Thursday, February 24, 2011 - “THE RIVER INSIDE: TRAVELING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER” (Windows on the World series)
Lesson Plan – http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/programs/windowsontheworld/mississippiriver.htm
Presenter: John Guider, nationally recognized award-winning photographer and author of “THE RIVER INSIDE” about his journeys on the Mississippi River
REGISTER online: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/registration.htm
TARGET AUDIENCE: grades 4-12
TIME: Two sessions: 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM (central)
COST: $75
FORMAT: Videoconferences are 45 minutes. Format is 25-30 minutes for the presentation and 15-20 minutes for question and answer session with the students.
We encourage you to use the lesson plans on the website for each videoconference to help prepare students for these sessions.
OVERVIEW:
In August 2003, John Guider walked out the back door of his home in Franklin, TN and placed a canoe in the creek behind his house. Three months later, he had paddled all the way to New Orleans.
Along the way, Guider kept a detailed journal and took hundreds of remarkable photographs, documenting his amazing journey that led him down five rivers, including the Mighty Mississippi.
A traveling exhibition of his photography and the companion coffee table book, The River Inside, chronicle this life changing experience and bring this adventure to thousands of armchair Adventurers across America.
Can you imagine canoeing on the Mississippi River? How long would it take to travel the Mississippi River? Can you even paddle the whole river in an open canoe? What kind of canoe would you need?
If the river was high enough, (and therefore fast enough), what is typical travel in days? What do you do about food? Come and meet John Guider and listen to his stories as he journeyed along the Mississippi River.
The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. Only the Missouri River is longer. The Mississippi flows 2,340 miles from its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Its drainage basin is the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo Rivers. The drainage basin covers 1,247,300 square miles in 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. This area encompasses the nation's most productive agricultural and industrial regions.
The Mississippi is the nation's chief navigable water route. Barges and towboats on the Mississippi River System carry sixty percent of the agricultural goods, industrial products, and raw materials transported on inland waterways. The Mississippi River and its valley also support many kinds of animals and plants including freshwater fishes, birds, deer, raccoons, otters, mink, and a variety of forest trees.
See you for this fascinating journey on the Mississippi River!
Patsy
Patsy Partin, M.Ed
Director, Virtual School
Vanderbilt University
2007 Terrace Place
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 322-6384
