Notes – May 10, 2013

1.     Walking my dogs in the early morning involves all the senses!  The smell of parched dry oats is so sweet!  In the still air of morning a patch of wild elderberries, in full bloom, gives sweet fragrance as I pass.  When I enter a grove of eucalyptus trees there is that unmistakable pungent odor. My old friend the California Pepper Tree gives me a spicy bouquet when I crush a few leaves!  There is an unmistakeable musty smell when I pass the drying mud of the drying river channel  When  I pass close to a farmhouse – and some mornings I know from the smell that they are having fried bacon for breakfast...  

 Me and two of the dogs

2.     On my route there are also the sounds of morning – far off a freight train is coming through the canyon sounding its horn as it rounds the turns, distant traffic sounds, and sounds of construction. Around me I also hear the calls of mocking birds, crows, scrub jays, seagulls, grebes, sparrows, Canada geese, killdeers, mourning doves, and the quiet little clicks of the humming birds...  

Crow on a fence post!

 I recognize them  all by their calls and sometimes if no one is around I do my best to answer them. Sometimes I have quite lengthy conversations with crows...they call to me – and I call right back.  And then there are clouds of swallows who are mostly silent – but turn and dive – sweeping close to the river water – then swoop high into the sky. 

The crunch of gravel underfoot as we walk, the sounds of distant dogs barking, the commuter jet starting its descent into Oakland airport... these too add to my morning blend of sounds.

 Sea gulls

3.     Each morning walk is a social occasion for both the dogs and me.  Many people are very regular in their walking habits – Some people I have been meeting and talking to for years.  Some I stand and chat with for a few minutes, others I just nod and greet “Good morning”.  One old Sikh gentleman with a white turban I greet with  “Na Muste”.  The dogs have their own system of social greetings.  Some of their cues are indecipherable to me – why are some dogs, when met, immediate best good friends and others are a cause for alarm and severe barking.... I’ll never know...  Of course smelling each other (all over) is an important part of their greeting.

Early morning in Quarry Lakes Park

4.     I love going out early in the morning when the water of the ponds is perfectly still. The reflection of hills and trees and clouds are just as perfect as the real thing.  Some mornings it seems like I could just walk into the reflection, so real is the image.  It is like an alternate universe.  And then a mallard duck  comes flying in and makes wild noisy ripples as it lands in my quiet lake.

My friend the Scrub jay

5.     By this time of year the growing season is pretty well over – the wild oats have gone to seed, many weeds have flowered and are setting seed, California poppies and lupines are finished and now will survive until the next rainy season only through their seeds. Summer dust is forming.  It is the normal way of things – accentuated this year by the low winter rainfall. 

One of the great and wonderful mysteries of nature, for me,  is "the seed":.

Our trail

6.     This time of year our Pacific Ocean current, moving down from Alaska, is a cold 55 degrees.  http://www.currentresults.com/Oceans/Temperature/san-francisco-average-water-temperature.php Enough to turn you blue if you try swimming in it without a wet suit.  Most nights an airmass from the Pacific moves over us cooling the air to low 60s and a low strata if gray clouds predominate.  By 10 AM  the sun breaks through, the clouds burn off, and it warms  to  the mid 70s. 

One of the 5 lakes in our park

7.   The end of another school year with my interns and student teachers is at hand!  I work with both Mills College student teachers, who teach one period a day and work with a Master Teacher;  and Loyola Marymount University interns who are hired to teach 5 periods a day and receive support from people like me, and their seminar leaders.  Colleges and universities end their term in the first week of  May - but the young teachers are expected to complete their school year until mid June.  My student teachers are now applying for a full placement in a school for next year... for them it is an anxious time until their placement is settled.  I value my relationships with the ST's and interns.  It is a privilege to observe their emergence from rank beginners to quite polished new teachers with a good 'bag of tricks' ready for next year.

Mills Hall - Mills College Campus

Memory is like a Slippery Fish...

 Photos this week were selected to show the range and power of human communication with words...Words that we assume lead to memory  Most of the black and white photos are the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. 

Try a little experiment with yourself – think about a lecture, speech, or  'listening encounter' that you have had within the last week.  Now, sit down with a paper and pencil and see how many of the concepts and details from the talk you can jot down.  How did you do?  Most of us leave the lecture with a sense that "that was really interesting" or "boring" or "I really liked it a lot"...but at the same time we remember few details.  Heck, most of the time I can’t even remember what I had for dinner two nights ago. 

