I loved San Francisco. I loved the way I could sit in a little French cafe, sipping thé and eating madeleines, and look out of the window at a Hebrew shul situated just inside the Chinatown gates. I guess you could describe it as an eclectic city, with such a mix of cultures and architectural styles all jumbled together, cheek-by-jowl; and yet it doesn't feel cramped. It's like an old woman who has led a very interesting life and is by turns elegant and earthy, cultured and just a little bit racy.
On our second day in SF we went to Alcatraz. I thought the tour was about an hour or maybe two...however, once on the island you were left free to wander and just get a ferry back when finished. They have a very good audio tour, which is told from the point of view of the guards at the prison. For souvenirs I purchased a tin mug such as the prisoners used and a book written by Darwin Coon, one of the last prisoners to leave Alcatraz. It was 3 pm by the time we got back to the mainland, and as I wanted to mail my AVID books back to Australia (so that my luggage would be within weight allowance) we walked up through Union Square to the post office, then walked up through the Quartier Français, back down through Chinatown and so back to Market Street and then across to our hostel.
The next morning we flew back to LA; this time we stayed at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel, which is right on the Metro line, in fact at the Wilshire/Normandie station. That made getting around so very easy. There was a small strip mall which had several cafes and restaurants just across the road, so the first night we had a delicious Italian meal at the little trattoria on the strip. The next day we spent the morning walking up and down between Hollywood/Vine and Hollywood/Highland photographing 'stars' and generally seeing the sights. I popped into Borders and bought the latest Lyndsey Davis to read on the way home, and then spent a pleasant hour at Madame Tousaud's. We lunched on mexican food at Hollywood Fresh and then took to the metro to head down to Venice Beach for the afternoon and evening.
It was freezing! The wind off the Pacific cut like a knife, and yet people were determinedly enjoying their summer holidays in skimpy tank tops and swimsuits and little else. I had sore legs from all the walking by this stage and sat in a sunny nook with a hot coffee, until the wind found me there too and I started to petrify from cold, so I headed down the beach looking for Chloe... who shortly zoomed up to me on roller blades. She was having a ball scooting up and down the beach and promenade like a local. As it was getting dusky by this time we walked up to Santa Monica beach for dinner at yet another Italian restaurant and to catch the bus back to the hotel. Knowing we had a BIG day the next day, we went to bed early.
Our final day, Saturday, we were up, breakfasted and heading out to the bus-stop by about 10 am. First stop - Rodeo Drive. We hit all the jewelry shops and the fashion designers (YSL, Balenciaga, Donatella Versace, etc). Some of the fashions were just soooo ugly! yeuch! Others were gorgeous and we derived a lot of pleasure from window shopping. Then onto our last stop before the airport.
George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which is on Wilshire Blvd between Rodeo Drive and our hotel. Fascinating! the La Brea 'tar' pits are one part of a series of museums and art galleries all clustered in a two block area. There's a car museum, a folk art museum, the modern art museum, etc etc. The La Brea discoveries are thousands of skeletons of ancient creatures that lived in the region: american lions, mammoths, ground sloths, dire wolves, the list goes on; all of which were trapped in the asphalt that seeped up through the ground. There is a section of the 'dig' where you can see skeletons being excavated and a window in the museum where you can watch paleontologists at work cleaning the finds. There are also hands-on activities for people to get involved in the displays. They have so many bones that they have some out on display where you can actually touch bones from animals that lived and died 10,000 years ago. Amazing! so interesting. I bought a book as a souvenir here too.
Finally, our AVID conference trip and US tour was drawing to a close. We took the shuttle to the airport (leaving at 6:30 pm LA time), went through all the formalities and enplaned for Australia at 10:30 pm. The flight took almost 15 hours arriving in Sydney at 6:15 ish (Sydney time). Only 10 minutes late, BUT we then had a mad dash through baggage claim and customs to reach our connecting flight which was scheduled to leave Sydnay at 8:05 am. Anyone who has flown will know, that was cutting things VERY FINE. Thanks to other travellers letting us through as we were so short of time, we made it with about 8 minutes to spare...
...only to find that because Albury was fogged in, we had a three hour delay! We arrived in Albury at 12:15. That meant I missed my first lecture and tute of the new semester which were from 9 - 12. C'est la vie! I HAVE done my first readings, and taken C-notes on them while in various airports in the US, and will revise them before class next Monday. So all is well. We are returned, laden with much luggage, dirty washing, exciting tales to tell of our tour and a heap of ideas and enthusiasm garnered at the AVID conference.
So this is the final blog,
thanks for hanging in for the journey,
farewell,
Tracey
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
San Francisco
Have just spent an amazing day in San Fran. Arrived lunchtime, can't check in to Hostel until 2 so Chloe and I put our bags into a locker and went for a walk.
All the posh hotels are within a couple of blocks, and we are 2 blocks from Union Sq, 2 blocks down hill to Powell and Market... where the trolley line starts, so we took the trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf... checked out the Mechanical Museum, which has the funniest "what the butler saw" type stereoscope. What an innocent age, when a girl in her underwear was considered titillating!
Then we had some SF sourdough and cookies and hot chocolate... any excuse to get out of the wind. Our first sight of the Golden Gate bridge, shrouded in fog.
Got the trolley back to downtown and then went to the Biscuit and Blues, just across the road from the hostel for dinner and to hear Walter Trout and his band play... what a fabulous (ear-deafening) performance! Have a CD as a souvenir.
Tomorrow to Alcatraz and ???
CU l8r,
Tracey
All the posh hotels are within a couple of blocks, and we are 2 blocks from Union Sq, 2 blocks down hill to Powell and Market... where the trolley line starts, so we took the trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf... checked out the Mechanical Museum, which has the funniest "what the butler saw" type stereoscope. What an innocent age, when a girl in her underwear was considered titillating!
Then we had some SF sourdough and cookies and hot chocolate... any excuse to get out of the wind. Our first sight of the Golden Gate bridge, shrouded in fog.
Got the trolley back to downtown and then went to the Biscuit and Blues, just across the road from the hostel for dinner and to hear Walter Trout and his band play... what a fabulous (ear-deafening) performance! Have a CD as a souvenir.
Tomorrow to Alcatraz and ???
CU l8r,
Tracey
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Day 5 and onto Vegas
Hi y'all,
The last day of the AVID summer intensive was actually half a day, with us all in our strands for one final lesson. Bill Madigan had us doing different activities that recalled what we had done over the week, we all moved around to the next activity and had to try to remember something extra... amazingly, we were all able to add different things we had remembered from the conference; each group recalled more. We completed the session with two new reading activities: one we read a chapter of a book and then created a tableau... the teacher tapped each person, who had to "come to life" and describe what they were doing in the tableau and then he asked high order questions to elicit deeper responses, emotional responses from us; and finally another reading and a Socratic Seminar on that reading, to delve into it's deeper meanings.
At lunch time people were packed and leaving for the airport. We Aussies who were not leaving until lunchtime the next day, set off on the Dart to do some shopping at Casa Mexicana (the same place Heather and Valerie had discovered the previous day). We did take a wrong turn, due to me misunderstanding the gesture of the gentleman who I asked for directions; but eventually we arrived and purchased some lovely authentic Mexican bits and pieces as gifts for the folk at home. My bag is almost to the baggage limit, I shall have to watch what else I buy. Ummmm! I forgot about that this morning when I went out to the Grand Canyon.... ooops!
