rhsglobalstudies - Global Blog

3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference at RHS

25/4/2016

Posted by Erik Remsen
On Thursday, April 7th, Rutland High School held its 3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference. The purpose of the day was to inform students about global issues and inspire them to take action. Our keynote speaker this year was Zach Ingrasci (pictured above), the executive director and co-founder of Living on One, a production and social impact studio. Their most recent film, Salam Neighbor, chronicles Syrians living in a refugee camp in Jordan and was screened before a large crowd of students, faculty, and community members at the Paramount Theater that evening.

Posted below are a few pictures from the day that showcase student leadership in organizing and facilitating the conference as well as the myriad ways students grappled with and began to make sense of the various pressing global issues. More information about the conference can be found at the website and in future blog posts. Stay tuned.

All photos courtesy of Brandon Levesque

Experiencing the Italian Alps

23/2/2016

This is the second in the series of blog posts from Rutland High School student and biathlete, Chloe Levins. Her last post detailed the Junior World Biathlon Championships in Romania and visits to some of Vlad the Impaler's haunts . This post describes a week of training in the Italian Alps and her experiences with Tyrolean culture.

Upon the conclusion of Youth/Junior World Biathlon Championships in Romania, another youth biathlete, Amanda Kautzer, and myself were privileged to continue our European adventure in the Italian Alps. We made ourselves at home in an apartment tucked in the shadow of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.

The town where we stayed, Antholz-Anterselva, is a municipality in South Tyrol. South Tyrol, one of the most northerly regions in Italy, borders Austria. Before World War II, it was actually a part of Austria. Because of this, about 98% of the population speaks German rather than Italian. As a member of the European Union, Italy functions on the Euro. One Euro is equal to about one American dollar and 10 cents.

In Antholz-Anterselva, one narrow road leads through three small villages eventually ending at the main ski venue 2000m above sea level. We stayed in the lowest village, at approximately 1200m and made a 15 minute commute to the venue every day. Our village mostly consisted of apartments, hotels, and grocery stores, so there weren’t many options for us to immerse ourselves in the community. One observation we made, however, was that all stores closed during the day between 12PM and 3PM and all day on Sunday. From speaking with a friend, we also found out that children in school get a one hour break in the middle of the day for lunch and relaxation purposes.

Amanda and I stayed in an apartment by ourselves. Our landlord was an Antholz native with five young boys. She was very generous and spoke three languages: German, Italian, and English. As a farm-owner in the middle of the village, she offered us fresh milk from her cows nearly every morning. She provided a very warm and comforting environment for both of us. Although the apartment was easy to adapt to, one thing was not: cooking for ourselves. Because we made every meal on our own, we didn’t not get to experience much of the local cuisine.

The Antholz-Anterzelva Ski Stadium is deeply rooted in the biathlon culture. Antholz has hosted biathlon World Cup or World Championship events nearly every year since the mid-1980s. The altitude and prestige of this venue makes it a great option for professionals to complete a training block in preparation for important competitions. Since the senior World Biathlon Championships in Oslo, Norway are coming up next month, many of the best professional athletes in the world were training there for this very reason. Amanda and I practiced on the range everyday next to some members of the Ukrainian, Latvian, Belarusian, Estonian, and Bulgarian national teams.

On one of our last days in Italy, we ventured out of our apartment and into a nearby city called Dobbiaco. While there, we roamed the cobblestone streets of a gorgeous valley-city. There were multiple stores selling coffee, fresh bread, pasta, and (of course) Yankees hats. We stopped into one coffee shop for tea, cappuccinos, and famous Italian pizza! It was delicious.

Through word of mouth, we also found out that the week before we arrived was an annual festival that occurs in this part of Italy every year. It was a festival in celebration of the coming of spring! Supposedly, the locals dress up in costumes, similar to Halloween, and parade around the town with drinks and food. From the way it sounds, it would have been a fun celebration to be a part of.

After one week of good training and food, Amanda and I left Italy in excited pursuit of our next destination: Lillehammer, Norway.

Skiing in the shadow of Vlad the Impaler

4/2/2016

Chloe Levins is a senior at Rutland High School and enrolled in the Global Studies Concentration at the school. Recently, her participation in a sport called biathlon took her across the Atlantic Ocean for international competitions. Biathlon, the most popular winter sport in Europe, consists of shooting a .22 caliber rifle and cross-country skiing. This is her fourth year competing in biathlon and her second winter of international biathlon competitions. Below she describes her experiences in Romania.

This past week, 13 young Americans from across the U.S.A. and myself competed at the Youth/Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania. We stayed in a newly developed resort nestled in the heart of the Transylvanian Alps. Being less than 10 kilometers from Castle Bran, also known as Dracula’s Castle, and within walking distance of the racing venue allowed us to have the perfect proximal balance of culture and racing.

Romania, a former member of the Eastern Bloc, was under varying degrees of Soviet influence until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Now, Romania is an democratic Eastern European country. It is a member of the European Union, but is not currently on the Euro. Instead, it’s currency is called the Romanian “lei”. About 1 American dollar is worth 4 lei. Travel tip: find a currency exchange in the airport upon your arrival to your destination country!

Romanian, unlike the languages of other Eastern European countries, is a Romance language. “Romania” itself means “Land of the Romans”. Obviously, the language was still very foreign to us, but some parallels between Spanish and Romanian were tangible. Some overlapping words that I was exposed to consisted mostly of greetings and numbers. Travel tip: try to learn some native words before you leave the U.S.! Being polite is important, and if you can use your manners in a language that local citizens understand, it’s even better!

Based on my experience in Belarus last year and this year in Romania, Eastern European food is similar across the board. Every meal consisted of some form of potatoes: cubed, whole, mashed, baked, roasted, etc.. Other than potatoes, meat cutlets and soup were frequent occurrences at mealtime. At the resort where we stayed, they also offered croissants and traditional dessert cakes from other Eastern European countries such as Lithuania. These cakes were not as sweet as the cakes we eat for birthday celebrations in the U.S.. For example, the Lithuanian cake was made of white batter and a cheese filling with raisins. On occasion the resort staff would make pizza and ice cream which was always a big hit among the Americans!

