I’ve been lucky to enjoy a couple of great trips the last month. First, I went to California State University, Stanislaus to cheer wildly while President Emerita Marvalene Hughes was honored when the reflecting pond entering the campus was named after her. It was wonderful to see lots of friends and colleagues from the Central Valley. I also snuck in some treasured days with friends/family in AZ.  I am posting photos  from some of these great experiences.

Mary Ann, Nancy, and I have been friends since the 70s.

Below,  Annie and I are walking our beloved San Pedro River.

Some of you will remember my special friend/colleague, Dr. Fay Shin.

I was happy to be invited to Literacy Connects, an amazing grass-roots group in Southern Arizona dedicated to promoting literacy from pre-K babes to adults.

Joan Sandin and I took a fabulous bike ride all over Tucson.

 When Joan and I were biking through the University of Arizona, we happened upon a group of people raising money to fight breast cancer.

 If you want to know more about Joan Sandin, you might like to check out this book–I love it for many reasons.

And, finally I found another night-blooming Cereus cactus, which blooms only ONE night.

Project GLAD(R): I was also so happy to be able to share with the wonderful teachers of Project GLAD(R) in Southern CA. I have previously written about them on WinkWorld, 

GLAD: Guided Language Acquisition Design

Finally, Happy Birthday, MJ.

Dear WinkWorld Readers

Did you ever wonder what a cyber attack looks like? Dakota State University has an wall-sized monitor in a very large public room which captures visually where the attacks come from and where they go. The huge monitor is real-time, and it is mesmerizing to see it. Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences of DSU is a leader in cyber security education.

Below, I am posting an 8 second video which captures a bit of the action. Next, I am posting one still photo of the wall monitor. Finally, I am posting a link to more information on the cyber security program.

Click HERE to learn more about the DSU cyber security programs.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Diane Ravitch is generously sharing with all of us the opportunity to hear Linda Darling-Hammond, October 19, Thursday, 7:30 EST.  It will be live-streamed, and a video will be available after the presentation.

Below I am attaching Diane’s announcement and also a link to her page for more information.

Thank you, Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond!

Diane’s announcement on her blog.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

I am still lucky enough to work with a few doc students, and this post is specifically for them. 

To those doc students (you know who you are), this post does not relate to your individual dissertation plans, but it is always good to hear to what Judith is saying.

Thank you, Dr. Green for sharing with us.

Joan

ethnography as intercultural work and interdisciplinary logics-of-inquiry.

Dear WinkWorld Readers, 

The following story is about the Scientific Method and some of my pitiful house plants.  I realize that in some places in CA a blooming geranium is really not much more than an annoying weed, but not on the prairies.  For years, I have tried to get even one geranium in the house to bloom all winter.  No luck.  And, I apparently have also failed at getting my bromeliads to bloom. 

Suddenly, I had an idea:  Maybe if the Atall School kids had some of my plants this winter, they could get beautiful blooms.  So, off I went to this rural school–armed with the scientific method and some of my failing plants.

Below, you will find the Scientific Method, which students often use in school.  Next I am sharing a couple of photos of my plants, and finally I will make the connections between these seemingly two unrelated topics–the scientific method and my plants.   Learning is all about making connections.

Below here is a photo of my friend’s, Julie’s,  bromeliad plant, which blooms constantly.  You will see that one of the flowers is dead, and the other has just begun to bloom.  When the flower dies, Julie grabs the dead flower and throws it away, and then she cuts off the dying plant so that a new little “pup” can grow.  Each little “pup” grows very large and produces a gorgeous flower, which lasts months.

The photo below here are my plants which I took to Atall school kids.  Please note that my bromeliad has no blooms, and that the geranium looks rather puny.

My Scientific Method: Bromeliad and Geranium

I shared with the kids the following two processes:

First:

Ask a question: Why won’t my bromeliad bloom?

My background research: For 5 years I have asked friends and plant specialists and studied the bromeliads online.

Construct a hypothesis: I have a hunch, er… okay, I hypothesize that the kids can get my bromeliad to bloom.

Test my hypothesis by doing an experiment: I drove to Atall and left my bromeliad with the kids.

Analyze their data: In the spring, I will check back in with the kids and share the results.

Report the results: Stay tuned for a WinkWorld in the spring.

Second:

Ask a question: How do I get a geranium to bloom all winter?  

My background research: Grandma Dora used to put her geraniums in the public library front window in Moville, Iowa, and they would grow to the ceiling and bloom like crazy.  In the spring, people would come and cut a small section and go home and root the plants for their own yards. I have tried this for decades without luck.

Construct a hypothesis: I hypothesize  (a.k.a., I have a hunch) that if I take my geranium to Atall School, the kids can get it to bloom all winter.

Test my hypothesis: I took the geranium to the kids.

Analyze their data: I will share the data in the spring.