So we flew from Dallas to Las Vegas and Chloe and I are staying at the Flamingo, right on the strip, opposite Caesar's Palace!!! My goodness, these hotels have to be seen to be believed! Talk about opulence! decadence! well pick your favourite stunned adjective! The Luxor looks like a pyramid with a small sphinx; the Paris has a fake Eiffel Tower on the roof; Caesar's Palace has a small coliseum in the front garden and several huge italianate palaces, Bellagio has it's own LAKE - and all this in the midst of the desert. You don't realise how desert like it is until you leave the strip. For example, today I flew to the Grand Canyon and did the Skywalk and the Guano point trek, we only went -ooh, a few feet past the last grand hotel and we were in the desert. I took photographs of the suburbs, all of which are painted desert colours, adding to the monochrome look of the area. We landed at the airstrip at the west end of the Grand Canyon, and set off on the bus portion of the trip.
The airport, skywalk and food at Guano Point are all run by the local First Nations people, the Hualapai (pronounced Wol-a-pie), Eagle Point is where the skywalk is. It is a very solidly constructed, glass floored, viewing platform, built in a loop out from the point. The canyon is 4,000 feet deep at this point... being scared of heights I had to force myself to go on it - but I am so glad I did... I didn't stay long enough for a photograph and there was no way I was letting go of the handrail to lay down and be photographed on the glass as if I was flying. Then I went on to Guano Point and walked out to the point to take photos, still a 4,000 foot drop, no handrail, but I wasn't nervous... strange, huh? Maybe because the earth feels so solid beneath your feet and it is a wide path, 5 or 6 could walk abreast. There is also a very spiritual feel to the place, a nest of some large raptor is in a tree level with the table where I sat to eat lunch, and they were soaring hither and yon, with the parents coming back and feeding insects (I guess) to their young. The helicopters flying people to view the canyon were below us... maybe all of that together and the wind blowing people's voices away so that you felt cocooned in silence all added to that spiritual ambience. Very special.
Tonight, seeing it is 4th July and Independence Day (which seems to be going largely unnoticed within Las Vegas itself) there will be fireworks across the road from us at Caesar's Palace - and as we have a front room we have an absolutely grandstand view. The girls all want to go down to the strip and join in the excited atmosphere - but I think I'll be quite happy with a picture window view and a chilled champagne at my side. Tomorrow I'm off to Excalibur for dinner and a show, 'The Tournament of Kings', for a die hard medievalist THAT is something to look forward to,
Until next time,
You take care of y'self, y'all,
Tracey
The last day of the AVID summer intensive was actually half a day, with us all in our strands for one final lesson. Bill Madigan had us doing different activities that recalled what we had done over the week, we all moved around to the next activity and had to try to remember something extra... amazingly, we were all able to add different things we had remembered from the conference; each group recalled more. We completed the session with two new reading activities: one we read a chapter of a book and then created a tableau... the teacher tapped each person, who had to "come to life" and describe what they were doing in the tableau and then he asked high order questions to elicit deeper responses, emotional responses from us; and finally another reading and a Socratic Seminar on that reading, to delve into it's deeper meanings.
At lunch time people were packed and leaving for the airport. We Aussies who were not leaving until lunchtime the next day, set off on the Dart to do some shopping at Casa Mexicana (the same place Heather and Valerie had discovered the previous day). We did take a wrong turn, due to me misunderstanding the gesture of the gentleman who I asked for directions; but eventually we arrived and purchased some lovely authentic Mexican bits and pieces as gifts for the folk at home. My bag is almost to the baggage limit, I shall have to watch what else I buy. Ummmm! I forgot about that this morning when I went out to the Grand Canyon.... ooops!
So we flew from Dallas to Las Vegas and Chloe and I are staying at the Flamingo, right on the strip, opposite Caesar's Palace!!! My goodness, these hotels have to be seen to be believed! Talk about opulence! decadence! well pick your favourite stunned adjective! The Luxor looks like a pyramid with a small sphinx; the Paris has a fake Eiffel Tower on the roof; Caesar's Palace has a small coliseum in the front garden and several huge italianate palaces, Bellagio has it's own LAKE - and all this in the midst of the desert. You don't realise how desert like it is until you leave the strip. For example, today I flew to the Grand Canyon and did the Skywalk and the Guano point trek, we only went -ooh, a few feet past the last grand hotel and we were in the desert. I took photographs of the suburbs, all of which are painted desert colours, adding to the monochrome look of the area. We landed at the airstrip at the west end of the Grand Canyon, and set off on the bus portion of the trip.
The airport, skywalk and food at Guano Point are all run by the local First Nations people, the Hualapai (pronounced Wol-a-pie), Eagle Point is where the skywalk is. It is a very solidly constructed, glass floored, viewing platform, built in a loop out from the point. The canyon is 4,000 feet deep at this point... being scared of heights I had to force myself to go on it - but I am so glad I did... I didn't stay long enough for a photograph and there was no way I was letting go of the handrail to lay down and be photographed on the glass as if I was flying. Then I went on to Guano Point and walked out to the point to take photos, still a 4,000 foot drop, no handrail, but I wasn't nervous... strange, huh? Maybe because the earth feels so solid beneath your feet and it is a wide path, 5 or 6 could walk abreast. There is also a very spiritual feel to the place, a nest of some large raptor is in a tree level with the table where I sat to eat lunch, and they were soaring hither and yon, with the parents coming back and feeding insects (I guess) to their young. The helicopters flying people to view the canyon were below us... maybe all of that together and the wind blowing people's voices away so that you felt cocooned in silence all added to that spiritual ambience. Very special.
Tonight, seeing it is 4th July and Independence Day (which seems to be going largely unnoticed within Las Vegas itself) there will be fireworks across the road from us at Caesar's Palace - and as we have a front room we have an absolutely grandstand view. The girls all want to go down to the strip and join in the excited atmosphere - but I think I'll be quite happy with a picture window view and a chilled champagne at my side. Tomorrow I'm off to Excalibur for dinner and a show, 'The Tournament of Kings', for a die hard medievalist THAT is something to look forward to,
Until next time,
You take care of y'self, y'all,
Tracey
Thursday, July 1, 2010
AVID Conference Day 4
Hi,
After sending yesterday's blog I went back to the Hyatt and met up with Heather and Valerie in the bar at the top of the Tower. The tower has a revolving restaurant and bar and the three hundred and sixty degree views are just gorgeous. We sipped elderflower martinis or margaritas as we slowly rotated, then when we had seen the whole view went downstairs to dinner. Some in depth passionate conversation ensued which ranged from religion and politics to post-modernism and revisionist writing. Yours truly didn't add much to the conversation but sat and drank it all in. Good conversation can be as heady as champagne!
Thursday 1st July
Next morning, back in the Strand session, Bill quoted Medina's research which proved that emotionally charged events persist much longer in our memories, and are recalled with greater accuracy than neutral memories (Brain Rules), so we worked on adding emotion to our teaching. He also spoke about testing done on dogs which were immobilised and shocked, until they stopped reacting - and linked it to children in a classroom being forced to sit still, immobile, for long periods and the 'learned helplessness' that this induces. Lack of movement can CAUSE depression but activity can actually REVERSE it. [I MUST get a copy of the book to read for myself].
Then it was time to stand up, and we went out (or aside) in groups to work out how we would present a 'Punctuaton Chant' to a class... we called ourselves 'The Ragged Edges" after an Oscar Wilde quote that Bill had mentioned the previous day. Again, there were 6 groups and 6 completely different skits resulted from the same 9 minute collaboration. Next we worked on vocabulary and TPR - yet ANOTHER acronym - which stands for Total Physical Recall (what I call muscle memory). There are so many acronyms I didn't know; how could I remember this one? So with assistance from one of the other teachers in my group I did the body movements that help recall the words behind the acronym... its very hard to describe in words, suffice it to say, it WORKED, because I just wrote about it and didn't need to reread my notes! After the mid session break, we discussed Kirkegaard and the Fridge analogy...if faced with a choice of chocolate eclair and healthy low fat yoghurt... which would you choose? That tug-of-war is constant in our lives, SO then we discussed graphic organisers and did a very interesting activity with a grid made of 6 x 6 squares which cearly demonstrated how many of us obey blindly... without reasoning on or thinking logically about the instructions given. The only rule was the helpers could not speak, but we interpreted that to mean we couldn't step into the grid or use tools in the grid - until we were given permission. Insightful!