On the second day in Romania, the youth girls and myself took a cab to one of the most famous tourist attractions in Romania: Dracula’s Castle. Originally built as a structural protection for the mountain pass in the 13th century, the Castle Bran was home to many Romanian monarchs through the 17th century. The most famous one, Vlad Dracul, influenced many books and Hollywood movies with the brutality of his torture tactics. Vlad Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler, signed his name on documents as “Dracula”. Although he was not a literal vampire, the vampire legend developed from the idea that he was “blood thirsty”. Whether he actually drank people’s blood or not is undetermined.

The castle itself is now a museum. Most of the rooms were preserved and open for us to tour. Nearly every room had a beautifully constructed fireplace lined with blue and white tiles. Crowns, staffs, armor, and clothing was also on display. One of the most interesting rooms, however, was the torture chamber. In this room, there was a large chair with what looked like pointy wooden dowels on every inch of it’s surface. Apparently, Dracula would weigh women on a scale compared to a bundle of rocks. If the woman weighed less than the random assortment of rocks, Dracula deemed that the devil lived inside of her and she should be punished.

In general, the accommodations and people at the resort made this trip very enjoyable for us. Every morning, I woke up to the sun rising over beautiful mountains, similar looking to the Colorado Rockies. Although it was above freezing nearly every day, the race organizers did an excellent job of preserving the race track for us. Not to mention, this was the most successful Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships the United States has ever had! We had one World Championship victory, three podiums, six top tens, and seven top twenties! There are only good memories left from my experience in Romania.

The British Isles

11/10/2015

Gearrannan Village

Callanish Stones

Mary Moran is the Superintendent of Rutland City Public Schools. This past summer, she travelled through the British Isles. Below is a brief summary of her experience, including an encounter in Wales with slate workers very familiar with the Rutland area.

This past summer, I spent an amazing and totally sunny, rain free two weeks in the British Isles, with a quick stop in Dublin. In ten days aboard a small ship, I circumnavigated Great Britain! I will simply list the ports of call to give you an idea of the voyage. Embarking at the port of Poole, we sailed to Scilly Isle, Wales, Dublin, Iona, Barra and Stornoway in the Hebrides, Stromness in the Orkney Islands, Aberdeen, finally disembarking in Edinburgh. A quick trip to St. Andrews and The Old Course just two days before The British Open finished of the journey! As is so often the case when traveling, the historic locations are awe inspiring: Caernarfon Castle in Wales, the Book of Kells in Dublin, Iona Abbey, the Callanish Stones, Balmoral and Edinburgh Castles. However, it was the people I met who were the highlight of the trip. The slate workers in Wales (yes, they were readily familiar with Fair Haven, VT), the hard working crofters in the Hebrides and Orkneys, and the children in the school I visited; these human experiences are what makes travel come alive.

On the Royal Mile

Doing the Right Thing

1/10/2015

Posted by Marsha Cassel, World Language Teacher and Global Studies Mentor

It was just about this time last September that we were preparing to welcome our new friends from Pont de Suert, Spain. They pulled into Rutland High School in the dark—tired, excited and a little anxious—in the yellow school bus that we had sent along with organizer and Spanish teacher Patricia Alonso in order to gather them up at JFK airport. They politely snacked on Vermont apple cider and cookies in our school lobby, connected with their respective host families and disappeared into the night for a much-deserved rest.

That was the beginning of many beautiful friendships.

In June, I was invited to join twenty-four students and two colleagues (social studies teacher, Taborri Bruhl, and aforementioned Patricia Alonso), for Rutland High School’s travel to Pont de Suert to complete the loop of our brand new international exchange program. Our welcome in Spain was much grander than the modest late-night reception in Vermont. Our hosts had taken their final exams in advance, so they could be excused from school to meet us at the Barcelona airport—banner in hands—and to whisk us off in an air-conditioned tour bus for a beachfront lunch of paella and a revitalizing dip in the Mediterranean Sea.

Most of our visit, however, was spent in Pont de Suert, a quiet village in the autonomous province of Catalonia and home to approximately 2,500 residents.
On the first morning we visited the high school, and in small groups RHS students cycled through classrooms offering presentations about our school and Vermont to those who had not been able to visit us the previous fall. It was interesting to see what our presenters chose to highlight: Ben & Jerry’s, maple products, Raider football and our version of the “Shake it off” video (demonstrating our school spirit) were frequent inclusions. Afterward our students teamed up with their hosts and headed off on a scavenger hunt in order to get acquainted with the village and to practice communicating. They had to walk to various agencies and record the answers of the employees to specific prompts or visit certain landmarks and fill in answers based on their observations at those sites. Theoretically, the Americans were supposed to be asking all the questions, but the learning curve was too steep for the first day and the Spanish students pitched in to expedite the process. The Americans got their bearings while discovering the library, the old and new churches, the municipal center, the youth center and the immigration center…and they stopped at a local market to stock up on water. Water was the source of some anxiety—especially in the heat and with the exertion of the outdoor activities that we undertook. Many were apprehensive about drinking water to which they were not accustomed, despite the local reassurances that it was perfectly fine. As chaperones we were on alert for signs of dehydration throughout the trip.

Communication, in general, was a zigging and zagging experience. Our students did get braver and better at expressing themselves in Spanish as the hours and days passed. Oddly enough, however, Spanish was not only a second language for the Americans but it was also the second language for most of the residents of Pont de Suert. Catalan, the co-official language of the region, was the first and preferred language of most of the families and merchants.

Back in Vermont, before I had met our “intercambio” counterparts, I had wondered about the practicality of setting up an exchange with folks whose first language wasn’t even one that we taught at RHS. Yet while hiking, kayaking, dancing, cooking, eating, laughing, playing and traveling with these folks, while seamlessly navigating from one language to another, I was convinced of the merits of reaching for this connection.

