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Sender: American Memory Fellows <AMFELLOWS@RS8.LOC.GOV>
Poster: Jodi Allison-Bunnell <jbunn@SELWAY.UMT.EDU>
Subject: The other MT folks
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Hi all:
Bet you thought Marta and I disappeared from the face of the earth, were
eaten by reintroduced wolves, etc..but no. We have been very busy quietly
carrying out our lesson plan. We're still in the middle of our rather long
unit, but things seem to be going quite well so far.
We met in late January and did some substantial re-vamping on the original
plan. Like other groups, we did find that we were a bit too ambitious, and
needed time back with the kids and the materials to remind us of that.
Our class group of fifteen juniors in American Literature began the unit on
January 25 and will finish in early April. We started them in a group of
background readings, both contemporary and historical. They have worked in
the Conservation collection twice: once to search for materials on Emerson,
Thoreau, Marsh, and Muir, and once using the chronologies in the
collection. They've done fairly well with guided searches, though having a
limited number of computers in the school has caused them frustration. The
students have also taken a field trip to a local nature site and produced
their own nature essays. There was also a group of pre-selected images from
the Conservation collection that they viewed and analyzed using some visual
literacy tools.
They came for their first day in the library last week. Activities included
an introduction to archival materials, instruction on searching our online
catalog, a "What's in the Box" exercise, and a "treasure hunt" that took
them all over the library. This worked fairly well, though I gave them too
much to do in a short time because I was afraid that they would get bored
and unfocused if they weren't busy.
They'll return next week to do more specific research on their research
topics.
Their biggest challenges have been reading nonfiction analytically.
However, they've caught on to some of the most important themes and
producing some good writing. They do wonder what this has to do with
English sometimes (hopefully they believe my answer--"Everything!")
For Marta and myself, it's also continued to be a challenge to work 40
miles apart. Email is our saviour! Marta also does lots of evaluations with
each activity and sends them to me.
We'll only be able to post preliminary things by April 1, since we won't
quite be done yet. Looking forward to seeing others' work, just as I've
enjoyed reading about your experiences through the year.
Jodi
PS: Anyone who reads the Chronicle of Higher Education--there's a short
feature on Randy Bass in a recent issue for his innovative classroom work.
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Jodi L. Allison-Bunnell
Archivist/Assistant Professor
K. Ross Toole Archives
Mansfield Library
The University of Montana--Missoula
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-2053
FAX (406) 243-2060
jbunn@selway.umt.edu
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