Treats in Dillon

I discovered a jewel this week in Dillon, Montana. I am late to the party, I know, but indulge me the opportunity to share a little of my experience. What a nice campus, with intimacy and goodwill between the students and instructors, and a welcoming atmosphere for a visiting speaker! I thoroughly enjoyed this short trip, set up by the incomparable Estee Aiken, professor in the Education Department.

On Thursday evening I was the inaugural speaker for their 2014 Education Department Speaker Series. I spoke about curricular integration and likened it to baking cookies. Quite a few students and community members turned out for the talk, which featured several videos made by and about my students at Arlee. At the end, I shared my mom's excellent chocolate chip cookies. Thanks, mom!

Friday morning brought 26 degrees and a visit to two classrooms: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at 10 and Multicultural Education later on. In the first class I demonstrated how to use guided notes and structured discussion to explore a tough text, using James Banks' dimensions of multicultural education as a sample. 

In Multicultural Education, students explored the topic of Indian mascots and a discussion whose main points were identified by students; in groups, they discussed the various facets of the mascot issue and the nuances involved in making a claim about the topic. I showed them my own high school students' posters from last week's work so they could compare their thinking.

Just another day on the Warrior Trail.