Denver did not disappoint

I got to Denver with the help of lots of folks - first the principal agreed to it as a reward for excellent biology scores last year, next the district released the funds, next I was given enough info to get my flight and POs together, and finally my friend, Rob, took me and Washington, my biology teacher colleague who first asked the principal for the trip, to the airport.

The best day was the second full day with beautiful weather and a free trip to the zoo and later that same day a trip to the botanical garden. I was unsure if I was going to do both in the same day and the very kind hostess at the restaurant in the hotel decided to make a drawing. She wrote three choices on three scrap pieces of paper - the art museum (her choice), the botanical garden (my inclinations) and to tell you the truth I cannot remember the third choice - maybe it was not go anywhere. I did the drawing and it was the botanical garden, Thanks, Helena from Eritrea, for helping make my choice easy and my stay richly rewarding. She also recommended that I go to the Catholic Charities where they used dried flowers to make bookmarks and other items for a fundraiser when she heard I was a botany teacher.

Here are the shots from the trip to the zoo via bus 20 and to the botanical garden via bus 10 (as with other pictures click on them to go to slideshow and other pictures) I was fortunate enough to have the same bus driver on each trip both ways and they helped me with entry and exit points. The second driver had been in Denver seventeen years and never been to the botanical garden. On bus 20 I met PeeWee, a remarkable dog that barked for help whenever his owner had seizures.

The Zoo (There a family was amazed when I told them a coati, the wife's favorite animal that is kin to the bear, was on my back porch on my Earthwatch trip at Cave Creek in Arizona).

Trip to the Denver Zoo

The Botanical Garden (Everything outside was on its way to winter dormancy but the greenhouse was spectacular. I met a student photographer there who will share his photos to use in my classes. Thanks, Randy Poe.

Trip to Denver Botanical Garden

I went to some great workshops as well.

NABT Workshops

The best was by the M&M - Mary Ann and Marianne from Illinois - on keeping focus, structure, regular reinforcement and interesting activities always on the ready for at-risk students. They have an awesome wiki page - go there and request an invitation to join - http://nabtdenver2009.wikispaces.com/.



I also got a $50.00 gift certificate from a cool vernier workshop where I got my EKG, detected the CO2 emission of pea seeds, and plotted the transpiration of water from a herbacious shrub using their probes and software. With 20 more dollars from our science fees I got LoggerPro3 with the help of Mike Collins. Thanks, Mike.

I also learned about raising and giving students a plant to take care of at home for the school year - one was a carnivous plant that I have wanted to grow for some time. The presenter has taught all over the world and now is in Oregon. Another was the African violet that I raised when in college.

And the icing on the cake was the trip to the Catholic Charities. Not only did I meet some very dedicated earth and people loving folks who work with homeless, I learned a lot about drying flowers, raising bees and composting. Did you know the first place bees attack is your mouth because they sense the CO2 - it is a defense against their main predator the bear whose most vulnerable area is his/her mouth. Thanks, Julie, for a ride back to 16th street so I did not have to walk eight blocks to catch the D train.

Trip to Earthlinks

Death comes calling anyway

Even when we are doing all the right things in the classroom and life, death still comes calling. Even so life goes on.

Coming back from my Denver trip I was sitting on the plane by a very young mother and her three month old, Nathaniel, nicknamed Natter Tator since she loved tater tots so much. She was sharing her plans for raising him and queried whether she should get a dog to grow up with him. She was concerned that the dog would one day die and how that would affect him. I shared with her about how a colleague lost her childhood pet after she went to college and how she cried so. However, she never regretted having loved and cared for her dog and wants another.

I was sitting in the airport and finally got around to calling about our sick snake, Sister Isaac II. "She passed on Sunday," the receptionist gently said. Apparently she had a severe bacterial infection in her intestine and probably had it when we bought her two months ago. She probably had not eaten in over three months - I am going to see if Petsmart might give us another snake.

Yes, we lost another snake and another animal from our zoo (to add to the list of many fish). The kids want to have some kind of memorial service and we will.

None of us are sorry we knew her and in our own way loved her.

