Module IV

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

I am very new to Alaska.  It must be said and, I feel, must be repeated.  Not only am I just passing my one year mark out here on Adak, but out of that one year roughly 12 days have been spent off of this island.  I have turned to some outside help for this module.
 Cindy at the Tsunami Warning Center was an incredible source of infrmation and, if anyone is looking for educational resources regarding ALL THINGS GEOLOGY, I strongly recommend contacting her at the office in Palmer (pictured below).  Also, I took my 5 year-old daughter on a tour of the place and after Cindy's tutorial, I am quite positive she has a pretty good grasp on causes/effects of tsunami's.

The frustration of not finding a community of culture in the traditional sense out here on Adak is growing.  I had the stereotypical images (I am embarrassed to say) of what I thought this island would be like.  When I ask those who have been around here a while (no one is really "from" Adak anymore), I get the feeling I am at the end of the line during the telephone game; where I get some information, but the rest is just filled in with whatever people think it should have been.

As far as educational resources about natural disasters, I have hit a gold mine with Cindi at the Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, as well as a gentleman named Erv that works with the Homeland Security with Natural Disasster Preparedness.

I was given this video (among a wealth of other information) that illustrates how just the simple act of story telling can lead to saving an entire society.  Although my Alaskan cultural history may be slowly emerging at this time, it is fair to say that the story telling that occured during this devastating tsunami has many comparisons to native culture in Alaska.

It does seem curous that in a time with such incredible technology that the simple act of story telling is what saved so many lives.  When people in neighboring countries are frantically running with cell phones in their hands, an entire community is preserved due to the simplicity of telling stories.

Evidence that story telling in the classroom is effective and valuable.  In the following video clip a young girl saves lifes during the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra simply because she remembered what the indicators were for a tsunami to hit.

The power of telling stories is amazing.  When I think about my own personal education, I am able to recall many anecdotal stories that educators used to reinforce particular topics.  Very informative and a very effective method to reinforce the lesson learned. 

As educators, it is often convenient to do the Joe Friday method of teaching; "Just the facts, Ma'am. Just the facts."  But a story or sharing someone else's story often times finds a connection.  It is necessary for a student to learn and be able to apply the information provided in educational standards.  However, it can be painful for the student to attempt to learn something that they cannot engage in. 

Below are some stories that provide some insight into first hand accounts of tsunami's that, when shared, will demonstrate the impact that story telling has on future generations that may encounter similar experiences.

This is what makes story telling such a visual and beneficial method of teaching.  I am by no means suggesting that story telling be the exclusive method by which an educator conveys information, but it is a technique proven to be effective.  Just see how long you remember the stories above and what you have learned from them.

Colleagues

Janet-  I really liked the way Janet had her links set up.  Easy to navigate.

Alicia- I am inspired to work with Google earth quite a bit more.

Konrad- I enjoyed the use of photos in his blog.  Made it very casual and comfortable.

Additional information:

	I have been given a wealth of information that will not transfer.  Either due to the incredibly slow internet connection out here, or simply because of the formatting.  However, if anyone out there would like the infrmation mailed to them regarding Tsunami's and Earthquakes, I would be very happy to get a mailing address and send it out to you on a disk.  Great stuff for the classroom.
	Eldon Galear 1946 tsunami story.mp3 (2662KB)

Week III

EXPLAIN: Compare Pangaea’s break-up 200 million years ago to Earth’s 4.6 billion year history.

Whenever I think of history I am immediately aware of how insignificant not only my existence is, but how insignificant "Our" existence is.  Humbling is not a strong enough word for the emotional head-butt I take everytime I think of this.  The therapy is going well, but I am afraid I will never get over this.  Perhaps the most profound and, at the same time, shocking visual aid that puts everything in perspective is the image below:

Essentially humans have been around for 1 minute and 17 seconds proportionately on a 24 hour clock.  It takes longer to pop popcorn in the microwave.  I wanted to put this on here simply because it helps illustrate that the land has been here much longer and it is the land that has shaped us, not us that shape the land.
I found it fascinating to watch the TD resources and, quite frankly, I was a little jealous.  Where I am located (Adak, Aleutian Island chain) is an incredibly unique place, not unlike a lot of bush communities.  I was jealous simply because due to the United States Government, there is essentially no native culture left here.  As I watched teachers being led by Indigenous People of Alaska to teach traditional methods, I couldn't help but be a little sad that there are absolutely no Aleut students on this island to carry on tradition.  I hear stories about how things used to be, but to say there is any tradition carried on out here would be a gross overstatement.
What local geologic structures and/or forces are evident to your students?
We are essentially surrounded by volcanoes in every direction out here.  We have had about a dozen earthquakes in the last month.  On clear days we go to a vantage point on the island and can view any number of volcanoes, but primarily Tanaga to the west that is blowing off steam on a regular basis.  This place is a geologists dream.  There is absolutely no shortage of geological observances to study out here.

