New Zealand

Balmoral Primary & Intermediate

2009-04-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today I spent my time between two teachers after a tour of the school from two boys in 6th grade. The school is set up so that students and teachers spend a great deal of time outside. The weather never gets really cold here so students are able to be outside. There are no special classes for students in grades K-5. Their classroom teacher is responsible for teaching all of them. So if you happen to get a teacher who is gifted in music then that's what you will learn a lot about. As you can imagine not all teachers feel comfortable in art. In grades 6 & 7, the students rotate from metal, wood, and food tech...but still no art. They stay with the same teacher all day and if the teacher likes to do art they get to do it about once a week.

I was lucky to see a grade 1 and grade 7 teacher do some art lessons with their students today. They happen to be teachers who love the arts and so they take the time to integrate as often as possible. I have to admit I feel pretty lucky I just get to do art.

As the week goes on I am thinking about you all back home. I didn't realize how much I would miss home, but being in the local schools makes me realize how lucky we are at Sheldon. We have an amazing group of kids, teachers and staff. I hope the weather is warm and can hold up that way for when I get back. Keep your fingers crossed with all this Swine Flu that I don't get stuck here for some crazy reason....

Clover Park Middle School

2009-04-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Clover Park Middle School is a bilingual school. The focus is on the culture of the Maori and Pacifica heritage. This school is considered a Docile 1 school. This means the children come from very poor backgrounds. All students are required to wear uniforms, which is true in all schools in New Zealand. The school was built with no walls or doors. (Yes that's right, somebody else thought it was a good idea.) The students are free to roam from class to class and the teacher teaches all subjects, even in what we call high school. The students learn in both English and their tribal language. The school is run much like what one might imagine an Abenaki school would look like if in our district we were to separate the students and design a school that focused on the needs of the Abenaki student. There are no standardized tests so the curriculum is open for interpretation. Teachers ask students inquiry questions and then shape what they will learn about through the questions. The learning is really centered around the student. As for educational theories the school models constructionism connected to the theorists Jean Piagot and Seymour Papert. Because students learn in an environment that promotes the student and their own culture, students who normally would drop out by freshman year of high school continue on to graduate with a sense of pride about who they are. The feeling I felt while at the schools was a sense of family. The principles and teachers really care about the well being of their students beyond just the everyday happenings of school. A great emphasis is placed on family and the importance of relationships. It was an incredible experience to see students who would normally struggle in a typical educational system, to be succeeding far beyond what the statistics say they should.

2009-04-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday was spent in Rodarugo. There are many geysers there. The entire town smells like rotten eggs due to the sulphur. I have many pictures from them. However, the pictures do not show how incredible the colors of the minerals are. If you have ever been to Yellowstone National Park, you can relate to what they looked like.

The last half was spent in the Polynesian spa. Here water from the geysers are brought in to create natural hot springs. The sulphate is supposedly very healthy for our skin.

Tomorrow I will begin my studies in the local schools. I will be spend a great deal of time with art teachers and a few regular classroom teachers. I am glad to be here...but part of me misses Sheldon and wishes I were heading off to my classroom with my awesome students! Miss you all!

The past three days...

2009-04-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

The weather here has turned to muggy rain. On Friday our group spent the day at a teacher conference designed for us. We learned a lot about how New Zealand schools work. I won't tell you it all now...but I promise I have some fun new things I learned that I can't wait to try on my students....

Saturday our group headed down south to the Waitomo Caves. These caves have glow worms in them!!! They were so cool. I don't have any pictures from this adventure because...I went caving...and not just regular caving...try full wetsuit adventure caving. We started by rappelling down a deep hole and then zip lining to the water in the dark. We then jumped into the water form a cliff on an inter tube and proceeded to paddle down stream through the caves. You could see the glow worms so well that they lit up the cave. The adventure ended with some amateur rock climbing through water falls...amazing.

The evening was spent at a cultural experience. I have some great video footage which I will try to set up. It is amazing how the New Zealanders are with the Maori people. The Maori culture is so beautiful and passionate. I will be really excited to share with my classes some fun art projects.

I am off to dinner right now but will post later about Sunday. I think many of you will like the photos from today!

I have lost track of the days...

