Embedded Files
Week 10: I led Stock Market Club students on a field trip to Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. Students learned about the connections between art and economics through different forms of artwork. Students also toured the outdoor art trail area, experiencing art in the outdoors. Students had See, Think, Wonder lessons in front of key pieces of artwork, comunicating and collaborating with the museum's educational guides and fellow students about the meaning of different works of art. This museum field trip included the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Learn About Human and Natural Systems, and the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate and Communicate. Pictured below are students during this event.
Week 10 continued: Concurrent college credit history students made watercolors of 1800s landscapes. Students had to imagine the landscape and geography of a time two hundred years ago. Ideas of place and time were involved in this artistic task. This used the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Learn About Human and Natural Systems and the Explorer Mindset Skill of Apply Geographic Practices. Pictured are students with their watercolors.
Week 11: Park Ranger Rebecca Hoffman from the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site spoke to Civics students about the historical impact of the Little Rock Nine. This used the Explorer Mindset Skill of Communicate and the Explorer Mindset Attitudes of Empathetic and Empowered.
Week 11 continued: Eight OHS students worked as volunteer poll workers from this week until Election Day. What a way to get civically involved with your community! At right is a photo from the event. This used the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empowered, the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate and Collaborate.
Week 11 continued: Mr. Brian Irby and Dr. David Ware from the Arkansas State Archives spoke to National History Day students about the many resources and ideas for creating great National History Day research projects. Students learned about the importance of researching topics related to this year's theme over "Rights and Responsibilities". At right is a photo from this event. This used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate, Problem Solve, and Collaborate, the Explorer Attitude of Curious, and the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections.
Week 11 continued: The National Constitution Center provided a Scholar Exchange over the Bill of Rights for my students. Students were able to learn about the many issues surrounding the Bill of Rights. At left is a photo from this event. This used the Explorer Mindset Skill of Communicate and the Explorer Attitude of Curious.
Week 11 continued: Ozark High School student Ava M. and I made a presentation to the Ozark School Board on October 22nd about Ava's continued work with the Growing Voters Campaign and Ava's work with civic engagement. Ava has been working on civic engagement activities in her community as part of the Growing Voters Campaign, and this presentation to the school board allowed Ava to speak to community members, administrators, school personnel, and school board members. Several weeks later, Ava and I later presented on a Zoom for the CIRCLE/Tufts University Teaching for Democracy Alliance (TDFA) to discuss our work. This used the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empowered, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections, and the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate and Problem-Solve. Pictured below is a photograph of the school board event.
Week 12: I took three Ozark students to Little Rock for Senator John Boozman's Youth Cabinet. Ozark High School students (from left to right) Peyton B., Sydnie H., and David C. were selected for Senator John Boozman's 2025-2025 Congressional Youth Cabinet. These three students traveled to Little Rock on October 29th to meet with Senator Boozman and other Youth Cabinet members from across the state to consider and discuss legislative issues. Senator Boozman's Congressional Youth Cabinet will meet again in the spring and work throughout the school year on important issues. This used the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empowered, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections, and the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate and Problem-Solve.
Week 12-13: I traveled to the Jump$tart National Educator's Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, thanks to Jump$tart national and state scholarships. I am on the board for Arkansas Jump$tart and have attended national Jump$tart conferences over the years. This organization is dedication to bringing high-quality financial literacy to the classroom. I teach economics and personal finance during the second semester, and attending this conference to interact with other educators from around the country and learn about effective financial literacy information and resources is incredibly helpful. This used the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections and the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate, Collaborate, and Problem-Solve.
Week 13: Civics students imagined they were president and selected their own cabinet members for each of the 15 cabinet departments, explaining their thought process. They also discussed their duties as president and created their own White House for this artistic activity. Pictured below are some students with their creations. This used the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious and the Explorer Mindset Skill of Communicate.
Week 14: Students wrote letters to one of their two Senators, or their Representative in the House of Representatives, after studying Congress. Students will be Zooming with these members of Congress after their letters are received. This helped to make civic connections and emphasized the importance of civic involvement. These student letters were mailed to the members of Congress just before Thanksgiving Break. This used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate and Collaborate, and the Explorer Mindset Attitudes of Empowered and Curious.
Week 15: Civics students had Sargeant Allen and Sargeant Anderson guest speak to them about the history of the US flag, freedom of speech and expression, military history, and civics. Pictured at left are some of these students with these guest speakers. This used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate and Collaborate and the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious, and the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections.
Week 15 continued: Student Ava, as part of her working with Growing Voters, gave a presentation to all of my civics classes about the importance of voting while using a mock election. Students really enjoyed it and learned so much about civic engagement. Pictured at right is a photo of Ava with some of the students who participated in this event. This included the Explorer Mindset Skills of Communicate and Collaborate and the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empowered.
Week 15 continued: An education specialist from the Arkansas Secretary of State's office in Little Rock visited with all Civics students for an interactive presentation on how a bill becomes a law. Pictured at left are some of the students who took part in this event, along with the education specialist. This showed students the importance of civic involvement and the law-making process. This used the Explorer Mindset Skill of Learn About Human and Natural Systems (with learning about our law-making system and how government works), and the Explorer Mindset of Collaborate, Communicate, and Problem-Solve.
