Glen Eden Intermediate

Yesterday was Glen Eden Intermediate School's day. Originally, I was going to go to Avondale (because I used to teach at GEIS), but Jody went instead. It was actually a blessing in disguise because I was able to catch up with a few people I used to teach with. It was SO much fun reminiscing and talking about old times! We went into several different classes and saw some interesting programs. A couple of classes were involved in inquiry learning (a New Zealand focus) and were asking questions, researching, and preparing presentations. They had good scaffolding available, so it wasn't just a case of "Look up things about Endangered Animals and do a presentation on it". Rather, they had to develop questions and subquestions, then talk to their teacher about which ones to choose before even thinking about starting (oh, brainstorming topics came first). I was impressed with how interested and involved the students were. We also saw a lesson on alliteration and assonance. The teacher was focusing on making the students' writing more powerful. After discussing this, they all went outside and wrote a passage describing place (i.e. where they were). I was impressed with the writing I saw... very descriptive indeed. In the afternoon we visited a class which was doing what the teacher called "Book Clubs". This involved the students being separated into two groups of girls and two groups of boys. Each group had a different book that catered for their interests and reading levels. I was really impressed at the conversations that insued. Book clubs isn't the same as Literature Circles, but there are similarities.

Piha and other interesting places

In case you are interested, we are currently staying at my sister's beach house in Piha. Here's a weblink you can follow to read more: www.piha.co.nz The big rock in the middle of the beach is called Lion Rock because... well, that's what it looks like. The surf at this beach is usually very big, and there are lots of drownings here... however, it's important to note that these drownings never take place within the flags (i.e. those who don't swim between the flags are the ones who are likely to drown). Another website of interest is www.kaurilands.school.nz - this is the school we visited today. You'll get a feel for a New Zealand school by taking a peek! :-)

Wednesday

Blog March 29, 2011 It’s been a busy few days. On Monday we went to Waikato University, and I enjoyed it. We were able to attend a mass lecture as well as a tutorial, and then visit all the resource areas of the university. These included a new library, a School of Education library, a graduate/lecturers’ resource center, a university bookstore, and a teacher-type store. The lecture reminded me of my own training where we sat in large lecture rooms to receive information, but the tutorials were a little different. In my day, we spent our time in tutorials discussing what had been taught in the large lecture. At Waikato, it was more a mini-lesson about an aspect of the lecture. The tutorial I attended was about guided reading and was quite informative. Waikato University has recently been ranked alongside Columbia University, and the lecturers expressed feelings of pressure they faced in order to meet the research demands placed on them, ultimately by the Ministry of Education. I was interested to hear that the government puts a cap on how many students can be in any one program, so they have recently been turning away approximately 1 in 4 applicants for the School of Education. Waikato seems well resourced, and certainly it is a very pretty campus with ponds and ducks, trees and pathways. It also seemed very large, especially when one tried to walk from one end of it to another with a very painful back! We drove back to Auckland at the end of the day, doing a “short” detour to Cambridge where we had dinner. (The short detour took us about 100km out of our way! Oops!). We arrived back in Auckland not long after nine pm, and I can tell you I was exhausted. I’m finding that driving is really rather stressful, especially because so much has changed and I have to keep focusing on staying on the left side of the road – not to mention some of the road rules are different from the USA, so I’m trying to compartmentalize my driving thinking! Anyway, on Tuesday we went to Bruce McLaren Intermediate. This is a relatively small school of about 300. Not too many years ago it had a roll of 600 but there has been rather an exodus to a couple of the more middle class (read: white) schools in the area. A big pity really because the school itself is a pretty nice little school with really good leaders. The principal seemed particularly intelligent, forward thinking, and analytical to me. The school is about one third Maori, one third Pasifika, and one third Pakeha (white). There are quite a few other nationalities represented too. More than half of the Pasifika students are from Samoa. They have the standard classes as well as technicraft (woodwork, metalwork/electronics, food, clothing, art, and craft). There are also two “independent learning” classes which comprise children who are self-directed. The idea, I believe, is to extend these students. There is an ESOL class (where they also learn French), and a special needs class (very low level learners) that moves back and forth from mainstream classes depending on the subject (usually PE and technicraft). It seems as if the NZ government is not going to fun these classes past the end of this year. I watched one interesting class whereby the teacher had played the students a song by an Australian singer/writer about the First World War. They then had to develop “freeze frames” around the lyrics. First, they were given some metaphorical examples from the text and had to freeze frame these (e.g. “living the life of a rover”), then they got themselves into groups and had to freeze frame the story in sequence, focusing only on the main points. The students really seemed to enjoy this; a lot of talking was going on, and certainly a lot of text checking also. After school, there was a staff meeting which I also found interesting. They had a person speak to them about a writing program that’s going to be instigated in their school soon. It was interesting to me because some of it sounded like the USA… focusing on the group just below average, having a special teacher come in to the school to show them “how to do it” Today, Wednesday, we went to Kaurilands Primary School. The assistant principal for the senior school (Years 4-6) was a lady I used to work with several years ago, so it was good to catch up. We were able to reminisce a bit! Kaurilands is one of the biggest New Zealand primary schools at about 700. It is a decile 8 school, but it is also somewhat multicultural. The school is on beautiful grounds, and the students have great places to play, including a stream (they're allowed to play beside it and jump over it but not to play IN it - I could well imagine that if there was a stream running through an elementary school in Kentucky, it'd be walled off. Would that be a correct assumption?). There's lots of native trees and bush on the property which is fairly large. All the classrooms lead outside, something that has been common to all the schools we've been to, and this allows students to work outside as well as in. New Zealand students definitely get much more time outdoors than Kentucky students do.

