August 7th Final Pedagogy Session and Appreciation Meeting

Hi all,
It is my understanding you were each sent the following e-mail from the Miller /Zion Bank Seminar Board this past week.

“The Larry H. Miller Education Project at Weber State University and the Zion’s Bank History Seminars
July 22, 2010

Welcome home, participants of the Larry H. Miller and Zion’s Bank History Seminars! The post-travel seminar and celebration dinner will be held Saturday, August 7, 2010, at the Energy Solutions Arena.
We will conclude these seminars as we began them--meeting together to share what has been learned and spread the enthusiasm of how the strategies and content learned this summer will be implemented into curriculum. Our ultimate goal is to translate this learning experience into the classroom and make a difference in how Utah students learn history. We look forward to meeting with you on August 7th. You will receive a separate notification from your mentors, outlining materials that you need to bring that afternoon.
Place: Energy Solutions Arena
Time: 2:00pm-6:00pm: Plenary and Individual Sessions: Pedagogy Seminar
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm: Appreciation Dinner
Parking: Located at the Energy Solutions Arena in the “Park Place” parking lot.
Those travelling more than 100 miles will be reimbursed for gas.

RSVP: Email Libby Robertson if you are planning on attending the dinner portion of the evening. It is imperative that you respond by TUESDAY, JULY 27th, as the final count must be known by Wednesday, July 28th. nclibby@gmail.com
If you are not attending the Pedagogy Seminar, it is your responsibility to contact your seminar mentor.”

As promised here is the separate notification from me – the pedagogy specialist- indicating what you should bring to the pedagogy seminars.

The pedagogy seminars will run from 2:00-5:45 p.m. on August 7th. We will meet in grade level discussions for the first hour. From 3:00-5:45 we will work in collaborative groups to create a product using Marzano’s strategies. The lessons or strategies you create will be the final portion of your grade. With that in mind you should bring your reflective journals and learning logs to the pedagogy session; in addition, be sure to have your seminar blogs completed prior to the August 7th meeting. Jay and I will review your completed blogs, and assignments (including the lessons completed at the seminar) in order to complete your final grading rubrics and post grades at Weber State. Please check your rubric for further information on requirements and grades. Please bring your texts and strategies notebook to the pedagogy sessions.

As indicated in the previous letter be sure to e-mail Libby within the week and let her know you are planning on attending the appreciation dinner, conversely if you are not attending the pedagogy seminar let me know ASAP. If not attending you will have to find an alternate means of completing your final project and turning in your assignments to Jay and I. We look forward to seeing you in August.

Kind Regards

Cindy Ness
Master oarsmen and jester
Cindy_ness@byu.edu
(801-360-3885)

Post Seminar Blog

Whew! What a week! It was a joy to get to know each of you and learn together. In future posts I will review your assignments and our meeting in early August; however while my sunburn still burns I want to take a minute to tell each of you how impressed I was with your dedication to transferring your learning to your students. If all teachers were like each of you, what a world this would be! I look forward to seeing you in August.

Cindy

Use of the Lewis & Clark Travel Seminar Blog

This blog is for the use of those participating in the Larry H. Miller & Zions Bank Lewis & Clark Educational Seminar. The objective of the Lewis & Clark seminar is to merge on site content provided by Dr. Jay Buckley, author of William Clark: Indian Diplomat, and co-author of By His Own Hand: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis and pedagogy and practices presented by Cindy Ness, Professor of History and History Education at Brigham Young University. In addition it is our sincere hope that each of you will serve as a resource providing insights and ideas that will enrich the experience for all those who participate in the Lewis & Clark seminars.

As a grant recipient you will be expected to participate actively in all three stages of the seminar, i.e. the pre-travel seminar, the travel seminar, & the post-travel seminar.

Before the travel seminar you are expected to practice with your students at least one of the "Marzano" strategies presented in the pre-travel seminar. On completion of your practice lesson, please utilize the blog to present your ideas, reflect and evaluate the procedures. Within the open forum of the seminar blog, it is our hope that each of us will be able to share suggestions and experiences that can improve our collective teaching.

Lastly the blog will serve as an open forum to dialogue the content texts that are required for participation in the Lewis and Clark travel seminar i.e. Gary E Moulton, An American Epic of Discovery, Stephen E. Ambrose: Undaunted Courage, and our very own Dr. Buckley's, By His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis. PLEASE POST YOUR IDEAS, RESPONSES, AND/OR INSIGHTS WITHIN THE APPROPRIATE THREAD.

We look forward to reading your ideas and insights.

Professor Jay Buckley
Professor Cindy Ness

PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST YOUR COMMENTS IN THE CORRECT THREAD

PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST YOUR COMMENTS IN THE CORRECT THREAD

Questions and information on the travel seminar

If you have questions regarding preparation, expectations or requirements for the travel seminar please post them below. Either Jay or Cindy will be make an effort to respond as quickly as possible.

If you are unable to post on the blog, please send Cindy an email @ cindy_ness@byu.edu, and she will walk you through the process of posting a blog on the site.

By His Own Hand? Thread

It has been send of “By His Own Hand”:
This is a valuable addition to the Lewis and Clark literature. This slim volume contains three outstanding essays, one by James Holmberg of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, a second by John D.W. Guice, professor of history emeritus at the University of Southern Mississippi; and an excellent round-up of the arguments by Jay Buckley of Brigham Young University. This anthology is highly readable and well-edited and will be enjoyed with anyone with an interest in Lewis's sad fate.

For those of you participating in the mock trial it is a must read! Please share your reflections, comments, curriculum ideas and respectful responses to "By His Own Hand" below

Undaunted Courage Thread

Do you remember your college days? Racing your way through the text, with an occasional scribble in the side margins, as if by the very practice you would absorb the information you had so quickly read- or was that just me? So often, my sole purpose for reading the text in college was to receive credit for the course, knowledge was way down on my list of motivators. I remember very little from what I read. Go figure?!!?

My experience with college textbooks reminds me of the following quote by Walt Whitman. He wrote "The process of reading is not a half sleep, but in the highest sense, an exercise, a gymnast's struggle: that the reader is to do something for him or herself, must be on the alert, just construct indeed the poem, argument, history, metaphysical essay--the text furnishing the hints, the clue, the start, the framework." Why didn't I think like this in college? When I think of all the time I wasted reading books because I had to rather than because I wanted to I could slap myself upside the head!

Though it is required we hope you will collectively construct, argue, debate and build a framework for understanding the Corp of Discovery, from Monticello to the Pacific coast, not because you have to, but because you want to. Please post your insights regarding Stephen Ambrose’s fabulous text “Undaunted Courage” within this thread.

Strategies that worked... or didn't Thread

Before the travel seminar you are expected to practice with your students two of the "Marzano" strategies presented in the pre-travel seminar. On completion of your practice lesson, please utilize the blog to present your ideas, reflect and evaluate the procedures. The strategies you used do not necessarily need to be within the context of teaching Lewis & Clark. Please take the time to read what others have posted and share suggestions and experiences that can improve our collective teaching. If you have lessons or ideas you would like to post online, please send me a copy at cindy_ness@byu.edu and I will post the assignment or link within the strategies thread.