The Valley of Virginia (Shenandoah and Roanoke River valleys)
Source - US Geological Survey National Map - Seamless Data Viewer
Come explore the Shenandoah Valley in depth this Summer (July 25, 7:20pm-10:00pm, then overnight field trips throughout Shenandoah Valley from July 28 -August 3, 2007) through the Virginia From the Ground Up - Shenandoah Valley class (NCLC 498), offered by George Mason University's Center For Field Studies.
We'll spend seven days in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, including six nights sleeping in a vacation cabin located at Massanutten Resort. The class will roam to different locations throughout the valley every day, rain or shine. In one week, we will visit and have substantive discussions about many places between Harpers Ferry to Lexington. After finishing this class, those "ordinary" views from the car window while driving on I-81 will be far more interesting, and you will know lots of places to visit again on a weekend/vacation with friends and family.
This is a 3-credit course at George Mason University, organized through the Center For Field Studies. To register, contact Greg Justice by phone (703-993-1740 or gjustice[at]gmu.edu). NOTE: you do not register through the standard PatriotWeb procedures for this class.
Course fee for this class is $1,330 and includes all tuition, transportation, lodging, entrance fees and meals for the duration of the class. Course fees are paid directly to the Center for Field Studies. If you're not enrolled as a student at George Mason - hey, no problem, you're still invited to join us; the instructor is a life-long learner too. To reserve a space, a 10% deposit must be received with your application. Applications are available at the Center For Field Studies office in Room 441, Enterprise Hall between 9am-5pm Monday through Friday.
It's a lot of fun to explore a place with people who share your common interest. We'll examine the rich cultural heritage of the area, and we'll learn about the valley from the caves up to the clouds. We'll have a full immersion experience, examining the air we breathe, the water we drink, the ground on which we walk - even where things go when we flush. "Everything is connected to everything else" is one thing you'll appreciate better at the end of the class.
We'll do more than just play tourist, however. You'll also learn to "see" the parks, caves, forests, and various protected areas through the eyes of both a visitor and a manager. As we visit different places - including a winery - we will debate among ourselves and shape our individual opinions about what makes each place unique. At the end, you will decide for yourself how these special places should be protected for future generations and how they should be made accessible for current visitors.
There is no textbook for this class. Virginia From the Ground Up, like many other courses offered through New Century College, builds on the perspectives of the participants as well as the knowledge provided in books/maps/videos/websites and the short lectures of the instructor. (Long discussions around specific questions tend to be more interesting to everyone...) We will develop an intensive, interdisciplinary learning community because that's an effective and enjoyable way to get to understand the world around us:
During this class, each of us will learn:
NOTE: The pronoun in "What We Will Learn" is important. All of us will be teaching each other and learning from each other. Cave guides learn quickly that the environment of the cave rarely changes. The trick to being enthusiastic for each cave tour is to tune in to the visitors. The people on each tour change far more than the cave, so a cave guide who stays sensitive towards people (as well as the cave environment) will find it easier to make each tour unique and interesting. In the same way, a group effort to discuss different ideas and opinions, as well as share factoids and statistics, will make the learning experience much richer for all of us.
We will have an extended conversation throughout this class, learning about many aspects of the valley and how we see the world around us. There's time and space for all approaches to experiential learning. If your personal style is to learn through talking out loud, or by listening to others before you grasp a new idea, or to quietly contemplate before incorporating new information into your cerebral cortex, you'll find the time between the field trips, meals, and moments of personal searching.
Class Journal and Participation: 15%
Daily Quizzes: 25%
Final Exam: 25%
Your Plan For a Piece of the Valley: 35%
The class journal is a tool for you to frame and organize your experiences, and to identify questions you'd like answered. Your class participation will demonstrate you are learning, and asking questions is a good learning technique. As questions during discussions at different sites, and be prepared to identify potential exam questions after we visit each site. Note that in this experiential learning process, you get credit for sharing your curiousity and even your ignorance, as well as your knowledge and wisdom. The daily quizzes will provide you a chance to demonstrate your understanding. (NOTE: questions for the daily quiz are provided at the start of the day, so you have plenty of opportunity to prepare...)
The biggest part of your grade (35%) will be your plan for managing some part of the valley. Depending on your interests, it could deal with protection of a specific park, interpretation of a specific historic site, development of I-8, etc. Take your grand ideas for conservation of the natural landscape, or your "big picture" political strategy, and apply it to a real-world situation in the Shenandoah Valley. (HINT: Use your journal to develop your ideas and document the factoids relevant to your plan. You turn in the plan on August 15, so this is a compressed learning experience for 3 credits...)
The Shenandoah Valley is rich in heritage, natural and cultural, and full of small or big controversies to be managed as well. Prepare a plan (maximum of 10 pages, double-spaced, plus endnotes and references and map/graphic attachments) that shows you understand the issues and the choices, and can articulate the actions needed to conserve the sense of "special place" in the Shenandoah Valley.
Like Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter's Hogwarts, I retain some flexibility in the grading. You can gain or lose points for being on time or being "tardy." We'll be travelling in vans; we need to operate on a schedule. We'll have plenty of time to visit the bathrooms, but you'll get rewarded if you're always at the van on time. Oversleeping or missing meals is a no-no. Brains need to be fed and watered, and we all have to work together to handle the meals. You must eat regularly and drink plenty of fluids to keep alert. Don't try to save a little time, skip a meal, and and risk getting sleepy or sick. Be at every meal, on time, every time, for 7 days and 6 nights, and join in the conversation as well as the chores. After August 3... hey, you can sleep late and skip breakfast if you want.