Lunchtime brought us to the official luncheon, and it was amazing. First and least amazing the staff fed 2,000 people at once, and started cleaning up in just on twenty minutes. The highlight of the lunch, though, was the ex-AVID student's experiences. All four of them have had such hard lives and overcome such soul destroying events in their lives, and due to the influence of AVID have been able to turn their lives around and make positive choices because of the independent determination that AVID helps the students develop. Several of us at our table were in tears at the hardship these young people have faced. Remembering their experiences will certainly help me get my much smaller issues into perspective. As I type this I realise it is a perfect example of our morning's lesson on linking learning to powerful emotions. Yep, once again, AVID WORKS!
After lunch we had our final Site Team meeting in which we practised the Socratic Circle method of analysing an article or reading, that allows multiple views to be aired, absorbed and discussed in a calm non-threatening manner. Following that session we bussed back to the Hyatt and went down to make a small presentation to Granger Ward (AVID Director) who along with Dennis, Shannon and Michelle had made us feel so welcome and looked after us so well.
Then we all went up to Perioni's Italian Restaurant (at the Hyatt). OMG! such good food... such nice wine... such great company. I was sitting with Michelle and Linda, whose remit in the SCA is assisting in implementing the Cultural Relevance program which is right up my alley. Another of those great in-depth conversations that stretch the mind and enlighten the soul ensued.
It's the last day tomorrow... already... I am so going to miss all the interesting, passionate, dedicated educators... and lovely, welcoming people... I have met this week.
Until next time,
Bye y'all,
Tracey
After sending yesterday's blog I went back to the Hyatt and met up with Heather and Valerie in the bar at the top of the Tower. The tower has a revolving restaurant and bar and the three hundred and sixty degree views are just gorgeous. We sipped elderflower martinis or margaritas as we slowly rotated, then when we had seen the whole view went downstairs to dinner. Some in depth passionate conversation ensued which ranged from religion and politics to post-modernism and revisionist writing. Yours truly didn't add much to the conversation but sat and drank it all in. Good conversation can be as heady as champagne!
Thursday 1st July
Next morning, back in the Strand session, Bill quoted Medina's research which proved that emotionally charged events persist much longer in our memories, and are recalled with greater accuracy than neutral memories (Brain Rules), so we worked on adding emotion to our teaching. He also spoke about testing done on dogs which were immobilised and shocked, until they stopped reacting - and linked it to children in a classroom being forced to sit still, immobile, for long periods and the 'learned helplessness' that this induces. Lack of movement can CAUSE depression but activity can actually REVERSE it. [I MUST get a copy of the book to read for myself].
Then it was time to stand up, and we went out (or aside) in groups to work out how we would present a 'Punctuaton Chant' to a class... we called ourselves 'The Ragged Edges" after an Oscar Wilde quote that Bill had mentioned the previous day. Again, there were 6 groups and 6 completely different skits resulted from the same 9 minute collaboration. Next we worked on vocabulary and TPR - yet ANOTHER acronym - which stands for Total Physical Recall (what I call muscle memory). There are so many acronyms I didn't know; how could I remember this one? So with assistance from one of the other teachers in my group I did the body movements that help recall the words behind the acronym... its very hard to describe in words, suffice it to say, it WORKED, because I just wrote about it and didn't need to reread my notes! After the mid session break, we discussed Kirkegaard and the Fridge analogy...if faced with a choice of chocolate eclair and healthy low fat yoghurt... which would you choose? That tug-of-war is constant in our lives, SO then we discussed graphic organisers and did a very interesting activity with a grid made of 6 x 6 squares which cearly demonstrated how many of us obey blindly... without reasoning on or thinking logically about the instructions given. The only rule was the helpers could not speak, but we interpreted that to mean we couldn't step into the grid or use tools in the grid - until we were given permission. Insightful!
Lunchtime brought us to the official luncheon, and it was amazing. First and least amazing the staff fed 2,000 people at once, and started cleaning up in just on twenty minutes. The highlight of the lunch, though, was the ex-AVID student's experiences. All four of them have had such hard lives and overcome such soul destroying events in their lives, and due to the influence of AVID have been able to turn their lives around and make positive choices because of the independent determination that AVID helps the students develop. Several of us at our table were in tears at the hardship these young people have faced. Remembering their experiences will certainly help me get my much smaller issues into perspective. As I type this I realise it is a perfect example of our morning's lesson on linking learning to powerful emotions. Yep, once again, AVID WORKS!
After lunch we had our final Site Team meeting in which we practised the Socratic Circle method of analysing an article or reading, that allows multiple views to be aired, absorbed and discussed in a calm non-threatening manner. Following that session we bussed back to the Hyatt and went down to make a small presentation to Granger Ward (AVID Director) who along with Dennis, Shannon and Michelle had made us feel so welcome and looked after us so well.
It's the last day tomorrow... already... I am so going to miss all the interesting, passionate, dedicated educators... and lovely, welcoming people... I have met this week.
Until next time,
Bye y'all,
Tracey
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
AVID Conference Days 2 and 3
Hi y'all,
The past two days have been full on with our Strand session in the morning and then we sit in on Site Team Meetings in the afternoon. I am doing the ELL - English Language Learners, strand (ESL in Australia), which has been really good thus far.
Lets see what I've learned so far:
The essay dance - a mnemonic for the eight sentence paragraph.
BT - CD - CM1 - CM2 repeat CS.
10-2 - lecture for 10, process for 2 minutes... the 'average' student can take in information for just under 10 minutes, then they need a break. This might mean you teach a concept then you organise an activity to instill that concept for a couple of minutes before moving on; for ELL and kinaesthetic learners this means you teach a chunk of information, then you get up and do something physical to allow time for the thought to be absorbed. The essay dance is a good example, we did a 'bit of a stretch' for our opening few minutes of the session, for 10 minutes we were taught what each movement meant in an essay. Then we got up and for 2 minutes we did the dance again, this time saying which part of the eight sentence paragraph the dance was describing. We sat down again and for 10 minutes wrote an essay paragraph using the dance and its associated concepts. Then we spent 2 minutes discussing what we learnt with the person sitting next to us. As you can see, lessons taught this way are active and interesting because they are always fluid and changing, you don't have time to get bored.
Cornell Notes: 10 - 24 - 7
When you write C-Notes you take 10 minutes at the end to summarise them, you review them 24 hours later, and then again 7 days later... this is proven to enhance your retention of information.
INSIDE/OUTSIDE CIRCLE or PARALLEL LINES
Here's a little factoid that stuck in my brain re: knowledge retention rates: in a lecture students will retain about 5% of what they hear; but if they teach someone something they will remember 95% of it. SO a REALLY powerful tool, is to lecture/teach a concept for 10 minutes then have the students teach each other what they just heard. We then got up and did an activity that demonstrated how you can do this. It was Inside/Outside Circle or Parallel Lines. Here's how it works: you teach a concept, then you get the class up and find a space where they can spread out a bit, form two lines so everyone has a partner. Line 1 has to teach one thing they learned to line 2. Then everyone takes two steps to the left, so that you have a new partner. Then line 2 teaches one thing they learned to line 1. Then take two steps to the left. Line 1 asks their new partner for clarification of something they did not understand. Take two steps to the left. Line 2 asks for clarification. Then return to class for the next chunk of learning.
