Wehea Dayak: Guardians of the Forest

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Some rights reserved by CIFOR

I am heading into the interior of East Kalimantan to Kutai Wahau to meet the Wehea Dayak and Brent and Sheryl, the NGO team from Ethical Expeditions. Their project to support the Wehea Dayak and one of the last remaining lowland forests was first created and shared with our school in 2009 when Ethical Expeditions, along with a group of 18 collage students, came twice to us. Since that time many of us have followed their work and tried to promote their cause.

Brent and Sheryl have worked diligently to create a sustainable program for the Wehea people and the 38,000 hectares they’re striving to protect. This forest is home to the Clouded Leopard (our school mascot), Sun Bear, Orangutan, Miller’s Grizzled Langur, and a number of other endemic flora and fauna. Recently, the Miller’s Grizzled Langur, which was thought to be extinct, was rediscovered in the Wehea forest. Click here to learn about the discovery.

From Ethical Expeditions:

“The forests of Indonesia are home to estimated 12% percent of the world’s mammal species, 16% of reptile and amphibian species, and 17% of bird species. The number of species endemic to Borneo make it a biodiversity hotspot, yet 60% of Borneo’s forests have been cut and what remains is in danger of being lost within decades. One community, the Wehea Dayak, is fighting back to protect their forest. In 2004, the Wehea Dayak declared 38,000 hectares of forest, ‘protected land’ under their traditional law. Since this declaration, forest guardians have reduced illegal logging and hunting, and this project was awarded Indonesia’s highest environmental honor. Ethical Expeditions is working with the Wehea Dayak to protect the Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo.”

Friends of Wehea

 
My hope is that our students learn to understand that we can make a difference (despite our school size or the critics out there). We’ve done it before.

Years ago our school community helped a scientist who had too many orangutan and horn bills hanging around his yard and he needed a place to care for these creatures. Rules were bent with empathy and understanding. Our school became a safe haven. The calls and sounds of animals could be heard from classes, thematic lessons were created, and hands-on activities meant going out to feed the animals. BOS was born. Eventually, deforested land was purchased and Samboja Lestari (forever) began regrowing a rainforest. Click to Watch Dr. Willie Smits present at TedTalks.

The next step?

Hear the Voices From Wehea:

Let’s help the Wehea Dayak people and their forest, so our children and grandchildren won’t have to regrow another rain forest or miss a Wehea Sunrise ever again.
 

To learn more about the project, visit Ethical Expeditions and spread the word.

Posted in Course 2 | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Climbing Carstensz Pyramid in Papua

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Photo by Brent Fullerton

One expedition, two summits. The team: two Brents and one Qubecois. The experience–priceless. The goal of our two-week expedition to Papua was to climb Carstensz Pyramid (4884 m/16,035 ft), the highest island peak in the world, in Oceania, and highest between the Andes and Himalayas ranges. The peak is located in the Sudirman Range, composing the western central highlands of Papua/New Guinea. For many mountaineers, Carstensz Pyramid is on the bucket list of rocks to stand on as they pursue the objective of ascending the Seven Summits, all world’s highest continental peaks.

In 1623, Dutch explorer Jan Carstenszoon first sighted the jagged limestone, snow capped peaks; however, the summit wasn’t reached until 1962. The Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, famed for first climbing the Eiger’s North Face and authoring the novel Seven Years in Tibet (film starring Brad Pitt), was the first to summit this isolated, rugged mountain.

Photo by Brent Fullerton

With weather and time permitting, our second goal was to climb Puncak Jaya, also known as Igga Pulu (4863 m/15,955 ft). This is the only glaciated mountain in tropical Indonesia. It’s been mentioned that Puncak Jaya is a sacred place for many of the Indonesian and Papuan people because of it’s ice and snow. Carstensz Pyramid and Puncak Jaya are often mistakenly referred to as the same mountain (wikipedia definition), yet they are different peaks entirely.

Below is the video I created using iMovie. This was my first iMovie creation. In the past, I used iPhoto to create quick slideshows for presenting to students and teachers. With iMovie, I found the editing tools to be intuitive and friendly. Now I feel better equipped to support students and facilitate their storytelling video projects using this tool.

Here’s the story of my Papuan adventure.

