THE FROG'S PAGE

So as the frog would say on with the show.  I am a  teacher at Munford Middle School in Munfrod, Tennessee just north of Memphis.  While Geography is my main content area I also teach Science, Math, and US History.  I'm a third career teacher having been a Marine officer and a manager in industry prior to becoming a teacher, the most challenging and rewarding of all!

My odyssey began in San Jose, Costa Rica where teachers from throughout the United States gathered to begin a journey of inquiry and discovery.  From Alaska to Florida; Hawaii to Maine and all points in between the group of teachers were diverse and yet we shared many things in common experiences.  So friendships were quickly formed.  After a day of meetings and briefings we set out on our first adventure a trip to the Poas Volcano.  As you can see it still is steaming.   It is unusual in that it had two craters.  We enjoyed our first hand experience in a cloud rain forest and traversing it's many trails.  After a few more sessions we divided into our three groups and went to our various sites.  Our group made a stop at  a Dole Banana Plant ion on the way to La Selva.  It was fascinating to see the whole process from planting of saplings to packing for shipping.  As an added bonus we had the opportunity sample some of the product.

Then the after a short drive arrived at the first of the research sites that we were planned to visit La Selva.  I was excited to cross the bridge into an inquiry project in the rain forest.  We first had an introduction to the site then an excited night walk through one of the many marshes to be found at La Selva.  With the water chin deep we found a tremendous abundance of life from the poison dart frog (a distant relative) to toucans.

We got together and after going over the methods and tools available for the projects we selected teams and went for a long walk through the park stopping often to take in the wonders before our eyes.  Tom our Science guy lead us through the 50 question method and discussion.  My group settled on a project on original forest and second growth forest runoff patterns.

So it was hi ho hi ho off to work we went.  It was exciting to discover and to be exposed to things outside of my knowledge base.  The results and methods can be found in the Woodrow Wilson home page. Surfice to say we had a great time.  While there we discovered many unusual things I cross the river on a self powered rope/cable car.

Once we arrived at Palo Verde hot and dusty we received an warm welcome from a good pal the Black Iguana Hal.  We all ran for our cameras.  Because we knew from La Selva's green iguana that is was rare to see one on the ground.  But we soon realized AGAIN that we really did not know that much.  By the last day there we knew many by sight, some times as many as twenty at a time would be hanging around.