Church Group Befriends Velma Jackson

Smitty and James

I got to school early on Saturday, November 7th about 9:30 and Mr. Day, the best janitor in the US, was there with the adapter for the hose and eased the concern about how we would get water. At ten James Black rolled up his ride with the fancy rims and helped until 1 and impressed Smitty and Greg and Lisa and Mitch with how respectful he was. It was a very good day. and we got more done in the front than I thought. We were planning to plant around the fountain and did after clearing out the circular flower bed (and saving about 20 monkey grass pods) and turning over the soil and then replanting some of the monkey grass and the new snapdragons and pansies and then Mitch went and got pine bark to mulch all our work. We also created three more flower beds – one in front of the school sign and two on each side.

This all started when I requested money for flowers around the fountain that was now cleaned out by my students, Destiny and Exavion, and had blue water. I got a curt, “do you have any dues money?” as a reply. I shared this story with my men’s study group and Smitty emailed the next day to say his church wanted both to donate flowers and to help plant them. After several emails we settled on snapdragons and pansies and lorepetulums and Indian hawthorns and a pomegranate tree. All were delivered and most of them we got planted.

One of the highlights was meeting Mitch's two girls, Hollim and Shelly and to see their eyes light up with Benita and the fish and Mojo.



In the process I rediscovered our tiller and will get it cranking for the area around the greenhouse. I look forward to planting lorepetulum and lantana along the walk of the greenhouse.

I also rediscovered the joy of service with students and community.

To top it off I was working in the greenhouse on the next Monday with my students and measuring and watering tomatoes and someone tapped me on my shoulder and startled me. It was Mr. Mumford, our principal, “You really did something this weekend. Keep up the good work.” Indeed.

A trip to the snake doctor and much more

I would never have believed anyone if . . .

they told me I would be taking a snake to the doctor on a Friday afternoon in the heart of Jackson

they told me I would be driving the backroads of Mississippi to find Bubba’s so I could get crickets for our bearded dragon

they told me I would be going to school on a Saturday morning to plant flowers around our fountain and campus with VJ students and a generous church group

they told me two botany classes would rear tomato plants from seed and bug me each day in class to go check their plants and have one girl name hers

they told me I would launch water rockets with great excitement in yet another school

but these vignettes are more than true and a part of my life as the curator of Zoo 122 and greenhouse and teacher of physics, botany, zoology and introduction to biology.

To top it off, Michele Williams, an excellent botany student, brought a mural she designed and painted for Benita’s terrarium on Friday. Life is good.





The trip to the vet for Sister II proved to be more adventurous than necessary since I got sidetracked with directions, stopped by a train and had to be guided in but the receptionist who greeted me with a smile and was excited to hold Sister while I waited for instructions – everyone else there including the doctor were afraid of snakes – I am glad Dr. Vaughn will be in later and take care of our snake who has not eaten in the two months we have heard her despite all our best efforts. I left the two raw eggs and five frozen pinkies (mice) as instructed and will call Tuesday to check her progress. As I was there two folks left crying on cell phones since their pet did not make it. May Sister fare better.
The trip to Bubba’s was interesting including passing a farm café in the middle of nowhere. The lady at Bubba’s said to my long face – no crickets, the cold snap killed all of them. I dejectedly walked out and then remembered Benita will eat dead ones if you drop them in on her one at a time. So I went back in and asked if they had any dead ones. He opened the cricket box and said help yourself. Here I was when I needed to be posting grades scooping dead crickets into a box I got out of my trunk for a hungry bearded dragon on Highway 16 across the street from a burned out store. For the record, Benita ate nine of them.



In a few minutes I will head to school to plant pansies, snapdragons, hydrangeas and lorepetulums.
We had our first blooms on the tomatoes this week and I was the most excited of all!



Measuring tomato plants.



First bloom.

On Friday after having an excellent class on Wednesday for my formal observation, the class launched water rockets in the front yard of the school. We made homemade angle makers with protractors, rulers, string and keys. They were impressed with this piece of seat of the pants math. They used cell phones for stopwatches. After three very successful launches, we came back in and charted our results and made assignments for a lab report.



Physics class demo clinometers.



Launch video.

