Target® Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™

I Just Can’t Wait !!!

bfroke — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:56:24 +0000

This month I have extended some of my previous themes. As we get closer to the start of the Iditarod and get more excited I keep thinking about the amazing sled dog! I have included this month another of my favorite Math Vignette for January, along with a lesson on that is informative Gait Patterns for young and old alike. I have also included an activity in nutrition, something that the sled dog is the absolute master of. Universities all over the world study the sled dogs metabolism as a link to an amazing secret.

A sled dog is a “back to back” marathon runner. His metabolism and diet has to be extremely efficient and obviously plentiful to allow him to do his job to the best of his ability. A human marathoner must consume 3500 to 5000 calories a day while training or actually running the marathon and up to 25%, preferably 15% fat and 60% carbohydrates with plenty of water to maintain good hydration, which is also important for sled dogs.

A sled dog running the Iditarod needs to consume around 12,000 calories a day through multiple feedings high in protein and fat, in fact, about 60% fat. They are the ultimate marathoners.

In Comparison – What do you consume? For the duration of the race track your own food intake. Track total calories and percentages of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Feel free to use the chart below.

Another project that is just plain fun – is to imagine that a person consumed 12,000 calories in a day at a rate of 60% fat, what would they have to eat. Look at fast food menus and the like to compare. Obviously there are several answers and those answers will demonstrate the differences in metabolism between sled dogs and the average American. It may also provide quite a laugh if you imagine yourself eating ALL that in one day.

By the time I post for you the next time, I will be in Alaska preparing for the greatest adventure of a lifetime. Come with me and stay connected as I follow those amazing athletes. If you have a skype account, let me know and send me your information. If you keep your skype on during the day you just might get a surprise call. It will all depend on when I can connect and who is available at the time, but I would love to talk to you and share images with your students so stay connected and you never know what we can do!

Rookie and I are ready to hit the trail!

Blynne

Date Calories Carbohydrates% Protein% Fat%

Forget the Oak Tree

bfroke — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:05:35 +0000

I have set the Oak tree aside this month. Why? Is that just a nice way of saying that I have given up? No . . . yes . . . let me explain. . .

The Oak trees, as I have shown you are leafless this time of year and though that might seem easier, it actually presents new problems. The amazing texture of bark and branches stands out even more and as they do I get more and more intimidated. I quit drawing them altogether last month. That is until last week, when I watched a pair of my students work on a rather large painting of two trees at sunset. . . . the paint strokes on the trunks of the trees were really heavy and I was thinking that it didn’t look very good, but thank goodness I was keeping my mouth shut as one of them began to crush tea leaves over the trunks and allow it to fall over the thick brown paint which grabbed it easily. The effect, of course, was bark – dry, rough bark.

I asked her how she had thought of it and she just hummed a moment and said I thought it needed something.

Well, I thought it did too, but that’s where I stopped. I just gave up. She had not only not given up, but by simply reaching for a possible solution close at hand tried something that worked beautifully. I know, because I have been watching her for months, that if that hadn’t worked, she would have painted over it and tried another effect or asked me for some advice (like I had a lot to give). I know that because she is just that kind of industrious student, the kind that doesn’t give up. I had.

I was a little frustrated with myself because I also know that when I run into a problem, my students usually have an answer and one that will work. Whether that problem is how to help them understand a concept or how to create a more real experience in the classroom, they are in the trenches and see things so much more simply. I had forgotten my first rule of teaching, when in doubt – ask the students. And Esme reminded me. Thanks.

Anyway – my brief respite from the Oak tree led me back to my beloved huskies and I have one to share with you tonight that I hope you will like and think you will recognize as the season moves on.

Are you getting excited? I sure am!!!

Still on the trail with Rookie,

Blynne

Time to Pick a Musher

bfroke — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:03:40 +0000

Hope your holidays are revving up smoothly for what, in my house, is a joyous energy explosion.

The starting line up of mushers is pretty much set by now. There are 70 this year! It is definitely time to start checking them out, picking our favorites, checking percentages – male/female, rookie/veteran and so on. Many of the mushers have web sites where you can check out their kennels and learn about their experiences. It is great fun to follow a few favorite mushers through the whole experience.

