"To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote: To travel is to live." --Hans Christian Andersen
This afternoon we went to the Korean National History Museum. The mammoth building has three stories housing the permanent exhibits plus much more space for traveling special exhibits. Here is a taste of Korea's history through the artifacts in this museum:
I just received an e-mail a little while ago with the most up-to-date itinerary for my upcoming trip to South Korea. Here is a taste of what I'll be getting to see:
Today, my AP Human Geography began our unit on Agriculture and Rural Use of Land. To help "inspire" them to begin thinking about that which is connected to agriculture, I showed a couple of music videos from the employees of Peterson Farm and Livestock in Assaria, Kansas. These videos parody songs from pop culture and yet give a very pro-agriculture message.
"I'm Farming and I Grow It" (parody of "I'm Sexy and I Know It")
"Farming Style" (parody of "Gangnam Style")
We followed this up with each student responding, via polleverywhere.com, to the prompt "When I think of "agriculture", I think of ...". Students were asked to respond with a minimum number of terms or phrases. Here is a word cloud (generated at wordle.net) of their responses.
I know that most of my students' responses link to stereotypes based on where they live (country and region in country). As we study this unit, a remote road for most of my suburban kids, I hope that they are able to understand how agriculture encompasses so much more than the farms of "middle America". This could be fun!
Those of you on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, or other social networking platform have either been participating in or have friends posting updates during the "Thirty Days of Thanksgiving" by writing or posting a picture each day of November representing something for which they are thankful. One posting from a friend today really got me thinking. Here is the post:
Day 25 - I am thankful for refrigerators, microwave ovens and leftovers. Seriously, without fridges we couldn't store food. Without microwaves we couldn't quickly reheat food. I haven't cooked since [T]hanksgiving thanks to leftovers.
This friend doesn't know how wise he/she is. Here in the U.S., or elsewhere in the developed world (even the move developed neighborhoods/homes in the developing and underdeveloped world), we often fail to realize or forget 1) how drastically our collectively lives have changed due to technological innovations and 2) that much of the world doesn't have access to such innovations.
How likely would our family Thanksgiving celebrations be to produce such an over abundance of food if we had no where to efficiently store/preserve that which was eaten during the meal? Would we only prepare just enough to make sure all were able to eat but making sure not to have too much knowing that the remnants would spoil? Even if we had the storage/preservation abilities, would we make so much knowing that the preserved leftovers would have to be reheated in a similar method as originally cooked?
I'm reminded of a precious woman who worked hard to prepare a meal for me while I was in Kenya in 2002. One of the students at Kima International School of theology invited myself and another students to venture the 10 or so miles to his mother's home (used the local public transport of a "matatu" get there). I didn't get to witness the cooking process, but I know that much of the meal was prepared in a boiling pot (or collection of pots) over a wood fire. No stove, no microwave, no electric oven, no...well, none of those technological innovations for which my friend (noted above) is thankful. We ate and ate and ate and I know there was food left over and this made me feel bad. This family shouldn't have prepared so much just for me, but I also know that I was considered an honored guest in their home and they wanted to make sure I was cared for. I know that my student had several siblings and that after our departure I'm sure the remnants of the meal were saved from them; I'm hopeful that there was no waste from the abundance in that there was no cold storage place to preserve the items for a later time.
Like my friend, I am highly thankful for those things that I have and use as part of my daily life. And yet, I am filled with an awesome sense of respect to those throughout the world who do not have access to the blessings of these innovations. The struggles endured by countless many are worthy of our respect and our compassionate attention.
I finally arrived home in Oklahoma City at 2:45 AM yesterday morning. It was a long time of traveling from Jakarta to Hong Kong to Los Angeles to Oklahoma City; nearly 36 hours of travel including layovers.
I had turned the air conditioner off during my time away, which has initially seemed like a mistake when I arrived back to Oklahoma and temperatures of 112+. My A/C is still struggling to catch up. It was showing 91 in my house most of yesterday but was down to 82 when I woke this morning. So, due to the heat I'm still processing the validity of "home sweet home".
