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| Meeting at Whitney Young High School |
The Lincoln Park Zoo. What a perfect location for a writing marathon! The morning is muggy and overcast. The team appears to be excited about the experience. Seven of us car pooled and the rest of the group commuted independently using public transportation or otherwise.
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| Carpooling |
Who would've thought? Jan rides motorcycles! Vroom, Vroom... She talked about the importance of helmet safety during our commute.
Use Remind to send text messages to school families for free. It synchronizes with your phone using a code. No need to exchange phone numbers. Messages may also be saved for record keeping purposes. How convenient!
Inquiry Project Update. It should be composed around a topic that is of interest to you and is beneficial to the classroom, grade level team or at district level. The product is dependent on it's audience and is intended to be implemented and applied in your own setting. Class will resume in the fall for a follow-up report. Consider it an Action Research Project.
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| Newest Chicago Driver |
We entrusted our lives to the newest Chicago driver of the team! Her previous driving experience was from Kentucky. She's only been driving in the city for a year. We're brave!
The arrival causes mixed emotions. It begins to rain on our parade. We're nervous as to how the day's weather will evolve and affect our planned activities. Just as quickly as the rain cloud hovered over us, it disappeared. So off we go! Triad groups sets forth on a mission to settle on a location for the first writing entry. Happy writing!
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Writing Marathon |
Although it's slightly humid, it's great to be outside enjoying the fresh air. The sudden breeze sprinkled raindrops onto my writing tablet. Two young children ran with excitement towards the rhinoceros exhibit. The zoo provides a wonderful opportunity to see animals that live in the wild. The children's laughter echos in the distance. Their clattering feet tap the ground like the beat of a drum. An annoying fly bravely interrupts my peaceful thoughts, reminding me that I should've sprayed insect repellent.
The Writing Marathon continues. Each entry increases in duration. Not every selected location was conducive for a positive experience. Some locations were louder than others which lead to distraction and incomplete thoughts. As teachers, it's important to remain in the student role, understanding the difficulties they face on a daily basis. It was interesting to hear the various approaches each person took during this experience. Some wrote novels, others journaled and others wrote creative short stories. The experience was unique as every individual.
After lunch, and a much needed break from the hot sun, the team headed for some indoor central air and lighting. We learned about how Lincoln Park Zoo's Guest Engagement Team, provide operant conditioning techniques through food motivating training sessions. These sessions strengthen the bond between animal and keeper, and help maintain animals healthy. Apes are kept in separate groups found in their natural habitat. Bachelor apes are grouped together until a male can claim dominance and care for an entire family of apes. Animal behaviors are captured and studied through camera trap programs. Visit the following sites for more info:
The day's events concluded with a resounding "yes" to debrief tomorrow morning. Although the scheduled activities were riveting, the combination of a muggy, hot day became a bit oppressive. We look forward to a fresh new start with the rise of the morning sun.
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Interesting facts:
When crossing a road in Vietnam, one must cross without making eye contact with the driver. It's like walking into a busy road with your eyes closed! Contrary to the U.S., making eye contact, signals the driver to continue driving.
One of our colleagues drove in revers, on an express way, for an entire mile, in a foreign country!
I stood next to a statue of Shakespeare. I stood in a field of flowers. I stood beside teachers and writers who inspire me daily...It was the best marathon I have ever been involved in.
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