Now -

Food for thought – When I was teaching junior high, our Math teacher was also the basketball coach and loved to do all sorts of Math projects (pie charts, graphs, statistics, etc.) associated with “March Madness,” the NCAA championships. One year we decided to work together so as the English teacher I helped students write news stories and practice oral delivery. We set up a realistic “Sports Desk” and filmed the daily reports. We had costume and make up jobs, camera operators . . . the whole nine yards. It was an enormous project, but still one of my favorite DVDs and the kids loved it. It seems like a similar project could be mounted around the Iditarod. Anyway that is a whole project of its own and I was just brainstorming so I thought I would share. I’ll see what else I can remember from that experience and imagine how it could be converted Iditarod style. Check back and see what I come up with or maybe you have some ideas you would like to share.

Lessons

This month I do have for you three new lessons. We start with another Math Vignette for December with questions and answers attached, then I have a writing project that taps into Character Education in a Form Poem. Finally a great geography and math project that I call “It’s All About the Map”and to make your project even more fun I have added a recipe for a salt and flour map to make your projects extra special. I hope you enjoy looking forward to them while you are on holiday, but be sure to take that precious time with family now – the lessons will still be here when you have finished cleaning up.

I am looking forward to pulling lots of warm socks out of my Christmas stocking this year to keep my feet warm on the trail and Rookie needs a bright new harness.

Still on an amazing trail with Rookie,

Blynne

The Holidays are Upon Us

bfroke — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:33:24 +0000

The holidays always bring back memories of family times and moments of passage in our own lives. The core of the Iditarod for me has always been the life stories, struggles and triumphs of the mushers’ experiences. My students read about the journeys and learn from them that life, for all of us is metaphorically a trail that we follow and a series of choices we make when the trail forks. My first lesson this month is just that Life is a Trail Students learn the concept of metaphors and apply it to their own lives as they choose how to express the experience they have had and the choices they have made. It also gives them the chance to anticipate choices to come and how they will answer those. They may see their lives as a river following its carved out course or a ferris wheel constantly following the same circle. Whatever it is . . . it will be enlightening both for you and the student. This is, of course, one of those experiences that I embark upon after reading and sharing the life journeys of everyone from Norman Vaughn to Lisa Frederik. Refer to the reading list that I posted last month for ideas.

The next lesson I have to offer is a challenge into Math Vignettes I have written one and attached it for you, but challenge yourself and (if old enough) your students to write some of their own. I have always been impressed by how much more students learn when looking for and forming the questions themselves. The learning experience is deeper and longer lasting than simply responding to the questions we ask. (one facet of experiential learning) It seems to be 4^th through 6^th grade that the turning point really begins to drive their learning.

I noticed, while putting together the lessons for this month that, for the most part, they address older students so I have included a Rookie Dot to Dot by the number for the younger set. It is not so simple as it seems to get it right as I approach my easel each morning, but if your students work on it, they may be re-creating Rookie as well, or even better, than I am by the time I get to Alaska for the race.

I hope you enjoy the challenges this month and as always – I am on the trail, with Rookie as my guide,

Blynne

Pencil Point . . . Again

bfroke — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:52:31 +0000

November Oak

I am finding the oak tree to be very illusive. It is such an icon of strength and steadfastness that drawing it is like trying to draw a feeling or a dream. It is like a child that changes day to day with the currents of their lives.

I imagine a musher when he or she finally decides, “I’m going to do it!” She sees the Iditarod as so many things at once. Where do you start? What do you master first? Or can you even approach it that way? Isn’t it a truly magnificent whole and isn’t that why you want to do it? It is the feeling, the dream of the oak tree that takes one hundred years to become what it is.

I start by looking at it, trying to really see it. And I look at it again and again, each time trying to see something that I didn’t notice before. Then I do it again.

I have an Art student this year that took the class, because he thought it would be an easy A, not because he thought he would draw, no background whatsoever and no belief he could do anything at all. We started with a circle, just a circle, trying to makeit as perfect as possible and I employed Mrs. Van Zyle’s approach – that’s good, “do it again.” I have included here the product of three weeks of circles. If only my oak tree would improve this way. But practice makes perfect and I have patience.

Alex's orange

And I always start with the trunk, because that is what everything depends upon. A musher’s trunk is his team and the relationship they share. If each member doesn’t look at every other member with the same trust, everything will fall down.

As teachers we know that before the paper and books and rulers and chalk there is the relationship of mutual trust that must be born between teacher and student, and student and teacher. It is that intangible thing that holds everything together. It is the reason I look at the oak tree again and again, more carefully each time. It is the reason we study those faces each morning.

The valley I live in is literally full of oak trees and there are days I don’t see even one. Those are bad days – the days that never quite get off the ground. So make a promise to me, yourselves and your students to have no more bad days and I will take another look at that oak tree out back.

