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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!

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Field Research - India

16/8/2015

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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.

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2015 RISE trip - Part 2

7/8/2015

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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.

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2015 RISE trip - Part 1

4/8/2015

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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.

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Contributors

RHS students, faculty, and alumni with global experiences to share with the community.

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.

Global Alumni - Rachel Black

Field Research - India

2015 RISE trip - Part 2

2015 RISE trip﻿ - Part 1

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2015 RISE trip - Part 1