature. According to the traditional view of Thrall and Hibbard (first published in 1936), seven qualities distinguish the picaresque novel or narrative form, all or some of which may be employed for effect by the author. (1) A picaresque narrative is usually written in first person as an autobiographical account. (2) The main character is often of low character or social class. He or she gets by with wit and rarely deigns to hold a job. (3) There is no plot. The story is told in a series of loosely connected adventures or episodes. (4) There is little if any character development in the main character. Once a picaro, always a picaro. His or her circumstances may change but they rarely result in a change of heart. (5) The picaro's story is told with a plainness of language or realism. (6) Satire might sometimes be a prominent element. (7) The behavior of a picaresque hero or heroine stops just short of criminality. Carefree or immoral rascality positions the picaresque hero as a sympathetic outsider, untouched by the false rules of society. However, Trall and Hibbert's thesis has been questioned by scholars[specify] interested in how genre functions, rather than how it looks on the surface. The word picaro first starts to appear in Spain with the current meaning in 1545, though at the time it had no association with literature. The word picaro does not appear in Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), the novella credited by modern scholars with founding the genre. The expression picaresque novel was coined in 1810. Whether it has any validity at all as a generic label in the Spanish sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - and Cervantes certainly used "picaresque" with a different meaning than it has today - has been called into question. There is an unending campaign within Hispanic studies about what the term means, or meant, and which works were, or should be, so called. The only work clearly called "picaresque" by its contemporaries was Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599), which to them was the Libro del pícaro (The Book of the Picaro). Lazarillo de Tormes and its sources While elements of Chaucer and Boccaccio have a picaresque feel and may have contributed to the style, the modern picaresque begins with Lazarillo de Tormes, which was published anonymously in 1554 in Burgos, Medina del Campo, and Alcalá de Henares in Spain, and also in Antwerp, which at the time was under Spanish rule as a major city in the Spanish Netherlands. It is variously considered either the first picaresque novel or at least the antecedent of the genre. The protagonist, Lázaro, lives by his wits in an effort to survive and succeed in an impoverished country full of hypocrisy. As a picaro character, he is an alienated outsider, whose ability to expose and ridicule individuals compromised with society gives him a revolutionary stance. Lázaro states that the motivation for his writing is to communicate his experiences of overcoming deception, hypocrisy, and falsehood (desengaño). The character type draws on elements of characterization already present in Roman literature, especially Petronius' Satyricon. Lázaro shares some of the traits of the central figure of Encolpius, a former gladiator, though it is unlikely that the author had access to Petronius' work. From the comedies of Plautus, Lazarillo borrows the figure of the parasite and the supple slave. Other traits are taken from Apuleius's The Golden Ass. The Golden Ass and Satyricon are rare surviving samples of the "Milesian tale", a popular genre in the classical world, and were revived and widely read in renaissance Europe. The principal episodes of Lazarillo are based on Arabic folktales that were well-known to the Moorish inhabitants of Spain. The Arabic influence may account for the negative portrayal of priests and other church officials in Lazarillo. Arabic literature, which was read widely in Spain in the time of Al-Andalus and possessed a literary tradition with similar themes, is thus another possible influence on the picaresque style. Al-Hamadhani (d.1008) of Hamadhan (Iran) is credited with inventing the literary genre of maqamat in which a wandering vagabond makes his living on the gifts his listeners give him following his extemporaneous displays of rhetoric, erudition, or verse, often done with a trickster's touch. Ibn al-Astarkuwi or al-Ashtarkuni (d.1134) also wrote in the genre maqamat, comparable to later European picaresque. The curious presence of Russian loan-words in the text of the Lazarillo also suggests the influence of medieval Slavic tales of tricksters, thieves, itinerant prostitutes, and brigands, who were common figures in the impoverished areas bordering on Germany to the west. When diplomatic ties to Germany and Spain were established under the emperor Charles V, these tales began to be read in Italian translations in the Iberian Peninsula. As narrator of his own adventures, Lázaro seeks to portray himself as the victim of both his ancestry and his circumstance. This means of appealing to the compassion of the reader would be directly challenged by later picaresque novels such as Guzmán de Alfarache (1599/1604) and the Buscón (composed in the first decade of the 17th century and first published in 1626) because the idea of determinism used to cast the picaro as a victim clashed with the Counter-Reformation doctrine of free will. 16th and 17th centuries The autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, written in Florence beginning in 1558, also has much in common with the picaresque. Another early example is Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599), characterized by religiosity. Guzmán de Alfrache is a fictional character who lived in San Juan de Aznalfarache, Seville, Spain. Francisco de Quevedo's El buscón (1604 according to Francisco Rico; the exact date is uncertain, yet it was certainly a very early work) is considered the masterpiece of the subgenre by A. A. Parker, because of his baroque style and the study of the delinquent psychology. However, a more recent school of thought, led by Francisco Rico, rejects Parker's view, contending instead that the protagonist, Pablos, is a highly unrealistic character, simply a means for Quevedo to launch classist, racist and sexist attacks. Moreover, argues Rico, the structure of the novel is radically different from previous works of the picaresque genre: Quevedo uses the conventions of the picaresque as a mere vehicle to show off his abilities with conceit and rhetoric, rather than to construct a satirical critique of Spanish Golden Age society. Indeed, in order to understand the historical context that led to the development of these paradigmatic picaresque novels in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, it is essential to take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the lives of conversos, whose ancestors had been Jewish, and whose New Christian faith was subjected to close scrutiny and mistrust. In other European countries, these Spanish novels were read and imitated. In Germany, Grimmelshausen wrote Simplicius Simplicissimus (1669), the most important of non-Spanish picaresque novels. It describes the devastation caused by the Thirty Years' War. In Le Sage's Gil Blas (1715) is a classic example of the genre, which in France had declined into an aristocratic adventure. In Britain, the first example is Thomas Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) in which a court page, Jack Wilson, exposes the underclass life in a string of European cities through lively, often brutal descriptions. The body of Tobias Smollett's work, and Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (1722) are considered picaresque, but they lack the sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was very important in Spanish and German novels. The triumph of Moll Flanders is more economic than moral. The classic Chinese novel Journey to the West is considered to have considerable picaresque elements. Having been written in 1590, it is contemporary with much of the above — but is unlikely to have been directly influenced by the European genre. 18th and 19th centuries The English-language term can simply refer to an episodic recounting of the adventures of an anti-hero on the road. Thomas Nashe's novel The Unfortunate Traveller is often cited as one of the earliest examples of an English picaresque novel. Henry Fielding proved his mastery of the form in Joseph Andrews (1742), The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great (1743) and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), though Fielding attributed his style to an "imitation of the manner of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote," rather than of any particular picaresque novel; Cervantes wrote a short picaresque novel, Rinconete y Cortadillo part of his Novelas Ejemplares (Exemplary Novels). Voltaire's French novel Candide (1759) contains elements of the picaresque. An interesting variation on the tradition of the picaresque is The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824), a satirical view on early 19th-century Persia, written by a British diplomat, James Morier. Charles Dickens, who was influenced by Fielding, wrote his first six novels in the picaresque form, with Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) being the transitional novel to his later more serious and mature works. Another novel with elements of the picaresque is the English The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844) by William Makepeace Thackeray. Some modern[need quotation to verify] novelists have used some picaresque techniques, as Gogol in Dead Souls (1842–52). Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) was consciously written as a picaresque novel. 20th and 21st centuries Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) combined the influence of the picaresque novel with the modern spy novel. Pío Baroja's novel Zalacain the Adventurer, published in 1909, used the picaresque format in the context of the Carlist Wars. The illustrated book The Magic Pudding (1918), by Australian author Norman Lindsay, is an example of the picaresque adapted for children's literature. The Enormous Room is E. E. Cummings' 1922 autobiographical novel about his imprisonment in France during World War I on unfounded charges of "espionage", and it includes many picaresque depictions of his adventures as "an American in a French prison". Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk (1923) is an example of the picaresque technique from Central Europe. Kvachi Kvachantiradze is a novel written by Mikheil Javakhishvili in 1924.This is, in brief, the story of a swindler, a Georgian Felix Krull, or perhaps a cynical Don Quixote, named Kvachi Kvachantiradze: womanizer, cheat, perpetrator of insurance fraud, bank-robber, associate of Rasputin, filmmaker, revolutionary, and pimp. The Twelve Chairs (1928) and its sequel, The Little Golden Calf (1931), by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov became classics of the 20th century Russian satire and basis for numerous film adaptations. J.B. Priestley made use of the form in his The Good Companions (1929) which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Many other novels of vagabond life were consciously written as picaresque novels, such as Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer (1934).. Camilo José Cela's La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942). John A. Lee's Shining with the Shiner (1944) tells amusing tales about New Zealand folk hero Ned Slattery (1840–1927) surviving by his wits and beating the Protestant work ethic. Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March (1953) is a picaresque novel with bildungsroman traits. So too is Thomas Mann's Confessions of Felix Krull (1954), which like many novels emphasizes the theme of a charmingly roguish ascent in the social order. George MacDonald Fraser's novels about Harry Flashman (1969) combine the picaresque with historical fiction. Günter Grass's The Tin Drum (1959) is a German picaresque novel. Hunter S. Thompson's "gonzo journalism" (1970) can be seen as a hybrid of fictional picaresque with memoir and traditional reporting. The picaresque elements are especially prominent in Thompson's less journalistic, more literary and psychotropically themed works, such as, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) and The Great Shark Hunt (1979). Recent examples include Under the Net (1954) by Iris Murdoch, Thomas Berger's Little Big Man (1964), Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird (1965), Vladimir Voinovich's The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (1969), Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973), John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984), Isabel Allende's Eva Luna (1987), Edward Abbey's The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel (1988), Helen Zahavi's Dirty Weekend (1991), C. D. Payne's Youth in Revolt (1993), Christian Kracht's Faserland (1995), Umberto Eco's Baudolino (2000), Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver (2003), and Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger (Booker Prize 2008). Some science fiction and fantasy books also show a clear picaresque influence, transported to a variety of invented worlds—for example, The Dying Earth series of Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat series, James H. Schmitz's The Witches of Karres, and L. Sprague de Camp's Novarian series. The genre-bending fiction of Gene Wolfe combines strong elements of the picaresque with a catalog of other forms of fiction—bildungsroman, memoir, mythic poem, classical drama, modernist fiction, and others. This is the case particularly in his Book of the New Sun, the tale of Severian the Torturer's rise to the monarchy in a remote future world that is probably Earth. More recently, Scott Lynch's The Gentleman Bastard Sequence fantasy novels have been described as fine examples of the subgenre. - Thrall, William and Addison Hibbard. A Handbook to Literature. The Odyssey Press, New York. 1960. - Best, O. F. Para la etimología de pícaro, in Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica, Vol. 17, No. 3/4 (1963/1964), pp. 352-357 - Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary By Merriam-Webster, Inc p.936 - Spanish loanwords in the English language: a tendency towards hegemony reversal By Félix Rodríguez González p.36 - Daniel Eisenberg, "Does the Picaresque Novel Exist?", Kentucky Romance Quarterly, 26, 1979, pp. 203-219, http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/deisenbe/Other_Hispanic_Topics/does_the_picaresque.pdf, retrieved 2014-08-30 - Seán Ó Neachtain (2000). The History of Éamon O'Clery. Clo Iar-Chonnacht. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-902420-35-6. Retrieved 30 May 2013. - Harriet Turner; Adelaida L Pez De Mart Nez (11 September 2003). The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel: From 1600 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-521-77815-2. Retrieved 30 May 2013. - Cruz, Anne J. (2008). Approaches to teaching Lazarillo de Tormes and the picaresque tradition. p.19 ("The picaro's revolutionary stance, as an alienated outsider who nevertheless constructs his own self and his world"). - Textual confrontations: comparative readings in Latin American literature by Alfred J. Mac Adam, p.138 - Chaytor, Henry John (1922)La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes p.vii - The life of Lazarillo de Tormes: his fortunes and adversities (1962) p.18 - Martin, René (1999) Le Satyricon: Pétrone p.105 - Fouad Al-Mounir, "The Muslim Heritage of Lazarillo de Tormes," The Maghreb Review vol. 8, no. 2 (1983), pp. 16-17. - James T. Monroe, The art of Badi'u 'l-Zaman al-Hamadhani as picaresque narrative (American University of Beirut c1983). - James T. Monroe, translator, Al-Maqamat al-luzumiyah, by Abu-l-Tahir Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Tamimi al-Saraqus'i ibn al-Astarkuwi (Leiden: Brill 2002). - S. Rodzevich, "K istorii russkogo romantizma", Russky Filologichesky Vestnik, 77 (1917), 194-237 (in Russian). - Boruchoff, David A: “Free Will, the Picaresque, and the Exemplarity of Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares,” M L N [Modern Language Notes] 124, 2 (2009), pp. 372-403. - For an overview of scholarship on the role of conversos in the development of the picaresque novel in 16th- and 17th-century Spain, see Yael Halevi-Wise, “The Life and Times of the Picaro Converso from Spain to Latin America” in Sephardism: Spanish Jewish History in the Modern Literary Imagination (Stanford UP, 2011) - Paulson, Ronald Reviewed work(s): Rogue's Progress: Studies in the Picaresque Novel by Robert Alter, The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Apr., 1965), p.303 - Schmidt, Michael. The Novel: A Biography'. Cambridge:Belknap Press. 2014.' - The title page of the first edition of Joseph Andrews lists its full title as: The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. Written in Imitation of the Manner of Cervantes, Author of Don Quixote. - Rinconete y Cortadillo y la Novela Picarseca. José García López. Publisher: http://www.h-net.org/ 1999 Available online: http://www.h-net.org/~cervant/csa/articf99/garcia.pdf - Striedter, Jurij. Der Schelmenroman in Russland: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Russischen Romans vor Gogol, Berlin 1961 - Chosen by Time magazine and Modern Library editors as one of the greatest English-language novels of the 20th century. See Under the Net. - As expressed by the author "With Baudolino, Eco Returns to Romance Writing". The Modern News. 11 September 2000. - Sanderson, Mark (4 November 2003). "The picaresque, in detail". Telegraph (UK). Retrieved March 16, 2010. - Krake, Kate (23 January 2012). "The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch(2006)- Book Review". Pop Cultured. Retrieved March 14, 2012. - Alexander A. Parker: Literature and the delinquent: The picaresque novel in Spain and Europe, 1599-1753. - Cruz, Anne J. (2008) Approaches to teaching Lazarillo de Tormes and the picaresque tradition - Robert Alter (1965) Rogue's progress: studies in the picaresque novel - Garrido Ardila, Juan Antonio El género picaresco en la crítica literaria, Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 2008. - Garrido Ardila, Juan Antonio La novela picaresca en Europa, Madrid, Visor libros, 2009. - Meyer-Minnemann, Klaus and Schlickers, Sabine (eds) La novela picaresca: Concepto genérico y evolución del género (siglos XVI y XVII), Madrid, Iberoamericana, 2008.

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A bust of John Steinbeck located on Cannery Row in Monterey, California, the setting of his 1945 novel Cannery Row. |Born:||February 27 1902 Salinas Valley, California, United States |Died:||December 20 1968 New York, New York, United States |Magnum opus:||The Grapes of Wrath| John Ernst Steinbeck (February 27 1902 – December 20 1968) was one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the twentieth century. A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he wrote Of Mice and Men (1937) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), both of which examine the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and subsequent Great Depression. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters, and his fiction drew on real historical conditions and events in the first half of the twentieth century. His body of work reflects his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology. Seventeen of his works, including Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films (some even multiple times), and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat. Steinbeck was a socialist who, like many intellectuals of his era, idealized the working class and accentuated class divisions in his writings. His depictions of class conflict and exploitation of the poor were informed by genuine empathy toward victims of social injustice, yet provoked controversy. The social realism, psychological insight, and vividly drawn protagonists of his most influential work, The Grapes of Wrath, had a lasting impact on public attitudes toward migrant laborers and has been compared to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which significantly influenced popular attitudes toward slavery in Southern culture. John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, of German American and Irish American descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (i.e. Grossteinbeck), Steinbeck's grandfather, changed the family name from Grossteinbeck to Steinbeck when he migrated to the United States. His father, John Steinbeck, Sr., served as the Monterey County Treasurer while his mother, Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a former school teacher, fostered Steinbeck's love of reading and writing. During summers he worked as a hired hand on nearby ranches. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919. He then attended Stanford University intermittently until 1925, then departing to New York City without graduating to pursue his dream as a writer. However, he was unable to get any of his work published and returned to California. Steinbeck's first published novel, Cup of Gold, based on the privateer Henry Morgan's life and death, was published in 1929. The novel centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of Panama City, sometimes referred to as the "Cup of Gold," and the woman "fairer than the sun" reputed to be found there. Steinbeck followed this with three further novels between 1931 and 1933. The Pastures of Heaven, published in 1932, consisted of twelve interconnected stories about a valley in Monterey, California, which was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway American Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published two works; The Red Pony is a short 100-page, four-chapter novella, which recollects memories from Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California. Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with the novel Tortilla Flat (1935), which won California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. The book portrays the adventures of a group of young men in Monterey who denounce society by enjoying life and wine before U.S. Prohibition in the 1920s. The book was made into a film of the same name in 1942, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, and John Garfield. Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression. These included In Dubious Battle in 1936, Of Mice and Men in 1937, and The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Of Mice and Men is a novel written in the form of a tragedy play. The story follows two traveling ranch workers, George and the dim-witted but physically powerful itinerant farmhand Lennie, trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm. It encompasses themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. Of Mice and Men was critically acclaimed and the stage adaptation of the work was also a success, starring Broderick Crawford as Lennie and Wallace Ford as George. However, Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect," and that anything presented on stage would only be a disappointment. Steinbeck would ultimately write only two stage plays (his second was an adaptation of The Moon Is Down). The novel was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. Steinbeck followed this success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles he had written in San Francisco, and considered by many to be his finest work. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 even as it was made into a famous film version starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford. The success of The Grapes of Wrath, however, was not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's leftist political views, portrayal of the ugly side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historical events of the Dust Bowl migrations led to backlash against the author, especially close to home. In fact, claiming the book was both obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941. Of the controversy, Steinbeck himself wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy." The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (by two different movie studios) were in production simultaneously. Steinbeck spent a full day on the set of The Grapes of Wrath and the next day on the set of Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck divorced his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1943. He immediately married Gwyn Conger that same year, and had two sons, Thomas Myles in 1944 and John Steinbeck IV (Catbird), in 1946. They divorced in 1948. Two years later, Steinbeck married Elaine Scott, the ex-wife of actor Zachary Scott. They were married until his death in 1968. In 1940, Steinbeck's interest in marine biology and his friendship with Ed Ricketts led him to a voyage in the Gulf of California, also known as the "Sea of Cortez," where they collected biological specimens. Steinbeck's narrative portion of this collecting expedition (with some philosophical additions by Ricketts) was later published as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and describes the daily experiences of the trip. The full catalog of the marine invertebrates taken was also published as a biological catalog of the intervertebrate life of the Gulf of California. While it remains a classic in nature studies, it failed to find a popular audience. Ricketts had a significant impact on Steinbeck as a social traveling companion and fellow researcher on trips to collect biological specimens. Steinbeck even based his character "Doc" in the novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday on Ricketts. Steinbeck's close friendship with Ricketts would end when Steinbeck moved away from Salinas when separating from his wife Carol. During the Second World War, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. During the war, Steinbeck saw action in accompanying some of the commando raids of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s Beach Jumpers program, which (among other things) launched small-unit diversion operations against German-held islands in the Mediterranean. As a war correspondent, Steinbeck would certainly have been executed if he had been captured with the automatic weapon which he routinely carried on such missions. These missions would help to earn Fairbanks a number of decorations, but as a civilian, Steinbeck's role went officially unrecognized. Some of Steinbeck's writings from his correspondence days were later collected and made into Once There Was A War (1958). During the war, he continued to work in film, writing Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), and the film A Medal for Benny (1945), about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war. John Steinbeck later requested that his name be removed from the credits of Lifeboat, because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones. His novel The Moon is Down (1942), about the Socrates-inspired spirit of resistance in a Nazi-occupied village in northern Europe, was made into a film almost immediately. It is presumed that the country in question was Norway, and in 1945 Steinbeck received the Haakon VII Medal of freedom for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement. After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), already knowing it would be filmed, and traveled to Mexico for the filming; on this trip he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata, and wrote a film script (Viva Zapata!, which was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn. In 1948 Steinbeck again toured the Soviet Union, together with renowned photographer Robert Capa. They visited Moscow, Kiev, Tbilisi, Batumi and the ruins of the Battle of Stalingrad. He wrote a humorous report book about their experiences, A Russian Journal, that was illustrated with Capa's photos. Avoiding political topics and reporting about the life of simple Soviet peasants and workers, Steinbeck tried to generate more understanding towards the Soviet people in a time when anti-Communism was widespread in the U.S. and the danger of war between the two countries was heightened. In the same year he was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Following his divorce of Gwyndolyn Conger, and the sudden, tragic death of his close friend Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck wrote one of his most popular novels, East of Eden (1952). This book, which he considered his best, traces the fortunes of two families of settlers, the Trasksand the Hamiltons—based on Steinbeck's maternal ancestry—and set in rural California in the years around the turn of the century. The novel is roughly adapted from the biblical story of Cain and Abel and follows to trajectory of lives of sharply contrasting values. In 1952, Steinbeck appeared as the on-screen narrator of 20th Century Fox's film, O. Henry's Full House. Although Steinbeck later admitted he was uncomfortable before the camera, he provided interesting introductions to several filmed adaptations of short stories by the legendary writer O. Henry. About the same time, Steinbeck recorded readings of several of his short stories for Columbia Records; despite some obvious stiffness, the recordings provide a vivid record of Steinbeck's deep, resonant voice. Following the success of Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on the theatrical production of East of Eden, James Dean's film debut. Steinbeck found the actor was arrogant, but nevertheless said that Dean was the perfect person to play Cal Trask. In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built camper top—rare for that day—and drove across the United States with his faithful poodle, Charley. In the sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Travels with Charley: In Search of America, Steinbeck describes his journeys from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home in Long Island. In the work, Steinbeck reminisces about his lost youth and lost roots, and both criticizes and praises America on many levels. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California. Steinbeck's last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, was written in 1961. In many of his letters to friends, he spoke of how this book was his statement on the moral decay of the U.S. culture, and it is quite different in tone to Steinbeck's amoral and ecological description of the innocent thievery of the protagonists of his earlier works such as Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row. The novel was critically savaged and commercially unsuccessful. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” Privately, he felt he did not deserve the honor. In his acceptance speech, he said: [T]he writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit – for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature." Steinbeck's literary background brought him into close collaboration with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures, who may have influenced his writing. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter, and through Francis Whitaker, a member of the United States Communist Party’s John Reed Club for writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union. Steinbeck complained publicly about government harassment. In a 1942 letter to United States Attorney General Francis Biddle he wrote "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome". The FBI issued ingenuous denials that Steinbeck was not "under investigation." In fact, Steinbeck was indeed the object of intense FBI scrutiny, although not technically "under investigation," a term reserved in FBI parlance for investigation in connection with a specific crime. Steinbeck was also screened for of his political beliefs by Army Intelligence during World War II to determine his suitability for an officer's commission. They found him ideologically unqualified. In later years, he would be criticized from the left by those who accused him of insufficient ideological commitment to Socialism. In 1948 a women's socialist group in Rome condemned Steinbeck for converting to "the camp of war and anti-Marxism." Then in a 1955 article in the Daily Worker his portrayal of the American Left was criticized. In 1967, at the behest of Newsday Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. Steinbeck saw the Vietnam War as a heroic venture, and his sons both served in Vietnam prior to his death. Steinbeck visited one son on the battlefield (at one point being allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase, while his son and other members of his platoon slept). His sympathetic portrait of the United States Army caused the New York Post to denounce him for betraying his liberal past, while Steinbeck biographer Jay Parini has suggested that Steinbeck's personal affection for Lyndon Johnson, whom he considered a friend, influenced his view of the war. Earlier, in September 1964, Steinbeck had been awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Johnson. Steinbeck was a close associate of playwright Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. In the 1950s, Steinbeck took a personal and professional risk by standing up for his companion, who was held in contempt of the United States Congress for refusing to name names in the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee trials. Steinbeck called the period one of the "strangest and most frightening times a government and people have ever faced." John Steinbeck died of a heart attack on December 20, 1968 in New York City. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and an urn containing his ashes were interred at his family gravesite in Salinas. His third wife, Elaine was buried with him in 2004. Like William Faulkner and Mississippi, Steinbeck was deeply associated with a specific region. Drawing from his experiences in Salinas Valley, California, and the migrations of laborers into California in the 1930s, Steinbeck composed fiction richly informed by local scene, speech, and history. He expressed special empathy for the downtrodden, those deprived of dignity and in extreme want, yet animated by emotions, hopes, and ideals that transcend class. Steinbeck dramatized the social upheaval of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era, and criticized impersonal economic forces that divided society into haves and have-nots. Steinbeck has been criticized both for his socialist political leanings and the unevenness of his fiction. In his lesser novels, comic episodes of promiscuity give way to socially dysfunctional behavior that is treated sentimentally, obscuring the moral import of the action. In his greatest works, notably The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, Steinbeck explored contemporary social history with insight into human psychology and dramatic storytelling. On the strength of these works Steinbeck became known throughout the world, receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. "His place in [U.S.] literature is secure," reviewer Charles Poore wrote in the New York Times. And it lives on in the works of innumerable writers who learned from him how to present the forgotten man unforgettably." Many of Steinbeck's works are often included on required reading lists in American high schools, as well as in other countries, notably in Canada and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom Of Mice and Men is one of the key English Literature texts used by the examining body. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in both public high and independent schools. All links retrieved September 8, 2016. 1951: Lagerkvist | 1952: Mauriac | 1953: Churchill | 1954: Hemingway | 1955: Laxness | 1956: Jiménez | 1957: Camus | 1958: Pasternak | 1959: Quasimodo | 1960: Perse | 1961: Andrić | 1962: Steinbeck | 1963: Seferis | 1964: Sartre | 1965: Sholokhov | 1966: Agnon, Sachs | 1967: Asturias | 1968: Kawabata | 1969: Beckett | 1970: Solzhenitsyn | 1971: Neruda | 1972: Böll | 1973: White | 1974: Johnson, Martinson | 1975: Montale New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. 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My name is Olivia Saracho and I’m at the University of Maryland at College Park, and I’m a Professor of Education. Okay. Literacy – you know, first of all, literacy of reading, it’s for enjoyment and information and we want children to be able to enjoy and be able to acquire information. We want them to know that literacy is for meaning, and we want them to be able to learn how to read in a natural context. And the best way to get all of that is doing a play – doing a play session because they are able to learn and internalize it, and experience it, and act it out, and – and so that everything comes in and makes meaning to them and they are able to understand it. Within play you can also incorporate reading and writing concepts. For example, if they’re playing in the dramatic play area, if you put in writing materials so they can write a shopping list. If they’re playing in the block area they can – they can – they can create or build block cities, or they can create a mural of their neighborhood and they’re able to write down the streets or – or label the little cities that they ride, so all – all of that can be incorporated. Another example is Bernard talked about a sink – sink and float, and so that you can also include a checklist where they put – they put an item in the water and they can check off whether it sinks or it floats, and later on they can discuss about it so that when they have their discussion during sharing time or during their evaluation they can look at their chart and talk about. So that – literacy can be incorporated in a lot of these play centers. They’re part of their lives. What you want it is you want – what you want is you want them to become independent readers and the way they become independent readers is by knowing that this is part of their lives and by using play it becomes a natural context and they see the importance of reading and the functions of reading so that when they – when they see a word or – or – or they start playing they know why it’s important for them to read. I think it’s – it’s suppose to be the same because what you want is when you bring a second language learner or second English – second language speaker, that person brings a culture that is very different from the one in the school and when you bring in their culture into the play area, such as having culture boxes, and actually bringing in their setting, their family setting, into the play area that becomes natural and also becomes a natural context. And so if they can associate even just the family names – you want them to learn, for example, you talked about phonics and letters, so they can start associating the names of the – the family members with the letters that they’re learning in school. Exactly. So learning the word tortilla, you know, it’s not just tortilla. You know, and that it begins with the same sound as ‘t’, you know, and so that – that there will be – there will be – the letters are the same either – they’re similarly the same, except if you’re having Asian children then the – yeah, the characters are different. Well the first thing I would suggest to you, you need to find out about the community and the culture and what are the things that are important to them, and then after you do that then you start bringing those things and bringing them – bring those up in – in to – in to the classroom. And, you know if you are a preschool teacher I would talk to the principal and just say, “Why don’t we tell these – these teachers and tell them a little bit about their community during their inservice or the week of working day. Why don’t we make culture boxes that – that resemble their – that resemble their neighborhood.” If nothing else, they could start with murals that – that go around the house that are very similar around their schools so that they have – they make a mural of their street, uh, the bakery, anything that’s important to them. Okay, what is it is that even – even though – even if they’re not second language learners, every culture or every area in – in the city is very different and you need to – and if you want them to read or you want them to learn you want them to learn concepts. They have to bring something and they have to feel good themselves and they have to know that they’re neighborhood is good. And you start by bringing that into the classroom and start from the known into the unknown so that once that – that you bring that in this is something they actually know. You know, the bakery or – or um – you know, or the – the grocery store, the gasoline, or anybody that they actually know and then you start teaching their names so they start seeing their letters, they can start associating that with other kinds of letters, and other kinds of names, and they look at context, they look at pictures. And they can even bring pictures of their store or something like that so that you can start showing about it and talking about it, having a lot of interactions. And this is a way of brining the children together because they all belong to the same community. I’m not sure I know what to say but (interruption) okay. Let me just say – let me just share this. Uh, when I was doing – when I was doing a study of culture, one of the things that I found is, for example, if the children come in into an environment they have never seen. First of all, if they’ve never been – if they have never been in school it’s something that – that – that they don’t know and they go through 4 stages. The first stage is bewilderment. And so you bring them into a place where there – there are all these strange things and there’s this language they don’t understand. They go through a stage of bewilderment. Then the next stage that they go through is rejection because they see that whatever you have in the classroom, charts for example, you start teaching about nutrition and you have charts, you have the bread, you have the milk, and there you sit tortillas and beans and – and cheese. So then they see the chart that this is – and then what’s the worst thing that you can say is “What did you have for breakfast?” And what are – what are the children going to say? Even if they had beans and tortillas they’re going to say, “I had break and milk” because that’s what is acceptable. So then the – the next stage would be rejection. And then once you start bringing things, as soon as they start feeling comfortable, they might – but they may never get to the third step, which is assimilations. And that is, when they go home they might like the music, they might like the beans that they’re eating, so they will eat them at home, but they will never tell it. And so what they do is they put – what we call it is they put patches on them, and if you’re really – what we’re really would like for the second language teachers to be actually – we want them to take them to the fourth stage where it’s actually they – children become acculturated. And that’s where they can function in one language, in one culture, and another. Where they can easily go and make the transition from one to another, but they actually feel good about both of them. I’m very excited about cognitive styles because it’s really a way of receiving a situation, a way of responding to people, a way of solving problems. And although it involves the intellectual, uh, line it goes beyond Pershay because it includes the effective domain and it also includes the personality of the child. For example, we call them feel dependent and feel independent, and in reality what it is – it’s – a field independent child is really a social child and some children are very social and some children are – feel independent, which have been very analytic. And for the longest time (unintelligence) started in the basement of Brooklyn Hall in – in the 1930’s and (unintelligence) and what he did is he started in a class – in a room. An in order for them to find out whether people were social or analytic he would sit them in a chair and put a crooked char, and so then the – the more the individual would put it in a straight line then the more – the more analytic that person was, and the less – the less – the more crooked chair was it was the more – the more, um, the more social that person was. And so it’s – as he developed his research he became to know that people who are more analytic look for detail and they had – they was more analytic. And so for the longest time we always wanted children to be – feel independent because they had analytic, they could do math, and they could do very well academically. And so we looked down at the social – at social children and we really didn’t focus on them. But the problem is – and if you look – if you look around your colleagues you will find that there are some people who are very social and yet – and then there are people who are very analytic. They can keep a job because they’re smart and their analytic, but sometimes they get let go because they can’t get – they can’t make good decisions because they can’t get along with people. And so what we actually want is we want students to become flexible in their thinking. They have the social skills and they have the analytic skills so that when the time requires, if they need to work – when they’re working in a situations (unintelligible) their children for life and so when their actually working or they’re actually functioning in a – in society there will be times that they need social skills to be able to do a task, but they also have to be – have analytic skills to be able to analyze the task and do it correctly. So ultimately what I would like is for teachers to learn to become what I like to call – my term is “cognitive flexibility.” I know Ramirez and Costenella, they call it “bicognitive development” because you go into both, but I like to – for them to be flexible. And I also want teachers to be trained to be flexible so that they’re able to deal with both students. I’ve done studies of the match and mismatch of teachers and children and what happens with them and a lot you know (unintelligible) a lot of it will say that they have to be met, but that’s not really society. When you work – when you want – when you’re actually in society their – you’re going to have people who are different from you and we want children to ultimately – we’re preparing children for life, not to be able to past first grade, kindergarten, or high school. Ultimately we want them to be independent people and be successful people. Okay. Usually people who are analytic are able to do better in literacy and numerousy because they have analytic skills. And so because they have the analytic skills they’re able to decode words, they’re able to attack the word, and they’re able to identify words. So they should be the ones who are actually – can do well. But the problem is that if you look at the theory on cognitive style that they say that if you present material in the social context then the field independent students would be able to – to – to be able to identify the word. So instead of putting these abstract words or these abstract tasks, which is really what we do when we teach reading and we need to be able to become – as teachers we need to become flexible in our thinking so that we can use both with – with – we provide both types of strategies so that they’re social and they’re analytic. And hopefully what we do is we start to teach – we have a social child, we start teaching the child in a social way and once the child feels comfortable then can we – we can bring the analytic way so that the child will be able to identify the words in both – both context. Yeah. Well, uh, let’s focus on the family literacy. What we did was um – we had um their – we used – we used photographs, so there was discussions of photographs. Families could um family – family trees and so that although there were discussions, they’re interactions. What you want in – in literacy is you want them to develop their analytic skills and so when they start solving situations they start, uh, developing vocabulary. I mean all of these things contribute to literacy and – and one of things, for example, in – in the families either they’re doing – they’re making lemonade. They have to identify the ingredients; they have to write the recipes. There – there’s a sequence in it. Here, let me give you another example. If you – you have the – something that everybody knows it’s “Little Red Riding Hood.” Okay. One of it – the literacy requirements is sequencing. Okay? You can – you can talk – you can tell the story – you don’t necessarily have to tell. A lot of story telling is – is important. You know, the traditions of a family we here storytelling, that’s also a part of literacy. But in doing that you look at the story structure which is, you know, the setting, the characters, and even though it’s – our family is part of that. Or if you take, for example, “Little Red Riding Hood,” you talk about the story and then you put it into sequence. You can also put it into singing. For example, what is the first thing that you do with the “Little Red Riding Hood?” The little girl goes out to the grandmother’s to take the cookies. The next thing is they meet uh – they meet with the Big Bad Wolf. So because you’re dealing with young children you do not – you try to focus on the number of sequences they can do first and then you can put it into a song like (singing) and you can put it into any music, any – “My Bonnie…” – anything that’s – that’s – that’s simple for them. Once they start do – they start getting the sequence of three you can start adding more sequences. For example, you have “The Little Red Hen,” you can add like four. You know (singing). There’s four sequences so you could start adding it. You can do – you can ask them to illustrate it so that you can divide the piece of paper into 3 parts, into parts, and they’re actually doing the drawing. So that’s part of literacy, that’s part of sequencing, and also the characters, the story structure, and doing the elements with that. Okay, the thing that – the every day activities that they do – they do things. Like when they’re having a family time, you know, maybe they’re eating together. They have a discussion. They share ideas. That’s again storytelling because they’re talking about the day activities. Or “Did you know about Uncle So-and-so, you know, he had surgery or he got – he got fired,” but there’s something that’s going on and there’s something that’s being conceptualized. If – if – if “Uncle So-and-so may have been fired and what he’s going to do about it, he’s got a family,” there’s a solution. There’s problem solving, which is uh – and analyzing “How can we help?” And that’s part of the solution. They also read the TV Guide. You know, they read catalogs. Uh, they look at recipes. They go to church together. What do they do? They – they go through their religious material, they sing songs, and – and – or they look at the bulletin. School menus – you know, they – they get the school menus. All of these are daily activities that happen at home and yet they do it. The thing that we need to do as teachers is we need to bring that into the schools and try to reinforce the concept that’s being taught because the parents do it but they don’t know that they’re doing it. And if we try to help them to plan it so that – either looking at the TV Guide and we’re teaching the letter ‘t’ at school, or they can look for letter ‘t’ on things like TV Guide, you know, and pulling out the fact that TV Guide begins with the letter ‘t’, and so their – that can be reinforced. One of the things that troubles me is that teachers send like flashcards or dull material, and you know, when the children come home they need to have quality time with their parents. And what they need to do is instead of spending time in these drill and practice activities, learning the spelling words, spelling the words, writing the spelling words which is boring and dull, the child has been in this terrible – you know, the classroom the whole day. He wants to come home and one, have fun, and have a quality of – of interaction with – with their family members. So if you provide activities that are fun and their interesting it can reinforce what’s being taught at school and yet at the same time they’re learning and there’s that quality of interaction with their families. Okay, uh, for you to use in a classroom or for you to use with families? (interruption) Okay. What I prop boxes or something that I love, culture boxes. They’re prop boxes but they’re – they’re with a culture. Something that – that is meaningful to them. Phonetic units. I would start reading a phonetic unit. Something that they – that they – that they might – that would be – that something would be of interest, and you know, once they know the children the children can suggest what they want to do, even something as the bakery. They can visit the bakery. They can talk about the bakery. Then they can come back and they can write about it and they can – and they can write stories about the bakery, have a box, you know, about the bakery, and then let them create their own box about the bakery themselves so that there’s all of that – all of that reading – reading and writing. Now if you’re talking about actually teaching strategies you can – you can start teaching, for example, we’re talking about phonics. You can start talking about phonetical awareness and so you actually start to look like – you know, you hear children saying, “Anna, Anna, Anna, banana.” We can come up with words that’s telling you automatically that they’re listening to sounds, and so you can start bringing in – and you can start brining in riddles like “Mr. Smith,” uh, you know, uh you can start saying – if you were teaching the letter ‘s’, for example, that particular day you can say, you know, “Tomorrow we’re going to visit the bakery and his name is uh – it begins the same sound as the letter ‘s’, and it’s Mr.” you know, you give riddles so they can say, “Smith.” And then they say (unintelligible) start bringing up and you can – you can say, “Well, can you think of other names that begin with the same – the same sound as the letter ‘s’?” They can say “Sally,” they can say, “Sammy,” and they can start coming up with the same thing. You can start telling stories about “Mr. Smith is at the bakery shop. He sells…” – if you’re talking about context or cues and “He sells these types of breads,” and they’d start filling in the blanks, so what you’re starting – you’re starting to initiate actual contextual cues, but you’re doing it in a riddle kind of thing and soon though you start – you start showing them, you know, how to do contextual cues, how to look for clues within words. Then as they start moving along then you can start – if it’s – if it’s um, a croissant that they’re looking for then you can start – and they know the letter sound of – of ‘c’. Then you can say, “He has…” and then put a line, or put a ‘c’, or begin “Can you think of a – of a piece of bakery that Mr. Smith has that begins with the same sound as – as the letter ‘c’,” so they can identify croissant or they can actually see the letter ‘c’, so that you start that way with something that’s meaningful to them. And never, never ask them to read a text or read something that they do not know the language or the meaning of it. Because if they don’t have comprehension it is not reading and you want them to get information and you want them to get meaning. I would have the same answer as – the same answer as when – when you start teaching reading. Okay? And – and, you know, it use to be that a long time ago it – it – reading would start when they hit 6 – 6 years of age, and so what do we find out now? There is no right age. You do it when they’re ready, when they have the pre-requisite skills, when they have – when they can understand both – both meanings and they can understand one language or the other. And many times – and this is something – this is – I know you’re going to ask me about this at – about what is something that annoys me, but this – this does annoy me to no end because many times just because a child has a Spanish-speaking name, it doesn’t mean that Spanish is his language and the teacher has to find out where – what is the child’s name. You know, my niece, you know, her name is (speaks Spanish) and her language is English, and when they first tried to put her in school they tried to put her in a Spanish-speaking class just because her last name is (speaks Spanish). And I think we have to be very careful about that. She would not be able to learn to – to write in Spanish because that’s not her language. Her language is English. And I think there are different levels where children are. Some are very fluent in Spanish, some are very fluent in English, and some are in between, and some are mixed. So I think that’s a hard – a hard question, but I think the teacher has to be sensitive enough just like teachers of reading have to be sensitive enough that once the children have the pre-requisites skills and they’re able to understand they have to have – they have to have the language, the pre-requisite skills, and they have to be able to have the – in a way the sounds and understand that – what language is which. My ideal situation of a bilingual program is where you have both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children because children learn more from each other then they do from teachers and if you – if they start providing activities and assignments then they’re able to do the – the language learning of the Spanish and the English together and they know that when they’re talking with Johnny and when they’re talking with Pepe, you know, that – that it’s different and they get together and they learn the language together and they learn reading together. Well, I feel so strongly about – about – which one? I mean you have to narrow the topic. (interruption) Well – oh, there’s so many. I think the – the main one, I think it’s – maybe this one is one that maybe – we might have spoken – I think the first thing is we need – we as teachers need to accept the, um, the children’s language and culture. And just because they have a language and culture that’s different from the schools we shouldn’t look down at what – at what they’re doing, but we have to respect it and – and uh I think I would like for teachers – if I were teaching a classroom of second language teachers I would like to maybe start with – with good enough definition of culture and – and let them know that – that, you know, it’s culture is different based on clothing, architecture, food, and it all is very good. Yeah, and so we have to be accept – accepted – uh, accepted in our – respectful of the culture and we have to let children know that – that their culture is good enough as – as the schools. And then once we start from there then bringing it in and use – using that as a teaching technique and – and uh – but many times we make the children know that just because their culture is different and the schools is different that it’s not accepted. The main thing is that I don’t think – I think it’s very integrated within it because child rearing practices are part of child development and just like child rearing practices develop so does – so does, uh, the development of the child, and that’s part of it. And so the relationship is the – based on what the children learn, that’s the way they develop. And – and so – the other thing that – that I think it’s probably also – probably my soap box too is that we as teachers and educators, we need to also understand it’s just like there’s an evolution of everything else. There’s also an evolution of culture. In other words, we’re studying culture that happened many years ago. The culture – society has changed. We are – have technology, we have other – we have television, uh, we have computers. And we also have to understand that when we look at a Spanish-speaking culture or – or a Japanese culture there’s some evolution that has taken place just like Darwin’s evolution of men and I’d like for teachers to know that that’s also related to child development. Well, for example, in some families the – the – one of the rearing practices is that the older – the older child is responsible. I mean I – that was part of my culture and even though – I mean for a grown up I still feel responsible for my brother and sister and when we were going to school as – as – as young children, uh, because I was the oldest I was – we were away from home –you know, when we were at home we had the protection of our mom and dad. When we were in school it was my responsibility and that was – that was my major responsibility. If my sister got into trouble I had to go out there and protect her and make sure that she was well taken care of, the same thing as my brother. Now we’re growing up, we’re old people, and I still feel the same way and I feel the same responsibility. And even though, you know, we’re independent; we live in different cities but if – if my sister says there’s a problem I would be there in a second. And I still feel that responsibility and they still – still look up to me and they say, “I need help with this. I need help with that. Can you help me with this?” Okay, what that would mean – for example, one of the things that happens is when the children come into the schools – and this is very much a part of the school, they want people to become independent and become on their own, and they cannot – the thing is that they cannot become independent (unintelligible) for example, they like – children like to help others because that’s part of their culture. You know, there’s Johnny who can’t – who can’t write or is having trouble with reading and there’s – there’s Popito who know – who – that’s part of – of helping each other. One of the cultural, uh, things is that we have to help others and so he’s helping Popito with whatever problem and – and the teacher wants to be able – for – for that student to be able to do it by themselves without the help. And then the other student gets – gets punished for something that’s part of his family.

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How to Study Narrative Literature Facts to Consider in Interpreting Narrative Literature in the Bible I. There are five major types of literature in the Bible: II. The major narrative sections of the Bible are as follows: A. Old Testament History III. The most frequent uses Bible students make of narrative are the following: A. Storytelling without pointing out principles and contemporary application. B. Allegorizing (spiritualizing, theologizing, and moralizing by importing meanings from other passages, human needs, human experiences, contemporary human thought, men’s favorite ideas, theological tradition, and culture. C. Illustrations for sermons. IV. Following are some proper uses of narratives: A. It points out eternal truths and permanent principles. B. Make appropriate application to contemporary problems and needs. C. Illustrate points in sermons reflected in the narrative, as NT writers did. D. Narrative serves as proof of claims made in more direct teachings in the Bible and in sermons. E. Biblical writers used these stories, historical narratives, to prove their theological claims about God, Christ, etc. V. The following are some appropriate ways to approach narratives: A. Understand what narrative is. 1. Narrative tells us about things that happened when characters acted and reacted to given circumstances. 2. Biblical narrative is designed to show us God at work under given circumstances. 3. Biblical narrative glorifies God. 4. Biblical narratives tell of God’s nature. 5. Biblical narratives tell us about God’s providence and protection. 6. Biblical narratives tell God’s attitude toward sin and disobedience. B. Analysis must consider the following when interpreting narrative: 1. The circumstances. 2. What is done? 3. What is said? 4. What is God’s response to what is done and said? 5. The theme of the writer and how the events support it. 6. The question or situation dealt with. 7. The main conflict and how it works out. 8. How the various kinds of characters support the main point of the text. C. Study the Two Contexts 1. Context of the event 2. Content of the writer D. Study by story and episodes. 1. When studying epistles, we study by paragraphs, sections, and document to see how a text fits into the logical flow of a document–establish logical (i.e., book) context. 2. We should study narrative literature by episodes, stories, and document to see how a text fits into the logical context or logical flow of the document. 3. This is very important when performing a structural analysis of narrative literature. In this case we treat the episode like we treat a paragraph in epistles, the story like a section, and the document as a document.ß VI. Consider the following principles for interpreting narrative (Fee and Stuart 78). A. Biblical narratives does not usually directly teach doctrine. B. Biblical narratives usually illustrate doctrine taught elsewhere directly. C. Biblical narratives record what happened, not always what should have happened or ought to happen every time. D. Biblical narratives do not necessarily give a good example. E. In biblical narratives, characters are usually far from perfect. F. Biblical narratives do not always tell if what happened was bad or good, except by implication. G. Biblical narratives are selective and incomplete–do not tell us every small event in any story or historical account. H. Biblical narratives are not written to answer all of our theological questions. I. Biblical narratives may teach explicitly or implicitly. J. God is the hero of all biblical narrative. K. The writers of biblical narrative are not writing as primarily historians, but are writing as theologians developing and supporting their theological claims with stories of God’s dealings with people–his actions and reactions in response to them; their actions and reactions in response to him, and their actions and reactions in response to each other. VII. Principalization is a homiletic device to use in interpreting and teaching (preaching) narrative literature. A. Principalization is a method of establishing and pointing out the abidingmeaning and continuing significance of narrative for all men of all times. B. In principalization, the point of the message is derived directly from the text beingexamined. C. It seeks to derive its message from the text through an understanding of it, rather than importing the meaning into the text from some other source: other scripture, contemporary thought, personal biases, human need, or known human experience. D. Principalization discovers and sets forth the enduring doctrinal, spiritual, ethical, and moral truths or principles illustrated in narrative accounts or explicitly stated in didactic literature. E. Principalization involves a system of homiletic analysis. F. It is a syntactical–theological method of exegesis as well as the grammatico-historical method. G. Principalizing ascertains propositions and supporting principles from Scripture. H. The following general steps are involved in principalizing: 1. Ascertain the main truth-intent or main idea of the text. 2. Ascertain the main supporting principles that develop the main idea of the passage. 3. Ascertain the supporting materials that explain, prove, and illustrate the supporting principles. 4. Make application of the lessons to an appropriate situation (like the one in the biblical context)–contextualize it, (i.e., delineate the principles applied to the biblical culture and situation and apply them to your culture and like situation) and state it in contemporary (not historical) terms. I. In principalizing, make special notes of the following: the main truth intent, the supporting principles, and incidental truths expressed or implied. VIII. Remember that biblical narrative is not about only a historical God, but about a contemporary (i.e., present-day) God; God is not only a God of yesterday, but is also a God of today. IX. New Testament narrative can establish authoritative, universal and permanent principles. A. The Bible authorizes in three ways. 1. An expressed statement may establish a principle. 2. When an expressed statement necessarily implies something not expressed, the necessary implication may establish a principle of faith and practice. That is, a generalization implies specifics within the generalization, or a broad cagegory implies particulars within the category. 3. An approved account of action may establish a principle. B. A narrative or account of action that doesn’t illustrate a requirement gives permission for an action but doesn’t require it, i.e., doesn’t establish a binding principle. C. A narrative or account of action establishes a principle in the following cases: 1. When a narrative illustrates or expresses antecedent theology (or a background command), it establishes a principle. (a) The principle may be theological and establish a belief. (b) The principle may be a moral imperative and require a certain conduct. 2. When the narrative illustrates an antecedent theology (or a background command that is necessarily implied), it establishes a principle. 3. When a narrative account of action gives evidence that the action was required, it establishes a principle or imperative. D. A principle may be local and temporary, or it may be universal and permanent. 1. When the narrative itself or a background teaching expressly limits the time and subjects of the principle, it is local and temporary. 2. When a narrative or its context implies that it was limited in scope, its authority is local and temporary. 3. Subsequent revelation might limit the time and scope of a principle. 4. Without these limitations, a principle is universal and permanent. X. Old Testament narrative also establishes universal and permanent principles. A. The Old Testament reveals many great truths: 1. The eternal nature of God 2. The eternal moral character of God 3. God’s loving care for man 4. God’s attitude toward sin 5. Regulation of man’s religious activity 6. Laws governing human relationships 7. Moral imperatives. B. There are several present-day uses of the Old Testament. 1. It points us to Christ (John 5:39; John 12:41; Heb. 2:11-15; Acts 8:7-35; et. al.). 2. It is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:15-17). 3. It provides examples of true faith (Heb. 11 and 12). 4. It warns against disobedience (Heb. 2:1-4; I Cor. 10:1-11). 5. It reveals the nature of God. C. Some Old Testament principles are universal and permanent. 1. Principles rooted in and reflecting the eternal nature of God and Christ are permanent theological principles, because God’s nature does not change. 2. Imperatives that are rooted in and reflect the moral character of God and Christ are permanent moral law. 3. Old Testament principles perpetuated by New Testament teaching are permanent. 4. Ceremonial regulations and requirements that are related to and rooted in temporary situations of individuals and groups are local and temporary. 5. Any requirements that are limited by subsequent teaching (e.g., later New Testament teachings) are consequently limited in scope and time. D. Any Old Testament imperative that is rooted in and reflects the moral character of God is a universal and permanent principle: The ultimate standard of good is God, and God’s written moral code reflects His moral character. For example, God is love. He tells us to love him and our neighbor. Love does no harm to others (Rom. 13:9-10). The moral and ethical code of God reflects his nature, love. These rules show us how to love God and one another, how do good and no harm to one another. 1. When God revealed himself in the creation, before written law was given, this left the Gentiles without excuse for their moral decay or immoral conduct (Rom. 1:18-32). 2. When men come short of the glory of God (i.e., his moral character), they sin (Rom. 3:23). 3. Since man is made in the image of God and also can see God revealed in the creation (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 1:19-21), they, being without the law (in written form), can do by nature the things contained in the law (Rom. 2:14, 15). 4. Before men sinned by breaking explicit laws as Adam did, sin was in the world and death reigned. Since sin is not counted when there is no law, the law was present, implicit in the moral character of God, before it was written (Rom. 5:13, 14). 5. The message (i.e., Word) existed in the Divine Nature (Christ) before the world was created (John 1:1,2, 14). 6. To know the glory of God is to be exposed to the power that can change our lives and make us share in the glory of God (2 Cor. 3:18). 7. God is love, and the whole law of God is summed up in the command to love one another (I John 4:7, 8; Rom. 13:9, 10). XI. We should consider the following when studying narrative literature: A. Ask the following when studying Old Testament narratives: 1. What was the situation of the action or saying? 2. Was the action approved by God (by the inspired writer)? 3. Was what was said spoken by an inspired or uninspired person? 4. What does the incident tell us about God? 5. Is the principle involved approved but optional or is it required? 6. Is the principle established universal and permanent, or is it part of the situational and temporary part of the Old Testament? B. Ask the following when studying the gospel accounts. 1. What was the situation that elicited what was said and done? 2. Was the action or saying approved or not approved? 3. What was the situation to which the gospel writer applied the saying or action? 4. What does the recorded actions of Christ tell us about God: his character, his power, his will for us, his concern for us, and his response to us? 5. What does the incident tell us about what God expects of us? 6. What does the incident tell us about God’s response to obedience and disobedience? 7. Does this establish a principle limited to the Old Testament period, the New Testament period, or extend to all men of all times? 8. Is this related to beliefs and actions that are approved but optional or is it a required belief and action? C. Ask the following when studying Acts: 1. What was the situation which elicited the action or saying? 2. Is the action approved or not approved? 3. Is the statement made by an inspired or uninspired person? 4. What does the incident or account tell us about God? 5. Is the example binding or optional (i.e., backed by a background command or not)? 6. Is the principle local and temporary or universal and permanent? Practical Considerations for Interpreting Narrative Literature in the Bible I. If the author explicitly states the meaning or significance of a narrative, this interpretation must be accepted as the only intended meaning. II. You need to consider the occasion of what you are reading. In narrative, there are two occasional contexts: the context of the event recorded and the context of the writer and first readers. A. Probe the text and its context with the question “What was going on in this narrative?” 1. What question was being dealt with? 2. What problem was being dealt with? a. The problem might be doctrinal. b. The problem might be behavioral. B. Also probe the text and its surrounding context to find out what was going on in the writer’s situation that caused him to write this narrative. Ask, “What was he trying to refute, prove, clarify, or make practical by telling this story?” 1. What question was being dealt with? 2. What problem was being dealt with? a. The problem might be doctrinal. b. The problem might be behavioral. II. Consider what the characters indicate about the main issue or central idea of the narrative. A. Some of what you can know about characters is revealed explicitly by what the author or other characters say about them and even by what they say about themselves. B. Most of what you learn about characters will be implied by their actions. C. Characters sometimes make explicit statements about the issue under consideration. Be sure that you don’t use advice from the wrong characters. D. Usually, information about the idea supported by a narrative will be implied by the actions and attitudes of the characters and by which character is on what side of the issue. E. Narrative usually has a protagonist and an antagonist. In biblical narrative, the protagonist is the “good guy” and the antagonist is the “bad guy.” In some modern literature, and even in the Bible, the protagonist and antagonist might both be good. When both are good, it is difficult to decide which one is right. In such cases the writer usually tells us what is right. III. The plot will help in determining the concept the narrative is intended to convey. The plot consists of the actions and reactions of characters in their specific circumstances. In the plot, look for the following four elements. A. Exposition–The exposition introduces a narrative. For example, in the story of the temptation of Jesus, the first two verses serve as the exposition (Matt. 4:1-2) B. Conflict–Conflict consists of factors that complicate the plot. The conflicts cause tension that heightens interest and points toward or emphasizes the point or central idea of the narrative. The conflict usually clearly defines both sides of an issue or a problem. As Satan tempts Jesus, the conflicts complicate the plot and make the difference in the two characters very clear. These conflicts cause the first-time reader to wonder if and when Jesus will yield to the pressure (Matt. 4:3-10). In some narratives, the conflict is between a person and a situation or even between different ideas. In the story of Jesus turning water into wine, the antagonist is a situation, the wine running out (Jn. 2:1-11). A deeper conflict is between Jesus’ claim to being the Son of God and a lack of confidence on the part of the disciples. The interpretation of the narrative is made clear in this case (v. 11). C. Climax–The climax is the turning point in the narrative when the complicating factors begin to be resolved. The climax usually makes the point the narrator is making clear. In the story of the temptations, the turning point (i.e., climax) comes when Jesus sends the devil away and angels attend Jesus (Matt. 4:10-11). In the story of Jesus turning water into wine, the climax makes the main idea clear by explicitly stating it (Jn. 2:11). D. Denouement–After the climax (i.e., turning point) in the narrative, the denouement is the quick resolution or movement to the end of the story. The elements of the story of the temptation of Jesus lead to the conclusion that Jesus has greater moral power than Satan. This is significant as an assurance that, in a moral conflict with Satan, we can win a moral victory by the power of Jesus. The story of the first sign, i.e., the story of Jesus turning water into wine, supports the conclusion that Jesus is who He claims to be, the Son of God. IV. Symbolism sheds light on the point of the narrative. The mustard seed symbolizes little things and represents the power of little, seemingly insignificant things and people when used by God. The tares (or weeds) symbolize that which is undesirable and unacceptable. Good soil symbolizes good hearts. V. What is said about the way the conflict turns out explicitly states the point of the story. In the case of Jesus turning water into wine, the final comment makes the point of the story clear (Jn. 2:11). Conclusion: Through principalization, a Bible student can see that the message of narrative is exciting, relevant, and powerful. For more on the use of narrative literature, principalizing, and the uses of the Old Testament, see the following books: Fee, Gordon and Douglas Stuart. How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981, 1993. Ferguson, Everett. “Christian Use of the Old Testament.” The World and Literature of the Old Testament. ed. John T. Willis. The Living World Commentary, 12 Vol., Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company, 1979. Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. Toward An Exegetical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981. Warren, Thomas B. When Is An Example Binding? Jonesboro, Arkansas: National Christian Press, 1975. © Dr. William T. (Bill) Lambert, 05 Professor Emeritus, College of Bible and Religion Searcy, AR 72149-0001

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Seventh grade teacher Elizabeth Delmatoff piloted a social media program in her Portland, Oregon classroom. By the end of the year, 20% of students school-wide were completing additional assignments for no credit, grades increased more than 50%, and chronic absenteeism reduced by at least 30%. This school, for the first time in its history, met its adequate yearly progress goal for absenteeism. (Kessler, 2010) This We Believe - Educators use multiple learning and teaching approaches. Middle level educators continuously seek practices to enhance learning and increase achievement of middle level students. Thus, many teachers are integrating technology with instruction especially since young adolescents are frequent computer users and find technology very engaging (Simpson & Clem, 2008). Downes and Bishop (2010), in their four year study on technology integration in middle level education, found that teachers and students feel strongly that technology is an essential learning component because it assists with engagement, makes education relevant to students' lives, and serves as an inspiring force (p. 31). One type of technology teachers are adopting is the use of social media. Social media are web-based, highly interactive platforms that provide space for creating online communities of people with similar interests and activities where individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content (Kietzmann & Hermkens, 2011; Lamphere, 2012). While most AMLE research summaries tend to report on empirical research, this summary provides current information from a combination of empirical studies and conversation driven by opinion, emotion, and experience. Due to the newness of social media, particularly its use as an instructional tool in education, sharing perspectives—often found on blogs—of those presently using social media in middle level classrooms can help inform educators considering this curricular approach. As emphasized in This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (National Middle School Association [NMSA], 2010), engaging students in "active, purposeful learning" is one of the hallmarks of successful middle level schools. "Additionally, learning experiences are greatly enhanced when all students have the technology to access rich content, communicate with others, write for authentic audiences, and collaborate with other learners next door or across the globe" (p. 16). Incorporating social media as an instructional tool can provide potential benefits for students and teachers (Krutka, 2014a). In 2010, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 73% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 use social media (Lenhart, Purcell, Aaron, & Zickuhr, 2010). Since then, the percentage has probably increased. Integration of social media has the engagement factor teachers and students seek while enabling students to gain a variety of academic and social skills (Richardson, 2011). Many educators are using social media to help bridge the gap between schools and the outside world by finding innovative ways to engage and extend student learning (Storz & Hoffman, 2013; Varlas, 2011). Due to these features, social media has enormous potential in middle school classrooms. Though social media use by students and teachers is increasingly popular, debate exists on how to best use the medium and how to protect users and ensure ethical use (Kepple, Campbell, Hartshorne, & Herlihy, 2015; Weathersbee, 2008). This research summary provides an overview of social media types, addresses benefits and challenges with incorporating social media into student learning, and offers suggestions for practice. Resources for teaching and learning are also included. Social Media Types Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) identify seven types of social media: - collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia) - blogs and microblogs (e.g., Twitter, Kidblog.org) - social news networking sites (e.g., Digg and Leakernet) - content communities (e.g., YouTube and DailyMotion) - social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) - virtual game-worlds (e.g., Minecraft, World of Warcraft) - virtual social worlds (e.g., Second Life) Other common social media sites include FourSquare, LinkedIn, Flickr, edmodo, Pinterest, and YouTube. Some social media are a combination of two or more of the types Kaplan and Haenlein outlined. For example, Shi, Rui and Whinston (2014) explain that Twitter is a blend of broadcasting service and social networking. Many social media sites can be accessed through mobile applications (e.g., iPhone, Blackberry) as well as desktops and laptops. Benefits of Incorporating Social Media in Middle Schools Increased Student Engagement, Learning, and Citizenship Education Social media sites provide a forum for extending the traditional classroom with an array of benefits that fit This We Believe (2010) tenets by capitalizing on students' personal backgrounds and cultural experiences to further learning. Increased student engagement and learning and citizenship education are benefits related to social media use in school. For example, middle grades students can discover how technology-assisted writing can foster innovation, global communication and participation, and creative problem solving with a broader community. Purposeful use of social media can help develop responsible, productive digital citizens whose natural love of learning will travel with them throughout their lives. Ramsay's Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? Collaborating in Class and Online (2011) shares reflections on the integrated collaborative technology writing activities she incorporated in her classroom to advance students' learning experiences. She found that her students engaged for longer periods of time in writing tasks due to online collaboration. Further, Ramsay purports that technology-assisted writing can nurture student creativity, communication, and problem solving skills while developing digital citizens. Social media provides students with options for creating authentic, creative products through tools such as blogs, YouTube, and podcasts (Frye et al., 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). Students can also use social media to research content material in order to develop new knowledge (Frye et al., 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). Additionally, social media helps facilitate differentiation by allowing the needs of creative learners to be met through a cooperative learning environment. Students are better able to balance their individualism with the need for contact with others, allowing new ideas to flourish (Garrett, 2011; Shoshani & Rose Braun, 2007). Collaboration and Relationship Building Social media can help adolescents develop and strengthen collaboration skills as they share knowledge, learn with and from others, and are active in the learning process (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Jackson, 2011; Liu, Liu, Chen, Lin & Chen, 2011;Yu, Tian, Vogel, & Kwok, 2010). Further, through collaboration on social media platforms, constructive and meaningful teacher and student relationships can develop (Connolly, 2011). Social media outlets, such as Twitter, are being utilized by teachers for informal professional development as educators worldwide share resources and best practices (Krutka & Milton, 2013). Bridge the Digital Divide and Increase Access and Equity The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) states that digital skills are essential for "students to work, live and contribute to the social and civic fabric of their communities" (2014, para 2). Further, ISTE purports that equitable access to technology-integrated learning opportunities is vital to bridge the digital divide and increase students' chances for success (2014). However, as the National Center for Education Statistics shared (2012), the digital divide is increasing and, thus, children without access to technology can be left further behind. Therefore, inclusion of social media in education activities is necessary to help increase equity among students of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds by increasing access to information and information technology (Darling-Hammond, Zielezinski, & Goldman, 2014; Grinager, 2006). Darling-Hammond et al. (2014) recommend the following practices to promote optimal learning opportunities for all students: (a) technology access policies should aim for 1:1 computer access and ensure that speedy internet connections are available, (b) policies and practices should favor technology that promotes high levels of interactivity and engagement and that allows for varying learning choices and opportunities, (c) instructional opportunities should enable students to use technology to create content as well as learn material, and (d) learning environments that provide significant and varied levels of teacher support and opportunities for interactions among students as companions to technology use (p. 14-15). Challenges Related to Incorporating Social Media in Middle Schools There are a variety of challenges middle level educators must consider when incorporating social media in young adolescent classrooms. The first issue many educators currently face is equitable access for students and teachers. Further, uncertainty exists on the type and frequency of professional development for middle level educators that addresses ethical and appropriate use of social networking. Additionally, educators must learn how best to help students navigate safely and monitor students in a virtual environment. Lastly, educators must recognize the possibility for distractions and overstimulation that is often linked to certain types of social media and networking activities (Chen & Bryer, 2012). Access to technology for students and teachers has tremendous benefits particularly if accompanied with appropriate learning opportunities. However, gaining consistent and equitable access remains a challenge for all levels of learners; therefore, making technology available to all students should be a priority among educators (NMSA, 2010; U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Educators and policymakers need to provide the appropriate technology funding and related professional development so students and teachers have the equipment, knowledge, and skills necessary for taking full advantage of what technology can offer. It is imperative for educators to have professional development opportunities that enable them to learn developmentally appropriate best practices for preparing students (NMSA, 2010). This includes how to utilize all that social networking has to offer. For teachers to understand the features, benefits, and limitations to social media sites, they need appropriate and sustained training, time to practice newly learned skills, and time for collaboration with colleagues to hone teaching practices (Boss & Krauss, 2007). As teachers have different levels of technology use knowledge and interests, department and grade-level conversations should occur to identify specific needs. Monitoring, Safety, and Ethical Use of Social Networking AMLE (NMSA, 2010) believes that middle schools must provide adult advocates to middle school students to guide academic and personal development in an inviting, safe, inclusive, and supportive school environment (p. 35). This can be challenging in a face-to-face environment and even more difficult in a virtual environment (Schmitz, Sigler Hoffmann, & Bickford, 2012). Kessler (2010) purports on the blog, www.mashable.com, that the best way to keep young users safe is to teach them how to be safe. Students need to learn how to make great choices about what they share and what are appropriate actions with others, and always review and manage their online reputations in light of others' ability to contribute to that reputation either positively or negatively with a few clicks of the mouse (Richardson, 2011). Protecting students in all learning environments is essential. Having explicit and consistent conversations and policies about how to do this ethically, legally, and effectively must occur before and during use of social media and involve input from key stakeholders. Edutopia.com, a website published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation and highly regarded by the educational community, provides thoughtful resources on creating social media guidelines for schools. A useful handbook found on Edutopia.com was created by Anderson, in collaboration with Facebook (n.d.), on How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School. Plagiarism is a challenge many face when incorporating social media activities. Vise (2011) shared that "one-third of all unoriginal content in student papers came from social networks, including Facebook and all of the various 'content-sharing' sites where users post and share information" (para 5). However, using plagiarism checking software like Anti-Plagiarism, DupliChecker, PaperRater, or Plagiarismdetector, can ensure that work presented is the creation of the author with credit provided to sources. In tandem, teachers must continue to address the issue of plagiarism including how to determine if sources are credible and having clear and consistent plagiarism policies regularly disseminated to students and parents. Classroom Strategies for the Inclusion of Social Media in Learning Research suggests that discussions and collaborations are the most common social media classroom strategies (Chen & Bryer, 2012). Frye, Trathen, and Koppenhaver (2010) proclaim that blogs offer students the ability to publish work and comment on others' writing, which increases motivation. At the middle level, Wilson, Wright, Inman, & Matherson (2011) provide examples demonstrating best practices of how students use blogs successfully to study current events and respond to textual material and a variety of other assignments. Manfra and Lee's (2011) qualitative case study used audio and video recordings of classroom sessions, student blog comments, and semi-structured interviews to demonstrate the potential of using blogs to differentiate instruction and meet learning goals of at-risk learners. Smith and Throne (2009) also speaks to the value of social media in serving as a tool for differentiation. Holcomb, Beal, and Lee (2011) present two instructional projects and two instructional tools as examples that suggest Web 2.0 tools can enhance and maximize curricula by giving students the means to "take on real world problems, engage in intensive research using methods suited to their style of learning and share their findings with their collaborators and colleagues" (p. 103). Carano and Stuckart's (2013) qualitative study examined the impact of social media activities between US students and Peace Corps Volunteers in Swaziland and between US students and Malaysian high school students. Findings demonstrate how social media sites can be used to connect classrooms and cultures across the globe while providing students with increased intercultural awareness and student learning. Cabiness, Donovan, and Green's (2013) middle school case study of students using wikis in a world history class demonstrated that a classroom wiki had many benefits. The flexible environment of the wiki supported collaborative learning allowing for extended learning and opportunities to go in-depth into concepts that may not have been allowed due to regular class time restrictions. Further, higher order thinking skills were evident in the student posts. Additionally, the wiki environment created a learning community that went beyond the regular classroom walls enabling students to collaborate with all six classes of students enrolled in the campus world history courses. Another classroom strategy has enabled students to instant-message (IM) teachers and peers with homework questions via smartphones (Davis, 2010). Twitter, an online social networking service, provides an IM outlet used to encourage students to engage in class activities through a variety of activities such as centering on primary documents or analytical questions and bringing in outside expert perspectives (Krutka & Milton, 2013). Krutka (2014b) and his 20 social studies methods students examined the pedagogical possibilities for social media use in middle and high school classrooms. Surveys, reflective journals, and field notes indicated that Twitter was the most beneficial social media site to use in the class because of its many possibilities. Dunlap and Lowenthal (2009) suggest that the medium is useful for encouraging concise writing. Further, Elavsky, Mislan, and Elavsky (2011) employed mixed-methods research to examine student outcomes produced by using Twitter. Using descriptive statistical analysis of tweets and surveys, Elavsky et al. found using Twitter to "back channel,'"—an activity that allows students to maintain a dialogue or ask questions about an activity that is happening concurrently—can expand students' understanding of key class concepts. Finally, the literature indicates that Twitter can also be used as a sharing resource (Matteson, 2010), as a means for historical perspective-taking and reenactment (Krutka & Milton, 2013; Lee, Shelton, Walker, Caswell, & Jensen, 2012), and even as a source for, and subject of, media study (Rinaldo, Tapp, & Laverie, 2011). Social media is an increasingly popular technology medium for educators and students alike. Research shows that social media can increase student learning and engage students who otherwise may be disinterested in the classroom (Darling-Hammond, Zielinski, & Goldman, 2014). Richardson (2011) states: Social media afford[s] the opportunity for all children with online access to contribute to the world in meaningful ways, do real work for real audiences for real purposes, find great teachers and collaborators from around the world, and become great teachers in their own right. (p. 3) This real-time communication can increase student accountability, build relationships, allow for differentiation, and expand understanding and skills. Of course, there are drawbacks for students including security risks or privacy concerns. Some students may find social media activities distracting and lack supervision from an administrator. Yet, these drawbacks can be addressed by thoughtful selection and expectations of activities, set-up, and monitoring of students, process, and outcomes. Used prudently, social media can be a valuable tool in educational settings so middle level learners are provided engaging, relevant, and interconnected learning opportunities (Connolly, 2011). Anderson, S. (n.d.). How to create social media guidelines for your school. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-anderson-social-media-guidelines.pdf. Cabiness, C., Donovan, L., & Green, T. D. (2013). Integrating wikis in the support and practice of historical analysis skills. TechTrends, 57(6), 38-48. Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Real projects in a digital world. Principal Leadership, 8(4), p. 22-26. Carano, K. T., Stuckart, D. W. (2013). Blogging for global literacy and cross-cultural awareness. In L. Nganga, J. Kambutu, & W. B. Russell III (Eds.), Exploring globalization opportunities and challenges in social studies: Effective instructional approaches. (pp. 179-196). New York: Peter Lang. Chen, B. & Bryer, T. (2012). Investigating instructional strategies for using social media in formal and informal learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(1), 87-100. Connolly, M. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of social media in education. Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Retrieved from http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/news/coverStories/2011/benefits_and_drawbacks.php. Darling-Hammond, L., Zielezinski, M. B., & Goldman, S. (2014). Using technology to support at-risk students' learning. Alliance for Excellence in Education. Retrieved from https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/scope-pub-using-technology-report.pdf. Davis, M. (2010). Social networking goes to school. Education Week, 3(3). Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/06/16/03networking.h03.html/&cmp=clp-sbascd Downes, J.M., & Bishop, P.A. (2010). The intersection between the middle school concept and technology integration research in middle level research online. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/2882051/The_Intersection_between_Technology_ Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009). Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 129-135. Elavsky, C. M, Mislan, C., & Elavsky, S. (2011). When talking less is more. Exploring outcomes of Twitter usage in the large-lecture hall. Learning, Media, and Technology, 36(3), 215-233. Frye, E. M., Trathen, W., & Koppenhaver, D. A. (2010). Internet workshop and blog publishing: Meeting student (and teacher) learning needs to achieve best practice in the twenty-first-century social studies classroom. The Social Studies, 101(2), 46-53. Fewkes, A. M., & McCabe, M. (2012). Facebook: Learning tool or distraction? Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 28(3), 92-98. Garrett, C., (2011). Defining, detecting, and promoting student engagement in college learning environments. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 5(2), 1-12. Grinager, H. (2006). How education technology leads to improved student achievement. Education Issues. National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/portals/1/documents/educ/item013161.pdf. Holcomb, L., Beal, C., & Lee, J. K. (2011). Supersizing social studies through the use of Web 2.0 technologies. Social Studies Research and Practice, 6(3), 102-111. International Society for Technology in Education. (2014). Standards for students: Digital age learning. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students. Jackson, C. (2011). Your students love social media ... and so can you. Teaching Tolerance, 39, 38-41. Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-39-spring-2011/ Kietzmann, J. H., & Hermkens, K. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54, 241–251. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 61. Kepple, M., Campbell, L.O., Hartshorne, R. & Herlihy, C. (2015). An introductory examination of factors influencing K-12 teachers' perceptions and use of emerging technological tools in the classroom. In D. Slykhuis & G. Marks (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2015 (pp. 2414-2416). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Kessler, S. (2010). A case for social media in schools. Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/. Krutka, D. G. (2014a). Democratic twittering: Microblogging for a more participatory social studies. Social Education, 78(2), 86-89. Krutka, D. G. (2014b). Social media as a catalyst for convergence culture: Immersing pre-service social studies teachers in the social media terrain. In W. B. Russell (Ed.), Digital social studies (pp. 271-302). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Krutka, D., & Milton, M. K. (2013). The enlightenment meets twitter: Using social media in the social studies classroom. Ohio Social Studies Review, 50(2), 22-29. Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2010). Bring back the joy: Creative teaching, learning, and librarianship. Teacher Librarian, 38(2), 61-66. Lamphere, N. (2012). Introduction to social media. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/xjetcvfh-chj/introduction-to-social-media/. Lee, V. R., Shelton, B. R., Walker, A., Caswell, T., & Jensen, M. (2012). Retweeting history: Exploring the intersection of microblogging and problem-based learning for historical reenactments. In K. K. Seo & D. A. Pellegrino (Eds.) Designing problem-driven instruction with online social media, (pp. 23-40). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Aaron, S., & Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media & mobile Internet use among teens and young adults. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx Liu, C. C., Liu, K. P., Chen, W. H., Lin, C. P., & Chen, G. D. (2011). Collaborative storytelling experiences in social media: Influence of peer-assistance mechanisms. Computers & Education, 57, 1544-1556. Manfra, M. M., & Lee, J. K. (2011). Leveraging the affordances of educational blogs to teach low-achieving students United States history. Social Studies Research and Practice, 6(2), 95-106. Matteson, A. (2010). Tweacher(n): The Twitter enhanced teacher. School Library Monthly, 27(1), 22-23. National Middle School Association. (2010). This we believe: Keys to educating young adolescents. Westerville, OH:Author. U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Transforming American education: Powered by technology. Office of Educational Technology, Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf. Ramsay, J. (2011). Can we skip lunch and keep writing? United States of America: Stenhouse. Richardson, W. (2011). Publishers, participants all. Educational Leadership, 68(5), 22-26. Rinaldo, S. B., Tapp, S., & Laverie, D. A. (2011). Learning by tweeting: Using Twitter as a pedagogical tool. Journal of Marketing Education, 33(2), 194-204. Schmitz, M., Sigler Hoffmann, M., & Bickford, J.H. (2012). Identifying cyberbullying, connecting with students: The promising possibilities of teacher-student social networking . Eastern Education Journal. 41(1), 16 – 30. Shi, Z., Rui, H., & Whinston, A. B. (2014). Content sharing in a social broadcasting environment: Evidence from Twitter. MIS Quarterly. 38(1), 123-142. Shoshani, Y., & Rose Braun, H. (2007). The use of the Internet environment for enhancing creativity. Educational Media International, 44(1), 17-32. Simpson, E. & Clem, F. (2008). Video games in the middle school classroom. Middle School Journal, 39(4), 4-11. Storz, M. G. &. Hoffman, A. R. (2013). Examining response to a one-to-one computer initiative: Student and teacher voices. Research in Middle Level Education Online. Retrieved from http://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/rmle/rmle_vol36_no6.pdf Varlas, L. (2011). Can social media and school policies be "friends"? Policy Priorities- An information brief from ASCD, 17(4). Vise, D. D. (2011, May 5). "Study: 8 top sites for potential plagiarism." The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/study-8-top-sites-for-potential-plagiarism/2011/05/03/AFA6IcgF_blog.html Weathersbee, J. C. (2008). Impact of technology integration on academic performance of Texas school children. Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 272. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1195646/Impact_of_Technology_Integration_ Wilson, E. K., Wright, V. H., Inman, C. T., & Matherson, L. H. (2011). Retooling the social studies classroom for the current generation. Social Studies, 102(2), 65-72. Yu, A. Y., Tian, S. W., Vogel, D., & Kwok, R. C. (2010). Can learning be virtually boosted?: An investigation of online social networking impacts. Computers & Education, 55, 1494-1503. Annotated Reference List Lamphere, N. (2012). Introduction to social media. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/xjetcvfh-chj/introduction-to-social-media/ This hands-on workshop provides an introduction to the social web and current, popular tools and topics. Definition of terms with related videos are presented as well as resources for publishing, communicating, and sharing images, videos, and bookmarks. Schmitz, M., Sigler Hoffmann, M., & Bickford, J.H. (2012). Identifying cyberbullying, connecting with students: The promising possibilities of teacher-student social networking. Eastern Education Journal, 41 (1), p. 16–30. This article provides suggestions of how teachers can productively use social networking to connect with students socially and to identify and supervise cyberbullying. Additionally, a range of school districts' policies on social networking sites are examined with many addressing teacher and student abuses and misuses. Also included are reflections on social media use and cyberbullying as well as implications for providing a safe, inclusive, and supportive school environment. Smith, G. E. & Throne, S. (2009). Differentiating instruction with technology in middle school classrooms. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education This book explains the benefits of combining differentiated instruction (DI) with technology, encouraging teachers to "re-engage students by bringing lessons out of the past and into the student-centered reality of digital-age learning." Resources are offered that can help make DI a reality in the middle school classroom. Also included are sample activities for incorporating DI in a variety of core subjects and areas. Commoncraft, (https://www.commoncraft.com/) is a website that contains engaging, informative short videos for introducing various topics to teachers and students. The topics include money, politics, history, society, safety, with a majority of topics on technology. Specifically, there are videos addressing social media that include Twitter, online photosharing, social bookmarking, wikis, and many others that would be of interest and use to middle school students and teachers. Traffikd, (http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/) contains a list of social media and social networking sites that is updated frequently. The range of categories shows the potential in a wide variety of classes and learning experiences for middle level learners. Onlineuniversities.com offers 100 ways to use social media in classrooms, http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/. Ideas for the K-12 classroom and university level are provided including class projects and ways to increase collaboration and communication between peers and between students and teachers and for preparing students for life outside of the classroom. Edudemic: Edudemic, http://www.edudemic.com/guides/, connects education and technology providing many useful and popular resources and teaching guides for using "some of the best and most popular resources available today" including Twitter, flipping classrooms, keeping students safe online, choosing the best digital content for students, and others added frequently. Edudemic offers dozens of articles with resources and "how to" information for using social media in ways that foster student learning. Edmodo: Located at https://www.edmodo.com/, Edmodo is a free social networking platform that has been referred to as the Facebook for schools and is a safe and teacher-controlled environment in which students must be provided an access code to join and anonymous posting is not possible. Edmodo is primarily a tool for within-class communication, but it also provides several ways for classrooms to connect with other classrooms. There are many features and ways to use Edmodo. A few classroom examples include sharing files and resources with students and other classrooms in real time, creating polls for students to vote online, writing short summaries of lessons for absent students, and posting homework information. #edchat: An ongoing Twitter (https://twitter.com/) discussion that serves as informal professional development for educators by allowing participants to join to discuss and learn about current teaching trends, how to integrate technology, transform their teaching, and connect with inspiring educators worldwide. Moderated topical chats are held at noon and 7 p.m. (EST) each Tuesday with different topics. Alicia Wenzel is an associate professor of education specializing in curriculum, instruction, and assessment at Western Oregon University. Much of her research has focused on curriculum, assessment, and middle level education. Kenneth T. Carano is an associate professor of social studies education at Western Oregon University. His research interests include using technology to teach from a social justice framework in an increasingly interconnected world. Wenzel, A., & Carano, K.T. (2015). Research summary: Social media for middle level classrooms. Retrieved [date] from http://www.amle.org/TabId/270/artmid/888/articleid/553/Social-Media-for-Middle-Level-Classrooms.aspx

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Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion with signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language. Writing is not a language, but a tool used to make languages be read. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar, and semantics, with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols. The result of writing is called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence, record keeping and diary. Writing has been instrumental in keeping history, maintaining culture, dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems. As human societies emerged, the development of writing was driven by pragmatic exigencies such as exchanging information, maintaining financial accounts, codifying laws and recording history. Around the 4th millennium BCE, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. In both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica, writing may have evolved through calendric and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events. H.G. Wells argued that writing has the ability to "put agreements, laws, commandments on record. It made the growth of states larger than the old city states possible. It made a continuous historical consciousness possible. The command of the priest or king and his seal could go far beyond his sight and voice and could survive his death". The major writing systems--methods of inscription--broadly fall into five categories: logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, featural, and ideographic (symbols for ideas). A sixth category, pictographic, is insufficient to represent language on its own, but often forms the core of logographies. A logogram is a written character which represents a word or morpheme. A vast number of logograms are needed to write Chinese characters, cuneiform, and Mayan, where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, a syllable, or both--("logoconsonantal" in the case of hieroglyphs). Many logograms have an ideographic component (Chinese "radicals", hieroglyphic "determiners"). For example, in Mayan, the glyph for "fin", pronounced "ka", was also used to represent the syllable "ka" whenever the pronunciation of a logogram needed to be indicated, or when there was no logogram. In Chinese, about 90% of characters are compounds of a semantic (meaning) element called a radical with an existing character to indicate the pronunciation, called a phonetic. However, such phonetic elements complement the logographic elements, rather than vice versa. The main logographic system in use today is Chinese characters, used with some modification for the various languages or dialects of China, Japan, and sometimes in Korean despite the fact that in South and North Korea, the phonetic Hangul system is mainly used. A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, though in some scripts more complex syllables (such as consonant-vowel-consonant, or consonant-consonant-vowel) may have dedicated glyphs. Phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable "ka" may look nothing like the syllable "ki", nor will syllables with the same vowels be similar. Syllabaries are best suited to languages with a relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the Linear B script for Mycenaean Greek; Cherokee; Ndjuka, an English-based creole language of Surinam; and the Vai script of Liberia. Most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component. Ethiopic, though technically an abugida, has fused consonants and vowels together to the point where it is learned as if it were a syllabary. An alphabet is a set of symbols, each of which represents or historically represented a phoneme of the language. In a perfectly phonological alphabet, the phonemes and letters would correspond perfectly in two directions: a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. As languages often evolve independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language. In most of the writing systems of the Middle East, it is usually only the consonants of a word that are written, although vowels may be indicated by the addition of various diacritical marks. Writing systems based primarily on marking the consonant phonemes alone date back to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Such systems are called abjads, derived from the Arabic word for "alphabet". In most of the alphabets of India and Southeast Asia, vowels are indicated through diacritics or modification of the shape of the consonant. These are called abugidas. Some abugidas, such as Ethiopic and Cree, are learned by children as syllabaries, and so are often called "syllabics". However, unlike true syllabaries, there is not an independent glyph for each syllable. Sometimes the term "alphabet" is restricted to systems with separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the Latin alphabet, although abugidas and abjads may also be accepted as alphabets. Because of this use, Greek is often considered to be the first alphabet. A featural script notates the building blocks of the phonemes that make up a language. For instance, all sounds pronounced with the lips ("labial" sounds) may have some element in common. In the Latin alphabet, this is accidentally the case with the letters "b" and "p"; however, labial "m" is completely dissimilar, and the similar-looking "q" and "d" are not labial. In Korean hangul, however, all four labial consonants are based on the same basic element, but in practice, Korean is learned by children as an ordinary alphabet, and the featural elements tend to pass unnoticed. Another featural script is SignWriting, the most popular writing system for many sign languages, where the shapes and movements of the hands and face are represented iconically. Featural scripts are also common in fictional or invented systems, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Tengwar. Historians draw a sharp distinction between prehistory and history, with history defined by the advent of writing. The cave paintings and petroglyphs of prehistoric peoples can be considered precursors of writing, but they are not considered true writing because they did not represent language directly. Writing systems develop and change based on the needs of the people who use them. Sometimes the shape, orientation, and meaning of individual signs changes over time. By tracing the development of a script, it is possible to learn about the needs of the people who used the script as well as how the script changed over time. The many tools and writing materials used throughout history include stone tablets, clay tablets, bamboo slats, papyrus, wax tablets, vellum, parchment, paper, copperplate, styluses, quills, ink brushes, pencils, pens, and many styles of lithography. It is speculated that the Incas might have employed knotted cords known as quipu (or khipu) as a writing system. The typewriter and various forms of word processors have subsequently become widespread writing tools, and various studies have compared the ways in which writers have framed the experience of writing with such tools as compared with the pen or pencil. By definition, the modern practice of history begins with written records. Evidence of human culture without writing is the realm of prehistory. The Dispilio Tablet (Greece) and T?rt?ria tablets (Romania), which have been carbon dated to the 6th millennium BC, are recent discoveries of the earliest known neolithic writings. While neolithic writing is a current research topic, conventional history assumes that the writing process first evolved from economic necessity in the ancient Near East. Writing most likely began as a consequence of political expansion in ancient cultures, which needed reliable means for transmitting information, maintaining financial accounts, keeping historical records, and similar activities. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration outgrew the power of memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. Archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat determined the link between previously uncategorized clay "tokens", the oldest of which have been found in the Zagros region of Iran, and the first known writing, Mesopotamian cuneiform. In approximately 8000 BC, the Mesopotamians began using clay tokens to count their agricultural and manufactured goods. Later they began placing these tokens inside large, hollow clay containers (bulla, or globular envelopes) which were then sealed. The quantity of tokens in each container came to be expressed by impressing, on the container's surface, one picture for each instance of the token inside. They next dispensed with the tokens, relying solely on symbols for the tokens, drawn on clay surfaces. To avoid making a picture for each instance of the same object (for example: 100 pictures of a hat to represent 100 hats), they 'counted' the objects by using various small marks. In this way the Sumerians added "a system for enumerating objects to their incipient system of symbols". The original Mesopotamian writing system (believed to be the world's oldest) was derived around 3600 BC from this method of keeping accounts. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, the Mesopotamians were using a triangular-shaped stylus pressed into soft clay to record numbers. This system was gradually augmented with using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted by means of pictographs. Round-stylus and sharp-stylus writing was gradually replaced by writing using a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term cuneiform), at first only for logograms, but by the 29th century BC also for phonetic elements. Around 2700 BC, cuneiform began to represent syllables of spoken Sumerian. About that time, Mesopotamian cuneiform became a general purpose writing system for logograms, syllables, and numbers. This script was adapted to another Mesopotamian language, the East Semitic Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) around 2600 BC, and then to others such as Elamite, Hattian, Hurrian and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for Ugaritic and Old Persian. With the adoption of Aramaic as the 'lingua franca' of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-609 BC), Old Aramaic was also adapted to Mesopotamian cuneiform. The last cuneiform scripts in Akkadian discovered thus far date from the 1st century AD. Over the centuries, three distinct Elamite scripts developed. Proto-Elamite is the oldest known writing system from Iran. In use only for a brief time (c. 3200-2900 BC), clay tablets with Proto-Elamite writing have been found at different sites across Iran. The Proto-Elamite script is thought to have developed from early cuneiform (proto-cuneiform). The Proto-Elamite script consists of more than 1,000 signs and is thought to be partly logographic. Linear Elamite is a writing system attested in a few monumental inscriptions in Iran. It was used for a very brief period during the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. It is often claimed that Linear Elamite is a syllabic writing system derived from Proto-Elamite, although this cannot be proven since Linear-Elamite has not been deciphered. Several scholars have attempted to decipher the script, most notably Walther Hinz and Piero Meriggi. The Elamite cuneiform script was used from about 2500 to 331 BC, and was adapted from the Akkadian cuneiform. The Elamite cuneiform script consisted of about 130 symbols, far fewer than most other cuneiform scripts. Cretan hieroglyphs are found on artifacts of Crete (early-to-mid-2nd millennium BC, MM I to MM III, overlapping with Linear A from MM IIA at the earliest). Linear B, the writing system of the Mycenaean Greeks, has been deciphered while Linear A has yet to be deciphered. The sequence and the geographical spread of the three overlapping, but distinct writing systems can be summarized as follows:[A 1] Cretan hieroglyphs were used in Crete from c. 1625 to 1500 BC; Linear A was used in the Aegean Islands (Kea, Kythera, Melos, Thera), and the Greek mainland (Laconia) from c. 18th century to 1450 BC; and Linear B was used in Crete (Knossos), and mainland (Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns) from c. 1375 to 1200 BC. The earliest surviving examples of writing in China--inscriptions on so-called "oracle bones", tortoise plastrons and ox scapulae used for divination--date from around 1200 BC in the late Shang dynasty. A small number of bronze inscriptions from the same period have also survived. Historians have found that the type of media used had an effect on what the writing was documenting and how it was used. In 2003, archaeologists reported discoveries of isolated tortoise-shell carvings dating back to the 7th millennium BC, but whether or not these symbols are related to the characters of the later oracle-bone script is disputed. The earliest known hieroglyphic inscriptions are the Narmer Palette, dating to c. 3200 BC, and several recent discoveries that may be slightly older, though these glyphs were based on a much older artistic rather than written tradition. The hieroglyphic script was logographic with phonetic adjuncts that included an effective alphabet. Writing was very important in maintaining the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes. Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train to become scribes, in the service of temple, pharaonic, and military authorities. The hieroglyph system was always difficult to learn, but in later centuries was purposely made even more so, as this preserved the scribes' status. The world's oldest known alphabet appears to have been developed by Canaanite turquoise miners in the Sinai desert around the mid-19th century BC. Around 30 crude inscriptions have been found at a mountainous Egyptian mining site known as Serabit el-Khadem. This site was also home to a temple of Hathor, the "Mistress of turquoise". A later, two line inscription has also been found at Wadi el-Hol in Central Egypt. Based on hieroglyphic prototypes, but also including entirely new symbols, each sign apparently stood for a consonant rather than a word: the basis of an alphabetic system. It was not until the 12th to 9th centuries, however, that the alphabet took hold and became widely used. Indus script refers to short strings of symbols associated with the Indus Valley Civilization (which spanned modern-day Pakistan and North India) used between 2600 and 1900 BC. In spite of many attempts at decipherments and claims, it is as yet undeciphered. The term 'Indus script' is mainly applied to that used in the mature Harappan phase, which perhaps evolved from a few signs found in early Harappa after 3500 BC, and was followed by the mature Harappan script. The script is written from right to left, and sometimes follows a boustrophedonic style. Since the number of principal signs is about 400-600, midway between typical logographic and syllabic scripts, many scholars accept the script to be logo-syllabic (typically syllabic scripts have about 50-100 signs whereas logographic scripts have a very large number of principal signs). Several scholars maintain that structural analysis indicates that an agglutinative language underlies the script. Archaeologists have recently discovered that there was a civilization in Central Asia using writing c. 2000 BC. An excavation near Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, revealed an inscription on a piece of stone that was used as a stamp seal. The Proto-Sinaitic script in which Proto-Canaanite is believed to have been first written, is attested as far back as the 19th century BC. The Phoenician writing system was adapted from the Proto-Canaanite script sometime before the 14th century BC, which in turn borrowed principles of representing phonetic information from Hieratic, Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics. This writing system was an odd sort of syllabary in which only consonants are represented. This script was adapted by the Greeks, who adapted certain consonantal signs to represent their vowels. The Cumae alphabet, a variant of the early Greek alphabet, gave rise to the Etruscan alphabet, and its own descendants, such as the Latin alphabet and Runes. Other descendants from the Greek alphabet include Cyrillic, used to write Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian among others. The Phoenician system was also adapted into the Aramaic script, from which the Hebrew script and also that of Arabic are descended. The Tifinagh script (Berber languages) is descended from the Libyco-Berber script which is assumed to be of Phoenician origin. A stone slab with 3,000-year-old writing, known as the Cascajal Block, was discovered in the Mexican state of Veracruz and is an example of the oldest script in the Western Hemisphere, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing by approximately 500 years. It is thought to be Olmec. Of several pre-Columbian scripts in Mesoamerica, the one that appears to have been best developed, and the only one to be deciphered, is the Maya script. The earliest inscriptions which is identified, Maya dates to the 3rd century BC. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, somewhat similar in function to modern Japanese writing. The Incas had no known script. Their quipu system of recording information--based on knots tied along one or many linked cords--was apparently used for inventory and accountancy purposes and could not encode textual information. Three stone slabs were found by Romanian archaeologist Nicolae Vlassa, in the mid-20th century (1961) in T?rt?ria (present-day Alba County, Transylvania), Romania, ancient land of Dacia, inhabited by Dacians, which were a population who may have been related to the Getaes and Thracians. One of the slabs contains 4 groups of pictographs divided by lines. Some of the characters are also found in Ancient Greek, as well as in Phoenician, Etruscan, Old Italic and Iberian. The origin and the timing of the writings are disputed, because there are no precise evidence in situ, the slabs cannot be carbon dated, because of the bad treatment of the Cluj museum. There are indirect carbon dates found on a skeleton discovered near the slabs, that certifies the 5300-5500 BC period. In the 21st century, writing has become an important part of daily life as technology has connected individuals from across the globe through systems such as e-mail and social media. Literacy has grown in importance as a factor for success in the modern world. In the United States, the ability to read and write are necessary for most jobs, and multiple programs are in place to aid both children and adults in improving their literacy skills. For example, the emergence of the writing center and community-wide literacy councils aim to help students and community members sharpen their writing skills. These resources, and many more, span across different age groups in order to offer each individual a better understanding of their language and how to express themselves via writing in order to perhaps improve their socioeconomic status. Other parts of the world have seen an increase in writing abilities as a result of programs such as the World Literacy Foundation and International Literacy Foundation, as well as a general push for increased global communication. Signs carved into 8,600-year-old tortoise shells found in China may be the earliest written words, say archaeologists A previously unknown civilisation was using writing in Central Asia 4,000 years ago, hundreds of years before Chinese writing developed, archaeologists have discovered. An excavation near Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, revealed an inscription on a piece of stone that seems to have been used as a stamp seal. A stone slab bearing 3,000-year-old writing previously unknown to scholars has been found in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and archaeologists say it is an example of the oldest script ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere. Ancient civilisations in Mexico developed a writing system as early as 900 BC, new evidence suggests. A block with a hitherto unknown system of writing has been found in the Olmec heartland of Veracruz, Mexico. Stylistic and other dating of the block places it in the early first millennium before the common era, the oldest writing in the New World, with features that firmly assign this pivotal development to the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica.

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010 You could get the most out of this if you've already talked to students about film terms like camera angles, camera movements, lighting, etc. Even if your class hasn't covered those yet (or don't intend to) you can still use basic terms students already know based on their casual film-watching (close-up, soundtrack, low lighting, zoom in/out). OK, so here's the idea. Somewhere in your standards, you need to have students dissect visual media for mood/tone/conflict/theme, right? So, take it one step further and have them put it back together again! Here's the basic setup for a storyboard: ...and repeat! The box includes a rough sketch of the scene. Above the box, identify which shot it is - is it the beginning of the movie, shot #1, or is it towards the middle and #23? Sound includes any sounds of the scene like traffic, people talking, etc. or the soundtrack. Encourage students to describe the soundtrack - is it low, quiet, tense strings or is it loud, exciting rock music? The lighting - is it a natural, sunny day or dark, low candlelight? Camera movement - does the camera zoom in/out or sweep over the landscape? It may remain still, too. That's okay. All of those different items are going to contribute to the mood/tone/conflict/theme. It's difficult to express a sinister mood with bright, natural sunshine. Students have probably seen many films - tell them to follow their instincts! You have a blank storyboard, ready to go. Choose one of the Harris Burdick pictures and inform students that this is the illustration of one of their storyboards. Model how to complete the storyboard by completing this together as a class. Ask students to (roughly) copy the picture into a box (give them a nice big box to work with), reminding them that you aren't expecting Leonardo da Vinci here. Once they complete that, flesh out the scene a little more. Start first with sounds of the scene (water lapping pier, roar of engines, etc.) and then invite students to come up with a soundtrack. Move on to lighting - Dark and shadowy? Bright and open? Where/what is the light source? Is it clear light, yellow, red, blue? What about camera movement? Do they want the camera to zoom in/out from here, scan the landscape or remain still? Once you have satisfactorily completed the first installment of the storyboard, set them free to now take the next step. Tell them to number the scene you just did as a class, but they can all have different numbers. If Susie wants this scene to start her movie, she would assign it #1. If Chris thinks this occurs towards the middle, he might number it #23. Now they get to create a new storyboard. They can choose the scene just before or after and number it appropriately. (Susie's would be #2; Chris's might do #22 or #24) Give them about 15-20 minutes to create, and then share! From here, see if you can get students into groups and blend or combine their practice storyboards into about 5-10 scenes for a short film. As a closing activity, ask them to look at their storyboards and briefly explain how they think the sound/lighting/movement create a mood/tone/conflict/theme, challenging them to draw out those abstract ideas from the media. Extra Credit: Here's an explanatory video about storyboarding. It's a bit long, so perhaps you could just show a portion. And if you want a little bit more background for your teaching purposes, check the Wikipedia page on Storyboards. There might be a lot to tackle in one lesson, but let's give it a shot. If you can, find a picture of a traffic accident, preferably a basic fender bender that depicts a police officer. If you can't find one that works for you, set the stage with your words. Ask students about the different perceptions of the accident (and my sophomores who are just starting to drive usually have strong opinions about driving and other people on the road!). Who is at fault? What do you think Blue SUV driver would say happened? What would red sedan driver say? Let's pretend the policeman was across the street and saw what happened - what might HIS perspective be? What about someone in an apartment building, looking down at the street? If it works for your classroom: act it out! Have someone stand on a desk/table to be the guy in the apartment building, let a few kids mime the drivers, have another stand off to the side as the policeman (giving someone a ticket? grabbing coffee?). This might help some of the kinesthetic learners. It might also help encourage students to create a dichotomy between the drivers; it seems there's usually there are some disagreements over whose fault it is. Angle, attitude, and personal knowledge all factor into a perspective. The police man's explanation of what happened would be very specific and legal, because that is his personal background. The two drivers will probably have different opinions on whose fault it is. The joe-schmo in the apartment building saw things from above and since they were observing more of the whole picture, s/he may have even seen something else outside of the two cars that influenced the accident. Once you can differentiate between the different attitudes, see if students can translate this accident into literary perspectives. Who might be first person? Third person limited? Third person omniscient? You knew this was coming, right? Break 'em into groups or let them do this independently. Assign groups/individuals a certain perspective: write a short paragraph telling the story of this accident in first person, third person ltd, third person omniscient, or (if you're brave) second person. Break down the first person into first person SUV driver, first person cop, first person sedan driver. Give them just a few minutes to write (3-5) and then...read aloud! When you get to the first person perspectives, take a moment to talk about unreliable narrators. At this point, you'll be able to talk about the potential "believability" problems with perspective. Could both drivers experience the same event and tell it differently? What motivation might they have for telling the story the way they do? Remind students to think about a fight they've had with a sibling. When retelling the event to a parent, did your story (or your sibling's story) reflect the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of the event? Was there some disagreement over who started it? Why is that? Remind them that characters in a novel - even our narrator - can be the same way. We have to be careful to evaluate the reliability of the narrator. What motivation would s/he have to hide or avoid the whole truth? You could pull out a short excerpt here from an unreliable narrator if you want to focus on that more. Or you could leave it at that, let it simmer, and return to it later. OK, so you've talked about perspective, even hit upon unreliable narrators, now what? Harris Burdick, welcome back. Select one of the pictures (or let class choose), and break students into groups (if they aren't already). Actually, at this point, I would do the opposite of whatever I did with Application - if they were independent before, break into groups; if they were in groups before, go back to independent writing. Assign each group/individual a certain perspective and ask that they write a story about that picture using that assigned perspective. Give them time to write...and then read aloud! See if the class can determine which perspective it was, identifying aspects of the narration that told them so. Tuesday, April 27, 2010 What do you want to do today? How about genre writing? Now, most of my 10th graders already come to me with a basic knowledge of genres, so a genre-based lesson might be best for middle (5-8) levels. Still, the great thing about writing workshop, though, is that it can be laid-back and FUN. You could still use this lesson as a fun (if you find it so) refresher on genres, without having to beat them over the head with loads of notes and definitions about genres, since the upper level kiddos have a handle on it. We're going to skip any introduction because we're going to assume the kids already have working definitions of genres. As a class, create a list of possible genres. You can keep them modern-library-categories like fiction/sci-fi/fantasy/historical fiction/mystery or get even more specific or challenging with persuasive, poem, nonfiction, drama, fable, etc. Break students up into groups - recommended for groups 2-4 (no more). Give each group one of the portfolio pictures. As a class, choose one genre; everyone will write a short blurb (or start a story) for their portfolio using the chosen genre. After your assigned time is up (10-15 minutes?) read the stories aloud, and as a class, ask Were there any similarities that recurred throughout all the stories that we could identify as a characteristic of the genre? This is basically just the opposite of Option 1. Once you've broken students up into groups, choose (at random or via class vote) one of the Harris Burdick pictures. Then, assign each group a different genre; they must use this genre to generate a story from that picture. After your assigned time is up (10-15 minutes?) read the stories aloud, and as a class ask, How did you know the genre? What techniques are common to the genre that make it identifiable? You can give these options as much or as little time as you want, really. If it were my classroom, I would probably do Option 2 twice. The first time, I would assign genres, so that kids are forced to challenge themselves a bit. Second time, I would probably change the picture and then let groups choose their own genres. And, of course, read aloud and talk about genre characteristics. Extra Credit: I found this thread where teachers swapped ideas on teaching genre studies, especially in the middle levels. Thought it had too many fun ideas not to share! Source: inspired by Classroom Poster - Literary Genres Monday, April 26, 2010 You and your students are working on writing, be it creative, descriptive, or otherwise. You get a lot of this: He was hungry. He wanted a sandwich. He was full after he ate the sandwich. You can hear the Charlie Brown "wah wah" from here, can't you? You thirst for adjectives; you starve for lively verbs! You have a hunger that can only be quenched through the satiating string of vivid descriptors, variable clauses, and dynamic syntax! So I will give you the ingredients for your students, so they can whip up a tasty meal. I call this my "Show, Don't Tell" lesson. You might want to start by explaining how we've turned the phrase "Show, Don't Tell" from the common, elementary school activity "Show & Tell." Good tales let the words show us the story. We can see it/smell it/taste it/hear it/feel it when we read. We're right there in the story. Pull up the Show, Don't Tell powerpoint. In this writing lesson I focus on two elements: character & setting. We've already talking about direct characterization versus indirect (good time to talk about inferences there), so we bring that up again. If actions speak louder than words (you could incorporate this phrase & its truth into the introduction discussion), then we can best get to know our characters by seeing them act. Similarly, how does the author establish a clear setting? Is it just by telling us the weather and color of the landscape? Notes & Checks for Understanding Follow through the powerpoint, looking at models of good "Show" examples, talking about why they're good & what they reveal. Stop before slide 5 and handout some sample paragraphs students can keep for themselves. Have them read over the three paragraphs in the table at the top of the page. Take a quick poll on which one they think is "Okay," "Better," and "Best." Continue on, talking through the examples on the screen, asking students to identify the elements that make the writing stronger, more vivid. Try to get them to use the parts of speech (verb/adjectives/clasuses) when they talk about the examples. Finally, slide 11, stop and have students look again at the paragraphs at the bottom of their pages. Have them read and decide (think/pair/share or independently) which is which. If there's any confusion, here's the chance to slow it down and go back over any examples as necessary. Assuming all goes well (and it will, because your kids rock), take your first step towards application. The last slide asks students to take a "tell" sentence and turn it into a "show," by expanding it to three sentences. You could ask students to do this independently or in pairs. Don't give them too much time - 5 minutes, tops. When time's up, share! See if classmates can identify which "tell" sentence was originally chosen. Talk about how they knew which one it was. And here returns Mr. Burdick again. Choose one of the portfolio pictures (via teacher vote or class vote) and put it in front of them. Tell them you want them to apply what they've learned now about creating a picture through their writing. You'll give them about 20-30 minutes to "show, don't tell" what's going on in that picture. Afterward, have students get in groups and share their "showings." You could even tweak the last part so that you could let students choose which picture they want to use, and then see if classmates can determine it. Materials: Show Don't Tell ppt, Show Don't Tell Student Notes Source: Gateway Institute workshop; excerpts of examples given credit where I can remember Saturday, April 24, 2010 Friday, April 23, 2010 What else can you do with Harris Burdick? Let's talk about writing for an audience. Start with a whole class discussion on the idea behind audience. Why would an author need to be mindful of his/her intended audience? And why (or how much) do we, as readers, need to be mindful of that audience as well? Questioning for discussion As for modeling, I might start with a simple picture or anecdote. How would students describe/relate the picture or anecdote if they were talking to their friends? How might they change that language for Mr. Principal? What about their parents? Their bosses? Younger siblings? What about writing it? How would your language change from Facebook to a text to a (personal) journal entry to an online blog to a school essay? You'll probably get that stubborn kid who insists he wouldn't change for anyone. Who cares? He uses the same language to talk to his friends as he does to his ma (and oh, doesn't it show?). But I think with proper thought about different audiences, students will be aware of their language. Breakout for Application: In fact, it might be a good idea to not only question students but also ask for a few to come up and give a little skit. Or even call for a quick breakout for pairs to create a dialogue based on a given audience - just two or three minutes. Now that they've had a chance to think about the impact of audience, turn your attention back to writing. Let the pictures speak to the students and inspire a story. As before, you have two options: - present all the pictures to students and let them each choose their own picture; or - choose (or student vote) one picture for the class - Let students choose an audience. After writing, ask or select students to read aloud. Have classmates speculate on who the audience is meant to be, and how they knew that. - Assign each student a different audience. After writing, ask/select students to read aloud. Have class talk about how they know it meets its audience. Ok, to be fair, you could really do this activity with any picture or set of pictures (in fact, one great resource for powerful pictures is Boston Globe's The Big Picture). But the Burdick ones are just so incredibly intriguing. Thursday, April 22, 2010 The great thing about those pictures is that they almost all have some sort of latent action - something JUST ABOUT to happen or in motion. They also almost all have some kind of little detail that adds meaning (or confusion). What can we do with these? I recommend purchasing a set of the portfolio (also available in book form), so you can take each picture and laminate it. I'm going to challenge myself to come up with 5 different ways you can use these pictures. The first way you can use these is probably the most obvious: Creative writing - present students with the image and see where they take it. Have them create their own plot and complete the story. Don't give them any limitations or any certain focus - just ask them to let this inspire their writing. They can tell the what-happened-next or what-led-to-this. Let the creative juices run! Options for working independently: - Put up all the pictures and let students choose which speaks to them - Put up one picture and ask each student to write his/her own story Options for working in groups/as class: - Present one picture and ask each student to write one sentence, then pass it on. Each person adds a line to the story. - Present each group with a picture and ask them to jointly create a story, letting them decide how they want to do it (conjointly, one line/section per person, etc) Wednesday, April 21, 2010 If the answer is "No," as it was for me my first year of teaching, you are in for a fabulous treat. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a collection of black-and-white drawings with a fantastic story. According to Chris Van Allsburg (who you might know as the author of Jumanjii or Polar Express) and his introduction to the portfolio of work, a man calling himself Harris Burdick arrived in the office of Peter Wenders, a children's book publisher, in 1954. He brought with him a collection of fourteen drawings he had done for fourteen different tales, one picture for each story. Each picture was accompanied by a title and caption; Peter Wenders, like anyone who sees these drawings, was captivated and agreed that he would love to see the fourteen stories (and other drawings) that accompanied his art. Burdick left the original fourteen with Wenders...and was never seen again. BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMM They have since all been published as the collection known as The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and I think you'll agree that the pictures evoke a strong sense of curiosity. Burdick (if he in fact existed in any form) chose these pictures wisely in trying to sell his tales. They are perfect for yarn-spinning. I encourage you to Google this Harris Burdick and see what you can find of the images online, then return here and let's talk about the possibilities. p.s. if your answer to my question was "yes," please pass along my admiration to Mr. Burdick. I'd ask to hear his original stories, but then again...I think it's best left undone, eh? Friday, April 16, 2010 Wednesday, April 14, 2010 And sometimes, The Powers That Be make it easy for us; all we have to do is order the poster. Have you seen this? It's full of hilarious, ridiculous cartoons...and INTELLIGENCE. The creator, Matt Inman, has three grammar-based cartoons: How to use a Semicolon How to Use an Apostrophe 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling Now, I will make the disclaimer. On the 10 Words poster, he uses the phrase "a-hole" and refers to an inebriated panda bear. In some schools, this could fly. At my previous employer, I think I would have gotten more flack over the inebriated panda, honestly. Really, neither one would have been fabulous, but well...rural Bible Belt. You get the idea. The point is: know your school. They include hilarious graphics and cartoon additions to nearly each example. The sentences and examples are seemingly random and unusual, which makes them perfect to fuse with those young neurons. Check 'em out! Monday, April 12, 2010 The main reason I haven't been sharing has been that my external hard drive with all my powerpoints or worksheets is still packed away, in a manner of speaking. I currently have no desk; the desk I had in TN was particle board and had already suffered one move and was showing signs of wear. The mover representative advised us that it wouldn't survive the move, and I agreed. We pitched it and now all my desk contents are organized against the wall in our office where I want to put my eventual desk. I've been living with my computer on the floor in the office or more often in my lap in the family room when actually in use. It's too hard to lug the external hard drive around with the laptop, so I've left it in the organized pile. Guess I'll need to work out something soon, though. Tuesday, April 6, 2010 A fellow EduBlogger, Hedgetoad shared a link to a great website devoted to captivating young male readers. It's called, obviously enough, GuysRead.com They seem to focus mainly on providing suggestions for books that appeal to the XY chromosome, categorized from "sports" to "people being transformed into animals." The website has a bold, simplistic style infused with the humor of Jon Scieszka. This is definitely worth bookmarking (I'm adding it to my portaportal as soon as I finish here. That's how important you are, Reader. I must tell you about this before saving it myself). Poke around, and happy hunting! Friday, April 2, 2010 A month after the pampered pooch's birthday bash, Ravelo, a recent college-grad from UC-San Diego, posted the photo on Facebook to give her friends a good laugh.Cute, right? That "smile" is undeniable and simultaneously cute and creepy. Show it to your class and have a good laugh over that. "I thought it was the funniest picture I've ever seen," she tells PEOPLEPets.com. That day, John Lipari, a friend of Ravelo's, saw the hilarious photo online during an evening class, posted it on Reddit.com, and catapulted Riley into overnight viral superstardom. Countless blogs and Web sites, including The Huffington Post, caught on to Riley's winning grin, branding the Bichon Frise-poodle mix as "The Birthday Dog," "Smiley Riley," and the "Stoner Dog." One Web site even Photoshopped the smiling puppy into the arms of President Obama. And then, some food for discussion: where did this photo originate? Let's look at that again... A month after the pampered pooch's birthday bash, Ravelo, a recent college-grad from UC-San Diego, posted the photo on Facebook... Teachable moment alert. She posted something on her own Facebook page for her friends or family to see. Even if her photo album security was set to "Only Friends" (most people's are actually set to "Everyone" and they don't even know it. Use Facebook but know what you're using!), this could have still happened. Why? Because a friend saw it and cross-posted/copied it to an entirely different website. He took her photo and posted it somewhere else, in a more public forum, making it accessible to international. I'm not trying to beat this guy up because clearly, it's a cute/harmless/adorable picture. My point here is: what if it wasn't? What if it was, say, a child? I would feel comfortable sharing pictures of my child with friends, but I would not be happy with that picture getting shared with the entire Web. What if it were a potentially embarrassing picture? Again, something you wouldn't mind sharing with friends/family, but wouldn't want to expose to say, your boss, potential employers, clients, or in-laws. It happens, even from well-meaning friends. I think that latter part is what might speak to teens. With the recent hot-button issue of sexting and other incriminating-photo-sharing, teens think: "Well, if I send it to my BF or GF, I can trust him/her because s/he's my boo." They don't entertain the possibility of "What if we break up? Will I want him/her to still have that?" because they never get past the former question (oh, but we won't!). This story is an excellent example of a well-meaning friend who shares your personal life with the Web at large. Maybe kids wouldn't get this one, either. But it just really struck me as a teachable moment, and I think it's a good reminder for teachers and students alike to just be aware that what you post online always has the potential to be exposed to the world at large.

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Welcome to Class Willow Guilty or not guilty? It is 1830 the Defendant, Isabella Makin, is 11 years old. She has been charged with stealing three coats, two waistcoats, a pair of breeches, a pair of boots and a table cloth. The defendant lives in Narrow Marsh, an area of Nottingham, with her family. Isabella must help her family out as her father is ill and cannot work. Her mother must look after Isabella’s younger sisters and cannot go to work because there in no-one to care for them. They are very poor and have very little money to live on. This is not Isabella’s first time in court. If she is found guilty this time, she will be punished harshly. Isabella has been found guilty of stealing on four previous occasions. She has been imprisoned four times. Will our jury find her guilty of theft? Will our judge sentence her to prison for a fifth time? What fate will await her? Our English work this half term will focus on William Shakespeare's Macbeth. We will look at different adaptations of this play for children, use drama activities to help us understand and interpret the play and complete writing activities such as first person accounts and newspaper reports, using our talk for writing techniques to support us. This term we will be focussing on averages, area, perimeter and volume, as well as angles. All of our learning will be linked with prior knowledge and applied to problems solving contexts. This half term our topic is about Jewish celebrations and we will be learning about the Shabbat experience. We will also be looking at the story of Easter and what happened to Jesus in the last few days of his life. We will discuss how it must feel to have your friends disown you, as well as discussing how Peter (& the other disciples) disowned Jesus. We will use ‘photostory’ to import and arrange pictures, adding captions and voice overs to show the changes in crime and punishment throughout British history. Our science topic will focus on classification in terms of families and inheritance. We will ask questions such as: Why are things classified? How does inheritance work? As part of our topic on ID, we will look at changes in crime and punishment throughout British history, ranging from the Roman era to Victorian Britain. We will also discuss how our knowledge of the past comes from a variety of sources and that different interpretations of stories exist. Class Willow will have ukulele lessons again this term and will continue to look at pitch, follow musical scores and learn new songs. This half term, we will be researching and critically analysing the artwork of David Hockney. We will recreate pieces of his work to show light and shadow, as well as using ‘pic stitch’ to alter images in his ‘joiners’ style. During this term our PE sessions will focus on physical challenges and athletics. Please ensure long hair is tied up and earrings are removed for PE. Please also make sure warm outdoor clothing is in school. This half term we will continue to work with Madame Balestra learning about family, using French vocabulary to describe our own families. Our topic centres on ‘Myself and My Relationships’. We will discuss how to recognise emotions in ourselves and others, coping strategies for difficult times and how to manage our changing emotions. As part of our topic this term, we will be comparing and contrasting different mountains, looking at their locations and statistics such as their height & temperature at different levels. We will also be learning about the water cycle. We will be researching the life of Edmund Hillary to determine why he is a key figure in history and using photographs as sources of historical data. We will also be looking at the life of the Adi people, a mountain dwelling community and comparing their lifestyle with our own. We will also be researching and replicating their weaving designs. Our Science topic will focus on states of matter. We will be investigating questions such as: We will be using the story of 'A Bottle of Happiness' by Pippa Goodhart as a basis for our story writing, as well as the fantastic illustrations by Ehsan Abddollahi as stimuli for our descriptive writing. RE work will take us on a journey of our lives to share and discuss key times of celebration. We will then look into the religions of Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism to see what key ceremonies are celebrated and how these religions prepare children for adult life. This term we will be continuing to find out about our digestive systems. We will investigate how each part works and look at the role of spit in the digestive process. Our DT topic will focus on chocolate! We will carry out market research to establish the type of products that our customers want to buy. We will design, plan and make chocolates based on our research, to sell at the Christmas Fair! We will learn about 'Fair Trade', why it is important and how it has helped farmers all over the world. We will look at the process of chocolate being made, from bean to bar, and write an explanation text. Our RE work will centre on 'Arts in the Faiths'. We will learn about music, dance, drama and much more throughout a range of religions. This half term, our English, geography and history work will be based on our topic about Mexico. We will be learning about and writing our own Maya creation stories, creting a powerpoint presentation to compare England with Mexico in a country comparison study, as well as researching what life was like for the ancient Mayans.... We will also be designing and making our own tortilla based pizzas! Our science work is all about burps, bottoms and bile! Children will review what constitutes a healthy, balanced diet, learn about teeth names and functions, as well as oral hygiene and investigate the digestive system. The year is 2050 and the children have been commissioned by the Government ministers to investigate and explore the problems and solutions that could be encountered in sending 30 people into space for five years. For the next 7 weeks, the children will become ‘Space explorers’ and will seek information about a mysterious Planet called Earth and its Solar System. During the duration of their commission, they will be given a number of ‘Space Missions’ to complete. At the end of their mission, they will present their findings to Government Ministers! Work will also include an exciting visit to the National Space Centre to find out more about the Space Race and the Earth, Moon and Sun, the stars and our Solar System. Our English work will link into our space topic with 'Cosmic' by Frank Cottrell Boyce and 'Cosmic Disco' a collection of poetry. Our Topic this half term is ‘Tomorrows World.’ During the term, we will explore the rapidly changing new technologies that shape our world. We will investigate how technology affects the lives of people across the planet and their impact on natural resources. We will meet four families living in China and think about how one country is trying to overcome the pollution problems created by its rapid expansion of industry. We will become software designers. The children will start by playing and analysing educational computer games, identifying those features that make a game successful. They will then plan and design a game, with a clear target audience in mind. They will create a working prototype, and then develop it further to add functionality and improve the user interface. Finally, they will test their game and make any necessary changes. We will explore the work of the artist Eric Joyner and the robot sculptor, Clayton Bailey. Using modroc, we will design and make our own robots. Our English lessons this half term will focus on the text ‘Floodland’ by Marcus Sedgwick. We will be writing in role, writing formal persuasive letters to a character, composing instructional writing for rules to live on Eel Island, as well as narrative and report writing. Floodland is a fascinating text - it had us on the edge of our seats! Read our book reviews to find out more... We carried out research about global warming linked to our text work on 'Floodland' Spring Term 2 2017 Under Our Feet! This term we will review our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages, looking at equivalence, mixed and improper fractions and converting amounts. We will be working on algebraic formulae and geometry, focussing on angles, properties of shapes and direction & position. In addition, we will be converting between different units of metric measures and solving problems. Our English lessons this half term will focus on the short story ‘The Giant’s Necklace’ by Michael Morpurgo. Writing will include using descriptive language, writing setting descriptions for contrasting coastal images, newspaper reports and diary entries. We will also be writing explanation and instruction texts. History and Geography This half term we will research our local area to find out about the impact on the mining community and the effects of pit closures. We will begin our topic with a visit to the National Coal Mining Museum, learning about the life of a miner. We will investigate the conditions of working in a Coal mine over time, for both adults and children. Art and Design We will be sketching buildings and artefacts linked to our visit to the National Coal Mining Museum. We will use powder paints to build up paintings of imaginary landscapes and industrial buildings. In addition, we will research and design our own Miner’s lunchbox. We will become interface designers sketching, planning and developing ideas for our App interface. We will source and develop backgrounds, images, sound effects and a video for the App. This half term, we will become geologists, looking at what is under our feet! We will research fossil fuels and investigate the formation of coal and fossils. We will learn about the different rock types and how they are formed. We will also become ‘Plant Detectives’, learning about how plants reproduce and whether all flowering plants are the same. This term the children will continue to explore different religions in our local area. They will develop positive attitudes and thoughtfulness through the investigation of non-violence and recognise the consequences of actions. They will explore freedom of beliefs, harmony and respect. This half term we will be thinking about ‘Financial Capability’. The children will explore what money means in a broader context, as well as learning how jobs are paid depending on skill set. We will introduce children to pensions, insurance and tax, as well as thinking about how the future can be planned for. We will discuss the difference between essential resources and desirable resources. We were investigating different parts of a flower and dissected daffodils to have a closer look. This term we will become Historical Detectives and travel back in time to research a time when Victoria was Queen and Albert was Prince Consort. A time when some people lived in slums while others prospered. We will examine first hand evidence including photographs, paintings, diaries, artefacts and census material. We will take on the role of an important reformer and present our good causes to the Queen. Will we be able to cause a revolution of change? During our English lessons, we will be studying the book 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty. We will discover what happens to Jim when he finds himself all alone in the workhouse and desperate to escape. Life in Victorian times was very different to today. Our Science learning will focus on our investigative skills linked into the topic of light. We will learn about the eye and how we see, investigate shadows, coloured light and refraction, as well as making our own light bulb. We will be looking closely at the work of the Victorian artists L.S. Lowry and William Morris. We will sketch Victorian artefacts, developing our skills using pencil, pastel and pen and ink. We will draw close up views of bicycles and enlarge them into detailed pen/ink sketches. Follow Erik the Viking to discover: In English we will be writing our own sagas, using 'The Saga of Erik the Viking' by Terry Jones to help us, as well as writing a recipe for Viking bread. We will map out where the Vikings came from and where they travelled to raid and trade, as well as looking at the place names they left behind. Our Science topic is based on 'Light'. We will study how light travels, shadows and how they change. RE learning will centre on Christian and Muslim charities that help people throughout the world. Our Music learning this half term will be based on the nativity story and we will be studying the poem 'Bethlehem' by Carol Ann Duffy in the build up to Christmas. Have a look at our class newsletter below for additional information. This is a project aimed to last throughout the half term. Each child will present their project to the rest of the class in the last full week of school. A timetable will be organised nearer the time. There will be weekly 'Mathletics' challenges set for each child which are linked to the learning in class. Each child has been given their own username and password to access this. Please also continue to embed all times tables. Each child also has a username and password for 'Education City'. Class learning zones have been set up to help with multiplication facts. This term our learning will be centred around our topic 'The Blue Abyss'. During our residential trip to Boggle Hole, we will be visiting Whitby and the Captain Cook Museum. Children remaining at school will also be researching his life and voyages, so that we can write a biography. We will also be finding out about Whitby and the surrounding area and writing persuasive texts in the form of holiday brochures. We will also be learning about 'Oceanography' and the HMS Challenger, as well as learning about threats to our coastline and sea creatures and what can be done to help. Our writing focus will be on information texts and reports. Our artwork will follow on with our sea theme, where we will be researching famous artists and their seascapes. During DT sessions, we will design, plan, make and evaluate fish cakes and submarines, keeping to our ocean theme. Science sessions will focus on classification of living things, life cycles and reproduction of plants and animals. We will ask and investigate questions such as: Crimson, scarlet, burgundy, cherry.... blood flows through our body in all its vibrant shades of red. But how does the blood move around our bodies? Let's explore our circulation system and find out more. Now surgeons, don't be squeamish as we examine the veins, arteries and chambers up close. William Harvey was fascinated with anatomy and made ground breaking discoveries about valves. I wonder what we might discover? In Maths, let's check out the most common blood groups in our class and present the information in charts and graphs. Writing non-chronological reports and explanation texts about how the heart works will be our main focus in Literacy. In addition to this, we will write some 'Heart raps' and use the heart's pulse as a rhythm to guide our class performances. We will read 'Pig Heart Boy' by Malorie Blackman. The novel tells the story of thirteen-year-old Cameron Kelsey, who needs a heart transplant to survive a viral infection and is offered a ground-breaking xenotransplant opportunity. What should he do? In Science we will be working scientifically to: measure the heart rate, understand the circulatory system and identify how lifestyle choices effect our health. Caring for others and answering the question,'Why do people give blood?' will be our main theme in PHSE, along with a discussion on harmful substances. Our P.E will focus on cardiovascular exercise to keep our hearts happy and healthy. Hearts pound, flutter and maybe skip a beat... What makes your heart race? Is it a secret? Cross my heart, I won't tell. This half term we're going to travel back 5000 years to the dusty realms of ancient Egypt. As we cruise along the Nile, we'll enter a world of mysteries and curses, mummies and kings. In Geography we'll find out about the human and physical features along the river's fertile banks and how these impact on tourism in the country. In History we'll use historical sources and age-old artefacts to unravel the secrets of ancients tombs, to find out about powerful pharaohs and grandiose gods. Our Art lessons will be based around the hieroglyphic alphabet and designing our own cartouche. Now, let's open the doorway to ancient Egypt and see what other treasures are waiting to be discovered... Welcome back. This half term we will meet ‘Pestilence’ (a hooded and shady character spoiled with foul-smelling boils and revolting sores) and hear his tragic tale of death and destruction during the ‘Black Death’. We will travel to Eyam to see how the local population sacrificed their lives, long ago, to stop the spread of the plague. In science we will look closely at micro-organisms. We will investigate 'How Clean are our Hands' and research the bacteria Yersinia pestis and then write a non chronological report about the life cycle of rats and fleas. In English we will read poems and the stories 'Children of Winter' by Berlie Doherty and 'A Cross on the Door' by Ann Turnball. We will write newspaper reports, diaries and letters to recall the events of the Great Plague. Welcome back to a new term. Buckle up, sunglasses on - we're going on a road trip across the good old US of A! Flying from London Gatwick and landing at the JF Kennedy airport New York, let's waste no time in exploring the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. Using our mapping skills, we will: navigate our way around some of the most famous landmarks; send postcards home and write travel reports. On our travels across America we will meet the Iroquois Tribe (Native Americans with amazing customs and traditions) and learn how to weave, make dream-catchers and design our own totem poles. In addition, we will share Native American tales and legends handed down through time and listen to the modern classic ' The Indian in my cupboard,' by Lynne Reid Banks. It's going to be an exciting ride, so put the roof down and let the wind blow through your hair - we're off! What were Native American meals like? Native American cooking tended to be simple. Most Native Americans preferred to eat their food very fresh, without many spices. This was different in Mexico and Central America, where Indians tended to use less fresh meat and more spices in their dishes, including hot peppers, cumin, and chocolate seasonings. Meat was usually roasted over the fire or grilled on hot stones. Fish was often baked or smoked. Soups and stews were popular in some tribes. Corn was eaten in many different ways, including corn-on-the-cob, popcorn, hominy, and tortillas and corn bread baked in clay ovens. Indians in some tribes enjoyed fruit puddings or maple candy for dessert. Most Native Americans always drank water with their meals, but hot chocolate was a popular beverage in Mexico, and some Indians in Central and South America developed an alcoholic corn drink called chicha. How did Native American eating habits change after Europeans arrived? The Europeans introduced some new plants and animals that didn't exist in the Americas originally, such as bananas, wheat, sheep, and cows. Some Native American farming tribes, such as the Navajos or the Mexican Indian tribes, began to raise these new crops and farm animals in addition to corn and other traditional crops. Many people in those tribes are still farmers today, and they have been raising some of these "new" foods for centuries now! Other tribes were forced to change their traditional lifestyles a lot after Europeans took over. Since Europeans killed most of the buffalo, tribes that used to follow the buffalo herds had to find new ways of living. Today, some tribes raise buffalo on ranches. Many forests and jungles have been cleared, which makes it harder to earn a living by hunting. In rural areas of Canada, Alaska, and South America, some Native Americans and Inuit (Eskimos) still make their living by hunting and trapping, but this is becoming rarer. And of course, one of the biggest changes was Indian tribes being forced to move to reservations far from their original homelands. In many cases, these tribes had to give up their old ways of life in their new location because the environment was different and the land was not suitable for their traditional agriculture. Some traditional American Indian foods and recipes are still enjoyed by Native American people today. However, except for a few remote rainforest tribes, Native American people also eat modern food, just like their non-native neighbours do. I wonder what they would think about our attempts to replicate some of their dishes? Constructing simple series electrical circuits; identifying changes that occur when components are added, removed or changed; making a switch to control a simple circuit; identifying and using circuit diagram symbols to build circuits; planning and carrying out fair tests; predicting and recording results; writing conclusions; describing the difference between series and parallel circuits and building series and parallel circuits to solve problems.

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Sept. 8, 2011 | Updated Since this post first went up, more teachers have written – and, the case of a former colleague, called – in to share more ideas. They have been added below. We will add more again soon. Please feel free to share more ideas and thoughts. As teachers are making plans for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many are concerned about how to make it meaningful because, they note, today’s K-12 and college students very likely have only dim memories, if that, of the events of that day. But today’s students did not experience other crucibles in our nation’s and world’s history: slavery, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War. Teachers have always found ways to use engage students in events and difficult issues like these — with the historical record, with representations in literature, film and the arts and with writing and creative projects — to foster their growth into informed, thinking global citizens. I am a student, and to be honest I really thought history was boring because all of the dates you had to remember for tests. But now by reading this Learning Network article I started to think about how you really need to deeply understand the history of something. And by understanding it you will realize that it is essential to human life. I think 9/11 should be taught in schools across the world, and we shouldn’t neglect it, we should understand and remember the event. In July, we put a call out to teachers, asking them to share teaching approaches that help students forge personal and intellectual connections to 9/11. Here are the suggestions they shared. (Please note that they have been lightly copy edited and links have been added. Some organizations posted curriculum collections and resources, too, and we’ll include those in a resource collection on Friday.) They are grouped into four categories: Interdisciplinary Ideas, Ideas Using Writing, Literature, Theater and Fine Arts, Ideas Using History and Humanities and Ideas for Younger Students. Thank you to all the teachers who shared their ideas, and to those who got the word out — especially the National Writing Project, who were extremely helpful in asking their members to contribute ideas. We hope you will use The Learning Network as a community to keep the sharing going. Please post more suggestions and experiences. We will update this collection as more ideas come in. And thank you for making us part of your plans to teach about 9/11. As students enter my classroom each year, I have a list of names of those who died up on the screen. It’s in four columns in alpha order, and the font is tiny. I start by pointing out that only A-D is shown, and that makes an early impact about the sheer number of lives lost. Then, to introduce the literary elements of mood and tone, I show three very different newspaper front pages from 9/12, including The New York Times. I have them vote on which they would select, and we have a lively discussion about why–the headlines, the image(s) used, which seem more credible, how some seem less credible but better communicate the rage that readers may feel, etc. To further illustrate the theme of mood/tone in the literature of 9/11, we read Dan Barry’s article “For One 9/11 Family, Five Waves of Grief.” Last year, I had them answer a few written questions after reading, then we shared responses as a group. Some questions were about Barry’s writing style and techniques; others are more personal. (For example, the Petrocellis received calls about parts of their son being found, and I explain that many families received similar calls about wallets and other personal items being recovered. Students write about whether they feel such a find would be a blessing after losing a loved one, or whether they’d rather have closure without the call.) We’re in Oregon, so my students don’t know people personally affected by 9/11, but there are always some tears as the discussion connects them to their own losses. We don’t have a curriculum for 9/11–this is something I do because I feel it’s important. Each year, I get thanks from kids who say that no one else mentioned 9/11 all day. I blogged last year about how my lesson has changed as students increasingly don’t remember the day. You may read about it here. — Five Septembers While I have not finalized my plans for a 9/11 curriculum, I have decided to use sections of “A Nation Challenged” and “Portraits of Grief” in my curriculum. In the immediate years following 9/11 as I attempted to cope with loss, “Portraits of Grief” provided some comfort. These glimpses into the lives of souls lost provided some peace and hope. They also put a face on an immeasurable tragedy. The students who will enter my classes in September will know about the tragedy of 9/11 at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville but they may not know the faces, the souls, lost in that tragedy. It is my hope to share “Portraits of Grief” with them and to acquaint them with those faces and use their portraits as a springboard for writing. — Joan Marie Bellotti, High Tech High School, North Bergen, N.J. I had my high school students create 9/11 anniversary videos, by allowing them the creativity, to tell a story that was personal to them in some way. You may see their videos here. — Don Goble Last year I began to incorporate a service project along with my writing prompt I’ve used to discuss 9/11 with my high school English classes. Many of these kids do not remember the events or the aftermath of the attack. The discussions and service project coordinates with a year-long “tolerance” theme. I have a downloadable lesson for teachers (free) and also will incorporate parts of Scholastic’s lesson. — Tracee Orman I am the principal of Seton Catholic Central High School in Binghamton, NY. We plan on remembering and teaching about 9/11. On Sept. 9, the school’s opening Mass for the school year will be in memory of the victims of 9/11. We have invited Binghamton firefighters, who assisted in recovery efforts, to speak about their impressions and experiences at Ground Zero. We have also invited veterans of the Iraq and Afganistan wars, who have connections with the school, to discuss their roles in these conflicts. Our theology classes will focus on an interfaith discussion of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Our students have grown up with the consequences of 9/11. To have an understanding of the profound issues facing the nation and the globe today they must be familiar with the events of 9/11. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is a critical teaching moment. — Richard Bucci An extremely powerful and educational way to learn about 9-11 is through an organization like September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. They are family members of 9/11 victims who have figure out how to turn their grief into steps towards peace, justice, and reconciliation. This organization recently collaborated with an educational magazine, The Change Agent (free online) to produce materials for the classroom. Through storytelling, reflective essays, poems, and background facts, students can use The Change Agent to learn about the history of 9/11, wrestle with important legal and moral questions related to security and liberty, and examine the “rule of law” in the context of terrorism. — Cynthia Peters A student of mine put together a 9/11 tribute video on YouTube that other students, teachers & parents might be interested in viewing as we remember the tragic events of ten years ago: “United We Will Stand: a Tribute to the Fallen of September 11th, 2001.″ — Brett Malas As a seventh grade science teacher I wanted to look at this tragedy from a different point of view. I created a power point first explaining the meaning of the day and what exactly happened, but then I continue with a more scientific explanation. With pictures and diagrams I plan to discuss what caused the towers to collapse and the structural significance. We will look at the history of the towers, how they were built and how eventually they were brought down, therefore allowing for an emotional and educational impact. I plan to share my power point with my entire department. — Susan Russo This is the second year of a blogging community among four schools, and soon to be two international schools. We collaborated and decided to do something as a community to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We are compiling a message of hope, peace and remembrance written by our students. From their written words we are adding their voice and a visual element to connect all of the schools together for a final product. Most of our students were so young when this happened, we want to impress upon them the changes in society, on many levels, that have been triggered by the events of 9/11. Showing relevance to their daily lives and passions will help them understand the impact caused by the tragic events. We collaborated using Twitter, Google Docs, and Skype. I will share a link after the final project is done. We plan to share this with the schools as well as the world. — Shaelynn Farnsworth, Erin Olson, Shawn Hyer, Bev Berns, Todd Vogts Ideas Using Writing, Literature, Theater and Fine Arts I use my own blog post from the day (or pre-blog, I guess) as we were in our fourth day of school at one of the two high schools located directly south of the South Tower. I also had my students write immediately after the first plane hit. I had them type their pieces up and have those texts uploaded on my site as well. Between the two, you have some pretty immediate writing you can utilize in your classroom. I am happy to provide you and any other teachers who could use them with URLs to the blogs, photos, and student reactions. — Heather Ordover I’m a mom and work in a homeschool group of kids ranging in age from 7-15. We did a research writing unit and kids could choose between two topics, one of which was 9/11. The students who chose this had to complete factual research and then write a first person narrative story including the facts. The stories were extremely creative. One child put together a power point presentation with wonderful images that explored the feelings of her character in relation to different things that happened on that day. One person wrote a story about being twins that were born on 9/11 and traveled back in time to observe the experience. These twins had some super powers and were able to change the pattern of history. One student put together an ABC book with a variety of facts and emotions related to the event. Each student presented his/her information to the class. We then debriefed about the emotional content. It’s been one of the best homeschool group experiences we’ve had. — Jennifer Rouyer I will be planning a lesson that coordinates with the anniversary of 9/11. My intended focus will be on designing a monument. I teach sculpture and Art 3D. I hope to teach students about some of our country’s great national monuments through a slide show and question/answer session. Students will learn where the monuments are located, their purpose/meaning, and be asked to share if they have visited the monuments or have any other prior knowledge about them. Next a discussion will be had based on the prompt question, “What do you think the artist was thinking when they designed the monument?” I hope to have some peer discussion and then greater group discussion as well. After discussing design and purpose of the national monuments, we will start planning to build a 3D sculpture of a monument by starting with some free sketching to work out some ideas. After students have settled on design concepts, they will build their monuments (most likely in small groups of two-four). The materials used will vary from sculpting clay to cardboard to wire. I expect this lesson to take one-two weeks of class time, in 45-minute class periods. — Christine Todd I teach 8th and 11th grade English students in Southwest Virginia. I’ve been teaching for four years. I admit that each year my 9/11 focus changes as a result of my annual tweaking but, I really like how last year’s 9/11 remembrance worked out. For the sake of space I will focus on my 11th grade students. Each year in September, my 11th-grade students and I find ourselves in an American Literature introductory unit which includes our oral tradition. A few days before 9/11, I give my students a homework assignment to discuss with at least two people what they remember about 9/11. One has to be a family member and 1 other person (could be a friend or someone they know that is old enough to remember 9/11 or another family member). The students are to take good notes and be prepared to share them on 9/11. Meanwhile in class we are still discussing the strengths of the oral tradition in handing down what the culture’s most important messages are for the next generation. We also discuss how often young people are the audience of these cultural stories so figurative language is used to help them visualize the messages the elders are trying to pass down. During the week I will also be reading quotes from my own 9/11 family interviews to give my students an idea of the kind of notes I want them to be taking. On 9/11 I will begin class by showing students one of the many 9/11 memorial videos on YouTube (after previewing them the night before) and then we spend just a couple of minutes discussing what the main message of the video was or the main focus; then we break into groups. Student share their interviews with their group members. They are to take notes on what stands out as the main memory or main feeling or main message they get from all of the interviews they have heard and discussed. They decide as a group which message they think is the most important to pass down to the next generation. The next day students get back into their groups and create a story map of a story they could tell in an oral tradition style that would teach one powerful message about 9/11 to the next generation. I suggest they use animals as characters to get away from any stereotyping that could occur in the making of the story and they should use figurative language. Each story needs a message or a moral but the story should stand on its own; no need to add “the moral of the story is…” Last year we just stopped the lesson at the outline only and with the students sharing their ideas with classmates. I think this year I would like my students to finish their stories and create podcasts that my 8th grade class can then listen to and try to decide what the main messages of each of the stories are. Maybe I will have my juniors create voice threads so the 8th graders can easily comment on them and then they can go back and review. I really look forward to the results this year. — Alicia Johnson My students in AP English Language and Composition read Jonathan Safran Foer’s wonderful book “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” Our focus in this unit is postmodernism and postmodernist literature, and our standard is reading and writing in a specific genre. We watch clips from “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” and “Falling Man.” We look at reader response theory and how memories of an event transcend the actual physical “being there” in a community. We also talk about style, pairing the novel with the essay “On Ground Zero.” My students have been the protagonist’s age or older for the past five years, so I’m interested to see how my future students will react to an event they were too young to remember personally. — Wendy Turner I have been teaching high school literature for 30 years and last year I had a magical experience teaching Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” to about 90 regular junior students at the suburban high school where I teach outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The text is especially relevant because it is being made into a movie that will be released in December, starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. Due to its unusual format, the novel challenges students to use their reading skills in unique ways because it uses a non-linear sequential story line and also includes photographs, illustrations, and experimental typography, as well as offbeat humor with puns and wordplay. My students loved the book and I plan on teaching it again this year. — Linda Lackey I realized my sophomore students this year were only in kindergarten when 9/11 occurred. (I was a freshman in college.) I wanted to acknowledge the 10-year anniversary in some way, and I decided to use poetry from Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry Web site/column. You and your readers may be interested in my recent Huffington Post story on Ten Books About 9/11 to Share With Kids & Teens. — Rocco Staino In the aftermath of 9/11, I had my students write a letter to Osama bin Laden. I saved the letters to use as primary sources with my future students. On the first anniversary, I had my students write as essay about their memories of 9/11. I saved the essays, too. Every year I have done a lesson remembering. I show a DVD of the news coverage of the event. Then I bring out the bin Laden letters and the memory essays. The students love to read the accounts from the students who were their age at the time. For several years now the middle school age students do not remember 9/11. For some it is the first they even heard of it. — Annette Duffy As an English teacher, I have included “The Names” as part of my curriculum during September. This poem, written by Billy Collins, the Poet Laureate at the time, was read at the memorials that year. It is a poem, that no matter how many times I read it, has new meaning and is more moving. I highly recommend that English teachers check it out if they aren’t familiar. I have students draw an image from the poem, or select a part to respond to. — Becky Riley A former Stuyvesant High School colleague of mine called me to share a discussion he has with his A.P. English literature students about the Billy Collins poem “The Names.” Here is a very brief description of his approach, in my words, not his: We discuss how “The Names” is an occasional poem and falls within classical traditions and poetic modes, delving into these elements and devices, among many others: the elegiac mode, the use of Homeric dactylic hexameter, the hero and heroic death that recalls book two of “The Iliad,” classical epithets, anaphora, monody and phrenody, juxtaposition of pastoral and urban, tribute to democracy, list-making and name-reading. – Walter Gern Ideas Using History and Humanities I am an adjunct professor of philosophy at a SUNY community college. I teach 3 sections of Introduction to Philosophy. Each year, on the anniversary of 9/11, I devote my 50 minute classes to an exploration of the event from the perspective of human nature. The text I use for this course unfolds the history of Western philosophy through the lens of various theories on human nature. I carry over the human nature theme to our 9/11 inquiry. These are some of the questions we explore: What did 9/11 tell us about our origins, nature, and destiny? What did 9/11 tells us about the human qualities of good and evil, love and hate, strength and weakness, kindness and cruelty, aggression and passivity, generosity and greed, courage and cowardice? How did 9/11 depict us as part angel, part demon, part rational, part animal, capable of great glory and great tragedy? What did 9/11 “say” about who we are? — Katherine FitzGerald I worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant, alongside my mentor professor, teaching a political science class at the college level called 9/11: A Historical Review. Basically, our approach was to put 9/11 into historical context, with an emphasis on U.S. foreign policy and unforeseen consequences in the world: the Middle East and Central Asia. We reviewed the CIA funding of Osama bin Laden and the jihad in the 1980’s, the Iraqi Tilt policy of Gulf War I and U.S. support for Saddam Hussein, the Iran Contra Affair and more. We framed our semester with a few key questions, some of them being: How have past US policies affected our lives and the world today? Do the ends justify the means? We discussed the nature of U.S. foreign policy, pre-9/11 – largely done in secret, without public or congressional debate. Because this secrecy fits the definition of conspiracy, we logically entertained all theories about the events of 9/11, and any inconsistencies or questions on which the students chose to focus their attention and research. We used all forms of media and literature (independent and mainstream) to discover the information our students desired: documentaries such as “9/11 Press For Truth” and “Zero: An Investigation into 9/11,” and required readings, “The Terror Timeline” by Paul Thompson, and the 9/11 Report: The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. We discovered and discussed information from countless scholars, groups, sources and Web sites with volumes of information relating to 9/11, such as The Project for The New American Century, Dr. David Ray Griffin’s “The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions” and Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. We encouraged our students to be their own media by creating a YouTube video about any topic related to 9/11 as their final project. Most students focused their projects on the inconsistencies relating to 9/11, and many focused on the history – past U.S. foreign policies and what roles they might have played in the events of 9/11. Some students even conducted campus interviews, finding and showing an unfortunate abundance of common, often improperly, or not fully informed understandings of historic events. We taught this class three semesters in a row, and it was consistently the most popular and highly peer-recommended class within its particular program, which shows that even 10 years after the event, 9/11 continues to be a relevant and important scholarly topic. I taught social studies to grades 8-12, in a private school, for three years. One of the essential questions we looked at was, How was 9/11 exploited, for political purposes? Since the students were inundated with a textbook perspective that didn’t examine the erosion of civil liberties after 9/11, I sought to give the students a viewpoint that is more akin to Howard Zinn’s in “A People’s History of the United States.: We looked at how whistleblowers, 9/11 victims’ relatives, and other voices of dissent were marginalized. In post-9/11 Ameica, critical thinking about the government often was, and still is, characterized as denigrating the memories of those who died on that tragic day. 9/11 should not be used as a tool to indoctrinate students into blindly obeying the government. Fighting terrorism should never imply ignoring the Constitution. — Michael J. Berman I was in eighth grade when the towers fell. I was in my classroom 19 blocks from the Twin Towers when the planes struck. I remember every detail of that day. The school in which I was sitting at the time of the attack is a progressive K-8 school in Greenwich Village. Each year our homeroom curriculum focused on a particular subject and other disciplines found ways to incorporate that topic. In seventh grade my homeroom’s focus was the culture and belief system of Islam. I cannot express how grateful I am to have gained an un-biased perspective on Islamic tradition before the attacks. Because of my curriculum, even as a 13-year-old I was fully aware that this horrible event was perpetrated by a small, fanatical group of Muslims and that the community overall was peaceful and loving. I think that it is so important when teaching about 9/11 to emphasize that the people behind the attacks do no represent the Islamic community as a whole. Making an effort to do so is required to prevent prejudice from developing in young and impressionable minds. — Sarah Philips In my eighth grade U.S. history class, we debate the merits of having a 9/11 national holiday through a 3-corner debate. We look at a few opposing views on why 9/11 should, or should not be addressed in classrooms and then I write the statement on the board, “9/11 should be deemed a national holiday by the U.S. Congress.” Students take a stand in one of three corners of the classroom 1) Strongly Agree 2) Somewhat Agree/Somewhat Disagree 3) Strongly Disagree. One student at a time from each group then has a chance to try to convince students from the other corners of the classroom to move to their corner. To conclude, we discuss who had the strongest argument and why. This is only a one-day, 50-minute lesson. It sparks great debate over the ways we really want to remember the 9/11 tragedy. — Jill DiCuffa I drew a lot of comfort from re-reading the details of the Blitz of London, and realizing that if London recovered from months of nightly bombings, NYC and the US would recover from the events of that morning. Students should always be taught how the people of NYC, Washington and the rest of the US resolved to move beyond the unimaginable, how the world banded together to support us, and how the heroes of that day and the ones that followed turned the story of 9/11 into one about the bravery and devotion to duty that our people can show. It will serve them well when drawing connections and relationships from 9/11 to unimaginable events that occur in their adulthood. — Mark Moran Pam Moran and Ira Socol, who wrote the guest post Teaching 9/11 | Why? How?, also shared four project ideas with us. Here are descriptions of their projects (they are fleshed out on Mr. Socol’s blog, SpeEdChange): - Localizing history – Examining “big events” in the history of the community where your school is located, focusing on how the stories about those events are shared and how they have changed, commemorative gestures like memorials or plaques and groups that play a role in keeping the history of the event alive. In groups, students conduct interviews and visit local sites in addition to conducting research. - Considering how history is created – Considering and investigating comparisons of other significant events to those of Sept. 11, 2001 by generating research questions related to how various groups in the United States remember those events differently and how those differences affect political and personal decisions. Groups of students then search for primary sources and images, including global news sources like The New York Times. - Considering iconic absence – How does a place deal with the loss of a landmark? Why might it be important to many New Yorkers to have the ground zero site rebuilt with tall towers? What landmarks define where you live? Have any local landmarks been lost? Students search local history to find lost landmarks and photograph the locations where they once existed. How did locals feel when these landmarks were lost? Students can create QR codes to tag locations in their community, leading users to images of landmark views of the past or to interviews with those who remember the landmark, or to stories about the landmark. - Reflecting on knowledge of history – What do American students know about U.S. and global history? What do students around the world know about their own country’s history and about world history? Does emphasizing certain historic events in curriculum affect how a nation behaves in the world? Students investigate various incidents and how it is taught and recalled. – Pam Moran and Ira Socol Ideas for Younger Students I teach 7th and 8th grade English in a rural northwest Ohio school district. I use two picture books to teach about 9/11. Students fold a 8-1/2″ x 11″ piece of paper into fourths and we use both sides. I stop three times throughout the books and have students write to a prompt for each “box”: a connection, vocabulary word, a prediction, etc. and the fourth box is always a drawing. The two books I use are “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” by Mordicai Gerstein and “Fireboat” by Maira Kalman. Our social studies teacher shows the junior high students a DVD she made of images from 9/11 set to music. — Erika Snyder In the past I have asked my 8th grade students to interview a family member about their memories of where they were, and the impact the day had on them. The students then have the opportunity to share with the class if they choose. In addition, because it is the 10th anniversary, I plan to create a gallery of images posted on big paper where students may silently post, in writing, their responses to each image. — Karen Dorr My students were not yet born in 2001, and many of them have never been to New York, or even the United States. Most have very little background knowledge about 9/11. Every year on Sept. 11th, I read “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” by Mordicai Gernstein, to my students. I’ve read this book to students from first grade to fifth grade. They are drawn in by the true story of Philippe Petit, and the book is a powerful vehicle for introducing this topic. The book leads naturally to generating questions and discussion. I highly recommend it for elementary classrooms. — Greg Feezell My fourth graders and I are interviewing the adults in our building to ask them this question: “How has your faith been strengthened or your relationship with God changed?” I teach at a Catholic school and we are focusing on the good that came out of 9/11. After the interviews, each student will create or locate an image to accompany the words. We will then put the voice and image to music as a multimedia presentation to share with our school and our parent community. — Renee Streicher I haven’t yet decided how I will address this because I have to have a sense of my new students first — as this is history to them I need to know if they have personal connections or if it is remote to them. Being a New Yorker it is a difficult anniversary for me, but not necessarily for them and I want to keep that in mind as I consider what they need not what I need. I am considering reading aloud and discussing a new picture book, “America Is Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell” by Don Brown, which will publish on Aug. 16. — Monica Edinger Carmen Agra Deedy’s picture book “14 Cows for America” tells the true story of an African medical student, his Masai village and the generous gift they wish to present to America after 9/11. It’s a great jumping off point! — Susan Robie We have taught about 9/11 in our elementary school, with age-appropriate material since it occurred. we not only have a word of silence, read stories,sing songs, write poems, draw pictures, express feelings, but we have established a 9/11 Memorial Perennial Garden that the students work in and have lessons in. This year in commemoration of the 10th anniversary, we will be holding a special assembly, where the students will express their feelings in song, poems,etc and will rededicate our garden. The garden serves a twofold purpose: to never forget those lost on that day while serving as promise for the future to strive for peace. Every school throughout the nation should have 9/11 curriculum in place. I am currently on a quest to write curriculum particularly for the elementary school age child. This should never be forgotten and is a piece of history every child in America should know about.