 

Posted in Course 2 | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Collaborating for Conservation

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

The Sun Bear Rock! Project is campaign inspired by Kenny Peavy to raise awareness for endangered sun bears living in South East Asia. When I got a message from Kenny about the project, I jumped in. Teaching in Borneo, the home of the sun bear, I thought this would be a very relative project for the students to engage in.

Here’s an interview by Star Magazine about Kenny’s mission to raise awareness for conservation in South East Asia:

 

This collaboration brings together student middle grades (5-8) students from Pasir Ridge International School (PRIS) in Balikpapan, Indonesia with grade 7 students at Kuala Lumpur International School (ISKL) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kenny (ISKL) and I (PRIS) worked together to embrace social networking platforms in order to give students a chance to demonstrate social responsibility for global issues. We used Google docs and Gmail to share and bounce ideas off each other. Click to view our UbD Unit Plan and shared Resource page. Each teacher created different social network spaces for students to share their understanding. Kenny fired off the Rockin’ 4 the Environment Facebook page and I whisked up Sun Bear Rock! Wikispace.

Photo by Brent Fullerton

Students learned about the conservation efforts of both the Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Malaysia and the Borneo Orangutan/Sun Bear Survival Foundation (BOSF) in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Both schools researched topics related to the sun bear and how humans are impacting the bear’s environment and survival. Click the post Social Media, meet the sun bear to read about the student trip to Samboja Sun Bear Sanctuary.

With motivated students, we opened up the web-gates and tried to get out of their way. Students’ end products included but were not limited to: presentations using Google and Prezi, digital Issuu newsletters, glitzy Glogsters, group VoiceThread conversations, Animoto and YouTube videos, BitStrip and 9Gag comics, and Songify dance songs. Having access to so many different tools was challenging and rewarding for both the students and ourselves. Click the post Glued to Glogster to see how we used glogs in the project.

Each class worked on publishing their products on the social platforms. Students from ISKL would send their end products (newsletters, presentations, and multimedia) to our students. Students Gmailed and chatted with each other to revise, edit and coordinate how to best display their work. From there, PRIS students embedded the products in the Sun Bear Rock! wikispaces.

The show ain’t over yet! Our collaboration will culminate with the week-long finale Sun Bear Rock! Music and Arts Festival at the DoPPel Kafe in Malaysia that will kick off during Earth Week, April 21-28. Stay tuned for more!

If you or someone from your school would like to participate or learn more, please go the the  Rockin’ 4 the Environment Facebook page and Sun Bear Rock! wikispaces.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Voila! Voki the Vocabulary

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

I have been searching for an interesting, student-friendly tool that will allow my students to audio record their weekly vocabulary words (Wild Words). At last, I think I found one.

At Ms. Burton’s Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog some more, I discovered Voki. This service allows you to create speaking avatars that can easily be embedded into wikis and blogs. You can customize your avatar and create recordings using voice, text or audio files.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Glued to Glogster

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Looking to visually spice up the wiki page for the collaborative  Sun Bear Rock! project between our school and grade 7 science classes at ISKL, I started tinkering with Glogster. Glued to the Glog is probably a better way to describe it. I have been playing with the tool for several days.

Glosgter is free online tool that allows users to create interactive posters or ‘glogs’. It allows many mediums to deliver your message, lile linking websites and embedded images, video and audio. Everything a regular blog can do, just a bit more kid-flashy.  Click on the different audio files (above) to hear the students sing Sun Bear songs they recorded using the app Songify.

Glogmania has caught the attention of my students too. Without prompting, many have taken their ‘static’ informational writing for the Sun Bear Issuu articles and incorporated the text into interactive Glogsters. For the grade 5ers, the text and graphic features have visual appeal; however, my middle schoolers do not seem as glamoured by Glogster. A few students stated they find it ‘slow’ to manage and construct.

For me, the glogging has been a useful tool and has enhanced the aesthetic appeal and fit the intended purpose. If you are looking to change up the traditional poster idea, or want to freshen up the wiki home page, then Glogster might be a fun, free tool for students and teachers to explore. Here are some exceptional wikis using Glogster for their home pages: ICT Magic, WebTools4U2Use, and Web 2.0 Tools for Classroom Use.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

International Mother Language Day

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Some rights reserved by Liz Henry

“The language of our thoughts and our emotions is our most valuable asset. Multilingualism is our ally in ensuring quality education for all, in promoting inclusion and in combating discrimination. ”

- Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO Message for International Mother Language Day 2012

February 21 is International Mother Language Day, a day officially recognized by the United Nations and around the planet to honor people’s first language learned and promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity.