Well, that's enough of that or this blog will be so long I'll lose you all after the first 10 minutes reading.
The afternoon sessions start with us doing some activities to consolidate our morning's learning; then we move on to the Site Planning. A Site in this context means a school which has AVID in place. The site we are with are just starting out their planning; they know who their volunteer teachers are and that's about it. So they are working through the 11 AVID essentials to put a plan in place so that their site can be accredited for teaching the AVID system next (school) year. It's been interesting to see the interplay of personalities and the negotiating within the team to arrive at agreement on how they will implement the 11 principles.
The conference runs from 8 until 5 each day, but we do have 1.5 hours for lunch, so there is a bit of time for networking or for site seeing. Chloe and I hurried to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas straight after our afternoon session yesterday. This is the site where Lee Harvey Oswald was sitting when he shot at President John F Kennedy in 1963. The top two floors of the building are a museum that traces the events leading up to JFKs assassination, the conspiracy theories that have grown up around the events, and especially it details the legacy that Kennedy left behind. It was very moving. We were told the museum closes at 6 so were pleased to find out that that's when they close the doors but visitors still have 40 minutes more to complete their viewing.
When we returned to the conference headquarters we bumped into the rest of the Aussie contingent and all jumped in a cab to drive out into the suburbs to a strip that abounds in restaurants and night clubs. My goodness what choice!! We could have started with fondue, moved to Mexican, then had baclava in a third restaurant, etc. We opted for the Mexican and I had the Pork Tamale for a starter, followed by Mole con Pollo, which is.... wait for it... chocolate chicken!!! OH MY GAHD!! Then we wandered a couple of blocks over to Henderson St and found a bar where we had a nightcap before returning to our hotels. It was La Hacienda on Henderson which has FIFTY different tequilas. Yep, you heard right FIFTY! I'd already had enough to drink but I couldn't resist a sip to taste the very special tequila Valerie and Heather had... so smooth! Why can't we get such nice tequila at home? It was like the difference between an 18 year old scotch and a UDL can of scotch.
More great sessions the next day (we have all been given handbooks that have the information we are working through in them and CSU global will be organising a gathering so that interested folk can come along and hear our experiences -- we'll have our handbooks with us so anyone interested can get a recap of the main points and see the kind of assistance the AVID organisation gives to it's accredited teachers and tutors).
While networking I asked a couple of the people I spoke to this question:
The AVID program seems to me to just be really good pedagogy in practise. What makes it different?
Here are a couple of the replies:
Todd from Arkansas said (in his gorgeous drawl) 'As a member of AVID you have support, not just from the AVID co-ordinators but from every other AVID teacher. If you are stumped with something or try something and can't seem to get it to work, you can jump onto the web and you have access to help and advice from thousands of dedicated AVID teachers.'
Angie said, 'If, as an AVID teacher, you implement AVID correctly in your AVID elective class, the AVID students go out to their other classes and THEY spread the knowledge and use of the tools, which helps to empower those 'students in the middle' that the AVID program is designed to work with.'
Today at lunch time, Heather and I went across to Fair Park and The Women's Museum. This museum is dedicated to telling the story of extraordinary women who have made a difference to America in some way; it celebrates women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B Anthony, Rosa Parks, etc. There is a special exhibition on, called Freedom's Sisters, which is about 20 heroic women who worked (and some are still working) for liberty and equality for women. Some of the African American women featured started universities, sought positions in government and the legal system so they could fight for the rights of all women and the rights of African Americans. Some like Rosa Parks just refused to be victimised (her quiet protest led to her being known as 'the mother of the modern civil rights movement'). A very powerful exhibition which made me proud to be a woman. It was definitely worth missing lunch for.
Well that's enough from me now,
Bye y'all,
Tracey
The past two days have been full on with our Strand session in the morning and then we sit in on Site Team Meetings in the afternoon. I am doing the ELL - English Language Learners, strand (ESL in Australia), which has been really good thus far.
Lets see what I've learned so far:
The essay dance - a mnemonic for the eight sentence paragraph.
BT - CD - CM1 - CM2 repeat CS.
10-2 - lecture for 10, process for 2 minutes... the 'average' student can take in information for just under 10 minutes, then they need a break. This might mean you teach a concept then you organise an activity to instill that concept for a couple of minutes before moving on; for ELL and kinaesthetic learners this means you teach a chunk of information, then you get up and do something physical to allow time for the thought to be absorbed. The essay dance is a good example, we did a 'bit of a stretch' for our opening few minutes of the session, for 10 minutes we were taught what each movement meant in an essay. Then we got up and for 2 minutes we did the dance again, this time saying which part of the eight sentence paragraph the dance was describing. We sat down again and for 10 minutes wrote an essay paragraph using the dance and its associated concepts. Then we spent 2 minutes discussing what we learnt with the person sitting next to us. As you can see, lessons taught this way are active and interesting because they are always fluid and changing, you don't have time to get bored.
Cornell Notes: 10 - 24 - 7
When you write C-Notes you take 10 minutes at the end to summarise them, you review them 24 hours later, and then again 7 days later... this is proven to enhance your retention of information.
INSIDE/OUTSIDE CIRCLE or PARALLEL LINES
Here's a little factoid that stuck in my brain re: knowledge retention rates: in a lecture students will retain about 5% of what they hear; but if they teach someone something they will remember 95% of it. SO a REALLY powerful tool, is to lecture/teach a concept for 10 minutes then have the students teach each other what they just heard. We then got up and did an activity that demonstrated how you can do this. It was Inside/Outside Circle or Parallel Lines. Here's how it works: you teach a concept, then you get the class up and find a space where they can spread out a bit, form two lines so everyone has a partner. Line 1 has to teach one thing they learned to line 2. Then everyone takes two steps to the left, so that you have a new partner. Then line 2 teaches one thing they learned to line 1. Then take two steps to the left. Line 1 asks their new partner for clarification of something they did not understand. Take two steps to the left. Line 2 asks for clarification. Then return to class for the next chunk of learning.
Well, that's enough of that or this blog will be so long I'll lose you all after the first 10 minutes reading.
The afternoon sessions start with us doing some activities to consolidate our morning's learning; then we move on to the Site Planning. A Site in this context means a school which has AVID in place. The site we are with are just starting out their planning; they know who their volunteer teachers are and that's about it. So they are working through the 11 AVID essentials to put a plan in place so that their site can be accredited for teaching the AVID system next (school) year. It's been interesting to see the interplay of personalities and the negotiating within the team to arrive at agreement on how they will implement the 11 principles.
The conference runs from 8 until 5 each day, but we do have 1.5 hours for lunch, so there is a bit of time for networking or for site seeing. Chloe and I hurried to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas straight after our afternoon session yesterday. This is the site where Lee Harvey Oswald was sitting when he shot at President John F Kennedy in 1963. The top two floors of the building are a museum that traces the events leading up to JFKs assassination, the conspiracy theories that have grown up around the events, and especially it details the legacy that Kennedy left behind. It was very moving. We were told the museum closes at 6 so were pleased to find out that that's when they close the doors but visitors still have 40 minutes more to complete their viewing.
When we returned to the conference headquarters we bumped into the rest of the Aussie contingent and all jumped in a cab to drive out into the suburbs to a strip that abounds in restaurants and night clubs. My goodness what choice!! We could have started with fondue, moved to Mexican, then had baclava in a third restaurant, etc. We opted for the Mexican and I had the Pork Tamale for a starter, followed by Mole con Pollo, which is.... wait for it... chocolate chicken!!! OH MY GAHD!! Then we wandered a couple of blocks over to Henderson St and found a bar where we had a nightcap before returning to our hotels. It was La Hacienda on Henderson which has FIFTY different tequilas. Yep, you heard right FIFTY! I'd already had enough to drink but I couldn't resist a sip to taste the very special tequila Valerie and Heather had... so smooth! Why can't we get such nice tequila at home? It was like the difference between an 18 year old scotch and a UDL can of scotch.
