China

Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this edition, Terry Lowry from Wakefield School reports on her first day in China as part of an education delegation. 

On my fourth day here in China, we traveled from Xuzhou to Taizhou to attend the Jiangsu International Forum. I traveled with Grace, Madame Chen, and another visiting educator from the UK, Geraldine. I learned that principals in China are held in even higher regard than I originally thought – Madame Chen is provided a car and a personal driver which she kindly offered to us for the trip.

Our arrival to the forum was marked by a flurry of international introductions and networking. As everywhere I have visited, everyone was very welcoming. We arrived in the afternoon, giving us time to rest up before dinner. The hotel is amazing – incredibly well-appointed and luxurious. Dinner was yet another incredible spread. I’m not always sure exactly what everything is, but I’ve enjoyed the adventure of trying it all. I will be lucky if I am able to still fit into my clothes after this trip. During and after dinner, I met more amazing educators from California, Australia, the UK, Canada, The Netherlands, and Finland, just to name a few!

The actual forum was held the next day. It was a very impressive affair. I was expecting something like an educational conference. That was NOT what this was. It felt more like something one might experience at the United Nations, complete with our own earpieces for translation purposes. There were many speeches from local and regional officials, everything was carefully orchestrated, and all was well documented by dozens of official cameramen. The only active participation piece of it was during our assigned panel discussions. We were broken into four groups and assigned various topics for discussion. My group’s topic was “Cultivating Key Competencies in the Internet-Age.” The discussion was, again, well-orchestrated, somber, and well-documented, but I truly enjoyed hearing the opinions of other educators from throughout the world.

I think my key takeaway from the forum was that there are many more similarities between all our educational systems than there are differences. Initially my discussions with other educators from around the world led me to believe that our educational goals varied greatly, primarily regarding rote memorization and testing vs. higher level thinking. As the forum progressed, however, it became increasingly apparent to me that our underlying goals were virtually indistinguishable. I was delighted to discover that the overwhelming emphasis amongst all of us was on the importance of teaching higher level thinking and problem solving in our ever changing world. We all recognized that, with information just a click away, what you know is every bit as important as how you came to have that knowledge as well as what you plan to do with it. As Alvin Toffler stated, “The illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” And that was a common theme at the forum—making sure our students acquired the skills they needed to be successful in today’s world.

This is my last entry for my trip. Tomorrow I head back to the airport and then on to home. I hope you have enjoyed traveling along with me. It has been an amazing ride and I am grateful to have had this opportunity!

Board director Terry Lowry is Director of Technology Integration and Curriculum Coordination at Wakefield School located in The Plains, Virginia.  Terry serves as the chair of the VSTE Awards Committee. Find her on Twitter @tekkieteacher.

Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this edition, Terry Lowry from Wakefield School reports on her first day in China as part of an education delegation. 

These past two days in China have been spent traveling to and visiting our sister school, Xuzhou No. 1 Middle School. The trip from Nanjing to Xuzhou was long – just over 4 hours – but I took advantage of the time to ward of jetlag and slept for most of the trip. Driving in China involves a lot of horn blowing and serious courage on behalf of the driver. I have determined that the lane dividers are really just a suggestion and by no means indicative of where one should consistently stay. I don’t think this is a distinctly Chinese characteristic – I experienced much the same thing in London last summer. In any case, I am happy to say we made it to Xuzhou safe and sound.

Upon arrival, I was graciously greeted by Grace, one of the teachers from the school, who whisked me off to my hotel. After settling in, she and one of her colleagues treated me to one of the most amazing meals I have ever had. The dishes just kept coming out and each one was wonderful! I am proud to say I did fine with the chopsticks and did not embarrass myself. I ended the day by rolling off to bed and sleeping soundly.

