Australia, Day 7

Today, we learned a bit more about Tasmania, both in terms of history and ecology.  We took a trip out to Bruny Island that included a bus ride, a ferry ride, more on the bus, and then finally ending on South Bruny on Adventure Bay, the place James Cook landed first when he encountered this part of the world. 

Map of Bruny Island

ferry to Bruny Island

We learned about the bush fire in 1967 that took out two thirds of the vegetation, at least one entire village and killed over 60 people. 

Adventure Bay

Cormorant

 

our little boat

one of the many sea caves

We learned about the geology and biology of Tasmania, moved from the Tasmanian Sea into the Southern Sea, watched a lot of seals hanging out in the sun, some flying albatrosses and terns, and just had a great time.

Seals on the rock

Albatrosses (barely to be seen)

Penguin Rookery (but no penguins)

Australia, Day 6

Today's meetings covered Tasmania's system of child care from birth through 10th grade, with some interesting wrinkles to the story.
Our first stop was the Ptunarra Child & Family Care Centre, a local place in North Norfolk that allows families to get support, starting from family planning through prenatal care, early care into child care, in the hopes that the education and connection with others in the community will allow young mothers and fathers better opportunities for raising their children before they get into kindergarten. 

Ptunarra

Outside Instrument

A beautiful place, but here is where I believe I discovered the reason for this concerted effort to make education such a major priority in Tasmania -- adult illiteracy is at over 40% -- that would constitute for me the kind of crisis the warrants spending a lot of taxes on education, including a complete overhaul.







Our next stop was New Norfolk High, a 7-10 grade school just up the road from Putnarra, with 93% of its children coming from families in the bottom bracket of economics, and not one family in the top bracket.  The school had some really cool things going for it, including a literacy program integrated into all subject matters and a shop where students got to build guitars, among other things.  However, the principal minced no words about the central plan of changing schools being too ambitious for schools of his type, especially as no principal gets to hire teachers as they are appointed by the central administration.

Guitar built by New Norfolk High students

Our next school was an amazing primary school (grades K-6), Windermere, that is only 4 years old and has a very interesting architecture.  Not only does it have pods, but each pod has essentially inner walls made of glass so that each class is clearly visible from the outside and is accessible through sliding doors.  The furniture is easily movable in all of the rooms, including one table that is set at standing height for the students.  The bathrooms are single stalls with a complete door, apparently an easy way to cut down on bullying, and the teachers do not have desks in the rooms but have a space for themselves, again with lots of windows, that is almost like a ship's bridge, overlooking the entire pod and the library that greets the students coming in. 

The teacher bridge

One of the classrooms

One odd thing -- while this is a new school, it was not built for growth but for the capacity needed at the time, making them already scramble for classroom space.
Our final visit was Montrose High School, new, with a heavy emphasis on the performing arts (and we did get to see a rehearsal of 3 numbers from the musical Man of Steel).  While everyone else got a tour of the school, I spent some time with one of the teachers who does the most with online learning.  Their LMS is called Fronter, and it is used for some special cases and for hybrid learning environments.  So the idea of a lot of online learning going on in K-12 is not quite there.  However, the students currently do all have a laptop, though there is no guarantee that the have internet at home besides access over their smartphone.
After these trips, we wandered some more the streets of Hobart, and I snuck into the first floor of the University of Tasmania's Fine Arts School.

University of Tasmania, Fine Arts School

Finally, we got to see a local band, the Starlings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlkyiM1BOLg), perform in downtown Hobart, and it turns out that they are local high school teachers.

Australia, Day 5

Today, we met with three different groups of educators -- first, we spent a couple of hours at the Hobart College.  College in Tasmania is grades 11 and 12, giving students the choice between 165 subjects to get prepared for college or the work force.  The art work was amazing; they were getting ready for a heavy metal performance, building the set for Westside Story, working on complex Math problems and Science issues, and they had an amazing Sustainability Center for outreach efforts.

Learning Space with Student Art work

Sustainability Center

Sustainability Center

Student Art work

Hospitality Studies

Single Sex Bath Rooms

I think we need to consider adding more of our student accomplishments throughout our learning spaces to showcase what students can do.

The second stop was essentially the local branch of the Department of Education, with the superintendent and an Ueber Prinicpal level that oversees a number of schools, giving the local principals the opportunity to learn with them, to develop and implement strategic plans, and to allow teachers to come up with solutions to perceived problems, be it problematic students or problematic policy implementations.
The third stop was Rosebay High School, covering grades 7 through 10, an amazing maze of stairways leading to various concentrations in Art, Sciences, Shop, Cooking, physical education, Maths, Literature.  Students offered us a taste of Veggimite (not for the faint of heart), and the atmosphere was very positive. 