More great sessions the next day (we have all been given handbooks that have the information we are working through in them and CSU global will be organising a gathering so that interested folk can come along and hear our experiences -- we'll have our handbooks with us so anyone interested can get a recap of the main points and see the kind of assistance the AVID organisation gives to it's accredited teachers and tutors).
While networking I asked a couple of the people I spoke to this question:
The AVID program seems to me to just be really good pedagogy in practise. What makes it different?
Here are a couple of the replies:
Todd from Arkansas said (in his gorgeous drawl) 'As a member of AVID you have support, not just from the AVID co-ordinators but from every other AVID teacher. If you are stumped with something or try something and can't seem to get it to work, you can jump onto the web and you have access to help and advice from thousands of dedicated AVID teachers.'
Angie said, 'If, as an AVID teacher, you implement AVID correctly in your AVID elective class, the AVID students go out to their other classes and THEY spread the knowledge and use of the tools, which helps to empower those 'students in the middle' that the AVID program is designed to work with.'
Today at lunch time, Heather and I went across to Fair Park and The Women's Museum. This museum is dedicated to telling the story of extraordinary women who have made a difference to America in some way; it celebrates women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B Anthony, Rosa Parks, etc. There is a special exhibition on, called Freedom's Sisters, which is about 20 heroic women who worked (and some are still working) for liberty and equality for women. Some of the African American women featured started universities, sought positions in government and the legal system so they could fight for the rights of all women and the rights of African Americans. Some like Rosa Parks just refused to be victimised (her quiet protest led to her being known as 'the mother of the modern civil rights movement'). A very powerful exhibition which made me proud to be a woman. It was definitely worth missing lunch for.
Well that's enough from me now,
Bye y'all,
Tracey
Monday, June 28, 2010
AVID: the conference
Hi all y'all,
Back again, missed out telling you about yesterday as it was mostly airports and flying again, up at 4:50 to catch the 8:00 am flight, which with time changes got us into Dallas around half past 1. Caught the shuttle out to our hotel, The Aloft... a boutique hotel only 1 year old. It's decorated in Industrial style, as if it is a half renovated warehouse... the walls are part unfinished concrete and partly timbered, partly mirrored -- very modern and to anyone who has travelled has the feel of a very upmarket youth hostel, with a pool table and games area in the foyer, and the breakfast bar has a microwave and coffee maker and you prepare your own brekky there. Oh! and it has a bar but no restaurant.
The rooms though are huge and have very high ceilings, large flat screen telly and two queen size beds. Tres chic!
Once we'd settled in, we walked up to the Hyatt at Reunion where half of the AVID conference is being held... 3 blocks and down the steps to the Concourse and we are right there within a few steps of Registration. We went up to Heather's room then set off to find the people we were having dinner with - not knowing what they look like. How do you find one person in a crowd of two thousand? Step out of the lift and bump into a man stepping in - and reading his name tag realise it's the person you were looking for. Serendipitous!
We had dinner at the Adolphus Hotel - an ultra posh, classic old hotel, which has been beautifully renovated, with lots of gorgeous wood panelling, lush plants and heavily framed paintings. Down in the basement there is a western themed restaurant where we threw the peanut shells on the floor and ordered Texan meals like sticky ribs and pork steaks cut porterhouse style, and pasta starters large enough to feed two.
A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP - and the whole world takes on a much rosier hue -- even the pouring rain (who said Texas was a desert state?) is a joke not a nuisance.
Today we started the conference at 8:00 am when we registered and worked out which special subjects we were going to attend. Kerri did Capturing Kids Hearts - about motivating students; Chloe and Millie did Avid Weekly and Critical Reading - Avid Weekly is a website with newspaper articles and a lesson plan template, critical reading is what it sounds like; I did a program called AAMI which is a branch of AVID that focuses specifically on African American males - and could be adapted for use with Indigenous Australian males. The session was a panel formed of leaders from about 7 different school districts which have trialled the program... by all accounts it is extremely successful, with students who are not included queueing up to be part of it... Heather did the session on transitioning from high school to college which links with the newest AVID project which is to continue the program on into the first year of university or college.
Next, we did the Newcomer's session which gave us all the information we'd need for the rest of the conference. Lunch was an hour and a half long which gave plenty of time for networking or going back to the hotel for a nap. I made a heap of great contacts from a Texan University professor, to a gentleman from Arkansas with a gorgeous southern drawl who is emailing me information on reaching out to ESL (ELL- English Language Learners - in the US) students and indigenous students, as that is also his area of interest.
Our first session after lunch was the Keynote speech by one of the first AVID students, who is now a teacher and AVID area director in Houston Texas, followed by our Site Leader workshops. The one we are assigned to is from the LA area and they are just setting up their AVID program, so we are learning AVID from the ground up... basically listening in on their discussions. We started with the eleventh and final AVID essential and have 3 articles to read for homework ready to be discussed in tomorrow's workshop. Each day we will discuss 3 more AVID essentials exploring what they are, how to implement them and what they look like in practise.
It's going to be a full on week, busy, we will be squeezing in a little sight seeing and lots of networking. Everyone is so kind and welcoming though that it doesn't feel like work.
So, enough from me, I need to get the washing out of the dryer and settle down with my pen and highlighter -- I've got homework to do,
Bye for now,
Tracey
Back again, missed out telling you about yesterday as it was mostly airports and flying again, up at 4:50 to catch the 8:00 am flight, which with time changes got us into Dallas around half past 1. Caught the shuttle out to our hotel, The Aloft... a boutique hotel only 1 year old. It's decorated in Industrial style, as if it is a half renovated warehouse... the walls are part unfinished concrete and partly timbered, partly mirrored -- very modern and to anyone who has travelled has the feel of a very upmarket youth hostel, with a pool table and games area in the foyer, and the breakfast bar has a microwave and coffee maker and you prepare your own brekky there. Oh! and it has a bar but no restaurant.
The rooms though are huge and have very high ceilings, large flat screen telly and two queen size beds. Tres chic!
Once we'd settled in, we walked up to the Hyatt at Reunion where half of the AVID conference is being held... 3 blocks and down the steps to the Concourse and we are right there within a few steps of Registration. We went up to Heather's room then set off to find the people we were having dinner with - not knowing what they look like. How do you find one person in a crowd of two thousand? Step out of the lift and bump into a man stepping in - and reading his name tag realise it's the person you were looking for. Serendipitous!
We had dinner at the Adolphus Hotel - an ultra posh, classic old hotel, which has been beautifully renovated, with lots of gorgeous wood panelling, lush plants and heavily framed paintings. Down in the basement there is a western themed restaurant where we threw the peanut shells on the floor and ordered Texan meals like sticky ribs and pork steaks cut porterhouse style, and pasta starters large enough to feed two.
A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP - and the whole world takes on a much rosier hue -- even the pouring rain (who said Texas was a desert state?) is a joke not a nuisance.
Today we started the conference at 8:00 am when we registered and worked out which special subjects we were going to attend. Kerri did Capturing Kids Hearts - about motivating students; Chloe and Millie did Avid Weekly and Critical Reading - Avid Weekly is a website with newspaper articles and a lesson plan template, critical reading is what it sounds like; I did a program called AAMI which is a branch of AVID that focuses specifically on African American males - and could be adapted for use with Indigenous Australian males. The session was a panel formed of leaders from about 7 different school districts which have trialled the program... by all accounts it is extremely successful, with students who are not included queueing up to be part of it... Heather did the session on transitioning from high school to college which links with the newest AVID project which is to continue the program on into the first year of university or college.