With Rookie as my Guide,

Blynne

Community

bfroke — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:32:59 +0000

Working together is one of the most outstanding qualities of the Iditarod. All these people, from all over the world working for one amazing race, one outstanding experience. That is one thing that all of October’s lessons have in common. We all work more productively when we work together and the results can be something to be very proud of.

The race is getting closer and my excitement is mounting. It is never too soon to start planning the educational experience of the year! It is still in the 80’s here in California, but I can still dream.

This month I think I have some real treats for you. At least these are a couple of my all time favorites. I started doing a Living Wax Museum many years ago when I taught Junior High School History and when my assignment changed and my interest in the Iditarod grew I realized it was a perfect fit and a crowd pleaser to boot. Check this idea out for your next Open House and you will have parents and family from the entire school lined up at your door for the fun of Heroes of the Iditarod – Wax Museum . I have included a suggested reading List for background knowledge, fact checking and just plain great reading.

My next adventure for you this month also gets the whole school involved as we experience cross-age tutoring with Trail Buddies. Primary students just love the older students and don’t you find that you always learn things best when you teach about them? Well this one hits both ends of the equation and can as hands on as you like.

The last offering I have for you this month is the research report. So many skills come together when students write research reports. Some of the skills we used to encourage like letter writing and interviewing for information are easily overlooked in our electronic information age, but last year I had one student create a very close bond with a docent at the Palmer House Museum during the course of her research. Photos, gifts and letters were exchanged and my student, Katie, set in motion even more interest by other teachers in the history of the Palmer Colony. I have included a student brainstormed topic list topics list for this project to get you started.

Still following the trail with Rookie,

Blynne

Pencil Point, the next step

bfroke — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:51:03 +0000

I have been working with Jon and Jona Van Zyle in my quest to be a better artist. As such, I have been sending sketches of what I have planned for this year’s T shirt. Jona had some great suggestions for me, but my immediate reaction was “I can’t do that.” I was scared to try it because I thought I might not be able to pull it off very well. I was sunk before I started.

My motto was creeping up the back of my neck ready to give me a good whack when I remembered what this journey is all about. “Challenge Yourself,” Blynne! The suggestions were indeed good ones. She encouraged me into a more complex expression of my idea, and made me reach a bit further or dig a bit deeper into myself to accomplish it.

Challenging yourself is a little scary sometimes, but it is only by taking another step out onto that limb that you are able to reach the fruit that is so satisfying.

Look below to see what kind of progress I’m making with my oak tree and a sneak peak at my ideas for the Winter Conference T shirt.

A big thanks to all those people that expect more from me!

Blynne

Click to view slideshow.

Step by Step

bfroke — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:08:11 +0000

Imagining and accepting a challenge is admirable, inspiring and exciting, but making it actually happen is another challenge. Making it happen takes work. The bigger the challenge, the harder the work, and to make the work manageable; to really get it done, you need a plan. Four-time Iditarod Champion, Martin Buser, reminds us that “the harder we work, the luckier we get.”

He also reminds us that planning is everything.

You know the old adage – If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. After you make your plan, you have to take the first step. There is a lot of glory and fanfare that comes with taking the first step, but that second step is where real grit is needed. The hardest thing you do is take the second step.

Iditarod mushers, obviously, take far more than the second step, but before the race begins there is a ton of planning to be done. All those steps. Martin Buser is a meticulous planner. His drop bags are packed precisely according to plan. Every bag of supplies is packed with its use in mind. It must open in a particular way and land in his frozen hand a particular way in order to reduce the problems of frozen hands and sleep-deprived brains.

Helping our students anticipate what they will need when they arrive in a variety of situations is one of the most useful things we do. They won’t be surprised by the struggles they encounter because they knew what to expect.

The next few months’ lessons will be about what it takes to make and implement the plans an Iditarod musher needs to be successful. Our dearest hope is that our students will transfer this knowledge and experience to the challenges they face in their own lives and be ready to be successful.

This month’s lessons include an inspirational piece for which students will write Found Poetry. To help with this lesson, I have included a piece that I wrote as a sample – in the words of Howard Farley. The next lesson joins health awareness, community service and one of the most inspiring mushers I know, Mike Williams. Appropriately, I call this lesson make a pledge. For the final lesson this month we will get down to one of the many exercises in the math of planning the race in a lesson I call Pound for Pound .

The very best example that we can give our students is to challenge ourselves everyday and share those experiences with them. Everyday there is a new challenge.