Sliding doors for the classrooms at Rosebay High

The shop

Recycled keys on a wall

And finally, a couple of impressions from Hobart at night:  The ArtMob, a store/gallery emphasizing aboriginal art:  http://www.artmob.com.au/, real and metal wild life and what the folks in Hobart think:

Cormorant with penguins

And the local wines are rather nice...

Australia, Day 4

After an uneventful and quick flight to Tasmania, we are landed in Hobart, getting our first rain and realizing that, indeed, this is getting towards winter.  A quick run (by bus) up Mount Wellington put us into rather chilly temperatures, with winds and lots of fogs.  Hobart is a lovely town, used to be the major city of Australia, but now is very much a larger fishing town with a Bergenesque line of old warehouses (though of course not medieval) filled with arts and crafts and food.

At the top of Mount Wellington

One interesting technology observation today:  The airline loaned out ipads (for a fee) for inflight entertainment.  A simple way to equip an older plane with the options newer airplanes provide with the built-into-the-seat screens.

One major take away -- the phrase No worries-- pretty much standard reply to anything that otherwise may spark a you are welcome or don't worry about it or anything else that you can possibly see as a reply.

Australia, Day 3

While our colleagues working in the K-12 system had the fun jobs of visiting a number of primary schools around Sydney today, a few folks and myself had the tough job of going out to Bondi Beach and find out how cold the Pacific Ocean is in June -- a terrible experience!  Or not.

We also visited the Head, the entry to Sydney's harbour, did not jump of Gap's Point and walked a few more miles.

Gap's Point

The Head with historic lighthouse

One of the oldest Fish and Chips places

Our colleagues did bring back great stories about high parental involvement in the primary school system (though it is a special week, so not sure this is alwasy so obvious), dedicated teachers and administrative staff who do not need to teach to the test but can work with the children at their level of interest and ability.  I am worried that this system will change over the next few years with the shift in how funding is going to be given out.

Missing:  3 colleagues, after some not quite clear directions for the school

Australia, Day 2

We headed out to Blackwattle Bay school, a high school right on the water, where its principal, Lee Wright, gave an overview of the Australian K-12 education system with its history, achievements and challenges.  The last few weeks and months have brought new challenges -- the federal government has decided that it no longer funds education but that the states need to do this, and such initiatives as every school pupil, from 9th grade on, has a laptop, have been discontinued.  So, the problems faced here are very similar to the ones in Alabama.

View from Blackwattle Bay School Conference Room

After this school visit we took the ferry to Manly, past the gap -- having a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean,

and then took the bus to Stewart House (http://www.stewarthouse.org.au/), a beautifully situated sanatorium/school, founded in the 1930s with the explicit purpose of providing health care to sick children.  Today, the focus is on providing care of various types to children in difficult, problematic or dangerous home situations.  They come for 2 weeks from all over the state, and Australian teachers are for a large part responsible for making this happen as they generously subsidize the government funding.

Stewart House

We were very fortunate not only to have a great tour guide, Chris, but also meeting a former attendant, Dennie, who happened to stop by while we were there.  He had attended in 1947 and was very excited and moved to have the opportunity to visit the house by joining our group.

View from Stuart House

And yes, the evening was rounded out with a friendly soccer match, Australia vs. South Africa, in the Olympic Park Stadium.   A memorable day all around.

Missing:  one passport, remedied by emergency trip back to hotel

Australia, Day 1

After a rather long flight, we arrived in Sydney at 6:30 in the morning -- and that meant staying awake for the rest of the day at all costs.
The hotel we are staying at is the Adina, in Surry Hills, a bit of a walk from the actual downtown center, and that is what we did -- walk.  According to one pedometric technology, at least 8 miles this first day.

Now, because of the limit on Internet use, I will only post a couple of pictures each day, but there will be more later.

The tour took us through Hyde Park, past and into the Anzac Monument, through some of the shopping areas and Sunday markets on the Rock, next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Central Station with all the ferries, the opera house, through the Botanical Gardens and back to the hotel.

Tree in Botanical Garden

Later, we went back to the water (which you cannot miss, no matter which way to go) for a dinner-- some folks had 'roo, but its rareness did not entice me.  And after a light show in the harbor, we headed back home.

Missing:  One passport (magically appearing in LA)

New video: EASL vs. Traditional Classroom

Thanks to the work of Scott Simkins, his students and Roland Dewitt, here is a new video about the EASL room: