Leaving

Today was so much harder than any of us expected it to be.  Goodbyes are never easy. I woke this  morning thinking, I'm going home, I'm going to see Tony and feeling very excited about it. I tried hard not to think about the goodbyes in between. I was doing well until I had to say goodbye to Casey. That man lives life with honour. If you have ever seen the movie with the same name (With Honour) you'll know what I mean. Then, time to head to the airport where we meet up with Annie and Crissi. Annie and I looked at each other and were both thinking the same thing. Crissi and Janice had made a much bigger impact on us than either of us had ever expected. They both have such beautiful, caring hearts and we couldn't have wished for a better match. For both Annie and I this feels like so much more than a match as it has resulted in a deep and strong friendship. It was so hard thinking we might not see them again for many years, or worse still, maybe never, other than electronically. I'll not say anymore than there were tears all round as we walked through security and out of sight. Annie and I were both strangely quiet for sometime.

Thank you Ewbank and Johnson families for taking us into your homes and hearts.

Once in San Fransico, it took us ages to sort out where and how to get a shuttle to our motel but finally we were sorted. Our accommodation was so much better than where Tony and I stayed last time. We freshened up and headed out for some late lunch at a local diner. Then off to catch a tram. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the tram was a lot of fun. At the end stop we looked around some street stalls then walked along the water front towards pier 39. Two guys were yelling out for a boat ride on the harbour. We walked past and then back tracked to find out how much $10. They weren't leaving for a while so we had time to buy shoes (yes shoes) and chocolate before we headed off. The ride took us out to see the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. There was the most amazing glorious sunset that felt like a gift/ a kind of blessing to us on our last night in the States. Annie got some fabulous photos. On our return we walked on down to wharf 39 (worthwhile) and back, caught the tram back to Union Square right by our hotel, had tea in the restaurant next door, then crashed. We were so tired. It had been a long and emotional day.

A few people have asked when the blog was going to be finished, so thank you Kathy for doing it. I lost a bit of motivation for the blog after leaving Tempe, 

It had been an amazing experience, I saw many beautiful and diverse parts of the US, was privileged to see inside many schools and classrooms, and meet many stunning people. The unexpected bonus was realising how close we had all become- this made leaving Tempe very hard.

San Fran was new to me, I loved the trolley rides, the boat ride at sunset was a gift, the photos don't do it justice, loved the walking especially up Lombard St! Soon it was time to head to the airport, check in bags and head for home, just had 2 more flights to get through! 

Thursday - Fuller, Hudson and our last full day in Tempe

Annie headed off to Fuller for the day with Crissi and I headed to Hudson with Janice. I spent the morning in several classes, including the PE special session. Specials are things like PE, Music, library. They are subjects outside of literacy and maths which have a very high focus in classrooms. Children continued to be intrigued by our accents and fascinated by stories of New Zealand. Annie stayed at Fuller for the day. Time to get last minute photos inside schools.
Janice and I meet Dustin, Caila, Jude and wee Norah for lunch. They are such a lovely family. It was so good for them to take time out so Dustin could meet me, particularly as he had a one man show that night. After lunch we headed for a PD session in the district boardroom. There were a lot of people there from nearly all of the schools, principals included. The district board was announcing a new initiative that partnered the schools with a company researching the usefulness of its digital assessment of Dibbles burst and teaching programme. Dibbles is the assessment tool used in most schools to gauge reading fluency. Half the schools were treatment schools using the programme, targeted PD and software package, including the use of iPod touches (4per school) and the other half were control schools who had some PD and the software including iPod touches. It was an interesting session and reminded me of the differences between the two countries approaches to learning to read. This was particularly noticeable when the presenter for Dibbles burst said a child had asked her when they could read a real book? Her response was when you can decode. Her thinking was, If you can't decode then you can't read - right. It is important to remember children learn to read in both systems, it's just that they are very different. Teachers in both systems sit somewhere on the whole language - phonics continuum. The presenter was strongly at the phonics end. Crissi's school is a treatment school and Janice's is a control school. I got to meet up with Christine and Marybeth again and this time got photographs.
After this we headed for Clifton and Mairi's as Declan had made a sun catcher for me. It was a saguaro cactus with a cactus wren inside it. I was really touched. Back at Casey and Janice's to say goodbye to Heather and Adi. I had found a crocodile soft toy the day before and bought it as the mascot for Heather's school is the gator. How lucky was I to meet all of Casey and Janice's children and grandchildren during my stay and then so many of them on my last day - thanks guys and come visit me!
From there we headed out to Janice's masters class. Her lecturer, Dr Delecki, was great. To become a principal in Tempe requires specific qualifications. They asked me what was needed in NZ. I said a teaching qualification and a board willing to employ you. Again the differences in our systems were underlined.
Back a Janice's place to share what was left of our final evening, Caila, Dustin and Norah were there as Casey had been baby sitting Norah. After they left it was present time, last minute packing and bed. Thank you Crissi for organising Fed ex for us.
So hard to believe it is almost all over.