My host father, Pere, spoke Catalan, Spanish and was eager to practice his English. His wife Pilar, spoke Spanish, had learned Catalan when she moved to Pont de Suert and had studied French as a second language in school. Their son and daughter spoke Catalan and were learning Spanish in school. I have studied and taught both French and Spanish but could only make inferences from written Catalan. When it was spoken, I could only understand if the utterances were heavily supported by obvious gestures. Our conversations were rich, collaborative, sometimes redundant (as portions were retranslated to others) and driven by the genuine desire to understand and be understood. We collectively reached for whatever language would serve our particular thought and urgency of the moment. Often sentences would have no linguistic integrity and would start in one language and conclude in another. Much information (and probably some misinformation) was transmitted but we weren’t actively conscious of how much. And my time spent with my family was warm and intimate as a result of the insatiable desire to communicate and to know one another—no matter the challenges.
This talent was not exclusive to my host family either. Whether we were at the school or on our outings to the national park and to a beautiful gorge, we were surrounded by polyglots. Our companions were versed in English, French, Spanish, Catalan, German, Italian and even in some of the more obscure heritage languages of the region. Their proficiency with languages was impressive and humbling.

In anticipation of making this post, I asked the student-travelers what some of their observations were:

Water was not something to take for granted.
It was much lighter for much longer in the evening. (It turns out that Spain changed from its “natural” solar time zone according to its longitudinal position to the Central European time zone during WW II to align with German occupied Europe and it has remained so since. Some say that this has contributed to Spain’s unusual late meals and sleep schedules.)
Screens were very rare on exterior windows and doors.
Classrooms were almost all identical and functional but unadorned.
The gymnasium was very small and there were no organized school sports.
“Just another ten minutes” would describe things that would often take many multiples of that.
The meals were very meat-centric in this region.
The meals were not a light or as spaced out as had been represented (perhaps due to our presence as guests?
Youth gatherings took place in public venues or even in the streets rather in private dwellings, which tended to be smaller and not able to accommodate groups.
The churches were relatively empty. There were not as many practicing Catholics as there once were.
The roads were scary by American standards, twisting and narrow with steep drop-offs, carved into the mountains
Outsiders viewed American culture as crime-filled and plagued with gun violence. This observation came up frequently in conversation and was a big fear that our hosts had about traveling to the US. (Even as we tried to reassure them that they would be safe, some of the highlighted US news that we encountered while we were away dealt with armed escaped prisoners and another separate fatal shooting back at home.
Crossing the border from Spain to France for a day trip was a non-event. Former check points were circumvented with new paving and stood like relics on abandoned lanes. There was no requirement for even a stop, a nod or conversation on the highways over the mountain, even for us as non-European Union passengers. Nada. Nothing. No one noticed. No one cared. Once we were in the EU, we were in. The only evidence that we had passed from one country to another was the change in the guard rail system. (This is a poignant contrast to our own lines at the Vermont/ Canadian border as well as to the news reports of desperate refugees from war-torn regions outside of the EU being thwarted from gaining access to some European countries.)

Perhaps the memory that will stick with our students the most, however, will be witnessing and participating in the Festival of Saint John the Baptist, which coincides with the celebration of the first day of summer and which, by design, marked the culmination of our visit to Pont de Suert. There is nothing that I can compare Las Fallas (Spanish) or Les Falles (Catalan) to in my experience of American traditions. Families gather in the mountains in the late afternoon or early evening and feast.

As night falls they build bonfires with which to ignite large, heavy wooded torches that were made or purchased for the occasion. Participants then perch the torches over their shoulders (fully engulfed in flames emitting impressive heat) and carry them, winding along the mountain path in the dark, guided by the light of the torch in front of them and by the sound of massive cow bells that some of the celebrants wear. They are urged to keep the distance consistent and tight between carriers. Many wear padding in their clothing to protect them from both the weight and heat of the torches. Some wear special protective head gear to keep their hair from singing from the sparks. Viewers get to watch what appears to be a twinkling, undulating serpent sliding down the hillside. This year’s festival saw some 300 people on the descent.

At the base of the mountain the members of the procession start to run into the main square of the village where they form a circle. When assembled there, they toss their torches into a pile at a designated place in the center and the flames consume much of the square. The noise and light and heat are amplified by the surrounding buildings and it is very primal.

Each village in the region boasts that its festival is the best. Some celebrate on the eve of St. John the Baptist; others on the night of. Therefore, visitors can have multiple experiences. In Pont de Suert, I participated in an early evening version for the children…

…and then watched as the adults, which included nine or more of our American students, as they completed the journey in the full darkness.

Remembering this ritual from a couple of months out now is easier than approaching it in real time as a member of the team of chaperones. When the trip was organized, we were aware of the festival and agreed that it would be an interesting experience to incorporate into our visit. In theory, from afar, we were imagining our group watching it, as temporary, honorary members of the community…as engaged on-lookers. When we became immersed in the culture, however, it became clear that both Americans and Spaniards were eager to expand the participation. As chaperones, nevertheless, there were important questions to be answered:

Did the rewards outweigh the risks (of possible injury to persons or property)?
Did our students understand the meaning and purpose of the tradition enough to enter into it with respect or were they merely seeking a thrill disconnected to the custom?
Would they be displacing another member of the host family by participating?
Would it create an additional expense for the family?
Would there be drinking as a part of the evening?
Were they fit enough to carry the enormous flaming torches the entire way? (Most of the adults, who were inviting participation, had practiced this since they were very young.)
If we declined the invitation, would it be considered rude?
Had we adequately described the nature of the event to the parents in the States during our transatlantic communiqués with them when requesting their explicit permission to let their children participate?
Wasn’t opening yourself up to new experiences part of the philosophy and adventure of travel?
Might we prevent them from a creating the memory of a lifetime by being too careful?

Our decision to let our students be part of the festivities was not a ‘slam-dunk.’ But after careful considerations, examining as many what-if’s as we could anticipate, getting permission from every family and providing thoughtful preparations and instructions, we trusted them.

And they were worthy of our trust.

Exploring Central Europe (with a toddler) - Part 2

16/9/2015

This is the second installment of Meaghan Marsh's fascinating and, often amusing, adventures around Europe with her 2 year old daughter, Anna. This leg of the trip finds them in Bosnia, Croatia, and Italy, discussing recent history and finding friendship despite a language barrier.