High School Class - Tanzania

Now imagine that you are 15 years old and its 4^th period, just before lunch. The teacher is explaining the difference between mitosis and meiosis.  This student may be thinking, “  I’m starving – should I get pizza or a hot dog for lunch…? I wonder where that new cute girl eats…?  I wonder if she would talk to me if I sat down at her table?  All this time the teacher is explaining critical ideas about gamete production by meiosis.  The teacher is quite pleased because today everyone seems to be looking intently at her during the presentation. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Relaxing at Picnic

When the time comes to ask review questions about how mitosis and meiosis are alike and different – the first person passes – “I’m not sure…” The second student says that they both have something to do with cell division… “That’s correct – Can you tell us more?”…”Well, I think that only plants have meiosis”  …“No, animals have meiosis too. Would you like to call on someone to help you …?”  "Tayeisha will you help Jerome…" “Well with mitosis you end up with two identical cells that each have a full set of  chromosomes, but with meiosis you end up with two cells with only half as many chromosomes”. Teacher "Good now we can go on -  'What is a tetrad?" … 

Student group in Washington DC

Stop … hold the camera… this is the moment to examine…Clearly few of the students understood the difference between mitosis and meiosis and yet the teacher made the assumption that students upon hearing the correct answer suddenly  “got it”and that its safe to move on… "They heard it - they learned it - OK to move on"  Have you ever seen this is a class you observe ...or have you done it yourself?

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Neighbors

When free discussion of a topic occurs in class - how much permanent learning occurs  for students?  The discussion may be interesting for the moment - but sit down one on one with students the next day and have them tell you what they remember from the encounter...   Its humbling to discover 'not much'.  Good teachers do 'research' like this frequently.

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Civil Rights dispute

If you go to Google and ask ‘how much of what we hear do we retain?’ Generally  a very small number is listed... 

The following chart is attributed to William Glasser:

     "At the end of each day, the average person can remember:
      11% of what they heard that day
      30% of what they saw
      50% of what they heard and saw
      90% of what they did"
 

Gossip

Such information, though often quoted, needs to be interpreted with a grain of salt.  Many factors determine how much we retain.  Think back to your own experiences about what  causes you to 'learn' and remember.  How intently interested are you in the topic affects retention, the authority of the speaker influences learning,  how much information is presented, did you relate positively to the speaker, are you sleepy or anxious?, how abstract is the content ?...  How long ago did the learning take place?

I know a local politician who had to read and remember vast amounts of information  before each city council meeting.  He found that it worked better for him if he read the materials just before the meeting.  He often quoted:  "Read no piece before its time".

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Tribunal end of WW II

 It is also true that the more senses that are involved in our learning the more we retain.  Most good teachers today begin with a careful section of learning goals for the day, and for the unit.  The learning experience is presented with multiple encounters with the concept using different learning modes.  We can choose to present ideas that require the student to listen, read, talk within teams of 2 or 4, lab activities, and more...  The challenge is to limit the number of concepts to be learned and then to provide adequate varied learning experiences. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Matadors

Good learning is like a snowball rolling down hill.  A good teacher comes back and revisits important concepts with the students.  By reviewing, everyone reconnects with past learning and then add on to it...  Facts learned individually get lost in the shuffle.

Make it a mantra for yourself - post it where you do your lesson plans - repeat it to yourself when you enter the classroom... "Hearing does not equal learning..."  Effective teachers are constantly on the search for better methods for how to make learning happen for all students .... It becomes a career long compulsion with good teachers to continue that search.

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Argument

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Blessing

Sex among the ferns

'Fiddleneck'  on my Woodwardia fern

Ferns have this way of emerging from winter that makes me feel happy.  Spring is the season for growth and reproduction with most fern varieties in California - due mostly to the fact that this is usually the wettest season and warm enough for active growth.  It's the time of year that the new 'fiddle neck' curls emerge and unfold their long graceful shapes.  This year I had to cut back and move my patch of giant Woodwardia ferns.  Woodwardia are found growing naturally along cool foggy Pacific coast canyons from Northern California up into Alaska... they form patches up to 6 feet tall... I grow my colony in the coolest, most moist microclimate that I have. A spot where full sunlight never falls. 