Next, we did the Newcomer's session which gave us all the information we'd need for the rest of the conference. Lunch was an hour and a half long which gave plenty of time for networking or going back to the hotel for a nap. I made a heap of great contacts from a Texan University professor, to a gentleman from Arkansas with a gorgeous southern drawl who is emailing me information on reaching out to ESL (ELL- English Language Learners - in the US) students and indigenous students, as that is also his area of interest.
Our first session after lunch was the Keynote speech by one of the first AVID students, who is now a teacher and AVID area director in Houston Texas, followed by our Site Leader workshops. The one we are assigned to is from the LA area and they are just setting up their AVID program, so we are learning AVID from the ground up... basically listening in on their discussions. We started with the eleventh and final AVID essential and have 3 articles to read for homework ready to be discussed in tomorrow's workshop. Each day we will discuss 3 more AVID essentials exploring what they are, how to implement them and what they look like in practise.
It's going to be a full on week, busy, we will be squeezing in a little sight seeing and lots of networking. Everyone is so kind and welcoming though that it doesn't feel like work.
So, enough from me, I need to get the washing out of the dryer and settle down with my pen and highlighter -- I've got homework to do,
Bye for now,
Tracey
Saturday, June 26, 2010
"Under the Boardwalk, Out of the Sun..."
Day 3. We woke early-ish and had breakfast (in the Club Room, of course), before catching the Metro down to Wilshire and Vermont and changing to the 720 Rapid Bus for the trip to Santa Monica Beach. The bus trip takes about 40 - 50 minutes and we saw some amazing architecture, elegant suburbs and sights like Tiffany's on the corner of Rodeo Drive as we passed (we decided to dedicate a day to the centre of Hollywood when we come back to LA before flying home to Sydney).
For today, we stayed on the bus until the end of the line and then strolled down to the pier and took in the sights. When we arrived the beach directly in front of the water was crowded with people all holding hands. It was 'Hands across the Sands' a protest against BP who haven't acted quickly enough to clean up the oil spill in the gulf (green view).
The Pier itself is pretty amazing with a mini amusement park, an old-fashioned carousel, buskers and painters and traders all along the sides, a few seafood restaurants and dozens of people fishing. Every now and then there are stairs down to small landings, floating docks, with yet more fishermen on them.
Then we had a sea food lunch: a couple of the girls had calamari and chips and I had the clam chowder in a bread bowl, which was absolutely delicious! All of this is up on the pier which is made from humungous wooden planks - very old and worn by the passing feet of generations of Santa Monicans with the nail heads all poking up, laying in wait to trip the unwary. I wonder if this is the famous boardwalk of the song? I've taken a photo looking diagonally back across the sea showing the huge posts holding up the pier and you can totally see how on a very hot day, it would be nice to sit in the cool under the boardwalk.
After lunch we wandered back up toward the bus stop but detoured along the Third Avenue Promenade which was three blocks long, blocked off to through traffic in a pedestrian mall, a bit like the Corso in Manly, but a much larger area. There were dozens of buskers here too and crowds milling around enjoying the sunshine - although the sun had come out, it wasn't horrendously hot, rather it was a very pleasant 77 degrees F (approx 23 - 24 degrees C). There are some pretty amazing topiary 'statues', well artworks, shaped like dinosaurs, with heads and spines of steel and bodies of living bush; again, I'll post pictures when I have access to a computer that has both the internet AND a card player [at the moment I have the internet on the hotel's computer but the card reader is on my notebook which cannot link to the internet].
By then we were back at the bus stop and so hopped back onto the Rapid bus for the trip back. On the way out to Santa Monica we'd been 'entertained' by an obnoxious man who spent about half of the trip arguing with the bus driver; thankfully, the trip back into town was devoid of argumentative people. In fact, people were polite and actively wanted to help us when they heard our accents. Although it doesn't sound like we did much it was a tiring day, being jostled by the bus was almost as good as a gym workout(!) on top of our walk: although Kerri says 'we didn't walk much, we sat on the bus most of the time'. Bear in mind though that Kerry is half my size and about 15 years younger.
Back at the Sheraton we were in time for the hors'douvres, and are packing up tonight ready to travel to Dallas tomorrow morning (Sunday). We leave the hotel just after 7 am to get to the airport on time for our flight. I'm looking forward to a couple more days in LA on the way home, there is so much to see.
CU L8R,
Tracey
PS: When organising a trip with people you don't know, it's best NOT to organise to share beds before you know each other well... The Sheraton is kind of dear for student pockets, so to save dollars we booked a double-double room (2 double beds in a twin configuration) which made this expensive hotel affordable; however I am REALLY looking forward to Dallas and having a double bed all to myself!! Mind you, this is NOT to say anyone in the group has been anything but considerate to one another and polite. It's just when you are jetlagged and need a good nights sleep it's easier when you have a bed you can squirm around in, if for instance, you have restless legs that itch and twitch through the night. *sigh*
For today, we stayed on the bus until the end of the line and then strolled down to the pier and took in the sights. When we arrived the beach directly in front of the water was crowded with people all holding hands. It was 'Hands across the Sands' a protest against BP who haven't acted quickly enough to clean up the oil spill in the gulf (green view).
The Pier itself is pretty amazing with a mini amusement park, an old-fashioned carousel, buskers and painters and traders all along the sides, a few seafood restaurants and dozens of people fishing. Every now and then there are stairs down to small landings, floating docks, with yet more fishermen on them.
Then we had a sea food lunch: a couple of the girls had calamari and chips and I had the clam chowder in a bread bowl, which was absolutely delicious! All of this is up on the pier which is made from humungous wooden planks - very old and worn by the passing feet of generations of Santa Monicans with the nail heads all poking up, laying in wait to trip the unwary. I wonder if this is the famous boardwalk of the song? I've taken a photo looking diagonally back across the sea showing the huge posts holding up the pier and you can totally see how on a very hot day, it would be nice to sit in the cool under the boardwalk.
After lunch we wandered back up toward the bus stop but detoured along the Third Avenue Promenade which was three blocks long, blocked off to through traffic in a pedestrian mall, a bit like the Corso in Manly, but a much larger area. There were dozens of buskers here too and crowds milling around enjoying the sunshine - although the sun had come out, it wasn't horrendously hot, rather it was a very pleasant 77 degrees F (approx 23 - 24 degrees C). There are some pretty amazing topiary 'statues', well artworks, shaped like dinosaurs, with heads and spines of steel and bodies of living bush; again, I'll post pictures when I have access to a computer that has both the internet AND a card player [at the moment I have the internet on the hotel's computer but the card reader is on my notebook which cannot link to the internet].
By then we were back at the bus stop and so hopped back onto the Rapid bus for the trip back. On the way out to Santa Monica we'd been 'entertained' by an obnoxious man who spent about half of the trip arguing with the bus driver; thankfully, the trip back into town was devoid of argumentative people. In fact, people were polite and actively wanted to help us when they heard our accents. Although it doesn't sound like we did much it was a tiring day, being jostled by the bus was almost as good as a gym workout(!) on top of our walk: although Kerri says 'we didn't walk much, we sat on the bus most of the time'. Bear in mind though that Kerry is half my size and about 15 years younger.
Back at the Sheraton we were in time for the hors'douvres, and are packing up tonight ready to travel to Dallas tomorrow morning (Sunday). We leave the hotel just after 7 am to get to the airport on time for our flight. I'm looking forward to a couple more days in LA on the way home, there is so much to see.