Report the results: Stay tuned for a WinkWorld in the spring.

Dear WinkWorld readers, soon I will be teaching/learning with a marvelous group of Project GLAD(R) teachers of Orange Country Office of Education, CA.

GLAD teachers, the images and words, which you generate with students are so amazing.  I hope you will share some of your projects with us.

Below, I am posting a handout and a powerpoint, which mostly resembles our planned time together.

The handout for GLAD teachers.

The power point which I plan to use.

Enjoy.

Dear WinkWorld Readers, if you follow this blog, you know that I love to visit Atall School, which is a rural school about 40 miles from our ranch. A few years ago, when I first started to visit, there was only one teacher, Missy Urbaniak, who was responsible for the content in all grades, K through 8.  Fortunately, the school now has two full-time teachers, as Luke Erfman came to teach the younger grades, and Missy now teaches 4-8.  Missy and Luke are a perfect fit with this school community.

Thank you to the teachers, paraprofessionals, and families who so generously share their children with me.  In addition, thank you to Lindsay Nelson Young, the photographer for sharing these photos with us. I think the pictures speak loudly of the joy of teaching and learning.  I hope you enjoy.

Annual FAll Photo

One of the mom’s of this school community has been in the United Kingdom for a horse and sheep event.  It was very exciting as she shared a lot of social media, and the students have been learning about the UK.  All of us were very happy for her and proud of her accomplishments.

One day last week, both classrooms learned something special about the UK. The K-3 students learned how to make scones. 

Here Luke is helping the students make their own scones.

Of course, the students had a proper British cup of tea with their scones.

During the tea party, Missy and the students of 4-8 learned how to play croquet, and the older kids taught the younger kids how to play.  And, we all know that a good way to learn something is to teach it.  I am sure that the United Kingdom is far more real now after this beautiful day of teaching and learning.

Thank you, Atall School Community!

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Sometimes the roles of writer, rancher, and/or professor blur a bit–for example, today.

I got up early again today to take my walk and then begin working on my page proofs for the day, where some permission questions needed my focus.  What are page proofs? Page proofs are sort of like your last chance on a manuscript to find any previous errors and make any teeny-tiny changes.  They are like photos of the forthcoming book pages.  Very exciting and very scary for fear that you omit a thank  you to someone.  If I did, forgive me.

However, I was interrupted by a colleague who had just learned about epistemology, ontology, and axiology.  These philosophical words suddenly become significant in the beginning of doctoral programs. Epistemology relates to the nature of knowledge: What do we know and how do we know it?  Ontology relates to the nature of being; what actually exists? Axiology relates to the inherent value, as in ethics or morals.  These 3 words always lead to discussions of “the sages of the ages:” Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato.  And, if you just remember SPA, you will never forget who taught whom of those three thinkers.  And, my colleague’s discussions of “the sages of the ages” will soon lead to discussions of all of the “isms:” idealism, realism, humanism, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstrutionism, and existentialism. 

(McNeergney & McNergney, 2004, p. 146)

The problem with my colleague’s question this morning is that it led me to some treasured books, and then I was immediately distracted by the photos decorating these books.

I can almost guarantee that this colleague will soon ask me about a priori and a posteriori. 

However, by now, I had squandered away enough time being a professor and need to get back to being a writer, but Wink appeared and said, “Bad news.”  I held my breath: 4 of our horses had gotten into poison oats.  To heck with big words and permissions on page proofs, it was time to be a rancher, which took all of our energies until well into the afternoon.   Frankie (my horse) and the other horses seem to be stable now. We are optimistic.

Back to being a writer and those page proofs. There was a knock at the door, and a man came to fix the falling ceiling in the old (1920s) part of the house. “Chicken Little” was right.  Guess that makes me back to being a rancher or rancher’s wife now.  Ceiling patched.

Back to being a writer.

OOOps. Time for dinner. Rancher’s wife again.

If this WinkWorld feels a bit disjointed, it is because it is a good reflection of my day. The roles become blurred out here.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

As you know, WinkWorld tends to be whatever is lying around on my desk or my computer desktop.  Today I am sharing a bilingual bibliography, which I worked on for a specific project, which did not evolve, but the bibliography might be of use to some of you.  Hate to have it just languish in my computer.  If you care to suggest any other citations, which I should check out, please just mention them in the “Responses” section below.  

I have a couple of other little topic-specific bibs, which I will post soon.

The icon of the new book cover posted here has nothing to do with this bib…just a bit of shameless self-promotion.

Bilingual bibliography posted here for anyone who might be interested.

To download the bib, just click on the link below:

 bilingual bib for WinkWorld

The painting posted below was created by Adam Bunting and is also not connected to this bilingual bibliography.  I posted it here, as I love this painting.  Adam looked at some photos of my horse, Frankie, and then painted this gorgeous picture.  OK,  I am out the door to be with my friend, Frankie.