spotting the bluebird
Many of my students have never seen an Eastern Bluebird in the wild. When I ask a biology class about birds that are blue, they immediately think of the Blue Jay. Those few who have heard the term bluebird naturally assume that the speaker is referring to a Blue Jay. "Well, yes," I explain, "a Blue Jay is a blue bird but it is not a Bluebird. All Bluebirds are blue, but not all blue birds are Bluebirds."
If you see a blue bird in Michigan it's probably going to be one of these:
If you see a blue bird in Michigan it's probably going to be one of these:
In order of likelyhood they are the Blue Jay, the Eastern Bluebird, and the Indigo Bunting. This is not stated with metaphysical certainty, it has simply been my experience.
There are of course other birds with various amounts of bluishness about them. When I see a Great Blue Heron, I think grey more than blue. Magnificent bird that it is. The Barn Swallow over a sunny, just cut, hayfield will give off a beautiful deep dark blue. I've got a barn full of these. One of my favorite birds in flight. But; what a muddy mess on the beams; and under the nest? Makes me blue. There is also the Purple Martin and I suppose someone who can't tell purple from blue will confuse it for one of the above. I can't remember the last time I saw a Purple Martin.
To learn more about Bluebirds checkout the Michigan Bluebird Society.
There are of course other birds with various amounts of bluishness about them. When I see a Great Blue Heron, I think grey more than blue. Magnificent bird that it is. The Barn Swallow over a sunny, just cut, hayfield will give off a beautiful deep dark blue. I've got a barn full of these. One of my favorite birds in flight. But; what a muddy mess on the beams; and under the nest? Makes me blue. There is also the Purple Martin and I suppose someone who can't tell purple from blue will confuse it for one of the above. I can't remember the last time I saw a Purple Martin.
To learn more about Bluebirds checkout the Michigan Bluebird Society.
Stints and Stents in middle school;
My renewed respect for Jr. High Teachers
In addition to teaching science in High School, I was asked to cover the Junior High science courses for the academic year 2010-2011. Having begun my teaching career at the seventh grade level, I naturally assumed that what I had been able to accomplish in my youth I should be able to repeat, with a degree of ease, after twenty years of teaching experience. The error of my presumption was made concrete when I attempted to replicate an activity that I had executed with competence in the early 1990's.
While at the Hudson Middle School, I had organized a Bluebird house-building project for my five, seventh grade classes. I bought a stack of number two pine boards from a local lumber yard for an equivalent price of one dollar per house. A generous parent, Mike, helped me to cut all the lumber into the seven pieces required to assemble a simple structure, endorsed by bird lovers everywhere. With a couple of additional parent volunteers in my classroom, we supervised the construction of about twenty houses per class period. Virtually every seventh grade student left school that day with a bird house under his or her arm. Hectic, but pretty simple. That was somewhere close to 1993.
The video below was my attempt to replicate my former success with a group of seventh graders at Countryside. It turned out to be one of those experiences that is difficult to appreciate while you're in it, though the memory of it improves with the perspective that only time can give. A number of these students are still with us, and will be seniors in the 2015-2016 year. Gems; every one of them.
While at the Hudson Middle School, I had organized a Bluebird house-building project for my five, seventh grade classes. I bought a stack of number two pine boards from a local lumber yard for an equivalent price of one dollar per house. A generous parent, Mike, helped me to cut all the lumber into the seven pieces required to assemble a simple structure, endorsed by bird lovers everywhere. With a couple of additional parent volunteers in my classroom, we supervised the construction of about twenty houses per class period. Virtually every seventh grade student left school that day with a bird house under his or her arm. Hectic, but pretty simple. That was somewhere close to 1993.
The video below was my attempt to replicate my former success with a group of seventh graders at Countryside. It turned out to be one of those experiences that is difficult to appreciate while you're in it, though the memory of it improves with the perspective that only time can give. A number of these students are still with us, and will be seniors in the 2015-2016 year. Gems; every one of them.