Shanghai, April 2, 2012

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

This day was pretty spectacular.

Breakfast in our very nice hotel was followed by a trip to the Jade Buddha Temple. We arrived with services happening, and many monks and worshippers we’re among the throngs of visitors. Today and tomorrow are holidays in Shanghai, so in addition to all the visitors to Shanghai, there were also many Chinese people out and about everywhere we went.

A visit to a local silk factory allowed us to see each step of the process of creating Chinese silk products up close. And yes, we shopped.

Many agreed today’s lunch might have been one of the best. We went to a popular spot with the locals, called the Shanghai Club, where we tasted some local specialties including Xiao Long Bao and Dim Sum. The food was amazing.

We then visited the YU Garden and the surrounding shopping areas. The holiday made the streets teem with locals and tourists alike. As we moved to Nanjing Road, again, the people on the streets were overwhelming.

After a nice dinner, some of us went on a cruise to see Shanghai at nit while others found a local spot and played some beach volleyball and watched the city light up from the Bund.

Tomorrow is our last day, which is hard to believe. We are looking forward a final visit to a small village outside the city tomorrow.

And the beat goes on…

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Shanghai, April 1,2012

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Moving from Xi’An to Shanghai.

The morning was spent moving from Xi’An to Shanghai.
Breakfast, check out, bus to airport, check in to flight, lunch on plane, land and on bus by 2 pm. The 9th graders have maintained their equanimity and are intrepid travelers, taking it all in stride.

First stop in Shanghai was the Bottle Opener building, with the highest observation deck in the world.

Then we had a little time to explore the Bund, the European part of the city that is being restored and in stark contrast to the modern Financial Center.

We had a gat dinner and then went to see a Chinese acrobat show which was really wonderful and very funny. The kids loved it!

Finally we checked in to our very fancy, four star hotel and bedded down for the night.

Tomorrow, Shanghai all day…

It’s hard to believe we have been gone a week already. We are going to savor every last moment.

More later,
KM

I am having trouble uploading photos this time, so none today.

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Xi’An March 31, 2012

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Day Two in Xi’An was another combination of delights as we started out in the morning to the “Eighth Wonder of the World” the Terra Cotta soldiers. We learned about the 72 Emporers buried in around the Xi’An province and the 1974 discovery made of the site we visited. We also heard a lot of history about the cultural revolution in China.

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The students seemed to enjoy this location and the wonder of this place, as well as the beautiful, sunny weather.

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We spent all morning there and then made our back back to town for a special dumpling lunch, featuring variety and color!

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After lunch we visited an art institute where we had a lesson in Chinese calligraphy.

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Finally we made our way to the Wild Goose Pagoda where we visited the grounds and towers of this Buddhist Temple. It as a lovely and serene spot.

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We had Dinner back at the hotel and then a quiet evening of hanging out and packing.

Tomorrow, we fly to Shanghai!

That’s all for now.
KM

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Xi’An March 30, 2012

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

As our guide, Jacky, said, today we moved our home from Beijing to Xi’An. Students had two choices for the morning: enjoy a relaxing morning and be ready to leave for the airport by 10am OR be up and packed and ready to go having had breakfast by 8 am to make a quick visit to see the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. A few intrepid travelers were up and ready to go:
City bus
Visit the museum
See the pandas!
Taxi back to hotel

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It was a great visit, we saw four pandas and some of them performed for us.

We rejoined the group and headed out to the Beijing airport.

1pm flight, Lunch on the plane and we were on the ground by 3:30 in Xi’An. We made our way to the city walls where many students got on bikes and took a ride along the walls. Xi’An is a very charming city and a real mix of old and new.

Dinner was followed by hotel check in. We are in a fabulous four star hotel in Xi’An. Post dinner choices included a walk to Haagen Daz and a night walk into the Ancient city or a reflexology massage.

Another great day with lots of activities packed in!
Tomorrow: the Terra Cotta Warriors!
KM

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Beijing March 29, 2012

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

The Great Wall was the setting for our morning activities. What an amazing experience!
We drove the hour to get to the Badaling Gate. Students were given two route options, easy or hard. They all chose the harder route. That’s the bear spirit. Most went all the way to the end of their section to find vendors and I climbed the wall t-shirts! The views were breath taking and the steepness of some sections is not to be believed!

Then lunch in a restaurant right at the wall ( and shopping!) lots of hats purchased.

Then off to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony at a Beijing tea house where we learned to differentiate teas and their various medicinal properties.