CU L8R,
Tracey
PS: When organising a trip with people you don't know, it's best NOT to organise to share beds before you know each other well... The Sheraton is kind of dear for student pockets, so to save dollars we booked a double-double room (2 double beds in a twin configuration) which made this expensive hotel affordable; however I am REALLY looking forward to Dallas and having a double bed all to myself!! Mind you, this is NOT to say anyone in the group has been anything but considerate to one another and polite. It's just when you are jetlagged and need a good nights sleep it's easier when you have a bed you can squirm around in, if for instance, you have restless legs that itch and twitch through the night. *sigh*
Friday, June 25, 2010
Universal Studios - Take 1
Day Two:
After a night of little sleep... we shall draw a discreet veil across the snoring and sleep talking... and blame it all on jet lag, we planned on rising about 7 a.m. so we could get an early start at Universal Studios. But, as is often the way with even the best laid plans... my alarm went off at 6:30. ooops!
So after our complimentary breakfast buffet in the Club Room we set off across the carpark and took the glass lift up the cliff face to the Sierra Ballroom's piazza (I think the ballroom is attached to the Hilton), then across a footbridge over the freeway to the gates. Inside we took the Back Lots Tour... fascinating stuff... past the sets, with snippets of movies being shown on the screens in each carriage to show when the sets were used - and such info as Leave it to Beaver's house is currently being re-used as part of Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives (the same house used across such a wide range of years).
It was fascinating seeing New York and Europe and totally imaginary lands all portrayed, higgledy-piggledy, cheek and jowl with each other in such a small area. When they build the streets they always have a curve in them, which makes the street look like it continues, but in reality there is a bit of a bend and then that New York back street becomes a turn of the last century country town's main road. For eg, there are 6 'Main Streets' from western towns, each with it's Sheriff's office and tavern, the other shops just have their signs changed and hey-presto a new town... ditto with Europe: there is ONE set, change the language of the street signs and/or the types of stalls and the clothes, and suddenly the steps of the temple in Jerusalem becomes a Roman forum... utterly fascinating stuff!
The girls all went off on a ride, while I went to a show that showed how animals are trained for the movies, it showed another one of the tricks, with a huge fan, a cute little blue and orange parrot (like the one in Pauley) flying in the one spot against the breeze...the camera shoots across the bird toward a green screen. At the same time on the big screen the shot of the bird is shown, but the editors edit in backgrounds of fields, sea and desert, ending with space and the bird looking back at earth as he flies off to another galaxy. Funny that seeing how it is done doesn't destroy the magic!
After about 5 and a half hours walking and checking out shows and rides, I decided I'd had enough and while the other 3 girls continued on with more rides (Waterworld, Jurassic Park and the House of Horrors) I walked back to the hotel for a nap [showing my age no doubt]. For lunch I had two "world famous" Californian (or American?) specialties: the Cinnabon (yummy but such a sugar overload!!) and a pulled pork sandwich.
I woke up when the girls got back and they too had a short lie down before we went back up to the Club Room for hors'douvres and then took a walk back up to the Universal lot. Outside the gates there are a heap of shops, restaurants and hotels, so we did some souvenir shopping getting back to the hotel about 10 ish. It's all fascinating... massive caramel apples that would feed a small family, and what seems like hundreds of flavours of chocolates, fudges, and sweets. There is a shop called Sugar, that has a statue of Marilyn Monroe made out of white jellybeans! amazing!
Then we returned to the hotel, checked emails and results from last semester (I've passed all my subjects... whew! as have the other girls on all the results they've received thus far), and now that this blog is done, I'm off to bed... after 11 pm and really tired, so I should sleep tonight... more sightseeing in the morning...
Hasta la vista, Baby (as they say in the movies)
Tracey
After a night of little sleep... we shall draw a discreet veil across the snoring and sleep talking... and blame it all on jet lag, we planned on rising about 7 a.m. so we could get an early start at Universal Studios. But, as is often the way with even the best laid plans... my alarm went off at 6:30. ooops!
So after our complimentary breakfast buffet in the Club Room we set off across the carpark and took the glass lift up the cliff face to the Sierra Ballroom's piazza (I think the ballroom is attached to the Hilton), then across a footbridge over the freeway to the gates. Inside we took the Back Lots Tour... fascinating stuff... past the sets, with snippets of movies being shown on the screens in each carriage to show when the sets were used - and such info as Leave it to Beaver's house is currently being re-used as part of Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives (the same house used across such a wide range of years).
It was fascinating seeing New York and Europe and totally imaginary lands all portrayed, higgledy-piggledy, cheek and jowl with each other in such a small area. When they build the streets they always have a curve in them, which makes the street look like it continues, but in reality there is a bit of a bend and then that New York back street becomes a turn of the last century country town's main road. For eg, there are 6 'Main Streets' from western towns, each with it's Sheriff's office and tavern, the other shops just have their signs changed and hey-presto a new town... ditto with Europe: there is ONE set, change the language of the street signs and/or the types of stalls and the clothes, and suddenly the steps of the temple in Jerusalem becomes a Roman forum... utterly fascinating stuff!
The girls all went off on a ride, while I went to a show that showed how animals are trained for the movies, it showed another one of the tricks, with a huge fan, a cute little blue and orange parrot (like the one in Pauley) flying in the one spot against the breeze...the camera shoots across the bird toward a green screen. At the same time on the big screen the shot of the bird is shown, but the editors edit in backgrounds of fields, sea and desert, ending with space and the bird looking back at earth as he flies off to another galaxy. Funny that seeing how it is done doesn't destroy the magic!
After about 5 and a half hours walking and checking out shows and rides, I decided I'd had enough and while the other 3 girls continued on with more rides (Waterworld, Jurassic Park and the House of Horrors) I walked back to the hotel for a nap [showing my age no doubt]. For lunch I had two "world famous" Californian (or American?) specialties: the Cinnabon (yummy but such a sugar overload!!) and a pulled pork sandwich.
I woke up when the girls got back and they too had a short lie down before we went back up to the Club Room for hors'douvres and then took a walk back up to the Universal lot. Outside the gates there are a heap of shops, restaurants and hotels, so we did some souvenir shopping getting back to the hotel about 10 ish. It's all fascinating... massive caramel apples that would feed a small family, and what seems like hundreds of flavours of chocolates, fudges, and sweets. There is a shop called Sugar, that has a statue of Marilyn Monroe made out of white jellybeans! amazing!
Then we returned to the hotel, checked emails and results from last semester (I've passed all my subjects... whew! as have the other girls on all the results they've received thus far), and now that this blog is done, I'm off to bed... after 11 pm and really tired, so I should sleep tonight... more sightseeing in the morning...
Hasta la vista, Baby (as they say in the movies)
Tracey
3 am Sleepless in LA
Episode 2:
We left Albury on time at quarter to 10 and arrived in Sydney 40 minutes later... with 10 hours to kill. We sat in a cafe, reading, talking, with short walks to look at the few shops until it was time to check in. YAY! there were heaps more shops after customs... much bigger and better shops as well.
Kerri happened to mention the small items she'd brought to give to the teachers in her strand discussion group and I thought "Oops! something ELSE I forgot!" But after cruising the souvenir shops, I found some lovely little gifts (wooden coasters made from Aussie timbers like blue gum, red box, etc and some funky little Australian grammars with the sub-title 'funetic slanguage' which I thought might appeal to the English teachers).
Then we sat in the boarding lounge... with an added hour waiting - there had a been a pile up on one of the freeways and 90 people were late for the flight, rather than ruin their holiday/business trip for something that wasn't their fault, V-Australia delayed the flight and tried to make up the time on the trip across the Pacific. Which we did!! we were only about 15 minutes late pulling into LAX.