Bosnia was the country that I was most excited for. I love that it is off the beaten track. I love that it is not a popular tourist destination. I love the culture and I love the people. It did not disappoint. We stayed in Mostar, a small town in the southwest region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was particularly interested in this town because of its recent war. Bosnia's population is divided between Muslims and Christians. Initially, the two groups fought against the Serbians in an effort to remove them from Bosnia. As the war continued, the two groups eventually turned on each other and a civil war broke out. Mostar was front and center in this war. The town is divided by a river, which almost perfectly divides the Muslims from the Christians. In the early 1990s, the Mostar Bridge became a figurative and literal connection between the two, and later, when it was destroyed in war, the divide. As a side note, this was also Anna's first melt down. Given that we were on day 12 of 10 hour days in 100+ degrees- it was a well-deserved melt down, however ill timed.

We stayed with a young family, the father doubled as a tour guide. We spent one day touring all of the highlights in the region, including the house and burial site for two very famous Dervishes, a river that had massive amounts of wild mint growing on its shores, creating an entire river of mint water, and several Roman Ruins. The father's stories of government corruption were sprinkled throughout the day. One of the most interesting stories was about the recent statue erected in the local park. He claims that the Muslim side of town felt that the government was favoring the Christians, and spending more funds on them. The government responded with a Bruce Lee statue. After all, who else could bridge the gap between a town divided. Our guide also commented on how, while on a daily basis the two groups get along and work together with little to no tension, there is still a very apparent social divide. Muslims and Christians do not inter-marry. He stated that his parents were an inter-religious marriage years ago. He feels that since he does not specifically belong to one group or the other, it was hard for him to find a wife. Families want their daughters to marry into the same religion. He reported that his sisters both encountered similar problems and both left the country to marry and raise a family without the social divide.

Anna and I spent the next two weeks driving up the Croatian coast! We hopped from one beach town to the next! Our route was based on the suggestions of the families we rented rooms or apartments from. Using Airbnb ended up being one of the best decisions I made. I was extremely cautious in this process and only used people who had 5 star ratings with 20 or more reviews, leaning towards renters with families. Many times, we became friends with the families which afforded us the opportunity to see “real life”. We were often invited for breakfast and dinner with the families. Once, Anna and one of the grandmothers had an instant connection. In fact, Anna began to call her “Croatian Gram”. Croatian Gram would style Anna’s hair each morning, and had a stash of Anna’s favorite candy on hand at all times, and one day she even hopped in car and without speaking a word of English and spent an awesome day with us at the beach.

The last leg of our trip involved taking an early morning ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Venice. Venice was as amazing as you imagine it is. It also proved to be a little more difficult to navigate than I anticipated. I did not consider the fact that every single of the over 400 bridges in the city includes stairs up and down. This is hard to do with a stroller and takes forever to do with a walking, talking, extra curious two year old. After the first night, I did some research on the topic, and in a travel thread found an Italian mom describing the perfect technique for carrying a toddler in a stroller over the bridges. This slight change in approach made the next few days much easier. We spent our time here wandering around. Anna joined other kids in street soccer games, we ate (a lot) and watched the boats go by. The Bienalle was well underway during our visit, so there were endless impromptu galleries and art festivals around town. This added such a great touch to our trip.

Some of highlights included seeing the Bridge of Sighs. This is the bridge that connects the court house to the jail. It was named this because the prisoners would often sigh as they looked through the bridges windows to see what would be their last view of the outside world after being convicted. We also took a ferry to the Island of Burano. This is a town with wildly colored houses. Home owners need to write to the local government before painting their house to find out which colors they were allowed to use. The legend of the town is that fishermen use to paint their houses bright colors so they were identifiable from a distance. This is highly disputed- either way, this was an amazing stop. It is impossible to be in a bad mood when every time you turn a corner there are more loud colors there to great you.

One of the greatest things about traveling is the interactions with other people. I can’t even begin to express how amazing it was to watch Anna learn to interact with other kids who did not speak English. While a majority of the adults we encountered spoke some Englsih, most the kids we met were not old enough to have had English lessons in school yet. Regardless, playgrounds offered common ground. I truly admired her willingness to hop into a game or a conversation that she had no idea about, or to begin using words she picked up in each country. The faces of the people around us when Anna would wave good bye and shout “Chow!!”, or Havla (Croatian for thank you) when someone would hand her something, were priceless. Although she is two, and will have no memory of this trip, it is these qualities that I hope will continue to form her personality and who is she as she becomes an adult.

Exploring Central Europe (with a toddler) - Part 1

14/9/2015

Meaghan Marsh is a special educator at Rutland High School, and a Rutland High School alumna. She has worked at RHS for the past ten years. She coaches lacrosse and is the supervisor for Green Mountain Teen Institute. Meaghan has been traveling since she was 16, when she participated in an exchange program in India. She has also been to Egypt, China, Tibet, France, Spain, Ireland and Costa Rica. This past summer, Meaghan and her two year old daughter travelled around Europe.

This summer proved to be an extremely exciting one for my two year old daughter, Anna, and I. We spent the summer traveling across Europe together, just the two of us. In addition to this, it was also the summer of potty training. The combination of these two made for an amusing and eventful trip. If I were a super cool mom, I would have created hashtags for the trip such as #UNESCOsitesmykidhassleptthrough or #chasingpigeonsacrosseurope or #historicalplacesmydaughterleftherdiaper.

We began our trip in Munich, Germany. The minute we stepped off the plane, we realized that we were coming to Europe in the middle of a massive heat wave. It was over 100 degrees. We made our way out of the airport, to the train, and from the train we walked the mile to the house where we were renting a room. We must have been quite the site. I was carrying a backpacking pack and a purse, pushing Anna in a stroller, with a daypack on the back. Needless to say, it was a hot walk. We watched the Glockenspiel chime on the hour, we ate dinner, and listened to the music in the Hofbrauhaus, where Anna was pulled up on stage to dance with the band, in front of the entire hall. Another highlight was climbing the 299 steps to the top of St. Peter’s bell tower and looking out over a city of amazing steeples of red roofs.

Montenegro was when Anna decided she was completely ready for potty training. No, she didn't use her words to express this to me. Instead, she got into the habit of taking her diaper off and leaving it wherever she happened to be, or handing it to whoever was standing closest to her. She didn't discriminate, she would happily hand her diaper to the shop owner, or the Japanese tourist, the waitress, or the man sweeping the sidewalk.

