Day 4 - Touring Great Camp Sagamore and John Slade Visit

We awoke to a brisk morning with bright blue skies and mist blowing across Raquette Lake.  After breakfast, it was off to Great Camp Sagamore and a wonderful tour guide.  Thanks Erin!

I especially enjoyed seeing the indoor/outdoor bowling alley!

Later in the day, our textbook author arrived to have dinner with us and after dinner John Slade entertained us with tales or renewable energy around the world.

We are very fortunate to have had the support of John over the many years of this course.

After his chat, John very graciously signed copies of his book for the class.  He has been a good friend of the class and we greatly appreciate that he took the time to connect with us and shared stories with us showing that there ARE people - especially young people around the world acting to address the energy and climate challenges facing all of humanity.

John specifically asked the students to visit this web site for news about energy success stories from around the world:

http://www.rechargenews.com

Day 3 - The Black Bear Mt. Experience

Another great day in the ADKs.  After a great bacon-fueled breakfast, we hit the trail to ascend Black Bear Mt. (~2500 feet above sea level).

Afterwards, a brief stop in Inlet for ice cream.

After a stir-fry supper, a video chat with one of the absent founders of the course, Dr. Tim Slekar, now of Edgewood College in Wisconsin.

Here's a shot from the top of Black Bear Mt.:

Day 2 - Natural and Cultural History Day

Most of the day was devoted to exploring the two fantastic museums located in the Adirondacks.  First we travelled to Tupper Lake and visited the The Wild Center which has some great exhibits, trails, and demonstrations about the natural history of the region.

Then we travelled to Blue Mt. Lake and learned about the cultural history of the region.

After this, many of the students took advantage of the time just before supper and hopped in the kayaks for a quick paddle around Raquette Lake.

After supper, we had some great discussions about the day, schools, and other things.  Next we met Ed Kanze, an Adirondack Guide, in a pretty good PBS video about life in the Adirondacks.

Finally the day was finished off with s'mores around a campfire.

Nice.

Bonus Entry - Day 1

One of the class assignments is to create a blog.  Please post your class blog address as a "comment" to this entry.

As a bonus, here's a link to some of the photos from today's class:

http://flic.kr/ps/216Mgg

Great Week Shaping Up!

Everyone has arrived safely and we had some great discussions after a delicious spaghetti dinner last night.  There is fog on Raquette Lake this morning, but it is lifting and it's quite cool.  With the cool front that arrived over the weekend, it's a lot better for sleeping.

Here's a photo from just a few minutes ago (7:15 AM):

First Post - Adirondack Classroom Summer 2013

2011 ADK Classroom Participants at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY

Greetings Course Participants and Ships At Sea!

Here is my first blog entry for this year's experience at Raquette Lake for the SUNY Cortland Adirondack Classroom.

One of the pre-course assignments is to post a follow-up comment to this post to let us know you have begun the pre-course work.  Your comment can just be something to let us know who you are and if you have any expectations for the week.

Important Note for Summer 2013 participants....  This is the first year we are working out of the Antler's Facility, so if you read previous blog posts you will see that all the prior year courses operated out of the Camp Huntington side of the SUNY Cortland facility.

Beth and I are looking forward to meeting you and spending the week together.  If you have any questions, please send an email to kleink@sunyocc.edu and put ADK Classroom Question in the Subject line.

Adirondack Green textbook author, Dr. John Slade

Beth, Tim, and I hope that you all returned safely home to your family and loved ones.  Take a couple of days and get some rest and we hope you will take some time to reflect on the ideas and activities we all shared and took part in during our days together.

Jake's video finally uploaded from the iPad here at home (must have been a problem with the SUNY Cortland network) so here is the link to his kayaking video:



For your final post, please post any closing thoughts you have (and remember to post any web links from your projects that you think others may find helpful.  Please post them as a followup comment to this post.

Finally, we want to say that we definitely enjoyed our time with you all.  As teachers with many years of experience, it helps us in our professional practice to interact so intimately with younger teachers who can help us see many things with new eyes.  After years of often battling bureaucracies and obstacles, it energizes us to be with you for the week in such a beautiful place and seeing many things through your eyes helps remind us about the beauty that we have around us, both in the natural world and in the young minds we encounter.

In closing, do keep in touch and do let us know of your successes. We wish you all the best as you grow and enjoy the successes that being a teacher brings and we hope that you will look back fondly on our time together at Camp Pine Knot on Raquette Lake.

Best wishes,

Karl, Beth, and Tim