douglasbpowers: 2011

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Excuse the mess

One of the treasurers I got to bring home was a gift from Tianjin No. 20 High School that was presented to our delegation

Reflections...

These are random and in no order. Just started writing on the plane. Thoughts as they came to me in the 12 hours I was stuck in my chair.

1. The beds in China are hard. It looked like it was a box spring with a mattress cover on it. No mattress. There were two pillows to choose from, regular or rice. The rice pillow was heavy and AWESOME. Going to see if Bed, Bath, and Beyond has one...

2. The history of architecture is amazing. The beauty, detail, and endurance of design is incredible.

3. Tienanmen Square is HUGE! Over 1 million people could occupy the space.
4. The devotion at the temple was admirable. The people would pray to one of the many Buddhas in the "hope" that things would be the way they desired.
5. The tradition of music and dance was truly beautiful.
6. They do not turn on the heat at school until November 15, no matter what the temperature is. No one questioned this practice, they just dressed accordingly. Also, the lights in the hallways were not on.
7. The doorways were often covered by long vertical plastic strips or by heavy curtains. The doors were propped open. Why don't the just close the doors?

8. Shopping in Tianjin was enjoyable. The bargaining was fun and not too aggressive. Shopping in Beijing at Silk Street was not enjoyable. The experience was so aggressive that it was not fun.

9. The LuHe High School Campus was like a college atmosphere. The classes were held in different buildings. The students moved from place to place. Classical music was used in place of bells for period movement.

10. Tianjin seemed heavily influenced by German architecture. our hotel was very European in style. It was in my estimation a 4 or 5 star place.
11. Beijing is such a large city. its hard to know just what we saw. where do the everyday people live? did we just see the tourist spots? did the "state" control our visits?

General Impressions

due to the limited resources in the country there is heavy competition for everything.
people will politely push, cut in line, take your turn...

because the limited spots available there is steep competition for admission to good schools who have good track records for producing results.

much of the teaching was "sit and get"...rote memorization

little if any technology used by the students. teachers used it for presentation purposes

memorization

the school day was much longer, but there were extended breaks for staff and students
i.e. Beijing Royal School 8 AM to 9 PM with an extended lunch and afternoon break. studying in the evening required.

teachers teach fewer classes and have fewer preps to plan for. they have time to prepare lessons.

one Chinese teacher (teacher of English language) told me. "American teachers can relax in the evening, we can't. we worry about our student's future."

teachers have more time to plan and grow (inservice, research, training, observations)

all students learn English as a second language. Again they want to compete with America. Many want to come to America.

no special needs students observed. no discipline observed. no real diversity seen.

as China continues to grow, they become even more important to our own success and ultimately the success of our planet.

ultimately we have to prepare our students for the world where they will compete. they need to know how to learn, problem solve, access higher order thinking skills

learn to learn, unlearn, relearn...

learning a second language opens access to parts of the brain most of us have closed.
the younger the better, brains are wired to learn language naturally.
if we don't use the language part of our brain, it closes off

learning a second language of any sort exposes us to other cultures. it teaches us that we are not the only ones on the planet.

the sense of urgency creates a sense of value for education. kids in China (those that we saw) want to learn, they want to be educated. the desire for an education is a driver for behavior.

Parent and student both sacrifice and change behaviors to "earn" that education

Take Aways-Application

1. recognize that there is a competition going on. if we don't get involved we will get left behind.

2. there are more "honor" students in China than there are students in America.
3. the devotion to learning is to be envied, but kids still need to be kids. they want time to play and explore.
4. teachers are allowed great freedom to be prepared for their teaching duties. however, the stakes are high, student learning.
5. I wonder what the impact the "State" has on the entire process.
6. we saw key schools. what do the other schools look like?
7. vocational studies? what do the trades schools look like? we did not get to visit these, we drove past...
8. the freedoms that we have in America are easy to take for granted if you live your life never leaving the boarders of our nation.

http://www.youtube.com/user/douglasbpowers for the videos I took

douglasbpowers.blogspot.com for a few reflections and photos

www.shutterfly.com for about 2000 photos taken...not edited or arranged, just raw data. It may take a day or two to get them all loaded up. I am not sure how sharing works on the site...as always I am douglasbpowers...

Friday morning at 3:30 AM I started my journey home, that's Thursday 3:30 PM back home. The flight from Beijing was quicker headed west to east, shaved 90 minutes off. I am guessing jet stream was with us. Landed in Chicago at 4:59 AM.

Customs was easy, but long lines. I guess I expected more.

Chicago was a short stay. Long enough to grab a Mc Donalds coffee and breakfast burrito before the flight to Wichita. 90 minutes later I was home and back to work. A quick update from my associate on the ride in from the airport and I was ready to get back to the grind.

First stop was lunch with my daughter. We were both happy to see each other. It was nice to be home and to be loved on.

The rest of the day was spent reconnecting with staff. Spent most of the afternoon at Maize Central Elementary. Tragic loss of a staff member there. Lots of tears. It was good for me and good for them. It was painful to learn of a death via email halfway around the world. There were a couple of sleepless tear filled nights in Tianjin China. I was able to grieve and close that box up in my mind. Now I can get back to serving those that still grieving. Funny how our minds work.

Around the 24 hour mark of no sleep I started getting a little punchy. Decided to call it a day. Left the office for an early dinner with my girls. PIZZA, New York Style!