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(This is the Learning Episode 5 for Shane Doyle (Crow) and Megkian Doyle’s teaching unit, “Living within the Four Base Tipi Poles of the Apsáalooke Homeland.”) Five 50-minute class periods By Shane Doyle Most American Indian tribes did not use surnames, or last names. Many American Indian people experienced name changes during the course of their lives that reflected their experiences and thus, were known by several different names throughout their lifetimes. For people outside of this culture it may seem difficult to trace families, but because of the rich oral traditions that are an important part of American Indian culture, tribal elders know their family histories going back many generations. Mainstream American naming patterns give children surnames that generally reflect their relationship to their father’s family. This naming system is considered patrilineal. The patrilineal system of naming reflected early colonial beliefs that the wife was the property of the husband. In contrast, many American Indian tribes did not have the concept of ownership of land or people, but instead governed their affairs according to a concept of stewardship. These tribes often trace their lineage through their clans or their mother’s side of the family (matrilineal). When the U.S. government began enumerating American Indian populations, Native naming systems were not compatible with their concept of lineage so federal census employees began replacing traditional names with a first and last name. Often the first name given was considered a “Christian name” and was followed by the person’s original American Indian name. The four people in the Famous Apsáalooke People in 2014 all have names that illustrate this history: Mardell Plainfeather, Christian Takes Gun, Kevin Red Star, and Joe Medicine Crow. In the lessons that follow students will become familiar with these important members of the Crow Tribe. COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS CCSS Literacy RH 10-1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. CCSS Literacy RST 10-6 Analyze the author’s purpose in providing and explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address. CCSS Literacy WHST 10-2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes. CCSS Literacy WHST 10-8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. CCSS Literacy WHST 10-9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. CCSS Literacy SL 10-1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. CCSS Literacy SL 10-1d Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented. GOALS FOR UNDERSTANDING Students will understand - What an ethnography is. - The role that ethnographic study has played in the formation of our understandings about people groups. - The role of the researcher in ethnographic research. An American Indian perspective on a chosen issue gained though ethnographic study. - How to conduct an ethnographic study. - The importance of presenting the voice of the culture as an authentic source of reliable and viable information. - The purpose of ethnography, ethnopoetry, and ethnophotography. - How history has been formed through the use of historical writing and photographic images. - How photos and ethnographic writing can improve or mislead our construction of reality. - How images and words are used in our culture. - How images and ethnographic writing can create stereotypes and misinformation or achieve greater accuracy through the use of certain types of ethnographic methodology. - What is ethnography? Who is an ethnographer? - How do we know what we know about people who are alive today? - How do we know what we know about people of the past? - How are our ideas of character and culture formed by ethnographic work? - How accurate are our perceptions of historical people? - How does ethnography help/hinder our understanding of the “truth” about people? - How did Lewis and Clark’s ethnographic work contribute to our understanding of and beliefs about American Indian people? - How does ethnopoetry of the type written by Mardell Plainfeather help us to understand people more accurately? - How are images and words used to communicate messages about our past, our history? - What influences the interpretation of images and ethnographies from the past? - How is meaning constructed from images and ethnographies? - How does culture affect our interpretation of images and ethnographies? - How does power influence the use and interpretation of images and ethnographies? - How do images and written records construct our “reality”? Students will be able to - Discern the intended message and links to historical events and climate of the time in which various photos and writing are used. - Examine how photographic images and ethnographic writing construct our reality and either improve or mislead our understanding of it. - Compare photographic and written messages to actual truths to determine the direction of influence of each image. - Understand the power and influence of image and ethnographic record in our history and also consider the roles of those wielding power to use images and words to influence the masses. - Understand and value the power that the use of images and words potentially hold. - Utilize critical thinking and independent thought to evaluate images and ethnographies and their intended messages and subsequent influence. Suggested Formative Assessment of Learning Outcomes Epistemology discussion—Can students evaluate the source of their beliefs and the authenticity/reliability of these sources? The Lewis and Clark scenario discussion—Can students recognize how “truth” is impacted by perspective? Ronda reading—Can students explain how our ideas about “the other” are constructed? Thinking about ethnography—Can students identify the effect of ethnography on our constructed understanding of humanity? Can students identify the qualities of a good ethnographer? Plainfeather interview—Can students define ethnopoetry and explain its value to the discipline of ethnography? Ethnopoetry reading—Can students explain how this example of ethnopoetry illustrates the utility of this form of ethnography? Photography discussion—Can students recognize how perception of images continue to shape our construction of reality? For each presentation the class will discuss what is seen and what is not seen, what is true and what may not be. Following the lesson students will show continued care in considering images and records and their intended messages. Following the lesson students will show continued careful consideration of the source of photos and writing and the truths being represented. Culminating Performance Assessment of Learning Outcomes Ethnography project presentation – students should organize their information and present it to the class, discussing how the ethnographic procedures helped them to better understand a group of people, how the study may have changed or improved their own thinking, reflections on the experience of being an ethnographer (objectivity), etc. For the ethnographic research study students will design and conduct a study of a group they wish to know more about. Their final product should interpret the results of the study. Students will gather a verbal recording and engage in ethnographic research by translating the recording into an ethnopoetic interpretation. They will discuss the value of presenting information in this way. For the historical photography project, each student will research who took the photo, something significant about the person’s background that may contribute to the WHY of the photo’s taking, the historical climate at the time of the photo’s taking and public display, the intended purpose of the use of the photo, and the public’s reaction to the photo and present this information competently and in an organized fashion to the class. For the cultural photography project, each student will take a set number of photos attempting to capture the essence of a specific cultural group. Students will present their photos mounted on a standard sized piece of poster board. Each student will present what he/she feels is represented by each photo and what this idea tells about the culture being depicted. Ethnography is the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures. Lewis and Clark used journals to collect ethnographic descriptions of the people they encountered. These descriptions became a foundation for what people in America who were far removed from the western frontier, knew about the American Indian people Lewis and Clark encountered. The accuracy of their ethnography and all ethnographies, is dependent upon the accuracy of the perceptions collected. It is important to recognize that there are multiple perspectives surrounding any event and that even though ethnography is a scientific process, and ethnographers try to create an objective record of the observations and experiences, ethnography is still a human endeavor that can contain misperceptions and untruths along with the valuable information they collect about a subject. One of the most difficult tasks presenters of Native issues face is how to present images of Indian people and information about Indian people that will not encourage the continuation of stereotypes or misinformation. Because so much of our information about Indian people has been derived from a pictorial and written history of tribal life in the past, interpreted through non-Indian eyes and voices, much of the non-fiction of Indian life is unknown, misunderstood, or misinterpreted. Indian people must grapple with how their images are appropriated for profit (the use of Indian imagery and ideas to sell the popular Old West or mystical Indian ideas) and how images and words are used by the media to present them as a people. One method Mardell Plainfeather, a member of the Crow (Apsáalooke) tribe, has explored to collect an accurate Apsáalooke perspective on a historical period is to employ what is known as ethnopoetics. Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i.e., storytelling) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the poetic performance elements which would otherwise be lost in the written texts. The goal of ethnopoetry is to accurately reflect the unique manner in which information is shared orally within a specific cultural context. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, “An ethnography is a descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of his study. There has been some confusion regarding the terms ethnography and ethnology. The latter, a term more widely used in Europe, encompasses the analytical and comparative study of cultures in general, which in American usage is the academic field known as cultural anthropology (in British usage, social anthropology). Increasingly, however, the distinction between the two is coming to be seen as existing more in theory than in fact. Ethnography, by virtue of its intersubjective nature, is necessarily comparative. Given that the anthropologist in the field necessarily retains certain cultural biases, his observations and descriptions must, to a certain degree, be comparative. Thus the formulating of generalizations about culture and the drawing of comparisons inevitably become components of ethnography. The description of other ways of life is an activity with roots in ancient times. Herodotus, the Greek traveler and historian of the 5th century BC, wrote of some 50 different peoples he encountered or heard of, remarking on their laws, social customs, religion, and appearance. Beginning with the age of exploration and continuing into the early 20th century, detailed accounts of non-European peoples were rendered by European traders, missionaries, and, later, colonial administrators. The reliability of such accounts varies considerably, as the Europeans often misunderstood what they saw or had a vested interest in portraying their subjects less than objectively. Modern anthropologists usually identify the establishment of ethnography as a professional field with the pioneering work of the Polish-born British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia (c. 1915). Ethnographic fieldwork has since become a sort of rite of passage into the profession of cultural anthropology. Many ethnographers reside in the field for a year or more, learning the local language or dialect and, to the greatest extent possible, participating in everyday life while at the same time maintaining an observer’s objective detachment. This method, called participant-observation, while necessary and useful for gaining a thorough understanding of a foreign culture, is in practice quite difficult. Just as the anthropologist brings to the situation certain inherent, if unconscious, cultural biases, so also is he influenced by the subject of his study. While there are cases of ethnographers who felt alienated or even repelled by the culture they entered, many—perhaps most— have come to identify closely with “their people,” a factor that affects their objectivity. In addition to the technique of participant-observation, the contemporary ethnographer usually selects and cultivates close relationships with individuals, known as informants, who can provide specific information on ritual, kinship, or other significant aspects of cultural life. In this process also the anthropologist risks the danger of biased viewpoints, as those who most willingly act as informants frequently are individuals who are marginal to the group and who, for ulterior motives (e.g., alienation from the group or a desire to be singled out as special by the foreigner), may provide other than objective explanations of cultural and social phenomena. A final hazard inherent in ethnographic fieldwork is the ever-present possibility of cultural change produced by or resulting from the ethnographer’s presence in the group. Contemporary ethnographies usually adhere to a community, rather than individual, focus and concentrate on the description of current circumstances rather than historical events. Traditionally, commonalities among members of the group have been emphasized, though recent ethnography has begun to reflect an interest in the importance of variation within cultural systems. Ethnographic studies are no longer restricted to small primitive societies but may also focus on such social units as urban ghettos. The tools of the ethnographer have changed radically since Malinowski’s time. While detailed notes are still a mainstay of fieldwork, ethnographers have taken full advantage of technological developments such as motion pictures and tape recorders to augment their written accounts.” ethnography. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033138 INTRODUCTION TO ETHNOGRAPHY Examples of ethnographic studies (see resources listed below) Begin by asking students to think about all the people we know about from different countries, ethnic groups, and cultures. - Have we experienced all of these groups of people and cultures personally? - How do we know what we think we know about different people groups? - Where did our information come from? - How has it been constructed over time? - How does the past influence the present when we think about how we see people? - What would be the best way to really understand what it’s like to be a part of a specific group? For instance, if I as your teacher, wanted to better understand what it’s like to be an avid skateboarder (or some other pertinent group), what would I have to do to gain that information? Allow students to suggest ways you could study this group. What things might help me get good information and what things my hinder me? (The researcher’s interaction or lack thereof with the group, the willingness of participants to divulge truthfully or fully, preconceived opinions/assumptions the researcher has, etc.) As a second example ask students what they know about North American Indians. Ask them to consider how they know what they know and how accurate and authentic they feel their understandings are. Next, ask students to hypothetically consider studying a North American tribe to better understand a specific tribe as a unique cultural group. What would students be interested in studying or understanding? How could they go about gathering information that would be authentic and reliable? Introduce students to a formal definition of “ethnography” explaining how ethnographies contribute to our understanding of people groups, how they inform and misinform us, how ethnographers are influenced by the beliefs of their own time, how ethnographers try to be objective while also participating in the group, how ethnographers collect data (photographs, audio or video recordings, written journals or other writings), etc. Read some samples from the suggested texts or websites in the resources list below. Allow students to evaluate the value, authenticity, and objectivity of the excerpts. Discuss what each author wants to know about and how he/she has gone about gaining good information. Discuss some of the barriers/challenges these authors may have had in gathering good information. Introduce the North American Tribes ethnography project. In this project students may study any aspect of life related to any of the North American tribes. Students will draft a single research project to focus their work as individuals, in small groups, or as a class. Possible questions might be: What is it like to be a bicultural teenager? Why is living on the (specific reservation) reservation important to Native Americans who do? What is it like to be an urban Indian? How do Indian (choose a specific tribe) young people define their identities? How do (specific tribe) Indian young people view the role of elders in their tribes? What is the experience of (specific tribe) Indians who participate in pow wows, etc.? As a next step ask students to plan whom they will contact for information and how they will gather this information. If interviews are chosen, students should draft a series of interview questions to guide their questioning. Set specific parameters for the amount of information to be gathered and also suggest resources for students to pursue (tribal colleges, Native American studies departments, Indian organizations, willing Indian students or adults, etc.) One or two interview sources should be adequate for students to gain a substantial amount of new information. As individuals, small groups, or as a class students should organize their information and present it to the class, discussing how the ethnographic procedures helped them to better understand a group of people, how the study may have changed or improved their own thinking, reflections on the experience of being an ethnographer (objectivity), etc. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION FOR ADVANCED AND EMERGING LEARNERS Base ethnographic example information on auditory resources for struggling learners to reduce the amount of reading and comprehension work and create concrete examples of what to do for the assignment. Pair struggling learners with other students for the group project. For advanced learners allow students to choose an ethnographic study and evaluate it for bias, motivation, etc. Counting Coups: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn by Larry Colton (a contemporary example of ethnographic writing about Crow Indian young people based in Hardin, MT.) A Braid of Lives Edited by Neil Philip Publication Date: 2000 This book is a study of Native American childhood experiences through the compilation of direct quotations about childhood. Artist Julie Mehretu designed an ethnographic study that eventually became part of the permanent collection of the Hennepin History Museum in Minneapolis, MN. Go to this site for an inspirational excerpt about the project. An interactive Web site that incorporates the stories she collected can be found at http://tceastafrica.walkerart.org. EXPLORING THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF LEWIS AND CLARK Copy of scenarios - Kinesthetic (depending on research project choices) The ethnographic collections of Lewis and Clark are discussed at length through the Harvard Peabody Museum. See images of some of the remaining artifacts brought to Washington D.C. as a result of Lewis and Clark’s expedition. Allow 10 minutes for students to share their answers to the questions below with either small peer groups or the whole-class learning group. Imagine you are on the Lewis and Clark expedition. You are charged with bringing back a report of the people, places, animals, and land forms you encounter. - In describing the different tribes of Indians you encountered what types of observations should you make? - How would you make meaning of the new things you were seeing? - What types of information about these people groups should be included in your journal reports? - What do you need to know about a group of people in order to accurately define them? Provide half the class with Lewis and Clark’s report of the Clatsop stealing their elk meat. Give the other half the Clatsop story of Lewis and Clark stealing their canoe. Based on the description of this encounter, how would you define the character of the other group? Group 1 Scenario We have been stuck on the west coast all winter and each of us is eager to complete this mission and return home. We are going to need a lot of canoes to make an expedient return trip. We have purchased a few, but we need more. The Clatsops know how much we want them and I think this keeps them from trading with us for a canoe. We recently killed an elk. It was so big we were only able to carry a small portion of it back to our fort on foot. When returning to get the remainder of the elk, we found it had been stolen by the Clatsop. Today we plan to take a Clatsop canoe in exchange for that meat. Group 2 Scenario Lewis and Clark’s men have long been after us about the price of a canoe. We have been very generous with them although they have shared little with us. They do not have enough goods in all their stores to match the price of one of our fine canoes. Our 30-foot cutwater canoes can carry 10,000 pounds of goods for them. They are so valuable we give them as wedding gifts (brideprice) and they are the burial vessels for our greatest people. One of these canoes was stolen by Lewis and Clark’s men today. They say they have taken it in exchange for some elk meat, elk meat they left behind for the wolves to eat because they weren’t prepared to carry what they killed on the hunt. Ask students to report on their thoughts about the description of “the other” from their given perspective. Then read both scenarios aloud so that the whole class can hear the two different perspectives on the same event. It is important for students to understand that although ethnography is scientific, there may be more than one truth involved. It is also important to realize that while Lewis and Clark were studying the Natives, they were also the objects of study for the tribes they encountered. Both sides were taking notes. Read how James Ronda, an author on the topic of the Corps of Discovery, describes what this must have been like in retrospect. At the expedition’s departure from Fort Clatsop on March 22, 1806, Lewis wrote in his journal that Coboway “has been much more kind an[d] hospitable to us than any other indian in this neighbourhood.” Imagine someone has come to study the teenagers in your class. What do you think they will observe and how do you think they will interpret what they see? What things may influence the way in which they write about you (their perspective and tone)? How would you like to be represented? What would be a fair representation? If a group of 40-year-old scientists collected ethnographic information about your class, do you feel like they would understand what they observed? What things do you think you would have to explain to them? In small groups make a list of the qualities an ethnographer needs have to conduct a valuable study (unbiased, patient, thorough, open-minded, etc.). What does an ethnographer need to know about him/herself in order to conduct an effective study? Advanced discovery — Think of a people group you would like to better understand. It could be kindergarteners, skateboarders, school principals, custodians, parents, etc. Design an ethnographic study. Before beginning the study examine yourself as the ethnographic researcher. What is your motivation for doing the study? What biases might you have? Do you already expect to see something in particular? What impact might this expectation have on your study? Conduct the study to collect information about the group. You may record your observations and experiences in any form you wish (i.e., you could collect objects associated with the group, record verbal or video files (with their permission), draw pictures of important events, people, objects, etc., write journal entries, or any other recording method you can imagine, as long as it records accurately). What things did you learn about your population? Did you learn anything unexpected? How has your study influenced your perceptions of this group? How do you think your study will influence others who read it? DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION FOR ADVANCED AND EMERGING LEARNERS Struggling learners may be given more time to respond to the questions posed in discussion if they are allowed to take a list home and respond in writing or through voice recording. (Many students have phones with recording capabilities and can send audio files to a teacher’s email.) Struggling students may also be paired with peers who can help guide them through discussion. They could also be paired with a peer to conduct the ethnographic study. Advanced learners can do a deeper analysis of the findings of their ethnographic research. They may also be instructed to read a formal ethnographic study to gain insight into the process and methods for this type of research and technical writing. Harvard Peabody Museum’s website with a record of objects collected by Lewis and Clark for their ethnographic study THE ETHNOPOETRY OF MARDELL PLAINFEATHER - Copy of the book The Woman Who Loved Mankind, Lilian Bullshows Hogan or a link to view the first chapter on Amazon - Cell phone Ethnopoetry is a form of ethnography. Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i.e., storytelling) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the poetic performance elements which would otherwise be lost in the written texts. The goal of ethnopoetry is to accurately reflect the unique manner in which information is shared orally within a specific cultural context. Mardell Plainfeather is a contemporary member of the Crow (Apsáalooke) tribe. She has used ethnopoetics to record the voice of her mother as a means of showing a more accurate picture of Crow life, thought, spirituality, identity etc. Listen to a public radio audio recording of an interview with Mardell Plainfeather about her book, The Woman Who Loved Mankind, Lilian Bullshows, Hogan. The book uses ethnopoetry to record the life story of a twentieth-century Crow elder. - How might ethnopoetry better explain a person or people than other forms of ethnography? - What are the advantages of using ethnopoetry to learn about people? - Why did Mardell choose ethnopoetry to record Lilian’s life? Allow students to read an excerpt from Mardell’s book. The sections are short and can be read in about 5 minutes. You can either purchase a copy of her book or the first chapter can be read on Amazon by clicking on the picture of the book where it says, “Look Inside”. Students should read a segment and then examine the ways in which this literary form of ethnography may add to what we already know about Crow people from ethnographic work and other sources. How can ethnopoetics give us insight into the lives of a particular group of people? What does it teach us about humanity? Using a cell phone, record a person or two people speaking. How does the way that they talk give you insight into who they are and the things that influence them? Listen to your recording. How can this conversation be written so that it most effectively and accurately conveys the ethnographic information? Write up your conversation using the idea of ethnopoetics as a guide. Trade your ethnopoetry with another group. Analyzing what you have read, talk to the group about what their ethnopoetry communicated to you about the people you recorded. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION FOR ADVANCED AND EMERGING LEARNERS Advanced students may read and analyze larger portions of the Plainfeather text and also examine other examples of ethnopoetry to look at differences and similarities between the examples. They may also analyze the effectiveness of these forms to communicate information about people groups. Rather than reading a portions of the Plainfeather text, the text could be read aloud for struggling students. Public radio interview with Mardell Plainfeather about her ethnopoetic work. Amazon site for The Woman Who Loved Mankind, the “look inside” link will allow students to read the first chapter - A selection of historical photographs (you could consider using the historic photos found in Supaman’s You Tube video, The Prayer in the Christian Takes Gun lesson). - Disposable cameras or cell phones with picture-taking capabilities - Poster board Discuss the power of image in various historical contexts (i.e., Lewis and Clark’s drawings or the iconography surrounding the Corps of Discovery, J.F.K’s presidential election following the first televised debate, Hitler’s use of film and photograph as war propaganda – the construction of an alternate reality, WWII raising of the flag photograph illustrated in the movie Flags of Our Fathers as well as other images that moved the American people – Hurricane Katrina, atrocities in Darfur, AIDS in Africa, images of jets flying into the World Trade Center, etc.) During this discussion consider questions of the following nature: What is true about each photograph? How does the photo craft or influence our sense of reality? What meaning do we construe from each photo? What is the intended message or meaning? How does who controls the photo affect how we see it? Allow students to select a historic photograph (independently or from a predetermined selection) to research. For each photograph students should find out who took the photo, something significant about the person’s background that may contribute to the WHY of the photo’s taking, the historical climate at the time of the photo’s taking and public display, the intended purpose of the use of the photo, and the public’s reaction to the photo. Students should present the photos and their research to the class. These presentations should be used as a bridge to discuss other photos that have shaped and continue to shape our beliefs about reality (such as those of Native Americans). When we see contemporary photos of Indian people we usually see them in their dance regalia. What is the significance of this observation? What do photos like this tell us about Indian people? What don’t they tell us? Is what photos like these communicate true about Indian people? What is the purpose of using these types of photographs? Why is their use to depict contemporary Indian people so prevalent? Consider the photographs of Indian students taken during the boarding school era. Carlisle Indian Industrial School has many before and after photos of students. The first photos were taken when students entered the boarding schools. Students were photographed in their “Native” clothing and often placed sitting on the ground. Their dark skin was enhanced photographically. The second photos were taken after students were “civilized”. Students were photographed in military uniform or domestics clothing, seated on chairs, and their skin appears lighter. What was the purpose of these photos? Scroll down this web page to see pictures of Tom Torlino. Engage students in a discussion about how we take pictures of people. What are we trying to capture about them? How do we depict culture through photography? If we want to tell a story or capture the essence of the way in which a group of people live, what should we try to photograph? The use of the quotes and other materials included in the books and excerpts referenced below would lend much to this discussion. Consider reading some parts of these books aloud or allowing students to read these books. Following the discussion and readings, give each student a disposable camera (or ask each student to purchase one or use cell phones) and ask them to use the set number of photos to capture the essence of a cultural group. (You may need to discuss what a cultural group is at this time.) As a way of allowing students to really think about what they “see” in other people, allow students to present their photos, mounted on a standard sized piece of poster board. Each student should present what he/she feels is represented by each photo and what this idea tells about the culture being depicted. For each presentation discuss as a class what is seen and what is not seen, what is true and what may not be. Also consider mentioning how possible biases may influence the taking of photos. Students should understand that biases are not necessarily bad, they just require awareness. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION FOR ADVANCED AND EMERGING LEARNERS Allow struggling students to verbalize their descriptions of the photos they take rather than creating a poster board. This verbalization could happen in smaller groups or oneon- one with a teacher or peer depending on the level of modification needed. Advanced learners may work with controversial photos and research the impact of these photos on later historical events. They might also design a research study to show how people respond to photos they take to see how messages are transmitted through images or analyze cultural images in film or commercials. Excavating Voices: Listening to Photographs of Native Americans, by Michael Katakis, University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1998, ISBN 0-92-417157-X Regarding the Pain of Others, by Susan Sontag “The photographs are a means of making “real” (or “more real”) matters that the privileged and the merely safe might prefer to ignore.” (p.7) Carlisle Indian School photographs of Tom Torlino

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GradesK to 12 In the ClassroomAs an example, use a verb from Bloom' taxonomy such as "evaluate." Click on the part of the sentence at the top, in parenthesis, to enter your content such as "patterns of environmental issues." Choose the resource you want students to use, the product you want them to make, and the number of students in a group by clicking on the tabs. Example objective: Students will evaluate the patterns of environmental issues using websites to create a news report in groups of two. Save your objective by copying and pasting it into any document or online tool. The Differentiator will give you many project ideas that you may not have thought of yourself, and serves as a welcome reminder of different activities and expectations you can use in your classroom. Take a look at this site at the beginning of the school year or when creating a new unit (or project). Find new ways to differentiate for your gifted students using this creative and powerful tool. If your gifted students test out of your current math lessons, use this site to find new material to challenge their minds. This site is deceptively quick and simple, but it could be very useful when writing detailed, powerful lesson plans. GradesK to 12 NOTE: Although the videos are listed on this site, they actually "live" elsewhere on the Internet, so some videos may be blocked in your school (those on YouTube, for example). Always pretest to be sure the video you hope to use is accessible at school! In the ClassroomShare these videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. This is a great site to use when planning for substitute teachers, as an introduction to a new unit, or even as additional information on a specific topic. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own videos about topics being studied in social studies, science, math, or nearly any other topic. Share the videos using Teachers.TV reviewed here. Include this link on your class web page for students to access outside of schools for reinforcement and further exploration of concepts. GradesK to 12 Important note: As with many dictionaries, students will be able to find words that are not appropriate for the classroom. A quick check of the web browser's History will tell you what they have been looking up should you notice a bit too much "interest" in looking up words! Wordnik does add an exclamation point graphic next to inappropriate (swear) words. If you register, you can add notes to each entry for future use, report typos, and enter information about words. You can also create personal wordlists and more. As a "social" word tool, Wordnik, is a site for any technology user and could serve as a vocabulary hub for your individual students to become wordaholics by sharing, exploring, commenting, and more -- all about words! In the ClassroomUse wordnik when students are stumped with definitions or uses of a word. Demonstrate how context clues can help readers understand meanings. Increase vocabulary by finding words that are giving students problems during a lesson and assigning those words to be examined by students. Use wordnik to find words of the day. Students can use wordnik to find examples of the word and create technology or conventional displays of information. Have students create online posters displaying their new vocabulary words. Encourage ESL/ELL students and those with weaker vocabulary to use Wordnik often, possibly creating personal word lists, recording pronunciations, or sharing words with each other (see safety concerns). Use an online poster creator, such as Adobe Spark, reviewed here. Another technology infused idea: create an online glossary book as a class (or in cooperative learning groups) using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Since the general public can share, make comments, etc, on this site, use this opportunity to discuss netiquette of commenting, and other appropriate behavior on "social" sites before allowing students to establish accounts. Spell out consequences and be sure you know the usernames and passwords your students use. Less mature students may be very tempted by the opportunities to play with "bad" words or record their voices. Grades2 to 12 tag(s): authors (122) In the ClassroomIf you are looking for favorite classic stories to use in your classroom, try this site. Project the text on your interactive whiteboard as examples for grammar exercises, such as highlighting adjectives or punctuating dialog. Practice "main idea" on your whiteboard using passages from a classic. Have students choose a book using this list. Instead of traditional book reports, have students create multimedia presentations. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts using a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Another idea: have students create online posters using a tool such as Padlet (reviewed here). Include this site on your website, wiki, blog, or newsletter that promotes summer reading. ESL and ELL students will appreciate having a ready source for extra reading. Grades1 to 12 One disadvantage of the site is that you can only enter a keyword when you get to the third step. After a book list based on interests appears, then you can search by keyword to make the search zero in on specifics. When teachers or students select books for a reading list, they can then click to see the complete list of books they have selected. Clicking on a book title leads to another screen, but it does not contain a book summary; instead, it has a list of other keywords for the book along with other book data. In the ClassroomThis site is great for teachers searching for books at specific lexile levels. Learning support and ESL/ELL teachers can find books to accompany units in content area classes but on the correct lexile level. Students can also use the site by entering their grade levels and what kind of readers they are. Use this site to differentiate the learning experience for all levels of students. Rather than having students complete traditional book reports, why not have them complete a multimedia project? Provide some choices such as a podcast, using PodoMatic (reviewed here), interactive venn diagram comparing characters (reviewed here), or online book using Bookemon (reviewed here). Grades4 to 12 In the ClassroomWhy search for these sites, when the links can all be found in one place? Use this site in combination with TeachersFirst's rich reviews. Students can use these links as a springboard to research and projects. Be sure to save this site in your personal favorites! There is a lot to explore. List this site on your class website and/or wiki for students to access both in and out of the classroom. GradesK to 6 In the ClassroomShare this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Assign your students some of these stories to read to use as models for their own creative writing. Try the online spelling bee and ask your students to compare that to the live version! Have students read their own creative stories on a podcast. Use a tool such as PodOmatic, reviewed here, or upload illustrations and read the story on ThingLink, reviewed here. Grades4 to 12 In the ClassroomUse this site to show your students that anyone can become a poet when they balk at reading poetry. Share some of the poetry on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Read some of your required poems and then look at the "Tags" and ask your students to decide where poetry written by others should be placed. Go on to ask them if they can think of other Tags to add. Since many of the poems here have holiday themes, use this as a quick activity before a holiday or to encourage students to reflect on family holiday traditions. ESL/ELL students will not have to worry so much about their grammar when embarking on poetry writing! They'll love to be thought creative. If you are permitted to "publish" your students' poetry, why not go one step further and have them narrate a picture using the words from their poem at a site such as ThingLink reviewed here. Or have students share their poems using a podcasting site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Grades4 to 10 To read/listen to the articles, you must put in an email address. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. tag(s): news (259) In the ClassroomHave students make a vocabulary list of new words they see/hear from the stories each week. Include a story from NFY every week to present a slightly different take on the television news or paper news headlines. Have your students create their own "headline" news and video the projects! Share the videos using a tool such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Grades2 to 12 In the ClassroomIf you have students with limited vision or certain specific qualifying learning disabilities in your class, be sure to save this useful resource in your favorites. List this link on your class website or wiki or email it to parents of these children. If possible, share this site with those teachers working with students with limited vision and qualifying disabilities. Grades2 to 12 tag(s): authors (122) In the ClassroomIf you are looking for favorite classic stories to use in your classroom, try here. Make a list of those you would like for students to read online with the URLs here. Include this site on your flyer that goes home promoting summer reading. Or list the link on your class website or wiki. ESL/ELL students will appreciate having a ready source for extra reading. Rather than the "same old" book reports, have students create multimedia presentations! How about comparing two pivotal literature characters using on interactive Venn Diagram (reviewed here). GradesK to 12 The teacher's link offers classroom activities (many interactive) that tie in with the lesson plans. There is also a link to receive FREE kits and handbooks! The "Parents" link offers activities and ideas for ages 2-17! There are online activities, recommended books, "talking points" for parents, and more. The "For Teens" link includes a wealth of resources: video clips, lessons, 10 steps to take action, downloadable posters, essays, and true stories. The Kid's link offers "read," "Explore," and "Play" options for elementary (and younger middle school) students. A "sign up" box appears when you first enter the site, click on the X to remove the box. In the ClassroomOf course, the obvious uses for this site include preparing for Black History Month or Women's History Month, consult this site for more than that! Don't just visit the Teacher's link, but check out the kids and teens links for videos and interactive that you can share on your projector or interactive whiteboard. If you are unsure of how to approach a touchy subject with your students--either a subject from the news like the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules, or something that is happening in your school or community, this site can provide resources for you and your students. Subscribe to Tolerance.org's emailed newsletter, or order one of the curriculum kits; the newest one is Viva la Causa about Cesar Chavez and the struggle for justice for farmworkers in the 1960s. This is a great addition to your school's anti-bully program! Take advantage of the free lesson plans, class activities, interactive, and book recommendations. This is definitely one to list on your class website! This houses a WEALTH of resources! Thank you, Teaching TOLERANCE.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12 Grades2 to 12 This site includes advertising. In the ClassroomCreate a new group by finding an already listed school or adding your own. Create flashcards easily by entering the question, answer, explanations, and mnemonics in the appropriate tabs. Students can create a profile and join or create a group. Consider creating a class account that has a global login and password that all students can access. Students would need to be cautioned against deleting or changing flashcards created by other students. Students would not be able to join groups using this option. All projects are public. Check your school policy for posting student work online. Create flashcards for students to study or have students create them as an assignment. Create the original questions of the flashcards and assign students to determine the answers, find links for additional information, and add hints and mnemonics to complete the deck. Have groups of students use the flashcards for study time and for critique of the flashcard deck creator(s.) No matter the topic or subject, this flashcard site has great uses for student learning. Use flash cards for terminology, test review, or reinforcement. Have students create and critique sets as the actual assessment, replacing traditional tests and quizzes. Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others Requires registration/log-in (WITH email) Products can be shared by URL Multiple users can collaborate on the same project GradesK to 6 The "Teachers Section" includes a treasure of information (see the tabs on the LEFT side). Some of the information on other sections of the Teacher Page involves an online course. But there is enough FREE stuff on the left side to make this site phenomenal: podcasts, videos, and many lesson topics. Find lesson plans, videos, teaching tips, research, and more about Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating, Synthesizing, and Using Other Strategies. The Student portion offers interactive, technology-based activities for each of the comprehension concepts. Check out the student-created Visualizing activities, including drawing pictures and adding music using the online tools. This site requires both Flash and Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. In the ClassroomShare the tools (podcasts, videos, and other interactives) on a projector or interactive whiteboard to introduce students to this site. Then have students try some of the interactives on individual computers or at a learning center! Take advantage of these ready to go lesson plans, printables, and teaching tips. What a fabulous site to integrate into your language arts classes! Have students use this site to create multimedia presentations. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of one of the concepts. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Grades3 to 12 The FAQ section is extremely helpful, explaining how to use the site with different browsers and languages. It also instructs those who use the site how to zoom, change the "Skins" of the site, and how to convert text to html. Once a student or teacher clicks on a specific language, a separate keyboard appears on the screen that features any diacritical markings or other special language features. This page also contains links to relevant search engines, videos, maps, dictionaries, and other reference tools. Be aware: this site does include some advertisements. This site uses Java and Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. In the ClassroomAs you study English cognates and vocabulary, you can compare the same word in different languages or to make quick comparisons of multiple languages to see the "families" of world languages and etymology. Share this site with your international students and also with students studying foreign languages. They may already know about it as a tool for doing "translation" homework, but you can use it to demonstrate the power of idioms and why direct translation is not so simple! Another strength of this site is in being able to access web-based tools in another language. Language students will be able to do a complete travel search in another language, for example, search, select, plan, and purchase a trip using another language before writing it up. You can also copy and paste the translations, by clicking "select." Why not have students create a multimedia presentation using this site? Make an online book using the new language (with translations on the next page, if necessary). Or create personal vocabulary books of words from a given language or comparisons of words from multiple languages. Use a tool such as Bookemon (reviewed here). Grades2 to 12 In the ClassroomWhat a fabulous site for ESL, ELL, learning support, and students learning Spanish! Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share this site with Spanish students who do well at working on learning independently. ESL and ELL students will also benefit from going through the lessons, individually or in pairs. Teachers can register independently from their students and keep track of learner progress and participation. As students learn new vocabulary words, challenge cooperative learning groups to create an online book sharing their newfound vocabulary. Use a tool such as Bookemon (reviewed here). Grades2 to 12 In the ClassroomShare this site, on your interactive whiteboard or projector, with world language students, particularly independent learners at whom the site is aimed. Students getting ready to take school-sponsored trips to European countries, for example, could benefit from the quick introduction and easy access this site provides to simple language lessons. ESL and ELL students will enjoy using the English podcasts as supplements to their in-school English instruction. Why not challenge students to create their own language podcasts using a site such as Podomatic (reviewed here). Grades2 to 10 tag(s): wikis (21) In the ClassroomAs with any dictionary, this reference book contains all sorts of words including words of a sexual nature. So be sure to preview your search and give students warnings about appropriate use! Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. This is very helpful for all students. However, especially for ESL and ELL students, who might need a quick picture to help define a type of tree, plant, or food not familiar to them. Why not have students create their own wiki about your current science or social studies topic (or any other subjects). Have cooperative learning groups use vocabulary words, provide the definitions, AND find some photos to share. Not sure what a wiki is? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. GradesK to 12 tag(s): flash cards (45) In the ClassroomShare the online vocabulary words on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can work in pairs at a computer to enhance the flashcard learning. GED and placement test learners will find this feature most useful. Foreign language learners will find all their flash card needs are met with this site. Share this site on your class website for students to use to practice both in and out of the classroom. Use this tool with ESL/ELL students. Use this site for students to practice new science vocabulary words. Imagine the possibilities! GradesK to 12 In the ClassroomSharing with friends for collaboration does require the sending of an email invitation. Explore the guided tour to learn an overview or find answers to specific use questions. Save your "sets" and decide whether you want them to be completely public, just for you personally, or shared with a "group." Create your own groups for each class or subject. Publish your cards for others to use. Published sets can be altered to create a new and personalized set. Teachers in lower grades will want to create cards their students can use and perhaps have more techno-savvy help with the process. Content and English teachers may choose to set up their own network of users. Learning support teachers could suggest that their students create their own flashcard sets to assist learning of the concepts. Use the interactive whiteboard or projector for quick flashcard or electronic testing using your sets as a whole class or in small groups in the classroom. Collaborate with other teachers to create useful sets for all to use. Rotate responsibility each marking period among student groups in your class to create a set for each chapter/unit/week for the rest of the class to use as review. Give a special award (or bonus points) for the most creative, complete set that marking period.

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What is Imaginative Education We will begin with a piece written by Claudia Ruitenber, and edited by Mark Fettes, which gives an abbreviated look at one of the sets of ideas we have been working with. Claudia gives examples of the main ideas by reference to quotations from Winne the Pooh—you should be warned! Imaginative Education: an Introductory Exposition Imaginative Education is a way of teaching and learning that is based on engaging learners’ imaginations. Imagination is the ability to think of what might be possible, in a manner that is not tightly constrained by the actual or taken-for-granted. It is the “reaching out” feature of the mind, enabling us to go beyond what we have mastered so far. Without human imagination, no culture would look the way it does today, and no learner would be able to participate in and contribute to that culture. Since there are already so many models for education, many of which are quite disappointing when put into practice, you may wonder what Imaginative Education offers that others do not. One of its strengths is that it corresponds more close to how people acquire lasting understandings of the world. Many ideas about education rely on notions of storage and retrieval (or “banking”), where the main challenge for the learner is lies in mentally storing as much correct information as possible, and then being able to retrieve that information when needed. Education is also sometimes thought of as an assembly-line process, in which the main challenge for the learner lies in the progressive accumulation of pieces of knowledge and skills. Probably most of us are familiar with schools and teachers that function according to the banking or assembly-line models. Some children even succeed in performing well on tests of this kind of learning. However, many do not succeed, and even the successful test-takers find that much of that stored or assembled knowledge has a short shelf-life: it quickly fades from memory. It has also been widely recognized that knowledge of this kind is often difficult to apply to new situations and challenges. Imaginative education tries to address both of these problems, by generating understandings that are both flexible and lasting. To accomplish this, the imaginative educator seeks to value and build upon the way the child understands her or his experiences, rather than always focusing on the “adult” way of understanding as the measure of learning. To do this, educators themselves must be imaginative and sensitive to dimensions of learning that they may have never thought of as relevant to education. How can I picture this Imaginative Education? Think of a child’s journey to adulthood (and, for most children, through school) as a slow climb through five different ecological zones. In each zone, children come to understand the world in different ways, each building on the kinds of understanding they have previously achieved. There are many possible names for these zones, and there could be less than or more than five, depending on what you believe is centrally important in education. The five we use here were described by Kieran Egan, a professor of education at Simon Fraser University, based on the different ways we learn to use language. He called the five zones Somatic, Mythic, Romantic, Philosophic and Ironic. The process of climbing through these five zones is not a steady and inevitable one. Children do not “naturally” develop one kind of understanding at a particular age, and another kind at another age. All kinds of understanding are closely bound up with the cultural context, the place and time, in which the child develops them. One of the problems posed by “banking” or “assembly-line” education is that it does not cultivate any of these kinds of understanding particularly well. It is as if the children, instead of hiking upwards at their own speed with helpful and unhurried guides, are crammed into a bus and whisked up the road with checklists clenched in their hands and noses pressed to the window, trying to make sense of the landscape as it whips by. It is also important to realize that these kinds of understanding are not completely distinct from one another, just as one ecological zone blends into the next with no clear dividing line. Nor are later kinds of understanding necessarily “better” than earlier kinds. Each kind of understanding brings new capacities with it, but these work best if they can be combined with earlier capacities rather than replacing them. In Imaginative Education, the challenge is not only mastery of new tools for understanding the world, but also not losing mastery of old tools! Even if, at different ages and for different tasks, certain kinds of understanding are used more than others, we rarely use only one tool to construct meaning (like we rarely construct an object with only one tool). In the story of a child’s journey that we develop here, it is the acquisition of different kinds of linguistic tool that propels the child from one zone to another. All children begin in the Somatic zone, and progress to the Mythic zone with entry into oral language. After that, however, the story differs greatly for different children. In modern, western cultures, many children are tugged rather abruptly into the Romantic zone with exposure to the products of mass literacy, including other media such as television which are heavily influenced by the written word. In school these same children are exposed early on to the products of Philosophic thinking, which permeates the textbooks and curriculum. At this point in their lives, children have not had the time or experience necessary for a deep imaginative understanding of these forms of language; some, including children from very different cultural backgrounds, may find them so meaningless that they develop a profound detachment (typically by the age of nine or ten) from the whole process of formal education. Imaginative education presents an alternative vision of what education could and should be. It suggests that almost any topic can be made meaningful for children at almost any age and stage of development, but that this requires a deep rethinking of teaching and learning. In order for teachers to be able to use the model, they have to develop the ability to construct and reconstruct meaning along with their students. Teachers who have taught in this way have observed that the model changes the whole learning environment. It changes what they teach, and how they teach it, but it also changes how they think about the very process of education. Instead of conceiving of Imaginative Education as a simple linear journey, or as a jigsaw puzzle, where we can focus on one piece at a time, it is perhaps better to try to picture Imaginative Education as hologram. If a hologram is broken into pieces, each piece contains an image of the whole. In the following explanation of the five zones of understanding, A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh story “An Expotition to the North Pole” will be used as a focal text. This whimsical tale of a rather baffling journey to an uncertain destination parallels, in some ways, the child’s journey through life and school. At the same time it has many layers that can be accessed in different ways to develop different kinds of understanding. - Somatic Understanding - Mythic Understanding - Romantic Understanding - Philosophic Understanding - Ironic Understanding The Piglet was sitting on the ground at the door of his house blowing happily at a dandelion… Somatic understanding is corporeal, physical, bodily understanding. The child’s own body, the way that body moves around in space, and the way it relates to the objects and persons it encounters in the space, are the primary tool, the first way of making sense of experience. Sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell provide the child with information about her or his own body, and about her or his immediate environment. But also beyond these direct sensory perceptions, the pre-language-using child, through her or his body, experiences balance, movement, tension, pain, pleasure, speed, distance, and so on. Imaginative education recognizes the importance of this kind of understanding to children’s development; it also highlights the effort required to retain and enrich it as the child gets older. As other kinds of understanding are developed, it can be quite challenging to maintain mastery of the body and its senses. When we observe that someone doesn’t know “how to listen to his body,” or that someone “has become disconnected from her body,” we are referring to the loss of a Somatic understanding of the world. The result can be to cut off the individual from realms of experience that are necessary for the imagination to function well, as poets and other artists know. Many parents and teachers have observed with surprise that young children listen attentively to stories that are much too difficult for them to understand, and even to stories in languages foreign to them. Even if the child is unable to “make sense” of the story, because the language used is abstract and complex, and/or because the story structure is very complicated, and/or because the themes are entirely unfamiliar, that child may seem to enjoy the story. So what is the child enjoying about the story, and how is the child processing the experience? The child is relating to the changes in volume and pitch of the voice, to the sounds of the words, to the rhythm of the sounds. The child is relating to the facial expressions and gestures of the storyteller. When the child is curled up against the storyteller, s/he also related to the rhythm of breathing, the heartbeat, warmth and smell of the storyteller. From these examples, it is clear that the child’s body is the main tool that allows the child to enjoy the experience. When reading (and perhaps singing) aloud “An Exposition to the North Pole,” the body is the tool used to relate to the rhythm and energy (and perhaps melody) of the song Winnie-the-Pooh sings to himself when he is on his way to Christopher Robin. Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear! Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear! I don’t much mind if it rains or snows, ‘Cos I’ve got a lot of honey on my nice new nose! I don’t much care if it snows or thaws, ‘Cos I’ve got a lot of honey on my nice clean paws! Sing Ho! for a Bear! Sing Ho! for a Pooh! And I’ll have a little something in a hour or two! Through a bodily way of relating to the song, the child can develop a Somatic understanding of the song, of its cheerfulness and carefree tone, without having a language understanding of “cheerful” and “carefree.” This embodied understanding of those emotions, of the nature of song, will stay with the child and undergird the later interpretation and use of language. They’ve no imagination. A tail isn’t a tail to them, it’s just a Little Bit Extra at the back. It is in the transition to oral language that human understanding becomes quite distinct from that of other species. Learning to make sense of the world not through direct experience, but through conventionalized sounds that evoke and blend certain aspects of experience in novel ways, is an extraordinary leap – one propelled by imagination. The term “mythic”, from the Greek mythos, story, is chosen to highlight one crucial feature of oral language: the story constitutes its central structure for communication. The story form not only organizes content, but also directs our feelings about that content: that is why it is memorable. At a still more detailed level, one can identify a number of basic features that help stories accomplish this, even though all are not necessarily present in a single story. As children climb upward through the Mythic zone, they can be aided to achieve a deeper mastery of these tools that will stand them in good stead later on. Binary structuring helps us organize our experience through the tension between two opposites. In many fairy tales, for instance, the battle between good and bad characters is the central organizing principle that gives meaning to the story. As Mythic understanding progresses, simple binary opposites come to be mediated by many intermediate qualities: between hot and cold can be located warm, and then lukewarm, tepid, cool, and so on. It is the sharp, effectively engaging contrast between extremes, however, that makes this feature of storytelling so effective. Of course binary opposites, such as good/bad, active/passive, and male/female are rather primitive organizing principles, and it is important that we learn to see the many shades of grey that lie between black and white. Binary opposites are a way into sense-making, but in the process of constructing meaning, the opposites need to be mediated. Story not only organizes and energizes the world of experience; it also provides a means for exploring beyond the latter’s limits. To reflect on the contrast between life and death, we invent ghosts. To reflect on the contrast between nature and culture, we invent talking plants and animals. To reflect on the contrast between humans and animals, we invent mermaids and Sasquatches. These imaginative constructs enable us to probe and extend our understanding of the world, finding unlooked-for connections and discrepancies, personifying abstractions. Closely allied to fantasy is the imaginative capacity of metaphor, which arguably is central to language. In the process of learning to talk, children are unconsciously acquiring an enormous store of everyday metaphoric projections. This could be considered an “as if” tool: when we say, for instance, that the weather “smiled” at us, we speak of the weather as if it were a person. Children of five and six often have a capacity for inventing metaphors that exceeds anything adults have to offer. Rhyme and Rhythm The nature of oral language gives it qualities over and above its use as an imaginative tool. Rhyme and rhythm are features that build upon our Somatic understanding, using it to create ways of helping us remember stories. The poems and chants that form an important part of children’s literature owe much of their power to the physical and aesthetic pleasure gained from reciting them. In the story “An Exposition to the North Pole,” Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and their friends go on an adventure in search of the North Pole. In a Mythic Understanding of the story, it is primarily an exciting fantasy story, built upon the binary opposites of safety and danger. Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and their friends leave the safety and familiarity of home to go somewhere uncertain and unknown. During their journey, Pooh and Owl have a talk about Ambushes and Roo encounters Danger when he falls in a stream. It is important that the central binary opposites of safety and danger are mediated. Excitement and adventure are experienced when danger and safety are mediated: too much safety leads to dullness, too much danger to paralyzing fear – but a bit of danger, handled wisely, can be quite exciting. ‘Pooh’s found the North Pole,’ said Christopher Robin. ‘Isn’t that lovely?’ Romantic Understanding help us organize our experience through an exploration of the extremes of experience and the limits of reality. The word “romantic” is derived from the French romance, which originally referred to a species of fictitious writing, first in meter in the Romance dialects, and afterward in prose, such as the tales of the court of Arthur. The word “romance” came to denote any fictitious and wonderful tale, especially about the adventures of a hero or heroine. This way of making sense of the world derives from the way that written language has been used in Western culture. It is this personifying or humanizing tendency, in which the reality principle is becoming more important, that most clearly marks the Romantic from the Mythic zone. Allied to it is children’s growing realization of the complexity and strangeness of the world, and their own marginality within it. This sensibility has become so pervasive in modern society that not only works of fiction but newspapers, magazines, films and television shows are largely oriented toward Romantic understanding. Central to mastery of the tools of Romantic Understanding is a sense of the self as an autonomous unit, that interacts with, but is separate from the world. Once we understand that we are not integral participants in all stories and processes, the way we previously thought in our somatic and mythic understandings, we may end up feeling disconnected. Making sure that we don’t lose our ability to make sense of the world in somatic and mythic ways, is what can keep this alienation in check. Exploration of Limits and Extremes Limits and extremes provide a basic organizing principle for Romantic understanding. An exploration of limits and extremes gives a sense of the boundaries within which we need to make sense of experience: not only the limits of reality “out there,” but also the limits of the human endeavors possible in that reality. A child in the Romantic zone will pore over the Guinness Book of Records, compose stories of dinosaurs and space travel, spend hours on their trading card or postage stamp collection – all in aid of measuring the familiar against the possible. Identification with Heroes and Heroines Heroes and heroines show that human beings not only live within constraints, but also that, at times, they manage to overcome these constraints. Identification with human beings who have been exemplary, in courage or compassion, strength or love, ingenuity or humility, is an important component of Romantic understanding. In “An Exposition to the North Pole,” the “exposition” of course isn’t a real expedition, and the North Pole isn’t the real North Pole; but we understand and empathize with Christopher Robin as he sets out to reenact Peary’s trek in his imagination. Who would not want to be an explorer, a Discoverer of Things? As in others of the Pooh stories, we are presented with personality types, from Eeyore the Extremely Gloomy to Piglet the Very Timid, that help to map out the complicated terrain of human temperament. Pooh, as the unassuming hero who saves Roo from drowning, offers a role model that suggests one need not be the Best at anything in order to succeed. Owl was explaining that in a case of Sudden and Temporary Immersion the Important Thing was to keep the Head Above Water. Written language, of course, can be used for many purposes; and it is its use for developing a systematic understanding of the world that propels the child into the zone of Philosophic understanding. The word “philosophic” is derived from the Greek philosophia, love of wisdom (philos = dear, loved; sophia = wisdom, learning). The Philosophic mind focuses on the connections among things, seeing laws, theories, and larger purpose as tying together the previously disconnected phenomena and experiences. One of the most important connections is that between the individual and the world. The Romantic understanding of the self as separate from but involved in the world now receives a Philosophic explanation. Generalization is central to Philosophic understanding: the search for new organizing principles to make sense of the multitude of experiences in the adolescent’s expanding horizons. What needs nurturing at this stage is a willingness to compare generalization with concrete particulars. If Romantic understanding risks trivialization, Philosophic understanding risks falling into dogmatic assertion of Truth. This risk may be especially high if the prior forms of understanding, Somatic, Mythic, and Romantic, are set aside in the pursuit of abstract knowledge. In “An Exposition to the North Pole,” the contributions of the various members of the party raise interesting questions about motivation, effectiveness, and ethics. Consider, for example, the following exchange between Christopher Robin and Rabbit: As soon as he had finished his lunch Christopher Robin whispered to Rabbit, and Rabbit said, ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ and they walked a little way up the stream together. ‘I don’t want the others to hear,’ said Christopher Robin. ‘Quite so,’ said Rabbit, looking important. ‘It’s – I wondered – It’s only – Rabbit, I supposed you don’t know. What does the North Pole look like?’ ‘Well,’ said Rabbit, stroking his whiskers. ‘Now you’re asking me.’ ‘I did know once, only I’ve sort of forgotten,’ said Christopher Robin carelessly. ‘It’s a funny thing,’ said Rabbit, ‘but I’ve sort of forgotten too, although I did know once.’ Rabbit, of course, is the overbearing know-it-all who can’t bring himself to admit any weakness at all; but what should we make of Christopher Robin, leading his friends off on a wild-goose-chase? Is it not incumbent upon a leader to know exactly where they are going? Has he taken Rabbit aside to save face or to save the Expotition? ‘Oh!’ said Pooh. ‘I know.’ But he didn’t really. The great appeal of Philosophic understanding is that it will finally and completely explain the world through which the students have made their way for fifteen or twenty years. If this kind of understanding is well developed (as it presently is for relatively few people), one will eventually run up against the limits of systematic, theoretic thinking, and the illusion that language can ever capture everything that is important about the world. From this realization grows Ironic understanding. The word “ironic” is derived from the Greek eironeia, which means feigned ignorance (from eiron, dissembler). Socrates, the most famous classical ironist, professed ignorance, but was accused of feigning this ignorance and using it as a rhetorical device in his method of questioning. Today, irony more generally refers to the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. Ironic understanding has a certain transparency or reflective quality to it. When we use it together with other kinds of understanding, we not only make sense of our experience, but we are also aware that that meaning has been constructed by us, and does not exist “out there” in some objective world. An Ironic understanding of the world tells us that the way we have made sense of our world is dependent upon our historical and cultural perspective. Although this can lead to disappointment or cynicism, a more positive alternative is a kind of lightheartedness, a sense of humour about it all. People with a developed Ironic understanding are able not only to take sides on a particular question, but to understand their motives for taking sides, to understand the reasons why others might disagree with them, and perhaps to share their ironic sense of the situation. The generalizing tendency of the Philosophic mind is turned back on itself, to locate every generalization and every abstraction in the human context from which it sprang. The story “An Exposition to the North Pole” is full of irony and clever word plays. Consider the following brief encounter between Winnie-the-Pooh and Rabbit. The first person he met was Rabbit. ‘Hallo, Rabbit,’ he said, ‘is that you?’ ‘Let’s pretend it isn’t,’ said Rabbit, ‘and see what happens.’ ‘I’ve got a message for you.’ ‘I’ll give it to him.’ Rabbit’s answer is paradoxical, and humorous because of it. While he answers when Pooh addresses him as “Rabbit,” he also puts forward the possibility that he is not Rabbit. Of course in a scientific, literal understanding of the world, it is not possible to be and not be someone at the same time. In an Ironic Understanding of experience, however, the mind is able to read, write and speak, while at the same time calling the underlying assumptions of that reading, writing and speech into question. This kind of self-reference recurs throughout the Pooh stories and helps to give them their quirky, memorable charm.

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If you’d like to read about the implementation of the video game Gone Home in a high school English class, start here. Want to know how to turn your class into an alternate reality game, start here for an overview, or keep reading for the resource toolkit. Welcome to the Toolkit In the last post we introduced you to ARGs and reviewed some examples of how teachers are using them. Now you’re ready to turn your class into an immersive game, and everything you need is right here. With the help of these resources, you can develop your own gameful class, cook up a transmedia project, design a pervasive game or create your very own ARG. Games aside, these links are useful for all types of creative learning projects. In most cases, what is on offer is free and/or web based, so only your imagination will be taxed. Please write or comment with suggestions for additional resources or to report dead links, as this will be a living document which will hopefully grow and support any educator who wants to transform a class, a unit or the entire school year into an engaging, immersive and memorable experience. Before you journey too deeply into the ARG universe, you may want to learn some of the lingo. There aren’t too many ARG specific terms, but a quick look at glossaries offered by Unfiction and Wikipedia will bring you up to par. Ready to test your newfound knowledge? Try a round of ARG Buzzword Bingo to reinforce your new vocabulary. Initial Design and Structure Anastasia Salter sketches a concise 5-step overview that will ground you in the basics, while Jane McGonigal outlines a basic 10-step process to designing an ARG in a slideshow format. Christy Dena, an experienced pervasive game designer, highlights some examples of flowcharts and mind maps used in the preliminary design process. You might also want to read Rui Corado’s blog post, where he details the back end of an ARG where you play a forensic investigator. A Few Words on Story & Narrative Story is the broth that hold an ARG or pervasive game together. It creates conflict, context, opportunities for emotional connections and can lead to a satisfying resolution. Players often persist as they are curious to know how the narrative unfolds. Don’t worry – stories don’t have to be complex. A history class can send students back in time to find a lost document, or a chemistry class scrambles to devise a formula to save the world from a pandemic. Some teachers use medieval settings, but it’s also interesting to create a plausible story that fuses the reality of your setting with the game story. For example, a teacher is an alien impostor and players have to identify it before it kidnaps a victim for nefarious purposes. Stories can be lifted from existing sources, such as books, TV shows, games or films, or you can make up your own. Once you establish the basic premise, the story can grow and change while the game progresses. The Rabbit Hole The rabbit hole is the hook that draws your student-players into the magic circle of the game, the gateway that ushers them from the mundane reality of daily classroom life to the unpredictable possibilities of the game. John Fallon offers excellent guidelines and examples for creating a rabbit hole. A good example is from the Nine Inch Nail’s Year Zero ARG, where the highlighted letters on a concert T-shirt spelled out the phrase “I am trying to believe”, which led players to a website that launched the game. The Beast started with an unusual “sentient machine therapist” credit on the poster for Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence which also led to a phony website. In most cases, the rabbit hole is usually hidden in plain site, but in an educational context it should be easier to discover, as a teachers are works with more constraints than their commercial counterparts. Gamified Classroom Management Platforms These three platforms aren’t free, but they can help manage many aspect of your game, including score tracking, levels, badges, character classes, quests, etc. They are essentially learning management systems that operate with game-like elements. Each is worth considering if you want to run your class as a game. - 3DGameLab – From their site: “GameLab is a gamified content creation and student tracking platform where teachers can design and share quests and badges to create personalized learning for their students. Students “level up” through the curriculum, choose quests they want to play, and earn experience points, badges, and awards.” - Classcraft: From their site: “Classcraft’s mission is to transform the learning experience by using game mechanics to engage students and provide teachers with well-designed tools to do so.” - Gradecraft: From their site: “GradeCraft is a learning management system dedicated to supporting the gameful classroom. We are actively researching and developing tools to encourage student engagement, and aid instructor workflow.” The following tools can help you keep track of points, leaderboards or a monetary system. First, I have used our existing learning management system to track points and in-game currency – see what yours can do. You can also use and modify spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Here are a few other options: - XP Calculator and Leaderboard: Ignite Education offers a number of free classroom gamification tools and resources, including tutorials on how to create free XP and player tracking sheets. Check out the site and this video to get started. - ScorekeeperXL: A basic and straightforward score keeping app. - MyCred: From their site: “An adaptive points management system for WordPress powered websites, giving you full control on how points are gained, used, traded, managed, logged or presented.” General ARG Community Sites ARGology, Unfiction and ARGnet are the largest online ARG community sites. They’re filled with resources, news, events, forums, conference announcements and other helpful links. They’re not deliberately geared for education, but educators can glean a great deal from these sites and get a sense as to what ARGs are all about. - ARGology – From their site: “a group effort by a bunch of great people from the IGDA ARG SIG. It is a site which hopes to aggregate much needed information about alternate reality games for developers, journalists, researchers and players.” - Unfiction – From their site: “Unfiction.com is a comprehensive resource for those interested in Alternate Reality Gaming, both from the players’ perspective and from that of the puppet masters. It is also intended as a gateway to be used in introducing neophytes to this unique genre of gaming.” - ARGnet – From their site: “The Alternate Reality Gaming Network is the largest and most complete news resource available for players of online collaborative Alternate Reality Games. For many years, this site was the central hub for an affiliate network of sites that were independently owned and operated by volunteers for the enjoyment of themselves and the ARG community.” Puzzles, Codes, Encryptions and Ciphers Puzzles and encryptions are useful for gating information, setting up breadcrumb trails, and encouraging critical thinking. As you design your game, you’ll find endless uses for them. If you only read one thing about designing puzzles for ARGs, it should be Adam Foster’s post “Alternate Reality Game puzzle design”. It does an excellent job of succinctly explaining some crucial best practices. The links that follow these resources will help your puzzle crafting, - ARG Tools and Puzzle Sidekick: A free and useful iOS apps to both solve and create puzzles. - Online Tools: Provides resource ranging from morse code to worldwide payphone locations. - Useful Tools (Endgame ARG Wiki): A vast and well organized list of tools that help both solve and create puzzles. - Cryptstagram: A unique tool that allows you to hide messages in images. - Geocaching Toolbox: A well organized and updated warehouse of tools originally designed for geocaching, but entirely transferable to ARGs and pervasive games. Image Manipulation, False Documents and Phony Artifacts Creating credible items, documents, images and artifacts help blur the lines between reality and fiction and contribute to a game’s sense of immersion. These resources are all easy to use tools that allow you and your students to create realistic looking items. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, a good tip is to try a Google search using the name of the item followed by “generator” or “creator” i.e. “fortune cookie generator”. - Creative Commons: The best site to find all types of royalty free images and media. - Photo editing software like Photoshop or Gimp are ideal to modify and create images. - Phony web pages can be built on Wix, Weebly, Google Sites or Word Press. - Say-It.Com: A plethora of generators to create everything from dog tags to highway signs. - Page Plug-Ins: Generate a variety of notes, including fortune cookie messages. - Simitator: Creates social media post facsimiles for Facebook, Twitter and more. - FakeConvos: Phony Facebook wall conversation generators. - RPG Sheets: Can create dozens of different types of RPG character sheets. - Top Alternate: Links to create false documents ranging from gift certificates to university diplomas. - Meme Generator: As the name implies, this site allows you to create your own memes. - Legal Fakes: Create false legal documents. - Funny Fake IDs: Choose from a variety of phony IDs. - Badge Maker: Another site to create phony IDs - Photofunia: Lets you combine your pictures and images with all types of templates and backgrounds from movie posters to tattoos. - PhotoFaceFun: Similar to Photofunia, but with additional options. - Logo Maker: A free and fairly sophisticated logo design tool. - Flaming Text: A free logo generator. - Mozilla WebMaker – The X-Ray Goggles tool lets you quickly edit a website with your own content – great for taking screenshots of phony articles or websites. - Apple Pages – an intuitive document maker that can be used to make anything from articles to flyers to invitations. If you’re really ambitious, and have a budget, use Lulu.com to print real books and calendars, while CafePress allows you to create your own custom merchandise. You can also hire somebody at Fiverr to do just about any small design work for you for – you guessed it – 5$. Shoot and Edit Videos are an ideal way to transmit information and add depth to the game world, whether they’re used to transmit messages from in-game characters, author video clues or simply deliver mysterious surveillance footage. Depending on comfort and technology available, video can be made using phones, video cameras, GoPros or embedded laptop cameras. Films can be edited on Apple’s iMovie or Final Cut Pro, Microsoft Movie Maker, or any of these 10 online editing tools. Also, if you want stock footage, check out this site that lists 19 free stock footage sites or the Creative Common licensed videos on Vimeo. There are a wide variety of clips, effects and animations that creative artists upload onto Youtube for general use. If you find a video, try MacX Youtube Downloader to download it onto your Mac and Keepvid will work with either platform. You can then drop it into iMovie (or another editing program) as you need. If you’re on a PC check out these options. Creative use of audio can enhance videos, relay messages or help create realistic voice mail messages, podcasts or radio broadcasts, to name a few. Audacity is the go-to free application for recording and editing audio. There are a plethora of Youtube tutorials that walk you through the process of applying various effects and modifications. Here are a few you may find useful that make your voice sound: You get the idea – if there’s a voice effect from TV/movie/video game, chances are someone has broken down how to mimic the effect in Audacity. The simple act of hiding, masking or mutating your voice is a significant but simple element for maintaining an immersive narrative. You can also have a look at the previously mentioned Fiverr. It’s not limited to sound effects, but teachers have produced videos with professional level voice acting hired through this site. There are also quite a few free sound effects available in the Freesound library and Sound Bible. You can find many more at 10 Best Websites to Find Free Sound Effects. For royalty free music, try Jamendo, CCmixter, Incompetech and Soundcloud. Also, Apple’s iMovie recently added a fairly deep library of generic sound effects. Location-Based Tools and Platforms ARGs and pervasive games can break down the classroom walls and make learning an anywhere and anytime experience. The following resources will let you extend gameplay outside your classroom and turn the real world into your game world. - QR Codes will probably go the way of the fax machine, but for the time being they are an inexpensive (free!) way to facilitate planting digital information in physical spaces. You can use them to create treasure hunts or as portals to websites, videos, images, etc. Try this QR code generator to make them, and this is a good scanner for iOS, and this one works for Android. - Augmented Reality (AR) tools and apps can help you layer digital information on the real world. Expect a dramatic increase in AR use in the next few years, but in the meantime there are some consumer level products that can help include AR in your game. Aurasma, Blippar, and Mybrana are all free and easy to use. - ARIS From their site: “ARIS is a user-friendly, open-source platform for creating and playing mobile games,tours and interactive stories. Using GPS and QR Codes, ARIS players experience a hybrid world of virtual interactive characters, items, and media placed in physical space.” - Taleblazer – From their site: “TaleBlazer is our latest augmented reality (AR) software platform. Developed by the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP) lab, TaleBlazer allows users to play and make their own location-based mobile games.” - Bluetooth Beacons are a more expensive and elaborate than QR codes. They transmit signals that can be detected by mobile devices. A variety of information can then be transmitted to the smart device. They could signal the presence of hidden material, or transmit data and media. You can also read this article that provides a good overview on beacons. Estimote and iBeacon seem to be the two most popular products on the market. - Geofencing uses GPS systems to create virtual perimeters. I’ve never used this technology, but it’s integrated in a number of apps, and you can research to see which one might suit your needs. - BreakoutEDU: Escape rooms are popping up everywhere. BreakoutEDU has created a package where you can purchase an escape room kit to use in your classroom or integrate in your game. - LyteShot: Allows players to essentially play a video game in real life. The combine hardware and peripherals ranging from guns to wands with tracking software and augmented reality interfaces. Incorporating social media is an effective way to expand a game’s reach, but proceed with caution. Familiarize yourself with your institution’s social media policies, make sure it’s age appropriate and get to know the platform well enough that you can suitably manage it’s privacy settings. Facebook has an option to create fictional characters pages, and you can start fictional characters and institutional accounts on Twitter. You can also create faux accounts on other social media sites – check their policies. Depending on the social media platform, you can post missions, videos, images, updates and clues publicly and privately that players can access anywhere and anytime. Passwords Protect Documents Password protecting documents, folders and images are an ideal way to gate information and add additional challenges to treasure hunts, document troves or clues. The following links all instruct you on how to password protect basic documents and folders. If you have any other type of file you’d like to hide behind a password, try searching it on Google. Here’s how to password protect a: Anonymous Information Storage Storing and uploading anonymous media and documents can come in useful if you don’t want students to know that you are behind a master scheme. Try these sites to quickly and easily upload anonymous content. - Infotomb: From their site: InfoTomb is a secure, anonymous, data repository. You can put your text files, documents, pictures, audio, etc. ‒ whatever kind of files you want ‒ on the InfoTomb servers, and we’ll keep them there for you. - Postimage: a quick, easy and anonymous way to upload images for sharing. - Mega: offers a secure, encrypted and anonymous file storage option. They also have a suite of secure communication services. - Try Vidme or Sendvid to upload videos anonymously. It’s amazing how motivated players and students become when there’s a timer ticking. Use these for treasure hunts, doomsday timers, task completions or anything else that would benefit from a good old fashion race against the clock. - Time and Date: A suite of free and flexible options for all matters related to time and date, including calendars, countdown timers, lunar calendars, etc. - It’s Almost: An elegant and simple countdown timer with a transferable link. - Online Stopwatch: A wealth of free clocks and timers. Looking to reward and recognize your players with rewards and achievements. Have a look at these sites to make your own custom badges and achievements. Some learning management systems, like Haiku, have built-in badging systems. - BadgeOS: From their site: “BadgeOS is a powerful free plugin to WordPress that lets you easily create achievements and issue sharable badges as your users succeed.” - Official Badge Generator: One of my favorite badge creation site. Good starting templates with a great deal of built in flexibility. - 3D Badge Maker: More granular than Official Badge Generator, but also more work. - ImageFu: Easily create basic badges with a variety of detail adjustment tools. - Achievement Generator: A tool that easily creates XBox and Steam style achievements to reward your players. - XBox Achievement Generator: A more flexible XBox achievement generator. Combined, the three books listed below will provide a solid foundation on most aspects of ARGs and gamifying your classrooms. - Reality is Broken – Jane McGonigal - This is Not a Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming – David Szulborski - The Multiplayer Classroom – Lee Sheldon Nothing is what it seems in the tales that follows. In every case, unwitting participants have been drawn into a reality fabricated by overseeing puppet masters. - The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown – G.K. Chesterton - A Game of Viet – Joanna Russ (short story) - Triton – Samuel R. Delany - Ready Player One – Ernest Cline - Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card - The Magus – John Fowles - The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon - Escape from Mr Lemoncello’s Library – Chris Grabenstein - This is Not a Game – Walter Jon Williams - The Wave – Todd Strasser David Fincher’s The Game is a feature film about a wealthy banker (Michael Douglas) who is inducted into a game that is indistinguishable from reality. Moving from fictional feature to a real world documentary, Spencer McCall’s The Institute chronicles an elaborate ARG called “The Jejune Institute” played in San Francisco. ARGNetcast – From their website: “The ARG Netcast is a monthly show covering all things Alternate Reality Gaming, cross-media storytelling and whatever else strikes our fancy. Each episode, we discuss recent events, current projects and interview special guests.” Hunt the Truth – From their site: “An investigation into the origins of modern-day superhero Master Chief, this digital log serves as part docu-diary, part audio archive. Join me each week for a new episode as we question everything and assume nothing.” Active Alternate Reality Games If you want to find an active game, check out ARGNet’s “Now Playing” list of games currently being played. The ones listed below are some of the bigger ongoing ARGs you can join. - Ingress: From wikipedia: “The gameplay consists of capturing “portals” at places of cultural significance, such as public art, landmarks, monuments, etc., and linking them to create virtual triangular “control fields” over geographical areas.” - The Secret World; From their site: Imagine if every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend was true. Imagine a world where you can become anything you want to be, without restrictions such as classes or levels. This is the premise for The Secret World, Funcom’s massively multiplayer online game set in the modern-day real world. - The Black Watchmen: From Steam: “In the first ever Permanent Alternate Reality Game, you join the ranks of The Black Watchmen, a paramilitary group dedicated to protecting the public from dangerous phenomena beyond human understanding: ritualistic murder, occult secret societies, and the paranormal, to name but a few.” - Cloud Chamber: From their site: “Players collaborate with each other to explore, investigate and discuss the fragments of information they collect on their journey through the dataworld, writing the story themselves of a young scientist, Kathleen, who risks her sanity and betrays her father and everything she has believed to be true. Her decision will not only determine the Petersen Institute’s future, it will impact all of humanity itself.” Special props to John Fallon for his valuable contributions to this post. Be sure to check out his awesome blog! “The Ultimate Alternate Reality Gamified Transmedia Classroom Toolkit” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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The age of the universe is a point of dispute between the Bible and the opinion of the majority of astronomers today. The Bible implicitly teaches us about the age of the universe. In other words, it gives us sufficient information so that we can compute approximately how long ago God created the universe. The Bible teaches that the entire universe was created in six earth-rotation days (Exodus 20:11 ). Furthermore, the Bible provides the age differences between parents and descendants1 when listing certain genealogies. From these kinds of biblical references, we know that the elapsed time between Adam and the birth of Christ was roughly 4,000 years. From other historical records, we know that Christ was born roughly 2,000 years ago. Since Adam was created on the sixth day of the creation week, we can conclude that the earth, the entire universe, and everything in it were created approximately 6,000 years ago. Many people today would scoff at this claim. After all, most geology textbooks, astronomy textbooks, and the majority of schools and universities teach that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, and that the universe is even older, but what is the basis for the secular belief in billions of years? Why is it that so many scientists choose to ignore the recorded history of the Bible, and instead believe in a vastly inflated age of the universe? One answer is circular reasoning: many scientists believe the world is old because they believe most other scientists think the world is old. Although a given scientist may be well aware of evidence that is not consistent with long ages, it is very tempting to dismiss such evidence because, “How could all those other scientists really be wrong?” How many of those other scientists believe in long ages simply because they also think that other scientists do? A majority opinion can become self-sustaining through circular reasoning; people believe because other people believe. It is surprising that many people do not realize the inconsistency here. Many times, the circular reasoning can be cross-disciplinary. A geologist may feel assured that the earth is billions of years old since most astronomers believe that the solar system is billions of years old. However, an astronomer may feel confident that the solar system is billions of years old since the majority of geologists accept this for the age of the earth. Of course, the majority opinion can be wrong. In fact, many scientific discoveries have gone against the majority. Nonetheless, the psychological pressure to agree with the majority is a very powerful and well-documented phenomenon.2 The evolution connection It is noteworthy that most (though not all) of the scientists who believe in billions of years also believe in particles-to-people evolution. Evolution requires vast ages. It couldn’t possibly have happened on a mere 6,000-year time scale, because such profound changes would then have to be happening so rapidly that we would not only see massive transformations all around us, we would have historical records of many examples. Yet, we have never seen life evolve from non-life, nor have we ever seen a living organism evolve into another kind with greater specified complexity. These “uphill” changes just aren’t observed; indeed, they seem to be impossible. The imaginary vast ages are invoked to make these seemingly miraculous leaps feasible. As George Wald has stated, “Time is in fact the hero of the plot. . . . Given so much time, the ‘impossible’ becomes possible, the possible probable, and the probable virtually certain. One has only to wait; time itself performs the miracles.”3 The insurmountable obstacles to evolution are simply swept under the rug of vast ages. The addition of the billions of years does not actually solve the problems with molecules-to-man evolution. These problems have been addressed in detail on our website at answersingenesis.org and in the materials available there, and so there is no need to elaborate in this astronomy book. The point here is simply that evolution requires vast ages. Hence, this is an example of how worldviews can affect a person’s interpretation of evidence. Evolutionists must believe in vast ages. Their worldview bias does not allow them to consider the possibility that the universe could be only thousands of years old, regardless of what recorded history teaches, and regardless of any scientific evidence. People who reject molecules-to-man evolution would do well to remember this before jumping on board with the vast ages. The big-bang connection I have found that most people who believe in billions of years also believe in the “big-bang theory.” The big bang is a secular speculation about the origin of the universe; it is an alternative to the Bible. The big bang attempts to explain the origin of the universe without God. It can be considered the cosmic equivalent of particles-to-people evolution. Sadly, a lot of Christians have bought into the idea of the big bang, without realizing that it is based on the anti-biblical philosophy of naturalism (there is no God, nature is all there is or ever was). Furthermore, they are generally not aware that the big bang contradicts the Bible on a number of points and has many scientific problems as well. According to the big bang idea, the universe is nearly 14 billion years old; whereas the Bible indicates that the universe is about 6,000 years old. For those who claim to believe the Bible, this difference alone should be sufficient reason to reject the big bang. It is wrong about the age of the universe by a factor of over two million! But it is not just a problem of time scale; the Bible gives a different order of events than the current secular opinion. The big bang / naturalistic view teaches that stars formed before the earth, fish came about before fruit trees, and the sun came about long before plants. However, the Bible teaches the exact reverse—that the earth came before stars, fruit trees came before fish, and the plants were created before the sun. The big bang is a story about the alleged past, but it is also a story about the alleged future. According to the currently favored version of the big bang, the universe will continue to expand indefinitely and grow colder. Usable energy will become increasingly scarce, and will eventually cease altogether, at which point the universe will die a “heat death.” At this point, no “heat” will be left, so the universe will have a temperature close to absolute zero everywhere. No life will be possible at that point since no usable energy will exist. Heat death is a rather bleak scenario, and quite different from the future the Bible teaches. Scripture indicates that the Lord will return in the future in judgment. The paradise lost in Genesis will become a paradise restored. There will be no “heat death,” nor any death of humans or animals, since the Curse will be no more. The new earth will remain perfect in the Lord’s presence forever. (See diagram this page.) Many Christians are inconsistent; they accept what the big bang says about the past (instead of the Bible), but reject what it says about the future (in favor of the Bible). The Assumptions of Naturalism and Uniformitarianism A belief in naturalism and uniformitarianism can cause a person to make a vastly inflated estimate of the age of the earth and universe. Recall that naturalism is the belief that nothing exists outside of nature. In this view, the universe and everything in it came about by the same kinds of processes observed within the universe. Naturalism is, of course, an unbiblical concept since the Bible makes it clear that God created the universe supernaturally. The problems with naturalism will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter. Naturalism often leads to exaggerated age estimates when applied to supernaturally created things. As an example of this, consider the first man. Adam was created as an adult—a fully grown man. Suppose that we were asked to guess the age of Adam on the seventh day, only 24 hours after God created him. If we incorrectly assumed that Adam was not supernaturally created but that instead he came about the same way people come about today, then we would derive an age that is far too old. A naturalist might guess that the one-day-old Adam was about 30 years old by incorrectly assuming that he grew to adulthood by the same process that other people do today. Naturalism leads to an age estimate for Adam that is 10,000 times too old, but the universe was also supernaturally created. A person who denies this would likely conclude an age that is many times older than the true age. A belief in uniformitarianism can also lead to severe overestimates of age. Uniformitarianism is the idea that most things in the world today (mountains and canyons, for example) were formed at about the same (i.e., uniform) rates that we see operating in the world today. People who hold to uniformitarianism would assume that radioactive decay has always occurred at the same rate, that canyons have (generally) been eroded at the same rate as today, and that mountains have been uplifted at the same average rate as today. They would certainly deny a worldwide flood (Gen. 6:8) since it would alter these rates dramatically. Uniformitarianism can be summed up by the phrase “the present is the key to the past.”4 However, both naturalism and uniformitarianism are merely philosophical assumptions. They are both anti-biblical since the Bible teaches both a supernatural creation and a worldwide flood. Moreover, naturalism and uniformitarianism can lead to contradictory conclusions (as we will show) which brings into question the reliability of those assumptions. The distant starlight problem One of the most common objections to a “young universe” is often called the “distant starlight problem.” There are galaxies in the universe that are incredibly far away. These distances are so extreme that even light would take billions of years to travel from these galaxies to the earth. Yet, we do see these galaxies; this indicates that the light has traveled from there to here. Since this process is supposed to take billions of years, the universe must be at least billions of years old—much older than the biblical time scale. It is argued that distant starlight therefore supports the big-bang story of origins. There are actually several different natural mechanisms that God might have used to get the starlight here in thousands of years. These have been published in TJ [now Journal of Creation] and other places and so we will not repeat them here [for more information, see “Does Distant Starlight Prove the Universe Is Old?”]. The point here is to show that the objection itself is vacuous. The argument that distant starlight disproves the biblical account of creation and supports an old “big-bang” universe is based on faulty reasoning. First, notice that the distant starlight argument is based on the fallacious assumptions of naturalism and uniformitarianism. It assumes that the light got here entirely by natural means, and traveled at a constant rate, over a constant distance, with time also being constant. Of course, it is possible that God may indeed have used “natural means” to get the light here. It may also be that some of the things assumed to be constant in time (such as the speed of light) are indeed constant, but is there any logical reason why we would automatically know beforehand that these must be the case? Remember that God created the lights in the sky to give light upon the earth. This happened during the creation week where God was creating in a supernatural way. The evolutionist insists that if we cannot show a naturalistic mechanism for a particular event of the creation week (like distant starlight), then the Bible cannot be trusted. This is an unrealistic “heads I win, tails you lose” sort of argument. Since many of the events that happened during the creation week were supernatural in essence, it is irrational to demand a naturalistic explanation for them. It is ridiculous to argue that a supernatural explanation is wrong because it cannot be explained by natural causes. This would be circular reasoning. Now, it is perfectly fine to ask the question, “Did God use natural means to get the starlight from galaxies to earth? And if so, what is the mechanism?” However, if no natural mechanism is apparent, this cannot be a legitimate criticism against supernatural creation anymore than a lack of a natural mechanism for Christ’s resurrection could invalidate that event. Light travel-time: a problem for the big bang There is another fatal flaw in using a light travel-time argument like distant starlight to reject the Bible in favor of the big bang. Such an argument is subtly self-refuting. This is because the big bang also has a light travel-time problem! In the big-bang model, light is required to travel a distance much greater than should be possible within the big bang’s own time frame of about 14 billion years. This serious difficulty for the big bang is called the “horizon problem.” Attempts at compromise The belief in billions of years has a stranglehold on our culture today—even within the church. Many professing Christians have been taken in by the fallacious distant starlight argument or other eisegetical6 claims involving anti-biblical assumptions. As a result, many Christians have compromised; they have attempted to “add” the billions of years to the Bible. One of the most common methods of trying to believe both the Bible and the billions of years is called the “day age” position. In this view, the days of creation were not actually days, but rather were vast ages—many millions of years each. According to the day-age idea, God created over six long periods of time. It is important to point out that even if the day-age position were true, it would not bring the biblical account into alignment with the secular story of origins since the order of events is different between the two. Recall that the big bang / naturalism view teaches that stars existed long before fruit trees which came after fish. The Bible teaches that fish were made on day 5 after the stars which were made on day 4, and after the trees which were made on day 3—regardless of how long the days were. Day-age followers point out that the Hebrew word for day (yom) does not always indicate a “day” in the ordinary sense, but can sometimes mean an unspecified period of time. In certain contexts, “day” can refer to a longer period of time, but not in the context of the days of creation. Similarly, our English word “day” can mean an unspecified period of time in certain contexts like “back in grandfather’s day. . . .” However, it would not mean an unspecified period of time in other contexts such as “five days ago, the third day, day then night, morning of the day, evening of the day, the evening and morning.” Clearly, in the preceding phrases the word “day” must mean an ordinary day from context—not a period of time. The Hebrew language also obeys grammatical rules, and as with English, the meaning of a word is always determined by its context. The Hebrew word for day means an ordinary day (and is never translated as “time”) when in any of the following contexts: - When combined with an ordinal (list) number (“the first day, the third day, etc.”) day means an ordinary day—not a period of time. - When associated with the word “morning,” such as “There was morning that day,” day means an ordinary day—not a period of time. - When associated with the word “evening,” such as “There was evening that day,” day means an ordinary day—not a period of time. - When evening and morning occur together, such as “There was evening and morning” (even if the word “day” is not present), this constitutes an ordinary day—not a nonspecific period of time. - When contrasted with “night,” such as “There was night then day,” the word day means an ordinary day—not a period of time. In Genesis chapter 1, we see all of these contextual indicators used for the days of creation. The days of creation must be ordinary days from context; they cannot be long periods of time because context does not permit this. It would be wrong to try and read “day” to mean “a period of time” in Genesis 1, when the context clearly precludes such a meaning; such an error is called an unwarranted expansion of an expanded semantic field. The day-age idea is not logically sound; it is simply an unsuccessful attempt to make the Bible compatible with anti-biblical notions.7 Ultimately, the Bible teaches that God created in six days and the secular opinion is that the universe evolved over billions of years. Each of us must decide whether we are going to trust the secular opinions of human beings, or the clear teaching of the Bible. As we saw in the last chapter, the Bible has always been correct when it touches upon astronomy. It is important to remember that we are at just another point in history. Yes, people today will scoff at and ridicule a belief in a “young universe.” Then again, many of those same people will ridicule a belief in Jesus Christ being the one true God, or even the very belief in a Creator. The Bible has always been vindicated in the past. So there is no reason to cave in to mere peer pressure today. The evidence confirms a young universe Even now, the scientific evidence is very consistent with what the Bible teaches about the age of the universe. Why then do many secular scientists believe that the evidence points to a multi-billion-year-old universe? People who believe in the big bang generally interpret the evidence according to the big bang (sometimes without even realizing it). In other words, they simply assume that the big bang is true and they interpret the evidence to match their beliefs. We all interpret the evidence in light of our worldview; there is no getting around it. However, the Bible can also be used to interpret the evidence. Since the Bible records the true history of the universe, we will see that it makes a lot more sense of the evidence than the big bang does. Let us now look at some facts about the universe. We will see that the evidence is consistent with 6,000 years, but doesn’t make as much sense if we hold to the big bang. Of course, big-bang supporters can always reinterpret the evidence by adding on extra assumptions, so, these facts that follow are not intended to “prove” that the Bible is right about the age of the universe. The Bible is right in all matters because it is the Word of God. However, when we understand the scientific evidence, we will find that it agrees with what the Bible teaches. The evidence is certainly consistent with a “young” (roughly 6,000-year-old) universe. The Horizon Problem In the big-bang model, the universe begins in an infinitely small state called a singularity, which then rapidly expands. According to the big-bang model, when the universe was still very small it would have developed different temperatures in different locations. Let’s suppose that point A is hot and point B is cold. Today, the universe has expanded and points A and B are now widely separated. However, the universe has an extremely uniform temperature at great distance—beyond the farthest known galaxies. In other words, points A and B have almost exactly the same temperature today. We know this because we see electromagnetic radiation coming from all directions in space in the form of microwaves. This is called the “cosmic microwave background” (CMB). The frequencies of radiation have a characteristic temperature of 2.7 K and are extremely uniform in all directions. The temperature deviates by only one part in 105. The problem is this: how did points A and B come to be the same temperature? They can only do this by exchanging energy. There are many systems where this happens; consider an ice cube placed in hot coffee. The ice heats up and the coffee cools down by exchanging energy. Likewise, point A can give energy to point B in the form of electromagnetic radiation (light). (This is the fastest way of transferring energy since nothing can travel faster than light.) However, using the big bang supporters’ own assumptions (such as uniformitarianism and naturalism), there has not been enough time in 14 billion years to get light from A to B; they are too far apart. This is a light travel-time problem—and a very serious one. After all, A and B have almost the same temperature today, and so must have exchanged light multiple times. Big-bang supporters have proposed a number of conjectures which attempt to solve the big bang’s light travel-time problem. One of the most popular is called “inflation.” In “inflationary” models, the universe has two expansion rates; a normal rate and a fast “inflation” rate. The universe begins with the “normal” rate (which is actually quite rapid, but is slow by comparison to the next phase). Then it enters the inflation phase, where the universe expands much more rapidly. At a later time, the universe goes back to the normal rate. This all happens early on, long before stars and galaxies form. The inflation model allows points A and B to exchange energy (during the first normal expansion) and to then be pushed apart during the inflation phase to the enormous distances at which they are located today, but the inflation model amounts to nothing more than storytelling, with no supporting evidence at all. It is merely a speculation designed to align the big bang to conflicting observations. Moreover, inflation adds an additional set of problems and difficulties to the big-bang model, such as what would cause such inflation, and how to turn it off in a graceful fashion. An increasing number of secular astrophysicists are rejecting inflation for these reasons and others. Clearly, the horizon problem remains a serious light travel-time problem for the big bang. The critic may suggest that the big bang is a better explanation of origins than the Bible since biblical creation has a light travel-time problem—distant starlight. Such an argument is not rational since the big bang has a light travel-time problem of its own. If both models have the same problem in essence,5 then that problem cannot be used to support one model over the other. Therefore, distant starlight cannot be used to dismiss the Bible in favor of the big bang.

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Folklore of the German-Wends in Texas On the morning of December 16, 1854, the immigration authorities at Galveston went out to meet the Ben Nevis, an English sailing ship, which had arrived in the harbor. On board they examined the papers and the physical condition of the five hundred some Wends who had come to settle in Texas. Although seventy-five had died after the migrants had left their homes in Germany, none on board was ill and the authorities permitted the settlers to disembark.1 Although these Wends were citizens of Prussia and Saxony, they were not Germanic, but the Slavic descendants of the Veneti of ancient times and the Polab Slavs of the Middle Ages. They called themselves Serbs or Serben, but to avoid confusion with the Serbs of the Balkan region, anthropologists named them Serbo-Lusatians, Sorbs, or Wends. The homeland of this once-numerous throng had become more restricted in area until it was ultimately surrounded by Germanic tribes, and as far back as 1346 the Germanization of the Wends had begun. The Wendish culture was not related to that of the Germans. Their language resembled that of the Czechs, Poles, and Russians, and their dress, folklore, and literature were more Slavic than German. In 1815, however, the Congress of Vienna divided Lusatia, giving Upper Lusatia to Saxony and Lower Lusatia to Prussia. That was the beginning date of an organized and persistent program launched by the Prussian government to make the Wends German.2 The most isolated part of the Lusatias, and thus the part that resisted Germanization longest, was the Spreewald, in Lower Lusatia, where the Spree River divides into hundreds of small streams, brooks, and marshes. Here the houses were built on islands, and flatboats furnished transportation during the warm months. The signboards gave the distances from one place to another not in kilometers, but in the time required for the pushing of the boat. In winter, when the canals froze, travel was by sled or skates. The occupation of the Wends here, as well as of those living outside the Spreewald, was mostly agriculture. They grew primarily vegetables and fruits, and in addition cared for domesticated animals and captured the eels that crowded the streams in the spawning season. The folklore of the Serbo-Lusatians was among the richest in Europe—possibly as a result of their late conversion to Christianity. It was basically the same as that of other groups in Europe, but it was more varied. Included in their beliefs were remnants of the preceding centuries such as animism—the belief that all objects possess a natural life or soul—and the worship of early pagan deities, the personifications of forces of nature. Two of these gods were Bělbog and Černobog, the white and black gods standing for Life and Death, Light and Darkness, or the Good and Evil Spirits. As Christianity slowly became the accepted by these people, this dualistic conception of good and evil was carried on, and the names were changed to God and Devil. The poetic temperament of the Slavic people molded their interpretation of life and nature into stories possessing great charm. These people also expressed themselves so freely in songs that the Wends had one song for every 150 people. The Poles were second in this respect, having one song for every 1,000 inhabitants.3 The only feature that the Wends and Germans held in common was religion. They were either Lutheran or Roman Catholic. Most of the Wends were Lutheran, but they were not united with the German Lutherans, because the writings of the church had been translated into Wendish and the services were conducted in that language. However, under the Germanization policy, when a parish needed a pastor, and there was a possibility that a portion of the congregation would accept a German clergyman, the government would immediately send a German-speaking pastor. By 1848 only thirty-six Wendish preachers remained. The Germans also discriminated against the Wends in economic activity. The Wends had little capital for investment, and any attempt on their part to improve their lot was opposed by the Germans. The majority had to labor with their hands, only a few being able to break through restrictions to become professional men.4 Even though the Wends may have chafed under German discrimination, there was not much they could do. However, in 1830 when the Prussian king, the “Pope in Berlin,” forced the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches into a single state church, not only the Wends, but also many Prussians became sufficiently incensed and some looked at emigration as an option. As the tide of European migration swelled, Wends also thought of other lands and in 1854 approximately 580 Wends under the leadership of some laymen called John Kilian to be their pastor and left their homes for Texas.5 After landing in Galveston, they quickly took a boat to Houston, thus avoiding contact with the yellow fever epidemic in the Island City. From Houston they crossed the fertile prairie until they came to the Post Oaks near Rabbs Creek in what was then Bastrop County. For one dollar an acre they purchased the 4,254-acre Delaplain League and set aside a portion of the land in the center for their church. Instead of recreating a European village they adopted the Texas system of separated homesteads. Although the soil of the Post Oaks was not fertile, the trees provided the raw material for houses, fences, and fuel.6 Even though the majority of the Ben Nevis Wends settled in Bastrop County, many found permanent or temporary homes in other places such as Houston and New Ulm. When one considers the scattering of the immigrants together with the arduous physical task of creating a homestead, it is not difficult to see why the Wends retained little European folklore.Much of their folklore had been associated with trees, animals, and land; so when they saw mesquite, scrub oak, and oleanders instead of birches, chestnuts, and alders, and coyotes, skunks, possums, armadillos, scorpions, and tarantulas instead of the few wolves, rodents, and deer of Europe, the stories must have lost their meaning. And how could one possibly imagine that spirits and fairies would exist in the same woods with the wild Indians? A significant casualty was the loss of the ornate and colorful folk costumes, or Trachten. Their value and even their weight discouraged shipment to Texas and the primitive conditions on the frontier made their preservation unrealistic. As a result, the folklore that developed in Europe was almost completely lost in this new environment, with the exception of those customs that were practical and necessary, such as cures, planting and harvesting ways, and those practices associated with the church. This loss can probably be illustrated by an incident related by my grandmother. Once when her father was telling the children some stories, the mother interrupted the storytelling because she wanted the children to amount to something and not waste time on stories. By that she meant that she wanted them to work or learn something that would yield financial returns.7 Ironically, the Wends did not escape from German influence. There were Germans in Texas when the Wends landed in Galveston, and in 1860 a large migration of Germans brought many to the vicinity of Bastrop County. In this instance the church was the unifying factor for the two groups and fraternization and intermarrying resulted. The question of language was the only real problem, but the pastor and the people were bilingual, knowing both Wendish and German. Services were conducted in both German and Wendish until the 1920’s, when German became the only language used in public worship.8 Folklore, as a result, is a combination of the two cultures, and it is difficult to separate the German from the Wendish folklore. The most common and rich category of German-Wendish folklore is that of the folk cures. My first memories of these cures go back to my childhood when I stepped on a nail. In the hot summers of central Texas going barefooted was taken for granted, and along with the pleasure went the occasional injuries from grass burrs, mesquite thorns, and goatheads. A wound from a rusty nail, however, was a different matter, and in modern times the injured person would be punished further with tetanus shots. In the days when doctors were far away and the transportation was slow, the remedies had to be applied at home. In this case the treatment was painless and effective. A piece of bacon rind was placed on the wound, and then the foot was set in a shallow pan containing turpentine. The combination of the two caused a drawing effect on the wound, and the strong odor of the turpentine had the desired psychological effect. This remedy was said to be good not only for wounds, but also for curing boils and chest colds. For curing the chest colds, strips of fatty bacon were sewn on a woolen cloth, saturated with turpentine, and then applied to the chest of the patient. The uncomfortable person had to sleep all night with the sticky, gooey, and evil-smelling poultice, but in the morning the cold was broken. Our skins suffered not only from the sharp spines of the thorns, but also from the sharp stingers of yellow jackets and bees and the painful bites of big red ants. These were unavoidable. Sometimes we asked for it by standing on the anthill while holding our breath, or by knocking down the yellow jackets’ nest from underneath the eaves with fishing poles, but at other times we were innocently playing or picking cotton. If we were near my uncle, we would go to him for aid, and he would remove part of his chewing tobacco cud and place it on the bite. If we were closer to the house, we would run in to Mother who would then place a teaspoon of baking soda on the wound and pour on a little vinegar. It fizzed, and the cooling relief was felt immediately. Not all the remedies were from materials in the home; occasionally the adults ordered some from Germany or bought them in town. One such medicine, called Blitz Öl (Lightning Oil), was, in my grandfather’s opinion, the final word in pharmaceutics. If any of the children hurt themselves, he would administer the medicine, even though it was hated and feared because its burn was worse than the pain of the original wound. One day, however, as Grandfather was splitting wood, the ax slipped and grazed his knee. Quickly he went onto the back porch, for this was his first opportunity to apply the medicine on himself. When he did so, the burning was as fierce as lightning and he gave the bottle a good heave into the pasture. Needless to say, the children were not sorry to see it go.9 If this medicine was not effective, there were others that were. The efficacy of one of them was documented by an injury suffered by my Great-grandfather Schneider. He was binding oats, and it took a great deal of skill to drive the four horses while also operating the machine. In an attempt to obtain additional leverage, he wrapped the lines controlling the horses around his thumb; but on this occasion the trailing lines got caught in the big bull-wheel, and the thumb was wrenched off. All that held it was a bit of skin on one side. He went home, doused the thumb with Heil Öl (Heal Oil), and wrapped it snugly with cloth. The thumb healed, and he regained its complete use.10 A very popular cure was the Lebenswecker (Life Awakener), which was used to cure sore muscles, stiff joints, strokes, mastoids, and nearly everything else. It was a contraption the main part of which was a handle with a head the size of a fifty-cent piece made up of hundreds of little needles. The instrument was placed against the ailing part and the handle was drawn back and then released, causing the many small needles to prick the outer layer of the skin. No blood was drawn, but the area would be red from irritation. Then a little Lebenswecker Öl was applied with a feather. The patient was forbidden to get his hands wet for the next three days.11 The Lebenswecker Öl was also used internally, but with great care. A girl by the name of Alma Leitco was taken to the Hamilton hospital with a severe case of locked bowels. Drs. Beecher, Chandler, and Cleveland tried everything but finally had to give up the case as hopeless. When Oswald Melde heard of it, he got some of the oil from Great-grandmother, went to Hamilton, and asked for permission to use the oil. The doctors said that since they had given up twelve hours earlier, they would consent. The father hesitated, but then gave his permission. Several years before, he had had a constipated mule and had tried the Lebenswecker Öl. A few minutes after the application, the mule had gotten up, jumped, and run, but then dropped dead. The only reason Mr. Leitco now gave permission was that he had prayed for help only fifteen minutes before, and he believed that Oswald Melde was the answer to the prayer. Nevertheless, Mr. Leitco went home. Three drops of the oil were mixed with the yolk of an egg and administered orally. Several hours later the girl passed a tapeworm thirty feet long, and when the father returned she was on her way to recovery.12 Some of the cures that interested me, but were not used by my immediate family, were the numerous teas. The older women in the community placed great faith in them. For general health, tea made from linden, rose, or camellia leaves was good. As a specific remedy Schreck Tee (Fright Tea) was among the most popular. Anyone who was startled or shocked could get sure relief from a drink of this tea. About three heads of dried Schreck Kräuter (Fright Herb) were boiled for about thirty minutes in two cups of water. The patient drank the brew and went to bed, enjoying complete relaxation. The part of the plant that was boiled resembled the blooms of a thistle. It was not purchased, but usually grown in the comer of the garden, and after it was dried, stored in a fruit jar.13 Some people say that for added effect, the patient should take part of the object that startled him and boil it along with the tea. If it was a dog, he should take one of the hairs, place it in a tablespoon, roast it, and add it to the tea.14 Few of the cures are as unpleasant as the cure for bedwetting. The ingredients are several newly born mice without hair. These are chopped up (without being cleaned), fried, and fed to the child. To keep the child ignorant of what he was eating, the cook would chop up steak in a similar way and give it to the others.15 Unpleasant in odor was the preventive measure used especially during epidemics. Asafetida was carried either in a bag around the neck or in the pocket. It was used to ward off the germs. Because it was an evil-smelling resin, the nickname for it was Teufel’s Dreck.16 Present in several of the cures is the element of mysticism. It is most difficult to find a complete recitation of any of the curing verses. Most seem to mention the name of Jesus and the number three. Here is one used to cure bleeding: In meines Jesu Garten Stehen drei Baumelein, Eins heist … Das zweite heist … Das dritte heist … Blut halt stille. (In my Jesus’ garden there are three small trees, One is called … The second is called … The third is called … Blood stop.) The bleeding would stop almost immediately, but this cure should only be used in extreme cases, because while this verse would stop the bleeding, the healing of the wound would be slowed.17 Since there was also a verse to promote healing of the wound, possibly these two should have been used together. The only line known is: “Est stehn drei Blumen auf Christi grab …”18 (“There are three flowers on Christ’s grave …”). Many of the mystical cures of the Wends centered on a woman named Mutter Spielert, who lived in Giddings. Great powers were attributed to her, including the ability to cure erysipelas, a common Wendish disease.19 The cure for warts requires a person to hold a silk thread over the wart and tie a knot in it. The thread is then buried next to the house where there is moisture. When the thread rots, the wart will be gone. The remedy for side-ache caused by walking is even simpler. To cure the side-ache, the person should stop, pick up a rock, spit on it, and replace it.20 When you ask the Grossmutter (Grandmother) if the cures are any good, she will smile and say, “Sie leben noch.” (“They are still living”). Home cures were also used on animals. There was usually a man or woman in the community who had power over the worms in animals. This was a helpful person, for young calves often get worms at the navel before the navel dries. In most cases the owner merely went to the person and described the calf. When he returned home the calf would be walking around the lot bleeding at the place where the worms were. The owner then applied some salve on the wound so the flies could not get to it. If the wound was at the navel, it would be necessary to pull some of the skin together with a string.21 In curing a sick horse, the healer drew blood from the horse, fastened cotton on a stick, and daubed the blood with the cotton. Then he placed this cotton in the hole of a tree.22 To prevent their stock from being stolen, the Wends called upon a Mr. Drosche for help. He made the sign of the cross on the ground in the middle of the lot and as he mumbled something he would make signs on the animals and on the ground around them. After this treatment the horses would throw the thieves or refuse to be driven by them. Another way to prevent the stock from being stolen was to nail horseshoes to the ground and drive the cattle over them.23 The immigrants had to have some kind of diversion in their life of hard work, and they found that diversion in church. Sunday service, or any function of the church, was time for worship and many other activities. The customs observed at marriages and funerals shed a great deal of light on the life of the people. In the years immediately after the migration, the marriage customs were almost identical with those used in Europe. Wedding celebrations usually lasted three days. Announcements and personal invitations were issued weeks in advance. The wedding party assembled at the bride’s home, and before they left for church they would sing a hymn and say the Lord’s Prayer. The bride was dressed in a very tight-fitting black gown, which symbolized the sufferings of the new life ahead of her. (In the1890’s gray was substituted for black, and after 1900 white was accepted.) Flowers generously decorated the carriages, the horses, the church, and the attendants. There were usually ten bridesmaids and ten groomsmen. After they had taken their places at the altar, the congregation sang a hymn, and the pastor preached a short sermon. The vows were then exchanged and the groomsmen laid money on the altar for the pastor and the organist. After the ceremony, everyone rushed to the bride’s home for the celebration. Usually some children had the road roped off, and the groom had to bribe the children with small change so they would lower the rope. When the party and guests arrived at the house, the pastor and cantor led the people in hymns and a prayer, and the feasting began. Since there were few tables, the wedding party ate at the first table, and then the rest of the people ate in shifts late into the night. The bride and groom remained at the table until midnight. During the course of the evening someone would pull off one of the bride’s shoes, which would then be passed around and the guests would contribute for another shoe. Beer and whiskey, bourbon for the men and Kümmel for the women, helped make the celebration lively.24 If the parents wanted to be sure that the daughter and son-in-law would never go hungry, they would get a barrel (196 pounds) or four sacks of flour, and use it all for the wedding celebration. Every kind of pastry was baked; any not eaten was given to the guests as they departed.25 Good fortune was also predicted if drizzle or fine rain fell on the bride’s hair as she entered the house. Another saying favored marriages in cold weather: Heirat in Januar wenn’s eisig und kalt Erlangs du Reichtum wenn auch nicht halt. (Marry in January when it’s icy and cold Eventually you will become rich if not quite soon.) Bad fortune, however, was indicated if the string of pearls the bride was wearing should break, for she would cry one night for every pearl on the string.26 Weddings held in the rural communities in later years have changed somewhat. The celebration now lasts only one day, but the relatives who have moved out of the community return for a few days before the wedding. The weddings continue to be held in the church, but with much smaller parties. After the ceremony, the guests follow the wedding party to the bride’s house in automobiles. After greeting the parents of the bride and all the friends, the guests gradually work their way to the woodshed where the beer is dispensed. Soon the coverings are removed from the tables and barbecue and all the accompanying dishes are served. Later in the evening, with the beer still flowing, guests play dominoes, 42, and Schafskopf (sheepshead). Occasionally the Hungry Five, a small band consisting of a trumpet, baritone, clarinet, trombone, and snare drum, play some old German songs such as “Gerade aus das Wirtshaus.” When the players get thirsty, they play “Bier Hier” and the bartender answers immediately with five schooners. Most of the guests leave between twelve and three in the morning, but some celebrate much later. Sometime after midnight the newly married couple will steal away and go to their home, or to some other home in the area. About half an hour later the young men will follow with plowshares, hammers, and any kind of metal that will produce vibrations. The “charivariers” approach the house quietly and suddenly begin the Katzenmusik (cat’s music). Sometimes they are invited in, but in most cases they give up and go back for more beer. Many different customs are connected with death. In Europe one custom is to cover the mirror with a cloth and scatter the clothes of the deceased person over the floor and leave them for four weeks.27 Some still cover the mirror when a family member dies. Others have been known to keep the doors to the room where the person died closed for a period of one year and then ask a neighbor to open it.28 The tolling of the church bell signals the death of a person. It is rung for a minute, followed by a brief pause, then rung for another minute, followed by another pause, and then rung for a third minute. This practice symbolizes the Trinity. Then the age of the person is counted out with the bell strokes. The people in the community know who is ill, and from the number of bell strokes can usually guess who has died. The burial takes place as soon as possible in the afternoon. The schoolchildren sing, and after the sermon the body is viewed. The pastor and teacher lead the procession to the Kirchhof (cemetery) followed by the pallbearers and the members of the congregation. At the grave another hymn is sung, led by the cantor. There are other folk stories or customs that are without a doubt related to some in Europe. Great-grandfather Schneider was a blacksmith, but he learned his trade in Germany. Usually the Meister or master craftsman would take several boys and teach them the trade as they worked without pay. One Sunday when the Meister was at church the boys looked around the shop and in some of the cupboards that the owner kept closed. In one they found a book, supposedly the Seventh Book of Moses, which they began reading. Soon a crow flew in through the window and lighted on a beam. The boys continued reading, and another crow flew in. More crows came until there were crows outside as well as inside the shop. When the boys noticed this, they became frightened and replaced the book. At the same time the owner came out of the church and saw the crows. He went to the shop, took the book, and began reading it backward. As he did so, the crows flew away in the same order in which they had come, and when he reached the first word all were gone.29 In Europe great confidence is placed in the water dipped from a spring or stream on Easter morning, a belief that also exists among the Wends of Texas. One woman I knew would rise before dawn on Easter morning, draw some water from the well, and make a small trail of water around the house. This would keep out insects the rest of the year. Another belief is that water dipped on Easter morning is healthful and that even though kept for some time it continued to taste good. Other stories are definitely of American origin. Many of the Wends and Germans also came to America to avoid the draft. When they came to Texas they were faced with the draft for the Confederate Army. They did not want to fight, and if they did they would rather fight against slavery and thus eliminate the competition of slaves in agriculture. Many stories are told of how the young men evaded the draft. Most of them hid out when they heard that strangers were in the community. If work had to be done they wore dresses and sunbonnets in the fields. My Great-grandfather Moerbe was caught one day and was about to be drafted when they noticed his bowlegs. People say he was so bowlegged that a pony keg could have been placed between his knees. He could not be taken into the army, but when the officials discovered that he was a tailor, he was encouraged to go to San Antonio to sew uniforms for officers.30 A final major category of folklore is of dubious parentage. Many of the beliefs regarding planting and agricultural activity are also found among the English-speaking people, but since these sayings are widely accepted by the German-Wends, they should be included. It is generally believed that the moon has a powerful influence on the earth, for no one questions the moon’s control of the tides. It is logical, therefore, that its power would be felt in areas other than the tides. If both plants and humans, as the scientists tell us, consist of a large percentage of water, why should not the moon dictate to plants and man the courses they must take? People who are close to nature are strongly conscious of this influence. If, for example, the corn is planted on the decrease of the moon, the ears will be large, but if it is planted on the increase of the moon, the stalk will be large. It is also true that if calves are branded on the increase of the moon, the brand will grow, whereas if they are branded on the decrease of the moon the brands will either keep the same size or diminish in size. Farmers and ranchers also know that if trees are killed on the decrease of the moon they will not send up shoots as they would if they were chopped down on the increase of the moon. This influence is even true of hair. If hair is cut on the decrease of the moon, it will grow more slowly, and it will not be necessary to return to the barber so soon.31 The signs of the zodiac also regulate farm activity. Animals should be castrated under Pisces, but never under Cancer. Potatoes should be planted on February 22 and cucumbers on Maundy Thursday.32 If the cucumbers continue to grow too much foliage and not enough cucumbers, a shoe should be buried among the plants.33 Insects will damage crops planted under Cancer. Any pest, such as Johnson grass, is best killed under the sign of Cancer.34 Finally, there are some folk-sayings of various kinds: “If you walk backward while talking you will push your mother and father to hell.” “Do not burn old clothes, bury them.” “Do not move a broom along.” “Do not move or marry on Friday.” “If a bird flies into the church or the house, it is bad luck.” “If the procession bearing the corpse from the church to the graveyard is stopped, someone will die from the same house as the deceased.” “Do not eat a lunch wearing your hat, even outside, or the devil will laugh.” “After you eat, an angel waits for the prayer of thanks to take it to heaven.”35 - Anne Blasig, The Wends of Texas (San Antonio: Naylor Co., 1954), pp. 27-29. - George C. Engerrand, The So-Called Wends of Germany and Their Colonies in Texas and Australia (University of Texas Bulletin, No. 3417; Austin: University of Texas, 1934), pp. 11, 13, 22. - Ibid., pp. 14-17, 47-58. - Ibid., pp. 29-31. - P. E. Kretzmann, “The Early History of the Wendic Lutheran Colony in the State of Texas,” Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, 1930, p. 47. - Blasig, pp. 29-31. Although Blasig states that the price per acre was fifty cents, recent research reveals the price as one dollar per acre. - Interview with Mrs. E. F. Moerbe, Pottsville, Texas, November 2, 1958. - Blasig, p. 82. - Interview with Mrs. Esther Gromatzky, Pottsville, Texas, November 2, 1958. - Interview with Martin Moerbe, Taylor, Texas, November 16, 1958. - Interview with Mrs. Eleanore Schneider, Austin, Texas, December 10, 1958; interview with Oswald Melde, Aleman, Texas, January 11, 1959. - Interview with Arthur Moebus, Serbin, Texas, October 18, 1958; interview with Mrs. Mitschke, Serbin, Texas, October 18, 1958. - Interview with Robert Malke, Serbin, Texas, October 18, 1958. - Interview with Oswald Melde. - Letter from Mrs. Wm. H. Nielsen, Vernon, Texas, December 2, 1958. - Interview with Oswald Melde. Mr. Melde did not know the names of the trees, but believed that no other names could be substituted. - Interview with Martin Moerbe. - Interview with Oswald Melde. - Interview with Arthur Moebus. - Blasig, op. cit., p. 59. - Interview with Oswald Melde. - Blasig, op. cit., pp. 54-56. - Interview with Oswald Melde. - Engerrand, op. cit., pp. 49-51. - Interview with Oswald Melde. - Interview with Arthur Moebus; interview with Robert Malke. - Interview with Otto Schneider, Austin, Texas, September 3, 1958. - Interview with Mrs. Arthur Melde, Aleman, Texas, January 11, 1959. - Interview with Otto Schneider. - Interview with Oswald Melde. For more information on Wendish folklore read Mato Kosyk’s letter found in the Johann August Urban entry in WENDS WHO BROKE THE PATTERN in George’s Journal at WendishResearch.org. See also George R. Nielsen, In Search of a Home: Nineteenth-Century Wendish Immigration (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989), 119-124.

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Librarians have always served their communities by providing access to resources, instruction for obtaining and using information, and guidance in selecting the most appropriate source for each user’s needs. In the new media age, librarians need to be aware of the continuing evolution of technology, its benefits and drawbacks, and understand how they can incorporate digital media into programming. Children’s librarians should consider the most effective usage of technology in children’s programs, and understand the need to educate both children and their caregivers in the usage of digital media. Librarians can apply different lenses of perceiving children’s multimedia literacy to understand how to evaluate the value of technology in children’s programs, and continue to support children’s exploration and use of new media alongside traditional formats. These perspectives include dialogic reading and radical change theory, in relation to participatory culture. Methods for assessing the merit of various digital media aimed at children, as well as examples of children’s library programs incorporating technology are discussed. Overview of Perceptions of New Media and Children As with any resource, children need caregivers and other adults to assist them as they learn to navigate various media, such as traditional books, or new technologies, and utilize them to build literacy proficiency. In 2012, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning created a document prescribing the amount of time children ages birth to eight-years-old should spend interacting with digital screens (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2012). The document described NAEYC’s belief that children under the age of two should have no contact with digital media, and further stated that the guidance of an adult was necessary to providing older children the opportunity to learn from the usage of digital technologies (pg. 2). Children’s librarians realize that the instruction they provide through programs such as story time, and assisting caregivers with finding appropriate materials for their children, helps to promote active learning and the formation of a bond between the child and caregiver. The authors of the document recognized the prevalence of technology in all facets of user’s lives, and suggested that digital resources should be utilized as long as children received time to interact, converse, and play with one another and adults without the mediation of new media (pg. 5). NAEYC’s document also included factors for assessing the development of the child in relation to digital media use (pg. 6), suggesting that children progress from early stages of exploring the technology and its uses, to becoming a competent user of the resource, realizing ways the media could assist them in their lives. With the understanding that children can demonstrate mastery of digital media, and use these technologies in ways that will benefit their learning and literacy experiences, children’s librarians should consider various new skill sets that have arisen from the emergence of new media, to assist children and caregivers in reaching their learning and leisurely goals. Skills Sets of Children in the Digital Age Many skill sets that are necessary for children to develop (such as understanding the parts of a book, recognizing genres, and creating meaning and understanding through dialogue with other children and adults) can apply to digital media usage. Della Penna and Lucey (2012) noted six essential literacy skills for young children to grasp as they begin to interact with resources: phonological awareness, narrative abilities, recognition and understanding of letters, vocabulary, understanding of the mechanics of print, and the ability to understand the reading of books can be a pleasurable experience (Table 1). With the influx of new and complex digital devices and media, children’s librarians may find that keeping their own technology skills proficient to be a challenge. However, children’s librarians should not forget the six literacy skills listed above, and should encourage children to build and apply these skills to digital media. However, Prendergast (Children and technology, 2015, pg. 27) argued that librarians and educators spend too much time developing print-based literacy skills in children, in lieu of providing instruction on multimedia literacies and proficiencies. Therefore, children’s librarians should be aware of digital media and technology skills sets as well, to provide children and their caregivers the best scaffolding for learning across all forms of information. Develop Fine Motor Skills and Expertise of Digital Media Use: Children develop fine motor skills such as holding books, turning individual pages, and selecting materials from book bins. Further, as their interaction with print material continues, children learn the properties of a book, understanding aspects such as chapters and indexes to assist in their navigation of the resource. Multiple authors have recognized that aspects of technology, especially computer mice and touch screens, require that children develop fine motor skills to utilize digital resources (Walton-Hadlock, 2008; Prendergast, Children and technology, 2015; Hicks, 2015). Librarians can support the various motor skill capacities of their users by providing traditional resources, tablets, touch screen computers, and computers with mice. Dresang (2008) also noted that alongside the various digital devices, children must also learn to navigate the unique features of various websites, applications, and textual materials, including comprehending hypertext links (par. 5). Mills (2011) referred to the unique aspects of digital resources (menus, icons, etc.) as sign symbols, and stated that children need to develop awareness of the functions of these features to be able to utilize them efficiently (pg. 62). As children’s librarians, we must help children understand the similarities and differences that exist between traditional formats and digital technologies, enabling them to become technology proficient (Campbell and Koester, 2015, pg. 8); these skills of evaluating novel tools and manipulating them to the advantage of the child will continue throughout their lives. Some educational facilities and libraries have already considered how technology expertise can be incorporated in a children’s setting with the creation of augmented reality (AR) resources that enable children to utilize their swiping, searching, and comprehension skills to find materials in the library without the guidance of a librarian (Meredith, 2015, pg. 73). Analyze the Textual Qualities of Resources: In addition to understanding the differences between print and digital resources, children’s librarians can also help their community to draw connections between the similarities of the various media. Children can recognize story conventions such as beginning, middle, and end, while also understanding the various characters within the resource. Additionally, children are required to mediate their own understanding of the material they are reading. Jenkins (2009, pg. 49) stated that children come to understand their own identities in relation to the materials they engage with, through reenacting stories, and recreating them through various means. In order to be able to develop a sense of self in relation to a text, Jenkins argued children must engage in, “a close analysis of the originating text, genre conventions, social roles, and linguistic codes. She must go deep inside the story to find her own place within the words” (pg. 51). By demonstrating to young users the various ways a story such as Little Red Riding Hood can change depending on the author, illustrator, and selected medium, librarians can help children recognize that different forms of interpretation of a text occur naturally, and allow them to create a relationship between themselves and the resource that is meaningful and unique. Play, Teamwork, and Problem-solving: Regardless of the setting, children engage in play and playful communication with one another, growing their abilities to imagine, while also developing communication skills that will be necessary throughout their lives. With the capability to connect with people from around the world through the internet, children must learn how to develop skills of communication, and methods of interaction on a broader scale. Librarians can understand the importance of teamwork, making individual and group decisions, create meaningful interactions and sharing of information, and solve problems (Dresang, 2008; Walton-Hadlock, pg. 52). By demonstrating to caregivers and children the appropriate media to engage in different forms of conversation, children can become competent conversationalists, both online and in person. Understand Qualities of Digital Communities, Biases, Privacy, and Safety: As children learn to communicate effectively with others in a digital setting, librarians and caregivers alike must assist children in understanding social and cultural differences, while ensuring that children recognize the rights and responsibilities of utilizing digital devices and resources. Jenkins described how the internet and technology can be used as tools to assist children in gaining information from online communities, and supplement their findings with the learning they have completed in classrooms and through face-to-face and textual interactions (pg. 77). Schmit (2013) discussed the need for librarians to show through the incorporation and digital and physical resources, the various voices and interpretations of information authors (pg. 37). Children should realize that each voice they encounter fits within the content of the author’s various worldviews, experiences, and ideas, and that each resource may contain biases due to these perceptions. In addition to sorting out factual and relevant information (Jenkins, pg. 96), librarians should also provide information to caregivers about how to ensure that the information children have access to does not compromise their right to privacy, or otherwise endanger their safety and wellbeing. Create and Share Information: Besides the ability to access a myriad of voices and ideas from digital resources, children also have the opportunity to create their own works, and make them public to the communities in which they engage. Paganelli (2016) noted that children can become authors in the traditional sense of making their own physical books, or, with instruction, learn digital strategies such as coding, to make their own websites and interactive media (pg. 12- 14). As children become aware of the various methods of producing and disseminating information, Mills argued (pg. 57), they recognize the merits and unique characteristics of each resource. They can apply the skill of creating their own meaning and understanding of another author’s creation, and use these resources to build their own materials. Haines and Kluver (2015, pg. 73), and Hicks (pg. 44) recognized the importance of providing children the opportunity to engage with various media formats, and to encourage children to embrace their individual understandings. Librarians can help to foster children’s creativity and promote children-made works in the library setting, encouraging other users to share their own ideas with others. Drawbacks of Technology Alongside recognizing the needs of library users to utilize digital media effectively, librarians must understand the complications and negative factors of technology. One such challenge, known as the participation gap (Jenkins, pg. xi) focuses on the various abilities of children and all people to have the same quality and ability to access digital resources. This includes the ability to receive instruction on how to effectively utilize these materials, and increasing knowledge of credible resources. Walton-Hadlock (pg. 55) suggested that librarians can combat this gap of accessibility by providing digital links to story times for children unable to visit the library on their own. However, Borgstrom (2011, pg. 197) recognized that people may not have equitable access to internet, and that the price of obtaining both quality internet speeds and the materials to access online resources may not allow children and caregivers to participate with the library digitally. Jenkins (pg. xi) also noted that children and adults may not be aware of the biases and perspectives of the authors of information accessed through digital media. Della Penna and Lucey (par. 9) identified the need for librarians and educators to provide all users with equal access to digital devices, alongside giving informational sessions and programs about their usage and understanding of information bias. Children come from a variety of backgrounds, and have different experiences and interactions with media of all types, alongside different learning capabilities— all of which a librarian needs to take into account when providing resources and instruction (Prendergast, The role of new media, 2015, pg. 52). Additionally, caregivers and children alike may view digital devices solely as platforms for gaming and leisurely activities. Borgstrom (pg. 194) argued that creators of digital apps should consider the relevance of the material they provide to children, and its potential to distract users from learning. Librarians too should recognize whether a digital application or device provides educational value to young users, and demonstrate to caregivers how to assess the merit of technological resources. Haines and Kluver (pg. 63-64) provided an overview of potentially distracting or unnecessary elements of digital apps, including pop-ups and links to other websites where children may be encouraged to purchase items, alongside advertisements, the quality of the device and/or resource, and whether or not the app protects the user’s privacy. The drawbacks and skill sets described above necessitate that the librarian take on the role of media mentor. Inherent in the requirements of being a librarian is the ability to provide users with quality materials, instruction, and the capability to navigate resources effectively. These skills librarians have already fostered can be applied when assessing and discussing digital media and technology resources with children and caregivers. Campbell and Koester called for children’s librarians to recognize, “we have the opportunity to break the paradigm of children interacting by themselves with a mobile device” (pg. 10) and encouraged librarians to help families interact with one another as they engage in the use of new media. Three approaches to media mentorship can be utilized in the library setting: librarian as mentor, student as mentor, and technology and mentor. The library serves the entire community, engaging all users, and providing them with the opportunity to interact with one another as they also utilize the resources within the library (Dahlen and Naidoo, 2014, pg. 36). Essential to ensuring that library users have the competencies to utilize digital resources, children’s librarians must meet and inform parents and caregivers about the opportunities and problems with using new media. Walton-Hadlock suggested that librarians should seek to meet caregivers on a variety of levels: modelling good practices during library sessions, inviting children and adults to learn about how to use technology, and providing workshops for finding and using digital media and resources (pg. 52- 54). Equally important, librarians should engage children and their caregivers in utilizing traditional and digital resources. Dresang (par. 25) discussed that children need to be able to draw connections across a variety of media to make their understandings of the content relevant. Martens and Stoltz (2014) recognized that children and adults are oftentimes uncertain of what resource of type of media would be relevant to fulfilling their information needs, requiring that librarians provide readers’ advisory and other services to familiarize these users with relevant information. Importantly, librarians help children and adults connect with one another, facilitating the use of media by both groups, while encouraging interactions and dialogue to create enjoyable experiences for both users (Campbell, Koester, Mills, and Romeijn-Stout, 2015, pg. 27; Campbell, Haines, Koester, and Stoltz, 2015, pg. 2-8; Hendricks, 2015, pg. 36-37). In a story time setting, librarians can also demonstrate to young users different print conventions, guiding them to recognize different components of stories in digital and traditional formats, and answering questions to increase understanding (Kuhn and Labbo, 2000, pg. 192). While librarians are seen by children and adults alike as authority figures, Campbell and Koester (pg. 15-21) suggested that children’s librarians provide families with resources and ideas for utilizing various media, but allow the child and caregiver to create their own framework to incorporate this information into their daily lives in a meaningful way. Children look to one another, and older children for advice, and also recognize that they can be role models. Realizing that young students at an elementary school and middle school children could benefit from working with one another to improve literacy skills, Preddy (2016) created a program where both groups could read with one another through the usage of technology. The author noted that young children anticipated reading with their older partner, while the middle school students enjoyed creating their own stories, taking on the role of author, and sharing their creations with the younger students (pg. 5). Preddy further discussed that younger children need reading role models, realizing that engaging with various texts and media can be a form of enjoyment or learning experiences (pg. 5). With the development of augmented reality (AR) devices, the role of both librarian, parent, and peer can be mediated with technology as a mentor. Children in a library with AR resources could utilize the technology as a mentor; AR may provide guidance in helping children form research questions, navigate databases, and help young users to find the resources in the library (Meredith, pg. 75). Methods of Viewing New Media Literacy and Examples Librarians may already be familiar with lenses of interpreting and encouraging digital media proficiency in youth (e.g. dialogic reading strategies, understanding the radical changes of children’s picture books). The following sections are intended to give further insight into these understandings of new media’s place in the children’s library, and provide ideas and examples of library programs already in use to encourage children’s engagement, enjoyment, and understanding of technological resources. Dialogic Reading: Originally intended for the use of bringing children and caregivers together to share in the experience of reading and interpreting a physical book, dialogic reading can also be applied to various digital media. Miller (2016, lecture) described the qualities of dialogic reading; adults read with a child instead of simply reading the book aloud without questions or discussion; the experience is meant to create a dialogue between the caregiver and child, with the adult allowing the child to lead the experience of the resource; the adult encourages interaction by asking children questions that help children to describe what they see, how the story makes them feel, what might happen later in the story, and make connections to the child’s own experiences, and; adults give children positive acknowledgment for their contributions, expand on the child’s ideas, and demonstrate enjoyment of reading the resource. Quenqua (2014, par. 12) further noted that dialogic reading is a back and forth process, where the child and adult take turns listening to and discussing the story with one another. The author discussed that e-books can be utilized to foster dialogic interaction; however, digital formats can incorporate entertainment qualities that detract from the relationship between child and caregiver (par. 15). Moody (2010) provided information about a study conducted to evaluate children’s involvement levels when interacting with e-books on their own, and interacting with adults (pg. 295). Children were grouped into three categories, one group reading physical books with adults, another using e-books without adult interaction, and the third using e-books with adults (pg. 297). The author discussed methods of evaluating child engagement with the reading exercises, noting that persistence included children talking with adults about what they saw, and providing discussion of their thoughts (pg. 302), all aspects of dialogic reading. The study results suggested that children showed greater persistence when paired with an adult as they read an e-book (pg. 306), though children interacting with the physical book labelled the illustrations to a greater extent, which may indicate greater conversation between the adult and child as they interacted with the book in this way (pg. 306). When children navigate e-book resources in the company of an adult, and with dialogic techniques of engagement involved in the reading process, digital resources may prove beneficial to enhancing the child’s learning and social experiences. In another study, children were separated into two groups: one section read traditional books, while the other group engaged with Fisher-Price digital consoles (Collins, Golinkoof, Hirsh-Pasek, Mahajan, and Parish-Morris, 2013, pg. 202-203). Both groups included an adult and child reading together, and the study assessed how the pairs interacted with one another. The results of the study suggested that children and adults were more likely to spend time engaging in dialogue with one another utilizing a physical storybook (pg. 205). The authors provided the conception that e-book interactions may prove distracting to dialogic reading efforts, as adults may spend a greater amount of time instructing the proper usage of the device, and commenting on the child’s behavior than on interacting with the story and child themselves (pg. 207). This study demonstrates that children’s librarians should provide assistance in choosing appropriate digital storybooks and materials that will encourage dialogic interactions, and model dialogic strategies to library users. Dialogic Reading Activities in the Library: Effective media mentoring can lead caregivers and children to engage in dialogic reading, and to experience digital and physical formats together in an enjoyable process. Martens (2014, pg. 37) reviewed various children’s library programs, including Angela Reynold’s Milk and Cookies story session. In this activity, children and adults visit the library for story time, engaging with iPads and traditional books. Reynold’s incorporates apps such as those that make animal noises, to engage her listeners, while also demonstrating to caregivers how to effectively mediate between physical and digital platforms to promote interaction and dialogue between the adult and child. On the Association for Library Service to Children’s (ALSC) wiki site, a collection of technology programs can be found. One example, entitled Read with the Browns (Molnar, 2008) enabled children to listen to football players from the Cleveland Browns narrate stories via telephone or online streaming. This program helps to encourage children to enjoy reading by experiencing well-recognized role models engaging joyfully in the experience of reading. This program could be made into a dialogic reading session if the child watched the reading with an adult, pausing the reading whenever the child had a question or idea to discuss with the adult. Dahlen and Naidoo discuss incorporating technology into cultural programming in the library. Recognizing the Día programming utilized by many libraries, the authors suggested that the librarian read stories to children that highlight different cultures and experiences (pg. 87). As the librarian reads, he or she could incorporate dialogic reading strategies, calling the children’s attention to aspects such as dances and songs. The children are then encouraged to engage with digital apps and resources to research songs, and to create and share their own music. Radical Change Theory: Dresang began discussing radical change theory as the early influences of technology changed the ways in which children’s picture books were written and illustrated. Dresang and Koh (2009) revisited the theory, examining how both traditional and digital stories possess certain traits unique to the introduction of digital media (pg. 27). The authors noted that current resources need to include aspects of traditional literacy skills, while also providing children with the chance to engage with and utilize the features of digital and technological media (pg. 29). Dresang and Koh recognized that children’s literature now incorporates dynamic and vibrant graphical methods of conveying information, in relation to the ways online resources catch the attention and provide ideas to users (pg. 35). Pantaleo (2004, pg. 178) suggested that some of these incidents of digital influence on children’s literature include narratives that do not follow a traditional beginning, middle, end convention; these media also incorporate various viewpoints instead of a story being narrated by a singular voice, and; the print and image layout of each page may reflect innovative approaches that may mirror those used on websites. The author stated that children need to be able to engage with a text critically, incorporating their own judgement and understanding of the material in order to decide how to follow the diversity of narratives and make predictions and understandings about the story (pg. 179-186). Instances of digital technology’s influence on traditional storybook conventions can be found in multiple forms. Dresang noted that authors and illustrators often reflect the ideas and environments of the times in which they create their stories, and will incorporate novel new media devices such as hypertext into their works (par. 7). Interaction between people, ideas, and different resources are characteristics of radical change literature, the author suggested (par. 11). Recognizing that the internet allows children to permeate previous boundaries, such as geographical location and language differences, Pantaleo noted (pg. 179) that current literature incorporates unique formats, increased varieties of perspectives and ideas, and mutable boundaries between the book, technology, and reader. Dresang and Koh recognized that one such boundary-shifting digital incorporation into the storybook format could be found in hypertexts; the authors noted that links to various websites could allow children to follow a story across multiple locations, engaging with different cultures and ideas, while giving children the authority to make decisions about the information they wanted to find to further their reading experience (pg. 37-40). Children must now be aware of the textual qualities of printed materials, while also possessing the skills to jump between physical and digital resources to create an understanding of radical change resources and stories. Dresang suggested that it is the role of librarians and educators to act as media mentors, demonstrating how children can utilize both types of formats in conjunction with one another, supporting traditional literacy skills and values while also acknowledging children’s competencies to navigate and utilize digital media (par. 19-20) Radical Change Theory Activities in the Library: Jenkins described an activity developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where students chose to look at a fairy tale, and recreate it utilizing a variety of media sources (pg. 90). The students used technology such as instant messaging, Powerpoint, and video recordings and programs, to retell the fairy tale. To supplement their creations, the students researched how the fairy tales had changed over time and across cultures in traditional formats. The goal of the program was to enable students to understand how to convey the essential meaning and ideas of the fairy tale to an audience, acknowledging the capacities and drawbacks of each digital and technological resource to portray the story. Children in a school setting could collaborate with the librarian to learn about researching fairy tales, find different retellings of the stories, and check out media devices and learn about their usage to create their own interpretations. Sarah Kepple and Dave Bullock’s (2008) discussion on the ALSC wiki described her Animated Authors program. Children learn how to turn their own ideas into a video to be shared with others. Students would engage with various formats of alternative storytelling such as graphic novels and comic books, as they learned how to create the panels and layout their stories in a storyboard format. Throughout the program, children translated their written and drawn stories into a live-action video, watching other video creations to understand how they could incorporate elements such as music and camera angle into their narrative to create a particular perspective for their story. Mills (2011) described an activity in which children listened to Roald Dahl’s The BFG being read, then created their own interpretations of the text. Children began by drawing out a scene from a chapter of the story, “dr[awing] on [their] own experiences, and the material texts of [their] own life-world[s], to generate a visual text that interacts with Dahl’s text” (pg. 59). Overtime, children learned how to create various other media interpretations of the text, including storyboarding, scriptwriting, filming, and editing to create an end product of a video clip of the student’s interpretation of Dahl’s text (pg. 60). Such activities as this and Kepple and Bullock’s program, can encourage children to mediate between digital and traditional formats, while including their own perspectives, following their own interests, and utilizing skills that they are already familiar with alongside those they learn through the programs, to create new media that they can share with others. Despite the trivial nature of the consistent production of new devices and digital resources and platforms, librarians can apply traditional learning methods and strategies to new media to make these resources accessible and meaningful to children and their caregivers. Keeping in mind the skill sets children need to develop in both traditional and digital settings, librarians can find resources that help children to explore all types of media. Librarians act as mentors and models to both students and adults in their usage and incorporation of physical and digital resources in library settings, and can create unique programming to instruct usage of these resources while promoting creativity and children authorship using a variety of tools. When children interact with one another and other people online and in person, they can demonstrate their own understandings and ideas about text, and observe and realize a love of reading. Borgstrom, L. (2011). Developing story-time: The importance of interactivity in encouraging childhood reading. Mousaion, 29 (3), 193-208. Retrieved from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text Campbell, C. & Koester, A. (2015). New media in youth librarianship. In Koester, A. (Ed.), New media and libraries; A guide for incorporating new media into library collections, services, and programs for families and children ages 0-5 (1) 8-24. Retrieved from https://littleelit.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/final-young-children-new-media-and- libraries-full-pdf.pdf Campbell, C., Haines, C., Koester, A., & Stoltz, D. (2015). Media mentorship in libraries serving youth. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/2015%20ALSC%20White%20Pap er_FINAL.pdf Campbell, C., Koester, A., Mills, J. E., & Romeijn-Stout, E. (2015). Results from the young children, new media, and libraries survey: What did we learn? Children & libraries, 13 (2) 26-32. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com/docview/1690240092?pq- origsite=summon Collins, M. F., Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Mahajan, N., & Parish-Morris, J. (2013). Once upon a time: Parent-Child dialogue and storybook reading in the electronic era. Mind, brain, and education, 7 (3) 200-211. doi: 10.1111/mbe.12028 Dahlen, S. P. & Naidoo, J. C. (2014). Digital media in the lives of children. In Diversity programming for digital youth: Promoting cultural competence in the children’s library. Retrieved from ProQuest database. Della Penna, M. & Lucey, K. (2012). Once upon an app: The process of creating digital story for preschoolers. Colorado libraries journal, 36 (3). Retrieved from http://www.coloradolibrariesjournal.org/articles/once-upon-app-process-creating-digital- storytimes-preschoolers Dresang, E. T. & Koh, K. (2009). Radical change theory, youth information behavior, and school libraries. Library trends, 58 (1) 26-50. Retrieved from http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com /ehost/detail/detail?4b0927af-0d2f-43f6-b358- e17c07f17056%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4202&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl 2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=44654824&db=lih Dresang, E. T. (2008). Radical change revisited: Dynamic digital age books for youth. Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, 8 (3). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol8/iss3/seminal/article2.cfm Haines, C. & Kluver, C. (2015). Incorporating new media into library collections, services, and programs for families and children ages 0-5 (5) 60-74. Retrieved from https://littleelit.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/final-young-children-new-media-and- libraries-full-pdf.pdf Hendricks, C. (2015). Ten ways to help parents navigate technology with children. Children & libraries, 13 (2) 36-37. http://0-search.proquest.com/docview/1690240236?pq- origsite=summon Hicks, A. (2015). Developmentally appropriate practice: Using new media with children, birth through school-age. In Koester, A. (Ed.), New media and libraries; A guide for incorporating new media into library collections, services, and programs for families and children ages 0-5 (3) 35-48. Retrieved from https://littleelit.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/final-young-children-new-media-and- libraries-full-pdf.pdf Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved from https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/free_download/9780262513623_Confronting_the_Challenges.pdf Kepple, S. & Bullock, D. (2008). Animated authors. Retrieved from the ALSC Wiki: http://wikis.ala.org/alsc/index.php/Animated_Authors Kuhn, M. R. & Labbo, L. D. (2000). Weaving chains of affect and cognition: A young child’s understanding of cd-rom talking books. Journal of literacy research, 32 (2) 187-210. doi: 10.1080/10862960009548073 Martens, M. & Stoltz, D. (2014). Ebooks enhance development of the whole child up for debate. School library journal. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2014/08/opinion/debate/ebooks-ufd/ebooks-enhance-development-of-the-whole-child-up-for-debate/#_ Martens, M. (2014). Technology in children’s programming: A view from the digital trenches. Children & libraries, 12 (1), 37-38. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com /docview/1523951068?pq-origsite=summon Meredith, T. R. (2015). Using augmented reality tools to enhance children’s library services. Technology, knowledge, and learning, 20 (1) 71-77. doi: 10.1007/s10758-014-9234-4 Miller, G. (2016). Lecture on dialogic reading and adaptation. University of Denver, Denver, CO. Mills, K. (2011). ‘I’m making it different to the book’: Transmediation in young children’s multimodal and digital texts. Australasian journal of early childhood, 36 (3) 56-65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Molnar, L. M. (2008). Reading with the Browns. Retrieved from the ALSC Wiki: http://wikis.ala.org/alsc/index.php/Read_with_the_Browns Moody, A. K. (2010). Electronic versus traditional storybooks: Relative influence on preschool children’s engagement and communication. Journal of early childhood literacy, 10 (3) 294-313. doi: 10.1177/1468798410372162 National Association for the Education of Young Children & Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning (2012, January). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/PS_technology_WEB.pdf Paganelli, A. (2016). Storytime in a digital world: Making a case for thinking outside the book. Knowledge quest, 44 (3), 8-17. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. Pantaleo, S. (2004). Young children and radical change characteristics in picture books. The reading teacher, 58 (2) 178-187. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com /docview/203278559? Preddy, L. (2016). Storytime for learning in a digital world. Knowledge quest, 44 (3), 4-5. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. Prendergast, T. (2015). Children and technology: What can research tell us? In Koester, A. (Ed.), New media and libraries; A guide for incorporating new media into library collections, services, and programs for families and children ages 0-5 (2) 25-34. Retrieved from https://littleelit.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/final-young-children-new-media-and- libraries-full-pdf.pdf Prendergast, T. (2015). The role of new media in inclusive early literacy programs & services. In Koester, A. (Ed.), New media and libraries; A guide for incorporating new media into library collections, services, and programs for families and children ages 0-5 (4) 49-59. Retrieved from https://littleelit.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/final-young-children-new- media-and-libraries-full-pdf.pdf Quenqua, D. (2014). Is e-reading to your toddler story time, or simply screen time. The New York times. Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/1D3IJZg Schmit, K. M. (2013). Making the connection: Transmediation and children’s literature in library settings. New review of children’s literature and librarianship, 19 (1) 33-46. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com/lisa/docview/1364693559/C067AA089F1E44FEPQ/9? Walton-Hadlock, M. (2008). Tots to tweens: Age-appropriate technology programming for kids. Children & libraries, 6 (3), 52-55. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com /docview/212174009?