This week at school, classes are celebrating our cultural diversity amongst the 23 different nationalities enrolled.

In my class, students have been asked to create a comic using BitStrips for Schools, in which characters are introduce themselves and have a conversation.

To view more comics, please visit our BitStrips classroom.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Latest Issuu of Adventure Recreation Club

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Welcome to Season 7

 

Climb on! Adventure Recreation Club just kicked off season 7 here in Borneo. To better communicate club information and registration details, I embedded the newsletter using issuu to my club’s wiki site.

Click Climbing In Education: What if Francis Bacon had been a rock climber? to read an article I wrote a couple years back about institutionalizing climbing programs in schools. The article was originally published in 2010 in the EARCOS Triannual and ISS NewsLinks magazines.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Social Media, meet the sun bear

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Recent rain soaks Samboja Sanctuary

Sleepless–a little sore–definitely soggy, yet extremely happy is how I feel after recently leading an overnight field trip with middle grade students (5-8). The group traveled to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation’s Samboja Lestari, an ecolodge located in a re-created rainforest and refuge for orangutan and sun bears not far from our school.The plan was to immerse ourselves in everything sun bear. Despite the heavy rain, low hanging fog, slippery clay-like mud, our students’ smiles were wide and often as they trekked around the sanctuary for two days. There’s one thing for certain–kids love mud! My hope is they will love helping the forty eight endangered sun bears just as much. Students have been researching the plight of the sun bears and learning about ways to effectively use social media tools to raise awareness and inspire action for global issues.

While students hiked around the sanctuary they hid three geocaches. The geocaches will be used for future bicycle scavenger hunts. Using GPS enabled iPhones they recorded geocaches’ absolute coordinates. Additionally, they audio recorded relative directions using iPods.

Eventually everyone reached the head office to met up with Hery, the Sun Bear Program Manager. Again using the iPods, students recorded an interview with Hery. Grateful, he thanked us for our donations we brought for the bears: bags of dog food, peanuts, and bottles of honey. Also, he answered students’ questions about the BOSF sun bear mission and the problems facing the bears at the sanctuary. Empathetically, students asked good questions and intently nodded their understanding, appearing genuinely concerned. With interviews recorded and geocaches stashed, everyone was ready to head back for showers back at the ecolodge.

I’m A Sun Bear And I Know It

With the sun setting over forest and the orangutans swinging around building their nests, students linked into the lodge’s WiFi network and posted their reflections and learning on the Rockin 4 the Environment Facebook page which was created by the ISKL teacher, Kenny Peavy, whom we are collaborating with on this social media project. Also, they downloaded their iPod recordings and began to organize files for the music video they  plan to produce. Additionally, a group of fifth graders recorded songs they composed about sun bears and orangutans using VoiceThread. The recordings were embedded into  the Sun Bear Rock! wiki site we created and manage for Project Sun Bear Rock!

Steal My Fruit

The next morning after an early 6:00am rise and fun run, our dedicated student researchers hiked to the sun bear enclosure to meet up with Hery and his team of caretakers. There, we provided ‘enrichment’ for the bears. This entailed entering the enclosures (while the bears anxiously waited in cages) to hide peanuts, hang bananas on trees, goop honey in holes and crevices and stack up wood piles of peanut-filled logs. Once the work was complete, kids raced up to monitor and video record the bears as they climbed, foraged and gobbled up the purposefully planted food.

Back at school, students will continue to raise awareness by share their learning at assembly and by posting information on the Sun Bear Rock! wiki and Rockin 4 the Environment Facebook page. In their digital music elective, students will work on producing a music video which will be played at the Sun Bear Rock! Music and Arts Festival hosted by Kenny and his crew at the DoPPel Kafe in Kuala Lumpur during Earth Week.

Our school has a long standing relationship with the BOSF and Samboja Lodge. For the first few years the non-profit organization was funded with the pocket money and donations of the kids and school community. To learn more about the history between Pasir Ridge International School and BOSF, read the article below.

 

Here is BOSF founder Willie Smits sharing his story at the 2009 TedTalks.