Newly transplanted 'Woodwardia'

I also have Southern California sword fern – This form has a more narrow frond than those found in the cool moist ocean valleys of Oregon and Washington.  They are very tough and can withstand periods of drought.  They only reproduce and grow during the season of spring time moisture, but are easy to replicate asexually.   I just dig up a small clump with roots and rhizomes, stick it into the soil where I want it to grow, and give it water.    This particular variety I got from my Uncle John who collected it from the mountain valleys above Pasadena CA.

Southern California 'sword fern'

Another favorite fern of mine is the 'maiden hair' ferns – they look so delicate – but are actually quite a tough plant – I transplant them with the same lack of finesse as I do the sword ferns – dig up a small clump, with roots and rhizomes, and plunk it into the ground... with a little water – they almost always “take”.

Young 'Maiden Hair' fern

There is a book about ferns that reads like an adventure story – I highly recommend it – its “Oaxaca Journey” by Oliver Sacks:

http://www.amazon.com/Oaxaca-Journal-Vintage-Oliver-Sacks/dp/0307947440/ref=la_B000APZZY6_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366729086&sr=1-11

Arid fern

In the book he describes a group of New York fern enthusiasts (city folks)  who travel to Oaxaca Mexico to study ferns and to collect spores to grow back home in their New York greenhouses.  It is a surprisingly fun book to read!  The state of Oaxaca is a land noted for the largest diversity of ferns to be found in North America – some are adapted to the mountain-peak cloud forests, some to lower mountain valleys, and some adapted to arid desert setting.  Since reading the book I have been able to locate and add 3 varieties of arid ferns to my garden.
 

Spore cases on underside of frond - This is where cells with two sets of genetic information (2n) undergo a special cell division that will produce cells with a single set of genetic information (n) 

The life cycle of ferns has a surprise - Fern plants have two body forms that must alternate with each other!  What we call a 'fern' is the big showy green plant, but their offspring are tiny little inconspicuous things.  The offspring of those tiny plants are once more the big showy plant...  This is the sexual reproduction cycle of all ferns called 'alternation-of-generations'!  Simple life forms can tell us a lot about the development of life on our planet.  According to the fossil record, ferns developed long before there were any seed bearing plants on earth.  They even predate the time of dinosaurs!

Another variety of arid fern

Ferns reproduce by producing small reproductive 'spores' that form in certain seasons of the year on the underside of the fronds.  This is where it gets interesting!  Each cell in the tiny structures that form the spores must first undergoe a very special cell division that forms the spore cells with only one set of chromosomes (n)  from the parent plant – they are called haploid cells (n) .

Gametophyte has structures for producing both (n) sperm and  (n) egg - mature at different times

Countless millions of spores are released and a tiny few land in moist conditions and have a change to divide and grow into a tiny little heart shaped plant –usually not exceeding a quarter of an inch in length...these are so inconspicuous that we seldom see them or recognize them as special. This form of fern is called the “gametophyte” and it has within it genetic information for making a structure that will form sperm cells and another structure for forming reproductive eggs.  They generally mature at different times so they dont fertilize themselves.  Gametophytes are true independent plants necessary for the life cycle of the fern to be completed.

After fertilization, the fertilized egg stays attached to the gametophyte and it grows into a sporophyte plant
The 'n' number refers to whether the cells have one or two sets of genetic information

On a rainy day, the sperm are washed from onr tiny heart shaped gametophyte to another, from the sperm (n)  producing structure into the egg bearing structure,  and the egg (n)  becomes fertilized.   The new plant (2n cells)  grows directly out of the gametophyte.  They now have two sets of chromosomes in each cell, one from each reproductive cell.  (2n)  This new plant (what we call a 'fern plant') is called a “sporophyte” because it will grow into the ferns that we know and produce spores.

Arid cactus - Sporophyte individual

The amazing thing is that while each cell produced in the fern will have a full  2n set of genetic instructions copied from the fertilized egg.  An environmental cue is required to start a sequence of events that turn on a particular gene and allow it to express itself by forming a chemical response ( – like moisture, temperature, or light -).

All this taking place in the simple appearing little ferns in my back yard!

Broad leaf fern - the frond is never divided into leaflets

Spore cases on underside of Broad Leaf fern