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Raster vs Vector Graphics Digital graphics can be divided into two categories: raster and vector. Never heard of them? Here’s how — and when — each should be used. Raster graphics are composed of pixels, which are tiny squares that make up an image. These little squares of different colors join together to form an image when viewed at normal size. Depending on the media output you plan to use the graphic in, there are standards for how many pixels (or dots) per inch (dpi) there should be to see a crisp, clean picture. For example, most onscreen graphics work well at 72 dpi, but printed graphics should typically have 300 dpi. Vector graphics are composed of points and lines generated by mathematical formulas. These points and lines are used to compose the final graphic. The computer uses math to determine the shape of the object based on placement of the points and lines. Unlike raster graphics, there are no pixels, which means you do not need to worry about the size of the graphic, it will look crisp at any size regardless of media. When to use raster and vector graphics Whether you use raster or vector graphics depends on the type of graphic you’re looking for. If you’re going to create or use a photograph, graphics with many different effects, or a highly detailed image, you should use a raster graphic. This will give you maximum control over the image and allow for better gradient/color blending. Depending on the use, you can only scale the image up to 100% before you start to see some quality loss. Even resizing a raster image smaller can cause loss of quality, so be sure that whoever is handling the files knows how to properly edit and save the file to avoid loss of quality. If you’re going to create or use logos, illustrations, graphics with minimal (preferably no) effects, graphics with little detail, line drawings or artwork with clearly discernable shapes, you should use vector images. This will maximize your editing capability, allow you to reshape the artwork endlessly without loss of quality, and resize smaller or larger without quality distortion. Some common file formats give you a clue as to the type of graphic you have: - Common raster formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP - Common vector formats: PDF, EPS, AI, SVG The trick with vector formats is that they can also contain raster graphics alone or in conjunction with vector graphics. Try opening the file in an application like Adobe Acrobat and see what happens when you scale the graphic up past 100%. If all parts stay in focus and clear, then it’s most likely a vector graphic. If things start to get fuzzy and pixelated as you zoom in, the file likely contains raster images, and will not work if scaled too large. Make sure to use the correct format for the needs of your graphics. One of the biggest mistakes many companies make is creating something like a logo with a photo in it, or making the logo in Adobe Photoshop and saving it in a raster format rather than a vector. This results in distorted or pixelated images, which is never good for your brand. When in doubt, contact us and we’ll make sure you have the right format for your graphic needs. How to Make the Most of Your Headshot Clients often ask us for professional headshots to use in various marketing materials and for PR purposes. If you’re like me, most people hate getting their photo taken. However, it’s easy to get the most out of your headshot and reduce some of the stress that comes along with showing us your pearly whites. What to Wear and How to Prepare When we get confirmation that you’re coming in for a professional headshot, one of the things we typically do for people who haven’t had one before is to send an informational sheet over that includes tips for what to wear to a photo shoot. I always say “simple is better.” Don’t come to a photo shoot wearing clothing that has florescent colors or crazy patterns (even if you love them like I do). That’s just a recipe for disaster, and a sure way to bet you won’t be happy with your photos. For women, it’s usually best to keep your makeup and jewelry simple. Regarding makeup, it is recommended to apply a little heavier than normal as it will enhance your features. Especially things like mascara and eyeliner to help your eyes stand out and face powder/foundation to reduce glare. Making sure hair and facial hair is well-groomed for men will also help improve photos. If you wear glasses and plan to have them in your photo, be ready to take them off in a few shots in case there is glare. We’ll need some photos without them on to help reduce glare via Photoshop (magic!). It’s usually best to try and stay relaxed. Try taking a deep breath right before we start shooting. It will help release some of your worry and relax your posture. We usually suggest your feet be about shoulder width apart and stand tall — without being a statue (no slouching allowed!). It’s usually best to clasp your hands in front of your body than to leave them dangling by your sides. Try to move your face closer to the camera — without moving your neck/body — and lifting from your chin a bit to reduce potential “double chin” issues. It’s also a good idea to “smize” a term coined by fashion model Tyra Banks (who loves watching America’s Next Top Model — this girl!). It means to smile with your eyes. We don’t want you to look vacant in your photos, we want the viewer to engage with you and see the fire behind your eyes. Typically, when I take photos I try to engage in some small talk with you to help relax the situation and get some real expressions from you. It’s always best when we can have a conversation to keep from those awkward silences (crickets anyone?). Tell me a joke, or something funny that happened recently; it helps to break the ice. I was just learning from a client I took photos of the other day that she loves zip-lining, something I would never have expected after meeting her. Learning about you helps me get a better feel for your personality and lightens the mood. Coming in uber-serious and un-communicative tends to come across in your photos. Hey, if it helps pretend you are a movie star, pretending you are someone you aren’t can totally help you relax and give you a confidence boost. Relax, We’ve Got This We’re going to take a whole series of pictures so that once we wrap up the shoot, we can send you over a contact sheet with some options. You get to pick one, and we’ll retouch it for you. That horrible pimple that showed up last night while thinking about how awful getting your professional portrait taken the next day? Gone. We’ll do our best to help you look your best—while still looking natural and not like a plastic Barbie doll. The moral of the story here is to come in relaxed and positive. The happier you are, the better your photo will come out. P.S. If you’re looking for more information on what to wear (or not to), give us a ring or email your account rep. We’ll send our informational sheet right over. The Sales and Marketing Seesaw Freshly armed with a marketing degree, but desperately trying to avoid returning home to live with mom and dad, I jumped at the opportunity to take a sales gig. While it wasn’t directly related to marketing it was very rewarding, sometimes frustrating and surprisingly educational. Fast forward eight years, and I finally get to put my marketing cap on full-time here at Market Mentors. I still have a “new biz” role here, so I thought I would bring a little bit of my perspective to the table. Often times when we meet with prospects or are reviewing a campaign with current clients, the conversation naturally turns toward sales. “Making the register ring” is typically the foremost objective for our clients. However, there can often be a disconnect between what the roles are in a revenue generating initiative. Maybe your sales staff says they need more, or better-qualified leads (cue Alec Baldwin). Perhaps your marketing team is seeing the fruits of their labors die on the vine by way of poor closing rates. A well-executed strategy would have a seamless cycle, where everyone knows their role in generating new business. In some instances, the confusion of these roles can lead to inefficiency, frustration and wasted dollars. Most great results are the product of experience and a solid understanding of fundamentals. The following guidelines may seem simple in nature, but are often misunderstood. Before taking on any business development endeavor, regardless of industry, these principles set expectations for everyone. - While a successful marketing strategy hopes to target a specific audience or group, a successful sales campaign hopes to distill that audience and communicate directly with one identified lead. - Effective marketing engages audiences via multiple channels of communication depending on the campaign, but properly qualifying the leads that result should always be a two-way, open conversation with a sales person. - Valuable items are often offered to promote a product or service as a component of a marketing plan. Case studies, white papers and collateral seek to expedite the education process. In sales, “over-educating” a lead can often stymie the closing process and frustrate both the sales person and the prospect. - A well-executed marketing effort will inspire audiences to find more information and how the product or service relates to them personally. The sales person then attempts to find the prospect-specific challenges, and leads them to “yes” or “no” conclusions. - In most cases, a marketing plan becomes more successful with greater frequency, creating more exposure. Conversely, an efficient sales strategy strives to reduce the number of “touches” to reduce the sales cycle. While these marketing and sales functions are different, both sides rely on each other for success. Have your sales people discovered that the target audience has a specific objection? That may be an excellent opportunity to create a campaign tailored around that particular issue. Market Mentors can help collaborate with your team, and create a case study, printed piece or even web content to aid your sales staff! Or perhaps your sales force might be experiencing a high number of pre-qualified incoming leads, but aren’t converting. This may indicate there is a fundamental flaw in the sales process, that can sometimes be something as simple as not asking the right questions. While we aren’t sales trainers, effective marketing strategies create more demand and opportunity to look closer at your closing rates. Wrapping up, I promise! Most folks not involved in the sales and or marketing process see them as the same thing. Those involved in one side or the other can sometimes see each other as two worlds apart. Success lies in the middle. These departments should be working in tandem, keeping communication open and continuous. If everyone knows their roles there’s no need for finger pointing. Let Market Mentors work to discover the “secret sauce” to get your sales team tuned in perfect unison with your marketing strategy! It will make your life as easy as “ABC.” Sorry, had to do it. Categorised in: Marketing The Inside Story: Case Studies Support Sales One of the most powerful sales tools marketing can provide is a case study. While case studies can take many forms, from feature articles to testimonial ads and videos, they are one of the most valued marketing investments. Maybe you’re interested in supporting your sales team but you don’t know exactly what a case study is, or perhaps you just need the right pitch to make sure your business earmarks part of the marketing budget to develop your story. At Market Mentors, we’ve drafted case studies that have helped sales teams deliver results across multiple platforms and industries. Here is what it’s all about: What is a case study? Case studies are storytelling for sales. Presented in a “problem, solution and results” format, these narratives hone in on the most common pain points of the personas you sell to — and then they offer a real-world solution with demonstrated results. These stories can be crafted in the form of an article and shared with trade press for editorial coverage, condensed into short statements that are just the right size for a print ad or billboard, and they can even be very effective television and radio ad messages… and the best part is that you don’t have to pick just one. Once developed, a case study can be repurposed across mediums that will be sure to reach your target audience, while maximizing the marketing budget. Why are case studies so effective? The answer is threefold: - Case studies identify with your target audience first. Sometimes radio or TV commercials are only 15 to 30 seconds long… so it’s easy to use up all that time just talking about your business, products or services. However, that “hard sell” approach can alienate your target audience because you don’t take the time to identify with them first. The same holds true for longer articles. It can be so tempting to write a full-page article about all the great things you do and offer… but people have short attention spans and know when they are being sold. Take a moment to paint a picture for your audience by using a “soft sell.” Show them you understand the challenges they face, and then show them your solution. - Customer contribution adds credibility. You can say your product or services are the best, but it resonates more when a third party agrees. Capitalize on your success and ask your happy customers to share their experience working with you. Not only is the end result more credible marketing, but it’s an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with key clientele. - They answer, “What’s in it for me?” By providing an actual example of real-world application, the burden of proof is lifted and the question changes from “why would I buy your product or use your service?” to “why wouldn’t that work for me?” That’s a much warmer conversation for your sales team, and one step closer to converting a prospect to a customer. Have a great story to share but not sure how to get started? Contact us today and we can not only help you draft the story, but we’ll also help you extend the reach of your message. From traditional advertising and public relations, to websites and social media, Market Mentors can help shine a spotlight on your success. What the new reaction feature on Facebook means for businesses Have you noticed the new reaction button on Facebook? Chances are you have! If not, this is the set of six emoji’s that sit alongside the original “like” button. Users can quickly respond with love, laughter, happiness, shock, sadness and anger. This gives users the ability to respond to posts and ads with different reactions beyond the like button, but isn’t quite as bold as creating a dislike button, which is why these were created. This new set of reactions will appear on mobile and desktop versions. While it seems like a fun tool to use when scrolling through your news feed, this could actually be harmful to users and businesses. This feature is available to use on ads that businesses have paid for. It is worrisome that users have the ability to negatively impact those businesses whom have paid for these ads. Some users tend to dislike any ads on Facebook and will react with an angry face even though it might not be towards what the ad is really promoting. Since there is no feedback as to why that reaction was posted for their ad, it is harder for businesses to gauge why that reaction is there. It is more practical when users comment on something they don’t agree with and then someone can respond appropriately and investigate further as to why someone is unhappy. Although the reactions add a nice touch to other types of posts, it has become something that all businesses will now have to worry about since users have the freedom to post any reaction they want and you cannot remove it. Moving forward Facebook business pages will need to be monitored more carefully. Additionally with this negative reaction, it could cause businesses to not want to advertise on Facebook since they run the risk of having negative reactions linked to their ads with no other type of feedback as to why they had that reaction. So what’s the good news you ask? Well, you can see who had a negative reaction and would still be able to reach out if you wanted to investigate further and get feedback on why they are unhappy. These new reactions also opens Facebook up to a new level of experimentation. Since users can see how others react to certain posts or ads, there is more information available to us than only likes and impressions. We can use this information to see what posts and ads users respond to and what types of reactions they are having to help with future posts and ads geared toward what people like. Overall, this new change to Facebook has both pros and cons. We will have to wait and see how this new feature progresses and if this ends up being beneficial or more of a hassle for Facebook users. Tags: angry facebook reaction, Facebook, facebook ads, facebook advertising, facebook news feed, facebook posts, facebook reactions, facebook reactions button, happy facebook reaction, laughing facebook reaction, like button, love facebook reaction, sad facebook reaction, shocked facebook reaction What is Your Company Logo Really Saying? Have you ever been walking down the street and seen a logo on someone’s clothing and been able to identify the brand at first glance? Chances are you just answered “yes.” Company logos are essential in building brand awareness and in giving you an edge in the marketplace. Studies show that 65% of the population are visual learners, so it would behoove companies to use this as a competitive advantage. The key is to make the logo stand out above others, while still reflecting the value or product of the brand. The real question is, what makes a good logo? Many of us don’t like to think about things any more than we already have to on a daily basis. “Keep it simple, stupid” will go a long way in the realm of brand recognition. Although Apple is already more established than most other brands, the simple apple emblem on the exterior of their products makes them easily recognizable. The same goes for Nike products. Who knew a “swoosh” would develop into such an iconic symbol? The point is, when logos and symbols become too complex, it can become unrecognizable to potential consumers. One aspect that many companies may not consider when designing or choosing possible logos is if it is practical. By practical I mean, will it look good on paper, clothing, stickers, etc.? No matter what industry you are in, it’s important to have your logo transferable so it can be utilized on various platforms to maximize reach. FedEx, for example, utilizes the negative space in their logo so the “hidden” arrow appears on any surface it is printed on. Although it may seem like a minute detail, the arrow is crucial to their brand, symbolizing and communicating “movement, speed, and the dynamic nature of the company.” Choosing a color that reflects who you are as a brand will help consumers to easily associate your company with your logo. Studies show that 80% of people think color increases brand recognition. Every color in the color wheel has a meaning behind it; blue means strong or trustworthy, red conveys boldness and love, and green symbolizes growth or caring. For example, law firms and insurance agencies might consider using red or blue in their logo to show their strong presence, rather than purple which could be seen as more creative and imaginative in nature. This seems to be getting down to the nitty gritty but colors can have a large impact on the human mind and the way we associate things. All of these tips are helpful when thinking of ideas for your new or improved company logo. However, they are just suggestions, they are not set-in-stone rules! So, when deciding on possible ideas for a logo, consider these 5 key points: - Reflect the values, goods, and services of your brand - Keep it simple, stupid - Make it easily recognizable - Make it practical - Choose the right color(s) If your company needs help redesigning or generating a new logo, give us a call at 413-787-1133. Market Mentors would be happy to give your brand that “extra something” it deserves! Spot Colors and their Importance to your Branding Many small companies or businesses that started without a creative agency or designer may not be using spot colors, which is an essential element for brand consistency. Spot colors are premixed solid inks that provide consistent results when printing. They also have standard formulas to be viewed across different types of media. For example, Pantone has a complete color matching system that allows companies to keep the colors in their business materials consistent. To break this down in a way that is easier to understand, you’ll need to know about the different ways artwork is used and the variation of colors needed for each media. Offset printing, digital printing, and on-screen artwork are some of the most common ways business materials end up in the consumers hands. Offset printing is done with separate plates for each color. In a typical offset printing project, there are four plates for the following colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). This is because these four colors are printed one at a time to build up to all the colors you are normally used to seeing in a full color print. If you are printing in black and white, you will only need one plate: black. When using spot colors, each one requires a separate plate. For example, if you have a full color project with additional 2 spot colors, you will need 6 plates: cyan, magenta, yellow, black, spot color 1 and spot color 2. Offset printing is usually recommended for bigger projects or when a high volume of materials is needed. When one project requires spot colors for a portion, but not on others, it’s possible that the colors will be inconsistent. One brochure could look more cyan vs another brochure you had printed looking more magenta for example. Spot colors help avoid this issue. Digital printing is similar to using your laser or inkjet printer. There are different digital presses these days that offer either laser or inkjet capabilities. This is often a better choice for smaller size/volume projects, because it is less expensive (less setup involved because plates do not need to be created). One of the biggest downfalls to digital printing however, is the quality and color inconsistency. Spot colors can only be simulated in digital prints, leaving more room for color error as well, though many commercial printers are able to match the spot color very closely. On-screen artwork for example, websites, emails, etc. is different than traditional printing in that the way colors are used is different. We mentioned CMYK earlier as being used in both offset and digital printing. On-screen artwork is typically displayed in red, green, blue (RGB). RGB light is produced on the monitor and the three colors mix to create all of the colors shown onscreen. All three colors mixed together create white. On-screen artwork also leaves room for inconsistency because every monitor is calibrated differently. If you have a spot color predetermined, it will help reduce this issue, though it can never be avoided 100% of the time. With the different ways printing and on-screen artwork is displayed, there needs to be some consistency in how your branding or logo presents in each environment. Spot colors help keep the colors as close as possible across multiple avenues. For example, the Pantone Matching System (PMS) has created a system with all the colors they offer with the full spot color breakdown (pre-mixed inks that follow a specific formula and are meant to be exactly the same no matter what print shop you use for offset printing), a conversion to CMYK (offset printing without spots or digital printing) as well as a conversion for RGB (on-screen). This system tells designers/printers what information to use when designing/printing to achieve the most accurate color and consistency possible. This is good for your brand so consumers do not see completely different shades of your color across all your business materials. There will be some color change between the different medias (offset, digital, and on-screen) as each one functions differently and cannot be reproduced on the other media. Another reason for this is the range of colors available to each media is different for each. CMYK has the smallest gamut range, followed by Pantone and then RGB. CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black: Used in offset and digital printing to put color on the printing material. RGB – Red, Green, Blue: Used in monitors and displays to produce light that creates the colors available. PMS – Pantone Matching System: A system of predetermined colors that allows you more control over the consistency of the color in your business materials with formulas to convert to CMYK and RGB when necessary.

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Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is a hobby enjoyed by many people throughout the world. An amateur radio operator, ham, or radio amateur uses two-way radio to communicate with other radio amateurs, for recreation or self-edification. The origin of the word “ham” is unknown. As of 2004 there were about 3 million hams worldwide with about 700,000 in the USA, 600,000 in Japan, 140,000 each in South Korea and Thailand, 57,000 in Canada, 70,000 in Germany, 60,000 in UK, 11,000 in Sweden, and 5,000 in Norway. Governance and amateur radio societies The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) governs the allocation of communications frequencies world-wide, with participation by each nation by representation from their communications regulation authority. National communications regulators have some liberty to restrict access to these frequencies, or to award additional allocations as long as radio services in other countries do not suffer interference. In some countries, specific emission types are restricted to certain parts of the radio spectrum, and in most other countries, International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member societies adopt voluntary plans to concentrate modes of transmission in specific frequency allocations within IARU guidelines, to ensure most effective use of available spectrum. Many countries have their own national (non-government) amateur radio society that coordinates with the communications regulation authority for the benefit of all Amateurs. The oldest of these societies is the Wireless Institute of Australia, formed in 1910; other notable societies are the Radio Society of Great Britain, the American Radio Relay League, and Radio Amateurs of Canada. How to become a Ham In most countries, amateur radio operators are required to pass a test in order to be licensed. In return, hams are granted operating privileges in allocated segments of the entire radio frequency spectrum using a wide variety of communication techniques. Once licensed, the radio amateur is issued a callsign by its government. This callsign is unique to the operator and is often a source of pride. The holder of a callsign uses it on the air to legally identify the operator or station during any and all radio communications. In many countries, amateurs are required to pass an examination to demonstrate technical knowledge, operating competence and awareness of legal and regulatory requirements, in order to avoid interference with other amateurs and other radio services. In the majority of countries, there are a series of exams available, progressively more challenging and granting progressively more privileges in terms of frequency availability, power output, and permitted experimentation. In many countries, amateur licensing is a routine civil administrative matter, with considerable worldwide improvement in the past 15 years. In some countries, however, amateur licensing is either inordinately bureaucratic (e.g. India), or amateurs must undergo difficult security approval (e.g. Iran). A handful of countries, currently only Yemen and North Korea, simply do not permit their citizens to operate amateur radio stations, although in both cases a handful of foreign visitors have been permitted to obtain amateur licenses in the past decade. A further difficulty occurs in developing countries, where licensing structures are often copied from European countries and annual license fees can be prohibitive in terms of local incomes. This is a particular problem in Africa and to a lesser extent in poorer parts of Asia and Latin America. Small countries or those with weak administrative structures may not have a national licensing scheme and may require amateurs to take the licensing exams of a foreign country in lieu. Amateur licensing in theUnited Statesserves as an example of the way some countries award different levels of amateur radio licenses based on knowledge and telegraphy skill. TheUnited Statessystem has evolved into three-levels of license. The entry-level license, known as Technician, is awarded after an applicant successfully completes a 35-question multiple choice written examination. The license grants operating privileges on all bands above 50 MHz. A Technician who passes a 5 word-per-minute Morse code test is further granted privileges in portions of the 10-, 15-, 40-, and 80-meter amateur bands. The next grade, known as General, requires passage of the Technician test, the 5 word-per-minute telegraphy test, as well as a 35-question multiple-choice General exam. General-class licensees are granted privileges on portions of all amateur HF bands, in addition to the Technician privileges. The topUSlicense class is Amateur Extra. The Extra class license requires the same tests as General plus a third multiple-choice exam. This exam has 50 questions. Those with Amateur Extra licenses are granted privileges on allUSamateur bands. Morse Code requirement Commercial and military use of Morse Code radiotelegraphy has almost completely disappeared. As a result, there is a growing demand for Morse testing to be dropped from amateur radio licensing requirements. Until recently, amateurs operating in the short-, medium-, or longwave bands were required by international regulation to pass a Morse code telegraphy exam. At the 2003 World Radio communication Conference (WRC-03) this requirement was made optional leaving it up to individual nations to decide whether or not Morse testing should be required. As a result, many nations, e.g. Canada, Japan, many nations of the European and Oceania, have dropped the requirement while others have yet to make a decision (e.g. USA, India, China, most Arab and Caribbean countries). Presently countries dropping the requirement represent 12% of world Amateurs. While some countries are dropping the requirement for an entry level license, countries like Japan chose to maintain the telegraphy test requirement for it’s highest class license. U.S. Amateurs recently commented in favour of keeping the telegraphy test for at least the highest class license by a 55% to 45% margin when answering a request by the FCC to respond to a Notice of Proposed Rule making (RM 05-235). The FCC proposal seeks to remove the telegraphy test requirement for Amateur Radio altogether. Morse code is normally sent on the ham bands by keying an unmodulated single-frequency transmission on and off. This communication mode is referred to as CW (Continuous Wave). Statistics show Morse Code use (CW) continues to be the second most popular mode on Amateur Radio with use by Amateurs averaging about 30-35%. Privileges of the Amateur In contrast to most commercial and personal radio services, most radio amateurs are not restricted to using type-approved equipment, allowing them to home-construct or modify equipment in any way so long as they meet national and international standards on spurious emissions. As noted, radio amateurs have access to frequency allocations throughout the RF spectrum, enabling choice of frequency to enable effective communication whether across a city, a region, a country, a continent or the whole world regardless of season or time day or night. The short wave bands, or HF, can facilitate worldwide communication, the VHF and UHF bands offer excellent regional communication, and the broad microwave bands have enough space, or bandwidth, for television transmissions and high-speed data networks. Although permitted power levels are moderate by commercial standards, they are sufficient to enable cross-continental communication even with the least effective antenna systems, and world-wide communications at least occasionally even with moderate antennas. Power limits vary from country to country, for the highest license classes for example, 2 kilowatts in most countries of the former Yugoslavia, 1.5 kilowatts in the United States, 1 kilowatt in Belgium, 750 watts in Germany, 400 watts in the United Kingdom and 150 watts in Oman. Lower license classes are usually restricted to lower power limits; for example the lowest license class in the UK has a limit of just 10 watts. Some suggest that the amateur portion of the radio spectrum is like a national park: something like the Yosemite of natural phenomenon. Through the licensing requirement, radio amateurs become like trained national park guides and backpackers. Where the backpackers and guides know about the beauty of the parks as well as the rules of engagement with wildlife in the park system, radio amateurs learn to appreciate and respect the beauty of the very limited electromagnetic space and the rules of engagement of human interaction within that space. In contrast, all of humanity benefits from the radio spectrum’s existence, although it can not actually be seen. What does one do with amateur radio? An amateur radio operator engaging in two-way communications. Amateur radio operators enjoy personal two-way communications with friends, family members, and complete strangers, all of whom must also be licensed. They support the larger public community with emergency and disaster communications. Increasing a person’s knowledge of electronics and radio theory as well as radio contesting are also popular aspects of amateur radio. A good way to get started in amateur radio is to find a club in your area to answer your questions and provide information on getting licensed and then getting on the air. If you are in the U.S., you can find a club near you by going to the American Radio Relay League‘s Affiliated Club Search page. Radio amateurs use a variety of modes of transmission to communicate with one another. Voice transmissions are the most common way hams communicate with one another, with some types of emission such as frequency modulation (FM) offering high quality audio for local operation where signals are strong, and others such as single side band (SSB) offering more reliable communications when signals are marginal and using smaller amounts of bandwidth. Radiotelegraphy using Morse code remains surprisingly popular, particularly on the shortwave bands and for experimental work on the microwave bands, with its inherent signal-to-noise ratio advantages. Morse, using internationally agreed code groups, can also facilitate communications between amateurs who do not share a common language. Radiotelegraphy is also popular with home constructors as CW-only transmitters are simple to construct when compared to voice transmitters. The explosion in personal computing power has led to a boom in digital modes such as radio teletype, which a generation ago required cumbersome and expensive specialist equipment. Hams led in the development of packet radio, which has since been augmented by more specialized modes such as PSK31 which is designed to facilitate real-time, low-power communications on the shortwave bands. Other modes, such as the WSJT suite, are aimed at extremely marginal propagation modes including meteor scatter and moonbounce or Earth-Moon-Earth (EME). Similarly, fast scan amateur television, once considered rather esoteric, has exploded in popularity thanks to cheap camcorders and good quality video cards in home computers. Because of the wide bandwidth and stable signals required, it is limited in range to at most 100 km (about 62 miles) in normal conditions. Most of the modes noted above rely on the simplex communication mode, that is direct, radio-to-radio communication. On VHF and higher frequencies, automated relay stations, or repeaters, are used to increase range. Repeaters are usually located on the top of a mountain or tall building. A repeater allows the radio amateur to communicate over hundreds of square miles using only a relatively low power hand-held transceiver. Repeaters can also be linked together, either by use of other amateur radio bands, by wireline, or, increasingly via the Internet. While many hams just enjoy talking to friends, others pursue interests such as providing communications for a community emergency response team; antenna theory; communication via amateur satellites ; disaster response; severe weather spotting; DX communication over thousands of miles using the ionosphere to refract radio waves; the Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) which is a composite network of radio and the Internet; Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS), which is a system of remote positioning that uses GPS; Contesting; the sport of Amateur Radio Direction Finding; High Speed Telegraphy; or low-power operation. Most hams have a room or area in their home which is dedicated to their radio and ancillary test equipment, known as the “shack” in ham slang. Emergency and public service communications In times of crisis and natural disasters, ham radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wire line and other conventional means of communications fail. Recent examples include the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, the 2003 North America blackout and Hurricane Katrina in September, 2005, where amateur radio was used to coordinate disaster relief activities when other systems failed. On September 2, 2004, ham radio was used to inform weather forecasters with information on Hurricane Frances live from the Bahamas. On December 26, 2004, an earthquake and resulting tsunami across the Indian Ocean wiped out all communications with the Andaman Islands, except for a DX-pedition that provided as a means to coordinate relief efforts. The largest disaster response by U.S. amateur radio operators was during Hurricane Katrina which first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just north of Miami,Florida on August 25, 2005. More than a thousand ham operators from all over the U.S.converged on the Gulf Coast in an effort to provide emergency communications assistance. In the United States, there are two methods of organizing amateur radio emergency communications. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), sponsored by the ARRL, and the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), usually organized by municipal or county governments. RACES authorization comes from Part 97.407 of the FCC regulations. In New Zealand the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART) provides the AREC – Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (formerly Amateur Radio Emergency Corps) in the role. They won the New Zealand National Search and Rescue award in 2001 for their long commitment to Search and Rescue in NZ. Amateurs are often professionally involved in areas which complement their hobby, such as electronics, emergency services, or aviation. This often sees hams as being at the forefront of the development of ‘STSP’ (Short Term Special Purpose) repeater systems and other complex radio linking systems able to easily be inserted by trampers or aircraft into a search area. Being able to provide VHF or UHF radio into an emergency or disaster area means that teams on the ground can use relatively common and portable handheld radios to liaise with base, or with other agencies. VHF-based communications supported by cross banding or STSP repeaters are gradually replacing portable HF systems because of their flexibility, and the relative portability of their antenna and power systems. DXing, QSL cards and awards Many amateurs enjoy trying to contact stations in as many different parts of the world as they can on shortwave bands, or over as great a range as possible on the higher bands, a pursuit which is generally known as DXing. Traditionally radio amateurs exchange QSL cards with other stations, to provide written confirmation of a conversation (QSO). These are required for many amateur operating awards, and many amateurs also enjoy collecting them simply for the pleasure of doing so. The number of operating awards available is literally in the thousands. The most popular awards are the Worked All States award, usually the first award amateurs in the United States aim for, the Worked All Continents award, also an entry level award on the shortwave bands, and the more challenging Worked All Zones and DX Century Club (DXCC) awards. DXCC is the most popular awards programme, with the entry level requiring amateurs to contact 100 of the (as of 2005) 335 recognized countries and territories in the world, which leads on to a series of operating challenges of increasing difficulty. Many awards are available for contacting amateurs in a particular country, region or city. Certain parts of the world have very few radio amateurs. As a result, when a station with a rare ID comes on the air, radio amateurs flock to communicate with it. Often amateurs will travel specifically to a country or island, in what is known as a DX-pedition, to activate it. Big DX-peditions can make as many as 100,000 individual contacts in a few weeks. Many amateurs also enjoy contacting the many special event stations on the air. Set up to commemorate special occurrences, they often issue distinctive QSLs or certificates. Some use unusual prefixes, such as the call signs with “96” that amateurs in the US State of Georgia could use during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, or the OO prefix used by Belgian amateurs in 2005 to commemorate their nation’s 175th anniversary. Many amateurs decorate their radio “shacks” with these certificates. Some hams enjoy attempting to communicate distances with very low power. Signals on the order of 5 watts or less are heard all over the world by these QRP (low power) operators. Some amateurs never use more than a few watts of transmit power. By setting up efficient antennas and using expert operating techniques, they can make regular international contacts and get immense satisfaction from their achievements. Contesting is another activity that has garnered interest in the ham community. During a period of time (normally 24 to 48 hours) a ham tries to successfully communicate with as many other amateur radio stations as possible. Different contests have different emphases, with some aimed at chasing DX stations, or stations in a particular country or continent. In some the focus is on operating a station running on emergency power (i.e. portable generators or batteries) to contact other such stations (Field Day), to simulate hurricane or other emergency disaster conditions. In some contests all operating modes are permitted, while others may be limited to single mode such as voice or CW (Continuous Wave, more commonly called Morse Code). Often, hams join together to form contest teams. Many hams enjoy casually gaining a few points in a contest, other chasing rare stations who are more likely to make an appearance in these events, others try to set the best possible score using a very limited home station. The serious competitors spend a lot of time in training, spend a lot of money in building up a world class station, and will often travel to a rare country or prime geographical location in order to win. Amplitude Modulation is a mode and an activity that enjoys status as a nostalgic specialty on the shortwave ham bands (1.8 – 29 mHz, or just above AM broadcast band to just beyond the CB band), and draws a wide range of enthusiasts from rock star Joe Walsh, WB6ACU, to the Federal Communications Commission’s Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH. Participating Station, “Heavy Metal Rally” Conversations are often configured as “round tables” where several participants spend time developing and presenting their thoughts in a storytelling fashion. Listeners reflect on each transmission much as families did when they listened to the old wooden floor console in the early days of radio. Many find this style of communicating more satisfying than the rapid-fire style of operating that can seem rushed and shallow by comparison. Much of the conversation revolves around do-it-yourself experimentation, repairs, and restoration of popular, vintage vacuum-tube equipment, which has been rising in value because of nostalgic demand. But contemporary transceivers also include AM among modes, and can sound quite good on transmit and receive as a way to encourage a newcomer to check in and introduce themselves. Frequencies to look for AM activity include 1885, 1930, 3885, 7285, 14286 and 21425, and often include “special event” stations using unique call signs, such as W3F, K3L and W3R , The Radio History Society’s station pictured at right. The sound and visual impact of vintage radio are powerful lures. VHF, UHF and microwave weak-signal operation While many radio amateurs use use VHF or UHF frequencies primarily for local communications, other amateurs build up more sophisticated systems to communicate over as wide a range as possible. Despite the common misconception of ‘line of sight’ a VHF signal transmitted from a walkie-talkie (or as hams call it a Handi-talkie or HT for short) will typically travel about 5-10 km depending on terrain, and with a low power home station and a simple antenna to around 50 km. With a large antenna system like a long yagi, and higher power (typically 100 or more watts) contacts of around 1000 km are common. Such operators seek to exploit the limits of the frequencies’ usual characteristics looking to learn and experiment with radio technology. They also seek to take advantage of “band openings” where due to various natural occurrences, radio emissions can travel well over their normal characteristics. There are numerous causes for these band openings and many hams listen for hours to take advantage of their rare manifestations, which may be of fleeting duration. Some openings are caused by intense excitement of the upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere. Other band openings are caused by a weather phenomenon known as an inversion layer, where cold air traps hot air beneath it, which forces the radio emission to travel over long weather layers. Radio signals can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres due to these weather layers. Others bounce their signals off the moon (see moonbounce). The return signal is heard by other hams who have equipment suitable for EME (earth-moon-earth) operation, as it is known. The antennas normally required can range from parabolic dishes of up to 10 metres in diameter to an array of directional (usually of the yagi type) antennas. Digital signal processing has revolutionised weak signal communications by radio amateurs. Using freely available software tools and modern computers, radio amateurs can achieve results they would only have dreamed of only 10 years earlier. For example, reflecting signals off the moon, once the realm of only the very best equipped amateur stations, has become feasible for much more modest stations. Instead of a large dish or an array of 8 antennas, it has become possible for stations with 400 to 1000 watts transmit power and a single well designed antenna to make contacts using moonbounce. Licensed amateurs often take portable equipment with them when travelling, whether in their luggage or fitted into their cruising yachts, caravans or other vehicles. On long-distance expeditions and adventures such equipment allows them to stay in touch with other amateurs, reporting progress, arrival and sometimes exchanging safety messages along the way. Many hams at fixed locations are pleased to hear directly from such travellers. From in a yacht in mid-ocean or a 4×4 inside the Arctic Circle, a friendly voice and the chance of a kind fellow-enthusiast sending an e-mail home is very well received. See maritime mobile amateur radio for further details about operation in this way at sea. Some countries’ amateur radio licences allow for phone patching, or the direct connection of amateur transceivers to telephone lines. Thus a traveller may be able to call another amateur station and, via a phone patch, speak directly with someone else by telephone. Mr Kamal Edirisinghe from Sri Lanka operating portable Amateur Radio station south of Stockholm,Sweden Low power operations There is a sub-culture of amateur radio operators who concentrate on building and operating radios that operate at low power. This activity goes by the name QRP which is an international Q code for “reduce power”. QRP operators use less than 5 watts output on Morse Code and 10 watts on voice. Operators can carry small portable QRP tranceivers on their person. An international organization that promotes this activity is called the QRP Amateur Radio Club International (QRPARCI). Many records for low power communications over great distances have been set using slow speed telegraphy sent and received by computer . Past, present, and future Despite all these exciting specialities many hams enjoy the informal contacts, long discussions or “Rag Chewing”, or round table “nets”, whether by voice, Morse code, or computer keyboard. Even with the advent of the Internet, interest in amateur radio has not diminished in countries with an advanced communications infrastructure. This may be because hams enjoy communicating using the simplest hardware possible, as well as finding the most technically advanced way, advancing the art of radio communication at both ends, frequently beyond what professionals are willing to try to risk. Nonetheless, Voice over IP (VoIP) is also finding its way into amateur radio. Programs like Echolink, the Internet Radio Linking Project and app rpt/Asterisk use VoIP to tie hams with computers into radio repeaters across the globe. This nascent use is finding applications in emergency services as well, as an alternative to expensive (and sometime fallible) public safety trunking systems. Some critics point out that in traditional strongholds such as Japan, the United States and Western Europe, amateur populations are ageing Supporters counter that this merely reflects demographic reality in these ageing countries, and in any case is an ethnocentric position. In China and Eastern Europe, young amateur populations are growing rapidly despite equally unfavourable demographics, and young people are also flocking to the hobby in rapidly developing regions such as India, Thailand, Malaysia and the Arabian Peninsula. Amateur radio innovations and technology Throughout their history, radio amateurs have made significant contributions to science, engineering, industry, and the social services. For example, Guglielmo Marconi, founder of practical radio communications, often boasted that he was “only an amateur”. Other innovative hams have, historically, included Howard Hughes; Robert Goddard; David Hampton (‘Furby’ inventor) and many Nobel Prize winners. The economic and social benefit derived from amateur radio research has founded new industries, built economies, empowered nations, and saved lives. Amateur radio represents a unique research and development (R&D) opportunity for exploration and personal growth, nurturing research and hands-on education. This creates an environment for new technologies. Existing at the intersection of the social, economic, cultural and scientific spheres, some radio amateurs have used this position to invent and innovate from a unique perspective. Many now-commonplace communication technologies have their genesis from hams. Recent exponential growth in commercial wireless communication systems has taxed existing commercial spectrum allocations, and industry is eager for expansion. Some segements of amateur radio allocations in the UHF and microwave frequency spectrum are threatened in many countries. Historically, amateur radio operators, sometimes employees of large communications firms, are involved in the development of new communication technologies in underutilized portions of the radio spectrum. Amateur radio operators were the among the first, for example, to explore the microwave spectrum. A current, (year 2005) problem includes proposals by some companies to transmit internet data over power lines. Known as BPL, this technology can create significant radio frequency interference to a wide variety of other spectrum users. While the U.S. Federal Communications Commission appears to be sympathetic to the industry, many European regulators have demonstrated mixed views and Japanese regulators have rejected an application in that country. Amateurs have been responding to the threat by conducting substantial research, and by gathering evidence of the BPL system’s non-compatibility with many services including amateur and other commercial users of the medium wave, shortwave and lower VHF spectrum. As of 2005, field trials in the U.S., where the situation looks most problematic for hams, have generally been unsuccessful in meeting generally accepted radio pollution standards, and are often discontinued after brief attempts to attract customers. However, the threat to the amateur radio service has not been realized from BPL technologies, and, indeed, recent advances have actually been endorsed by the American Radio Relay League. leaving the viability of BPL to market competition rather than threat of widespread harmful interference. In a growing environment of wireless use, amateur radio’s place is assured, and continued leveraging of progress for wireless can only be sustained through such assurances. When travelling abroad, the visitor must hold a reciprocal license with the country in which she or he wishes to operate. Reciprocal licensing requirements vary from country to country. Some countries have bilateral or multilateral reciprocal operating agreements allowing Hams to operate within their borders with a single set of requirements. Band plans and frequency allocations Through ITU agreement, frequencies have been set aside for amateur radio. From there, national telecommunication agencies decide which of the international allocations can be used within their borders. National amateur radio societies often have band plans to further divided those allocations, often by use. Amateur radio in popular culture Amateur radio can be found throughout popular culture as a plot device. An example from Hollywood is the 2000 film Frequency. In it, the two main characters, a father and son (played by Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel respectively), communicate via amateur radio after the father has died. This is, of course, impossible, but makes a fine plot device. A wealth of additional information may be found at the main article link shown above.

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- Develop a foundational understanding of learning theories driving current technology development and adoption for K-12; - Develop a foundational understanding of prominent technology integration models; - Consider their own values guiding effective technology integration in the classroom. Technology integration in the realm of education refers to the meaningful implementation of technology in educational settings to achieve learning goals. This chapter seeks to answer the question: what is effective technology integration? Though on the surface this may seem like a simple question, it is actually quite difficult to answer, because doing so is dependent upon our beliefs and values, how we view learning, and how we view technology’s role in the learning process. To approach this question, we will proceed in this chapter by 1) revisiting some common learning theories and how they might influence our perspective of technology’s role in learning, 2) exploring the beliefs and values that individuals and institutions might apply when evaluating technology use in the classroom, and 3) providing an overview of some common technology integration models that are used to help teachers better understand the process and goals of technology integration. Ever since there have been educators trying to teach students, there have been theories that guide how those educators view the process of learning. These learning theories encompass our beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how a person learns. Debates surrounding learning theories have existed for millennia, and even in the modern world, there is great diversity in how scientists, psychologists, and educators view learning. Some of the major learning theories that shape modern conversations surrounding technology integration include behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, constructionism, and connectivism. Each of these theories has been studied and written about at length, and it is impossible to devote sufficient time and attention to each theory in the limited space provided in this chapter. Rather, all educators should study competing learning theories and develop their own understanding of how people learn. In this chapter, we will merely provide an extremely high level overview of each of these theories, what each entails, and what each might mean for teaching and learning with technology. Behaviorism was popularized in the mid-20th century as psychologists studied behavior patterns and response systems in humans and other animals. Behaviorism treats learning as a response to stimulus. That is, humans and other animals are trained to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli, such as salivating when a dinner bell rings or repeating a memorized fact to receive some external reward. Teaching and learning, then, is a process of conditioning students to properly react to stimuli, and technology can help facilitate this training by providing incentives to learning, such as games or other rewards, or by providing systems to efficiently develop stimulus-response conditioning, such as drill-and-kill practices. Cognitivism arose as an alternative to behaviorism in part because behaviorism treated the processes of the brain as an imperceptible black box, wherein understanding how the brain worked was not considered important for helping people learn. Cognitivism, therefore, dealt with brain functions and how information is processed, stored, retrieved, and applied. By treating humans as thinking machines, rather than as animals to be trained, research in cognitivism for teaching and learning focused on helping people develop efficient teaching and studying strategies that would allow their brains to make meaningful use of presented information. Through this lens, technology can help in providing information and study resources that assist the brain in efficiently storing and retrieving information, such as through the use of mnemonic devices or multiple modalities (e.g., video, audio). However, both behaviorism and cognitivism tended to treat learning the same for all humans, despite their age, culture, or personal experiences. Recognizing that these factors might influence how learning occurs, constructivism arose as a means for understanding how individual and social factors might influence the process of learning for different groups of people and individuals. Constructivism holds that learning is constructed by learners on top of previous experience, attitudes, and beliefs. This means that for learning to occur, new learning experiences must take into consideration these human factors and assist the individual in assimilating new knowledge to their existing knowledge constructs. Thus, if you are teaching students about fractions, you must teach them using language that they will understand and connect their learning to experiences in their own lives that will have meaning for them. Technology can help the constructivist learning process by making abstract concepts and facts more grounded in personal experiences and the values of learners and also by allowing the learning experience to be differentiated for individual learners (e.g., through personalized developmentally-appropriate software). Believing that knowledge is constructed in the mind, some then took constructivism to the stage of a pedagogical process and called it constructionism. From the constructionist viewpoint, the most effective way to teach in a constructivist manner is to have students construct artifacts in the outside world that support and reflect their internal construction of knowledge. For instance, if a student needs to learn about basic engineering concepts, in order to build the internal mind models necessary to understand engineering, students must construct external models, which might take the form of a bridge or catapult. Technology can support constructionist approaches to teaching and learning by empowering students and teachers to create and construct external models reflecting internal mind models with resources and possibilities not available in the real world. By using a simulation, for instance, students can construct any structure or machine without the need of expensive materials, or they might seek to understand economic principles of supply and demand by creating a simulated community that allows them to influence supply chains in ways that would not be possible in the real world. Even with these competing theories, some still believed that learning experiences and processes as they actually exist in the real world were not fully represented, and this has become especially obvious now that we live in a society that is heavily networked and connected via electronic and social media. All traditional views about learning had placed knowledge and learning squarely in the mind or body of the student, but modern technologies in particular lead us to consider whether all memory, information processing, and other aspects of learning traditionally ascribed to the mind might not also be distributed with external devices. Connectivism holds that the process and goals of learning in a highly networked and connected world is different than learning in the predigital world, because learners are now persistently connected to information sources and other resources through their electronic devices, such as smartphones or laptops. From the connectivist perspective, learning need not be isolated to the mind, but becoming a learned and capable citizen in a digital society requires learners to become connected with one another in such a way that they can make use of the network as an extension of their own mind and body. Thus from a connectivist perspective, the goal of education is to more fully and efficiently connect learners with one another and with information resources in a manner that is persistent and in which learners can make ongoing use of the network to solve problems. From this perspective, technology can be used to improve learning experiences by more fully connecting students with one another and information resources in a persistent manner. Each of these learning theories views the learner, the learner’s relationship with society, and the learner’s relationship to technology quite differently. For that reason, when we begin to consider what constitutes effective technology integration, we must acknowledge that different people and groups who have differing assumptions about how students learn will view technology integration very differently. A connectivist would believe that guiding students to use modern technologies to develop networked relationships with peers and experts in the field is an essential element of learning. However, this may require very little information processing and recall to be occurring in the mind of the learner, which would seem dubious to a cognitivist. Similarly, a constructionist would look to an architecturally sound structure created in a physics engine as evidence of understanding of mathematical engineering concepts, while a behaviorist might consider such an artifact useless in determining the student’s ability to recite foundational mathematical equations that every engineer should know. In short, the effectiveness of technology integration requires evidence that the integration is effective, but what is believed to be effective for learning will depend upon our view of learning. Thus, the first step toward defining effective technology integration for yourself is to consider how you define learning and what constitutes evidence of learning. Similarly as teachers work within educational institutions, the criteria by which they and their students are evaluated will rely upon one or more of the learning theories mentioned above. If there is misalignment between how the teacher views learning and how the institution views learning, then misunderstandings will arise, because what the teacher views to be effective technology integration may not be recognized or valued by the institution and vice versa. As such, teachers need to decide for themselves what learning is to them and also understand what learning means in the institutions in which they operate. So, before you can ask yourself what is effective technology integration, you must first ask yourself the following two questions: - What are my beliefs about learning and how learning occurs? - What are my institution’s beliefs about learning and how learning occurs? Beliefs and Values Once you understand how both you and your institution view the learning process, then you can move to the next step and consider your beliefs and values with regard to technology. Some people might value the acquisition of technical skills for the sake of technical skills to be a good thing, while others might believe that technology should only be used if it is helping students to learn content better or to learn more. Though all students should learn some level of technical skill competency in order to make them suitable for the modern workplace (e.g., productivity software, keyboarding, basic programming), most technologies in education are not focused on this type of learning. Rather, when we talk about technology integration, we are generally talking about using technology to improve the learning of content knowledge, such as science, math, history, or language arts. When viewed in this way, teachers and institutions need to consider how well new technologies will help them to teach age-old content in better or more more efficient ways and what are the opportunity costs associated with a shift to new technologies. There is a common myth in education related to technology adoption that older or more experienced teachers are less likely to adopt new technologies and to innovate upon their practice than younger teachers. Though this may sometimes be the case, many people do not stop to consider why this might be happening. Evidence suggests that age ultimately has nothing to do with a person’s willingness to innovate, but rather, experience may help people to more quickly identify the transient nature of some changes or that some so-called innovations are actually harmful or ineffective for students. In the case of technology in education, experienced teachers may have a wealth of understanding of how their students learn and how they can teach in effective ways, whereas new teachers may be eager to try new things and to adopt technologies that they think will help them be effective in the classroom. The problem is that sometimes the most eager teachers are also the least capable of making informed decisions, because they may lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make informed choices about these technologies, how much time to invest in learning them, and what to expect in terms of student outcomes. In every case, a teacher’s beliefs and values will drive how they view technology integration, whether old or young, and their willingness to use technologies in their classrooms. Similarly, schools and districts have their own beliefs and values about technology, how it should be used, and how it will impact students. For this reason it is important for us to understand each of these groups’ beliefs and values, how they may be different, and how this influences the process of technology integration. Though personal beliefs and values are complicated and will vary between different people, we will consider four areas of belief and value that guide teachers and institutions in their technology integration practices. These include: Proof, Facility, Compliance, and Institutionalization. First, proof deals with the efficiency or efficacy of a technology to help improve student learning. Proof requires some form of discernible or measurable outcome and will be most important to teachers in the classroom or to principals and other administrators who invest time and money into technology and must prove that it is improving student achievement. From a teacher’s or principal’s perspective, if a technology does not directly improve students’ ability to learn in a discernible or measurable way, then the value of that technology will be dubious. Teachers are stressed for time and they do not want to invest the effort necessary to learn and implement new technologies if they are not going to see actual results in how their students are learning. Likewise, principals face financial and other stressors which require them to provide evidence of student learning and that they are being wise stewards of institutional resources. Proof might be slightly different for teachers and principals, however, due to their level of vision and operation. A teacher will want evidence that a technology works in her classroom through the creation of student artifacts or saved time, while a principal might want evidence that a technology works in all classes, preferring more generalizable research evidence over anecdotal evidence from one or two teachers. This means that teachers and principals might not always see eye-to-eye when it comes to identifying meaningful evidence for technology integration, because a classroom teacher will not care about what the research says if she is not seeing success in her classroom, and a principal might not care what an individual teacher says as long as the evidence from other teachers is strong. Second, facility deals with the ease at which a new technology can be learned, implemented, or managed at the teacher- or student-level. Teachers want to use tools that are easy to learn, and the greater the learning curve associated with a new technology the less likely a teacher will be willing to invest the time and energy necessary to learn it. Similarly, if the technology requires teachers to invest a large amount of time troubleshooting or providing tutorials to students, then they are much less likely to use it. That is, teachers value technologies that they can pick up, easily use, and put away. Technology support personnel value these technologies as well, because it means that they have to provide less support to teachers in learning and troubleshooting them, but principals and other administrators may not believe that facility is very important in comparison to other values, because in their eyes the value of the technology for learning might outweigh the cost in terms of time or effort. Thus, a principal might require all teachers to learn a new technology, because she believes that it will drastically improve student learning, even though that technology is very difficult to use and requires high levels of support. Third, compliance deals with the legal and ethical requirements of technology use in contrast to their pragmatic use. Those who value compliance will ensure that new technologies meet security requirements or legal requirements regarding student security. Teachers and administrators rarely think about compliance when integrating new technologies, or if they do, they only do so as an afterthought. Rather, strategic technology support personnel deal most heavily with this issue and seek to ensure that technologies that are used in the classroom and across institutions will not pose legal risk to the institution. Thus, the teacher may have students use an online blogging platform without letting school or district personnel know, because those same personnel might tell her to stop, because the platform does not meet mandated security, accessibility, or privacy requirements. Similarly, filtering of web searches is typically managed at the school or district level to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations, while classroom teachers might complain about how strict filtering systems are or may have little say in determining what is allowed and what is banned. In short, compliance seems to be one driving factor for technology integration but only insofar as dedicated professionals in schools and districts are involved in the technology integration process. And fourth, institutionalization deals with infrastructural compatibility, cost, lifespan, and management scale of new technologies. When a teacher purchases a new device or set of devices for her classroom she may not think ahead about the long-term costs associated with those devices (e.g., the price of apps or software updates, breakage, replacement), whether or not the devices are compatible with the school’s technology infrastructure (e.g., can they access the network?), or the work involved in keeping those devices up to date and working. Rather, technology support personnel often understand these issues very well and this will guide them to prefer certain technologies over others. Some technologies are very easy to manage and are very secure but have very little value in the classroom, while others may have lots of classroom value but are so difficult to manage that technology support personnel will prohibit their use. Differing Beliefs and Values Based on these four values, it is easy to see why technology integration in school settings can be so complicated. On the one hand, a principal might value proof by wanting to use technologies that are shown through research to improve student learning, while the teacher may want to use a technology that is easy to learn, and a technology support professional might want to use a technology that is compliant and that can easily be implemented at an institutional level. The problem is that a single technology rarely does all things well, and for that reason, certain groups will gravitate toward certain technologies while others will take a very different view. Thus, though a classroom teacher might want to purchase iPads, a technology administrator might want to purchase Chromebooks, and a principal might want to purchase PC or Mac laptops. Each person in this scenario has certain values driving why they are picking one technology over another, and if the teacher does not understand the reason why a principal or tech support professional might have a differing view about what technologies to adopt, this can cause problems for integrating technology, because the teacher may not be able to get the technologies that she wants, she may not have the support necessary to manage and support them, or she might be required to use a technology that she does not want to use. In all cases, the best approach to technology integration involves considering the beliefs and values of everyone involved in the institution and making selections and necessary compromises to best meet their needs. As a teacher, you must understand at least at a basic level the beliefs and values that principals and technology support personnel are working under so that you can understand their perspectives and help to inform technology decision-making with your own. So, you must consider the following: - What are the most important factors that will guide my own technology integration decision-making? - How do I communicate and collaborate with others who may have different values? Technology Integration Models Once you have a basic grasp of your own approach to learning and the beliefs and values that will guide your technology integration, you are ready to begin exploring how to make this happen effectively. Technology integration models are theoretical models that are designed to help teachers, researchers, and others in the education field to think about technology integration in meaningful ways. There are many, many technology integration models that are used by different groups. Some models are very popular while some are only used by very small groups of people, and some are very similar to one another, while others are very unique. Rather than provide an exhausting description of each technology integration model, we will now proceed by providing a brief overview of a few that we believe to be most widely used or valuable to help you begin thinking about technology integration in your classroom. The models we will explore will include the following: TPACK, RAT, SAMR, and PIC-RAT. TPACK is the most commonly used technology integration model amongst educational researchers. The goal of TPACK is to provide educators with a framework that is useful for understanding technology’s role in the educational process. At its heart, TPACK holds that educators deal with three types of core knowledge on a daily basis: technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge. Content knowledge is knowledge of one’s content area such as science, math, or social studies. Pedagogical knowledge is knowledge of how to teach. And technological knowledge is knowledge of how to use technology tools. These core knowledge domains, however, interact with and build on each other in important and complicated ways. For instance, if you are going to teach kindergarten mathematics, you must both understand mathematics (i.e. content knowledge) and how to teach (i.e. pedagogical knowledge), but you must also understand the relationship between pedagogy and the content area. That is you must understand how to teach mathematics, which is very different from teaching other subject areas, because the pedagogical strategies you use to teach mathematics will be specific to that content domain. When we merge content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge together, a hybrid domain emerges called pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge includes knowledge about content and pedagogy, but it also includes the specific knowledge necessary to teach the specified content in a meaningful way. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org TPACK goes on to explain that when we try to integrate technology into a classroom setting, we are not merely using technological knowledge, but rather, we are merging technological knowledge with pedagogical content knowledge to produce something new. TPACK or technological pedagogical content knowledge is the domain of knowledge wherein technology, pedagogy, and content meet to create a meaningful learning experience. From this, educators need to recognize that merely using technology in a classroom is not sufficient to produce truly meaningful technology integration. Rather, teachers must understand how technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge interact with one another to produce a learning experience that is meaningful for students in specific situations. RAT and SAMR RAT and SAMR are very similar technology integration models, though RAT has been used more often by researchers and SAMR has been used more often by teachers. Both of these models assume that the introduction of technology into a learning experience will have some effect on what is happening, and they try to help us understand what this effect is and how we should be using technology in meaningful ways. RAT is an acronym for replace, amplify, and transform, and the model holds that when technology is used in a teaching setting, technology is either used to replace a traditional approach to teaching (without any discernible difference on student outcomes), to amplify the learning that was occurring, or to transform learning in ways that were not possible without the technology (Hughes, Thomas, & Scharber, 2006). Similarly, SAMR is an acronym for substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition (Puentedura, 2003). To compare it to RAT, substitution and replacement both deal with technology use that merely substitutes or replaces previous use with no functional improvement on efficiency. Redefinition and transformation both deal with technology use that empowers teachers and students to learn in new, previously impossible ways. The difference between these two models rests in the center letters, wherein RAT’s amplification is separated into two stages as SAMR’s augmentation and modification. All of these stages deal with technology use that functionally improves what is happening in the classroom, but in the SAMR model, augmentation represents a small improvement, and modification represents a large improvement. Both of these models are helpful for leading educators to consider the question: what effect is using the technology having on my practice? If the technology is merely replacing or substituting previous practice, then it is a less meaningful use of technology. Whereas technology use that transforms or redefines classroom practice is considered to be more valuable. Building off of the ideas presented in the models above, we will now provide one final model that may serve as a helpful starting point for teachers to begin thinking about technology integration. PIC-RAT assumes that there are two foundational questions that a teacher must ask about any technology use in their classrooms. These include: - What is the students’ relationship to the technology? (PIC: Passive, Interactive, Creative) - How is the teacher’s use of technology influencing traditional practice? (RAT: Replace, Amplify, Transform; cf. Hughes, Thomas, & Scharber, 2006) The provided illustration maps these two questions on a two-dimensional grid, and by answering these two questions, teachers can get a sense for where any particular practice falls. For instance, if a history teacher shifts from writing class notes on a chalkboard to providing these notes in a PowerPoint presentation, this would likely be categorized in the bottom-left (PR) section of the grid, because the teacher is using the technology to merely replace a traditional practice, and the students are passively taking notes on what they see. In contrast, if an English teacher guides students in developing a creative writing blog, which they use to elicit feedback from peers, parents, and the online community on their short stories, this would likely be categorized in the top-right (CT) section, because the teacher is using the technology to transform her practice to do something that would have been impossible without the technology, and the students are using the technology as a tool for creation. Experience has shown that as teachers begin using technologies in their classrooms, they will typically begin doing so in a manner that falls closer to the bottom-left of the grid. However, many of the most exciting and valuable uses of technology for teaching rest firmly in the top-most and right-most sections of this grid. For this reason, teachers need to be encouraged to evolve their practice to continually move from the bottom-left (PR) to the top-right (CT) of the grid. With these foundational understandings, you are now ready to apply your knowledge to real-life scenarios. Here are a few brief descriptions of how teachers might use technology in a classroom setting. As you read each, consider whether these examples exhibit effective technology integration, what more information you might need to make an informed evaluation, and what factors you believe are most important for making this determination: - A teacher uses PowerPoint as part of her lecture. - Students are asked to keep an online journal in a blog. - Students pass a touch-enabled tablet around the room and write a collaborative poem. - Students play an online role-playing game about John Smith and Pocahontas. - Students write answers to math problems on an interactive whiteboard. - Students organize geometric shapes in patterns on an iPad. - A teacher creates a video to introduce herself to her students on the first day. - Students make an animated video to tell a story. - A teacher designs a WebQuest (inquiry-driven online lesson) for students to complete on their own time. - A teacher uses Facebook to remind her students about homework. This chapter has provided a theoretical foundation for considering how we might determine the effectiveness of technology integration in educational settings. As you can probably tell, there are no easy, universal answers for determining whether a particular use of technology is meaningful or effective. Rather, our determination of effectiveness relies heavily upon our own understanding and acceptance of learning theories, our beliefs and values, and the technology integration models that guide our thinking. Thus, as you approach technology integration in your own teaching, you should use these foundational understandings to articulate the value of your decisions and to guide you in making choices that will be beneficial for your students.

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Guide to Finding Lesson Plans According to the Facts on File Dictionary of Education, a curriculum guide differs from a lesson plan in that it includes “one or more aspects of curriculum and instruction, such as philosophy, policies, aims, objectives, subject matter, resources and processes” (p.138), while a lesson plan “ includes the instructional objectives and methods for a particular functional unit or period of instruction” (p. 271). The Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL) has many materials containing lesson plans, primarily in the form of curriculum guides, in both print and microfiche formats. However, lesson plans can also be found on various websites. This guide explains how to find lesson plans in print, online, and on microfiche. Many lesson plans are embedded within curriculum guides. If you are looking for lesson plans on a specific topic, see the Guide to the Curriculum Collection which includes a “Call Number Guide by Subject.” Find the call number that corresponds to your subject. For example, if your subject is American history, the call number will be 973. Then you can either use the Online Library Catalog and run a call number search to see titles within that call number range, or you can browse bookshelves in the Curriculum Collection in Room 112, Main Library. Curriculum guides are shelved separately from the textbooks and other materials and begin with the prefix “CURR.” Look at the Map of the School (S-) and Curriculum Room to determine where they are located. Common Core State Standards This free curriculum planning program allows teachers to design and develop lesson plans collaboratively. Teachers can also quickly search Common Core standards within the program to ensure their lessons align with state standards for education. In addition, lesson plans can be easily updated and altered to fit students’ needs. Individual teacher registration is required for free access. Schools can opt to pay a fee that allows an unlimited number of collaborators to work together on lesson plans. K-5 Math Teaching Resources Free, printable resources, activities, and games to supplement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics for grades K-5. Learn Zillion contains video lessons and assessment tools for teaching to the Common Core State Standards in grades 3-12. The site was started at the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., and allows teachers from around the United States to contribute lessons. Users can browse lessons by grade level, domain, or specific Standard. Many lessons include additional resources such as slides, parent letters, and discussion protocol. Users can create an account and use the site to assign video lessons to students and track student progress. NYC Department of Education: Tasks, Units & Student Work A searchable collection of activities, student work, and instructional units aligned to the CCSS and created by educators in New York City. ReadWorks is a non-profit organization that provides free lesson plans and teaching units on reading comprehension for grades K-6. The site is searchable and browsable by topic, grade, and standard. Lesson plans align with the Common Core State Standards and state standards. Share My Lesson: Common Core State Standards Information Center Share My Lesson was developed by the American Federation of Teachers and TES Connect, an online network of educators, and provides a space for teachers to share lesson plans and teaching resources. Share My Lesson contains lesson plans aligned to the Standards and created by and for teachers. In addition, users can browse lesson plans by state to find lesson plans that align with current standards. Users must create an account to use this free site. Teaching Channel: Confused About Common Core? A collection of over 270 videos from the Teaching Channel with information about and suggested activities that align with the Common Core State Standards. A searchable collection of activities, student work and instructional units aligned to the CCSS and created by educators in New York City. ReadWriteThink is a website focused on literacy for K-12 students. It provides detailed, research-based lesson plans that can be searched by grade level as well as area of literacy practice. The site also includes a wide variety of web resources, including instructional, reference, professional development, and interactive student resources. Story Arts Online Story Arts Online provides lesson plans and activities to help teachers incorporate storytelling in the classroom to teach language arts. The site was created by storyteller and author Heather Forest and funded by Bell Atlantic Foundation. The site also has suggestions as to how to use storytelling to teach math, science, social studies and the arts, and includes concise folktale plots and Aesop’s fables as retold by Forest. This website allows users to search specific books or authors and provides supplemental reading sources and activities, such as author interviews, lesson plans, audio readings, and related booklists. A great resource for K-12 teachers and school or public librarians. MSTE Online Resource Catalog The Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education (MSTE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a number of interactive resources for aiding K-12 students in their math and science education. These lessons range from number and operations to data analysis and probability in mathematics and from basic chemistry to physics in science. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics offers lesson plans to those who register with NCTM. Students can register for $45/year and can extend membership beyond graduation. Clicking “Browse all Lessons” near the bottom of the page will allow you to sort by type of material as well as browse by grade level and subject area. There are over 170 math-related lesson plans housed on this site. United States Mint Lesson Plans This site uses U.S. coins to teach basic math and counting. Each lesson plan has been contributed by teachers and includes grade level and national standards information. This site provides lesson plans for most subject areas and includes links to other information sources that can be drawn upon to create original lesson plans. The extensive listings about multicultural holidays and current events are especially useful. Common Sense Media Common Sense Media is a not-for profit organization dedicated to providing information and education to help children and teens navigate media and technology. Their site provides cross-curricular lesson plans that address digital literacy and citizenship for students in grades K-12. The lesson plans are free, research-based, and aligned to the Common Core State, International Society of Technology Education, and American Association of School Librarians Standards. Topics covered are: Internet safety, privacy and security, relationships and communication, cyberbullying, digital footprint and reputation, self-image and identity, information literacy, and creative credit and copyright. Developed by the National Endowment for Humanities and other sources, this site contains links to 49 of the “top humanities sites” and lesson plans in the areas of history, English and language arts, foreign languages and art history. It also includes learning guides that provide tips for using sites for designing class curricula and activities. Sites are searchable. Gooru provides an open and collaborative learning community online that makes available free K-12 educational materials. Educators can find interactive materials for instruction that are standards-aligned and can share personalized, custom collections keyed to the needs of their students. Interactive lessons are available in the disciplines of science, math, the social sciences, and language arts. Common Core Standards are available for math instruction from grades 6 to 12. Lessons are also available from a number of partner libraries, which are accessible directly through the Gooru site. Kids.gov Lesson Plans This site provides links to a variety of free lesson plans and teacher resources, primarily designed for K-8 students. In addition to subjects like history, math, and science, some of the other topics covered include money management, health & safety, and online safety. Lesson Plan Library The Lesson Plans Library contains lessons for grades K-12 in common and not so common subjects. Plans range in subject from literature and math to forensic science and meteorology. Written by teachers and educators, these lesson plans are both comprehensive and easy to follow. Most plans define what national academic standards the lesson plans meet. In addition, this site is also linked to several other “teaching tools” from The Discovery Channel. Lesson Plans Page This page allows for easy searching for specific lesson plans by subject (math, science, language arts, and art), grade level, and area within the subject searched. While this site contains lesson plans for K-12 grades, it does have a concentration of plans for K-6 grades. Includes an extensive selection of lesson plans for math, science, language arts, and art, especially for the lower grades. Library of Congress Lesson Plans The Library of Congress has teacher-created, classroom-tested lesson plans on United States social studies, geography, science, sports and recreation, journalism, and literature, among other subjects. All of the lesson plans use primary sources that can be found at the Library of Congress and are provided with each lesson plan. Lesson plans can be searched by topic or by era. Grades 3-12 are targeted. Standards can be found by searching within each lesson plan for state, grade, and subject. Peace Corps WorldWise Schools Lesson Plans Based on lessons used by teachers in the Peace Corps, provides nearly 300 standards-based lesson plans. Different concepts and subjects are illustrated using examples from regions and cultures. Searchable by grade level and subject area. Smithsonian Education Lesson Plans The Smithsonian Institution has many resources for educators, including hundreds of lesson plans in all subject areas and grades from preK-12. Lesson plans are searchable by subject and grade level and each lesson plan includes all of the materials needed (photographs, handouts, suggested strategies, reproductions, activities, standards information, and additional online resources). Lesson plans are created around an inquiry-based learning model and make extensive use of primary sources and museum artifacts. Teacher.Net Lesson Bank This lesson bank is interactive and allows for both retrieval and submission of lesson plans by teachers. One can search by subject area or education level, or search or browse the lesson bank by keyword. Some lessons are available directly online, but others must be requested from the teacher who submitted the lesson plan. All lessons include a direct link to the author/submitter of the plan. United States Department of Agriculture Teacher Center This website, produced by the nation’s experts in the field of agriculture, this site includes nearly 200 lesson plans for grades K-12 on all aspects of agriculture and agricultural history. Most lessons focus on facets of the American agricultural system, however there are several lessons on agriculture around the world. Lesson plans include science experiments, Web Quests, introductions to careers in agriculture, and agriculture as an aspect of the global economy. The Concord Consortium The Concord Consortium is a non-profit educational research and development organization based in Massachusetts. The STEM resource finder on the Consortium’s site provides free, open source educational activities, software, and models for teaching STEM subjects to elementary school through college students. The resources are keyword-searchable and allow users to browse by subject and grade level. Also includes a tool to find activities and models that adhere to the Next Generation Science Standards. eGFI is a website provided by the American Society for Engineering Education, and it contains engineering lesson plans and class activities for K-12 teachers. Lessons and activities incorporate engineering concepts to teach math and science skills. The site also provides a list of engineering and technology outreach programs and web resources for teachers and students. Provides environmental games appropriate for children in grades K-12 such as game shows, crossword puzzles, word searches and matching endangered species. Also contains teacher resources and lesson plans on the environment and science. Spanning back to the beginning of recorded history, this comprehensive website provides everything you have ever wanted to know about food including history, law and regulation, inventions, nutrition, and historic cookbooks/recipes. Also included are lesson plans, a food reference guide, and a list of libraries and museums that specialize in food. Teaching Earth Science: Classroom Activities and Lesson Plans This website provides a range of lesson plans based on geography, geology, astronomy, and other earth sciences using maps, satellite images, and other projections. Also provides links to current topics in the earth sciences. Includes a collection of more than 100 engineering-related lesson plans for students ages 8-18. Each plan provides a lesson focus, synopsis, target age levels, learning objectives, learner outcomes, activities, materials, and alignments to curriculum frameworks. Lesson plan topics include mazes, search engines, sorting, decision trees, periscopes, tennis, and more. This site, administered by the U.S. Geological Survey, provides educational resources in areas like Biology, Geography, Geology, and Water. Resources are arranged by grade level. While some links are not strictly lesson plans, many of the resources listed on this site can be incorporated in the classroom as a supplement to an existing Earth Science curriculum. 9/11 Memorial These lesson plans, developed by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the New York City Department of Education, and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, are written for use throughout the school year and across disciplines. Each lesson adheres to the Common Core Standards and remains grounded in the collections of the museum. These lessons do not require visits to the museum and can be used in any classroom. Compiled by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), this page provides lesson plans for teachers who wish to teach about issues such as war, patriotism, peace, and tolerance. American Memory Lesson Plans Uses photographs from the Library of Congress American Memory Historical Collection to enhance lessons that are based on topics from our nation’s past. A few examples of lessons include: the Civil War, the Dust Bowl, Baseball Cards, Inventions, and many more. Citizens, Not Spectators; Center for Civic Education These lesson plans introduce students to the basics of the voting process and provide hands-on opportunities for students to experience registering and casting votes. Lesson plans are available for elementary, middle, and high school students. These lesson plans can be downloaded freely as zipped files. In addition, individual documents from each lesson can be found in the Resource Bank on this site. The Civil War Curriculum The Civil War Curriculum page offers links to lesson plans related to the American Civil War for students from elementary to high school. Lesson plans include a complete outline, College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standards, National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards, related resources, and downloadable content for each lesson. The entire Civil War Curriculum can also be downloaded by registering for free with the Civil War Trust. Digital Cultural Heritage Community Curriculum Units This extensive historical website provides resources for teachers who want to make learning about history interesting and exciting. Key features include an interactive timeline, online textbook, and history reference room. Includes resource guides, lesson plans and classroom handouts. This extensive historical website provides resources for teachers who want to make learning about history interesting and exciting. Key features include an interactive timeline, online textbook, and history reference room. Includes resource guides, lesson plans, and classroom handouts. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Education Resources This resource contains in-depth lesson plans about various aspects of economics, including employment growth, income taxes, and supply and demand. Additionally, the website offers a podcast series called The Economic Lowdown which gives students understandable explanations and real-world examples of economic and finance principles. The site also includes resources and activities for both students and teachers. Federal Reserve Education This website, maintained by the United States Federal Reserve, contains numerous K-12 and college lesson plans and publications on subjects such as banking, economics, government, money, and personal finance. Resources can be found by typing keywords into the search bar. Additionally, the Resources by Audience tab allows users to search for lesson plans and activities by grade level. Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms Designed specifically to support basic map and information acquisition skills at the K-12 levels, this website provides lesson plans based on 18 different maps. Divided into six different themes, each map contains several lessons for grades K-12. The National Archives Experience: Docs Teach Provides activities and over 8,000 primary source documents from the United States National Archives for use in the classroom. Users can find digitized primary source written documents, images, maps, charts, graphs, audio, and video that span the course of American history. Users can also find ready-to-use activities, or alter pre-existing activities to fit their needs. National Council for the Social Studies The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) supports elementary, secondary, and college teachers of history, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law. Their website includes K-12 lesson plans, as well as links to a host of additional resources. Lesson plans focus on current events or “teachable moments,” as well as historical events National History Education Clearinghouse (NHEC) Teachinghistory.org is designed to help K–12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) and the Stanford University History Education Group have created the Clearinghouse with the goal of making history content, teaching strategies, resources, and research accessible. Smithsonian’s History Explorer Based on items at the National Museum of American History, this website brings the museum’s collections and research into your classroom. In addition to the tour guides, there are plenty of lesson plans and classroom curriculum suggestions. Stanford History Education Group The Stanford History Education Group site includes over 130 document-based lesson plans on US and World History, 80 history assessments featuring Library of Congress documents, and assessments on measuring student reasoning about online information. Lesson plans and assessments are free with an account. “The Stanford History Education Group is an award-winning research and development group that comprises Stanford faculty, staff, graduate students, post-docs and visiting scholars.” Teaching with Historic Places Contains over 100 free middle school lesson plans in the areas of history, social studies, and geography. Lessons are based on sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places and include maps, readings, photographs, questions, and activities. Each plan is linked to national standards in the relevant subject area. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Prepared by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this website provides helpful tips for educators that will be teaching the Holocaust to middle and high school students. There are also links to lesson plans provided on the site. There are three microfiche collections of curriculum guides in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL) that may also be searched for lesson plans or other instructional materials. These are: the Kraus Curriculum Development Library, ERIC microfiche collection, and the American Primer collection. All microfiche are stored in Room 104, Main Library. Kraus Curriculum Development Library This microfiche collection of pre-K-12 curriculum guides covers a variety of subjects, including traditional areas (social sciences, mathematics, etc.) and other areas (Bilingual/English as a second language, special education, etc.). To search this collection, use the Kraus Curriculum Development Library Database. Curriculum guides added to the database since 2001 are available electronically. Older curriculum guides are available on microfiche in SSHEL. Many ERIC documents on microfiche contain lesson plans and classroom materials. When searching the ERIC database, type your subject keyword and combine with the appropriate descriptor term(s) using the AND operator. EXAMPLE: mathematics and (lesson plans or problem sets). More descriptor terms can be found in the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors (025.36 U5874t).The following is a list of possible descriptor terms that may be helpful: - lesson plans - curriculum guides - state curriculum guides - instructional materials - teacher developed materials - bilingual instructional materials - study guides - teaching guides - learning modules - class activities - educational games - course content American Primers Collection To search the American Primers collection, find American Primers: a Guide to the Microfiche Collection, (MFICHE428.6 Am35 index). It is located in Room 104 on top of the microfiche cabinets. Although this microfiche collection is mainly used for finding old textbooks and reading primers, it has a limited number of teaching manuals (lesson plans, teaching methods, learning games and activities, teacher’s guides to accompany primers) from the 1700’s to the mid-1930s. It mostly contains introductory reading materials from that period, such as primers, spellers, and alphabet books. However, this may be a useful resource if you are searching for historical curriculum materials.

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Civil War Turning Point There is widespread disagreement over the turning point of the American Civil War. The idea of an American Civil War turning point is an event after which most observers would agree that the eventual outcome was inevitable. While the Battle of Gettysburg is the most widely cited (often in combination with Battle of Vicksburg), there are several other arguable turning points in the American Civil War. Possibilities are presented here in chronological A Civil War Turning Point, furthermore, should not be confused with a Civil War Initial Turning Point and even a Civil War Major or Pivotal Turning Point. Only the positive arguments for each are given. the time of the event, the fog of war often makes it impossible to recognize all of the implications of any one victory. Hindsight well after the fact reveals the endpoint and all the developments that led up to it. In most cases, contemporary observers may lack confidence in predicting a turning point. In the Civil War, many of the turning points cited by historians would not have been recognized as such at the time. |Civil War Turning Point Map |Civil War Turning Point Confederate victory in First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861) The First Battle of Bull Run, on July 21, 1861, was the first major land battle of the war. Until this time, the North was generally confident about its prospects for quickly crushing the rebellion with an easy, direct strike against the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The embarrassing rout of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell's army disabused them of this notion. The North was shocked and realized that this was going to be a lengthier, bloodier war than they had anticipated. It steeled their determination. President Abraham Lincoln almost immediately signed legislation that increased the army by 500,000 men and allowed for their term of service to be for the duration of the war. Congress quickly passed the Confiscation Act of 1861, which provided for freeing slaves whose masters participated in the rebellion, which was the first attempt to define the war legislatively as a matter of ending slavery. If the Confederacy had hoped before this that they could sap Northern determination and quietly slip away from the Union with a minor military investment, their victory at Bull Run, ironically, destroyed those hopes. (First Battle of Manassas: A Major Turning Point?) Confederate invasion of Kentucky (September 1861) By mid-1861, eleven states seceded, but four more slave-owning states remained in the Union—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Kentucky was considered the most at risk; the state legislature had declared neutrality in the dispute, which was a moderately pro-Confederate stance. The loss of Kentucky (Kentucky Civil War History: HOMEPAGE) would have been catastrophic because of its control of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers and its position from which the vital state of Ohio could be invaded. Lincoln wrote, "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." On September 3, 1861, Confederate General Leonidas Polk extended his defensive line north from Tennessee when Gideon Pillow occupied Columbus, Kentucky (in response to Ulysses S. Grant's occupation of Belmont, Missouri, directly across the Mississippi River). Polk followed that by moving through the Cumberland Gap and occupying parts of southeastern Kentucky. This violation of state neutrality enraged many of its citizens; the state legislature, overriding the veto of the governor, requested assistance from the federal government. Kentucky was never again a safe area of operation for Confederate forces. Ironically, Polk's actions were not directed by the Confederate government. Thus, almost by accident, the Confederacy was placed at an enormous strategic disadvantage. Indeed, the early Union successes in the war's western theater (their only non-naval successes until 1863) are directly related to Polk's blunder. Union capture of Forts Henry and Donelson (February 1862) The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the Confederate surrender at the latter, were the first significant Union victories and the start of a mostly successful campaign in the western theater. General Ulysses S. Grant completed both actions by February 16, 1862, and by doing so, opened the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers as Union supply lines and avenues of invasion to Tennessee, Mississippi, and eventually Georgia. The loss of control of these rivers was a significant strategic defeat for the Confederacy. This was the start of offensive actions by Grant that, with the sole exception of the Battle of Shiloh, would continue for the rest of the war. Union victory in Battle of Antietam (September 1862) But more strategically, George B. McClellan's victory was just convincing enough that Lincoln used it as justification for announcing his Emancipation Proclamation (13th Amendment, U.S. Constitution, and President Abraham Lincoln); he had been counseled by his Cabinet to keep this action confidential until a Union battlefield victory could be announced. Otherwise, it might seem merely an act of desperation. Along with its immense effect on American history and race relations, the Emancipation Proclamation effectively prevented the British Empire from recognizing the Confederacy as a legitimate government. The British public had strong anti-slavery beliefs and would not have tolerated joining the pro-slavery side of a fight where slavery was now a prominent issue. This removed one of the Confederacy's only hopes of surviving a lengthy war against the North's suffocating naval blockade. Support from France was still a possibility, but it never came to pass. (The Trent Affair, Preventing Diplomatic Recognition of the Confederacy, and American Civil War and International Diplomacy.) Antietam and two other coincident failed actions—Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky (the "high-water mark of the Confederacy in the western theater") and Earl Van Dorn's advance against Corinth, Mississippi—represented the Confederacy's only attempt at coordinated strategic offensives in multiple theaters of war. |American Civil War Strategy Map |(Civil War Turning Point Map) After winning the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Army of Northern Virginia lost Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson due to a friendly fire accident. His death meant a blow to the morale of the Confederate army, as they lost one of their most popular and successful commanders. One month later, Robert E. Lee had no general with Jackson's audacity available at the Battle of Gettysburg. Many historians argue that Jackson could have succeeded in seizing key battlefield positions that his replacements were unable or unwilling to take. Union capture of Vicksburg and victory in Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863) On July 4, 1863, the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. The previous day, Maj. Gen. George Meade had decisively defeated Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. These twin events are the most often cited as the turning points of the war. The loss of Vicksburg, a result from the Siege and Battle of Vicksburg, split the Confederacy, denying its control of the Mississippi River and preventing supplies from Texas and Arkansas that could sustain the war effort from passing east. As President Abraham Lincoln had stated, "See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.... We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg." Furthermore, the 30,000 soldiers who surrendered with the city were a significant loss to the cause. The Battle of Gettysburg was the first major defeat suffered by Lee. It repelled his second invasion of the North and inflicted serious casualties on the Army of Northern Virginia. In fact, the National Park Service marks the point at which Pickett's Charge collapsed—the copse of trees on Cemetery Ridge—as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. From this point onward, Lee attempted no more strategic offensives. Although two more years of fighting and a new, aggressive general (Grant) was required, the Army of the Potomac had the initiative and the eventual end at Appomattox Court House seems inevitable in hindsight. Gettysburg was seen by military and civilian observers as a great battle, but those in the North had little idea that two more bloody years would be required to finish the war. Southern morale was not strongly affected by the defeat because many assumed that Lee had suffered only a temporary setback and would resume his winning ways against ineffective Union generals. Some economic historians have pointed to the fact that after the loss at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the market for Confederate war bonds dropped precipitously. "European investors gave Johnny Reb about a 42 percent chance of winning the war in early 1863 prior to the battle of Gettysburg. ... However, news of the severity of costly Confederate defeats at Gettysburg/Vicksburg led to a sell-off in rebel bonds and the probability of a Southern victory fell to about 15 percent by the end of 1863." Union victory in Third Battle of Chattanooga (November 1863) Military historian J.F.C. Fuller contended that Grant's defeat of Braxton Bragg's army at Chattanooga was the turning point of the war because it reduced the Confederacy to the Atlantic coast and opened the way for Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea. Grant's appointment as Union general-in-chief (March 1864) Following the victory at Chattanooga, Grant was appointed general-in-chief of all Union armies on March 12, 1864. Leaving Sherman in command of forces in the western theater, he moved his headquarters east to Virginia. Previous Union commanders in the critical eastern theater had not mounted effective campaigns, or pursued Confederate forces after gaining rare victories. Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the Confederacy from multiple directions: against Lee near Richmond; in the Shenandoah Valley; against Johnston and Atlanta; against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and against the port of Mobile. In May, Grant launched the Overland Campaign, putting the Confederates under an unremitting pressure that was maintained until the fall of their capital, Richmond, and the surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Union capture of Atlanta (September Some contend that the successful siege of Atlanta by the Union was the turning point, since the city was the most critical point in the South. This victory lifted the spirits of the North and helped re-elect Lincoln, in addition to its military result of crippling transportation in the heart of the Confederacy, and nearly destroying the city. Lincoln's reelection (November 1864) The re-election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864 is beyond the final point at which a positive conclusion for the Confederacy could have been contemplated. His opponent, former general George B. McClellan, ran on a Democratic Party platform that favored a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy. Although McClellan disavowed this platform, the South would have likely seen his election as a strategic victory. (Related reading and references listed at bottom of page.) Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War, by Edwin C. Bearss (Author), James McPherson (Introduction). Description: Bearss, a former chief historian of the National Parks Service and internationally recognized American Civil War historian, chronicles 14 crucial battles, including Fort Sumter, Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Sherman's march through the Carolinas, and Appomattox--the battles ranging between 1861 and 1865; included is an introductory chapter describing John Brown's raid in October 1859. Bearss describes the terrain, tactics, strategies, personalities, the soldiers and the commanders. (He personalizes the generals and politicians, sergeants and privates.) Continued below... The text is augmented by 80 black-and-white photographs and 19 maps. It is like touring the battlefields without leaving home. A must for every one of America's countless Civil War buffs, this major work will stand as an important reference and enduring legacy of a great historian for generations to come. Also available in hardcover: Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War. Recommended Reading: Turning Points of the Civil War. Description: James A. Rawley examines the seven turning points of the Civil War: the course of the slaveholding borderland in 1861, First Bull Run, the Trent affair, Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the presidential election of 1864. Continued below... Among the topic unifying his book are slavery, democracy, British policy, military organization and progress, and the roles of Lincoln, McClellan, Davis, and Lee. The afterword looks at the Civil War itself as a turning point in American history. In a preface to this Bison Book, James A. Rawley, considers recent books that sustain the idea of turning points during the Civil War. Review: James Rawley does a magnificent job breaking down the civil war into 7 major turning points. We all understand the impact that any civil war has on a country and how it becomes a turning point in that country’s history forever. What Rawley does is tries to answer the question of why the American Civil War ended the way it did and how easily it could have favored the other side. He takes an in depth look at the Trent Affair, Bull Run, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Lincoln's last election during wartime, the Border states, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the battle of Antietam. All of these he lists as major turning points and gives concrete, specific details to back up his thoughts. He gives quotes from the time and from speeches given throughout the country and also dips into news articles not only from the U.S., but also from Europe. It is very simple reading and also enjoyable i would recommend it to anyone. HIGHLY Recommended Viewing! The American Civil War (DVD Megaset) (2009) (A&E Television Networks-The History Channel) (14 DVDs) (1697 minutes) (28 Hours 17 Minutes + extras). Experience for yourself the historical and personal impact of the Civil War in a way that only HISTORY can present in this moving megaset™, filled with over 28 hours of American Civil War content. This MEGASET is the most comprehensive American Civil War compilation to date and is the mother of all Civil War documentaries. A multifaceted look at “The War Between the States,” this definitive collection brings the most legendary Civil War battles, and the soldiers and leaders who fought them, vividly to life. From Gettysburg and Antietam to Shiloh, and led by the likes of Sherman, McClellan, Grant, Beauregard, Lee, Davis, and Jackson, delve into the full military and political contexts of these men, their armies, and the clashes between them. Continued below... Almost 150 years after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, the unexpected secrets and little-known stories from Civil War history are divulged with fascinating detail. Cutting-edge CGI and accurate dramatizations illustrate archival letters and original diary entries, and the country’s most renowned historians describe the less familiar incidents that add perspective and depth to the war that divided a nation. If the DVDs in this Megaset were purchased separately, it could cost hundreds of dollars. This one-of-a-kind compilation belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff, and if you know anyone that is interested in the most costliest and bloodiest war in American history, buy this, they will love it. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR contains the following programs: * The Most Daring Mission Of The Civil War * April 1865 Detectives: The Civil War (3 Episodes): Antietam, Gettysburg, Shiloh * Secret Missions Of The Civil War * The Lost Battle Of The Civil War * Tales Of The Gun: Guns Of The Civil War * Eighty Acres Of Hell * Investigating History: Lincoln: Man Or Myth * Man, Moment, Machine: Lincoln & The Flying, Spying Machine * Conspiracy?: Lincoln Assassination High Tech Lincoln * Sherman’s March * The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth * Civil War Combat (4 Episodes): The Hornets’ Nest At Shiloh, The Bloody Lane At Antietam, The Wheatfield At Gettysburg, The Tragedy At Cold Harbor * Civil War Journal (8 Episodes): John Brown's War, Destiny At Fort Sumter, The Battle of 1st Bull Run, The 54th Massachusetts, West Point Classmates—Civil War Enemies, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Sherman And The March To The Sea * Full-Length Documentary “Save Our History: Sherman’s Total * Behind the Scenes Featurettes for “Sherman’s March” and “Lincoln” FIVE STARS! Recommended The Civil War: A Narrative, by Shelby Foote (3 Volumes Set) [BOX SET] (2960 pages) (9.2 pounds). Review: This beautifully written trilogy of books on the American Civil War is not only a piece of first-rate history, but also a marvelous work of literature. Shelby Foote brings a skilled novelist's narrative power to this great epic. Many know Foote for his prominent role as a commentator on Ken Burns's PBS series about the Civil War. These three books, however, are his legacy. His southern sympathies are apparent: the first volume opens by introducing Confederate President Jefferson Davis, rather than Abraham Lincoln. But they hardly get in the way of the great story Foote tells. This hefty three volume set should be on the bookshelf of any Civil War buff. --John Miller. Continued below… Foote's comprehensive history of the Civil War includes three compelling volumes: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Red River to Appomattox. Collected together in a handsome boxed set, this is the perfect gift for any Civil War buff. Fort Sumter to Perryville "Here, for a certainty, is one of the great historical narratives of our century, a unique and brilliant achievement, one that must be firmly placed in the ranks of the masters." —Van Allen Bradley, Chicago "Anyone who wants to relive the Civil War, as thousands of Americans apparently do, will go through this volume with pleasure.... Years from now, Foote's monumental narrative most likely will continue to be read and remembered as a classic of its kind." —New York Herald Tribune Book Review Fredericksburg to Meridian "This, then, is narrative history—a kind of history that goes back to an older literary tradition.... The writing is superb...one of the historical and literary achievements of our time." —The Washington Post Book World with such meticulous attention to action, terrain, time, and the characters of the various commanders that I understand, at last, what happened in that battle.... Mr. Foote has an acute sense of the relative importance of events and a novelist's skill in directing the reader's attention to the men and the episodes that will influence the course of the whole war, without omitting items which are of momentary interest. His organization of facts could hardly be bettered." —Atlantic River to Appomattox "An unparalleled achievement, an American Iliad, a unique work uniting the scholarship of the historian and the high readability of the first-class novelist." "I have never read a better, more vivid, more understandable account of the savage battling between Grant's and Lee's armies.... Foote stays with the human strife and suffering, and unlike most Southern commentators, he does not take sides. In objectivity, in range, in mastery of detail in beauty of language and feeling for the people involved, this work surpasses anything else on the subject.... It stands alongside the work of the best of them." —New Republic Recommended Reading: Chancellorsville and Gettysburg: An Eyewitness Account of the Pivotal Battles of the Civil War. Description: This edition is completely reset with large easily readable type. The new maps allow you to follow the battle much better than the originals. This book is part of a series of 12 short volumes on the land war published in 1882-3. It took congress twenty years to finally allocate funds to all the documents and communications sorted through. Americans could at last have an inside look at who actually said or did what, and when. Continued below… While that massive project was still underway, the publisher of this series persuaded highly qualified people - most of them participants -- to produce a quick readable history in light of the new information. M.F. Force ("From Fort Henry to Corinth"), says, "The main source of information is the official reports of battles and operations. These reports, both National and Confederate, will appear in the series of volumes Military Reports now in preparation [by] the War Records office in the War Department." Alexander Webb ("The Peninsula") adds "To be of any practical use, all history, and particularly military history, must be gradually sifted and reduced to small compass." Jacob D. Cox ("The March to the Sea - Franklin & Nashville") sums up purpose and limitations: "The class of readers which has been most in mind [includes] includes the surviving officers and men who served in the war. [My] aim has been to supplement their personal knowledge by the facts ... of recent research. To give unity and symmetry to the ... campaigns here told, by examining each in the light of the plans and purposes of the leaders on both sides. The limits assigned... made it necessary to choose between the narration of incidents which would enliven the story, and that fullness to strictly military detail which seemed necessary to make the several campaigns clearly intelligible, and to enable the reader to judge, with some degree of satisfaction, the character of the operations. ...the effort to do so will give to each a broader understanding of what the great game of war really is." Editor's Choice: The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns. Review: The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns is the most successful public-television miniseries in American history. The 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era he depicts. Continued below... The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. "Hailed as a film masterpiece and landmark in historical storytelling." "[S]hould be a requirement for every References: Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, Da Capo Press, 1929, ISBN 0-306-80450-6; Rawley, James A., Turning Points of the Civil War, University of Nebraska Press, 1966, ISBN 0-8032-8935-9; Unpublished remarks by Gary Gallagher and James M. McPherson, 2005 University of Virginia seminar: Great Battles and Turning Points of the Civil War; United States Military Academy (West Point).

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Language Acquisition in Immigrant and Refugee Children: First language use and bilingualism - Language acquisition is the greatest predictor of a child’s success in school and in later life. Early identification and intervention for speech and language problems are essential aspects of care. - Parents new to Canada provide optimal stimulation for their child and support cultural identity by speaking their home language. They are the best models for their child when they use the language they know best. - Children with a strong first language base learn a second language more easily. Learning a second language can happen at any age. - Children learn best from people who speak a language well. Learning one language well is better than hearing and learning two languages poorly. - Consistent and frequent exposure to the home language or to multiple languages (in the case of bilingualism) is needed, ideally from family and caregivers, to ensure optimal language development. - Dual language exposure at a young age does not cause or contribute to language delay. - Referral to local speech and language services for children with a language problem should be encouraged, especially if they are not meeting major communication milestones on time in their dominant language, or in both languages. First language use and bilingualism Recent paediatric research supports the importance of first language use in the context of speech and language development in preschool children. Preschool children who develop strong language skills in their first language can learn a second language more easily and do better at school with reading and writing.1,2 In Canada, most immigrant and refugee parents have the opportunity to raise a bilingual child. While parents may have strong feelings about maintaining their heritage language and culture, raising a bilingual child can raise questions and doubts for parents about using their first language or about the impact of learning more than one language. First or Home Language is the language first taught to a child or the language learned from birth, before the age of 3. It is usually the language heard by the child at home and used by parents for daily communication. Paediatricians, primary care physicians and other child health professionals are ideally positioned to support families: by recommending that parents speak their first language at home and by providing strategies to facilitate bilingualism. Current data estimates that 10-19% of preschool children have a speech or language disorder.3,4 Early identification and intervention can improve attachment and interaction between parent and child,5,6 improve the child’s overall communication development,7 and enhance brain development.8 When children show early signs of speech and language delays, families often seek support from their paediatricians, primary care physicians and other child health professionals. All children learn one language: The importance of the first language Recent research has clearly established the importance of first language use in the context of speech and language development in preschool children. When it comes to dual-language learners, research supports these observations: - It is important and appropriate for parents to speak to their children in their own first language. - Preschool children who develop a strong first language base learn a second language more easily. - Preschool children with strong language skills in their first language do better at school with reading and writing.1,9 Encourage parents to talk to their child in their own first language. Parents shouldn’t feel pressured to speak a second language for fear that they are risking their child’s language development, success in school or integration into Canadian society. When they use their first language, they are offering the best language models to their child: they are modelling a rich, diverse vocabulary, appropriate grammatical structures and promoting easy, fluid and natural exchanges in daily activities.1,9,10 When should parents introduce a second language? Second language Is often referred to as the language learned after the age of 3. It usually appears once the first language has been established. For most internationally adopted children, the second language is learned from adoption and becomes the dominant language. Learning a second language can happen at any age and in a variety of environments (at home, in child care, at school). Contrary to popular beliefs, bilingualism does not trigger confusion or negatively impact the development of language in young children. Current research demonstrates that babies have the innate ability to learn more than one language. All over the world, young children learn to speak two languages with success while growing up. Research also indicates that learning earlier is better!1,9 Bilingual children reach the same milestones as monolinguals do for most communication milestones (e.g., first as babbling, adding vocabulary, then combining words into sentences, etc.). Although it is common for a bilingual child to have fewer words in each language when they are separately considered, it is not the case when we consider the combined vocabularies from both languages. In fact, the “conceptual” vocabulary size of a bilingual child is similar to that of a monolingual child. It is optimal that the child learn from people who speak a language well. Learning the first language or both languages may also be crucial to preserve social and cultural identity within the child’s family and community. Practical considerations to share with parents: 1,2,8,9 - Speak the home language with their child. Children learn best from people who speak well. - When children have a strong first language base, they learn a second language more easily. - Children with strong language skills do better at school with reading and writing. Simultaneous or sequential bilingualism: What to do? Simultaneous bilingualism – Children learning two languages, from birth or shortly after, are simultaneous language learners. They are learning two separate language systems that also interact together. Exposure to two languages does not cause a language delay. Ideally, equal exposure to each language from the start impacts simultaneous bilingual learning. In a bilingual home, equal exposure may be difficult to achieve. At times, one language becomes more dominant than the other. Simultaneous: Learning two languages at the same time from birth or before age 3 Sequential: Learning a second language after age 3 Remind primary care providers that simultaneously bilingual children should be reaching early communication milestones (e.g., first words by 12 months, two-word phrases at 2 years) at about the same time as monolingual children. Sequential bilingualism – Children who acquire a second language after learning a first language are considered sequential bilingual learners or “second language learners”. These children tend to go through 4 typical stages when learning a second language: - The child uses the first language in the second language environment even if no one speaks the first language (e.g., Camille uses “lait” when requesting “milk” in her English child care program). - The child stops using the first language in the new environment (second language environment) and has a “silent” period lasting from 3 to 6 months. In order to develop language skills in the second language, the child will stop using a first language in the new environment. Social interaction with peers and adults will still be present. At home, the child’s first language should continue to grow (e.g., Malik stops using Arabic words in his English child care program. When playing or communicating with peers and adults, he uses gestures. At home, he continues to speak Arabic). - The child starts using the second language in a telegraphic way in imitation or rote activities (e.g., counting, naming colors, labelling objects or pictures), in memorized phrases (e.g., “I don’t know.”, “What’s that?”) or by joining words into short phrases. The child will not use grammatically correct sentences right away. - Productive use of the second language: The child starts to construct sentences spontaneously but may have an accent, mispronounce words and make grammatical errors. Acquiring a second language does not mean a child’s oral language abilities (use of grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure) will be the same as those of a monolingual peer. Proficiency and competency in a second language develop with exposure and practice. Early language skills do develop quickly: Within 6 months to 2 years of exposure to the second language. However, it may take 5 to 7 years for a sequential bilingual child to reach similar oral language competency as a monolingual child. In sequential language learners, concerns arise if the child is not meeting early communication milestones in their first language.1,2,10,11 What normal characteristics are expected when a child is learning two languages? Although a child is learning two languages, one language is used more often and proficiently. It is the language that is used spontaneously and presents with greater vocabulary, longer sentences, and fewer pauses - Language dominance: One language becomes dominant because the child’s exposure to and ability to practice each language are not equal in daily life. - Language mixing: The child uses words from both languages in the same sentence to help replace words he does not know. - Grammatical errors: Children make mistakes until they figure out the ‘rules’ in their new language. - Loss of their first language: As the second language begins to prevail, children may lose their first language skills. This loss can impact relationships with parents, who feel they are no longer able to communicate fully with their children and may be concerned about erosion of cultural identity.1,2,9-11 Practical considerations to share with parents: To become bilingual, a child needs repeated and frequent engagement with people who speak each language well. Options are available to achieve this:1,2,10-12 - A “one parent-one language” approach: Each parent speaks one language to the child. - A “one place-one language” approach: One language is spoken at home (the first language); the other is spoken during the day in child care or at school. - A “one activity-one language” approach: One language is spoken for a given routine (e.g., first language at bath time), the other for a different routine (second language at dinner). One language is used at home but the other is spoken during outdoor play or at a community activity (second language used at the library during story hour). Bilingualism and language delays There is no evidence that exposure to two languages causes language delay. In fact, research shows there are cognitive and social benefits to learning two languages. Children learning two languages know the difference between them even in the earliest stages of bilingual development, and will use each language separately with different speakers, and even with a stranger.1,9,11 Bilingual children become more efficient communicators in their first language, develop a greater vocabulary, improve their listening skills, have sharper memory skills, display greater cognitive flexibility and demonstrate better problem-solving and higher-order thinking.13-15 What to do when a child has a speech or language delay? Scientific research has shown that children with a speech or language delay or disorder will not become more delayed if they hear or learn two languages. Professionals can expect to observe the same speech and language difficulties in both languages in the case of a language learning delay. There is no evidence to support limiting a language-delayed child to one language to help language learning or avoid a delay. In fact, limiting a child’s exposure to a single language may negatively impact or restrict the child’s interactions with other family or community members. Research on early development tells us that it is imperative to start early, empower parents and engage children in language and literacy-rich activities. Practical considerations to share with parents: 1,2,9,11 - If a communication delay is present, reassure parents that bilingualism does NOT cause a delay or confusion. - A simultaneous bilingual child with a communication delay will present a delay in both languages. Expect similar type and severity of errors as the ones found in monolingual peers with language disorders. - In a sequential bilingual child who presents with a communication delay, the delay will be present in the first language. The role of primary care providers during a well-child visit Language plays a critical role in attachment with family members and in the formation of a strong cultural identity. Families may seek out their paediatricians, primary care physicians and other child health professionals for information on first language use and bilingualism. Primary care professionals and other health professionals should review the child’s language development as part of their developmental surveillance. When evaluating children in their first language or bilingual children, primary care providers can resort to the paediatric tools and milestones used for monolinguals, such as the Nippissing, the Rourke Baby Record or other tools described in the section Child Development: Issues and Assessment. The Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth also provides speech and language milestones brochures in 16 different languages Summary of key learning points Identify the child’s first language and/or the family’s home language: - Ask the parent about: - the child’s first or home language - other languages used in the home - about the amount of exposure to each language (frequency, percentage, environment). - Assess language dominancy (ask parents whether the child uses one language more often). - To learn language, children need to hear well. Ensure that the child’s hearing is normal (i.e., do a hearing screening test). Identify language competency in the first language or in both languages: Even if you do NOT SPEAK the same language: - Identify whether a child appears to present a first language delay by using paediatric screening tools. - Ask about receptive and expressive language skills in both languages used by the child. - Identify ‘red flags’ for high-risk social communication predictors or a developmental delay. - Counsel parents on the importance of first language retention for later academic skills, and the risks of losing home language. - Reassure parents that their child’s behaviour and usage (e.g., a silent period in the second language, mixing languages, grammatical errors) are normal for a child learning two languages. Share information with parents when a language delay is suspected: - Never assume that language delay is caused by exposure to two languages. - Reassure parents that dual language exposure has not caused or made the delay more severe. Children with a language disorder can become bilingual. - In simultaneous bilingualism, if a true delay exists, it will be present in both languages. Expect the same type and severity of errors as you would find in monolingual peers with a language disorder. - In sequential bilingualism, if a communication delay or disorder is truly present, it will be present in the first language. It takes time to learn a second language. Some children learning a second language appear to be delayed compared with their peers, but the length of time of exposure to a second language must be taken into account. - If a bilingual child is not meeting major communication milestones, in his first language or dominant language or in both languages (in the case of a simultaneous bilingual child), refer the child to speech and language services available in your region. - Never recommend that parents limit their bilingual child’s exposure to only one language, even when a language disorder is diagnosed. - Speech and language pathologists usually assess a child’s skills in a first or home language with the help of a cultural interpreter. Therapy is often conducted in the child’s first language with the support of parents and a cultural interpreter. Offer additional strategies to parents: - Read often to your child in your first language. Use picture books or tell stories that you learned as a child in your first language. This will help your child develop listening, thinking, language and reading skills. - Watching television is not enough for your child to learn a second language. Parents need to provide many opportunities to engage in a variety of contexts (at home, in child care, at the park, in daily routines). A child needs to hear and speak both languages to become a competent user. - Play with your child in your first language. Through play, your child is building language skills: When she seeks out a playmate, follows a set of rules, negotiates, takes turns, cooperates and accepts an outcome. All these skills involve communication. - Sing songs in your first language. Take time to explain new words or to talk about the story behind a traditional song. - Best Start Resource Centre. Growing up in a new land – Strategies for working with newcomer Families. Toronto, Ont.: Best Start, 2010. This manual contains many strategies to assist service providers who work with newcomer families with children 0-6 years of age. Background information and a list of resources, programs and activities are also provided. - Genessee F. Early Dual Language Learning. Zero to Three 2008;17-23. - Paradis J, Genesee F, Brago MB. Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning, 2nd edn. Baltimomer, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing, 2011. - First Words Preschool Speech Language program - Frequently Asked Questions on First Language use and Bilingualism. First Words offers many resources for families. This fact sheet is also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, English and Somali. - Primary Language and Literacy Project: Talk to your child in your first language. Suggestions and strategies for parents on developing language through reading and storytelling, play and music, television and videos, and preparing children for school. These resources are available in Arabic, Chinese, French, English, Inuktitut and Somali. - The Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Service has multilingual information on speech and language development milestones and strategies, online. - Hold On to Your Home Language Ryerson University’s School of Early Childhood Education developed this website to raise awareness of the importance of home language retention. - Paradis J, Genesee F, Brago, MB. Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning, 2nd edn. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing, 2011. - Thomas WP, Collier V. School effectiveness for language minority students. NCBE Resource Collection Series, No. 9. Wasington, D.C.: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, 1997. - Beitchman JH, Nair R, Clegg M, et al. Prevalence of speech and language disorders in 5-year-old kindergarten children in the Ottawa-Carleton region. J Speech Hear Disord 1986; 51(2):98-110. - Nelson HD, Nygren P, Walker M, et al. Screening for speech and language delay in preschool children: Systematic evidence review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. Pediatrics 2006;117(2):e298-319. - MacDonald J. Becoming partners with children. San Antonio, TX: Special Press, 1989. - Wilcox M. Enhancing initial communication skills in young children with developmental disabilities through partner programming. Seminars in Speech and Language 1992;13:3194-212. - Barnett W, Escobar C. Economic costs and benefits of early intervention. In: Meisels SJ, Shonkoff JP (eds.), Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990. - Florida Starting Points. Maximizing Florida’s brain power: We need to use it or lose it. Carnegie Corporation and the United Way of Florida; Success by Six, 1997. - Cummins J. Bilingualism and minority language children. Toronto, Ont.: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1981. - Cummins J. Language, Power and Pedgogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon, U.K.: Multilingual Matters, 2000. - Goldstein BA. Clinical implications of research on language development and disorders in bilingual children. Lang Disord 2006;26(4):305-21. - Watson C, Cummins J. One language or two? Helping families from other cultures decide on how to talk to their language-delayed child. Hanen Centre: WigWag, 1995. - Barac R, Bialystok E. Cognitive development of bilingual children. Language Teaching (Cambridge UP) 2011 44(1)1:36-54. - Kempert S, Hardy I, Saalbach H, Hardy I. Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems. J Educational Psychology 2011;103(3): 547-61. - Yang S, Yang H, Lust B. Early childhood bilingualism leads to advances in executive attention: Dissociating culture and language. Bilingualism: Language and cognition (Cambridge UP) 2011;14(3):412-22. - Roxane Bélanger, M.Sc.SLP, reg. CASLPO Last updated: July, 2014

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Can You Hear Me Now? Activity Have you ever received an electronic device in the mail only to find it damaged during shipping? How frustrating! In this hands-on and relatable activity, students act as engineers to solve the real-world challenge to design a better packing solution for shipping cell phones. They apply scientific, mathematic and engineering ideas to design, evaluate and refine a solution that minimizes the force on an object during a collision. They work through the engineering design process to create new packaging that prevents shipping damage while considering design constraints such as cost and weight; they combine different materials—such as cardboard, fabric, plastic and rubber bands—to create new “composite material” packaging and use pieces of glass to model a cellphone during testing. Additionally, students apply their knowledge of linear regression to accurately predict the optimum drop height that can be obtained without the “phone” breaking. At the end, students write summary lab reports to describe what they did in the project, their results and findings. This activity aligns to several science and math standards, including NGSS and CCSS. 3D bioprinting can be used to treat injuries! In this informative and engaging hands-on activity (that does not require 3D printers!), a humorous one-minute video presents high-school students with a hypothetical scenario that introduces "Bill," who has been badly injured in an automobile accident, damaging some bone, muscle and skin beyond repair. Students act as biomedical engineers to replace Bill’s injured areas with bioprinted bone, muscle and skin grafts. They create mock bioprinters from ordinary materials—cardboard, dowels, wood, spools, duct tape, zip ties and glue—and use squeeze-bags of icing to lay down tissue layers. Student teams apply what they learned about biological tissue composition and tissue engineering in the associated lesson to design and fabricate model replacement tissues. They tangibly learn about the technical aspects and challenges of 3D bioprinting technology. To conclude, teams present their prototype designs to the class. The activity includes helpful videos of mock 3D-bioprinter assembly and use instructions. This activity aligns to several science and math standards, including NGSS and Common Core. Big Data, What Are You Saying? Activity What exactly do we mean by “big data”? These days, big data is the accumulation of vast amounts of information from various sources—such as online user browsing and shopping—and the creative analysis of that data to learn from it. In this math-strong activity with a trending real-world connection, high-school students act as R&D entrepreneurs researching variables affecting the market of chosen products using big data to form and support conclusions. Students first identify a product (maybe a video game, shoe, food) and brainstorm production and marketing variables (such as product cost, price, materials). After researching and collecting pertinent consumer data, they import, organize and analyze the data using Excel and other software to inform their product production and marketing plans. They calculate statistics and generate graphs to discover relationships between variables that are essential for decision-making. Based on their findings, students suggest product launch strategies and present their conclusions to the class. This activity is ideal for high school statistics classes and aligns to several math standards, including CCSS. Mmm Cupcakes: What’s Their Impact? Activity Who doesn’t like cupcakes? In this activity, students apply their math skills to determine the environmental impact of this favorite snack over its life cycle. As a class project, they conduct a life-cycle assessment of one cupcake. To do this, six teams examine and make calculations about the energy use and emissions release at each of the six steps in the cupcake life cycle. They pull together the numbers and compare various life-cycle stage options, such as two possible disposal endings—landfilling vs. composing of discarded cupcake paper liners. Students come to see how every object they encounter has a complete life cycle—from cradle to grave—which is worth critiquing to design smarter. After finishing this activity, one fifth-grade student stated: I liked learning about life cycle assessment. I got to know how people could see where an object came from and all the energy it needs at each step to make it. Now I look at things around me and try to think where they came from.” High school students jump into biomedical engineering in this hands-on stimulating lab activity by simulating a real-world diagnostic screening test that’s used around the world daily to identify diseases present in people. Students model the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) test, which is a simple blood separating test based on the sedimentation technique that medical professionals use to provide diagnostic and medical care. In their lab work, student teams modify a blood model composed of tomato juice, petroleum jelly, butter and olive oil to simulate conditions such as anemia, rheumatoid arthritis and leukocytosis. They explore the three stages of sedimentation—aggregation, settling and packing—and measure the ESR as the plasma height that lies over the erythrocyte sediment. If a disease is present, the ESR value deviates from the normal value because diseases alter blood composition such as density and viscosity, enabling students to correlate their measurements for each blood sample with disease conditions. This activity is packed with numerous informative videos and aligns to NGSS, ITEEA and other science standards—a great way to bring biomedical engineering into chemistry class! Gears: Lift It Up! Activity Using the “right” gears can be like having superpowers! Finding the ideal gear ratio can make seemingly impossible tasks possible. In this optimization activity geared towards middle schoolers (pun intended!), students learn about the trade-off between speed and torque. They are challenged to design a gear set that can lift a given load (provide enough torque) as fast as possible. Using a LEGO robot pulley system with two independent gear sets and motors that spin two pulleys with weights attached by string, teams test and refine their designs to attain an ideal gear ratio for the system. They learn how to choose the gear ratio for a specific task and discover the trade-off between power and speed. A pre-activity teacher demo illustrates the effect of adding increasing amounts of weight to pulley systems with different gear ratios. This activity aligns to NGSS, CCSS, ITEEA and other science and math standards. Pre/post quizzes and a student worksheet are provided. Mutation Telephone Activity Who remembers playing “telephone” as a kid? In this engaging biology activity, teens learn about DNA mutations. They enact the popular childhood “telephone” game to illustrate how DNA mutations occur over several cell generations—each communication step representing a biological process related to the passage of DNA from one cell to another. The game starts off with the first student in a line receiving a set of instructions that represent a single gene from an organism’s DNA. This student whispers the instructions to a second student, the second to the third, and so on until the message reaches the last student who then performs the instructions that s/he was told! Comparing the initial and final instructions reveals the types of mutations (normal, substitution, deletion or insertion) that occurred in the person-to-person (cell-to-cell, natural or genetically engineered) communications. In the second part of the activity, students use their results to test how mutation affects organisms' survivability in the wild by demonstrating natural selection through “predatory” enactments. This activity aligns to NGSS, ITEEA and other science standards, and includes a worksheet. Volumes of Complex Solids Activity "This is dense, creative curriculum—a gem for AP calculus teachers," said one of our partner teachers. In this challenging week-long activity, students are presented with a hypothetical engineering situation for which they need to determine the volume of a nuclear power plant’s cooling tower. In order to complete the task, students learn a detailed volume estimation procedure for complex solids. They first practice using the volume procedure on small objects before independently estimating the volume of a cooling tower. During both guided and independent practice, students use free geometry software, a photograph of the object, a known dimension of it, a spreadsheet application and integral calculus techniques to calculate the volume of complex shape solids within a <5% margin of error. Students create a blueprint of their complex solid of revolution and use an appropriate scale factor to estimate its dimensions, which can be used to calculate its volume. This activity meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS, CCSS and ITEEA. A pair of glasses, a hearing aid, a cane and a crutch—what do these objects have in common? They are all assistive devices that help people see, hear and walk! In this project-based activity, students act as biomedical engineers as they design and test assistive hand device prototypes to help a 12-year-old boy with cerebral palsy grip a cup. In doing so, students learn how biomedical engineers create assistive devices for persons with fine motor skill disabilities; they also learn about types of forces (balanced and unbalanced), form and function, and hand structure. Given design criteria from the client—including limited materials and a $50 budget—teams follow the engineering design process steps by conducting research, brainstorming ideas, sketching, constructing and testing prototypes. They test to see if the prototype devices can grip a cup with 200 ml of sand. Then they redesign, re-test, and make improvements. Finally, students reflect on their designs and the process. This activity meets science, math and technology standards, including NGSS, CCSS and ITEEA. Elementary School Engineering Design Field Day Curricular Unit Have you ever considered having an "engineering design field day" at your school?! The 10 design project activities in this unit are each great on their own: spaghetti soapbox derby, naked egg drop, and building skyscrapers, towers, wind-powered sail cars, bridges and water bottle rockets. But consider combining them to give middle school students practice in the engineering design process as they prepare their designs for an entertaining and culminating seven-hour field day competition. As a bonus, include a "math competition" as part of the day—using the provided six math tests for grades 1-6 students. End the day with awards for the winning designs! Snazzy Sneakers Maker Challenge Woo-hoo! TeachEngineering has joined the MAKER MOVEMENT! We just added "Maker Challenges" to the collection—like this one about making shoes! Students come up with their own design requirements for a new type of shoe— for a specific activity or a specific "look." They sketch plans and build prototypes, then test and improve them. As with all Maker Challenges, the experience is student directed and easy to scale up or down. TeachEngineering provides the basic challenge along with suggested materials and teacher prompts. If you have maker activities that worked well with your students, consider writing them up and submitting to TeachEngineering for publishing—to share with others! In this easy-prep, “taste of engineering” activity, youngsters see the separation of ink into its components. They place permanent marker ink on coffee filter paper that is dipped into isopropyl alcohol; then they repeat with water to see if the results are different. The process—called chromatography—is a way to look at complex mixtures by separating them into their components. It’s not a chemical process; it’s a physical process because the mixture components are not chemically combined. To wrap up the 45-minute activity, students share their findings and learn that different inks have different properties such as how well they dissolve in certain types of solvents—which is important for many real-world applications like criminal evidence investigation and pollution cleanup. This engaging “sprinkle” is ideal for after-school clubs and scouts, and is also available in Spanish! Glaciers, Water and Wind, Oh My! Activity What is erosion and how does it relate to math and engineering? In this hands-on, math-enriched activity designed for fifth graders, students learn about five types of erosion (chemical, water, wind, glacier and temperature) as they rotate through stations and model each type on rocks, soils and minerals. Students learn about the effects of each erosion type and discover that engineers study erosion in order to design ways to protect our environment, structures and people’s lives. In a series of real-world scenarios (math word problems), students make calculations about the effects of erosion, including calculating erosion damage on forest, personal property and mountains, as well as determining the cost of damage. This activity includes two student worksheets and is part of a nine-lesson and 16-activity elementary-level unit called “Engineering for the Earth.” The activity meets several state and national math standards including CCMS, and science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. "I love this curriculum. It’s scalable for middle and high school students, and it’s an important skill that is typically overlooked," said one of our partner teachers. While years of research have linked spatial visualization skills to success in engineering, NEW research shows that spatial visualization skills can be LEARNED. To begin this lesson, students complete a 12-question, multiple-choice spatial visualization practice quiz. Then, through four associated activities, students work through hands-on, interactive and tangible exercises on the topics of isometric drawings and coded plans, orthographic views, one-axis rotations and two-axis rotations. Finally, students take the quiz again to see how they've improved. This curriculum is the result of years of testing with first-year engineering college students, and has proved successful in improving student spatial visualization skills—thereby setting them up for success in engineering. Bring SV into your classroom today! How can engineers display data and results in an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-understand way? In this high school lesson, students learn the value of—and connections between—art and writing in both science and engineering. They learn the principles of visual design (contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity) as well as the elements of visual design (line, color, texture, shape, size, value and space) to acquire the vocabulary to describe visual art and design. Engineers often need to convey their designs and ideas visually to create buy-in, appeal to clients or win research funding. So engineers must be able to creatively and clearly communicate their work and designs—often using art. Students also learn about the science and engineering research funding process and heat flow/thermal conductivity basics, which prepare them for the associated engineering design activity in which they create visual representations to communicate their collected experimental data. This lesson and activity meet many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Just Breathe Activity Breathe in. Breathe out. What is happening to your lungs as you inhale and exhale? In this popular hands-on activity, students learn about the respiratory system and explore the inhalation/exhalation process of the lungs. Using everyday materials (2-liter plastic bottles and balloons), students act as engineers and create model lungs to analyze their function and the overall breathing process. They learn that during inhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases while pressure in the lungs decreases, and that during exhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity decreases while pressure in the lungs increases. By studying the respiratory system, engineers have been able to create life-saving technologies such as the heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive during heart transplant procedures. Students learn about the many engineering advancements that have helped people who have respiratory system difficulties. At activity end, student teams demonstrate their models and explore what happens to the respiratory system if punctured. This upper elementary-level activity meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Can you improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant through engineering analysis and design? In this thought-provoking activity, students attempt to improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant that is financially struggling due to inefficient daily routines by considering trade-offs and constraints. Acting as engineers, students identify strengths and weaknesses in the existing system and generate a plan to improve efficiency—such as restructuring employee responsibilities, revising a floor plan and delegating tasks—while following requirements and limitations. Students culminate their analyses by writing argumentative essays summarizing and defending their suggested changes and improvements. This activity is especially engaging for students with workforce experience, helping them make meaningful connections between their everyday experiences and engineering. The activity is suitable for middle and high school students and meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Alloy the Way to Mars Activity NASA needs your help! What alloy would you recommend they use for a new engine intended to transport astronauts to Mars? In this straightforward activity that requires few materials, students must think like real-world engineers to help NASA decide which material to use for its RS-25 engine and turbine design. Student groups work as engineering teams, taking various measurements and performing calculations to determine the specific strength of different alloys. Students test to look for a material that is both strong and lightweight and discover that a higher specific strength yields a stronger, more lightweight material. Students learn about the ultimate tensile strength, the maximum amount of stress a material can sustain before failing, and use that and the material density to calculate specific strength of the various alloys. The activity culminates in a creative writing project as students compose letters to the Deputy Program Manager at NASA outlining their recommendations. Geared towards middle school students, this activity meets science and technology standards including NGSS and ITEEA, and comes with a preparatory lesson. Imagine one day that you open your eyes and realize that you can only see a small portion of your surroundings—much of your range of vision is gone! Many people with glaucoma experience this every day. In this engaging activity, middle school students experience how engineers help people; they act as biomedical engineers to design pressure sensors that measure eye pressure and use 3D software to design and print 3D prototypes of their sensors (or modeling clay as an alternative). Presented with personal stories of two people with glaucoma, student teams are challenged to develop prototypes that can help them identify pressure changes in the eyes. Students learn about radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and conduct research on pressure gauges. They are given project requirements: designs must use RFID technology, be lightweight and small, and measure eye pressure. Over seven days, teams determine an appropriate pressure gauge, design an intraocular pressor sensor prototype given constraints, 3D print the prototypes, and present them to the class. This activity meets many STEM standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Imagine you are a runner, but you lost a leg in an accident—how can you keep running? In this easy-to-prep informal learning "sprinkle," middle school students design, build and test prosthetic legs in two hours using ordinary household materials. First, students learn about prostheses, the importance of replacement legs for individuals who have lost their leg(s) to accident or injury, and are tasked to follow the steps of the engineering design process to make prosthetic leg prototypes. Student teams discuss important features of replacement legs and brainstorm design ideas. They choose fabrication materials from provided supplies, sketch their design plan and gain instructor design approval prior to constructing their prototypes. After building, students test the prosthetic limbs, making sure they can be used to walk successfully around the classroom (crude but functional!). Students improve their designs as necessary and present them to the class at the end. This engaging and fun "sprinkle" is also available in Spanish! Growing and Graphing Activity How tall are you? In this kindergarten activity, students get to meet older schoolmates and explore their schools while measuring the heights of the older students using large building blocks, which they later translate into pictorial bar graphs. This activity provides a fun and refreshing way to introduce young students to measurement and graphing at an early age; they learn how to take real-world measurements and then graph and examine the data. The kindergarteners visit second and fourth grade classes and work in pairs to make height measurements of students and adults by using large building blocks and keeping tallies. Back in their classroom, they glue pre-cut construction paper rectangles (~1-3 inches in size, representing the building blocks they used for measurement) onto lined chart paper to make bar graphs of the different height measurements. Then they compare the heights of second-graders, fourth-graders and adults—discussing the differences and patterns, sorting the heights from tallest to shortest and determining the median height. This activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Right on Target: Catapult Game Activity Ready, set, catapult! In this hands-on activity, student groups are tasked with designing and constructing precise and accurate catapults using everyday materials and guidance from the engineering design process. With the goal to launch ping-pong balls to hit different targets, student teams experiment with different designs. Will the catapult shoot the ping-pong ball far enough to hit the target? Students must apply an understanding of projectile motion to determine the best launch angle to travel the farthest distance. They analyze the different forces acting on their catapults and make their structures robust enough to withstand them. After constructing their catapults, students test their structures and see how many targets they can successfully hit. Teams earn points for hitting targets and tally their scores to determine a winning team. Students present their designs to the class, suggest improvements and discuss the characteristics of successful catapults. This engaging and playful activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Physics of Roller Coasters Lesson Ack! You are at the top of a roller coaster about to drop—then, thanks to physics and engineering, you make a safe landing despite all the jitters! In this lesson, middle school students learn about the physics behind roller coasters, investigating potential and kinetic energy as well as friction and gravity, and explore how engineers apply the basics of physics to roller coaster designs. They learn how the force of gravity drives roller coasters and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to its motion. In addition, they learn how roller coasters slow down due to friction and the role that velocity and acceleration play in the motion of these exhilarating rides. This imaginative lesson provides the necessary background knowledge for its associated activity, "Building Roller Coasters," in which students design and build model roller coasters. This lesson geared towards upper middle school students meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Zero-Energy Housing Activity Brrr! It's a chilly March night—can you think of a way to heat your house without using an electric or gas heater? In this hands-on activity, teens design and construct one-bedroom model houses within specified constraints (and a variety of material options) and are challenged to warm up their houses as much as they can and maintain the heated temperatures for as long as possible using passive solar heating design techniques. Students learn about solar heating (including how insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors and site orientation are all essential in design), and apply learned concepts to the design and construction of their model houses. After constructing, students test their model homes during simulated daytime and nighttime conditions to examine thermal gains and losses. Finally, students present and compare their designs and suggest improvements. This engaging high school activity meets multiple science and technology standards, and is NGSS and ITEEA aligned. Quick! The power is out, you're in the dark and immediately grab your flashlight. Ever wondered how flashlights work? What makes them light up so easily? In this easy-prep informal learning sprinkle, elementary students design, build and test their own flashlights. Student first learn and discuss the essential components of flashlights: the importance of a switch, how flashlights are composed of a simple series circuit, and that the batteries and switch must be correctly oriented to work. Given a list of available supplies, they sketch their own flashlight designs that incorporate a switch, a reflector-enhanced light (such as with foil) and batteries contained in a paper tube. After building, students test for reliability, checking to see if the light can be turned on three times in a row. Students improve their designs as necessary and present their flashlights to the class at the end. This is a great starter engineering project—good for afterschool clubs and rainy afternoons. Also available in Spanish! Engineering a Mountain Rescue Litter Activity Imagine hiking in the mountains, suddenly getting injured and being unable to walk. In this hands-on design challenge, elementary-age students consider this situation and act as engineers to create rescue litters/baskets for use in hard-to-get-to places such as mountainous terrain. Using a potato to model an injured person, teams build small-sized prototypes that meet given criteria and constraints: lightweight and inexpensive, break down to be small and portable, quick assembly and stable transport of an injured body. They learn about the human bodys nerves and spinal cord and the importance of protecting it. They "purchase" ordinary building materials such as toothpicks, paper towels, craft sticks, foil and sponges to design and build prototypes. Through timed tests, they assess their design success in assembly and transport of the injured person (potato). Then students compare statistics (litter mass, cost, stability and rescue time) and graph all team data, analyzing the results to determine which designs performed best. Part of a biomedical engineering unit, this engaging activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Clearing a Path to the Heart Activity Can you think of a way to unclog blood vessels? In this open-ended design project, student teams act as biomedical engineers to create and build devices capable of removing and/or flattening plaque build-up inside artery walls. They follow the steps of the engineering design process, apply their knowledge of the circulatory system and learn about existing methods to treat blocked arteries (angioplasty/stent and coronary bypass surgery). First they gain an understanding of the need (chest pain, heart attacks), then brainstorm ideas, design and plan, create and test a prototype, and then refine their designs. Students assess their success by first observing how two liters of water flows through model clogged arteries (tubes with play dough or peanut butter in them) and then timing how fast the water flows through the cleared arteries. Students present their designs to the class, explaining what worked and what improvements are needed. This middle school activity is part of a larger biomedical engineering unit and meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA. Mars Rover App Creation Activity Did you know that the Mars Curiosity rover discovered water on Mars?! How do engineers develop such an intelligent vehicle capable of such vast exploration? In this activity, students explore the programming and technology realms to discover and create Android apps capable of controlling LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robots to simulate a planetary rover remote sensing task. Using MIT's App Inventor software, student teams create their own mobile applications that they execute on Android devices to control specific aspects of an NXT robot. They might program actions such as driving the robot, moving an arm, detecting objects, applying a game or using a light sensor. Student teams follow the steps of the software/systems design process and gain programming design experience. Groups present their apps to the class and demonstrate how they control a robot. This middle/high school activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA. Most people take no notice of above-ground storage tanks in their communities! The tanks might contain water or petrochemicals in liquid or gas form, or other industrial explosive and toxic materials. What's important is that engineers design the tanks to be structurally sound—and hopefully strong enough to remain intact during major storms and hurricanes! In this activity, teens act as engineers in design teams tasked to examine the stability of certain above-ground storage tanks (and demonstrate their understanding of Archimedes' principle and Pascal's law). Guided by worksheets and during five class periods, they derive equations and make analyses to determine whether the storage tanks will displace or remain stationary in the event of flooding. Then they are challenged to think of improved designs to prevent displacement and buckling. They present their results and design ideas to the class. This high school activity concludes the Above-Ground Storage Tanks in the Houston Ship Channel lesson, which is part of The Physics of Fluid Mechanics unit, and meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS and Common Core Math. Youngsters know the foods they eat and the clothes they wear, but may have never made the connection to climate. In this elementary-level lesson, students learn the effects of climate on our food options and water sources, as well as on our clothing and shelter types. In small groups, students role-play families living in different regions around the globe and determine where they live based on their clothing and food (provided on notecards). They discuss factors that affect the climate such as latitude, elevation, land features and weather, and learn about different climates such as tropical, desert, alpine, oceanic. They also learn how engineers develop technologies to predict and be protected from weather and climate. In the associated activity, students learn the steps of the engineering design process as they explore ways to provide water to a (hypothetical) community facing a water crisis. This lesson is part of a nine-lesson unit, "Engineering for the Earth."

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Dramatica: A New Theory Of Story By Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley Storytelling the Structural Appreciations Storyforming Structural Appreciations By answering the eight essential questions we greatly refine our understanding of the way our story will feel to our audience. The next task is to clarify what it is we intend to talk about. In the Theme section of The Elements of Structure we were introduced to the various Appreciations an audience will look for in the course of experiencing and evaluating a story. Now we turn our attention to examining the issues we, as authors, must consider in selecting our story's Appreciation's. We begin with the Appreciations that most affect Genre, then work our way down through Plot and Theme to arrive at a discussion of what goes into selecting a Main Character's Problem. Selecting the Domains in your story One of the easiest ways to identify the four Domains in your story (Objective Story, Subjective Story, Main Character, and Obstacle Character) is by looking at the characters that appear in each Domain. Who are they? What are they doing? What are their relationships to one another? Clearly identifying the characters in each throughline will make selecting the thematic Domains, Concerns, Ranges, and Problems for the throughlines For the Objective Story Throughline: When looking at the characters in the Objective Story Throughline, identify them by the roles they play instead of their names. This keeps them at a distance, making them a lot easier to evaluate objectively. For instance, some of the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet might be the king, the queen, the ghost, the prince, the chancellor, and the chancellor's daughter, while the characters in The Fugitive might be the fugitive doctor, the federal marshal, the dead wife, the one-armed man, and so on. By avoiding the characters' proper names you also avoid identifying with them and confusing their personal concerns with their concerns as Objective Characters. Aren't the Main Character and the Obstacle Character also part of the Objective The Main Character and the Obstacle Character will each have a role in the Objective Story in addition to their explorations of their own throughlines. From the Objective Story point of view we see all the story's Objective Characters and identify them by the functions they fulfill in the quest to reach the Objective Story Concern. The Objective Story throughline is what brings all of the characters in the story together and describes what they do in relation to one another in order to achieve this Concern. It is extremely important to be able to separate the Main Character throughline from the Objective Story throughline in order to see your story's structure accurately. It is equally important to make the distinction between the Obstacle Character and the Objective Story. Exploring these two characters' throughlines in a story requires a complete shift in the audience's perspective, away from the overall story that involves all the characters and into the subjective experiences that only these two characters have within the story. Thus, each of these throughlines should be considered individually. The Main Character and the Obstacle Character will, however, each have at least one function to perform in the Objective Story as well. When we see them here, though, they both appear as Objective Characters. In the Objective Story all we see are the characteristics they represent in relation to the other Objective Characters. So if your Main Character happens to be the Protagonist as well, then it is purely as the Protagonist that we will see him in the Objective Story. If your Obstacle Character is also an Archetypal Guardian, then his helping and conscience are all you should consider about that character in the Objective Story. In every story, these two will at least be called upon in the Objective Story to represent the story's Crucial Element and its dynamic opposite. It is possible that the Main and Obstacle Characters could have no other relationship with the Objective Story than these single characteristics. The point is that their importance to the Objective Story should be thought of completely in terms of these and any other Objective characteristics which For the Subjective Story Throughline: When looking at the characters in the Subjective Story Throughline, it is best to look at the Main and Obstacle Characters by their relationship with each other in lieu of their names. The Subjective Story Throughline is the "We" perspective, (i.e. first-person plural) so think entirely in terms of the relationship between the Main and Obstacle Characters, not the characters themselves. Thus, "the relationship between Dr. Richard Kimble and Sam Gerard" is the focus of the Subjective Story Throughline in The Fugitive, whereas The Verdict focuses on "the relationship between Frank Galvin and Laura Fischer." For the Main Character Throughline: When looking at the Main Character's Throughline, all other characters are unimportant and should not be considered. Only the Main Character's personal identity or essential nature is meaningful from this point of view. What qualities of the Main Character are so much a part of him that they would not change even if he were plopped down in another story? For example, Hamlet's brooding nature and his tendency to over-think things would remain consistent and recognizable if he were to show up in a different story. Laura Wingfield, in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, would carry with her a world of rationalizations and a crippling propensity to dream if we were to see her appear again. These are the kinds of things to pay attention to in looking at the Main Character For the Obstacle Character Throughline: When considering the Obstacle Character's Throughline, look at their identity in terms of their impact on others, particularly the Main Character. Think of the Obstacle Character in terms of his name, but it's the name of someone else, someone who can really get under your skin. In viewing the Obstacle Character this way, it is easier to identify the kind of impact that he has on others. Obi Wan Kenobi's fanaticism (regarding using the force) in Star Wars and Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard's tenacity (in out-thinking his prey) in The Fugitive are aspects of these Obstacle Characters that are inherent to their nature and would continue to be so in any story they might be found in. Picking the proper Classes for the Domains in your Story Which is the right Class for the Main Character Domain in your story? For the Objective Story Domain? For the Subjective Story Domain? For the Obstacle Character Domain? Assigning the appropriate Dramatica Classes to the Domains of your story is a tricky but important process. There are four Domains or throughlines in a story: the Main Character, the Obstacle Character, the Subjective Story, and the Objective Story. These throughlines provide an audience with various points of view from which to explore the story. The four audience points of view can be seen as I, YOU, WE, and THEY as the audience's point of view shifts from empathizing with the Main Character, to feeling the impact of the Obstacle Character, to experiencing the relationship between the Main and Obstacle Character, and then finally stepping back to see the big picture that has everyone in it (all of THEM). Each point of view describes an aspect of the story experience to which an audience is privy. There are four Classes containing all the possible kinds of problems that can be felt in those throughlines (one Class to each throughline): Universe, Mind, Physics, and Psychology. These Classes suggest different areas to explore in the story. The areas can be seen as SITUATIONS, FIXED ATTITUDES or FIXATIONS, ACTIVITIES, and MANNERS OF THINKING In Dramatica, a story will contain all four areas to explore (Classes) and all four points of view (throughlines). Each Class will be explored from one of the throughlines. The combination of Class and throughline into a Domain is the broadest way to describe the meaning in a story. For example, exploring a Main Character in terms of his situation is quite different than exploring a Main Character in terms of his attitude, the activities he is involved in, or how he is being manipulated. Which is right for your story? Pairing the appropriate Class with the proper throughline for your story can be difficult. An approach you may find useful is to pick a throughline, adopt the audience perspective that throughline provides, and from that point of view examine each of the four Classes to see which feels the best. Each of the following sections present the four Classes from one specific audience perspective. For best effect, adopt the perspective described in the section and ask the questions as they appear in terms of your own story. One set of questions should seem more important or relevant from that perspective. NOTE: Selecting a throughline/Class relationship (or Domain) indicates much about the emphasis you wish to place in the context of your story. No pairing is better or worse than another. One pairing will be, however, most appropriate to what you have in mind for your story than the other three Dynamic Pairs of Domains Each of the throughlines in a story can be seen as standing alone or as standing in relation to the other throughlines. When selecting which Classes to assign the throughlines of your story, it is extremely important to remember two relationships in particular among the throughlines: The Objective Story and Subjective Story throughlines will always be a dynamic pair The Main Character and Obstacle Character throughlines will always be a dynamic pair These relationships reflect the kind of impact these throughlines have on each other in every story. The Main and Obstacle Characters face off throughout the story until one of them Changes (indicated by the Main Character Resolve). Their relationship in the Subjective Story will help precipitate either Success or Failure in the Objective Story (indicated by the Story Outcome). What these relationships mean to the process of building the Domains in your story is that whenever you set up one Domain, you also set up its dynamic pair. For example, matching the Main Character throughline with the Universe class not only creates a Main Character Domain of Universe in your story, it also creates an Obstacle Character Domain of Mind. Since Mind is the dynamic pair to Universe in the Dramatica structure, matching one throughline to one of the Classes automatically puts the other throughline on the opposite Class to support the two throughlines' dynamic pair Likewise, matching the Objective Story throughline with Psychology to create an Objective Story Domain of Psychology will automatically create a Subjective Story Domain of Physics at the same time. The reasoning is the same here as it was for the Main and Obstacle Character throughlines. No matter which Class you match with one of the throughlines on the Dramatica structure, the dynamic pair of that class will be matched to the dynamic pair of that throughline. Who am I and what am I doing? When looking from the Main Character's perspective, use the first person singular (I) voice to evaluate the Classes. - If the Main Character's Domain is Universe (e.g. Luke in Star Wars or George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), questions like the following would arise: What is it like to be in my situation? What is my status? What condition am I in? Where am I going to be in the future? What's so special about my past? - If the Main Character's Domain is Physics (e.g. Frank Galvin in The Verdict The Verdict or Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive), questions like the following would be more appropriate: What am I involved in? How do I get what I want? What must I learn to do the things I want to do? What does it mean to me to have (or lose) something? - If the Main Character's Domain is Mind (e.g. Scrooge in A Christmas Carol), you would consider questions such as the following: What am I afraid of? What is my opinion? How do I react to something? How do I feel about this or that? What is it that I remember about that night? - If the Main Character's Domain is Psychology (e.g. Laura in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie or Frank in In The Line of Fire), the concerns would be more like: Who am I really? How should I act? How can I become a different person? Why am I so angry, or reserved, or whatever? How am I manipulating or being manipulated? Who are YOU and what are YOU doing? When considering the Obstacle Character's perspective, it is best to use the second person singular ("You") voice to evaluate the Classes. This is best imagined as if one is addressing the Obstacle Character directly, where "You" is referring to the Obstacle Character. - If the Obstacle Character's Domain is Universe (e.g. Marley's Ghost in A Christmas Carol), you might ask them: What is it like to be in your situation? What is your status? What condition are you in? Where are you going to be in the future? What's so special about your past? - If the Obstacle Character's Domain is Physics (e.g. Jim in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie or Booth in In The Line of Fire): What are you involved in? How do you get what you want? What must you learn to do the things you want to do? What does it mean to you to have (or lose) something? - If the Obstacle Character's Domain is Mind (e.g. Obi Wan in Star Wars Star Wars or Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?): What are you afraid of? What is your opinion? How do you react to that? How do you feel about this or that? What is it that you remember about that night? - If the Obstacle Character's Domain is Psychology (e.g. Laura Fisher in The Verdict or Sam Gerard in The Fugitive): Who are you really? How should you act? How can you become a different person? Why are you so angry, or reserved, or whatever? How are you manipulating or being manipulated? Who are WE and what are WE doing? When considering the Subjective Story perspective, it is best to use the first person plural ("We") voice to evaluate the Classes. We refers to the Main and Obstacle Characters collectively. - If the Subjective Story's Domain is Universe (e.g. The Ghost & Hamlet's pact in or Reggie & Marcus' alliance in The Client), consider asking: What is it like to be in our situation? What is our status? What condition are we in? Where are we going to be in the future? What's so special about our past? - If the Subjective Story's Domain is Physics (e.g. George & Martha's game in Afraid of Virginia Woolf?): What are we involved in? How do we get what we want? What must we learn to do the things we want to do? What does it mean to us to have (or lose) - If the Subjective Story's Domain is Mind (e.g. Frank & Laura's affair in Verdict or Dr. Kimble & Sam Gerard's relationship in The Fugitive): What are we afraid of? What is our opinion? How do we react to that? How do we feel about this or that? What is it that we remember about that night? - If the Subjective Story's Domain is Psychology (e.g. Obi Wan & Luke's relationship in Star Wars): Who are we really? How should we act? How can we become different people? Why are we so angry, or reserved, or whatever? How are we manipulating or being Who are THEY and what are THEY doing? When considering the Objective Story perspective, it is best to use the third person plural ("They") voice to evaluate the Classes. They refers to the entire set of Objective Characters (protagonist, antagonist, sidekick, etc.) collectively. - If the Objective Story's Domain is Universe (e.g. The Verdict, The Poseidon Adventure, or The Fugitive), consider asking: What is it like to be in their situation? What is their status? What condition are they in? Where are they going to be in the future? What's so special about their past? - If the Objective Story's Domain is Physics (e.g. Star Wars): What are they involved in? How do they get what they want? What must they learn to do the things they want to do? What does it mean to them to have (or lose) something? - If the Objective Story's Domain is Mind (e.g. Hamlet or To Kill A Mockingbird): What are they afraid of? What is their opinion? How do they react to that? How do they feel about this or that? What is it that they remember about that night? - If the Objective Story's Domain is Psychology (e.g. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Four Weddings and a Funeral): Who are they really? How should they act? How can they become different people? Why are they so angry, or reserved, or whatever? How are they manipulating or being manipulated? to the Next Section of the Book--> How to Order Dramatica: A New Theory of Story the Table of Contents Back to the Dramatica Home Page Copyright 1996, Screenplay Systems, Inc. The Dramatica theory was developed by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley Chief Architect of the Dramatica software is Stephen Dramatica is a registered trademark of Screenplay Systems Incorporated the Dramatica Theory Home Page Try Dramatica & StoryWeaver Risk *Try either or both for 90 days. Not working for you? Return for a full refund of your purchase price! About Dramatica and Hi, I'm Melanie Anne Phillips, creator of StoryWeaver, co-creator of Dramatica and owner of Storymind.com. If you have a moment, I'd like to tell you about these two story development tools - what each is designed to do, how each works alone on a different part of story development and how they can be used together to cover the entire process from concept to completion of your novel or screenplay. What They Do Dramatica is a tool to help you build a perfect story structure. StoryWeaver is a tool to help you build your story's world. Dramatica focuses on the underlying logic of your story, making sure there are no holes or inconsistencies. StoryWeaver focuses on the creative process, boosting your inspiration and guiding it to add depth, detail and passion to your story. How They Do It Dramatica has the world's only patented interactive Story Engine� which cross-references your answers to questions about your dramatic intent, then finds any weaknesses in your structure and even suggests the best ways to strengthen them. StoryWeaver uses a revolutionary new creative format as you follow more than 200 Story Cards� step by step through the story development process. You'll design the people who'll inhabit your story's world, what happens to them, and what it all means. How They Work By itself Dramatic appeals to structural writers who like to work out all the details of their stories logically before they write a word. By itself, StoryWeaver appeals to intuitive writers who like to follow their Muse and develop their stories as But, the finished work of a structural writer can often lack passion, which is where StoryWeaver can help. And the finished work of an intuitive writer can often lack direction, which is where Dramatica can help. So, while each kind of writer will find one program or the other the most initially appealing, both kinds of writers can benefit from both programs. Try Both Programs We have a 90 Day Return Policy here at Storymind. Try either or both of these products and if you aren't completely satisfied we'll cheerfully refund your Complete Catalog of Products the Writer's Survival Kit Bonus Package FREE with ANY purchase! A $300 Value! step by step approach to story development, from concept to completed story for your novel or screenplay. More than 200 interactive Story Cards guide you through the entire process. Pro - $179.95 2 Exclusive Bonuses! The most powerful story structuring software available, Dramatica is driven by a patented "Story Engine" that cross-references your dramatic choices to ensure a perfect structure. Writer's DreamKit - $49.95 brother to Dramatica Pro, Writer's DreamKit is built around the same patented Story Engine - it just tracks fewer story points. So, you develop the same solid story structure, just with fewer details. Perfect for beginning writers or those new to Dramatica. Structure - $149.95 all-in-one writing environment with built-in word processor that helps you organize and cross-reference your story development materials. INCLUDES DVD SET BONUS! Writer - $99.95 brother of Power Structure includes the essential organization and word processing tools writers need the most. - Index Cards (Mac) - $19.95 index cards - add notes, titles, colors, click and drag to re-arrange. An essential tool for every writer. Magic Screenwriter - $149.95 advanced screenwriting software available, Movie Magic is deemed a "preferred file format" by the Writer's Guild. An industry standard, MMS is used by professionals and studios around the Draft - $199.95 Magic Screenwriter, Final Draft is an industry standard, used by many professional screenwriters and studios around the world. The Lines (Macintosh) - $29.95 cost automatic screenplay formatter for Macintosh includes high-end features such as interactive index cards linked to your script. Hour Writing Course - $19.95 you need to know about story structure - twelve hours of video on a single DVD - presented by Dramatica Theory co-creator, Melanie Anne Software Companion - $19.95 four hours of video demonstrations of every key feature in Dramatica, narrated by the co-creator of Dramatica. Tips Book - $19.95 170 pages of eye-opening essays on story structure, storytelling, finding inspiration and a wide variety of writing techniques. Seminar 8 DVD Set - $99.95 14 hours of video from a live two day course taught by theory co-creator Melanie Anne Phillips covering Dramatica story structure and StoryWeaver Seminar Online - $49.95 The same 14 hour program presented in streaming video that you can view online or download for a permanent copy. Theory 2 Hour Audio Program - $19.95 concept in the Dramatica Theory of Story is fully explained in this Characters of the Opposite Sex - $29.95 audio CD set that explains everything you need to know to create characters of both sexes that ring absolutely true (and maybe even gain insight into the communication problems in the real world!) Storyteller Improves Your Writing - $29.95 better writing with this series of interactive exercises. to Create Great Characters DVD - $19.95 A 90 minute video program recorded during Dramatica co-creator Melanie Anne Phillips' live in-person seminar on story structure and storytelling. vs. Passion - Audio CD $19.95 Mind approach to writing uses your own passions to create your story's structure. It focuses your efforts, clarifies the direction of your story, and triggers your imagination. with the Story Mind - Audio CD - $19.95 Learn how to psychoanalyze your story's "mind" to uncover and treat problems with characters, plot, theme, and genre. Prices - Discounts on Select Products Are you a student, teacher, or academic staffer? Get the very best price on select products with these manufacturer sponsored academic discounts! Deals - Starting at $49.95 discounts with these bundles of our most popular writing products. Survival Kit Bonus Package - FREE! ANY purchase - Writing software, online writing workshops, writing seminars on video, story theory book, and much, MUCH more!