2009-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty chill day. I met up with my host family and had lunch, hiked a non active volcano, visited the grocery store, and did a lot of talking about education. My host family is awesome. I am staying with a principle of what we would call our middle school. However, they call middle school intermediate and the age grouping is a little different. I learned a great deal about how funding works for schools. Parents are required to donate money to school!!!! Wow!!! Depending on the economics of a community depends on how much money the school receives from the government. For example if a school is from an area that is considered poor, the government gives more money to the school and the parents contribute less. If the school is from a wealthy community the government supplies the school with less funding and the parents are supposed to contribute more money to make up the difference. A lot of the principle's job is to fund raise.

The hike on the volcano was pretty cool. Auckland has several volcanoes around Auckland city. They are not active, instead they are covered in green grass and appear like they are just hills. From the top you can view the city and the ocean surrounding the area. I also got to try a strange fruit which grows like crazy here. They taste like the soda 7up. Weird..but tasty. There are many sheep on the volcanoes. Another interesting fact I learned is there are no dangerous insects or animals....no snakes...no piousness spiders...no bears....the worst they have is mosquitoes and possums. There are no screens on the windows or doors. Many families leave the doors and windows wide open.

There is so much to tell all of you about New Zealand...my battery has died on the camera and I am struggling with charging it...but hopefully I will get it working again soon. I miss Vermont...but New Zealand is incredible! I think there is a lot we as Americans could learn from this amazing country.

Day 3

2009-04-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Today was spent hiking in the bush outside of Auckland, NZ. It was beautiful. The birds sounded like I was listening to a cd of exotic birds. The trees are incredible here. The pictures do not show the beauty of the land here.

We also visited a black sand beach which had sand that was magnetic. You would see this type of sand in your etch-a-sketch. It was so beautiful. There were sea cliffs and mountains all around. The pictures are better from here but still do not speak the beauty of the land here.

The end of the day was spent in the sky tower. It is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. We had dinner in a rotating restaurant overlooking the ocean and sunset. It was an amazing day. The people of New Zealand are so kind and welcoming.

2009-04-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Day 2

2009-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today was spent exploring a lot of tourist attractions, which I have to admit were pretty cool. We started our day at the Auckland Museum. I learned a lot about the Maori people and New Zealand history in general. The Maori people remind me a lot of the natives of Hawaii. Their traditional outfits consisted of skirts much like what we think of our Native Americans. The bead work and wood work is incredible. I took some pictures of things in the museum which you can see if you follow the link.

While at the museum, our group payed to see the cultural show. Here we got to see how the Maori people performed many of their tribal dances. They were amazing! I have a video I will post at some point for anyone to see.

The next stop was the underworld aquarium. Probably the coolest aquarium I have been to. I got to see sting rays getting fed, penguins, and sharks. I have posted some pictures from here also.

An interesting fact I learned about Auckland, NZ, is that it is built upon many volcano's that are dormant. The volcanos can be seen from all over the city. There are even houses built on them! Kind of scary if you ask me!

Day One

2009-04-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

The first day here was long. The weather was muggy and rainy. Myself and two others took a walk to find a grocery store and got pretty wet. The grocery store was an interesting experience. The majority of the produce here is from New Zealand or Australia. (Not like in America where we get a large majority of our produce from all over). I also observed how well food is labeled. I had no problem understanding almost every ingredient in a product. They do not have all the gross stuff like corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup that we have in our products. Pretty cool.

After the grocery store, four of us took a bus around town and visited a local art gallery. The gallery had art pieces which focused on the arrival of Captain Cook and the Maori people. From my understanding Captain Cook is to New Zealand what Christopher Columbus is to America. The Maori people are considered the natives of New Zealand. However, they actually arrived from another Polynesian Island a very long time ago.

Today we will be visiting the local museum which well tell us a great deal about the history of the country. The group also has planned an underwater aquarium visit! Hoping for some great pictures!

I have arrived!

2009-04-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

The weather is mostly rainy and grey as of now. We arrived at five in the morning New Zealand time. I am feeling a little funny like I have been on a sailboat for a couple of days or something. No pictures yet...just getting settled in our rooms and eating. Tomorrow is when the fun will really start. Today will be spent getting adjusted. I have seen many American chains such as Starbucks and McDonalds....but refuse to spend money there! A group of us did manage to find a cute little cafe called "Dunk" where we had a fabulous breakfast! Hoping for some sun and getting back to feeling normal.

2009-04-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

The time difference in New Zealand is 16 hours ahead. I will arrive on our Sunday at 1 in the afternoon. It will be 5 in the morning on Monday in New Zealand...yikes! I will be in Auckland which is on the North Island towards the very top.