Saturday

Today is a wet, overcast day, and noone wanted to travel out to Piha, so my family went alone. The team spent the morning enjoying the peace; I slept! Then we drove into Waiuku for lunch and a little bit of shopping. Tomorrow we intend to drive down to Hamilton because we're due at Waikato University at 8:45am. I'm looking forward to spending time there, particularly as we have met up with two of their graduates, and they were very positive about their program. I'm hoping we'll pick up some good ideas, as well as perhaps unlock a few more "secrets" as to why NZ does so well in the reading department.

So far, my ideas include (and these are just ideas, so feel free to do some research about them!): a shorter day (9-3 with two good breaks - usually a 20-30 minute morning tea and play, and a 45-60 minute lunch and play), a connected curriculum approach (integration of the curriculum is HUGE here), constant differentiation and group work (not everyone is expected to be at the same level, and there can be as many as 7 groups in one class), inquiry based teaching (the student takes control of their learning - although we haven't seen this in ALL schools), and literacy rich classrooms (yes, even in the upper grades there is a huge amount of student work up on the walls, library areas, etc...). So far I haven't seen a single basal reader or anthology in a classroom - all reading is authentic. Worksheets are rare; in fact, the principal at Maraetai Beach School told us she'd BANNED them in her school.

So, that's my thinking so far. I'm sure there's more, but that will have to do for a rainy afternoon in Auckland, New Zealand! :-)

Waiau Pa School

It's quarter after four, and I think it's safe to say that our whole team is exhausted. Kelli was sick overnight, Jody missed dinner and slept for about 12 hours straight, and I was sleepy most of the day. Brittany taught her two lessons today, and she did a good job. One of the boys in the first class (science) told my sister that she should adopt some of Brittany's teaching strategies! (Of course, it would help you to know that the strategies to which he was referring was the use of Mars Bars to teach about tectonic plate theory!).

Waiau Pa is a high decile, country school that goes from Year 0 to Year 8. The population of the school is a little under 400, so it's a small school. The students seem pretty well behaved, and seem to benefit from a lot of out-of-school experiences such as music and dance. They seemed confident and eloquent. Many of them spoke to us and asked questions.

I was talking to the caretaker at lunch time and mentioned that we keep snakes. He said there was a turtle in Room 4 and that I should visit, so immediately after lunch he escorted us to the room where I met the teacher. She stopped the class and had me up the front answering questions about snakes and turtles. The kids had done a lot of research (so had the teacher) because they had a red-eared turtle in their classroom called Myrtle. Apparently Myrtle came from another teacher and was supposed to have been a female. The room 4 teacher had done some research and concluded Myrtle was a male. I was able to confirm that - Myrtle is most definitely a very healthy male turtle!

I was impressed at the questions the students asked. They asked about all sorts of things including why Myrtle stretched out his arms, and dug in the stones. It was a pleasure to be in the class (I think it was a Year 5 class), and I told the teacher they could email me any questions they might have (of course, I'll probably pass most of the questions on to my reptile-guru husband!).