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- Diversity and Character Development - Fine and Performing Arts - Foreign Language - Physical Education - Social Studies Diversity is a key aspect of our community. We are a richly diverse school community in terms of, but not limited to, race, family systems, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability level, economics and beliefs. Faculty members encourage open-mindedness by guiding students to make choices that show respect for self, others, property and school. We wish for our students to be considerate, confident and respectful members of our school community. Through demonstrated examples, empathic learning, discussions, stories and guided practice, students learn about different perspectives. We discuss ways to join groups and invite others to join in the play. We create understandings about how to deal with playground conflicts so that students feel safe to join in, knowing they will be welcomed and accepted. Kindergarten and First grade meets once every two weeks to discuss character development. Some of our most important skills include being able to join groups and welcoming others into a group. This way, everyone feels safe in the community knowing that he/she is always welcome. Another skill that students work on is using conversation skills so that the other person’s perspective is being considered. Through parent collaboration, we seek to build on these understandings. We look to our Harbor HAWKS Initiative for guidance and uniformity in terms of voice and message: - H is for Honesty: Do I accept responsibility for the things that I do or say? - A is for Achievement: Do I work hard and value perseverance? Do I support others in that goal? Do I respect the uniqueness of others? Do I simply do my personal best, because it is the right thing to do? - W is for Work Ethic: Do I persevere in my academics, arts and athletics? - K is for Kindness: Am I a good citizen? Do I show empathy and kindness to those around me? - S is for Sportsmanship: Am I a good sport? Do I let others take the lead sometimes and allow my own voice to step back when it is someone else’s turn to be heard? Do I play fair, whether I win or lose? Do I keep a good attitude and support my teammates or the other team? In independent schools, we view the arts, athletics and academics as core pieces, with equal value, in the school curriculum. Students in Early Childhood have strong exposure to the arts; this includes art classes as well as music theory. Art Classes: PreK 3s and 4s In art class, students work with our Artist in Residence in a studio setting. Our preschoolers work in whole group instruction or sometimes in small groups, which rotate each week, depending on the project being developed. Since art is a centerpiece to preschool learning in the classroom, our preschool art class curriculum is designed to be a deeper and richer artistic experience. Students use a wide variety of tactile materials, such as clay, watercolors, sculpture materials, fabric and paint, in an environment where creativity is key. Preschool art is about self-expression; the adult’s hand should not be seen in the preschool art piece. Preschool art is about process; all pieces should look individual and one-of-a-kind. We integrate our curriculum so that the themes being developed in the preschool classroom are also explored artistically in art class. We want our students to have the opportunity to demonstrate what they are learning in other disciplines (language arts, science, mathematics) through the creation of a work of art. Art Classes: Kindergarten and First Grade Artistic expression and art fundamentals are critical aspects of our kindergarten, first and second grade art curriculum. At these stages, students are exposed to techniques, specifics artists, and great works of art, as well as key elements of art including: line, shape, form, space, texture, value, and color. Students often study important works of art and then practice the techniques unique to creating a similar piece of art. Key aspects of the experience include: developing a sense of aesthetic judgment and color theory, understanding how visual arts relate to history and culture, and showing appreciation of the creative works of self and others. SMART Board and iPad technology are used in the classroom to enrich understandings and to offer a unique form of multi-media art-based experiences. Music: PreK 3s and 4s Music is the basis for Harbor Country Day School’s performing arts curriculum. Preschool students attend a minimum of two music classes a week in which various topics relating to music are explored. Singing and vocalization are of great importance to our music program. Singing, chanting, rhyming and rhythm activities are used to encourage active participation in an inviting environment. We believe that singing helps to promote a positive sense of community for even our youngest students. In addition to singing, preschool students use various rhythm instruments such as claves, egg shakers and drums to explore rhythm, timbre, and tempo. Music: Kindergarten and First Grade Kindergarten marks a more formal classroom structure for our music classes. Students attend music class twice a week and participate in both our choral and instrumental programs. Beginning in kindergarten, all students participate in chorus. Chorus is an important aspect of our music curriculum, as it fosters a sense of community, responsibility and teamwork. Students perform in the winter and spring concert each year and develop skills such as following a conductor, pitch matching and concert etiquette. Harbor’s instrumental program begins in kindergarten with the use of hand bells and glockenspiels. Students are introduced to the concepts of pitched instruments versus rhythm instruments as they learn to play songs throughout the year. Dynamics, timbre and rhythm are emphasized as a precursor to our recorder program. First grade students participate in our recorder program. It is designed to challenge and stimulate a developing sense of multitasking and coordination skills. Through a differentiated approach, each student progresses through the program at his or her own rate, allowing for an individualized experience tailored to each student. Kindergarten and First Grade In the grades K-1, students are exposed to the languages of Spanish and Mandarin in a natural approach. Our focus is on creating an immersion experience in which students receive meaningful comprehensive input via role-plays, chants, songs, games, poems and dialogues. At the end of the Lower School years students should have familiarity with basic vocabulary and rudimentary styles of conversation. In order to encourage global citizenship, special attention is paid to culturally authentic materials and activities such as: art crafts, foods, greetings, etiquette and customs of the countries studied. PreK 3s and 4s Preschoolers visit the library to hear books read to them, which coordinate with what they are studying in the classroom. Preschoolers are introduced to library procedures, such as how to borrow a book, and begin to have book discussions. Kindergarten and First Grade During library read-alouds, kindergarteners practice reading comprehension skills such as identifying the beginning, middle and end of a story. They begin having discussions about books, are introduced to the idea of genres, story elements, and are exposed to the idea of fiction and non-fiction stories. Kindergarteners begin to see that the library is a shared space in our school where we appreciate a love of literature. By first grade, students are working on identifying elements in a story: character, setting, plot, and are identifying some genres, in addition to fiction and non-fiction elements in stories. They are developing an understanding of how to use the library materials. Early Childhood Curriculum Overview: Grades PreK 3s and 4s through Grade One Early Childhood is the developmental time frame running from 0-7 years of age. The stages are broken down into: (early) 0-36 months, (mid) 3-5 years, and (late) 5-7 years old. There are significant developmental differences between these three stages in Early Childhood. In the preschool and early kindergarten years, imaginative thinking/inventive play tends to rule a child’s thought processes. He or she is guided by internal rules based on their own perspective of how they see the world. They are developing understandings of colors, shapes, numbers, oral and written language, concepts and seasons, among many other things. By late Early Childhood, children are developing more stable understandings of the world around them. We call this shift a change from imaginative thinking, where understandings are based on one’s own perspective, to scientific thinking, where one begins to form conceptual understandings. What fosters this growth is a curriculum that gives 3-6 year olds the tools that promote thinking: use of blocks, water, art, music, language, nature-based learning, physical activities and hands-on learning experiences. The academic curriculum is designed to support developing skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. Our goal is to develop students who are ready for the Lower and Upper School curriculum by providing learning experiences that help develop the young child’s deliberate memory, mediated perception (knowing that some things are more important than others), logical thinking, sense of self-control and focused attention. PreK 3s and 4s Preschoolers’ reading/writing interests and skills are an important part of how we proceed with literacy. It is important to instill a love of learning without pushing the individual child in age-inappropriate ways. Preschool readiness is a part of how we approach the balanced literacy program in preschool. The elements we use in kindergarten, first and second grade are all there, but our approach is more centered on teacher-directed read alouds, literary discussions, and early stages of phonics instruction. We encourage inventive spelling as a way to support letter/sound connections. Our three year olds explore shape recognition as a precursor to letter recognition. We learn our names through repeated exposures in circle time. We practice fine motor skills, such as using play doh, cutting with scissors, building blocks, and beading, which prepare students for holding a pencil. Using read alouds, teachers model intonation and reading comprehension strategies. Children are exposed to concepts of print. Multisensory approaches are used to practice writing letters. Fingerplays and rhymes support phonemic awareness. Upper and lower case letters are introduced through a variety of exercises. In fours, preschoolers work on letter sound correspondence, first sounds in words, and early inventive spelling (sounding out words by practicing what sounds they hear). They practice writing their name and capitalizing the first letter in their name. The upper and lower case letters are introduced. Rhymes, and first sounds are introduced in circle time, and through stories and fingerplays. Storytelling and comprehension is reinforced through student directed retelling of stories. We use methodologies that relate to the Teacher’s College of Reading and Writing program, which is later introduced in kindergarten. Preschoolers practice hearing word boundaries, learn that words are made up of sounds, practice rhymes and syllables. Students develop understandings that there are patterns in words and recognize some high frequency words. Kindergarten and First Grade Kindergarten builds on the literacy skills introduced in preschool. The kindergarten program supports a print-rich environment and has a strong phonics component. Students begin the Teacher’s College of Reading and Writing program, the first lesson of which is to think creatively about story ideas. Kindergarten is a time of intense story telling creativity and we capitalize on this by freeing the child of an expectation for perfect spelling by encouraging inventive spelling. This allows a child to use any word, even for those for which the child does not know the correct spelling. Inventive spelling encourages phonemic awareness. During the kindergarten year, students learn to blend sounds to form words, they learn to recognize syllables and can hear and say rhymes. We use Words Their Way for Emergent Spellers as a source of support with phonemic skills development. Students work on handwriting, distinguishing letter patterns, and begin working with word families. First graders are developing the skills needed to improve independent reading and are beginning to read to learn. As decoding gives way to fluency, a first grader’s reading comprehension improves. Focusing on high frequency words helps improve fluency. The first grader begins to fall in love with characters in stories, becomes familiar with folktales, and uses illustrations to support comprehension. First graders begin developing understandings of letter patterns known as blends and diagraphs. Nuances of word patterns, such as the concepts of plurals, contractions, compound words, and synonyms/antonyms, greatly expand reading skills. In writing, students learn to add details to stories, to write sentences, and to vary their sentence structure. They practice writing stories with a beginning, middle and ending. PreK 3s and 4s Our preschoolers are highly curious and engaged mathematicians! They like to compare and contrast volumes, mix and pour liquids, sort objects by colors and create patterns using blocks. During daily meetings, age-appropriate mathematical concepts are introduced to the whole group, and children practice these during our centers time, either independently or with guided practice in small groups. They work on visual patterns, sorting objects based on two features, identifying one- and two-digit numbers, and recognizing shapes and numbers. Counting and one-to-one correspondence, especially for 4s, is emphasized. Kindergarten and First Grade Our approach to mathematics in kindergarten is conceptual and problem solving oriented. Students show how they solve problems using written language, illustrations and number sentences. The curriculum focuses on describing patterns, sorting objects, making predictions, identifying odd/even numbers, shapes and simple addition and subtraction. Language of greater than/less than is introduced. Children study time, ways we measure time, and money. In first grade, students reinforce the skills learned in kindergarten but also begin working with fractions, place value and data interpretation. PreK 3s and 4s PreK 3s participate in Physical Education a few times each week. Students are introduced to basic locomotor skills throughout the year, using child-centered activities. The children learn about moving through general space while maintaining one’s personal space. By engaging in movement challenges, the students begin to develop social skills, gross motor coordination, and eye/hand, eye/foot coordination. In each class, a variety of musical genres are employed both as signals and for student motivation. As the school year progresses, listening skills are encouraged, with music as one of the tools used to help develop emerging listening capabilities. PreK 4s participate in Physical Education classes several times each week, where they engage in a wide variety of developmentally appropriate activities and experiences. Locomotor skills are practiced throughout the year. These include power walking, leaping, galloping, and skipping, all cued with music as a signal. Manipulative activities, using early childhood equipment, are explored during class. Child-centered activities during PE class allow the students experience frequent successes and improve their social skills, while encouraging the continual development of physical fitness levels. By the end of the year, each child develops a love of movement. Kindergarten and First Grade Our Physical Education program supports the physical, intellectual, and social development of our Kindergarten and First graders. The students are exposed to a wide variety of activities in PE class. Through movement education, students learn and develop proper techniques of fundamental locomotor skills, such as skipping, galloping, sliding, leaping. Warm-up activities for every class include gross motor coordination using motivational music, and movement exploration activities are practiced throughout the year. Eye/hand and eye/ foot coordination, large muscle coordination, and balancing skills, along with listening skills (sequencing) are all developed through the use of a manipulative activities and exercises. Throughout the year, students are encouraged to begin developing their skills at taking turns. They participate in low organizational and group games aimed at further improving aerobic fitness, cooperation, learning strategies, and sportsmanship. The students learn to work independently, with a partner, and in a group. Our Early Childhood Science program is one where students from preschool through second grade have science at least twice each week, with a dedicated, Early Childhood/Lower School science teacher. Students study the biological sciences, earth science and physical science. Our science teacher visits the preschoolers twice each week with hands-on lessons such as hatching baby chicks, caring for caterpillars, and studying ant farms. Students learn about light and shadows, friction and gravity, air and motion. They maintain a Long Island ecosystem fish tank and learn about the ocean, farm life, adaptations and hibernation. Kindergarteners study the five senses, living and non-living organisms, migration, hibernation and habitats. They learn about recycling by creating their own recycling stations and study endangered animals and habitats. In connection with the social studies curriculum, in science, kindergarteners bake pies and cook applesauce. They maintain their own ecosystem fish tank and learn about food webs in relation to their class pet, Chip the rabbit. Much of their curriculum takes place outside where they take samples from trees, study root systems and look for worms. Students in first grade learn about insects and spiders, cold and warm blooded animals, and use measurement to make scientific observations. Field trips to go apple picking with kindergarteners and a trip to the local grocery store, to study nutrition, take place during the school year. The scientific method is introduced. The first grade students keep a fish tank in their classroom. The Early Childhood social studies curriculum begins with the classroom. Early on, especially in preschool, we instill a sense of community in the classroom, first by developing trust between the student and teacher, then by creating routines and structure that helps to foster good feelings between peers in the classroom. We share our customs and traditions while modeling respect for others. Students learn about different people in communities. By kindergarten, we introduce a greater sense of community as well as community helpers, symbols of patriotism, holidays and introduce map skills. Children are developing a burgeoning sense of responsibility to self and others. In first grade, students develop understandings related to citizenship. They study important historical figures as well as U.S. states, with special emphasis on New York. Map skills are explored to a greater extent, especially through the unit related to Flat Stanley. Across grade levels, students are given opportunities, in age-appropriate ways, to engage in higher-level thinking, to problem solve, to negotiate and to develop understandings related to facts versus opinions. A strong emphasis is placed on the ideas of citizenship, community and respect. PreK 3s and 4s Based on the most recent research related to technology and the young child, we teach our threes and fours three main ideas about technology: technology can be fun, there is a safe and responsible way to use technology, technology can teach us things that we don’t already know. Our iPad to student ratio is 1:4 with 10 minute sessions of supervised use. Applications are related to letter/sound correspondence, categorical reasoning, thematic reasoning, and letter formation. Preschool teachers use laptops to illustrate concepts, such as when students are learning about oceans and studying jellyfish – images and videos bring this learning to life. Technology is a part of a preschooler’s world in limited, but meaningful ways. Kindergarten and First Grade Our kindergarten and first grade students use technology to enrich understandings and to organize, evaluate and synthesize information. They learn practical applications for managing and organizing information: how to create, save, store and retrieve their work. They learn about internet safety, and learn to use technology responsibly. Students have access to laptops and iPads. SMART Board and iPads are used as teaching tools in classroom lessons. In their technology classes, our kindergarteners use technology to view their world globally. They use Google Earth to make real world connections to where they live and create an address page on the web. They create iBooks, learn programming language, (through the use of a program called, SCRATCH), and learn the basics of how to store information on a server. Specific skills include Powerpoint presentations, logging in and shutting down, saving information on the server, and some fundamentals related to using the server. Our first graders expand on these fundamentals. Beginning in first grade, computer programming-, using SCRATCH, plays a more central role. Students learn how to think through their own mental representations to approach real world challenges in a computer-based environment. They learn that by manipulating commands, they can create solutions to physics-based problems: the roll, angles and vectors, the bounce, properties of matter, etc. Students use Powerpoint more independently to create and present their work. They use U.S. Mint to practice equivalencies and to study details and inscriptions on coins. Basic skills developed at one grade level are added upon at the next level.

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Full Language Arts Packages Moving Beyond The Page Blast into the solar system and explore the depths of ocean. Follow American History from the first colonies, to westward expansion, to the lives of the immigrants. Learn about the 50 states and research the history of your own state. Moving Beyond the Page curriculum covers the standards in science, social studies, and language arts. Through projects, worksheets, and literature students will gain the knowledge they need. You may choose to integrate the social studies and science units with the language arts or to choose to use them alone. link Comes with: Each Concept comes with a variety of Literature, Manipulatives, a Teachers manual and Student Activity book. Notes: Moving Beyond The Page is a literature and project based curriculum. There are more activities than one family needs and it can become overwhelming if one chooses to do them all. Our favorite way to use it is to pick and choose between activities or to combine two closely aged siblings in one level, choosing harder acitivities for one student and easier activities for another. link to placement test Language Smarts™ Level E (4th grade) is a colorful, fun, 400-page book. It teaches the reading, writing, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and thinking skills students are expected to learn in fourth grade. Language Smarts™ can serve as a complete curriculum for language arts when combined with literature packets and/or trips to the libary. Improve your students’ language arts skills while you develop their critical thinking skills. Each section introduces a specific topic, followed by appropriate practice and application activities. This level covers: parts of speech, punctuation, sentences and paragraphs, homophones and homographs, fact or inferences, writing, and more. link Comes with: This is a stand alone product. Notes: Covers language arts skills through colorful worksheets and doesn't need much parent involvement. Colorful pages. Great for families who want to cover the basics but leave time to explore or to go with online curriculums. Nurture a love of the English language, along with an understanding of how it's correctly used, with Shurley English. Appealing to multiple learning styles, students will repeatedly practice old and new skills, developing their mastery of English in reading, writing, and even thinking skills. The teacher's manual encourages student-teacher interactions with scripted lessons. Students books contain a jingle section, reference section, practice section, and test section. An audio CD with the jingles and introductory sentences is also included to help students remember concepts. This level 4 kit covers all eight parts of sentence types; parts of speech including indirect objects; quotations; reference skills; usage including pronoun/antecedent agreement; capitalization including outlines; verbs; pronouns; conjunctions; punctuation; letter, expository, persuasive, descriptive, narrative, and creative writing; figures of speech and writing autobiographies. link Comes with: Student Workbook, Teachers Manual with audio CD. Notes: Solid program but teacher intensive and uses repetition to teach. The standards-based critical thinking activities of Reading Detective® develop the analysis, synthesis, and vocabulary skills students need for exceptional reading comprehension. The activities are especially effective at helping students understand more challenging reading concepts such as drawing inferences, making conclusions, determining cause-and-effect, and using context clues to define vocabulary. Students read and analyze short literature passages and stories that include fiction and nonfiction genres. Then they answer multiple-choice and short-response questions, citing sentence evidence to support their answers. link Jack Kris Publishing Combo + Literature Packets Growing with Grammar, Soaring with Spelling, and Winning with Writing by Jack Kris Publishing can be combined for a well laid out curriculum that is practical for busy parents. Each day and week is clearly laid out in each book. While the pages are simple without lots of color and pictures, they are well laid out and easy to use. Once a student can read independently they can work relatively independently within this program. Link Comes with: Student Books and Answer keys Notes: Each level builds on the prior year, so concepts are repeated. Spectrum Language Arts Combo + Living Books Spectrum is a simple workbook combination that is colorful and easy to understand. Works as a supplement when used separately or packaged together. Packaged set includes Writing, Reading, and Language Arts workbooks. Link to spectrum Notes: Great for families using other more exploratory programs so that there is basic practice but time for other family curriculum choices. Logic of English Essentials (remedial) Essentials curriculum uses proven, research-based methods to teach remedial students ages 8 to adult to read, spell, and write successfully. Essentials improves the spelling and reading skills of all learners by providing linguistically accurate phonics instruction, fluency practice, morphology and vocabulary development, grammar, and composition. Clear instructions and scripted lessons allow teachers, tutors, and parents to learn alongside their students, developing their own understanding of the structure of English as they teach. Multi-sensory instruction and a variety of multi-sensory exercises allow teachers to customize the curriculum for the needs of their students, paving the way to success in reading for all kinds of learners. link Comes with: Essentials Teacher's Guide,Essentials Student Workbooks, Spelling Journal, Basic Phonogram Flash Cards, Spelling Rule Flash Cards, Advanced Phonogram Flash Cards, Grammar Flash Cards, Phonogram Game Cards (2 sets in different colors),Phonogram Game Tiles, Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference, Spelling Analysis Card. Notes: Logic of English is a very solid phonics foundation that will start at square one and progress very quickly. It is meant for remediation students above age 8. It is quite parent intensive but may raise reading level significantly. Placement Help Video Overview of Essentials Language Arts Supplements Reading Eggspress (online) Reading Eggspress makes reading real books, improving spelling skills and building reading comprehension highly engaging for kids aged 7 to 13. The online reading program is packed with hundreds of interactive reading activities, online children’s books, and literacy games. And it really works! link Reading A to Z (Online) Reading A-Z plus and Headsprout are combined in a single student portal, provided online books, reading practice and fun interactive phonics lessons or comprehension lessons for older students. Perfect for the student who needs online practice without a lot of games. All About Reading Your student will learn exciting new concepts, including words with multiple suffixes, fifteen new phonograms, and methods for decoding multisyllable words – and continue to establish a firm foundation for a lifetime of learning. Every component of reading is taught: decoding (phonics and structural analysis), vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. link Comes with: Teacher Manual, Student Activity Packet, 2 Readers, Interactive kit. Notes: All About Reading is great for struggling readers, but it can be too repetitive for quick learners. link to placement test Reading Horizons Elevate (online, remedial) This is an online program designed for students in 3rd grade or above that are struggling with reading. This is a program designed for specifically for struggling readers that delves deeper into reading instruction and differentiates to meet student needs. Notes: This program will cover grammar and spelling but requires the addition of writing and literature packets at this level. Spelling You See Americana continues the Skill Development Stage of spelling. Students will read nonfiction stories about American history and culture. The reading level gradually increases, providing opportunities for vocabulary development and allowing students to learn how to spell words in an interesting context. - Features nonfiction stories about American history and culture - Involves the three core activities for Spelling You See: - chunking – provides hands-on experience with the many irregular letter patterns in English - copywork – requires the brain to pay attention to details in print - dictation – gives an opportunity for student to demonstrate decoding and encoding in a meaningful context - Gradually increases in reading level, providing opportunities for vocabulary development and allowing students to learn how to spell words in an interesting context - Includes 36 weekly lessons divided between two books; each lesson has five parts - Has daily activities consisting of two facing pages Comes with: Instructors Handbook and Student Pack. Notes: Continual Review is a notable part of the program. Does not necessarily correlate to grade level. Soaring with Spelling List words are mostly two-syllable words and some complex single syllable words and some multi-syllable words. Lessons contain games such as crossword puzzles, word search, definition matching, unscrambling words, identifying misspelled list words in a paragraph, alphabetizing words, complete the sentences, match the picture to the list word, and identifying words that make certain sounds. link Comes with: Workbook and Answer Key. All About Spelling In Level 3, your student will continue to learn encoding skills, reliable spelling rules, and multisensory strategies for spelling, along with exciting new concepts including 10 new phonograms, the jobs of Silent E, words with C+l-e syllables, contractions, homophones, consonant and vowel suffixes, and past tense. Phonological awareness and encoding skills are taught throughout Level 3. link Comes with: Teachers Manual, Student Pack and Interactive Kit Notes: All About Spelling level 3 goes with All About Reading level 4 (Students should complete All About Spelling Level 2 before starting Level 3.) Spelling Workout has all the components you need to lead students from simple sound-letter relationships to more complex spelling patterns. Students learn spelling skills based on phonics through unique, cross-curricular reading passages, practice, and high-interest writing activities. link Notes: This Spelling program is phonics based and includes writing, reading, and editing in higher lessons. First Language Lessons This workbook uses classical techniques of memorization, dictation, narration, and diagramming to develop your child's language ability in the important, foundational years of language study. The Student Workbook provides complete worksheets for the student, making it possible for busy parents and teachers to spend more time teaching and less time preparing. Link Comes with: Teacher Edition and Student Workbook. Notes: Is very effective for auditory learners. Requires daily parent involvement. Growing with Grammar Diagramming compound subjects and predicates, combing sentences, identifying two subjects and two predicates in a sentence, diagramming questions and commands, direct quotations, indirect quotations. Writing a paragraph, concrete and abstract nouns, nouns of direct address, compound nouns, noun suffixes, dictionary skills, giving directions predicate nouns, contractions formed with pronouns, helping verbs, verb phrases, verb tenses, writing a narrative paragraph, diagramming adjectives and adverts, double negatives, writing a descriptive paragraph, prepositional phrases used as adverbs and adjectives, diagramming prepositional phrases, conjunctions, interjections, writing a book report, and more. link Comes with: Workbook and Answer Key. Editor in Chief Improves students’ grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and attention to detail using a standards-based thinking approach rather than drill and practice. This method teaches students to carefully analyze and edit stories. This book includes 16 lessons in grammar and mechanics. Students identify and circle errors in each story and write their correction. Writing styles and content are varied to sustain interest and to broaden the students’ exposure to different writing formats, such as letters, stories, and dialogue. The skills developed can be applied to the students’ own writing. Detailed answers are also included. link The Language Mechanic The Language Mechanic program uses fun examples and logical reasons to eliminate the confusion students often feel while learning the mechanics of language. This book demonstrates and reinforces why each language rule is important. Lessons begin with a "grabber" - a humorous miscommunication that results when a rule is broken. Examples are followed by an explanation of the specific rule, the logic behind it, then guided and independent practice. link Spectrum Language Arts Spectrum is a simple workbook combination that is colorful and easy to understand. Works as a supplement when used separately or packaged together. Packaged set includes Writing, Reading, and Language Arts workbooks. Link to spectrum Notes: Great for families using other more exploratory programs so that there is basic practice but time for other family curriculum. Writing with Ease provides easy-to-use materials for introducing this comprehensive writing approach to young students; an approach that understands the need for one-on-one instruction and focuses on copywork (putting words on paper) and narration (putting ideas into words). Link Comes with: This is a stand alone book. Four Square Writing The Four Square method can be used with all forms of writing and will fit any reading or language arts program. This step-by-step approach is built around a simple graphic organizer that first shows students how to collect ideas and then helps them use those ideas to create clear and polished prose. Open-ended reproducibles make the technique accessible to writers of all ability ranges. Link Notes: A writing method that is easy to teach. Winning with Writing This level covers direct, indirect quotations, dialogue, the writing process, creative writing, how-to-writing, personal narrative, descriptive writing, and persuasive writing. link Comes with: 2 Workbooks and Answer Key. Spectrum WritingSpectrum is a simple workbook combination that is colorful and easy to understand. Works as a supplement when used separately or packaged together. Packaged set includes Writing, Reading, and Language Arts workbooks. Link to spectrum Notes: Great for shorter attentions spans or for families using other more exploratory programs so that there is basic practice but time for family interests. Institute for Excellence in Writing: Recorded live with Mr. Andrew Pudewa, this four-DVD writing course for elementary students new to IEW lays a solid foundation of writing skills. Over the course of 15–30 weeks, students will learn how to effectively use a wide range of structural models and stylistic techniques in their compositions, as they write on a variety of enjoyable fiction and non-fiction topics. Included with the student handouts are complete teacher's notes, source texts, assignments, and checklists. link Notes: Great for 4th through 6th graders. Book based IEW is also available for parents who are familiar with the method. This is an effective but non-traditional writing method. Video Overview of IEW In Depth Look at IEW Writing Skills Workbooks This program is a simple, yet colorful workbook that will build wriitng skills in your student. It covers both expository and creative writing with an incremental approach. It gradually brings students up to full writing assignments such as personal narratives and short reports. Link Notes: Colorful and Easy to use. This program is based on The Writer's Jungle, written by Julie Bogart. The Writer's Jungle is an explanation of Bogart's writing method. One can use The Writer's Jungle to guide writing as a parent designed curriculum. Alternately, the author created a series of writing curriculums and language arts guides (with grammar and literature study) that follow the philosophy of The Writer's Jungle. This curriculum has a feeling of Charlotte Mason. Link Notes: This curriculum covers language arts and writing depending on the component you choose, but requires another curriculum to cover foundational skills. It does not focus on expository writing. Additional components to accompany the writing guides are also published. Portions of this curriculum are only available under individual book titles as it was written as a periodical. Levels in this program do not necessarily correlate to standard grade levels so looking at samples is important. Video Overview of Bravewriter Word Roots Beginning Students learn the meaning and spelling of roots, prefixes, and suffixes commonly used in English. Learning these word elements dramatically improves spelling and the ability to decode unfamiliar words. The activities focus on using these words in context to help students incorporate each word into their vocabulary and retain the correct spelling. There are periodic reviews to make sure students retain what is taught in the lessons. Word Roots books will add hundreds of words to your students’ vocabulary and greater depth to their thinking and writing. link Wordly Wise 3000® provides systematic academic vocabulary instruction—developing the critical link between vocabulary and reading comprehension. The program incorporates the use of context clues, word study, reading comprehension, and writing. The words presented are commonly encountered in grade-level literature, textbooks, and standardized tests. Link Focuses on understanding of mathematical concepts. Uses clear explanations, lots of visual exercises and pattern exercises. Mastery oriented: concentrates fairly long on a topic, with fairly few topics per grade. Emphasizes mental math and developing number sense. Very little preparation needed. link Comes with: 2 Worktexts Notes: A great curriculum that covers all skills really well. Crammed full of information so page layout can seem a little overwhelming. No color. A great fit for the student that gets Math. 2 workbooks A & B. link to placement test youtube videos bythe author: link - Using strategies based on place value and properties of operations to divide - Understanding division as solving for an unknown factor - Fluently dividing any combination of whole numbers - Solving abstract and real-world problems involving all four operations - Interpreting remainders in short and long division - Understanding fraction notation in light of division link Comes with: Instructional DVD, Integer Block Set, Teacher manual and Student workbook. Notes: Math-U-See works well for struggling learners or those who prefer a hands on approach. It may be repetitive for students who enjoy a fast pace. link to placement test Singapore Primary Math The students are provided with the necessary learning experiences beginning with the concrete and pictorial stages, followed by the abstract stage to enable them to learn mathematics meaningfully. This approach encourages active thinking process, communication of mathematical ideas and problem solving. This helps develop the foundation students will need for more advanced mathematics. Practice exercises are designed to provide the students with further practice after they have done the relevant workbook exercises. Review exercises are provided for cumulative reviews of concepts and skills. All the practice exercises and review exercises are optional exercises. Comes with: Workbooks A & B, Text A & B, Optional – Home Instructor Guide Notes: Colorful kid friendly pages. link to placement test Right Start Math This unique, award-winning, hands-on program de-emphasizes counting, uses visualization of quantities, and provides strategies and visual pictures for learning the facts. Understanding and problem solving are emphasized throughout the curriculum. The primary learning tool is the AL Abacus, a specially designed two-sided abacus that is both kinesthetic and visual. The AL Abacus is grouped in fives and tens for quick recognition of quantities. The second side of the AL Abacus teaches place value to the thousands. Children develop visual strategies as they use this manipulative. Practice is provided with math card games, minimizing review worksheets and eliminating stressful flash cards. These games provide interesting and varied repetition that is needed for the automatic responses to the facts. More importantly, these games provide an application for new information and create hours of fun learning math facts and concepts. link Comes with: Lesson book, Worksheets, CD, Games book and complete manipulatives set. Notes: A great Math especially for struggling learners, but is very parent intensive. Lots of games and manipulatives. AL Abacus is primary manipulative. link to placement test Youtube videos explaining the games. link Focusing on algebraic reasoning and geometric concepts, Saxon Math Homeschool 5/4 teaches math with a spiral approach, which emphasizes incremental development of new material and continuous review of previously taught concepts. Following Saxon Math 3 the Saxon 54 textbook covers concepts such as number sense, numeration, numerical operations, measurement and geometry, patterns, relationships, math functions, and data manipulation are introduced. Students will specifically learn to add three-digit numbers, subtract numbers with re-grouping, read time, write numbers, estimate arithmetic answers, divide with two-digit answers, multiply three or more factors, simplify fraction answers, use a decimal number line, and more. link Comes with: Teachers Manual, Home Study Meeting Book, Student Workbooks and factcards. Notes: Saxon Math is a spiral math with lots of review. It has excellent math facts drill but a very dry presentation. Black and white only. Manipulatives available for younger grade levels . link to placement test Math in Focus Math in Focus provides an authentic Singapore math curriculum, highlighting problem solving as the focus of mathematical learning. This complete program teaches concepts using a concrete-pictorial-abstract learning progression to anchor learning in real-world and hands-on experiences. Each topic is approached with the expectation that students will understand both "how" it works, and also "why." Link Comes with: Student Textbook, Student Workbook, and Answer Key, with Assessments available separately. Notes: This program uses concrete- pictorial-abstract method of instruction in a colorful format but maintains a traditional textbook feel. Beast Academy books provide a curriculum that is both rigorous and complete as well as engaging and entertaining. Each grade is split into four parts (A-D). For each part there is a Guide and a Practice book. Guides provide instruction delivered by the Academy instructors in a comic book style that encourages reasoning and problem solving. Practice books provide hundreds of problems, puzzles, and games to reinforce the lessons. Link Notes: This program was written for advanced math students. Problems are generally fewer but more difficult. The 5th grade level prepares students for Pre-Algebra. Please see the site for placement test. Aleks Math is a research-based, online program that offers course products for mathematics, business, science, and behavioral science. Using personalized learning and adaptive assessments, ALEKS quickly and accurately determines exactly what a student is most ready to learn. This unique approach to learning dramatically improves student performance and confidence. link Notes: Very simple style. No videos until older grades. Has a great facts mastery program. Ascend Math offers personalized learning plans, and continuous assessment. It provides math tutorials that are prescribed to fill any gaps that a student may have. It has been designed for intervention to catch up students quickly but also covers the math skills required at each grade level. Notes: Printable worksheets to go with this program are available. Dreambox is an adaptive, math curriculum. It is meant to personalized to the individual. The students learn concepts through game play. link Sumdog (online supplement only) Sumdog is a fun math practice program that uses games and competition to build math skills. Link Notes: Somewhat trendy graphics.

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A) Preserve a way of life B) Act out community stories C) Reinforce community values D) All of these D) All of these What makes theater such a potent social force? A) The entertaining stories that it tells B) Its ability to reach a massive number of audience members C) Its collective and public nature D) The ease in which a person can put on a play C) Its collective and public nature Which of the following is true of the theater? A) It can evoke a collective emotional response B) It can generate and focus collective anger or outrage C) It can contribute to the stability of a community and reinforce the status quo D) All of these D) All of these The essential difference between the ancient Greek theatre and the medieval theatre is that __________________. A) Greek theatre focused on the place of human beings in the universe whereas the medieval theatre sought to affirm religious beliefs B) People wore masks only in the medieval theatre C) Plays were put on by community members only in the ancient Greek theatre D) Performances were held outdoors only in the ancient Greek theatre A) Greek theatre focused on the place of human beings in the universe whereas the medieval theatre sought to affirm religious beliefs As theatre in Greece began, Greek plays were associated with festivals to honor this God. A) Eurip B) Dionysus C) Sophocles D) Medea What are theatrical conventions? A) Elements of dramatic construction and performance that facilitate the presentation of plays B) Events where theatre professionals gather to discuss their work C) Plays which are preformed so often they are now considered part of the culture D) Guidelines that an architect must follow when building a theatre A) Elements of dramatic construction and performance that facilitate the presentation of plays Which of the following was typical of ancient Greek theatre? A) Both men and women performed as actors B) The actors always wore masks C) There was a lot of violence performed onstage D) Plays depicted religious struggles B) The actors always wore masks Some theatre historians think tragedy began when one member of a Greek chorus began a dialogue with the rest of the chorus. Who was this first speaker? A) Clytemnestra B) Oedipus C) Plato D) Thespis One example of religious theatre in Western Europe during the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries was __________. A) The Reformation B) The Crusades C) Mystery cycles D) Pageant wagons C) Mystery cycles Plays performed as part of the medieval religious festivals did which of the following? A) Reinforced people's faith by allowing them to identify with Christ's suffering and triumph B) Served the interests of the ruling classes and the Catholic Church by reinforcing the social organization of the time C) Both of these D) None of these C) Both of these Greek Theatre of Athens Fifth Century Greek tragedies intricately bound to the religious as well as the political life of the community. Originally developed during festivals to honor Dionysus - Greek God of life force. Transformation of actors concerned with issues of social and religious order transformation of nature to sustain human existence examined relationships necessary to sustain human existence imi\ Unlike the ancient Greek or medieval theatres, the actors in the Elizabethan theatre and the Beijing Opera were __________. A) Untrained B) Comprised of both men and women C) Professional actors D) Not the focus of a production C) Professional actors One of the major focuses of the Elizabethan theatre was? A) The internal struggles of the characters B) The power struggles between kings C) The organization of the family D) Both A and B D) Both A and B In addition to Shakespeare, which of the following playwrights also wrote for the Elizabethan theatre? A) Christopher Marlow and Ben Johnson B) Pierre Corneille and Jean-Paul Sartre C) Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill D) August Wilson and Tom Stoppard A) Christopher Marlow and Ben Johnson Which of the following statements is true about William Shakespeare? A) He never worked as an actor B) Most of his plays were adaptations from other sources, including other plays C) His plays focus on political upheaval rather than on the personal experiences of the characters D) None of these B) Most of his plays were adaptations from other sources, including other plays Shakespeare's theatre was called the _____________? A) King's Playhouse B) Queen's Theatre C) Globe D) Rose To make the audience understand where particular scenes took place, Shakespeare used _____________ in his plays. A) Elaborate theatrical sets that were made to resemble specific locations B) The language of his characters to described the setting C) Painted signs that told the audience where the scene took place D) All of these B) The language of his characters to described the setting One of the major focuses of the traditional Beijing Opera is? A) The organization of the family B) The power struggles between kings C) Political propaganda D) The relationship between the individual and the gods A) The organization of the family The four kinds of roles in the Beijing Opera are ______________. A) Speaking, Singing, Dancing, and Miming B) Comic, Tragic, Tragicomic, and Farcical C) Old Male, Young Male, Old Female, and Young Female D) Male, Female, Painted-face, and Comic D) Male, Female, Painted-face, and Comic Supernatural characters are represented in the Beijing Opera by ______________. A) Puppets B) Music and Sound Effects C) Actors in elaborate face paint D) There are no supernatural characters in the Beijing Opera. C) Actors in elaborate face paint Unlike Western theatre, the Beijing Opera relies primarily on ________________. A) Language B) Gesture C) Audience participation D) All of these How many plays did August Wilson write that comprise the cycle of plays chronicling African American life in the United States? A) four B) five C) eight D) ten The oral and musical rendering of the history and texture of black American life make up which of the following art forms? A) Kabuki B) the blues C) Dadaism D) Musical Theatre B) the blues What is "peonage?" A) a kind of African work song B) a traditional African dance involving the whole community C) a system where white employers claimed that their black workers owed them money and insisted that they work to pay it back D) the word for a black slave C) a system where white employers claimed that their black workers owed them money and insisted that they work to pay it back In whose work did August Wilson say he "found himself?" A) Sam Cook and Aretha Franklin B) Shakespeare and Aeschylus C) Bessie Smith and Romare Bearden D) Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X C) Bessie Smith and Romare Bearden Where did Wilson get the idea for the boarding house in JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE? A) "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" by Bessie Smith B) Light at Two Lights by Edward Hopper C) "Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket" by Romare Bearden D) Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech C) "Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket" by Romare Bearden Who was the actual Joe Turner? A) the brother of a Tennessee governor B) a folk blues singer C) a jazz musician D) a local politician in Wilson's hometown A) the brother of a Tennessee governor What do Seth and Bertha Holly do? A) They clean houses B) They are slaves on a plantation C) They don't work D) They run a boardinghouse D) They run a boardinghouse What does Harold Loomis do at the end of JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE? A) he finds his wife and they live happily ever after together B) he gives his daughter over to his wife and cuts himself with a knife C) he leaves the boardinghouse just before his wife arrives and never s D) he dies B) he gives his daughter over to his wife and cuts himself with a knife What does the metaphor of the road stand for in JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE? A) freedom of movement and the end of slaver B) connecting people to new opportunities and new ways of life C) the search to find oneself D) all of these D) all of these What is the central action of the play, JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE? A) Herald Loomis searches for his lost wife B) Herald Loomis searches for himself and finds his song C) Herald Loomis escapes from Joe Turner D) Seth and Bertha strive to welcome and shelter those who've been on the road B) Herald Loomis searches for himself and finds his song The creation of a stage production is __________ and ___________ art. A) an easy and rewarding B) a difficult and individual C) an interpretive and collaborative D) an easy and collaborative C) an interpretive and collaborative What do we call a number of plays produced at the same time and performed on a rotating basis? A) a repertory B) a trilogy C) Summer Stock D) a menagerie A) a repertory What is the physical action of a theatre performance called? A) catharsis B) repertory C) blocking D) movement One of the main functions of the set, costume and lighting design is which of the following? A) to spend the production budget B) to make what is happening on stage as true-to-life as possible C) to please the audience D) to build visual metaphors D) to build visual metaphors What is the power of the Theatre? The theatre not only mirrors the roles human beings take in their respective societies but also plays an important part in changing the way we see ourselves. Reflects religious belief, social organization and issues of concern to the community questions relationships of race and gender The Actor's Triple Existence 1. Present in his own person 2. Creates a character who has his own boundaries separate from those of the actor's own person 3. View from the audience's perspective to make adjustments. The Actor's Craft The vitality and talent of the actor are contained and shaped through the development of technique Vocal and Physical Technique Some intangibles that arise by immersion A group of actors that come together to complement each other. Several plays performing at once. Purpose of Rehearsal To provide the foundation for performance Actor of stage and screen One man shows - particular significance in the world today Ann Deavere Smith Actor of stage and screen well known playwright and actor a. Started with Rodney King incident - Twilight LA b. Takes on many characters - One woman show Francis Mc Dormand Stage - Good People Film - Fargo What are the three necessary ingredients of the theatre? A) the actor, a theatre space, and the audience B) the actor, the director, and the audience C) the actor, the director, and the designers D) the actor, the designers, and the audience A) the actor, a theatre space, and the audience Which of the following can be described as the actor's existence onstage? A) the actor is present as his or her own person B) the actor creates a character that has his or her own boundaries separate from the actor's own person C) the actor maintains a critical facility that allows them to view their performance from the audience's perspective and adjust their performance as necessary D) all of these D) all of these What is the purpose of the audition? A) to determine which actors will work well together in an ensemble B) to judge how an actor's talents will suit the needs of the show C) to allow the director and casting director an opportunity to see how different actors may fill a certain role D) all of these D) all of these Why might a director ask an actor to do a "cold reading" at an audition? A) to see if they were familiar with the chosen play B) to make the actor uncomfortable and see how well they work under pressure C) to judge the intelligence of the actor D) because it is faster then letting them perform a prepared monologue C) to judge the intelligence of the actor According to The Creative Spirit, in order for a production to have vitality and originality, the rehearsal process must be a time of _________________. A) hard work B) exploration C) strict adherence to the director's vision D) all of these What is a useful rehearsal method for enhancing belief and creative imaginative actions? A) Presence B) Blocking C) Kuroko D) Improvisation What acting approach involves identifying as closely as possible with the character one is playing? A) the Stanislavsky approach B) internal acting approach C) external acting approach D) both A and B B) internal acting approach What is "subtext?" A) a method of choosing actors for roles in a play that relies on generalizations of what characters should look like B) thoughts that occur behind or between the character's lines but go unspoken C) a dramatic genre in which the perspective shifts between serious and comic perspectives D) the process of exploration and repetition used to prepare a play for public presentation B) thoughts that occur behind or between the character's lines but go unspoken This acting approach deals with conscious choices about how language is spoken, which physical details to emphasize, and how emotional content is going to be expressed. A) the internal acting approach B) the Stanislavsky approach C) the external acting approach D) the gestural acting approach C) the external acting approach The main difference between the acting one does on stage versus the acting one does in a film is usually described in terms of __________________. A) scale B) money C) recognition D) time commitment Duke of Saxe-Meiningen George II of Saxe-Meiningen, leader of a small duchy later to become germany. Meningen Court Thaeatre Took role of director determined to reclaim teh theatre from haphazard production practices and excesses of popular leading actors indulged by a star system in which all elements of a production were dedicated to showing off their talents. Most famous director in the realism period Psychological approach Came up with a form of acting called the Method. Detail of objects and set helps actor immersion Later let actors help in the process Defined the position of the director as one who interprets the play wrights creation Internal aproach Realism bold interpretations of classical works and highly original new pieces stresses the importance of spontaneity in the rehearsal process Imaginary barrier between the actors and the audience Visionary Director - Polish Reform actor through external approach - expressive power Text part of production but not dominating force strippped down basic materials that could support the actor's work McCarthy Era playwright concerned with the communist scare in the theatre industry. Four Directing Models 1. Director works in partnership with the playwrights and actors i. Saxe-Meiningen, Stanislavsky 2. Using text or creating a text to support their own visions i. Grotowski, Ping Chong and Robert Wilson 3.Director guides the work of a theatre collective. Devised work i. Elizabeth LeCompte 4. Playwrights who direct their own work. Not finished until the wrighter has directed the first production. i. Adam Rapp A way of expressing the most compelling ideas of the play in a concentrated form that will become a guide for the work of all the theatre artists involved in the production Collaboration: Initiated by the director, dependent on collaboration with the designers. Selection of certain actors because they have a certain physical appearance and personality Non Traditional Casting color blind casting Ex. different members of the same family are of different races. The arrangements of actors on stage to communicate character relationships Before the official position of the director was established, who often oversaw the coordination of a production and the placement of the actors on stage? A) the stage manager B) the playwright C) the producer D) no one B) the playwright When did the official position of the director come into being? A) the 16th century B) the 17th century C) the 18th century D) the 19th century D) the 19th century What need did the creation of the director fulfill? A) an interest in a more detailed, and therefore complicated, representation of place and character history B) the movement toward realism as an artistic model C) Both of these D) None of these C) Both of these Who is credited as the first modern director? A) George II B) Konstantin Stanislavsky C) Anton Chekhov D) Jerzy Grotowski A) George II What is the "spine" of a play? A) The central action or idea that brings the rest of the play's plot and character action together B) the lead actor's journey throughout the play C) the director's vision for the production D) the term given to the directorial process A) The central action or idea that brings the rest of the play's plot and character action together Name the famous director who is known for his psychological approach to character development. A) Shakespeare B) Francis Ford Coppola C) Konstantin Stanislavsky D) The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen C) Konstantin Stanislavsky Name the famous director who is known for his physical approach to actor training. A) Jerzy Grotowski B) Robert Wilson C) Duke of Saxe-Meiningen D) Konstantin Stanislavsky A) Jerzy Grotowski Which of the following are the director's responsibilities? A) choosing the play to direct and casting the actors B) creating a metaphor for the production and collaborating with designers C) creating an atmosphere that is conducive to creative work and rehearsing the scenes D) All of these D) All of these The selection of certain actors because they have a certain type of physical appearance and personality is called what? A) non-traditional casting B) Method acting C) Typecasting D) Gestural acting What is another name for "non-traditional" casting? A) typecasting B) color-blind casting C) total theatre D) concept casting B) color-blind casting The arrangement of actors onstage to communicate character relationships is called __________. A) stage picture B) theatre in the round C) proscenium theatre D) performance theatre A) stage picture The sequence of changes that defines character development is called __________. A) drama B) cues C) progression D) ensemble The nature and relationship between the audience and the stage. A theatre constructed in a rectangular form with the stage at one end of the rectangle. Frames the audience's view of the stage Masks the mechanics of the backstage operations Defines clearly the theatrical space particularly suited for realism Three sided stage extends into the audience Also called Theatre in the round Audience sits around the entire stage Spaces that can be arranged differently depending on the needs of the specific production Designates the placement of all the lighting instruments hung at various positions in the theatre. What is a rectangular theatre with the stage at one end of the rectangle called? A) thrust stage B) a proscenium or end stage C) multilevel stage D) arena stage B) a proscenium or end stage What is a theatre space in which the audience is placed on three sides of the stage called? A) thrust stage B) a proscenium or end stage C) multilevel stage D) arena stage A) thrust stage What is a round or square stage completely surrounded by the audience called? A) thrust stage B) a proscenium or end stage C) multilevel stage D) arena stage D) arena stage What is a flexible theatre space called in which the stage space and the configuration of the audience space can be changed from production to production? A) poor theatre B) total theatre C) black box D) theatre in the round C) black box What difficulty might a set designer working in theatre in the round experience? A) set pieces cannot be very tall or must be transparent B) set pieces need to be finished on all sides C) Both of these D) None of these C) Both of these Which of the following is not true regarding designers work in the theatre? A) Most designers have talents that are shared with other visual arts B) They are interpretive artists whose creativity must be used to shape the world of the play C) A designer's work stands alone and separate onstage from the other design areas and the acting D) Each designer must interpret the ideas of the plays with materials just as the actors shape ideas with their voices and bodies C) A designer's work stands alone and separate onstage from the other design areas and the acting What designer aids actors the most in helping them discover the psychology of character? A) The set designer B) The costume designer C) The lighting designer D) The sound designer B) The costume designer Which design area is credited with moving the theatre into the "modern era?" A) Set design B) Lighting design C) Costume design D) None of these B) Lighting design What is Adolphe Appia known for? A) designing a terrain B) designing the first ground plan C) designing the light board D) designing the glory A) designing a terrain During a performance, who is responsible for making sure all the light cues are "called" on time? A) The director B) The lighting designer C) The stage manager D) The light board operator C) The stage manager What are sound effects that may be live or recorded that contribute to the interpretation of the play called? A) gobos B) amplification C) environmental sound D) sound reinforcement C) environmental sound Unlike the actors and director, most of the designer's work is done ______________. A) without any collaboration B) before the rehearsal process begins C) during technical rehearsals D) in the actual theatre space

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The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi?, forty-seven samurai) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale, the most famous example of the samurai code of honor, bushidō, as the country’s “national legend.” The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master’s honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for almost two years. In turn, the ronin were themselves obliged to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era of Japanese history, in which Japan underwent rapid modernization, and the legend became subsumed within discourses of national heritage and identity. Fictionalized accounts of the tale of the Forty-seven Ronin are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays, including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some, the first Chūshingura was written some 50 years after the event, and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the Chūshingura survive. The bakufu‘s censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later in the late 18th century, when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the Forty-seven Ronin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era. The story continues to be popular in Japan to this day. Each year on December 14, Sengakuji Temple holds a festival commemorating the event. The participants in the revenge are called the Shi-jū-shichi-shi (四十七士?) in Japanese, and are usually referred to as the “Forty-seven Ronin” or “Forty-seven lordless samurai” in English. The event is also known as the Akō vendetta or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken?). Literary accounts of the events are known as theChūshingura (忠臣蔵 The Treasury of Loyal Retainers?). In 1701 (by the Western calendar), two daimyo, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori, the young daimyo of the Akō Domain (a small fiefdom in western Honshū), and Lord Kamei of theTsuwano Domain, were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of the Emperor in Edo, during their sankin kōtai service to the Shogun. These daimyo names are not fictional, nor is there any question that something actually happened in Genroku (year) 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month (元禄十五年十二月十四日?, Tuesday, January 30, 1703). What is commonly called the Akō incident was an actual event. For many years, the version of events retold by A. B. Mitford in Tales of Old Japan (1871) was considered authoritative. The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the West. Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the Forty-seven Ronin as historically accurate; and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work, some of its precise details are now questioned. Nevertheless, even with plausible defects, Mitford’s work remains a conventional starting point for further study. Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity, Mitford explains: In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo, is hidden Sengakuji, or the Spring-hill Temple, renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery, which contains the graves of the Forty-seven Rônin, famous in Japanese history, heroes of Japanese drama, the tale of whose deed I am about to transcribe. — Mitford, A. B. [emphasis added] Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengakuji documents the author had examined personally. These were proffered as “proofs” authenticating the factual basis of his story. These documents were: - …the receipt given by the retainers of Kira Kôtsuké no Suké’s son in return for the head of their lord’s father, which the priests restored to the family. - …a document explanatory of their conduct, a copy of which was found on the person of each of the forty-seven men, dated in the 15th year of Genroku, 12th month. - …a paper which the Forty-seven Rǒnin laid upon the tomb of their master, together with the head of Kira Kôtsuké no Suké. (See Tales of Old Japan for the widely known, yet significantly fictional narrative.) Genesis of a tragedy Ukiyo-e depicting Asano Naganori’s assault on Kira Yoshinaka in the Matsu no Ōrōka of Edo Castle Memorial stone marking the site of theMatsu no Ōrōka (Great Corridor of Pines) inEdo Castle, where Asano attacked Kira Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka, a powerful Edo official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi‘s shogunate. He became upset at them, allegedly either because of the insufficient presents they offered him (in the time-honored compensation for such an instructor), or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted. Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant, or that he was corrupt, which offended Asano, a devoutly moral Confucian. Whether Kira treated them poorly, insulted them, or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific bakufu duties, offense was taken. While Asano bore all this stoically, Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults. However, the quick thinking counsellors of Kamei averted disaster for their lord and clan (for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira) by quietly giving Kira a large bribe; Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely, which calmed Kamei. However, Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly, because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion. Finally, Kira insulted Asano, calling him a country boor with no manners, and Asano could restrain himself no longer. At the Matsu no Ōrōka, the main grand corridor that interconnects different parts of the shogun’s residence, Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger, wounding him in the face with his first strike; his second missed and hit a pillar. Guards then quickly separated them. Kira’s wound was hardly serious, but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shogun’s residence was considered a grave offense. Any kind of violence, even drawing a katana, was completely forbidden in Edo Castle. The daimyo of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle, and for that offense, he was ordered to kill himself by committingseppuku. Asano’s goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death, his family was to be ruined, and his retainers were to be made ronin (leaderless). This news was carried to Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, Asano’s principal counsellor, who took command and moved the Asano family away, before complying with bakufu orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government. The ronin plot revenge Two of the Forty-Seven Ronin: Horibe Yahei and his adopted son, Horibe Yasubei. Yasubei is holding an ōtsuchi. Of Asano’s over three hundred men, forty-seven (some sources say there were originally more than fifty)—and especially their leader Ōishi—refused to allow their lord to go unavenged, even though revenge had been prohibited in the case. They banded together, swearing a secret oath to avenge their master by killing Kira, even though they knew they would be severely punished for doing so. Kira was well guarded, however, and his residence had been fortified to prevent just such an event. The ronin saw that they would have to put him off his guard before they could succeed. To quell the suspicions of Kira and other shogunate authorities, they dispersed and became tradesmen and monks. Ōishi took up residence in Kyoto and began to frequently visit brothels and taverns, as if nothing were further from his mind than revenge. Kira still feared a trap, and sent spies to watch the former retainers of Asano. One day, as Ōishi returned home drunk, he fell down in the street and went to sleep, and all the passers-by laughed at him. ASatsuma man, passing by, was infuriated by this behaviour on the part of a samurai—by his lack of courage to avenge his master as well as his current debauched behaviour. The Satsuma man abused and insulted Ōishi, kicked him in the face (to even touch the face of a samurai was a great insult, let alone strike it), and spat on him. Not too long after, Ōishi went to his loyal wife of twenty years and divorced her so that no harm would come to her when the ronin took revenge. He sent her away with their two younger children to live with her parents; he gave the eldest boy, Chikara, a choice to stay and fight or to leave. Chikara remained with his father. Ōishi began to act oddly and very unlike the composed samurai. He frequented geisha houses (particularly Ichiriki Chaya), drank nightly, and acted obscenely in public. Ōishi’s men bought a geisha, hoping she would calm him. This was all a ruse to rid Ōishi of his spies. Kira’s agents reported all this to Kira, who became convinced that he was safe from the retainers of Asano, that they must all be bad samurai indeed, without the courage to avenge their master after a year and a half. Thinking them harmless and lacking funds from his “retirement”, he then reluctantly let down his guard. The rest of the faithful ronin now gathered in Edo, and in their roles as workmen and merchants gained access to Kira’s house, becoming familiar with the layout of the house and the character of all within. One of the retainers (Kinemon Kanehide Okano) went so far as to marry the daughter of the builder of the house, to obtain the house’s design plans. All of this was reported to Ōishi. Others gathered arms and secretly transported them to Edo, another offense. Modern day reenactment of a samurai armed for the attack. The ronin attack the principal gate of Kira’s mansion After two years, when Ōishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard, and everything was ready, he fled from Kyoto, avoiding the spies who were watching him, and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting place in Edo to renew their oaths. In Genroku 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month (元禄十五年十二月十四日?, Tuesday, January 30, 1703), early in the morning in a driving wind during a heavy fall of snow, Ōishi and the ronin attacked Kira Yoshinaka’s mansion in Edo. According to a carefully laid-out plan, they split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by Ōishi, was to attack the front gate; the other, led by his son, Ōishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate. A drum would sound the simultaneous attack, and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead. Once Kira was dead, they planned to cut off his head and lay it as an offering on their master’s tomb. They would then turn themselves in and wait for their expected sentence of death. All this had been confirmed at a final dinner, at which Ōishi had asked them to be careful and spare women, children, and other helpless people. (The code of bushido does not require mercy to noncombatants, nor forbids it.) Ōishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter’s lodge, capturing and tying up the guard there. He then sent messengers to all the neighboring houses, to explain that they were not robbers, but retainers out to avenge the death of their master, and that no harm would come to anyone else: the neighbors were all safe. One of the ronin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was a revenge act (katakiuchi, 敵討ち). The neighbors, who all hated Kira, were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders. After posting archers (some on the roof) to prevent those in the house (who had not yet awakened) from sending for help, Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira’s retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front, but Ōishi Chikara’s party broke into the back of the house. Kira, in terror, took refuge in a closet in the veranda, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of his retainers, who slept in barracks outside, attempted to come into the house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house, the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought the retainers who came in. The latter, perceiving that they were losing, tried to send for help, but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that eventuality. Eventually, after a fierce struggle, the last of Kira’s retainers was subdued; in the process the ronin killed sixteen of Kira’s men and wounded twenty-two, including his grandson. Of Kira, however, there was no sign. They searched the house, but all they found were crying women and children. They began to despair, but Ōishi checked Kira’s bed, and it was still warm, so he knew he could not be far away. The death of Kira A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll; the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two more hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building disclosed a man hiding; he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed. He refused to say who he was, but the searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle. The ronin gathered, and Ōishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano’s attack. At that, Ōishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira’s high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a kaishakunin (“second”, the one who beheads a person committing harakiri to spare them the indignity of a lingering death) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself. However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless, and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to ask, Ōishi ordered the other ronin to pin him down, and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger. Kira was killed on the night of the 14th day of the 12th month of the 15th year of Genroku (1703-01-30 Gregorian). They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors) and left, taking Kira’s head. One of the ronin, the ashigaru Terasaka Kichiemon, was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed. (Though Kichiemon’s role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story, other accounts have him running away before or after the battle, or being ordered to leave before the ronin turned themselves in.) The ronin, on their way back to Sengaku-ji, are halted in the street, to invite them in for rest and refreshment. Women have their own ritual suicide, in which they slit their own throats. Here, the wife of Onodera Junai, one of the Forty-seven Ronin, prepares for her suicide; note the legs tied together, a female feature of seppuku to ensure a “decent” posture in death As day was now breaking, they quickly carried Kira’s head from his residence to their lord’s grave in Sengaku-ji temple, marching about ten kilometers across the city, causing a great stir on the way. The story of the revenge spread quickly, and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment. On arriving at the temple, the remaining forty-six ronin (all except Terasaka Kichiemon) washed and cleaned Kira’s head in a well, and laid it, and the fateful dagger, before Asano’s tomb. They then offered prayers at the temple, and gave the abbot of the temple all the money they had left, asking him to bury them decently, and offer prayers for them. They then turned themselves in; the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyo. During this time, two friends of Kira came to collect his head for burial; the temple still has the original receipt for the head, which the friends and the priests who dealt with them all signed. The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary. The samurai had followed the precepts of bushido by avenging the death of their lord; but they had also defied the shogunate authority by exacting revenge, which had been prohibited. In addition, the Shogun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the ronin. As expected, the ronin were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira; but the Shogun had finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals. It is known that each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion. Ōishi Chikara, the youngest, was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place, and only 16 the day he had to commit seppuku. Each of the forty-six ronin killed himself in Genroku 16, on the 4th day of the 2nd month (元禄十六年二月四日?, Tuesday, March 20, 1703). This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since, with some people referring to the “forty-six ronin”; this refers to the group put to death by the Shogun, while the actual attack party numbered forty-seven. The forty-seventh ronin, identified as Terasaka Kichiemon, eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the Shogun (some say on account of his youth). He lived until the age of 87, dying around 1747, and was then buried with his comrades. The assailants who died by seppuku were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku-ji, in front of the tomb of their master. The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day, along with the drum and whistle; the armor was all home-made, as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any. The tombs became a place of great veneration, and people flocked there to pray. The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the Genroku era. One of those who visited the tombs was the Satsuma man who had mocked and spat on Ōishi as he lay drunk in the street. Addressing the grave, he begged for forgiveness for his actions and for thinking that Ōishi was not a true samurai. He then committed suicide and was buried next to the graves of the ronin. Re-establishment of the Asano clan’s lordship Though the revenge is often viewed as an act of loyalty, there had been a second goal, to re-establish the Asanos’ lordship and finding a place for fellow samurai to serve. Hundreds of samurai who had served under Asano had been left jobless, and many were unable to find employment, as they had served under a disgraced family. Many lived as farmers or did simple handicrafts to make ends meet. The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin cleared their names, and many of the unemployed samurai found jobs soon after the ronin had been sentenced to their honorable end. Asano Daigaku Nagahiro, Naganori’s younger brother and heir, was allowed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to re-establish his name, though his territory was reduced to a tenth of the original. The ronin spent more than a year waiting for the “right time” for their revenge. It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo, author of the Hagakure, who asked this famous question: “What if, nine months after Asano’s death, Kira had died of an illness?” His answer was that the Forty-seven Ronin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master. Even if they had claimed, then, that their dissipated behavior was just an act, that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge, who would have believed them? They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards—bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan. The right thing for the ronin to do, wrote Yamamoto, according to proper bushido, was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano’s death. The ronin would probably have suffered defeat, as Kira was ready for an attack at that time—but this was unimportant. Ōishi, from the perspective of bushido, was too obsessed with success, according to Yamamoto. He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure they would succeed at killing Kira, which is not a proper concern in a samurai: the important thing was not the death of Kira, but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all-out attack against the Kira house, thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master. Even if they had failed to kill Kira, even if they had all perished, it would not have mattered, as victory and defeat have no importance in bushido. By waiting a year, they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan, the worst sin a samurai can commit. This is why Yamamoto and others claim that the tale of the Forty-seven Ronin is a good story of revenge, but by no means a story of bushido. In the arts The tragedy of the Forty-seven Ronin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art, and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art. Immediately following the event, there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate. Many agreed that, given their master’s last wishes, the ronin had done the right thing, but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper. Over time, however, the story became a symbol, not of bushido, as the ronin can be seen as seriously lacking it, but of loyalty to one’s master and later, of loyalty to the emperor. Once this happened, the story flourished as a subject of drama, storytelling, and visual art. The incident immediately inspired a succession of kabuki and bunraku plays; the first, The Night Attack at Dawn by the Soga appeared only two weeks after the ronin died. It was shut down by the authorities, but many others soon followed, initially in Osaka and Kyoto, farther away from the capital. Some even took the story as far as Manila, to spread the story to the rest of Asia. The most successful of the adaptations was a bunraku puppet play called Kanadehon Chūshingura (now simply called Chūshingura, or “Treasury of Loyal Retainers”), written in 1748 by Takeda Izumo and two associates; it was later adapted into a kabuki play, which is still one of Japan’s most popular. In the play, to avoid the attention of the censors, the events are transferred into the distant past, to the 14th century reign of shogun Ashikaga Takauji. Asano became Enya Hangan Takasada, Kira became Ko no Moronao and Ōishi became Ōboshi Yuranosuke Yoshio; the names of the rest of the ronin were disguised to varying degrees. The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story: Moronao tries to seduce Enya’s wife, and one of the ronin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty (another possible cause of the confusion between forty-six and forty-seven). The story was turned into an opera, Chūshingura, by Shigeaki Saegusa in 1997. Cinema and television The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan, the earliest starring Onoe Matsunosuke. The film’s release date is questioned, but placed between 1910 and 1917. It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel (Japan) with accompanying benshi narration. In 1941, the Japanese military commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi, who would later direct Ugetsu, to make Genroku Chūshingura. They wanted a ferocious morale booster based upon the familiar rekishi geki (“historical drama”) of The Loyal 47 Ronin. Instead, Mizoguchi chose for his source Mayama Chūshingura, a cerebral play dealing with the story. The film was a commercial failure, having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious, but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production, despite Part One’s lukewarm reception. Renowned by postwar scholars lucky to have seen it in Japan, the film wasn’t shown in America until the 1970s. The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, Chūshingura, is most familiar to Western audiences. In it, Toshiro Mifune appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba. Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career. In 1971 he appeared in the 52-part television series Daichūshingura as Ōishi, while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic Swords of Vengeance (Ako-Jo danzetsu). Many Japanese television shows, including single programs, short series, single seasons, and even year-long series such as Daichūshingura and the more recent NHK Taiga drama Genroku Ryōran, recount the events of the Forty-seven Ronin. Among both films and television programs, some are quite faithful to the Chūshingura, while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details. In addition, gaiden dramatize events and characters not in the Chūshingura. Kon Ichikawa directed another version in 1994. In 2004, Saito Mitsumasa directed a 9-episode mini-series starring Matsudaira Ken, who also starred in a 1999 49-episode TV series of the Chūshingura entitled Genroku Ryoran. In Hirokazu Koreeda‘s 2006 film Hana yori mo naho, the events of the Forty-seven Ronin story was used as a backdrop, one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists. The Forty-seven Ronin are one of the most popular themes in woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e and many well-known artists have made prints portraying either the original events, scenes from the play, or the actors. One book on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks. Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are Utamaro, Toyokuni, Hokusai, Kunisada, Hiroshige, and Yoshitoshi. However, probably the most famous woodblocks in the genre are those of Kuniyoshi, who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject, along with more than twenty triptychs. In the West

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At Summit, students in kindergarten through fourth grade engage in reading, writing, math, spelling, character education, social studies, thematic studies, and presentation skills with their primary grade level teacher. Concepts in all areas focus on hands-on, experiential learning. Additionally, elementary students study the following subjects with specialized teachers in dedicated classrooms: - Physical Education The Summit School of Ahwatukee elementary math program is based on Math Expressions by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This program offers students a broad background in math concepts, reinforced through a significant amount of dynamic, hands-on, interactive activities. This Mathematics program is distinguished by a number of features which include: Real-life Applications Throughout each unit, real-world situations are incorporated. Numbers, skills, and mathematical concepts are not presented in isolation, but are linked to contexts that are relevant to everyday lives. The curriculum also provides numerous suggestions for incorporating math into daily classroom routines and other subject areas. Problem Solving A variety of problem-solving approaches are emphasized to allow students to investigate and understand mathematical concepts. Problems are formulated through everyday situations and are solved by interpreting results and applying learned strategies. As a result, confidence is acquired in using mathematics meaningfully. Balanced Instruction Each lesson includes time for whole-group instruction as well as small group, partner, or individual activities. These activities balance teacher-directed instruction with more opportunities for open-ended, hands-on explorations, long-term projects, and ongoing practice. Multiple Methods for Basic Skills Practice Numerous methods for basic skills practice and review are provided. Summit emphasizes learning through a wide variety of math games, written and choral fact drills, mental math, math boxes (daily sets of review problems), homework, and timed tests. Emphasis on Communication Throughout the curriculum, students are encouraged to explain and discuss their mathematical thinking in their own words. Opportunities to verbalize their thoughts and strategies give children the chance to clarify their reasoning and gain insights from others. Home / School Partnerships For grades first to third, daily home learning provides opportunities for family members to participate in students’ mathematical learning. Take-home packets are provided for most lessons in grades four to six. Summit School of Ahwatukee Mathematics inspires deep understanding, critical thinking and confidence in Preschool through Eighth Grade Summit School of Ahwatukee mathematics curriculum is designed to meet the needs of students who have varying backgrounds, knowledge and skills. The three main goals of the program are to develop mathematical skills, to foster an attitude toward mathematics that encourages subsequent learning and application of mathematical concepts and skills, and to prepare students for high school, college and careers that will require a strong mathematical foundation. Summit’s Core Standards for Mathematics are based on Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards, Mathematical Practices and Math Progressions. These standards define what is to be learned by the end of a school year or course. The math curriculum, materials and activities are developed by educators, aligned to the standards, focused on important math skills and concepts, well-articulated across all grades and intended to be responsive to the unique needs and interests of Summit School of Ahwatukee students. Scroll below the graph to read more about the mathematics curriculum materials, student assessments, differentiation, and home learning by grade. PRESCHOOL: Using research-based activities from the Erikson Institute’s Big Ideas in Early Mathematics, preschool students develop strong foundational numeracy skills that align with Summit Core Standards. Numeracy is embedded daily in all core content areas, and is also introduced through large and small group activities. GRADES Kindergarten – 5th: Foundational skills and concepts are taught using Math Expressions (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). GRADE 6: Foundational skills are extended to prepare students for success in Pre-Algebra and Algebra using Digits (Pearson). GRADES 7 & 8: Coursework is sequenced to prepare students for success in high school mathematics using Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Geometry texts (McDougall Littell). At Summit School of Ahwatukee, our mathematics classes foster an environment where students are seen as mathematicians and leaders. Each class, or mathematical community, encourages mathematical discussion among the students. In our math classrooms, students communicate their thinking, analyze the suggestions of others, justify their conclusions, respectfully debate a mathematical idea and defend their reasoning. Participating in these types of discussions allows our students to further develop their mathematical language and communication skills, take ownership of mathematical ideas and gain a deeper understanding of the mathematics being discussed. Our lively and enthusiastic math classes create an environment where students understand the importance of mathematics in their life and future careers. Throughout the school year, students at Summit are being assessed, formally and informally, to identify their mathematical strengths and areas for improvement. For example, at the beginning of each math unit, each student completes a pre-assessment that assesses the mathematical concepts for the upcoming math unit. The data from the pre-assessment enables the teacher to identify which specific skills each student has already grasped, the skills to which they need more exposure and concepts the students have not yet been introduced. Identifying the students’ prior knowledge allows each teacher to differentiate the unit’s lessons according to the students’ needs. In addition, students are frequently informally assessed during math lessons so that the teacher can adjust future lessons according to what each student needs further practice or instruction. Assessments are an important component of Summit’s mathematics program as the formative and summative assessments provide teachers, students and parents with feedback on each child’s mathematical progress and growth. Another central component of Summit School of Ahwatukee’s mathematics program is differentiation. Our teachers provide learning opportunities that keep each student’s individual academic needs, interests, learning style and readiness in mind in order to ensure productive student growth. For example, when a student needs to be challenged with a specific math concept, Summit teachers will provide enrichment activities for that student. Enrichment activities and flexible grouping strategies allow students to expand their learning by studying the particular concept in more depth, and applying the math skills to new situations. Activities that involve accelerating students into above grade level textbooks or out of grade level groups are not used in Summit’s elementary classes as students in these grades are developing a strong mathematics foundation so that they will experience success in later mathematics courses. Summit students are given opportunities to reinforce classroom math learning at home, beginning in kindergarten. Our home learning assignments support and enhance our academic instructional programs. Math home learning assignments typically include two components: practice and application of current math concepts being studied, and cumulative review of previously taught math concepts. The math home learning assignments are not only beneficial to the students but to parents as well. Communicating with your child as they complete their assignment, or after they complete it, gives a parent an understanding of how the child is doing mathematically. Because we value family and leisure time, most of Summit home learning is designed to take place four nights per normal week, Monday through Thursday, and not on weekends, holidays or breaks. In First Grade, We are Writers! The goal of the Summit School of Ahwatukee language arts program is to help children see that writing doesn’t have to be a hard process and that it has real world application. Students will use a number of techniques throughout the year to help them become better writers. Creative Writing: The emphasis is on writing for real purposes (letters, lists, cards). Students use a variety of materials in our creative writing bin. Writer’s Workshop: This time focuses on using the writing process (brainstorm, outline, rough draft, edit with teacher, and final copy). Children create a story, non-fiction piece, song, or poem. They use rubrics to check their writing to ensure they have applied skills that were taught previously in mini-lessons. Journal Writing: This writing style centers on personal responses to questions such as “Where in space would you travel to?” or “Why should you not be afraid of spiders?” Beginning Reports: Students learn how to organize facts to create a report on a subject related to the current theme. Poetry: The emphasis focuses on using descriptive language and phonemic awareness to write about a topic from the current classroom theme. Conventions Check: Through writing practice and reinforcement of conventions, students gain skills to write and edit their own work. 6 + 1 Trait® Writing: This is a comprehensive, reliable, teacher-friendly and student-friendly method of teaching and assessing writing. Expectations are clearly stated through rubrics utilized by children and teachers to ensure that they are meeting the expectations. Whether it is a poem or a report, students are held accountable for producing their best writing every time. The traits include conventions, ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and presentation. The goal of the Summit School of Ahwatukee literacy program is to develop lifelong readers who read for a variety of purposes and to grow strategic readers who are able to employ techniques in order to understand what they are reading. Our balanced literacy program provides individualized attention and instruction to every student. Students thrive in small reading groups of three to six children. They read books specifically chosen for them at their current instructional level. In kindergarten and first grade, a reading specialist and two instructional assistants join the classroom teachers as part of our reading program. Many of our elementary teachers carry a reading endorsement, obtained by taking coursework specifically related to teaching methods for reading instruction. As a result of our small reading groups and the individual attention it allows, there is no limit on what children can achieve. They develop strong comprehension skills and strategies for deeper thinking, as well as a lifelong love of reading. Through an integrated thematic approach, the topics covered in the first grade social studies program include simple economics, geography and basic map reading skills, histories of various cultures, famous persons, American and state symbols, and special holidays. The Summit School of Ahwatukee art curriculum is based on the Vitruvius Program. This art, architecture and design program enables students to use their creative intelligence to express ideas and concepts in tangible forms. As students engage in work based on real and imagined projects, they deepen critical thinking, narrative problem solving, spatial reasoning, and visual perception. Design and architecture projects bring an important dimension of thinking to the program. The students learn to find reasons for their work outside of artistic self-expression, becoming divergent thinkers, and gaining a foundation for understanding a changing world. By studying works from history and the present, students understand how art and design have made significant contributions in the shaping of culture. Students see that their creative work is part of a continuum with other artists, architects, and designers. Critiques develop the ability to observe, discriminate, compare, and contrast creative works. Students learn how to use critical language to interpret work and explain their understanding of its purposes. The Vitruvius Program curriculum was developed with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. In 2011, this exceptional program was named the best art and architecture school curriculum in the United States, by the Association of Architecture Organizations (AAO) and winner of the National School award. Summit represented the United States in the UIA Golden Cubes International Competition in Tokyo. In 2009 Phoenix Magazine recognized the Vitruvius Program as one of the top five education programs in Metro-Phoenix. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art invited the Vitruvius Program at Summit School to create two different exhibitions for their young@art Gallery. The first exhibit, Bridges: Connecting Earth to Sky, displayed from October 2010 to January 2011, and included architecture and design work from each Summit student in kindergarten through sixth grade. The second exhibit, Cycles From Fields to Cities, displayed from February through April 2013, also includes student works from Finland, France, Russia and Sweden, features designs from third and fifth grade Summit students. The architectural project was co-created by Summit art instructor Kathleen Kupper. This project asks children from many countries to think reflectively about the current state of their city’s design, and challenges them to share how they would reconstruct and reconfigure old and new elements. Artworks range from architectural models and drawings to animations. Music is an important cornerstone of the liberal arts program at Summit School of Ahwatukee. Students have the opportunity to play instruments, sing, and compose. The music department also orchestrates the Winter concert for the school. The music curriculum involves participation in hands-on musical explorations that incorporate thinking musically, creatively, and critically. Students develop a comprehensive, basic foundation of musical understandings, skills, and experiences that will enable them to choose and pursue enriching musical experiences beyond elementary school. Musical experiences, as recommended by state (AZ) and national (MENC) standards will include: Performing: Singing, Playing Instruments, Improvising Creating: Composing, Arranging, Improvising Listening: Listening, Analyzing, Describing music, Evaluating music and music performances, Responding to music through Movement Musical Context: Understanding music in relation to history and culture, Understanding relationships between music and other arts and disciplines outside the arts Experiences will be structured as whole-class, small group, and individualized activities. Concepts explored will include: • Tone Color (timbre) • Duration (rhythm) • Musical Controls (volume, tempo, articulation) • Pitch (melody, harmony) Spanish language experiences, as recommended by state (AZ) and national foreign language standards include: Communication: Respond to simple commands, perform short plays, poems, and songs, and express and react to a variety of feelings. Culture: Participate in age-appropriate cultural activities and recognize how the target language and its culture add to the richness of our own cultural diversity. Connections: Discuss topics in other school subjects in the target language (e.g. math: “más-menos”, science: “los planetas”, etc.) and present reports in the target language orally and/or in writing on topics being studied in other classes. Comparisons: Make basic comparisons between the celebrations of the target culture and their own culture (e.g. Halloween and “EL Día de los Muertos”) and compare and contrast a variety of art forms (e.g. music, dance, visual arts, and drama) with their own culture through oral and/or written descriptions and/or performances. The Summit School of Ahwatukee science program is taught in a state-of-the-art laboratory facility with science stations, microscopes, and all necessary tools to make science engaging and fun. Hands-on, experiment-based science begins in our kindergarten science lab and continues through Chemistry and Physics in eighth grade. Elementary students visit the science lab twice per week. Students’ analytical skills and critical thinking abilities soar through experiential learning, as they develop a love of science. The first grade science curriculum is based on the following themes: Solids & Liquids; Investigation of Earth Materials; Plants & Animals; Weather; Balance & Motion. For example, in the unit on Solids and Liquids, students handle viscous, translucent, and transparent liquids to gain a clear understanding of each type. They distinguish characteristics between solids and liquids and learn to classify solid objects by observable properties. As part of their weather study, first grade scientists use the time tested kid favorite, bubbles, as a tool to observe the wind (air movement) around the school. They discovered that the bubbles could show them the different directions and speeds of the wind in the different locations. They also observed that the buildings around school affected the air movement. First graders practice basic keyboarding skills in Tech Class. They learn how to access the school network to find programs and save documents to their personal folders. Word processing and simple research skills are further developed, and classroom theme web sites are used to reinforce the curriculum. First graders also start to learn about how to make PowerPoint slides, and also enjoy literacy and math activities. Elementary Physical Education and Wellness at Summit follows closely with the Dynamic Physical Education Curriculum, created By Dr. Robert Pangrazi of Arizona State University, which is widely recognized throughout the world. The program has four distinct sections to each class: an instant/introductory activity followed by a fitness component and a sport and/or motor lesson that is then followed by a game. Other nationally-recognized components include AAHPERD’s Physical Best curriculum, the Cooper Institute’s Fitnessgram / Activitygram, and Project Adventure. Thematic learning is an educational strength of Summit School. Throughout the year, each grade delves into many different topics of study that are reinforced through reading, writing, math, social studies, and whenever possible, include related projects within art, technology, music, library, Spanish, science, and even PE. Many of these projects have special “culminating events” allowing students to enhance public speaking skills as they present many facets of the project in group or individual presentations for parents and the school community. The following is an example of a first grader’s thematic learning project at Summit School of Ahwatukee: Six-year-old “Architects” and “City Planners” Work on New Community Design A ceremonial ribbon cutting officially opened the display of student’s three dimensional models of homes, a library, a school and other buildings necessary to sustain a community. The month-long project, by first graders at Summit School of Ahwatukee, culminated with the unveiling of their newly-designed community to a room packed with parents, teachers and school administrators, who applauded the achievement. This community design project was inspired by the motivation of first grade teachers’ Lisa Rubin and Christine Odenkirk to engage students in practical applications of math, reading, social studies and art concepts. They kicked-off the project with a student-led brainstorming session to discuss what forms a community (e.g. businesses, service providers, entertainment venues etc.). Subsequently, they learned about mapping and zoning, and experienced first-hand that a community is made up of people working together and helping each other. The second phase of the project centered on applying their math and art skills in the design of a map for their community: using a compass rose, and a map key to identify the products, services, and entertainment available to the future residents of the community. To facilitate the decision about what businesses and services would make sense next to each other, students studied democracy and voting. They learned that by being an active member of a community, everyone can join in the planning and make their ideas heard at town meetings and by voting. “Students learned first hand that they are an important part of a community, a first grade community. They worked together and listened to each other’s ideas, and helped each other with a common goal in mind,” said Rubin. Students also learned about economics; that people are buyers and sellers of goods and services and make choices because of limited resources, discussing the difference between basic needs and wants. “It’s exciting to watch and listen as the children begin to make connections from the learning taking place in the classroom to what they see and do in their personal lives outside the classroom,” shares Odenkirk. The final phase took these creative six year olds into Summit’s art studio. Art teachers Kathleen and Selene Kupper, invited them to create three dimensional models and a layout based on New American Urbanism. A town square formed the heart of the community, with public buildings surrounding it. Neighborhoods open to communal spaces that create a strong sense of community: a place where you can walk or take public transportation. “Students learned that by working together as a team – architects design better buildings; city planners layout spaces with the community’s need in mind, landscape architects develop parks and public spaces to be enjoyed year-round; and artists create welcoming spaces through public art,” said Summit Art teacher, Kathleen Kupper. “Most importantly, students understood that a community is a place where citizens build friendships with neighbors and nature. A great lesson for all ages.” Summit School of Ahwatukee has two first grade classes with a maximum of 18 students per class with one teacher. Students are escorted to art, Spanish, music, science, technology, physical education, and library. Student time in specialized classes allows classroom teachers to plan during the school day, evaluate work, and modify lesson plans when necessary in order to meet the needs of each child. Classrooms are open and ready to welcome children and parents at 8am. Class officially begins at 8:15. These fifteen minutes allow families to get to know each other, enhancing the community feel and fabric of our school. The school day ends at 3:15 daily. First grade students enjoy daily morning and lunch recesses, allowing them breaks to refresh and prepare them for more learning. Children in all grade levels are encouraged to bring a morning snack in addition to a healthy lunch. Get to Know - 1st Grade Faculty First Grade Teacher Christine Odenkirk began her career as an educator in 1998. She taught second, third and fourth grades in the Scottsdale Unified School District for six years, joining Summit in 2005. The first two years she taught the beautiful and inspiring kindergartners, and then Summit first graders captured her heart. Mrs. Odenkirk graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in Elementary Education. She also minored in language arts and reading and has an English as a Second Language Endorsement, Reading Endorsement, as well as an Early Childhood Endorsement. Additionally, she is CLIP (Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project) certified. Mrs. Odenkirk is passionate about her craft and continuing her learning about best practices for teaching and learning. First Grade Teacher Lisa Rubin is a Certified Elementary teacher and a CLIP Reading Specialist. She has an endorsement in Reading, Early Childhood Education, and Structured English Immersion. She attended the University of Phoenix to earn her teacher certification. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Southwest Missouri State University. Ms. Rubin joined Summit in 2001 and has taught kindergarten, first grade, and second grades, making first grade her home in 2003. Her career in education began in 2000, student teaching in second grade at Kyrene de la Mariposa. Ms. Rubin brings a positive attitude and a smile to school daily. She is dedicated to make learning fun and to help every child reach their ultimate potential. Math Specialist, Kindergarten through Fifth Grade Molly Danforth has over twenty years of teaching first through third grades. She has also earned the prestigious National Board Certification. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Gonzaga University, and a Masters in Education in 1997 from Northern Arizona University. To expand her teaching skills Ms. Danforth has taken additional training in Cognitively Guided Instruction, Intel Math, as well as several other math courses, and has earned a Reading Endorsement in 2002 from Arizona State University. Ms. Danforth joined Summit in 2007 as a 2nd grade teacher and now serves as Summit’s Kindergarten – 2nd grade math coordinator, using her expertise to enhance classroom math instruction and assessments, and further Summit’s teachers’ professional development in mathematics.

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Over time, cities originated wherever indigenous cultures agglomerated and planned links between their settlements and peri-urban ecosystems for the provision of water, food and other goods and services. Not by coincidence, these settlements often occurred in biodiversity hotspots—and we know that historically cities were hotbeds for innovation of all sorts. Yet indigenous knowledge on the sustainable use of biodiversity has largely been unutilized in city design. Here we propose to identify some “bright spots” in integrating traditional knowledge on environmental protection in cities. Indigenous urbanization, problems and solutions Like the rest of us, the majority of indigenous peoples all over the world now live in urban settings, and that proportion is increasing. Almost 60% of the indigenous population of Panama lives in its main city, as is the case of Maracaibo in Venezuela. Cities like La Paz (Bolivia), Santiago (Chile), San José (Costa Rica) and Fernheim (Paraguay) concentrate up to 40% of their country’s total urban indigenous population. This growing trend has implications for their lifestyles and culture, including risks of alienation and loss of traditional knowledge. Urban indigenous peoples often find it hard to pass these on to younger generations. Furthermore, many indigenous peoples in various regions are currently living in housing that is at odds with their cultural needs, which is evident by having to give up traditional and culturally specific housing when they migrate to cities. In fact, housing conditions offered to migrating indigenous peoples often do not meet even minimal local criteria for quality of life. This issue has been subject of the work of UN-Habitat in the past years, in particular, from the angle of urban migration, housing, traditional building knowledge and construction industry. Christophe Lalande, leader of the UN-Habitat Housing Unit, notes: “…cities are not always the destination of opportunities for indigenous peoples. Some indigenous peoples arrive in cities compelled to leave their ancestral lands due to necessity. Escaping natural disasters, conflict or dispossession, caused by large-scale development projects, engulfed in urban extension, indigenous peoples find themselves deprived of their resources and unable to carry out their traditional occupations and livelihood. Limited socio-economic opportunities in the cities result in indigenous peoples’ exclusion from economic gains of the growing cities. Cultural distinctiveness from the majority populations can lead to discrimination and further marginalization from processes affecting urban communities. Indigenous peoples do not constitute a homogeneous population. Worldwide there are 350 million indigenous people living in 70 countries, representing 500 distinct communities and speaking 400 different languages. In addition to culturally-driven discrimination, some indigenous populations also face the usual sex-, age-, disability-based discrimination. The disproportionate disadvantages affect women’s property rights and security of tenure; transitioning from childhood to adulthood, indigenous youth suffer face further transitions of reconciling the traditional ancestral ways with adaptation to the culture of the majority population. The work of UN-Habitat on urban indigenous issues seeks to explore ways to increase the socio-economic participation of indigenous peoples, improving the self-reliance of communities in urban centres and the realisation of their rights in cities.” Cooperating with UN-Habitat, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the principal UN agency in the field of the environment, assisting governments to address global, regional and national environmental challenges. It has an active agenda on green cities and urbanization, and develops a series of activities with indigenous peoples around the world on several topics such as the Post-2015 agenda, human rights, pastoralism, climate change, ecosystems, poverty, REDD, and TEEB among others. However, the potentially positive influences of traditional knowledge in urban planning have not been studied or generally included in urban planning. Value of past and present traditional knowledge: a “bright spots” approach When producing the booklet celebrating the 2014 theme of islands for the International Day on Biodiversity with the Global Islands Partnership (GLISPA), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) was inspired by the “bright spots” approach proposed by Rare (“find what works and repeat it”). We’d like to propose the same reasoning to indigenous urbanization, as it can also present opportunities for traditional forms of land-use, ecosystem management and occupation of space to evolve into a source of new and creative ways for urban design and to achieve sustainable urbanization at a time cities around the world are facing the loss of their biodiversity. This will always be done through the full participation of indigenous peoples and traditional communities as urban citizens, planning urban spaces, diversifying landscapes and designing cities differently. In other words, traditional knowledge and diverse cultural identities have the potential to improve urban design, governance and enhance the quality of urban life inasmuch as indigenous peoples have the opportunity to fully participate in the city planning and governance process. Our efforts are to identify best practices on how indigenous peoples and traditional communities urbanize with nature, incorporating biodiversity and more sustainable forms of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes into the urban fabric, and linking peri-urban and urban ecosystems into innovative city design and planning. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) states that traditional knowledge is both an element of biodiversity and a tool for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of its components, which are two out of the three objectives of the Convention. Recent decisions of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the governing body of the Convention, provide a mandate for exploring ways and means for increasing indigenous engagement in urban planning and governance, as one of the steps to achieve Aichi Targets, especially target 18. Traditional knowledge and practices can make a significant contribution to sustainable development. Most indigenous peoples and traditional communities are situated in areas where the vast majority of the world’s biological and cultural diversities are found. Many of these indigenous peoples and local communities have cultivated and used biological diversity in a sustainable way for thousands of years. Some of their practices have been proven to enhance and promote biodiversity at the local level and aid in maintaining healthy ecosystems. As mentioned, the contribution of indigenous people’s traditional knowledge to urbanization is historical. For example, in Machu Picchu (Peru) the Inca developed a successful method which allowed the construction of the city in a mountain top with seismic activity using the chips which they carved off of the stones in their construction and as a method to avoid mud and landslides, as well as flooding, and an agriculture sector, where extensive terraces were used for agriculture and sophisticated channeling systems provided irrigation for the fields. The terraces were used chiefly to drain and syphon the water from rain, as well as to hold the mountain in place. Each terrace was multi layered: first top soil, then dirt, sand and finally stone chips. This meant that water which sat on the terraces would sift downward into the mountain, as opposed to overflowing and running down the mountain. Located on what today is in the central area of Mexico City, Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec Empire and the largest city in pre-Colombian America with an estimated population over 200 thousand inhabitants by the time of the Spanish conquest. It had two double aqueducts, each more than 4 km long and made of terracotta, that provided the city with fresh water from the springs at Chapultepec for cleaning and washing. A complex system of canals, extending throughout the city, provided the infrastructure for an efficient approach to sanitation. Over one thousand people worked to collect waste nightly, using barges to recycle organic waste for cultivation and dispose of other forms of waste. Contemporary Mexico City has even begun to imitate its practice of recycling waste for the fertilization. Over time indigenous peoples also accumulated knowledge from their failures in urbanization. Tikal, despite being one of the larger Mayan cities with almost 90 thousand inhabitants, had no water source other than the rain. For this reason its inhabitants built 10 reservoirs. However when the population reached its peak, most of it was urban. This led to intensive agriculture and environmental decline with erosion, deforestation and loss of nutrients leading to a subsequent population decline and the city collapse. Cahokia, which was the biggest pre-Colombian city north from Mexico, suffered from lack of supplies and with the waste disposal which made the city unhealthy. Its decline is also due to deforestation and a subsequent lack of wood. Today we see examples of communities in urban spaces that have gone ahead to secure their culture and livelihoods. In Cape Town, the NGO led project Healthy Streets – Healthy People: Mitigating the impacts of wild medicinal plant harvesting in Cape Town through research, engagement and inclusive partnership with Rasta herbalists brought conservation officials to work alongside Rasta bossiedoktors (bush doctors or herbalists) and other citizens to plant on the Seawinds open-access street garden. In this garden, 80-90% of the plants are indigenous. Developing a medicinal street garden in low income areas and strengthening biocultural ecosystem resilience built a communication and collaboration space for Rasta and conservation stakeholders. The gardens also add aesthetic, biodiversity, and direct use value to otherwise degraded residential streets. It should be noted, however, that some considered this project to have had a negative impact on biodiversity in the area because of the not-always-sustainable harvesting of a variety of indigenous plants for sale rather than personal medicinal/culinary use. Still, it is clear that opportunities arise from engaging indigenous people in urban planning, design and implementation. Their traditional knowledge has proven to contribute to higher quality of urban life. It is a source of new and creative ways to sustainable development, planning urban spaces, diversify landscapes and designing cities differently. Identifying these solutions can also be the task of indigenous universities, some of which in Latin America already offer degrees in city management. For instance in Mexico, the Universidad Autónoma Indígena de México offers a masters degree in municipal development. This program aims not only on those who work in the city administration but also in those who work on NGOs that deal with municipal development ensuring that indigenous peoples be prepared to participate in the city development in all levels. We have selected some examples of local governments which were either able to engage indigenous people in their urban planning solution and add their views to the city project, or were able to identify traditional knowledge bright spots and apply then on their cities. While links to biodiversity are not always direct, the potential of such engagements is clear. Auckland, New Zealand Auckland’s character has been shaped by the shared experiences of Maori and European peoples. Maori see themselves as belonging to the land, as opposed to the land belonging to them, and the natural environment plays a significant role in defining the Maori sense of place. The city council has an Independent Maori Statutory Board, whose objective is ensuring that the Council takes into account Maori views in decision making. In order to do so, the board elaborates a Maori priority list of issues (including environmental ones) relevant to the Maori in Auckland that will guide the development of the board working programme. The city also has a Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel. The Panel identifies and communicates to the Council the interests of Pacific peoples living in Auckland regarding Council’s strategies, policies, plans and bylaws or any other matter the Panel considers of interests of the pacific peoples in Auckland. The city also has a Maori Strategy and Relations department, which takes care of its obligations towards the Maori. With the participation of the Maori, the Auckland City Council developed an urban design framework, in which the number one goal is to reflect the city’s Maori, Pacific, and multicultural identity to be visibly identifiable as a place in the South Pacific. The use of Maori values in urban design and development is entirely consistent with low-impact urban design and development. The merging of Maori values, approaches and principles with Eurocentric based architecture, design, engineering, and planning disciplines results in greater integration between environmental aspects of urban design and more low impact, energy, resource and cost efficient design to achieve socially and culturally sensitive sustainable development in urban built environments. Baguio City, the Philippines With 60% of its total population comprised of indigenous peoples originally from Cordillera Villages, Baguio City has an indigenous mayor and is in the process of updating it Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and the amended zoning ordinance which serves as the CLUP’s implementing tool. The City Council decided to include an indigenous peoples sector in the CLUP, with the proposed policy that “ancestral lands in the city shall be respected and shall be accorded the same rights and responsibilities appurtenant to private titles. Hence, all registered owners of legitimate ancestral domain/land titles shall formulate their respective sustainable development, protection and management plans pursuant to the provision of Republic Act 8371 and other pertinent laws”. Edmonton and Whistler, Canada Edmonton has created the Edmonton Urban Affairs Committee and an Aboriginal Relations Office. Edmonton is bringing aboriginal perspectives on environment to city projects, among them the land use review of a portion of Whitemud Park proposed by an indigenous organization to turn a farm site part of the park to become a permanent licensed site for indigenous activities. Another example of aboriginal perspective is the fund for the redesign of Walterdale Bridge in Rossdale, which is located near a traditional burial ground. In 1997 the Resort Municipality of Whistler met with the Lil’wat Nation to consult about opportunities for the Nation’s participation and presence. Out of these discussions, the idea of a world-class cultural centre was born and a relationship in the spirit of goodwill and cooperation evolved. The Squamish and Lil’wat Nations built a Cultural Centre to house and showcase indigenous art, history and culture. Indigenous builders have treated the site with respect, building on the northern side of the property and leaving the forested area mostly untouched. The building is designed to evoke the longhouses of our Squamish people and the Istken (traditional earthen pit house) of Lil’wat people with a modern architectural interpretation. The structure was awarded the CBD’s 2010 Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Award. Satoyama and satoumi, Japan Other approaches can be inferred from the studies linked to “satoyama” and “satoumi” in Japan. Satoyama and satoumi are kinds of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS), and are effective models for reaching biodiversity targets without damaging human production activities and originally. As a traditional practice, Satoyama landscapes in peri-urban areas have been faced with new challenges, including conversion of land into built-up areas and the loss of traditional knowledge to manage the landscape. This is significant because the area near Tokyo has maintained relatively higher species richness compared to non-traditional models, suggesting the importance of traditional knowledge for environmental management. Nowadays satoyama landscapes in peri-urban areas in Japan have become very different from those in the past. Due to the breakup of nuclear families they are highly fragmented and there are fewer people who can continue farming and managing the forest. In urban settings, this traditional knowledge has been approached differently. Satoyama became an example of urban management and governance of a traditional knowledge bright spot that the local authorities have identified as offering a model to be applied by the city. Today it is largely applied by public authorities or urban volunteers, also in the designation as conservation areas or urban parks. It has provided opportunities where urban citizens can connect with nature and gain traditional knowledge. SEPLS can take many forms around the world where a significant amount of urban food production takes place, making production areas that include human settlements more resilient and sustainable through effective management by the people who rely on their products for their livelihoods. Often relying heavily on traditional knowledge and institutions, or, in the case of satoyama in Japan, employing rediscovered and reevaluated knowledge for landscape revitalization and maintenance, they also serve to link and strengthen both cultural and biological diversity. Examples are being collected and further studied by the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), which hosts the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). Tjapukai Park in Cairns, Australia Founded more than 25 years ago, Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park enables guests to immerse themselves in traditional Tjapukai culture with authentic music, dance and storytelling by the Tjapukai people. The world’s oldest living culture is brought to life by Aboriginal performances set in a uniquely sensitive architectural environment which highlights the central importance of biodiversity to ancestral culture. The Park has been built on traditional Tjapukai land in a beautiful rainforest setting. Since commencing operations, Tjapukai has been visited by more than 3 million people and injected in excess of $35 million to the local Aboriginal community in wages, royalties and through the purchase and commissioning of art and artifacts. * * * Many more examples can be found. The City of Guatemala has important indigenous communities, which have also brought some aspects of traditional knowledge into their urban architecture and functionalities. In Bolivia indigenous urban communities can enjoy two separate and complementary institutional systems. In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, several indigenous communities cooperate on a “Being Indigenous in a City”. The main elements of the project include institutional strengthening, capacity building, a set of proposed urban laws and a communications campaign. Cities like Saraguro in Ecuador offer indigenous cultural experiences in natural settings as one of its key tourism attractions. Mr. Lalande of UN-Habitat cautions that sustainable urban development models must take into consideration the diversity and possible sources of discrimination. A one size-fits-all approach to housing, urban policy and planning is not adequate to counter the inequalities apparent amongst the indigenous population of cities. However, the examples of bright spots that we have seen above show that it is possible to engage indigenous urban people in urban planning in ways that both the city government and its indigenous citizens benefit. These examples also indicate that urbanization of indigenous peoples does not necessarily mean only loss—there are gains where communities find their roots and apply their traditional knowledge to their new urban situation. We suggest that researchers look for even smaller scale solutions and analyze their success to apply to other places. One can apply the so-called ‘bright spots’ approach to finding solutions to using biodiversity in an urban context that come along with the (largely inevitable) challenges of urbanization of indigenous and traditional communities. This incubation of bright spots also means trying to further combine traditional approaches with new social-media empowered urban-community initiatives, and ask scientists and thinkers to look at what we can learn.. Questions to initiate a debate on this topic include: - There is an irresistible trend for the urbanization of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, with associated high risks of loss of traditional knowledge and social alienation. However, there are also significant best practices/bright spots/benchmarks of indigenous/traditional empowerment in urban design, social architecture, biodiversity-friendly urban landscape management, conservation partnerships and urban agriculture for food security. How could they be compiled and made available for replication? - Drawing on those examples, what guidelines and policies in community empowerment and governance systems could help mainstream these practices in biodiversity-friendly/sustainable design and construction guidelines related to landscape use, community area design and socio-cultural architecture originating from traditional knowledge into current urban design, construction and operation? - Could traditional practices associated with growing food and medicines in urban peripheries enhance a healthy diet for all city dwellers, conserve or even enlarge green spaces promoting biodiversity and also give indigenous families opportunities tosecure their livelihoods? We’d like to invite the TNOC community and the wider expert group behind it to offer constructive suggestions on how to identify, describe and offer those solutions as models for others to use and benefit from. Further on, in November 2015 in Montreal, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity plans to hold a workshop on the topic as a laboratory for discussion. It will reflect the expertise of the broad range of actors involved in urban indigenous peoples and local communities and their traditional knowledge of relevance to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, with a view to access the current status of traditional knowledge in the cities, identify synergies between different experts and contribute to the achievement of Target 18 of the Strategic Plan on Biodiversity 2011-2020. Target 18 reads as follows: By 2020, the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and their customary use of biological resources, are respected, subject to national legislation and relevant international obligations, and fully integrated and reflected in the implementation of the Convention with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities, at all relevant levels. We invite contributions and comments via email [email protected]. Henrique Mercer, Viviana Figueroa, Andre Mader and Oliver Hillel with significant input from UNU-IAS, UN-Habitat and UNEP Note: The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the authors, and are not the official views of the CBD Secretariat.

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3 Early CulturesStarting from around 16,000 BCE there was an emergence of agriculture and people started to domesticate animalsPeople originally gathered nuts, grasses, and tubersBy ~13,000 BCE, people started to collect wild grains such as wheat, barley, and milletMost early Saharan cultures included hunting and gathering societies and, in isolated areas, simple groups of cattle breeders (later horses and camels would be domesticated, accompanied by the growth of the trans-Saharan caravan routes) who are thought to be the ancestors of the BerbersAround 5,000 BCE, the Sahara region experienced a severe aridification, leading to migrations further south and migration to river valleys (such as migration to the Nile, Niger, and Congo Rivers) 4 Beginnings of Civilization Despite the fact that there was now a surplus of food, many early civilizations suffered from disease brought on by a lack of proper sewage systems and also living with animalsLead, copper, and bronze were all smelted in Africa by the 4,000 BCE and iron smelting was prominent, especially among the Nok peoplesThere was a specialization of labor and the creation of a patriarchal system in many groupsReligion gradually became more defined:Foragers worshipped spirits found in geographic features and specific sacred animalsAgriculturalists worshipped Mother Earth and the elements (e.g. wind, fire, and rain) 5 Roots of “Sudanic” Civilization Archaeological evidence provides insight into the roots of civilization in Africa:The origins of the Soninke people and possibly the Mandinka people can be traced to the villages of Dar Tichitt, located in Southern MauritaniaThe roots of the Songhai people can be traced back to settlements along the Niger Bend to the mountains of CameroonThe communities living along what is now the Nigerian-Cameroonian border were speakers of proto-Bantu and they eventually migrated south and east (Bantu Migrations) in search for more land to farmIron played a large role in the survival of the early African settlementsSpread rapidly among kin and commercial networksAllowed people to create more effective hoesThe invention of the iron machete allowed people to clear forest land for new settlement locations. 8 500 BCE - 200 CE: The Nok people lived in West Africa in what is now Nigeria. They were the first group of people in West Africa to smelt iron, and the discovery of iron allowed them to make stronger and better tools and weapons, some of which were traded overland.600 BCE BCE: Cities began to emerge along rivers and oases.During this time, the oldest known city in Sub-Saharan Africa, Djenné-Djeno, emerged as a fishing settlement along a tributary extending from the Niger River.By the 3rd century BCE, Djenné-Djeno had reached urban size, and its residents had also learned to smelt iron.As a result of its location, it became a center of trade, and was connected to the other towns by both the Niger River and overland camel routes. Its residents traded rice, pottery, andfish for copper, salt, and gold.Although over 50,000 people lived in the cityat its height, it was not organized hierarchically, andarchaeologists believe that instead it was composedof a group of individual communities. 9 In 100 CE, the Kingdom of Aksum (Axum) emerged in East Africa. Because of its location, Aksum was a major trading nation. It had access to sea trade on the Indian Ocean, and caravan routes to Egypt and Meroë generally passed through Aksum. It’s main seaport was Adulis, and it traded with Egypt, Arabia, India, and Persia. Amongst many other goods, Aksumite merchants traded salt, ivory, and gold for cloth, brass, iron, and copper.325 CE CE: Aksum reached its height under the ruler Ezana. In 350 CE, Ezana conquered Meroë and took over the Kingdom of Kush.Advancements: It was the only ancient Sub-Saharan African kingdom to develop a written language and to mint coins made of bronze, silver, and gold. They alsoused terrace farming and built damsto improve farming.In the 500s CE, the state of Ghana wasfounded in West Africa. It later becameprosperous as a result of trade. 10 Economic Systems:Transregional trade increased during this period as a result of new technology (such as the camel saddle). Overland trade was facilitated by the use of camels, which were first used for travel by the Berbers in 200 CE.. Previously, although trade had occurred across the Sahara, it had been greatly limited by the terrible desert conditions, so the introduction of camels, which could travel longer distances without stopping, increased trade across the Sahara.Currency was invented and used in Aksum.Development and Interaction of Cultures:As a result of trade, Christianity spread to Sub-Saharan Africa (mainly in East Africa).In Aksum, Ezana, soon after becoming the ruler, had converted to Christianity and made Christianity the official religion of Aksum.Animism, which is the belief that all objects contained spirits, remained popular in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. 11 Humans and the Environment: Bantu migrations, which had started before 600 BCE, continued during this period.As the Bantu-speaking people moved out of West Africa towards eastern and southern Africa, they spread both their culture, their language, and their knowledge of ironworking.The spread of farming during this period led humans to have a larger effect on the environment than before. 14 Africa was influenced by Christianity before 600. : Islam reached Northern Africa, gradually spread through the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. It was brought by Arab traders and spread through the Arab slave trade.11th century- Camels, caravans, and the Berbers (nomads/warriors) extended Muslim authority to the south, Takrur (Muslim state) developed, as well as the Islamic reform group Almoravids.Not all nations fell under Muslim influence. Ethiopiaand the Nubian kingdoms of Kush and Axum,remained Christian despite the spread of Islam. (Conversion was relatively peaceful).The traditional African culture also remained intact- animism, spiritual, sacrifices. EX: Son-Jara (poem, 1200s)Syncretism- blending of African culture with Muslim culture. 15 Ghana- West Africa→ Formed by the Soninke→ Developed into a major trading site for its gold, slaves, iron, and copper→ Controlled and secured trade routes that developed.→ Conversion to Islam improved West African relations with the Islamic world. However, this did not mean that they abandoned their traditional culture.→ Fell due to lack of food production, ecological conditions, and invasion of the Muslim Almoravids in 1076.Mali- West Africa→ Was also a major trading site for its gold and metal. Its capital, Timbuktu, is known for its silver.→ Found by Sundiata, who was an effective and good leader.→ Mansa Musa ( )- pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)→ Islamic conversion established good trade w/ Arabs and enhanced religious studies & academics. Very cultural- oral storytelling, song making. 16 Swahili city-states- East Africa Songhai Empire- rose after the fall of Mali’s empire, but rose to its peak in the 15th and 16th centurySwahili city-states- East Africa→ Mix of Bantu and Arabic language due to trade encounters.→ Not politically unified but were culturally developed and diverse.→ They were governed by kings who controlled the trade & taxes.→ They were important for long distance trade; gold, slaves, and ivory were traded for materials from Persia, China, and India- Indian Ocean Trade.Key cities of East Africa- Mombasa, Sofala, ZanzibarSwahili city-state region of East Africa 17 8th Century- The gold and salt trade developed 8th Century- The gold and salt trade developed. Gold and salt were the main items that were traded/exchanged through the trans-Saharan trade route as Sub-Saharan African countries had gold and not a lot of salt, while the Mediterranean economies had salt and not a lot of gold.Ghana was known as the “land of gold” for its abundance of gold while Timbuktu (capital of Mali) is recognized for its silver.Cities grew and flourished as a result of trade as they became major trading cities. For example, a tax was placed on those who entered and left Ghana so their economy prospered even more.The Indian Ocean trade network developed between East Africa and India & the Mediterranean. Not only gold and salt were traded, but ivory and slaves as well.By the 10th and 11th Century, East Africa traded with China. They also traded with the Byzantine Empire as well. 20 West and Central Africa The Songhai KingdomThis Muslim kingdom rose up in West Africa after the Mali Empire collapsed.Most famous ruler: Askia Mohammed who defeated the last Sunni ruler.He expanded Songhai’s boundaries, centralized power with a complex bureaucracy, built many mosques, and encouraged trade.The merchant class grew and continued to generate wealth through the gold-salt trade.Songhai prospered until the late 1500s when civil war hit and then Morocco conquered the divided kingdom in 1590.The KongoGrew out of Bantu-descended communities.Before Europeans: Economy based on ivory, cloth, pottery, and metal.After Portuguese (1480s):Monarchs converted to Christianity and adopted European names.It lost some independence, but grew powerful through expansion, centralization, and modern weaponry from Portugal.The Kongo used its large army to fight its neighbors and enslave prisoners of war for Portugal.It weakened due to internal struggles, but it also rid itself of Portuguese presence with the help of the Dutch in the late 1600s. 21 EuropeansThe Portuguese’s original goal was finding sea routes to India, but the gold and ivory trades in Africa caught their attention; they wanted control over them.They were followed by the Dutch, English, and French, who began trading and building permanent outposts on the African coast.WomenSeveral African groups were matrilineal in organization and women held leadership positions in society. i.e. Queen Nzinga of the Mbundu peoples.Women took part in market activities and their councils sometimes administered the markets.Lower-class women needed to work outside of the home in order to support their families.Beginnings of the Slave TradeThe strongest states were those that cooperated with the European slave trade by warring with neighboring tribes, enslaving them, and selling them to Europeans. i.e. The Ashanti kingdom was known to exchange gold and slaves to Europeans for muskets and gunpowder, making them powerful.The Gold Coast: West Africa got this nickname due to the exchange of gold for slaves.States and tribes far from the coasts were impacted by Europeans due to their neighboring West Africans that were in search of slaves. 22 South Africa East Africa Before Europeans: The Southern tip was settled by various tribes, but mainly descended from the Bantu.Late 1480s: The Portuguese established an outpost on the Cape of Good Hope.1600s:Control passed from the Portuguese to the Dutch.Dutch settlers a.k.a. Boers or Afrikaners arrived in the mid-1600s and established themselves as farmers and traders.The apartheid system developed from the Boers’ harsh treatment.The Boers enslaved the Xhosa, a peaceful herding tribe.As they expanded north, they encountered the Zulu, who they had several wars with.East AfricaEast Africa continued to be a part of the Indian Ocean trade network.Late 1490s: The Portuguese used the port of Malindi to get to Calicut, India.Early 1500s: They conquered cities (Malindi, Sofala, Mozambique, and Mombasa) and turned them into colonies because doing so gave them more control over trade in the Indian Ocean, such as in spices.Late 1720s: The Arabs expelled the Portuguese from Mombasa. 23 The Atlantic Slave Trade The Atlantic Slave Trade persisted throughout the entire period.Early 1450s: Portuguese enslaved Africans and sold them in Europe, but they were brought in relatively small numbers.1500s:They were taken to the Americas and the numbers increased.Plantations (especially for sugar) and mines in Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Brazil and the Caribbean needed a source of labor.The Catholic Church abolished the encomienda system, so Native Americans were off limits.Africa was the best source of slave labor and the slave trade became a central part of the European economy.The Triangular Trade:European manufactured goods (cotton textiles, firearms, gin, etc.) were traded for ivory, timber, gold, and slaves in Africa.The ivory, timber, and gold were sent to Europe and the slaves were sold in the Americas.In the Middle Passage, slaves were traded for tobacco, cotton, sugar, and silver (which they cultivated and mined themselves) and these materials were brought back to Europe.The actual Middle Passage forced Africans to endure harsh and inhumane conditions in ships, such as being tightly packed and facing diseases and cruelty. 26 This time period saw a shift from simple trade and cultural exchange between sub sahara and the rest of the world into a more complete global integration.This process “started” as a trade relationship then as time progressed into a political oneCultural diffusion also occurred, with Christianity and Islam being more introduced more formallyThis overall integration can really be tied to one factor,INDUSTRIALIZATION. 27 The mid 1700’s saw the slave trade reach its peak, being centered on several port cities on the West CoastThese coastal kingdoms would wage wars with more inland countries take prisoners of war and sell them to European slave traders in exchange for guns, tobacco, textiles and other manufactured goodsGhost towns: Developments stopped, culturally & economicallyEconomy: Coastal regions became rich while inland communities economies ceased being productive, farming decreasedEthnic TensionsAfrican Culture is spread to the Americas, notable role in countries like Brazil, CaribbeanBy the early 1800’s Britain became very anti slavery and devoted resources to ending it, leading to a decrease and shift to the east coast of Africa. 28 : Scramble For AfricaAt this time, most global interaction in sub saharan was between european & arab traders on the western and eastern coasts and not the inland area.However, European industrial development required raw resources, which were being discovered in Africa, prompting the Scramble for AfricaThis process started in 1879 when American Henry Morton Stanley convinced the Belgian King Leopold to invest his resources in “opening up” Africa to exploit its resources, in this case the CongoOnce other European countries saw what Belgian was doing they all wanted to exploit Africa’s resource for themselves and prevent other European countries from doing so which led to Otto Von Bismarck, the German chancellor to call theBerlin Conference: This conference divided Africa up under various European powers, the British, French, PortugueseIn west Africa, cash crops like Cocoa were produced with European companies building railroads and other infrastructure to export it 29 Other parts of Africa saw their raw resources exported, Notable the Congo and Rubber Conditions were very bad for native populations, often beaten and worked under gunpointSouth Africa had a different situationThere was a sizable minority of Dutch settlers in Cape Town as opposed to a very small amount of traders in other part of Africa. Known as Afrikaners, they had slowly expanded inwardThe english let them be until Diamonds were discovered there and eventually annexed this area as wellIn doing so, they also forced Native Africans off their land, most notably the ZulusEventually Gold was discovered prompted a flood of British citizens 30 A lot of this British expansion can be tied to one man, Cecil Rhodes, who founded the de De Beers diamond companyHe expanded British control, Northern and Southern RhodesiaAll this expansions led to tension between the British and the Afrikaners leading to the Boer war, which the British won but at a tremendous financial expenseThis led to self rule for South Africa, where the white minority instituted many racist policiesOn the other side of Africa, there was Ethiopia which successfully resisted Italian expansion as it had a large supply of European WeaponryLiberia, on the west coast also resisted European control as it was populated by many former American slaves, and as a result had support of the U. S. governmentRegardless of where in Africa it was, the system was pretty much the same:Resources were exported, from gold to slaves to agricultural products to fuel European industrialization. Infrastructures like railways were only built up in a few cases to facilitate the export of goods. The native Africans really suffered, with their land being taken away or being forced to work in terrible conditions 31 : Cultural ExchangeMissionaries opened schools where christianity was taught as well as craft jobs like blacksmithNative Religions experienced a decline, with many practitioners converting to christianityHowever, people began to realize that Christian values contrasted with the policies that the Europeans put into placeThis slowed it growthsIslam grew as an alternative 34 European Domination: At the beginning of the 1900s, the world was under the control of the great powers, with their colonial conquests (Ex: Great Britain, France)Tensions in Europe eventually led to the two World WarsImproved military technology and tactics led to more casualties in warThe great powers were weakened by the wars. Great Britain and France, the two leading colonial powers, were economically weakened.After World War II, the colonial powers were either defeated or weakened so that they could no longer stop the Africans from wanting independence.Decolonization and Independence for the African coloniesTechnological AdvancesPopulation Growth and Increased UrbanizationLand used for farming and factoriesHarmful to environment: Deforestation, depletion of natural resources, pollution, extinction of species... 35 ColonialismIn the first half of the twentieth century, European rule was threatened and losing its control due to the nationalistic movements in Asia. But this was Africa’s period of colonialism.From World War I, the victors (Britain, France,...) got Germany’s African colonies.Few Africans benefitted from Europeans’ rule. Land was taken from them and many were forced to work in the European plantations under harsh conditions and low wages.More cities: Africans migrated to cities for jobs.Racial discrimination, especially in eastern and southern AfricaModern healthcare in Africa: Colonialism worsened public health (spreading of diseases and malnutrition) Finally, in the 1930s, colonial governments began to invest in health care for Africans.Religion: Seeking to understand the changes (foreign rule, migrations, economic changes) in their lives, many Africans turned to Christianity or Islam.Some Africans were able to obtain secondary education and go to college in Europe or America. Learned Western liberal ideas (like liberty, equality, justice), which is very different from their lives under colonialism. This led to the rise of nationalism among educated Africans. They would become the leaders of nationalist movements.African National Congress (ANC):founded in 1912 by Western-educated Africans in South Africacreated to defend the interests of Africans, give them equal voting and civil rightsBefore World War II, nationalist movements were small and had little influence.World War II:African soldiers exposed to Allied propaganda that emphasized ideas of freedom and self-determinationNationalism increased in Africa 36 1900- Present: Independence Most of Africans’ independence was achieved through negotiationGhana (formerly the Gold Coast) gained independence in 1957the first British colony in West Africa to gain independenceKwame Nkrumah led the movement for independenceNkrumah’s party won election victory in 1951, appointed prime ministerNigeria gained independence in 1960Violence in other coloniesKenya gained independence in 1963White settlers opposed independenceMau Mau: a secret society created by native Kenyans, used guerrilla war tactics to drive away the white farmersJomo Kenyatta, Kenyan nationalist, led the movement for independence. Elected the first president of Kenya in 1964.Congo: independence in 1963Previously ruled harshly by Belgium, which only wanted its rich resources of rubber and copper.Unprepared for independence. Resulted in violence and civil war.1965: Mobuto Sese Seko seized power in a coup. Government was corrupt. 37 French colonies: African leaders were more reluctant to call for independence France promised changes without independence: democracy, better education and health services.Nationalism prevailed and eventually all the French colonies gained independence.Southern Africa: independence was delayed by the opposition of European settlersAfrican-led movements fought against racial inequality and create majority rule.South Africa gained independence in 1961Controlled mainly by the European minority. Apartheid was used to separate the races. Discrimination and segregation.African National Congress opposed apartheid.Eventually, colonial rule was ended in Africa. Afterwards, the new nations tried to create stable governments. 39 After IndependenceEthnic and Cultural differences in the new nations made it hard to create peace.NigeriaNot long after independence, different groups fought for power.Civil war ended in 1970.Cold War: proxy wars in AfricaMoving towards democracySouthern Africademocratic progress and less armed conflict since 1991South AfricaNelson Mandela and ANC won the first national elections that the Africans could participate equally in.Return to democracy after a succession of military government.Violence in the CongoMobuto was overthrown in 1997 after a civil war. After, it was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.2000: Another civil war. Still working to go toward peace.Today, African nations continued trying to create stable governments and peace. 40 Works Cited-Beck, R.B., Black, L., Krieger, L.S., Naylor, P.C., Shabaka, D.I. Modern World History: Patterns of Interactions. USA: McDougal Littel, Print.-Bulliet, R.W., Crossley, P.M., Headrick, D.R., Hirsch, S.W., Johnson, L.L., D. The Earth and Its People: A Global History. 5th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Print.-Exploring Africa. Islam in Africa: Expand. Retrieved May 08, 2014 from-McCannon, John. AP World History. 5th ed. New Hampshire: Barron’s, Print.-Herlin, Susan J., and Emerita. “Ancient African Civilizations.” University of Louisville, Web. 18 May <http://wysinger.homestead.com/africanhistory.html>.

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Constructivism, or learning by doing, is a classic approach to educational instruction that has generated renewed interest in the digital era. Constructivist practices such as apprenticeships have a long history, but in contemporary classrooms they and other hands-on programs often take a back seat to teachers telling students what they need to know rather than facilitating each person’s natural curiosity and learning style. Digital learning tools have the potential of being customized to fit the abilities of individual students and can engage them with interactive tasks and simulate real-life situations. One approach to digital learning is to harness the broad appeal of video games for educational purposes. While research on the cognitive and behavioral impacts of violent video games have shown mixed outcomes, some nonviolent games have shown promise. Certain video games have been shown to improve brain functions, while others have the potential of reversing cognitive loss associated with aging. These “serious games” require players to make decisions to drive its progress, and they can range from the simple to the sophisticated. Serious games harness the form and popularity of electronic entertainment to teach everything from the three Rs to public-policy issues, and it has been suggested that game design could even save the humanities through its emphasis on storytelling. Off-the-shelf games such as Civilization or The Sims have been used as a platform for students to learn a language and explore world history while developing skills such as reading, math, logic and collaboration. Emerson College professor Eric Gordon and his team designed an online platform that encourages community engagement through a game-like rewards process. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has invested in iCivics, which instructs players on issues of civil rights, voting and public policy, and MTV produced Darfur Is Dying, an online game that involves fetching water from a desert well without getting kidnapped by guerilla fighters. While serious games have been embraced by educators in and out of the classroom, many questions remain. What are the possible effects of digital gaming, connectivity and multitasking for younger learners, whose bodies and brains are still maturing? Some research has shown that laptop use can hinder classroom learning, and critics assert that online learning disrupts deep reading practices. And where connections have been seen between students’ gameplay and improved cognitive abilities, boys and girls don’t benefit equally. In a June 2013 article, Yale University School of Medicine researchers suggest how the future of these technologies is now evolving: Electronic games are a promising tool for educating people and changing behavior. While the first wave of interactive educational games relied on what some call the “chocolate-covered broccoli” model, where the narrative was interrupted by tedious, poorly constructed tasks that proceeded like homework, the new trend is to integrate learning and fun. One of our primary goals is that more researchers and funding sources will emerge to take on the task of developing and rigorously testing evidence-based electronic games to find the best ways to encourage healthy behaviors among young people. Below is a collection of recent academic scholarship that addresses the use and effectiveness of digital and game-based learning in the classroom and beyond. “A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Instructional Effectiveness of Computer-Based Simulation Games” Sitzmann, Traci. Personnel Psychology, Summer 2011, Vol. 64, No. 2, 489-528. Abstract: “Interactive cognitive complexity theory suggests that simulation games are more effective than other instructional methods because they simultaneously engage trainees’ affective and cognitive processes. Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games relative to a comparison group (k= 65, N= 6,476). Consistent with theory, post-training self-efficacy was 20% higher, declarative knowledge was 11% higher, procedural knowledge was 14% higher, and retention was 9% higher for trainees taught with simulation games, relative to a comparison group. However, the results provide strong evidence of publication bias in simulation games research. Characteristics of simulation games and the instructional context also moderated the effectiveness of simulation games. Trainees learned more, relative to a comparison group, when simulation games conveyed course material actively rather than passively, trainees could access the simulation game as many times as desired, and the simulation game was a supplement to other instructional methods rather than stand-alone instruction. However, trainees learned less from simulation games than comparison instructional methods when the instruction the comparison group received as a substitute for the simulation game actively engaged them in the learning experience.” “Serious Games as New Educational Tools: How Effective Are They? A Meta-Analysis of Recent Studies” Girard, C.; Ecalle, J.; Magnan, A. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, June 2013, Vol. 29, No. 3, 207-219. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2012.00489.x. Findings: “Three of the 11 studied games had a positive effect on learning compared with other types of training or no training at all. These included two SGs [serious games] (Re-Mission and DimensionM) and one VG (SimCity). Seven games had no beneficial effect on learning, including three SGs … and four VGs (Indiana Jones & the Emperor’s Tomb, Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Rise of Nations, New Super Mario Bros.). Finally, the results for one SG (Triage Trainer) were mixed. Because of the lack of precise quantitative data in many studies, it was not possible to calculate the size of the learning effect.” “Game-Based Learning in Science Education: A Review of Relevant Research” Li, Ming-Chaun; Tsai, Chin-Chun. Journal of Science Education and Technology, February 2013. doi: 10.1007/s10956-013-9436-x. Abstract: “The purpose of this study is to review empirical research articles regarding game-based science learning (GBSL) published from 2000 to 2011…. The results indicate that cognitivism and constructivism were the major theoretical foundations employed by the GBSL researchers and that the socio-cultural perspective and enactivism are two emerging theoretical paradigms that have started to draw attention from GBSL researchers in recent years. The analysis of the learning foci showed that most of the digital games were utilized to promote scientific knowledge/concept learning, while less than one-third were implemented to facilitate the students’ problem-solving skills. Only a few studies explored the GBSL outcomes from the aspects of scientific processes, affect, engagement, and socio-contextual learning. Suggestions are made to extend the current GBSL research to address the affective and socio-contextual aspects of science learning. The roles of digital games as tutor, tool, and tutee for science education are discussed, while the potentials of digital games to bridge science learning between real and virtual worlds, to promote collaborative problem-solving, to provide affective learning environments, and to facilitate science learning for younger students are also addressed.” “Our Princess Is in Another Castle: A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education” Young, Michael F.; Slota, Stephen; Cutter, Andrew B. Review of Educational Research, March 2012, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 61-89. 10.3102/003465431243698 Abstract: “Do video games show demonstrable relationships to academic achievement gains when used to support the K-12 curriculum? In a review of literature, we identified 300+ articles whose descriptions related to video games and academic achievement. We found some evidence for the effects of video games on language learning, history, and physical education (specifically exergames), but little support for the academic value of video games in science and math. We summarize the trends for each subject area and supply recommendations for the nascent field of video games research. Many educationally interesting games exist, yet evidence for their impact on student achievement is slim. We recommend separating simulations from games and refocusing the question onto the situated nature of game-player-context interactions, including meta-game social collaborative elements.” “Intercultural Simulation Games: A Review (of the United States and Beyond)” Fowler, Sandra M.; Pusch, Margaret D. Simulation and Gaming, February 2010, Vol. 41, No. 1, 94-115. doi: 10.1177/1046878109352204. Abstract: “Intercultural simulations are instructional activities that engage and challenge participants with experiences integral to encounters between people of more than one cultural group. Simulations designed specifically to support intercultural encounters have been in use since the 1970s. This article examines the conceptual bases for intercultural simulation games, their history, contexts in which they are being or have been used, their efficacy, and the current situation for intercultural simulation games. The article concludes with a look at future directions, which will rely on technological advances and the creative work of promising young interculturalists.” “Digital Game-Based Learning in High School Computer Science Education: Impact on Educational Effectiveness and Student Motivation” Papastergiou, Marina. Computers & Education, January 2009, Vol. 52, No. 1, 1-12. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2008.06.004. Abstract: “The aim of this study was to assess the learning effectiveness and motivational appeal of a computer game for learning computer memory concepts, which was designed according to the curricular objectives and the subject matter of the Greek high school Computer Science (CS) curriculum, as compared to a similar application, encompassing identical learning objectives and content but lacking the gaming aspect…Data analyses showed that the gaming approach was both more effective in promoting students’ knowledge of computer memory concepts and more motivational than the non-gaming approach. Despite boys’ greater involvement with, liking of and experience in computer gaming, and their greater initial computer memory knowledge, the learning gains that boys and girls achieved through the use of the game did not differ significantly, and the game was found to be equally motivational for boys and girls. The results suggest that within high school CS, educational computer games can be exploited as effective and motivational learning environments, regardless of students’ gender.” “The Concept of Flow in Collaborative Game-Based Learning” Admiraal, Wilfried; Huizenga, Jantina; Akkerman, Sanne; ten Dam, Geert. Computers in Human Behavior, May 2011, Vol. 27, No. 3, 1185-1194. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.12.013. Abstract: “Generally, high-school students have been characterized as bored and disengaged from the learning process. However, certain educational designs promote excitement and engagement. Game-based learning is assumed to be such a design. In this study, the concept of flow is used as a framework to investigate student engagement in the process of gaming and to explain effects on game performance and student learning outcome. Frequency 1550, a game about medieval Amsterdam merging digital and urban play spaces, has been examined as an exemplar of game-based learning. This one-day game was played in teams by 216 students of three schools for secondary education in Amsterdam. Generally, these students show flow with their game activities, although they were distracted by solving problems in technology and navigation. Flow was shown to have an effect on their game performance, but not on their learning outcome. Distractive activities and being occupied with competition between teams did show an effect on the learning outcome of students: the fewer students were distracted from the game and the more they were engaged in group competition, the more students learned about the medieval history of Amsterdam.” “The Relationship Between Design, Gameplay and Outcomes: Computer Games and Learning” Schrader, Claudia; Bastiaens, Theo. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 2012, Vol. 23, No. 3, 251-271. Findings: “Overall, authors agree on the beneficial effect on learning of the engagement and motivation generated by games. They often refer to the Flow Theory of Csikszentmihalyi. According to this theory, the ‘flow’ state experienced by players (state of complete involvement or engagement in an activity that results in an optimum experience of the activity) during the game has a positive effect on their learning. Good games are particularly adept at keeping subjects in a state of flow by increasing the skill level involved in the game as the skill level exhibited by the player increases. However, our observations indicate that not all the experimental results support this theory and that further research is therefore required.” “Digital Game-Based Learning: Impact of Instructions and Feedback on Motivation and Learning Effectiveness” Erhel, S.; Jamet, E. Computers and Education, September 2013, Vol. 67, 156-167. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.02.019. Abstract: “Although many studies have investigated the effects of digital game-based learning (DGBL) on learning and motivation, its benefits have never been systematically demonstrated. In our first experiment, we sought to identify the conditions under which DGBL is most effective, by analyzing the effects of two different types of instructions (learning instruction vs. entertainment instruction). Results showed that the learning instruction elicited deeper learning than the entertainment one, without impacting negatively on motivation. In our second experiment, we showed that if learners are given regular feedback about their performance, the entertainment instruction results in deep learning. These two experiments demonstrate that a serious game environment can promote learning and motivation, providing it includes features that prompt learners to actively process the educational content.” “Evaluating Learners’ Motivational and Cognitive Processing in an Online Game-Based Learning Environment” Hao-Huang, Wen. Computers in Human Behavior, March 2011, Vol. 27, No. 2, 694-704. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.021. Abstract: “This paper describes the process and results of an evaluation on an online game-based learning environment (GBLE) by focusing on learners’ motivational processing and cognitive processing. The goal is to explore how online GBLE might initiate and support learners’ goal-setting activities and impact learners’ cognitive loads. The study surveyed 144 undergraduate students after their autonomous participation in the online game available at the Nobel Prize Foundation website teaching the Heckscher–Ohlin Theory on international trade. Grounded in the integrative theory of motivation, volition, and performance (MVP), the evaluation indicated that participants felt significantly confident in learning the subject. The perceived satisfaction, however, was lower than the rest of motivational components possibly due to heavy cognitive processing. The finding of cognitive load reported that learners perceived a significantly higher level of intrinsic load than the germane load due to the novelty of the subject matter. Data analysis further indicated a significant canonical correlation between learners’ motivational and cognitive processing. This particular finding could inform future research to investigate specific motivational processing components’ effects on learners’ cognitive load levels in online GBLEs.” “Learning through Playing for or Against Each Other? Promoting Collaborative Learning in Digital Game-Based Learning” Romero, Margarida; Usert, Mireia; Ott, Michela; Earp, Jeffrey. European Conference on Information Systems, 2012. Abstract: “The process of learning through Game Based Learning (GBL) presents both positive aspects and challenges to be faced in order to support the achievement of learning goals and knowledge creation. This study aims to characterize game dynamics in the adoption of multi-player GBL. In particular, we examine the multi-player GBL dynamics may enhance collaborative learning through a relation of positive interdependence while at the same time maintaining a certain level of competition for ensuring multi-player GBL gameplay. The first section of the paper introduces collaborative GBL and describes the combination of intragroup dynamics of cooperation and positive interdependence and an intergroup dynamic of competition to maintain gameplay. The second part of the paper describes two multi-player GBL scenarios: the multi-player game with interpersonal competition and the multi-player game with intergroup competition. For each scenario a case analysis of existing collaborative games is provided, which may help instructional and game designers when defining the collaborative GBL dynamics.” “Video Game–Based Learning: An Emerging Paradigm for Instruction” Squire, Kurt D. Performance Improvement Quarterly, April 2013, Vol. 26, No. 1, 101-130. doi: 10.1002/piq.21139. Abstract: “Interactive digital media, or video games, are a powerful new medium. They offer immersive experiences in which players solve problems. Players learn more than just facts — ways of seeing and understanding problems so that they ‘become’ different kinds of people. ‘Serious games’ coming from business strategy, advergaming, and entertainment gaming embody these features and point to a future paradigm for eLearning. Building on interviews with leading designers of serious games, this article presents case studies of three organizations building serious games, coming from different perspectives but arriving at similar conclusions. This article argues that such games challenge us to rethink the role of information, tools, and aesthetics in a digital age.” “Dynamical Model for Gamification: Optimization of Four Primary Factors of Learning Games for Educational Effectiveness” Kim, Jung Tae; Lee, Won-Hyung. Computer Applications for Graphics, Grid Computing, and Industrial Environment, Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2012, Vol. 351, 24-32. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-35600-1_4. Abstract: “This paper proposes a dynamical model for the gamification of learning. The main idea of this model is based on the correlations of four primary factors (curiosity, challenge, fantasy and control) originating from digital games which are built on the foundations of separate theories: (1) Game Design Features, (2) Key Characteristics of a Learning Game, (3) ARCS Model, and (4) MDA framework. Through this dynamical model, we will show that the effectiveness of the gamification of learning is educationally superior to traditional ways of learning in a specific setting, after an elapsed adaptive time period with a reasonable relationship of the four primary factors. The model presents the meaningful positions of four primary factors on the equation for educational effectiveness of gamification. We posit that this dynamical model for the gamification can strengthen the ‘theoretical foundation’ of gamification as well as spread the idea of ‘the pure and right function of game.’” “Gamification in a Social Learning Environment” Giannetto, David; Chao, Joseph; Fontana, Anthony. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 2013, Vol. 10. Abstract: “Gamification has gained traction in recent years as an effective way of engaging users to perform actions in contexts that would otherwise be considered tedious and undesirable. Education is an area in which user engagement could have the greatest impact on success, with some advantages for students being improved grades or better comprehension. The authors of this paper have designed and implemented a three-part system for gamifying a social learning environment designed for use in higher education lecture classrooms. Our goal in doing so is to foster greater user engagement from the students using the system and thereby promote an environment better suited for active learning.” “Gamifying Learning Experiences: Practical Implications and Outcomes” Dominguez, Adrian; Saenz-de-Navarrete, Joseba; de Marcos, Luis; Fernandoes-Sanz, Luis; Pages, Carmen; Martinez-Herriaiz, Jose-Javier. Computers in Education, April 2013, Vol. 63, 380-392. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.020. Abstract: “Gamification is the use of game design elements and game mechanics in non-game contexts. This idea has been used successfully in many web-based businesses to increase user engagement. Some researchers suggest that it could also be used in web-based education as a tool to increase student motivation and engagement. In an attempt to verify those theories, we have designed and built a gamification plugin for a well-known e-learning platform. We have made an experiment using this plugin in a university course, collecting quantitative and qualitative data in the process. Our findings suggest that some common beliefs about the benefits obtained when using games in education can be challenged. Students who completed the gamified experience got better scores in practical assignments and in overall score, but our findings also suggest that these students performed poorly on written assignments and participated less on class activities, although their initial motivation was higher.” “Serious Games and Learning Effectiveness: The Case of It’s a Deal!” Guillen-Nieto, Victoria; et al. Computers and Education, January 2012, Vol. 58, No. 1, 435-448. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.07.015. Abstract: “Although the value of serious games in education is undeniable and the potential benefits of using video games as ideal companions to classroom instruction is unquestionable, there is still little consensus on the game features supporting learning effectiveness, the process by which games engage learners, and the types of learning outcomes that can be achieved through game play… Findings of this study demonstrate that the video game is an effective learning tool for the teaching of intercultural communication between Spaniards and Britons in business settings in which English is used as the lingua franca. In particular, whereas the game had a small learning effect on intercultural awareness and a medium learning effect on intercultural knowledge, it had a large learning effect on intercultural communicative competence. The study also documents correlating factors that make serious games effective, since it shows that the learning effectiveness of It’s a Deal! stems from the correct balance of the different dimensions involved in the creation of serious games, specifically instructional content, game dimensions, game cycle, debriefing, perceived educational value, transfer of learned skills and intrinsic motivation.” “Learning in Serious Virtual Worlds: Evaluation of Learning Effectiveness and Appeal to Students in the E-Junior Project” Wrzesien, Maja; Alcaniz-Raa, Mariano. Computers and Education, August 2010, Vol. 55, No. 1, 178-187. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.01.003. Abstract: “The objective of this study is to present and to evaluate the E-Junior application: a serious virtual world (SVW) for teaching children natural science and ecology. E-Junior was designed according to pedagogical theories and curricular objectives to help children learn about the Mediterranean Sea and its environmental issues while playing. In this study, we present data about the E-Junior evaluation. A class in a serious virtual world (virtual group) was compared with a traditional type of class (traditional group) that contained identical learning objectives and contents but lacked a gaming aspect…. The results showed that the serious virtual world does not present statistically significant differences with the traditional type of class. However, students from the virtual group reported enjoying the class more, being more engaged, and having greater intentions to participate than students from the traditional group. The plausible explanation for this can be found in the qualitative data. The implications of these results and improvement proposals are also discussed in this work.” “The Effects of Modern Mathematics Computer Games on Mathematics Achievement and Class Motivation” Kebritchi, Mansureh; Hirumi, Atsusi; Bai, Haiyan. Computers and Education, September 2010, Vol. 22, No. 2, 427-443. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.02.007. Abstract: “This study examined the effects of a computer game on students’ mathematics achievement and motivation, and the role of prior mathematics knowledge, computer skill, and English language skill on their achievement and motivation as they played the game. A total of 193 students and 10 teachers participated in this study…. The results indicated significant improvement of the achievement of the experimental versus control group. No significant improvement was found in the motivation of the groups. Students who played the games in their classrooms and school labs reported greater motivation compared to the ones who played the games only in the school labs. Prior knowledge, computer and English language skill did not play significant roles in achievement and motivation of the experimental group.” “Red Light, Purple Light: Findings from a Randomized Trial Using Circle Time Games to Improve Behavioral Self-Regulation in Preschool” Tominey, Shauna L.; McClelland, Megan M. Early Education & Development Special Issue: Self-Regulation in Early Childhood, 2011, Vol. 22, No. 3, 480-519. Findings: “The present study examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention with 65 preschool children. Using circle time games, the study examined whether participating in a treatment group significantly improved behavioral self-regulation and early academic outcomes. Half of the children were randomly assigned to participate in 16 playgroups during the winter of the school year. Behavioral aspects of self-regulation and early achievement were assessed in the fall and spring. Although there was no treatment effect in the overall sample, post hoc analyses revealed that participation in the treatment group was significantly related to self-regulation gains in children who started the year with low levels of these skills. Children in the treatment group also demonstrated significant letter-word identification gains compared to children in the control group…. The findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of the intervention in terms of improving preschoolers’ behavioral self-regulation for children low in these skills and improving letter-word identification. Although preliminary, these results have the potential to inform preschool curricula that emphasize behavioral self-regulation as a means of facilitating school readiness.” “Students’ Perceptions About the Use of Video Games in the Classroom” Bourgonjon, Jeroen; Valcke, Martin; Soetaert, Ronald; Schellens, Tammy. Computers and Education, May 2010, Vol. 54, No. 4, 1145-1156. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.10.022. Abstract: “In this study, a path model to examine and predict student acceptance of video games is proposed, and empirically tested by involving 858 secondary school students. The results show that students’ preference for using video games in the classroom is affected directly by a number of factors: the perceptions of students regarding the usefulness, ease of use, learning opportunities, and personal experience with video games in general. Gender effects are found as well, but appear to be mediated by experience and ease of use.” Tags: technology, cognition, children, youth, research roundup