About 13 hours in the air, a nice meal, watched How to train your dragon and Avatar with about 6 hours sleep in between. We were in the last 2 rows which meant a lot of noise and every one who used the loo brushed past me. Not ideal sleeping conditions - so it's probably a good thing that I tend to be a bit of an insomniac, sleeping in fits and starts. So anyway, we arrived in LA around 6pm WST.
Then another 2 hours to get through Immigration, Baggage Claim and Customs and we were finally outside looking for our Shuttle to the Sheraton Universal. It took about 40 minutes to get across LA, a huge city of 9.8 million people (2009 figures, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html). It was sooo strange that there weren't trees like we are used to... only these great triffid like palm trees peering over the tops of the buildings in massive droves...I wonder if Wyndham ever travelled to LA?
Anyhow, eventually at about 9:15 we made it down to the restaurant only to be told it was closed, but the bar was open for snacks and there's room service. Not in our room... with four of us in a smallish room and only 2 seats in it! The other girls decided to walk down to the Hard Rock Cafe, but after approximately 26 hours of travel, I didn't want to walk another step - not when we have all day tomorrow at Universal Studios!!! Exciting! So I ordered a delicious herb crusted sea-bass served on a bed of warm vermouth, potato and tomato granita, Mmmm, Yumm-oh! Then bed for two hours and neither Chloe or I could sleep, so here we are at 3:45 am in the computer lounge catching up on emails and blogging, etc...
So that's the flight, and I will soon be off to catch another 3 hours shut eye before our big day tomorrow.
CU L8R,
Tracey
We left Albury on time at quarter to 10 and arrived in Sydney 40 minutes later... with 10 hours to kill. We sat in a cafe, reading, talking, with short walks to look at the few shops until it was time to check in. YAY! there were heaps more shops after customs... much bigger and better shops as well.
Kerri happened to mention the small items she'd brought to give to the teachers in her strand discussion group and I thought "Oops! something ELSE I forgot!" But after cruising the souvenir shops, I found some lovely little gifts (wooden coasters made from Aussie timbers like blue gum, red box, etc and some funky little Australian grammars with the sub-title 'funetic slanguage' which I thought might appeal to the English teachers).
Then we sat in the boarding lounge... with an added hour waiting - there had a been a pile up on one of the freeways and 90 people were late for the flight, rather than ruin their holiday/business trip for something that wasn't their fault, V-Australia delayed the flight and tried to make up the time on the trip across the Pacific. Which we did!! we were only about 15 minutes late pulling into LAX.
About 13 hours in the air, a nice meal, watched How to train your dragon and Avatar with about 6 hours sleep in between. We were in the last 2 rows which meant a lot of noise and every one who used the loo brushed past me. Not ideal sleeping conditions - so it's probably a good thing that I tend to be a bit of an insomniac, sleeping in fits and starts. So anyway, we arrived in LA around 6pm WST.
Then another 2 hours to get through Immigration, Baggage Claim and Customs and we were finally outside looking for our Shuttle to the Sheraton Universal. It took about 40 minutes to get across LA, a huge city of 9.8 million people (2009 figures, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html). It was sooo strange that there weren't trees like we are used to... only these great triffid like palm trees peering over the tops of the buildings in massive droves...I wonder if Wyndham ever travelled to LA?
Anyhow, eventually at about 9:15 we made it down to the restaurant only to be told it was closed, but the bar was open for snacks and there's room service. Not in our room... with four of us in a smallish room and only 2 seats in it! The other girls decided to walk down to the Hard Rock Cafe, but after approximately 26 hours of travel, I didn't want to walk another step - not when we have all day tomorrow at Universal Studios!!! Exciting! So I ordered a delicious herb crusted sea-bass served on a bed of warm vermouth, potato and tomato granita, Mmmm, Yumm-oh! Then bed for two hours and neither Chloe or I could sleep, so here we are at 3:45 am in the computer lounge catching up on emails and blogging, etc...
So that's the flight, and I will soon be off to catch another 3 hours shut eye before our big day tomorrow.
CU L8R,
Tracey
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Adventure Begins
Well, here it is 23rd June and tomorrow we set off for the AVID Conference in Dallas Texas. Finally, after all the paperwork is done, I have time to take a few minutes to draw a deep breath and assess where I'm at:
My prac is finished, I've written up my reflections and my journal, been to CSU to drop it in the box. I'm almost organised for next semester. All the travel side of things is in place:
Passport? - check
eTickets? - check
Travel insurance? - check
Accommodation booked? - check
Book to read on plane? - check
Clothes, shoes etc all washed and packed? - check
Cats' carer organised? - check
Lift to airport organised? - check
Everything is falling into place so smoothly, its left me wondering what I've forgotten. Oh I know, I knew there'd be something... I'm supposed to book us into the Medieval Experience for dinner on the Wednesday night in Dallas. Well, if that's all I've forgotten that's OK...
The plan is we leave Australia at 8:30 Thursday night, travel for 13.5 hours and arrive in LA at 5:30... three hours before we leave. lol - time travel R us!!
Then we'll spend a couple of days sightseeing in LA (Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Universal Studios etc); then onto Dallas for the AVID Conference (there are a couple of museums we want to see, the aforementioned restaurant experience, an official luncheon, etc to keep us busy there); then the Grand Canyon on the 4th of July (sleeping at Vegas for a couple of nights); San Francisco, with dinner at Fisherman's Wharf and a tour of Alcatraz (not sure if there'll be time to drive up to see the giant sequoias, we'll have to wing it a bit and see), finally returning to LA for a day or so before we fly home.
I'll log on every couple of days to update this blog, and if I can't for some reason, one of the others might find time to fill in for me. I'll try to post photos, although I will have to work out HOW to do that... I'm new to blogging - I guess the old Irishman was right "You're never safe from learning something new, until you're dead!"
CU L8R,
Tracey
PS I'll introduce the rest of our little caravan (Chloe, Kerri, Millie & Heather) in the next blog.
My prac is finished, I've written up my reflections and my journal, been to CSU to drop it in the box. I'm almost organised for next semester. All the travel side of things is in place:
Passport? - check
eTickets? - check
Travel insurance? - check
Accommodation booked? - check
Book to read on plane? - check
Clothes, shoes etc all washed and packed? - check
Cats' carer organised? - check
Lift to airport organised? - check
Everything is falling into place so smoothly, its left me wondering what I've forgotten. Oh I know, I knew there'd be something... I'm supposed to book us into the Medieval Experience for dinner on the Wednesday night in Dallas. Well, if that's all I've forgotten that's OK...
The plan is we leave Australia at 8:30 Thursday night, travel for 13.5 hours and arrive in LA at 5:30... three hours before we leave. lol - time travel R us!!
Then we'll spend a couple of days sightseeing in LA (Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Universal Studios etc); then onto Dallas for the AVID Conference (there are a couple of museums we want to see, the aforementioned restaurant experience, an official luncheon, etc to keep us busy there); then the Grand Canyon on the 4th of July (sleeping at Vegas for a couple of nights); San Francisco, with dinner at Fisherman's Wharf and a tour of Alcatraz (not sure if there'll be time to drive up to see the giant sequoias, we'll have to wing it a bit and see), finally returning to LA for a day or so before we fly home.
I'll log on every couple of days to update this blog, and if I can't for some reason, one of the others might find time to fill in for me. I'll try to post photos, although I will have to work out HOW to do that... I'm new to blogging - I guess the old Irishman was right "You're never safe from learning something new, until you're dead!"
CU L8R,
Tracey
PS I'll introduce the rest of our little caravan (Chloe, Kerri, Millie & Heather) in the next blog.
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