Describe the value of your students' understanding of geologic processes.
My students have a distinct advantage (or disadvantage, depending on the perspective) to live in such an area that earthquakes, volcanoes, geological formations are as close as a look out the window.  Rather than discuss what an earthquake might feel like, we actually feel the earthquakes on a regular basis and then get into a discussion on tectonics and WHY the earth is shaking.  WHY Tanaga is blowing off a little bit. In terms of geological study, I am sitting on a goldmine.  I put this up there with being in Virginia and studying the Civil War.  Rather than discuss it, you simply go see it.  I am, sadly, at a huge disadvantage when it comes to exploring the rich cultural history here.  It seems to be coming to an extinction and that just breaks my heart.  I am fascinated by the Indigenous people of Alaska and have a deep respect for any culture that holds on strongly to its customs and traditions.  My hope is that one day I will be honored with the opportunity to go out and absorb as much information as I can with Indigenous groups as we witnessed in the TD videos.

Basically I feel that this module covered so much information that it could have easily been two or three modules.  It truly made me think about how the physical world around us shapes our ways of thinking so much that it becomes a part of us that we do not consciously think about.  My wife is from the Southwest United States and her entire family is from Arizona as well.  They love it!  They love the culture, the history, the "beauty" and all that goes with it.  I am from the San Juan Islands in NW Washington State.  I love the water and the mountains.  The Sonora desert, to me, is about as ugly a landscape as you can get.  But to my in-laws it is part of them.  part of their history.  paret ofg their lives. 
I loved seeing the TD videos on the native cultures that actually share a life with the land.  It is the same experience that a lot of us have, only with a deep actual conscious connection and, above all else, a respect for the land that has provided so much.  That, I believe, is where I, and many others, differ.

Colleagues
Science Explorations:
I really liked her format and I think I am going to try and mimic this style for the next module.  I am still kind of lost, but if I were grading these, I am certain she would do very well. 

Pader:
Loved the hunting story and could completely relate to the caribou story.  Also, Nic is a fellow Washingtonian.  I enjoyed reading how he described the Indigenous people and their hunting methods.

Winsor's Explore Alaska Blog:

This is very well said.  I wish I said it,
 "I especially enjoyed Module III because it took a subject I was already familiar with and interested in, and showed me valuable ways to better incorporate landscapes and their influence on cultures into my curriculum-and personal learning! To paraphrase Richard Glenn, the resources I explored as part of this module provide me with several more flashlights. "

Module

In teaching all subjects 4th-12th grade in a single classroom with ten students, I find myself learning more than I would ever expect my students to learn in a day.  Compund the multi-subject, multi-age, multi-ethnic, classroom setting with the fact that I am very new to Alaska, I am learning not only a new style of teaching, but a new culture as well. 
Unfortunately, I live and work on an island that has all but abandoned traditional cultures.  The United States government didn't exactly have cultural preservation in mind when they took over the island during WWII.  I am expected, however, to research and teach traditional Aleut scientific methods.  I am still getting familiar with all of it, but what an amazing history we have here and, sadly, it seems the Aleut people are disappearing from their own environment.  There is an immediate concern that the Unungax language itself will not be spoken in the near future.
What I have learned in researching this module is that science is science.  There does not beed to be a laboratory to go through the scientific method.  In fact, I believe that a lot of times we over complicate things by getting too analytical and technological in a lot of scientific studies. 
Traditional methods used by Indigenous People of Alaska simply to survive for over a thousand years in such a harsh environment are invaluable in teaching in today's modern classroom.  By examining the examples in the module and researching additional methods of survival by Indigenous people, it allows cross-curriculum study to flourish.  I am planning on using a video shown in Module II to study 1)science (how a naked baby can survive in a home made of ice), 2) Alaskan History, 3) Alaskan Geography, and 4). Civics (what, politically, is our government doing that affects these cultures negatively or positively?)  This will be supplemented quite a bit with additional materials, obviously, but the idea is that I am allowed to broaden my scope of education in the classroom and attack mutiple levels of each subject. 
I should say now that I am not entirely sure I am doing this blog thing correctly.  I felt like a monkey doing a math problem when I was trying to leave comments on Nic's blog earlier.  I think I uploaded a picture.  I hope it's the right one.  You are either looking at a picture of my beautiful wife and daughter (along with my goofy mug) OR you may have a picture of Bea Arthur that I once tried to send to a friend as a joke.  Either way, rest assured I never watched Golden Girls and I will have this figured out shortly. 
The information on the modules is fascinating and moving up here from Arizona, I am in constant awe of everything.  Pleasantly Overwhelmed with everything out here.

Explore Alaska introduction

The above picture is taken from the NW side of Adak, Alaska.  This is the lovely westernmost municipality in the entire United States that my Wife, Daughter, and I call home.  This particular spot is breathtaking, to say the least, and is about as isolated as it gets.  The angle of this photo is deceiving, however.  The beach is approximately 250 feet below where I took this photo.  It is quite a steep angle to get down to the beach and what seems an even steeper angle on the return trip.  I call this "Awareness Hill" because immediately on the way back up I became aware of how far, exactly, I had fallen out of shape.
I have chosen this photo simply because I am in awe of how untouched and beautiful this island is.  I have begun to take a viewpoint that we seem to make things less appealing in our efforts to make them more appealing.  I do still crave commerce and a nice restaurant quite often, though.