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Since man first began writing there has been a desire to send messages in secret: in code. Codes and ciphers are forms of secret communication. A code replaces words with letters, numbers or symbols. A cipher rearranges letters or uses substitutes to disguise the message. This process is called encryption. The art of writing and solving codes and ciphers is called cryptography. Codes and ciphers have been used throughout time when people wanted to keep messages private. Cryptography has, and is still, used by governments, military, companies, and organisations to protect information and messages. Today, encryption is used to protect data and data transfer between computers. Documents, data and messages are encrypted to protect confidentiality. Modern encryption methods are very clever but their underlying principles remain that of those ancient methods. I’m writing a unit of work on cryptography which will be published to iCompute for Primary Schools computing scheme of work. Here, the children will unleash their inner spy and learn about how data can be transferred in secret over distances. They will learn how codes and ciphers have been used throughout history and explore a number of different ways that data can be encrypted and decrypted. As part of it, I’ve been putting together resources on the history of cryptography. Here is a brief introduction to the Enigma machine and how the magnificent men and women at Bletchley helped shorten World War II with their code breaking skills! The new cryptography unit – iCrypto – will be available for Key Stage 2 soon. Visit www.icompute-uk.com to find out more about our acclaimed primary computing scheme of work. Not long to go now for the Hour of Code 2017 (December 4th – 10th) and we can’t wait to see how many pupils and schools participate around the world. iCompute are delighted to partner with code.org again this year by providing lots of fun, creative, activities for schools to use as part of this event and throughout the year. We’ve put together, free, Christmas themed lessons and lots more, including saving Santa with Scratch, animating a snowman and delivering Santa’s presents with parrot drones! Included are detailed step-by-step lesson plans with built in differentiation and creative ideas for extension and enrichment. The Hour of Code™ is a global movement and worldwide effort to celebrate computer science. Organised by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org it reaches tens of millions of students in 180+ countries through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming. In England, children have a statutory entitlement to a computer science education from the age of five. iCompute provides full coverage for the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Each year, we offer free computing lesson plans and computing resources to support the Hour of Code™ and help raise awareness of and engagement in computing science around the world. We really hope you join us this year for The Hour of Code and introduce your pupils to the joy of creative computing! I’ve been teaching primary robotics for some time now as part of the computing curriculum that I write for iCompute. I teach with and have produced schemes of work for robotics from EYFS to Year 6 using BeeBots, LEGO WeDo, Sphero and parrot drones to name a few. Whilst teaching computing itself can be daunting for many teachers, the prospect of the added pressure of actual things being whizzed around classrooms through code can push many to avoid the controlling physical systems aspects of the National Curriculum for Computing altogether! The rapid pace of advances in technology means children are growing up in an age dominated by embedded computer systems and robotics. It is crucial they have an understanding of its impact on the world and their own futures. Teachers need to be in a position to provide pupils with the level of knowledge, understanding and skills they need to live in the modern world. Including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM subjects) in early education provides a strong motivation for learning and an improvement in progression. Teaching robotics is a great way of connecting with children and enables schools to engage the potential engineers and computer scientists of the future. Most curricula in primary schools cover science and mathematics, but we need to do more in teaching problem solving, computer science, design, technology and robotics. The use of robotic systems and robotics as a subject offers an introduction to the engineering design process and sets children’s learning in a fun, meaningful, contexts. The fundamental principles of computer science are applied and made easier as models and devices can be designed, constructed, programmed and executed in front of pupil’s eyes. This makes it much easier to learn what robots can and cannot do: their capabilities and, crucially, their limitations. We’ve recently put all of our robotics units into one primary robotics pack that covers the controlling physical systems aspects of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 5-11). I’m also including some free activities as part of our contribution to this year’s Hour of Code, adding to those already featured last year and still live. As the Hour of Code launches each year in December, I’ll be adding a nice festive twist to my teacher-led activities. Hint: Santa’s sleigh is broken but he has a drone! Here’s a sneak peek of the cover… HOC iFly Cover Check out my other blog posts for teaching tips and advice about how to manage programming physical devices with younger children. I cover: Many teachers are tasked with planning computing schemes of work for their schools. Having produced many for iCompute, I know how huge and time consuming the task is. Here I share my tips about how to plan a computing scheme of work which ensures your school has a broad, balanced, rich and progressive scheme of work that will engage and challenge pupils of all abilities. Use free software and tools – you don’t need to buy a thing in order to meet the objectives of the computing curriculum Practise – helps you understand the knowledge, skills and understanding the software and tools help develop Look for progression – you will start to see that particular tools are suitable for specific age groups Look for full coverage – Computing is not just about coding Understand how to assess computing – know where your pupils are and where they need to go next Adapt – make it fit your school, staff and needs of your pupils I recently published two new 4-6 week physical programming units to iCompute’s Key Stage 2 scheme of work; which I blogged about in my post Teach Programming with LEGO™ WeDo I admit to a rising sense of panic as I approached my first session: young children, small LEGO parts, computers and stuff that moves! However, we’ve been having a great time and thought I’d share some of the practises I’ve found necessary to manage these very active learning lessons. First of all, get organised before each session. I’ve found it’s much better to work on the floor to prevent bouncing bricks, so book out the school hall if you can or clear your classroom of desks. I’ve assigned each pair of pupils a LEGO WeDo Construction kit and a labelled basket for their models. I also arranged space in the classroom for a ‘robot parking lot’. Whenever I need everyone’s attention, or if we’ll be working on the same model a few weeks in a row, we park the robots in their baskets on top of the construction kit boxes. This helps keep the kits organised so that, combined, the model and the kit = a full construction kit. You need to be really firm about pupil movement around the space you’re using with LEGO parts! I use hula-hoops placed around the hall with big gaps between them. I explain the necessity of keeping the models and construction kits within hoops to that we don’t lose the parts. The children have been great, understanding the clear rules and why we have them. Organisation is key! In order to work on the floor, you’ll need either laptops or tablets. If you don’t have either, the children can transport their models in their baskets (always with their kits) to the desktops; but make sure they have plenty of space between them to program and operate the models. I used the amazing LEGO Digital Designer to put together building instructions as a basis for each of the models the children would be making and programming. Don’t worry, you won’t have to if you are an iCompute school because I’ve done all that for you. Simply print and hand out to the children. If you fancy having a go yourself, you can virtually construct a model of your choosing and then opt to create the build instructions which your can display in a web browser or print. Love it! Build Instructions for LEGO WeDo Whilst build instructions can be vital for some pupils, there are still plenty of opportunities for creativity for others and I allow those the freedom to design, create and program their own models with only a rough guide. I’ve been really impressed with how well the children have responded to physical programming and how smoothly the lessons have gone. I hope some of you find my tips useful and please let me know how your lessons go. This week sees the launch of iCompute’s new six week programming unit for Year 3 and 4-5 week unit for Year 4 which uses LEGO™ WeDo to teach children how to program robots and models in primary computing lessons. Lego WeDo is a fantastic opportunity for children to bring the physical world to life through code. They build models using the bricks they know and love and then program them interact with the world around them! Using robotics promotes interest in science and engineering, as well as computer science and helps develop motor skills through model building. Mechanisms, built by and ultimately designed by, the pupils themselves set computer programming in a meaningful context. Children learn more quickly when a model executes a program, physically, right before them. The robotics elements of LEGO WeDo include motors and sensors. Our new units do not require the full educational LEGO WeDo sets to be bought. Schools that already have plenty of bricks and parts can simply buy the robotics parts that will enable models to move, sense and interact with the physical world. LEGO WeDo has two versions 1.0 and 2.0. Our units provide support for both and the principle robotic parts remain the same at their core (albeit with enhanced features for 2.0). The Hub: The WeDo hub connects models to your device. You can connect up to two sensors (motor, distance sensor, or tilt sensor) The Motor: When connected to the hub, the motor can be programmed to turn on/off. It can also be programmed to adjust power, direction and duration The Distance Sensor: The distance sensor can detect how far away an item is in front of it The Tilt Sensor: The tilt sensor detects how far it’s tilted from left to right. You can also connect and program LEGO Power Function lights which do not come with WeDo packs as standard but can be bought on their own and connected to the hub too. As already mentioned, you can buy the robotic parts separately if you have plenty of LEGO bricks; however it is still possible to pick up education sets of WeDo 1.0 at a fraction of the price of WeDo 2.0. Search online for LEGO™ Education WeDo Construction Set 9580 (make sure it’s the construction set you are buying). I managed to buy 6 sets of WeDo 1.0 at £70 each compared to £150 each for LEGO™ Education WeDo 2.0 Core Set 45300. Programming LEGO™ WeDo iCompute uses MIT’s Scratch to program models. LEGO WeDo does have it’s own software that comes as part of the kit, but I don’t feel it offers the same opportunities for enhancing physical programming through storytelling so have chosen to use Scratch instead. There are two versions of Scratch: 1.4 and 2.0. Scratch 1.4 is an offline editor that you download and use without the need for web access. Scratch 2.0 is available as both an online and offline version. Regular readers will know that I prefer 1.4 for primary aged pupils as the interface is cleaner and the debugging options are better. Scratch 2.0 however does allow models to be connected to tablets, as well as computers. You can use both versions of WeDo with Scratch 2.0, however you need to install a device manager and extension in Scratch 2.0 for them to work. The teacher guides contained within the unit provide comprehensive guidance on the options and their respective setups. Using Scratch and LEGO WeDo enables pupils to create some amazing models and stories to accompany them. What Pupils Can Do with LEGO™ WeDo and iCompute Programming, using software , designing and creating working models Using the software to acquire information Using feedback to adjust a programming system output Working with simple machines, gears, levers, pulleys, transmission of motion Measuring time and distance, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, estimating, randomness, using variables Doing narrative and journalistic writing, storytelling, explaining, interviewing, interpreting Design: Use STEM principles to explore Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics and design models Build: Improve motor function, communicate and collaborate with others in building working models and robots Program: Create animated stories, and program models to interact with the story & physical world Digital Literacy: Create factual and imaginative animations and narratives that explain, interpret and tell stories Test : Use physical output as feedback to to detect errors easily Debug: Correct errors found when models don’t behave as expected Evaluate: Critically analyse work and that of others and discuss what is good, or not so good, about them Improve: Revisit models and code then cycle through this process from ‘Design’ onward to make things better Introduce your KS1 computing pupils to algorithms and programming in a fun, intuitive way, using Scratch Jr on tablets. I’ve put together a 6-8 week KS1 computing unit and associated teacher/pupil resources that uses Scratch Jr and am struck by just how quickly my pupils pick up some of the fundamental principles of computer science. I based the unit around Michael Rosen’s “We Going on a Bear Hunt” to give the children’s coding context and purpose. Over the weeks the children move progressively from adding sprites and programming some basic movement to programming sprites to go a more complex journey in the form of a hunt – just like in the story. The concepts covered that I found they grasped really quickly are: Everyone likes putting a festive twist on lessons during the approach to Christmas and I’ve been making festive computing lessons for my pupils. I’ve recently produced a six week animation unit for Key Stage 2 (iAnimate) where the children learn about the history of animation, make their own flipping book animations, make thaumatropes and/or praxinoscopes, explore different animation techniques and, of course, design and make their own fantastic animations using apps and software. This Christmas, I’ve put together a step-by-step computing lesson plan and teacher resources for creating an animated snowman GIF. You can download the lesson and resources and use them your own classrooms for a little festive fun! Create an animated GIF The lesson plan contains lots of ideas for differentiation, extension and enrichment: from making a very simple animated sequence to more able pupils: animating backgrounds as well as characters and objects adding 3D effects (e.g. shadows) creating more frames for smoother movement switching backgrounds to create scene changes animating more than one object A little festive flavour of what our full six week animation unit offers and another Christmas gift to you! Now that Computing has been statutory in primary schools since the introduction of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in 2014, many schools feel that they have got to grips with the objectives and have a view, if not a plan, of how to meet them. With computer science being at the core of the curriculum, its perhaps easy for schools to neglect the other aspects of it – including digital literacy. I’ve covered a number methods for primary computing assessment in this post but, as I’ve been creating some pupil/teacher resources for video screencasting using, free, OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), I thought I’d go over the screencasting part of it again here. You can download the pupil/teacher support card by clicking on the image in this post. Potentially one of the most powerful tools for assessment in computing is engaging pupils in creating screencasts – recording computer screen video with audio narration. Research indicates that by making learning visual and documenting thinking – through screencasting – pupils more naturally engage in self-assessment. Even when recordings are made without any intended audience and in the absence of prompting, pupils automatically listen back to themselves, reflect, assess and adjust (Richards, 2014) This promising tool could be used to further develop information technology and digital literacy skills whilst also engaging pupils in the assessment process by editing screencasts for an intended audience with audio and creating visual effects such as captioning. The screencasts could then be uploaded to individual or class blogs, using categories and tags mapped to the appropriate strand of the National Curriculum for Computing, as evidence of learning or saved as a video file for storage on file servers either at school or in the Cloud. Similarly, teachers could use screencasts to provide audio/visual pupil feedback by making recordings when reviewing work. The screencasts could be cross-referenced against a project and uploaded into the pupil’s e-Portfolio. Click to Download Richards, Reshan. One Best Thing. iBooks, 2014. eBook [Available here] We Computer Scientists like our jargon but now (due to the National Curriculum for Computing) we are teaching pupils as young as five about how computers and computer systems work; teachers need to know – and be able to explain to children – what a plethora of confusing words mean. As Kurt Vonnegut observed “if you are going to teach, you should either teach graduate school or fourth grade… and if you can’t explain it to fourth graders, you probably don’t know what you’re talking about.” The primary computing curriculum has now been statutory since September 2014 with the introduction of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. All schools should now be teaching a broad and balanced computing curriculum that provides full curriculum coverage of the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum for Computing. But are they? As I mentioned in a previous post, I have recently written a primary programming robotics scheme of work as part of my role as a primary computing master teacher with Computing At Schools and having been kindly loaned five Sphero. @cas_lancaster will be lending these lesson plans and resources out as part of their equipment loan scheme and the complete unit and associated resources, assessment guidance etc, now forms part of the iCompute for iPad scheme of work. Today, I presented at #CASLancaster16 conference about my experiences of teaching with Sphero. Here is the free programming unit that CAS Lancaster included in their USB Key given to all delegates. Download and use as a guide to primary programming skills progression with Scratch Please note that children progress at different rates and this is intended as a guide only. iCompute’s whole-school primary computing scheme of work provides computing lesson plans that have built in differentiation, extension and enrichment activities to include, engage and challenge all pupils in primary computing. Develop Primary Computational Thinking Skills With Puzzles Computational Thinking Puzzle Workbooks Computational thinking is at the heart of the statutory programme of study for Computing: “A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world” (DfE). Since the introduction of the National Curriculum for Computing in 2014, schools now teach computing from the age of 5 and have developed curricula to meet their statutory obligations; however many lack a focus on developing computational thinking skills favouring, instead, to concentrate on the programming, or coding, objectives. In this post, I discuss computational thinking in more detail and how teaching it helps children become problem solvers which is important not just in computing but is an essential life skill. There has been much research into the benefits of puzzle-based learning. Puzzles help children develop general problem-solving and independent learning skills. According to Badger et al. (2012) engaging in puzzles means that pupils: take personal responsibility; adopt novel and creative approaches, making choices; develop modelling skills; practice recognition of cases, reducing problem situations to exercises. Additionally, in solving puzzles pupils use and apply a range of strategies that cross disciplines in entertaining and engaging ways. So what does any of this have to do with computational thinking? By selecting the right variety and complexity of puzzles, children will independently practise and develop the fundamental computational thinking skills of decomposition, abstraction, generalisation and developing algorithms. This will enable them to find solutions and apply those already found to different problems, in different contexts. All of this helps lay the foundations for pupils to become effective problem solvers. Skills that are increasingly important, as discussed in this post, given the digital world we live in and the need to prepare pupils to solve as yet unknown problems using tools and technologies that do not yet exist. Best Educational Book UPDATE: iCompute’s Computational Thinking Puzzle Workbooks 1-4 have been shortlisted for prestigious ERA (Education Resource Awards) 2017 for Best Educational Book. Badger, M., Sangwin, C, J., Ventura-Medina, E., Thomas, C, R.: 2012, A Guide To Puzzle-Based LearningIn Stem Subjects, University of Birmingham. Enrich learning with a cross curricular approach to primary computing Click to download the poster Computing is one of the most fundamentally cross curricular subject areas in education. It’s about using technology, logic, creativity and computational thinking to solve problems that cross all disciplines. It requires the systematic breakdown (decomposition) of both the problem and the solution. We need to prepare pupils for how to live in an increasingly digital world by equipping them with the knowledge, understanding and skills to solve as yet unknown problems using tools and technologies that do not yet exist. We can work towards achieving this by using computing as a means of making sense of the world and using what the children learn in computing across the curriculum. The best primary practice includes a blend of rigorous, discrete, subject teaching and equally effective cross-curricular links. Both approaches are needed for effective learning to take place, to enable children to make links between subjects and to set learning in meaningful contexts. Using computing throughout the primary curriculum offers a way to enrich and deepen learning through engaging, interconnected, topics. I have put together a selection of free resources and links to others to help teachers get started with ideas and inspiration for enriching learning and exploring computing through a rich variety of media and technologies in cross-curricular contexts. As part of my role with Computing At Schools (CAS) as a Primary Computer Science Master Teacher, I have recently been fortunate enough to teach using Sphero, having been lent a set by @cas_lancaster. The task was to produce a set of step-by-step Sphero lesson plans and associated teacher and pupil support materials for primary teachers to use. That is all now done and I’ve had great fun creating our new robotics unit – iCompute with Sphero – which forms part of our iPad pack , as well as being available separately. It will be lent out to other local schools by @cas_lancaster. Teaching progressive lessons using Spheros enables primary schools to meet a number of the objectives of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 2 Specifically: design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information iCompute with Sphero iCompute – Features Flowchart Here, I share my experiences of using Spheros with primary pupils and give some general advice and classroom tips about how to use them effectively, engage and challenge your pupils. What is Sphero? Sphero is a robot ball with several features that can be controlled though apps and also includes the facility for pupils to create their own computer programs. The main features are: Rolling – Sphero can roll at specified speeds and directions Colours – Sphero can light up to a specified colour Bluetooth – Sphero connects to mobile devices through wireless Bluetooth As Spheros are connected to iPads via Bluetooth, preparing to use them in your classroom before your roll up brandishing them and creating general hysteria is vital! Make sure all are fully charged and that your have paired each to a particular tablet in advance. Each Sphero flashes a unique sequence of colours when they are ‘woken’ which can be used to identify them. A Sphero will appear on your tablet’s Bluetooth list using the initials of the three colours it flashes in order, Eg. Sphero-RGB for a colour sequence of Red, Green and Blue. I added stickers to each of the Spheros with their unique name, as ‘YGO’, ‘RGW’ etc., and also to the corresponding tablet I’d paired it to. This made distributing them and the iPads much easier when in class. You need lots of space to use these. I used the school hall. I refer back to ‘Preparation’ for this as it may be something you need to organise. I forgot on my first session and arrived with a very excitable class to a hall full of lunch tables. The first half of my lesson therefore involved getting those out of the way. You can also buy covers called a ‘Nubby’ for outside use. I tried this with one of my classes and we had to come back inside as it was sunny and therefore impossible to see Sphero’s tail-light: essential to be able to aim it to move in the direction you want it to go. Also, we had iPads and the children couldn’t see the screens. Now on to the good stuff. My specialism is teaching primary pupils aged 5-11. I think Spheros are suitable for Key Stage 2 pupils, children aged 7-11. I suggest your first session focus on teaching the children how to wake Sphero, Orient (aim) it and control it using the standard Sphero app. Each Sphero comes with, amongst other things, a pair of ramps and once the children have got used to moving Sphero forward and backward with reasonable accuracy, add the ramps and other obstacles to make things interesting and develop accuracy further. A lesson, including step-by-step instructions for both teacher and pupil for this are available in our robotics pack. iCompute with Sphero The following lessons progresses to using the Sphero Draw N’ Drive app enabling the children to gain greater control and begin to understand that Sphero can be controlled to perform specific actions. I then move things on for the rest of the unit to programming Sphero using Tickle. We created quizzes that the children programmed Sphero to move and change colour to answer. This presents great cross-curricular opportunities. We create algorithms and program Sphero to be our dance partners for Physical Education. Also, mazes to navigate with excellent links to Mathematics for distance, direction and angle work. The children also program Sphero to travel the globe, linking to Geography, using a free floor map from National Geographic. Using robotics in the primary classroom presents creative and engaging opportunities for the children to extend what they have learned about algorithms and programming in Computing by understanding that physical systems can be controlled too. With the right blend planning and imaginative resources, using Sphero’s in your classroom has the potential to inspire the next generation of software designers and systems engineers! The possibilities are exciting… Assessment presents particular challenges for computing and many schools have not yet addressed how to accurately assess pupil progress and provide evidence of it. Let’s see what David Brown, former HMI Ofsted’s National Lead for Computing, had to say about computing in schools. Mr Brown’s message is overwhelmingly that of outcomes with no specific advice about how to achieve them. Having taught Computing in primary schools since 2013, I have found that the time required to cover the programmes of study for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 is one hour of computing each week for Years 1-6, coupled with cross-curricular work to practise and consolidate skills in other subjects. Assessing Computing Summary Evidence – Use e-Portfolios such as SeeSaw or maintain individual folders on the network for each pupil to contain digital work Teacher Feedback – Face-to-face or by using digital ‘marking’ strategies such as adding text comments in digital work or adding audio of your comments Self/Peer – Blogging, Vlogging or Video Screencasting provides excellent opportunities for pupils to reflect on work Diagnostic Testing – Creative online interactive quizzes (e.g. Kahoot) provide engaging opportunities to assess pupil understanding and bring a gamification aspect to assessment Assessment Projects – Using end-of-unit open-ended project tasks allow pupils to demonstrate learning Progress Tracking – Understanding where pupils are and planning next steps to meet age-related expectations Computing – Including Pupils with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEN/D) We passionately believe that Computing has the potential to empower pupils with SEN/D and transform their lives. With the right blend of progressive, imaginative planning, exposure to a broad range of tools and technologies, and comprehensive support it is possible that all children can be fully included and fulfill their potential – in computing and throughout the curriculum. Computing and Information Technology are essential tools for inclusion. They enable children with SEN/D, whatever their needs, to use technology purposefully in ways that make the curriculum accessible and fully include everyone in activities and learning. iCompute offers children with SEN/D varied and engaging ways to communicate, collaborate, express ideas and demonstrate success. From making and editing video/audio footage, programming animations, games and apps to creating rich web content – all pupils have an opportunity to participate, be challenged, learn and progress. iCompute supports children with SEN/D by providing: Familiarity – Lessons follow similar patterns and all involve aspects that appeal to various learning styles and include ‘unplugged’ activities to support children’s understanding of abstract concepts Progression – Structured, termly/yearly, progressive units of work providing full coverage of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Flexibility – All units have Core, Easier, Harder activities as well as a number of Extension/Enrichment/Homework ideas allowing teachers to cater for the individual needs of their pupils Resources – Colourful pupil support materials; engaging worksheets; video screencasts; imaginative unplugged activities and interactive online activities support pupils learning enabling them to achieve Assessment – Comprehensive end of unit assessment guidance supported by detailed pupil progress tracker spreadsheets matched to CAS (Computing At Schools) Progression Pathways enable teachers to accurately assess progress and set targets. If appropriate, end of unit assessment guidance and/or year group progress spreadsheets can be tracked back to find more suitable performance descriptors from earlier year groups. In addition, for those children working below levels expected of their age, iCompute offers a progress tracker with descriptors in line with P-Scales Rich variety of software and tools – A wealth of free software and online tools allow SEN/D pupils to demonstrate skills and progress, express ideas, improve digital literacy and boost self-confidence

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Reading and Responding Unit One Outcome One Key questions to ask when analysing how the author constructs meaning. • How are symbols used to represent the prejudice that the children learn about? • How is dialogue used to create characters? • What impact does narrative voice have on the ways in which characters are presented to readers? • How does the novel’s structure help to shape their development from innocence to experience? • How is setting used to establish a theme or provide essential background information about characters or events? Character Study: Atticus In the novel, what is the role and function of the character of Atticus? -Moral centre of the novel (touchstone) -Teacher (primary role in the relationship with his children) -Provides a backstory and offers important perspectives on various characters -Provides insights into the type of community that is Maycomb -Facilitates readers’ understanding of key themes in the novel: justice, empathy, prejudice (class/race), -Key protagonist in the unfolding of the pivotal storyline of the court case Character Study: Atticus Take note of how Atticus is depicted by Harper Lee, as well as how he is described by Scout and other characters in the novel • related by blood or marriage to every family in the town (5) • Atticus said dryly • “Atticus is real old, but I wouldn’t care if he couldn’t do anything-I wouldn’t care if he couldn’t do a blessed thing.” • “nigger-lover” • “born to do our unpleasant jobs for us” • “one-shot Finch” • “is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (51/220) • “whether Maycomb knows it or not, we’re paying him the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple.” (261) Atticus-Integrity The events before Tom’s trial show different facets of Atticus’ character: he admires courage, believes his skill with a gun is an unfair advantage and desires to treat damaged people, such as Boo Radley, with respect. However, his essential character remains unchanged for much of the novel. Atticus is the same man during and after Tom’s trial as he was before it: courteous, well-read, drily humourous, an attentive father, a fond brother and above all, a man who believes that ‘you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view’ (33). Atticus-Fatherhood • Atticus treats his children as intelligent young adults - he speaks in a clear matter-of-fact way, and answers questions directly (including technical points of law and definitions of rape). • He is very fair - he tries to hear both sides of an argument. • He does not beat his children, but is firm in some matters as when he insists that Jem read to Mrs Dubose, or makes them obey Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra. • He does not stereotype people - he is quite happy for Scout to be a tomboy. • He sees that the children need a mother figure, and recognizes that Calpurnia is far better able than he is to be a homemaker. Atticus-Diplomacy and Grace • Atticus is frequently criticized by others people. He does not take advantage of his social standing to retaliate or rebuke them. • Atticus remains calm when provoked directly - look, for example, at how he handles Bob Ewell's challenge: “Too proud to fight?” “No,” says Atticus, “too old” (Consider the ambiguity - on the surface it seems to mean that Atticus is no longer strong and fit enough to fight; but also it might mean that fighting is not something that adults should do - which could imply that Bob has not grown up). • Atticus understands the importance of allowing people to pay for his services, even though he has no need of their gifts - as when he accepts payment in kind from the Cunninghams, or gifts from the black people of Maycomb after Tom's trial. Atticus-Empathy “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there. You understand?” (241) Atticus-Lack of Prejudice • He respects people of colour - he entrusts Calpurnia with the care of his children and gives her complete discretion in running his house. • Atticus respects women - he extends this respect to Mayella Ewell, whom Scout regards as pathetic and friendless. • Atticus says to Scout: 'As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life ... There's nothing more sickening to me than a low grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance.’ (243) – What does this reveal about Atticus and his view of race relations in his community? Atticus-Courage • Atticus demonstrates his capacity to be a courageous protector in facing a rabid dog, but he does not value this attribute highly. – How does this action reflect other characteristics displayed by Atticus? • Atticus exhibits physical courage in keeping guard outside the jail (Chapter 15), and stays calm and composed when confronted by the lynch mob. – Does Atticus take this stance merely as a deterrent, or to what extent does this reflect his inclination towards passive resistance? • In defending Tom and being ready to accept the label of “niggerlover” Atticus shows a degree of moral courage. – Does Atticus naively place his own family at risk by this public display of the courage of his convictions? • Atticus's ideal of courage is embodied by Mrs Dubose: “...when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”. – Is this a fair description of Atticus's own courage in trying to save Tom? Atticus-Morality Atticus is the novel’s moral centre, since Scout and Jem are still developing their own moral codes and are learning them, in part, from their father. As he says to Heck Tate at the end of the novel, ‘if they don’t trust me they won’t trust anybody’ (301). -Excerpt from Insight Study Guide Finch will stand up to racists. He’ll use his moral authority to shame them into silence. He will leave the judge standing on the sidewalk while he shakes hands with Negroes. -Excerpt from Atticus Finch and Southern Liberalism Atticus-Justice "there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal-there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court" [p. 226]. (a) Does the jury's guilty verdict invalidate Atticus's claims? (b) Are the courts "the great levellers," making us all equal, as Atticus believes, or do wealth and race play an inordinate role in the way justice is distributed? Atticus-the closing speech Strategies employed by Atticus to convince the jury to ‘believe Tom Robinson’ -appeals to reason and rationality -evokes religious and moral values -reminds them of common characteristics such as fatherhood, family and community -appeals to their humanity -flatters and praises jury members -shifts focus from matters of race to matters of gender and prevailing community ‘codes’ -draws a distinction between good and bad people, casting Tom Robinson as a ‘quiet, respectable, humble Negro’ -distinguishes jury members from the Ewells and ‘minds of their calibre’ -refers to the constitution (‘all men are created equal’) Atticus the role model? “Finch never attempts to change the racism and sexism that permeates the life of Maycomb […] On the contrary, he lives his own life as the passive participant in that pervasive injustice. And that is not my idea of a role model for young lawyers.” Monroe Freedman “You know, I’d hoped to get through life without a case of this kind” (p.98) Atticus and ‘Blind Spots’ Atticus makes some errors of judgement: -trusting the Old Sarum mob not to try to lynch Tom-Atticus doesn’t carry a gun (Chapter 15) -trusting Bob Ewell not to carry out his threats of revenge (Chapter 23) What do these errors tell us about Atticus? How the author constructs meaning through key characters in the novel • Jem is an important character in the novel because…. • Calpurnia is an important character in the novel because…. Jem is an important character in the novel because….. • His growth and maturation is juxtaposed with Scout’s continual innocence. • He is a key figure in the theme of growing up. He is a supportive character for Scout as he instigates many of their adventures and games. He is a mentor and guide for Scout, who observes the changes in his personality and relates them to readers with warmth and respect, while maintaining a typical sibling antagonism. • He models himself after Atticus, yet begins to question some of his father’s beliefs about human nature. • The narrative begins and ends with Jem’s story – how he acquires a broken arm. • He provides the link between Boo Radley and the outside world. Jem’s curiosity and burgeoning awareness of injustice and human cruelty serves as a crucial contrast to the optimistic faith in human nature presented by his father. • His journey into the adult world reflects the bildungsroman genre. Jem embodies the ‘coming of age’ thread of the narrative. Calpurnia is an important character in the novel because…. • She is a surrogate mother for Scout and Jem. • She informs the town of the rabid dog and also the death of Tom Robinson. • She is treated like family in the Finch Household even though she’s a black woman. • She is the bridge between the white and the black community. • She teaches Scout about how to be a lady and a gracious host. • She is a black person that could read and she teaches Scout how to write. • Thematically, her character occupies a vital place at the intersection of race, gender and class. Calpurnia and Jem • Calpurnia plays a pivotal role in raising the Finch children. Thematically, her character occupies a vital place at the intersection of race, gender and class. Read from the following pages-27, 32, 83, 127, 139, 151, 228, 252. Briefly describe how Calpurnia is represented in each of these scenes and discuss the significance of these depictions. • Jem Finch embodies the ‘coming of age’ thread of the narrative. Lee presents a compelling juxtaposition of his maturation with his childlike sensitivity to injustice. Read from the following pages-36, 43-45, 57, 64-70, 109, 127, 152, 164, 167, 173, 233, 237, 243, 249-251, 271-273. Briefly describe how Jem is represented in each of these scenes and discuss the significance of these depictions. Calpurnia -While everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout’s perception – she is, after all, the narrator – Calpurnia in particular appears for a long time more as Scout’s idea of her than as a real person. -Scout at first sees Calpurnia less as a human being than as a force of nature that she runs up against all too often. -By taking the Finch kids with her to First Purchase Church, Calpurnia shows them a different side of her character. In this new setting of Maycomb’s African-American community, Calpurnia surprises Jem and Scout by speaking in a voice they have never heard her use before. -While Scout does learn to see Calpurnia as a real person over the course of the novel, the question remains open of to what extent the novel gives Calpurnia an identity separate from her role as the Finch kids’ ‘Giver of Life Lessons’. Calpurnia continued • • • Calpurnia is the African-American cook and housekeeper for the Finches. Calpurnia acts as a mother figure and disciplinarian in the Finch household. Atticus trusts Calpurnia, relies on her for support raising his children, and considers her part of the family. Calpurnia also gives the children insight into her world when she takes them to her church. In some ways she even takes the place of Scout and Jem's dead mother. But you soon learn that Calpurnia is not accepted by everyone. Some of the Finches' white friends look down on Calpurnia as a servant and are shocked to hear Atticus speak freely in her presence. At the same time, some members of Calpurnia's black church are very critical of her being on such friendly terms with her white employer. Calpurnia lives a divided life. You learn, for example, that she learned to read and write from old law books. In the Finchs' house she speaks the very correct English of an educated person; at church, however, she converses in her friends' dialect so they will not feel she is trying to act superior to them. Lee treats Calpurnia as admirable because she has made the best of her opportunities and has not allowed herself to become bitter. Calpurnia has a sense of self-worth that is not affected by the opinions of people around her. This is a way in which she resembles Atticus. – From MSH website http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/mockingbird/calpurnia.htm Jem Finch • Jem is Scout’s confidante and primary playmate. During the first part of the novel, he is as much a child as Scout: he’s superstitious and prone to swift retribution. His maturation becomes evident as the second half of the novel opens with ‘Jem was twelve. He was difficult to love with, inconsistent, moody’ (127). He is treated as an adult: Calpurnia class him ‘Mister Jem’ and Miss Maudie stops baking child-size cakes for him (237). • Jem’s maturation allows him to understand the abstract issues at stake in Tom’s trial better than Scout. His sensitivity to such things is foreshadowed in his silent tears when Nathan Radley blocks up the hollow oak (70) and in the episode with the rabid dog, when he tells Scout that Atticus’s refusal to boast about his shooting skill is ‘something [she] wouldn’t understand’ (109). Later, the reader sees that Jem is terrified when Scout leaps into the lynch mob (167) and how ‘his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them’ (233) when Tom’s verdict is read out. -Insight Study Guide Jem Finch continued • Jem may be old enough to understand the abstract issues of the trial, but he is young enough (or sensitive enough) to be deeply hurt by injustice. Atticus suggests this is a question of maturity, not personality: after the attempted lynching, he tells Jem, “you’ll understand folks a little better when you’re older” (173), and after the verdict suggests, “[s]o far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process” (243). But Jem perhaps has a perceptivity that Atticus lacks: for example, Jem’s fears of Bob Ewell’s revenge turn out to be more accurate than Atticus’ optimism. • Jem’s maturation foreshadows Scout’s. She muses, ‘I hoped Jem would understand folks a little better when he was older; I wouldn’t’ (173). But by the novel’s end, Scout-about the same age as Jem was in the first chapter, and just beginning to understand the ‘sheer torment’ (267) that they must have caused Boo Radleytakes the same first step towards maturity as Jem. – Insight Study Guide Jem Finch continued • • • Scout's older brother, Jem Finch changes considerably over the course of the novel. At first you see him as Scout's playmate and equal. Once the children start school, however, Jem becomes more aware of the difference in age between himself and his sister. He doesn't want her to embarrass him in front of his fifthgrade friends. And later he and Dill develop a friendship from which Scout is partly excluded because she is a girl. In this part of the story you see Jem as the wiser older brother. He is the first to figure out that Boo Radley has been trying to communicate with them, and he does his best to explain unfamiliar words to Scout, even though he often gets their meanings wrong. Jem is also the more thoughtful and introverted of the Finch children. Unlike Scout, who is a fighter by temperament, Jem seems determined to obey his father's request to avoid fighting. He lets his anger build inside, until one day in a fit of temper he destroys Mrs. Dubose's garden. Later, at the time of the trial, Jem's optimistic view of human nature becomes apparent. He is probably the only person in town who really believes that justice will be done and Tom Robinson found innocent. When this does not happen, his disillusionment is so great that for a time he can't stand even to talk about the incident. By the end of the story Jem is almost grownup. On the surface, he seems quicker than Scout to put the trial behind, but inwardly, he has been more disturbed than Scout by the events of the trial. It is worth considering that Jem's broken arm at the end of the story is a deliberate sign that he will be wounded forever by what he has observed. – From MHS website http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/mockingbird/jem.htm In the novel, written by Harper Lee in the 1930’s, the author displays the progression of the relationship between the two main protagonists of the novel Jem and Scout. Harper Lee writes in the perspective of the young protagonist, Scout who is growing up in the slow, small town of Maycomb, South of Alabama with her older brother Jen and her father Atticus. Their sibling bond at the beginning of the novel, depicted by their childish roleplaying of Boo Radley’s live slowly breaks apart as they learn and grow up through the Tom Robinson trial, becoming a young lady and a young man and becoming more aware of the racism and prejudice that exists around them. Through these chronological events, the author portrays the struggles that face Scout and Jem as they begin to understand more about themselves, but most importantly more about each other. Literary techniques • Figurative Language – Metaphor – Simile – Personification – Idiom • Allusions • Dialogue • Southern colloquialisms and dialect Figurative Language The following quotations are examples of metaphor, personification and simile: • Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.(5) • The Radley place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings it drew him as the moon draws water. (9) • The house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we thought we saw an inside shutter move. Flick. A tiny, almost invisible movement and the house was still (16) • [Auntie said] I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year. (90) • Mr.Gilmer waited for Mayella to collect herself: she had twisted her handkerchief into a sweaty rope (199) Consider how the use of such figurative language creates a visual image for readers, thereby emphasizing the significance of the subject matter in relation to themes and ideas in the narrative. The various connotations thus provide scope for differing interpretations. Idioms • • • • • • • as sure as eggs: Something that is bound to happen; just as chickens are sure to lay eggs set my teeth permanently on edge: to annoy someone or make them feel nervous the way in which Aunt Alexandra tends to annoy Scout travelled in state: To travel in state is to do so in the position of a person of great wealth and rank he had seen the light: In this case to have seen the light means to have become religious blind spots: a prejudice or area of ignorance that someone has but is unaware of. Mr Cunningham's blind spot is his prejudice against Tom Robinson guests of the county: on public assistance or welfare into the limelight: in theatre, the limelight is an intense light thrown on stage in order to highlight an actor, etc. To be in the limelight is to be put in prominent position before the public Allusions • • • • • nothing to fear but fear itself (6): an allusion to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Inaugural Address Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin (8): King Arthur's adviser, prophet and magician stump hole whiskey (10): illegally made and sold whiskey that would be hidden in the holes of tree stumps bread lines in the cities grew longer (128): during the Great Depression, thousands of people relied on charitable organizations for meals and would line up for simple meals often of bread and soup Mrs Roosevelt-just plain lost her mind coming down to Birmingham and tryin’ to sit with ‘em (258): in 1939, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended a meeting for the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama where she defied state authorities by sitting in the centre aisle, between whites and blacks, after police told her she was violating segregation laws by sitting with black people. Structure A long episodic novel can easily lose its way, but Harper Lee has a very organic sense of a single story with a unifying or central theme (the mockingbird theme) which is illustrated by the examples of Arthur Radley and Tom Robinson. How many readers recall, by the end of the novel, the first sentence (“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow”)? This statement is soon forgotten, amidst a mass of narrative detail, but this incident, which Scout does not see and Jem cannot recall, is the defining moment or climax of the entire story. The first part of the novel is an account of Scout’s early years, taking her first days at school as a starting point. Most of this section is about the search for Arthur “Boo” Radley. The second part shows Scout becoming more able to understand the adult world, which is mirrored by the more serious events that occur at this point in her life. In the conclusion, however, Harper Lee brings the two narratives together – the stories are not separate. While Scout and Jem have been thinking more about the trial and less about Boo Radley, Arthur has not forgotten them. His appearance in the final chapters is almost miraculous – it is plausible (believable in its context) because it is so understated. There is no direct account of Arthur Radley’s attack on Bob Ewell. It is inferred from the sounds Scout hears and what Heck Tate discovers at the scene. Language Standard and non-standard forms To Kill a Mockingbird is a conventional literary novel. This means, among other things that it: • is written in a form of standard English which has a wide-ranging lexicon (vocabulary), • includes references to art and culture which the author expects the reader to know (or find out) • relates principal events mostly in the past tense The narrative contains some distinctively American lexis (vocabulary) so, to take one chapter (11) as a random example, we find “sassiest”, “mutts” and “playing hooky”. In some cases you will find a form which is standard in both UK and US English, but with a different meaning. So when Jem leaves his “pants” (trousers) on the Radley fence, this is not as alarming as it might seem to English readers. On the other hand, when he stands “in his shorts (underpants or boxer shorts) before God and everybody”, this is perhaps more alarming. In the account of the visit to First Purchase, Scout records the distinctive speech of the coloured people noting with particular interest the way Calpurnia switches into this non-standard variety. Depicting racism through dialogue • The novel is set in the 1930s but was written in the late 1950s. The dialogue is marked by frequent use of the word "nigger". This is a convenient way to indicate to the reader the racist attitudes of various characters. When she wishes to refer to African-Americans, Harper Lee uses the term "coloured". It is not only racist whites who say use the term "nigger", however - at First Purchase church, Calpurnia addresses Lula as "nigger". • Since the novel was published, attitudes have changed about what is acceptable to speak and write. In the trial of O.J. Simpson, the word "nigger" was considered too offensive to repeat in court, and was described as the "Nword". Southern colloquialisms and dialect The USA is a vast country, and Harper Lee makes use of many regional expressions, local to the southern (former Confederate) states or to Alabama more specifically, like “cootie”, “haint”, “scuppernongs” and “whistled bob-white”.

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Baking is a sacred ritual, one that requires simple ingredients: water, salt, yeast, and flour. But there is another ingredient that is just as necessary: time. The time for seeds to be planted, for wheat stalks to grow tall and turn from green to golden brown, the time for threshing, for cleaning, for milling, for mixing, for kneading. Time for dough to ferment and rise. Time for dough to be rolled thin for tortillas. The story of White Sonora wheat is one of time, patience, and listening to the land. The history of White Sonora wheat in the Sonoran desert begins with the people who brought it here and the people who grew it. In the seventeenth century, Spanish and Italian missionaries brought White Sonora’s precursor, a candeal soft white wheat, to the desert. By 1640, Opata and Lowland Pima Indian farmers were growing the wheat near Tuape, Sonora. When Father Eusebio Francisco Kino arrived in Sonora in 1687, he brought the now well-established crop northward. Among the many crops the missionaries brought, White Sonora endured because it was drought-and disease-resistant, thriving in the arid Sonoran landscape. Maribel Alvarez, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Center, has written extensively on White Sonora wheat. She found a reference to the grain in one of Father Kino’s journal entries from 1710 where he discusses bringing the grain to Pima and Yuma Indians: “I sent … grain and seed which had never been seen or known there, to see if it would yield as well as in those other fertile new lands; and it did yield and does yield very well.” Ethnobotanist Amadeo Rea says the introduction of wheat “completely altered the life of the Pimans. Before they had this winter crop, the Tohono O’odham were entirely dependent on the summer rains for agriculture, [and] could raise but a single crop a year—if everything went right.” White Sonora meant that Pima and Tohono O’odham now had a viable winter crop to sustain their communities. Dams were built of mesquite branches to direct water and nutrient-rich silt to fields and wheat was harvested using sickles. Threshing was done with horses or mules on circular threshing floors called eras in Spanish, and the cleaned wheat was made into flour on volcanic grindingstones called taunas. The Pima—along with Yaquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and Hispanics—adopted White Sonora wheat into their cuisine, making posole (poshol in Piman)—wheat berries soaked, cooked, and mixed with tepary beans—and huge flatbreads known as tortillas de las aguas (che’chemait in Piman). The White Sonora wheat was ideal because of the protein content that allowed dough to stretch very thin. Over time, Alvarez says wheat “became integrated into the social fabric of communities that grew it, harvested it and consumed it.” In public art, in home décor, in religious festivals and cuisine, she says, Sonorans began to incorporate wheat as an indelible part of life. For more than three centuries, White Sonora was one of the principal crops grown in the Sonoran desert. As industrialization of farming took root following World War II, cereal scientists and grain breeders began to think about how to stabilize and secure staple crops like wheat. Combining wheat bred to be high-yield and fertilizer-responsive with artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation systems, farmers in arid climates were no longer dependent on drought-resistant grains. Farmers planted seed from short breeds to avoid rot and mold caused by stalks toppling from wind and rain. While these changes helped farmers increase yields, something was lost. We lost diversity in the grains we consume. We lost our connection to eating what was adapted to grow in our local ground. We lost our connection to the earth. Conservation scientist Gary Paul Nabhan, the co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH, first spotted some of the last remnants of White Sonora wheat when he worked with farmers in northern Mexico in 1976. By the 1980s, no one was growing White Sonora wheat in the larger valleys of Arizona or Sonora, says Nabhan. The Nobel Prize-winning plant breeder Norman Borlaug had developed one of the first Green Revolution wheat varieties, Sonora 64—a semidwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant variety—purportedly using White Sonora as breeding material. In addition to the advent of commercial farming, Nabhan attributes the demise of White Sonora to a series of droughts and freezes, as well as a generation of farmers dying out, and with them, the knowledge and infrastructure required for traditional wheat farming. According to Jeff Zimmerman of Hayden Flour Mills in Phoenix, there were 44 mills established in Arizona Territory between 1865 and 1912. Today, there are only two. In 2012, a coalition of local organizations was awarded a $50,000 USDA Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant to bring White Sonora soft wheat and chapalote flint corn back into the local food chain. “There’s a lightbulb that goes off. Oh my gosh, this is what bread should taste like.” People were drawn to the grain for many reasons. For Native Seeds/SEARCH, bringing back White Sonora was aligned with its mission of preserving heritage seeds. Research and education program manager Joy Hought says, “For us, it’s about climate change and bringing back crops that don’t abuse or overuse our natural resource.” Grants and special project manager Chris Schmidt adds, “Twenty to 30 years from now, these crops are going to be more important than ever. We need to work to preserve genetics and build the infrastructure for production now.” In addition to the SARE grant, Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills in South Carolina, donated 5,600 pounds of White Sonora wheat seed over a three-year period so farmers wouldn’t have to face the expense of seed in addition to more labor and less yield. While a variety of heirloom crops have been growing in popularity over the years, extra enthusiasm and effort was needed to bring back heirloom grains. “Harvesting wheat involves complicated and technical processes,” says Hought. “It’s not the same as other crops where you can just pluck the apple off the tree and get it to the consumer. You have to get the grain at the right time. You have to thresh and clean it. Jeff Zimmerman has spent the last few years learning how to mill it; it’s a craft.” Jeff Zimmerman grew up in North Dakota on a wheat farm; as the farm changed hands from his grandfather to his father, and now to his cousin, he witnessed the industrialization of the farm. A manager at an insurance company by day, Zimmerman has always prioritized food; so has his wife, a nutritionist, and their five children. Years ago, Zimmerman developed a passion for bread baking. But he found that even when he took the time to make bread from scratch, he was dissatisfied with the end result: “It tasted empty,” he says. Zimmerman began milling his own flour and became inspired to restart the well-known Phoenix-based Hayden Flour Mills, a mill that had closed in 1998 after a 15-year decline. That dream kicked into high gear after the 2010 Farmer+Chef Connection, where Jeff met Marco Bianco, baker for Pane Bianco and brother of Chris Bianco, restaurateur and James Beard award-winning chef. At his famous Pizzeria Bianco, Chris is committed to using the freshest ingredients and sourcing them locally; for years, he had been looking for a way to access locally grown and milled grain. Emma Zimmerman, Jeff’s second eldest and his business partner, had two degrees in bioengineering and was pursuing a Ph.D. in bioethics when she returned home to help her father with his passion project. “I don’t know if Chris and Marco thought that we were serious, that we were really going to do it,” says Emma, laughing. They were. Jeff Zimmerman ordered a stone mill from Austria and soon it was installed at the back of Pane Bianco. Although it was a tight fit, being housed in the kitchen of Pane Bianco had its perks. Marco Bianco could immediately experiment with the freshly milled flour and offer feedback. “If you work in a marble quarry, you don’t necessarily see the statues. But if you are a miller and you’re working next to my brother every day, it’s a pretty interesting relationship when you are working, vetting things out. How was the hydration of it? Was the protein too high or low? So that dialogue became beneficial,” Chris says. Bringing back White Sonora involved bringing back infrastructure for smaller crops—from farming and harvesting, to cleaning and milling—that no longer existed. At first, the Zimmermans were ordering the freshest grain they could find from out of state, but when Nabhan approached them about heritage grains, they immediately came on board. The first farmers they approached did not. Emma explains. “The whole reason industrialized farming works is they have bred these grains to be high yielding; they’re very short and dense. You plant an acre and you’ll get 5,000 pounds. You go back to heritage and you get 2,000 pounds.” But when the Zimmermans approached an old family friend, Steve Sossaman of Sossaman Farms, he agreed to grow their first crop of 10 acres of White Sonora in 2011 as a personal favor. But that first season made growing heritage grains a passion for him as well, Emma says; he recently renovated his old pole barn into a milling space complete with a tasting room. Hayden Flour Mills is now working with five farmers growing 20 varieties of heritage grains. In 2014, they grew 300 acres of grain. With 200 wholesale customers nationally, Hayden Flour Mills can barely keep up with demand. Tucsonans can pick up their flour at Whole Foods, Native Seeds /SEARCH, Time Market, and at some farmers’ markets, or taste it in local restaurants like Zona 78, Gallery of Food, Canyon Ranch, Agustín Kitchen, Proper, Food for Ascension, and Pizzeria Bianco. In 2014, Hayden Flour Mills was one of nine companies to win Martha Stewart’s American Made contest, showcasing American companies doing innovative work. The award included a $10,000 prize, a trip to New York, and a spread in Martha Stewart Living. “People just seem to react to eating Marco’s bread, or eating a really good bread,” Emma says. “There’s a lightbulb that goes off. Oh my gosh, this is what bread should taste like. Even me, starting out, I didn’t think about flour. It’s just powder in a bag. You don’t think about where it comes from. All of a sudden, you think: Why does this taste so good and what is it made of? And you realize, Oh, this is rye or barley; there’s all this amazing diversity behind it. I think it goes back to people tasting the food that is made with these really good ingredients.” At $10 to $12 for a one and a half pound bag, Hayden’s flour is two to three times as expensive as conventional all-purpose flour. “This used to be something I apologized for,” Emma says. “But now, I say: Isn’t it amazing that you now get this grain that didn’t even exist in this region five years ago at your Whole Foods? You treat it differently. This is the true cost of flour. We are so out of touch with what food costs.” Hayden Flour Mills offers educational discounts to schools to make their flour more accessible, and they hope that over time, as heritage grains grow in popularity and infrastructure is established, heritage flour will be available to everyone. Riding down a road in Marana, past the mid-century steel silos that signal arrival at BKW Farms, fourth-generation farmer Brian Wong points outside his window to the small field that has just been furrowed up, brown dirt piled alongside shallow ditches waiting for seeds to be planted. This was the very field BKW used to grow its first round of organic White Sonora wheat three years ago. BKW just celebrated its 75th anniversary but this was its first venture into organic farming and the first time it had grown heritage grains since the Green Revolution. BKW’s main crops are cotton and durum; the wheat is exported in its entirety to Spain. Not a part of the SARE grant, BKW Farms became involved after farmers Ron Wong and Karen Dotson attended the Native Seeds/SEARCH grain school and learned about heritage grains such as White Sonora wheat. They realized that more and more local restaurateurs, brewers, and bakers were becoming interested in local heritage grains, which gave them an opportunity to grow crops that would stay in the local foodshed. In 2012, they obtained 1,800 pounds of White Sonora seed from Native Seeds/SEARCH’s inventory and planted their first crop of certified organic White Sonora on 15 acres. For their conventionally grown wheat, they typically get 7,000 pounds an acre. With ideal weather that initial growing season, their first harvest yielded a total of 40,500 pounds, or 2,700 pounds per acre. Inside their climate-controlled storage room are the fruits of their harvest: huge white totes holding tons of the small tan berries. Because of their high yield, they were able to donate double the amount they borrowed back to the seed bank. This year, they will plant two new heritage grains: organic Red Spring and organic Durum White. (They’re also growing barley to be made into beer by local breweries.) “We know how to grow things,” Wong says. “The biggest problem is not growing but the selling and making sure people want what we are growing.” At Ramona Farms, Ramona and Terry Button are growing White Sonora wheat not only because of its growing market, but also because of its history. When Schmidt asked the couple to help bring back heritage grains by cleaning White Sonora wheat and Pima Club seed, and growing half of it, they immediately agreed. They planted 15 acres and returned double their yield. Growing White Sonora wheat fit with Ramona Farms’ commitment to honoring traditional farming done by the Pima Indians. Today, Ramona and her daughter Velvet do outreach on the reservation and teach the importance of reintroducing native crops into modern diets, hoping to instill pride in young people for what their ancestors did to develop agriculture in Arizona. Terry credits the work of organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH and individuals like Nabhan and Rea for providing a market for place-based heritage grains. “Health-conscious people are wanting to improve their diets. Native foods are being introduced to high-end restaurants,” he says. “It’s gratifying for us because we think maybe there will be a market. Without a market, we can’t preserve seeds just with seed banks. Seeds have an expiration date. They have to be replotted and grown back and that seed stock needs to be replenished. If we do have a market, we can save these crops. Indian corns, tepary beans, heritage grains—they contain survival qualities we need. If we can preserve diversity in seed stock that have other traits, we could avert famine in the future.” A soft wheat, White Sonora, when ground, crumbles. The density of the flour makes it challenging when used on its own for bread, which requires more elasticity, but White Sonora is perfect for pastas and pastries. The taste is hearty, fresh, of the earth. Marco Bianco bakes with White Sonora for cookies, biscotti, and tarts. Barrio Bread’s Don Guerra uses 12 percent of the grain in his baguette mix because the soft flour adds contrast to the harder varieties he uses. In Marco’s kitchen, loaves made of Red Fife and soft wheat are set aside to proof while other oval loaves in the oven have begun to develop a dark brown crust. A historian in the guise of a baker, he knows not only every property of White Sonora wheat but also every detail of its history in the history of farming and milling in Arizona. Marco likens modern all-purpose flour to having one kind of red wine. While all-purpose flour has good baking properties, bakers have no idea what kinds of grain are being used. “The thing we eat the most, we know the least about,” he says. He now works with 12 varietals for the assortment of bread, tarts, and pastries he makes for the Bianco restaurants. “If you were growing your own wheat and making bread every day you would start to know the tendencies of that varietal. We lost that. We’re starting to get it back now,” he says. Bringing back local heritage grains farmed without the use of chemicals in growing or baking may allow for more people to have access to wheat. Marco says, “It’s really in the last 10 to 12 years that there’s been an explosion of people with gluten problems. When the bread is allowed to have a long fermentation, it breaks down the gluten so it is more digestible. In commercial baking, components are added to the bread to mimic the natural fermentation process but do it in less time. Commercial bakers making 10,000 loaves a day want bread to be done in three and half hours, start to finish. It takes 18 to 24 hours for one of my breads.” And, he says, “If you look at the back of the bread label, there are 25 ingredients you can’t pronounce,” Marco says. “My bread has four ingredients: a sourdough starter made from wild yeast, water, flour, salt.” No research exists that proves products made with heritage grains are better nutritionally or digestively. Joy Hought says, “There are too many variables: breeding, growing, processing baking.” But anecdotally, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “People with nonceliac gluten sensitivity who buy our flour to go home and bake with, come back and tell us they didn’t have the reactions they typically have,” Emma Zimmerman says. Some argue that it is conventional farming techniques rather than fast-track baking that leads to potential allergic reactions in consumers. “My dad had a list of best practices for conventional farming methods for wheat,” Emma says. “It lists 30 chemicals that you spray on that crop. The last one is spraying Roundup so it all dries up uniformly. That [ends up] in the wheat head.” No one involved in the process of bringing back White Sonora wheat to the local foodshed will take credit. Conversations are filled with effusive storytelling about the others involved. Emma Zimmerman credits the Biancos for making space for their mill. Marco Bianco says Jeff Zimmerman was the spark that got the whole thing going. Chris Bianco praises Glenn Roberts for donating the initial seeds and Gary Nabhan and Chris Schmidt for connecting folks around the SARE grant, which provided much needed money and infrastructure to get the project going. BKW expressed gratitude for the bakers and local brewers, who have been vital in communicating both their support and what they need in their grains. But everyone is excited about the success of bringing back White Sonora wheat, not only because of its value to our palate and our pantry, but also because in doing so, they have developed a model for bringing back other wheat varieties. In our modern world, urgency is a part of daily life. We are always on our way somewhere, always checking our devices. We don’t sit still; we don’t have much patience. In a culture in which humans have often attempted to control the land rather than listen to it—where time is commodified rather than respected and honored—returning these heritage grains is a radical act. “A broken tradition is now revived,” Nabhan says. “We affirmed White Sonora’s value in the very place where Norman Bourlaug won a Nobel Prize for breeding high-yield wheat. It reminds us these things aren’t obsolete.” Chris Bianco says that everything is about communication and connection. “We’re in the relationship business. We are in relationship with each other, our consumers, our environment,” he says. “I’m just a little raindrop. For this thing to work it’s going to take a big puddle, a pond, and an ocean of change. We are all a part of change.” ✜ Hayden Flour Mills. 480.557.0031. HaydenFlourMills.com. Native Seeds/SEARCH. 3061 N. Campbell Ave. 520.622.5561. NativeSeeds.org. BKW Farms. Info@bkwazgrown.com. BKWAZGrown.com. Ramona Farms. Arizona 87. 520.418.3642. RamonaFarms.com. Pane Bianco. 4404 N. Central Ave. 602.234.2100. PizzeriaBianco.com. Lisa O’Neill originally hails from New Orleans but has made her second home in the desert, where she writes and teaches writing. Find her online at The Dictionary Project or at lisamoneill.com.

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1. Yoseph’s Promise; Yoseph visits Yaakov on his deathbed. Yaakov, then 147 years old and near death, sent for Yoseph and made him promise that he would bury him in Canaan (the resting place of his fathers), rather than in Egypt. Sometime later, Yoseph was informed that Yaakov was ill and went, along with his sons Ephrayim and Menasheh, to visit him. 2. Yaakov blesses Ephrayim and Menasheh. Yaakov told Yoseph that Ephrayim and Menasheh would be counted among Yaakov’s own sons and would each head a Tribe. Yaakov kissed, hugged and brought close to bless Ephrayim and Menasheh, placing his right hand on Ephrayim (the younger) and his left hand on Menasheh (the elder). Yoseph thought that Yaakov had mistakenly reversed the order of his hands and tried to correct them. However, Yaakov refused to change the position of his hands, predicting that while Menasheh’s descendants would be great, Ephrayim’s would be even greater. 3. “Birchas Yaakov” (The Blessings of Yaakov). Yaakov called each of his sons to his bedside, blessed them, prophesied about each Tribe’s future and described each Tribe’s special attributes and characteristics. 4. Yaakov Dies. After instructing his sons to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, Yaakov went to his bed and “returned to his people”. 5. Yaakov Is Buried. Yoseph fell upon Yaakov’s face and wept. The Egyptians mourned Yaakov’s death for seventy days. With Pharaoh’s permission, Yaakov, along with his brothers and their households and the elders of Egypt, returned to Canaan to bury Yaakov in the Cave of Machpelah. 6. Yoseph Reassures His Brothers. On the return trip to Egypt, Yoseph’s brothers feared that, now that Yaakov was dead, Yoseph would seek retribution and so they sought his pardon. Yoseph reassured them that he would not seek revenge, assuring them that he would continue to support them and their children. 7. Yoseph Dies. Before Yoseph’s death, Yoseph made the Children of Israel promise to take along his remains with them when Hashem returned them to Israel. Yoseph died at 110 and was placed in a coffin in Egypt. B. Divrei Torah 1. Lilmode Ul’Lamed (Rabbi Mordechai Katz) a. “And He Lived”. Why isn’t the word “death” used in connection with Yaakov? In fact, the Parsha, which recounts Yaakov’s death, is entitled “Vayechi” (“and he lived”). Taanis 56 teaches that there are two deaths — a physical death and the end of one’s influence and impact on the world. For many people, the two are simultaneous. However, in Yaakov’s case, he accomplished so much during his lifetime that his influence and impact survive even to this day. We should strive to accomplish something worthwhile during our lives so that our achievements will live on. b. Ephrayim and Menasheh. Ephrayim and Menasheh were singled out during the blessing of the sons for two reasons: (a) they were the only members of Yaakov’s family born in “golus” (exile); despite the competing temptations of golus, they remained true to Hashem’s principles; (b) they are emulated for their lack of envy for each other (e.g., Menasheh was not jealous that Ephrayim received a greater blessing). c. “Achdus” (Unity). The Ari HaKodesh comments that when the two “yuds” of Hashem’s name are written together, the letters can’t be erased. However, if one “yud” is higher than the other, it is not the name of Hashem and can be erased. The reason for this is that the two “yuds” must not be rivals and must consider themselves equal; only then do they symbolize Hashem. Similarly, two Jews can evoke Hashem’s spirituality only when they work together harmoniously, and not when one considers himself above the other. Egotism leads to destruction and rivalry and hatred can only cause the downfall of B’nai Yisroel. It is when Jews are united and accept each other as equals that B’nai Yisroel can thrive and flourish, and bring credit to Hashem and His Torah. 2. In the Garden Of The Torah (the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, z’tl) a. Light In Darkness. Why were Yaakov’s best years spent in Egypt, not Canaan?: (i) the Alter Rebbe, z’tl notes that even before Yaakov arrived in Egypt, he sent Yehudah ahead to Egypt to establish a yeshivah; when one studies Torah, one comes closer to Hashem, allowing one to live with true and genuine vitality, even in Egypt; (ii) the thrust of Yaakov’s life was to draw close to Hashem through Torah study; yet, he didn’t stay in the tents of Shem and Even (the leading house of study in Canaan) — rather, his life encompassed a variety of circumstances and challenges, allowing him the opportunity to prove that the connection he established through Torah study was genuine; and (iii) not only did Yaakov study, but he involved his children and grandchildren and was thus able to extend the holy atmosphere of Canaan to Egypt. b. Yaakov Still Lives in Each of Us. Yaakov’s connection to Hashem was perpectuated beyond his mortal lifetime. Regardless of one’s conduct or level of observance, every person remains a Jew and shares a connection to the entire Torah and Yaakov’s spiritual legacy. As the Torah teaches, “the Torah which Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the congregation’ of Yaakov”. This is Shabbos Chazak (the “Shabbos of Reinforcement”) since we declare “Chazak, Chazak, Vinischazaik” (“be strong, be strong and may you be strengthened”) as we complete Beresheis. Through the awareness nurtured by this Parsha — i.e., that we all have been granted a heritage of life expressed through a connection with the Torah, and that there will come a time when this connection will blossom — we can acquire the inner strength to confront our challenges. 3. Growth Through Torah (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin) a. Unity creates love and love creates forgiveness. Yaakov called his sons together to achieve “Achdus” (“unity”). Only when there is unity among the descendants of Yaakov can there be redemption. b. Work to not act impulsively. Yaakov told Reuven that he was “unstable as water and would not have pre-eminence”. The Torah’s metaphor shows us that, just as water flows quickly, so is the behavior of someone who acts impulsively. If we don’t weigh the consequences of our behavior, we can make many harmful mistakes and cause much damage. c. All traits must be utilized in appropriate amounts. In talking about Shimon and Levi, Yaakov said “I will divide them among the rest of Yaakov and spread them among Israel”. The Chasam Sofer explains that while Shimon and Levi overreacted with violence for Dinah’s benefit, the other brothers did nothing. By “spreading out” their anger among the other brothers, Yaakov was ensuring that they would all have this trait in the proper amount. To be a complete person, every trait must be used, although we must look to the Torah to clarify the right time, place and amount for each trait. d. Power over oneself is real power. Yaakov said: “Yehudah is a lion’s whelp, from the prey, my son, you have gone up.” Rashi notes that Yehudah elevated himself in two ways — by stopping his brothers from killing Yoseph and by publicly embarrassing himself to save Tamar. Rabbi Yeruschem Levovitz cites the Kuzari that righteous is one who rules over himself and his impulses; such a person is worthy of being a ruler over others, because he will rule with the same righteousness with which he rules himself, and is why Yehudah merited being the Tribe of the future Kings of Israel (and Moschiach). e. True peace of mind comes from being able to accept all circumstances. About Yissachar, Yaakov said: “And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and he bowed his shoulders to bear.” Why was the Torah given at Mt. Sinai (in the wilderness) and not in the calm and peacefulness of Israel? Rabbi Levovitz noted that this is teach us that true peace mind — the state in which one must be to accept and study Torah — doesn’t come from physical comforts, but from an awareness of one’s ultimate life goals. When you focus on this, you are constantly traveling toward your goal and will never be overly disturbed or broken. Yissachar, the Tribe devoted to Torah study, “bowed his shoulders to bear” — i.e., by training himself to bear any difficulties, he was able to reach the highest level of peace of mind in all situations. 4. Love Thy Neighbor (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin) a. True kindness is helping someone without any ulterior motive. Yaakov told his sons “If I have found favor in your eyes . . . seal me with kindness and truth and bury me not in Egypt”. Rashi comments that kindness to the dead is true kindness, for one who does such kindness doesn’t look forward to any payment. Whenever we do something for others, we should emulate this kindness and have their, not our own, benefit in mind. b. Smile at others. Yaakov blessed Yehudah that “your eyes will be red with wine and your teeth white with milk” (i.e., the land will be fertile so that it would produce an abundance of wine and milk). The Talmud teaches that “teeth white with milk” can be read to mean that when one shows his teeth (by smiling) to another, it is better than giving him milk; while milk nourishes the body, a smile enters the mind and body. 5. Kol Dodi on the Torah (Rabbi David Feinstein) Soliciting Hashem’s Help. Why does the blessing of the sons state that Hashem should “make you like Ephrayim and Menasheh”, rather than may you “grow up” (i.e., work hard on your own) to become like Ephrayim and Menasheh? Chazel teach that even the most righteous person needs help from Heaven in overflowing measure. For example, if someone decides not to keep his store open on Shabbos, he must make that decision himself. He can, however, ask Hashem to make it easier (e.g., to send him more customers during the week). This principle teaches us the intent of the blessing which Yaakov suggested for his descendants. In the blessing of the children, we aren’t asking that Hashem “make” our children into righteous people since this can only be accomplished through their own hard work; rather, we are asking that Hashem help them in whatever ways He can, operating through the natural processes of the world. The fact that Ephrayim and Menasheh — who grew up in conditions least favorable for spiritual greatness — grew up to be such righteous people shows that Hashem must have given them more than the usual help to achieve their aspirations, a wish we have for our children. 6. Majesty of Man (Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz) Making The Impossible Achievable. Why did Yaakov make Yoseph make an oath that he wouldn’t allow him to be buried in Egypt? Ramban teaches that if Pharaoh would have prohibited his burial in Canaan, Yoseph’s oath would have given him the extra strength to defy Pharaoh. If we focus on the impact of our actions (e.g., on our visiting a hospital patient, giving charity, etc.), it will imbue us with strength to do “chesed” (kindness) and mitzvos which we previously thought was beyond our capacity. 7. Artscroll Chumash A Note on the Shema. Rashi comments that Yaakov wished to tell his children when Moshiach would come (presumably to comfort them and their descendants during time of exile), but the Divine Presence deserted him. At first, he thought that it was because his children were unworthy, but when he asked them and they responded with the Shema, he exclaimed in gratitude “Baruch Shem Kavod . . . ” (the portion of the Shema which we ordinarily say under our breath). 8. D’rash Moshe (Rav Moshe Feinstein, z’tl) Accepting the Oral Law. And Yoseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but G-d will surely remember you and bring you up out of this land that He promised an oath to Abraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov.” Then Yoseph adjured the Children of Israel, saying, “when G-d will indeed remember you, you must bring my bones out of here.” Rashi notes that in the first verse, Yoseph said that he heard from Yaakov, and in the second verse he said that the same thing happened in his own name. First he handed down the tradition he received from Yaakov and then he said it himself. It seems that the tradition emanated only from Yaakov, but Rashi in Shemos states clearly that the tradition came from both Yaakov and Yoseph. What exactly was Yoseph’s role in the tradition? These verses teach us a fundamental lesson in the faith we must have in the words of the Prophets and in the sayings of our Sages, both of which are Divinely inspired. Anything we receive from these sources must be accepted with complete faith, as if we had seen and heard it spoken directly from Hashem Himself, not merely as words transmitted by our father. Thus, even though Hashem’s promise to Yaakov to redeem the Jews from Egypt, a prophecy, was only a received tradition as far as Yoseph was concerned, he nonetheless said it to his brothers in his own name as if he himself had heard it directly from Hashem. To give an example of what this means to us, the Sages said (in Sotah 2a) that forty days before the formation of the embryo, a heavenly voice announces that “so-and-so’s daughter is destined for so-and-so”. Once someone has married, then he or she must believe that Hashem intended their spouse specifically for them with as much unequivocal faith as if he or she had heard the heavenly proclamation his/herself. If this faith is indeed that clear, and he/she doesn’t feel that the marriage was the result of coincidence, then he/she and his/her spouse will live harmoniously all of their lives, for Hashem’s word is meant only for good and blessing. This example highlights the importance of accepting the words of our Sages as if we ourselves had heard them directly from Hashem. 9. The Chasem Sofer on Beresheis a. Yaakov’s Blessing of Yoseph. “And he blessed Yoseph and he said, Oh G-d before whom my forefathers Abraham and Yitzchak walked — G-d who shepherds me from my inception to this day — may the Angel who redeems me from all evil bless the lads and may my name be declared upon them and the names of my forefathers Abraham and Yitzchak and may they proliferate abundantly like fish within the land.” The Chasem Sofer notes that while seeming to bless Yoseph, Yaakov in reality blessed Yoseph’s children. This reminds us of the beautiful Aggadah in which Rabbi Yitzchak, having enjoyed the shades of a tree, sought to bless it. Since the tree was already blessed with Hashem’s bounty, he could only bestow upon it a wish: may your seed be like you. Similarly, Yoseph, blessed with all of his heart’s desires, was granted the baracha that his children follow in his path. The phrase “and may my name be declared upon name” may express Yaakov’s most sublime wish: just as I merited to have to have as worthy son as you, so may your children enjoy such outstanding children. b. When will the Messianic Era Occur? Then Yaakov called for his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves and I will tell you what will behalf you in the End of Days. Gather yourselves and listen, Oh Sons of Yaakov, and listen to Yaakov your father.” While many assert that these words describe how Yaakov saw — but failed to reveal — when Moschiach would come, these verses reveal the conditions necessary for His arrival: (a) “Gather!” Unite, rather than resorting to endless factionalization; (b) Even if you are crushed by the fear of relentless persecutions — even if it takes a Haman to make you repent — your repentance will precipitate the coming of Moschiach; and (c) the name “Yisroel” connotes a triumphant people, doing teshuvah not out of fear, but out of a sincere desire to return to Hashem. Any of these factors will produce the End of Days! 10. Living Each Day (Rabbi Abraham Twerski) Character refinement by faith. Yoseph said to his brothers: “Am I in place of G-d? You intended to harm me, but it was G-d’s intention that your actions turned out favorably.” In Vayishlach, we discussed that changing one’s character is difficult, if not impossible, without Torah, prayer and Divine assistance. It is much like the futility of being in a dark room and trying to drive the darkness out the window. If, however, you just light a candle, the darkness will disappear on its own. If one if diligent in Torah, prayer and connecting to Hashem, undesirable character traits can be removed. In this week’s Parsha, Yoseph’s brothers, following their father’s death, are nervous that Yoseph will now take revenge for their having previously sold him into slavery. Yoseph responds by assuring them that he has no intention of seeking revenge: “Am I in place of G-d,” he asked. Note that Yoseph does not say, “I will forgive you.” Rather, he points out how powerless he is to take revenge; hence, he has no intention of doing so. Is it not obvious, he asks, that we can not determine the outcome of our actions? What sense does it make for me to try to punish you? If it is the Divine Will that you will be spared from punishment, then all of my efforts will be in vain, just as your efforts to harm me were all in vain. Yoseph does not profess to be a saint who sets aside his deep resentment and be magnanimous in granting forgiveness. Rather, he dismisses seeking revenge as a useless act, because he considers revenge to be a futile feeling. That which G-d intends will come about regardless of our efforts to bring it about or prevent it. That is the ideal approach to ridding ourselves of undesirable traits. We must realize that we don’t control the world and that G-d does. The verse “You shall not take revenge” can also be correctly translated as “You can not take revenge.” It is simply out of our hands to make things happen. This is how undesirable traits — envy, greed, lust, vanity, etc. — should be eliminated. We need only know that what is intended to be will be, and that we are not intended to have we can not attain regardless of how much effort we exert. With proper faith in Hashem, everything will fall into proper place. 11. Reflections on the Sedra (Rabbi Zalman I. Posner). Keys To Survival. Jacob, feeling his death imminent, summoned his sons and said “come together and listen, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father.” “Come together” and “listen to Israel your father” are the dual keys to the survivial of the Jewish people. Factionalism is a luxury Jews cannot afford. G-d chose the entire Jewish people, not just certain segments of us. The second part of the verse, “listen to Israel your father,” reminds us that the true source of strength throughout our history has been that of the Torah and our faith in G-d. 12. Soul of the Torah: Insights Of the Chassidic Masters on the Weekly Torah Portions (Victor Cohen). a. “And He Lived” While the Parsha is entitled Vayechi (“And He Lived”), it really speaks of Jacob’s death. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, z’tl noted that Jacob’s life was one of connection to G-d that transcended the material world. Since he shared this quality with his descendants, he was perpetuated beyond his mortal lifetime. b. An Enduring Legacy. “Jacob our father did not die.” The S’fas Emes noted that when a child continues in his parents footsteps, it cannot be said that the parent has died. R’ Yisroel Modzitzer remaked that the statement “the house of Jacob is afire” means that in every Jewish heart there is a spark of the Divine. Of this spark, our Sages declared, “Jacob, our father, is not dead.” This flame would never be extinguished. c. Daily Appreciation. “So he blessed them that day.” The Lenchener commented that Jacob blessed Yoseph’s children that they ought to bless and thank G-d for today and never worry about the morrow. d. The Power of Prayer. “With my sword and with my bow”. The Kotzker commented that prayer is likened to a bow. The more one stretches a bow, the farther and higher the arrow goes. The same is true with prayer – the more we concentrate with Kavanah (deep feeling, the farther and higher it will reach. e. Being United. “Gather yourselves and listen.” The Mishmeres Itmer said that when we are united and remain close with one another, then G-d will listen to us. f. A Lesson In Patience. “And he saw a resting place, and that it was good . . . and he bent his shoulder to bear.” The Lubliner Rebbe noted that Jacob’s blessing to Issacher reflected Issacher’s ability to live in peace and harmony with his neighbors because “he bent his shoulder to bear.” That is, he learned to bend his shoulder, to let things go, and never to get involved with someone’s anger and manipulative behavior. On the same verse, R’ Bunim commented that when we desire release from worries, we can obtain it by bending our shoulders to anything that might befall us. By so doing, we can be spiritually satisfied no matter what the outcome. 13. Living Each Week (Rabbi Avraham Twerski). a. Living Each Day. “He [Jacob] blessed them [Yoseph’s sons] on that day. . .” Of what significance is it that the blessing occurred on that day? The verse may be translated just a bit differently, to read “he blessed them with that day.” Jacob gave them a blessing that they live their lives on the particular day in which they find themselves, unencumbered by the burdens of the past or worries about the future. This is indeed a blessing. If we only channel our energies towards doing that which can be productive, instead of squandering them and trying to make yesterday better or worrying about possible future eventualities, how much happier we would be! b. Avoidance of Envy. Why did Jacob single out Ephraim and Manasseh as the prototypes whom everyone would wish to emulate? Although Manasseh was the oldest of Yoseph’s two sons, Jacob had shown preference for the older Ephraim by placing his right hand on his head at the giving of the blessing. Although Yoseph objected, Manasseh bore it in silence. Upon seeing Manasseh’s reaction, Jacob said “let these two brothers be the examples for all Israel to follow.” When we see others who appear to have been given preferential treatment by G-d, let us remember the blessing of the Patriarch, and relate to his/her as Manasseh did to Ephraim. c. Reinforce Positive Traits. “. . . everyone according to his blessing did he bless them.” Rashi explains that Jacob gave each tribe the blessing appropriate and specific for it, although he also gave them a comprehensive, inclusive blessing. Inasmuch as each tribe had its own particular strengths and talents, each received a blessing or stimulus to develop that dominant trait. Although there was also a comprehensive blessing, the emphasis was on the uniqueness of each tribe. Rabbi Yeruchem notes that this is the most effective formula for character development. Each of us has unique character traits which lend themselves more easily to perfection. It is these traits which should receive greatest emphasis, and which we should try to perfect. In the process of doing so, there will be a ripple effect, so that other traits of lesser dominance will also be perfected. This is undoubtedly what the wise Solomon meant when he said, “train the child according to his trend.” Character development may appear to be a formidable task, but it becomes much simpler if we begin with our natural tendencies which are more conducive to perfection. The self-confidence and reassurance that we will gain from doing so will facilitate the development of our other traits. 14. Vedibarta Bam (Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky) a. To Be Blessed As Fish. Why did Yaakov bless them to multiply as the fish of the ocean? Like the fish, which cannot survive outside water, we cannot survive outside our source of life, the Torah. Additionally, the life of a fish depends in large measure on its vitality and its ability to swim up stream; Yaakov blessed his children to be capable and willing to swim up stream and resist the temptation of swimming with the tide. b. Righteous Children. “He blessed Yoseph saying. . . ‘ the angel who will redeem me from all evil should bless the lads [Menasheh and Ephraim].'” The Pasuk begins with Yaakov’s blessing to Yoseph and ends saying that he blessed Menasheh and Ephraim. What was the blessing for Yoseph? Yaakov’s blessing to Yoseph was that his children, Menasheh and Ephraim, should be righteous. When children conduct themselves in the proper way, the parents’ Nachas [joy] is the greatest blessing they for which they can wish. c. Faith At All Times. “Assemble yourselves, and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days. Yaakov gathered together his children and wanted to reveal the time of the coming of Moshiach. Suddenly, the Divine Presence left him. He began to worry, “maybe there is some fault in my children.” They immediately responded “Shema Yisrael, you believe in only one G-d and so do we.” Happily, Yaakov exclaimed “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.” What did Yaakov mean with this response? When a Jew finds himself in a troublesome situation, he oftens cries out “Shema Yisrael.” Yaakov was not surprised to hear his sons pronounce “Shema Yisrael” when they stood around his deathbed. However, he used the opportunity to convey an important legacy: “Do not express your absolute faith in Hashem only in times of anxiety and distress, but at all times and forever and ever. . .” d. True Self Awareness. “And he blessed them; everyone according to his blessings, he blessed them.” Superficially, the words of “Yaakov to Reuven, Shimon and Levi appear to be rebukes rather than blessings. If so, how can we reconcile this with the above verse? We are mortal and thus subject to failure. We must work hard to overcome personal inperfection. Often, we do not realize, or refuse to acknowledge, our shortcomings and therefore there is no striving for change or transformation. The greatest blessing is knowledge of personal weaknesses. Yaakov’s admonishment was indeed a great blessing. 15. The Pleasant Way (Adapted From The Teachings of Horav Avrohom Pam, Z’tl) The Power Of A Smile. “His eyes were red from wine and his teeth are whiter than milk.” The Talmud comments on Yaakov’s blessing to Yehudah that “that when a person displays the whites of his teeth (i.e., smiles warmly) at his friend, it is more beneficial than giving him a cup of milk to drink. When we smile warmly at another person, we make him/her feel good. We can do great acts of kindess with a simple smile or friendly word. With little time and effort, we can pull that person out of his troubled mood. Rav Yisroel Salanter used to say that our heart is a “reshus ha’yachid” (private domain) but our face is a “reshus ho’rabbim” (public domain). 16. Torah Gems (Rabbi Ahron Yaakov Greenberg) a. Healing The Sick. “And Israel bowed himself at the head of the bed. . .” From here Chazal learned that the Divine Presence is above the head of one who is ill (Rashi quoting the Talmud). (R’ Nachman of Breslov) b. Remaining Faithful. “And you shall Israel bless, saying, ‘G-d make you as a Ephraim and as Manassah. . .’ ” Why specifically as Ephraim and Manassah? Jacob realized that the time of the exile of his descendants was approaching and he knew that in exile their Jewishness would be endangered. He therefore blessed them that they should be as Ephraim and Manassah – the first Jews who were born, grew up and educated in exile. Despite this fact, they remained faithful to the House of Israel. (Yalkut Yehudah) c. The Trait of Humility. G-d make you as Ephraim and as Manassah. . . ” Why was Ephraim blessed before Manassah? The reason, the Torah tells us, is that he was “the younger,” (i.e., that he was not arrogant but acted with humility). This teaches us to what extent G-d loves humility. (Chofetz Chaim) d. Unity. “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that what shall befall you in the last days. . .” Yaakov wished to reveal to them the end [of days], so he said to them, “gather yourselves together”. For the end of the days to come, we all must be united (Shaloh). e. Balance. “And he saw that security was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute. . .” We must include all times, both physical and spiritual, together. When things are going well, we must remember the bad times and, if times are bad, we must remember the good times. Thus, when we see that our “security is good,” we must remember when we had to “bow our shoulder to bear,” and vice-versa. (Beitaharon By R’ Aharon of Karlin). * * * * Chazak, Chazak, Vinischazaik Next Parsha: Shemos

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Inuit have overcome many obstacles on the path to healing and reconciliation, and some examples will show how Inuit have utilized the visual arts to resist the forces of the European colonial legacy. Despite the numerous affronts deployed to protect Inuit society from the early to mid-twentieth century to the present, artmaking, as a consistent and positive presence in many Arctic Inuit communities over the past sixty years, has been an important factor in supporting Inuit cultural resilience.1 Processes of Colonization and Christianity in the North While Western discourse often separates, classifies, or compartmentalizes its objects of study, it would be imprudent to engage in a discussion of the impact of residential schooling on Inuit culture in isolation from the other nearly simultaneous and traumatic events experienced by Inuit communities during the mid-twentieth century. Following centuries of a relatively uninterrupted and fundamentally semi-nomadic lifestyle, even the prolonged contact with European whalers and explorers throughout the nineteenth century could not have prepared the Inuit for the rapid onslaught of European colonization in the Arctic over the span of the first half of the twentieth century. Residential schooling was only one facet of the numerous threats to Inuit sovereignty from the hegemonic colonial society that imposed a multitude of changes in the North. In many ways, Inuit culture is still reeling from the combined impacts of a number of detrimental changes. As such, it is not surprising that many Inuit artists have not often dealt directly or solely with residential schooling as artistic subject matter, but instead addressed the issues and impacts that have emerged from the elaborate convolution of these outside forces. For example, intergenerational trauma is one of the legacies of residential schools. Its effects occur when victims of trauma develop unhealthy ways of coping, such as self-medicating with drugs or alcohol and then unwittingly pass these dysfunctional behaviours on to their children. Alcoholism is one impact that arose out of residential schools and is represented through Inuit art. More famous for his drawings of birds and Arctic animals, Kananginak Pootoogook has created a significant series of narrative drawings that provide cogent examples of the ills of alcoholism in his community, despite only hinting at the origin of the problem. One of these drawings, which appeared in the Spring 2007 edition of Inuit Art Quarterly, is captioned by the artist: “This is the Inuk man’s first drink ever. Even though it’s only wine he is very intoxicated. This is the beginning of Alcoholism.”2 In the image, a white man attired like a trapper looks on with detached amusement while a clearly intoxicated Inuk sloshes a glass of red wine around. Sculptor Ovilu Tunnillie and graphic artist Annie Pootoogook, two women artists of the Inuit avant-garde, have also provided variations on the theme of impacts of alcohol. They too intertwine a variety of complex issues in their art by examining the relationship of alcohol with spousal abuse, negative self-image, and community impacts—all legacies of the colonial incursion in the North and, in some circumstances, the direct result of residential schools. Dramatic Changes to Inuit Lifestyle In the few short decades preceding the introduction of the residential school system to the North, the traditional way of life in the Arctic was already under threat of erosion due to the impact of Euro-Canadian culture throughout the North. Unlike the South, where the changes to Aboriginal communities were spread out over a century of increased Western European colonization and evangelization, Inuit culture had remained relatively intact and unscathed until the 1950s, largely because the Inuit had been ignored by the Canadian government and was isolated from prolonged contact with southerners. Beginning in the late nineteenth century (and much earlier in Labrador), Christian missionaries were dispatched to the Arctic and Subarctic, but it was not until the 1910s and 1920s that massive numbers of Inuit were rapidly and almost wholly converted primarily to the Catholic and Anglican faiths. The churches banned the Inuit converts from practicing numerous spiritual customs and cultural traditions, believing that the Inuit way of life to be fundamentally heathen and savage. At the same time, Hudson’s Bay Company trading posts had been established throughout the North, encouraging Inuit to abandon their semi-nomadic lifestyle and to settle in the communities established around the posts.3 This often led to the over-hunting of wildlife in the areas of settlement and further dependency on canned goods and packaged foods from the South. Diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis spread quickly throughout these new settlements as well.4 Seemingly overnight, Inuit populations had been converted to Christianity, were concentrated in settlements and threatened by disease, and had become dependant on trade goods. Sled dogs are alleged to have been slaughtered by RCMP officers throughout the eastern Arctic and elsewhere, further grounding the already partially immobilized Inuit.5 In northern Quebec and Labrador, Inuit communities were wholly relocated under the pretence of benefiting the community, but in reality serving government interests only.6 This had devastating consequences on the relocatees as well as on the settlements they overcrowded. Amidst this cultural turmoil, residential schools were introduced across the North under the pretext that the residential school system would be “the most effective way of giving children from primitive environments, experience in education along the lines of civilization leading to vocational training to fit them for occupations in the white man’s economy.”7 Inuit children were taken from their homes in large numbers and forced to learn the Qallunaat (Inuktitut for Europeans and Euro-Canadians) way of life at the expense of their own. Prior to 1955, less than 15 per cent of school-aged Inuit children were enrolled in residential schools; within a decade, this number would climb to over 75 per cent.8 The Survivors, while grateful for the education they received, had suffered greatly as children, and many grew up to be traumatized adults. Inuit children were forbidden to speak their own language or practice any aspect of their culture in the schools, dormitories, hostels, and other residences. The crux of assimilation lies in the adoption of the English language, so the prohibition on traditional languages was often strictly enforced with harsh punishments. Many students were physically, mentally, and sexually abused by those responsible for their care. Furthermore, Inuit children were made to feel ashamed of their traditional way of life, and many had developed disdain toward their parents, their culture, their centuries-old practices and beliefs, and even for the country foods their parents provided. The deleterious effects that the residential school system had on the health and well-being of these Survivors and their families were evident everywhere in their communities and were compounded by the other converging impacts of colonialism and evangelization. The Contemporary Inuit Arts Industry in the Arctic The aforementioned changes ushered in a new era of impoverishment to Inuit culture that took hold in the span of mere decades, and this had continued unabated throughout the 1950s and on into the next four decades. In the beginning of this era, the newly settled Inuit were presented with few opportunities for wage employment, and the fur trade was in sharp decline. Following the conclusion of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, Inuit were becoming increasingly dependent on the support of the federal government, and the federal government was becoming increasingly concerned with maintaining Arctic sovereignty, which dealt with it by way of taking responsibility for its Arctic citizens.9 During this period of increased and reluctant paternalism, the arts industry was one of the first experimental developments introduced to replace the fur trade. As an industry that required little machinery or overhead, it seemed to be work well-suited to remote northern areas, and the government sentiment seemed to be that the development of Inuit handicrafts was an avenue “for which nature has fitted them.”10 Most significantly, it was also one of the first opportunities for subjugated Inuit to regain a necessary measure of self-reliance. Instrumental in the success of this fledgling venture was teacher and artist James Houston, who travelled throughout the North during the 1950s and 1960s instructing Inuit on what things would sell in the South and liaised with the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Canadian Handicrafts Guild, and the federal government to purchase works, hold exhibitions, and market Inuit art to southerners. Under Houston’s guidance, the industry quickly grew into a viable economic substitute for the rapidly declining fur trade. Because Inuit had always carved and produced beautiful handmade clothing and personal adornments, they were already skilled for this arts industry. Furthermore, Inuit were quite accustomed to the process of manufacturing carvings for trade and sale; there are reports from as early as 1821 of Inuit bartering ivory figurines and models with seamen from whalers and other ships that visited Arctic waters.11 Moreover, there were many positive effects from the early carvings and handicrafts trade. Welfare administrator and teacher Margery Hinds reported on the improvement in morale in the encampments around Port Harrison;12 and RCMP officers reported similar accounts for other locales where welfare payments had decreased.13 Government administrators, and even many teachers, encouraged the production of handicrafts in the manner that Houston had laid out, and sales of arts and crafts went up in the communities where Houston was involved. Port Harrison, for example, experienced an increase in purchases from $76 in 1948 to $11,700 in 1952. In Povungnituk, the increase was from $90 to $1,900 for the same time span.14 Perhaps it was more significant that Inuit were being asked to depict their traditional and, in many cases, forbidden cultural practices in stone and, later, on paper and in textiles. Artists could illustrate the stories they had told for millennia as well as the Indigenous knowledge bestowed on them by their ancestors, the animals they had studied since childhood, and the traditional lifestyle they had so recently lived. While all around them their culture was being debased, devalued, and actively oppressed by the dual forces of colonialism and Christianity, these same values were revered, celebrated, and voraciously collected in their arts. For artists, there is no doubt that there was an economic motivation behind the creation of artworks that featured traditional themes, as their main audience in the beginning were the primitive art enthusiasts of the international art market; those who had romanticized notions about the daily lives of Inuit.15 The traditional subject matter of the artwork held a different meaning for this audience than it did for the makers. Inuit art buyers were able to imagine the Inuit as an untouched society, of which representations of this traditional lifestyle sold well, and Inuit were no doubt aware of this fact. It is undeniable that Inuit artists have been highly successful in creating traditional art that suits Western tastes, as the global market for Inuit art attests.16 However, as long as Inuit knowledge, stories, or practices portrayed in the artwork are not distorted or falsified to make them more saleable, the artwork can both appeal to a Western audience as well as act as an expression of cultural knowledge and cultural resilience. In fact, these motivate many Inuit artists today to continue making art about what life was like before colonization. Despite being his primary source of income, stone sculptor Uriash Puqiqnak stated, “When I carve, I try to convey what it was like for Inuit in the early 1940s.”17 Graphic artist Mayureak Ashoona has said of her artwork that “These are all about history – what has been going on. They are memories; the whole truth about all of life for those who forget about their history; to make sure that the young people know what really happened; to work both sides, from the past to the future; to communicate with people in the South because I can’t speak English. I am proud of that lifestyle – my Inuit life.”18 Impacts of Colonization and Christianity and Utilizing Art in the Healing Process In recent years, some artists have daringly stepped outside this framework to provide us with a number of divergent perspectives on the transformation of the North. These new artworks, uncommon and introspective, are a significant departure from the traditional imagery usually found in past decades, but I would argue that they serve similar ends: to strengthen from within a culture threatened by dominant outside forces and to examine the way of life as Inuit know it. As the second and third generation of Inuit artists emerge, the possibility of remembering a traditional and unmediated lifestyle becomes less likely, and the artwork is shifting to reflect this reality. The movement towards depicting the intercultural encounter between Inuit and Western worlds most prominently began with Pudlo Pudlat, the artist who first combined traditional Inuit transformation iconography with modern transportation technologies, such as depicting planes, ships, and helicopters in his art from the 1960s onward.19 This new approach to Inuit art seems to be accelerating of late and includes more social commentary and critique. This emergent socially conscious art is indicative of the increased ability of Inuit to reflect upon and respond to the multiple stressors of contemporary life. There has been a noticeable shift over the last two decades to a focus on daring, new intercultural or transcultural subject matter (as demonstrated in the work of Napatchie Pootoogook, Mike Massie, Toonoo Sharky, Floyd Kuptana, and many others) and what is hopefully a growing body of work that directly calls into question the legacy of trauma and colonization of the Arctic (as in the work of, Manasie Akpaliapik, Annie Pootoogook, and Oviloo Tunnilee). The aforementioned graphic artist, Annie Pootoogook, for example, presents an impressive self-reflexive and autobiographical account of her personal challenges. In one work, entitled Memory of My Life: Breaking Bottles (2001-02), Pootoogook expresses her frustration with family alcoholism by depicting the time she gathered all the liquor bottles up and smashed them.20 Such bold statements are novel to Inuit art, but indicate a willingness of Inuit artists to begin the difficult process of self-examination and a desire to rebound from adversity to become fortified and more resourceful—the essence of resilience. Yet to date, nowhere has this resilience and self-reflexivity been more evident than in the work of brothers Abraham Anghik Ruben21 and David Ruben Piqtoukun. Piqtoukun and Ruben are pioneers in the field who have drawn directly from their experiences as students of the residential school system to inspire their artwork. For the majority of students who attended residential school, the wounds inflicted by the system have left deep scars that continue to affect many aspects of their daily lives; so, from these two artists who have poured their memories and emotions into their artwork, we may be able to learn much about the power of self-expression to heal and fortify. For Ruben, becoming an artist was the catalyst for self-healing. In a 1991 interview, Ruben recounted the eleven years he spent suffering from the legacy of residential schooling until he met Alaskan Inupiaq artist Ron Senungetuk, a professor at the Native Arts Centre at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and began professional art training: “For the first time in years, I felt at home.”22 Since then, Abraham has gone on to create several bold works of social critique that bring awareness to the issues he holds dear: Kittigazuit (1999–2000), for example, narrates in the abstract a community decimated by foreign disease; and The Last Goodbye (2001) depicts with vivid clarity the pain he remembers his mother had experienced as she sent her two older children to residential school. For Piqtoukun, the solo exhibition Between Two Worlds: Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun was a revelation for artist and audiences alike. The artist created 62 works with such titles as Bearing Wounds (1995), Angst (1995), and Tradition Lost (1996). Taken together, these works expose the complexities and difficulties of cross-cultural translation and provide the viewer unmitigated access into Piqtoukun’s traumatic past and his continuing effort to strike a balance between two worlds. One of his most powerful messages of Inuit cultural resilience is present in The Ever-Present Nuns (1995), of which Piqtoukun wrote, “The four faces pointing in four directions represent the all-seeing nuns. They attempted to watch over and control the Inuit children in their school, even to control their inner lives. But the nuns could not see everything. They were blind to the owl spirit hovering directly above them.”23 From the tremendous efforts of these two siblings we have been given a remarkable insight into the potential of artmaking as a tool for both resisting colonization and strengthening Inuit voice. In fact, all of the artists featured in this essay have shown us that art can be creatively utilized as a vehicle to preserve and fortify our cultural heritage and as an instrument of both personal and collective healing. However, as we enter this period of unprecedented nationwide awareness around residential schools, the artwork of Inuit, First Nations, and Métis people can play another important role. The power of visual art to speak across linguistic, cultural, and generational divides presents an opportunity for artists to tell these stories to a broad audience and to support the continued strengthening and revitalization of the national reconciliation process. Heather Igloliorte is an Inuk artist, writer, and curator from Labrador. After graduating from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and a minor in art history, she moved to Ottawa to pursue her Master’s in Canadian Art History, specializing in Inuit art. While in the master’s program, Heather completed a year-long internship as a curatorial assistant at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, became involved with the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective (ACC), and was hired by the Carleton University Art Gallery to be the Curator of Inuit Art for the 2005–2006 academic year. Her artwork has been shown and sold all over the east coast and can be found in several public and private collections. Heather is now pursuing a doctorate in Inuit and other global Indigenous art histories at Carleton University with the Institute for Comparative Studies in Language, Arts, and Culture. Her dissertation research centres on the historic and contemporary visual arts of the Labradorimiut. She is also currently working on several upcoming exhibitions, including the nationally touring exhibit We Were So Far Away – The Inuit Experience of Residential Schools, which features the stories of eight Inuit former students of residential schools. ↩ - The Aboriginal Healing Foundation explains that resilience “is most often defined as the capacity to spring back from adversity and have a good life outcome despite emotional, mental or physical distress.… the adoption of “mature defenses” (i.e., humour and altruism) can help individuals overcome a lifetime of adversity; whereas anti-social or self-injurious coping strategies can aggravate existing risk factors and conditions. Breaking with the past and disrupting negative chain reactions are, therefore, critical steps in desisting from such negative strategies.… Culture and resilience intersect and help shape traditions, beliefs and human relationships. Traditional Aboriginal societies have placed great emphasis on fostering resilience for children and youth, but an oppressive colonial experience has often cut off Aboriginal parents from such cultural moorings. Notwithstanding, the resurgence of Aboriginal beliefs and practices, accompanied by traditional resilience promotion strategies, has given rise to promising interventions.” Stout, Madeleine Dion and Gregory Kipling (2003:iii – iv). Aboriginal People, Resilience and the Residential School Legacy. Ottawa, ON: Aboriginal Healing Foundation. It is my contention that artmaking is one of these promising interventions that may strengthen the resilience of Inuit culture against past and continued oppressions. ↩ - Cited in Kardosh, Robert (2007:14). The Other Kananginak Pootoogook. Inuit Art Quarterly 22(1):10–18. ↩ - Unfortunately, these government-created communities “were usually constructed at the site of the trading posts, inspite of the fact that these locations had been chosen to satisfy the demands of the fur trade (access to ports, for instance) and were not necessarily suited to supporting large colonies of people.” Mitchell, Marybelle (1993:336). Social, Economic, and Political Transformation among Canadian Inuit from 1950 to 1988. In In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Gatineau, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization: 333–356. ↩ - Norget, Kristen (2008:222). The Hunt for Inuit Souls: Religion, Colonization, and the Politics of Memory. In Gillian Robinson (ed.), The Journals of Knud Rasmussen: A Sense of Memory and High-Definition Storytelling. Montreal, QC: Isuma Productions: 217–236. ↩ - These allegations are currently under investigation by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. ↩ - In 1959, the Hebronimiut of Labrador, for example, had their community forcibly relocated to more southern Labrador communities because the non-Inuit administrators in Hebron felt that it was too expensive to continue to fly supplies to the coast; Inuit were promised new homes and jobs, yet those promises were never fulfilled. Brice-Bennett, Carol (2000). Reconciling with Memories: A Record of the Reunion at Hebron 40 Years after Relocation. Nain, NL: Labrador Inuit Association. ↩ - NAC RG85 volume 1507, file # 600-1-1, part 7. Report on Education in Canada’s Northland, 12 December 1954. ↩ - King, David (2006). A Brief Report of the Federal Government of Canada’s Residential School System for Inuit. Ottawa, ON: Aboriginal Healing Foundation. ↩ - Diubaldo, Richard (1985). The Government of Canada and the Inuit: 1900-1967. Ottawa, ON: Research Branch, Corporate Policy, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. ↩ - Canada. Department of the Interior (1928:10). Annual Report of the Department of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 1928. Ottawa, ON: Department of the Interior. ↩ - In order to obtain early trade goods from European whalers and other Arctic travellers, Inuit began producing quantities of figurines and miniatures specifically for the purpose of bartering. As early as 1821, William Parry recounted that Inuit who met his ships along the shores of Baffin Island were eager to trade their ivory models for “any trifle we chose to give them.” In Parry, William E. (1824:24). Journal of the Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Certain types of carvings and models of traditional tools, toys, and amulets were in high demand. In response, Inuit carvers produced these carvings in quantity for trade with Europeans. As George Swinton has pointed out in Sculpture of the Inuit, it was in this period that Inuit commercial art production truly first began. In Swinton, George (1999). Sculpture of the Inuit, 3rd revised edition. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart. ↩ - Goetz, Helga (1985). The Role of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in the Development of Inuit Art. Ottawa, ON: Inuit Art Section, Indian and Northern Affairs, Research and Documentation Centre (unpublished manuscript). ↩ - Graburn, Nelson H.H (2004). Authentic Inuit Art: Creation and Exclusion in the Canadian North. Journal of Material Culture 9(2):141–159. ↩ - These figures were estimates by Goetz, and include prices paid by the Guild, the HBC, the Catholic and Anglican missions, and military personnel. ↩ - It should be noted that several scholars have examined the motivations behind the avid collection of early contemporary Inuit art and, particularly, its acceptance into the international art market intrinsically linked as it was to the perception of Inuit as “primitive” peoples. This monetary motivation has been critiqued repeatedly by non-Inuit art historians over the short history of contemporary Inuit art, particularly because the promoters of Inuit art seem to have actively tried to conceal or minimize the importance of economic incentives to Inuit artists. This idea was capitalized upon by Inuit art’s most passionate promoter, James Houston, who keenly understood the mid-century modernist fascination with primitive peoples and used it to market Inuit art as the products of an untouched, exotic, and primitive society. This is in sharp contrast to the realities of Inuit life previously mentioned in this essay. For more information see, for example, Igloliorte, Heather (2007). Sanajatsarq: Reactions, Productions, and the Transformation of Promotional Practice. Inuit Art Quarterly 22(4):14–25. ↩ - Furthermore, Inuit artists have been often criticized for focusing on traditional themes and for representing themselves in a way that is different from the realities of daily life. These critics, while acknowledging that, as Robert Kardosh has said, “the expression of traditional subjects serves an important purpose by helping to preserve and sustain Inuit identity in an era of globalization,” still denounce this traditional art form as primarily motivated by the international art market’s nostalgic desire for the products of an authentic and primitive society. Kardosh, Robert (2007:16). The Other Kananginak Pootoogook. Inuit Art Quarterly 22(1):10–18. ↩ - Cited in Mitchell, Marybelle (1991:12). Seven Artists in Ottawa. Inuit Art Quarterly 6(3):6–17. ↩ - Cited in Feheley, Patricia (2001:14). Focus on Mayureak Ashoona. Inuit Art Quarterly 17(1):14–19 (italics removed). ↩ - Hessel, Ingo (1998). Inuit Art: An Introduction. New York, NY. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ↩ - See page 13 for this image printed in Feheley, Patricia (2004). Modern Language: The Art of Annie Pootoogook. Inuit Art Quarterly 19(2):10–15. ↩ - Ruben’s 2001 Brazilian soapstone carving, Wrestling With My Demons, was featured on the cover of the 2008 AHF publication, From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools. ↩ - Cited in Gunderson, Sonia (2005:20). Abraham Apakark Anghik Ruben: A View from the Top of the World. Inuit Art Quarterly 20(4):18–25. ↩ - Cited in Gillmor, Alison (1996:32). Between Two Worlds: Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun. Inuit Art Quarterly 11(4):30–34. ↩

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Early Childhood faculty attended a presentation during the first week of school on how to use classroom websites to communicate with parents while involving students in the process. The book Tech Tonic was referenced to emphasize when and how it is appropriate for young children to use technology, taking into consideration that it should support, not compete, with building relationships and a knowledge of nature. We also reviewed the Ten Principles For A New Literacy of Technology. PK5 students have been learning about how they're similar and different from each other. We used the projector to view photos of children around the world and notice their characteristics. When we asked our students what they noticed, they said: Students concluded we all have different hair, eyes, face, skin color, and clothes, but even though we look different on the outside, we are similar on inside; we all have a heart, a brain, lungs, a stomach, and bones. Finally, we used Google Maps to find Guadalajara and then we zoomed out to find the countries the children in the photos where from. This app gave children the opportunity to travel to Japan, Africa, Alaska, South America, among other places. Once we found each country, we used street view so students could imagine standing on the streets of each place and have a quick look at the buildings and cities there. Throughout the school year, our class enjoyed starring in videos about the children in K10. Recently, our students decided they were no longer satisfied with being the actors. They announced they wanted to be the ones to create the videos that are produced in K10. We discussed how to record a video using the iPad, what requirements were needed for the video to be of a good quality, and how to work as a team to create the best videos. In small groups we went even more in depth, discussing how the director helps the “star”. The students decided to work out a “thumbs up” signal for when the recording began so the students being recorded would know when to begin speaking. Finally, we learned how to edit the footage! These are some of the children's comments: In Nursery 3 we noticed it is not easy to explain to nursery students what Earth is. For children to understand this concept we gave them a visual image of Earth. With the help of Google Earth we could provide students with the opportunity to see Earth “from space” and zoom in on our school. After checking out ASFG, we went back out into space and let the children choose where to go. Many of them wanted to see their homes, others Disney World, others the beach. We took several quick “trips” to these different places. Students saw the Earth from a different perspective and noticed how daytime was on one side of the planet while night time was on another. Google Earth provided the children with the chance to see how all the different places they know exist in one single place; Planet Earth. This was the perfect introduction to begin our “Earth Week Unit” For a storytelling project in PK-K8, students were divided into two groups. Each group created their own story with everybody’s participation. Once the stories were finished and edited, each child made a drawing of their own part. These drawings were digitized and uploaded into iMovie. The children used a snowball microphone to input their voices for the video. They each had several try-outs and were able to choose their favorite piece of audio. We added titles and background music. The children enjoyed watching their story video several times. How can the classroom teacher use technology to more deeply explore children’s thinking? Encourage their reflection? Support the practice of thinking about their thinking (metacognition)? And how can technology be used so it is authentic and unique? These are questions we wrestle with as we use technology with young children. Currently PK-K 11 students are exploring the concept of cities. Children worked in groups to create a negotiated representation of a city or a facet of a city. Using a photograph of their finished construction, children reflected on what they had created together, while the teacher recorded their stories. They were encouraged to think about their thinking in the retelling of the experience. We then generated a list of commonalities based on these group constructions and began the phase of combining the elements into a paper city. Children referred to their photographed construction when drawing. They also used the iPad to support the translation from mental model to a concrete representation recognizable by all. Once all city landmarks were represented we took the drawings to the copy center. With the help of the copier we could reproduce our elements as well as size them according to the scale that was necessary. These were some questions we asked our students... ●Should a butterfly be half the size of a building? ●Are bicycles as large as cars? ●How can we make our cruise ship be scaled to fit the designated city space in the classroom? Our handy photocopier allowed us to tackle spatial relations and manipulate our drawings so that there was proportion and scale. PK-9 students have been learning about patterns. We went out in small groups around campus to look for patterns in our environment and children photographed these patterns with the iPad. After selecting which photographs they wanted to share with their classmates and parents on the Pk-9 website, we uploaded the pictures into a slideshow. The students’ homework was to have parents check the website to see the slideshow and to look for patterns in their home or garden and have parents email these photographs to the teacher. After about a week, we looked at the photographs the children took with their parents and shared the photographs with the rest of the class on the overhead projector. Children explained to their friends the patterns they found, saying: In K7 students have been using technology to enhance their learning about trees. Students watched various children’s videos about the parts of trees, about animals that live in trees, and about different types of forests. Students were able to use the Smart Board to draw the parts of a tree and drag words to label these parts. Students used the classroom iPad to take pictures of leaves and of a tree dwelling. They used these photographs when writing descriptive words about trees and creating a classroom tree display. N1 students explored and used WhatsApp to send and receive messages from their teacher, who has been absent due to a surgery. They have been in communication with her, sending good wishes and telling her all about their winter vacation. Children have learned a new way of communication and have used technology to be close to their teacher. PK5 students have been learning about winter, the animals that live in the Arctic and the Antarctica, and the type of clothes we can use for cold weather. For this project children engaged in many different activities, made winter crafts and checked out books from the library to learn more about Arctic and Antarctic animals, icebergs and snow. We set up an environment with music and animal sounds, winter/snowy photos on the SMART Board and some paper puppets for students to explore this topic further. To finalize this project, children used the Google Cardboard viewers to experience virtual reality and get immersed in a journey full of fun environments and experiences in the Arctic! Some of their comments were: In a vertical meeting with pre-first teachers, we agreed it would be a good idea to teach a common song for letter names and sounds. We also agreed that it would be helpful for children to represent each letter and a word that started with that letter, using their bodies. We recorded children’s movements and voices and are now ready to share our video with all children in EC and pre-first. Some comments from children were: Coming up with ideas for the movements was easy for all children, recording the video was challenging for some of them and trying to match our voices to the video was challenging for everyone, including us. We all enjoyed, got frustrated, got over our frustration, learned, had fun and are very proud to be able to show the video to our loved ones. Children, parents, and PK-K 11 teachers helped create our classroom eBook, “Watch Me Grow”, by using the app Book Creator and a voice recorder. Parents were given directions on how to download the classroom eBook on their own devices through our classroom website. In this video Marcelo and Mateo look at the book and guess whose baby photo they see, listening to the voice recording and then verifying their guess by swiping the page to see if that friend indeed appeared. Mateo and Marcelo independently began repeating the English sentences they heard. They also found similarities between classmates as they listened carefully to their friends speak in English all the while having fun! This experience allowed children to use technology in a transformative way, as they used the eBook to self-direct meaningful learning. Monarch butterflies in Nursery 3 It was a busy day at school, and we did not want to take our eyes off the Monarch butterfly chrysalis in the science area, since we suspected the butterfly was going to emerge soon. We had to continue with our daily activities, but “what could we do to not miss out on the birth?” We let our iPad record the process as a “time lapse” as we continued with our activities. After an hour the butterfly was born. We did not notice until later but luckily, we had everything recorded on video! We reviewed our iPad to see the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. Then we played it on the TV and children asked to see it over and over again. It was amazing! Children were able to capture these incredible changes in their environment thanks to the technology available to us. In PK4 children have been learning that shapes can be used to draw different things and that things are also made out of different shapes. So they went walking on a “Shape Hunt” around the section and using the Doodle Buddy App in the iPad, children took photos of different things they found that were shaped like a circle or were round. Back in the classroom, they took turns to choose a photo from the gallery, add it to the app, and then look for the circles in the picture and trace over them using the different tools the App offered. Most children were able to notice other shapes in the pictures they took. This was done with other shapes as well. In K7 students have been learning about how they can use technology to enhance their learning. Students had the opportunity to be recorded speaking about their favorite thing to do at school. They then watched the videos and were able to change what they said or how they said it. These short videos were made into a classroom video that all students viewed and discussed. Also, students were recorded singing an alphabet song. The song was then posted to the classroom website. Parents were invited to sit down with their children and learn the song together at home. After attending a RedSOLARE’s conference called Viajando con los niños a través de mundos digitales, early childhood teachers presented a workshop for our section’s faculty meant to provoke curiosity and interest in the use of technology with young children. Teachers were brought to a magical, awe inspiring environment created with different materials (flashlights, mirrors, pieces of fabric, plastic shapes, toys) and technological resources (smart board, webcam, an LCD projector, an overhead projector, desktop, and laptop) and asked to interact and explore the possibilities these materials offer young children. For the first few minutes we asked teachers to do this in silence so that the materials could speak for themselves. By playing and manipulating light, shadow, shapes, perspective, and movement, teachers created stories, moods, and surroundings and learned how to introduce and better use different technological resources in their classrooms. Nursery students have been exploring with the section’s copy machine, making copies of drawings and objects like shoes and pencils, …even their own hands! The children were shown how the machine is turned on and off, how to re-fill the paper container, and how to make copies. They developed theories about how the copier works, what it can do, and what a copy is: After this introduction, we made copies of the children’s fingers showing numbers 1-10, thus linking math and technology. Nursery 3 has been using technology as an assessment tool. The SMART board was recently used to make a final nursery evaluation of letter skills. The next step will be to print the images of what they did in the SMART board and classify their names in groups based on the quantity of letters or initial sound. These can be grouped in the form of a chart or graph for children to analyze and manipulate.The SMART board was also used to support students practicing their name. They counted the number of letters in their names and wrote the number. In PK4 we have been encouraging our students to become authors and illustrators. We asked them to write their own book with their parents. They brought their books to school and shared them with the rest of the class and then began interviewing one another and recording each other reading their books with the classroom iPad. They had so much fun! This month, PK5 has been working with the phrase “What do you see?”. We have been focusing on the idea of what makes up the world around us. The things and people that we see are a part of our learning environment. Several “expert photographers” have learned how to use a camera independently and they are teaching their peers how to turn on the camera, zoom in and out and review the photos that they have taken. Children in K6 chose a song to learn for Mother’s Day. We watched the original video of the song and children got excited about making their own video. We then talked about the things we needed to know to make the video and the first thing they came up with was that they needed to learn the lyrics for the song, so we looked for them in Google and printed them. Most of the children were very excited to know they could get the lyrics for most songs and then download them in print. We talked about the importance of using Google and YouTube only with adult supervision. The next thing they wanted to know was the steps to dance along with the song. We watched some dancing lessons on YouTube and some children made a video to share some ideas with their friends of the steps they could use for the Mother’s Day presentation. Students in K7 used technology to assist them in a unit on homes. Families sent a photo of the child’s own home that students used to draw a realistic picture. We also used the photos to describe parts of a house and practice speaking in complete sentences in English. Then, we used the computer to map where the children lived in relation to ASFG and in relation to the rest of the world, and finally, the students used the SMART board to draw realistic houses. We have been studying airplanes for several weeks and wanted to use this theme for our Father’s Day gift. We decided to have the children make a special drawing of themselves and their father, flying in a plane/helicopter. The students were presented with a wide assortment of previously downloaded landscape photos. Each student selected his/her favorite and pasted the drawing on it. Our students then dictated a story based on this work to their teacher. They gave each story a title and chose their favorite part of story event to write a sentence. We brought in a special microphone and after practicing their sentence, the children recorded their voice into the computer. We created a video in iMovie using the children’s artwork, written work, and voice recordings together with special sound effects: This is an example of one of the stories: Looking at the World - by Elena “Once upon a time, my dad and me were in a helicopter looking at the whole world. We saw our tower where my dad lived with me. I went to his office, to where he works. I did a little of his job. He had a meeting. I ate a little bit of his chocolate. Then I was hungry again, and ate another one of his chocolates. Then I ate dinner at my house.” K10 finished their eBook "The Pigeon Goes to School" and can independently access it on the classroom’s iPad in iBook. En la clase de español, nos hemos enfocado en analizar las diversas formas que un libro es presentado de manera electrónica. Para lograr este objetivo, se les explicó a los alumnos el título de un eBook y qué componentes o aplicaciones vienen inmersas en el mismo para que ellos puedan manipularlo y aprovechar todas las ventajas que ofrece. Uno de los eBooks en español estudiados tiene por título “Tab, el murciélago blanco”. Los alumnos de kínder tuvieron la oportunidad de escuchar la historia por parte de la maestra , analizar las diferencias con la lectura e imágenes interactivas, y también disfrutar de los juegos incluidos diseñados para un mejor raciocinio. Varios de los alumnos decidieron llevar más allá su aprendizaje y realizar diversas actividades que involucran al personaje principal “Tab”. “The most powerful and effective way for children to begin learning the complex process of learning about letters is by writing their own names” - CAROL LYONS Since the beginning of the school year, N1 students have been practicing how to trace their initial letter, learn it’s sound, and to copy their complete name from a name card. Now we are encouraging children to sound out their name and write it by memory. We video recorded each child doing this and showed the videos to the class. This has motivated children to give this task their best effort. They have enjoyed watching themselves and each other while learning new letter sounds in their friends names. Students in Prekinder 9 filmed videos with the assistance of their teachers to send messages to classmates, parents and friends. We used the digital camera to record students sending messages. Students reviewed their recordings to see if they could improve it or if they were satisfied with the recording. We showed the students how the videos were transferred from the digital camera to the computer. When asked how they thought the video on the camera got onto the computer, Simon explained, “The movie goes through the white cable and then we can see it on the computer.” We then used these recordings to make short clips to share with friends and family. Students were able to see how their messages were shared with parents and friends on computers and cell phones. The children loved this activity! We are studying sunflowers in K10. First, we watched a video of a sunflower growing in a time lapse. After that, students took a photo of a seed using the iPad and then used the app Doodle Buddy to draw the roots and the flower growing from the seed. When they finished they saved the photo to the iPad’s gallery. Students enjoyed imagining how the seeds we planted will grow. It also helped them understand the life cycle of a plant using a different media. Once our sunflowers grow bigger, we will compare the photos of the children’s drawings to the actual plants and check if their predictions of how the flower would look like were right. En la clase de español, a los alumnos de kínder les gusta utilizar los diversos recursos tecnológicos para comunicarse con sus compañeros de generación que están en otros salones. Algunos de ellos se conocen por haber compartido anteriores grados escolares o debido a su convivencia durante el tiempo de recreo. Para fomentar aún más esta dinámica y enlazarla a los diversos objetivos de aprendizaje correspondientes al grado kínder, hemos invitado a los alumnos a utilizar el celular para enviar mensajes de voz relacionados a libros leídos por la maestra o para ayudar a comprender un tema en particular. La maestra graba los audios y los comparte con los alumnos de tal forma que surja una conversación entre ellos. Los alumnos de kínder también han participado activamente en la creación de sus propios libros o historias. Debido a la experiencia que han adquirido han realizado por iniciativa de la maestra un video en el que comparten sugerencias o tips sobre cómo crear tu propio libro. In N2, we have been exploring the possibilities an overhead projector can offer. We began by using our bodies to play and understand how the device works. Later on, some students added objects from the classroom to the play, discovering that the shadows created differ according to the objects’ properties. Some of the ideas that popped up were: Another day, after playing with objects collected outdoors (rocks, shells, sticks, and leaves) a student said “these make shadows because they’re not transparent”. Noticing the connection he was making, we decided to put these objects together with the projector and explore. While playing with them and seeing their shadows on the wall, students felt inspired and began creating a story using the shadows reflected as a background. Finally, they used the projector and their drawings on these acetates to tell a story to their friends. The final product, was a beautiful story told by 3-year-old students interacting with technology. Pre Kinder 5 students have been introduced to a listening center in the classroom. This provides the students with the opportunity to hear their favorite books by their favorite authors, read aloud again and again. We have set up 3 headsets next to the students’ computer so the children can enjoy listening with their friends. We have seen their focus and concentration increase, because as of now, our listening center provides only audio. We have chosen not to use videos of books because we want the children to focus on the words, to improve their listening skills and build vocabulary. Most of our books have interesting music, and sound effects, and the narrators use silly voices and dramatic ways in which to tell the stories. Our students have enjoyed taking turns at the listening center. Children in K6 have being learning a song for parent’s day. While searching for the song in YouTube, they discovered a video where girls were dancing to the song. My students decided to copy some of the steps and invent some of their own moves. One student suggested we make a video to show these new dance steps to their classmates in order to help them learn the dance for our upcoming performance. As classrooms have experienced erratic attendance due to the seasonal flu, PK-K 11 students are using technology to bridge distances to share important moments, such as one friend’s birthday celebration. Children learned how to count down from 3 to 0 before speaking. Each group of children picked the background they wanted to use and they figured out how to space themselves out so that the camera can capture all participants in the video. The only hurdle we have yet to overcome is how we can share birthday cake! Nursery students celebrated World Read Aloud Day by sharing stories among nursery classrooms with our webcams. Miss Cynthia from N1 read a story to N3 using their classroom computer and we enjoyed looking at her on the TV. Later on, we read a story to N2 students, and they then read a story to us. For this activity we used our computer webcams to communicate through Google Hangouts. To prepare for this experience, N3 arranged for the webcam to face the carpet so children could watch themselves on the TV screen while they were being recorded. They danced, made faces, and played while trying to figure out how this could happen. Some students thought about a camera connected to the TV and computer, but they still have not found the camera nor gotten the answers to this “magical” technology, as they called it. We plan on doing more of these fun activities so children can keep playing and discovering how tech devices work. In Pre Kinder 4 we have been working on a Day and Night unit and studying shadows. We took out the old overhead projector and allowed children to explore and play with different materials, while moving the objects around and even starting to trace the shadows with a dry erase marker on the whiteboard. We also watched a video on YouTube to understand a little bit more about how shadows are made and planned an outdoor activity where children searched for shadows around our playground and took photos of the shadows they found with the classroom iPad and camera. Along with our Day and Night unit we have been talking about the moon and its phases. We brought a telescope to the classroom as a provocation and children really enjoyed exploring it and looking for the moon during the day. After observing the moon over the month of February and watching how it changes, we posted a picture on the screen for students to copy on black cardboard and white crayons Students in K7 have enjoyed learning about animals that make their homes in the Arctic and Antarctic. We watched videos and studied photos on the iPad and computer. By seeing the animals in photos and videos online children were able to understand why many animals in the Artic and Antarctic are white. They looked at maps online to help them understand where the Arctic and Antarctic are in relation to Mexico. They also found photos of animals to print out. This helped with a final art project where they drew animals in a realistic way. In PK-K8 we’ve been studying several poems, rhymes, and songs for our Balanced Literacy program during the school year. The children have been exposed to them in writing, in storybooks and online. Many students are now confident enough to search for them in the different websites available, such as Starfall. For our 100 days of school, students used the “Aging app” in our iPad to discover what they would look like at 100 years of age. At the beginning, the teachers were taking photos of their students and showing them how to make the “transformation”. Later on, students started to take “selfies” and configured the “aging” process on their own Nursery 1 students created a virtual forest in the classroom for their plastic animals. By placing a photo of a forest on the overhead projector and choosing an audio recording of rain, they used their bodies and plastic animals to create light and shadow and move inside the environment. "NOTHING WITHOUT JOY" -Loris Malaguzzi One of our US students in PK9 brought a Super Bowl cake to the classroom to share with his classmates. We took this opportunity to learn a little about American football. We looked at different historical football photographs from the National Geographic webpage and found some recent uploads of the summary of this year’s Super Bowl game on YouTube. The students watched the videos and discussed their experience watching the game. Here is a link to one of the conversations. For the last two months, K10 has been studying and researching Mo Willems to learn a little about his life and work. We learned that Willems has a daughter named Trixie and that’s why he gave the same name to one of the main characters in his Knuffle Bunny books. This helped children understand that an author can be inspired by personal experiences and use this to create new stories. Children also noticed that Willems uses real photographs for the settings of his books and then he draws the characters as illustrations. We compared this type of illustration to other Willems’ books and reflected on how, as the illustrator of a book, you can decide the style and technique you want to use. Children loved the idea of using real photos, so we decided to create a story together using Willems’ style. The class decided they wanted the story to be about the Pigeon becoming a student in K10. We titled the book “The Pigeon Goes to School.” Each child mentioned a part of the routine they would like Pigeon to do, and we took a photograph of that child doing the chosen activity. Then we printed the photo in black and white, asked each student to draw a picture of Pigeon, and had the child cut and paste the drawing on the photo to make it look like a Knuffle Bunny book. Children just finished this part of the process. The next step will be to audio record their voices and turn the book into an ebook using the app Book Creator. En la clase de español los alumnos de kínder han estado disfrutando de los videos creados por sus compañeros en los que leen sus propias historias y han utilizado la cámara para tomar fotografías de las historias con el objetivo de compartirlas con sus amigos o familiares.

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A ballad // is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "danced songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Ireland and Britain from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America. Ballads are often 13 lines with an ABABBCBC form, consisting of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. Another common form is ABAB or ABCB repeated, in alternating 8 and 6 syllable lines. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the term took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is often used for any love song, particularly the sentimental ballad of pop or rock, although the term is also associated with the concept of a stylized storytelling song or poem, particularly when used as a title for other media such as a film. The ballad derives its name from medieval French dance songs or "ballares" (L: ballare, to dance), from which 'ballet' is also derived, as did the alternative rival form that became the French ballade. As a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. Musically they were influenced by the Minnelieder of the Minnesang tradition. The earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is "Judas" in a 13th-century manuscript. Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines. These refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating lines of iambic (an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable) tetrameter (eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (six syllables), known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed (in the scheme a, b, c, b), which has been taken to suggest that, originally, ballads consisted of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. This can be seen in this stanza from "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet": The horse | fair Ann | et rode | upon | He amb | led like | the wind |, With sil | ver he | was shod | before, With burn | ing gold | behind |. There is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. In southern and eastern Europe, and in countries that derive their tradition from them, ballad structure differs significantly, like Spanish romanceros, which are octosyllabic and use consonance rather than rhyme. Ballads usually are heavily influenced by the regions in which they originate and use the common dialect of the people. Scotland's ballads in particular, both in theme and language, are strongly characterised by their distinctive tradition, even exhibiting some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of supernatural elements such as travel to the Fairy Kingdom in the Scots ballad "Tam Lin". The ballads do not have any known author or correct version; instead, having been passed down mainly by oral tradition since the Middle Ages, there are many variations of each. The ballads remained an oral tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the 18th century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy (1729–1811) to publish volumes of popular ballads. In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a self-contained story, often concise, and rely on imagery, rather than description, which can be tragic, historical, romantic or comic. Themes concerning rural laborers and their sexuality are common, and there are many ballads based on the Robin Hood legend. Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas. Scholars of ballads have been divided into "communalists", such as Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) and the Brothers Grimm, who argue that ballads are originally communal compositions, and "individualists" such as Cecil Sharp, who assert that there was one single original author. Communalists tend to see more recent, particularly printed, broadside ballads of known authorship as a debased form of the genre, while individualists see variants as corruptions of an original text. More recently scholars have pointed to the interchange of oral and written forms of the ballad. The transmission of ballads comprises a key stage in their re-composition. In romantic terms this process is often dramatized as a narrative of degeneration away from the pure 'folk memory' or 'immemorial tradition'. In the introduction to Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802) the romantic poet and historical novelist Walter Scott argued a need to 'remove obvious corruptions' in order to attempt to restore a supposed original. For Scott, the process of multiple recitations 'incurs the risk of impertinent interpolations from the conceit of one rehearser, unintelligible blunders from the stupidity of another, and omissions equally to be regretted, from the want of memory of a third.' Similarly, John Robert Moore noted 'a natural tendency to oblivescence'. According to Scott, transcribed ballads often have a 'flatness and insipidity' compared to their oral counterparts. European Ballads have been generally classified into three major groups: traditional, broadside and literary. In America a distinction is drawn between ballads that are versions of European, particularly British and Irish songs, and 'Native American ballads', developed without reference to earlier songs. A further development was the evolution of the blues ballad, which mixed the genre with Afro-American music. For the late 19th century the music publishing industry found a market for what are often termed sentimental ballads, and these are the origin of the modern use of the term 'ballad' to mean a slow love song. The traditional, classical or popular (meaning of the people) ballad has been seen as beginning with the wandering minstrels of late medieval Europe. From the end of the 15th century there are printed ballads that suggest a rich tradition of popular music. A reference in William Langland's Piers Plowman indicates that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material is Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495. Early collections of English ballads were made by Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) and in the Roxburghe Ballads collected by Robert Harley, (1661–1724), which paralleled the work in Scotland by Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Inspired by his reading as a teenager of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry by Thomas Percy, Scott began collecting ballads while he attended Edinburgh University in the 1790s. He published his research from 1802 to 1803 in a three-volume work, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Burns collaborated with James Johnson on the multi-volume Scots Musical Museum, a miscellany of folk songs and poetry with original work by Burns. Around the same time, he worked with George Thompson on A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. Both Northern English and Southern Scots shared in the identified tradition of Border ballads, particularly evinced by the cross-border narrative in versions of "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" sometimes associated with the Lancashire-born sixteenth-century minstrel Richard Sheale. It has been suggested that the increasing interest in traditional popular ballads during the eighteenth century was prompted by social issues such as the enclosure movement as many of the ballads deal with themes concerning rural laborers. James Davey has suggested that the common themes of sailing and naval battles may also have prompted the use (at least in England) of popular ballads as naval recruitment tools.[unreliable source?] Key work on the traditional ballad was undertaken in the late 19th century in Denmark by Svend Grundtvig and for England and Scotland by the Harvard professor Francis James Child. They attempted to record and classify all the known ballads and variants in their chosen regions. Since Child died before writing a commentary on his work it is uncertain exactly how and why he differentiated the 305 ballads printed that would be published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. There have been many different and contradictory attempts to classify traditional ballads by theme, but commonly identified types are the religious, supernatural, tragic, love ballads, historic, legendary and humorous. The traditional form and content of the ballad were modified to form the basis for twenty-three bawdy pornographic ballads that appeared in the underground Victorian magazine The Pearl, which ran for eighteen issues between 1879 and 1880. Unlike the traditional ballad, these obscene ballads aggressively mocked sentimental nostalgia and local lore. Broadside ballads (also known as 'broadsheet', 'stall', 'vulgar' or 'come all ye' ballads) were a product of the development of cheap print in the 16th century. They were generally printed on one side of a medium to large sheet of poor quality paper. In the first half of the 17th century, they were printed in black-letter or gothic type and included multiple, eye-catching illustrations, a popular tune title, as well as an alluring poem. By the 18th century, they were printed in white letter or roman type and often without much decoration (as well as tune title). These later sheets could include many individual songs, which would be cut apart and sold individually as "slip songs." Alternatively, they might be folded to make small cheap books or "chapbooks" which often drew on ballad stories. They were produced in huge numbers, with over 400,000 being sold in England annually by the 1660s. Tessa Watt estimates the number of copies sold may have been in the millions. Many were sold by travelling chapmen in city streets or at fairs. The subject matter varied from what has been defined as the traditional ballad, although many traditional ballads were printed as broadsides. Among the topics were love, marriage, religion, drinking-songs, legends, and early journalism, which included disasters, political events and signs, wonders and prodigies. Literary or lyrical ballads grew out of an increasing interest in the ballad form among social elites and intellectuals, particularly in the Romantic movement from the later 18th century. Respected literary figures Robert Burns and Walter Scott in Scotland collected and wrote their own ballads. Similarly in England William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced a collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 that included Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats were attracted to the simple and natural style of these folk ballads and tried to imitate it. At the same time in Germany Goethe cooperated with Schiller on a series of ballads, some of which were later set to music by Schubert. Later important examples of the poetic form included Rudyard Kipling's "Barrack-Room Ballads" (1892-6) and Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1897). Victorian poet Christina Rossetti used ballad forms to explore spiritual and moral issues and to discuss the stereotypical treatment and representation of men and women's roles in society. In the 18th century ballad operas developed as a form of English stage entertainment, partly in opposition to the Italian domination of the London operatic scene. It consisted of racy and often satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs that are deliberately kept very short to minimize disruptions to the flow of the story. Rather than the more aristocratic themes and music of the Italian opera, the ballad operas were set to the music of popular folk songs and dealt with lower-class characters. Subject matter involved the lower, often criminal, orders, and typically showed a suspension (or inversion) of the high moral values of the Italian opera of the period. The first, most important and successful was The Beggar's Opera of 1728, with a libretto by John Gay and music arranged by John Christopher Pepusch, both of whom probably influenced by Parisian vaudeville and the burlesques and musical plays of Thomas d'Urfey (1653–1723), a number of whose collected ballads they used in their work. Gay produced further works in this style, including a sequel under the title Polly. Henry Fielding, Colley Cibber, Arne, Dibdin, Arnold, Shield, Jackson of Exeter, Hook and many others produced ballad operas that enjoyed great popularity. Ballad opera was attempted in America and Prussia. Later it moved into a more pastoral form, like Isaac Bickerstaffe's Love in a Village (1763) and Shield's Rosina (1781), using more original music that imitated, rather than reproduced, existing ballads. Although the form declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century its influence can be seen in light operas like that of Gilbert and Sullivan's early works like The Sorcerer as well as in the modern musical. In the 20th century, one of the most influential plays, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's (1928) The Threepenny Opera was a reworking of The Beggar's Opera, setting a similar story with the same characters, and containing much of the same satirical bite, but only using one tune from the original. The term ballad opera has also been used to describe musicals using folk music, such as The Martins and the Coys in 1944, and Peter Bellamy's The Transports in 1977. The satiric elements of ballad opera can be seen in some modern musicals such as Chicago and Cabaret. Native American balladsEdit Native American ballads are ballads that are native to North America (not to be confused with ballads performed by Native Americans). Some 300 ballads sung in North America have been identified as having origins in British traditional or broadside ballads. Examples include 'The Streets of Laredo', which was found in Britain and Ireland as 'The Unfortunate Rake'; however, a further 400 have been identified as originating in North America, including among the best known, 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett' and 'Jesse James'. They became an increasing area of interest for scholars in the 19th century and most were recorded or catalogued by George Malcolm Laws, although some have since been found to have British origins and additional songs have since been collected. They are usually considered closest in form to British broadside ballads and in terms of style are largely indistinguishable, however, they demonstrate a particular concern with occupations, journalistic style and often lack the ribaldry of British broadside ballads. The blues ballad has been seen as a fusion of Anglo-American and Afro-American styles of music from the 19th century. Blues ballads tend to deal with active protagonists, often anti-heroes, resisting adversity and authority, but frequently lacking a strong narrative and emphasising character instead. They were often accompanied by banjo and guitar which followed the blues musical format. The most famous blues ballads include those about John Henry and Casey Jones. The ballad was taken to Australia by early settlers from Britain and Ireland and gained particular foothold in the rural outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales written in the form of ballads often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia in The Bush, and the authors and performers are often referred to as bush bards. The 19th century was the golden age of bush ballads. Several collectors have catalogued the songs including John Meredith whose recording in the 1950s became the basis of the collection in the National Library of Australia. The songs tell personal stories of life in the wide open country of Australia. Typical subjects include mining, raising and droving cattle, sheep shearing, wanderings, war stories, the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, class conflicts between the landless working class and the squatters (landowners), and outlaws such as Ned Kelly, as well as love interests and more modern fare such as trucking. The most famous bush ballad is "Waltzing Matilda", which has been called "the unofficial national anthem of Australia". Sentimental ballads, sometimes called "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads" owing to their popularity with the middle classes, had their origins in the early "Tin Pan Alley" music industry of the later 19th century. They were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera (descendants perhaps of broadside ballads, but with printed music, and usually newly composed). Such songs include "Little Rosewood Casket" (1870), "After the Ball" (1892) and "Danny Boy". The association with sentimentality led to the term "ballad" being used for slow love songs from the 1950s onwards. Modern variations include "jazz ballads", "pop ballads", ""rock ballads", "R&B ballads" and "power ballads". - W. Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (Harvard, 1944; 2nd edn., 1972), p. 70. - A. Jacobs, A Short History of Western Music (1972, Penguin, 1976), p. 21. - W. Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (1944, Harvard, 1972), pp. 70-72. - J. E. Housman, British Popular Ballads (1952, London: Ayer Publishing, 1969), p. 15. - A. Jacobs, A Short History of Western Music (Penguin 1972, 1976), p. 20. - A. N. Bold, The Ballad (Routledge, 1979), p. 5. - "Popular Ballads", The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, p. 610. - D. Head and I. Ousby, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 66. - T. A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art (ABC-CLIO, 1997), p. 81. - "Popular Ballads" The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, pp. 610-17. - "Songs of Protest, Songs of Love: Popular Ballads in Eighteenth-Century Britain | Reviews in History". www.history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-12-12. - M. Hawkins-Dady, Reader's Guide to Literature in English (Taylor & Francis, 1996), p. 54. - T. A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art (ABC-CLIO, 1997), p. 353. - Ruth Finnegan, Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context (Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 140. - "The Influence of transmission on the English Ballads", Modern Language Review 11 (1916), p. 387. - B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 45. - Gregory, E. David (April 13, 2006). Victorian Songhunters: The Recovery and Editing of English Vernacular Ballads and Folk Lyrics, 1820-1883. Scarecrow Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-4616-7417-7. Retrieved August 30, 2017. - D. Gregory, '"The Songs of the People for Me": The Victorian Rediscovery of Lancashire Vernacular Song', Canadian Folk Music/Musique folklorique canadienne, 40 (2006), pp. 12-21. - Robin Ganev,Songs of Protest, Songs of Love: Popular Ballads in 18th Century Britain - T. A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art (ABC-CLIO, 1997), p. 352. - Thomas J. Joudrey, "Against Communal Nostalgia: Reconstructing Sociality in the Pornographic Ballad," Victorian Poetry 54.4 (2017). - E. Nebeker, "The Heyday of the Broadside Ballad", English Broadside Ballad Archive, University of California-Santa Barbara, retrieved 15 August 2011. - G. Newman and L. E. Brown, Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714–1837: An Encyclopedia (Taylor & Francis, 1997), pp. 39-40. - B. Capp, 'Popular literature', in B. Reay, ed., Popular Culture in Seventeenth-Century England (Routledge, 1985), p. 199. - T. Watt, Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 1550-1640 (Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 11. - M. Spufford, Small Books and Pleasant Histories: Popular Fiction and Its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England (Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 111-28. - B. Capp, 'Popular literature', in B. Reay, ed., Popular Culture in Seventeenth-Century England (Routledge, 1985), p. 204. - "Popular Ballads", The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, p. 610. - J. R. Williams, The Life of Goethe (Blackwell Publishing, 2001), pp. 106-8. - S. Ledger, S. McCracken, Cultural Politics at the Fin de Siècle (Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 152. - M. Lubbock, The Complete Book of Light Opera (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962) pp. 467-68. - "Ballad opera", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 7 April 2015. - F. Kidson, The Beggar's Opera: Its Predecessors and Successors (Cambridge University Press, 1969), p. 71. - M. Lubbock, The Complete Book of Light Opera (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962), pp. 467-68. - G. Wren, A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert and Sullivan (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 41. - K. Lawrence, Decolonizing Tradition: New Views of Twentieth-century "British" Literary Canons (University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 30. - A. J. Aby and P. Gruchow, The North Star State: A Minnesota History Reader, (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002), p. 461. - L. Lehrman, Marc Blitzstein: A Bio-bibliography (Greenwood, 2005), p. 568. - N. Cohen, Folk Music: a Regional Exploration (Greenwood, 2005), pp. 14-29. - Kerry O'Brien December 10, 2003 7:30 Report, abc.net.au - G. Smith, Singing Australian: A History of Folk and Country Music (Pluto Press Australia, 2005), p. 2. - Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me?", The National Library of Australia, retrieved 14 March 2008. - N. Cohen, Folk Music: a Regional Exploration (Greenwood, 2005), p. 297. References and further readingEdit - Dugaw, Dianne. Deep Play: John Gay and the Invention of Modernity. Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 2001. Print. - Middleton, Richard. "Popular Music (I)". In Deane L. Root (ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 April 2007. (subscription required) - Randel, Don (1986). The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-61525-5. - Temperley, Nicholas. "Ballad (II, 2)". In Deane L. Root (ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 April 2007. (subscription required) - Winton, Calhoun. John Gay and the London Theatre. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993. Print. - Witmer, Robert. "Ballad (jazz)". In Deane L. Root (ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 April 2007. (subscription required) - Marcello Sorce Keller, "Sul castel di mirabel: Life of a Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice", Ethnomusicology, XXX(1986), no. 3, 449- 469. |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ballads.| |Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ballads| - The British Literary Ballads Archive - The Bodleian Library Ballad Collection: view facsimiles of printed ballads - The English Broadside Ballad Archive: searchable database of ballad images, citations, and recordings - Welsh Ballads resource guide - The Traditional Ballad Index - Black-letter Broadside Ballads Of The years 1595-1639 From the Collection of Samuel Pepys - Smithsonian Global Sound: The Music of Poetry—audio samples of poems, hymns and songs in ballad meter. - The Oxford Book of Ballads, complete 1910 book by Arthur Quiller-Couch - English Broadside Ballad Archive—an archive of images and recordings of over 4,000 pre-1700 broadside ballads - A Book of Old English Ballads public domain audiobook at LibriVox

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Georgia's string of subtropical barrier islands boast a rich and lengthy cultural history. Relics of ancient coastal Indians reveal that thousands of years passed between the first generation of children born to aboriginal residents and the winds that blew the large cloth sails propelling European ships. During the sixteenth century, Spanish and French explorers first set foot upon the sandy shores of the islands. Both countries laid claim to the lush coastal lands, but the Spaniards proved strongest. Although many Georgia history books spend little more than a few sentences on Spanish heritage in the pre-Oglethorpe period, missions of considerable size and permanence thrived well into the seventeenth century and reflect extensive Spanish activity. With the eighteenth century came the English and the beginning of the most influential era in the state's history as studied by Georgia schoolchildren. Fertile acres were cultivated extensively and English colonists prospered from the export of indigo, rice, hemp, and flax among other agricultural products. Finally the stars and stripes replaced the union jack, but with the outbreak of the Civil War, even the stars and bars of the Confederacy managed a short reign. After the plantation era and its peak of Sea Island cotton production, tycoons flocked to the barrier islands during the latter part of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. Today, picturesque ruins still stand-remnants of missions, forts, slave dwellings, and mansions. Colossal live oaks, their moss-draped branches ever extended, welcome conservationists to certain areas along the coastal terrain and vacationers to others. The Creeks, one of the so-called Five Civilized Nations of Indians, inhabited Georgia's barrier islands long before Europeans set sail for the New World. A nomadic people, they moved from one village to another with the changing seasons, following migratory wild fowl, fishing the inland streams, and hunting alligators in the coastal rivers and buffalo and deer on the mainland. They cultivated corn, melons, squash, beans, tobacco, and fruit, and possessed insatiable appetites for oysters. It has been said that these native inhabitants were not mound builders like so many other Indian tribes, but on Ossabaw Island-located 20 miles below Savannah-shell mounds exist. Excavations have revealed mostly kitchen middens or massive piles of oyster shells: evidence that Ossabaw was once a favorite Creek hunting, fishing, and feasting ground. One of the largest Creek villages, with headquarters for the chieftain of the tribe, was situated south of Ossabaw on St. Catherines Island; a high promontory on this island's eastern side overlooks both beach and sea and no doubt provided a natural vantage point for the Creeks. On Sapelo Island, a 12-foot shell wall encloses a space at least 60 yards in diameter-nearly the size of a football field. This ancient shell ring, or arena, dates back some 5,800 years and is one of the oldest remnants of Indian activity along the Georgia coast. As legend has it, the arena was formed by a Creek chieftain who tossed aside shells, day after day, as he sat on the ground cross-legged and feasted on oysters delivered to him by runners who fetched them directly from the ocean. Sea Island, St. Simons, and Jekyll share similar prehistoric backgrounds of Creek inhabitation. Only Cumberland Island was occupied by the Timucuans, a Florida tribe whose customs and language differed from those of the upper island Creeks. Among the first traders said to have traveled to the coast were tribes from north Georgia who followed the Old Indian Path from the Appalachians to the Atlantic. With weapons, tools, and arrowheads of stone and flint they arrived, wishing to trade for dried fish, fowl, fruits, and herbs. Of particular interest were the dried leaves of the cassina, which grows in abundance along the coast and was used to brew a potent ceremonial tea. Arrowheads, made from stone that is not native to the Georgia coast, comprise portions of contemporary public and private collections. Beyond domestic trade, the coastal Indians established foreign trade relations during the sixteenth century. According to Burnette Vanstory, author of Georgia's Land of the Golden Isles, they supplied French ships with "cargoes of sassafras, animal skins, wax, rosin, and wild turkeys. It has been said that people in France were enjoying turkey from the Southern coast long before the first Thanksgiving feast of the pilgrims." During the 1560s, early explorers like Frenchman Jean Ribaut with his band of Huguenots and Pedro Menéndez and his Spanish fleet staked their claims to these islands. But certain evidence suggests an even earlier European settlement along Georgia's barrier islands. Dr. Paul Hoffman, professor of history at Louisiana State University, suspects that 60 years before the demise of Sir Walter Raleigh's "lost colony" at Roanoke, the Spanish tried and failed to gain a foothold in the New World. It was along Georgia's barrier islands, not at Roanoke or Jamestown or Plymouth Rock, according to Hoffman, that America's colonial history truly began. The year was 1526. Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a royal judge residing in Santo Domingo, led a voyage of 500 men and women, including African slaves and Dominican friars, to establish a Spanish colony called San Miguel de Gualdape. Attempts to settle, however, were short lived. Indians soon attacked and disease quickly spread; Ayllon and more than 200 other settlers died. Less than three months after its founding, the Spanish colony was abandoned. The site of San Miguel de Gualdape has yet to be uncovered while attempts to pinpoint its location have been plagued by controversy. Using sketchy and often conflicting records, many historians have concluded that the colony was near Georgetown or Port Royal, South Carolina, or even near the mouth of the Savannah River. But within the last 15 years, reprinted accounts of early Spanish voyages in the New World (originally published in the 1530s) "strongly suggest that Gualdape was on Sapelo Sound," says Hoffman. Despite squabbles over location, there appears to be no doubt about the year of settlement, 1526: 39 years before the founding of St. Augustine, 81 years before Jamestown, 95 years before the arrival of the Mayflower, and 207 years before Oglethorpe sailed up the Savannah River to colonize Georgia. Confirmation of Ayllon's settlement-the first European establishment in North America-would surely require a revision of history. Dr. David Thomas Hurst, an anthropologist employed by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is working to foster greater interest in Georgia's Spanish epoch. The author of St. Catherines: An Island in Time, Thomas's research has shown that the Spanish mission system in Georgia (and Florida) "was founded earlier.involved more people and lasted longer" than its better-known counterparts such as the Alamo and others in the American West. "Understanding of the past has always been heavily conditioned by attitudes of the present," explains Thomas. "The early missions of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California still remain highly visible. It is no coincidence that hundreds of volumes have been written on America's western missions." Once the French under Ribaut were driven off of the barrier islands by Menéndez and his Spanish fleet, Santa Catalina de Guale was established on St. Catherines Island in 1566. It is considered part of the first settlement north of Mexico deemed for regular Spanish mission work. When Thomas began searching for Santa Catalina on St. Catherines, he knew that for nearly 100 years the mission was the "northernmost Spanish outpost on the Eastern Seaboard, and this historical fact implied considerable size and permanence." As anticipated, he and a team of archaeologists uncovered evidence of a fortified church, buildings to house soldiers and priests with granaries, storehouses, and dwellings suitable for hundreds of Guale (another name for the Creeks pronounced "wallie") Indians. Mission priest learned the Indians' language and converted thousands to Christianity between 1566 and 1680. In addition to teaching and converting natives, the priests spent time tending their gardens-a profusion of tropical vegetables, fruits, and flowers. A legacy to the Georgia coast from its early white inhabitants, groves of oranges, lemons, pomegranates, olives, and figs would continue to bear fruit long after Spanish occupation. Although the majority of natives were friendly toward missionaries, some resented the outsiders. Buckling under the harassment of hostile Creeks, several missions were destroyed and Jesuit friars eventually driven out. In the 1570s, mission work was zealously reorganized by Franciscans and pursued for decades, but troubles for priests persisted. With English colonists in close proximity to the barrier islands, English traders provoked friction between Indians and Spaniards and goaded pirates sailing the coastal waters to come ashore and plunder missions. But Santa Catalina de Guale persisted, and in the early 1600s, Juan de Las Cabeza de Altamirano, the Roman Catholic bishop stationed in Havana, Cuba, came to the Georgia coast to praise the work of missionaries and baptize Guale leaders. In 1732, King George II issued a charter for James Oglethorpe and 19 associates to colonize Georgia. The territory to be settled lay between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers; England and Spain had agreed to leave the region below the Altamaha as a sort of no man's land. So it was left to Oglethorpe, British general and philanthropist, to secure the path towards development of this 13th colony. Oglethorpe developed a three-fold plan. It included establishing a defense against the Spaniards in Florida; creating a haven for Protestant dissenters, insolvent debtors, and the criminal classes of England; as well as developing a new source of revenue for the Crown. In 1733, General Oglethorpe first touched American soil on Tybee Island, approximately 18 miles from the site where he would found Savannah. Upon his arrival, Oglethorpe and the Creek Indian Chief Tomochichi became fast friends. The general's dealings with the natives were, from the start, remarkably successful. Tomochichi soon persuaded the Creeks to peaceably turn over possession of the chartered territory, and the town of Savannah was founded later that year. Settling upriver was as strategic a move as Oglethorpe's plans for mass fortification along the coast. Oglethorpe selected the island of St. Simons for fortification against Spanish invasion. He ordered construction of a fort on St. Simons's west side where a bend in the river formed a natural vantage point. Built in 1736, this British fort, one of the largest in colonial America, provided protection for other colonies as well as the town within its walls. Fort, town, and river were called Frederica in honor of Frederick, Prince of Wales. The town rapidly grew around the fort as Oglethorpe encouraged craftsmen, artisans, shopkeepers, and their families to settle there. But after the British victory at the Battle of Bloody Marsh, the regiment disbanded, and many settlers left for other parts of the colony. In 1758 a fire destroyed the town and it was never rebuilt. Numerous other forts, both colonial and American, were constructed over the next 150 or so years. Savannah's strategic wartime importance contributed to the construction of two fortifications near the city. In 1808, a brick structure surrounded by tidal moat, Fort Jackson was built on Salter's Island near Tybee. The second, Fort Pulaski, was built in 1829. In keeping with the land agreement between Oglethorpe and Tomochichi, the Creeks retained Ossabaw Island along with neighboring St. Catherines and Sapelo for their hunting grounds, but with British influence the names of the other islands became Anglicized. Previously San Pedro, Cumberland Island was given its English name soon after the colony of Georgia was settled. In 1734 when Tomochichi and his family visited England, the chief's nephew, Toonahowie, kindled a friendship with William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the 13-year-old son of the king. As the Indian family's four-month visit came to an end, Prince William presented Toonahowie with a gold watch. Deeply touched by the gesture and the relationship the two had shared, the Indian prince requested the name of San Pedro be changed in honor of William Augustus. Perhaps the most intriguing instances of nomenclatural evolution were those experienced by Jekyll Island. Jekyll was a favorite haunt of the Creeks who called it Aspo. In the 1560s, the French Huguenots named the island Ile de la Somme. Over 150 years later, General Oglethorpe changed its name once again-this time to honor Sir Joseph Jekyll, a gentleman who had helped him finance the colony of Georgia, but Jekyll locals have long since contested such aristocratic ties to the island's most recent name. As word-of-mouth history goes, a Frenchman named Jacques operated a trading station for pirates and buccaneers here in the 1600s. The name Jacques' Island deteriorated into Jake's Isle, then Jakyl. Spelled Jekyl for many years, an extra "l" was eventually added making Jekyll the accepted spelling. By the 1740s the Georgia colony had proved its worth as a buffer against Spanish forces but had yet to establish itself as a source of income for the mother country. Oglethorpe believed the cultivation of fertile acres along the coast would surely reap profit. During these early stages of agricultural development, planters were encouraged to grow indigo for the production of dyes, mulberry trees to make silk, and vineyards for wine. Of the three, indigo thrived; in a time before synthetic dyes, it rapidly became one of the colony's chief exports. According to a record dating back to 1756, other agricultural products from the coast included rice, pitch, tar, hemp, flax, vegetable wax, and beeswax. Lumbering and cattle-raising also earned profits for the colony. Prosperous planters made their way to the lush barrier islands and shared in the success for more than a decade. But soon the thunderous boom of Revolutionary War cannons forced island inhabitants to flee. Fields were later plowed and replanted, but with the War of 1812 the coast was again subjected to enemy raids; Fort Jackson, off of Tybee, was among the coastal forts garrisoned. Between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, a process called "live oaking" became a booming business. Before the advent of metal-hulled ships, live oak was one of the world's most sought after lumber types for the construction of battleships. A dense, heavy wood with many curves and a twisted grain, live oak is resistant to rotting and weathering. Such qualities made live oak ships superior war vessels. Reports of British cannonballs bouncing off the hull of the U.S.S. Constitution, a live oak ship employed during the War of 1812, gave it the name Old Ironsides. As such reports spread worldwide, a demand for live oak in both domestic and foreign markets skyrocketed. Unfortunately, 400 to 700 live oaks were required to build the frame of just one ship, and Georgia's barrier island forests were ravaged. Procuring live oak became increasingly difficult. This problem coupled with the inception of "ironclad" steam-powered ships diminished the live oak trade by the mid-1800s. The barrier islands now flourished in what author Burnette Vanstory described as "the high noon of the plantation era." White land, black labor. Ossabaw Island was among the first of Georgia's coastal empires. The cultivation and processing of indigo prompted the transfer of hundreds of slaves to the island. Field hands were used to cut the plants at daybreak before the hot sun could dry the leaves. Vat workers then immersed the leaves to draw out the dye while others stirred the extract with paddles for aeration. Skilled men handled the dye's actual preparation, boiling its sediment with water then draining and pressing it into molds. Once dried in the sun, the molds of indigo were loaded upon barges headed for Savannah to then be shipped to foreign markets. Ossabaw bustled with its plantation house and slaves' quarters, its field hands and dye workers, and its docks and loading crews. Late in the eighteenth century, colonists determined that the subtropical barrier islands were decidedly ripe for the cultivation of a certain species of cotton. Colonists who sought refuge in the West Indies during the American Revolution found it there. Seed plants brought to the Georgia coast were said to be developed into the most superior brand of cotton ever grown. The long-fibered cotton could be easily separated from the seed. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, coastal plantations made agricultural history. From Sapelo and St. Simons on down to Cumberland, island fields were white with cotton. Even Ossabaw turned over its profitable indigo fields to the growth of Sea Island cotton upon learning it demanded up to twice the fee for ordinary cotton in markets throughout the world. Crops of Sea Island cotton brought many plantation owners up to $100,000 per year. Planters built sprawling estates, entertained lavishly, and coveted the finer things. Life on the island empires, however, was best categorized with contradiction-elegant yet primitive. Indeed there were all the luxuries and delicacies of the Old World as enjoyed by the duBignons-a noble family who came to American to escape the French Revolution in 1789-on their 11,000-acre Jekyll domain planted in cotton. The duBignons lived like the French landowners from whom they descended. The family residence was decorated with furnishings, paintings, and ornaments from France, brought by their sailing vessel the Commodore on her annual voyage to the motherland for supplies. But such seclusion from the outside world could prove dangerously inconvenient. Sudden illness had to be treated with home remedies. Communication was dependent upon boat travel and if turbulent weather made waters impassable, island inhabitants were forced to rely on their ingenuity. Despite the prosperity reaped from the cultivation of cotton, certain agricultural experts expressed concern. Thomas Spalding, an authority on Sea Island cotton, foresaw the potential danger of exhausting energies on one crop to the exclusion of others. A resident of Sapelo Island, he successfully introduced sugar cane to the barrier islands as an alternative cash crop; with so much cotton being produced at once, a surplus seemed imminent. One of the earliest advocates of diversified farming, Spalding regularly made speeches and published articles urging farmers to rotate their crops. His insight was a modern concept, one touting the importance of conserving nutrients in the soil. Just as Spalding predicted, cotton production peaked, and the demand and price declined. Near the middle of the nineteenth century, England experienced a recession, and the coastal island docks backed up with bales of cotton. Plantation soils also became exhausted. Before long, rampant infestation of boll weevils destroyed the crops. Headman upon the Spalding plantation was a famous slave called Bulallah, believed to have been born in the French Sudan. Bulallah enjoyed the complete confidence and respect of his master and of all the men who came under his supervision. Father of a score of children, Bulallah has hundreds of descendants living today in the coastal region. Many are said to have inherited his copper-toned skin and features as well as his height. His descendants are proud of their ancestry and pass down tales of the old man. Bulallah was wise in the ways of nature. His children and his children's children knew the secrets of the moon, the tides, the waters, and the forests. When one family member fell sick, the elders related to Bulallah knew which herbs and roots to gather and how to concoct the proper medicinal brew. Joel Chandler Harris's Story of Aaron mentions a book written in Arabic by Ben Ali (another name by which Bulallah is called). This volume is prized among rare books at the Georgia State University Library located in Atlanta. The majority of slaves relegated to work upon the coastal empires did not enjoy the confidence and respect of their masters. An Englishwoman by the name of Frances (Fanny) Kemble recorded the day-to-day operations and conditions of plantation life on St. Simons. After marrying a wealthy Philadelphian, Pierce Bulter, whose family fortune was partly derived from a vast cotton and rice plantation, Kemble lived on the island for several months. In her book, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839, Kimble expressed disdain for "the manifest injustice of unpaid and enforced labor; the brutal inhumanity of allowing a man to strip and lash a woman, the mother of 10 children; to exact from her, toil, which was to maintain in luxury idle young men, the owners of the plantation." Her account is one of backbreaking slave labor endured in miserably high temperatures and unbearable humidity, and of the harsh cruelties inflicted regularly upon slaves by their white masters. Kemble also details the plantation's landscape of swamps and woods, canals and rivers, stately mansions and decrepit hovels. Today a square brick chimney is all that remains of a steam-powered rice mill on the Butler plantation. A roadside marker near the site mentions Kemble's Journal "which is said to have influenced England against the Confederacy." Although it hardly affected international diplomacy, the book (which first appeared in 1863 in England, then in the states) did cause controversy in the North and South. In the South, Kemble was denounced as a meddling foreigner who stood in judgment on matters with which she had merely a passing acquaintance. She was also accused of distortion and exaggeration. But in the North, her accounts furthered the cause of many abolitionists. Skeptics of Kemble's Journal remain critical today. They cite several willful misrepresentations as evidence of unreliability, and point to a book published after the war by Kemble's daughter, Frances Leigh, that contradicted her mother's accounts. During the Civil War in the 1860s, most of the barrier islands were evacuated at some stage before the Confederacy surrendered. Those residing on St. Catherines and Ossabaw departed immediately. For a time in 1861, Confederate troops were stationed upon Sapelo Island. Numerous forts on the barrier islands earned mention in the history books thanks to their roles in the Civil War. On January 3, 1861, in one of the first military actions of the war, Georgia troops seized Fort Pulaski (located on Cockspur Island near Tybee) from Federal hands. Only 15 months later, Union troops occupying Tybee recaptured the fort. When construction of Fort Pulaski began in 1829, one of its engineers-soon after his graduation from West Point-was Second Lieutenant Robert E. Lee. Fort Jackson, previously a colonial fort also located on a barrier island, served as the Confederate headquarters of the river batteries during the Civil War. An interior brick fort guarding Savannah's river approach, naval vessels never overcame it. Troops of the Confederacy were also stationed at the south end of St. Simons with instructions to guard the entrance of the Brunswick harbor. But a few weeks shy of New Year's Day 1862, Union gunboats blockaded the coast and the residents of St. Simons were ordered off the island. Eventually Confederate troops were evacuated from St. Simons Island-long ago a military stronghold where General Oglethorpe strategically constructed Fort Frederica to stave enemy invaders away from the colonies. Bitter yet weary soldiers followed their final orders and blew up the St. Simons lighthouse to keep the light from aiding the victorious blockaders. With St. Simons and Brunswick in the hands of Union forces, the island was used as a concentration area for freed slaves from the mainland. Some of the first black troops to see action in the Civil War had been stationed on St. Simons Island. The Massachusetts 54th, the U.S.C.T. regiment commanded by 25-year-old Col. Robert Gold Shaw, fought against Sherman's armies who looted and burned the town of Darien, located on a channel of the Altamaha River near Savannah, in 1863. The battle was made famous by the movie Glory. In the years following the Civil War, a number of barrier islands were taken over by squatters and plunderers, which infested the South during Reconstruction. Federal forces had previously pillaged coastal island plantations until they became inoperable and owners fled. Some of the former plantation slaves who remained farmed for subsistence, but before long owners returned. Loosely organized sharecropping and land-bartering arrangements were made between the two. Attempts, however, to reestablish antebellum cotton plantations failed under these working conditions. Plantations simply could not operate without enforced labor; the work required was that treacherous, as the former slaves knew all too well. The plantation era came to a close. But before the war's end, the present state of Sapelo Island's cultural history began to take shape. The remaining Spaldings on Sapelo, two daughters-in-law of the late Thomas, undertook the task of sailing slaves to the mainland. Upon arrival, they marched them over 160 miles to the interior of the state. Those too young or too old to walk were left behind to fend for themselves. Once freed, many former slaves from Sapelo struggled their way back to the coast, then back to the island (many to reunite with family). An order by Sherman granted abandoned land on the coastal islands and a section of the Georgia mainland in 40-acre allotments to the freed people. Those returning to Sapelo set to work at once, cultivating soil and building a schoolhouse and church. A community began to emerge. But this autonomy did not last long as power shifted from Sherman's General Saxton to a General Tillson. By 1871 three Sapelo men scraped together a down payment on 1,000 acres at Raccoon Bluff, which they divided into 33-acre plots and sold to former Spalding slaves. Although it was not a prosperous community, as people subsisted on what they could grow and fish, Raccoon Bluff became Sapelo's dominant community by the end of the nineteenth century. In 1911 the last of the Spaldings sold the greater part of the island to Howard Coffin of the Hudson Motor Company, and in 1934 Coffin sold it to tobacco heir R.J. Reynolds. By 1950, Reynolds had set aside the northern half of Sapelo Island for a game preserve, but Raccoon Bluff stood in his way. Because Reynolds held economic power over the black community, the Sapelo people moved, although reluctantly, to parcels in Hog Hammock. After Reynolds' death in 1963, the northern half of the island was sold to the state. A few years later, Georgia bought the rest, except for Hog Hammock. Today, approximately 70 people-many descendants of the legendary slave, Bulallah-reside in the Hog Hammock community. Geechee, their West Africa-influenced dialect (known as Gullah along the South Carolina coast), is still spoken by some. Many Hog Hammock residents have committed themselves to the preservation of their community, keeping traditions such as southern-style cooking and storytelling alive. One resource, still abundant on the coastal mainland and on some of the islands, was lumber. From 1870 to 1900, the short-lived lumber period occurred in response to an increasing international demand for southern lumber. St. Simons and Doboy Island, a tiny marsh island south of Sapelo, became the sites of lumber mills because of their river locations. Cypress, pine, cedar, and oak were cut from flourishing mainland forests; the logs were then floated down the Altamaha and Satilla rivers to island mills where they were sawed into lumber for export. St. Simons and Doboy sounds were stocked with great schooners from all parts of the world waiting to purchase the lumber. Simultaneously, residents of Sapelo Island made a thriving business raising cattle and selling beef to the captains and crews of the schooners. This bustling period rapidly ended as the trees suitable for lumber were depleted. During this period following the Civil War, barrier islands such as St. Catherines and Ossabaw seemed to evolve full circle. With fields overgrown enough to provide cover for birds and game, they appeared as they had centuries ago as the roaming and hunting grounds of the Creek Indians. Of the barrier islands in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Vanstory wrote lyrically, "Devastated and deserted and weary with war the islands dozed in the sun; time healed their wounds, and nature covered their scars with the lush green of vine and fern and the profligate beauty of the tropical flower." The Georgia coast attracted vacationers and naturalists alike who were bedazzled by nature. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the barrier islands entered a new period of prosperity and five of the islands became the property of America's wealthiest tycoons. Between 1886 and 1942, American millionaires faithfully wintered on Jekyll Island. Astors, Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, Macys, Pulitzers, and Goodyears took leave of Fifth Avenue penthouses and retreated to the serenity of the Georgia coast. For 56 years Jekyll remained their exclusive playground; visitors were referred to as strangers and allowed to stay on the island for two weeks only. The "simple life" that these leading American financiers chose to lead on Jekyll often included wild-boar hunting parties followed by 10-course meals prepared by a chef imported from New York City's Delmonico's Restaurant. Residing in multiroomed "cottages," the rich and famous played golf and tennis and socialized. St. Catherines Island, purchased in 1876 by John J. Rauers of Savannah, became home to one of the finest country homes and private game reserves in the nation. The home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Button Gwinnett, remains on St. Catherines. Once the Torrey family settled into their home on Ossabaw after acquiring the island in 1924, the hospitality of plantation days was restored. An oversized leather-bound guest book, first signed by the Henry Ford family, boasted many a well-known name with the passage of very little time. During World War II, the famous millionaires of Jekyll departed for the last time. In 1947, the State of Georgia purchased the island for the bargain price of $675,000. Since then the number of private houses built in residential areas has dramatically increased. Closer to the beach are tourist developments such as motels, restaurants, a convention center, an aquarium, and shopping centers. A public fishing pier and an amphitheater for summer play were also built with vacationers in mind. Continuous development of subdivisions and shopping centers bring more permanent residents and traffic to the narrow, tree-lined roads on St. Simons each year. On the more exclusive Sea Island, the famed Cloister resort is still rated among the finer hotels in the nation and continues to attract international clientele. These islands also attracted the attention of famous writers, such as Eugene O'Neill, who wrote Ah Wilderness here, and Eugenia Price, the best-selling author of a trilogy of books set on St. Simons. On other barrier islands, the state and federal government have taken control of the conservation of coastal terrain. In 1969 the tiny island of Wassaw was sold to The Nature Conservancy provided that no bridge ever be built connecting it to the mainland. Deeded to the federal government that same year, it is now preserved as a national wildlife refuge. Virgin forests cover ancient dunes and help to protect and increase island wildlife, and today Wassaw is a popular hunting destination. The 5,600 acres of woodlands, lakes, and marsh on Blackbeard Island also remain as an unspoiled natural haven, and Blackbeard is one of the seven coastal refuges administered by the U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Ossabaw is also bridgeless and destined to stay that way. In 1961 the island's private owner, Eleanor Torrey West, created the Ossabaw Island Project Foundation for "men and women of creative thought and purpose." The foundation soon gained a reputation as a high-quality, if slightly eccentric organization. Lengthy waiting lists for admission to the select group were comprised of artists, craftsmen, scientists, philosophers, photographers, poets, and writers. Each paid a reasonable weekly fee to work in the idyllic setting. The author Ralph Ellison and composer Aaron Copland were among the better-known residents. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources now operates the island, and only those who obtain special permission from the agency can visit Ossabaw. Cumberland Island has remained largely wild. In the early 1970s, the federal government established the Cumberland Island National Seashore and opened part of this national treasure to the public. Visitation to St. Catherines, on the contrary, has become extremely limited. In 1974, the island entered what must have been the most unusual period in its varied history when it became one of the New York Zoological Society's Rare Animal Survival Centers. Acres that were once white fields of Sea Island cotton, then pastures for herds of black angus cattle, became grazing areas for exotic animals from such far-away places as Uganda, the Sudan, Kenya, the Sahara, and South America. In addition to the work of the animal survival center, a number of archaeological explorations have been undertaken on St. Catherines, such as those headed by Dr. David Thomas as part of his Santa Catalina de Guale excavations. Guest visitation today is quite difficult to obtain. Two islands, Tybee and Skidaway, are accessible by the causeway off the coast of Savannah. Tybee opens its 5-mile beach to the public, but Skidaway is a private residential area with golf courses and recreation area developments. The University of Georgia Marine Research Extension Service, located on Skidaway, offers some research trips. Read and add comments about this page Go back to previous page. Go to Barrier Islands contents page. Go to Sherpa Guides home. [ Previous Topic | Next Topic ]

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TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR: By Lucía González Illustrations by Lulu Delacre The winter of 1929 feels especially cold to cousins Hildamar and Santiago—they arrived in New York City from warm, sunny Puerto Rico only months before. Their island home feels very far away indeed, especially with Three Kings’ Day rapidly approaching. But then a magical thing happens. A visitor appears in their class, a gifted storyteller and librarian by the name of Pura Belpré. She opens the children’s eyes to the public library and its potential to be the living, breathing heart of the community. The library, after all, belongs to everyone—whether you speak Spanish, English, or both. Hildamar and Santiago spread the news that Spanish is spoken at the New York Public Library, much to the residents’ surprise. Pura Belpré, the librarian, welcomes the newcomers to the story room with a traditional tale from Puerto Rico about Martina, a Spanish cockroach, and Ratoncito Pérez, a mouse. The familiar story and Spanish books on the library shelves comfort the children and their families. The library announces that there will be a fiesta and play to celebrate Three Kings’ Day on January 5. The community comes together to create the music, costumes, and stage. Pura Belpré concludes the event, like she does with all of her stories, by having the children blow out the storyteller’s candle so their wishes will come true. The award-winning team of Lucía González and Lulu Delacre has crafted an homage to Pura Belpré, New York City’s first Latina librarian. Through her vision and dedication, the warmth of Puerto Rico comes to the island of Manhattan in a most unexpected way. On Pura Belpré (from the Afterword): Pura Belpré was born sometime between 1899 and 1903 in the little town of Cidra, Puerto Rico, in a home full of storytellers. The stories she heard from her grandmother had been handed down by word of mouth for generations. These stories came with her to the United States in the early 1920s. Pura Belpré began her career as a children’s librarian when she became the first Puerto Rican librarian to be hired by the New York Public Library system. She had a great passion for library work, and her passion lasted a lifetime. Pura Belpré was also a magnificent storyteller and puppeteer with a deep and evocative voice. Her story Pérez and Martina, first published in 1932, remains a classic of children’s literature. In 1996, the Pura Belpré Award was established to honor Latino writers and illustrators whose children’s books celebrate the Latino cultural experience. To learn more about Pura Belpré’s career in the New York Public Library system, check out the NYPL blog post, “Pura Belpré, In Her Own Words: NYPL Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.” A listing of books that have won Pura Belpré awards can be found on the American Library Association site in the section about Pura Belpré Award recipients and history. On Puerto Ricans In New York: According to the Library of Congress’ presentation on “Immigration: Puerto Rico,” immigrants from Puerto Rico have been settling in New York since the mid-nineteenth century. Immigration to New York ebbed and flowed throughout the time Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony, of the Spanish-American War, and when Puerto Rico became a commonwealth of the United States. Puerto Rico experienced a serious economic depression in the early twentieth century, spurring many Puerto Ricans to seek out a new life in New York City. Puerto Ricans living in the United States by 1917 obtained full American citizenship under the Jones-Shafroth Act. Leading up to the Great Depression, Puerto Ricans in New York competed with other immigrant groups for well-paying jobs. Language and discrimination proved significant barriers, causing many to settle for low-paying, unskilled factory work. The Harlem Riots of July 1926 were the result of racial and economic tension between unemployed Jews and Puerto Ricans. In 1937 East Harlem, Oscar Garcia Rivera Sr. became the first Puerto Rican to be elected to public office in the continental US as a member of the New York State Assembly. According to the PBS Puerto Rico timeline, the largest wave of Puerto Rican migration to New York occurred after World War II. For information on the Puerto Rican population in America today, check out the Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project. On the New York Public Library: The New York Public Library was founded in the mid-nineteenth century. Today the New York Public Library offers many classes and events, including Adult Learning Centers that help adults work on basic English and literacy skills. The New York Public library currently includes more than 51 million items in research and circulating collections, among them materials for the visually impaired, English Language Learners, and studies in foreign languages. The NYPL is the third largest library system in the world after the British Library in the United Kingdom and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. On English-Only Movements: With various waves of immigration over the course of United States history, movements have emerged starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to institutionalize English as the official language, discourage bilingualism, and stamp out minority languages. Currently the US has no official language, although thirty-one states have passed legislation making English the official state language. For a thorough history on English-Only Movements, explore PBS’s Official American. Prereading Focus Questions (Reading Standards, Craft & Structure, Strand 5 and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 7) Before introducing this book to students, you may wish to develop background and promote anticipation by posing questions such as the following: 1. Take a look at the front and back cover. Take a picture walk. Ask students to make a prediction. Do you think this book will be fiction or nonfiction? What makes you think so? What clues do the author and illustrator give to help you know whether this book will be fiction or nonfiction? 2. What do you know about stories that are biographies? What kinds of things happen in biographies? What are some things that will not happen in biographies? Why do authors write biographies? How do you think their reasons differ from authors who write fiction? What are some of the characteristics of a biography? 3. What is a librarian? What does a librarian do? What are some ways people use libraries? Why are libraries important? Why does almost every community offer some type of library? Share a memory you have of a librarian or a library helping you in some way. 4. What do you know about New York City (in the 1920s)? What were some challenges that immigrants faced when they moved to the United States? Why might people immigrate to New York City from other countries? 5. Why do you think I chose this book for us to read today? Exploring the Book (Reading Standards, Craft & Structure, Strand 5, Key Ideas & Details, Strand 1, and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 7) Read and talk about the title of the book. Ask students what they think the title means. Then ask them what they think this book will most likely be about and who the book might be about. What places might be talked about in the text? What do you think might happen? What information do you think you might learn? What makes you think that? Take students on a book walk and draw attention to the following parts of the book: front and back covers, title page, Introduction, English and Spanish language text, illustrations, backmatter, illustrator’s note, and glossary of terms. Setting a Purpose for Reading (Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 1–3) Have students read to find out who Pura Belpré was and what the title, The Storyteller’s Candle, refers to. Encourage students to consider why the author, Lucía González, would want to share this story with children. Have students also read to determine why the text is written in both English and Spanish. (Language Standards, Vocabulary Acquisition & Use, Strands 4–6) The story contains several content-specific and academic words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to students. Based on students’ prior knowledge, review some or all of the vocabulary below. Encourage a variety of strategies to support students’ vocabulary acquisition: look up and record word definitions from a dictionary, write the meaning of the word or phrase in their own words, draw a picture of the meaning of the word, create a specific action for each word, list synonyms and antonyms, and write a meaningful sentence that demonstrates the definition of the word. Great Depression Nueva York Manhattan El Barrio Navidad Bendito pasteles parrandas aguinaldos niños luceros buenos días español nenes mami titi tío viva habichuelas café doña don bienvenidos fiesta vecinos bodega Caribbean maracas la biblioteca es para todos El Día de los Reyes/Three Kings’ Day harsh tropical chimed in slender countertop declared handsome doubting gallant cockroach applause carpenter preparations impatiently tiptoe concluded gentle twinkling In addition to the Spanish-language version of the story, there are quite a few Spanish words in the English text. English translations immediately follow most of the Spanish words and have rich context for students to practice inferring the meanings of the words. The book also provides a small glossary of terms on the last page for reference. If your class has Spanish-speaking students, encourage them to volunteer to translate the words for the class. In doing so, these students can feel proud of sharing the role of teacher to their peers. After students have read the book, use these or similar questions to generate discussion, enhance comprehension, and develop appreciation for the content. Encourage students to refer to passages and illustrations in the book to support their responses. To build skills in close reading of a text, students should cite evidence with their answers. (Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 1 and 3) 1. What information is provided in the introduction? What is the purpose of an introduction in a biography? How does this introduction help you understand the story of Pura Belpré? 2. Where was El Barrio? Who lived there? 3. How did the people of El Barrio feel about New York winters? About living in New York? What challenges faced people who lived in El Barrio? 4. How did Hildamar and Santiago feel about winter? Why? 5. What is Three Kings Day? Who celebrates that holiday? When? How is it celebrated? 6. Why was celebrating Three Kings Day important to Hildamar, Santiago, Pura Belpre, and the community of El Barrio? 7. On page 8, what does Hildamar ask Titi María? What does this tell you about Hildamar’s life? How is her experience different from or similar to yours? 8. What did Hildamar and Santiago think of Pura Belpré? What important information did she give them? 9. How did the people in El Barrio respond to Pura Belpré? What was their impression of her? How do you know? 10. What did Pura Belpre do to bring people from the community into the library? Why was it important to have Spanish language books in the library? Extension/Higher Level Thinking (Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strand 2 and 3 and Craft & Structure, Strand 6) 1. Think about the way the English and Spanish text is laid out in the book. Where are the Spanish words? Where are the English words? Why do you think they are positioned this way? 2. In this book, sometimes Spanish words are included in the English text. What do you think was the author’s reason for doing this? How does the inclusion of Spanish words and phrases add to the experience of reading Pura Belpré’s story? 3. What kind of person was Pura Belpré? How would you describe her? Think about what she says and what she does. Think about her career and her contributions to her community. Does the author want you aspire to be like Pura Belpré or not? What makes you think so? 4. What is “Navidad?” What clues in the text did you use to help you figure out what that word means? 5. Why did Pura Belpré use a candle every time she shared a story? How did it set the mood for the children? What made the candle important to the story? 6. Take a close look at Lulu Delacre’s illustrations. What unique material did she use in the images? Why do you think she used it? How did it add to the story? 7. What was special about the first story Pura Belpré’s told the children in the book? Why did her story impact Hildamar and Santiago particularly? 8. Reread page 16. Why do you think the adults had doubts about going into the library? What was holding them back? 9. What is the theme/author’s message of the story? What does the author, Lucía González, want you to learn through Pura Belpré’s story? 10. How did Pura Belpré change the community? What did the adults learn in this story? What did the children learn? 11. Why do you think the New York Public Library wanted to hire Pura Belpré? How did Pura Belpré change the library? 12. Why do you think it is important for libraries to offer books, resources, and space for many languages? How would our communities be affected if languages other than English were not allowed? (Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1–3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 4–6) If you use literature circles during reading time, students might find the following suggestions helpful in focusing on the different roles of the group members. • The Questioner might use questions similar to the ones in the Discussion Question section of this guide. • The Passage Locator might look for lines or sentences in the story that explain new vocabulary words. • The Illustrator might illustrate a new scene from the book using old newspapers as a collage element along with other art media. • The Connector might find other books written about immigrants who made an impact during the same time in history that Pura Belpré lived. • The Summarizer might provide a brief summary of the group’s reading and discussion points for each meeting • The Investigator might look for information about libraries, librarians, and bilingual books. *There are many resource books available with more information about organizing and implementing literature circles. Three such books you may wish to refer to are: GETTING STARTED WITH LITERATURE CIRCLES by Katherine L. Schlick Noe and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 1999), LITERATURE CIRCLES: VOICE AND CHOICE IN BOOK CLUBS AND READING GROUPS by Harvey Daniels (Stenhouse, 2002), and LITERATURE CIRCLES RESOURCE GUIDE by Bonnie Campbell Hill, Katherine L. Schlick Noe, and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 2000). (Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strands 1–3 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strands 4–6) (Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 1–3, Craft & Structure, Strands 4–6, and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 7–9) Use the following questions and writing activities to help students practice active reading and personalize their responses to the book. Suggest that students respond in reader’s response journals, essays, or oral discussion. You may also want to set aside time for students to share and discuss their written work. 1. Why did the author, Lucía González, choose to call this biography The Storyteller’s Candle? Do you think this is a good title for Pura Belpré’s biography? Why or why not? Use examples from the book to support your answer. 2. Which parts of the book did you connect to the most? Which parts of the story did you connect to the least? Why? What memory can you share of a librarian or library helping you in some way? 3. Why are libraries an important part of a community? What do you think would happen to your community if there was no library? Who benefits from a community library? What can someone do at a library, in addition to reading books? 4. Have students write a book recommendation for The Storyteller’s Candle explaining why they would or would not recommend this book to other students. 5. Read the author’s note on the next to last page of the book. Why is Pura Belpré an important historical figure? How did her actions and choices make a positive change in her community? How might El Barrio have been different if Pura Belpré hadn’t worked at the library there? 6. What do you think the children, Hildamar and Santiago, wished for when they blew out the storyteller’s candle? What do you think the adults wished for? What would you wish for if you were given the chance? Why? ELL Teaching Activities (Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1–3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 4–6) (Language Standards, Vocabulary Acquisition & Use, Strands 4–6) These strategies might be helpful to use with students who are English Language Learners. 1. Assign ELL students to partner-read the story with strong English readers/speakers. Students can alternate reading between pages, repeat passages after one another, or listen to the more fluent reader. Students who speak Spanish can help with the pronunciations of the Spanish words and terms in the book. 2. Have each student write three questions about the story. Then let students pair up and discuss the answers to the questions. 3. Depending on students’ level of English proficiency, after the first reading:?• Review the illustrations in order and have students summarize what is happening on each page, first orally, then in writing. ?• Have students work in pairs to retell either the plot of the story or key details. Then ask students to write a short summary, synopsis, or opinion about what they have read. 4. Have students give a short talk about what they admire about a character or central figure in the story. 5. The story contains several content-specific and academic words that may be unfamiliar to students. Based on students’ prior knowledge, review some or all of the vocabulary. Expose English Language Learners to multiple vocabulary strategies. Have students make predictions about word meanings, look up and record word definitions from a dictionary, write the meaning of the word or phrase in their own words, draw a picture of the meaning of the word, list synonyms and antonyms, create an action for each word, and write a meaningful sentence that demonstrates the definition of the word. (Introduction to the Standards, page 7: Student who are college and career ready must be able to build strong content knowledge, value evidence, and use technology and digital media strategically and capably) Use some of the following activities to help students integrate their reading experiences with other curriculum areas. These can also be used for extension activities, for advanced readers, and for building a home-school connection. 1. Ask students to research immigration to the United States in the 1920s and 1930s through Ellis Island. Who immigrated to the US? Why did people choose to move here? Where were the immigrants from? What challenges did they face once they arrived? Where did many of the immigrants settle? How did their lives change? What traditions did they try to preserve? 2. Have students research New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. What immigrant groups were living there? In what neighborhoods or areas were the different communities living? What type of work was available to new immigrants? What languages other than English were spoken? What was school like for new students, especially if they didn’t speak English? (Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension and Collaboration, Strands 1–3) (Reading Standards, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Strand 9) 1. Several of Pura Belpré’s stories are still in print. Help students find a copy of the story Pérez and Martina (in your local library or through inter-library loan). Read the story together and then let volunteers act it out. You may also wish to follow this procedure with some of Pura Belpré’s other stories that are available. 2. Invite a local storyteller to visit the class for a storytelling event. 3. Read the book Richard Wright and the Library Card (by Lee & Low Books). Have students compare and contrast the librarians in the two books. Students may also compare and contrast the treatment of different groups of people in the stories. How have libraries changed from the 1920s to today? Why did Hildamar and Santiago in The Storyteller’s Candle and Richard Wright in Richard Wright and the Library Card have such different experiences? Why were libraries so important to the characters in the two books? 1. Have students split the story of Pérez and Martina into parts and let them illustrate scenes from the story. Some students may also wish to make puppets for the story, as Pura Belpré did. 2. Lulu Delacre, illustrator of the book, included newsprint in every illustration. Have students search the pages to find the newsprint, and then talk about what they discovered. Interested students may also wish to make their own collage illustrations incorporating discarded newspapers, magazines, and/or other print materials. (Reading Standards, Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 7 and 9) (Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1–3) (Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 2 and Research to Build & Present Knowledge, Strand 7) 1. Invite students to interview their parents, grandparents, or older relatives. When did their family first come to the United States? Who was the first to come? How did that person or persons get here? What challenges did they face when they arrived? What motivated their family member to leave their home country? How does the family keep its culture and traditions alive? What traditions or stories have been passed down to each younger generation? 2. Encourage students to ask parents, grandparents, and/or guardians to help them research immigrant groups in their community or town. What languages are spoken? Where did people come from? What are some of the reasons that motivated or caused people to move to the United States or this community/town in particular? 3. Take students on a trip to your local public library. Arrange for students to interview a librarian there, check out books, and see what events are coming up. Have students prepare a list of interview questions in advance. For example: What motivated him or her to become a librarian? What is his or her favorite part of being a librarian? What are some of the challenges? How have libraries changed? Why is it important for communities to have libraries? 4. Have students ask an older family member or other adult they know well to them a story or folktale they remember from growing up. Encourage students to bring the story to school and allow children to share the stories with the class or in small groups. Use a “storyteller’s flashlight,” instead of a candle, to set the mood, and allow students to make a wish at the end of the story. Some of the adults could also be invited to share their stories to the class. About This Title Interest Level:Grades 1 - 6 Reading Level:Grades 3 - 4 United States History, Siblings, Occupations, Neighbors, Mentors, Latino/Hispanic/Mexican Interest, Immigration, History, Friendship, Education, Dreams & Aspirations, Cultural Diversity, Biography/Memoir, Bilingual, Empathy/Compassion, Optimism/Enthusiasm Fluent Bilingual, Biography and Memoir Grades 3-6, Appendix B Diverse Collection Grades 3-6, Women's History Highlights Collection, Bilingual English/Spanish and Dual Language Books , Women's History Collection, New York Past and Present Collection, Latin American Spanish / Bilingual Collection Grades PreK-2, Pura Belpré Award Collection, RITELL Grades 3-6 Collection, Bilingual Bestsellers, Lulu Delacre Collection , Latin American Spanish/Bilingual Collection, Bilingual English/Spanish Collection , Professor Nancy Cloud Curated Book Collection, Immigration Collection, Jane Addams Children's Book Award Collection, Pedro Noguera Diverse Collection Grades 3-5, Social Activism Collection, Social Activism Collection Grades 3-5, Bilingual Spanish/English Guided Reading Level O, Authentic Spanish List, Authentic Spanish List Grades 3-5 Latin American Collection English 6PK Want to know more about us or have specific questions regarding our Teacher's Guides?Please write us!

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A Collection of Screenwriting Terms and Their Meanings “A” story is the main story/theme while “B” story refers to the background story. One of three sections that make up a unit of drama (scene, sequence, episode). Acts in features describe structure, not used in the script. Used in sitcoms. The scene description, character movement, and sounds written in present tense. Action Block (Description) A paragraph of descriptive script text. Action paragraphs describe the setting, physical actions, characters, or other important information. Be as Spartan as possible with action text. Rewriting of fact or fiction for film, usually in the form of a screenplay, or a proposal treatment. Instructs actors to improvise dialogue or even action bits in spontaneous reaction to the given situation of a scene. A moment of calm during which the characters are able to digest a scene of intense conflict. A scene that includes all or most of the main components of drama. Used to add greater depth to particular events and situations in the film. References are made to external phenomena such as persons, places, things, and occurrences. Indirect references are also used through screen images or scenes even to another film. Associations are meant to indicate contrast, emotions and ironic twists. A lack of clarity or an apparent contradiction in a story-line. This is done intentionally in some films or unintentionally due to poor writing. Character development is occasionally but purposefully hindered by the use of ambiguity. Ambiguity is an artistic ploy to capture the imagination, perhaps through confusion, of the audience. Directs the camera to a particular person or object. The character’s name itself could be written as a heading in CAPS and serve the same purpose. Comment specifying the source of each script element that is not wholly fictional, including all characters, events, settings, and segments of dialogue. Character with a single objective in conflict with the Protagonist. Not necessarily a villain. When the audience is expecting a peak in the action and it doesn’t occur. It is often used to convey the ordinary events in the life of a character and can also effectively be used to distract the audience from the actual climax. Also, anything that happens in the final few moments of a film that dulls down the story crescendo and leaves the audience feeling let down and unsatisfied. Protagonist who has pronounced personality or character defects or eccentricities which are not usually associated with the hero archetype. The modern, ‘energetic’ method of organizing a plot, such that the story generates increasing dramatic tension as it develops, culminating in a potent climax which relieves the tension. Tone or dimension added to the action by concrete or nebulous qualities or elements such as rain, wind, heat, cold, danger, spookiness, tranquillity. A statement in descriptive that takes the reader out of the story in order to clarify or help tell the story. Experiences of a main character which contribute to character motivations and reactions, that either occurred in the past, or are separate from the main plot. Back To Scene Secondary heading that indicates a return to a scene after a Montage or Series of Shots. Interrupts dialogue to tell an actor where to pause in speech. Avoid. Beats are often interchangeable with ellipses (…). An abbreviated description of the main events in a screenplay or story. Describes anything occuring in a rear plane of action (as opposed to the main action). Not recommended. Structural technique in which a script begins and ends with a “bookend” scene that encloses the whole. Frowned upon by Readers as an overused storytelling gimmick.use this term in lower case initials or written in full. Not recommended. The brass pins used to bind a standard three-hole-punched screenplay. Any other method of binding is verboten. Action increases, the pace and intensity of the film increases, the music crescendos, and culminates with a major scene. A troublesome element in a script that negatively deflects the reader’s attention away from the story. A TV writing term referring to a witty line that “tops off” a scene. Any person or entity appearing in a film. A bona-fide character has a speaking role, or performs an action that drives the plot. Formulaic inferred curved line which traces the emotional progress (development, growth, and transformation) of a character during the story. The process of creating characters in fiction. One of the major elements of screenwriting. Readers look for characters who are diverse (ie, they don’t all look, sound, or act alike), interesting, sympathetic, and who seem to have a life independent from the main plot of the screenplay. When any character speaks, his or her name appears on the line preceding the dialogue. Cheat a script Fudging the margins and spacing of a screenplay on a page (usually with a software program) in an attempt to fool the reader into thinking the script is shorter than it really is. Moment of high drama, frequently used at the end of serials. An unresolved plot point that comes at the end of an act or story. A form of foreshadowing. Derived from the Greek “klimax” meaning ladder. The plot point that resolves the second act, resolves the issues raised by the action and provides the dramatic answer. The most intense plot point. Usually occurs at the end of the work, but resolution and high drama do not always occur simultaneously. A V.O. objective opinion or description of characters or events either occurring in the film or to fill in information without wasting a great deal of film time. The second act of a three-act dramatic structure, in which “the plot thickens,” peaking at its end. Central idea around which a screenplay is built. The force which opposes a character and prevents them from achieving their goal. Indicates continuing speech when interrupted by descriptive, no longer used. Dialogue spoken by the same character that continues uninterrupted onto the next page. Used instead of DAY or NIGHT as third element in a slugline to indicate the action moves from one location to another without any interruptions in time. Optional, can be dropped altogether. The main font in use in the U.S. by both publishers and the Hollywood film industry. The notes prepared by script readers at a literary agency, film production company, or script competition. Obstacles and degrees of conflict encountered by the protagonist grow increasingly intense. Interweaving pieces of two or more scenes, usually in order to show simultaneous actions or illuminate themes, as with telephone conversations. Can be written with standard scene breaks. It’s more to prepare the reader for the upcoming slug line bonanza. Indicates a sudden break or for emphasis ( — ). Concluding scenes where the story elements are finished and the characters’ status after the climax is shown. Deus ex machina An external solution to a problem that arrives without preparation to make things easier for the protagonist. An easy solution. Diabolus ex machina Arbitrary, unjustifified obstacle for the protagonist. Speech between characters in a film. To the question posed in a drama, can be positive or negative, rarely unresolved. Gives the audience information at least one character is unaware of. The audience knows that the character may not be acting in the character’s own best interest when taking a particular position because of the information disclosed to the viewer. Unresolved issue facing the protagonist. Three characteristics needed for a drama, according to Aristotle, are a beginning, middle and end. These elements include an exposition, or revelation to the audience of what will be going on, a development, in which the plot unfolds, a climax, where all events come to a peak, and the denouement, when everything in the plot is unraveled and resolved. Most story-lines follow this format. Will the protagonist achieve his objective? Dual (Simultaneous) Dialogue When two characters speak simultaneously. Their dialogue is placed side by side on the page. Used when dialogue trails off, and when it continues again. (…) From Aristotelian theory. An Energetic protagonist actively influences or “drives” the plot forward, creating their own destiny, as it were. The manner (and effectiveness) with which a story’s elements are assembled by the writer. Most often the beginning of a dramatic structure, in which the main conflict and characters are revealed. Also, the details of the plot. Good scripts are said to ‘show, rather than tell’ their stories. Slugline indicating an outdoor scene. Placed in parentheses () to the right of the Character name. Denotes how the character’s voice is heard – e.g. (O.S.). Transitional shot, and the first words typed in a script. Image fades to black. Last words in a script. Describes anything occurring in front of the main action. Not recommended. Once used to indicate dialogue on a radio, TV, etc. Passe. Everything that happens before the protagonist’s objective is clear. In a linear screenplay, a scene or sequence which jumps back in time (or one that occurs earlier than the main storyline) that interrupts the action to explain motivation or reaction of a character to the immediate scene (exposition). Use with caution. Similar to a flashback, except the scene jumps ahead in time. The look of the printed text on the page. For screenplays, Courier(New) 12 is the standard. Preparation that hints at developments to come. Usually refers to a “sure-fire” method of structuring a script (i.e. it must include certain elements and arrive at a certain ending). The Fourth Wall Said to be breached any time the author introduces himself into the script, or makes any reference to the fact that a script is fiction. Not recommended. FX or SPFX Special effects – a term not needed in a spec script. The category assigned to screenplay to describe it – such as: thriller, romantic comedy, action, courtroom drama. An element of a Production Script occupying the same line as the page number, which is on the right and .5″ from the top. Printed on every script page, header information includes the date of a revision and the color of the page. Master headings begin each scene with camera location (INT. or EXT.) scene location and time of day. Secondary headings are shots within a scene. Used interchangeably with Protagonist. A basic movie idea felt to have tremendous potential appeal. The thing that catches the public’s attention and keeps them interested in the flow of a story. Eschews traditional screenwriting convention, seeking instead to weave seemingly disparate moments into a unified, effective whole. A plot point in the first act which disturbs the life of the protagonist and sets them in pursuit of an objective. Used in a slug line, indicates that the scene occurs indoors. When one character cuts off another character’s dialogue, sometimes marked with an ellipsis (…) but better marked with an em dash (–). Title card appearing intercut with a scene. Element used in an earlier draft that’s no longer useful. The story in one active sentence, focusing on the concept, main character and main conflict. Ideally in 25 words or less. Term used by Alfred Hitchcock to refer to an item, event, or piece of knowledge that the characters in a film consider extremely important, but which the audience either doesn’t know of or doesn’t care about. May be a stolen map or secret papers. Master Scene Script A script formatted without scene numbering (the usual format for a spec screenplay). Midpoint (Main Marker) Major plot point in the second act which usually begins or ends a sequence. Lengthy dialogue blocks in which a character speaks without interruption for more than three lines. To be avoided in spec screenplays. Sequence of brief shots expressing the same or similar theme, a contradiction, or the passage of time, all related and building to some conclusion. Indicates when a character’s dialogue doesn’t end at the bottom of the page. To be avoided. Without sound. Originated with German director Eric von Stroheim. Rarely used. A screenplay or story in which events are ordered contrary to their natural sequence in time. Expected by the audience relative to the genre. Love scenes in romances, shoot-outs in Westerns, the unraveling of a mystery in a detective film, and the rescue of a protagonist in an adventure film are all examples. (External) Not related to the character. (Internal) Part of the character’s nature. O.C. (Off Camera) Same as O.S., now used only in TV. Character speaking is in the scene, but not on camera. O.S. (Off Screen) Placed beside a Character Name to indicate that the character speaking is in the scene, but not on camera. Dialogue or sounds heard while the camera is on another subject. The Opening Ten The first ten pages of a script. Typically, if a script has not made a favorable impression by this point, it will soon be consigned to the Round File. Out of Character The description of a character who does or says something that is not consistent with the established pattern of behavior. Characters have simultaneous dialogue. Actor’s instructions. A mark of amateur screenwriters. Should be used only in cases where a line of dialogue should be read in some way contrary to logic. Use sparingly. Negative. Passive Characters are said to be moved by the plot, rather than actively driving (affecting) the story. A Passive Protagonist is always reacting to events rather than causing them. The moment when something that was set up earlier becomes meaningful. Not quite synonymous with Story. Plot, according to Aristotle, is the arrangement of a story’s events such that one follows logically from the other. Theoretical entity devised by writer Syd Field. Event or information that turns the protagonist in a new direction and moves the action forward. Found at the boundaries between acts or sections. Point Of No Return Moment, usually in the first half of script, when the protagonist will never be the same, or can’t turn back. The basic idea for a story often taking the form of a question or a problem. The story’s starting point, including major traits of main characters and the inciting incident. Setup so that what comes later will make sense. Character who has the most conflict. Serves as the focus of the plot, driving the story forward with their intentions and actions. Preparation or subplot intended to mislead the audience. Unneeded, repetitious words or phrases in a screenplay. The third act of a dramatic structure, in which the conflict comes to some kind of conclusion: the protagonist either wins or doesn’t. A place in the plot where a character achieves the opposite of his aim, resulting in a change from good fortune to bad fortune. Events in a story build upon one another with increasing momentum. Slugline heading for time of day, indicates scene takes place at same time or directly after previous scene. An event that takes place entirely in one location or time, or following a particular character. If it moves outside from inside, it’s a new scene. If it cuts to five minutes later, it’s a new scene. If both, it’s a new scene. Scenes can range from one shot to infinity and are distinguished by slug lines. Method used by some writers to outline their script by describing each scene on an index card, then arranging and rearranging them to work out the story structure. Scene Heading (Slugline) The text in all CAPS at the beginning of a scene that briefly describes the location and time of day. A scene with all the characters together, trying to work out their individual problems. Everything that takes place as the protagonist tries to achieve his objective. Group of scenes that follow one objective. For example, a car chase sequence. Series Of Shots Quick shots that tell a story. The time and place in which the story takes place. The function of the first act in posing of the problem which the story will try to resolve. In a more general way, the process of laying the groundwork for a dramatic or comic situation which will later be complicated, and then resolved or paid off. One image from a single point of view. If there’s a cut, you’ve changed shots. SFX (Sound Effects) Indicates sound effects, no longer used. A screen with different scenes taking place in two or more sections; the scenes are usually interactive, as in the depiction of two sides of a phone conversation. Story outline of the major scenes, each described in a few lines. The main points of twists and turns in the story. A film may have a dozen beats or more. One of screenwriting’s key elements. The way in which events are organized in time. Screenplays are extremely brief, and require careful organization of events and ideas in order to coherently tell an energetic story. Also called the “B Story” weaving in and out of the main action. Story within the main story, usually not with the main character, with its own objective. Words superimposed on the screen which mirror the dialogue (usually in another language) heard at the time. The laying of one image over another, usually words over a filmed scene, in the same shot. 1-3 page summary of a screenplay told in present tense. Epilogue, brief ending of a TV show that ties up loose ends. A short scene at the end of a movie that usually provides some upbeat addition to the climax. Brief initial act that establishes a TV show episode. Set up something clumsily, so it’s obvious to the audience. The overriding idea behind a story. More complex than a simple moral argument, Theme is an expression of Truth. Everything that happens after the protagonist has achieved or abandoned his objective. The classical form of storytelling in film. Based on Aristotle’s three act dramatic structure which includes: the set-up, the complication, and the resolution. A dramatic device in which some event looming in the near future requires that the conflict reach a speedy resolution. A page equals one minute of screen time. Shot designed to move a script from one scene to another. A scene by scene description of a screenplay, told in present tense and generally with no dialogue. Anywhere from 15-60 pages, typically from 20-30 pages. A plot point that’s a major surprise to the audience. Refers to a script’s cohesiveness. In a Unified script, all the elements work subtly together toward a cumulative effect. V.O. (Voice Over) Used to the right of the character’s name before dialogue. Dialogue by a character not in the scene, or not seen speaking the dialogue. Used to indicate a character is speaking via telephone, or for narration. Uses Aristotelian structure, which posits a lone, Energetic hero, the Protagonist, facing a single, overriding Conflict, embodied by the Antagonist, leading toward a dramatic resolution. How “white” a page appears. Pages which have an inordinate amount of text on them (especially long, uninterrupted action blocks) are tedious to read.

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SunRidge Curriculum — Grades K-8 - Math: Qualities of numbers; sorting and ordering; rhythm counting with movement and song; measuring in baking and cooking; woodworking - Language Arts: fairy tales from around the world; singing; poetry recitation; with emphasis on the oral tradition - Science: Cooking; baking; nature stories; nature walks; observations; gardening - History & Social Studies: Multicultural stories; festivals; foods - Handwork: Finger crocheting; sewing; cutting; pasting; drawing; seasonal crafts; woodworking (fine motor skills, foundation for concentration, speech and thinking) - Visual & Performing Arts: Drawing; painting; beeswax modeling; drama; singing; percussion instruments; puppetry - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Circle games; finger games; Eurythmy; jumping rope; climbing; outdoor imaginative play The Kindergarten offers a joyful, nurturing setting that inspires the imagination through creative play, storytelling, puppetry, music, movement, and art. Emphasis is placed on the healthy development of the physical body through practical activities that include handwork, crafts, baking, cooking, gardening, sweeping, digging, nature walks, and plenty of time outdoors. Responsibility for self and others is encouraged through attention to sharing, caring, and taking care of our Kindergarten classroom and play yard. The foundations of written language and literacy are laid with an emphasis on the oral traditions of storytelling, puppetry, and song. The foundations of mathematics are nurtured through rhythmic movement, music and the practical activities of cooking, sewing, gardening, and carpentry. Attention to, and care of, the natural world and its beauty lay a healthy foundation for more precise scientific explorations in the later years. Grade 1 Curriculum - Math: Qualities of numbers; introduction of the four operations in arithmetic - Language Arts: Form drawing; pictorial and phonetic introduction to letters; fairy tales from around the world; singing; poetry recitation - Science: Nature stories; nature walks; observations; gardening - History & Social Studies: Multicultural stories - Handwork: Knitting (fine motor skills, concentration, sense of form) - Visual & Performing Arts: Form drawing; painting; beeswax modeling; crayon illustrations, drama; singing; pentatonic flute - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Eurythmy; circle games; imaginative games; movement combined with music and singing; throwing and catching; rhythmic stepping, balancing First Grade is a bridge between kindergarten and the grades. The loss of the milk (baby) teeth indicates that the child has completed the formation of his/her physical body and is ready to begin to work with the mind. An important task for the teacher is to create a rhythm for the child's school life as a foundation for the learning process. Towards this end the teacher designs a rhythm not only through the seasons and holidays, but also within each day and within each lesson of the day. The year begins with the discovery that behind all forms lie two basic principles: the straight and curved lines. The child finds these shapes in her/his own body, in the classroom and in the world beyond. The straight and curved lines are practiced through walking, drawing in the air and on a neighbor's back and, finally, on paper. These form drawings train motor skills, awaken the child's powers of observation, and provide a foundation for the introduction of the alphabet. Fairy tales from around the world form the basis of the First Grade language arts curriculum. Through the stories the child is introduced to each letter of the alphabet. In this way the child experiences the development of language in a very concrete yet imaginative way: instead of abstract symbols the letters become actual characters with which the child has a real relationship. "S" may be a fairy tale snake sinuously slithering through the grass on some secret errand; the "M" may be hiding in the blackboard drawing of a mountain. The children then work with the letters and sounds in a variety of ways to gain mastery. The class composes short descriptive sentences to accompany each picture. The wording is then copied from the teacher's model. Through these activities the child learns word and sentence structure without conscious effort, and has the joy of creating her/his own illustrated books for reading material. In a similar way, in the mathematics curriculum the child first experiences the qualities of numbers before learning the four processes. What is "oneness"? What is there only one of in the world? (Me!). Stones, acorns and other natural objects are used to introduce counting. Movement work, in the form of stepping and clapping, reinforces the rhythmic choral speaking of numbers. Only after considerable practical experience in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are the written symbols for these operations introduced. The first grade enters the world of music through the pentatonic scale. In this scale all notes have a harmonious sound in any order they are played. Songs are based on seasonal themes. The playing of the pentatonic flute develops finger coordination, concentration, and breath control. Painting in the first grade is intended to give the child an experience of working with color rather than attempting to create formed "pictures." The child's feelings for form are encouraged through honey-fragrant beeswax modeling and crayon illustrations. In drawing, the child imitates the teacher's work, drawing whole shapes rather than filling in outlines. Knitting is a fundamental first grade activity, as there exists a close relationship between finger movement, speech, and thinking. Some classes may choose to make scarves or knitted squares to be joined into a blanket. Learning a foreign language, Spanish, is ideally suited to the imitative disposition of the young child, as s/he learns through hearing and speaking the language. Games and movement through circle and singing activities, jump rope, ball games, beanbags, rods, and the balance beam are an integral part of the curriculum as the child develops his/her motor integration. Grade 2 Curriculum - Math: Continue with four operations of arithmetic; story problems; counting by 2, 3, 4, and 5; beginning multiplication tables - Language Arts: Elements of grammar (naming, describing words); beginning cursive; animal fables and legends from around the world; decoding and sight word recognition; building fluency through regular practice (oral and silent reading); comprehension through story recall - Science: Gardening and nature studies; weather; day and night - History & Social Studies: Multicultural stories; lives of inspiring people who affected history - Handwork: Knitting patterns of knit and purl (pattern recognition and perpetuation, concentration, fine motor skill development) - Visual & Performing Arts: Form drawing; painting; beeswax modeling; singing; pentatonic flute, drama - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Eurythmy; circle games; imaginative games; fine and gross motor activities; activities with props (balls, hoops, etc.) and exploration of the dynamics of objects In language arts, the fairy tale of first grade gradually gives way to stories of people who overcome inner and outer obstacles. These people who strive depict humanity at its best. The opposing picture would be of people who have become rutted and are now mere caricatures of themselves. This is well depicted through animal fables. Second grade children still live in a consciousness so close to nature that it is natural for animals, plants, and stones to talk and have feelings like humans. Nature stories from home surroundings, folk tales, and riddles are also included in language arts. As in first grade, poetry continues to play an important role in written and oral literature. All-class recitation leads to choral recitation by smaller groups. Tongue twisters and other speech exercises, and work on plays written in verse, join individual retelling of stories told in class as well as personal experiences, striving for clear speech of appropriate volume. Lower case printing and cursive handwriting are presented in second grade if they have not already been introduced in first grade. The teacher leads the class in guided writing whenever possible, according to the children's growing ability to sound out and recognize words. Children also copy passages from the board and express their own thoughts and recollections, all the while paying attention to well-formed and spaced script. From the stories, songs, and verses studied during the year, introductory spelling and grammar lessons and games are imaginatively presented, in addition to daily phonics work and extension of sight recognition of high-frequency words. The imaginative, personified quality that still lives strongly in the 7/8 year old is used to fully develop inspiring pictures, with strong visual-narrative elements, of the operations involved in the four processes in arithmetic. The students are taught to differentiate between the processes and know when to use each one as well as to be able to work simple problems of each type in their heads and on paper. In their written work, orderliness is engendered. The concepts and mechanics of written addition and subtraction are introduced with the use of manipulatives, imaginative pictures, and carrying and regrouping activities. The neat columnar writing of problems is stressed. Previous work is reviewed and practiced. The ability to write dictated and read written numbers 1-100 is firmly established before the students move on to place value. Counting by the various multiples is mastered before moving on to written multiplication and division. In second grade, rhythmic counting is transformed into the times tables (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s). Rhythmic and patterning work increase in sophistication, emphasizing the aesthetic and dynamic quality of the number line through arranging number families in various ways. Students are encouraged to consciously see order and beauty in number patterns. Visualizations of the counting patterns are introduced-string boards, group geometric forms in space, etc. Opening exercises can be built around number work, from group forms to simple computation games, and can include moving more geometric forms. Word problems will continue as students write simple algorithms. Students solve written, oral story, and mental math problems using math concepts. Grade 3 Curriculum - Math: Higher multiplication tables; division; weight, measure, money and time; review of all four processes; multiplication; problem solving; place value to 10,000s; estimating; mental math; word problems - Language Arts: Elements of grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives); continuing cursive; punctuation; spelling; compositions; stories from ancient history; decoding and sight word recognition; building fluency through regular practice (oral and silent reading); comprehension through story recall - Science: Continuation of nature studies with a weekly full-day farm and garden program - History & Social Studies: Study of practical life (farming, housing, clothing); stories from ancient history - Handwork: Crocheting (mathematical patterns, working in the round) - Visual & Performing Arts: Form drawing; painting; beeswax modeling; singing; drama; introduction to the recorder - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Eurythmy, balance, running and chasing games, song and movement The third grade curriculum is designed to meet the child undergoing a change. A nine-year old can feel him/herself growing up and separating from his/her parents, and becoming part of the outer world. The child becomes more independent, and begins to question all that was previously taken for granted. This can be a time of loneliness and insecurity for a child as well as a time of new self-confidence. The curriculum meets the child's new interests, giving him/her the opportunity to learn about the three essential requirements for all humankind: food, clothing, and shelter. Farming and gardening lessons instruct the child in the importance of the soil, the use of farming tools, and how food has been grown over the past several centuries. These lessons lay the foundation for active preservation of the earth, and give the child an opportunity for direct involvement in growing his/her own food. The provision of clothing is addressed in the textiles unit, usually beginning with the shearing of a sheep and culminating in a woven or knitted garment from that sheep's wool. The child is involved in every practical aspect of the making of the garment. The many types of shelter are discussed and some are constructed by the children with the teacher's guidance. A lesson block on building a modern house teaches the critical importance of cooperation amongst architects, contractors, and laborers. In third grade, the child begins to develop a basic awareness for practical applications of mathematics. Measurement of all types is covered: length, weight, and volume; money and time. All of these measurements are put to use in practical activities by the children themselves. Mathematics and movement go hand in hand. Rhythm is an integral part of the approach to arithmetic and is a significant aid to memorization. For example, the times tables are practiced while jumping rope, tossing bean bags, or bouncing a ball. This increases the child's ability to memorize and retain the information. All numerical concepts and practices proceed from the whole to the parts, thus leading the child to the realization that it is only the whole that gives meaning and existence to the parts. In the study of time, money, and measurement, the historical background of the methods, tools, and practices is taught before the modern methods are explained. The importance of words and the beauty of speech underlie the entire language arts curriculum. Through the daily telling of stories, the teacher creates in the child the capacity for inward picturing, setting the stage for conceptual thought. Reading penmanship, grammar, writing, spelling, listening and speaking are developed in an artistic manner which speaks to the whole child. Music is an important focus in the curriculum. After two years playing the pentatonic flute, the third grade child learns how to play a soprano recorder. This instrument will be used throughout the grades. Singing in rounds is begun as an introduction to harmony and awareness of rhythm. An emphasis on dramatic work culminates in the production of the class play, which echoes a familiar theme from the year's curriculum. In handwork, the third grade child graduates from knitting to crochet, completing three or four useful articles for her/himself. Painting and modeling beeswax are weekly activities that sharpen the child's powers of observation and expression. In the third grade the changing nine year-old is given an opportunity to make new relationships: with nature through farming and gardening; with others through a building project; and with themselves through drama, music, and art. Grade 4 Curriculum - Math: Review four processes; advanced multiplication; long division; place value to millions, simple graphs; averaging; perimeter, area and volume; factoring; estimating; rounding; word problems; mental math; introduction to fractions - Language Arts: Elements of grammar; parts of speech; continuing cursive; punctuation; writing well structured paragraphs; book reports; expository writing, creative writing, narratives; class play; building fluency through regular reading practice; sight word recognition, high frequency words; prefixes & suffixes; spelling and vocabulary development; Norse mythology - Science: Zoology; continuation of garden and nature studies - History & Social Studies: California and local history - Geography: California and local geography and map making - Handwork: Cross-stitch, mirror image/symmetry - Foreign Language: Spanish vocabulary is introduced through songs, games, verses, dialogues, writings, drawings, imitations of animals and acting out verbs. Through these activities students study body parts, weather, days of the week, months of the year, seasons, colors, elements of nature, classroom objects, diction and parts of speech including verbs, pronouns and prepositions. - Visual & Performing Arts: Form drawing; painting; singing; drama; recorder; violin; introduction to reading and writing music - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Field games, balance, games involving trickery and strategy; games exploring movement of animals The fourth grade curriculum addresses a child in possession of greater certainty and confidence. Now that the ninth year change has occurred, the child is more assured of his/her own place in the world and is able to assert more individual needs and wants. The curriculum correspondingly evolves away from the unified approach of early childhood into the teaching of more specific subjects. The focus of the fourth grade language arts curriculum is the myths and legends of the Norse people. The vivid images evoked in their telling provide ample inspiration for the expanded creative and expository writing skills required of the child at this grade; the strong alliterations of their verses strengthen the fourth grade child's clarity and dexterity of speech, and reinforce his/her developing confidence. In the realm of mathematics, the fourth grade child begins the year with a firm foundation in working with whole numbers using the four processes. This year marks the appropriate time to introduce fractions, as the practice of breaking apart the whole into its constituent parts mirrors the child's own experience of the fracturing of his/her world. Concepts are first introduced through manipulatives consisting of everyday objects, providing the child with an initial concrete experience of fractions before proceeding to more abstract representations. History and geography become formal main lesson subjects in the fourth grade. The child's growing ability to regard with objectivity her/his environment is developed through the study of local geography. S/he learns how to find the four points of the compass by observing sun and stars. The child studies and makes maps of the classroom, the school, the neighborhood, the city, and the state of California. The goal of the geography curriculum is to engender an understanding of the interrelatedness of human activity and the local physical conditions of the earth. The fourth grade history curriculum examines the historical development and diversity of human society in the state of California and its localized neighborhoods. The child is given a sense for the world of the indigenous Californians, the Spanish explorers, the first missions, and the period of the Gold Rush. The biographies of men and women who played a part in creating our culture reiterate one of the predominant themes of fourth grade, which is the importance of human deeds. The transformation from imagination to objectivity is manifest again in the study of nature that forms the human and animal main lesson block. Animal study is introduced, growing out of an artistic and respectful study of the human being. The child develops an understanding and appreciation of the animal kingdom as it reflects the environment to which each species has adapted. The detailed study offers opportunities for the child to develop his/her artistic, dramatic, and observational skills, and it provides additional material for language arts activities. In music, the fourth grade signals the introduction of the violin, in addition to continuing the recorder. Foreign language instruction continues, as the child begins to write down poems, stories, and dialogues acquired in the earlier grades. Handwork focuses on cross-stitch, embroidery, and braiding. Grade 5 Curriculum - Math: Decimals; fractions; percentages; metric system; negative numbers; introduction to geometry - Language Arts: Elements of grammar; spelling; punctuation; compositions; Greek myths - Science: Botany; introduction to inductive method; continuation of gardening and nature studies - History & Social Studies: Ancient civilizations through Greek times - Geography: American geography as related to vegetation, agriculture, culture and economics - Handwork: Knitting socks using four needles - Woodworking: Convex Surfaces: carved egg, buttons and beads, chopsticks, animal cut-outs - Foreign Language: Spanish vocabulary is continued through the introduction of songs, games, verses, writings, drawings, and small dialogues. With these activities students study greetins, days of the week, months of the year, seasons,the time of day, their names, elements of nature, and names of objects. Basic verbs and their conjugations pronouns, gender, articles, adjectives and prepositions are introduced and practiced, expanding both vocabulary and comprehension. - Visual & Performing Arts: Calligraphy; painting; clay modeling; woodworking; drama, singing; recorder; choir; instrumental ensemble - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Games exploring strength and strategy; games with multiple props; games with team goals The fifth grader has grown more accustomed to being an individual; yet, like the third grader, s/he is about to leave another phase of childhood behind and cross the threshold of adolescence. The curriculum must, therefore, not only continue to build on established foundations, but introduce certain new elements to prepare the child for the next step forward. In the language arts curriculum the fifth grade child journeys back to the dawn of human civilization, in ancient India, Persia, Egypt and Greece. Through mythology and primary textual sources the student experiences how these cultures viewed the world. In his/her written work, the student retells the epics of the Ramayana the Mahabharata, Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey. S/he recites quotations from ancient texts, and in his/her dramatic work takes on the characters of Odysseus, Achilles or Helen of Troy. Fractions and decimals continue to be the chief concern of arithmetic study in the fifth grade. The student learns to move freely between these two numbering systems, and the use of percentage is introduced. The deep mathematical wisdom of ancient Egypt, as embodied in the Great Pyramid of Giza, offers a concrete introduction to the secrets of geometry. The relationship between radius, diameter, circumference and area of a circle is explored, and pi is introduced. The study of the ancient cultures includes an overview of the lands where these civilizations emerged. In addition the geography of the North American continent is studied. The teacher strives to give the child a sense for the contrasts between the different regions of America in terms of topography, vegetation, animal life and human use of the land from ancient times to the present. The student develops an understanding for the major mountain ranges and river systems, and how these landforms define the rest of the continent. Ancient history in the fifth grade starts with the "childhood" of civilized humanity in ancient India, Persia, the great cultures of Mesopotamia (the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians) and Egypt. The class then moves on to ancient Greece and the birth of modern civilization: the foundations of philosophy, science, history, drama and art were laid while Athens and Sparta fought for independence against the might Persian empire. The fifth grade year ends with the story of Alexander the Great, who conquered all the ancient peoples previously studied, unifying the east and the west. The science curriculum for the fifth grade focuses on the plant kingdom. The child learns that the world of plants is made up of many different families, from the simple mushroom to the rose; the scope of the lessons then expands to an investigation of how climate and geography affect plant growth. Regular choral singing is practiced in the fifth grade, and increasingly complex melodies are played on the soprano recorder. Note reading skills are emphasized. Study of the violin continues, with increasing attention to bowing techniques and part playing. Grade 6 Curriculum - Math: Introduction to Algebra; ratios; proportions; geometric formula and drawing with instruments; continuation of fractions, percentages, decimals - Language Arts: Dictation; composition; spelling; Latin and Greek roots, etymology; biographies; mythological literature; drama - Science: Mineralogy; introduction to physics: acoustics, electricity, magnetism, optics, heat; geocentric astronomy - History & Social Studies: Roman and Medieval history; projects and reports - Geography: European and African geography - Handwork: Hand sewing three-dimensional animals with gussets, pattern making - Woodworking: Concavity and Construction: spoon, letter opener or spatula - Foreign Language: Spanish vocabulary is introduced through verses, games, drawings, simple writings, and questions and answers. Students develop their understanding and use of pronunciation, forms of greetings, the names of classroom objects, and the names of days, months, and seasons. The students work on parts of speech, such as articles, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. - Visual & Performing Arts: Calligraphy; painting; clay modeling; mosaics; drama; choir; elective orchestra - Movement/Physical Education/Games: Introduction to competitive games; more formal movement skills; complex strategy; calisthenics - Technology: Cyber Civics is introduced to provide an ethical framework and word processing is also introduced The child entering the twelfth year begins to experience an important change in his/her physical body. Whereas before the child's movements were naturally graceful, often now a certain clumsiness appears. On the inner level the child is entering strongly into the skeletal system. The child is more aware of gravity and weight. With this increased awareness of the physical body, this is the appropriate time to introduce the study of the physical body of the earth and its mechanical laws. Mineralogy and Geology form a major unit of study in the sixth grade, focusing on comparative studies of major geographic and geologic formations, and on the identification and classification of mineral components of rocks. Physics is also introduced this year. During the course of study, the child learns to understand and appreciate the phenomena of sound, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, while developing his/her observational skills. The introduction of the physical sciences at this age is also a response to the intellectual development of the sixth grade child, which is characterized by greater powers of discernment and judgment and a new capacity to grasp cause and effect. This ability is further developed in the mathematics curriculum, which focuses on the introduction of practical business operations that govern the flow of monies and commodities. This, of course, requires the ability to manipulate all arithmetic operations with facility. Elementary algebraic manipulations will also be gradually introduced over the course of the year, so that the child will better assimilate the information when it is presented intensively in the seventh grade. Geometry instruction in sixth grade introduces the use of the modern compass and straight edge to construct the circle and polygons resulting from its division. Basic proofs will be derived inductively through the construction of geometric forms; the child will learn to copy and bisect angles as well as construct parallel and perpendicular lines; and the concept of pi will be developed pictorially and arithmetically. The history curriculum that governs much of the sixth grade language arts work takes as its theme Rome and medieval Christian Europe, and Muslim North Africa. The study of the Roman epoch begins with the mythical account of the travels of Aeneas and his founding of the city; it examines the evolution of Roman government, laws and rights through its successive rulers, the wars it waged, and its great achievements in technology and the arts; and it charts the events leading to its decline and the concomitant rise of Christianity and Islam. The law-abiding, rule-bound culture of Rome offers an instructive backdrop for the sixth grade child in developing his/her English language skills. The Latin roots of common words and expressions are explored. Conventions of composition and research are elaborated upon this year, and the fundamental of scientific writing are introduced to coincide with the science main lesson units. Formal grammar rules are also dealt with in greater detail. Calligraphy is another appropriate skill to be introduced in the sixth grade. The world enlarges for the sixth grade child in the study of Geography. Following the consideration of basic physical configurations as part of the Geology unit, the study of specific geographic regions extends to Europe and Africa. The emphasis is on the interrelationship between the environment and traditional human activity. The study of Astronomy is introduced this year, concentrating on those bodies of the solar system that are directly observable by the naked eye. The effects of the Sun and the Moon on the cyclical phenomena we experience on Earth are explored through observation and simple experimentation. The five "visible" planets are studied, and the major constellations of the Northern Hemisphere are identified. The telling of the myths behind the names of the constellations provides rich material for the creative writing exercises in sixth grade. Grade 7 Curriculum - Math: Algebra; mathematical thinking/theory; geometry proofs - Language Arts: Creative writing; grammatical mechanics; critical thinking through literature - Science: Physics: mechanics; physiology: circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems; helio-centric astronomy; introduction to chemistry - History & Social Studies: End of Middle Ages; Age of exploration; the Renaissance; projects and oral reports - Geography: Geography of North and South America - Handwork: Hand sewing, embroidery - Woodworking: Initiation and Precision: May include bowl or platter - Foreign Language: Students see how the forms of Spanish articles, nouns, and adjectives express gender as well as number. They practice the three types of verbs and their conjunctions in the present tense along with pronunciation of consonants and vowels in Spanish, and the formation of phrases and simple sentences. All elements of the language are experienced through songs, verses, games, and writings. - Visual & Performing Arts: May include calligraphy; clay modeling; perspective drawing; principles of drawing (negative space, texture, etc.); painting; Art History; elective orchestra - Movement/Physical Education/Games: team games and team building, trust building games, complex strategy - Technology: Cyber Civics is continued to provide an ethical framework as is word processing. Research skills and composition process are introduced The seventh grade child, standing on the brink of puberty, finds his/her reflection in the dominant curricular theme of the year, the Renaissance. The transition from medieval to early modern thinking that this period traces represents a change in consciousness from viewing the world as a symbolic representation of the spiritual world, to empirical testing of the world through sense experiences. Exact measurement and factual accuracy became central to thought and culture. Individualism found its expression in artistic and intellectual achievements. The European continent was overtaken by great intellectual and political upheavals, as the old world gave way to a striving for a new world, both geographically and philosophically. These conditions find their parallel in the early adolescent who begins to fully experience the dramatic metabolic and emotional upheavals of puberty. Just as Europe looked out from its ancient past, so in adolescence the child needs to look out from his/her own inner condition to counter the self-absorption so detrimental to this age. Consequently, the history and geography curricula are concerned with a very short period of time, 1400 – 1700, which gave rise to three great constellations: the cultural Renaissance, the spiritual Reformation, and the economic Age of Discovery. In European geography, attention shifts from economic to cultural geography, becoming a vehicle for anthropological studies. In the Language Arts, the child will continue to develop and strengthen listening, speaking, and writing skills using the biographical stories from the Age of Exploration, the Italian Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. Expository and creative writing skills will be further expanded. Drawing upon the emerging feeling-life of the seventh grade child, s/he will learn to develop themes and form sentences out of the “inner character” of desire, wonder, and surprise. The basic concepts of algebra and plane geometry are the predominant subjects of the mathematics curriculum in the seventh grade. The general application and transformation of formulae and equations in practical life situations form a central part of the main lesson math block. Conscious work with geometric proofs continues, building up through triangles and parallelograms to deductive proofs of the Pythagorean theorem using shear, reflection, and rotation. The Perspective Drawing unit draws from the study of both history and mathematics. The child learns how the Renaissance artists used geometry principles to develop the laws of perspective, and practices the application of these laws in original drawings. In the sciences, work continues with physics. In mechanics, simple machines are introduced: the lever, inclined plane, wedge, wheel and axle, pulley and screw. The concepts of effort and resistance are presented, and in their calculation the child is reinforced in his/her understanding of ratio. Work in optics, heat, electricity, and magnetism is extended, with an emphasis on the practical application of these phenomena. Observation of outer nature now leads the child back again to a study of the human being. The seventh grade curriculum includes physiology units on the circulatory, respiratory, and nervous systems. Work with chemistry also begins in the seventh grade, developing out of the familiar process of combustion. The students are made familiar with elementary ideas of chemistry and how it does not exist in isolation but relates to industrial and economic life. Accurately executed descriptions and drawings are an integral part of this unit. Grade 8 Curriculum - Math: Continue Algebra; Geometry; practical applications of arithmetic - Language Arts: Composition: letters, short stories, essays, poetry, research reports; - Literature: short stories, poetry, Shakespearean drama - Science: Physics; organic chemistry; human anatomy (muscles, bones, ears, eyes) - History & Social Studies: The Age of Revolutions; American History; The Twentieth Century; research reports - Geography: Asian Geography - Handwork: Machine sewing - Woodworking: Authority and Mastery: May include bench, chair or stool, relief carving or wheeled toy - Foreign Language: Students continue to develop their knowledge of Spanish through songs, verses, games, movement, simple readings and writing, and short conversations. They work on the parts of speech as well as different word endings according to number and gender, as well as verbs and verb types and their conjunctions in the present tense. - Visual & Performing Arts: Drawing; clay modeling; painting; portraiture; choir; recorder; instrumental ensemble, Shakespearean drama - Movement/Physical Education/Games: team games and team building, trust building games, complex strategy - Technology: Cyber Civics is continued to provide an ethical framework as is word processing. Research skills and composition process are further developed Like Janus, the Roman god of doorways, the eighth grader is looking in two directions simultaneously. On the one hand, the eighth grade is the culmination of the student’s experience. It is a time of reflection, of summing up, and all the bittersweet feelings associated with an ending. At the same time, the eighth grader’s gaze is turned towards the future and a new beginning. He or she fears, yet yearns for, the immense changes anticipated there. The eighth grade curriculum must address both of these impulses. The focus of the former is concentrated in the daily practice classes, where review and consolidation of practical skills are emphasized. In the language arts there is an increasing emphasis on nuances of style and grammar in the child’s expository and creative writing. The mathematics curriculum concentrates on the application of arithmetic operations to practical situations, extends the study of algebra, and in geometry introduces the platonic solids. The forward-looking impulse is best addressed in the main lesson, and in particular, the history curriculum. Whereas the seventh grade took as its theme the intellectual and aesthetic flowering of the Renaissance, the eighth grade is fully present in modern times. Its aim is to bring the accumulated image of world civilization up to the present day. Nothing characterizes the modern period better than the great revolutions—the industrial, political, and scientific revolutions which pulled down the old monarchial orders, in turn giving rise to the struggles for individual freedoms and human rights. All these have had far-reaching cultural consequences, and it is important that the students consciously realize and appreciate this as they themselves are carried into the turmoil of adolescence. The science curriculum in the eighth grade encompasses physics, chemistry and anatomy. In physics, the study of acoustics, optics, heat and electro-magnetism is extended through hydraulics and aeromechanics. The organic chemistry block covers sugars, starches, proteins, and fats. Health, hygiene and nutrition is also addressed. Choral singing expands in the eighth grade to three and four-part harmonies to take advantage of the range of voices found in the adolescent class. The recorder program expands to include alto and tenor recorders, and instrumental ensembles take on more challenging work.

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There can be no single "correct" way of teaching any subject, no ideal methodology that is appropriate for all teachers and students. What is offered here are guidelines and advice that might prove useful to schoolteachers in constructing their own schemes of work, taking into account the learning needs of individual students. These guidelines draw on current best practice from a number of institutions with expertise in teaching the Holocaust to address some of the concerns teachers have about how to approach this very difficult subject and to present possible ways forward. Holocaust education stands upon advances in research and has changed significantly over the last three decades; this document seeks to reflect a continuing process of pedagogical development and improvement and, as such, is not intended as the final word on this subject. - The Holocaust can be successfully taught to students; do not be afraid to approach this subject - Define the term Holocaust - Create a positive learning environment, with an active pedagogy and a student-centred approach - Individualise the history by translating statistics into personal stories - Use witness testimony to make this history more "real" to your students - A cross-curricular approach will enrich your students' understanding of the Holocaust - Contextualise the history - Give broad and balanced coverage to this subject - Be precise in your use of language and urge your students to do the same - Distinguish between the history of the Holocaust and the lessons that might be learned from that history - Avoid simple answers to a complex history - Provide your students with access to primary sources - Students should be alerted to the fact that the perpetrators produced much of the evidence of the Holocaust - Encourage your students to critically analyse different interpretations of the Holocaust - Be responsive to the appropriateness of written and visual content and do not use horrific imagery to engage your students in a study of the Holocaust - Avoid comparing the pain of any one group with that of another - Allow your students to explore a variety of responses of the victims, including the many forms of resistance to the Nazis - Take care not to define the Jewish people solely in terms of the Holocaust - Indicate that the Holocaust was not inevitable - Do not attempt to explain away the perpetrators as "inhuman monsters" - Be careful to distinguish between the perpetrators of the past and present-day societies in Europe and elsewhere - Encourage your students to study local, regional, national and global history and memory - Ask your students to participate in and reflect upon national and local traditions of commemoration and remembrance - Select appropriate learning activities and avoid using simulations that encourage students to identify with perpetrators or victims - Avoid legitimising the denial of the past - Be aware of the potential and also the limitations of all instructional materials, including the Internet - Distinguish between historical and contemporary events and avoid ahistorical comparisons - Be responsive to the concerns of your students The Holocaust can be successfully taught to students; do not be afraid to approach this subject Many teachers are reluctant to explore the history of the Holocaust with their students because of the perceived difficulties in teaching the subject. They are overwhelmed by how to convey the scale of the tragedy, the enormity of the numbers involved, and the depths to which humanity can sink. They wonder how to move their students without traumatising them; they worry about their students' possible reactions to this subject and how to deal with "inappropriate" behaviour in the classroom, such as giggling or expressing antisemitic and racist remarks. Do not be afraid to approach this subject as, while it may appear daunting, experience has shown that the Holocaust can be successfully taught to students and may have very positive results. Define the term Holocaust A clear definition of the term Holocaust is essential. Many teachers apply this term in a very broad sense to encompass all victims of Nazi persecution. Yet most historians of the period use a more precise definition (see IHRA guidelines on "What to teach"). Students should be aware that for many people the term "Holocaust" is problematic. A holocaust is a biblical sacrifice, and use of the term could seem to imply that the mass murder of the Jews was a form of martyrdom, but there was nothing holy about the Holocaust. Other terms should also be used with care. Speaking of the "Final Solution" means taking up the killers' language; using the word genocide could seem to accept the Nazis' conception of races. Many prefer the use of the Hebrew word Shoah-meaning catastrophe-which is not loaded with religious meaning. Create a positive learning environment, with an active pedagogy and a student-centred approach The Holocaust challenges many assumptions that young people may have about the nature of society, progress, civilisation, and human behaviour. Students may have defensive reactions, negative feelings, or an unwillingness to go deeper into the history of the Nazi period or of the Holocaust. A trusting atmosphere is important in order that such issues may be openly addressed and discussed. It is important to create an open learning environment where students are given space and time to reflect, where they are encouraged to ask questions, to discuss their thoughts and fears, and to share ideas, opinions, and concerns. Learning should be student-centred. The teacher's role should be to facilitate rather than to lecture, and young people should be encouraged to play an active role in their own learning. History is not a body of knowledge to be transmitted from the mind of the teacher to the minds of the students, but should be a journey of discovery in which young people formulate their own lines of enquiry, analyse a variety of sources of information, question different interpretations and representations of events; and find their own answers to challenging historical and moral questions. Individualise the history by translating statistics into personal stories Statistical studies are important and teachers should find methods to make the scale of the Holocaust and the numbers involved real to their students. But many young people will find it difficult to relate to the tragedy of the Holocaust if it is presented only in statistical terms. Students should be given opportunities to see those persecuted by the Nazis not as a faceless mass of victims but as individuals. Use case studies, survivor testimony, and letters and diaries from the period to show the human experience and to ensure that students understand that each "statistic" was a real person, an individual with a life before the Holocaust, friends, and family. Emphasise the dignity of the victims at all times. An exploration of the Holocaust that fails to challenge stereotypical views-that all perpetrators were mad or sadistic; that all rescuers were heroic, brave, good, and kind; that all bystanders were apathetic-risks dehumanising people in the past and rendering them as caricatures rather than real human beings. By focusing on the stories of individuals, of moral dilemmas faced and choices made, teachers can make the history of the Holocaust more immediate and interesting to young people and more relevant to their lives today. Use witness testimony to make this history more "real" to your students Many countries still have Holocaust survivors living within their communities. If you are able to make contact with these survivors and invite them into your classroom, you have the opportunity to provide your students with a special and powerful educational experience. Being in the presence of someone who experienced the unimaginable can create genuine empathy in the classroom. A number of organisations can assist you in arranging for a survivor to speak at your school. However, with an aging survivor population it may not be possible for your students to have this direct personal contact. In such cases, teachers should explore the use of video testimony to provide personal stories of the Holocaust. Other individuals who were directly involved in the Holocaust or who witnessed events firsthand also have powerful testimonies to give. If you are able to invite rescuers, liberators, and others into your classroom, then their personal stories will also greatly enrich your students' understanding of the Holocaust. If you decide to invite someone into your classroom to speak about his or her personal experiences, talk to that person before the session to ensure that her or she is able to speak to groups and is clear about your educational objectives. Do preparatory work with your class to ensure that your students are respectful and appreciative. Students should understand that although much time has elapsed since these events, the speaker will still find it painful to relate such intensely personal experiences. Ensure that your students already have a secure grounding in the history of these events. The opportunity to meet witnesses should not be used primarily to transmit the historical events of the period-for the most part these people are not trained historians or teachers, nor might their experiences be "typical" of the majority of people during the Holocaust. Instead, your students will have the rare privilege of meeting someone who witnessed and experienced these events firsthand and listening to their unique, personal testimony. Encourage your students to ask the survivor not only about what happened to him or her during the Holocaust but also about his or her life before and after, so that they get a sense of the whole person and of how the survivor has tried to live with his or her experiences. Although it is not possible to generalise from one person's story, the effect of meeting a Holocaust survivor, rescuer, or liberator can be to make these historical events more real to your students, reinforcing that this tragedy befell ordinary people. A cross-curricular approach will enrich your students' understanding of the Holocaust The events of the Holocaust touch upon so many aspects of human behaviour that it is profoundly relevant to teachers across a range of subject disciplines. Although a sound understanding of the history must be the foundation for study of the Holocaust, historians do not have a monopoly on this subject. Imaginative links between departments can enhance a scheme of work by drawing on different areas of expertise, approaching the Holocaust from multiple perspectives, and building upon ideas and knowledge gained in other lessons. The narratives of the Holocaust illustrate the extremes of human behaviour, of hatred and cruelty but also of courage and humanity. Learning about the Holocaust through history evokes powerful emotions that poetry, art, and music can help students express creatively and imaginatively. The Holocaust raises important moral, theological, and ethical questions that your students could explore in their religious studies, citizenship classes, or civics lessons. By co-ordinating an interdisciplinary approach and drawing upon the expertise of colleagues in other subject areas, you will share the teaching workload and enrich your students' understanding of the Holocaust. Contextualise the history The occurrence of the Holocaust must be studied in the context of European and global history as a whole to give students a perspective on the precedents and circumstances that contributed to it. Give broad and balanced coverage to this subject The Holocaust was not a uniform event but varied considerably from country to country and at different points in time (see IHRA guidelines on "What to teach"). Be precise in your use of language and urge your students to do the same There are many myths about the Holocaust, and your students may come to this subject with many preconceived ideas. Ambiguities in your use of language may help perpetuate misconceptions. Avoid using the language of the perpetrators, which mirrors their views. Terms like "Final Solution" may be cited and critically analysed but should not be used to describe the historical event. Definitions are important because they demand accuracy and clear thinking. One example is the use of the term "camp." Although people died at many camps created by the Nazis and their collaborators, not all camps were intentionally built as killing centres. There were concentration camps, slave labour camps, and transit camps, to name a few. Different camps functioned in different ways at different times. It is essential that teachers be very precise when describing the activities that occurred at the various camps associated with this history and avoid generalising about camps. Distinguish between the history of the Holocaust and the lessons that might be learned from that history Be careful to distinguish between the history of the Holocaust and the moral lessons one can draw from a study of that history. There is a danger of distorting the historical narrative if it is oversimplified or shaped to better serve the particular moral lesson that teachers wish their students to learn. Learning about these events can sensitise young people to modern-day examples of prejudice and injustice; the Holocaust can confront students with stereotypes, myths, and misconceptions and enable them to test received prejudices against historical evidence. But moral lessons will not be well founded unless they are based upon an accurate and objective reading of the historical record. Historical inquiry of the kind we should expect of our students will reveal to them the complexities of a world in which such choices were made and such decisions taken. Students should be confronted with real dilemmas faced by people in the past. Only then might people's actions (and inaction) be seen within the context of their own time, and only then might we begin to draw meaningful lessons for today. Avoid simple answers to a complex history A desire to "learn lessons" risks over-simplistic explanations of the Holocaust that neglect to take into account the historical context in which decisions were made. Such an approach can reduce students' understanding of complex events to straightforward lessons of right and wrong-"the Holocaust happened because people failed to make the correct moral choices"-and lead to a superficial reading of history. Students should investigate historical questions. This activity might include asking why the fate of Jews in different countries varied so markedly and could explore the different types of German occupation regimes from country to country. Such inquiries will invariably raise moral issues, but students should be encouraged to view the past with humility. It is easy to condemn those who refused to hide or help their Jewish neighbours, but easy moral judgements of the bystanders will not create a deeper understanding of the history or make our students better citizens. Given the complexity of this history, students should have opportunities to study and investigate the Holocaust in depth, including the dilemmas of the rescuers, who every day had to decide whether or not to continue to risk their lives and those of their families to help those in hiding; why the Allies did not do more to save the Jews; why some of the Judenräte drew up lists of their fellow Jews for deportation to the death camps; why the majority of people in occupied lands did nothing to help their Jewish neighbours; and why ordinary men and women willingly participated in mass murder. This complex subject matter does not always yield simple answers and many times more questions arise than actual answers. Indeed, it is important for young people to realise that for some questions there are no answers. Provide your students with access to primary sources It is in the letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches, works of art, orders, and official documents of the time that the perpetrators, victims, rescuers, and bystanders reveal themselves. Primary source material is essential for any meaningful exploration of the motivation, thoughts, feelings, and actions of people in the past and for any serious attempt to understand the choices made and why events happened as they did. Students should have opportunities to critically analyse original source material and to understand that analysis, interpretation, and judgement must be based on a sound reading of the historical evidence. Students should be alerted to the fact that the perpetrators produced much of the evidence of the Holocaust Much of the evidence of the Holocaust-whether written documents, photographs, or film-was produced by the Nazis, so there is a danger of viewing the past only through the eyes of the perpetrators. If such material is not used carefully, we risk seeing the victims as the Nazis saw them-objectified, degraded, and dehumanised. Such evidence needs to be contextualised, and teachers must take into account the cognitive and emotional age of the child, ensuring that use of these images is appropriate, that students have been well prepared for the emotional effect they might have, and that young people are given space to reflect and to discuss their reactions afterward. Care should be taken to balance those documents and photographs with the diaries, letters, photographs, and other evidence from the victims themselves, in order that their voices are heard. Encourage your students to critically analyse different interpretations of the Holocaust Classroom learning is influenced by a broader cultural context and the Holocaust has entered the popular imagination through many and varied forms. Academic and popular histories, feature films, the mass media, documentaries, art, theatre, novels, memorials, and museums all shape collective memory. Each interpretation is influenced by the circumstances in which it is produced and may say as much about the time and place in which it was made as it does about the events it is portraying. It is important that students consider how and why such representations of the past are produced, the selection of the evidence upon which they are based, and the intentions of those who have made them. Students should understand that although there are legitimate areas of historical debate, it does not follow that all interpretations are equally valid (see section Avoid legitimising the denial of the past). Be responsive to the appropriateness of written and visual content and do not use horrific imagery to engage your students in a study of the Holocaust The explicit use of Holocaust images with the intent to shock and horrify is both degrading to the victims and insensitive to students. Respect for both the victims of the Holocaust and for your captive audience in the classroom demands a sensitive approach and careful thought to what constitutes appropriate material. Teachers who have spent much time in building a relationship with their students risk a betrayal of trust by subjecting them to the most horrific and disturbing images. It is also this type of material that may cause the stress and embarrassment that can lead to nervous laughter and inappropriate remarks in the classroom. The Holocaust can be taught effectively without using any photographs of piles of naked bodies, and the overuse of such imagery can be harmful. Engendering shock and revulsion is unlikely to constitute a worthwhile learning experience. It can, however, have a dehumanising effect and reinforce a view of Jews as victims. If teachers choose to use atrocity photographs, they should do so only where there is clear educational benefit to the students. Avoid comparing the pain of any one group with that of another If the universal lessons of studying this period are truly to be understood-if we argue that through a study of the Holocaust young people might be sensitised to persecution, discrimination, and hatred in the world today-then the experience of all victims of Nazi persecution, and the ideological background to that persecution, should be included in your scheme of work. In the particularity of the Jewish experience we see the discrimination, economic exploitation, persecution, and murder that resulted from Nazi antisemitism, but for examples of other forms of hatred and intolerance-that are equally relevant to modern society-we need to look elsewhere: to the Nazi persecution and murder of Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, Communists, political dissenters, and social nonconformists. The suffering of all victims of Nazi persecution needs to be addressed without relativising the Jewish experience. There can be no hierarchy of suffering, either within the history of the Nazi period or between the Holocaust and other genocides. The experience of the other victims of Nazi persecution should not be relegated to a single add-on lesson, with each of these distinct groups treated as if all were the same. Instead, the story of these groups should be integrated within the narrative of the persecution of the Jewish people, for example, the similarities and differences between the genocide of the Jews and that of the Roma and Sinti could be explored, or the link between the personnel and methods of the Nazi "euthanasia" programme and the death camps of Eastern Europe could be investigated. Such an approach not only should acknowledge the persecution of other victims but also should contribute to an understanding of the particularity of the Jewish experience and should help place the Holocaust within the broader historical context. Just as it is not possible to explain the mass murder of the Jewish people without the context of World War II, so it is inadequate to study this story in isolation from the persecution of other victim groups. Allow your students to explore a variety of responses of the victims, including the many forms of resistance to the Nazis There were many forms of resistance to Nazi persecution, from armed struggle to finding ways of maintaining human dignity even in the most extreme circumstances of the ghettos and the camps. The victims of the Nazis did not always passively accept their persecution. It is important to study how the victims responded, the limits on their freedom of action, and the many different forms of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Take care not to define the Jewish people solely in terms of the Holocaust Events of the Holocaust should be placed in historical context. There is a need to show life before and after the Holocaust in order to make it clear that the Jewish people have a long history and rich cultural heritage and to ensure that students do not think of Jews only as the dehumanised and degraded victims of Nazi persecution. Young people should be aware of the enormous loss to contemporary world culture that resulted from the destruction of rich and vibrant Jewish communities in Europe. Indicate that the Holocaust was not inevitable Just because a historical event took place, and it was documented in textbooks and on film, does not mean that it had to happen. The Holocaust took place because individuals, groups, and nations made decisions to act or not to act. By focusing on those decisions you gain an insight into history and human nature and can better help your students become critical thinkers. Do not attempt to explain away the perpetrators as "inhuman monsters" The Holocaust was a human event with human causes. There is a need to "rehumanise" all the people in the Holocaust: to see victims, rescuers, collaborators, bystanders, and perpetrators as ordinary human beings in extraordinary circumstances. This need is not to normalise the perpetrators but to recognise that the majority were not sadistic psychopaths and that "evil" is not a sufficient explanation for the Holocaust. The more difficult question is, how was it humanly possible that ordinary men and women, loving fathers and husbands, could participate willingly in the murder of innocent men, women, and children? The motivation of the perpetrators needs to be studied in depth and students should use primary documents, case studies, and individual biographies to weigh the relative importance of ideology, antisemitism, ambition, peer pressure, economic opportunism, criminal psychopathology, and other factors in explaining why people acted as they did. Be careful to distinguish between the perpetrators of the past and present-day societies in Europe and elsewhere Students should not form the opinion that all Germans were Nazis, nor that the German people were uniquely disposed to genocide. They should have opportunities to study the varied responses of the German people to Nazi policies, including enthusiastic support, cooperation, discontent, apathy, and active resistance. Be careful to distinguish between the Germany of the past and Germany in the present. The events of the Holocaust need to be located in their historical context so that the people, politics, society, and culture of modern Germany is clearly distinguished from that of its Nazi past. Students should also recognise that antisemitism is a worldwide and centuries-old phenomenon and there were many non-German perpetrators and willing collaborators across Europe. Other nationals served alongside SS units or as concentration camp guards, local police assisted in the round-ups and deportations of Jews to the death camps, at times local people instigated pogroms against their Jewish neighbours or betrayed Jewish people in hiding. Governments allied to Nazi Germany assisted in the murders on their own initiative. Encourage your students to study local, regional, national, and global history and memory If you live in a country where the Holocaust has taken place, emphasise the specific events there in the context of the national history of that period, without disregarding the European dimension of the Holocaust. This investigation should include the experiences of victims, rescuers, perpetrators, collaborators, resisters, and bystanders and should explore how far each of these has been incorporated into your local, regional, or national memory and historical narratives. If you live in a country that was one of the Allied powers or one that was neutral during World War II, encourage your students to re-examine your national narrative of this period. Why did countries not take in more refugees during the 1930s and 1940s? Why did the Allies not make saving Jews one of their war aims? Could more have been done to save the Jews of Europe? Ask your students to participate in and reflect upon national and local traditions of commemoration and remembrance Events such as Holocaust Memorial Days provide opportunities for intergenerational projects, encourage discussion among family members of related contemporary issues, and facilitate other forms of community learning. As well as enabling learning about the Holocaust to move from the classroom into the local community, such occasions can themselves become subject to investigation and learning. Students might be asked to consider how cultural influences shape memory and memorials, how their community chooses to reflect on its past, how different groups select from history and construct their own narratives, whether their nation addresses difficult aspects of its national history, and how such commemorations differ from those in other countries. Select appropriate learning activities and avoid using simulations that encourage students to identify with perpetrators or victims Although empathetic activities can be very effective techniques for interesting young people in history by highlighting human experience and responses to events in the past, great care needs to be taken in selecting such activities when approaching such a sensitive subject as the Holocaust. It may be useful, for example, for students to take on the role of someone from a neutral country, responding to these events: a journalist writing an article for her newspaper about the persecution of the Jews; a concerned citizen writing to her political representative; or a campaigner trying to mobilise public opinion. Such activities can be good motivators of learning and also highlight possible courses of action that students may take about events that concern them in the world today. Teachers need to be aware, however, that some young people might overidentify with the events of the Holocaust, be excited by the power and even the "glamour" of the Nazis, or demonstrate a morbid fascination for the suffering of the victims. Here lies the danger of creative writing or role-play exercises that encourage students to imagine they were directly involved in the Holocaust. Using the creative expression of students in a cross-curricular approach can be worthwhile, but teachers should be clear in their aims. Often "empathetic exercises" are in poor taste and pedagogically flawed because it is impossible for us really to be able to imagine-except in the most superficial sense-what it would feel like to be in circumstances so far removed from our own life experience. Such techniques also pale alongside the genuine empathy many students are able to experience on encountering personal stories, case studies, and survivor testimony. Avoid legitimising the denial of the past Holocaust denial is ideologically motivated. The deniers' strategy is to sow seeds of doubt through deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of the historical evidence. Teachers should be careful not to unwittingly legitimise the deniers through engaging in a false debate. Care must be taken not to give a platform for deniers-do not treat the denial of the Holocaust as a legitimate historical argument or seek to disprove the deniers' position through normal historical debate and rational argument. Many teachers believe, however, that the phenomenon of Holocaust denial must be explored with their students, either because their young people raise the question themselves or because teachers are concerned that their students might come across these views later in life and be unprepared for the deniers' rhetorical techniques and their ability to confuse or mislead. If this is the case, then Holocaust denial should be treated separately from the history of the Holocaust. It might be relevant to a separate unit on how forms of antisemitism have evolved over time or as a media studies project exploring the manipulation, misrepresentation, and distortion employed by groups for political, social, or economic ends. Be aware of the potential and also the limitations of all instructional materials, including the Internet Carefully evaluate the historical accuracy of all instructional materials. Antisemitism, homophobia, and anti-Gypsy feeling are widespread in many societies and may be present in your classroom. Be aware that such prejudices might exist among your students, and be careful when choosing instructional materials that through the reproduction of Nazi propaganda and atrocity photographs they do not unwittingly reinforce negative views of the victims. Ensure that your instructional materials include personal stories and case studies that challenge and subvert negative stereotypes of the victim groups. In addition to printed materials, the Internet is potentially a valuable educational and research tool. However, teachers need to be careful in their use of the Internet because a very large number of seemingly plausible sites are written and maintained by Holocaust deniers and antisemites. Teachers should warn young people about this phenomenon, making them aware that some search engines can produce unreliable results and helping students identify legitimate and authoritative sites. Teachers should emphasise the need to critically evaluate all sources of information and to consider the context in which the information was produced. Encourage students to ask questions such as the following: Who wrote the information? What is the purpose of the Web site? Is there an agenda? If so, how does this affect the selection and presentation of information? Recommend authoritative sites that you have vetted. The Web sites of the organisations listed in the International Directory could be a useful starting point, and each will have links to other reputable sites. Distinguish between historical and contemporary events and avoid ahistorical comparisons For many educators a key motivation for teaching about the Holocaust is that it can sensitise young people to examples of injustice, persecution, racism, antisemitism, and other forms of hatred in the world today. The Holocaust is often seen as a moral touchstone, a paradigm of evil. Although learning such universal lessons can be an important part of studying the Holocaust, students should also understand the differences between events, recognising the particular as well as the universal. Today there is a tendency to use the term "holocaust" as shorthand for all manner of terrible events, atrocities, and human tragedies. This trend is partly because of the limitations of language to adequately describe such events and partly because of a lack of information and understanding about the history of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, through overuse the term "holocaust" has sometimes become trivialised or even corrupted, and the misappropriation of that term risks diminishing the crimes of the Nazis through false comparisons. Learning about the Holocaust can lead young people to make useful comparisons with the modern world: human rights violations that happened under the Nazis (especially those that occurred during the pre-war period) may well be comparable with modern examples of prejudice, discrimination, and persecution. Genocide, however, is clearly and fundamentally different and distinct from the loss of civil rights. Of course, there have been other examples of genocide and it is legitimate to ask, for example, what are the similarities and differences between the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda. But students should be clear that not all tragic events constitute genocide and should beware of making false comparisons. Guard against superficial comparisons or the impression that we can decide upon our course of action today by simple reference to past events. We live in complex times and do our students a disservice if they believe that the lessons from history are so clear that they offer easy solutions in the present. Be responsive to the concerns of your students Students who feel that the suffering of their own people or group has not been addressed may be resistant to learning about the persecution and murder of others. It is important to study other histories of racism, enslavement, persecution, or colonialism that are particularly relevant to your student body. Some teachers are concerned that teaching the Holocaust may enflame young people who falsely equate the suffering of Jewish people under Nazi persecution with Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories. But this is not a reason for avoiding teaching about the Holocaust. Although one may hope that learning about the Holocaust might sensitise students to examples of injustice, persecution, prejudice, and violations of human rights today, teachers should guard against a politicisation of history and an appropriation of the Holocaust to further some campaigning agenda. Teachers must be sensitive to the feelings and opinions of students on issues of real concern to them. Teachers should be prepared to examine the causes of conflict in the modern world, and young people should be given opportunities to discuss these issues openly. But care must be taken to clearly distinguish between different conflicts, and the causes and nature of each. Of course we want our young people to become active and engaged members of society. But using the example of the Holocaust to encourage such positive attitudes may be counterproductive and lead to feelings of helplessness if students are not given opportunities to discuss how they may respond to issues of interest to them. Build time into your scheme of work to explore together with your students methods of legitimate and peaceful action that are available to them on issues of interest to them.

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Welcome to the first week of class in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. Today, we are going to discuss the role of a game designer when completing a game and find out a little more about what game design actually is. This text follows closely from our textbooks (Game Design Workshop, Chapter 1 and Challenges for Game Designers, Chapter 1). Before we get started right away, let me point you to a series of helpful videos called Extra Credits as well. They tackle many interesting game development issues in their videos that are educational and often fun to watch as well. The one below discusses what you need to become a game designer. I highly recommend the videos on their channel if you want to find out more about game development. They have lots of information there and complement this course nicely. Game designers craft the core mechanics of a game. This means that they are responsible for deciding how games work when the player starts playing them. Most importantly, game designers create rules. These rules govern how games work. Even for non-digital games, like board and card games, we cannot play those games without following a rule set. The rules of games guide how players achieve goals. Often, goals and rules are tied to more complex procedures that all together generate the content of gameplay. Depending on the size of the development team, game designers can also be involved in creating the narrative structure (i.e., the drama and story that players experience in a game) of a game. Game designers are often the creative hub of game development. They help the game development team communicate and ensure that the vision of the gameplay experience is maintained throughout all developmental iterations of the game. As the above video from Extra Credits points out, game designers help, for example, the artists and programmers in a team share a vision even when they are not sharing a common vocabulary (which is often the case in game development). This is also partially why game development is such an exciting profession to be working in, because highly technical and highly creative people work together on creating something very unique: a video game. “A good game is a series of interesting choices.” (Sid Meier) (See Chris Bateman’s article for a critique and reference of the above quote.) Many people see games (and the activity of gaming) as a creative form of self-expression and art that can deeply move people. At the heart of good gameplay is an engaging player experience, which is often governed by the meaningful decisions of a player. Rules and goals only go so far, if a player is not motivated enough to reach them. The decision-making part of a game is where a game designer’s skill is most likely seen during gameplay. Think about it. Even in first-person shooters, where you think the goal is most often straightforward (e.g., “kill the enemies before they kill me”), there are many little second-by-second decisions involved, such as where to move, whether to take cover or to shoot or whether or not you can use the environment (e.g., the now omnipresent exploding barrels) to wreak havoc on your digital enemies. For example, in the screenshot above, not only do you have to make the regular duck, cover, move, or shoot decisions, but the game also clearly outlines your goals at a particular moment. In the example, the player is hurt and the goal should be to get to cover (the game helps you in decision-making here), but there is also the imminent attack from the helicopter requiring you to “press 4” to use your predator drone for a counter attack. The fun of gameplay in this moment is to make the right decisions in the proper sequence (threreby becoming meaningful to the player) to move past those “goals of the moment” and to advance further into the game. When we play games, we experience these moments. However, as we move from being players of games toward becoming designers of games in this class, we need to become able to break these experiences down into their components, structure, goals and rules. Game design is essentially about creating player experiences. Therefore, good game design should be centered on players. Both of our textbooks refer to this approach as player-centric game design. In the development process of a game, this means that you will need to get feedback early from people playing your game prototypes to improve them as you continue development. Great games are focused on great player experiences. Being an advocate for your players Our textbook author, Tracy Fullerton, describes the process of experiencing gameplay through the eyes of a potential player of your game as being an advocate for the player. You always have to imagine how the player will understand and interpret your game. The further you go into the development of your game, the harder this will become as you become more infatuated with your game design ideas. Keep in mind that once you start programming structures of your game, things will get much harder to change. With all the other content that makes up games, like fancy graphics, stories and special effects, it is sometimes easy to forget that players won’t play your game unless your gameplay works for them. Simple things that your players will need to understand about your game within the first couple of minutes are the following: - How do I play? What actions are necessary to play this game? What am I doing? - How do I win or lose? How does a round or the entire game end? - What are my objectives? Why do I want to play this? - What is the game about? Is there a setting, story or meaning to this? Each minor decision a player makes during gameplay will affect the experience they are having in one way or another. In the context of board games, this is even more visible, since decisions are often made to advance strategically against other players and can have social consequences after play is over. Our other textbook refers to the way that game designers create meaning by letting players exercise choices in the following: “Whenever the player is allowed to exercise choice in a game and that choice affects the outcome of the game, then designers are creating meaning.” (Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero) Some decisions have no alternatives though (such as rolling the dice in some board games), so there is no player choice in these. Rules like this still advance the game, but unless there are other meaningful choices in the game, a game can quickly become boring and its “replay value” will go down. As a game designer, our role is to keep things interesting for the player and make sure our rules allow players to make decisions that they will find engaging. It is critical to test your game continuously during development with people that are not you and not your development team. While, especially at the start of a game development project, you might still be able to test your game to some degree for the functionality of features, as you go deeper into development this will become much harder. So, you will need playtesters. These are people that play your game and give you feedback on their experience, which you can check against your design goals. This way you make sure that your design works as intended. You often even learn a lot already by simply watching people play your game and taking notes (yes, you always need to take notes). The earlier you involve playtesters in the development of your game, the easier it is to keep implementing changes and help steer the development of the game in the right direction early on. “In some ways, designing a game is like being the host of a party.” (Tracy Fullerton) Being a good game designer is more about getting everything ready for the player to control rather than having full control over everything. This is how game designer differs substantially from movie directors, for example. Movie directors have (to some degree) great creative control over how an audience perceives their films. However — games being dynamic systems — game designers have to relinquish control over their games, because the players have to be in control of shaping their own experience. As the above quote states, you can prepare all the necessary tidbits for your party, but you won’t know how the party actually plays out until your guests start arriving. You can set all the pieces in place, make sure your rules work and your objectives are clear, but in the end the experience only unfolds when the player starts controlling your game. The more you playtest, the closer you come to getting the results you have envisioned. The passions and skills of a game designer Game designers usually love playing games, but not just for personal entertainment. They see games as systems and structures. They want to be able to break them down into processes and actions. Playtesting a game just one time might still seem like fun, but when you are playing the same part of a level over and over again, you will soon see how much dedication is necessary to become a game designer. You will start looking for inconsistencies in the design for long periods of time, but luckily you have playtesters to help you as well. In addition, our textbook mentions several other core skills for game designers: - Communication. You need to be able to communicate your creative vision clearly. You need to sell your game. This also means you will need to learn to write and present properly to captivate other people with your ideas. But as Jesse Schell also notes in his Art of Game Design book, you need to be a great listener to be a great game designer. Listening to the team and being able to synthesize their ideas and your creative vision is what makes the game a true collaborative product in the end. - Teamwork. The game designer interacts closely with many people on the development team, channeling artists, programmers and producers to help them understand one another. Game design is a team effort and game designers ensure that everyone is able to contribute to the game. - Process. Games are systems with lots of interdependent elements. Changing one element (e.g., to balance your game) might introduce many problems to another element. Understanding how this linked system works and being able to advocate a process of creating the game in all team members is core game design skill. Making sure to develop your game in small iterations and playtesting elements accordingly helps guide your development process. Being on top of this process is your job. - Inspiration. Putting on different lenses to view the real world and its underlying system and relationships is another elementary skill. Investing money, romantic courtship, even life itself can be considered as systems that are similar to games. Trying to find the rules and challenges helps you understand these systems. Being able to deconstruct what inspires you will make you a better game designer. - Becoming a better player. A better player does not refer to getting more skilled at playing (e.g., becoming a Dota 2 or LoL pro player). No, it means to be able to observe yourself during play and understanding your experiences. Understanding common patterns and elements in games will make you more game literate. If you understand how the game systems work in the games you are playing (i.e., how they create meaning), then you are on your way to create better games of your own. - Creativity. Being able to find inspiration from other parts of your life is crucial for designing games. Many great game designers are inspired by all sorts of complex real-life systems (watch this video to see where Will Wright got his Sims inspiration from) and are able to channel this creativity. A good exercise for this is thinking back about your childhood and the games that you have played as a kid. Do you remember what was so engaging about them? The player-centric game design process As we discussed before, it helps you push your game from the initial concept to the final complete product when you always keep the player experience in mind. Every stage of game development should have some form of testing with real players (not with the development team) attached to it. For this you should decide on what experience you want your players to have right from the start. What are your player experience goals? Our textbook defines player experience goals as “goals that the game designer sets for the type of experience that players will have during the game. These are not features of the game but rather descriptions of the interesting and unique situations in which you hope players will find themselves.” (Fullerton, Game Design Workshop, page 12). So, essentially you have to ask yourself what you want your players to do and feel. Ideally, they should feel something about everything that they are doing or are able to do in the game. Actions and reactions create player experiences. If you game has a goal, such as “players win only if they all reach the end square together,” this is different from a player experience goal that could state “players have to collaborate to win the game.” Instead of focusing on your game’s features, try to focus on what your players are thinking and feeling when they play your game. What meaningful decisions would facilitate these thoughts and feelings? The iterative development process The word iteration in this context means that you do the same sequence of things over and over again until you feel that the product is complete enough for shipping. Our textbook outlines the sequence as follows: set player experience goals ? get idea or system ? formalize idea/system ? test idea/system again player experience goals ? evaluate results ? prioritize results ? if results are bad, go back to step one ? if results can be improved, modify and test again ? if results are positive, the process is done. Your homework assignments These homework assignments are taken out of your textbook: Game Design Workshop. All assignments are due in your Tutorials on Tuesday! There are two tutorial slots, each f0r 52 people max. Both are held in Simcoe J102, 2:10 pm — 3:30 pm and 3:40 pm — 5:00 pm. These homework assignments are worth 45 XP in total. 1) Become a playtester of a game With all this talk of testing games, pick a game of your choosing and play it. Try to monitor yourself while playing. Make notes of what exactly you are doing and how you feel at different moments during gameplay. Create a full A4 page of detailed notes that break down your actions, attitude and performance in the game. Repeat this process (i.e., write another A4 page) with a friend that plays exactly the same game. Now, compare the two sets of notes. Write a couple of bullet points about what you have learned from this activity. Worth 15 XP max. 2) Start a game journal Start a paper or digital journal (or optionally a blog and tweet the link @acagamic or add the link as a comment on this page). In this journal, describe more than just the features of the games that you play, explain in fine detail the choice that you are making during gameplay and then what you personally though and felt about these choices. What do you think are the underlying systems and game mechanics that facilitated those choices for you? Why do you think some of those game mechanics exist? Compare the moments of gameplay in the game that you are playing and investigate why one gameplay moment had a bigger impact on you than another one. Do this for at least one game and present this in the tutorial session. (Keep doing this for games throughout the term if you like. Here is an example of an older journal from Kevin Gan, a former student.) Worth 15 XP max. Some quick tips if you choose to take the blog route Avoid these common mistakes in your blogs. I see these every year and for students new to writing on the web. Check out this wonderful guide as well. - Don’t ever underline something online unless it is a hyperlink! Emphasize word with bold fonts! - Don’t use copyrighted images. Make sure to reference your images online. For educational purposes, some of it is fair use, but you want to make sure it is ok. - Use bullet points, emphasis and paragraphs. Nobody wants to read your wall of text. - If you are not sure how to do blogs at all, you don’t have to. It is ok to hand this assignment in on paper. - Try to aim at about 1000 words for this analysis. - Focus on analysis — nobody wants to read how much you like a game, we want a design breakdown. Focus on the elements of the game system. - Make sure to keep the font reasonably large and easy-to-read, look out for readability. The very best system to write on the web these days is Medium, which has a fantastic editor and great layout of your text built right in. You can log in directly with your Twitter account with no extra credentials to make it even easier to use. - If you are really interested in learning how to write well, I recommend reading the book Style: Toward Clarity and Grace from Joseph M. Williams. 3) Design a board game This is a race-to-the-end game. You need to create a game on paper, in which you use a dice to advance fields. Your game needs to have a start and an end field. The objective of the game is to reach the end field. You should have a total of 25 fields. The rest is up to you. Design this game on paper and present it in the tutorial. How will your player move? What actions are you allowing your players in this game? Make sure to bring all materials needed to play your game on Tuesday. Keep things simple. Worth 15 XP max. If you are going for that A+, you will want to read these. Dear game students: read this right now. It’s an update to that other thing posted before that you had to read then. http://t.co/3qtQWqlAGf — Ian Schreiber (@IanSchreiber) June 19, 2013 — Rob Shewaga (@Wabolas) September 17, 2014 - Chapter 1: The Role of the Game Designer (pp.3–28). Tracy Fullerton (2014). Game Design Workshop, 3rd Edition. - Chapter 1: The Basics (pp. 1–24). Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber (2014). Challenges for Game Designers. Charles River Media. - What are game mechanics? Daniel Cook (2006). Lost Garden. - How I analyze a game. Raph Koster (2014). Raph Koster’s Website. - Game Development: Harder Than You Think. Jonathan Blow (2004). ACM Queue. - Gameplay Deconstruction: Elements and Layers. Paolo Tajè (2007). Game Career Guide. - How to Become a Game Designer. Soren Johnson (2012). Soren Johnson’s Game Design Journal. - The Legend of Zelda: Anatomy of a game. Troy Gilbert. Some early feedback on Twitter and blogs from students — jessé (@jessenym) September 10, 2014 — Ryan Henchey (@ryanh32) September 10, 2014 — Cody Chaplin (@Cody_Chaplin) September 10, 2014 — Darian (@DarianTse) September 9, 2014 — Brennan Root (@BigBigBubbles) September 9, 2014 — Bo Ouyang (@redbit0621) September 9, 2014 — Ryan Henchey (@ryanh32) September 9, 2014 — Ryan Henchey (@ryanh32) September 9, 2014 — Peter Termini (@Mango4Tango) September 9, 2014 — Jack Hamilton (@Triceratops_Rex) September 9, 2014 — Tyrone Sagarino (@TyroneSagarino) September 9, 2014 — Windlancer (@Windlancer1) September 9, 2014 — Spencer Dowie (@spencerdowie) September 9, 2014 — Deryk Thuss (@Deek2295) September 9, 2014 — Deryk Thuss (@Deek2295) September 9, 2014 — Shane Chan (@SMChan25) September 9, 2014 — Drew Terbrack (@Grandtitan19) September 9, 2014 — michael (@something139) September 9, 2014 — Cody Chaplin (@Cody_Chaplin) September 9, 2014 — Alexander Lagman (@AlecLagmar) September 9, 2014 — Nelly (@sheepishNel) September 9, 2014 — Kitty Running (@KittyRunning) September 9, 2014 — Ian Blackley (@iBlackley) September 9, 2014 — Curtis Rio Sewell (@CurtisRioSewell) September 9, 2014 — Actual Fiyah (@gDanoFire) September 9, 2014 — Vincent Ho (@MrVince329) September 9, 2014 — Shivam Sachdeva (@shivaramo) September 9, 2014 — Rylan Koroluk (@orderofgaming) September 9, 2014 — jessé (@jessenym) September 9, 2014 — Aidan Rockarts (@aidanrockarts) September 8, 2014 — Russell Sng (@R_Sng) September 8, 2014 — Mathooshan T. (@FireXfreak) September 7, 2014 — Sulojen (@Sulojen) September 8, 2014 — Andrew Wryghte (@OptimusK9) September 7, 2014 — Jordan Culver (@DawnDCXVI) September 7, 2014 — gabe ramsay (@Gabe_Ramsay) September 7, 2014 — Jack Hamilton (@Triceratops_Rex) September 7, 2014 — Liquid Forza (@Forzaroma11dg) September 6, 2014

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The culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their own unique characteristics. It is a product of the diverse populations that today inhabit the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora. African culture is expressed in its arts and crafts, folklore and religion, clothing, cuisine, music and languages. Expressions of culture are abundant within Africa, with large amounts of cultural diversity being found not only across different countries but also within single countries. Even though African cultures are widely diverse, it is also, when closely studied, seen to have many similarities. For example, the morals they uphold, their love and respect for their culture as well as the strong respect they hold for the aged and the important i.e. Kings and Chiefs. Africa has influenced and been influenced by other continents. This can be portrayed in the willingness to adapt to the ever-changing modern world rather than staying rooted to their static culture. The Westernized few, persuaded by European culture and Christianity, first denied African traditional culture, but with the increase of African nationalism, a cultural recovery occurred. The governments of most African nations encourage national dance and music groups, museums, and to a lower degree, artists and writers. Africa is divided into a great number of ethnic cultures. The continent's cultural regeneration has also been an integral aspect of post-independence nation-building on the continent, with a recognition of the need to harness the cultural resources of Africa to enrich the process of education, requiring the creation of an enabling environment in a number of ways. In recent times, the call for a much greater emphasis on the cultural dimension in all aspects of development has become increasingly vocal. During the Roman colonization of North Africa,(parts of Algeria, Libya, Egypt and the whole of Tunisia) provinces such as Tripolitania became major producers of food for the republic and the empire, this generated much wealth in these places for their 400 years of occupation. During colonialism in Africa, Europeans possessed attitudes of superiority and a sense of mission. The French were able to accept an African as French if that person gave up their African culture and adopted French ways. Knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture and abandonment of traditional African ways defined one as civilized.Kenyan social commentator Mwiti Mugambi argues that the future of Africa can only be forged from accepting and mending the sociocultural present. For Mugambi, colonial cultural hangovers, pervasive Western cultural inundation, and aid-giving arm-twisting donors are, he argues, here to stay and no amount of looking into Africa's past will make them go away. However, Maulana Karenga states: Our culture provides us with an ethos we must honor in both thought and practice. By ethos, we mean a people's self-understanding as well as its self-presentation in the world through its thought and practice in the other six areas of culture. It is above all a cultural challenge. For culture is here defined as the totality of thought and practice by which a people creates itself, celebrates, sustains and develops itself and introduces itself to history and humanity — Maulana Karenga, African Culture and the Ongoing Quest for Excellence African arts and crafts Main article: African art Africa has a rich tradition of arts and crafts. African arts and crafts find expression in a variety of woodcarvings, brass and leather art works. African arts and crafts also include sculpture, paintings, pottery, ceremonial and religiousheadgear and dress. Maulana Karenga states that in African art, the object was not as important as the soul force behind the creation of the object. He also states that All art must be revolutionary and in being revolutionary it must be collective, committing, and functional. Certain African cultures have always placed emphasis on personal appearance and jewelry has remained an important personal accessory. Many pieces of such jewelry are made of cowry shells and similar materials. Similarly, masks are made with elaborate designs and are an important part of some cultures in Africa. Masks are used in various ceremonies depicting ancestors and spirits, mythological characters and deities. In many traditional arts and craft traditions in Africa, certain themes significant to those particular cultures recur, including a couple, a woman with a child, a male with a weapon or animal, and an outsider or a stranger. Couples may represent ancestors, community founder, married couple or twins. The couple theme rarely exhibit intimacy of men and women. The mother with the child or children reveals intense desire of the women to have children. The theme is also representative of mother mars and the people as her children. The man with the weapon or animal theme symbolizes honor and power. A stranger may be from some other tribe or someone from a different country, and more distorted portrayal of the stranger indicates proportionately greater gap from the stranger. (HI) Folklore and religion See also: African traditional religions and Religion in Africa Like all human cultures, African folklore and religion represents a variety of social facets of the various cultures in Africa. Like almost all civilizations and cultures, flood myths have been circulating in different parts of Africa. Culture and religion share space and are deeply intertwined in African cultures. In Ethiopia, Christianity and Islam form the core aspects of Ethiopian culture and inform dietary customs as well as rituals and rites. According to a Pygmy myth, Chameleon, hearing a strange noise in a tree, cut open its trunk and water came out in a great flood that spread all over the land. Folktales also play an important role in many African cultures. Stories reflect a group cultural identity and preserving the stories of Africa will help preserve an entire culture. Storytelling affirms pride and identity in a culture. In Africa, stories are created by and for the ethnic group telling them. Different ethnic groups in Africa have different rituals or ceremonies for storytelling, which creates a sense of belonging to a cultural group. To outsiders hearing an ethnic group's stories, it provides an insight into the community's beliefs, views, and customs. For people within the community, it allows them to encompass their group's uniqueness. They show the human desires and fears of a group, such as love, marriage, and death. Folktales are also seen as a tool for education and entertainment. They provide a way for children to understand the material and social environment. Every story has a moral to teach people, such as good will prevail over evil. For entertainment, stories are set in fantastic, non-human worlds. Often, the main character of the story would be a talking animal or something unnatural would happen to human character. Even though folktales are for entertainment, they bring a sense of belonging and pride to communities in Africa. There are different types of African stories: animal tales and day-to-day tales. Animal tales more oriented towards entertainment, but still have morals and lessons to them. Animal tales are normally divided into trickster tales and ogre tales. In the animal tales, a certain animal would always have the same character or role in each story so the audience does not have to worry about characterization. The Hare was always the trickster, clever and cunning, while the Hyena was always being tricked by the Hare. Ogres are always cruel, greedy monsters. The messengers in all the stories were the Birds. Day-to-Day tales are the most serious tales, never including humor, that explained the everyday life and struggles of an African community. These tales take on matters such as famine, escape from death, courtship, and family matters, using a song form when the climax of the story was being told. African stories all have a certain structure to them. Villagers would gather around a common meeting place at the end of the day to listen and tell their stories. Storytellers had certain commands to start and end the stories, "Ugai Itha" to get the audience's attention and begin the story, and "Rukirika" to signal the end of a tale. Each scene of a story is depicted with two characters at a time, so the audience does not get overwhelmed. In each story, victims are able to overcome their predators and take justice out on the culprit. Certain tools were used in African folktales. For example, idiophones, such as drums, were used to make the sounds of different animals. Repetition and call-back techniques in the form of prose or poem were also used to get the audience involved in the stories. Main article: Clothing in Africa Women's traditional clothes in Ethiopia are made from cloth called shemma and are used to make habesha kemis. The latter garment is basically cotton cloth, about 90 cm wide, woven in long strips which are then sewn together. Sometimes shiny threads are woven into the fabric for an elegant effect. Men wear pants and a knee-length shirt with a white collar, and perhaps a sweater. Men often wear knee-high socks, while women might not wear socks at all. Men as well as women wear shawls, the netela. Zulus wear a variety of attire, both traditional for ceremonial or culturally celebratory occasions, and modern westernised clothing for everyday use. Traditional male clothing is usually light, consisting of a two-part apron (similar to a loincloth) used to cover the genitals and buttocks. The front piece is called the umutsha (pronounced Zulu pronunciation: [umtifash]), and is usually made of springbok or other animal hide twisted into different bands which cover the genitals. The rear piece, called the ibheshu[ibeːʃu], is made of a single piece of springbok or cattle hide, and its length is usually used as an indicator of age and social position; longer amabheshu (plural of ibheshu) are worn by older men. Married men will usually also wear a headband, called the umqhele[umǃʰɛle], which is usually also made of springbok hide, or leopard hide by men of higher social status, such as chiefs. Zulu men will also wear cow tails as bracelets and anklets called imishokobezi[imiʃoɠoɓɛːzi] during ceremonies and rituals, such as weddings or dances. In the Muslim parts of Africa, daily attire also often reflects Islamic tradition. Main article: African cuisine The various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features a preponderance of milk, curd and whey products. In much of tropical Africa, however, cow's milk is rare and cannot be produced locally (owing to various diseases that affect livestock). The continent's diverse demographic makeup is reflected in the many different eating and drinking habits, dishes, and preparation techniques of its manifold populations. In Central Africa, the basic ingredients are plantains and cassava. Fufu-like starchy foods (usually made from fermented cassava roots) are served with grilled meat and sauces. A variety of local ingredients are used while preparing other dishes like spinach stew, cooked with tomato, peppers, chillis, onions, and peanut butter. Cassava plants are also consumed as cooked greens. Groundnut (peanut) stew is also prepared, containing chicken, okra, ginger, and other spices. Another favorite is Bambara, a porridge of rice, peanut butter and sugar. Beef and chicken are favorite meat dishes, but game meat preparations containing crocodile, monkey, antelope and warthog are also served occasionally. The cuisine of the African Great Lakes region varies from area to area. In the inland savannah, the traditional cuisine of cattle-keeping peoples is distinctive in that meat products are generally absent. Cattle, sheep and goats were regarded as a form of currency and a store of wealth, and are not generally consumed as food. In some areas, traditional peoples consume the milk and blood of cattle, but rarely the meat. Elsewhere, other peoples are farmers who grow a variety of grains and vegetables. Maize (corn) is the basis of ugali, the East African version of West Africa's fufu. Ugali is a starch dish eaten with meats or stews. In Uganda, steamed, green bananas called matoke provide the starch filler of many meals. In the Horn of Africa, the main traditional dishes in Ethiopian cuisine and Eritrean cuisine are tsebhis (stews) served with injera (flatbread made from teff,wheat, or sorghum), and hilbet (paste made from legumes, mainly lentil, faba beans). Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine (especially in the northern half) are very similar, given the shared history of the two countries. The related Somali cuisine consists of an exotic fusion of diverse culinary influences. Varieties of bariis (rice), the most popular probably being basmati, usually serve as the main dish. Xalwo (halwo) or halva is a popular confection served during special occasions such as Eid celebrations or wedding receptions. After meals, homes are traditionally perfumed using frankincense (lubaan) or incense (cuunsi), which is prepared inside an incense burner referred to as a dabqaad. All food is served halal. The roots of North African cuisine can be traced back to the ancient empires of North Africa, particularly in Egypt where many of the country's dishes and culinary traditions date back to ancient Egypt. Over several centuries traders, travelers, invaders, migrants and immigrants all have influenced the cuisine of North Africa. Most of the North African countries today have several similar dishes, sometimes almost the same dish with a different name (the Moroccan tangia and the Tunisian coucha are both essentially the same dish: a meat stew prepared in an urn and cooked overnight in a public oven), sometimes with a slight change in ingredients and cooking style. To add to the confusion, two completely different dishes may also share the same name (for example, a "tajine" dish is a slow-cooked stew in Morocco, whereas the Tunisian "tajine" is a baked omelette/quiche-like dish). There are noticeable differences between the cooking styles of different nations – there's the sophisticated, full-bodied flavours of Moroccan palace cookery, the fiery dishes of Tunisian cuisine, and the humbler, simpler cuisines of Egypt and Algeria. The cooking of Southern Africa is sometimes called 'rainbow cuisine', as the food in this region is a blend of many culinary traditions, including those of the Khoisan, Bantu, European and Asian populations. Basic ingredients include seafood, meat products (including wild game), poultry, as well as grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits include apples, grapes, mangoes, bananas and papayas, avocado, oranges, peaches and apricots. Desserts may simply be fruit. However, there are some more western style puddings, such as the Angolan Cocada amarela, which was inspired by Portuguese cuisine. Meat products include lamb, as well as game like venison, ostrich, and impala. The seafood includes a wide variety such as crayfish, prawns, tuna, mussels, oysters, calamari, mackerel, and lobster. There are also several types of traditional and modern alcoholic beverages including many European-style beers. A typical West African meal is heavy with starchy items, meat, spices and flavors. A wide array of staples are eaten across the region, including those of Fufu, Banku and Kenkey (originating from Ghana), Foutou, Couscous, Tô, and Garri, which are served alongside soups and stews. Fufu is often made from starchy root vegetables such as yams, cocoyams, or cassava, but also from cereal grains like millet, sorghum or plantains. The staple grain or starch varies region to region and ethnic group to ethnic group, although corn has gained significant ground as it is cheap, swells to greater volumes and creates a beautiful white final product that is greatly desired. Banku and Kenkey are maize dough staples, and Gari is made from dried grated cassavas. Rice-dishes are also widely eaten in the region, especially in the dry Sahel belt inland. Examples of these include Benachin from The Gambia and Jollof rice, a pan-West African rice dish similar to Arab kabsah. See also: African popular music and Music of Africa Traditional Sub-Saharan African music is as diverse as the region's various populations. The common perception of Sub-Saharan African music is that it is rhythmic music centered on the drums, and indeed, a large part of Sub-Saharan music, mainly among speakers of Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages, is rhythmic and centered on the drum. Sub-Saharan music is polyrhythmic, usually consisting of multiple rhythms in one composition. Dance involves moving multiple body parts. These aspects of Sub-Saharan music were transferred to the new world by enslaved Sub-Saharan Africans and can be seen in its influence on music forms as Samba, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Rock & Roll, Salsa, and Rap music. Other African musical traditions also involve strings, horns, and very little poly-rhythms. Music from the eastern Sahel and along the Nile, among the Nilo-Saharan, made extensive use of strings and horns in ancient times. Dancing involve swaying body movements and footwork. Among the Khoisans extensive use of string instruments with emphasis on footwork. Modern Sub-Saharan African music has been influenced by music from the New World (Jazz, Salsa, Rhythm and Blues etc.). Popular styles include Mbalax in Senegal and Gambia, Highlife in Ghana, Zoblazo in Côte d'Ivoire, Makossa in Cameroon, Soukous in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kizomba in Angola, and Mbaqanga in South Africa. New World styles like Salsa, R&B/Rap, Reggae, and Zouk also have widespread popularity. Like the musical genres of the Nile Valley and the Horn of Africa, North African music has close ties with Middle Eastern music and utilizes similar melodic modes (maqamat). It has a considerable range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the Berber and the Tuareg music of the desert nomads. The region's art music has for centuries followed the outline of Arabic and Andalusian classical music. Its popular contemporary genres include the AlgerianRaï. Somali music is typically pentatonic, using five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale. In Ethiopia, the music of the highlands uses a fundamental modal system called qenet, of which there are four main modes: tezeta, bati, ambassel, and anchihoy. Three additional modes are variations on the above: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor. Some songs take the name of their qenet, such as tizita, a song of reminiscence. Main article: Languages of Africa The main ethno-linguistic divisions in Africa are Afro-Asiatic (North Africa, Horn of Africa), Niger–Congo (including speakers from the Bantu branch) in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-Saharan in parts of the Sahara and the Sahel and parts of Eastern Africa, and Khoisan (indigenous minorities of Southern Africa). The continent of Africa speaks hundreds of languages, and if dialects spoken by various ethnic groups are also included, the number is much higher. These languages and dialects do not have the same importance: some are spoken by only few hundred people, others are spoken by millions. Among the most prominent languages spoken are Arabic, Swahili and Hausa. Very few countries of Africa use any single language and for this reason several official languages coexist, African and European. Some Africans speak various European languages such as English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Dutch. - ^"African Culture and People". About.com Travel. Retrieved 2016-01-29. - ^Khair El-Din Haseeb et al., The Future of the Arab Nation: Challenges and Options, 1 edition (Routledge: 1991), p.54 - ^Halim Barakat, The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State, (University of California Press: 1993), p.80 - ^Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, ed., Pan Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty First Century, Pluto Press, London, 1996. - ^"Education And Culture In Africa'S Quest For Development"(PDF). Retrieved 2015-10-14. - ^Khapoya, op. cit. p. 126f - ^African culture and the ongoing quest for excellence: dialog, principles, practice.: An article from: The Black Collegian : Maulana Karenga - ^Richard Pankhurst, 1997, `History of the Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History, Lawrenceville, New Jersey. - ^Florence, Namulundah. The Bukusu of Kenya: Folktales, Culture and Social Identities. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic, 2011. Print. - ^Mwangi, Rose. Kikuyu Folktales. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1970. Print. - ^Strong, Polly, and Rodney Wimer. African Tales: Folklore of the Central African Republic. Mogadore, OH: Telcraft, 1992. Print. - ^Bea Sandler (1993). The African Cookbook. Diane and Leo Dillon (Illust.). Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8065-1398-5. Retrieved 2008-12-18. - ^ ab"Eritrean Food Practices."Webcitation.org. Accessed July 2011. - ^Barlin Ali, Somali Cuisine, (AuthorHouse: 2007), p.79 - ^Wolfert, Paula. "The Foods of North Africa". National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. - ^Bowden, Rob(2007). Africa South of the Sahara. Coughlan Publishing: p. 40, ISBN 1-4034-9910-1. - ^Christopher Ehret, (2002). The Civilizations of Africa. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, p. 103, ISBN 0-8139-2085-X. - ^ abAbdullahi, Mohamed Diriye (2001). Culture and customs of Somalia. Greenwood. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-0-313-31333-2. - ^Hoppenstand, Gary (2007). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture, Volume 4. Greenwood Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780313332555. - ^ abShelemay, Kay Kaufman (2001). Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. viii (2 ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 356. - ^Abatte Barihun, liner notes of the album Ras Deshen, 200. - ^Greenberg, Joseph H. (1966). The Languages of Africa (2nd ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University. African societies, with their strong recognition of cultural traditions, face the deep problems that characterize a modern society, most of which are neither of their making nor even of their wishing. African societies and their cultures have undergone continual change as far back as history and prehistory can illumine, and their experience of several centuries of the overwhelming economic, military, social, and cultural power of colonial overrule has led to both changes and stagnation. Postcolonial "development" strategies, well-intentioned or not, have in many respects continued the effects of colonialism, through economic exploitation and financial indebtedness. In addition, Africa has been used by outside powers, especially during the cold war, as a surrogate battleground between these powers. Most postcolonial "economic development" has failed, owing to its being controlled by "experts" who have assumed that African societies are the same as those of industrialized nations and who are ignorant of the minute details of African cultures, social organization, and problems of local identity and purpose that lie below the level of the nation-state. Sadly, little progress has been made since the end of colonialism toward any real improvement in the lives of the ordinary people: instead, change has been at the level of the elites, who have taken charge of "modernization" and benefited from it. Nevertheless, African cultural traditions remain strong, and they are still capable of absorbing external influences and transforming them into their own.