One definitely positive about being home is my new iPad. My district had funds to place some iPad-Apple TV-LCD projector combination. I am a one of 30 recipients at Southmoore and was able to pic up my pad this morning; in fact this posting is being typed on that very iPad. So perhaps homecoming is sweet after all.
So I guess this is a new adventure in remote road roaming for me: a new step in my quest for using technology effectively with my students. I hope you continue to help me roaming the roads of lands remote.
This morning Daniel and I, along with Betty, Efa (Krida's principal), and Fikry (one of Krida's English language teachers), departed at 6:30 AM (yikes) to drive approximately 90 km to SMAN 1 Majalengka High School in Majalengka, Indonesia. While 90 km, or 56 miles, doesn't seem that far to those of us in the USA who can easily hope on an interstate highway and drive at 65 (or more) miles per hour, in Indonesia this distance takes MUCH longer to drive. Without stopping (no potty breaks, no photo opportunities, nothing), the morning drive took well over 2-1/2 hours.
By the time we arrived at SMAN 1 Majalengka, school had already started. As we got out of the Krida Mobile (actually one of the fleet of Krida's mini vans) we were greeted by a delegation of students (3 boys and 2 girls) who spent several minutes making small talk with us so as to practice their English skills. In time, a team of adults ushered us into the head master's office. I presented the head master with a small gift to thank he and his school for inviting Daniel and I to come and visit. We remained in his office for a while and visited.
student delegation who welcomed our arrival
giving SMAN 1 Majalengka's head master a gift: decorative plate with image of a Plains Indian
Approximately 30 minutes after our arrival, Daniel and I were each escorted to a classroom filled with students waiting for us to greet them and tell them about life in the USA. I was again able to use my prezi on life in Oklahoma to share with the students about our way of life. One of the slides which I have learned I need to move past rather fast includes the images of food in Oklahoma. Since Indonesia is a primarily Muslim country, most of the students are fasting during this current month of Ramadan. I can tell from the students' expressions when they see the images of food that it reminds them of their hunger so I try to make that part of the presentation as rapid as possible.
After the presentation and discussion, which included some good questions from the students especially about our animals and about the musicians from Oklahoma and favorite styles of music, I then passed out postcards to the students. I have run out of the cards written by my high school students at Southmoore and am now using the ones from the upper grades from Briarwood and Oakridge elementary schools. I have been promised by Betty that we will be visiting an elementary school or two either tomorrow or Saturday (yes, Indonesia has school on Saturday too) so I will make sure that most of these postcards get into the hands of elementary students here.
As the students were reading their postcards I began taking a few pictures of them. This led into a large group photo (there were about 50 students in this class) of the students with me. Immediately, the students start producing their cell phones with cameras and wanting me to pose with them as individuals or small groups for additional pictures. I felt like I was the newest movie star or pop musician visiting these children and that they ALL wanted to be photographed with me. I'll bet I was already appearing on Facebook before the class time was even over.
reading postcards from USA elementary school students
my geography class at SMAN 1 Majalengka
Speaking of Facebook, as the students returned to their seats for a time of questions and answers the first question requested my Facebook and twitter identification. I wrote the information for the Facebook page and twitter account that I use with my USA students on the white board. By the time I arrived back to the guest house at Krida, I already have 5 new "likes" on Facebook and 8 new followers on twitter. WOW...I am a rock star, LOL.
