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Jack Nisbet Natural and Local History Walk
July 11th, 2010 by dunnj
Jack Nisbet talks to Kelly Evans and Michelle Jennen about native species. (photo Jamie Shepherd)
Jack Nisbet talks to Austin Tucker, Stephanie Atkinson, Michele Moritz, Kale Austen, and Tiffanie Atkinson about introduced species. (photo Beck Shepherd)
Deer Park High School’s Summer School Program had quite a day when Jack Nisbet walked them through Dragoon Creek Campground. Jack, a renowned David Thompson and David Douglas as well as local natural historian, helped the group of eighteen students identify and separate species as introduced or native to the Deer Park area since the early 1800s.
The group had been preparing for four weeks by reading selected essays from his book about the Columbia Basin called Visible Bones. When Jack arrived, he engaged the group in a slideshow, all the while discussing how David Thompson came to be the first European to walk from Cusick past Fan and Eloika Lakes and then near what we now know as Deer Park.
Then came the trip to Dragoon Creek Campground. At the entrance plateau above the camp ground, students found mostly plant species introduced after David Thompson’s visit. Among these included viper’s bugloss, vetch, and toadflax, also known as butter and eggs. The group then moved down the hill along Dragoon Creek and found many native species including teasel, monkshood, and pinedrops, also known as coyote’s arrow.
Students plan to incorporate all that they have learned in some way into an individual project about either the natural or social history of a local place important to them. They all thought it pretty special to have a real professional speak to them about how he has turned the sort of projects they are working on into a career.
When the field trip was done, Jack promised to return in the Fall and walk the DPHS nature trail which has almost been reclaimed by the forest. It is the hope of the DPSD Cornerstone After School Program to reclaim the nature trail as part of DPHS’s renewed commitment to our people and our place.
DPHS/Cornerstone Summer School students Jestine Hazard, Michelle Moritz, Kelly Evans, Justin Burrell, and Beck Shepherd listen to Jack Nisbet (off camera) explain what explorer David Thompson would have found at the Dragoon Creek Campgound site in the early 1800s. (photo Jamie Shepherd)
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Final Tea Party Features Author Gunner Bailey
May 29th, 2010 by dunnj
Gunner Bailey, the featured author at our final Erratics tea party of the 2009-10 school year, read his new story “The Imaginary Wars” to an enraptured audience. His own creative alchemy recast the “Alice” genre in a captivating way. Later he took questions and analyzed his text and explained his creative process. A good, imaginative time was had by all.
Those of us at Erratics would also like to congratulate Gunner for being the first student to earn credit through the new Cornerstone After School Program. His story was his final Cornerstone Project. We salute Gunner for blazing a new trail in DPHS history!
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Race to the Top!
January 22nd, 2010 by dunnj
What’s going on out in education land? I think the ground is shaking. No, the quake hasn’t come yet, but the earth is shaking, and the quake will begin with the eruption of Mt. Race to the Top.
I just got back from working with a group of educators whose charge it was to advise Governor Gregoire about whether or not we wanted to race. Specifically, I was asked to provide input about reading. I was asked to answer questions like “How is the draft of the new national reading standards similar, different, better, or worse than WA reading standards?” “How should the draft of the new national reading standards be changed?” “Would it do WA students a disservice to replace WA standards with whatever the final draft of the new national standards will be?”
The reading group of which I was a part thought that a revised set of reading national standards could work for WA students. Because I was also a fly on the wall, it was clear the writing group had serious concerns.
I also think we all need to know that I was told point blank that Governor Gregoire has no intention of entering us in the race if it in any way causes WA students to receive a substandard education. On the other hand, missing out on the ENORMOUS amount of money involved would also put WA students at a disadvantage. You can see the issue.
If you want to know more, check out these links
- US Deparment of Education‘s Race to the Top page
- The Common Core State Standards Initiative page on the National Governors Association website
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Thank You!
January 21st, 2010 by dunnj
Thank you Mr. Chris Snyder for teaching me how to build this website as well as the Erratics website. You have been the wind under my life long learning wings 
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