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It is no secret that unconscious biases penetrate various realms of society; from hiring decisions (Lebowitz, 2015) to medical care (Blair, Steiner, and Havranek, 2011) and even foul calls in the NBA (Schwarz, 2007). But what about implicit bias in our everyday lives? Does it really play a role in who we form relationships with, or the way we interact with others, or even the way we perceive a stranger? Implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner, according to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, which publishes an annual Implicit Bias Review . Unlike explicit bias, which reflects the attitudes or beliefs that one endorses at a conscious level, implicit bias is judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control. Recent claims of overt and covert discrimination on college campuses and in policing raise the question: How does someone’s unconscious reaction to people of a different race, religion or sexuality influence their judgment and behavior? Psychologists and social scientists working within this field do not have a concise answer to explain how implicit bias manifests in everyday life, as it is hard to rule out alternative explanations. In other words, implicit bias can and does happen, but it is complicated to prove. “Some biases seem obviously wrong, like treating equally qualified people differently when hiring or promoting,” said Calvin Lai, director of research for Harvard’s Project Implicit. “Every day biases are hard to wrap our heads around because they’re so much more personal, and you can point to other reasons.” Similarly, structural factors beyond your control might come into play. If most of your friends look like you, or you tend to date people of the same race as you, it could largely be just a reflection of the demographics in your community. However, research shows that those relationships, along with the interactions and experiences that come from them, are key contributors of implicit biases. These biases begin forming at a young age and are easily reinforced into adulthood through social settings and mass media. “When you think backwards, what you think is normal is really cultural pressure that pushes you into bias, implicit and conscious,” said sociologist Charles Gallagher, chairman of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at LaSalle University in Philadelphia. Hanging out with friends that look like you isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if they’re nice people! However, research suggests that implicit biases and stereotypes, both positive and negative, are maintained through persistent lack of contact with others beyond your “in-group,” that is people who share certain characteristics. The good news? We are not helpless to combat implicit bias. It can be mitigated through intervention strategies, starting with recognizing where it might exist in your life and seeking exposure to people and experiences beyond your regular circles. Psychologists and social scientist who study implicit bias are working to gather more data with the goal of making people more aware of their unconscious decision-making and its consequences. Harvard’s Project Implicit features a battery of “implicit association tests” where participants can measure levels of implicit bias around certain topics based on the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations. “The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a ‘virtual laboratory’ for collecting data on the Internet.” 2015 State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review. (2015). Retrieved from; http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/my-product/2015-state-of-the-science-implicit-bias-review/ Blair, I. V., Steiner, J. F., & Havranek, E. P. (2011). Unconscious (Implicit) Bias and Health Disparities: Where Do We Go from Here? The Permanente Journal, 15(2), 71–78. Grinberg, E. (2015). 4 ways you might display hidden bias every day – CNN.com. Retrieved from; http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/living/implicit-bias-tests-feat/ Lebowitz, S., Jul. 17, 2015, 9, 022, & 2. (2015). 3 unconscious biases that affect whether you get hired. Retrieved from; http://www.businessinsider.com/unconscious-biases-in-hiring-decisions-2015-7 Schwarz, A. (2007, May 2). Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls. The New York Times. Retrieved from; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/sports/basketball/02refs.html In an effort to continually explore the interface between science and business, Tufts Biomedical Business Club recently caught up with Dr. Zach Scheiner, an Associate at RA Capital Management, for a discussion about his experience in the healthcare investment industry. RA Capital Management is a crossover fund manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies. Prior to his current role at RA Capital, Zach worked as a Science Officer at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where he managed a portfolio of research programs concentrated in translational neuroscience. He holds a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and a PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of Washington. As an Associate for RA Capital, Zach’s efforts are realized through the team’s core research division, TechAtlas. This division is a scientifically trained team that maps out competitive landscapes in a continual effort to survey the landscape and identify emerging therapeutics and technologies that will reshape how physicians treat disease. The interview is edited for brevity and clarity. Tell me about the career path that led you to your job. How did you become involved with RA Capital Management? My interest in biomedical science and research began as an undergrad, when I had several summer research internships and was exposed to a few different fields of research. At the same time I had my first opportunity to teach science classes at a local high school and quickly realized that I also had a passion for teaching. After graduating, I decided to teach middle school science and math for a year (which turned into three) before returning to research and going to grad school. I attended the Neurobiology & Behavior graduate program at The University of Washington in Seattle. My thesis work focused on the molecular basis of memory and drug addiction. Though I enjoyed my time as a graduate student, by my fourth year I began to realize that the academic career path and spending more years at the lab bench were not for me. I really enjoyed reading primary literature, planning experiments, and reviewing/analyzing data, so as I finished up graduate school I began looking at alternatives where I might be able to incorporate these interests as well as leverage my scientific background in a non-research capacity. I found a great opportunity at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in San Francisco. CIRM funds stem cell research at institutions throughout California with the goal of advancing promising stem cell based therapies into clinical trials and ultimately to patients. I began as a science writer and quickly moved to a position managing a portfolio of translational research programs. In this position, I worked closely with funded scientists to help set milestones and success criteria, assess progress, and, however possible, facilitate success. In my six years at CIRM I learned a tremendous amount about the drug development process, gained experience reviewing and analyzing data, and developed management skills, all of which have been invaluable in my current role at RA Capital. My move to RA Capital was the result of my wife being offered an assistant professorship at Brown University. In preparation for the move from one coast to the other I reached out to everyone in my network, including an old lab-mate I had stayed in touch with from graduate school who was now an Associate for RA Capital. I had a long-time interest in biotech investing, nurtured by my dad, and had been learning about this part of the industry in my spare time. Luckily, RA was hiring and the rest is history. For me, RA Capital was a perfect fit. I can put my communication and analytical skills from teaching, grad school and CIRM to good use and I love staying immersed in cutting-edge science while learning more about the investment side of the biotech industry. What are the duties/functions/responsibilities of your job? As an Associate with RA Capital, my primary role involves creating dendrograms (mind-maps) of specific diseases or capabilities within the healthcare industry. These comprehensive landscape maps take all the available drugs, both on the market and still in development, and put them into the context of current standard of care and unmet needs. They help our team fully appreciate and contextualize the market potential of assets and companies before making investments. Mapping out a disease landscape is a research-intensive process that involves surveying the literature, meeting with companies with assets in the space, speaking directly to physicians, attending scientific conferences, and analyzing data. The process can take several months to complete but the maps are never truly finished. Therapeutic landscapes are constantly evolving, new data are released and new licensing and acquisition deals are made. Our maps are equally dynamic and a lot of my time is spent staying up to date with the latest news and data coming out in the areas I cover. In addition to mapping, Associates also join the investment team in diligence projects on specific investment opportunities. Our maps are a great way of contextualizing drugs and their competitors and can help our team identify potential new opportunities but it’s always critical to dig deeper before making an investment. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is seeing all the work I’ve put in researching and understanding a therapeutic space pay off with insights that are potentially investable, or that directly benefit a diligence project. On a day-to-day basis I also survey industry news and the scientific literature not only to keep up with the science but to search for new investment opportunities that could be licensable for an RA Capital portfolio company or even form the basis for a new company. I also enjoy being involved in the recruiting process at RA and playing a small role in shaping the future of the company. What is the most rewarding part about your job? Personally, the most rewarding part of my work is knowing that we are investing in companies that are developing therapies for patients that really need them! These companies often have no marketed drugs and need capital to advance their assets through clinical trials and into the hands of patients. When I think about the work that I do, I know I am helping to identify great science, underappreciated drugs, and promising new opportunities. And I hope that by influencing where RA Capital’s dollars are invested, I’m impacting the whole healthcare ecosystem in a positive way. What experiences best prepared you for your job? I think all of my previous work experiences helped prepare me for RA Capital, the first of which was teaching. Communication is such an essential skill and getting an opportunity to develop this early in my career has been a huge benefit. Having controlled a classroom every day for three years definitely makes communicating with colleagues, companies and scientific experts a little easier. Effective communication is a vital part of this job. The second experience is my time spent as a graduate student. In graduate school I learned how to rigorously analyze data, both my own and from the literature. I developed my critical thinking and analytical skills and the ability to quickly identify key questions, design key experiments, and understand the limitations of a study. Lastly, at CIRM I learned the process of moving a drug from the lab to the market and everything in between. I also regularly participated in grant review meetings with panels of scientists, clinicians, and patient advocates. These meetings gave me the opportunity to learn what was truly important to each group. While the views and opinions would often vary between the groups, one key takeaway was that for a drug to succeed, doctors have to want to prescribe it and patients have to want to use it. My experience at CIRM taught me to evaluate drugs with the patient perspective in mind; new therapies are worthless unless patients will use them, and sometimes improvements that appear marginal can be very meaningful to patients. What skills or personal characteristics do you feel contribute most to success in this industry? Very often, investment firms require that applicants have a background in finance, an MBA, or prior experience in the industry. That is not the case at RA Capital. I wouldn’t say any particular background or degree is required, but there are certainly skills that are critical. Analytical skills, for example. The ability to rigorously analyze data and quickly get to the “meat” of primary literature or a clinical data set is invaluable. Another key skill is effective writing and communication. Much of my day is spent writing and talking. I am continuously expressing my thoughts and providing analysis and it is important to do so concisely and effectively. In terms of personal characteristics, I would highlight skepticism. Being skeptical is a common trait among scientists due to the nature of research, but this skill is especially important when meeting with companies. Every company is trying to convince us that their assets or data are the best. Skepticism is required to separate the pitch from the quality of the science. Humility is another important personal characteristic. To put it simply, in something as complicated as drug development, it’s easy to be wrong! There are so many variables to consider, and science changes so quickly; it’s essential to have an open mind and be humble about everything you do not know. What are the biggest challenges you face as an associate for RA Capital Management? I think the largest challenge I face is simply the pace of the industry and science itself. There is new data coming out all the time; from company press releases, new primary literature, scientific conferences—the amount of information can be overwhelming. Developing the ability to quickly assimilate and analyze new information is the biggest challenge. But it’s also one of the things I enjoy most about my job. In this field you have to enjoy constant learning and also get good at processing information quickly enough to inform an investment decision. The fast pace is challenging but exciting. What are some other opportunities within RA Capital Management for scientists aside from the TechAtlas Research Division? Most opportunities for PhD trained scientists are within our TechAtlas research team. This team is made up primarily of PhD trained scientists in either Associate or Scientific Writer positions. The Science Writers work closely with the Associates as they build the story of their map, acting as a thought partner to develop the key insights for standard of care, unmet needs, and investable opportunities for each disease. As members of the research team gain experience, they can specialize in one of several areas, including early-stage assets, strategic analysis of licensing and partnerships, and equity analysis. For somebody interested in pursuing this career, what would be your advice to best prepare them? I would highly recommend that PhD candidates supplement their education in three areas: biostatistics, clinical trials, and FDA regulatory pathways. These topics are not always emphasized or even addressed in many graduate programs. A working knowledge of biostatistics goes a long way; being able to understand statistical pitfalls and the pros and cons of different analyses is invaluable. I would also recommend becoming familiar with clinical trials: the general FDA requirements for advancing drugs into Phase 1 trials and the typical development path for new therapies in your field of interest. Few graduate students get exposed to these areas. I would strongly suggest looking beyond the specific questions of own research project to get an understanding of the broader context: the standard of care for the disease, unmet needs, and competing approaches. If your research isn’t disease or therapy focused, choose a disease of interest or imagine potential applications of your work and research those. Putting new research and data into a broad context is a lot of what we do, so the earlier you can start practicing, the better prepared you will be. The Team Cathedral Project (TCP) started as a way to support the Cathedral High School athletic department through school physicals and sports medicine game coverage. It has since evolved to include mentorship between the Cathedral High School students and the Tufts medical students with a large focus on education. Cathedral High School serves students all over the Boston area including Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and Hyde Park. They have an amazing 100% success rate in graduating seniors and every graduating senior has earned college admission for the last 12 years straight! Every year, TCP brings the entire junior class of Cathedral High School to Tufts University School of Medicine where they participate in health care career exploration and even get to visit the anatomy lab. This year we are hoping to diversify both the types of careers as well as the demographics of the professionals they will be meeting with. As graduate students conducting research in a wide range of topics in biomedical science you would contribute a valuable and outstanding perspective for these students. If you are interested in speaking to the junior class please let me know. I can be reached at: Meagan.Alvarado@tufts.edu The field trip will be held on Wednesday February 3rd, 2016 and we would need the speakers to be available from about 11am-12pm. The Charlton Lectureship, named in honor of Mr. Earle P. Charlton, has been held annually since 1975. This celebrated lectureship has evolved over the years to include a student poster competition. Held in conjunction with the lectureship, the poster competition is a platform to recognize outstanding research work being done by Tufts graduate, medical, dental, and veterinary students. The Charlton Poster Competition and Lecture are sponsored and hosted by the Academic Research Awards Committee of the Tufts University School of Medicine. This year’s lecture was held on October 27, 2015, in the Sackler DeBlois Auditorium. The 2015-16 Charlton Lecturer was delivered by Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD. Dr. Lee obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California in San Francisco (1973) and an MBA at the Wharton School of Business (1984). Dr. Lee is the John H. Ware 3rd Chair for Alzheimer’s Research, and directs the center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Lee’s work was instrumental in demonstrating that tau, α-synuclein, and TDP-43 proteins form unique brain aggregates with a central role in numerous neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The poster competition was held on October 26, 2015 with finalists competing again the following morning. Students with similar levels of training are evaluated with their peers: Sackler Senior Category: Sackler biomedical PhD students in years 4 and above, MD/PhD students in Sackler years 4 and above, and Sackler CTS PhD students 1ST PLACE – Kevin Goncalves, CMP Angiogenin promotes hematopoietic regeneration by dichotomously regulating quiescence and expansion of stem and progenitor cells 2ND PLACE – Jennifer Shih, NRSC Partial genetic deletion of the astrocytic glutamate transporter GLAST disrupts organization of the cerebral cortex and causes network hyperexcitability 3RD PLACE – Brian Lin, CMDB Neuronally committed progenitors can dedifferentiate, become multipotent, and generate nonneuronal cell lineages following injury Sackler Junior Category: Sackler PhD students in years 1-3, MD/PhD students in Sackler years 1-3, and Sackler MS students 1ST PLACE – Joseph Sarhan, IMM Basal levels of Interferon β Regulates Necroptosis in Macrophages 2ND PLACE – Danish Saleh, NRSC Kinase activities of RIPK1 and RIPK3 are required for GNB-induced IFN-I synthesis 3RD PLACE – Payel Ghatak, GENE Digital ELISA Based Ultrasensitive Strategy to Detect microRNAs at Subfemtomolar Concentration. Professional Category: All Medical, Dental, and Veterinary Medicine students and MD/PhD students in TUSM years 1 and 2. 1ST PLACE – Mary Tam, Medical The HBP1 Gene: A Pre-clinical Model for Genetic and De novo epilepsies 2ND PLACE – Seda Babroudi, Medical A Novel Compound, Membrane-Tethered E2, Selectively Activates the ER Rapid Signaling Pathway – Implications for Vascular Benefit 3RD PLACE- Marianna Papageorge, Medical Cyst Aspiration of Endometriomas Prior to In-Vitro Fertilization Congratulations to all participants, finalists, and award winners. First awarded in 1901; The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of physiology or medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, and literature. Nobel Prizes are awarded annually in recognition of outstanding academic, cultural and/or scientific advances. Each Nobel Laureate receives a Nobel Foundation medal, a diploma, and a sum of money, which is decided by the Nobel Foundation. As of 2012, each prize was worth approximately $1.2 million (USD). This year, Nobel prizes in the fields of physiology or medicine and chemistry were awarded for: discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria and infections caused by roundworm parasites; and mechanistic studies of DNA repair, respectively. Novel Therapies for Parasitic Infections Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for millennia and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and well-being. This year’s Nobel Laureates for the field of physiology or medicine developed therapies that revolutionized the treatment of some of the most devastating parasitic diseases. The Nobel was awarded ½ to Youyou Tu and ¼ each to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura. Youyou Tu is recognized for her discovery of Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura are recognized for their discovery of Avermectin, the derivatives of which have radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, as well as showing efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic diseases. These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually. The discoveries of Artemisinin and Avermectin have fundamentally changed the treatment of parasitic diseases. Malaria infects close to 200 million individuals yearly. Artemisinin is used in all Malaria-ridden parts of the world. When used in combination therapy, it is estimated to reduce mortality from Malaria by more than 20% overall and by more than 30% in children. For Africa alone, this means that more than 100 000 lives are saved each year. Today the Avermectin-derivative Ivermectin is used in all parts of the world that are plagued by parasitic diseases. Ivermectin is highly effective against a range of parasites, has limited side effects and is freely available across the globe. The importance of Ivermectin for improving the health and well-being of millions of individuals with River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, primarily in the poorest regions of the world, is immeasurable. Treatment is so successful that these diseases are on the verge of eradication, which would be a major feat in the medical history of humankind. The discoveries of Artemisinin and Avermectin have revolutionized therapy for patients suffering from devastating parasitic diseases. Tu, Campbell, and Ōmura have transformed the treatment of parasitic diseases. The global impact of their discoveries and the resulting benefit to mankind are truly unfathomable. The cells’ toolbox for DNA repair Each day our DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable. Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell’s genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body. The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar for having mapped, at a molecular level, how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard the genetic information. Their work has provided fundamental knowledge and insight into how a living cell functions. In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Tomas Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made the development of life on Earth impossible. This insight led him to discover a molecular machinery, base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA. Paul Modrich has demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division. This mechanism, mismatch repair, reduces the error frequency during DNA replication by about a thousand fold. Congenital defects in mismatch repair are known, for example, to cause a hereditary variant of colon cancer. Aziz Sancar has mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA. People born with defects in this repair system will develop skin cancer if they are exposed to sunlight. The cell also utilizes nucleotide excision repair to correct defects caused by mutagenic substances, among other things. These Nobel Laureates have provided fundamental knowledge and insight into how a living cell functions. Their respective breakthrough discoveries have been applied and used for the development and advancement of novel cancer treatments. The Central Square Theater in Cambridge houses two award winning and professional theater companies; The Nora Theatre Company and The Underground Railway Theater. This vibrant hub of theatrical, educational, and social activity, is where artists and audiences can come together to create theater that is both vital and captivating to the community. Live performances for the month of November include: Einstein’s Dreams (ending Nov. 14th) Switzerland, 1905: A modest, newly-married patent clerk struggles to make ends meet while re-conceiving time. What happens when Albert Einstein completes his Theory of Relativity? Absurd, comic, and poetic, Einstein’s Dreams captures the poignancy of the human condition. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, Underground Railway Theater reunites the original 2007 world premiere cast, adapted by director Wesley Savick from the novel by Alan Lightman. Copenhagen (ending Nov. 15th) Copenhagen, 1941: Two brilliant physicists – fast friends from enemy nations – famously confront each other at the height of WWII. This award-winning psychological mystery unravels what transpired on that fateful night. Werner Heisenberg and his mentor Niels Bohr meet again in the afterlife, goaded by Bohr’s wife, Margrethe. Who will remember the truth that changed the course of history? Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, Eric Tucker cracks open Michael Frayn’s contemporary classic play. Arabian Nights (beginning Nov. 27th) Become enchanted by the power of storytelling one final time! The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater revive their award-winning production of Dominic Cooke’s Arabian Nights. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of folk tales from the Middle East and Asia, Arabian Nights is rich with suspense, romance and hilarity—stories irresistible for all ages, and at its heart, the power of the imagination to heal, inspire, and transform.

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|Cultural origins||African Americans| Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, Spiritual music, or African-American spirituals) is a genre of songs originating in America, that were created by African Americans. Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while also describing the hardships of slavery. Although spirituals were originally unaccompanied monophonic (unison) songs, they are best known today in harmonized choral arrangements. This historic group of uniquely American songs is now recognized as a distinct genre of music. - 1 Terminology and origin - 2 Religious significance - 3 Alternative interpretations - 4 Influence - 5 Collections - 6 See also - 7 Footnotes - 8 Further reading - 9 External links Terminology and origin The term "spiritual" is derived from "spiritual song", from the King James Bible's translation of Ephesians 5:19, which says, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Slave Songs of the United States, the first major collection of negro spirituals, was published in 1867. Musicologist George Pullen Jackson extended the term "spiritual" to a wider range of folk hymnody, as in his 1938 book, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, but this does not appear to have been widespread usage previously. The term, however, has often been broadened to include subsequent arrangements into more standard European-American hymnodic styles, and to include post-emancipation songs with stylistic similarities to the original African American spirituals. Although numerous rhythmical and sonic elements of spirituals can be traced to African sources, spirituals are a musical form that is indigenous and specific to the religious experience in the United States of Africans and their descendants. They are a result of the interaction of music and religion from Africa with music and religion of European origin. Further, this interaction occurred only in the United States. Africans who converted to Christianity in other parts of the world, even in the Caribbean and Latin America, did not evolve this particular form. The slaves brought African cultural traditions with them. Many of their activities, from work to worship, involved music and dance. However, their European masters banned many of their African derived forms of worship involving drumming and dancing as they were considered to be idolatrous. The slaves were forced to perform their music in seclusion. Field holler music, also known as Levee Camp Holler music, was an early form of African American music, described in the 19th century. Field hollers laid the foundations for the blues, spirituals, and eventually rhythm and blues. Field hollers, cries and hollers of the slaves and later sharecroppers working in cotton fields, prison chain gangs, railway gangs (Gandy dancers) or turpentine camps were the precursor to the call and response of African American spirituals and gospel music, to jug bands, minstrel shows, stride piano, and ultimately to the blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and African American music in general. Spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith. Some may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to white American culture. They originated among enslaved Africans in the United States. Slavery was introduced to the British colonies in the early 17th century, and enslaved people largely replaced indentured servants as an economic labor force during the 17th century. In the United States, these people would remain in bondage for the entire 18th century and much of the 19th century. Most were not fully emancipated until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. Suppression of indigenous religion This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Slaves were forbidden to speak their native languages, and were generally converted to Christianity. With narrow vocabularies, slaves would use the words they did know to translate biblical information and facts from their other sources into song. While some slave owners believed that Christian slaves would be more docile, others came to feel that stories of Moses leading the Israelites out of bondage were counterproductive. Forced conversion only worked to a point since church attendance might be required, but control could not extend to thoughts and feelings. Some slaves became Christians voluntarily, either because it helped them endure hardships or because membership may have offered other benefits. Many of the Slaves turned towards the Baptist or Methodist churches. In some places enslaved Africans were permitted, or even encouraged, to hold their own prayer meetings. Because they were unable to express themselves freely in ways that were spiritually meaningful to them, religious services were, at times, the only place slaves could legitimately congregate, socialize, and safely express feelings. During these meetings, worshipers would sing, chant, dance and sometimes enter ecstatic trances. Along with spirituals, shouts also emerged in the Praise Houses. Shouts begin slowly with the shuffling of feet and clapping of hands (but the feet never cross because that was seen as dancing, which was forbidden within the church). Drums were used as they had been in Africa, for communication. When the connection between drumming, communication, and resistance was eventually made drums were forbidden. Slaves introduced a number of new instruments to America: the bones, body percussion, and an instrument variously called the bania, banju, or banjar, a precursor to the banjo but without frets. They drew on native rhythms and their African heritage. They brought with them from Africa long-standing religious traditions that highlighted the importance of storytelling. Music was an essential element in communicating identity, shared social mores, traditional customs, and ethnic history. The primary function of the spirituals was as communal songs sung in a religious gathering, performed in a call-response pattern reminiscent of West African traditional religions. African American spirituals may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to the white American culture. Several traditions rooted in Africa continue to the present day in African-American spiritual practices. Examples include the "call and response" style of preaching in which the speaker speaks for an interval and the congregation responds in unison in a continual pattern throughout the sermon. Speaking in tongues is also a persistent practice, as is "getting happy." Getting happy involves achieving a trance-like state and can be characterized by anything from jumping in one place repeatedly, running through the sanctuary, raising hands and arms in the air, shouting traditional praise phrases, or being "slain in the spirit" (fainting). In spirituals, there also rose what is known as the "straining preacher" sound where the preacher, during song, literally strains the voice to produce a unique tone. This is used throughout recorded spirituals, blues, and jazz music. The locations and the era may be different; but the same emphasis on combining sound, movement, emotion, and communal interaction into one focus on faith and its role in overcoming struggles, whether as an individual or a people group, remain the same. The historian Sylviane Diouf and ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik identify Islamic music as an influence. Diouf notes a striking resemblance between the Islamic call to prayer (originating from Bilal ibn Rabah, a famous Abyssinian African Muslim in the early 7th century) and 19th-century field holler music, noting that both have similar lyrics praising God, melody, note changes, "words that seem to quiver and shake" in the vocal chords, dramatic changes in musical scales, and nasal intonation. She attributes the origins of field holler music to African Muslim slaves who accounted for an estimated 30% of African slaves in America. According to Kubik, "the vocal style of many blues singers using melisma, wavy intonation, and so forth is a heritage of that large region of West Africa that had been in contact with the Arabic-Islamic world of the Maghreb since the seventh and eighth centuries." There was particularly a significant trans-Saharan cross-fertilization between the musical traditions of the Mabhreb and the Sahel. There was a difference in the music performed by the predominantly Muslim Sahelian slaves and the predominantly non-Muslim slaves from coastal West Africa and Central Africa. The Sahelian Muslim slaves generally favoured wind and string instruments and solo singing, whereas the non-Muslim slaves generally favored drums and group chants. Plantation owners who feared revolt outlawed drums and group chants, but allowed the Sahelian slaves to continue singing and playing their wind and string instruments, which the plantation owners found less threatening. Among the instruments introduced by Muslim African slaves were ancestors of the banjo. While many were pressured to convert to Christianity, the Sahelian slaves were allowed to maintain their musical traditions, adapting their skills to instruments such as the fiddle and guitar. Some were also allowed to perform at balls for slave-holders, allowing the migration of their music across the Deep South. Christian hymns and songs were very influential on the writing of African-American spirituals, especially those from the "Great Awakening" of the 1730s. As Africans were exposed to stories from the Bible, they began to see parallels to their own experiences. The story of the exile of the Jews and their captivity in Babylon, resonated with their own captivity. From 1800 to 1825 slaves were exposed to the religious music of camp meetings on the ever-expanding frontier. Spirituals were based on Christian psalms and hymns and merged with African music styles and secular American music forms. Spirituals were not simply different versions of hymns or Bible stories, but rather a creative altering of the material; new melodies and music, refashioned text, and stylistic differences helped to set apart the music as distinctly African-American. The lyrics of Christian spirituals reference symbolic aspects of Biblical images such as Moses and Israel's Exodus from Egypt in songs such as "Michael Row the Boat Ashore". There is also a duality in the lyrics of spirituals. They communicated many Christian ideals while also communicating the hardship that was a result of being an African-American slave. The spiritual was often directly tied to the composer's life. It was a way of sharing religious, emotional, and physical experience through song. The river Jordan in traditional African American religious song became a symbolic borderland not only between this world and the next. It could also symbolize travel to the north and freedom or could signify a proverbial border from the status of slavery to living free. Syncopation, or ragged time, was a natural part of spiritual music. The rhythms of Protestant hymns were transformed and the songs were played on African-inspired instruments. During the Civil War, Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote down some of the spirituals he heard in camp. "Almost all their songs were thoroughly religious in their tone, ...and were in a minor key, both as to words and music." Some sources claim that songs such as "Wade in the Water" contained explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture, and on which routes to take to successfully make their way to freedom. "Wade in the Water" allegedly recommends leaving dry land and taking to the water as a strategy to throw pursuing bloodhounds off one's trail. "The Gospel Train", "Song of the Free", and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" are likewise supposed to contain veiled references to the Underground Railroad, and many sources assert that "Follow the Drinking Gourd" contained a coded map to the Underground Railroad. The authenticity of such claims has been challenged as speculative, and critics like James Kelley have pointed to the lack of corroborating sources and the implausibility of popular accounts, such as the 1928 essay by H.B. Parks. However, there is a firmer consensus that the recurring theme of "freedom" in the Biblical references was understood as a reference to the slaves' own desire for escape from bondage. Frederick Douglass, himself a former slave who became one of the leading 19th-century African-American literary and cultural figures, emphasized the dual nature of the lyrics of spirituals when he recalled in Chapter VI of his My Bondage and My Freedom: I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those rude, and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle, so that I neither saw or heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirits, and filled my heart with ineffable sadness. The mere recurrence, even now, afflicts my spirit, and while I am writing these lines, my tears are falling. To those songs I trace my first glimmering conceptions of the dehumanizing character of slavery. I can never get rid of that conception. Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds. Noted African American literary critic Sterling Allen Brown, who had interviewed former slaves and their children, was firm in his assertion in a 1953 article in Phylon that Some scholars who have found parallels between the words of Negro and white spirituals would have us believe that when the Negro sang of freedom, he meant only what the whites meant, namely freedom from sin. Free, individualistic whites on the make in a prospering civilization, nursing the American dream, could well have felt their only bondage to be that of sin, and freedom to be religious salvation. But with the drudgery, the hardships, the auction-block, the slave-mart, the shackles, and the lash so literally present in the Negro's experience, it is hard to imagine why for the Negro they would remain figurative. The scholars certainly do not make it clear, but rather take refuge in such dicta as: "The slave did not contemplate his low condition." Are we to believe that the slave singing "I been rebuked, I been scorned; done had a hard time sho's you bawn," referred to his being outside of the true religion? Ex-slaves, of course, inform us differently. The spirituals speak up strongly for freedom not only from sin (dear as that freedom was to the true believer) but from physical bondage. Those attacking slavery as such had to be as rare as anti-Hitler marching songs in occupied France. But there were oblique references. Frederick Douglass has told us of the double-talk of the spirituals: Canaan, for instance, stood for Canada; and over and beyond hidden satire the songs also were grapevines for communications. Harriet Tubman, herself called the Moses of her people, has told us that Go Down Moses was tabu in the slave states, but the people sang it nonetheless. More recently, music critic Thomas Barker has critiqued definitions of freedom that separate its spiritual and material elements: Following George P. Rawick's 1968 article on "The Historical Roots of Black Liberation," academic studies on the antebellum south have developed a more nuanced outlook on slave psychology. "Unless the slave is simultaneously Sambo and revolutionary," Rawick (2010) writes, "[h]e can only be a wooden man, a theoretical abstraction" (pp. 31-32). Within the liberal academy, this dialectical understanding of slave consciousness effectively broke the back of the simplistic Sambo-Revolutionary dichotomy, giving way to a plethora of treatises that examine the ways that slaves mediated the tension between passivity and insurrection (see Blassingame, 1979; Genovese, 1974; Levine, 1977; Stuckey, 1987). However, studies that examine the role played by music in articulating the concept of freedom have frequently reproduced this problematic binary. With those who see slave song as teaching freedom in the afterlife in one camp, and those who see it as a material call to arms in the other, this dichotomy ill befits Rawick's multifaceted analysis. Consistent with the beliefs of slave religion, which saw the material and the spiritual as part of an intrinsic unity, "freedom", it is argued, should be seen as simultaneously spiritual and material. This broadly Hegelian-Marxist approach argues that the concrete experience of freedom (no matter how limited) was only possible because of the existence freedom as an idea, and, conversely, that freedom as an idea was only possible because it was available as concrete experience: "the ability of slaves to imagine freedom ('le conçu') was contingent upon their being able to experience freedom, and... the slave's capacity to experience freedom ('le vecu') was conditional upon their being able to imagine it." "The African American spiritual (also called the Negro Spiritual) constitutes one of the largest and most significant forms of American folksong." James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson presented Spirituals as the only type of folk music that America has. Spirituals were sung as lullabies and play songs. Some spirituals were adapted as work songs. Antonin Dvorak chose spiritual music to represent America in his Symphony From the New World. Spirituals remain a mainstay particularly in small black churches, often Baptist or Pentecostal, in the deep South. Jubilee Singers of Fisk University In the 1850s, Reverend Alexander Reid, superintendent of the Spencer Academy in the old Choctaw Nation, hired some enslaved Africans from the Choctaws for some work around the school. He heard two of them, "Uncle Wallace" and "Aunt Minerva" Willis, singing religious songs that they had apparently composed. Among these were "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Steal Away to Jesus", "The Angels are Coming", "I'm a Rolling", and "Roll, Jordan, Roll". Later, Reid, who left Indian Territory at the beginning of the Civil War, attended a musical program put on by a group of African American singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. They were singing mostly popular music of the day, and Reid thought the songs he remembered from his time in the Choctaw Nation would be at least as appropriate. He and his wife transcribed the songs of the Willises as they remembered them and sent them to Fisk University. The Jubilee Singers put on their first performance singing the old captives' songs at a religious conference in 1871. The songs were first published in 1872 in a book entitled Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, by Theodore F. Seward. Wallace Willis died in 1883 or 1884. In an attempt to raise money for Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Fisk Jubilee Singers gave concerts in Europe and America and helped make African American spirituals become extremely popular. It sent some of its students from the choir program to perform. Ultimately, this became a fad and caused spiritual music to become mainstream. However, these groups sang spirituals in the white, European style. Over time, the pieces the Jubilee Singers performed came to be arranged and performed by trained musicians. In 1873, Mark Twain, whose father had owned slaves, found Fisk singing to be "in the genuine old way" he remembered from childhood. By contrast an anonymous 1881 review in the Peoria Journal said: "they have lost the wild rhythms, the barbaric melody, the passion ... [T]hey smack of the North ..." Some fifty years later, Zora Neale Hurston in her 1938 book The Sanctified Church criticized Fisk singers, and similar groups at Tuskegee and Hampton, as using a "Glee Club style" that was "full of musicians' tricks" not to be found in the original African American spirituals, urging readers to visit an "unfashionable Negro church" to experience real African American spirituals. A group of lyrics to African American spirituals was published by Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded a regiment of former slaves during the Civil War, in an article in The Atlantic Monthly and subsequently included in his 1869 memoir Army Life in a Black Regiment (1869). Dr. Arthur Jones founded "The Spirituals Project" at the University of Denver in 1999 to help keep alive the message and meaning of the songs that have moved from the fields of the South to the concert halls of the North. - African-American music - Deep River Boys - Gospel music - History of slavery in the United States - Religious music - "Negro Spiritual Singers". New Deal Network. Retrieved 21 March 2015. - "5th Annual Negro Spirituals Heritage Day". All About Jazz. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2015. - Johnson, James Weldon; Johnson, J. Rosamond (2009). The Books of American Negro Spirituals. Da Capo Press. pp. 13, 17 – via Google Scholar. The Spirituals are purely and solely the creation of the American Negro..." "When it came to the use of words, the maker of the song was struggling as best he could under his limitations in language and, perhaps, also under a misconstruction or misapprehension of the facts in his source of material, generally the Bible." "...this music which is America's only folk music... - "Celebrating Black Music Month", National Museum of African American History and Culture Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine - "Why "Negro Spiritual"… A Note About Negro Spirituals". The "Negro Spiritual" Scholarship Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2015. In the United States we cannot seem to get enough of Negro spirituals; contemporary composers, arrangers and vocalists continue to explore and enliven this unique genre. - "African American Spirituals". - "Faigin, Tom. "Negro Spirituals: Songs of Survival"". - Pitts, Walter F. (1996). Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African Diaspora. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0195111451. - Murray, Albert (1976). Stomping the Blues. New York: Da Capo. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-306-80362-3. - African American Spirituals. Online Text. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197495/. (Accessed January 26, 2018.) - Curiel, Jonathan (August 15, 2004). "Muslim Roots of the Blues". SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 5, 2005. Retrieved August 24, 2005. - Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm & Blues (First ed.). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 3. ISBN 0-02-061740-2. - "African-American Religion: Getting Back To You - Divining America: Religion in American History". National Humanities Center. October 2000. Retrieved 20 November 2018. - "connectED". spotlightonmusic.macmillanmh.com. - Pershey, Monica Gordon. "African American spiritual music: A historical perspective", The Dragon Lode, Vol. 18 • No. 2 • Spring, 2000 - Faw, Bob (May 4, 2012). "African-American Spirituals". Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. PBS. Retrieved 20 November 2018. - Abernethy, Bob (August 26, 2005). "African-American Spirituals". Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. PBS. Retrieved 20 November 2018. - "About the African-American Spiritual". Charleston Spiritual Ensemble. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2018. - Tottoli, Roberto (2014). Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 9781317744023. - Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 172–177. ISBN 0-393-95279-7. - "History". Retrieved 2010-02-15. - Smith-Christopher, Daniel L. "River Jordan in Early African American Spirituals", Bible Odyssey, National Endowment for the Humanities - Negro Spirituals by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Atlantic, June 1867. - "Jubilee", Merriam-Webster.com - "Jubilee", Dictionary.com - Coded Slave Songs Archived 2008-07-24 at the Wayback Machine - "The Official Site of the Negro Spirituals, antique Gospel Music". www.negrospirituals.com. - ""Follow the Drinking Gourd"—African American Spiritual". www.eduplace.com. - Kelley, James. Song, Story, or History: Resisting Claims of a Coded Message in the African American Spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd". The Journal of Popular Culture 41.2 (April 2008): 262-80. - Bresler, Joel. "Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History". Retrieved 2008-05-05. - Frederick Douglass (1855). "My Bondage and My Freedom". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 6 June 2013. - Brown, Sterling Allen (Winter 1953). "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Seculars, Ballads and Work Songs". University of Illinois, Department of English. Retrieved June 6, 2013. - Barker, Thomas P. "Spatial Dialectics". Journal of Black Studies. 46 (4). - "Salt Lake Tribune: Utah News, Religion, Sports & Entertainment". The Salt Lake Tribune. - Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (2001-04-01). Army Life in a Black Regiment. ISBN 978-1-58218-359-6. Retrieved 2008-03-03. - Ball, Edward, Slaves In The Family, Ballantine Books, New York 1998. See chapter 17 which references the Society for Preservation of Spirituals. - Baraka, Amiri (1999). Blues People: Negro Music in White America. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0688184742. - Barker, Thomas (2015). "Spatial Dialectics: Intimations of Freedom in A ntebellum Slave Song." Journal of Black Studies 46, no. 4 (2015). - Barton, William Eleazar (1899/1972), Old Plantation Hymns: A Collection of Hitherto Unpublished Melodies of the Slave and the Freeman, with Historical and Descriptive Notes, reprint, New York: AMS Press. - Bauch, Marc A.: Extending the Canon: Thomas Wentworth Higginson and African-American Spirituals (Munich, Germany, 2013). - Nash, Elizabeth (2007). "Autobiographical Reminiscences of African-American Classical Singers, 1853-Present". Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-5250-8 - Work, John W., compiler (1940), American Negro Songs and Spirituals: a Comprehensive Collection of 230 Folk Songs, Religious and Secular, with a Foreword. New York: Bonanza Books. N.B.: Includes commentary on the repertory and the words with the music (harmonized) of the spirituals and other songs anthologized. - The Spirituals Project - Sweet Chariot: the story of the spirituals - Fisk Jubilee Singers - Marian Anderson: A Life in Song - Historical Notes on African American melodies, including 75 African American spirituals with downloadable arrangements for solo instrument - Free Gospel scores - The Spirituals Database, searchable discography of Spirituals for solo voice - Listen to "Pharaoh's Army Got Drowned," artists unknown (765 KB) - Gordon Collection; performed by unknown persons in the Bay Area of California in the early 1920s - Download recording of "Deep Down in My Heart", from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection; performed by W. M. Givens in Darien, Georgia, on about March 19, 1926

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Culture Shock: The misleading term "culture contact" doesn't begin to express the dramatic effects of changes brought by outside Culture Shock: The misleading term "culture contact" doesn't begin to. express the dramatic effects of changes brought by outsiders The shock of "contact" has taken many forms, initially, at least, to indigenous people just the physical presence of outsiders was shocking. Missionaries, slavers, miners, lumbermen, ranchers, agriculturists - all have "visited" indigenous homeland, literally battering and badgering the inhabitants first into interaction and then submission. For some indigenous groups, the disastrous effects of contact have been felt before any actual physical communication. Outsiders' diseases - smallpox, measles influenza - would spread rapidly from village to village, leaving decimation in their wake, it is this rampant spread of disease and death prior to physical contact with outsiders that has prevented us from determining the exact numbers of indigenous groups in the world. Weakened and decimated by foreign epidemics, many indigenous groups then experienced the onset of actual contact with outsiders. On cultures already in crisis, the impact were, predictably, disastrous. Some native groups embraced the apparent power of the religion, politics, or economics of the outsiders. When others resisted, they were subjugated, displaced, or killed. Rarely did outsiders treat them as equals. Once contact was made, often groups sought further communication with the encroaching society. They wanted employment and education, a chance to improve their economic lot by becoming, at least for a time, a part of the dominant society. Recently new hazards have threatened indigenous areas, often without the inhabitants' knowledge. Mining and refining minerals are poisoning lands, rivers, food, and, of course, the people themselves. Frequently such operations have been moved onto native lands because, while Western countries have determined that these activities pose serious health risks and have banned them at home, Western consumers still demand the products. Pesticides, drugs, and radioactive and toxic wastes that are dangerous, severely regulated, or even banned in the United States are deliberately sold or dumped onto the lands of unknowing peoples. (The president of Benin recently signed a contract with a European waste company to dump toxic and low-grade radiate waste on the lands of his tribal opposition.) Although tourists introduce the most striking contrasts in culture contact, the most seriously threatening contacts continue to be between indigenous peoples and their neighbors in the unceasing conflict over rights to land and resources. The excerpts reprinted here are small samples of the patches that make up the crazy quilt of contact between indigenous peoples and outsiders. Brief as this section is, it gives one food for thought the complexities of such contact are dizzying. And all of these stories are even more sobering when we realize that contact among all peoples is increasing exponentially in this age of global communication. THE ROAD TO EXTINCTION The sad fate of the Yabgan and Ona peoples of Tierra del Fuego serves to encapsulates the devastation that contact with Westerners can bring to a native group; they experienced virtually every catastrophe brought by the West to other:, similar indigenous group. Just 100 years after the first European settlement was established on Tierra del Fuego; the last Ona Indian died. Missionaries attempted to work with the Yahgan but there is little evidence that they helped them survive. After establishing a permanent mission on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego in 1869, SAMS (Church of England) attempted to bring individuals to the mission to be educated and to work as laborers. Instruction lasted two or three hours per day. The rest of the time the men living at the mission were expected to cut timber, build, fences and houses, construct roads, and tend livestock and gardens. They were not paid wages. Instead they were given food for themselves - not their families - and sold Western clothing which had been donated in Europe. Nor was the health of those at the mission better off than that of the Yahgano population at large. An observer wrote that between 1881 and 1895 every child in the mission village had died, whether in the orphanage or on Yahgan homes. Not one child in dozens born survived its first year… By 1900 regular steamship traffic allowed the export of wool from Tierra del Fuego and within 20 years frozen mutton was being shipped from the island. By 1904 a road had been built to connect Ushauaia and the north coast of Tierra del Fuego (and all the ranches in between). By 1909 there were three lumber camps employing hundreds of men to cut timber in the forest where the last Ona had been permitted to live without being in permanent contact with whites. As in the nineteenth century, assimilated Yahgan and Ona provided most of the labor for these enterprises. For examples, the road that was built from the south to the north of the island was reported to have required the labor of 100 Indians for a year. In a matter of 60 years, the Ona and Yahgan had been victims of successive waves of sailors, whalers, sealers, miners, missionaries, sheep herders, soldiers, and lumbermen. Those who did not die as a result of contact with these outsiders had to work for others on what had once been their land. The European incorporated the lands of these once self-sufficient hunters and gathers into the world economy. By 1932, the island supported only one-third as many people as it had before the settlers arrived. During the twentieth century the individuals that survived contact were left on their own to find accommodation with the colonists. In 1973, only 100 years after the first European settlement was established on Tierra del Fuego, the last full-blooded Ona died. THE FIELDS OF THE LORD The efforts of missionaries to Cbristinazie an indigenous culture often are in that culture's worst interests - they change a community's political structure and undermine the status of traditional leaders, as well as Westernizing the values of the community's younger generation, its next leaders. This excerpt is from Cultural Survival Quarterly's special issue on religion and indigenous cultures ("Keeping the Faith?" vol. 7, no.3, 1983). The missionary arrives. He orders the construction of a landing field for the airplane, a church for the religious services, he establishes a school and begins to relocate outlying villages into one large community. Missionaries use the name of the indigenous community to receive governmental consent for these activities without having asked the community itself for permission… Along with "education," missionaries import regulations such as the appointment of headmen and commissaries, which directly affect the political affairs of the community, stratifying the community and its members. This ... radically splits a people who had been essentially equal - a people whose leaders and intellectuals (shamans, historians, and knowledgeable elders) shared in the daily affairs, subsistence activities, and communication with all members of the community.… Accompanying the missionary installations and the newly created social inequalities are the creation of rich and poor factions. These differences are reflected in the physical layout of the community, where the church and religious infrastructure occupy much of the area (the church, residence for the priests, school, infirmary, stables, etc.) and the indigenous members find themselves in the periphery with less land to themselves. Traditional leaders lose their power of influence. They are no longer sought out for advice; now people go to the missionary house. Visitors also go directly to the parsonage, leaving the indigenous sector to one side, subordinated to a lower slot. Perhaps the most subversive form of culture contact is in the areas of pesticide poisonings, toxic waste dumpings, mercury contamination (as a result of gold prospecting), nuclear testing - activities that have been banned in the West, only to be transplanted to the Third World, Back when Cultural Survival Quarterly was still a newsletter, we were reporting on such injustices in our "Poisons and Peripheral People" series. Pesticide poisonings have increased. World Health Organization officials estimate that one Third World resident is prisoner by pesticides every minute; of these approximately 500,000 poisoning per year, 5,000 are fatal… In some cases, villagers are unaware of the danger posed by pesticides. In 1977, 44 deaths occurred in South Africa after people handled agricultural chemicals. In most cases people did not wash themselves properly, did not clean food that had been sprayed, or used pesticide containers for drinking or cooking. In Iran, butchers are reported to have sprayed carcasses with insecticides to keep the files away. In 1972, 400 Iraqis died and 5,000 were hospitalized after consuming products made from 8,000 tons of wheat and barley coated with an organic mercury fungicide. Initially the seed was preferred because loaves made from it were pink. In Pakistan, Guatemala, and the US Southwest mercury poisoning occurred after eating similarly treated seed. In Papua New Guinea, an aide at Mt. Hagen Hospital brought an empty Paraquat bottle, clearly marked "poison" in English, to be filled with cough syrup. He did not read English. Throughout the world pesticide containers are sold as water containers and plastic pesticide bags are used as raincoats… Herbicide use in the Guaporé Valley [Brazil] is not well documented. However, in the early seventies, defoliants sprayed from airplanes killed Indians' mangabeira fruit trees, about a kilometer from the area being converted to pasture. The rancher simply stated, "When pastures are sprayed, the wind always carries a little towards the Indians' villages." If there are cumulative effects later on, no one will be able to trace it to the use of Tordon [a herbicide used to clear forest]. In 1975, Fazenda Amburana received permission from FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation, to develop the lands whether Indians lived on them or not. In fact an Indian village was and is still on the land. Regardless, the ranchers began clearing the land, using Tordon 155. A FUNAI agent requested that federal police stop the clearing in 1979. At that time police confiscated cans of Tordon 155, which had been banned in 1977. Indians are not aware of the dangers. They use contaminated cans for drinking water which they take from contaminated streams where they swim and bathe. Crops are planted beside the same streams. By 1980, the FUNAI agent noted increasing numbers of stillbirths, miscarriages, infant deformities, and adult kidney problems even in environments distant from the areas of Tordon use. Even the supposedly "safe" Tordon 101 (2,4-D) can cause damage. Our series an poisons continued with the first issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly. This section is on chemical wastes and mining. The shift of Benzedrine dye manufactures abroad endangers the health of workers throughout the world. In the Third World, worker health regulations are lax… A dyestuff industry in Bombay dumps untreated chemical sewage directly into a river, contaminating the drinking and bath water for downstream residents. The firm is 47 percent Italian owned; but in Italy both Benzedrine dye manufacture and dumping of this type is against the law. As many tribal and ethnic groups move away from the use of natural dyes to cheaper, synthetic ones in producing their own clothing, they begin to expose themselves to even greater risks than workers in textile plants where operation are mechanized… By 1975, waste from one Canadian chemical company polluted the English and Wabigoon Rivers with mercury. Some 1,300 Indians on two remote reserves near Kenora have been affected. The government has warned them to fish and had brought in supplies from other areas, but the mercury has also contaminated other animals and plants that are important in the Indians' diet. The mercury will remain in the area for years to come .… Quechua Indians in Bolivia, who mine the country's number I export, tin, generally do not live more than seven years after going to the mines. For their efforts they earn $1 per day and the lowest life expectancy (42 years) in the Western Hemisphere. Their children have the highest infant mortality rate in this hemisphere. Culture in this half of the century frequently occurs through tourism. Cultural Survival Quarterly has published several issues on tourism, the first, in 1982, entitled "The Tourist Trap: Who's Getting Caught?" (vol. 6, no. 3). these two excerpts, the first from a theoretical essay and the second from an article on Native American, illustrate how tourism often masks a culture in order to make it "palatable" to Westerners. Much more typical is the situation of tourists in a Senegal resort who are offered the opportunity to "fish in the native style" and cheerfully lend a hand helping the natives haul in the nets. What the visitors don't know is that the authentic local fishermen have been ordered away from this part of the coast; in fact, the people they help are employed by the hotel to give the requisite degree of native flavor. The pre-tourism lifestyle of local residents is usually modest. When visitors descend, however, they require numerous amenities to re-create aspects of their homelife. This leads to rising expectation and new lifestyles among the locals. Ironically, it may also lead to a decline in tourism as visitors find that the locale no longer offers unique attractions. In order to maintain or increase the flow of tourist monies, a contrived and artificial "folk culture" is frequently staged. It may even be invented as locals respond to the expectations of visitors. Townspeople will invent a "traditional blessing of the fleet" to attract visitors; an "old town" will be newly built (complex with hired locals dressed in the costumes of some archaic and often mythical "olden times"); new "folk crafts" will be designed and taught to the natives by outsiders. The American Southwest Indians, for example, discovered that travelers frequently bought their more crudely made pottery because those "looked more handmade and authentic" than the more perfectly fashioned items. They began to manufacture such pots deliberately; few kept the old standards. In our second issue on tourism. "Breaking Out of the Tourist Trap: Part One" (vol. 14, no. 1, 1990), Margaret Byrne Swain examined the working of ethnic tourism in China's southwest region. Even though such tourism brings China's ethnic group into the country's economy can these groups maintain their uniqueness when the state "markets" their culture? The author finds some hope in this scenario - if the indigenous groups can control their "commoditization." These ethnic groups are incorporated into tourism through the commoditization of ethnicity - the production and exchange of ethnic goods and behaviors for consumption by others, a process found worldwide. I use this term, rather than "cultural commoditization," because ethnicity can be defined with a political power dimension critical to my analysis. As ethnic goods and behaviors are transformed into commodities for tourist consumption, the interplay of cultural and political factors in the economy affects just how sustainable this tourism development can be. Some argue that tourism perpetuates inequalities between an indigenous group and its dominating nation and also between rich and poor countries (Lea 1988:11). In stable natural and political environments, ethnic tourism can promote economic development for an indigenous group if the group owns the process in terms of its own cultural continuity and power (Swain 1989). In China, power dynamics among the ethnic group, the socialist state, and multinational tourist capitalism create a complete picture. The role of the state is critical in defining China's ethnic tourism industry through its regulation of tourism investment, production, and consumption.… All of China's ethnic minority groups have a history of conflict and negotiation with the Chinese state.… The state is the arbitrator of relations among producers, marketers, and consumers in China's ethnic tourism. It is the state which defines the commodity and who and what constitutes an ethnic group. There are definite an ethnic group, There are definite economic advantages to promoting ethnicity for commoditization. It stimulates the national economy and attracts foreign capital. Official Chinese ideology both protects national minority groups and promotes their ultimate assimilation. From this perspective, ethnic tourism is intended to be used economically as a temporary cultural phenomenon, not as a vehicle for ethnic group sustainability. The Chinese state is also a primary factor in affected the flow of consumers, as the dramatic change from a booming to a virtually dead domestic and foreign tourism market in the wake of the June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre illustrates. Although an indigenous group can make its own tourism plans, it is the state which channels funds and allows foreign investors access. Flourishing informal tourism activity such as the Sani women peddlers exists at the wish of the state and the availability of consumers. For indigenous groups in China, ethnic tourism reinforces their separateness from the majority while integrating them into the state economy. Whether tourism promotes cultural continuity of touristized ethnic groups of ethnic group assimilation depends on the state's allocation of control in the process of ethnicity commoditization. If the ethnic group, through individual actors, has no control over tourism activity - as seems the case on Hainan Island - then it is likely that their participation is exploitative and devalues their culture. If the ethnic group can take control - as the Sani have through their own actions and programs - then ethnic tourism can well give the group economic power to reinforce its identify as it adapts to new definitions and cultural values for ethnic markers. They type of "indigenous tourism" development validates the power of the autonomy or self-government that the groups - in theory - have from the states. A LESSON IN MANNERS Cynthia M. Dagnal-Myron is a writer who lives with her husband, a Native American artist, in Hopi Country. Here she shares some of her frustration at being cornered by tourists in the Indian Market, as well as her anger at visitors' bad manner regarding religious practices. Our two-year-old cannot sit still all stay in the sun and the crush of gawking art "enthusiasts." And if one more gaggle of blue-haired grannies in Madras Bermudas comes grinning up to her and asks me, "Is this little doll for sale?" they're going to have to call the riot police. Some day, I'm going to walk up to a white woman with a baby in her grocery cart and cry, "What a darling little white child! Is he a fullblood? May I take his picture? Could you stand over by the Wonder Bread, please - my Hopi friends will just die when they see this!"… It's no less annoying when the wild questions come from farther away, though. Recently, a film crew for a German public television station visited one of our schools and, upon discovering a real live medicine woman in its midst, inquired whether she might "do one of her ceremonies for us" to be shown all over western Europe. I doubt your priest has ever been asked, "And please if you don't mind, could you just do ... what is it? Your ... little Mass thing for us in a few minutes here? Could you wear perhaps your little costume and ... well, whatever you wear." THE "NEW MIGRATION' Although migration has always been a part of the human experience - a way to hold on to or improve certain parts of life - the industrial age brought about migration imposed by outsiders, when people migrate in search of jobs. This "new migration," in which people go from lesser developed to more developed countries or regions, has introduced its own form of culture shock for those who migrate - and those who are left behind. Here is what happened in many Garifuna Indian villages in Belize; Guantemala:, and Honduras. By 1975 the only Carib village in Guatemala had changed in many ways. Many houses were boarded up and had fallen into disrepair. Both men and women were leaving the community to find jobs as soon as they could pay their fare to Guatemala City or to New York. Many expressed hopes that they might not have to live there again. Small children were left with grandmothers, sometimes even before they had come to know their own mothers well. Now, as they approach their late teens, they grow increasingly restless, and begin to talk about when they too will leave. Until their great opportunity arrives, they spend their time in idleness, and often become involved in petty crimes such as marijuana traffic, theft, and prostitution. The elderly complain that the young no longer help with domestic chores, do not know how to fish or garden, or even prepare native foods. Disputes among siblings over the small properties left by recently deceased parents are increasingly common, each heir claiming that it was his or her remittances which had permitted the construction of the house or the purchase of consumer goods left behind. Gradually, many towns become old peoples' homes, but with youngsters - usually grandchildren - hanging about on the sidelines - uneasy, undisciplined, and increasingly illundisciplined, and increasingly ill-prepared either to live at home or in the outside world. Some parents now prefer to raise their children in New York, where schools and public health facilities are superior. Although filial loyalty is still strong, the increased presence in New York of wives and children has meant a decline in the remittances sent back to Central America. Unless a child remains at home with its grandparents, people tend to let the months slip by without mailing a check. Here is an example of the effects of labor migration in Peru - with some positive notes in migrants' efforts to keep their culture alive in the city. Labor migration has introduced a package of contradictions to the cultural identity of highland peasants. On the one hand, the new urbanites acquire city culture - with scarcely a backward glance. They join unions, strike, hustle, and dance the salsa. They become permanent residents by turning their bamboo squatters' huts into brick and concrete houses of substantial proportions.… At the same time, however, in Lima and all other large cities in Peru, migrants of all backgrounds constantly organize "provincial" representing their home communities. In Lima there are more than 5,000 such clubs dedicated to glorifying the "homeland," celebrating its festivals, encouraging its development through cash donations, gifts, and lobbying [Doughy 1972; Lobo 1982:266-76; Osterling 1980:157-84]. Like "alumni associations," caravans of migrant club members and others return to their native villages for feast days and to exhort their friends to improve their lifestyle and develop the land. Yet, by exalting their own successes in the city, they further encourage migration to Lima. This excerpt gives a view of what it is like for Amuesha Indian girls from the community of Miraglores in Peru when they are sent by their parents to Lima to work in middle-class homes. Their parents do not send them willingly; the Amuesha have been squeezed economically by the presence of jungle colonizers, and outsiders' racial prejudices regarding the Amuesba's "inferiority" have prompted these Indians to actively seek ways to change their identities. Servant girls usually live in, for all practical purposes, captivity. In one case, the patron allowed the girl to leave the house only on one weekly trip to the market. She was punished if she returned late. When the girls wanted to return late. When the girl wanted to return to her father's house, she had no way of informing him because the patron controlled all correspondence. When Amuesha girls leave home to work as servants in the city, they lose contract with their own culture and its values. In Lima their world is limited; the family of the patron serves as their only model for social values. From this new family, Amuesha servant girls learn that their own culture is backward and savage… Today [in Miraflores] there is not one unmarried woman older than 12 living in the community, and there are 29 young men between the ages of 18 and 30 who are looking for wives. If this situation continues (there is no indication that it will not) there will be no new generation of Amuesha in Miraflores. They will not be able to reproduce themselves either biologically or culturally. LIVING LIKE A REFUGEE The cultural "fallout" that indigenous groups can experience when they are thrust into a refugee camp is compounded by their homelessness. the kawthoolei Woman's Organization (KWO) is an outgrowth of the Karen national liberation struggle in Burma, first promoted by the Karen National Union (KNU). The war referred to here is the ongoing struggle for democracy that is still taking place in Burma. The war situation has, according to several KNU officials, led thousands of Karen girls to compromise their "traditional moral character." Forced to flee with other villagers across the Thai border to escape the atrocities committed routinely by Burmese Army soldiers, they have been tempted into the Thai service industry in towns such as Mae Sot as an alternative to life in the Spartan refugee camps. Naw Paw Nay, the leader of the Wangkha KWO committee, said it was difficult to prevent the girls from choosing this path: "They want to earn money to buy all the material goods they see in Thailand, but in the refugee camps they can't earn anything." The problem is apparently increasing, because when the girls return dressed in Thai finery to visit their village across the border, their friends see how easy it is to make money and follow them back to Thailand. The lack of money or the means to earn it, in the Karen refugees camps along the Thai border is a major obstacle to KWO's activities. For example, part of KWO's social duties - which also include hospitality to visitors and marriage counseling - are to arrange for traditional Karen costumes to be woven and worn. In Wangkha refugee camp, however, which has a population of more than 2,000, few of the refugees are to be seen wearing traditional Karen clothing. Naw Paw Nay, who was seeking refuge in the camp together with several hundred other KWO members during the 1989 Burmese Army offensive against the Karen stronghold of Kawmoora, said it was impossible for them to raise money even to buy the thread to weave the garments. Aid to the nine refugee camps along the Thai border, with a total populations of more than 20,000 consists only of rice and a few other basic food necessities, provided mainly by a consortium of Christian agencies. The aid is channeled to the camps through the Karen Refugee Committee, based at Mae Sot. The Sabrawis of Western Sabara, a land currently being contended for by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sabrawi nationalist Polisario Front, are an example of how a culture can thrive despite the homelessness and hopelessness of a refugee environment. After 16 years of war, one might expect to see the all-too-familiar tragic camp scenes. Instead, the Sahrawis have turned the harsh desert of their exile into an enabling environment. In the midst of another drought in the African continent, the Sahara is blooming. In a daily struggle against their bleak surroundings, Sahrawis have planted garden in their refugee camps as well as inside Western Sahara. Some of the food needs for the camps' 165,000 residents grow out of these small oases of hope. The vegetable gardens are one of many self-supporting programs initiated by Sahrawi exiles.… Fifteen years ago, conditions in Sahrawi camps were similar to those in northern Iraq, coastal Bangladesh, and the southern Sudan. Today, while refugees and displaced persons in much of the Third World are suffering from starvation and disease, most Sahrawi exiles are healthy. In the hanada there are no listless faces, no blank gazes. The Sahrawid have implemented a self-supporting, comprehensive health-care system, the main thrust of which is preventive medicine.… The World Bank and other non-governmental organizations only recently have begun to make development projects people-centered; the Sahrawis, on the other hand, have focused on building human capacities throughout their 16 years in exile. With a minimal supply f books, paper, and visual aids, the Sahrawis have created pubic schools (from the nursery through secondary levels), vocational training programs, and adult education classes. For the Sahrawis, developing human resources is a way of clearing the roadblocks for the journey home.… While may African countries remain tied to foreign aid, the Sahrawis have opted for self-sufficiency. Emphasizing grassroots participation, indigenous training, and the informal sector, the Sahrawis have created an enabling economic environment out of their otherwise harsh surroundings. In November 1975, within the first months of exile, the Sahrawis decided that they could not entrust their fate no outside donors. They organized themselves, even without supplies, using whatever resources were available. Because they channeled energies at the local level, everyone became involved in the daily life of their communities. People felt empowered rather than overwhelmed. Sixteen years later, the Sahrawis are meeting the most basic needs of food, clothing, and housing through local production. By encouraging individuals to show the way, the Sahrawi development strategy has produced a vibrant labor force… During the afternoon hours of intense heat, Sahrawi men gather to play desert chess (dama) while the women take up another traditional game, es-sig. The afternoon is also the time for tea; in the desert, one does not live on water alone. As the proverb goes, the first glass it as bitter as life, the second as soft as love, and the third as sweet as death. CASH AND CUSTOM Kava is the Pacific's indigenous drug, and it has spawned a growing number of kava bars in the country of Vanuatu. In the capital, Part Vila, alone, more than 60 nakamals (Kava bars) are doing business. In Vanuatu's rural, outer islands, people in the main continue to drink kava in a more traditional, ritualized manner; in town, however, there has been a brisk transformation of kava from sacred substance to recreational drug. Ironically, during the same years that this commodification of kava and the drug's shift from gift to market economy were under way, kava also flowered as a conspicuous emblem of Vanuatu's tradition and identity. In local political discourse and ceremony, kava drinking has come to stand for the value and endurance of island kastom - the distinctive traditions that politicians like to evoke in order to foster sentiments of national unity and identity. People in Vanuatu today are debating kava's contrary functions: traditional sacred substance on the one hand, and cash crop and contemporary political icon on the other. Western culture's long arm reaches some unlikely place, as this excerpt illustrates. Video and audio technology can be seen as the corrupter, or - since its influence on all cultures is not only inevitable but also beneficial - it can be used for art and education within communities. My first exposure to that quintessential hero of American pop culture, Rambo, came in 1988 while I was in Buala village on the island of Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands. Although I had missed out on the first epic Rambo movie, fortune would allow me to catch up on this latest film phenomenon, by seeing the second Rambo film. Rambo, at a village video open to anyone willing to pay the 60 cents admission price (about 25 cents US). The video showings run almost nightly on a VCR powered by a gasoline generator in a small house built out of corrugated iron and thatch, Insides, several rows of benches and the earthen floor accommodate an audience of 25 to 30 people. So it was that in 1988, while I was in Buala researching local recollections of World War II, my wife, four-year-old son, and I decided to see firsthand this new addition to village life. Here, after all, was a kind of latter-day cultural invasion not unlike that brought on by the military forces that flooded the Solomons during World War II with new kinds of people, technologies, and images on a scale unknown before or since.… There is an obvious and important connection between [the] duties [of the Council of Chiefs]. "Reviving and promoting traditions" will require that young people take an interest in local culture. In particular, if the knowledge of local history and ancestry - the basis for collective identification with the land - is to be reproduced, storytelling, feasts, and ritual celebrations will have to contend with newer pursuits. Thus, for example, at a village church-day feast I attended not long ago, the custom dancers performing in the village plaza who are normally the center of attention on such occasions were competing with "fundraising" cardgame activities under way in an adjacent house. People crowed in to play and watch betting games, all to the accompaniment of recorded rock music and some been drinking. On the other hand, the electronic gadgets that bring a taste for rock music and Rambo may also be put to use in the service of custom, as in the now popular tape-recording and videotaping of custom stories and performances. Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.

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Some people think of science as learning facts about the world around us. Others think of science and other ways of knowing as “the having of wonderful ideas” (Duckworth, 1987). This latter view of science and ways of knowing match the characteristics of young children as learners. Young children are naturally curious and passionate about learning (Raffini, 1993). In their pursuit of knowledge, they’re prone to poking, pulling, tasting, pounding, shaking, and experimenting. “From birth, children want to learn and they naturally seek out problems to solve” (Lind, 1999, p. 79). Such attitudes and actions on the part of young children indicate that they engage in scientific thinking and actions long before they enter a classroom (Zeece, 1999). Unfortunately, when science education is introduced in a formal setting, it often reflects the understanding of science as the learning of facts. This approach has led some educators to suggest that “most science learning that takes place in formal settings is not true science” (Zeece, 1999, p. 161).This article will discuss the benefits of active, hands-on learning, goals for early childhood science programs, and suggestions for fostering scientific learning in the early childhood classroom. Science as Active Exploration While it is appropriate to introduce older students to science history and expect them to learn facts discovered by others, young children should learn science (and all other areas of study) through active involvement – that is, through first-hand, investigative experiences. Young children should be involved in “sciencing” versus the learning of scientific facts presented by others (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995; Mayesky, 1998; Zeece, 1999). Sciencing is a verb and suggests active involvement. Such involvement should be both hands-on and minds-on in nature. Thus, children should be engaged both physically and mentally in investigating and manipulating elements in their environment (Chaille & Britain, 2003; Kilmer & Hofman, 1995). To be developmentally appropriate and to be in compliance with national guidelines for the teaching of science, science education at the preschool and primary level must be “an active enterprise” (Lind, 1999, p. 73). Both the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993) call for an action-oriented and inquiry-based approach to science with young children. As articulated by Lind (1999), “the best way to learn science is to do science” (p. 74). Therefore, science for young children should involve asking questions, probing for answers, conducting investigations, and collecting data. Science, rather than being viewed as the memorization of facts, becomes a way of thinking and trying to understand the world. This approach allows children to become engaged in the investigative nature of science (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995; Lind, 1999) and to experience the joy of having wonderful ideas (Duckworth, 1987). Teachers can’t give children “wonderful ideas”; children need to discover or construct their own ideas. Developing new concepts or ideas is an active process and usually begins with child-centered inquiry, which focuses on the asking of questions relevant to the child. While inquiry involves a number of science-related activities and skills, “the focus is on the active search for knowledge or understanding to satisfy students’ curiosity” (Lind, 1999, p. 79). Knowing the right answer, then, is not one of the primary objectives of science in the early childhood curriculum. Duckworth (1987) refers to “knowing the right answer” as a passive virtue and discusses some of its limitations. “Knowing the right answer,” she says, “requires no decisions, carries no risks, and makes no demands. It is automatic. It is thoughtless” (p. 64). A far more important objective is to help children realize that answers about the world can be discovered through their own investigations. Sciencing, for example, involves coming up with ideas of one’s own. Developing these ideas and submitting them to someone else’s scrutiny is, according to Duckworth (1987), “a virtue in itself—unrelated to the rightness of the idea” (p. 68). Developing ideas of one’s own add breadth and depth to learning. This is so, even if the child’s initial ideas are inaccurate views of the world. Duckworth (1987) explains: “Any wrong idea that is corrected provides far more depth than if one never had a wrong idea to begin with. You master the idea much more thoroughly if you have considered alternatives, tried to work it out in areas where it didn’t work, and figured out why it was that it didn’t work, all of which takes time” (pp. 71-72). Desired goals of science in the early childhood curriculum include what we hope children will attain or achieve in three different areas: content, processes, and attitudes or dispositions. Content refers to the body of knowledge representing what we know about the world. Children’s body of knowledge develops and increases over time, and their desire to communicate and represent their knowledge should be acknowledged and supported. The processes, or process skills, represent the active component of science and include such activities as predicting, observing, classifying, hypothesizing, experimenting, and communicating. Adults should support children in practicing and applying these skills in a variety of activities throughout the day. This can be done by showing a sincere interest in children’s observations and predictions and by providing a variety of materials and settings that invite experimentation. Certain attitudes or dispositions are also central to scientific inquiry and discovery. These include curiosity, a drive to experiment, and a desire to challenge theories and to share new ideas (Conezio & French, 2002). Teachers should value these attitudes or dispositions, be aware of how they are manifested in young children, and find ways to acknowledge and nurture their presence. Productive Questions to Foster Scientific Thinking* Type of Question Calls attention to significant details What is it doing? How does it feel? Measuring & counting Generates more precise information Fosters analysis and classification How are they alike? Encourages exploration of properties and events; also encourages predictions Supports planning & trying solutions to problems How could we…? Encourages reflection on experiences & construction of new ideas Why do you think? Can you explain that? *Adapted from Martens, 1999, p. 26 Science in the Early Childhood Classroom Science is often sadly neglected in the early childhood classroom (Johnson, 1999). Perhaps this is because science is “perceived and presented as too formal, too abstract, and too theoretical – in short, too hard for very young children and their teachers” (Johnson, 1999, p. 19). Perhaps this neglect is also due to the mistaken idea that the “constructivist” approach to education is incompatible with science education (Johnson, 1999). A constructivist approach to education is based on the understanding that knowledge is constructed by children versus being given or transmitted to them. In this approach, children are viewed as “intellectual explorers” (Lind, 1999) and “theory builders” (Chaille & Britain, 2003).This approach assumes that as they interact with the world around them, young children develop their own complex and varying theories about this world. Teachers working from a constructivist approach provide a supportive environment where young children are encouraged to go about testing and revising their original theories. Key ingredients for a supportive environment include: a) a variety of interesting materials for children to explore and manipulate, b) unstructured time for children to develop and test their own ideas, and c) a social climate that tells the children that questions and experimentation are as valuable as knowing the right answers. Productive questions posed by the teacher at just the right time are also critically important to helping children construct their own understandings. Productive questions are, in fact, one of the most effective tools for supporting constructivist learning (Martens, 1999). Most children have difficulty constructing understanding simply by engaging in an activity – that is, they “fail to make connections necessary to arrive at a desired understanding” (Martens, 1999, p. 25). Productive questions provide a bridge between what the children already know and what they experience through an activity. Productive questions thus “take a student forward in his or her thinking; they enable a teacher to provide scaffolding for students beginning to build their own understandings” (Martens, 1999, p. 25). As outlined by Martens (1999) and presented on page 32, there are six different types of productive questions that work well with the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. These questions also support the science curriculum goals in an early childhood classroom. Used strategically, these questions allow teachers to meet students where they are in their thinking and provide the type of scaffolding needed at any given moment (Martens, 1999).The teacher’s choice as to what type of question to use is based on what the teacher hears and sees as the children engage in an activity. The constructivist approach places the child at the center of the educational process. The teacher’s role in this approach is to serve as observer and facilitator rather than instructor (Chaille & Britain, 2003; Martens, 1999). Science education, however, has long been teacher-centered, with the teacher as the authority figure and the one with all the right answers. Without doubt, such a traditional science program – involving authority-based, teacher-directed instruction – is inappropriate for young children (Johnson, 1999). While best practices in science education at all levels call for a more hands-on, inquiry-based approach, the image of teacher-as-authority persists (Johnson, 1999). This image needs to change, so that young children can reap the benefits of a stimulating science curriculum that nurtures their curiosity and their on-going intellectual development. Through such a curriculum, children will experience the joy of having wonderful ideas – that is, the joy of finding out. Science and Young Children: Comparing Approaches · Science viewed as already-discovered knowledge · Teacher viewed as authority · Areas of study set by teacher · Large group instruction and investigations · Evaluation based on right answers · Content not connected to children’s experiences · Predetermined parameters around areas of study · Prescribed ways to collect and record data · Science viewed as separate area of the curriculum · Science viewed as active exploration · Teacher viewed as facilitator · Areas of study set by child interest · Individual and small group investigations · Evaluation based on multiple criteria · Content connected to children’s experiences · Content of study open-ended · Multiple ways to collect and record data · Science integrated with other curricular areas Fostering Scientific Thinking One of the primary goals of the early childhood science curriculum is the development of scientific thinking in young children. Scientific thinking differs from the learning of scientific facts in that scientific thinking involves children in the process of finding out. Instead of learning what other people have discovered, scientific thinking leads children to make their own discoveries. Scientific thinking is manifest as young children ask questions, conduct investigations, collect data, and search for answers. Scientific thinking is evident, for example, when Jake puts one snowball in an empty bucket while he puts another snowball of about the same size in the water table. “I want to see which one lasts the longest,” he says. Chaille and Britain (2003), inThe Young Children as Scientist, present a constructivist curriculum model for science and emphasize the importance of scientific thinking. They clearly debunk the notion that the constructivist approach is incompatible with science education. They describe young children as “actively inquiring natural scientists” (p. 20) and learning as “the process of theory building” (p. 5). This view of young children and how they learn is supported elsewhere in the literature where young children are described as being naturally curious and “biologically prepared to learn about the world around them” (Conezio & French, 2002, p. 12). In the above example, Jake knew that snow melts when exposed to warm temperatures. He wasn’t sure, however, if water at room temperature would make any difference in how quickly snow melted. His self-selected experiment was designed to help him find out. To foster scientific thinking, teachers should view young children as active learners (versus recipients of knowledge) and give them varied opportunities to explore and experiment. Such opportunities will allow children to construct meaning and develop understandings that are not only valid but also valuable to their on-going intellectual development. The teacher, in response to Jake’s experiment, could extend – or scaffold – his learning by posing several productive questions (as presented on page 32) at opportune times. A measuring question would be a good place to start. How many minutes will it take before the snowball in the bucket melts? How many minutes for the snowball in the water table? Action questions and reasoning questions could follow: What would happen if we broke the snowball into smaller pieces? Why do you think the snowball in the water table melted first? Can you invent a rule about how things melt? An environment that fosters scientific thinking is one that gives young children the time, space, and materials to exercise their curiosity. It also gives them the freedom to engage in child-centered explorations, experimentations, and explanations. Note that in the questions posed in relation to Jake’s experiment, the teacher avoided giving facts or stating rules. The questions posed invited more reflective thinking and further experimentation on Jake’s part. The experiment and the related findings were his, not the teacher’s or someone else’s. To become engaged in scientific thinking, children need access to materials that they can take apart and the tools to assist them in doing so. They need places where they can dig in the dirt and dip water from a pond. They also need magnifying glasses, measuring tools, buckets, and frequent access to the natural world. Teachers should take advantage of the different ways science can be naturally integrated into a play-centered curriculum. Science should not be viewed as an “add on” or a separate part of the early childhood program. Sciencing occurs, in many cases, in what children already do and how they think about what they do. As a child experiments with a mixture of oil and water, for example, she is making observations and predictions. The child is also building theories and testing those theories. These physical and mental manipulations represent the essence of what science is all about. Children’s construction of knowledge can be enhanced through social interactions—that is, by sharing their observations and ideas with each other. Children should be encouraged to work together “in building theories, testing those theories, and then evaluating what worked, what didn’t, and why” (Conezio & French, 2002, p. 13). Shared inquiry where children work together can be especially beneficial in fostering curiosity and stimulating new ideas (Chaille & Britain, 2003). One way to involve children in shared inquiry is through solving problems that focus on a specific situation: How can we move this heavy box? or How do we find out what our turtle likes to eat? Shared inquiry generates a number of diverse ideas about the problem and challenges children to communicate the reasoning behind their ideas. There’s no doubt that “problem solving and reflective thinking play an important role in children’s science learning” (Lind, 1999, p. 80). Science should be integrated into all the other curricular areas. Math, literacy, social studies, and art can all be linked to science. For literacy, it’s easy to introduce and/or reinforce scientific thinking through poetry, storytelling, and non-fiction children’s literature. The benefits of such integration, as outlined by Zeece (1999), include: - providing accurate information in understandable and interesting language; - offering topical information from varied viewpoints; - helping children develop inquiring minds and a scientific approach to solving problems in increasingly sophisticated ways; - presenting models of scientific methods of observation, hypothesis formulation, data gathering, experimentation, and evaluation; and - fostering an appreciation, understanding, and respect for living things. Science-based literature should be chosen carefully with attention to both literacy and science concerns in mind. As expressed by Zeece (1999), “Criteria for selection of natural science-based children’s literature ideally parallel those used for other high-quality literary resources” (p. 161). Additional considerations, however, relate to how elements of the natural world are represented and presented. With these considerations in mind, Zeece (1999) recommends choosing books with the following criteria in mind: - current, factual content; - clear and simple explanations; - depth and complexity of subject matter closely matched to the developmental and interest level of children in the group; - beautifully presented illustrations and narrative; - content consistent with overarching philosophy of the program; and - completeness and ease of use allowing children to answer questions and/or explore ideas effectively. Science Concepts Typically Taught During the Preschool Years* Systems (groups or collections having some influence on one another) e.g.: parts of the human body; ecosystems (where animals and plants live interdependently) Models (representations of real objects or phenomenon) e.g.: word descriptions or drawings; physical models Constancy and Change (how things change over time) e.g.: seed to plant; different seasons; growth and decay Scale (focusing on characteristics and comparisons) e.g.: size; distance; quantity; weight Patterns and Relationships (structure and organization of matter) e.g.: properties of materials; alike and different comparisons; patterns in nature Cause and Effect (explanations for phenomena) e.g.: shadows; freezing/melting; gravity Structure and Function (relationship between characteristic and action) e.g.: makeup of plants and animals; tools; eating utensils Variations (discontinuous and continuous properties) e.g.: sounds; colors Diversity (variety of types) e.g.: seeds; leaves; living organisms *Adapted from Kilmer & Hofman (1995) From this discussion, it should be clear that the science curriculum in an early childhood program should include both teacher planned activities and “spontaneous sciencing.” Teachers should certainly plan a variety of interesting and challenging situations which invite young children to observe, explore, and experiment (Chaille & Britain, 2003). Examples of such situations include teacher-led explorations of the properties of water, characteristics of animals and their habitats, life cycles of plants, and patterns found in nature (seasons, light and shadows, day and night).Many rich opportunities for sciencing, however, occur on a daily basis during unplanned events in the classroom and on the playground. These opportunities invite spontaneous sciencing and can lead to the “having of wonderful ideas.” “Spontaneous sciencing occurs whenever a child (or a teacher) sees something of interest and wonders about it” (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995, p. 55). A constructivist teacher recognizes such moments and pauses to observe, reflect, and explore with the children. The occasion may be icicles hanging from the roof, a bird building a nest, or ants at the base of a tree. By stopping to observe and reflect, teachers give children the opportunity to grow in appreciation and understanding of the world around them. Children are naturally curious about the world and want to find out as much as they can. They want to know what makes the wind blow, how trees grow, why fish have fins, and where turtles go in the winter. But they don’t want adults to give them the answers. They want to be the discoverers, the experimenters, and the theory builders. They don’t want science to be something that is imparted to them; they want it to be something that they do. They want to be scientists; not just consumers of science. They want to ask their own questions, collect their own data, and arrive at new and wonderful ideas. These “wants” should shape the foundation of an early childhood science curriculum. Ruth Wilson, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Special Education at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Dr. Wilson has focused much of her research and program development efforts on early childhood environmental education. American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993).Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press. Chaille, C. & Britain, L. (2003).The young child as scientist (3rd ed.).Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Conezio, K, & French, L. (2002, September). Science in the preschool classroom: capitalizing on children’s fascination with the everyday world to foster language and literacy development. Young Children, pp. 12-18. Duckworth, E. (1987).‘The Having of Wonderful Ideas’ and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning. New York: Teachers College Press. Johnson, J.R. (1999). The forum on early childhood science, mathematics, and technology education. In American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. Washington, DC: AAAS, pp. 14-25. Kilmer, S.J., & Hofman, H. (1995). Transforming science curriculum. In S. Bredekamp & Rosegrant, T. (Eds.).Reaching potentials: Transforming early childhood curriculum and assessment, Vol. 2. Washington, DC: NAEYC, pp. 43-63. Lind, K.K. (1999).Science in early childhood: developing and acquiring fundamental concepts and skills. In American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Dialogue on early childhood science, mathematics, and technology education. Washington, DC: AAAS, pp. 73-83. Martens, M.L. (1999, May).Productive questions: tools for supporting constructivist learning.Science and Children, pp. 24-27, 53. Mayesky, M. (1998).Creative activities for young children (6th ed.).Albany, NY: Delmar. National Research Council (1996).National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Raffini, J.P. (1993).Winners without losers: Structures and strategies for increasing student motivation to learn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Zeece, P.D. (1999). Things of nature and the nature of things: Natural science-based literature for young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(3), 161-166.

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English Language Learning - Understand the concept of learner empowerment; - Identify resources that can help develop learner autonomy and multiliteracies. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the notion of learner empowerment and provide available resources for empowering English language learners through integrating technology into your instruction. Under this broad concept of empowerment, in this chapter, we focus on two key aspects - developing learner autonomy and employing a multiliteracies perspective in the classroom. We further narrow the scope of each aspect by discussing what learning opportunities each of them affords. We follow this discussion with a list of technology tools that will assist with your incorporation of our suggestion, and provide a scenario-based example using some of the listed tools. - English Language Learners (ELL) - students who often come from families where languages other than English are spoken and whose English proficiency may be defined as limited at least at some point of formal schooling; often required to fulfill certain language requirements, such as language assessments or specialized language courses - Learner Autonomy - the ability to take charge of and responsibility for one's own learning in order to pursue topics that are relevant and interesting to the learner - Learner Empowerment - raising learners' awareness of the control they can have over their own learning process, which often goes hand in hand with the concept of learner autonomy (e.g., when language learners are empowered, they are given the power and ownership of their own learning and are allowed to negotiate identities in the learning process) - emphasizes that language use is context-specific and multimodal. It values the differences between different communication modes - like learner autonomy, this concept hands more learning responsibility to students; moreover, it emphasizes on the importance of making connections between learners and the language they are learning at different levels as a way to strengthen the bond; promoting ownership is considered as a strategy to enhance learner autonomy What do we mean by learner empowerment? English language learners (ELLs), who often come from families where languages other than English are spoken, is a rapidly growing, but oftentimes underprivileged population of students in U.S. schools. These students sometimes have negative labels or stigmas attached to them because of language proficiency or cultural stereotypes. As a result of the negative labels and stigmas they are exposed to, ELL students may also hold negative beliefs about their own identities and competence. In the classroom, too often these learners’ voices go unheard and their diverse identities are underappreciated. A simple definition for empowering learners is to give them power and ownership of their own learning and allow students to negotiate their identities in the language learning process. Teachers have used various strategies to allow ELLs to voice their learning needs in the classroom. These includes incorporating students’ home culture, home language, or prior experiences into the instruction, emphasizing diversity or multiliteracies, involving students in making learning-related decisions, or creating opportunities for students to express themselves in a multimodal manner. To empower ELLs through technology integration into our instruction, in this chapter, we focus on two aspects under the broad concept: learner autonomy and multiliteracies. To promote learner autonomy in your classroom, you can start by creating collaboration and reflective opportunities for your students, and to raise the awareness of multiliteracies in your classroom by providing spaces for students to express their multiple identities in various forms. All of these have become much more accessible for both teachers and learners with the availability of new technologies. Handing over responsibility to the students by encouraging their control of the learning process or allowing them the options to choose topics pertaining to their interest can promote their learner autonomy. The concept of learner autonomy has been closely associated with self-directed learning, and is seen as an important element that results in learner empowerment. Fortunately, with the emergence of new technologies, learners do not necessarily have to rely on teachers for accessing input and learning resources. They are now given more choices to make learning decisions for themselves as to how, what, and when they want to learn. We know that there are different ways to define learner autonomy, but in general, it can be defined as“the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Little, 2007, p. 15), and it concerns whether or not “learners are able to pursue topics and questions that are interesting and relevant to them” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2013, p. 58). In other words, through shifting responsibility from teachers to learners, we give learners the power to take charge of their own learning process. Empowering ELLs through developing them into autonomous learners can happen within and outside the classroom. For example, in the classroom, as a teacher, we can include collaborative projects, review our assessment methods to ensure learner autonomy is considered, allow our students chance and time for reflection, or give them opportunities to monitor and assess their learning as well as opportunities to provide us feedback. On the other hand, outside the classroom, there are other methods we can encourage our students to take in promoting learner autonomy. For example, students can make use of digital learning technologies to pace their own learning, find support from distance learning, or seek other learning opportunities, such as language exchanges or study abroad experience. These approaches shift learning responsibility from teachers to learners and engage our students in a learning process where they possess more ownership. While the backgrounds and needs of English language learners may vary profoundly, one thing they share in common is that most of them come from homes where languages other than English are spoken. This leads to their multiliteracies and a sense of multiple identities and cultures, and potentially to their lack of English language competence and cultural understanding of the U.S. education system. As a teacher, recognizing their differences is an important first step, and to further empower them through embracing their differences and encouraging them to show their differences, new technologies can bring a wide range of possibilities for the acceptance and enactment of multiliteracies in your classroom. To empower ELLs, one aspect is to challenge the dominance of English language and the cultural values owned and imposed by the mainstream groups. In other words, as English as a second language or content area teachers, we should celebrate and incorporate ELLs' home cultures and languages into our instruction. During the process, we help ELLs develop their bilingual and bicultural identities (or even multilingual and multicultural) instead of forcing them into the English-only mentality and being considered as "inferior" or "disabled" individuals. The other method of empowering ELLs is to bestow them the opportunities for developing their competency as fluent and critical English speakers, readers, and writers. The notion of multiliteracies or new literacies further comes in as it recognizes that communications go beyond written or oral language. People communicate with one another through modes beyond language (e.g., gestures, interpersonal distance, sound, images). Therefore, aside from the traditional language competences (reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar), a pedagogy of multiliteracies also emphasize cultivating multiliterate individuals who are "flexible and strategic and can understand and use literacy and literate practices with a range of texts and technologies; in socially responsible ways; in a socially, culturally, and linguistically diverse world; and to fully participate in life as an active and informed citizen" (Anstey & Bull, 2006, p. 55). Oftentimes, participating in such activities, ELLs are also given the space to reflect on their multiple identities more critically. Enhancing learner autonomy and endorsing multiliteracies in the classroom are both important and neither should be overlooked. Therefore, to be a teacher who is committed to empowering ELLs means one will not only deliberately create opportunities for learners to take in charge of their learning, but also honor their home cultures and languages and strive to cultivate both the traditional and new literacy competences. How can technology support learner empowerment? Integrating technology into our ESL teaching can provide a good variety of ways to develop ELLs’ autonomy and multiliteracies. With proper instructional design, technology can help teachers enrich the learning environments, differentiate the learning tasks, and give students the ownership of their learning. It also gives learners ways to express themselves through different channels and modes of communications. For example, by using communication tools such as instant messaging, students who are less confident of speaking are offered an alternative way to express their thoughts in conversational contexts. Or, by using photo or video cameras, students are able to express themselves with both language and visual representations. Furthermore, one of the biggest challenges in teaching a multilingual/multicultural classroom is that the teacher may not share the same home language as the students and their families. To that end, technology resources such as Internet search engines, online dictionaries or translation services all play a crucial role in understanding and incorporating students’ home cultures and languages into our instruction. Thus, technology not only can potentially enhance the effectiveness of our ESL instruction, it is also the key to realizing a transformative educational experience for ELLs. What technology tools are available? Technology for autonomy - Collaborative learning tools: Students develop autonomy when they take responsibility of their own learning individually, or collaboratively with their peers. The use of collaborative learning tools strengthens learner autonomy because it creates authentic language activities that are engaging, involves learners in decision-making processes where they direct their own learning with their peers, and extends the learning experience outside of the classroom. These activities improve students’ language and autonomous learning skills at the same time. For example, many online collaborative writing tools allow students to compose a story together. Students can use collaborative learning tools to write with their classmates for a course project, or to do creative storytelling online with other writers they have never met. Many of the websites also offer a space for writers to publish their work online, which gives students a real audience to write to. Or, if students are producing a digital project collaboratively, they can share and put together ideas and multimedia resources in a shared digital space, which not only stores the information but also helps them sort out the ideas by engaging in decision-making processes. - Google Drive [http://drive.google.com/]: Google Drive may be seen as a cloud storage, but it is more than that and is very easy to use for collaboration and resource sharing. Plus, if you or your students are already using Microsoft Office, tools on Google Drive work very similar to Microsoft Office tools, making file exporting and importing between the two straightforward. For more information on how to use Google Drive in e-learning, this article provides some directions for you to go: 6 Effective Ways To Use Google Drive in eLearning [https://edtechbooks.org/-Er]. - Padlet [https://padlet.com/]: Padlet enables students to organize and arrange ideas freely on a blank board. It makes sharing multimedia resources such as audio, video, images, and documents easy and fast. There is a lot of flexibility in terms of how to use this tool. You can create a shared board for your class, or your students can create one for their own group. The tool allows anonymous editing or sharing, so be mindful that if for your purposes you prefer to have identifiable contributions of the students, you will want to require student login. Otherwise, there will be no way to trace back who makes what changes. - FoldingStory [http://foldingstory.com/]: This is a great tool to motivate students to write creatively together and to turn writing into a game. Your students can do collaborative storytelling with others. What makes this more exciting is each writer only gets to contribute 120 words or less within 3 minutes to a open story. When a line gets more likes from the readers, the writer will get on the leaderboard. If your students don’t feel motivated to write, FoldingStory may bring some change. The site also keeps all stories that are finished for future readers. - Piazza [https://piazza.com/]: This tool helps you build an online learning community for your course and has features that can encourage extended discussion outside of class. It differs from many other learning management systems in that anonymous postings are allowed, which may be especially beneficial to encouraging different forms of participation from ELLs. The website also provides subject-specific features so that you and your students can expand the discussion with the availability of specific textual and multimedia editing tools. According to their user testimonials, students tended to feel more comfortable discussing and asking questions on this platform. - Audio recording and editing tools: No matter where your students share their work or collaborate, if they want to create an audio recording and embed it into their project, these free tools are great to use: - Audacity (https://edtechbooks.org/-Tj): To watch tutorials for how to record with Audacity, you can check out Lynda.com, or read this blog article from Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle [https://edtechbooks.org/-xTF]. - GarageBand for Mac - https://edtechbooks.org/-jdT - VoiceThread [https://voicethread.com/] - Self-directed learning tools: As mentioned above, students develop autonomy when they are in charge of their own learning, and self-learning has been considered as a critical process in developing autonomy. When students are involved in self-directed learning, they are usually engaged in activities including diagnosing learning needs, setting learning goals, implementing learning strategies, evaluating their own learning, or searching for different approaches or resources to support and pace their learning more effectively. In addition, particularly for those ELLs who are struggling or unmotivated, creating learning experience they can relate to may help turn around the learning outcomes. - Self-paced learning tools: - Duolingo [https://www.duolingo.com/]: A favorite of many language learners. Learners can set daily goals for themselves and use different features to motivate them. - CourseWorld [http://www.courseworld.org/]: A huge collection of online talks and classes can be found on this site, making the search of resources much easier. - Khan Academy [https://www.khanacademy.org/]: The site is very well-designed and offers a lot of amazing courses for learning subject areas, and by far an English grammar section. - NoRedInk [https://www.noredink.com/]: A great site designed for teaching and learning grammar and writing skills. It not only saves you a lot of time creating quizzes and assignments, but better than that, aligns with the Common Core Standards. - Reflective learning tools: - Formative assessment/feedback tools: As mentioned earlier, allowing student to reflect on what you teach and to give you feedback is a great way to empower them. These great tools will help you collect student response in an efficient way: - Student self-reflection tools: Not just reflecting on what you teach, students surely need to reflect on their own learning process. With these following tools, students can record and capture a moment in their learning, add reflection to the image or video of that moment, and even share that with others: - E-portfolios: The following are tools that are safe for your students to create e-portfolios to record, share, and reflect on their learning, while you (and their parents) monitor their progress and online activities. - Audio publishing tools: When your students create a digital project or an e-portfolio using the sites above, they can upload a podcast or an audio show they make to those sites. To give them another option, these sites are made for publishing audio shows: - Podbean [https://podbean.com/]: This site also has a section for publishing education podcasts (https://edtechbooks.org/-bfT), where you will find online lessons, student projects, etc. - Podomatic [https://www.podomatic.com/] - BuzzSprout [https://www.buzzsprout.com/] - Blubrry [https://www.blubrry.com/] - Spreaker [https://www.spreaker.com/] - YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/] - iTunes [https://www.apple.com/itunes/] - Self-paced learning tools: Technology for multiliteracies - Multimedia ESL lessons: ELL teachers are blessed with a great variety of resources available online for enhancing and enriching our instructions. In particular, the following websites offer great multimedia materials for developing language lessons that would help students improve their traditional literacy skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar) in an integrative way. These multimedia lessons offer visuals, audios, and hand-on activities recommendations that could meet learners’ various learning styles. They incorporate authentic materials (e.g., TED talks, movies, online Youtube videos) that introduce a wide range of knowledge to empower the ELLs with the cultural capitals they need. Some of the websites also allow the teachers to adjust the language difficulty level to fit their ELL’s needs. In addition, teachers can also use these multimedia materials to introduce students to the multiliteracies (new literacies) skills, getting students to start paying attention to the meanings conveyed through modes other than written and oral language (visual representations, ambient sounds, music, accents etc.). These multimedia materials could also serve as examples for students to consider how they could communicate in a multimodal way. - BBC Learning English (https://edtechbooks.org/-zA): BBC offers free language lessons and listening practices based on current news reports. Their archived site also has a lot of great multimedia materials (https://edtechbooks.org/-gq) . - Breaking News English (https://edtechbooks.org/-cY): it’s free and it’s amazing. As simple as that. - TEDxESL [http://tedxesl.com/]: It really is a pity that this site is no longer updated, but all the available TED-talks-based lessons on this site are well-designed and engaging. - ESLnotes (https://edtechbooks.org/-SB): Who doesn’t like watching movies? ESL notes offer movie watching guide and discussion questions for some classic American movies. - Viralelt (https://edtechbooks.org/-qN): The author of this blog, Ian, developed ESL lessons for intermediate to advanced adult ESL learners based on youtube videos that had gone viral on the internet. - ESL Pod (https://edtechbooks.org/-Pi): ESL Pod does not only offer podcast lessons for ESL learners, they also have online blog posts, videos and also kinds of resources for ESL learners and teachers. - BrainPOP ESL [https://esl.brainpop.com/]: BrainPOP ESL offer lessons specifically designed for ESL learning. With all the animations and games, this is a great resource for younger ELLs. In addition, with captions for all the videos, lessons hosted on BrainPOP junior [https://jr.brainpop.com/] are great resources for elementary ESL teachers, too. - Starfall [http://more.starfall.com/]: Starfall has interactive games and lessons for emerging readers. Preschool and kindergarten teachers as well as elementary ESL teachers have been using this site to engage young kids. - Storyline Online (https://edtechbooks.org/-YF): Elementary teachers, if you have never visited this website before, you have to visit it. This is one of the best websites for children’s literacy and storytelling. The storytelling videos are all captioned, so they are appropriate for ESL learning as well. In addition to the videos, the website also provides activity guides for teachers. - Multimodal composing and digital storytelling: From the multiliteracies perspective, we need to give students opportunities to learn and practice using different modes and technologies. ESL teachers have been engaging ELLs’ in multimodal composing and digital storytelling to empower them with the symbolic competence. Through multimodal composing or digital storytelling, ELLs relies on different modes of communication to express themselves. ESL teachers would further encourage ELLs to tell their own stories, express their emotions or introduce their home cultures and languages through digital storytelling. - The following sites offer tips for using digital storytelling in teaching and also examples of digital storytelling videos: - Story Center - https://edtechbooks.org/-nC - Story Circle - https://edtechbooks.org/-uk - Story Corps [https://storycorps.org/] - Video in the classroom - https://edtechbooks.org/-so - Lang Witches- Digital storytelling (https://edtechbooks.org/-mx): what it is and what it is not - Larry Ferlazzo’s blog post on digital storytelling - https://edtechbooks.org/-Ya - U of Houston’s Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling - https://edtechbooks.org/-uf - The following websites or apps are excellent tools for multimodal composing or digital storytelling: - Storybird [https://storybird.com/] - My Storybook [https://www.mystorybook.com/] - Storify [https://storify.com/] - Toondoo [http://www.toondoo.com/] - Pixton [https://www.pixton.com/] - Make Belief Comix - https://edtechbooks.org/-rNh - Storyboard That [http://www.storyboardthat.com/] - VoiceThread [https://voicethread.com/] - Tika Tok [https://www.tikatok.com/] - Zimmer Twins [http://www.zimmertwins.com/] - Toontastic 3D - https://edtechbooks.org/-ri - Green Screen [https://edtechbooks.org/-JCd] - Stop Motion Studio [https://edtechbooks.org/-YP] - Powtoon [https://www.powtoon.com/] - WeVideo [https://www.wevideo.com/] - Shadow Puppet [http://get-puppet.co/] - Haiku Deck [https://www.haikudeck.com/] - Trading Cards Creator1 - https://edtechbooks.org/-Bf - Trading Cards Creator 2 [https://edtechbooks.org/-gV] - The following sites offer tips for using digital storytelling in teaching and also examples of digital storytelling videos: Example of using technology to empower ELLs Miss Caroline is an ESL teacher at the Flower Elementary School. One third of the student population at this school are ELLs whose home language includes Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish and Swahili. Also, one third of the student population are enrolled in free or reduced price meal plans. Miss Caroline speaks English as first language and can speak a little Spanish. Each ESL class Miss Caroline teaches has around 18-20 students. She has a teaching assistant, and there are community volunteers coming into her classes to help her on a regular basis, too. The Flower Elementary School has 1:1 technology access where kindergarten to 3rd grade have access to iPads and 4th grade or higher has Chromebooks. In this lesson unit, Miss Caroline engaged the 4-5th grade ESL students to learn about their home cultures and introduce their home cultures to one another through storytelling. The lesson started with Miss Caroline leading the students to discuss what culture means and why cultural understandings are important. Miss Caroline asked the students which culture(s) they felt they were affiliated with and what they know about those cultures. Next, Miss Caroline mentioned how holidays have significant cultural and historical meanings behind. She used Thanksgiving in the US as example. By introducing Thanksgiving, Miss Caroline taught students vocabulary words related to Thanksgiving such as parade, pilgrim, gravy, mashed potato, turkey, harvest. She also used a BrainPOP lesson [https://edtechbooks.org/-Fy] to teach students past simple tense, which is an important grammatical knowledge for telling stories. She showed a cartoon that tells the story of Thanksgiving [https://youtu.be/Yh_0t4EcsjE], and asked students to retell the story of Thanksgiving. She then introduced some Thanksgiving traditions in the US such as the Thanksgiving dinner or the Macy’s parade in New York. Miss Caroline also brought photos of her family celebrating Thanksgiving together and shared her thanksgiving stories. Afterwards, Miss Caroline announced the digital storytelling project. She told students they were to pick an important holiday in their home cultures and create a digital story about how their family celebrated the holiday. Prior to making the digital story, Miss Caroline assigned three mini tasks to the students: - Conduct online research on the holiday you are going to introduce (in either English or your home language); write a brief introduction of the holiday in English. - Interview your parents or grandparents to learn about how they celebrated this holiday; take notes on the stories they shared and collect photos if possible. - Choose three words relevant to the holiday in your home language, create trading cards [https://edtechbooks.org/-Bf] to introduce them to the class. Then, Miss Caroline taught the elements of good stories and how to write personal narratives. She also introduced action words and adjectives that are useful for writing stories. She then engaged students in creative story writing by randoming picking 3 trading cards other students created to make a story. Next, Miss Caroline asked students to write the script for the story about how their family celebrated a holiday in their home culture. She prompted the students to think about whose point of view they are going to write for, what events occurred, how they would sequence the events, what problems, dramas or emotions were involved. After the story has been structured, she also guided the students to pay attention to the grammars and word choices. Miss Caroline then provided various activities to teach students how to create a good digital story. She told students a digital story utilizes things beyond language to convey meaning to the audience. This includes images, sounds, music and even a dramatic tone. She showed to students a few digital story examples she found on Story Center [https://youtu.be/GZ0ouK6xBBA] and the Storyline Online [https://edtechbooks.org/-frq]. She also adopted a storyboard template [https://edtechbooks.org/-rN]she found online to guide students to create different scenes for their digital story. Meanwhile, students went online to search for royalty free music and images they need for their digital stories, and included that information in the storyboard [https://edtechbooks.org/-rN]. Finally, Miss Caroline instructed students how to use WeVideo [https://www.wevideo.com/]to build and edit their digital story videos. Students worked on creating videos to tell the stories of their families. When they were done, they published the videos and shared the videos with their families. Hung, J. H. R. & Ding, A. (2018). English Language Learning: Empowering ELLs through technology integration. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons, The K-12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/ell End-of-Chapter Survey: How would you rate the overall quality of this chapter? - Very Low Quality - Low Quality - Moderate Quality - High Quality - Very High Quality

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15 Principles for Reading to Deaf Children The ultimate authorities in reading to deaf children are deaf adults. Comparative studies of deaf children with hearing parents and deaf children with deaf parents show that deaf children with deaf parents are superior in academic achievement, reading and writing, and social development (Ewoldt, Hoffmeister, & Israelite, 1992). Hearing parents and teachers can learn from the read aloud strategies used by deaf parents. The following 15 principles have been identified based on research that examined deaf parents and deaf teachers reading to deaf children: Deaf readers translate stories using American Sign Language When it comes to reading stories to deaf children, one of the most prominent dilemmas is whether to sign the stories in ASL or in a manual code developed to represent English. Parents and teachers worry that if they don't sign every word in English word order, the deaf children will not pick up on the English in the text. However, a look at research on how deaf mothers and fathers read to their children makes it clear: they use ASL to read the stories to their children (Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Schick & Gale, 1995; Whitesell, 1991). A study by Schick and Gale (1995) noted that children found stories told in ASL more interesting and engaging. Deaf readers keep both languages visible (ASL and English) Although deaf readers use American Sign Language, they also place great importance on the written English of the text. Deaf parents demonstrate this when they read to their deaf children by keeping the English print visible while they interpret the story in ASL (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Schleper, 1995b; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990). This allows the children to look freely from parent (ASL) to the book (English), making sense of both. In one reading session, a deaf child interrupted his mother to ask, "Where does it say that?" The mother traced her finger along the part of the story that she had just signed. The child looked from the page to his mom, back to the page again, then looked again to his mother and with a nod signaled that he was ready for her to proceed with the rest of the story. Researchers have observed deaf parents frequently calling attention to text in a story, then signing, then pointing again to the text to help the child connect to both languages. In related research, Mather (1989) observed a deaf and hearing teacher read stories to deaf students in a classroom. One primary difference observed by the two readers, both fluent signers, was that the hearing teacher did not keep the text visible while signing a story to her class, while the deaf teacher did. Deaf readers are not constrained by the text Erting (1991) observed a deaf teacher reading the story Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells to a group of preschool children. This, translated from ASL, is what the teacher signed: Daddy is busy. So, Nora goes over to see Mommy, taps Mommy, and says, Mommy. But Mommy has to pick the baby up and burp the baby. Maybe the baby has to burp. So she is patting him on the back. Nora tries to get Mommy's attention, but Mommy is busy with the baby. This is what the text on the page said: Jack needed burping. Obviously, the deaf reader has elaborated extensively on the text. The other information comes from the illustrations, from what has happened in the story thus far, from the underlying theme of the book, and from the needs of the deaf children who are enjoying the story. The reader helps build the background knowledge necessary to understand the story. This tendency to elaborate on the text has also been observed in deaf mothers (Andrews & Taylor, 1987). This suggests that when reading to deaf children, parents and teachers need not be obsessively concerned about knowing each and every word within the text, but should place higher priority on conveying the story. Deaf readers re-read stories on a "storytelling" to "story reading" continuum Like their hearing counterparts, emerging deaf readers enjoy having the same story read over and over to them. Trelease (1995) explains that this is a natural and necessary part of language development. "These rereadings coincide with the way children learn. Like their parents, they are most comfortable with the familiar, and when they are relaxed, they're better able to absorb. The repetition improves their vocabulary, sequencing, and memory skills. Research shows that preschoolers often ask as many questions (and sometimes the same questions) after a dozen readings of the same book, because they are learning language in increments not all at once. Each reading often brings an inch or two of meaning to the story." According to Schleper (1995a), deaf readers elaborate on the text extensively the first time they read a story, but then each successive reading of the same text has less and less elaboration. The signing comes closer and closer to the actual text. What occurs is a continuum, moving from a great deal of signed elaboration toward a more direct translation of the English text into American Sign Language. The same process is used by teachers in a process known as shared reading, where the same story is read and re-read in the classroom to help emerging readers learn about stories (Schleper, 1995b). One can logically conclude that deaf readers use less elaboration in subsequent readings of the same text because they have already built the background knowledge the child needs during the initial readings of the story. Deaf readers follow the child's lead Deaf readers let children take the lead during read aloud sessions (Ewoldt, 1994; Maxwell, 1984; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). This can be as simple as allowing the deaf child to select the book to be read, permitting the child to turn the pages, and waiting for the child to examine the pictures and text in a book and then look up prior to reading the story. Following the child's lead also involves adjusting the reading style to fit the child's developmental level. With young children, or children who have had limited exposure to books, this may mean initially focusing on what is happening in the pictures. As children grow older and their attention spans increase, deaf adults tend to read more complete versions of the texts. This can be illustrated by observing a deaf father while reading to his deaf children, a daughter, 3, and a son, 6 (Schleper, 1995a). The father initially read Little Red Riding Hood by William Wegman to his young daughter. This book has lots of text that accompanies photos of dogs dressed up as characters in the story. As the father read the story, his daughter turned the pages. She was clearly interested in the pictures. Following his daughter's lead, the father allowed her lots of time to examine each picture; when she looked back at him, he signed what was happening. During this reading, the father essentially ignored the printed text and instead retold the familiar tale. In contrast, when he read to his 6-year-old son, the father followed the text, carefully translating into ASL. The son also held the book and turned the pages. The father traced his finger along the text before signing each page, and occasionally paused to allow his son to fill in the next part of text. Because the son was already beginning to read on his own, the father was again following his child's lead. Although deaf parents consistently follow their children's lead, classroom teachers seem to struggle with this concept. Ewoldt (1994) observed parents and teachers in booksharing sessions over a four-year period and noted that parents were more likely to follow the children's lead, while teachers were more inclined to establish their own agenda and struggle to get children to fit into this agenda. Deaf readers make what is implied explicit When deaf readers sign a story, they tend to add information to emphasize ideas in a story that are not directly stated in the text, but are clearly implied. For example, when a deaf father read Little Red Riding Hood to his daughter, he explained how the wolf donned Red Riding Hood's grandmother's clothing. Then the father added, "He is trying to fool the girl." The text never stated directly the reason behind the action, but the deaf reader wanted to make the reason obvious for his daughter. The addition of information to make the meaning of the story explicit, or to clearly state the main idea or moral of a story, appears to be a common technique used by deaf readers. This principle can be further illustrated by examining how deaf readers interpret the story, The Dancing Fly, by Joy Cowley. This is a predictable story about a pesky fly that buzzes around a store and annoys a storekeeper, who tries unsuccessfully to swat the fly with a fly swatter. The first couple of lines of the text are: "There was a little fly, and it flew into the store. It danced on the window, and it danced on the door." Schleper observed 10 different deaf readers sign the story. Inevitably, each reader began the story in a similar manner. First he or she introduced the fly, then added a sign for "arrogant" or "big-headed." Although the text never mentions the fly's personality, this characteristic is implied throughout the story through the struggle between the storekeeper and the fly. Like most of the principles observed with deaf parents and deaf teachers, this technique appears to be intuitive and unconscious on the part of the deaf readers. However, one can surmise that such a practice directly impacts the deaf children's reading achievement. By modeling the comprehension process and reading between the lines, deaf readers are showing how a story has meaning that goes beyond the printed text. Deaf readers adjust sign placement to fit the story A common strategy used by deaf adults reading to deaf children is to adjust the placement of signs to maintain interest and variety (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). Occasionally, the reader will place a sign directly on a child, such as making the sign for "cat" directly on the child's face. Other times, the reader will make the sign on the book or an illustration. For example, a deaf parent might use the classifier for a vehicle, place the sign on an illustration of a car, and then move the sign along the picture of the road in a book, as if the car is driving along the street. In one situation, a father who was reading to his daughter came to the last picture in a book about Little Red Riding Hood. In the picture, Red Riding Hood and her grandmother were eating cake with the woodsman. The father asked, "Are you hungry?" When his daughter nodded, the father mimed taking a piece of cake from the picture and offered it to his daughter. His use of sign placement helped his daughter interact with the story. At other times, deaf parents make the signs in the usual place. It appears that variation in placement of the signs, from on the child, to on the text, to the regular place, helps deaf children connect to the stories being read. Deaf readers adjust signing style to fit the story Critical aspects of speech are tone, intensity, and pitch of voice. Skilled readers to hearing children vary their intonation and volume to give life to the characters in the story. They vary their pitch to illustrate the high pitched voice of the baby bear or the booming voice of the papa bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In a similar way, deaf readers adjust their signing style to bring characters to life. A skilled deaf reader will adopt a more rigid, stilted signing style to portray an uptight person, sign using miniature signs and small signing space to depict someone who is timid, or use big exaggerated signs to show a "loud" character. Research on deaf parents shows that they use extensive variation in how they make their signs to make the stories interesting for their deaf children (Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). Deaf readers connect concepts in the story to the real world Skillful deaf readers constantly relate experiences of their own to the characters and events in the stories they are reading (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990; Whitesell, 1991). Deaf readers help children build this skill by regularly making connections between the story and the lives of the children they are reading to. As one deaf mother read a story about a cat which lapped up some milk, she added, "You know, the same as Sparky (their dog) drinks his water." The child laughed and nodded, clearly making the connection of their shared experience. A father who read Whales, the Gentle Giants to his children paused periodically to help them connect the story to their own experiences. The children had chosen the book because it reminded them of the movie Free Willy. After the father read a section of the text about a blue whale, he turned to his 3-year-old daughter and asked, "Are whales big or small?" "Big," the girl replied. "Really big!" the father agreed. Then his 6-year-old son walked over to the far wall of the family room to show his sister how big a blue whale really is. "That big," he said. His father told him that a blue whale is much bigger, but they remained skeptical. Then the father tried to help the children relate the whale's size to objects in their own lives. He said, "It's huge. It's the same as when you see a football field. It's big, right? This whale is bigger!" Deaf readers use attention maintenance strategies It is perfectly natural for deaf children to look away or down at the book sometimes while an adult is reading a story. Although this can be frustrating, experienced deaf readers find appropriate ways to respond (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). Usually, deaf readers wait patiently until the child looks up again, then continue to read. Deaf readers also use a variety of strategies to keep their deaf children's attention. Most commonly, a parent will lightly tap the child on the shoulder or leg to get attention. If the parent is sitting alongside the child, the parent will often gently nudge the child, or shift the book to first draw the child's attention back to the text, and then to the waiting parent. The deaf parent also uses facial expression to maintain attention, and eye contact appears to be central in holding the child's interest. One behavior noticed with hearing parents and teachers, but absent with deaf parents, is grabbing the child by the chin and forcibly pulling the child's face to attention. While young children sometimes do this with their parents, it is not an acceptable practice to model for the children. Deaf readers also recognize the power of peripheral vision. They note that deaf children pick up a lot even when they are not looking directly at the reader's signs. And, since the deaf reader will often read the same story over and over again, the child will have plenty of opportunities to get any information missed during any one reading. Deaf readers use eye gaze to elicit participation Eye contact is clearly an important consideration when reading to deaf children. Mather (1989) researched the importance of eye gaze when reading to deaf children. She found readers used two types of eye gaze during reading sessions: individual and group gaze. One deaf teacher used group gaze effectively to involve all of the students in the reading and individual gaze to direct questions or comments to particular children. Mather noticed that hearing teachers sometimes used inappropriate eye gaze with deaf students, leading to miscommunication during reading sessions. One teacher, for example, commented to her class, "Some of you don't know this story." Instead of including the whole group, her gaze was focused on just one student. The child being singled out replied defensively, "I know! I know!" It is clear that eye gaze plays a key role in maintaining attention and eliciting responses during read aloud sessions. Deaf readers engage in role play to extend concepts Several researchers point out that deaf readers often act out parts of a story to help clarify meaning (Ewoldt, 1984; Mather, 1989; Rogers, 1989). A deaf teacher who was reading The Three Little Kittens to a group of preschool deaf children noticed that the children were not following the story. Quickly, the teacher mimed the kittens tracking mud into the house. Then she brought the children into the role play by becoming the mother cat and scolding the kittens. The children's grins demonstrated their renewed understanding and involvement. A mother and her 4-year-old deaf son also used role play during a session with the book Roll Over! A Counting Song by Merle Peek. This story is about a boy who shares his bed with nine animals. Each time they roll over, one animal falls out of bed. During the booksharing session, the deaf mother and her son were sitting on the bed as the mother read, "Ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over! Roll over!' They all rolled over and one fell out." When she finished the section, her son stood up and fell dramatically off his bed, landing exactly in the same spot as the monkey in the book. He climbed back into bed, and as his mother went on reading, he continued to role play the animals, each time falling happily out of bed. Deaf readers use ASL variations to sign repetitive English phrases Many predictable books for young children have phrases that are repeated over and over again. For example, "He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house in," from The Three Little Pigs, or "Fee! Fie! Fo! Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!" from Jack and the Beanstalk. When deaf readers read these repetitive phrases, they don't always sign them the exact same way. In fact, evidence suggests that deaf readers vary the way they sign repetitive English phrases. In these situations, the children see the English text remain constant in the book, while also being exposed to various ways to sign the concepts. Sometimes these sign variations are used to maintain interest in the story. For example, in the story Roll Over! A Counting Song by Merle Peek, the chant, "Roll over! Roll over!" is repeated 10 times as each character in turn rolls off the bed. When a deaf mother read this book to her son, she pointed to the English text (which was the same each time), but then signed the text in various ways. Sometimes she used a classifier to show the animals rolling together. Other times, she used a different sign for "roll." Sometimes she used other variations. The variety of ways she used to express the concept seemed to hold her son's interest in the story. Other times the use of sign variations helped to convey increased intensity or "volume," such as when each successive troll crosses over the bridge in The Three Billy Goats Gruff. While the English words remained the same, the deaf adult used different ASL translations each time the English phrase was repeated. Perhaps the readers were subconsciously demonstrating that there is no direct word-to-sign correspondence between English and ASL, and that, in fact, there are multiple ways to convey the English meaning in American Sign Language. In the process, the deaf readers are also developing the children's signed vocabulary, and, one can assume, promoting the children's ability to make meaning from the English text. Deaf readers provide a positive and reinforcing environment Reading is supposed to be fun. It is also supposed to involve the construction of meaning through reciprocal interaction between readers and text. Unfortunately, in many classrooms with deaf children, the teacher controls both the interactions and the interpretation of the text. Ewoldt (1994) observed extensive control on the part of teachers during booksharing. The teachers she observed used a variety of correction responses to children's comments. Those responses ranged from simply telling a child, "You're wrong," to ignoring the child's answer, providing a different answer, changing the meaning of a child's message to fit the teacher's version of the story, or restating the teacher's own interpretation. In contrast, research with deaf parents shows they provided a positive, interactive environment (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Ewoldt, 1994; Rogers, 1989). They did not seek "correct" answers from the children during reading. Rather, they set up a mutually rewarding atmosphere that encouraged the creative interpretation of text. In one reading session (Schleper, 1995a), a deaf father was reading Little Red Riding Hood to his daughter. His daughter tapped his knee, then turned back to the previous page and pointed. "Look at the teeth!" she said. "Yeah, the teeth are sharp! Like fangs," the father said, reinforcing the child's observation. "They have blood on them," the daughter pointed out. The father questioned this, pointing to the illustration. "Where?" he asked. They examined the picture together. "Maybe you re right. They do have blood!" the father said. Instead of ignoring his daughter, or telling her she was wrong, the father let her make her point. His positive, reinforcing response helped make booksharing enjoyable. And when the read aloud sessions are enjoyable, it is more likely that the child will retain fond, positive associations with books and reading. Deaf readers expect the child to become literate A final principle that seems to underlie the read aloud sessions between deaf adults and deaf children is the positive belief in the children's abilities. Whitesell (1991) observed a deaf teacher with a reputation for producing good, enthusiastic readers, hoping to determine which of her teaching strategies and practices seemed most critical. After observing for an extended period of time, Whitesell discovered the key: "The teacher expected them to become literate." Most deaf parents do not read to their children in order to teach them English or to instruct them in the reading process. They want to share their own love of books. While they may expect some academic benefit for the children, that is clearly secondary. When Schleper (1995a) asked deaf parents if they thought their children would become literate in English, they all replied, "Of course!" There was never any doubt.

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Activity 1: Pre-reading Begin with individual reflection on the prompts below as preparation for thinking through some of the themes of The Arrival. In pairs or groups, have students work through the following prompts to feed into a broader discussion about alienation and journeys. Prompt 1 focuses on a sense of aloneness or alienation, Prompt 2 is concerned with the objects that we identify with for pragmatic or sentimental reasons, while Prompt 3 is about unfamiliarity and a lack of connection. Form pairs or groups to share responses. - Prompt 1: Image titled Alone by Steve Evan (used under the creative commons license) - Prompt 2: Imagine you are five and planning to run away from home . . . what would you have packed? - Prompt 3: Think of a time when you were new to a place and couldn’t find your bearings, or didn’t know anyone else. Describe how you felt and if your sense of being in an unfamiliar place was resolved (if so, how?). Activity 2: Visual collage Choose key images from the text ensuring that these come from the beginning, middle and end of The Arrival. The number you choose should be equivalent to the number of students in your class. Provide each student with an image and guide their exploration with the following questions: - What is in the focus of this image? Is it because it seems illuminated, is in stronger lines, or is in the foreground? - What is happening in the image – either in that moment or what might come before or after this image? - Based on what you see, to which genre of storytelling might it belong: fairytale, horror, romance, mystery, drama, crime, soapie etc? - What is the mood of the image? How do light, placement of objects, selection of what is large/small or near/far guide your interpretation? Pair students, and direct them to discuss the following and try to come to an agreement: - How might these two images connect in a single narrative? That is, what story might they collectively tell? - How are the elements of light/dark, objects, size, movement and so on in each image similar or different? Pairs to form groups of 4 and repeat Step 2 putting all four images in a narrative sequence and collectively defending their choices. Groups can then justify their selection of narrative sequence to another group or the whole class. An option for later - This exercise can be useful in sharpening attention during the full first reading of the text as individuals and groups look for and evaluate their interpretations of their images, and the sequences they predicted. - Collect and store these images. At the conclusion of the first reading, it can be a rowdy/fun activity to see how accurately the class can reorder their images to match Tan’s narrative. A follow-up discussion will enable students to articulate how narrative works to give The Arrival its structure, meaning and impact. Personal response on reading the text Every student must have access to the text. Activity 3: 10 facts, 10 questions During the reading, students are encouraged to return to their responses to Activities 1 and 2. During the first reading, students attend closely to images and engage with the narrative. For this first reading, encourage students to look for: - events involving the protagonist - changing settings - the development of the narrative - recurring motifs and themes. Direct discussion to arrive at 10 facts and 10 questions. - 10 facts based on the reading of The Arrival about which the class can be certain (e.g. it is a fantasy landscape, it’s a man going on a trip). - 10 questions that the class have not yet resolved (e.g. is he a refugee? Why are there so many birds? What’s the point of this book?). Keep these questions on display or accessible as students undertake subsequent activities and readings. The purpose is to allow students to review their growing understanding and appreciation of the text. (ACELT1639) (ACELT1640) (ACELT1641) (ACELY1749) (ACELY1754) (EN5-2A) (EN5-3B) (EN5-5C) (EN5-8D) Outline of key elements of the text (notes for teachers) A selection of key themes explored in this unit - Journey as personal and universal experience - Global politics involving peace, conflict, oppression and migration Elements of the setting covered in this unit - Surrealism, emphasising alienation and universality - Extensive use of boats, water and harbours - The passage of time revealed in images of seasons, weather, day/night, migration of birds, clock faces - Familiar, yet unfamiliar settings: for example, harbours, shopping precincts, animals, cooking utensils, food, billboards - The protagonist is a family man who migrates, with papers, to a foreign land. He has indeterminate racial facial features. However, there are suggestions along the way representing multiple racial possibilities. For example, in Chapter II there is a suggestion that he may be from an oppressed and publicly shamed racial group via tags on clothing reminiscent of the Star of David and the Holocaust. - Chapter III: A young woman of Asian appearance helps the protagonist purchase a boat ticket and they share their story via their papers. She has fled persecution and arrived at the same destination. - Chapter III: A middle-aged family man of Anglo-European appearance befriends the protagonist and takes him home to share a meal. It becomes clear that he and his family have escaped war and arrived at the same destination. - Chapter IV: An elderly factory worker, possibly Eastern European, who communicates his story of leaving home, going to war as a soldier, suffering injury and finally arriving at the same destination. - It is structured in six chapters marking the progress of the journey. - Cohesion and narrative thread are also provided by the repeated use of motifs: origami, boats, teapots, hands, birds, and so on. - The plot is constructed without any recognisable print text and solely through the use, placement, size and sequencing of images. - A glint of promise in the suggestion of blue skies ahead in the final image. The artist’s craft particularly relevant to study of The Arrival - Use of parallels and contrasts (war/peace, harmony/tension). - Symbols/motifs (birds, teapots, boats, water, serpents). - Visual devices. Activity 4: Close Study – the first three pages This activity is teacher-directed, leading students to a later independent/small group activity. As well as modelling the process, teachers will provide the metalanguage for deconstruction and discussion of individual images and the text as a whole (see the metalanguage links provided in the ‘more digital resources’ section below). Move beyond the title pages to the sequence of nine images that open The Arrival. - What do you notice about the use of colour? - What tools has the artist used to create the images? - What repetition do you notice in the first three pages? What do you think that might mean? - How is the narrative established? - How is the mood established? - When and where do you think the story is set, and what makes you think so? Look at pages two and three (nine images on page two, followed by full page image of protagonist and wife): - Why has Tan chosen a layout with nine individual drawings, and then moved to a full page image? - What story does the full page image provide or hint at? - What elements in that image seem to have special meaning and contribute to the development of the story? - What motifs are already evident in these three pages? Download this proforma table (PDF, 26KB) for students to use to work individually, in pairs or small groups to deconstruct one of the nine double-page images in The Arrival. These short interviews show Shaun Tan talking about the creation of The Arrival. Each clip will support, validate or throw into question some of the student responses. Now select from the following interviews. Each interview with Tan is one to two minutes in length and relates to this activity. - Interview 3 of 16: How long did it take to create The Arrival? - Interview 4 of 16: How did your vision evolve? - Interview 6 of 16: Why a sepia colour scheme? - Interview 7 of 16: What are the challenges of creating a wordless book? - Interview 8 of 16: What do the serpents above the city symbolise? - Interview 9 of 16: Were the drawings inspired by Ellis Island (US) photographs? - Interview 10 of 16: What is the meaning behind the violent image with giants? Group feedback, reflection and conclusions. This should include reference back to the 10 Facts, 10 Questions (see Activity 3). (ACELA1566) (ACELA1567) (ACELT1641) (ACELT1642) (ACELY1749) (ACELY1754) (EN5-2A) (EN5-3B) (EN5-6C) (EN5-8D) Text and meaning Activity 5: Themes and narrative Using knowledge from the previous activity, students should work through the following steps with teacher guidance. Group and individual support should be negotiated at all times to ensure differentiation and engagement. Students to select one double-page spread and discuss how that image suggests a theme or aspect of the narrative. Using a theme or aspect of the narrative you have just discussed, locate a single page containing a collage of between four and twelve images that connects with that same theme. Referring back to the proforma table (downloadable PDF, 26KB) and using the elements and metalanguage detailed, examine that page and determine how the images contribute to that theme. Revisit the entire text to map out the overall narrative structure. Set this out as a simple timeline, identifying the key development for each of the six chapters. Based on everything you have explored to date, decide what you believe are the central themes of The Arrival. Shaun Tan’s website will support, validate or throw into question some of the student responses. Once students have arrived at their own conclusions, view Shaun Tan talking about his work. Ways of reading the text One theoretical approach is to adapt Green’s 3D Model of Literacy, originally designed to support the integration of ICTs in literacy education. However the model can be, and has been, adapted to support an integrated conceptual model for teaching and learning more broadly within English. In this case, Green’s 3D Model is used to support teachers to deconstruct the text according to three overlapping dimensions, in no particular order, to ensure thorough analysis and preparation for teaching. While students are not expected to engage with the theoretical model, its use may support teaching that facilitates students to engage with the text in its entirety and complexity. The three dimensions are the Operational, Cultural and Critical dimensions. - Operational: Ask yourself and the students, how is this text made? What has the creator used to make the text? How has s/he put it together? In the case of The Arrival, what has Tan used to draw the images? How has he created mood, setting and character? How has he sequenced and sized and contrasted images to create a narrative? - Cultural: As you study this text, ask yourself and your students, what is familiar here? What is connected to your experience, your community, your nation, your world? What prior knowledge, or knowledge of other texts, do you bring to this book in order to make sense of it? In what ways do the inner front and back cover collages of individuals make this a more global and universal story? - Critical: Ask yourself and your students what you think Tan feels for migrants and refugees. Does he have a particular view of the experience and how does he communicate those beliefs or values? Is there an alternative view of migration and the refugee experience? What might someone with values in opposition to Tan say or feel about this book? How might you transform one of Tan’s images to reveal an alternative view? Might we feel differently if Tan depicted the protagonist as: a) an anti-government rebel b) a leader in an oppressive regime c) a single man d) single woman e) clearly belonging to a current refugee group such as Afghanis, Sri Lankans or other, or f) disabled? While conceptualised separately here, readers learn to address all three dimensions simultaneously, and any of the three dimensions might be the entry point. This downloadable graphic (PDF, 256KB) provides another representation of the model in relation to The Arrival. Activity 6: Critical and cultural readings Many of Shaun Tan’s works have appeared in various forms whether as film, on stage, or on the web as readings. The purpose of this following activity is to support cultural and critical readings of The Arrival. Students will examine how The Arrival represents one man’s interpretation of the migrant experience within the context of time, place and values, and how different readers arrive at individual interpretations. View this stop animation and decide which aspects of the story are emphasised by this creator. What is missing that you think should have been included? Watch this online review by a deaf person. How is their reading of The Arrival different from your own? View Shaun Tan revisiting the meaning of his book and how others have interpreted it. How does this support a view that every text is created and appreciated within distinct times, places and values? Activity 7: Go back to where you came from (SBS series 2011) Watch this promotional video for the SBS series, Go back to where you came from and consider using a full episode. After viewing the promo, have students consider the following questions: - What resonance is evident between The Arrival and this video? - How would you cope being sent over the oceans on a leaky boat? - From the promo, or your knowledge of the series, what views of refugees and migrants are presented? - How is this similar to or different from The Arrival? Activity 8: The Rabbits and intertextuality The Rabbits by John Marsden, illustrated by Shaun Tan. Before commencing reading of this text to the class, consider features of the illustrations that resonate with those in The Arrival (colour, symbols/motifs etc). Following the reading, students should address the following questions according to the Operational, Cultural and Critical dimensions. - What motifs are evident in both books and what do they suggest? - What aspects of visual literacy, such as vectors, light and shade or framing, were most apparent to you? - What indications are there in the text that this is a story of European arrival/invasion of Australia? - What aspects of the migrant experience are highlighted in both The Rabbits and The Arrival? - From this text what do you believe are Marsden’s and Tan’s views of European arrival/invasion of Australia? - The last line of this book suggests that the Indigenous population are passive and looking for someone else to stop the rabbits. Consider two or three possible responses to this final question and the text as a whole. - Given Tan’s work in both The Arrival and The Rabbits, consider how they might be construed as two sides of the same story of global movement of populations? Activity 9: Visual intertextuality It is significant that Tan has drawn from human experience of the Holocaust in Europe (1940s), arrival at Ellis Island off New York (1892–1924), news reports of the sinking of the Titanic (1912), and Tom Roberts’ early Australian painting, Coming South(1885–86). The following intertextual examples might be the basis of productive classroom discussion or writing leading to further insights, and add texture and understanding to their reading of the original text. Compare the images below from The Arrival to those on the webpages provided: |Images from The Arrival||Comparable images| Seventh page of chapter II |Tom Roberts: Coming South| Fourteenth page of Chapter II |Photograph: Ellis Island: Gateway to America| Fifteenth page of Chapter II (also refer to the sixteenth page) Twenty-fourth page of Chapter II |Photograph: The Titanic News Boy| These images have been reproduced with the permission of the publisher and all rights are reserved. The Arrival by Shaun Tan, Lothian Children’s Books, an imprint of Hachette Australia, 2006. Rich Assessment task 1 (receptive) Awarding The Arrival In this assessment task, students will move beyond the text itself, and even its intertextual links, to examine it as an artefact of Australian culture and literature. Explore The Arrival website and locate the list of awards won by Shaun Tan. One of the international awards he has won is The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize. When you follow this link you will find a list of past winners and their citations (or a brief description of why they have won the award). You will need to scroll down to 2011 to find Shaun Tan’s citation. Students, individually or in groups according to need/interest/preference, will invent a new award for Shaun Tan that represents what they value about his text. The task has a number of necessary components: - Creating an original title for the award. - Creating the citation or reason for the award (in 50 words or less). - Designing and constructing a logo for the award or making a three dimension trophy or medal. - Writing a short speech that might be delivered in a presentation of the award to Shaun Tan. Make sure to include the reasons for the award and in particular his distinctive contribution to Australian Literature (250 words). - Imagining that you are Shaun Tan receiving the award. Here you must draw on your understanding of The Arrival and of interviews of Shaun Tan that you have viewed (100 words). Download the assesssment rubric (PDF, 204KB) created for this assignment, and the performance standards referenced within that rubric. This task should be accessible to all students with support. Those who merit greater challenge should be directed to explore the place of Shaun Tan’s work within the tradition of Australian literature, or to locate other Australian texts offering alternative perspectives. Durrant, C., Green, B. “Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge?” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 23.2 (2000): 89-108. Green, B., Beavis, C. Literacy in 3D: An integrated perspective in theory and practice. ACER, 2012. Synthesising core ideas Activity 10: 5 New Facts, 5 New Questions Return to the original 10 Facts, 10 Questions (Activity 3 and Activities 4 and 5) and focus on students’ cumulative understanding and confidence with the text. To illustrate this, have students redevelop the list with the most significant five facts they have learnt along the way. Also, add five new questions that cannot be answered directly by the text (this is often the case when readers first encounter good literature). Rich assessment task 2 (productive) In this task, students will reflect on change within their own lives. Each student will identify a starting point and then represent the transformation that has taken place up until the present. They must use simple images and no written language as per The Arrival. Replicate The Arrival’s opening and closing pages The images Tan has created for the first page of the book are nine symbols of what is significant to the protagonist at the beginning of his journey. However, on the first page of the final chapter, the reader finds eight of these symbols remain significant, even though they are now transformed in some way. Note that one symbol has been removed (suitcase) and replaced by another signifying change. Understanding the significance of the symbols in the opening page and the first page of the sixth and final chapter is at the heart of the assignment. Students will select symbols that have relevance in their lives although transformed across time and place. For example: - A student whose family has always loved music may choose a family piano as one image for his starting point, and this may then be transformed into an iPod with earplugs in the final collage (piano/iPod). - A girl who is missing the absence of someone or a place in her life may begin with an image of the person or place. She may then conclude with a symbol of how that same person/place continues in another form within her current life (grandma’s portrait/loveheart; father/cricket ball; farm gate/city letter box). - A student who has always cared for animals may choose an image of a rabbit he got for his fifth birthday, and this may then be transformed into the border collie he walks every night during Year 10 (rabbit/dog). - Another student who loves spending time with her mum, may use an image from the playground for the first collage and this may then be transformed into a symbol of her current favourite shared activity (playground swing/abseiling ropes). Students will identify and begin to develop ideas for a visual representation of six or nine motifs for the starting point. Eventually they will represent these using photography, sketches, painting, collages or other visual media. Before they begin that stage, they must consider Step 2 because this will influence their choices. Now they will turn to Tan’s last page of nine images (the first page of Chapter VI). They should study how the original images they considered in Step 1 have now been transformed as a result of the protagonist’s experience and the passage of time. For example, students might consider the transformation of the origami creature, or the clock, or hand-drawn image. In addition, they should consider the absence of a suitcase at the end of the journey and its replacement. These are symbols that have been repeated throughout the text and will have been raised in discussion. Students should draw a grid creating six or nine spaces to plan a six or nine image collage. Each image should be a significant symbol of their own lives and form the starting point (see examples above). As per Step 2, yet this time the grid will be used to create the final six or nine image collage, representing change or passage of time (see examples above). Advice for students: - Aim to create cohesion and narrative through the use of a similar and consistent style within this assignment. For example, you might use only one or two colours in each image, or if using photography, a consistent style in Instagram may be effective. - Ensure the images are very simple and focus on a single item or collection of similar things. Simplicity is part of the power of these images. - There is no need to be overly ambitious. If you are not confident with visual literacy keep it simple as it is the selection as well as the communication of ideas that is vital here. On the other hand if your strength is visual arts, don’t forget to focus on the selection of images and how you use your skills to communicate this. Create a double page spread: on the left will be the six or nine images from the starting point and on the right, the six or nine images from the present. Once completed students will form small groups. Without providing any oral or written commentary, the creator of collages is to allow other group members to discuss what they believe is the meaning and significance of their symbols from the first to the second collage. A useful process is for each of the group members to make one interpretative comment and raise one question. This proceeds without any comment from the creator until each member has spoken. It is then the creator’s opportunity to respond to interpretations, challenging where necessary and addressing questions raised. This continues until every creator has had their turn. It is suggested that the group work concludes with peer and self-assessment. The assessment by the teacher is similar to our assessment of Tan’s work as a reader: - How successful is this collection and sequence of images at conveying narrative? - Which visual literacy techniques are apparent here? - Has the student demonstrated understanding of colour, framing, vectors and so on? Although English teachers are accustomed to assessing verbal or written language, in this case students are using the same mode of communication used within The Arrival,assessed on its merits as a narrative. Please download the collage rubric (PDF, 194KB) created for this assignment based on the Year 10 Achievement Standard.

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Freedom’s Story is made possible by a grant from the Wachovia Foundation. Almost every oral tradition in the world has trickster figures, and African American culture is no exception. Tricksters dominate the folk tradition that peoples of African descent developed in the United States, especially those talesthat were influenced by African folk tradition, landscape, and wildlife. By definition, tricksters are animals or characters who, while ostensibly disadvantaged and weak in a contest of wills, power, and/or resources, succeed in getting the best of their larger, more powerful adversaries. Tricksters achieve their objectives through indirection and mask-wearing, through playing upon the gullibility of their opponents. In other words, tricksters succeed by outsmarting or outthinking their opponents. In executing their actions, they give no thought to right or wrong; indeed, they are amoral. Mostly, they are pictured in contest or quest situations, and they must use their wits to get out of trouble or bring about a particular result. For example, in one African American folktale, Brer Rabbit, the quintessential trickster figure in African American folklore, succeeds in getting Brer Fox to rescue him from a well by asserting that the moon reflected in the water at the bottom of the well is really a block of cheese. Brer Fox jumps into the other water bucket, descends into the well, and, in the process, enables Brer Rabbit to rise to freedom. Though trickster tales in African American culture are frequently a source of humor, they also contain serious commentary on the inequities of existence in a country where the promises of democracy were denied to a large portion of the citizenry, a pattern that becomes even clearer in the literary adaptations of trickster figures. As black people who were enslaved gained literacy and began to write about their experiences, they incorporated figures from oral tradition into their written creations. In fact, some scholars have argued that the African American oral tradition is the basis for all written literary production by African Americans. To get a sense of this influence and these interconnections, it is necessary to explore the African American oral tradition. People of African descent who found themselves enslaved in the New World, and specifically on United States soil, were not brought to the West to create poems, plays, short stories, essays, and novels. They were brought for the bodies, their physical labor. Denied access to literacy by law and custom, anything they wanted to retain in the way of cultural creation had to be passed down by word of mouth, or, in terms of crafts, by demonstration and imitation. After long hours of work in cotton and tobacco fields, therefore, blacks would occasionally gather in the evenings for storytelling. Tales they shared during slavery were initially believed to focus almost exclusively on animals. However, as more and more researchers became interested in African American culture after slavery and in the early twentieth century, they discovered a strand of tales that focused on human actors. It is generally believed that enslaved persons did not share with prying researchers the tales containing human characters because the protagonists were primarily tricksters, and the tales showcased actions that allowed those tricksters to get the best of their so-called masters. In some of these instances, as Lawrence W. Levine notes, perhaps the actions of the characters did indeed reflect the actions of those enslaved. Levine makes clear that there was a short distance between trickster tactics in life and those that constituted the tales black folks created. Brer Rabbit as the primary African American trickster may have been an adaptation of the African cunnie rabbit, a small deer, and/or of Anansi, the well-known African spider trickster. Animals that appearfrequently in the tales about Brer Rabbit, such as elephants and lions, are also believed to be African transplants, since these animals are not native to the United States. From these adaptations, The patterns that were set in the oral tradition found their way early into African American literary creations. As early as the 1880s, North Carolina born Charles Waddell Chesnutt realized that he could achieve much as a writer if he imitated the pattern that Harris had set in his Uncle Remus stories. In a series of stories that he finally collected as The Conjure Woman (1899), Chesnutt created Uncle Julius, a raconteur left over from days of slavery, who entertains his white employers with tales of enslavement. These sometimes extranatural tales feature animals and humans who manage frequently to execute trickster tactics and improve their lot. For example, in one tale Julius recounts how an enslaved man is spared being sent from one plantation to another by having his wife, who is a conjure woman, turn him into a tree. The trickery works until a By allowing Uncle Julius to relate heart-wrenching tales of enslavement to a white couple recently located from the North to the South, Chesnutt is able to offer subtle commentary on the harshness of slavery and suggest the need for current-day democratic fairness even as he entertains his audience with the Aesop’s fable quality of the tales. Julius succeeds in convincing Annie, the wife, of the horrors of slavery even if her husband, John, remains skeptically detached from the emotional truths that underlie the magical workings of the stories. In Chesnutt’s hands, therefore, the trickster figure is one who does political and cultural work. Chesnutt’s hope is that his reading audience will respond to the tales in the way that Annie does—by recognizing that blacks were denied basic human rights and that those rights should certainly be restored in the early twentieth century, the time at which Chesnutt’s reading audience is encountering the tales. Contemporary with Chesnutt, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar also incorporated trickster ideas and figures into his works. In “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” for example, he allows a preacher who is delivering a sermon to enslaved persons only through the largesse of the master to adopt the mask-wearing role common to tricksters and deliver a dual message to those enslaved. His audience might rightly interpret his calls for freedom to have present-day relevance—even as he vigorously claims that he is speaking of freedom “in a Bibleistic way.” Overlaying his serious comment with humor, Dunbar makes clear his concern for the plight of black people. In other poems, however, such as “Accountability,” the dominant strand of humorous trickery is more apparent. Both Dunbar and Chesnutt were writing at a time when strictures on black creativity were prominent. Neither dared to indict whites directly for the conditions under which blacks suffered in slavery, during Reconstruction, or in the late nineteenth century. They could, however, imply such responsibility through the development of trickster paradigms. Ralph Ellison represents the epitome of the practice. In Invisible Man (1952), Ellison illustrates characteristics of the trickster in the narrator’s grandfather, who asserts that, in relation to dealing with whites, one should “overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open.”2 The implied militancy shocks the narrator and his family, who have all believed that the grandfather was an acquiescing Uncle Tom. It is much later, when the narrator arrives in New York and is used by the Brotherhood, that he begins to understand trickster mentality as a strategy for survival with dignity (what the grandfather employed) as well as a strategy for political intervention (what he attempts when he “grins” and asserts to the leadership of the Brotherhood that all is well in Harlem. In reality, the community is about to explode.).In terms of twentieth century adaptation of trickster figures in African American literary creation, perhaps In other literary works, trickster strategies border on the con artist tradition when blacks use them against members of their own community. That is essentially what the invisible Willie Harris does to the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun (1959) when he absconds with the remainder of the ten thousand dollars that they have been awarded from the dead Younger patriarch’s insurance policy. Other works that include such trickery applied against other black people include John Oliver Killens’s The Cotillion or One Good Bull is Half the Herd (1971), which is his take on the pretentiousness of debutante balls in black communities, and Langston Hughes’s “Who’s Passing for Who?,” in which black couples try to determine which one is passing for white. This pattern also includes Ellison’s Rinehart, a trickster of many disguises, including preacher and pimp. By contrast, delightfully humorous cross racial executions of trickster tactics in the literature include William Melvin Kelley’s dem (1969), a reference to white people and a novel in which the white male protagonist is duped by the black man who has co-fathered a set of twins with him (one twin is black and the other white). Another example is Ted Shine’s short play Contribution (1969), about a grandmother who shuffles, grins, and, in her role as maid, serves poisoned cornbread to her white Southern employers. Several of Sterling Brown’s poems, especially those involving Slim Greer, also incorporate trickster figures, and these characters appear in a host of other works by African American writers. Toni Morrison adapted the figure for inclusion in her novel Love. Adaptation is the appropriate word here, because the trickster turns out to be the narrator of the novel. A tale of too many women loving the same rich and chauvinistic man, who neglects all of them for an elusive true love, two of the women fight to determine which is Bill Cosey’s true heir. This much-revered Bill Cosey is finally revealed to be so wrong-headed in his relationships that “L,” the text’s narrator, brings about his demise. She does so quietly, effectively, in an effort to prevent Cosey from leaving his fortune to the elusive Celestial.Although the circumstances that made the trickster an obvious model for action during the nineteenth century no longer exist, the appeal of the character remains attractive to African American writers in the twenty-first century. As recently as 2005, “L” shares with Brer Rabbit a desire to level the playing field in the circumstances surrounding her. She also shares his amorality and becomes godlike in her assumption of the right to mete out life and death. And certainly there is a selfishness to what “L,” has done, for the beneficiaries of her largesse are unaware of what she has brought about on their behalf. Her actions also include the unusual dimension of working to achieve an objective more for the benefit of others than for the self. This trait thus makes Morrison’s transformed representation of the trickster paradigm intriguing enough to begin discussion about the extent to which any true trickster pattern holds in twenty-first century African American literature. Guiding Student Discussion A starting point might be to get students to understand the difference between conning and con artists versus tricksters and trickery. Con artists can obviously con others who are their intellectual and social equals or perhaps even their superiors. Consider the scam that Paul Newman and Robert Redford execute in the movie The Sting. Certainly someone gets taken, but that taking is not couched in racial terms or in terms of social inequality. Tricksters, on the other hand, often attempt to level the playing field, to reduce the inequity in social and power situations. Persons of lesser social status, such as African Americans during slavery and immediately following, could work indirectly to bring about whatever measure of equality they could manage. A favored enslaved person might, for example, stroke the master’s ego with a compliment in order to get an additional ration of meat or shot of whiskey. It is also necessary to delineate between mask-wearing and uncle tomming in connection with tricksters and trickery. True tricksters manipulate the mask, as the Invisible Man’s grandfather did. They are in control of that manipulation, and they never forget that their motives and objectives are antithetical to those of the persons against whom their trickery is directed. Uncle Toms, however, do not separate themselves from the mask or from the society of which they are a part. Their objectives are commensurate with those of the prevailing society or power structure within which they exist. During slavery, an Uncle Tom might have offered heartfelt praise to his master, reported to his master on the transgressions of blacks around him, and believed that slavery was generally the correct place on the scale of being for blacks to exist. It is therefore an insult to call someone an Uncle Tom, whereas the tactics of tricksters have historically been applauded. In each case, you might ask your students to consider what the trickster or the Uncle Tom gains through his actions. To whose benefit do those gains accrue? What are the consequences of the gains? What moral issues arise as a result of the trickery? An early short story that your students will certainly enjoy is Charles Waddell Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” (1899) (In The Wife of His Youth and other Stories of the Color Line). In it, a faithful retainer during slavery earns the trust of his master sufficiently to enable him to escape from slavery and to return later and carry several members of his family away with him. By playing to what his master expects of those enslaved and living out those expectations precisely, Grandison is able to carry out a scheme that costs his master thousands upon thousands of dollars. Have your students examine the story carefully to determine what patterns of interaction during slavery have enabled Grandison to succeed at what he attempts. How does he live up to his master’s expectations? What enables him to lay the groundwork to achieve his escape and those of his family members? How is the master complicit in Grandison’s escape? What, in other words, are the master’s shortcomings in his perceptions of what enslaved persons will and will not do? What prevailing notions about slavery may have influenced the master’s attitudes? What, ultimately, does Chesnutt hope to achieve in the late nineteenth century with this tale of escape from slavery in the early nineteenth century? Why is a trickster strategy more effective in his achieving his purpose? A more contemporary short story employing trickster tactics in Alice Walker’s “The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff,” which appeared in In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973). There are two levels of trickster activity in this story about a black woman’s revenge against a white woman. The first appears in the frame story, the one in which Tante Rosie, a conjure woman, tricks people in her community into thinking she has extranatural powers by simply keeping files on all of them. The second occurs in the inner story, about Hannah Kemhuff and how, as a result of white Sarah Holley denying Hannah’s family food during the Great Depression, Hannah’s husband leaves her, her children die of starvation, and she is reduced to a life of prostitution. Tante Rosie “casts a spell” on Sarah Holley on behalf of Hannah Kemhuff, and the woman dies. The story provides wonderful opportunities to explore the amorality inherent in trickster tactics, for, though Mrs. Kemhuff professes to be a devout Christian, she “prays” fervently for the demise of Sarah Holley (Walker even incorporates the curse prayer directly from Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men, a 1935 collection of folklore and conjuration). Pairing Chesnutt and Walker will allow students to engage in discussion along several lines. They might begin by considering how the two stories show changes in literary representations of trickster figures from the late nineteenth century to the last quarter of the twentieth century. What are the differences in portrayal? How do Chesnutt’s objectives align with Walker’s objectives? Indeed, are Walker’s objectives in the story entirely clear? Who benefits from the trickster’s activity in each story? Is one beneficiary more valuable than the other? What about the tone of the stories? Chesnutt deals with the very serious subject of slavery in what could be considered a lighthearted way, while Walker is simultaneously playful and somber. What roles do trickster strategies play in achieving these tones? Do you come away from Walker’s story with as complete a sense of conclusion of the issues as you do with Chesnutt’s story? Why, finally, is it appropriate to place “casts a spell” in quotation marks in discussing Walker’s story and what happens to Sarah Holley? One possible controversy surrounding the trickster is obviously the clash between amorality and the presumed morality practiced by people who ostensibly embraced Christianity, as the majority of African Americans did. How could black people adhere to subversive tactics and not create a morality that was counter to the one in which they professed belief? John W. Roberts, in From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom (1989), does an excellent job of treating this question in relation to Christian blacks who, during slavery, offered wholehearted support to warrior models such as Joshua and, after slavery, offered equally wholehearted support to trickster models such as Railroad Bill. Morris Slater, aka Railroad Bill, reputedly killed a white policeman in Alabama in self-defense in 1893. He then escaped, stole from the railroads, and passed the stolen goods on to needy African Americans who lived along the railroad tracks. African Americans celebrated his trickster exploits and considered him a heroic figure. As Roberts points out at the beginning of his text, “We often use the term ‘hero’ as if it denoted a universally recognized character type, and the concept of ‘heroism’ as if it referred to a generally accepted behavioral category. In reality, figures (both real and mythic) and actions dubbed heroic in one context or by one group of people may be viewed as ordinary or even criminal in another context or by other groups, or even by the same ones at different times.”3 The complexity of responses to real or presumed heroic actions, therefore, makes clear the flexibility in morality that governs such responses. Listeners to and believers in such figures and tales allow a space for approval of the actions of characters within the tales without countering their own ontological beliefs. In a different context, the notion of heroism in trickster tactics is what engages Roger D. Abrahams in his explorations of the toasts (long narrative poems) and stories that black men in Philadelphia used to entertain themselves in the 1960s. Many of the narratives in Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (1970) focus on less than savory characters getting the best of their adversaries through playing the role of the trickster. These include such selections as “The Signifying Monkey” as well as some versions of “Staggolee.” Toasts that focus on pimps and prostitutes also rely occasionally on trickster tactics. Students might consider, therefore, what happens to a character or a literary form that can be both positive and negative and what results obtain in either case. Again, the purposes to which the tactics are put are crucial. Also, how can entertainment (laughter) as an outcome guide the use of trickster dynamics? As scholars have interpreted trickster figures in tales that were circulated during slavery, some have questioned the approach that posits trickster actions having meaning in the real historical world. Were black raconteurs during slavery really trying to reflect the actions of black and whites, or were they simply creating entertaining narratives? Bernard W. Wolfe is one scholar who believes firmly that the actions of animals in African American trickster tales are intended to represent the actions of human beings. In “Uncle Remus & the Malevolent Rabbit,” Wolfe identifies quests for food, interracial sex, and cross-racial social relationship as the primary objectives in the majority of tricksters tales.4 Since these were some of the key things that whites denied to blacks during and after slavery, Wolfe argues that the folktales are a way for blacks to turn the world upside down. If Brer Rabbit is shut out of the larder and smokehouse during slavery, then he will take what he needs to be hale and hearty. Wolfe comments: “The world, in Brer Rabbit’s wary eyes, is a jungle. Life is a battle-unto-the-death for food, sex, power, prestige, a battle without rules. There is only one reality in this life: who is on top?” (530). Similarly, while black males could not compete for the hands of white women, Brer Rabbit is able to trick his competition (ostensibly the white man) into allowing him to use him as a riding horse as he comes up to a porch to court Miss Sophronie. Wolfe reads the Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit escapades as a quest for what he calls a “communal meal,” a symbol that all is well socially between the races in the South. Since such harmony is obviously not the case, then the trickster tactics and violent domination will continue in the guise of fanciful entertainment. Other commentators on tricksters in folklore as well as tricksters in African American literature include Alan Dundes, ed., Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore (1973), Lawrence W. Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (1977), and Daryl Cumber Dance, Shuckin’ and Jivin’: Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans (1978) as well as her From My People: 400 Years of African American Folklore (2002). Henry Louis Gates, Jr. provides an extensive exploration of the trickster’s influence on African American literature in The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (1988); he offers particularly expansive commentary on the works of Zora Neale Hurston. 1Lawrence W. Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought From Slavery to Freedom (New York: Oxford, 1977), 122. Levine draws his information from a variety of sources that he cites in the text. In Kindred, Dana tries to use her intelligence to get Rufus to change his slaveholding ways. 2 Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (New York: Vintage, 1952), 16. 3John W. Roberts, From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989), 1. 4Bernard Wolfe, "Uncle Remus & the Malevolent Rabbit" in Alan Dundes, ed., Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 524-540.

