Ancient Ulama

Inspired by my reading of The Ball by John Fox, I decided that playing a round of the ancient Aztec game, ulama, would be a great way to start talking about Aztec society and culture. As Fox asserts in his book, ball games not only unify people in cultures all over the world, but their rules and play provide great insight into the cultures that created them.

Note: To read my previous post on John Fox's The Ball, click here.

Though the game has changed significantly over the centuries, ulama is a traditional ballgame that started with the ancient Aztecs and is still played in some regions of Mexico. The original rules are complex and the scoring system is difficult to master, but in our modified game, we played with rules similar to volleyball or tennis. The ulama court is generally a long, thin corridor marked with paint or chalk or, more traditionally, walled in with slanted stone walls.

The object of the game is to volley the ball back and forth, hopefully causing the other team to make an error. In our modified game, points were awarded for causing the other team to miss the ball in bounds. Traditionally, the game is played with a heavy nine-pound natural rubber ball, but we just used a soccer ball.

The real challenge in ulama, however, is hitting the ball. It is illegal in ulama to use one's hands or feet. Because the traditional ball is so heavy and dense, the Aztecs used their hips and upper thigh to hit the ball as it could have caused serious injury to arms and feet.

To prepare for our round of ulama, we read a brief handout in class and watched the minute-long video from ESPN embedded below. I then explained our modified rules, grabbed my whistle and headed out to the playing fields.

It was really difficult to get used to using only hips to hit the ball, but once they got the hang of it, the kids had a blast! Make the rules work for you and your group, grab a soccer ball and immediately grab the kids attention to start learning about Mesoamerican cultures!

Be Part of the Techie Movement!

As a small, independent school, we are members of the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, or PAIS. This year, a few colleagues and I decided to launch an online web 2.0 tools boot camp in conjunction with the PAIS. We are certainly not the first to think of this boot camp idea, but I absolutely love the fact that anyone can start their own!

The basic idea is to share free, simple web 2.0 tools with others, then for all members to share their experiences via a wiki or a website. For our boot camp, we decided to create a free Google site that allowed users to comment on the individual pages. We also wanted the tools to be approachable for all levels of comfort with technology and the pacing to fit a busy teacher's schedule.

Our site features one web tool or idea per month and teachers may take the entire month to experiment with the tool. We then ask that they comment and leave advice, feedback and experiences about how the tool worked in their classrooms. Each month, we send out an email blast reminding users of the new tool and guiding them to the website for further instructions.

Below is a partial screenshot of the site. Each month has a page dedicated to a particular web tool or method for teachers to explore.

The specific site for each tool provides directions and links. Participants range from K-12, so their feedback is valuable for using tools for various age levels, subjects and abilities. At the bottom of each page is a field for leaving comments with questions and feedback.

There are a few things that I find really exciting about these boot camp type programs. First of all, my colleagues and I have been able to actively communicate and collaborate with teachers all over the state. There are over 130 members in our program and it sounds like members are even sharing their findings with other non-members at their respective schools. Second, it was relatively easy for us to set up a free Google site and share it with dozens of people. Lastly, because of the self-paced, yet guided nature of the site, teachers are finding that it fits into their schedules as busy professionals.

For security reasons, our site is secured to members only. So why am I sharing this on my blog? Because anyone can do it and share their nifty tips and tricks with the world and get a whole lot back in return. Our monthly boot camp originally started as a collaborative site just within our school, but it has expanded to include the entire PAIS. You can begin your own boot camp for sharing tech ideas in your own school, community or district, too! Start a free site, invite some people to share (long distance works just great, too) and start collaborating with other enthusiastic teachers on the web. It doesn't even have to be about tech tools - it can be science ideas, literacy websites, or math games. The possibilities are endless!

Understanding the Bering Strait Land Bridge

How did thousands upon thousands of people migrate to North America and South America from Asia? And how did this land bridge disappear?

In class this week, we created a simulation of the Bering Strait Land Bridge and how it disappeared after the last Ice Age. Even though many students had already heard about the land bridge and were familiar with the concept, they weren't visualizing exactly how the land bridge ceased to exist after the last Ice Age. Some thought it washed away, others thought it sunk, and yet others were still picturing a "bridge" in their minds.

To prepare for this project, I borrowed a bunch of cookie sheets from another department of the school and sketched a map in color of the Beringia area. There were several maps available on the web, but I wanted something a little more specific to our needs. I scanned the sketch into the computer, then printed color copies as needed. I laminated the maps so that they would hold up to the clay that would be applied later.

On the first day of the assignment, students were given a lump of air-dry clay, the laminated map, a few popsicle sticks and a cookie sheet to create their model. I instructed them to make the green areas of the map thicker and the brown areas thinner. They used the sticks to contour the edges of the land..

I always have students maintain record sheets of their labs, demonstrations and projects so that they may look back at them later. With any leftover time after completing the models, they began sketching their work on the record sheet and reading the accompanying information.

We stacked the cookie sheets to dry overnight so they would be ready for the next day's simulation. To prepare for day two, I filled one bucket with some warm water and another bucket with some ice. We are fortunate enough to have an ice machine in our fitness room and cafeteria, but you can also purchase bagged ice if necessary. You may also want another empty bucket available for disposal of water and ice after the demonstration.

Students poured "ocean" water onto their models until water surrounded all landmasses, but did not cover the land bridge. We then placed piles of ice to model glaciers in the Arctic region. We placed the trays in the warmest part of the room near the heater, an area the kids dubbed the "climate change zone." Students completed some of their record sheets while I circulated the room and left the "glaciers" to melt over the heater.

While filling in the record sheets, students periodically checked on their models and watched as the water slowly encroached on the land bridge, eventually submerging it completely. The ice did not fully melt, but we discussed that this was accurate, since there are still large amounts of water locked in ancient glaciers to this day.