We stayed in Kotor, Montenegro. After renting a car in Croatia, we drove around the entire Bay of Kotor. This was one of the most breathtaking sights on the trip. The drive was spotted with amazing little swimming pull offs and tiny towns made up of a restaurant, an ice cream cart, several houses and a church. We rented a room from a local family and spent hours exploring the old town and climbing the city walls- all 1350 of them. Anna was a trooper. She multitasked and used the time to perfect her ABC's. The view at the top was worth every step.

Global Alumni - Rachel Black

30/8/2015

Rachel in Tunisia, 2012

Rachel Black is a 2009 graduate of Rutland High School and was co-captain of the 2009 girls’ state champion lacrosse team. She is also a 2013 graduate of American University in Washington D.C. She currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches garden education as a FoodCorps Service Member. Her blog post reflects on her travels of the past four years and how they have changed her view on the world. She has been fortunate to travel through Asia, North Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and the Middle East and each has provided her with deeper cultural understanding , imbedded in her the importance of communication, and opened her eyes to the fact that some countries do ‘it’ better.

In the Fall of 2011, I studied abroad in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I chose to study abroad in the UAE when I realized that the Arab World was a whole region that I knew nothing about besides what I was taught by the media and the few books that I had read. In 2001, I was 10 so I had pretty much grown up under this culture of fear, mistrust and hatred for the Middle East. I was influenced to believe that these people hated me and my culture. But, I wanted to find out more. So, I put in my application for the UAE and to this day, I think it was one of the best choices that I have ever made. Throughout the semester, I was continually bombarded with excited, friendly questions and eager friendship. Everyone was so happy to have American exchange students who wanted to come to their country. They were so happy to hear that we did not think they were all terrorists and that we were open to hear them talk about Islam and how it had been misrepresented by the events of 9/11, extremist groups, and the media. They could not believe that we were interested and open minded because they thought everyone in the U.S. hated them. I remember leaving that semester with such a great appreciation for first hand cultural experiences because I saw so much similarity in what both of us assumed. We both assumed hatred by the others, we trusted what the media told us about each other (I saw some pretty interesting ‘American actor’ portrayals), and I knew that if everyone could have similar experiences there would be so much more cultural understanding, appreciation, and hopefully, peace.

Egypt, 2011

In the Summer of 2012, I was a participant in the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship Program in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia where I took intensive formal Arabic and Tunisian dialect. This was probably one of the most brain exhausting experiences of my life, but also one of the most rewarding. The most important thing I took out of this summer was how much more than just communication that language gives you. Language allows you access to people and through them, you are allowed access to situations and cultural insights that you would not have had as an outsider. That summer because of my language skills, I was able to create a wonderful bond with my host mother, I was able to travel independently of the program seeing and experiencing places that I would have missed otherwise, and I built life lasting friendships with locals. All of these experiences allowed for a deeper cultural understanding and appreciation for Tunisia and its people. So whenever you travel, even if for only a few days, try to learn a few words and use them as much as possible. People will be extremely grateful and it humbles you immensely.

Havana, Cuba in 2015

South Korea, 2014

In the Summer of 2013, I moved to Dongbaek, South Korea where I taught English for a year. When Korea comes up in conversations, the first thing I say is that it is the easiest place to live as a foreigner. It is modern, a multilingual country, and Seoul is what every big city should be. By this I mean the metro system was widely used (there is very little traffic in Seoul) and fantastic- clean, organized, labeled in different languages and it even has an offline app which made traveling amazingly easy-, clean green space was built into the city, cultural and historic landmarks were well preserved and provided a great juxtaposition between old and new, wifi was everywhere, built the city with exercise and health in mind (there were prevalent running, walking and biking paths, the many mountains in the city were covered with hiking paths, and public exercise machines were everywhere), and the city was safe. Korea, and Seoul especially, knew how to make a city of 10 million seem like an inviting and wonderful place to live. Even after significant traveling, I was still under the impression that is berated into our minds that the U.S. does ‘it’ best. After Korea, I realized that that isn’t necessarily true and this forced me out of a mindset I had carried since childhood.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia, 2014

Traveling abroad provided me with some of the greatest memories, most fun adventures and craziest stories. I think any chance to leave the country is an opportunity to learn, create relationships and to be a representative of the U.S. I can’t tell you how many times I have traveled abroad and groaned when hearing a loud American voice complaining about something or telling others that ‘this would never happen in the U.S.’ and if you hear yourself starting to say that, remember that you’re not in the U.S. and that is what is important. Instead, change your state of mind and be the person who listens to what others have to say in order to learn about cultures with an open mind, who learns the language (even if just a few words) in order to connect to the people, and who accepts the idea that the U.S. isn’t the best at everything in order to have a better understanding of the world. And travel, travel, travel!

Field Research - India

16/8/2015

Posted by Erik Remsen
During my three weeks in India, the Teachers for Global Classrooms program asked me to undertake an investigation into a educational topic of interest to me. Last spring, as the trip drew nearer, I bounced back and forth between several topics before settling on student involvement in learning. In the past few years, Rutland High School has undertaken more project based learning and a key part of this learning method is allowing students to have voice and choice in what they study and how they show learning. This is probably where my interest in the topic originated. The Buck Institute for Education says student voice and choice is one of the essential elements of project based learning. Additionally, both our Global Studies concentration and our STEM concentration give students opportunities to delve deeper into specific subjects that interest them. As RHS continues to move towards giving students more say in their education, I was curious to find out what sort of voice Indian students have.

I should be clear that increasing student involvement is not simply for project based learning. Research from Penn State University indicates there are numerous benefits to be had by increasing student involvement. Because of their unique perspective, students can be essential in improving school climate and academic quality. Instant feedback from students can improve curriculum and when students attend meetings with teachers, the teacher behavior is often more professional. Moving to some of the upper rungs on the ladder shown below can clearly bring about educational improvements.

Ladder of student involvement from: http://soundout.org/ladder-of-student-involvement/

Arriving in India, I suspected I might not see much in the way of student voice and choice in the schools I visited. There are not a lot schools anywhere in the world that have totally embraced giving students full voice and choice. Most have likely never advanced beyond rung four on the ladder above. Additionally, I was somewhat aware of the larger class sizes and mandated curriculum common in many Indian schools which may hinder Indian educators.