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A heliograph (helios (Greek: ἥλιος), meaning "sun", and graphein (γράφειν), meaning "write") is a wireless telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code) reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a shutter. The heliograph was a simple but effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over long distances during the late 19th and early 20th century. Its main uses were military, survey and forest protection work. Heliographs were standard issue in the British and Australian armies until the 1960s, and were used by the Pakistani army as late as 1975. There were many heliograph types. Most heliographs were variants of the British Army Mance Mark V version (Fig.1). It used a mirror with a small unsilvered spot in the centre. The sender aligned the heliograph to the target by looking at the reflected target in the mirror and moving their head until the target was hidden by the unsilvered spot. Keeping their head still, they then adjusted the aiming rod so its cross wires bisected the target. They then turned up the sighting vane, which covered the cross wires with a diagram of a cross, and aligned the mirror with the tangent and elevation screws so the small shadow that was the reflection of the unsilvered spot hole was on the cross target. This indicated that the sunbeam was pointing at the target. The flashes were produced by a keying mechanism that tilted the mirror up a few degrees at the push of a lever at the back of the instrument. If the sun was in front of the sender, its rays were reflected directly from this mirror to the receiving station. If the sun was behind the sender, the sighting rod was replaced by a second mirror, to capture the sunlight from the main mirror and reflect it to the receiving station. The U. S. Signal Corps heliograph mirror did not tilt. This type produced flashes by a shutter mounted on a second tripod (Fig 4). The heliograph had some great advantages. It allowed long distance communication without a fixed infrastructure, though it could also be linked to make a fixed network extending for hundreds of miles, as in the fort-to-fort network used for the Geronimo campaign. It was very portable, did not require any power source, and was relatively secure since it was invisible to those not near the axis of operation, and the beam was very narrow, spreading only 50 feet per mile of range. However, anyone in the beam with the correct knowledge could intercept signals without being detected. In the Boer War, where both sides used heliographs, tubes were sometimes used to decrease the dispersion of the beam. In some other circumstances, though, a narrow beam made it difficult to stay aligned with a moving target, as when communicating from shore to a moving ship, so the British issued a dispersing lens to broaden the heliograph beam from its natural diameter of 0.5 degrees to 15 degrees. The distance that heliograph signals could be seen depended on the clarity of the sky and the size of the mirrors used. A clear line of sight was required, and since the Earth's surface is curved, the highest convenient points were used. Under ordinary conditions, a flash could be seen 30 miles (48 km) with the naked eye, and much farther with a telescope. The maximum range was considered to be 10 miles for each inch of mirror diameter. Mirrors ranged from 1.5 inches to 12 inches or more. The record distance was established by a detachment of U.S. signal sergeants by the inter-operation of stations on Mount Ellen, Utah, and Mount Uncompahgre, Colorado, 183 miles (295 km) apart on September 17, 1894, with Signal Corps heliographs carrying mirrors only 8 inches square. The German professor Carl Friedrich Gauss of the University of Göttingen developed and used a predecessor of the heliograph (the heliotrope) in 1821. His device directed a controlled beam of sunlight to a distant station to be used as a marker for geodetic survey work, and was suggested as a means of telegraphic communications. This is the first reliably documented heliographic device, despite much speculation about possible ancient incidents of sun-flash signalling, and the documented existence of other forms of ancient optical telegraphy. For example, one author in 1919 chose to "hazard the theory" that the mainland signals Roman emperor Tiberius watched for from Capri were mirror flashes, but admitted "there are no references in ancient writings to the use of signaling by mirrors", and that the documented means of ancient long-range visual telecommunications was by beacon fires and beacon smoke, not mirrors. Similarly, the story that a shield was used as a heliograph at the Battle of Marathon is a modern myth, originating in the 1800s. Herodotus never mentioned any flash. What Herodotus did write was that someone was accused of having arranged to "hold up a shield as a signal". Suspicion grew in the 1900s that the flash theory was implausible. The conclusion after testing the theory was "Nobody flashed a shield at the Battle of Marathon". In a letter dated 3 June 1778, John Norris, High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, England, notes: "Did this day heliograph intelligence from Dr [Benjamin] Franklin in Paris to Wycombe". However, there is little evidence that "heliograph" here is other than a misspelling of "holograph". The term "heliograph" for solar telegraphy did not enter the English language until the 1870s—even the word "telegraphy" was not coined until the 1790s. Henry Christopher Mance (1840–1926), of the British Government Persian Gulf Telegraph Department, developed the first widely accepted heliograph about 1869 while stationed at Karachi, in the Bombay Presidency in British India. Mance was familiar with heliotropes by their use for the Great India Survey. The Mance Heliograph was operated easily by one man, and since it weighed about seven pounds, the operator could readily carry the device and its tripod. The British Army tested the heliograph in India at a range of 35 miles with favorable results. During the Jowaki Afridi expedition sent by the British-Indian government in 1877, the heliograph was first tested in war. The simple and effective instrument that Mance invented was to be an important part of military communications for more than 60 years. The usefulness of heliographs was limited to daytimes with strong sunlight, but they were the most powerful type of visual signalling device known. In pre-radio times heliography was often the only means of communication that could span ranges of as much as 100 miles with a lightweight portable instrument. In the United States military, by mid-1878, Colonel Nelson A. Miles had established a line of heliographs connecting Fort Keogh and Fort Custer, Montana, a distance of 140 miles. In 1886, General Nelson A. Miles set up a network of 27 heliograph stations in Arizona and New Mexico during the hunt for Geronimo.In 1890, Major W. J. Volkmar of the US Army demonstrated in Arizona and New Mexico the possibility of performing communication by heliograph over a heliograph network aggregating 2,000 miles in length. The network of communication begun by General Miles in 1886, and continued by Lieutenant W. A. Glassford, was perfected in 1889 at ranges of 85, 88, 95, and 125 miles over a rugged and broken country, which was the stronghold of the Apache and other hostile Indian tribes. By 1887, heliographs in use included not only the British Mance and Begbie heliographs, but also the American Grugan, Garner and Pursell heliographs. The Grugan and Pursell heliographs used shutters, and the others used movable mirrors operated by a finger key. The Mance, Grugan and Pursell heliographs used two tripods, and the others one. The signals could either be momentary flashes, or momentary obscurations. In 1888, the US Signal Service reviewed all of these devices, as well as the Finley Helio-Telegraph, and finding none completely suitable, developed the US Signal Service heliograph, a two-tripod, shutter-based machine of 13 7/8 lb. total weight, and ordered 100 for a total cost of $4,205. In 1893, the number of heliographs manufactured for the US Signal Service was 133. The heyday of the heliograph was probably the Second Boer War in South Africa, where it was much used by both the British and the Boers. The terrain and climate, as well as the nature of the campaign, made heliography a logical choice. For night communications, the British used some large Aldis lamps, brought inland on railroad cars, and equipped with leaf-type shutters for keying a beam of light into dots and dashes. During the early stages of the war, the British garrisons were besieged in Kimberley, Ladysmith, and Mafeking. With land telegraph lines cut, the only contact with the outside world was via light-beam communication, helio by day, and Aldis lamps at night. In 1909, the use of heliography for forestry protection was introduced in the United States. By 1920 such use was widespread in the US and beginning in Canada, and the heliograph was regarded as "next to the telephone, the most useful communication device that is at present available for forest-protection services". D.P. Godwin of the US Forestry Service invented a very portable (4.5 lb) heliograph of the single-tripod, shutter plus mirror type for forestry use. Immediately prior to the outbreak of World War I, the cavalry regiments of the Russian Imperial Army were still being trained in heliograph communications to augment the efficiency of their scouting and reporting roles. The Red Army during the Russian Civil War made use of a series of heliograph stations to disseminate intelligence efficiently about basmachi rebel movements in Turkestan in 1926. During World War II, South African and Australian forces used the heliograph against German forces in Libya and Egypt in 1941 and 1942. The heliograph remained standard equipment for military signallers in the Australian and British armies until the 1940s, where it was considered a "low probability of intercept" type of communication. The Canadian Army was the last major army to have the heliograph as an issue item. By the time the mirror instruments were retired, they were seldom used for signalling. However, as recently as the 1980s, heliographs were used by Afghan forces during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Signal mirrors are still included in survival kits for emergency signaling to search and rescue aircraft. Most heliographs of the 19th and 20th century were completely manual. The steps of aligning the heliograph on the target, co-aligning the reflected sunbeam with the heliograph, maintaining the sunbeam alignment as the sun moved, transcribing the message into flashes, modulating the sunbeam into those flashes, detecting the flashes at the receiving end, and transcribing the flashes into the message, were all manual steps. One notable exception – many French heliographs used clockwork heliostats to automatically steer out the sun's motion. By 1884, all active units of the "Mangin apparatus" (a dual-mode French military field optical telegraph that could use either lantern or sunlight) were equipped with clockwork heliostats. The Mangin apparatus with heliostat was still in service in 1917. Proposals to automate both the modulation of the sunbeam (by clockwork) and the detection (by electrical selenium photodetectors, or photographic means) date back to at least 1882. In 1961, the US Air Force was working on a space heliograph to signal between satellites In May 2012, "Solar Beacon" robotic mirrors designed at UC Berkeley were mounted on the towers of the Golden Gate bridge, and a web site set up where the public could schedule times for the mirrors to signal with sun-flashes, entering the time and their latitude, longitude and altitude. The solar beacons were later moved to Sather Tower at UC Berkeley. By June 2012, the public could specify a "custom show" of up to 32 "on" or "off" periods of 4 seconds each, permitting the transmission of a few characters of Morse Code. The designer described the Solar Beacon as a "heliostat", not a "heliograph". Erigeron heliographis is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Heliograph Peak fleabane. It is endemic to Arizona, where it occurs only in the Pinaleno Mountains in Graham County.This perennial herb grows a few centimeters tall from a taproot and caudex. The rough-haired leaves are linear or lance-shaped and 1 to 4 centimeters long. The flower head contains 20 to 23 white ray florets 5 to 8 millimeters long.This plant is known from two peaks in the Pinaleno Mountains of Arizona. It occurs at an elevation between 8500 and 10,400 feet, growing in rocky, forested habitat.Forgotten Futures Forgotten Futures is a role-playing game created by Marcus Rowland to allow people to play in settings inspired by Victorian and Edwardian science fiction and fantasy (i.e., steampunk). Most of its releases begin with these stories then add background material to explain the settings (often as alternate worlds, whose history diverges from our own), adventures, and other game material.Gauribidanur Radio Observatory The Gauribidanur Radio Observatory is a radio telescope observatory located at Gauribidanur, near Bengaluru. It is operated jointly by Raman Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The observatory has been in operation since 1976.Harquahala Mountains The Harquahala Mountains (Yavapai: ʼHakhe:la) are the highest mountain range in southwestern Arizona, United States and are located southwest of the towns of Aguila and Wenden. The name originated from the Yavapai 'ʼHakhe:la", which means "running water". The range is oriented from northeast to southwest and is approximately 32 km long and 20 km at its widest point. At the northeast are two prominent peaks, Eagle Eye Peak and Eagle Eye Mountain. One has a natural opening or bridge through it appearing as an eye high up, and is the namesake for the peaks and Aguila (Spanish for eagle). The highest point, Harquahala Peak, rises to 5,681 ft (1,732 m). Socorro Peak, 3270 ft (1,134 m), is at the southwest end of the range. The very windy summit can be reached via a rough, 4-wheel drive road. This high point was used by the U.S. Army in the 1880s as a heliograph station. Then in 1920 a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was constructed on this summit and operated for five years before being relocated to Table Mountain Observatory, near Wrightwood, California. Its purpose was to study variations in the solar output as a possible factor in climate prediction. Designated in 1990, the 22,880-acre (93 km2) the Harquahala Mountain Wilderness lies to the north and east of the summit at 33°49′40″N 113°17′52″W on the Maricopa / La Paz county line. At the southwest end of the mountain range, there are gypsum mines and in the past there were extensive mines for gold and silver.Heliograph (disambiguation) Heliograph is a word derived from helios (Greek Ἥλιος / ἥλιος "sun") and graphein (γραφειν "to write"). It has several uses: the heliograph, a device used for optical signalling a type of sunshine recorder a solar telescope, a telescope especially adapted for viewing the surface of the sun heliography, the photographic process used to make the earliest known permanent photograph from natureHeliography Heliography (in French, héliographie) is the photographic process invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce around 1822, which he used to make the earliest known surviving photograph from nature, View from the Window at Le Gras (1826 or 1827). The process used Bitumen of Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt, as a coating on glass or metal. It hardened in proportion to its exposure to light. When the plate was washed with oil of lavender, only the hardened areas remained. The word has also been used to refer to other phenomena: for description of the sun (cf. geography), for photography in general, for signalling by heliograph (a device less commonly called a heliotrope or helio-telegraph), and for photography of the sun.The abbreviations héliog. or héliogr., found on old reproductions, may stand for the French word héliogravure, and can then refer to any form of photogravure.Henry Christopher Mance Sir Henry Christopher Mance, (6 September 1840 – 21 April 1926) was a British electrical engineer who was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. He was knighted for developing the heliograph.Born in Exeter, he was educated privately. He joined the Persian Gulf Telegraph Department in 1863, and was employed on the laying of the first Persian Gulf submarine communications cable. In 1879, he was appointed electrician to the Department, which position he held throughout his working life. An inventive man, he was responsible for a number of important developments in the field of cable laying, testing and usage. In 1869 he invented the heliograph, a wireless solar telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight using Morse code reflected by a mirror. The flashes were produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror. Frustrated by Government lack of interest, he sent a number of his instruments to Lord Roberts for use during the second Afghan War, where the practical value of the invention was realised. It was subsequently adopted by military services worldwide and was still being used in World War II. He was Vice-President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers from 1892 to 1896 and elected President in 1897. He was also a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Physical Society. He retired in 1885 but continued his interest in Electrical Engineering as Chairman of the Oxford Electric Company and board member of several other electrical companies. Practically blind for the last 10 years of his life, he learned to read Braille. He was created a C.I.E. in 1883 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1885.He died in 1926. He had married Annie Sayer in 1874, and had three sons and two daughters. One son was Brigadier-General Henry Osborne Mance.List of peaks named Signal A signal mountain or signal peak is a mountain suited to sending and receiving visual signals, either from its topographic prominence and isolation or from being located where signal communications are most needed. For example, Tennessee's Signal Mountain was used by Native Americans to send fire and smoke signals across the Tennessee Valley. It was also used by the Union Army as a visual communications station during the American Civil War. Mount Lassic in California has low prominence but is also known as Signal Peak due to the heliograph station that was located on this peak around 1900. And the highest peak in the Pine Valley Range, Utah's Signal Peak, is "supposedly named because of its use in World War II when beacons were placed on the mountain to guide airplanes at night."Marcus Rowland (author) Marcus L. Rowland (born 1953) is an English retired laboratory technician and an important figure in gaming, particularly with regard to games with Victorian era content.Morse Code (horse) Morse Code (foaled 1929) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1938 Cheltenham Gold Cup. His Gold Cup victory was achieved at the expense of Golden Miller, who was attempting to win the race for the sixth time. He had previously won the Grand Annual Chase and went on to finish second when odds-on favourite for the Gold Cup in 1939.Mount Ellen (Utah) Mount Ellen is a mountain located in Garfield County, Utah. The high point of Mount Ellen's North Summit Ridge is the highest point in the Henry Mountains; it is also the highest point in Garfield County. It can be reached by a short hike from an unpaved road. These mountains were the last to be surveyed by the USGS in the lower 48 states. The mountain can be seen from as far as Mount Peale in the La Sal Mountains of eastern Utah. Mount Ellen is an ultra prominent peak, meaning that it has more than 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) of topographic prominence, standing out considerably from nearby mountains. It stands in the watershed of the Fremont River, which together with Muddy Creek forms the Dirty Devil River, which drains into the Colorado River, and ultimately into the Gulf of California in Mexico. The Paiute name for Mount Ellen was Un tar re. It was also referred to as First Mountain. After climbing to the summit in June 1872, Almon Harris Thompson named it for his wife Ellen. Ellen Powell Thompson was also the sister of explorer John Wesley Powell.Over several days beginning on September 10th, 1895 a detachment of the U.S. Army Signal Corps established the world heliograph record from stations atop Mount Ellen, Utah and Mount Uncompahgre, Colorado. The record for visual signalling was established utilizing mirrors 8 inches across and telescopes. The flashing signals communicated over a distance of 183 miles.Nançay Radio Observatory The Nançay Radio Observatory or Nançay Radioastronomy Facility' includes a number of radio telescopes: The Nançay radio telescope the Radio Heliograph, a T-shaped array (1.6 km by 1.25 km) composed of 47 antennas operating between frequencies of 150 and 450 MHz; the Decametric Array composed of 144 spiral antenna operating between wavelengths of 3 m and 30 m; the Radio Frequency Monitoring Antenna, mounted on a tower 22 metres above the ground, and observing at regular intervals each day on two frequency bands between 100 and 500 MHz and between 1 and 4 GHz. the CODALEMA project, dedicated to the study of cosmic rays; an international LOFAR station (named FR606), along with NenuFAR - a LOFAR Super Station with an extended low frequency range, capable of also operating in standalone mode; one of the two experimental EMBRACE (Electronic MultiBeam Radio Astronomy ConcEpt) phased array telescopes, part of the Research and Development program for the Phase 2 of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project.Optical communication Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date back several millennia, while the earliest electrical device created to do so was the photophone, invented in 1880. An optical communication system uses a transmitter, which encodes a message into an optical signal, a channel, which carries the signal to its destination, and a receiver, which reproduces the message from the received optical signal. When electronic equipment is not employed the 'receiver' is a person visually observing and interpreting a signal, which may be either simple (such as the presence of a beacon fire) or complex (such as lights using color codes or flashed in a Morse code sequence). Free-space optical communication has been deployed in space, while terrestrial forms are naturally limited by geography, weather and the availability of light. This article provides a basic introduction to different forms of optical communication.Pinaleño Mountains The Pinaleño Mountains (in Yavapai: Walkame – "pine mountains" or in Western Apache: Dził Nnilchí' Diyiléé - ″pine-burdened mountain″), are a remote mountain range in southeastern Arizona, near Safford (Ichʼįʼ Nahiłtį́į́), Arizona. The mountains have over 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of vertical relief, more than any other range in the state. The mountains are surrounded by the Sonoran-Chihuahuan Desert. Subalpine forests cover the higher elevations. According to The Nature Conservancy, they traverse five ecological communities and contain "the highest diversity of habitats of any mountain range in North America." The highest point is Mount Graham (Western Apache: Dził Nchaa Sí'an - ″Big Seated Mountain″) at 10,720 feet (3,267 m). Locals often refer to the whole mountain range as "Mount Graham", in which case the peak is referred to as "High Peak". The mountains cover 300 square miles (780 km2) and are part of the Coronado National Forest, Safford ranger district. The Pinaleño/Pinal Band (Spanish term: ″Pinery People″, Western Apache: Tiis Ebah Nnee - ″Cottonwoods Gray in the Rocks People″) of the San Carlos Apache (Tsékʼáádn - ″Metate People″), one of the subgroups of the Western Apache people and their kin and close allies, the Hwaalkamvepaya/Walkamepa Band ("Pine Mountains People") of the Guwevkabaya/Kwevkepaya ("Southern People"), one of the three Yavapai regional groupings were either named after the Pinaleño Mountains or the mountains were named after them (both people used this range as primary source for pine nuts, which have long been a staple food for many Native American tribes). The mountains are a Madrean sky island range that is typical of southern Arizona, specifically south-central Arizona, and especially the complete southeastern quadrant of Arizona, from Tucson, and Globe to Nogales, Douglas, and the Chiricahuas. Sky island ranges are mountains isolated by desert valleys. The deserts, as well as differences in elevation, prevent flora and fauna from traveling to or from nearby ecosystems. As a result, the mountain ecosystems are isolated, and distinct sub-species can develop. This is similar to what Charles Darwin discovered with species he collected from different islands in the Galápagos, a discovery that played a major role in his theory of natural selection. The Mount Graham red squirrel is an isolated population of red squirrels and possibly a sub-species as well. Safford and Willcox, Arizona are the nearest towns to the Pinaleños.Solar telescope A solar telescope is a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun. Solar telescopes usually detect light with wavelengths in, or not far outside, the visible spectrum. Obsolete names for Sun telescopes include heliograph and photoheliograph.Sunshine recorder A sunshine recorder is a device that records the amount of sunshine at a given location or region at any time. The results provide information about the weather and climate as well as the temperature of a geographical area. This information is useful in meteorology, science, agriculture, tourism, and other fields. It has also been called a heliograph. There are two basic types of sunshine recorders. One type uses the sun itself as a time-scale for the sunshine readings. The other type uses some form of clock for the time scale. Older recorders required a human observer to interpret the results; recorded results might differ among observers. Modern sunshine recorders use electronics and computers for precise data that do not depend on a human interpreter. Newer recorders can also measure the global and diffuse radiation.Telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of textual messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not. Ancient signalling systems, although sometimes quite extensive and sophisticated as in China, were generally not capable of transmitting arbitrary text messages. Possible messages were fixed and predetermined and such systems are thus not true telegraphs. The earliest true telegraph put into widespread use was the optical telegraph of Claude Chappe, invented in the late eighteenth century. The system was extensively used in France, and European countries controlled by France, during the Napoleonic era. The electric telegraph started to replace the optical telegraph in the mid-nineteenth century. It was first taken up in Britain in the form of the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph, initally used mostly as an aid to railway signalling. This was quickly followed by a different system developed in the United States by Samuel Morse. The electric telegraph was slower to develop in France due to the established optical telegraph system, but an electrical telegraph was put into use with a code compatible with the Chappe optical telegraph. The Morse system was adopted as the international standard in 1865, using a modified Morse code developed in Germany. The heliograph is a telegraph system using reflected sunlight for signalling. It was mainly used in areas where the electrical telegraph had not been established and generally uses the same code. The most extensive heliograph network established was in Arizona and New Mexico during the Apache Wars. The heliograph was standard military equipment as late as World War II. Wireless telegraphy developed in the early twentieth century. Wireless telegraphy became important for maritime use, and was a competitor to electrical telegraphy using submarine telegraph cables in international communications. Telegrams became a popular means of sending messages once telegraph prices had fallen sufficiently. Traffic was became high enough to spur the development of automated systems – teleprinters and punched tape transmission. These systems led to new telegraph codes, starting with the Baudot code. However, telegrams were never able to compete with the letter post on price, and competition from the telephone, which removed their speed advantage, drove the telegraph into decline from 1920 onwards. The few remaining telegraph applications were largely taken over by alternatives on the internet towards the end of the twenty-first century.Warrior Princess Warrior Princess may refer to: "Warrior Princess", the 2014 Mongolian hit film about the life of Queen Anu Xena: Warrior Princess, a 1995-2001 American television series "The Warrior Princess" (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Xena: Warrior Princess (comics) X-wing Rogue Squadron: The Warrior Princess, a 1996 story arc of the X-wing: Rogue Squadron comics series Diana: Warrior Princess, a 2003 roleplaying game by Heliograph Incorporated Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL's Journey to Coming out Transgender, a 2013 memoir of Kristin Beck, a former United States Navy SEAL who came out as a trans woman nickname of English professional kickboxer Ruqsana Begum (born 1983) |Other writing systems| in Morse code

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by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli Writing is used across the day to make thinking visible and deepen understanding of complex concepts. It is a way for students to think, reflect on their learning, and find the best way to organize their thoughts in order to be able to share them effectively with others. When we write we often are trying to incorporate new learning into existing schema. The process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and rewriting gives our students the time they need to accommodate new knowledge, classifying it in a way that will help their brain remember, store, and retrieve it. Authors help their readers do all these things by intentionally choosing the appropriate organizational structures to frame their writing. Writers and readers co-construct knowledge, discovering the writing and reading processes that work for them to create and comprehend informational texts. A Rationale for Informational Writing Across the Curriculum In their book Pathways to the Common Core Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman discuss this process as well as the importance of being able to use it across the day. “…not only will they [writers] need to do all this within a writing workshop, where the focus is on developing skills as writers, but they’ll also have to transfer these skills to the content areas doing this work on the run, quickly, in the service of discipline-based learning. (p. 143). We use informational writing across the curriculum to answer essential questions or offer an explanation, as well as to examine events and processes that affect our lives. Informational writing is much more than creating animal or state reports. In the age of Common Core, our thinking must evolve to include new approaches for delivering information that a target audience wants to read. The Common Core recognizes the need for a writing process, but also challenges writers to look beyond the ordinary and find opportunities for experimenting with new organizational scaffolds. Common Core Writing Anchor 5 states: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (CCSS 2010, 18) Today through the use of the internet we have information at our fingertips. Print is everywhere. But what makes it interesting? What makes a reader want to look further? Writers need to find unique ways of presenting information that will invite participation and transaction with text. Organizational Scaffolds in Informational Writing By introducing different scaffolds throughout a semester or school year, teachers can help students make informed decisions about what organizational global structure (scaffold) would work best for any given piece. Within the informational text students may also make use of many organizational patterns such as problem/solution, cause/effect, compare/contrast, time sequencing, and definition/description. These patterns can change from one paragraph to the next. “The Common Core asks teachers and students to turn informational texts – their own and those written by others – inside out so as to study the designs that undergird the texts, noting the parts and the ways that the different parts have been brought together.” (Calkins et. al, 147). By using a mentor text and engaging in a close read, students can discover how an author puts a text together. It’s like watching a building being raised and seeing the underlying structure that supports the walls, windows, doors, and roof. The organizational scaffold that students can discover will inform their decisions about how they organize their writing in a meaningful, logical way. The Repeated Introductory Phrase “When I was young in the mountains…” is the dependent clause that begins many pages of author Cynthia Rylant’s children’s book, also the title of her well known memoir. After the first read to simply enjoy the wonderful words and images that appear in this text, a reader will notice that this clause only starts a sentence that begins a new vignette. Each slice of life – whether it is about Grandfather returning from a day in the coal mines; dinner and a trip to the outhouse; walking to the swimming hole; or pumping water, heating it, and taking a bath – each tiny story begins with this phrase. Readers can understand that the writer is sending a clear message to expect a new facet of life in Appalachia. Rylant uses a repeated refrain in her book In November. Consider these words: In November, some birds move away and some birds stay. The air is full of good-byes and well-wishes. The birds who are leaving look very serious. We are often too quick to introduce students to a scaffold and have them try it out without first reflecting on the author’s intended purpose. We find students writing their versions of Rylant’s text using the repeated introductory phrase to begin each sentence. Instead, if we spend time examining the text with students, we can help them discover that Rylant only uses the phrase “In November…” to introduce a new idea. The sentences that do not use the phrase provide details. This text helps students understand that it’s not about the number of ideas in a text, but rather how each idea is developed through elaboration – examples, description, explanations, and anecdotes. The repeated introductory phrase is a scaffold that is used by many authors. In Up North at the Cabin, Marsha Wilson Chall strings together a series of vignettes that reveal something about herself through her childhood memories of summers spent on a lake. Up north at the cabin, I am a smart angler. Grandpa tries pink spinners, leeches, and dragonflies – but I know what fish like. I bait my hook with peanut-butter-and-worm sandwiches, then jig my line and wait. Eileen Spinelli moves the reader through an autumn day in I Know It’s Autumn. With each new time period we read, “I know it’s autumn when…” In both Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough and The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins, picture book biographies, the authors use a repeated sentence or variation of it to show the forward thinking of the women – Anne Caroll Moore and Kate Sessions. Unique Constructions Can Be Imitated How to Be by Lisa Brown presents a unique scaffold that can be used at all grade levels across the curriculum. Students will discover that the text is written like an essay or poem of advice. Each sentence begins with a verb that illustrates a unique quality about the subject. A similar scaffold can be found in “Things to Do If You Are a Pencil” by Elaine Magliaro and “Things to Do If You Are the Sun” by Bobbi Katz. These poems can be found in Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems edited by Georgia Heard. Taylor, a first grade student, initially wrote a “How to Be” piece about herself and was able to transfer the use of the scaffold to write about whales in a science unit later that same year. “How to Be Taylor” - Eat ice-cream. - Play with your dolls. - Like to watch Cartoon Network. - Pretend to be able to see animals underwater. - Float on your back. - That’s how to be Taylor! “How to Be a Whale” - Eat krill. - Play, jump, and leap in the water. - Behave like an acrobat. - Communicate with clicks. - Migrate to look for food. - That’s how to be a whale! You can see that Taylor was able to find the right verb to communicate her ideas and understanding about whales. From her writing we can learn what she thinks is important about whales (and about herself). Questions to Focus the Reader All good research uses a central or essential question that peaks the curiosity of the researcher. A question scaffold will help students find out what they want to know about instead of finding the answers to questions their teachers may pose. There are several variations to a question scaffold. Susan Stockdale uses a basic question-answer scaffold around a central theme in her book Nature’s Paintbrush: The Patterns and Colors Around You. Her first question, “Have you ever noticed the patterns and colors on plants and animals?” serves as an introduction for her text. In subsequent pages she asks a related question and provides a concise answer. In Looking Closely Inside the Garden, Frank Serafini uses a series of close-up photographs of nature to help students imagine what they are seeing. His central question, What do you see? Is followed by two possibilities that peak curiosity. Look very closely. What do you see? A stained glass window? A jigsaw puzzle? The final question, What could it be? is followed by the answer and a detailed explanation on the following page. In this example the answer is a monarch butterfly. Steve Jenkins uses the question format in his book Creature Features: 25 Animals Explain Why They Look the Way They Do. This book explores unusual physical animal characteristics. Each question is posed in a letter format and answered in first person prose by the animal: Dear sun bear: Why is your tongue so long? I love to eat ants and termites. With my long tongue, I can reach into their nests and slurp them up. This interesting pairing of photography, art, and informational writing in both Serafini’s and Jenkins’ books provides a new approach that is highly motivating for students who consider themselves artists and appreciate an additional lens to add to their writing endeavors. Like scientists, students can pose questions and observe the world around them to notice something extraordinary. In one fifth grade classroom students were examining books by Sneed B. Collard III in preparation for an author visit. In thinking about the kind of structure Collard uses to deliver information, the students discovered that in many of Collard’s books there is an underlying question that leads to a general observation and focus. For example, in Leaving Home, Collard explores how the young of different animal species leave the parents. Sooner or later, we all leave home. Some of us walk. Some of us crawl. Some of us fly. And some of us swim. The book continues in this manner, and on each page there is a paragraph that gives an example of an animal that behaves in that manner accompanied by a detailed explanation. He uses this same structure in some of his other books such as Teeth, Wings, and Animals Asleep. The students also looked at books by other authors who use this type of structure including Melissa Stewart’s A Place for Birds, A Place for Butterflies, and A Place for Frogs and Dianna Hutts Aston’s A Seed Is Sleepy, An Egg Is Quiet, and A Butterfly Is Patient. The students decided that perhaps they could use these books as mentor texts and create a class book that uses the same structure. As Collard did in Leaving Home, they wanted to explore something that was common to all animals. The subject of food came up, and through discussion they agreed that their research would focus on what and how animals eat. First, they did a lot of reading in books and on the internet. Some had a particular animal in mind, while others were more open in their approach. The students discovered that some animals eat alone, while others eat in groups and that some animals swallow their food, while others chew. They discussed all of their findings in small groups as well as whole group, then each student decided on what page they would write for their class book, All Animals Eat, imitating the structure of Collard’s Leaving Home – a general statement with an example and a paragraph of explanation. One of the fifth grade Common Core State Standards for informational writing asks students to provide a general observation and focus for a topic, develop it with facts and ideas, and provide a conclusion (20). Without realizing it, this fifth grade class was working towards meeting that important standard. Persona Writing: Delivering Information Through Many Voices Sometimes an author chooses to organize an informational text in the many voices of an era – a particular time and place of importance or interest. Persona writing can establish an intimacy with the reader almost immediately. In Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak, Kay Winters offers a collection of poems in the many voices of the Boston colonists that lived during the time of the American Revolution. She did not choose to represent famous people. Instead, her voices represent ordinary people and their various occupations written as first person accounts – the clockmaker, the tavern keeper, the milliner, etc. From her poems we get an inside view of both Loyalist and Patriot perspectives. Winters includes additional information about the various occupations as historical notes at the back of her book. She repeats this structure in other books such as Voices of Ancient Egypt and Voices from the Oregon Trail. Students may notice that often authors will repeat an organizational structure that works well for them. When a writer discovers the best organizational scaffold for a text, he will also know that he has found a way to keep his topic fresh and unique for his readers. Persona writing for informational texts can take many forms. Molly Bang writes in the voice of our sun in her book My Light, and G. Brian Karas writes in the voice of the ocean in Atlantic. Poets such as Douglas Florian and Joyce Sidman use this persona structure, too, to impart information in an interesting way. Students can find ways to use the scaffold in Turn of the Century: Eleven Centuries of Children and Change by Ellen Jackson. In this book Jackson writes in the persona of eleven children from centuries ranging from 1000 A.D. to 2000 A.D. She shows us a day in the life of different children and couples this short narrative with some facts about life during that century. For example, we learn that Alice, a ten-year-old chamber maid living in the year 1400, was not able to read or write. In the list of facts about the year 1400, we learn that girls as well as boys were sent out to work at an early age. Persona writing can be used across the curriculum. Instead of writing the “traditional” president reports, students could imitate the organizational structure from Turn of the Century to write in the voice of the president they are researching. They might choose to write in the president’s voice as a child, a young adult, and as the nation’s president. The list of facts could represent key events that happened in the country or around the world during the time in which the president lived or lives. In science, students could become various plants or animals from the rainforest and describe their place in the ecosystem. The facts could include information about how serious the threat of extinction is for each plant or animal and detailed information about its actual size and location in the world. By studying mentor texts students can gain proficiency and acquire a multitude of organizational scaffolds to help them synthesize information from complex texts and make it their own. The scaffold is like the glue that holds everything together. Scaffolds enable students to think and write about information and use their writing processes and what they know about good writing to convey their ideas to a target audience. The Common Core State Standards brought attention to informational writing. The standards ask students to put forth the same energy and stylistic consideration for composing informational writing as they do for narrative writing. But as teachers, we can’t let standards be the focus of our writing instruction and practices. In his book In the Best Interest of Students, Kelly Gallagher reminds us that in this climate of standards- based instruction, it is important to keep best practice in the foreground of writing instruction. The teaching of writing should never be seen as an activity to be “fit in” around the standards. Writing instruction should be a nonnegotiable, core value in any classroom, and teachers should not have to be concerned with fitting it in. The question, “How do you fit in writing instruction around the new standards?” is the wrong question. The correct question should be, “How do you fit in all of the standards around your writing instruction?” (7) Teaching students about organizational scaffolds can go a long way toward helping students deliver information to their readers in unique and powerful ways. This kind of teaching requires a shift in thinking away from using the five paragraph essay for every informational piece we write. Studying global structures will provide both choice and challenge, two ingredients for effective instruction and meaningful, lasting learning. When we create classroom environments that include high-quality mentor texts and allow students to participate in an inquiry approach, they can discover new ways to organize their writing across the content areas. We know that students become better writers of nonfiction because they try out new things and take responsible risks (try or imitate the writing techniques in mentor texts that they are capable of doing with a little practice and guidance). It is only through risk taking and experimentation that our writers will continue to grow and become better writers tomorrow than they are today (Dorfman and Cappelli, 5). Aston, D. H. (2006). An egg is quiet. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ________________. (2011). A butterfly is patient. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books ________________. (2014). A seed is sleepy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. Bang, M. (2004). My light. New York: Scholastic. Brown, L. (2006). How to be. New York: HarperCollins. Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, L. (2012). Pathways to the common core. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Chall, M. W. (1992). Up north at the cabin. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc. Collard III, S. B. (2001). Wings. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. _______________. (2002). Leaving home. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. _______________. (2004). Animals Asleep. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for _______________. (2008). Teeth. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2009). Nonfiction mentor texts: Teaching information writing through children’s literature, K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Gallagher, K. (2015). In the best interest of students: Staying true to what works in the ELA classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Hopkins, H. J. (2013). The tree lady: The true story of how one tree-loving woman changed a city forever. New York: Simon & Schuster. Jackson, E. (1998). Turn of the century: Eleven centuries of children and change. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. Jenkins, S. (2014). Creature features: 25 animals explain why they look the way they - New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Karas, G. B. (2002). Atlantic. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. Katz, B. (2009). “Things to do If you are the sun.” In Falling down the page: A book of list poems, ed. Georgia Heard. New York: Roaring Book Press. Magliaro, E. (2009). “Things to do if you are a pencil.” In Falling down the page: A book of list poems, ed. Georgia Heard. New York: Roaring Book Press. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) & Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). (2010). Common core state standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: NGA Center and CCSSO. Pinborough, J. (2013). Miss moore thought otherwise: How anne carroll moore created libraries for children. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. Rylant, C. (1993) When I was young in the mountains. New York: Puffin Books. _____________. (2000). In november. New York: Harcourt, Inc. Spinelli, E. (2004). I know it’s autumn. New York: Harper Collins. Stewart, M. (2009). A place for birds. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. _____________. (2010). A place for frogs. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. _____________. (2011). A place for butterflies. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. Stockdale, S. (1999). Nature’s paintbrush: The patterns and colors around you. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Winters, K. (2003). Voices of ancient egypt. Washington, DC: National Geographic. __________.( 2008). Colonial voices: Hear them speak. New York: Penguin. __________. (2014). Voices from the oregon trail. New York: Penguin.

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Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860 By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Discuss the similarities and differences in the lives of slaves and free blacks - Describe the independent culture and customs that slaves developed In addition to cotton, the great commodity of the antebellum South was human chattel. Slavery was the cornerstone of the southern economy. By 1850, about 3.2 million slaves labored in the United States, 1.8 million of whom worked in the cotton fields. Slaves faced arbitrary power abuses from whites; they coped by creating family and community networks. Storytelling, song, and Christianity also provided solace and allowed slaves to develop their own interpretations of their condition. LIFE AS A SLAVE Southern whites frequently relied upon the idea of paternalism—the premise that white slaveholders acted in the best interests of slaves, taking responsibility for their care, feeding, discipline, and even their Christian morality—to justify the existence of slavery. This grossly misrepresented the reality of slavery, which was, by any measure, a dehumanizing, traumatizing, and horrifying human disaster and crime against humanity. Nevertheless, slaves were hardly passive victims of their conditions; they sought and found myriad ways to resist their shackles and develop their own communities and cultures. Slaves often used the notion of paternalism to their advantage, finding opportunities within this system to engage in acts of resistance and win a degree of freedom and autonomy. For example, some slaves played into their masters’ racism by hiding their intelligence and feigning childishness and ignorance. The slaves could then slow down the workday and sabotage the system in small ways by “accidentally” breaking tools, for example; the master, seeing his slaves as unsophisticated and childlike, would believe these incidents were accidents rather than rebellions. Some slaves engaged in more dramatic forms of resistance, such as poisoning their masters slowly. Other slaves reported rebellious slaves to their masters, hoping to gain preferential treatment. Slaves who informed their masters about planned slave rebellions could often expect the slaveholder’s gratitude and, perhaps, more lenient treatment. Such expectations were always tempered by the individual personality and caprice of the master. Slaveholders used both psychological coercion and physical violence to prevent slaves from disobeying their wishes. Often, the most efficient way to discipline slaves was to threaten to sell them. The lash, while the most common form of punishment, was effective but not efficient; whippings sometimes left slaves incapacitated or even dead. Slave masters also used punishment gear like neck braces, balls and chains, leg irons, and paddles with holes to produce blood blisters. Slaves lived in constant terror of both physical violence and separation from family and friends ([link]). Under southern law, slaves could not marry. Nonetheless, some slaveholders allowed marriages to promote the birth of children and to foster harmony on plantations. Some masters even forced certain slaves to form unions, anticipating the birth of more children (and consequently greater profits) from them. Masters sometimes allowed slaves to choose their own partners, but they could also veto a match. Slave couples always faced the prospect of being sold away from each other, and, once they had children, the horrifying reality that their children could be sold and sent away at any time. Browse a collection of first-hand narratives of slaves and former slaves at the National Humanities Center to learn more about the experience of slavery. Slave parents had to show their children the best way to survive under slavery. This meant teaching them to be discreet, submissive, and guarded around whites. Parents also taught their children through the stories they told. Popular stories among slaves included tales of tricksters, sly slaves, or animals like Brer Rabbit, who outwitted their antagonists ([link]). Such stories provided comfort in humor and conveyed the slaves’ sense of the wrongs of slavery. Slaves’ work songs commented on the harshness of their life and often had double meanings—a literal meaning that whites would not find offensive and a deeper meaning for slaves. African beliefs, including ideas about the spiritual world and the importance of African healers, survived in the South as well. Whites who became aware of non-Christian rituals among slaves labeled such practices as witchcraft. Among Africans, however, the rituals and use of various plants by respected slave healers created connections between the African past and the American South while also providing a sense of community and identity for slaves. Other African customs, including traditional naming patterns, the making of baskets, and the cultivation of certain native African plants that had been brought to the New World, also endured. Many slaves embraced Christianity. Their masters emphasized a scriptural message of obedience to whites and a better day awaiting slaves in heaven, but slaves focused on the uplifting message of being freed from bondage. The styles of worship in the Methodist and Baptist churches, which emphasized emotional responses to scripture, attracted slaves to those traditions and inspired some to become preachers. Spiritual songs that referenced the Exodus (the biblical account of the Hebrews’ escape from slavery in Egypt), such as “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” allowed slaves to freely express messages of hope, struggle, and overcoming adversity ([link]). What imagery might the Jordan River suggest to slaves working in the Deep South? What lyrics in this song suggest redemption and a better world ahead? Listen to a rendition of “Roll, Jordan, Roll” from the movie based on Solomon Northup’s memoir and life. THE FREE BLACK POPULATION Complicating the picture of the antebellum South was the existence of a large free black population. In fact, more free blacks lived in the South than in the North; roughly 261,000 lived in slave states, while 226,000 lived in northern states without slavery. Most free blacks did not live in the Lower, or Deep South: the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Instead, the largest number lived in the upper southern states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and later Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. Part of the reason for the large number of free blacks living in slave states were the many instances of manumission—the formal granting of freedom to slaves—that occurred as a result of the Revolution, when many slaveholders put into action the ideal that “all men are created equal” and freed their slaves. The transition in the Upper South to the staple crop of wheat, which did not require large numbers of slaves to produce, also spurred manumissions. Another large group of free blacks in the South had been free residents of Louisiana before the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, while still other free blacks came from Cuba and Haiti. Most free blacks in the South lived in cities, and a majority of free blacks were lighter-skinned women, a reflection of the interracial unions that formed between white men and black women. Everywhere in the United States blackness had come to be associated with slavery, the station at the bottom of the social ladder. Both whites and those with African ancestry tended to delineate varying degrees of lightness in skin color in a social hierarchy. In the slaveholding South, different names described one’s distance from blackness or whiteness: mulattos (those with one black and one white parent), quadroons (those with one black grandparent), and octoroons (those with one black great-grandparent) ([link]). Lighter-skinned blacks often looked down on their darker counterparts, an indication of the ways in which both whites and blacks internalized the racism of the age. Some free blacks in the South owned slaves of their own. Andrew Durnford, for example, was born in New Orleans in 1800, three years before the Louisiana Purchase. His father was white, and his mother was a free black. Durnford became an American citizen after the Louisiana Purchase, rising to prominence as a Louisiana sugar planter and slaveholder. William Ellison, another free black who amassed great wealth and power in the South, was born a slave in 1790 in South Carolina. After buying his freedom and that of his wife and daughter, he proceeded to purchase his own slaves, whom he then put to work manufacturing cotton gins. By the eve of the Civil War, Ellison had become one of the richest and largest slaveholders in the entire state. The phenomenon of free blacks amassing large fortunes within a slave society predicated on racial difference, however, was exceedingly rare. Most free blacks in the South lived under the specter of slavery and faced many obstacles. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, southern states increasingly made manumission of slaves illegal. They also devised laws that divested free blacks of their rights, such as the right to testify against whites in court or the right to seek employment where they pleased. Interestingly, it was in the upper southern states that such laws were the harshest. In Virginia, for example, legislators made efforts to require free blacks to leave the state. In parts of the Deep South, free blacks were able to maintain their rights more easily. The difference in treatment between free blacks in the Deep South and those in the Upper South, historians have surmised, came down to economics. In the Deep South, slavery as an institution was strong and profitable. In the Upper South, the opposite was true. The anxiety of this economic uncertainty manifested in the form of harsh laws that targeted free blacks. Slaves resisted their enslavement in small ways every day, but this resistance did not usually translate into mass uprisings. Slaves understood that the chances of ending slavery through rebellion were slim and would likely result in massive retaliation; many also feared the risk that participating in such actions would pose to themselves and their families. White slaveholders, however, constantly feared uprisings and took drastic steps, including torture and mutilation, whenever they believed that rebellions might be simmering. Gripped by the fear of insurrection, whites often imagined revolts to be in the works even when no uprising actually happened. At least two major slave uprisings did occur in the antebellum South. In 1811, a major rebellion broke out in the sugar parishes of the booming territory of Louisiana. Inspired by the successful overthrow of the white planter class in Haiti, Louisiana slaves took up arms against planters. Perhaps as many five hundred slaves joined the rebellion, led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race slave driver on a sugar plantation owned by Manuel Andry. The revolt began in January 1811 on Andry’s plantation. Deslondes and other slaves attacked the Andry household, where they killed the slave master’s son (although Andry himself escaped). The rebels then began traveling toward New Orleans, armed with weapons gathered at Andry’s plantation. Whites mobilized to stop the rebellion, but not before Deslondes and the other rebelling slaves set fire to three plantations and killed numerous whites. A small white force led by Andry ultimately captured Deslondes, whose body was mutilated and burned following his execution. Other slave rebels were beheaded, and their heads placed on pikes along the Mississippi River. The second rebellion, led by the slave Nat Turner, occurred in 1831 in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner had suffered not only from personal enslavement, but also from the additional trauma of having his wife sold away from him. Bolstered by Christianity, Turner became convinced that like Christ, he should lay down his life to end slavery. Mustering his relatives and friends, he began the rebellion August 22, killing scores of whites in the county. Whites mobilized quickly and within forty-eight hours had brought the rebellion to an end. Shocked by Nat Turner’s Rebellion, Virginia’s state legislature considered ending slavery in the state in order to provide greater security. In the end, legislators decided slavery would remain and that their state would continue to play a key role in the domestic slave trade. As discussed above, after centuries of slave trade with West Africa, Congress banned the further importation of slaves beginning in 1808. The domestic slave trade then expanded rapidly. As the cotton trade grew in size and importance, so did the domestic slave trade; the cultivation of cotton gave new life and importance to slavery, increasing the value of slaves. To meet the South’s fierce demand for labor, American smugglers illegally transferred slaves through Florida and later through Texas. Many more slaves arrived illegally from Cuba; indeed, Cubans relied on the smuggling of slaves to prop up their finances. The largest number of slaves after 1808, however, came from the massive, legal internal slave market in which slave states in the Upper South sold enslaved men, women, and children to states in the Lower South. For slaves, the domestic trade presented the full horrors of slavery as children were ripped from their mothers and fathers and families destroyed, creating heartbreak and alienation. Some slaveholders sought to increase the number of slave children by placing male slaves with fertile female slaves, and slave masters routinely raped their female slaves. The resulting births played an important role in slavery’s expansion in the first half of the nineteenth century, as many slave children were born as a result of rape. One account written by a slave named William J. Anderson captures the horror of sexual exploitation in the antebellum South. Anderson wrote about how a Mississippi slaveholder divested a poor female slave of all wearing apparel, tied her down to stakes, and whipped her with a handsaw until he broke it over her naked body. In process of time he ravished [raped] her person, and became the father of a child by her. Besides, he always kept a colored Miss in the house with him. This is another curse of Slavery—concubinage and illegitimate connections—which is carried on to an alarming extent in the far South. A poor slave man who lives close by his wife, is permitted to visit her but very seldom, and other men, both white and colored, cohabit with her. It is undoubtedly the worst place of incest and bigamy in the world. A white man thinks nothing of putting a colored man out to carry the fore row [front row in field work], and carry on the same sport with the colored man’s wife at the same time. Anderson, a devout Christian, recognized and explains in his narrative that one of the evils of slavery is the way it undermines the family. Anderson was not the only critic of slavery to emphasize this point. Frederick Douglass, a Maryland slave who escaped to the North in 1838, elaborated on this dimension of slavery in his 1845 narrative. He recounted how slave masters had to sell their own children whom they had with slave women to appease the white wives who despised their offspring. The selling of slaves was a major business enterprise in the antebellum South, representing a key part of the economy. White men invested substantial sums in slaves, carefully calculating the annual returns they could expect from a slave as well as the possibility of greater profits through natural increase. The domestic slave trade was highly visible, and like the infamous Middle Passage that brought captive Africans to the Americas, it constituted an equally disruptive and horrifying journey now called the second middle passage. Between 1820 and 1860, white American traders sold a million or more slaves in the domestic slave market. Groups of slaves were transported by ship from places like Virginia, a state that specialized in raising slaves for sale, to New Orleans, where they were sold to planters in the Mississippi Valley. Other slaves made the overland trek from older states like North Carolina to new and booming Deep South states like Alabama. New Orleans had the largest slave market in the United States ([link]). Slaveholders brought their slaves there from the East (Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas) and the West (Tennessee and Kentucky) to be sold for work in the Mississippi Valley. The slave trade benefited whites in the Chesapeake and Carolinas, providing them with extra income: A healthy young male slave in the 1850s could be sold for 30,000 in 2014 dollars), and a planter who could sell ten such slaves collected a windfall. In fact, by the 1850s, the demand for slaves reached an all-time high, and prices therefore doubled. A slave who would have sold for 800 in the 1850s. The high price of slaves in the 1850s and the inability of natural increase to satisfy demands led some southerners to demand the reopening of the international slave trade, a movement that caused a rift between the Upper South and the Lower South. Whites in the Upper South who sold slaves to their counterparts in the Lower South worried that reopening the trade would lower prices and therefore hurt their profits. A slave named John Brown lived in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia before he escaped and moved to England. While there, he dictated his autobiography to someone at the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, who published it in 1855. I really thought my mother would have died of grief at being obliged to leave her two children, her mother, and her relations behind. But it was of no use lamenting, the few things we had were put together that night, and we completed our preparations for being parted for life by kissing one another over and over again, and saying good bye till some of us little ones fell asleep. . . . And here I may as well tell what kind of man our new master was. He was of small stature, and thin, but very strong. He had sandy hair, a very red face, and chewed tobacco. His countenance had a very cruel expression, and his disposition was a match for it. He was, indeed, a very bad man, and used to flog us dreadfully. He would make his slaves work on one meal a day, until quite night, and after supper, set them to burn brush or spin cotton. We worked from four in the morning till twelve before we broke our fast, and from that time till eleven or twelve at night . . . we labored eighteen hours a day. —John Brown, Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Now in England, 1855 What features of the domestic slave trade does Brown’s narrative illuminate? Why do you think he brought his story to an antislavery society? How do you think people responded to this narrative? Read through several narratives at “Born in Slavery,” part of the American Memory collection at the Library of Congress. Do these narratives have anything in common? What differences can you find between them? Slave labor in the antebellum South generated great wealth for plantation owners. Slaves, in contrast, endured daily traumas as the human property of masters. Slaves resisted their condition in a variety of ways, and many found some solace in Christianity and the communities they created in the slave quarters. While some free blacks achieved economic prosperity and even became slaveholders themselves, the vast majority found themselves restricted by the same white-supremacist assumptions upon which the institution of slavery was based. Under the law in the antebellum South, slaves were ________. How did both slaveholders and slaves use the concept of paternalism to their advantage? Southern whites often used paternalism to justify the institution of slavery, arguing that slaves, like children, needed the care, feeding, discipline, and moral and religious education that they could provide. Slaves often used this misguided notion to their advantage: By feigning ignorance and playing into slaveholders’ paternalistic perceptions of them, slaves found opportunities to resist their condition and gain a degree of freedom and autonomy. - the premise that southern white slaveholders acted in the best interests of their slaves - second middle passage - the internal forced migration of slaves to the South and West in the United States

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Theatre of ancient Greece The ancient Greek drama was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and military power during this period, was its center, where it was institutionalised as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honored the god Dionysus. Tragedy (late 500 BC), comedy (490 BC), and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres to emerge there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies. The word τραγῳδία ('tragodia'), from which the word "tragedy" is derived, is a compound of two Greek words: τράγος (tragos) or "goat" and ᾠδή (ode) meaning "song", from ἀείδειν (aeidein), "to sing". This etymology indicates a link with the practices of the ancient Dionysian cults. It is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy. The classical Greek valued the power of spoken word, and it was their main method of communication and storytelling. Bahn and Bahn write, "To Greeks the spoken word was a living thing and infinitely preferable to the dead symbols of a written language." Socrates himself believed that once something has been written down, it lost its ability for change and growth. For these reasons, among many others, oral storytelling flourished in Greece. Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens around the time of 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded actor. Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held in Athens, he was the exarchon, or leader, of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the rural Dionysia. By Thespis' time, the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Because of these, Thespis is often called the "Father of Tragedy"; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as 16th in the chronological order of Greek tragedians; the statesman Solon, for example, is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken performances of Homer's epics by rhapsodes were popular in festivals prior to 534 BC. Thus, Thespis's true contribution to drama is unclear at best, but his name has been given a longer life, in English, as a common term for performer — i.e., a "thespian." The dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the City Dionysia. This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by Cleisthenes). The festival was created roughly around 508 BC. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, we do know the names of three competitors besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus. Each is credited with different innovations in the field. Some is known about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC. He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the golden age such as the Danaids, Phoenician Women and Alcestis. He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject – his Fall of Miletus, produced in 493-2, chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. Herodotus reports that "the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled "The Fall of Miletus" and produced it, the whole theatre fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally and forbade the performance of that play forever." He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers). Until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were unique pieces written in honour of Dionysus and played only once, so that today we primarily have the pieces that were still remembered well enough to have been repeated when the repetition of old tragedies became fashionable (the accidents of survival, as well as the subjective tastes of the Hellenistic librarians later in Greek history, also played a role in what survived from this period). New inventions during the classical period After the Great Destruction of Athens by the Persian Empire in 480 BCE, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became formalized and an even greater part of Athenian culture and civic pride. This century is normally regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The centre-piece of the annual Dionysia, which took place once in winter and once in spring, was a competition between three tragic playwrights at the Theatre of Dionysus. Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic, burlesque version of a mythological subject). Beginning in a first competition in 486 BC each playwright submitted a comedy. Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor (deuteragonist), and that Sophocles introduced the third (tritagonist). Apparently the Greek playwrights never used more than three actors based on what is known about Greek theatre. Tragedy and comedy were viewed as completely separate genres, and no plays ever merged aspects of the two. Satyr plays dealt with the mythological subject matter of the tragedies, but in a purely comedic manner. The power of Athens declined following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War against the Spartans. From that time on, the theatre started performing old tragedies again. Although its theatrical traditions seem to have lost their vitality, Greek theatre continued into the Hellenistic period (the period following Alexander the Great's conquests in the fourth century BCE). However, the primary Hellenistic theatrical form was not tragedy but 'New Comedy', comic episodes about the lives of ordinary citizens. The only extant playwright from the period is Menander. One of New Comedy's most important contributions was its influence on Roman comedy, an influence that can be seen in the surviving works of Plautus and Terence. Characteristics of the buildings The plays had a chorus from 12 to 15 people, who performed the plays in verse accompanied by music, beginning in the morning and lasting until the evening. The performance space was a simple circular space, the orchestra, where the chorus danced and sang. The orchestra, which had an average diameter of 78 feet, was situated on a flattened terrace at the foot of a hill, the slope of which produced a natural theatron, literally "seeing place". Later, the term "theatre" came to be applied to the whole area of theatron, orchestra, and skené. The coryphaeus was the head chorus member who could enter the story as a character able to interact with the characters of a play. The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on stage, as well as the large number of people in the audience, up to fourteen thousand. Mathematics played a large role in the construction of these theatres, as their designers had to be able to create acoustics in them such that the actors' voices could be heard throughout the theatre, including the very top row of seats. The Greek's understanding of acoustics compares very favourably with the current state of the art. The first seats in Greek theatres (other than just sitting on the ground) were wooden, but around 499 BCE the practice of inlaying stone blocks into the side of the hill to create permanent, stable seating became more common. They were called the "prohedria" and reserved for priests and a few most respected citizens. In 465 BCE, the playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall, which hung or stood behind the orchestra, which also served as an area where actors could change their costumes. It was known as the skênê (from which the word "scene" derives). The death of a character was always heard behind the skênê, for it was considered inappropriate to show a killing in view of the audience. Conversely, there are scholarly arguments that death in Greek tragedy was portrayed off stage primarily because of dramatic considerations, and not prudishness or sensitivity of the audience. In 425 BC a stone scene wall, called a paraskenia, became a common supplement to skênê in the theatres. A paraskenia was a long wall with projecting sides, which may have had doorways for entrances and exits. Just behind the paraskenia was the proskenion. The proskenion ("in front of the scene") was beautiful, and was similar to the modern day proscenium. Greek theatres also had tall arched entrances called parodoi or eisodoi, through which actors and chorus members entered and exited the orchestra. By the end of the 5th century BC, around the time of the Peloponnesian War, the skênê, the back wall, was two stories high. The upper story was called the episkenion. Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion. There were several scenic elements commonly used in Greek theatre: - mechane, a crane that gave the impression of a flying actor (thus, deus ex machina) - ekkyklêma, a wheeled platform often used to bring dead characters into view for the audience - pinakes, pictures hung to create scenery - thyromata, more complex pictures built into the second-level scene (3rd level from ground) - phallic props were used for satyr plays, symbolizing fertility in honour of Dionysus. The Ancient Greek term for a mask is prosopon (lit., "face"), and was a significant element in the worship of Dionysus at Athens, likely used in ceremonial rites and celebrations. Most of the evidence comes from only a few vase paintings of the 5th century BC, such as one showing a mask of the god suspended from a tree with decorated robe hanging below it and dancing and the Pronomos vase, which depicts actors preparing for a Satyr play. No physical evidence remains available to us, as the masks were made of organic materials and not considered permanent objects, ultimately being dedicated at the altar of Dionysus after performances. Nevertheless, the mask is known to have been used since the time of Aeschylus and considered to be one of the iconic conventions of classical Greek theatre. Masks were also made for members of the chorus, who play some part in the action and provide a commentary on the events in which they are caught up. Although there are twelve or fifteen members of the tragic chorus they all wear the same mask because they are considered to be representing one character. Illustrations of theatrical masks from 5th century display helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, as well as an integrated wig. These paintings never show actual masks on the actors in performance; they are most often shown being handled by the actors before or after a performance, that liminal space between the audience and the stage, between myth and reality. Effectively, the mask transformed the actor as much as memorization of the text. Therefore, performance in ancient Greece did not distinguish the masked actor from the theatrical character. The mask-makers were called skeuopoios or "maker of the properties," thus suggesting that their role encompassed multiple duties and tasks. The masks were most likely made out of light weight, organic materials like stiffened linen, leather, wood, or cork, with the wig consisting of human or animal hair. Due to the visual restrictions imposed by these masks, it was imperative that the actors hear in order to orient and balance themselves. Thus, it is believed that the ears were covered by substantial amounts of hair and not the helmet-mask itself. The mouth opening was relatively small, preventing the mouth to be seen during performances. Vervain and Wiles posit that this small size discourages the idea that the mask functioned as a megaphone, as originally presented in the 1960s. Greek mask-maker, Thanos Vovolis, suggests that the mask serves as a resonator for the head, thus enhancing vocal acoustics and altering its quality. This leads to increased energy and presence, allowing for the more complete metamorphosis of the actor into his character. In a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, the classical masks were able to create a sense of dread in the audience creating large scale panic, especially since they had intensely exaggerated facial features and expressions. They enabled an actor to appear and reappear in several different roles, thus preventing the audience from identifying the actor to one specific character. Their variations help the audience to distinguish sex, age, and social status, in addition to revealing a change in a particular character's appearance, e.g. Oedipus after blinding himself. Unique masks were also created for specific characters and events in a play, such as The Furies in Aeschylus' Eumenides and Pentheus and Cadmus in Euripides' The Bacchae. Worn by the chorus, the masks created a sense of unity and uniformity, while representing a multi-voiced persona or single organism and simultaneously encouraged interdependency and a heightened sensitivity between each individual of the group. Only 2-3 actors were allowed on the stage at one time, and masks permitted quick transitions from one character to another. There were only male actors, but masks allowed them to play female characters. Other costume details The actors in these plays that had tragic roles wore boots called cothurni that elevated them above the other actors. The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin soled shoe called a sock. For this reason, dramatic art is sometimes alluded to as "Sock and Buskin." Melpomene is the muse of tragedy and is often depicted holding the tragic mask and wearing cothurni. Thalia is the muse of comedy and is similarly associated with the mask of comedy and the comedic "socks". Male actors playing female roles would wear a wooden structure on their chests (posterneda) to imitate the look of breasts and another structure on their stomachs (progastreda) to make them appear softer and more lady like. They would also wear white body stockings under their costumes to make their skin appear fairer. Most costuming detail comes from pottery paintings from that time as costumes and masks were fabricated out of disposable material, so there are little to no remains of any costume from that time. The biggest source of information is the Pronomos Vase where actors are painted at a show's after party. Costuming would give off a sense of character, as in gender, age, social status, and class. For example, characters of higher class would be dressed in nicer clothing, although everyone was dressed fairly nicely. Contrary to popular belief, they did not dress in only rags and sandals, as they wanted to impress. Some examples of Greek theatre costuming include long robes called the chiton that reached the floor for actors playing gods, heroes, and old men. Actors playing Goddesses and women characters that held a lot of power wore purples and golds. Actors playing Queens and Princesses wore long cloaks that dragged on the ground and were decorated with gold stars and other jewels, and warriors were dressed in a variety of armor and wore helmets adorned with plumes. Costumes were supposed to be colourful and obvious to be easily seen by every seat in the audience. - List of ancient Greek playwrights - List of ancient Greek theatres - History of theatre - Representation of women in Athenian tragedy - Ancient Greek comedy - Chorus of the elderly in classical Greek drama - Deus ex machina - Dionysia festivals - Onomastì komodèin - Phlyax play - Satyr play - Thalia (Muse) - Theatre of ancient Rome - Theatre of Dionysus - Theoric fund - List of films based on Greek drama - Merriam-Webster definition of tragedy - Ridgeway (1910), p. 83 - Bahn, Eugene & Margaret L. Bahn (1970). A History of Oral Interpretation. Minneapolis, MN: Burgess Publishing Company. p. 3. - Aristotle, 'Poetics' - Brockett (1999), pp. 16–17 - Herodotus, Histories, 6/21[permanent dead link] - Brockett (1999), p. 17 - Kuritz (1988), p. 21 - Kuritz (1988), p. 24 - Jansen (2000) - Pathmanathan (1965) - Liddell & Scott via Perseus @ UChicago - Vervain & Wiles (2004), p. 255 - Varakis (2004) - Vervain & Wiles (2004), p. 256 - Brooke (1962), p. 76 - Vovolis & Zamboulakis (2007) - Brockett & Ball (2000), p. 70 - Brockett, Oscar G. (1999). History of the Theatre (8th ed.). Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 9780205290260. - Brockett, Oscar G.; Ball, Robert (2000). The Essential Theatre (7th ed.). Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace. - Brooke, Iris (1962). Costume in Greek Classical Drama. London: Methuen. - Jansen, Jan (2000). Lebensqualität im Theater des demokratischen Athen: Kult, Politik und Alte Komödie [Quality of life in the theatre of Democratic Athens: cults, politics and ancient comedy] (PDF) (in German). Munich, Germany: GRIN. ISBN 9783638291873. - Kuritz, Paul (1988). The Making of Theatre History. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 9780135478615. - Pathmanathan, R. Sri (1965). "Death in Greek tragedy". Greece and Rome. 12 (1): 2–14. JSTOR 642398. - Ridgeway, William (1910). Origin of Tragedy with Special Reference to the Greek Tragedians. - Varakis, Angie (2004). "Research on the Ancient Mask". Didaskalia. 6 (1). - Vervain, Chris; Wiles, David (2004). The Masks of Greek Tragedy as Point of Departure for Modern Performance. New Theatre Quarterly. 67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Vovolis, Thanos; Zamboulakis, Giorgos (2007). "The acoustical mask of Greek tragedy". Didaskalia. 7 (1). - Buckham, Philip Wentworth, Theatre of the Greeks, London 1827. - Davidson, J.A., Literature and Literacy in Ancient Greece, Part 1, Phoenix, 16, 1962, pp. 141–56. - Davidson, J.A., Peisistratus and Homer, TAPA, 86, 1955, pp. 1–21. - Easterling, P.E. (editor) (1997). The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-41245-5.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link) - Easterling, Patricia Elizabeth; Hall, Edith (eds.), Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession, Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-65140-9 - Else, Gerald F. - Aristotle's Poetics: The Argument, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1967. - The Origins and Early Forms of Greek Tragedy, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1965. - The Origins of ΤΡΑΓΩΙΔΙΑ, Hermes 85, 1957, pp. 17–46. - Flickinger, Roy Caston, The Greek theater and its drama, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1918 - Foley, Helene, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2001. - Freund, Philip, The Birth of Theatre, London: Peter Owen, 2003. ISBN 0-7206-1170-9 - Haigh, A. E., The Attic Theatre, 1907. - Harsh, Philip Whaley, A handbook of Classical Drama, Stanford University, California, Stanford University Press; London, H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. - Lesky, A. Greek Tragedy, trans. H.A., Frankfurt, London and New York 1965. - Ley, Graham. A Short Introduction to the Ancient Greek Theatre. University of Chicago, Chicago: 2006 - Ley, Graham. Acting Greek Tragedy. University of Exeter Press, Exeter: 2015 - Loscalzo, Donato, Il pubblico a teatro nella Grecia antica, Roma 2008 - McDonald, Marianne, Walton, J. Michael (editors), The Cambridge companion to Greek and Roman theatre, Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-83456-2 - McClure, Laura. Spoken Like a Woman: Speech and Gender in Athenian Drama, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. - Moulton, Richard Green, The ancient classical drama; a study in literary evolution intended for readers in English and in the original, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1890. - Padilla, Mark William (editor), "Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society", Bucknell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X - Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace - Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy , Oxford 1927. - The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, Oxford 1946. - The Dramatic Festivals of Athens, Oxford 1953. - Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin (2008). Greek Tragedy. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4051-2160-6. - Riu, Xavier, Dionysism and Comedy, 1999. review - Ross, Stewart. Greek Theatre. Wayland Press, Hove: 1996 - Rozik, Eli, The roots of theatre: rethinking ritual and other theories of origin, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2002. ISBN 0-87745-817-0 - Schlegel, August Wilhelm, Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature, Geneva 1809. - Sommerstein, Alan H., Greek Drama and Dramatists, Routledge, 2002. - Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, Tragedy and Athenian Religion, Oxford:University Press 2003. - Tsitsiridis, Stavros, "Greek Mime in the Roman Empire (P.Oxy. 413: Charition and Moicheutria", Logeion 1 (2011) 184-232. - Wiles, David. Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2000 - Wiles, David. The Masks of Menander: Sign and Meaning in Greek and Roman Performance, Cambridge, 1991. - Wiles, David. Mask and Performance in Greek Tragedy: from ancient festival to modern experimentation, Cambridge, 1997. - Wise, Jennifer, Dionysus Writes: The Invention of Theatre in Ancient Greece, Ithaca 1998. review - Zimmerman, B., Greek Tragedy: An Introduction, trans. T. Marier, Baltimore 1991. |Wikisource has original works on the topic: Theatre of ancient Greece| |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Greek theatre.| |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greek and Roman theatre masks.| |Library resources about | Theatre of ancient Greece - Ancient Greek theatre history and articles - Drama lesson 1: The ancient Greek theatre - Ancient Greek Theatre - The Ancient Theatre Archive, Greek and Roman theatre architecture – Dr. Thomas G. Hines, Department of Theatre, Whitman College - Greek and Roman theatre glossary - Illustrated Greek Theater – Dr. Janice Siegel, Department of Classics, Hampden–Sydney College, Virginia - Searchable database of monologues for actors from Ancient Greek Theatre - Logeion: A Journal of Ancient Theatre with free access which publishes original scholarly articles including its reception in modern theatre, literature, cinema and the other art forms and media, as well as its relation to the theatre of other periods and geographical regions.

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Recognizing when you get stuck in a negative mindset may be the first step toward changing your thought patterns for the happier. Every child has a dominant learning style, a way that he best absorbs and processes information, explains Kristin Redington Bennett, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C. Some kids may fit obviously into one learning style; others may straddle a few different styles. One of the great perks of homeschooling is that once you identify how your child learns best, you can tailor your lesson plans to your child’s strengths—a strategy that can reduce stress and boost happiness in your homeschool. Kinesthetic Learners (a.k.a. Body Smart learners) Kinesthetic learners need to move to learn. Kids who are kinesthetic learners concentrate better and retain information better when they are moving around. Signs your child may be a kinesthetic learner - You joke that your child has a permanent case of the wiggles because she’s always squirming in her seat, bouncing up and down, crossing and uncrossing her legs, or tapping her feet. - He has a great sense of balance and co- ordination. He’s also good at activities like sports and dance. - She talks with her hands, using lots of gestures and moving around when she’s telling you a story. How to teach your kinesthetic learner - Push back the chair, and encourage your child to stand up or balance on an exercise ball when he’s working. - Take regular 15-minute breaks to toss a ball, build with Legos, or practice your Just Dance routine. - Teach your child to make letter shapes with her body, and let her practice spelling words with movement instead of on paper. Grab the abacus when you’re solving math problems together so she can move the beads as she’s counting. Visual learners (a.k.a. Image Smart learners) Visual learners absorb information best when they can see information, usually in the form of pictures, charts, or diagrams. Signs your child may be a visual learner - He loves doing puzzles and solving mazes. - She’s good at following directions for things like playing a game or putting together Lego structures. - He’s very particular about how his space is arranged. He needs to have everything set out just the way he wants it before he’ll start an art project or a game. How to teach your visual learner - Buy lots of different colored highlighters, markers, and pencils for your child to use for schoolwork. - Encourage him to draw things out, whether it’s a series of pictures for a creative writing assignment or groups of shapes for math problems. - Send her out with a camera to take photographs of different colors, shapes, plants, or other objects. Logical Learners (a.k.a. Number Smart learners) Logical learners are natural mathematicians, but they also use pattern-recognition and mental organization skills to approach other subjects. Signs your child may be a logical learner - He solves math problems in his head faster than he can write them out. - She frequently comes up with ideas for science experiments and enjoys conducting them. - He likes drawing patterns and playing strategy games. How to teach your logical learner - Look for puzzles and computer games to help her reinforce skills like spelling and computation - Start with big picture issues (“What do you think this book is about?” or “Tell me what the solar system is”) before drilling down to details (“Tell me the characters,” or “Name the planets”) - Help your child learn to organize his thoughts using outlines or lists. Auditory Learners (a.k.a. Word Smart learners) Auditory learners have a knack for memorizing things because they tend to think in words. Signs your child may be an auditory learner - He loves rhymes and word play. - She has no trouble repeating back some- thing you told her several days ago and can tell you what’s coming up next in a book you’ve read before. - He’s really good at trivia games. - She frequently comes to you to tell you about what she’s doing when she’s work- ing or playing on her own. How to teach your auditory learner - Encourage her to make up songs with tricky information to make it easier for her to remember. - Focus on the people and stories in subjects like science and history. - Make up stories about math problems to help your child figure out how to solve them. - Read out loud to your child to help her cement information in her memory. Your mission this week: Observe your child, and pay attention to how he absorbs and retains information. Try a few new teaching or play strategies to see how he responds. Part of this post is reprinted from the HSL Toolkit. Mothers are the only workers who never get time off, said Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and that’s doubly true for homeschooling mothers, who cheerfully derail dinner prep to look up a particularly strange beetle in the bug guide and listen to impromptu poetry recitations while they’re in the bathroom. (Maybe that’s just me?) But time off every now and then is essential to maintaining your homeschooling mojo. While your books may be neatly shelved and your plans for the coming year ready to go, your homeschool soul could use a little nurturing. Whether you can spare a whole weekend or just a long afternoon, it’s worth the effort to make time for a homeschool retreat. Retreats may seem like an old-fashioned notion, but the concept of reconnecting with yourself as a person and as a homeschooling parent is practically radical in these days of plugged-in, logged-on, non-stop presence. But homeschoolers are nothing if not radical (in both the original and now-dated modern sense of the word), and a retreat may be an inspiring way to bring fresh energy, insight, and life to your homeschool. There are as many ways to plan a retreat as there are to homeschool, so we’ve put together a few suggestions that might work for your retreat or that might just serve as inspiration for your own retreat ideas. Make your plans If you’re like me, you have a never-ending list of books you’d like to read and lectures you’d like to hear. Whip out that list and start narrowing down the options. Are you starting to freak out about the prospect of putting together transcripts for college? Maybe it’s time to download that mp3 on homeschooling high school. Do you need help with setting a rhythm for your days? A Waldorf book about parenting young children could be a good bet. Try to focus on a mix of practical information—you want to change up your science curriculum or you need help getting inspired to teach writing next year—and strictly inspirational stuff. (We’ve included some great books and lectures below.) And go ahead and throw in all those awesome curriculum catalogs you’ve been hoarding so you can finally flip through them at your leisure. Try to add a mix of media: You won’t want to spend the whole day listening to mp3s or staring at your computer screen. Choose a location If you’re an introvert like me, the thought of a weekend of pure alone time probably seems blissful. But if you’re a social animal, you may get more from your weekend retreat if you invite a friend or two to join you. Either way, try to get away from the everyday—it’s going to be hard to give yourself over to recharging your batteries if you’re staring down a pile of laundry or constantly jumping up to refill someone’s cup of juice. If you can, splurge on a location that inspires you to relax, whether that’s a fancy hotel with room service and plush robes or a cozy cabin surrounded by hiking trails. Even an easy-on-the-budget, no-frills hotel room can make a comfortable setting for your retreat if you bring your electric tea kettle and a few candles. If money’s an issue, consider swapping baby-sitting with another homeschooling mom and set up your retreat in a spot with free wi-fi, like the library or a coffee shop. Whether it’s your first year homeschooling or your fifteenth, you’re your own best inspiration. Start your retreat by making a list of all the things you’ve done right: great trips you’ve taken, fun art or science activities you’ve done, parenting moments where you got it just right. If you’ve been homeschooling, use this time to write down what’s really worked for you in the past, whether it’s starting the morning with yoga, doing narrations with Story of the World, or making Monday your baking day. Not only will making this list of homeschool successes remind you that you’re already doing a great job homeschooling, it will also help guide your choices for the coming year and may remind you of fun stuff that’s worth incorporating in your homeschool plans. Define your homeschool’s mission What’s the purpose of your homeschool? Ideally, you have an answer to that question that sums up your homeschool’s philosophy: “To grow curious, engaged children who believe they can learn anything and do anything if they are willing to do the work” or “Our homeschool teaches our children how to find, evaluate, and use information so that they can achieve whatever goals they set for themselves” are both examples of the kinds of big-picture goals your homeschool might have. Not so much of a mission statement writer? Make a homeschool vision board instead, putting together quotes, images, and other items that represent your ideas of what you want your homeschool to be like in the coming months. Set your goals In addition to setting academic goals for your students, consider setting some goals for yourself. Whether you’d like to be better informed about chemistry before you tackle the subject next year or you’re longing to be less stressed about unfinished assignments, take a few minutes to think about what you’d like to accomplish personally this year. Homeschooling can be an all-consuming activity, and it’s easy to be so absorbed in guiding your kids that you lose track of your own needs and wants. Use this opportunity to focus on yourself and to make a map of where you’d like to be this time next year as a teacher, a parent, and a person. Make a little you-time The purpose of your retreat is to recharge your homeschooling batteries, so build in some time to just relax. Giving your brain free reign inspires new ideas and connections that you don’t get when you’re dealing with the daily grind. You know what gets your creative energy flowing: Maybe it’s a hike up a waterfall, a session with a massage therapist, or an hour of uninterrupted knitting. Treat yourself to your favorite leisure activity, and you’ll be surprised by how it improves your mental clarity. Write your bad day mantra Bad days happen, and when you’re doing double duty as teacher and parent, it’s easy to take them personally. Right now, while you’re feeling energized and excited about the coming year, write a message to yourself to read when you’re having a bad day. Think about the words you need to hear when a math lesson ends in tears or you snap at your toddler for making a mess of the science center, and write them down in your best handwriting. Keep this message to yourself close, and pull it out when you need to as a much-needed reminder that you’re doing the right thing even when things don’t go just right. Ideally, you should leave your retreat with a clear vision of what you want the coming year to look like (and the confidence to change your mind about that vision any time), a handful of new ideas, and a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the homeschooling fun ahead. But even if you just come away with some good questions, you can consider a retreat time well spent. Tips for making your homeschool retreat a success: - Make a schedule to keep focused - Turn off your phone, log out of Facebook, and don’t check your email - Set aside time for just relaxing as well as time for being productive. Food for Thought - Susan Wise Bauer: Homeschooling the Real (Distractable, Impatient, Argumentative, Unenthusiastic, Non-Book-Loving, Inattentive, Poky, Vague) Child - The Homeschool Scholar: A Homeschool Parents Guide to Grades, Credits and Transcripts - Pam Sorooshian: Unschooling and Math - Donna Simmons: Talking Pictorially and Living Actively with your Young Child - Rafe Esquith: Lighting Their Fires: How Parents and Teachers Can Raise Extraordinary Kids in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World - James W. Loewen: Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid The Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History - Sharifa Oppenheimer: Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children - David Mulroy: The War Against Grammar - Lori Pickert: Project-Based Homeschooling - Grace Llewellyn: The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education Your challenge this week: Figure out a game plan for your homeschool retreat, and write an official retreat date on your calendar. There are volumes of scientific research on how to increase your happiness, but one little thing can have a surprisingly positive impact on your life’s everyday joy factor: going out to eat. And—bonus!—that little joy booster also makes a great homeschool project. Here’s one way it might work: Spend a little time researching international cuisine options in your part of the world. (You may be surprised to discover there are more of them than you thought!) Sit down with your kids and start a list of places you’d like to check out, then hit the library to find books set in the countries whose food you’ll be exploring. (For instance, you might read Anila’s Journey in the weeks leading up to a meal at an Indian restaurant, or check out What Elephants Know to get ready for a Nepalese feast.) At the restaurant, be brave and order a variety of dishes—ask your waiter for recommendations, and encourage everyone to try a little of everything. Follow up your dinner out with another trip to the library—this time to the cookbooks section, where you can check out a book to help you recreate some of your favorite flavors from your dinner out back at home. This combo gives you maximum joy: You get the fun of going out to dinner, plus the pleasure of anticipation and the opportunity to savor it when it’s over. Your challenge this week: Do a little recon to find a restaurant near you that will allow you to sample an unfamiliar cuisine, and start getting everyone excited about planning a lunch or dinner excursion by finding a great readaloud set in the cuisine’s country. You know how your children can get totally absorbed in what they’re doing so that the hours pass like minutes? Whether it’s making complex Lego creations or writing fan fiction or putting together cosplay ensembles or drawing pictures, they’re purely—and happily absorbed—in their work. You can borrow a little of that happiness-boosting power for yourself by remembering the obsessive activities of your own childhood. Did you spend hours writing stories? Or exploring the woods? Or taking photographs? It’s probably not hard to think of the things that fueled your passions during childhood—you know, the things that you put aside for a sensible, career-focused college major or the more practical work of adulthood? So often, we lose track of the things we really love because the rest of life gets in the way, but going back to those joyful basics can be a key to opening up a happier now. Take some time this week to think about what you really loved as a kid, whether it was designing fabulous fashion doll outfits, or reading every mythology book on your library’s shelves, or stargazing at night—focus on the thing that you could do for hours without even noticing the time passing, and start looking for ways to get that back in your life. My friend Liz loved photography and reignited her passion by committing to posting one photo on Instagram every day for a year. If you loved writing, start a blog or write down the bedtime stories your kids are always asking you to make up. If you loved fashion, take a sewing class or learn how to knit. If you loved building, buy your own set of Legos. Don’t worry about how these things will translate into anything else—avoid worrying about what’s useful or practical or a priority in your homeschool life, and just concentrate on how to do what you really love a couple of times a week. Chances are, your newfound passion will inspire your homeschool in ways you couldn’t have imagined, but whether it affects your homeschool or not, it will boost your personal happiness to make something you love part of your life. And trust me, a happier you means a happier homeschool for all. Your challenge this week: Revisit your childhood to explore the things you loved to do as a kid. You may know instantly, or you may need to spend some time thumbing through old pictures and journals to remember what inspired your childhood. Once you’ve identified a childhood passion, look for ways to add it to your weekly routine—ideally, you’ll find an hour once or twice a week to focus entirely on your passion project as well as small ways to add it to your daily routine. One of the biggest indicators of professional happiness may be how important your position really is, according to the Harvard Business Review. Lynchpin employees—employees whose work is essential to their organization’s success—felt their work was more meaningful, felt more committed to their work, and were less likely to experience burnout than their peers in less essential jobs. Even with the downsides that come with being essential—a heavy workload and tough decision making—lynchpin employees are just plain happier. So what does this have to do with homeschooling? Well, homeschool parents are lynchpins, though we often fail to recognize that fact. Not convinced? Here are three criteria for determining whether your work is “lynchpin work:” - The work produced by lynchpin workers is essential to the organizational mission. (Whatever your reasons for homeschooling, you became a lynchpin worker the minute you opted into homeschooling.) - Lynchpin workers cannot be replaced or substituted easily. (Any homeschool mom who’s ever tried to take a day off can attest to how hard it can be to find someone else to cover your homeschool to-do list.) - The work of an organization would pretty much cease immediately if a lynchpin worker stops working. (Even classes that you outsource might slow down or stop if you weren’t around to run car service and homework support.) I think most of us would have a hard time trying to argue that we don’t fit that criteria—so why is it so hard for homeschool parents to recognize how important we really are? It’s so much easier to hone in on the things we’re not doing well, the places where we miss the mark, our weaknesses, than to accept our basic essential-ness. And the more we fail to acknowledge how important we really are, the more we miss out on a major opportunity to be really happy in our homeschool lives. Your challenge this week: Don’t be modest! Grab a journal, and jot down a list of all the things you do for your homeschool that no one else could do. Read through it slowly, pausing to remind yourself “yes, I do this, and it matters” for every item on your list. Who knew that blue skies could actually make you happier? People who spent time exposed to the color blue reported higher confidence, reduced stress, and greater overall happiness than those who didn’t soak up the blues in a University of Sussex study. It’s not clear why blue hues are such a mood booster for people—some researchers have theorized that it harks back to humanity’s early days when evening meant food, rest, and a little peace—but it’s clear that the literal blues can be a good way to shake off the figurative blues. A sky-gazing project is the perfect way to incorporate a little everyday blue time into your homeschool routine this summer: Keep a cloud chart to record the different kinds of clouds or sky colors you see each day, do sky square paintings, knit a sky scarf, make a point of tracking the cycles of the moon, or just look for interesting cloud shapes while you’re nature journaling. Choose a simple activity that will be easy to do whatever else you have going on this summer, and embrace the happiness-boosting power of the color blue. Your challenge this week: Choose a way to incorporate some sky-gazing into your daily routine. I love Facebook as much as the next mom—my friend Stephanie’s feed makes me smile pretty much every time I look at it—but if you’re feeling burned out, incompetent, or unhappy in your homeschool life, logging off social media may be just what you need. The sunny selfies and highlights reels of other people’s lives can make us feel worse about own lives, especially when we’re in a bumpy patch. According to a study in the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, spending just one hour on social media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter correlates to lower life satisfaction. It’s not hard to see why: When your kitchen’s a mess, your kid has spent a whole year studying multiplication without managing to learn a single fact, and you’re just plain exhausted, those beautifully staged pictures of clean and happy children reading in clean and sun-drenched rooms can make you feel like a complete failure. The solution: Take a social media break. Sure, it’s hard to cut the connection when you’ve gotten into the habit of logging on every day, so start by checking in once a day and giving yourself a time limit—say, 20 minutes. Spend that 20 minutes catching up with people you care about, leaving a quick comment instead of just clicking “like,” and speed scrolling through your feed. Gradually reduce the time you’re spending on social media until you’re on a full social media break—ideally, one that lasts at least three weeks. As you detox from social media, focus on finding joy in the moments of your everyday life without the pressure to capture them on camera or with the perfect quippy caption. Be in the moment with yourself and with your kids. After your social media break, ease back into online life with the knowledge that you’ve gained. Most of us aren’t going to want to cut the cord completely, and that’s fine—but maybe there are people whose posts we probably shouldn’t follow so closely or limits it makes sense to make on how much we’re consuming other people’s lives. The idea is to make social media something that boosts your happiness—that connects you meaningfully to the people and things you care about—and not something that makes you feel less than. Your mission this week: Pay attention to how much time you spend on social media and how it makes you feel to be on different sites—and how you feel afterward. (It may help to keep a log—most of us spend more time on social media than we realize.) Set a specific goal to spend less time on social media in the next week—you might want to limit the number of visits or give yourself a time limit. Be sure to set a goal you can live with—there’s no “right amount” of social media consumption, just an amount that’s right for you. What’s the purpose of your homeschool? Believe it or not, figuring out the answer to that question can make your homeschool a happier place. Research suggests that people who set goals are happier than people who don’t—and really happy people set big, overarching goals as well as smaller, measurable, day-to day goals. This summer is the perfect time to focus in on your goals for your homeschool or to revisit the goals that you imagined back when you first started homeschooling to make sure they still reflect the homeschool you want to build. If you’re not sure where to start, think about what you want your homeschool to accomplish: Do you want to cultivate a spirit of curiosity and engagement and raise children who believe they can learn or do anything they’re willing to put hard work into? Or teach your children how to find, use, and evaluate information so that they can achieve the goals they set for themselves? Imagine that you’ve successfully homeschooled your children through high school: What kind of education have they had? How do they feel about learning? What are they ready to do now? If you’re having trouble articulating your mission statement, make a homeschool vision board instead, putting together quotes, images, and other items that represent your ideas of what you want your homeschool to be like in the coming months. It’s possible that your mission statement might change over time (which is why it can be helpful to revisit it regularly), but having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish gives you something to strive toward—which boosts your everyday happiness quotient. But don’t stop with the big picture. Working toward smaller, measurable goals reduces negativity and frustration, so come up with a few goals you want to tackle in the coming year. Your goals may be for you—don’t jump in and rescue projects at the last minute, spend more time outside—or for your student—really catch up in math, write a research paper—but whatever they are, they should be simple, direct goals that you can easily measure your progress toward. The simpler and clearer your goals are, the stronger their happiness-increasing power. Your mission this week: Block out some time to think about your homeschool’s immediate and long-term goals. Write your homeschool mission statement, and come up with a short list of specific, measurable goals for the coming year. Even if you’re a year-round homeschooler, late spring marks the end of lots of regular activities and is a great time to throw an end-of-the-year celebration for your homeschool. Celebrating milestones like the end of the school year can be an important part of keeping joy alive in your homeschool, so pause to appreciate that you’ve made it through the year together. Here are a few of our favorite ways to mark the end of the academic year: Make a time capsule. Add a few items that sum up the year: a favorite book, a CD with your in-regular-rotation tunes on it, pictures of fun science or history projects, and a favorite artwork or two. Ask your student to write a letter about her year, and add a letter of your own highlighting some of your favorite memories from the year. (Not that you have to think this far ahead, but you could open these boxes together to celebrate your student’s last day of high school.) Take a camping trip. Unplug literally by heading to the nearest campground and spending the night in the great outdoors. (If you’ve never camped before, many state parks have special newbie camper programs that set you up with gear and on-site assistance. Finishing up your last official readaloud by the campfire and toasting your year’s highlights while star-gazing is definitely a memorable way to celebrate finishing another grade. Have an end-of-the-year scavenger hunt. Bonus points if you can tie some of your clues to the year’s highlights: Find a plant mentioned in a Robert Frost poem, find a substance with a pH level of 7.0 or higher, find a historical marker that refers to the Civil War, etc. Do a little advance planning to choose your site and clues. Make the world a better place. Helping others can be a great way to celebrate—consider spending your last month of school collected canned goods for a food kitchen or dog food for an animal shelter and making your donation together on your last day of school. If you’re taking a summer break, consider signing up for a recurring volunteer opportunity during the summer—for example, kids can ride along on Meals on Wheels deliveries or participate with you in park clean-up days. Freshen up your homeschool space. By the end of the year, half the pencils are stubby, the bookshelves are sloppy, and everything’s just kind of a mess. Celebrate the end of the year by making your space beautiful again: Clean it from top to bottom, consider brushing on a fresh coat of paint, and update chair cushions or throw pillows to make everything feel new and shiny again. Host a lawn games party. Break out the classics: badminton, croquet, cornhole, water balloons, and bocce ball, and spend the day competing in old-fashioned outdoor games. If you want, keep score and award paper medals to the people who do the best in each category. A day like this is a fun way to officially welcome summer to your homeschool. Go out for afternoon tea. Something about a classic high tea feels so special, which is what makes it such a lovely way to celebrate the end of another year. Check high-end hotels and tea rooms in your area to find a place that serves high tea, make reservations, and wear your fancy best to nibble and sip your way through the afternoon. Have a pajama party. Spending the day in your pajamas is the epitome of homeschool life, right? Cozy up in your PJs with a movie marathon (rent the Harry Potter flicks or all the Studio Ghibli films), eat pancakes or waffles for dinner, and enjoy your well-earned day of rest. Your mission this week: Plan an end-of-the-academic-year celebration with your homeschoolers. Here’s something you might not know: When it comes to your homeschool life, dealing with big problems is much easier than dealing with smaller ones. The truth is that little irritations—a particularly stubborn attitude toward a math lesson or a kid who totally slacks on his history work—can take a bigger toll on our happiness than big crises. That’s because big challenges encourage us to rise to the occasion and often come with built-in social support—your kid gets diagnosed with dyslexia or needs surgery? You’ve got this, and your community rallies around you. Dealing with a kid who refuses to work on his handwriting or who always grumbles his way through math? You’re going in with less patience and likely to garner less sympathy from people when you try to discuss it. So how do you deal? Acknowledge that little frustrations take a big toll and figure out coping mechanisms to help you deal with them as they pop up. Think about the things that tend to irritate you in your homeschool life—and don’t be embarrassed if they’re small things that you know you shouldn’t really let yourself be annoyed by. Part of the reason small things can grate so sharply is that we try to convince ourselves we shouldn’t be affected by them. Make a short list of small gripes—when your kid interrupts your readaloud so many times that you read the same sentence over and over or your child’s dramatic sighs that accompany every writing assignment, for instance—and come up with a mantra or action to combat them. Maybe you tell yourself: “I’m lucky to have a curious kid, so I’m going to close this book right now and let him follow some rabbit trails” or you’ll head to the kitchen to start lunch prep when you give your writing-averse student a writing assignment. You know better than anyone what is likely to defuse your frustration, so take the time to think it through. And when you’ve got your plan, write it down—research suggests that writing things down is one of the most effective ways to make a change in your habits.

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Lower School Curriculum Overview: Grades One Through Five We strive to create a learning environment that is joyful, engaging, challenging, and multi-faceted. It is a place where students grow in confidence and independence within a broad program where they feel safe to take intellectual risks and grow. With basic academic skills built upon responsibility, creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning, we endeavor to teach the “whole” child. Co-curricular teachers tap into the various interests and talents of the students as they work closely with the homeroom teacher to meet the needs of the class and grade. Being a part of a community of learners where students work together and respect differences is a critical element to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade experiences. - Fine and Performing Arts - Global Languages - Physical Education - Social Studies - Speaking and Listening - Study Skills Art: First and Second Grades Artistic expression and art fundamentals are critical aspects of the first and second grade art curricula. At these stages, students are exposed to techniques, specifics artists, and great works of art, as well as key elements of art including: line, shape, form, space, texture, value, and color. Students often study important works of art and then practice the techniques unique to creating a similar piece of art. Key aspects of the experience include: developing a sense of aesthetic judgment and color theory, understanding how visual arts relate to history and culture, and showing appreciation of the creative works of self and others. SMART Board and iPad technology are used in the classroom to enrich understandings and to offer a unique form of multi-media art-based experiences. Art: Third Grade Critiquing each other’s work, investigating the full range of mediums, understanding the relationship between culture and art as well as exploring color theory and aesthetic education, are combined to create a vibrant studio art program. This class meets twice a week in the art studio. Through these experiences and with two and three-dimensional work displayed throughout the school, students come to appreciate each other’s work and enjoy the creative process and how it connects to other disciplines in their school and to world cultures. Art: Fourth Grade Through art history and self-expression, students will create works using a variety of mediums. In particular, at this grade, level students will learn about the Elements of Color and be able to communicate their ideas using them; understand the visual arts in relation to history and culture; reflect upon and critique the merits of their own work and the work of others; and make connections between the visual arts and other disciplines. Art meets twice a week in the art studio. Art: Fifth Grade This is a studio art course in which art history provides an introduction to each art project, and an inspiration for the students. Drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture, as well as mixed media, are central to each student’s experience. While art history and the exposure to various mediums of expression are at the center of the students’ work; art theories regarding color and design are also integrated into their projects. Student artwork is continually displayed throughout the school. The annual All School Student Art Show at Stony Brook University and the Young Illustrators Challenge, in which student art work from around the region is judged, are two centerpieces for our year as well. Students have one block period for art and one class period each week. Music: First and Second Grades Students attend music class twice a week and participate in both our choral and instrumental programs. Chorus is an important aspect of our music curriculum, as it fosters a sense of community, responsibility, and teamwork. Students perform in the winter and spring concert each year and develop skills such as following a conductor, pitch-matching, and concert etiquette. First and second grade students also participate in our recorder program. It is designed to challenge and stimulate a developing sense of multitasking and coordination skills. Through a differentiated approach, each student progresses through the program at his or her own rate, allowing for an individualized experience tailored to each student. Music: Third Grade Music class centers on music theory, music history, vocal skills and instrument skills. By listening to music, singing, playing an instrument, reading music and learning about the history and culture of music, students build an appreciation, if not, a passion for this area of study. There are two major performances each year and music class meets twice a week in the music room. Music: Fourth Grade Music class centers on music history, music theory and performance. By listening to music, singing, playing an instrument, reading music and learning about the history of music student build an appreciation, if not, a passion for this area of study. Reading notes on the treble clef, identifying notes above and below the music staff, rhythms, time signature are included in the fourth grade curriculum. Students have two major performances every year and each will start (or continue with) a band instrument. Music meets twice a week in the music room. Music: Fifth Grade Music class centers on music history, music theory and performance. By listening to music, singing, playing an instrument, reading music and learning about the history of music student build an appreciation, if not, a passion for this area of study. Reading notes on the treble clef, identifying notes above and below the music staff, rhythms, time signature are included in the fifth grade curriculum. Students have two major performances every year and each will start (or continue with) a band instrument. Music meets twice a week in the music room. First Grade Through Fifth Grade At the end of the lower school years, students should have familiarity with basic vocabulary and rudimentary styles of conversation. In order to encourage global citizenship, special attention is paid to culturally authentic materials and activities such as: art crafts, foods, greetings, etiquette and customs of the countries studied. First Grade through Fifth Grade This is a multi-faceted class where students broaden their background and exposure to a range of types of literature, library resources and technology while becoming more independent in how to negotiate the resources in the library. Students read independently, take out books for outside reading, are read to, and learn about how best to use the atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus. Students listen to various stories, authors and genres, learn about multiple print resources, and understand and use the Internet catalog system as they take books out on a regular basis. Students visit the library for their regular library period, and visits to the library happen throughout the year as needed for research. In first grade, students reinforce the skills learned in kindergarten but also begin working with fractions, place value, and data interpretation. By second grade, students review all that has come before in grade one and then move into certain areas more deeply. They study place value, addition, subtraction, and begin multiplication and division. Problem solving is a major focus in every unit. Confidence in mathematics grows as each concept is introduced, understood, practiced, and mastered. In third grade students solidify their knowledge of number facts, numerals through 100,000, place value and money. Basic number operations of addition and subtraction with re-grouping and understanding multiplication and division concepts are also major elements in third grade. Reading is fundamental here as well with word problems incorporated into the class. The fourth grade mathematics program’s goals focus on understanding the theory behind the numbers, computation skills and, most importantly, having students build confidence and an interest in learning math. Whole number operations, place value, fractions, decimals, geometry, data analysis, measurement, probability, time, measurement and problem solving are part of the fourth grade curriculum. We also focus on problem solving and using math vocabulary to explain the meaning behind the math computation. Harbor fifth graders learn to reason mathematically and use mathematics to solve problems in authentic contexts. Students learn about numeration, operations, patterns and functions, geometry, measurement and data through exploratory activities. Supplemental materials are used to extend and enrich student experiences and ideas. Lessons, assignments, and homework are differentiated in order to meet the needs of each student. Teaching is responsive to the individuals and is consistently monitored to make sure the level of enrichment and reinforcement is appropriate. First Grade through Fifth GradeLower school students participate in Physical Education (PE) in our gymnasium or on the athletic fields, depending on the weather. We build a physical education program as a life skill class where responsible behavior, good health, teamwork and knowledge of and exposure to athletic games and physical movement all play a role. Competency in motor skills, using a wide range of age-appropriate athletic equipment, physical fitness, cooperation in team play, nutrition and competition are a part of the curriculum. First graders are developing the skills needed to improve independent reading and are beginning to read to learn. As decoding gives way to fluency, a first grader’s reading comprehension improves. Focusing on high frequency words helps improve fluency. The first grader begins to fall in love with characters in stories, becomes familiar with folktales, and use illustrations to support comprehension. First graders begin developing understandings of letter patterns known as blends and diagraphs. Nuances of word patterns, such as the concepts of plurals, contractions, compound words, and synonyms/antonyms, greatly expand reading skills. In writing, students learn to add details to stories, to write sentences, and to vary their sentence structure. They practice writing stories with a beginning, middle, and ending. Second Grade is a time where reading fundamentals are becoming established and students are now reading to learn new things or to make connections to what they already know. By second grade, non-fiction reading becomes more important as students do more research and learn to organize their ideas. In writing, emphasis is placed on writing descriptive sentences, compare/contrast, writing “how-to’s” and relying on themes as a backdrop for writing. Writing is often based on content related to cultures. Students are also trying their hand at scientific writing such as with making predictions. The Teachers' College Reading & Writing Project is used at this grade level to support biographical writing, informational writing and research papers. Students in third grade have a wide range of interests in the types of books they read and in the level at which they read. Our goal in third grade is to create an environment throughout the day and year, where students build on their love for words, books and reading. Exposing them to a range of genres provides the right context for this to happen with fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This is an exciting time in their lives as they turn from solidifying reading skills – depending on the reading level of each child – to using reading to learn about the world around them. The third grade teacher takes the time to learn about, through a variety of means, what authors and literature will continue to ignite a child’s love for reading. Decoding, using context clues to improve comprehension, understanding the structure of a story including details about the characters, setting and plot, predicting, summarizing and, importantly, making personal connections to the reading are all skills developed at this level. Students also develop fluency through guided practice and repeated readings with appropriate expression and phrasing. Engaging our students in regular repeated readings will improve their word recognition, reading rate, comprehension, and overall reading proficiency. Reading is one of the keys to success in school and life. The homeroom teacher focuses on the reading level of each student to build a reading program that will challenge them appropriately and excite them to become life-long readers. We use a variety of means to learn what kinds of books will interest each child and at what level is just right. Through both conversation and the choices students make in their free reading to regular assessments around fluency, expression and comprehension will help us fine-tune the kinds of literature that will stretch each child’s mind. Students are exposed to fiction, non-fiction and poetry and a range of genres and authors. In addition, we teach the basic academic skills about character, setting and plot. Improving comprehension, learning how to summarize, inferring meaning, decoding unfamiliar words and making personal, global and text connections help to create a firm base for future growth and development of each child’s reading foundation. The fifth grade reading program focuses on building essential comprehension skills while keeping students engaged in a variety of texts. Students read a range of literature, both as a class, in small groups and independently. We utilize the Reader's Workshop method, which blends whole group mini-lessons, small needs-based groups, and individual conferring to guide students through the application of seven basic comprehension strategies. Instruction is designed to meet students at their skill levels and to raise their abilities and confidence as readers. There is a focus on developing critical-thinking skills, such as drawing conclusions from a text and making predictions. In addition, students are taught and encouraged to make connections to their reading in a variety of ways, which helps them to internalize the deeper meaning of the text. Independent reading is a critical component to being a successful reader, and this is heavily emphasized. As students progress through the fifth grade program, they become comfortable and adept at thinking, speaking and writing about what they read. Students in first grade learn about insects and spiders, cold and warm blooded animals, and use measurement to make scientific observations. Field trips to go apple picking with kindergarteners and a trip to the local grocery store, to study nutrition, take place during the school year. The scientific method is introduced. Second grade science is a time for exploration and creativity. Students study innovation; they create their own inventions and they assemble and program robots. Robotics features strongly in the second grade science curriculum. Within the biological sciences, second grade students raise Monarch butterflies in early spring. Third grade science is a hands-on lab science where students investigate, explore and learn about the three branches of science. This course examines life, physical and earth science. Through observation, data recording and experiments, the central themes to the year are living things in our environment, understanding the earth’s surface and how we can protect its resources, understanding matter and mixtures and how they change and, finally, energy. Fourth grade science is a hands-on lab science where students investigate, explore and learn about the natural world. This course examines earth, life and physical sciences. Through observation, data recording and experiments, the central themes to the year include watersheds – a critical catalyst to life on our planet electricity - natural resources and marine life of Long Island and electricity. In fifth grade, we unite theory with practical applications through field trips to natural outdoor settings on our nearby coastline and Long Island’s regional science centers. The scientific process forms the backbone for our laboratory work, and lab reports are the culmination of the students’ research and hands-on studies. Basic academic skills, such as note-taking, proper lab report writing, discussion and collaboration, are reinforced throughout the year. The fifth grade studies all three scientific disciplines: life, earth and physical. In first grade, students develop understandings related to citizenship. They study important historical figures as well as U.S. states, with special emphasis on New York. Map skills are explored to a greater extent, especially through the unit related to Flat Stanley. Students are given opportunities to problem-solve, to negotiate, and to develop understandings related to facts versus opinions. A strong emphasis is placed on the ideas of citizenship, community, and respect. In second grade, the curriculum focuses more on map skills, landforms and explorers. Students work to a greater extent developing the idea of citizenship. There are a number of social studies project in second grade including a research project related to Hawaii, a geography project related to rainforests and a habitat project related to penguins. Child development tells us that children at this stage in their growth are beginning to understand that they are not just an individual in this world but a contributing member of a group of people. Parallel plan continues, but it is less and less a part of what they are naturally inclined towards. There are myriad lessons learned as children become cognizant of and a valuable member of partnerships and group work. This is why the theme of third grade social studies focuses on Community. What role do people play? What role should each member play? What examples exist in our school and local regions? Beyond our localities, the third grade will learn about the fifty states as well where we are in the global community. The theme of the fourth grade social studies program is the State of New York. From the first inhabitants, explorers and slave trade to the Revolutionary War, founders, local and state government structures, and immigration, students become well-informed historians about our regional history. The fifth grade social studies curriculum focuses on the study of people from around the world, beginning with the emergence of mankind and continuing through to ancient China. Traditional skill building through note-taking, research, debating, writing and reading are core elements to our history program. How we speak and listen to each other is a natural connection to our social studies theme and is an important part of child development at this age. There are many opportunities to speak in third grade in pairs, groups, with one’s homeroom teacher and in public forums. Presenting information in a clear manner with good eye contact and a loud voice are skills we reinforce. As a considerate member of a community knowing how to share, listen and brainstorm effectively students learn how to work as a team to solve problems and create solutions. There are many forms to speaking in school and we believe in providing frequent opportunities for each student to become self-assured, poised speakers. Summarizing current events, explaining the processes used in answering questions, reading aloud fluidly and with expression, as well as presenting projects in a public forum, are examples where students gain confidence in themselves a public speakers. The pace of life in school can be fast, but by concentrating on attentive and thoughtful listening skills, students learn more about the world around them from their classmates and teachers alike. By listening carefully and patiently to oral directions, student discussion and storytelling, for example, students appreciate the power of listening. Speaking and listening are woven into many areas of the curriculum throughout the year, especially in their partnership work in literacy, math, and social studies as students strive to develop skills related to attentive listening, collaborative communication and clear presentation of ideas. One of the backbones of establishing a solid foundation for future school success is in laying the groundwork in study and organization skills. As part of a community where each student develops skills around cooperation, responsibility, preparation, collaboration, children learn to become contributing members of a class and school. They also grow into independent, self-assured individuals. Constructing a reliable and predictable set of study skills paves the way for deeper learning. Organizing desks, books and folders, as well as developing consistent homework, project and classwork timelines, builds confident learners. It takes a combination of skills to achieve academic success. These skills are practiced as students work on various projects throughout the year. The skills are organization, time management, prioritization, concentration, and motivation. First Grade through Fifth GradeTechnology is an integral part of the curriculum and it is integrated into the homeroom teacher’s program. Through instruction of basic skills, familiarity with various hardware sources, and projects, students gain an appreciation for and confidence in their computer skills. Learning about safe use of the Internet, students are exposed to the computer, laptop and iPad. Google programs are introduced and reinforced – email, Google Drive, and the calendar. Students will continue to learn about Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Google Chrome, and improving keyboarding skills. By leaps and bounds, students in the third grade grow as writers as they publish their own work on an increasingly sophisticated level. Students are introduced to the basic concept of paragraph writing. They learn the essential parts of a paragraph, which include main ideas, topic sentences, supporting and body sentences, and conclusions. The reading and writing programs work like hand-in-glove in developing each child’s writing. Writing about what they read and about what the teacher read to them, we provide an opportunity for students to express themselves in writing every day. It starts with a safe learning environment where students feel comfortable writing and in generating their own ideas independently. From understanding that stories need a beginning, middle and end to building a logical story line with character development, setting and plot, students gain confidence as authors of their own work. Learning about the mechanics of writing fine-tunes their work as the gain knowledge about capitalization, punctuation and formatting. Students come to appreciate the essential need revision plays in becoming great writers. One of the mainstays to a robust language arts program is its writing curriculum and with it, creating confident writers. Writing often is one of the keys to this and using a variety of styles and techniques in another. We do this with practice in writing narrative, persuasive, expository and creative writing pieces. Building a foundation of basic skills by solidifying each child’s knowledge of and familiarity with the importance of writing an essay with an introduction, supportive evidence and a concluding sentence all with proper mechanics are essential skills. Creating an energetic style within each exercise includes instruction around transition words, description language, fluid phrases, a varied sentence style allow students to develop their own unique style in writing. Research is also a part of the writing program, which includes not only finding credible and varied sources, but also citing research. Writing in fifth grade is based on a writers' workshop model. The goals of writers' workshop are to develop students’ awareness of the process and craft of writing and to increase their ownership of their writing. Teachers expose students to a variety of writing styles and aim to develop each student's unique writing voice. Students are carefully guided through the writing process, and writing lessons scaffold to allow students to build upon strategies and skills learned throughout the year. Beginning with brainstorming and planning, children learn specific conferencing and revision techniques so that they are able to share their ideas effectively with one another. Following the conference, the children proofread and edit their own work, and ultimately publish selected texts. Teachers work with individuals and small groups, discussing genre, teaching skill lessons, helping with the editing process and asking questions to provide feedback.

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I. The Persian Tradition 1. Describe the achievements and significance of the Persians. 550 B.C.E., Cyrus the Great= Persian Empire across northern Middle East & into n.w India. Persians tolerant of local cus¬toms; developed iron technology; new religion-Zoroastrianism; and lively artistic style. Persians =limited influence on Mediterranean coast> ulti¬mately defeated Alexander the Great, Persian language /culture survived periodically affecting developments in region into 20th century. II. Patterns of Greek and Roman History 2. Describe the characteristics of Greek political development 800 – 600 B.C.E. Political development in Greece based on city-states, rather than single political unit. Each city-state had its own government, typically a tyranny of one ruler or aristocratic coun¬cil. Penin¬sula was so divided by mountains that unified government would have been difficult to establish. 3. Describe the differences between Sparta and Athens and explain when Athens reached its greatest height. Sparta=military aristocracy dominating a slave population; Athens= commercial state with extensive use of slaves. 500- 449 B.C.E., two states cooperated to defeat a huge Persian invasion. After Persian war period Athenian culture =highest point, developed more colonies in e. Mediterranean & s. Italy. 4. Describe the rule of Pericles in Athens. Pericles leader of Athens during Golden Age Peloponnesian. 5. Explain the cause and long term effects of the Peloponnesian War. (Philip II of Macedon) Athens & Sparta fought for control of Greece in Peloponnesian Wars. (431-404 B.C.E.) Sparta won, but war greatly weakened both sides. Philip II of Macedon invaded from north & conquered Greece 338 B.C.E. 6. Describe the extent of the empire of Alexander the Great. Philip II’s son Alexander extended Macedon¬ian Empire through Middle East, across Persia to border of India& southward through Egypt. 7. Describe the characteristics of the Hellenistic period. After Alexander’s death empire divided among 3 generals. Greek art/ culture merged with other Middle Eastern cultures in Hellenistic period. Trade flour¬ished & important scientific advancements were made in centers Alexandria in Egypt. Hellenistic =spread of Greek civilization even after its political decline. 8. Describe the establishment and spread of the Roman Republic. (Punic Wars)Roman state began as local monarchy in central Italy 800 B.C.E. Roman aristocrats drove out monarchy 509 B.C.E. New Roman republic gradually extended its influence over rest of Italy & conquering Greek colonies in south. Roman conquest spread more widely during three Punic Wars 264 to 146 B.C.E., against armies of Phoenician city of Carthage on northern coast of Africa. After defeating Carthage Romans seized entire western Mediterranean & Greece & Egypt. 9. Describe the events that led to the end of the Roman Republic and the creation of the Roman Empire. (Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar) Civil wars between generals>vic¬tory by Julius Caesar, in 45 B.C.E. & end of traditional institutions of Roman Republic. Caesar’s grandnephew, later called Augustus Caesar, seized power in 27 B.C.E., following another period of rivalry after Julius Caesar’s assassination; Augustus established basic structures of Roman Empire. 10. Describe the extent of the Roman Empire by 180 B.C.E. brought peace/ prosper¬ity to Mediterranean world from Spain/north Africa in west to eastern shores of Med.> moved northward conquering France & southern Britain& pushing into Germany. 11. Describe the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. (Diocletian and Constantine) it suffered slow, decisive fall over 250 years; invaders from north conquered Rome in 476 C.E. Decline reflected in economic deterioration & population loss: trade & birth rate both fell. Govern¬ment =less effective. Emperors Diocletian &Constantine tried to reverse tide. Constantine in 313 recognized legality of Christianity; decline in west continued. Roman armies depended increasingly on non-Roman recruits, whose loyalty was suspect. Invasion of nomadic peoples from north= end of classical period of Mediterranean civi¬lization; like its counterparts in Gupta India & Han China it could no longer defend itself. III. Greek and Roman Political Institutions 12. Describe the characteristics of politics in Mediterranean Civilization. Political interests were part of life in Greece &Rome. The “good life” for upper-class Athenian or Roman = active par¬ticipation in politics. Citizens participated in military> sense of political interest/responsibility. In Roman Empire political concerns restricted by power of emperor, but local area retained some autonomy in Italy, Greece, eastern Mediter¬ranean; 13. Explain the similarities between Greco- Roman political values and Confucianism values of classical China and India. Strong political ideals/ interests =similarities between Greco-Roman society & Confucian values of classical China; con¬cept of active citizenship was distinctive in Mediterranean cultures. Greece & Rome did not develop a single or cohesive set of political institutions to rival China’s divinely sanctioned emperor or its elaborate bureaucracy; in addition to political intensity & localism in Mediterranean civilization-also diver¬sity in political forms; comparison extends to India, where various political forms—including participation in governing councils—ran strong 14. Describe the types of political rule in the Mediterranean. Roman republic & most Greek city-states had abolished early monarchies. Rule by individual strongmen=more common’ “tyranny” in classical Greece. Many tyrants= effective rulers in promoting public works & protect¬ing common people against abuses of aris¬tocracy. Some Roman generals who seized power in later days republic had similar characteristics, as did Hellenistic kings who suc¬ceeded Alexander. 15. Describe the characteristics of democracy in Athens. 5th-century Athens major decisions of made by general assemblies in which all citizens could participate= direct democracy, not rule through elected representatives. Executive officers chosen for brief terms to control their power & subject to review by assem¬bly: chosen by lot, not elected on principle any citizen could serve; only minority of Athenian population= citizens. Women=no rights of political participation; half of all adult males= slaves or foreigners; it> popular participation & included principles we would recog¬nize as truly democratic. 16. Describe the most widely preferred polit¬ical framework in the Mediterranean world. centered on aristocratic assemblies, whose deliberations established guidelines for state policy & served as a check on executive power. Sparta governed by mil¬itaristic aristocracy determined to keep power overlarge slave population. Other Greek city-states also= aristocratic assem¬blies. Even democratic Athens found leadership in many aristocrats, including Pericles. 17. Describe the structure of government in the Roman Republic. (assembly, Senate, consuls) All Roman citizens in republic could gather in periodic assemblies to elect officials to represent interests of common people. Aristocrats held almost all execu¬tive offices. Senate =mainly aristocrats; 2 consuls shared executive power, Senate could choose dictator to hold emergency authority in time of crisis. In Roman Senate, as in aristocratic assemblies of Greek city-states, ideal of public service, featuring elo¬quent public speaking and arguments that sought to identify general good, came closest to realization. 18. Why did a significant body of political theory develop in classical Mediterranean civilization? The diversity of Greek and Roman political forms, as well as the importance ascribed to political participation, helped generate a significant body of political theory in classical Mediterranean civilization. True to the aristocratic tradition, much of this theory dealt with appropriate political ethics, the duties of citizens, the importance of incorruptible service, and key political skills such as oratory. 19. Describe the similarities between Greco-Roman society and Confucian values. Some political writ¬ing resembled Confucianism, but less emphasis on hierarchy or bureaucratic virtues & more on participation in deliberative bodies to make laws & judge actions of executive officers. Classical Mediterranean writers also paid attention to structure of state itself, debating virtues & vices of various political forms. This expressed politi¬cal interests & diversity of Mediterranean world & served as key heritage to later societies. 20. Describe the political system in the Roman Empire. Roman Empire=different polit¬ical system from earlier city-states, but it preserved some older institutions, such as Senate which> meaningless forum for debates. Empire developed organi¬zational capacities on a far larger scale than city-states; but considerable local autonomy was allowed in many regions. Only in rare cases, such as forced disso¬lution of Jewish state in 63 C.E. after a major local rebellion did Romans take over dis¬tant areas completely. Careful organization in hierarchy of Roman army whose officers wielded great political power. 21. Describe the role of laws in Greece and Rome. (Twelve Tables) In addition to tolerance for local customs & religions & strong military organiza¬tion Romans emphasized laws as one factor that would hold their vast territories together. Greek &Roman republican leaders had developed an understanding of impor¬tance of codified, equitable law. Aristocratic leaders in 8th-century Athens sponsored legal codes designed to balance defense of private property with protection of poor citizens, includ¬ing access to courts of law administered by fellow cit¬izens. Early Roman republic introduced its first code of law,Twelve Tables, by 450 B.C.E. These early laws were intended to restrain upper classes from arbitrary action & to subject them & ordinary peo¬ple to some common legal principles. Roman Empire believed law should evolve to meet changing con¬ditions without fluctuating wildly. Idea of Roman law: rules, objectively judged, rather than personal whim should govern social relationships; law steadily took over matters of judgment earlier reserved for fathers of families or for landlords. 22. Describe the characteristics of Roman laws codes that spread widely through the empire. Roman law codes spread widely through empire & idea of law as regulator of social life. Many non-Romans were given right of citizenship & full access to Rome-appointed judges & uniform laws. Imperial law codes also regulated property rights&commerce> economic unity in empire. 23. What was the key political achievement of the Roman Empire? Idea of fair & reasoned law, comparable in importance, although quite different in nature, to Chinese elaboration of a complex bureaucratic structure. 24. Describe the functions of government in Rome and Greece. Most concentrated on maintaining law courts & military forces. Rome put importance on military conquest. Mediter¬ranean govts. regulated some branches of commerce in interest of securing vital grain. Rome= vast pub¬lic works in form of roads/harbors to facili¬tate military transport & commerce. Roman empire built stadiums & public baths to entertain & distract its subjects. City of Rome=over million inhabitants, pro¬vided cheap food & gladiator contests & other entertainment for masses; designed to prevent popular disorder. 25. Describe the religious policies of the Romans. Govts. supported an official religion, sponsoring public ceremonies to honor gods/ goddesses. Civic religious festivals=important events that expressed/encouraged wide-spread loyalty to state; little attempt to impose this religion on everyone; other religious practices tolerated if they didn’t conflict with loyalty to state. Even later Roman emperors who claimed emperor= god as means of strength¬ening authority, were usually tolerant of other reli¬gions. They attacked Christianity because of Christians’ refusal to place state first in their devotion. 26. What were the chief political legacies of the classical Mediterranean world? localism & fervent political interests with sense of intense loyalty to state; diversity of political systems with preference for aris¬tocratic rule; importance of law & develop¬ment of elaborate/uniform set of legal principles IV. Religion and Culture 27. Describe the characteristics of Greco-Roman religion and gods. derived from belief in spirits of nature elevated into complex set of gods/goddesses who were seen as regulating human life. Greeks & Romans= dif¬ferent names for their pantheon, but objects of worship were same: A creator or father god, Zeus or Jupiter, presided over an unruly assem¬blage of gods /goddesses whose functions ranged from regulating daily passage of sun (Apollo) or oceans (Neptune) to inspiring war (Mars) or human love& beauty (Venus). Specific gods= patrons of other human activities such as metalworking, hunt, literature & his¬tory. Regular ceremonies to gods =political importance; many sought gods’ aid in foretelling future or ensuring good harvest or good health. 28. Compare and contrast the role of gods in Greco-Roman religion and Indian religion. Activities of gods= good storytelling; like soap operas on superhuman scale >classical Mediterranean religion= important literary tradition, as in India> reflected common heritage of Indo-European invaders; gods often used to illustrate human passions/foibles =serving as symbols of serious inquiry into human nature. Unlike Indi¬ans Greeks/Romans became inter¬ested in their gods more in terms of what they could do for &reveal about humankind on this earth than principles that could elevate people toward higher planes of spirituality. 29. Describe the limitations in Roman religion. lack of spiritual passion. “Mys¬tery” religions, often imported from Middle East, periodically swept through Greece/Rome, pro¬viding secret rituals & fellowship & greater sense of contact with divine powers. Even more than in China a considerable division arose between upper-class & popular belief. 30. Describe the Greco-Roman search for an ethical model. (Aristotle, Stoics) gods/goddesses of Greco-Roman= little basis for systematic inquiry into nature or human society or provide basis for ethical thought. Many thinkers sought separate model for ethical behav¬ior. Greek/ Roman moral philosophy issued by philosophers like Aristotle& Cicero stressed importance of moderation & balance in human behavior. Other ethical systems were devised dur¬ing Hellenistic period: Stoics emphasized inner moral independence, to be cultivated by strict discipline of body & by personal bravery. These ethical systems were major contributions in their own right & would also be blended with later religious thought under Christianity. 31. Identify/significance : Socrates In Athens, Socrates encouraged pupils to question conventional wis¬dom; the government thought he was undermining political loyalty; given choice of suicide or exile, Socrates chose suicide. The Socratic principle of rational inquiry by skeptical questioning> recurrent strand in classical Greek thinking& in its heritage to later societies. 32. Identify/significance: Plato Plato – Greek philosopher; philosophical tradition in Greece de-emphasized human spirituality in favor of cel¬ebration of human ability to think; result =some similarities to Confucianism but with greater emphasis on skeptical ques-tioning & abstract speculations about basic nature of humanity & the universe. 33. What were the practical results of the Greeks’ interest in rationality as a way to explain nature’s order? many theories, some wrong, about motions of planets & organization of elemental principles of earth, fire, air, water. Also > interest in mathematics as a means of understanding nature’s patterns. 34. Describe the accomplishments of the Greeks in mathematics and science. (Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy) Greek&Hellenistic =geometry: theorems of Pythagoras. Hellenistic Scientists: empirical studies of anatomy; medical treatises by Galen not improved on in Western world for centuries. Euclid= world’s most widely used book of geometry. Hel¬lenistic astronomer Ptolemy incorrectly= theory of sun’s motion around stationary earth= it contradicted much ear¬lier Middle Eastern astronomy that recognized the earth’s rotation. Ptolemy’s theory was accepted in West until Copernicus’ work much later. 35. Describe the Roman genius for engineering. Roman genius=more practical than Greek= engineering: roads & aqueducts that Roman arches= carry great structural weight. Rome= huge buildings. Greek/Hellenistic extension of human reason to nature’s princi-ples= their most impressive legacy. 36. Describe the characteristics of art and literature in Mediterranean civilization. Official religion inspired themes for artistic expression/ justification for temples, statues,plays devoted to glories of gods. Artists empha¬sized beauty of realistic portrayals of human form & poets /playwrights reflected interest in human condition 37. Describe the characteristics of Greek drama. com¬edy&tragedy; in contrast to India, Greeks= greatest emphasis on tragedy. 38. Describe the sculpture of the Greeks and Romans. Athens’s t 5th century sculptors like Phidias created realistic/beautiful images of human form; subjects ranged from goddesses to muscled warriors/ athletes. Roman sculptors, less innovative, continued heroic-realistic tradition=scenes of Roman conquests on triumphal columns; captured power & human qualities of Augustus Caesar & successors on busts & full-figure statues. 39. Describe the characteristics of Greek architecture. emphasized monumental construction; square or rectangular shape with columned porti¬coes; three embell¬ishments for tops of columns supporting buildings: Doric, Ionic & Corinthian. Greeks invented what Westerners still regard as “classical” archi¬tecture, (Greeks had been influenced by Egyptian models). 40. Describe the architecture of the Romans. adopted Greek themes; engineering skill> buildings of greater size. Romans learned how to add domes to rectangular buildings= architectural diversity. Empire’s taste for massive, heavily adorned monuments & public buildings reflected Rome’s sense of power/achievement; move away from simple lines of early Greek temples. 41. How was classical Mediterranean art and architecture linked with society that produced them? Greek and Roman structures were built to be used. Temples, marketplaces, public baths part of daily urban life. Classical art flexible, according to need. Vil¬las or small palaces—built for Roman upper classes built around open courtyard—had light, simple quality rather dif¬ferent from temple architecture. Thousands of people gathered in large hillside theaters of Athens/ other cities for perfor¬mance of plays, as music, poetry. Roman Empire known more for monumental athletic performances—chariot races/ gladiators—than for high-quality popular theater. Even in Rome, ele¬ments of classical art=part of daily urban life & pursuit of pleasure. V. Economy and Society in Mediterranean 42. Explain the development and consequences of commercial agriculture in Greece and Rome. First in Greece, then in central Italy, farmers increasingly tempted to shift to production of olives /grapes; this required substantial capital, because not bear fruit for at least five years> many farmers> debt. Large land-lords gained increasing advantage over independent farmers> they could enter into market production on a much larger scale with commercial estates because of greater access to capital. 43. How did the rise of commercial agriculture in Greece and Rome lead to efforts to establish an empire? Greek city-states, developed colonies for grain production; traded olive oil, wine, manufactured goods, silver. Rome acquired Sicilian grain fields & used much of north Africa as granary>heavy cultivation > soil depletion>reduced agricultural fertility in later centuries 44. Describe the development and characteristics of trade in the Mediterranean. commercial farming >concern with trade. Private merchants >ships carried agricultural products & goods. Greek/ Roman state supervised grain trade, promoted public works, storage facil¬ities. Luxury products from shops of urban artists /craftsmen= major role in lifestyle of upper classes. Some trade also beyond borders of Mediter¬ranean civilization , for goods from India & China, but Mediterranean peoples=at some disadvantage, for their manufactured products less sophisticated than those of eastern Asia; so, they typically exported animal skins, precious metals & exotic African animals for Asian zoos in return for spices /artistic products of east. 45. Describe the characteristics and role of merchants in the Mediterranean. Athenian mer¬chants usually foreigners, mostly from trad¬ing peoples of Middle East. = higher status in Rome= 2ndunder landed patricians; aristocracy often disputed merchants’ rights. Merchants fared better in Med. than in China, in terms of official recognition, but worse than in India;. 46. Describe the characteristics and consequences of slavery in the Mediterranean. Aristotle= justifications for slavery in society. Athenians :slaves as household ser¬vants, silver miners. Sparta used slaves for agricultural work. Slavery spread steadily in Rome from final centuries of republic. Most slaves came from conquered territories> slaves= element in military expan¬sion. = theme visible in earlier civilizations in eastern Mediterranean=helps explain greater importance of military forces/ expansion in these areas than in India or China. Roman slaves= household tasks, tutoring of upper-class children (for which cultured Greek slaves were highly valued) in mines for met¬als/ iron (mine work- brutal) Roman estate owners used large numbers of slaves for agricultural work, along with paid laborers & tenant farmers> pressure placed on free farmers who could not compete with unpaid forced labor. 47. Describe the development of technology in Greece and Rome and explain how it was affected by slavery. neither interested in tech¬nological innovations for agriculture/manufacturing Greeks=shipbuilding/navigation=vital for trading economy. Romans=skills in engineering>greater urban amenities & good roads>movement of troops. Abundant slave labor discouraged concern for more effi¬cient production methods, so did sense that goals of humankind= artistic & political>Mediterranean society lagged behind India & China in production technology> unfavorable balance of trade with eastern Asia. 48. Describe the characteristics of family structure and the role of women in Greece and Rome. importance of family structure=hus¬band & father in control. Women=vital economic functions in farming & arti¬san families. Upper class women often= influence/power in household; but in law & culture, women = inferior. Families with too many children sometimes put female infants to death. Early Roman law: gave life/death control over wife;(later= customs held in check by family courts with members of both families.>a case where Roman legal ideas modified traditional family con¬trols. Oppression probably less severe than in China. Many Greek/Roman women in busi¬ness & controlled minor portion of urban property VI. Toward the Fall of Rome 49. Explain the impact of the fall of Rome and compare its fall to classical civilizations in China and India. Unlike China, classical Med. Civilization was not simply disrupted only to revive. Unlike India,= no central religion derived from the civ. itself, to serve as link between classical period & what followed. Fall of Rome not uniform: it fell more in some parts others. Result: no single civilization rose to claim mantle of Greece/Rome; Greece/Rome would live on, but their heritage was more complex & selective than India or China.

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This the social studies curriculum from Center School, Minneapolis. At Center School the study of history is a critical piece of our academic program. History is a living connection to the words, deeds and lives of our ancestors. The study of history not only provides us with knowledge of what our predecessors went through, but why, and how they lived with it. It is important not just to know what has happened, but also to learn the lessons that past events can teach us about life. We can learn of past mistakes and successes, people’s values and motivations and see powerful examples of the best and worst of humankind. History, as we see it then, is an opportunity to really examine the world of people and to learn who we are and how we came to be here. We ask that our teachers deliver history curriculum that is interdisciplinary and multi-faceted. It should incorporate written and spoken language, scientific investigation, spatially-oriented mathematics such as geometry and a spatial non-linear view of time so that students know the power of place. It should also be presented in a variety of ways (such as storytelling, talking circle, adventure learning, map making and visits to historic sites, interviewing as well as reading) so as to make it relevant to the lives of students and to honor the many different types of intelligence and ways of learning and reflect the diversity of humankind. Center School’s history curriculum is about helping students to learn from history and not as much about memorizing it. We are quite certain that nothing is truer than the saying that “A people who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it,” so we are committed to the idea that our students must learn from history. They must learn to think critically, to challenge ideas or statements that they find questionable using research, insight, analysis, and the rubric of culture (native), and to evaluate events and decisions in terms of not only what can be learned from them but how we can best respond to them cognitively, emotionally and spiritually. - Students will understand the relative values of oral and written traditions and histories. - Students will know and honor the protocols of Indigenous oral traditions. - Students will be able to critically analyze historical accounts. - Students will investigate the motivations of historical individuals and groups, including movements, communities and nations. - Students will appreciate the value of knowing about past events and people. - Students will study history with a focus on gaining insight and wisdom. - Students will learn and be able to perform at least two stories using an experimental-based pedagogy. - Students will understand that truth, while not absolute, is an important component of history. - Students will be able to perform historical research and share what they have learned. - Students will understand and be able to utilize the concept of historical perspective in interpreting the history of North America. - Students will understand that human beings and human relationships are a resource of immeasurable value. - Students will be able to compare and evaluate the linear view of time in contrast to the spatial view of time. - Students will understand that acquisition of knowledge and/or skills is an endeavor that Indigenous people undertake for the good of their community, nation and planet. - Students will learn a minimum of four native songs, including the protocols of ownership and permission. - Students will be able to express the concept of reciprocity through explanation, modeling and/or artistic expression. - Students will become familiar with the history, terms and historical development of at least one Treaty. - Students will understand that story is an essential component of our language, culture and history. - Talking Circle (Rules) (Sample lesson provided) — Talking Circle is not a point/counterpoint or a debate sort of interaction. It is a sharing of points of view and/or wisdom. - Storytelling is a semi-interactive performance. Stories are shared using multi-sensory information: words (including volume, inflection and other nuances that provide additional insight and meaning); music (traditional songs connected to the stories); smells (smudging and food); dances (parts of the story may be acted out accompanied by music); and tastes (food is shared at appropriate times). - Opener/Ice Breaker (Get-acquainted exercises that emphasize the importance of relationships in learning).(Sample lesson provided) - Experimental Learning/Sacred Geography of the Black Hills – An elder once asked, “How can we expect people, who for hundreds of thousands of years, spent nearly 100% of their time out-of-doors to learn by spending 100% of their time indoors?” The natural world has been the classroom of our children for countless generations, and they are well-attuned to that environment, with all of its cues and stimuli. The more opportunities we can provide for them to return to the natural environment the better they will (and are) become engaged and excited about learning. Examples of Black Hills Unit – attending workshops, conferences, ceremonies, fairs, cultural events such as pow-wows and dances, student-produced workshops. Class travels to the Black Hills, visiting sacred sites, learning of the importance and history of each while there through storytelling and exploration. Evenings include lessons centered around star knowledge related to the sacred sites. Days are spent exploring/experiencing sites first-hand. - Historical analysis – groups of students are to research from a list of historical events and report back to the class. Students’ reports include basic facts surrounding events, names of local persons involved (who may be brought in to brief class on the events), legal, moral and social issues central to these events and spatial location where events took place. Students are encouraged to discuss motivations behind actions taken and subsequent value of same, using talking circle, at which time students are to also discuss what other steps could have been taken during and after the events in question. - Memorials – class will attend ceremonies commemorating historical events or persons, paying close attention to both facts that may be illucidated and feelings or ambience of such ceremonies, which help to bring such events and people into perspective. - Assigned Readings – students are assigned historical readings and asked to interpret them thru use of critical thinking. Facilitated discussion using a variation of talking circle are used to help students gather more meaning and increase comprehension. A major goal here is to help students perceive the value of reading and being able to express oneself in print. - Test Prep – students will break down a typical test by looking for answers, developing strategies for different formats, questioning testing methodology (ex: is “either/or” appropriate here? would be a question perhaps asked about yes/no test items) Test Creation – Students are not always required to respond to a test, but, as an alternative, may be asked to evaluate a test or to create a test or some other form of assessment. The idea is to get them to think about what they have learned and how they can demonstrate such learning or even apply it in some practical fashion. - Resource Development – students will research and identify the various sources that are available surrounding certain historical events such as: diaries; newspaper articles; oral traditions; audio recordings; audiovisual recordings; movies; internet websites; first hand accounts/eye witness and legal documents such as congressional acts, executive orders, court decisions and Treaties. - Interactive/Proactive/Multi-sensory expression – We ask instructors to “spice up” lectures by providing opportunities for reflection, artistic self-expression, movement and spontaneity. - Games – Treasure hunt-type games can be used to motivate students to search out information. Crossword puzzles and Scrabble type games are fun, active ways to build vocabulary and knowledge base. Role playing games can encourage students and teachers to be imaginative, making distant events more real. Topics and (“Sources for inquiry”, keywords) - Geography (maps, landscapes) Where we are, then (tribes by region) - Oral Traditions - Stories (mostly local) (Ojibwe, Dakota, Hochunk, Menominee) Place Names (Ojibwe and Dakota and Hochunk) Wisdom/concepts (Explained vs. Implied morals) - Tenochtitlan (map) –“The Broken Spears”, maps, “Aztec 4” video. Teotihuacan (picture) –( Readings, pictures, descriptions,etc.) - Cohokia (picture and map) (moundbuilders) - Migration (“The Mishomis Book”,Benton-Benai) - Economics (Native American culture groups by region) - Language/Music (local and national) - Technology/Art (see above) (“The Present Past”,) - Indigenism/Native Culture – Native Paradigm (“God is Red”, Deloria ..”The Lakota Way”, Marshall) - Comparing Cultures ( Deloria,Lame Deer,etc.) - Conquest beginning with Columbus (“Conquest of the Indies”, Bartolome De las Casas) - Native culture impacts Europe (“Indian Givers’,Weatherford) - Early colonies (Virginia, Plymouth, Greenland) (“The Name of War”,LeFore) - Conflicts, War and Drawing the Color Line (“A People’s History of the United States”,Zinn) - Treaties with European Nations.(“Federal Indian Treaties”) - The History of Cultural Exchange (Democracy as concensus, runaways, etc.) (“In the Absence of the Sacred”,Manders) Life in Occupied America - Truedell (AIM, WK, Cointelpro) (“Trudell” DVD, Heather Rae) - WK 1890,1973(Wounded Knee Massacre) (“Voices from Wounded Knee”, Akwesasne Notes) - The Lakotas (“The Gift of the Horse” to Wounded Knee) - The Dakotas (“Old Indian Days”, Eastman) (The 1862 Sioux Uprising) - The Ojibwe ( Dennis Jones,U of MN)) - Federal Indian Law and Policy,from “Allies” to “Wards”( “The Long Death”, Andrist) - The Shawnees (Tecumseh’s Vision) – oral traditions and novels about Tecumseh (Allen Eckert, Bil Gilbert ) - Natives and the Confederacy,Removal to Civil War (“Okla Hannali”, Lafferty “Shell Shaker”, Howe “American Indians and the Confederacy”,Abel) - California (hunting for Indians) (“Ishi, Last of his Tribe”, Kroeber) - Natives during the World Wars (Codetalkers , Warriors and Families, “Navajo weapon…”-McClain) - Children left behind , Federal boarding schools (“Kill The Indian , Save the Man”, Churchill “Children Left Behind”, Giago “Our Spirits Don’t Speak English”,DVD) # What is Genocide? (Hitler learned from U.S.) (“A Little Matter of Genocide”, Churchill) - Survival Schools (Red School House, HOTESS, CSI) (AIM survival Schools) - Alcatraz, WK, Oglala, etc.(“Like a Hurricane”,Smith and Warrior) (American Indian Movement) - Language Revitalization ,languages reclaimed/the Program (Native Language Revitalization) (“Living Waters”, Lafortune) - Self-Determination (IRA vs. Traditional vs. BIA) (see Wilkins, Johnson, Deloria) - Music and the Arts (local and other sources) (Native American Art ) - Environmental Activism, Internal colonies, storehouses of The corporate elite) (“Struggles for the Land”, Churchill “All Our Relations”, LaDuke) - Getting off the Horse (allowing Indians to be contemporary) (See Deloria, Means) Objective: Students get to know more about each other and build a relation Key: Teacher has to focus on the students responses and figure out what common ground they share with that student. This can be used as a relation building tool. Directions: Tell students they have 10 minutes to find someone who can sign off on the paper. They can only have one person sign off once. Supplies: Pens/Pencils, Handout - Find someone whose first name starts with the same letter as your first name. - Find someone who was born in the same month you were born. - Find someone who was born on the same day you were born (but not necessarily the same month). - Find someone who was born in a different state or country than you were born in. - Find someone who has the same number of brothers that you have. - Find someone who has the same number of sisters that you have. - Find someone whose favorite food is the same as yours. - Find someone whose favorite academic subject is the same as yours (or similar). - Find someone whose favorite sport or game is the same as yours. - Find someone whose favorite animal is the same as yours. - Find someone whose favorite TV show is the same as yours, or a close. - Find someone from your same reservation. - Find someone who likes the same kind of music that you like. - Find someone who is bilingual. - Find someone who can say hello in 7 different languages. Note: Write these down - Find someone who is going to Leech Lake powwow this weekend. - Find a fluent speaker of a Native American language. - Find someone who has been to over 30 states. - Find someone who has been outside of North America. - Find someone who has an Indian name Lesson B: Talking Circles Objective: Students will be immersed in an (cultural) indigenous way of “discussing” or sharing information. - Students will learn indigenous ways of discussing important issues appropriately. - Students will learn about the importance of smudging. What is a talking circle? (Explain) It is a structured way of sharing points of view and encouraging people to reflect on each other’s opinions or feelings. Why circles? There is no “First” or single most important speaker, all are equal, honors our connection to nature and the flow of life. What are the rules of talking circle and/or discussion? (Only the persom holding the talking feather speaks.All others listen respectively, reflecting on what is being said.There are no “right” or “wrong” statements.This is sharing, not competition or debate.) As students enter, they are greeted appropriately (welcomed with “polite”* handshake – explain/teach for non-native people). (* Rather than a “firm” or “manly” handshake, we suggest lightly touching each others hands with a non-obtrusive handshake.This is to reflect respect for each other’s spirit and at the same time acknowledge their existence, period.) Students are asked to set chairs in a circle. Teacher explains talking circle for benefit of first time participants (see handout). Teacher talks about sage, the importance of smudging, and student responses are encouraged. Teacher or student lights sage and it begins its way around the circle. Teacher explains about the talking feather, demonstrates, and the feather beings its way around the circle.(Only the person holding the talking feather may talk .All others are expected to listen respectfully, holding their thoughts and reflecting on what is shared until the feather reaches them.) First a general topic is introduced, then teacher- generated topics, and finally student- generated topics.This order is not of paramount importance. When allotted time for class ends, the teacher-moderator should wrap-up by thanking everyone for what they have shared in terms of thoughts, feelings, respect, and by offering a prayer for the safety of all on the day’s journey. Students will often request this activity if they enjoy it and the teacher can assess how well they learned it by the quality and/or appropriateness of their contribution. Students can review “smudging” and talking circle handouts and make suggestions as to how to do it differently for the future. Key Points of Talking Circle: - All responses are listened to respectfully and are expected to be contributed in a respectful manner. - The safer students feel about speaking, the more they are likely to speak. Reading List — Primary Resources for Content Development: - “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by Loewen - “ A Peoples’History of the United States” by Zinn - “The Power of Place” by Deloria - “A Decolonization Handbook” by Wilson Sources for Lessons: - “Through Dakota Eyes…”-Anderson - “The Mishomis Book” - Benai - “A Little Matter of Genocide”-Churchill - “Kill The Indian, Save the Man”- Churchill - “Struggles for the Land” - Churchill - “God Is Red”- Deloria - “The Power of Place”-Deloria - “The Conquest of Mexico” - Diaz - “Old Indian Days” Eastman - “Indian Boyhood”-Eastman - “The Frontiersman” – Eckert - “A Sorrow in Our Hearts”-Eckert - “Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions”- Erdoes, Lame Deer - “ Children Left Behind” - Giago - “God Gave Us this Country”- Gilbert - “Shell Shaker”- Howe - “Contemporary American Indian Political Issues”-Johnson - “All Our Relations”-LaDuke - “Okla Hannali”- Lafferty - “The Name of War” - Lefore - “The Broken Spears” – Leon- Portilla - “Lies My Teacher Told Me” - Loewen - “In The Absence of the Sacred”- Manders - “Crossfire, Plot that Killed Kennedy” – Marrs - “The Dance House”- Marshall - “The Journey of Crazy Horse”- Marshall - “The Lakota Way”-Marshall - “Where White Men Fear to Tread”- Means - “Genocide of the Mind”—Moore - “Ishmael” – Quinn - “ Crazy Horse”- Sandoz - “Like A Hurricane”-Smith and Warrior - “Indian Givers” – Weatherford - “Native Roots”-Weatherford - “American Indian Politics and the American Political System”-Wilkins - “Spirit Car: Journey to A Dakota Past”-Wilson - “A People’s History of The United States” – Zinn More info on these titles can be found at “www.pieducators.com under Respect” - Dream Keepers - Spirit of Crazy Horse - Four Sheets to the Wind - Our Spirits Don’t Speak English - Incident at Oglala - We Will Remember - Lakota Solaris - Fahrenheit 911 - An Inconvenient Truth - Be More Cynical - The Outlaw Josie Wolves - The Mission - Little Big Man - Life is Worth Losing - Smoke Signals. Evaluation should be done creatively and with an emphasis on reinforcing student strengths and encouraging them to share what they know. Allow students to choose a form of self-expression when evaluating what they have learned. Many students feel that objective tests are very stifling, intrusive and boring, so allow them to be creative. Relationship is the most crucial component of classroom management here and they need to know that you are more interested in who they are than what might be in their brains in terms of facts or skills. Pictures, maps, songs, poems, charts, games, videos, posters, clothing, presentation boards, workshops and meals are a few ways students may share what knowledge they will .

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