My latest challenge was finding the best fit in cold weather gear while it was over 100 degrees here.

Still on the trail with Rookie,

Blynne

Pencil Point

bfroke — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:20:37 +0000

An exciting and productive life demands both short and long term goals. Two pieces of advice I received recently have helped form a new short term goal for me that I would like to share with you. After reading maybe you will share yours with me.

Jon Van Zyle shared an experience from his childhood, when he was already an artist, with me. He would proudly show his mother a drawing he had made and she would look and simply say “good, do it again.” Then, during in-service this year we watched a youtube video by TED that talked about the fact that you can do almost anything for 30 days and when those 30 days are over you often find that you have attained an accomplishment that will have lasting results.

As I have shared with you, I have been drawing Rookie at my easel in the kitchen every morning and he is really taking on better form. The other day my husband actually left a stickie on it that said – “the best one so far.” Likewise I have been having my drawing students draw a freehand circle at the beginning of each class (a more difficult feat than you might imagine) and some of these circles are really taking shape, pun intended.

Is there something that you would really like to do? Something maybe you thought was too big to really do? Our students feel that way every day. Break yours down to one of the simple things you will need to master to attain your goal and do it every day for the next 30. Send me emails and let me know what you are working on, particularly if it has anything to do with drawing or the Iditarod. I would love to share your challenge.

I have two new goals that I am working on – 1. I want to draw a realistic oak tree as I live in a valley where they grow abundantly and 2. I want to run 250 miles before I leave for the Iditarod. So, my short term goals will be to draw one oak tree a day for the next 30 and to run, just run (fast/slow, long/short) every day. Right now I am doing a little over a mile and a half when I do run and well – I have shared my oak tree with you below. OK, so it is a little fairy tale like and looked a bit like an octopus, but I have 30 days.

Check in with me in 30 days to see where we have come.

Staying on the trail with Rookie,

Blynne

It All Starts as a Rookie

bfroke — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:14:50 +0000

The champions of the Iditarod are true icons. They embody the enormous accomplishment that we aspire to within our own individual passions. We look at them and we see success. Although these amazing examples inspire us, we often feel very small around them, as though we could never do what they do because, after all, we are only human, right?

It is for that reason that I find the rookies so very interesting. Iditarod rookies are mushers that have not yet completed the Iditarod and crossed under the arch in Nome. I find I can relate to them more easily. I watch carefully each step they take toward their successes and think to myself – that’s doable, not easy, but doable.

There are 12 rookies signed up so far this year and as the school term progresses you will be able to learn about them and their hopes and dreams by going to http://iditarodblogs.com/teachers/category/news-for-classrooms/rookie-mushers/

I have a new inspirational partner of my own this year. His name, oddly enough, is Rookie and he is a sled dog that appears on my easel every morning. My job is to work with him until I can draw him quickly and easily (under a minute) to introduce him to the students I meet along my trail. Rookie helps me see things with an accurate and positive perspective. He reminds me every morning that there isn’t much I can’t do if I put my mind to it. So far he has gotten me back out on the pre-dawn running road four out of five mornings this week.

We are all really rookies at something. This month I offer you the beginning of Rookie’s development, (please feel free to offer suggestions). I also offer three lessons you may wish to include this year. They all involve imagining a goal and planning for it, which is where all rookies start on the road to success.

The first lesson is “Safety First” and can be adjusted to any grade level. We begin with a reading of Rivers, Diary of a Blind Alaska Sled Dog by Mike Dillingham showing us how his musher prepares a place and life for him that helps to keep him safe and on the trail. safety first

The second lesson is “Tracking the Musher.” This activity may seem a little premature in the heat of late summer, but some video of the race itself may inform the students about the enormous complexity and overall scope of information generated by the race and is a slightly less overwhelming planning exercise than the planning of volunteer placement and supply drops that we will look at later. It is never too soon to start planning how we will keep track of the grand movement that is the Iditarod.Tracking the musher

The third lesson I call “Imagine the Possibilities.” Norman Vaughn, explorer and WWII hero was an Iditarod rookie at 83 years of age. His story is in Iditarod Classics by Lew Freedman (available on line from Iditarod.com). Many of the stories would be great jumping off places for a discussion of dreaming big and making the choices necessary to achieve a goal but Norman’s is my favorite. Imagine the possibilities – lesson plan

I hope you find one of my lessons this month that works for you and as always feel free to email me with reactions, suggestions and new ideas.

Staying on the trail with Rookie,

Blynne