Finally we made it to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing where students could visit the complex and hang out with the locals playing a Chinese version of Hackysack.

We have lucked out with picture perfect weather each day.

Peking Duck dinner and Beijing Opera were our evening activities. There were some great cultural moments, watching one of the performers apply make up. It was a long, exhausting day.

Friday we switch hotels and will go to Xi’An!

More to follow!

KM

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Beijing 28, 2012

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Today we had an amazing day after a brief night of sleep. Our day began with a full breakfast buffet, followed by an introduction to our Beijing guide, Kai. Kai and Jacky took us to some magical places, beginning with a vocational school for student studying English and learning the trade of tourism. There was some song and dance and they got all of us up. Then then asked the TPS students to perform and so our crew sang a tune from GREASE!

After a tug of war and exchange of small gifts, we were off to the summer palace. The summer palace and a dragon boat ride were big hits with all of us. There was a Tai Chi lesson in one of the gradens and our 9th graders really took to it! We learned some basic Chinese phrases and started to move towards the Forbidden city. BUT, before that, we went to learn about freshwater pearls and visit a factory where they are harvested and sold. Some of us shopped!

Then off to lunch at a Muslim Chinese restaurant which was a great experience and where we had delicious food and lots of it. Then we were off to Tiannemin Square followed by The Forbidden City. We walked and walked and walked and heard about the history of China, the residences and offices of the various Emporers and took in all the sights and sounds.

In order to get to dinner in a private home in the Hutang district, we all took rickshaws. Some of our drivers raced with each other. We had a delicious meal cooked by a local family. It was an amazing day, filled with fun and adventures.

More tomorrow, but we are turning in at 7:30 pm to try and rest up for tomorrow’s visit to the Great Wall.

That’s all for now.
KM

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Dateline Beijing March 27, 2012

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

The flight from New York to Chicago was uneventful. With some juggling, we got all of us in the same section of the 777 plane that brought us from Chicago to Beijing. During the thirteen hour flight, there was sleeping and eating word searches and a decent movie selection to help pass the time.

We are here and safe!

KM

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The Road to China, March 26,2012

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

The 9th grade is off! Alex’s homemade cookies and few Annie’s pretzels have given us our share of snacks. Card games, word searches and charging of electronics are the order of the day!

It is the middle of the night in China. We will try and sleep once we have departed the Chicago flight. More to follow.

KM

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NAIS Seattle

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Conference highlights…

Bill Gates was a highlight for me. I was surprised how many of my colleagues from schools in various parts of the country were underwhelmed with the Bill Gates keynote. I thought he was right on the money talking about the importance of new technologies in keeping teaching relevant and vital in the lives of students. He also charged Independent Schools with leading the way.

I saw a presentation from Kim Saxe at Nueva who teaches in a K-8 and also works with the Design School at Stanford. Reminds me about having students practice making things, working with their hands to solve a problem, knowing their designs will mostly fail, but that this is an important part of the learning equation.

I thoroughly enjoyed co-presenting to a room full of division heads and assistant heads about leading from the middle. Folks just want to connect and share war stories and test their assumptions and their biases. This work is very important and we will try and expand our presentation into a longer Pre conference workshop for Philly 2013!

I was very pleased to listen to Amy Chua speak. She was sincere, heartfelt and very else effacing about all the tiger mom drama she has lived through in the last year. She did talk about parenting, about her own struggles and about some interesting comparisons she has made between Chinese and western parents. Lots of food for thought… Now I want to read her book.

Reconnecting with EE Ford buddies and new heads colleagues and old old school friends are all also good by products of this event. it’s a great community of people.

Getting ready to travel back east.

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NAIS Seattle

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Dateline Seattle
Bill Gates keynote

School leaders are challenged by Bill Gates to innovate and lead the way in creating 21st century schools.

This session, which opened the conference, was very interesting. Obviously Bill Gates was a big draw. As a product of independent schools (he graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle), he said that one of the best things his high school faculty did for him was to ” get out if his way.” actually Pat Bassett quoted him as having said that. It is an interesting concept, though. Creating a time and space for students to innovate while at school; easier said than done.

Points reemphasized that I have heard before, but am happy for the reminder:
*preparing students for their future, not our past; creating classrooms where students can problem solve and process information together
*supporting faculty professional development that allows them to play with new technologies and try things with their students, without a guarantee of success because
*sometimes failure is the path to success

More to come, but I am pleased and stimulated by all of the sessions so far.

KM

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