After the turtle talk, we watched a "Rock Star" competition with a Year 7 and 8 class. They were focussing on risk taking, and the teacher had challenged them to get up and sing in front of the class. He was really encouraging and supportive, and there was quite a lot of talent in that class. Several students sang, and you could tell it was not easy for them all. One of the boys (seemed like a troublemaker) got up and sang and was amazing. He has a wonderful voice. It made me sad to think that in some Ky schools where they have dropped music because of funding problems, these kids just don't get to shine. :-(

Maraetai Beach School

Imagine standing at the door of your classroom and having a view of the beach, ocean, and distant islands! This is the view many of the teachers at Maraetai Beach School have every day. Maraetai Beach School is a decile 10 school (highest socioeconomic indicator), and is set in beautiful grounds. It caters for year 0 (new entrants) to Year 8 (the Years 7 and 8 students were at camp today), and the principal is a former literacy advisor, so she was great to talk with. Her assistant principal was really keen on writing, so she added a lot of information to our collection too.

We began in a Year 0 class, and worked our way up to Year 6. The school works, as have all the schools we have thus far visited, via inquiry. The students therefore take ownership of their learning and literacy is woven into all they do. We watched more group work where each group did something different including computer work, board games (Upwords, Junior Scrabble), small whiteboard work, reading plays from school journals, and working with the teacher for example.

We watched one teacher teaching his class a song - they sang, played the xylophones, and the recorders all to the same music. It was very interesting. He also had a times table competition in groups - the kids really seemed to enjoy that.

After visiting the classes, I spoke to a beginning teacher. It was her release day (every beginning teacher in NZ gets one day per week release in order to visit other classrooms, other schools, plan, meet with tutor teachers, attend PDs, or go to beginning teacher meetings), and she was using it to plan. She went to Waikato University and spoke very highly of her training. We will be visiting Waikato on Monday.

Then we spent more time with Lesley and her assistant principal of the junior department, Tamara. They are keen to host some of our Kentucky students! That was wonderful news! Perhaps we can use Maraetai in future classes.

Pukekohe Intermediate School

Today was our first intermediate school - a school catering for Years 7 and 8 only. We arrived at 9am and we shown into a classroom with a Canadian teacher. She even had a Canadian flag hanging at the window. Her class was focusing on the school theme: PB4L (Positive Behavior for Learning) and she read them a "big book". After reading the book, the students had to take a perspective and write a diary entry from that perspective (the story was about a lion who let a mouse go, and later when the lion was caught in a trap, the mouse chewed a hole in it for the lion to escape from). Three of the students shared their stories.

Next, we went into the room of an Australian teacher. This class was looking at poetry, specifically, "The Witches" by Roald Dahl. They seemed to have a good idea of different poetic devices prior to reading the poem.

The third class was an accelerated class of Year 7s, and here we saw Literature Circles being run as they should. There were about five groups, all reading different books, and the teacher was completely hands off. We all wandered around and watched the groups, and all were on task and working well. I talked to one group who said they enjoyed literature circles, but that they would prefer not to change roles every day (I mentioned this to the teacher who said she was going to ask them for feedback later and that she thought what they said was good to know and was able to be changed. I liked her flexibility and openness). They said that they didn't read the book out of class because it would spoil the book, but that the discussion director would take the book home the night before to organize the questions.

Our next stop was the bilingual, or probably more accurately speaking, the Maori enrichment class. This was comprised of a larger group of students (33, I believe) who had applied to be in the class. They were not all Maori children by any means, although there were at least two children who were fluent in Maori. I spoke to one young lady who was so very eloquent. She said she was happy to be in this class because they studied other cultures and that this was the only way the world would know peace - understanding other cultures. She was a Year 8 student.

After seeing this class, we went into the reading intervention room where we were given an overview of what happens. It was really very interesting, and certainly warrants further study. The teacher uses NLK - neural linguistic kinesiology - meaning that before each session she has the kids perform exercises to music, exercises which demand cross body movements (she spoke about Brain Gym here). She firmly believes that this is what helps children the most. After the exercises, she works on their reading and handwriting. Again, she believes that getting children to write cursively improves their reading because they see words as whole things rather than individual letters. I think this deserves some research. She showed us her results, and she claims most students make about 4 years progress in 6 months with her. I hope the others blog more about this because I am sure to have forgotten something. I am, however, looking forward to reading some research about these ideas.