My very reluctant and challenged learners in Introduction to Biology conducted a very successful pH lab where some of them actually remembered to bring their materials – limes, lemons, oven cleaner vinegar, and mountain dew and actually prepared some very decent bar graphs to show their results.



Getting the pH just right.

All in all a very good week.

I finished the race!

After having three debilitating flair ups of intervertebral bulges on L2,3 and 5 and after considering surgery at one point, I survived a six week training schedule with a very bad fall in the rain on a slippery bridge and with two painful injuries on the left achilles and right ACL, and I FINISHED THE RACE. What made it even better was it was the fifth year of a benefit run for victims of Katrina that I had a small part in starting when I was pastor at the sponsoring church - Rosedale United Methodist. Thanks to Bobbie Nell Lewis and Susan Boyette for building and sustaining this annual event.

I also finished the race of another week at school. I was honored to get to present two workshops at the Mississippi Science Teachers Meeting in Jackson, MS. The first was More Tools for your DI toolbox, a presentation of three ideas - deBono's six thinking hats, drama "dance' with symbol prompts, and six word exercise -to improve critical thinking, class participation and creativity. A brief summary of an Earthwatch led into the differentiated instruction ideas. The second was the 1-2-3 of Caterpillars where results of his Earthwatch Expedition to Arizona and how caterpillars can be used to promote scientific interest and inquiry and an understanding of the natural selection and the effects of climate change were discussed. In the second I used some of my guru's caterpillar slides (Dr. Dave Wagner).

It all got a good start when a very kind manager of the restaurant helped me get set up for my workshop on Monday morning. I drove an hour in the rain to get to my workshop and parked illegally in the garage on P5 and my room was on the lobby level. LaKeisha greeted me with a smile and how may I help you. I told her my troubles about getting unloaded and parking illegally. She said, "just stand right here and I will get it taken care of." Moments later she had a bell cart and waiter to go the P5 and load and then unload every piece of my prompts and presentation materials to my room. I did not have to do a thing except unlock my trunk. As if that were not enough, she got me a plastic cup of water and sent the manager in to check on me. He asked if I needed anything and I said I could use a pencil sharpener for the 200 colored pencils I was going to use in the presentation He said let me sharpen them and I did not argue. I told the hospitality heroes at the Marriott that I was going to move in. I wrote a very positive letter to the hotel in thanks.

Further, I got to meet a former student who is now an excellent teacher, Quanetta Montgomery Love and her friend, Nichole Harris. I was so encouraged to see young teachers in the profession who have the passion and knowledge and love of learning and teaching to pass on to the next generation. I was very discouraged to hear yet again the woes of working with less than stellar or even adequate administrators. I think I am going to start another blog and small group of change agents to help make a more supportive environment at the schools where we teach. Anyone interested?

Science Club at Fall Fest - Just Barely

 

After a lot of arranging the newly organized VJ Science Club took its first field trip to the 31st Annual Fall Fest at the Mississippi State Truck Crops Station in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. My room was a frenzy of activity before we left. Destiny came in to get the rain measurements for the network, Mr. Lewis the sub was getting instructions for the day, students were coming in with their permissions slips, Mr. Hamblin introduced me to his lovely wife who I had invited to go with us, and on it went. It got time to go and I made sure everyone was on the list for announcements. We had one final drama – a football player wanted to go (along with two others) but he was told he could not play in the game that night if he went – he stayed. I gave everyone the speech about representing Velma Jackson High School and conducting themselves like ladies and gentlemen and about taking notes for the report they would send me by email. I then went around and made sure everyone had a homemade book and pencil and got to go to the sessions they wanted to attend as we started traveling. We got well on our way down the highway and it hit me out of the blue – I had left Mrs. Hamblin in her husband’s classroom. I felt horrible and told Ms. Washington, my colleague on the trip, that it was time for me to retire. I apologized to Mr. Hamblin later and felt very, very small.