To a large extent my suspicions ended up being confirmed. Class sizes were indeed much bigger than Vermont schools. Of all the classes I observed, I would say the average class size was around 40 students. It would indeed be a challenge to effectively manage increased student voice and choice in a class of that size. Most classes I observed were also following a mandated curriculum, in some cases from the state and, in other cases, a national curriculum. Indeed, I heard almost the same English lesson, centered on the story of a dog, in two different schools, which also, perhaps, speaks to the lack of teacher choice in designing learning experiences. Given the large class sizes, the mandated curriculum, and the importance of end of year tests, especially for standard 10 students, it would be extremely hard for any public or government school teacher to successfully introduce more student choice into the course.

On the other hand, I saw several unexpected examples of student voice during my numerous school observations. To start with, every school I visited started the day with a full school assembly. In all the schools, the assembly was run by students. At the Kendriya Vidyalaya Malapurram School, the assembly was completely run by students. Students made all the announcements, led the singing of the national anthem, emceed, adjusted microphones and attended to other technological needs, and shared the news of the day. The standards (grade levels) rotated the duties of preparing, orchestrating, and executing these assemblies, which lasted 10-15 minutes. These assemblies were very much student driven.

Of the numerous reasons for increasing student voice and choice, giving students respect, responsibility, and autonomy are several of the important ones. At the KV Malapurram school, I observed that while the upper school students may not have voice and choice in their education, they most certainly were given respect, responsibility, and autonomy. This was clearly evident in those few classes where the teacher was absent for the day. To my surprise, there were no substitute teachers. The students were in their classrooms without a teacher for that block of the day. They were expected to be in the classroom, do any work that needed to get done, and behave. From what I observed, those classes without a teacher did just that. While this is not exactly getting students more involved in their education, it is treating students as more than just passive recipients of knowledge. They were treated as responsible and trustworthy citizens of the school.

As educators, we all need to work to find ways to involve students more in their education. It is something that both Indian and American educators must address. In both cases, however, good things are happening. Some U.S. schools, like Rutland High School, have begun to give students more voice and choice in what and how they learn. In India, students are trusted with autonomy and responsibility. Students who are trusted and respected and who are allowed voice and choice are active learners. Active learners are likely to become active citizens and dealing with today's global issues requires active participation. Therefore, if we want our students to graduate and go on to become active world citizens, we cannot treat them as only passive receptors of information.

Further reading on student voice here and here.
Information on Project Based Learning from the Buck Institute here.
Want to add a student to your school board? Here is a guide for that.

2015 RISE trip - Part 2

7/8/2015

More reflections on the experience of becoming immersed in Japanese life and culture.

Delaney Courcelle:
Host family day-
On the last day with my host family, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and drove to a family fun center in Morioka; about a half hour drive from Hanamaki. While there, we met up with Trey and his host family, Ale and her host family, and Ben and his host family. The fun center was around five stories, filled with batting cages, basketball hoops, archery, a roller rink, tennis courts, arcade games, and karaoke rooms! We spent the majority of our day between the floors, spent some time singing karaoke with Chinami and Misora, and then went to a restaurant close by for lunch. I had a teriyaki burger and fries, which was absolutely delicious! After lunch, we drove to the Morioka mall and shopped for a couple of hours. We split up between kids and adults and were allowed to visit any store we pleased. After meeting up again, we ate at a Japanese/ Italian restaurant in the mall. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant; we sat on the tatami floor and ate off of the low wooden tables we were seated around. After dinner, I rode in Alejandra's host family's van with Chinami to the Shidotaira Onsen back in Hanamaki. The onsen (hot springs) was situated on the edge of the Toyosawa River, the main river running through Hanamaki. The onsen was beautiful! There were around five different baths, two of them situated under a roof outside. The onsen was the most relaxing place I've ever been to. The hot springs were the perfect end to an incredibly fun day. Host family day was an amazing experience for me and stood as a great last chance to bond and spend time with my family before I said goodbye to everyone the next day.

Kelton and Josh Myers (chaperones):
On Sunday morning, the RISE delegates, their host families, and many of the kind people who had been helping us throughout the week met at the train station to send us on our way back to Tokyo. It was a wonderful way to get to say goodbye to everyone we had met that week. After saying goodbye to everyone, we traveled by bullet train to Tokyo, where we were lucky enough to have two and a half days of time to spend seeing the city before flying back to America.

After we made our way to our hotel and checked in on Sunday afternoon, we headed out to see a few sights. We made our way to Meiji Shrine, the most important Shinto shrine in Tokyo. We observed as other people visiting the shrine washed their hands and mouth before entering the grounds, and then learned how the Japanese traditionally worship at a Shrine. After visiting the shrine, we wandered around the Harajuku district, which was full of Japanese students in a variety of fashions and outfits. There were a lot of shops to visit, and the students particularly enjoyed shopping in the Oriental Bazaar.

We went back to our hotel early that morning because on Monday morning we left bright and early at 3:30am (!!!) for the Tsukiji Fish Market. Every morning the fish market has a tuna auction, where buyers for restaurants come to bid on and purchase the best tuna for their restaurants! Only 120 people are allowed into the fish market to watch the tuna auction each morning, so we wanted to make sure that we got into that group. We arrived at the fish market at 3:45am, and were lucky enough to get some of the last vests for that day’s tuna auction. The hard part after that was waiting two hours for the tuna auction to actually start. Once we were allowed into the fish market, though, it was incredible. Watching the restaurant buyers vie for the best tuna was a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget.

We traveled by subway all around the city of Tokyo over the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday, and saw so many amazing sites. On Monday, we went to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersction in Tokyo, and then to Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower used to be the highest building in Tokyo (until the Tokyo Sky Tree was built), and is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We wandered through the grounds of Zojoji Temple, and also wandered through some of the shops in the Akihabara Electronic District.