NOTE: Even after the class starts, we'll adjust the schedule based on weather, traffic jams, serendipity, whatever...
Saturday, July 28
Aldie Mill
Burwell-Morgan Mill
Mount Jackson
Sunday, July 29
The Coaling (Civil War battlefield)
Grand Caverns
Port Republic
Natural Chimneys
Harrisonburg
Silver Lake Mill
Monday, July 30
Lexington
Natural Bridge
local trout pond
Staunton
Tuesday, July 31
Elkton Quarry
Town of Shenandoah
George Washington National Forest - Storybook Trail
Luray
Shenandoah National Park / Skyline Drive
Wednesday, August 1
Museum of American Frontier Culture
McCormick Farm
field day at Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Thursday, August 2
New Market Battlefield State Historical Park
Shenandoah Vineyards
Woodstock Tower
Elizabeth Furnace
Front Royal
Friday, August 3
Route 11 Potato Chips
Belle Grove
Harpers Ferry
When you register, be sure to tell us if you require special logistical support or have special preferences - allergies, medical conditions, dietary requirements, etc. We'll do what we can - but no, you can't bring your cat, dog, pet bird, turtle, snake, or whatever to keep you company and avoid kennel fees.
We'll adapt to the weather as much as we can, but this is a rain-or-shine class. Be sure to bring good "even if it rains all day" raingear in which you can walk. A cheap plastic poncho or even a garbage bag might be OK for a brief period of time, but a rainjacket that "breathes" will be far more comfortable. Don't bother wiuth city clothes - dress trousers, high heels, or that to-die-for jacket. The briers and snags on the trail are waiting to put a hole in your stockings too.
We will take short hikes, usually of 1-3 miles on easy or moderate trails. Pauses will be moments for discovery as well as recovery. If we're hunched over catching our breath, we'll miss a chance to see the pattern of the tree canopy or spot a raven croaking "Nevermore" as it soars over the Blue Ridge. This is not an exercise class, and I'm more than halfway on the journey from birth to death, so if you're in OK shape you should not find the physical exertion to be a problem. As for coping with the muggy heat in August... well, that's part of the real-world experience; no extra charge. (Be sure to fill your water bottle every day.)
We won't climb Signal Knob on Massanutten Mountain, but we'll be outdoors a lot and hiking up to vistas at places like Humpback Rocks. Bring bug repellent, sunscreen, and a good attitude. Hiking will done on narrow trails where there is no room for umbrellas. Bring rain gear and sturdy shoes that can splash through puddles on a trail.
1) If you have a University parking sticker you can leave your car parked on campus the entire time. If you don't have a parking sticker, it may be best to have someone drop you off.
2) Food and lodging are included, but this doesn't cover snack food, sodas or souvenirs, so you should bring money for those extra items. Remember, we can't carry alcohol in a GMU vehicle, so we'll be "dry" all week at the cabin. (At the end of the week, we'll visit a winery with a tasting room.)
3) The lodging is in a vacation cabin, designed for rental to families/groups. You will be sharing a room with someone, and we'll all have to be on our best behavior to deal with the social "opportunities" throughout the week. When you sign up for Elderhostel trips, you'll get your own room - but you'd pay another $1,000-2,000 for a trip like this.
4) We can not guarantee that there is a wake up service or alarms in the room. We will be getting up fairly early and having breakfast by 8am each day, so bring an alarm clock... and patience.
5) Footwear should be hiking boots or light-weight "day hikers" if you already have them, if not, a good pair of tennis shoes will do. Don't however go out and buy a new pair just before leaving on the trip as they will most likely blister your feet. Other clothing should include a rain parka, keep your fingers crossed that it won't rain but always prepare for the worst. A long sleeve lightweight fleece to keep warm and at least one pair of jeans. The rest should be a good mix of shorts, T-shirts, and enough undergarments to make it through the trip without doing laundry.
6) BYOB: Bring at least two 1-quart plastic water bottles - and a small daypack in which you can carry them, so your hands will be free as you hike. Expect to refill the water bottles at lunch - water is better inside of you, than inside your hiking pack. Drink small sips regularly - we'll stop often when walking, and each stop is an opportunity for a sip of water. When you're thirsty, it's too late to rehydrate easily. (Sorry - even if you are 21 or older, carrying alcohol in the university vehicle is prohibited.)
7) Other necessary items: a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug repellent. You will need a notebook and pencils for writing your journal. (I prefer to bring lots of small spiral notebooks, the cheap things that you can buy at any store, so long as they fit into my shirt pocket. Re-assembling those notes into a journal is an opportunity to refresh your memory and deepen your understanding of a place that we have visited.)
Bring a camera, binoculars, field guides, bird tapes, and books about Virginia - but expect to be busy exploring, talking, and writing in your journal rather than reading.
One of the most important things you should bring is curiosity! It's an innate human trait for adults as well as young children to ask "why" - and we will strengthen rather than suppress it. The class will cover a wide range of topics and the questions you bring to the class will help to determine how much we all learn. In addition to your sense of wonder, bring your talents for working as a member of a team. It's far easier for everyone if we all get along as a learning community, and learn from each other.