In spite of that terrible goof, we had a very good day even though it was very cold. Students got to attend sessions on Nature Photography, Pond Management, Fun with Vegetables, Producing Your Own Flower Arrangement and many others. The highlight for me was learning about the four P’s of pond management and watching them seine the 2.5-acre pond and to see the twenty plus blue gill hatchlings and two intermediates. Also it was a great treat to see all the beautiful flowers with the scientific labels, to hear Norman Winter’s presentation on hot new plants and to see his 80 beautiful color slides, and to see friends from another group in my life. The homemade grist mill for corn was also very interesting - I bought a bag and got contact information so maybe we can make our own one day. I also got a tree supplier for persimmons, pomegranates and others to agree to meet me half way to save a delivery charge for our emerging VJ botanical gardens. I am looking forward to receiving the reports from the students. Many of them asked about planting a garden at school and having our own pond and, of course, when we would take our next trip.

The drama for the day was not over. I had promised the administrators that we would return before school let out for the day (since an earlier field trip this week was ten minutes late and the students had to be kept after school for about ten nervous minutes) and before the students loaded the buses. I kept my promise barely. We drove up just as kids were getting out of school to load the buses. I saw the principal looking at us with smoke coming out of his ears. I did get him to smile a bit later when I told him my nickname in college – Just Barely – not early, not late, right on time, Just Barely.
It may be awhile before we get to go again (next time I will make a point not to leave anyone behind).

Life Goes On

New life in the oasis.


Life goes on after the loss of the fish. Students and teachers alike are fascinated by their specimens in jars on the shelf below the new fish. The dead and the living show the cycle of life before their eyes.

There are lots of new developments as life goes on.

Out of the blue the janitors and central office maintenance folks showed up at my door and told me I had new desks. Life is good.



After thanking them I showed them around the greenhouse and oasis and learned one of them had an albino python and another is going to bring turnip seeds for the greenhouse after seeing the tomato plants doing so well.

Both botany classes transplanted their tomato plants after rearing them from seeds. For most of them this was a first and even high school kids (and senior citizen teachers) love to see things grow. We might have a harvest before Christmas. Now that we are getting proficient at this we will sell seedings in our first annual plant sell in the spring.



Dewanious puts on the finishing touches.



Ozihous waters



James and Montrell water while Mozetta and Mia look on.

The new fish are adjusting well except for the algae eaters – we have lost three so far - the fourth one seems to be doing well. We have also lost one bubble eye and his replacement seems to be adjusting. One black and orange oranda perished this week as well and is yet to be replaced.

My botany class had gotten our data sheets in order for all the classroom animals with mass, length and food intake (in zoology next semester they will take care of plants also). Soon we will establish an ongoing data base for all insects, plants and other specimens brought into the classroom – at this point we have been delivered a wolf spider, a newt, a millipede, a swallowtail chrysalis (we keep waiting and watching for the new butterfly along with the two walnut caterpillar chrysalis) and over 40 different leaves.



Can you see the six eyes of the wolf spider that Nyderrick brought?



Benita, the bearded dragon, weighs in with the help of Michelle and Afrika.

Another project that will begin soon is the babysitting of plants over the winter – we already have one from a lady in the cafeteria. For five dollars we will baby sit small plants and ten dollars for large ones.

Mojo the hamster is quite the showman in his exercise ball that Demarcus was kind enough to donate.



Darnell and Cubbie help Mojo out of her new ride and back home.





Debriana looks for Mojo.

Sister Isaac II, the ball python is yet to eat and slithers right past the new pinkies (thawed baby mice). The pet folks recommend letting him be without contact for several days and then dangling the room temperature pinkie with a tong. We will let you know his progress.

Benita has a new larger home (50 gallon terrarium with fresh carpet and homemade cover - me and Mr. Hamblin at work again) above the fish tank. The school ladder stays in our room so we can tend to her.



Benita kicks back in her new quarters.



Hardashi puts Benita back in her new home.

Now Velma Jackson is a part of the Community Collective Rain, Snow and Hail Network. The later two will probably not be observed but the rain guage which has been very active lately is checked and recorded on the internet daily (www.cocorahs.org). Our data can be checked out by going to site and clicking on Mississippi and then Madison County.



Finally the newly established science club has been given permission to travel to the annual Fall Festival at the Mississippi State Agricultural Field Station at Crystal Springs on Friday, October 16. (http://msucares.com/fallfest/events.html). Everyone is getting pumped about this, and we hope to learn a lot about greenhouse plants, pond management, composting and other topics as well as eat some good food and see some beautiful plants.