Following this class, the two boys who were part of the initial welcoming committee gave me a tour of the campus including the library, the students' parking lot, and the teachers' workroom. This school also has construction for a new lobby and I shared with the two boys that Southmoore was also under construction for some additional classrooms. Every chance I get I love to point out the similarities between my experiences in Indonesia and the USA; too often we focus on what divides us and not enough on what unites as a co-inhabitants of planet earth. It was now time to say our good-byes. We once again gathered in the head master's office for pictures and a parting gift: Daniel and I were each given a basket filled with mangoes.
main classroom building
on campus mosque
student parking lot; no cars, only motorcycles
library and media center staff
students showing their artwork to promote environmental protection
I am being presented a basket of mangoes as a "thank you" for visiting
As our group from Krida departed, I was surprised to see that we were driving off in a different direction. I made the assumption that there was an alternate route to get back to Bandung. After about 45 minutes of driving we turned around. Apparently Efa, who was driving, was trying to find a sate stand where Daniel, Betty, and I could get some lunch. However, due to Ramadan fasting he was not able to locate a stand. So on the way back into Majalengka we paused for about 15 minutes at a mosque so that Efa and Fikry could stop to pray.
Our journey continued en route back to Bandung. Eventually we did stop at Kentucky Fried Chicken (one of the few places open during lunch time) to eat. KFC was located in the same building as a grocery store so we also looked around in there for a few minutes. I saw some things I've never seen: Pepsi Blue, unusual fruits and vegetables, and the fresh meat and fish stand where the customers helped themselves to the unpackaged items rather than having an employee provide assistance in a more hygienic manner.
KFC staff is happy to serve you...but no mashed potatoes or mac & cheese
with your chicken, only french fries or a package of sticky rice
what is Pepsi Blue???
many of my Korean & Vietnamese students at Southmoore enjoy Durian
need frozen chicken nuggets or french fries? scoop them and bag them yourself!!!
It was after 5:00 when we arrived back at Krida. The return trip, if you remove the approximate time of an hour for the KFC stop, took over 5-1/2 hours. This should give an idea of how complicated driving is here in Indonesia. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes fighting for every inch on the road. A road paved for two lanes may have four or more lanes once the drivers decide for themselves how to accommodate their vehicles in the road. We were safe, but it just seemed to take "forever" to make the 90 km return trip. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
video of the final road to Krida's campus; barely a
One of the tasks I will perform while in Indonesia is sharing about life and culture within Oklahoma. To help with this presentation, I've created a visual presentation of life and culture in Oklahoma using the online platform "Prezi". Prezi helps take a traditional presentation and make it a little more visually stimulating than PowerPoint. It's easy to embed YouTube clips into a Prezi and the full impact of Prezi can be used anywhere in which there is a reliable Internet connection. Additionally, a Prezi can be saved in PDF format so that it can be view offline.
Please take a moment and view Oklahoma: Life and Culture and let me know what you think. I can still make some changes before I head off to Indonesia and I want the presentation to be the best that it can be.
For those of you reading who are not from Oklahoma, hopefully this will allow you to roam a remote road as you venture into our great American State.
Despite having sold-out of the 50,000 tickets available, a June 3rd concert in Indonesia by American musician Lady Gaga appears to be doomed. See the details of the story as being reported by a variety of global news outlets:
One of the great ways of following remote roads is to follow the "familiar" but from a variety of perspectives. I'm not in anyway suggesting that I am overly familiar with Lady Gaga or her music (although Southmoore's marching band has played an arrangement of "Bad Romance"), I just am familiar with the fact that she is a current icon of American pop culture music and has become the subject of international attention (for good or bad). Explore what others throughout the world have to say on a topic of interest to you...a simple and yet remote road which can be explored using technology within your grasp.
This evening I had the privilege of attending a dinner with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (first female on the U.S. Supreme Court who retired in 2006) being the honored guest. Justice O'Connor, since her retirement in 2006, has become a major advocate for a renewal of civic education and has been a key collaborator on the website www.iCivics.org which seeks to engage students learning through technology.
Tonight I was the guest of Global Health Inc., one of the sponsors of the of the event. I am so appreciative to them, and their representative Faith Nix, for this special opportunity. Also, I want to thank Robert Romines and Terri Robinette from the Moore Public Schools administration team for recommending me for this opportunity.
