Greetings.
Hopefully those of you a few thousand miles north are warm
and cozy as another Polar Vortex is grasping you again. [The title of this blog represents the difference in temperature between Clinton, IA and Valencia. Sorry, I needed a title]
This past week I’ve had the opportunity to experience the
Vanas Conference, a different spin on an old beach, and have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT (no spoiler, you’ll have to keep reading) to share.
Oh and in between all of that I was sick as a dog.
Here we go…
Vanas Conference
This was an all day professional development conference in
which all the teachers, admin and staff are invited to come and expand their
knowledge base, collaborate with fellow curricular teachers, and exchange
ideas.
The day was split up into three parts. The morning started with a keynote speaker (who
told us we are basically approaching teaching in a terrible way and other
countries, mainly Finland is doing so much better; more on that later), two
sessions of presentations, and a department (i.e. high school Language Arts)
meeting of all the schoolteachers.
The keynote was ok, but as I discussed with several
colleagues it’s basically the same speech I’ve heard for about eight of my nine
years (my first year I was so overwhelmed my mind was thinking about day one
and not the state of education). Where
the US stands in education, how we compare to other nations, and how we are
preparing kid for jobs that aren’t even invented yet! [Don’t worry I’ll get to this, I’m letting
the rage build]
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| Finland: Where Heavy Metal and education reign! |
I attended a presentation on technology to build an
individual development plan and improving schools. They were ok.
Sans a few technology glitches, some auditory problems and nervous
speakers, I gained a few things. Which
as a veteran teacher told me years ago, is all you can do.
The last meeting of all the high school teachers was a
discussion on topics set up by our department head. The conversation was basically between three
people, but gave me some good insight to where CIC is, where CHS is at, and
what others are doing (and when). It
slowly gravitated to a “look what I do, it’s great”-type feeling, but the
bleeding stopped shortly after it started.
After that we had a raffle and a tasty diner, but on by the
Hesperia hotel. It was later followed
with a cocktail hour that led to some hilarious conversation with Ryan, Jon,
Javier, Enrique, Kim, and Marshal. We were that table. After the cocktail dinner was over a bunch of
people shuffled two blocks to Jon and Randi’s for a few more drinks and
discussion of the Vanas experience. I
learned a lot about public teaching in Venezuela from Javier and the
educational lifestyle from Leo. (A wise
person once told me that if you really want to learn, befriend the veterans and
the wise. I’ve taken it to heart and try
to learn as much as possible. It
probably helps that I’m an old soul).
The night ended up (for me) with Jon and I playing air drums
and guitar to various Mars Volta, Tool, and A Perfect Circle songs. I called it an early night (a whooping 10pm),
but some others carried on to nearly midnight (we’re old).
The Beach, Sunday, and Beyond
The following day I was up early, like it’s still dark out
early (5:30), to head to the beach for Lorena’s birthday party. We had a nice crew of probably 20-25ish and
returned to the first beach area I was exposed to here. We were in a different location, but the
water was clear and the sand was white.
Only different was that the water was a little cooler than last time and
I was starting to feel ill. It wasn’t a
bad time as we got to relax, get some sun, and shoot the bull.
While we were sitting around we ran into some teachers from
the other schools. I caught myself in
conversation with a guy ended up being another Iowan. This dude, Tim, graduated from Cedar Rapids
Jefferson in 2001, wrestled, and went to Luther. He’s teaching English and the IB
(International Baccalaureate) Coordinator for EBV. He was a stand up dude who had also taught in
Jamaica and the Arab Spring. Morris and
I talked to him at length. I wondered if
I maybe wrestled him as he was about my size.
We also met a Scotsman who had been teaching abroad for
eight years. He’d taught in Thailand,
amongst other places. He had a
hilariously, awesome accent and his analysis of the lack of things to do in
Caracas was awesome. Ryan volleyed the
conversation with some great wisecracks.
It was the best 20-30 minutes of my day.
The day was chill, but by the end of it I felt awful.
The best was yet to come.
Sunday was the day I had waited for all week. I wanted to completely soak up the second to
last day of football with all my might.
Turns out the universe had other plans, as I felt awful from the time I
woke up. Body aches, sweating,
headaches, a pregnant feeling stomach plagued me.
By the time the games came up I was in pain. I tried to fight through it, eat some food,
drink some Sprite and try to enjoy the game.