The highlight of my visit, though, was definitely the classroom visits I was fortunate to experience the next day. In one class, an American teacher, Kyle, was teaching the children about the US presidential election and the differences between the parties. What an amazing experience to listen to their perceptions regarding the election. They examined the experience of the two candidates and, understandably, how the election of either would affect China. In my next class, an English class, I was able to help students with their grammar assignment (it was surprisingly difficult) and then answered any questions they might have about Wakefield or the US. I think their questions were very interesting, so here are some of them (the ones I can remember, anyway)

• Are we allowed to have boyfriend/girlfriend relationships in school?
• If a student’s test scores indicate they should go to university, but he/she really wants to do something else, like be a bus driver, is that allowed in the US – would his/her parents be supportive?
• If I want to be a film maker, how can I get Americans to watch my movies?
• If a student wants to travel to the US to attend school, what is it they might have the most difficulty with?
• If Hillary or Trump won, how did I think that would affect America?
• What do American students have to do to be accepted into college?

After a morning attending classes we went to the school cantina and were joined by their school principal, Madam Chen, for another amazing meal. Everyone went out of their way to make me feel very welcome and special. Later, Grace and I explored the second campus and then took a tour of the city, the highlight of which was traveling down a willow tree lined boulevard beside an extremely large man-made lake. The rain that started couldn’t dampen my spirits but rather made the day feel fresh and new. All in all, the visit was incredibly memorable and definitely a highlight of my educational career.

Board director Terry Lowry is Director of Technology Integration and Curriculum Coordination at Wakefield School located in The Plains, Virginia.  Terry serves as the chair of the VSTE Awards Committee. Find her on Twitter @tekkieteacher.

Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this edition, Terry Lowry from Wakefield School reports on her first day in China as part of an education delegation. 

Holy crap! I’m in China! Back in my IT consulting days, I thought it was glamorous that I got to travel to California or Louisiana on my company’s dime. When I decided to return to the world of education back in 2004, I assumed that my days of travel, other than the occasional cheese-wagon field trip to DC, were over. But here I am, in friggin’ CHINA! I am so incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity.

Why me? (Great question – even though I ask it of myself) I am blessed to work at an independent school that emphasizes global awareness and involvement as one of its strategic initiatives. Having said that, the international educator’s forum that I am participating in is not just for independent schools. It is open to school leaders throughout the world. Yep – that’s right – THE WORLD! And here is another crazy thought (at least to me) – I’m visiting here as a school LEADER. While I am part of my school’s leadership team, I consider my primary role as that of a classroom teacher. While my direct teaching time is limited, nothing makes my happier nor do I find anything more rewarding than the time I spend working one-on-one with children. I do not consider myself an administrator, even though I make administrative decisions. I am fortunate to have a blended role where I can both directly interact with children while also guiding and leading the school in its vision and goals. I am hoping that, given that I am most comfortable advocating for the child and teacher, I fit in with all the other “school leaders” in attendance. I have been labeled a bit of a rebel in the past.....just ask our VSTE chairman of the board, Keith Reeves.

Tomorrow I visit our partner school, Xuzhou No. 1 Middle School. I have gifts to bring from one of our teachers who visited last spring and other gifts from our school to theirs. I couldn’t be more excited, but at the same time nervous. I am embarrassed that I do not know any Mandarin while most of the folks I have come in to contact with speak at least rudimentary English. My knowledge of the Romance languages is fairly good. Put me anywhere in Europe and I can figure things out fairly well. Here, however, is a totally different story. I encourage all schools, parents, and their children, to expand their language offerings and skills beyond those that may be typically available. Today’s world is much smaller (figuratively) than the world that we or our forefather’s knew. It is to our advantage to know as much about it as possible.

Last thoughts (before jet lag overcomes me):

• The Chinese are incredibly kind and gracious.
• The cities I have seen (Beijing and Nanjing) are crazy polluted. I was literally smogged in on my connecting flight.
• The jet lag one experiences from traveling from the east coast of the US to China is killer.

NOTE: Check back here for updates as Terry continues to share her insights. 

Board director Terry Lowry is Director of Technology Integration and Curriculum Coordination at Wakefield School located in The Plains, Virginia.  Terry serves as the chair of the VSTE Awards Committee. Find her on Twitter @tekkieteacher.