While not always agreeing with her judicial decisions, Justice O'Connor is one of those American government and history icons who I have looked up to for many years. To be in the physical living presence of such an icon is a treat in an of itself. And to have her champion civic education, a cause very near to my heart, made the evening even more special.
The theme of her presentation was that American public education has experienced a significant shift from what she believes was its core mission. While initially developing within the Puritan societies of colonial Massachusetts, the significant focus of state-funded public education dates to the 1820s. The core mission of public education, according to Justice O'Connor, was to help a country with a rather diverse population learn to become participatory citizens. From my own understanding of reforms led by Horace Mann, and eventually John Dewey, combined with the emphasis of the Jacksonian era on the "common man" and the expansion of democracy, Justice O'Connor's claim seems plausible. She contends that the emphasis of public education shifted away from civic education toward a focus on math and science (many political historians often link this transition to the Soviet launch of Sputnik). While she is not trying to marginalize the importance of math and science, she does champion the need for an increased presence of civic education with our public schools.
The Teachers for Global Classrooms program which I am in would take this emphasis to an additional step of education being focused on international civic competence: the diverse peoples of Earth must learn about each other and ways to productively interact with each other.
So, with this spirit of helping to renew civic education's place within our schools, I ask that you journey with me as we roam the roads that lead to a better education for all of our students...no matter how remote those roads of reform may seem.
Each year within my AP Human Geography classes I assign a year-long "Country Portfolio" project. Each student is assigned four countries representing different regions of the world and different levels of economic development. My initial reason for this project is that it gives students a wealth of specific information on which they can draw as they compose the free response portion of the AP exam offered in May by the College Board (success on this exam can earn college credit for the students). Each year I also create a portfolio; this year my countries are Bolivia, Nigeria, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates.
As a fellow in the Teachers for Global Classrooms program, I see the benefit of integrating more of a global education focus into my classes. Thus, I find a new reason to continue this project, and modify it for the future. One focus of global education as promoted by TGC is to provide students a greater opportunity to use technology so as to enhance their learning.
I have to admit that my use of web-based technolgoies has been limited, but through TGC I have learned about some worthwhile resources. One such resource is Weebly...a build your own website platform. As I learned of Weebly during the eight-week TGC online course I decided to play with it some and when I saw how easy it was to navigate I offered it to my students as an alternative presentation format for their "Country Portfolios". Few took advantage of this, but I continued working with my website and I want to introduce you to Burton's Country Portfolio 2011-2012.
An additional way that this project relates to global education is that through research, comparison of countries, and discussions with classmates, my students developed an interest in how they could use their new knowledge and provide a meaningful impact to a lesser developed country. Once they learned about "mico-loans" during the Development/Industry unit they knew they wanted to make a loan. Enter here another web-based resource, Kiva Loans, which I learned about in the TGC course from another participant, Steve Kelley (visit Mr. Kelley's school website & Ukraine travel blog).
So here we are, the TGC course has helped me roam some remote roads of technology integration and has enabled my students to roam into some inspiration for helping people in another country in economic need. And the roaming journey continues...
Despite having sold-out of the 50,000 tickets available, a June 3rd concert in Indonesia by American musician Lady Gaga appears to be doomed. See the details of the story as being reported by a variety of global news outlets:
This evening I had the privilege of attending a dinner with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (first female on the U.S. Supreme Court who retired in 2006) being the honored guest. Justice O'Connor, since her retirement in 2006, has become a major advocate for a renewal of civic education and has been a key collaborator on the website www.iCivics.org which seeks to engage students learning through technology.
I have to admit that my use of web-based technolgoies has been limited, but through TGC I have learned about some worthwhile resources. One such resource is Weebly...a build your own website platform. As I learned of Weebly during the eight-week TGC online course I decided to play with it some and when I saw how easy it was to navigate I offered it to my students as an alternative presentation format for their "Country Portfolios". Few took advantage of this, but I continued working with my website and I want to introduce you to Burton's Country Portfolio 2011-2012.