Our next move was to the staffroom where we had our home-brought lunch of rolls and cheese. While we were eating, I heard the sound of the kapa haka group and dragged everyone to the hall, telling them they would never have experienced this before. So, in we went and watched the group practice for the Polynesian Festival to be held this Sunday. It was fun.

Koru

Our second day at schools, and what a day it was! We left home at 7:30, thinking it would take about 35 minutes to get there, but it took about an hour because of the traffic... which was bad. Then, when we got to the school, I couldn't work out how to get in, so we ended up driving past and then doing a U-turn and going back. You had to drive up to a speaker (sort of like a drivethru), say who you were, and then the gate was opened automatically. We parked, and then made our way to reception. On the way, kids called out "there are the Americans" and one asked us if we knew KFC. It was both funny and touching. We felt almost famous!

We were escorted into a room that was to become our base for the day, and Carolyn (a deputy principal) began by talking to us a little about the school and about the day. We met the principal and then began a walk through the school. It was amazing! So much was going on. For example, I watched a very small part of a science/literacy/inquiry lesson where the teacher had four pots and four flowers in front of the class. Everyone sat on the floor (this was grade 7) and he talked about hypotheses. He asked if anyone had seen the word, then asked if anyone thought they knew what it meant. He talked about the word, asked about the number of syllables in the word, and clapped it out. The kids then went back to their seats to write out their own hypothesis (what will happen when I put the flowers in the pots and then add dye to the water?).

The classrooms were full of interesting work, hanging from the rafters, from clotheslines, on the walls, and on the boards. The rooms were bright and airy, and the kids seemed so happy to be at school. Lots of smiles and laughter. It was really a joy to be there.

We watched a young girl in Reading Recovery. She was 10 years old and had just started school (apparently there had been immigration problems). What a trooper! She had five people watching her, plus the reading recovery teacher and it only put her off for a few minutes. It was amazing to see the progress she had made in such a very short time. (Usually, Reading Recovery is aimed at 6 year olds, but Koru uses it for older children who need it, particularly those who enter school late). I think I really want to learn more Reading Recovery techniques because they seem excellent, and I think they'd be good for anyone trying to help children (or even adults) become better readers.

First Day in the Schools!

Hello all! Today we began our work, and it was fascinating. We hopped in the van and arrived at Patumahoe School just after 8am. This school starts early (8:20am) because it's a country school, so we had to be there a little earlier than other schools. We spent the first hour or so with the principal, Ron, who gave us a really good overview of New Zealand education, including how the curriculum is put together (there is a national curriculum but each school must make it their own. Each school must choose what to focus on and have their own plans for meeting their goals. Patamahoe's was a neat document. I wish we could have had a copy, but it was very big. Ron did give us some part of it though - he put it on a flashdrive for us). Then, Jody and Brittany went to watch Reading Recovery and Kelli and I went to a New Entrant classroom. It was neat. The teacher had four groups, and each group did a different activity. She had a board up that showed what each group was to do, and after a set period of time, she picked up a sort of rain maker type thing and let the beads drop. All the children became statues and she directed them to the next activity. You could really tell that they knew what to do.

The children working with the teacher practised all sorts of reading activities such as finding the title on the book cover and counting the words, listening to the teacher read, pointing out the words, focusing on sounds, and finding words "hiding" in words (e.g. the word "come" in "welcome"). The teacher gave a sticker to the best pointer, and was also very encouraging. Oh, she sat on the floor with the children.

All the other children stayed on task! I counted thirteen children, and they were all engaged in whatever activity they were supposed to do. Activities included sorting through large poetry cards, alphabet jigsaws, coloring in a picture of a bee (B was the letter of the day), and writing the alphabet on individual whiteboards.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the whole time because I needed to leave for the funeral. I drove to the small country church and sat in the front row with my auntie. The service was very nice, and apart from the first few sentences, I managed to get my "speech" out without breaking down.

After the funeral, I went back to the school and talked a bit with the principal who is going to try to see if he can get us some books. He was really helpful, and I hope we can go back there at some stage.

Then we drove into Pukekohe. I think we all wanted to just "get away" for a bit, so we wandered up and down the main street, entering a few stores as the fancy took us. We went into a cafe for a bit too... got to love those cafes!

First Sunday

Today was an extraordinarily busy day. We began by driving into town and heading up to the restaurant in the Sky Tower. This restaurant revolves so that in about an hour you see an amazing panoramic view of Auckland. While you're revolving, you get to eat! :-) I had scallops and snapper, and it was VERY GOOD!