The project might have gotten a little messy, but there is just no substitute for kinesthetically feeling and seeing the process take place. With just a few minutes of cleanup and a table wipe-down, our classroom was back to its neat-and-orderly self and we had a better understanding of how the world's landscape could change due to a slight change in temperature.

The Great Seal

Most of my middle school social studies students studied civics and government last year, and we will be jumping into early American history this year. As a quick connector activity between these two subjects, our first assignment of the year showed each student's interpretation of the American culture and identity.

To begin, we brainstormed some defining ideas of "Americanism." I prompted them by asking them questions like What is the American identity? What makes us different from other countries? What are some of the American ideals of which we are all proud? As usual, the students came up with some great, insightful ideas, many of which I had not considered. A quick example of our brainstorming sheet is shown below:

Taking this discussion further, the students were given the opportunity to create their own Great Seal of the United States. I held off on showing them the official seal until after the assignment was completed.

I handed out a sheet with several common symbols used in flags, icons, and American popular and historical culture. I included images like the scales of justice, the Masonic pyramid and the olive branch.

I handed out some poster-sized paper that was printed with a circle template for the students to design their own seal. My only parameters were that the seal  include at least a few symbols from the sheet or other sources and that each symbol thoughtfully represented some part of the American identity. I also gave them a list of common Latin phrases and mottos and asked them to choose one of these, as well.

The right side of the poster is left blank at this point. Later on, we will add an image of the real Official Seal of the United States and analyze its symbolism according to the Founding Fathers' design.

The students created their own symbolic seals that they felt represented the ideals and identity of the American people. Below is an example from a student who chose to emphasize the enduring nature of the United States and contrast war with peace.

Once all students have completed their own seals, I printed color copies of the real seal. I printed them to the same dimensions of the circles on the poster. After reading a little about the seal design and its symbolism in our textbook, we pasted the official seal onto the poster and labeled it in the same way that we had labeled our own designs.

This was a really fun, relaxed, yet meaningful way to begin the school year for us. I actually got to know many of the new students better based on their interpretations of the assignment and some really great discussions arose at the tables.

Some Changes

For those who are not already aware, there are some changes coming to this blog... and my teaching career. Through the past four years, I have had the pleasure of teaching sixth grade reading, math and science. This year, I will be following last year's sixth graders up to the seventh grade and rejoining more former students in the eighth grade. Not only that, but I will be teaching social studies!

As much as it saddens me to leave the other subjects behind, particularly the science, I am looking forward to the new challenge of teaching history. After all, history has been my passion since I was a youngster and I came to this teaching profession with a degree in History and African & African-American Studies from college. I never thought that I would be a science teacher, much less fall totally in love with it, but this new position is what I had always planned to do.

Over the next few weeks as teachers all over my school and the country are getting to know a new class of students, I will have the pleasure (and advantage?) of working with students whom I already know well. We had such a wonderful year last year, I am truly optimistic that we can continue with the momentum we had and jump right into American history. 

I discovered, developed and honed many ways to make science engaging, hands-on and super-fun over the last four years and my biggest challenge and greatest opportunity this year will be to do the same for social studies. 

For all of you out there who follow my blog, or even if you are just stumbling across the site today, you can expect for my entries to transition more towards American history. I will continue to post general ideas and resources for educational technology and insight, but the lesson-specific posts and pictures of activities will be pertaining to American history from now on. Thanks and good luck this September to my fellow educators!

Dipping My Toes in the Edmodo Pool

How can you share videos, assignments, links and other online materials quickly and easily with students all in one place? With Edmodo, of course!

Several of my colleagues have been experimenting with this Facebook-like interface for networking, but I have only jumped on board this summer. Because the functions are often so similar to the ubiquitous Facebook, students often instinctively understand how to use it. It may seem gimmicky to some, but to me it is looking more and more like a streamlined way to communicate with students and network with teachers.

When you begin with Edmodo, you create a profile with your basic information and school location. You can connect with other teachers much like "friending" on Facebook. Also essential, you can create and join groups with other teachers and students. For example, I created a group for each of my classes and as they begin, I will give the access codes to students to join the group. I also joined a group of teachers involved in flipped classroom when a colleague sent me that access code.

As most teachers will tell you, the planning and the instruction are the fun parts of teaching. By far, the low point of the day is the stack of grading that never seems to go away. While there is no replacement for hands-on teacher assessment, there is certainly a place for "quick and dirty" assessments, particularly with homework assignments. Not only does Edmodo allow you to send assignments virtually to students, there are also quiz functions that self-grade. If even one assignment per week was graded electronically, it would certainly put a significant dent in my grading stack!

As I get more comfortable with Edmodo and its functions, expect to see lots more posts about its role in our classroom. Until then, the first-day-of-school homework assignment will be a quick Edmodo poll!

"Not the Same"

The "Back to School Sale" commercials are in full effect on TV, so I figured it was time to blow the summertime cobwebs off this blog and write another post.

What is it like to be "not the same?" And what does it feel like to find out?

As teachers, we are looking at the different ability levels in our room as an instructor. We are thinking about how to teach the kids to their strengths and reach them in their weaknesses. Not only do I teach many students with different learning styles, but a little girl with Down syndrome is a huge part of my life. Despite these interactions, I really don't know what it feels like.

National Public Radio's Chicago-based show This American Life recently ran a show entitled "Special Ed." As with every episode of TAL, there are several vignettes featured and the first one in this particular show interviewed students about the moment when they realized they were different. The rest of the show is great, as usual, but just those first five minutes are worth a listen.

It should be pretty apparent at this point that I am a proponent of reflective teaching, but this segment made me reflect on my teaching through the eyes of my students, as well.