Back Home Reflections

What a great trip to Spain!

A wonderful group of educators! (The one guy was our salsa dance teacher!)

So many similarities in our students... Kids are kids from USA to Spain!

Teachers and administrators have learned so much about a different culture to share with our students, and have had fun while doing it!

Our tour guide, Macarena Munoz was outstanding and stole all of our hearts as she calmly and kindly taught us about her country for 10 days.

I believe we are all better educators through getting to know people,schools, countryside, and important landmarks of another country.

Thank you to Superintendent Granatino and Assistant Superintendent Martin for your support of this vision.  Thank you to all educators who had enough trust in me to follow me to Spain. Thank you to your families for carrying on without you during this time away. Thank you to all school families for joining us through our blogs.This vision of helping to make our world a smaller, tolerant and loving place is a passion, and you've all helped to continue this dream to come true by supporting it and/or experiencing it all with and for students. ❤️

Cathedrals, Cathedrals, Everywhere!

We learned that each city can only have one cathedral. We visited cathedrals in Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba, Granada, and Barcelona. Here is a variety of photos that I took. I've been amazed at the designs, the artwork, the intricacies, and the devotion that people gave so many years ago to create such masterpieces. Many were built over generations, so many never saw the start or the end of these monumental projects. I think of our society today and the amount of instant gratification that abounds. Would we put such time, blood, sweat, tears, and money into such projects that we would never see completed? For this, I am not sure...Hmm...

Here are many pictures that I enjoyed taking at so many cathedrals:

A Second School Visit!

We visited a school called The Gaudem School. This school is a tri-lingual, PK-12 school for hearing and non-hearing students. The school began about a decade ago as a small school for the deaf. The staff had a vision for an inclusion model school, went to the government to plead their case and share their vision, and the government supplied them with a building. This school model is one that is close to the charter schools of our country. They're partially government funded and partially tuition funded.

We were not allowed to take close up pictures of student faces, so student photos were difficult to attain.  The head of the English Department welcomed us with open arms.  She explained that the school was tri-lingual, meaning that ALL students become fluent in Spanish sign language, Spanish, and English.

Any class that has deaf or hearing impaired students has a full time signer. The teacher of this 7th grade class is in the red shirt on the right. The signer is in the center, signing for 3 students.

These students were talking in English about stereotypes for Spanish people and for American people, as well as differences in our schools.

We were all able to join a group to discuss these topics with these 7th graders. This was my group.

We talked about racism, foods, school start and end times, homework, uniforms for school, etc.  when I asked them what is the first negative thing they think of when I say "American", they one of them said, "racism". They know about our black/white issues and about our nation's talk about not accepting Syrian refugees. We had a nice discussion about this. I was clear to them that I'm not racist, and either are my family members or my friends. They were concerned that Americans see them as lazy. We told them this is not so.  The best way to understand each other is to visit each others' country. This makes the world more open to issues.  Here is what they see in their city of Madrid:

Home to school and back to home communication is crucial in the younger grades and the teachers communicate daily in the preschool, just like at our school!

Cubbies and coat hangers, just like home...

Addends for the sum of 10, just like home...

Student artwork on the hallway walls, just like home...

Students working together, just like home... They've created the Roman Colleseum for a school-wide project on cities across the world.

Teachers talking together about how to make things better for all students, just like home...

Students going to the office at the end of the day to talk with secretaries about dismissal changes, just like home...

Elementary and secondary students talking in more than one language... Not just like home. Maybe someday? I certainly hope so!

Barcelona Rocks!

OWhat a wonderful couple of days we had in Barcelona! Barcelona is a city in the northeast of Spain. It sits aside the beautiful Mediterranean Sea; being one of the busiest ports.  

In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Olympics. So many great things were done to the city for the Olympics, including the creation of the Olympic Village at the waterfront.  This area was quite tumbledown at one time and now is a beautiful area with lovely boardwalks for biking and strolling, hotels, restaurants, eateries, etc.  We had a wonderful time Bike Riding along the waterfront and visiting the beach, although chilly.  Many of us still put our feet into the Med.! This park was lovely, too.

Antoni Gaudi, (1852-1926) was the leading artist in Catalan modernisme. His work was supremely original.  He incorporated nature into all his architecture, giving it a whimsical appearance.

Gaudi's unfinished basilica de la Sagrada Family is his most celebrated building in Barcelona. He devoted his life from 1914 until his death 12 years later when he was run over by a tram.  He gave all his money to the project and even went door to door begging folks for more money to put into the project.  This basilica is Europe's most unconventional church.  The work is still continuing today, from Gaudi's original plans, and we saw this happening. We were also able to tour the inside of the church and all found it to be so different than anything we've seen.  Gaudi is buried inside in a crypt.  See the spires? There are 6 completed now. By 2026, when the entire project will be completed, there will be 12 such spires, one for each disciple.

We also went to a glass Glass Fusion Workshop where we were able to create our own trays. We are looking forward to sharing these with our students and creating a way for our students to create something similar to understand this art form through paper. It was a lot of fun being the students in the class!

We enjoyed shopping in an open-air marketplace in Barcelona.

We saw many things for sale that we are not used to seeing! I used a lot of my beginner Spanish to ask directions to find our way there. My new goal is to become more familiar and knowledgeable with speaking and understanding Spanish.

And many lovely and familiar sights, as well!

Ms. White and Mrs. Whitley and I loved our chocolate covered strawberries at the end!

 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a state or province of Spain. The people of Catalonia are working hard to secede from Spain to form their own country. The idea of this is very political and extremely divisive. We saw many Flags hung on balconies. The striped flags are the flags of Catalonia today. The striped flags with the star are for a seceded Catalonia. We saw many of each.

Oops! Next door neighbors are divided!

How would this be? Our guide tells us it is about 50% to 50% as to whether to secede from Spain or to stay with Spain. I hope they stay!