On Tuesday, we traveled to the Imperial Palace East Garden and walked around the palace grounds. We spent time at the Senso-ji Temple (also known as the Asakusa Kannon), Tokyo’s most sacred and spectacular temple. Exploring the temple and grounds, and then having time to duck in and out of the myriad of Japanese shops that lined the area around the temple and grounds was one of our favorite parts of Tokyo. We bought little Japanese treats in one shop; we had no idea what they were, but they turned out to be red bean stuffed pastries that were so delicious. We also visited and went up the Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest building in Tokyo and second tallest structure in the world. The panoramic views of Tokyo and Japan that we could see were insane. We also walked through Ueno Park, and ducked into the Ueno Zoo to see the giant pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin.

Wednesday was a travel day, and it was a long one to get back from Tokyo to Rutland! Despite the great distance, we had an incredible cultural exchange to Japan. We met the most amazing people in Hanamaki and truly got to experience what life is like in Japan on a daily basis. The chance to spend a couple of extra days in Tokyo was also an incredible experience, and one that we will never forget.

2015 RISE trip - Part 1

4/8/2015

In 1986, Rutland, Vermont and the city of Ishidoriya, Japan (now part of Hanamaki) established a sister-city relationship that continues to this day through a yearly student exchange. The Rutland Ishidoriya Student Exchange (RISE) is a program that sends Rutland students to Japan each summer for an educational and cultural experience. In the autumn, the RISE students from Japan visit their Rutland counterparts and complete the yearly cycle. This past June, six Rutland students, Rutland High School guidance counselor Kelton Myers, and her husband, Josh, travelled to Hanamaki as part of the 2015 exchange. Below is the first installment of reflections on the cultural experience.

Braydon Moore:
On Tuesday, June 23rd, we had a big day in Ishidorya. We first went to the Ishidorya Branch Office and learned about what goes on behind the scenes in the city. We then went to Yaehata Preschool and had a ton of fun with all the kids. We sang the ABCs, a song about fruit, and then danced and sang to head shoulders knees and toes. By the end of that we were all laughing with each other. After, we introduced ourselves (in English) to the preschoolers and Kelton read Johnny Appleseed. Before we left the preschool, the kids all gave us an origami crane and a box with candy inside. Later, we went to the Ishidorya History and Folklore museum to learn all about the making and history of Sake. We then walked a little bit to see the rice field art depicting a traditional "deer dance." After, we walked to the Ishidorya road station to get a picture with the Rutland Monument. Then, we stopped at a cafe for some lunch. Most of us had soba or udon noodles. Our last stop was the Kochi Promotion Center, where we gave a presentation about Rutland to some Ishidorya locals, learned about traditional Taiko drumming, made dango (rice dumplings), and then played games and drank green tea with some kids. It was a great experience and personally one of my favorite days in Hanamaki.

Elizabeth Wideawake:
Today (June 25th), we went to the Hanamaki Kita Junior High School. At the school we participated in gym, science, and English class. In gym class we jumped rope with a giant rope and lots of students, and played dodgeball. In science class we made our own sparklers, using string and magnesium powder, and played with them. In English class we answered questions that the students spoke for us in English, and told them about our school and city. At the school we also ate school lunch, which was a curry vegetable soup, egg omelette, rice, milk, and fruit. At the end of the day, we did calligraphy, presented our student slideshow, watched the students perform a traditional dance, and helped clean the school. It was a very exciting day, especially when all of the students wanted our business cards! Finally, we took pictures with the students, loaded the bus, and waved goodbye as we drove away.

Alejandra Robinson:
The last day (June 26th) my RISE group visited a school in Hanamaki was the most fun I had on my trip to Japan. It was a Friday when we visited Ishidoriya Junior High School. All of us entered into the gym full of more students than I have seen before. The dance was very impressive, and I wish I could do something of that skill. After the Welcome Ceremony, we toured the school which was very clean and beautiful. Our group had some extra time so we played a quick and fun game of basketball. After the game, we participated in a Traditional Tea Ceremony. It was very peaceful sitting on the Tatami mats and eating the sweet before we drank the tea. Lunch came after the Tea Ceremony and I ate a very good meal with some students. It was fun showing them the video of me dancing to a "J Soul Brothers" song with my host sister. I had mentioned that I like to play soccer, so a couple of very nice girls invited me to play. It was so much fun to play soccer with them and I miss the girls so much, they were very cute and friendly! I liked how nice everyone in the school was and open to talking to me and giving me hugs. The classes, such as art, were interesting because I like drawing and how friendly everyone in the class was. I was sad to leave the school because I made so many good memories that day. I hope to go back and visit Hanamaki again.

Check back later in the week for more reflections about global learning.

India - the paradoxes

8/7/2015

Posted By Erik Remsen
First a disclaimer: the inspiration and thinking behind this post are not mine. Instead, the credit goes to Maya Menon, of the Teacher Foundation in Bangalore, who spoke to my TGC group about the paradoxes of India. She raised many interesting points that are worth sharing and I've tried to find some of my pictures to better illustrate the paradoxes.

WEALTH & POVERTY
The two pictures above were taken in Delhi about a block apart from each other. The first is the lobby of the hotel that our group of teachers was staying in and the second is of two men carrying a small clothes dresser down the sidewalk next to a small slum area. While there is extreme wealth, there is also extreme poverty, and I often observed the two almost side-by-side throughout India. In this case, the posh hotel and ramshackle slum share the same street in the capital city.

BEAUTY & UGLINESS
The picture on the left should be instantly recognizable as the Taj Majal, one of the most well-known structures in the world. The other picture is a roadside trash pile in Delhi that spills onto the sidewalk. This contrast between beauty and ugliness is another of India's paradoxes. The country has both man-made beauty (such as the Taj Majal) and physical beauty in abundance, and yet there seems to little interest in keeping public areas clean. I saw lots of litter, pollution, as well as public urination throughout my trip.

URBAN & RURAL
India has 1.2 billion people, and in less than 15 years it will likely be the world's most populous country. The vast size of the cities and the cacophony of noise are likely to shock any Vermonter visiting for the first time. Despite the enormous population there are still places, such as areas in the Western Ghats between the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, that still retain natural beauty.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
The picture on the left is a small cluster of shelters underneath the Delhi Metro. There is one child in the picture next to a man in what might be called an open kitchen. That child is unlikely to receive the same educational opportunities as the girls in the picture on the right at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Malapurram School. They have parents who could afford the expense of sending their children to this school. They attend a school with decent resources, SmartBoards and a computer labs, for example. It is a school that seeks to enhance learning through teacher exchanges; our host teacher had taught in Ohio for 5 months in 2014. It is a school that conducts instruction in three languages (Malayalam, Hindi, and English). Finally, it has a good track record at sending students to post-secondary education. All of these things help to ensure these girls will be able to succeed in the world once they are finished with school. What education awaits the child on the left?

