Cort's visit

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 72

As I mentioned in my previous journal, one of the things I was busy working on my first week back was to attempt to pull together a visit to my school by Cort Anastasio from University of California- Davis. As I also mentioned, ARCUS has a great arctic speaker program which funded Cort’s visit. I was so excited to have him come, and can’t thank the people at ARCUS enough for making this visit a possibility and reality.

I thought this visit was important for several reasons. For one, my students (and even many of the kids at my school who are not in my classes) had been following this trip from the get go. They had read about, seen pictures, and even talked to the researchers. How awesome for them to get to see someone live and in person that was with me on top of that ice cap! I think it gave another layer of depth to what they learned and experienced. Also, although I was there and learned so much, this topic is what Cort and the other researchers live and breathe everyday of their working lives. It is their passion, and who better to explain to the kids what exactly was going on up there but someone who has this kind of expertise. Lastly, I just plain wanted a chance to “show off” one of the great people I got to know while I was at Summit. Everyone there was so helpful and willing to make the most of my experience. I am proud to have had the opportunity to meet each and everyone of them. I am so lucky to have been able to learn from them and get to know them a little, that I thought it would be great to be able to share a piece of that live with my students.

Cort flew into Milwaukee on Sunday, May 23rd. I drove down with my daughters (Peyton, 5, an Paige, 4) to pick him up. After about an hour of missing each other in the airport (oops- still feel bad about that one, Cort), and a 45 minute serenade of Lizzie McGuire and the Dixie Chicks by the girls, we arrived in West Bend (where I live). We stopped by my house, where we exchanged some pictures so that Cort could put some finishing touches on the powerpoint presentation he would be giving my classes the next day. I then drove him to the hotel he would be staying at for the next two nights. My husband and I took Cort out to dinner (without the children—much quieter than our car ride!!), and then back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.

I picked Cort up at about 7:15 a.m. so that we could be to my school in Kewaskum by 7:30. We had a little time to prepare, so we made sure that the computers, sound systems, and projectors were all working together. I had arranged ahead of time to have my 8th grade classes combine each hour with one of the 6th and 7th grade houses. I thought it was important to invite these other kids to hear Cort’s presentation for a couple of reasons. First of all, I know that many of the students in our building had been following along. I thought it would be a great experience to meet one of the researcher’s they had been reading about. Also, I of course will be incorporating this experience into my future curriculum, how better to introduce those kids to what we will be talking about!

Cort showed and explained his powerpoint presentation for five class periods. He did a great job incorporating a lot of high interest information in an interesting way. He incorporated a variety of different topics, including general information about Greenland, about camp life, transportation, and, of course, the specific science (photochemistry of snow) that we studied while at Summit. After each presentation, there was time for the students to ask questions.

I got great feedback from my fellow colleagues who also attended the presentations with their various classes. Mostly they said that the kids enjoyed it, and were “abuzz” afterwards. They also commented on how well Cort related to the kids and made sure that explanations and answers to questions were given at their level. It was good to get these comments from the other teachers. It reassured me that this was a great opportunity for the students at our school as a whole.

After school, Cort and I went to my house. We participated in a webinar to discuss how the experiences teachers have out in the field could be connected to their classrooms. There were some good things that came from this webinar, including many curriculum ideas, and a new section of the ARCUS webpage called a webliography, where great websites related to curriculum can be posted.

When we finished the webinar, we had dinner at my house (three kids—always an interesting event). I took Cort back to the hotel. I am sure he was really ready to go home. It had been many months since he had been there by this time!!

Tuesday afternoon I drove Cort to the airport (no kids- no Lizzie, either). I hope that Cort knows how much I appreciate him taking time out of his schedule for me and my students. It was so nice, especially when I know he was probably exhausted and missed home. This is just one more aspect of the experience that will stay with me forever.

Thanks again, Cort. It was great.

Nikki

******PICTURES AND THE POWERPOINT USED IN CORT'S VISIT WILL BE ADDED SOON********************************************