I read Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country in January when we first found out about the class. I had not read Bryson before. He packs a ton of information into a travel book. History, trivia, little known facts interspersed with information on the places he visits. His admitted fear of the deadly animals, insects, and fish in Australia was the first point I noted. I thought at the time, I won’t have to worry about the jelly fish, because we’ll be going in the winter and won’t be going to the beach. Australia’s unique plants and animals are an interesting study. There are more kangaroos than people. I hope that means I have a good chance to see one in the wild. Another point that was well taken when reading Bryson’s travel diary is the vastness of Australia. Not just that it is an island that is a country and a continent, but how really big it is and the extremes in the land; the Australian Alps, the Gold Coast, the Great Barrier Reef, the rainforest, the outback and desert. I especially enjoyed the stories about the first explorers and the attempts to cross the outback. Bryson is vivid storyteller. He does enjoy a cold beer and good food. He has quite a constitution to be able to travel hung over! We are not as fortunate as Bryson to be able to travel by car for weeks to experience Australia, so reading his book is the next best thing. Reading In a Sunburned Country we have the opportunity to see Australia through Bryson’s eyes even if we cannot visit all the places he does. You realize that travel in Australia, because of it size is challenging both in time and money. So as we are finding out, decisions have to be made about where to go and what to see. I hope I am more successful than Bryson was at snorkeling in the GBR.
Any book about Australia has to include a conversation about its native people. Bryson gives us some background, but a topic that includes race, culture, and society requires additional study. His notes about the Aborigines and how they were treated by whites was helpful. One can easily see the similarity of our own history and Native Americans. Bryson says that he didn’t see any Aborigines working anywhere in his travels and states that he found it odd. The Aborigines are only a small percentage in Australia, around 3% of the population. So if you are on the tourist track, it probably is not uncommon not to see Aborigines among the general population. This is one topic that will be interesting to observe in our travels.
In a Sunburned Country was an entertaining, informative introduction to Australia. Wouldn’t we all like to be Bill Bryson’s travel companion.
I just read a Miss Manners article about being a guest. She said good guests want to fall into the household routine. That is a good guideline to follow when you stay TWO weeks at another person’s house – even if they are being compensated for hosting you. It was easy for me to do so with my host, Leslie, because she is a single woman my age. I will admit, I was a little concerned about a home stay. You assume that a person who offers to host is personable and outgoing, but you never know.
Leslie and I got into a routine, eat breakfast, pack lunches, and go to work. Go home, prepare dinner, have a glass of wine and discuss education, teaching, child rearing, pros and cons of systems. Since it was just the two of us, it was easy for me to help set the table, prep food, pack lunches.
Most of the time, I was Leslie’s shadow. Tuesday night after school we had a meeting on the national curriculum. I wanted to go to that meeting because I am interested in how they plan to implement their national curriculum and to compare it to our Common Core. Leslie had another after school meeting planned that week so I asked if I could hitch a ride into town with one of the teachers and go to the mall. Leslie picked me up there. I really like to visit stores and interact with the people when I travel. So it was a nice opportunity for me to wander around town. Leslie really is professional and works hard. I think she had five after school meetings in eight days. Some meetings were not important for me to go to so I made my own plans that did not inconvenience Leslie.
Hints for future participants:
You will need to do laundry so make sure your undergarments are appropriate for the clothes line – not every household has a dryer.
It is cold without central heating. Australians and New Zealanders wear Merino wool. You will need to layer. I wore cuddle dud top and bottoms everyday to school. The doors and windows are open at school and many teachers wore shawls or down vests. Think Midwest in March without central heat.
Your host is paid for your room and board – not entertainment.
Prepare something to show about the area you are from – a video or a PPT. That allows you to go into anyone’s classroom and share with students. Just highlight your school and state.
You should take your host a gift. I took a handcrafted pottery bowl with oak leaves and acorns because I am from Royal Oak. I also took real maple syrup which was a big hit because they have to get imported stuff from Canada. (Jim did say that the Costco in Sydney carries it now.) It is nice to have a few extra inexpensive gifts to give to the people you meet that helped you out or who you got to know really well. Books or magazines for the library are always welcome.
Other countries know so much about us. One of the things that stood out to me in Bill Bryson’s book was how little Australia was referenced in American newspapers. So when you think about that, even an avid current events reader doesn’t get a lot of information about other countries. Before this trip, Australia and New Zealand were not even on my radar. In fact, I almost missed the news that Mt. Tongariro in NZ erupted. We have beautiful pictures of it with clear blue sky taken last month. I think until you travel, you have no idea how much impact America has in the world. Everywhere I went in those 5 weeks I talked with people who knew sporting teams, U.S. politics and have traveled to the U.S. There was a 7th grade boy who named the Detroit Lions quarterback and the often penalized defenseman, Suh. A bartender in Taupo, NZ was sporting a Lions hat. The road between Clinton and Gore, NZ is designated the “presidential highway.” How funny is that? I heard American music everywhere. A teacher had a Route 66 hat on and he told me about his trip from California to Florida.