After brunch we all trouped off with Kelli to watch her go through her bungee jump effort. First, she dressed up in the jump suit, and then she was all strapped up. At this point, she was led away. The person who took her away soon returned and led us all to the landing spot. I looked up, and suddenly the jump seemed very high indeed! One person jumped, then it was Kelli's turn. She waved into the camera at the top, even though she couldn't see us, and it was really cute to watch Robert wave back to the camera from the ground! Then we saw a small body leaning over the jumping block. There was a countdown, and then she fell. I think we all gasped or something at the same time. She sort of hung in the air for a bit, then suddenly, and very very quickly, she dropped to the ground. I tried to get photos, but I haven't yet looked at them.

We then walked down to the wharves and caught the Devonport Ferry across to Devonport where we spent a couple of hours looking at the shops. There were quite a few interesting ones almost all small specialty stores (and thus rather expensive) and Jody and Kelli both bought a couple of things.

At quarter to four we rode the ferry back, trudged back up to the Sky Tower and retrieved our car from the parking lot. I think everyone was pretty tired by this stage, so the journey home was reasonably quiet.

We were home about half an hour when my sister and I left again to visit with my auntie. My cousin's wife had cooked some delicious Thai food (she's Thai) and had left some for us, so we ate as we visited. My cousin David and his wife and three children were there, so it was a nice family time. The funeral is tomorrow, and we talked a little about it. I still don't really know what I'm going to say, but my auntie would like me to speak (and I really would like to say something) so I will do it. I just hope I come up with something I'll be happy about. We were supposed to stay about an hour and a half, but it turned into three and a half hours. I'm about to go to bed, but I figured I'd never hear the end of it if I missed a day in my blog, so here I am! :-)

Beautiful Saturday

It's now almost 8pm, and we're all tired, somewhat sunburnt, but very content. We had a wonderful day. We left the house around 10:30am and made our way to the supermarket (again) where we bought bread, cheese, ham, and chips for lunch. Then Martin (my brother-in-law) drove us all to the lighthouse at Manukau Heads. My aunt and some of my cousins came too, which was really nice.

We had to climb quite a few steps to get up to the lighthouse itself, but the climb was worth it. Of course, the young, fit ones leapt up all the steps. The view from the top was spectacular; we could see the Tasman Sea, Manukau Heads, Manukau Harbour, and a lot of beautiful farmland. We then drove on down to Orua Bay, a place my family used to stay for a few weeks for several summers. It's changed a bit, but it's still a neat looking place. There was a wedding taking place, so I wandered over to look and struck up a conversation with three older ladies who had also wandered over to look. It turns out they live in Orua Bay, and I told them how my family used to visit. They tried to work out which house we had rented for those holidays, but weren't sure, so I walked back to the house of one of the ladies, met the husbands of two of them, and they all discussed which house it could have been. Finally, one of the ladies, Dot, brought out a large aerial picture that had been taken quite a few years ago, and I was able to point out the house. It isn't there any more, which was a little sad, but it was nice to see. Dot also had a photo from many years ago which showed the old jetties (I used to fish from one of them!) and the house! She printed off a copy of the house (well, she photocopied it in colour on photo paper, which I thought was really nice). Dot's sister said she thought she had an aerial picture, and she would look when she got back to her house. If she has, she send she'd send it to me. How friendly they were!

After Orua Bay, Martin dropped Bryony and me off at my auntie's house where we helped with the eulogy for my uncle. I have said I want to speak at the funeral on Monday, so I'll be thinking about what to say for the next day or two.

We left my aunties, picked up some stuff for dinner at the supermarket (yes, again!!!) and came home. Dinner was burritos, Bryony-style. Now I'm sitting in the dining area, listening to people talking, and writing this. Tomorrow is Sky Tower and ferry day, so it's another early night (I'm still jetlagged - I think we all are).

Saturday Morning

Hello! After a good 12 hours sleep, I feel ready to face the world again! It's a beautiful, hot day and we're going to the beach with a picnic lunch. The girls are doing an amazing job entertaining the two childruren, and we were able to sit down with Bryony to plan meals for the week. It is getting confusing "translating" things from NZ money to US money, as well as measurements (metric here - I'm comfortable with metric but my cohorts are not!).

I mentioned we visited Patumahoe School yesterday to pick up the twins. It's actually the first school on our list to visit, so we introduced ourselves to the principal (who is really nice!) and took a few photos. I am so looking forward to being IN the schools!!