Week 15 continued: I attended the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in Boston, giving a presentation for my work with Educating for American Democracy and giving a poster presentation for the US Institute of Peace. I also learned so much from my fellow NCSS attendees and gained new ideas for the classroom. I even attended a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow alumni meet up and learned about the great work GTFs are doing in their classrooms and communities. I am pictured at right as part of the US Institute of Peace poster presentation. This experience used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate, Communicate, and Problem-Solve, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections, and the Explorer Mindset Attitudes of Curious, Empathetic, and Empowered.
Week 16: Through my Transatlantic Educator's Dialogue (TED) Fellows program, which is through the European Union Center with the University of Illinois, my students Zoey and Azlynn wrote part of a collaborative short story with students in Europe, using an interactive online platform. Zoey and Azlynn then created pictures to go with the part of the story that students in Italy wrote, and students from Europe created pictures to go with our story. Pictured below are my two students with this activity. This used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate and Communicate, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections, and the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious.
Week 17: Students who wrote letters in a previous unit to Senator John Boozman Zoomed with him on December 10th, 2024. These students were able to hear from a member of Congress who Zoomed in to join our classroom virtually from his office in Washington, DC. This activity used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate and Communicate, the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious and Empowered, and the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections and Learn About Human and Natural Systems. Below are pictures from this event.
Week 17 continued: My 10th-12th grade Stock Market Club students played the statewide Stock Market Game during the Fall 2024 semester; on December 11th, 2024, winners were announced, and the team of 10th graders pictured at right was the highest-ranking team at Ozark High School in the Fall 2024 Stock Market Game. These students learned about stocks and investing with an interactive stock game. This used the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empowered and Curious, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections and Learn About Human and Natural Systems, and the Explorer Mindset Skill of Collaborate, Problem Solve, and Communicate. The team is shown here with the prizes I presented them with for their efforts.
Week 18-19: 11th graders who are in my concurrent college credit history class decorated Float Boats to send to the Arctic Ocean, through the "Float Your Boat" organization, which is an outreach project of the International Arctic Buoy Programme. We send these decorated boats back to the organization, and they deploy them in the Arctic Ocean! A GPS buoy is also deployed, so students can follow their boats as they move through the Arctic Ocean! We will be contacted if and when each boat is found; the students are very excited for this activity. This is a great connection to my Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship in Alaska. Pictured below are some of the students with their decorated Float Boats. This used the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Learn About Human and Natural Systems and Seek Interconnections; the Explorer Attitude of Curious; and the Explorer Mindset Skills of Use Geographic Perspectives and Apply Geographic Practices.
Update: The Float Boat website published these photos and our letter included below, at https://www.floatboat.org/post/ozark-hillbillies-send-boats-to-arctic?utm_campaign=9a24696c-47ef-4895-a48c-d06541c6be54&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=0dba7afc-8756-4c50-90c1-966f193a8e5f&configurationId=042b7ccd-1a59-4ae3-8050-5a1186505444&actionId=fa87193c-2592-4a19-8eb2-cb8c2262e064&cid=2fcb257e-e91e-4ab3-a4fa-fb1d7f071095.
Here is a copy of the letter Azlynn and Bryce sent to the Float Boat scientists, along with a picture of Azlynn and Bryce with their boat (at left):
Dear Float Boat Scientist,Thank you for your dedication to this program that gives regular high schoolers a chance to participate in studies that study climate change, satellite accuracy, and even studying ice drift. This simple but fun idea has resulted in many breakthroughs in Earth science and it can be directly from the involvement of students. This is such a cool and unique idea! I still cannot believe that these little boats can make such a difference in our world! I hope someone finds our boat! If someone does find our boat… we hope they shout out OHS! Thanks again for this amazing program! We appreciate the chance to be involved in saving the world!-Azlynn and BryceWeek 18: Students who wrote letters in a previous unit to Representative Bruce Westerman Zoomed with him on December 17th, 2024. These students were able to hear from a member of Congress who Zoomed in to join our classroom virtually from his office in Washington, DC. This activity used the Explorer Mindset Skills of Collaborate and Communicate, the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Curious and Empowered, and the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections and Learn About Human and Natural Systems. Below are pictures from this event.
Week 18: Student Ava M. and I found out we were selected for the summer 2025 Albert H. Small Normandy Institute! Our announcement to local media follows, with our picture at left. This experience will use the Explorer Mindset Attitude of Empathetic and Empowered, the Explorer Mindset Knowledge of Seek Interconnections, and the Explorer Mindset Skill of Communicate, Use Geographic Perspectives, and Apply Geographic Practices.
Ozark High School 11th grade student Ava McCartney and social studies teacher Jessica Culver have been selected for the 2025 class of the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at George Washington University. They were one of only fifteen student-teacher teams selected from the United States for this program. Student-teacher teams will travel to Washington, DC, for sessions at George Washington University from June 18-22, followed by a trip to France from June 22-29, 2025. The students and teachers will study online through Zooms and coursework during the spring 2025 semester, followed by their summer travel. They will visit important sites in DC while also learning on the George Washington campus, followed by in-depth learning experiences in Bayeaux, Normandy, and Paris, France. The student-teacher team will also be completing a biography of a World War II soldier and sharing that story with their community and major organizations. The student-teacher team is very excited and honored to begin this program.
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