But by the end of game one I was done.
I left the gather and went home for the security of the coach. I just kept filling worse and worse, so I
took some pills and went to bed about 8.
Woke up and felt the same way. Powered through school, skipped the work out,
watched a movie and went to bed at like 8 again. I’m feeling better today, but still a little
slow. I have no idea what it was, but it
was awful. So it goes.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT SECTION
So I bet you’re asking yourself, what can be bigger than
going to the World Cup? Well, I don’t
know about bigger in terms of scale, but if your looking at in terms of a
bigger role in an event than yeah, this is a bigger.
Morris (friend and fellow Iowan) and I are going to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
Booyah! If you don’t know what it
is check this out.
It’s going to be gnarly.
Getting chased by a 1000 pound or more bull on the way to the stadium is
going to be a rush.
Why are we doing this? Well it’s something I’ve always
wanted to do and found out that so did Morris.
It was also in a Hemingway book I finished this summer so naturally I
thought I had to try it.
We’ll spend a few nights in Barcelona and Madrid prior to
heading to Pamplona and then return to Barcelona to fly out.
Don’t worry guys, I’ll be sure to publish some blogs from
Spain and don’t worry I’ll be fine. It’s
only 800 meters; I can run that in my sleep!
Quotes of the Week
“Let’s get Vanas-ed!”
- Me to a still not awake group of colleagues as we waited
for the breakfast to start. I don’t
think they thought my college humor was funny, or it was to early.
“So you’re going to Barbados this weekend (or anything beyond the daily norm of most Venezuelan students in travel or having possession of)…? What a life!”
- Jon Moreno doing his best Mr. Barrios. (Mr. Barrios is one of our PE teachers who
tries to remind some of our “privileged” students about how well they have it
compared to most.
“I’m so sick of hearing about the Finland school comparison,
it’s a homogeneous culture.”
-
Ryan Robinson about halfway through our keynote
in regards to the often referenced Finnish schools.
Five Thoughts of the Week
This week's thoughts are a direct results of the keynote speaker. If you are aware of our “educational catastrophe” (or so it
is referred) please do some digging before you shoot blame to teachers, staff,
administrators, unions, and those that are on the front lines. Here are five
quick hitters of information on the comparison between “us” (‘Murica) and them
(everyone that is “better”). I could go on, but most won't care or can find the info on their own.
1. Finland has only 3% childhood poverty compared to 22% (and
rising) childhood poverty in the US.
2. Let’s take that a step further. If you took the schools in the US that have
less than a 10% poverty level (the number comparable to those other countries
near the top of the list) we had a PISA (Program for International Student
Assessment) score of 551. Which in
comparison to the ten countries with similar poverty rankings would make us 1st. (If you ain’t first you’re last, Ricky!)
3. Finland also has “cheaper medical care, smarter children,
happier moms, better working conditions, less anxious unemployed people, and
lower student loan rates than we do.” The Atlantic
4. Finland has a population of 5.414 million people. Or as I
like to call it, the metro areas of D.C. (5.8 mil), Miami (5.7mil), or Hotlanta
(5.4 mil). If you’d like to talk states
I can do that: Missouri (5.9 mil), Maryland (5.7 mil), Wisconsin (5.6 mil),
Minnesota (5.3 mil), and Colorado (5.02 mil).
Hmmm…
5. Finland has 19th century styled classrooms (no
technology, internet, desks in rows, etc.) highly valued and regarded teachers.
*I’m not making this claim to be pro a specific party of
the government, pro union, or complain about education in anyway. I’m just shooting you the facts jack. Plain and simple. You’re smart people, how can you compare
Finland to us (or anyone else)? It’s apples to oranges. You want to fix education get experienced,
intelligent people from the field, develop a plan, test the plan, make
amendments, implement slowly, and continue to improve and modify. Allow states, districts, and schools the
power to tailor their program to needs of it’s students.
 |
| At least Finland provides the US with some heavy metal like Children of Bodom! |
That’s enough of that for today…maybe for a long time. Check back later this week when I address a
topic I get asked about quite frequently, safety/crime in Venezuela.
I’ll make it fair, simple to read, and hopefully easy to
understand. It will clear up some
CNN-effect you may be experiencing.
Hope you guys are safe and sound. I hope I get totally over feeling awful
soon. This sucks.
Remember, I don't hate you Finland.
Until next time,
KRS
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