In New Zealand At Last!

It's Friday evening, and I'm sitting in my sister's living room listening to her and typing this. I am so tired! I haven't slept for about 48 hours - I really wish I could sleep on planes! I am sure the others will tell you all about our flights, so I'll just focus on a few things.

We left Lexington a few minutes late, and after a problem with my ticket (we vbelieve the lady at the ticket counter actually messed it up) - which was fixed thanks to my iphone! Of course, when we were IN Lexington, someone discovered that they were wearing one running-type shoe and one scuff-type shoe. Completely different colors! Let me tell you, you CANNOT BUY SHOES at Lexington, Chicago, OR Los Angeles Airports! :-(

We arrived this morning, and we were met by my sister, Bryony, and the rental car people who set us up with a van for the duration. Then we drove on to her place (and I managed to stay on the left side all the way!) where I immediately dived into the shower.

Next, Bryony and I went to my Aunt's place. My uncle died two days ago, and he is at my aunt's place. It was very sad because I was SO hoping to see him when I got here. However, my cousins and many of their children were there, so it was a really lovely family type experience (apart from the sadness of it all). I guess if my Uncle Eric could not live long enough to see me again, at least I get to visit and attend the funeral.

Bryony and I bought ham, tomatoes, bread, and hot cross buns which sereved as lunch for everyone. While I was gone, they'd showered and freshened up (even thoiugh they all slept on the plane!!!). The girls and Jody were introduced to Feijoas, which they really liked (Bryony has a couple of trees laden with them so there's no shortage!).

Close to two pm we drove to Patumahoe School where we met the principal and a few teachers, and collected Sofya and Robert (my neice and nephew). Off to a shoe store we went, where I decided to be radical and buy two shoes that actually match!!! Haha! We hit a computer store to get a router (so we can all use our laptops) and a sim card for Brittany. Then it was off to the food store where we got a few supplies, including a bunch of mussels which Martin (Bryony's husband) cooked. I got to take photos of Brittany, Kelli, and jody being initiated into the true kiwi method of shellfish eating!

Now, as I type, Kelli is playing Cranium Junior with Sofya and Robert, and Brittany is engaged in chat with Martin about earthquakes. Jody is reading email, I think. After dinner, I'll be crashing!!!!!

Will try and write again sooner now that we have the router up and running.

Tomorrow is Friendly Skies Day!

I am sitting in my office, and it's 5pm. I had intended to try and get home early, but clearly that hasn't happened. I have spent today doing various little things so that I'm ready for tomorrow. Now I just have to remember to take everything home that needs to be taken home; I don't intend to come into work tomorrow.

I heard back from Canterbury University today, and regretfully they can no longer host us. It wasn't really a great surprise to me, and I think we were all mentally prepared for that answer. I don't think it will stop us from going down to Christchurch though (unless, of course, they have another earthquake). I am sure we can perhaps organize something else in the vicinity (perhaps with schools instead of the university). We have to be flexible! Maybe we can even use the two days as "relaxation days" - we haven't built a single relaxation day into our schedule so we may need one by then! It might be a good time to process some of our data.

Anyway, even though we're leaving tomorrow, it still really hasn't sunk in. I'm sure it will be very different in the morning when the panic sets in as I realise I haven't packed properly or something! :-)

Final Weekend!

I started packing yesterday; it was a brave start but I didn't get too far. I've never been someone who enjoys packing much. Usually I throw things together at the last minute! That won't really do for this trip because we'll be gone for quite a while. On the other hand, New Zealand does have stores!

So, where are we on this trip. Well, we had our last meeting on Friday and went over observation checksheets that we'll be using in the classes, as well as important things such as where and when we'll all be meeting on Wednesday. I also reminded everyone that bringing "raw" foods, plants, and wood into New Zealand is a huge no-no (I'm sure noone wants an instant fine for doing that!). It seems as if everyone has their finances sorted out with a healthy mix of cash, credit cards, and travellers' checks, so that is very good!

We have one school left to hear from as regards final arrangements, and as soon as we hear from them, Brittany will do the final updates to our schedule. If we don't hear from them, we'll call when we get into the country.

Jody and I met with Brittany, her parents, and Justin on Saturday afternoon. I had a really nice time getting to know them and am really impressed by the support they're giving Brittany. I think I should have adopted them myself earlier on in the trip planning! :-) Brittany's dad gave me some very useful information about cell phones, and I am now reorganizing what I was going to do along those lines.