The Road Runner - Beep, beep.

On Wednesday, like Annie I slept in, but Janice raced off at the normal time to school. It was an assembly and the whole school is trying to lift the number of words and books read from the library. They did a price is right type activity. The child who guessed the closest number won a Mini Cooper for the day (a child sized motorized car). The principal also promised to dress up like a chicken and do the birdie dance if the school met their goal. I was in school later that afternoon and the next day - those kids are motivated!
When Janice got back, we headed for the Botanical Gardens after a CD of the Indian storyteller and flute player we had heard on our first night. They didn't have any left but we did get to see something unexpected - a road runner! It was very cool. We rung Annie and Crissi and left them a beep beep message on their phone. This was follow by our first shop, Ross'. Man you got to see that place to believe it. I was completely overwhelmed but Janice, a Ross' shopping pro, guided me effectively and before long I had a stack of clothes in the fitting room. I tried on one suit and thought, that's quite nice but I'm not that sure. Janice liked it and told me to check the price. It was $15.00 plus tax. I quickly changed my mind! I tried on a nice dress, it was Calvin Klein $39.99. I didn't get it but it gives you an idea. Janice was very patient.
We headed back to Janice's school as she had a volunteer programme to supervise. About 20 people came in and worked with one child (two if someone was away) for about an hour and a half. Janice had a drink and snack ready for the children. Each child had a folder with spelling words in it for testing, a story to read and questions to answer and some maths problems to solve. I got to work with two children which I loved. This seemed to be an after school programme. Then we headed back shopping, picking up a few more bits and pieces. We both realised we were running out of time and although Janice was keen to make sure I had seen all the things on the list she had been keeping, we called it quits and headed for home where Casey, bless him, had tea already for us and it was yummy. After tea, Casey got out his guitar and we sung choruses. It was such a lovely time and very moving.
Just before going to bed I packed my fed ex box - scary!

Tuesday and Wednesday

It was my turn to blog yesterday, but I fell asleep! So there are 2 days and 1 blog entry!


Tuesday was one of the coldest days so far! It looked fine, but the temperature was only a few degrees, everywhere we went people were apologising for the weather! 
Tuesday started with a dunkin' donuts bagel and a coffee, then off the Hudson to meet up with Kathy and Janice. they were involved in a meeting ( with other staff members) discussing specific students,  their learning & behaviour and management of  different situations- it all felt very familiar, Kids are kids world-wide


We were very privileged to be part of a meeting that involved Principals and the District team, they had got together to discuss safety issues. I was very impressed with their in-depth knowledge of each of the districts sites, and the challenges that each site proposed.  The Tempe district has 22 schools that they look after, primary to secondary, they are all sizeable schools, some over 2000 students. It was interesting to hear the discussions and concerns had some parallels to our schools, but on a bigger scale. 
After a great taco lunch we visited a PD dept. This was an amazing facility, it was set up in a school that was closed last year( school merger), the building has been set up with model classrooms, spaces for large and smaller groups of teachers to meet and use during the day or after school for PD or planning, and all the resources and expertise are there! It is also used by ASU students, studying education.
The next stop was downtown Tempe, where we all meet up, with Linda Parrish from the Tempe sister cities organisation and met with the Mayor Mark Mitchell. The building was very unusual, it had lots of glass and looked a bit like an inside down triangle. At the entrance we went through security, our bags went through one of the xray machines, and we had our photos taken and they were printed in security passes, before we were alowed in the lift. Downstairs was the mayoral chambers, part of the back wall was strips of copper, it was very pretty. Upstairs in  the entrance way, there were many  flags including the NZ flag, and window boxes showing artefacts from the different sister cities. It was very cool to see the NZ one, including a sheep!
We were presented with beautiful plaques from Tempe, and had group photos by the flags. 
Crissi and I went out to Oreganos for tea, it was a pizza and pasta place, amazing meals, we shared a pizza cookie with ice cream! Another first.   Met up with Kim, a very good friend of Crissi's. She is also a teacher and teaches in a different district. it is interesting to learn about the differences between the districts. then school times are different, and also the pay of teachers and principals. Elementary Principals are paid on the length of  service, not school size, there is a difference between elementary and high schools. It isn't easy to move between districts, it affects their pay,  contracts are signed yearly, and the contracts happen at different times.                
Kathy, Janice and Casey went out for tea at a cowboy style restaurant complete with wood shavings on the floor. It was tucked against a hill and had expansive views of the city lights. Just before heading out for tea, Clifton, Mairi and their gorgeous children, Declan, Calvin and Eleanor came to visit.
Today was sleep in, shopping and packing day. I have bought a box to fed ex home! The shoes and baby clothes were just too cute!