An adult asked me how a great country like America could not have universal health care. A student asked about gun rights. Why do we feel we have to have guns he wanted to know. (The Colorado shooting happened the day we came home.) When you see your country reflected in another’s eyes it is very enlightening and sometimes uncomfortable. I felt I needed to represent the U.S. positively and explained that each issue had many supporters and people against it. I informed them that some laws were in place - The Brady Law introduced background checks. I found that it is very important for me to know about my country and its issues. The better informed and knowledgeable you are the better you can let others know about your country. You also are able to speak knowledgably about issues, because others know about them, so you better too. We are at a disadvantage because others know much more about us than we know of them and sometimes ourselve
1)The Monday we arrived in Bathhurst, I went to Leslie’s 11 English class at 2:30. The next day at 10:00 she said had 11 English. “Isn’t that the class you had yesterday,” I asked. Yes, so? The timetable or schedules as we know them are incredible. Not only do they have the different daily schedules, the length of class periods change too. Occasionally a class will be a 2 hours. When I told them that we have a set schedule for a semester, everyone asked what happens when you have that bad class after lunch or the last period of the day. They thought it was absolutely terrible to have a set schedule. Leslie said their federation would not stand for it. Our secondary schools run block schedules. They may have fluctuating day and length of class, but a set schedule for the classes weekly. Can you image the scheduling nightmare? I have no idea how they manage it at Bathhurst.
I have an 8th grade class the period after lunch, not a desirable time especially in the spring when we finally get nice weather. So I can certainly see that the timetable at Bathhurst has its benefits. In my building, 8th graders go to electives the first two hours of the day all year. Would having math or science first hour improve their learning? That is a good question, but unless our teachers were shown empirical evidence that it did, they would not give up their classroom and the sanity of our fixed schedule. This may be the difference between high school and middle school, but to our teachers their classroom is their castle. At Bathurst they frequently had to move rooms. I don’t know if our high school teachers feel as possessive of their classroom, they sure do in middle school.
2)Leslie shared an office with Sandra and first year teacher Eleanor. Sandra and Leslie have a very good professional relationship. They are about the same age and both dedicated teachers. Sandra is a head teacher for English. She is released for five hours a week. But she does everything. A teacher called to say he would be late; her schedule was open so she covered his classroom. She observed a new teacher. She went over lesson plans with a first year teacher. She makes sure substitutes have lesson plans and know where they are going. She handles discipline. She also teaches. Whew! I don’t know how much more her salary is but I would say they get a lot of bang for their buck. They bring the administration to the trenches so to speak. I thought about how that would play out in my district. We have a definite line between administration and teachers. We have teacher leaders, people who volunteer to take leadership roles, but they are more organizational roles or planning professional development. Our teachers collaborate, co-teach, and plan together, but I don’t think evaluating another teacher would ever happen. We have department heads in the high school and they get paid and perform some administrative duties, but I’m pretty sure even they have the same line between being a colleague and an administrator. I told Sandra that our principals do our evaluations and Sandra was shocked. What if they are not English teachers she asked? How can they evaluate? It is obvious that the teachers at Bathurst respected Sandra and acknowledged her leadership. I think they also felt a part of team and that she was the captain.
3) All teachers in NSW are on the same salary schedule. They have eight steps. My district’s new contract puts the new kids on a 14 step scale. The NSW method means you are not penalized if you transfer. Most districts around me will give you a maximum of five years for experience, even if you have been teaching ten, twenty, or more. One local district flat out says they do not pay for experience. If you do change districts, you have to go through the hoops for professional development hours like a new hire and two years for tenure. I’ve always maintained that education is the only career that penalizes you for experience. In NSW they do have a problem getting teachers to stay in rural areas. They work out there and then transfer to a better location. Substitute teachers (they call them casuals) get paid $250-300 a day.
4) Two of the unique programs at Bathurst. Denison College, Bathurst Campus was created when neighboring Kelso High burned down. Both schools were facing declining enrollment. Just like here, private schools compete for students. By combining the two schools they were able to offer many more courses. We have two high schools in my district, 2 miles apart. So we have been combining school schedules for years. Bathurst attached a college name and their enrollment has held steady.
Another program they participate in is the xSel, online courses for gifted and talented. Because individual schools didn’t have enough students, they collaborated throughout the area in order to have enough students to run the program. Students are offered xSel based on test scores. Leslie, my host, started with the program when it first began three years ago. She is currently teaching 9th graders and will go up with them next year as the 10 grade teacher of English. Because there is something to do with schools getting credit for 11 and 12th graders the program will probably not go past 10th grade. The twist of this online class is that it is put on the schedule. The student has a designated place that he/she is to report and Leslie has it on her schedule. The class time is only 25 minutes. Leslie creates the curriculum. That’s a lot of work. She is .5 xSel. This year was the