It takes a great deal of time, money and effort to make change, especially if governments are really willing to step in and deliver. To learn more the BOSF Samboja mission and program, check out this three-part video:

Samboja Lestari, Part 1

Samboja Lestari, Part 2

Samboja Lestari Part 3

The sun bears are least known about species of bear. To help support this project, visit and Like the Rockin 4 the Environment and Sun Bear Rock! sites.

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rockin’ for the Borneo Bears

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

Some rights reserved by San Diego Shooter

“Sun Bears are an endangered species and their habitat is rapidly disappearing.  There is a lack of awareness of their plight and the need for conservation of their habitat.  By taking part in SUN BEAR ROCK! you will help raise awareness and vitally important funds for the BSBCC to help protect this valuable and little known species!”   – Kenny Peavy, Educator and co-author of As If the Earth Matters

 

Would you be interested in helping save the endangered Sun Bear population in South East Asia?

Are you or someone you know interested doing a collaborative class project about protecting the sun bears with a school in Borneo?

If so, read on and get involved.

A friend of the Earth and mine, protector of the planet Kenny Peavy, just presented the 2012 Rockin 4 the Environment campaign at the Global Issues Network Indonesia Conference (GINdo), hosted at the Jakarta International School.

Here is Kenny Peavy’s letter introducing the SUN BEAR ROCK! campaign:

Below are some ideas of how to get involved.

3 ways to create awareness:

  1. Click for the Cause – “Like” the Rockin’ 4 the Environment Facebook page to spread the word. Have students post sun bear factoids and pertinent information.
  2. Become a Member – Join the SUN BEAR ROCK! wiki. Students can collaborate and share informational writing and presentations. See the  5 research resources below and click here for ecology unit plan.
  3. Take a Trip – Visit one of sun bear rehabilitation centers in South East Asia. Here are a few that facilitate student groups: Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation Sanctuary (BOSF), and Sun Bear Center in Balikpapan. 

3 ways to fund raise:

  1. Host an Event – Charge admission for musical and sporting events as well as special performances.
  2. Organize a Sale – Our student council is planning Love Your Borneo Bears Valentine Day flower and Hershey’s chocolate kisses sale. All proceeds will go towards charity.
  3. Earth Day Booth – For this special day, set up a booth (and a jar). Students can participate in sun bear face painting, sun bear t-shirt sales, and teddy bear raffle. Read more ideas >>

5 research resources:

Watch Sun bear now threatened with extinction by NewScientist Video:

Read the article More Bear Species Threatened with Extinction by NewScientist.com

Spread the word, get involved and tell a friend by sharing or liking this article. Thanks!

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Words are Taffy

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Brent Fullerton

from authorillustrators.com

“Words are taffy.”

“Find common stuff that people know about that they don’t talk so much about.”

“Writers are thinkers. Writers are noticers. Writers are hardworkers.”

These are three ideas from David Greenburg that I jotted down during his recent author visit to my school.

I had the pleasure of listening to David’s entertaining presentations, poetry and writing workshops. He has lived a fascinating life, and shares this through his presentation on the historical fiction novel, A Tugging String - a tale of growing up in the Civil Rights era in America. David gives this book such a unique perspective. Interestingly enough, his father was Martin Luther King, Jr’s personal attorney during the turbulent times of the civil rights movement. The presentation was moving, to say the least.

Photo taken by Brent Fullerton

Most of his writing is poetry and takes on a playful art of rhyme. An hour after sharing the sobering topic of civil rights, he was cracking jokes and rapping and rattling rhyming poems. He had the kids in the palm of his hand. They absolutely loved him. One student said he reminded him of Adam Sandler. I would agree! Hilarious and playful with words and sounds.

I read several of his books to the students during the visit. Three writing techniques are consistent in Greenburg’s poetry: rhyme “intense rhyme or macro rhyming” as he describes it (three words in a sentence that rhyme), alliteration, and repetition. For example:

“Giant tabby cats

And defiant scabby rats

Large enough to swallow babysitters.”   – excerpt from Bugs

Here are two VoiceThread recordings of Maxim recited Greenburg’s poems:

The visit was capped with a family night presentation. He had the crowd tuned in and turned on: laughing, writing and enjoying rhyme. Here’s an example of a simple activity–choose a family member to write an alliterative sentence about.

“Maxim, the madman, methodically masters molten magma miraculously making Mars bars.”

Enlightening, entertaining and unpredictably funny, David Greenburg can enrich any school literacy program. I would highly recommend him.

Posted in Course 5 | Leave a comment