A Day in the Life of a Teacher Traveler.
Posted by Langwitches on 30 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: China
Traveling across the world from Florida, USA to China is a once in a life time personal opportunity for any teacher. Taking over 400 students with their teachers along (virtually) is a lifetime professional opportunity. Far from being a leisurely journey, it represented the opportunity to experience a different culture with all its exotic sounds, smells, tastes and customs while at the same time making learning an adventure for our students. It was our responsibility to see a new country through the eyes of children, ranging in ages from 4 to 12 years, and find a way to spark their interest, connect with them and allow them to share the experiences half a world away. Much attention went into the preparation, research, pedagogy and curriculum writing on how to involve students. What would excite them to learn about another country and culture? The interactive travel experience with two teachers that they knew and had a connection with changed the way our students looked at an exotic country and made connections for them that will last far longer than the actual travel time.
Three different programs were designed to involve the students: Jose, the travel mascot for the lower levels, China Trekkers for the middle grades and an “Amazing Race” Contest for the upper classes. After months of planning what technology tools to use and having several backups in case we ended up behind the “Great Firewall” of China, we were prepared to record sights, sounds, and impressions to be shared with everyone at home.
A typical day in the life of the traveling teacher looked quite different than ‘normal’ travel. The motto of the trip was “Travel to China through Space and Time.” Keeping in mind the 13 hours time difference, we got up early in the morning around 6 o’clock to be able to go on the China Blog and read through all the comments the students and teachers left the previous school day (same day for our students). We answered as many questions as we could before preparing to head out to meet our tour guide who was taking us to the attractions we had requested when booking our trip.
Our typical gear included Jose, the mascot in his backpack, a camcorder, a digital camera, two MP3 recorders and two different travel guide books. While on the tour, we focused on capturing as many unique cultural aspects such as food, transportation, language, education, entertainment and clothing as possible. We tried to anticipate possible questions we would receive the following morning (after the school day was over for our students, still the previous day in the US).
We tried to use the best media available to capture and convey our impressions and experiences. We took hundreds of pictures that were then categorized and uploaded to the school’s Flickr account to be streamed into the travel blog. We took video clips with our digital camera as well as full length video with the camcorder. If the opportunity presented itself, we recorded our tour guide pronouncing and teaching us numbers or how to say words and short phrases in Chinese. We video-taped another tour guide giving instructions to our students to learn a simple Tai-Chi sequence. We recorded a sound seeing tour while driving in a frantic taxi ride towards the Star Ferry in Hong Kong, including the blaring radio. Students were able to climb with us the Great Wall of China and hear us huff and puff, when the steps were getting too steep.
There was never a minute when we would not evaluate for possible photo shoots ,audio or video recording that would bring us closer to our students and vice versa. Our tour guides were almost as exhausted as ourselves, when they usually returned us to between 7 and 10 p.m. to our hotels from our daily excursions. We had seemed to have interviewed them non stop about everything and everybody in detail in order to have content for our blog posts.
As soon as we returned to our room in the hotel, I immediately started editing, mixing and uploading the day’s media footage, while my travel companion and colleague started cross referencing, comparing, and completing the information, we received during the day from the our guide to the data in the travel books. We then tried to link that information to resources online for further reference. Around 9 p.m. (China time) it was time for our students to get started with their school day (8 a.m. EST). Many times we uploaded a post, only to find a few minutes later already a comment or question from students, which we were able to answer immediately. We were also able to conduct several live video conferences with our students by using a webcam. By the time we fell exhausted into our beds, it usually was between 11 p.m. and midnight.
During two weeks of traveling we posted 95 entries and received 278 Comments from our students and teachers in Florida. 14 videos and 575 photos in 12 categories we uploaded and viewed. Talk about communication through space and time.