India has a track record of producing outstanding students who shine even when measured on the world stage. India produces some brilliant students, but it also offers little opportunity to those who do not have the means to access it. India has 450 million students under the age of 18 (that's larger than the entire population of the United States) and they do not all have equal access to education, yet.

The look of education

4/7/2015

Posted by Erik Remsen
What does education look like? During my three weeks in India, I saw a lot of similarities between education in India and the United States. Students are students wherever they are in the world and their curiosity exists regardless of nationality. Subjects like math, science, and social studies are also pretty much universal. On the other hand, I saw a lot of things that looked very different. Class sizes of 40 to 50 were the norm and because of the climate, schools are constructed differently in India. (Cooling, not heating, is the priority.) Teachers in India also have very little discretion about what and how they teach due to end of the year tests that are of great importance for students, teachers, and schools.

While capturing education in images is difficult, I've made a mediocre attempt by gathering together a few sets of images. Below are some pictures of what education at Rutland High School looks like:

At RHS, education goes beyond the core subjects. Art, music, theater, and athletics are considered part of education. Students are also being given increasing voice in what and how they learn. Additionally students, on occasion, take on the role of teacher and educate other students.

In India, I visited schools that are completely publicly funded, schools that are private schools, and schools that are financed through a combination of public funding and private tuition. Below are pictures of schools students can attend if parents can afford the tuition costs.

At these schools, students have resources similar to those available to U.S. students. However, class size is often much larger and most classes have the teacher as the focal point, sometimes on a raised platform. Most classes are in the lecture format with great emphasis on memorization so that high results can be achieved on the end of the year tests.

Finally, the following are pictures of public primary schools in India.

These schools often lack the resources of private schools, but they function in a similar manner. In all Indian schools, discipline is emphasized and seen in the everything from the straight rows of students during morning assembly to the rules about how students must walk through the halls (hands behind the back, no running). Respect is also of the utmost importance and all teachers are addressed as "sir'" or "madam."

Is either country 'doing' education right? Has education developed, in both countries, based on their culture, history, and economy and therefore uniquely fitted to each place? Are there things to be learned from each other that can improve our respective education systems? My answers to these questions: no, probably, and yes, without a doubt.

Learning Languages

29/6/2015

Posted By Erik Remsen
During my time in India, I was fortunate to visit 5 of the 29 states: Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. I visited schools in three of those states: Karnataka, Kerala, and Delhi and while in the schools I was struck by the variety of languages being taught in schools. There are 122 major languages in India and the country has 22 'scheduled' languages. (A scheduled language is one that is recognized, given official status, and encouraged by the government.) The official government languages are Hindi and English. What this all means for Indian schools is that many students are learning three languages all the way through both primary and secondary school. In Bangalore, students were learning Kannada, the local language, plus English and Hindi. In Malapurram at my host school, the students were learning Malayalam, the local language, as well as English and Hindi.

I've written earlier about my host school, the Kendriya Vidyalaya school in Malapurram and their commitment to global education. It should be no surprise then that their language instruction is another marker of how their students are being prepared to be global citizens. All students at KV Malapurram study Malayalam, Hindi, and English. In fact, the whole school morning assembly alternates between the three languages. So for example, the Monday assembly was in English, on Tuesday it was in Malayalam, Wednesday was in Hindi, and Thursday it was back to English. This means the pledge is recited in three different languages, and announcements are made in three languages depending on the day. KV Malapurram recognizes the benefits of multi-lingualism and realizes that learning another language will help students as this world grows ever more interconnected. It is important to note, however, that KV Malapurram is not exceptional in this regard. We visited a public primary school (pictured above) that was predominantly attended by lower class students. Some students did not have shoes, and during our visit, the school had no power so classes were being taught in murky darkness. Technology at the school seemed to consist of one overhead projector, obviously not working that day due to the lack of power. However, students were nonetheless learning Malayalam, Hindi, and English. (There was also an Urdu language class.) Language instruction in India seems to be considered part of the core curriculum and thus mandatory at all levels and not subject to budget cuts.

Unfortunately, this level of language instruction does not exist in the United States. Only 25% of U.S. elementary schools and 58% of middle schools offer foreign language instruction. In total, only around 20% of Americans report speaking a second language. Clearly, the United States is behind India (and much of the rest of the world) when it comes to language acquisition. As the world grows smaller and the United States becomes more closely tied to the rest of the world, clear communication is essential for understanding, problem solving, and conflict avoidance. However, communication is easier with multiple languages to express yourself and that is something not many U.S. citizens are able to do.

One further note about the language abilities of the students at KV Malapurram. The students are learning 3 languages, a statement which can also be made in regards to some U.S. students. However, most often, U.S. students learn Spanish, French, or German as their second and third languages. While not exactly the same, these languages all have very similar alphabets. The students at KV Malapurram, on the other hand, are learning three languages with three different alphabets, as can be seen in the slide show above. The English alphabet has 26 letters, there are 44 letters in the Hindi alphabet, and around 50 letters in Malayalam. The students who spoke English with me while in their Hindi language class and then chatted with their friends in Malayalam are quite impressive and certainly on course to become global citizens when they finish school.

School Facilities

23/6/2015

Posted by Erik Remsen
Below are pictures from schools in India placed next to pictures from Rutland High School. As much as possible, I tried to group them like for like, classroom next to classroom, hallway next to hallway, athletic facility next to athletic facility. I’m presenting them without opinion, but below are a few questions to consider as you browse:

Does the quality of the facility influence the quality of students produced?

What do the facilities say about the priorities of the school?

How do the school facilities reflect the community that surrounds them?

Can facilities create a positive environment? Can they create a negative environment?

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This blog is not an official U.S. Department of State blog. The views and information presented are the grantee’s own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.

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