I heard from my sister last night who is, of course, very excited about our visit. She told me the weather is nice an warm during the day (25 C) but a bit nippy in the morning. We discussed a few details, and pretty much concluded it's all done.

So now I need to get my classes completely up-to-date, making sure everyone knows what they're doing over the second half of the semester (you do, don't you?). I am looking forward to this international interaction, and I hope it turns out as useful and interesting as I imagine (and hope) it to be!

Airline seats

A short note... through dogged determinedness, I now have Kelli and Brittany sitting side-by-side at a window on the return trip (Auckland to LAX). I know this probably sounds really silly, but I feel like going outside and yelling YES!!!!!!!!!!! now. Perhaps I will! :-)

(For those newly following the blogs, we've had our seats moved around, and in spite of calling ANZ, they told us that this was their policy and that basically, we had to just accept it. I was pretty annoyed at this, and have been periodically checking our seats to see if I could make some changes. This change may be unchanged for all I know, but at least I tried!).

It seems as if some schools in Christchurch have reopened, but with more play time built into the day. The idea is to allow the kids to have time to simply enjoy each others' company. I think that's a great idea. One school had a gumboot throwing competition after lunch on the first day with the principal kicking it off (oops, bad pun!).

Penultimate Weekend in Kentucky

Next weekend marks our final weekend in Kentucky before heading off to New Zealand. I thought I'd write something for all those who have just started reading these blogs.

The New Zealand school system could be described as 8-5 or perhaps 6-2-5. Children start school on their 5th birthday (they don't HAVE to, but it is generally expected) and enter a New Entrants class. This is also known as Year 0. When ready, they move into Year 1 (equivalent to the US Kindergarten), and after that they progress pretty regularly, year after year, into the next class. Each class level is called a "Year" and you can roughly translate the Year into a Grade by subtracting one. In other words, Year 6 is equivalent to Grade 5.

Elementary schools are known as Primary Schools and usually go to Year 6. Some include Years 7 and 8 and will then be called "Full Primary Schools". More commonly, students in Years 7 and 8 will attend an Intermediate School. Technically, an intermediate school is a primary school. This intermediate school experience is widely considered to be the most rewarding of all school experiences. You are supposed to never forget your intermediate expoeriences because it is there that new and interesting opportunities will be offered. These will include technology subjects, "shop" type subjects, practical-type subjects, opportunities to engage in different sports, cultural clubs, interest groups, and outdoor education among other things. Intermediate schools actively strive to provide students with new and mind-opening experiences.

After intermediate school, a student will attend a secondary school. This comprises Years 9-13, although some high schools, especially independent or country schools, may include Years 7 and 8. During these five years, students are considered "Juniors" when in Years 9 and 10, and have a fairly standard curriculum to follow (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, Technology). Once they are seniors, they have greater choice in their curriculum. For example, in my own case, in Years 12 and 13 my subject choices were English, Math, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. PE was still compulsory in Year 12, but it was in the form of a choice of activities such as badminton, squash, scuba diving, grass skiing, judo etc...

Most intermediate schools are grouped in teams, but the teams are a little more self-contained. A group of four classes could be grouped, with the teachers sharing planning and field trips, as well as outdoor education camps, but each teacher is more likely to teach their own class for all core subjects. Sometimes teachers will swap classes, depending on their own personal strengths, other times not. Most often, teachers will swap for subjects such as music, PE, and Maori language.

Our research will take us into some full primary schools as well as intermediate schools. I am anxious to see what changes have been made since I left 11 years ago.

That's all for the moment!

We're into March!!!

On Monday, it hit me that we were in March. MARCH! Suddenly, I felt the weight of the whole research trip on my shoulders! Today marks the two-week-to-go mark. We're now down to the details part - exactly how to get to the airport, where we'll meet... that sort of thing.

I have made the links to our blogs available to both EDMG 306 classes, so I'm really looking forward to seeing some interaction take place with questions flying. I have really high hopes that this will be an amazing learning experience for everyone concerned, including those still studying in Kentucky!

Greg has most of the finances available, so I'll be gathering up the Visa cards and travellers' checks soon. I am looking forward to having everything together in one place (MY place! LOL). I read that the New Zealand dollar dropped this morning due to the reserve bank possibly deciding to lower interest rates (following the Christchurch earthquake). This is good news for us as our money will be worth more.

That's about all for now. :-)