Curriculum connection

Wales and her history is perfect fit for the Geography and World history Standard 7: Conflict and Cooperation. This standard explores the human and geographical influences that cause conflict. The Welsh were isolated by their mountains for many years. While the Romans, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons tried to conquer them, the Welsh remained autonomous. As a result the Welsh culture and language grew stronger and stronger. When the English finally conquered Wales, conflicted ensued for generations. Wales provides a perfect case study on the development of nationalism and the conflict it creates.

For older students (high school) the study of Wales would fit nicely. In conjunction with the English teacher students can read Welsh literature and poems. In history class, students can learn the back round information of the story. When the section is complete, students will create their own fiction about Wales.

Younger students can also benefit. Children in the 4th through 5th grades can read the Mabinogion, a Welsh folklore book and create their own illustrations of the stories. Wales offers plenty of opportunities for study and creativity.

My final part of this project is personal connection. Before I began this project, I always felt that my final product had to be a paper, bibliography or presentation. Now I realize that there are other valuable ways to disseminate information. Traditional methods of communicating research, cannot adaquately convey emotion. Welsh literature and history is full of emotion, mostly sadness, an annotated bibliography, paper or presentation, simply would not have been adequate. I would like to thank everyone for reading my blog and being patient.

theresa

I wish upon a star!

I wish I had more time for this project. Of course, who doesn't. Every time I do a project I feel in order to do the subject justice, I need to study it for a year, at least! More time was not an option. My assignment, however, does have many strengths. The end project is creative and I enjoyed writing it. It was the first time I have ever written a poem, so guys go easy on it. The information I found was interesting and the books I read wonderful.

One of the weaknesses and challenges was time, as I have already mentioned. Also, it was hard to incorporate information into the poem. While I discussed earlier that a poem was good at conveying emotion, it is challenging to incorporate facts into poems. Next time I will definitely start earlier and research how to write a poem.

I feel my inquiry is very much like many of the inquiry experiences of those children who would come to the library. I remember as a student, my research took so many twists and turns, while my mind wondered. I remember making up stories about the information I had found. But I don't believe many students think to create stories or poems with their findings.

Everybody, let's do the Welsh Wrap!

Now I am finally at the wrapping and waving part of my project. According to Annette Lamb wrapping an waving involve deciding how to share the information that you found. In the beginning I wanted to do an annotated bibliography of Welsh literature. Then I found many good books that I could never read in time. Therefore, I decided to write a story. I changed my mind again. A story would convey the necessary information, but not the emotion. Welsh history is filled with sadness. I felt a poem, would more accurately represent my information. In addition to my poem, I created a chart of Welsh and other Celtic languages. The chart shows that Welsh is the most widely spoken Celtic language in the world today. I also created a word search with help from teach-nology. Below is my poem.

Decay, pallid clouds hover, a dreary mist, a pungent odor wet and corroded,
I, once glorious and green, moans, shrieking, chiseling, hammering,
The mine within in me, now a hollow memory.

Millions of years, I was molded by the earth,
Out of the dust she rose and witnessed the greatness and sorrows of her people,
The Celts tamed the mountain ranges, filled the valleys with song and traversed the seas,
Romans, Angles, Saxons and Normans raided the countryside,
The Romans established Caerwent and Carmarthen,
The Angles, Saxons, and Normans purged the countryside of her honor.

Out of the darkness a great kingdom,
Gruffudd ap Cynan and his son Owain surrounded me with greatness,
Poetry, music filled my ears,
Life replaced death, knowledge replaced ignorance.

My earth was tainted once more,
Succession struggles, King John’s interference,
Lamentations, Lamentations,
Llewellyn ap Gruffudd conquers all of Wales,
Lamentations, Lamentations, Death, Demise,
Edward II, 1284, rummaged and rampaged, scourged and raped my soil.
Wales, promised a king who was born in Wales and spoke no English,
In return, gained a royal, Edward

1586, full union did occur with England,
Wales, laws, customs and language threatened,
Goodbye Gwynedd, goodbye Llywelyn,
Goodbye Kings of old, rest in peace,
May your voices carry over the mountains and fill the people with your spirit.

Coal, discovered, in my bowels,
Wrenching, blinding pain,
Frenzied picks, axes, clanging, clamoring, digging through my intestines,
Sludge fills my face and corrupts my soul,
What was once green, is now dead, dead…

Now I am alone, except for the trapped souls within me,
Their songs, their energy, their joys and sorrows, entombed in my labyrinth.
At night I can hear voices, haunting and taunting my sorrows.
My bare stomach growls, I look to the moon and weep.

Bibliography:

http://virtualinquiry/ws.htm

Llywelyn, Dorian. (1999) Sacred place, chosen people : land and national identity in Welsh spirituality, Cardiff : University of Wales Press.

Wiggle, Wiggle

I am now on the wiggling/weaving aspect of my project. According to Annette Lamb at http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm, wiggling is the process after research where one evaluates content and decides what to do with that content. Weaving consists of organizing ideas, creating models and formulating plans.

I began my search on the Internet. I know I said I wasn't going to use it, but there is good information if you know where to look. In L401, we learned how to evaluate web content. Below is the list:

Who is the author? What are their credentials? Are they representing a reliable source?
When was the page last updated?
Is any strong language used?
Does the website cite their sources? What are their sources?
Is the information well organized?
Are the opinions of the author in line with what others in the field argue?

Using these criteria, I began with the question how many people speak Welsh? Apparently over 582,368 people still speak some Welsh. I decided to compare this with other Celtic languages in the British Isles. Gaelic has 200,000 speakers, Gallic 60,000 and Cornish 3,000-5,000. Welsh is still going strong in Wales and I even used a chart. Unfortunately I was not sure how to post it on my blog. I e-mailed my professor, so I hope to have it up soon.

The rest of my information will be organized as a story and then hopefully a quiz to see if everyone was paying attention. I hope to post my story online.

I decide on a story, because I am good at writing stories and people enjoy reading them. I also feel people will remember the information better in story form. I will keep you informed.









http://www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk/cynnwys.php?pID=faq&faqID=20&langID=2&search=x

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaels

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

A change of pace!

Annette Lamb in her 8W's model, published in the book, The Blue Book of Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy, commented that in the webbing stage one question may lead to another. Initially, I wanted to compile an annotated bibliography of Welsh litereature and film. I researched IUCAT and found some interesting prospects.

While literature is vital, I felt that inorder to give an accurate annotated bibliograpghy I would have to read all these wonderful books. I wouldn't mind doing that, but it would take an enormous amount of time. Therefore, I have decided to research the questions I asked in the wondering phase. I am actually excited about changing the pace a bit. I decided to present my information in a for of a story, but more on that later.

Inorder to find this information, I could always use the internet, but at times it is difficult to determine what information is correct. I will rely on the interney some, perhaps I will the ask an expert function Annette Lamb sugested. I believe, however, my best bet is to use Almanacs, books and articles about Wales.

I will search IUCAT, then some of the electronic journals we have. For some of the information I may use a good old encyclopedia. Now I will set off on my quest. Wish me luck!

Callison, Daniel, Lesile Preddy (2006) The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy, Libraries Unlimited Westport Conn.