How Was DC?

It was informative.  It was energizing.  It was communicative.  It was collaborative.  It was creative.  It encouraged critical thinking.  It was historical.  It was global.  It was fantastic.

The weekend was spent feeling very honored for our school and for myself that Principal Corey Barton, Ed.D. could spend 3 days away from his family for the TGC Symposium February 18-20.  Thank you to his gracious wife and kids for allowing me to borrow Dr. B..  Thanks to the staff at home who kept daily operations going during the absence.  Thank you to my family, nuclear and extended, for the support and encouragement during this program.

We met teachers and administrators from across the U.S., including my IFE partner teacher, Todd Noyes from Ithaca, New York.  Todd is a math teacher and upbeat, positive, brilliant gentleman.  I roomed with the always entertaining Walt Davis from South Carolina.  He is a U.S. Jr. Air Force ROTC instructor and student of human behavior.

Teachers spent the weekend learning about the countries each cohort will visit this spring and summer.  Administrators were given an introduction to global competencies in education.  There was a lot of brain power at these meetings.  I left feeling very confident in all the colleagues involved.

TGC fellows and administrators met for an evening reception on the day of arrival which was a big hit.  It was good to get acquainted with all the teachers we'd been working with during the online course, in person.  The next day and a half was spent hearing about global education from global citizen/teachers and working together on curriculum reviewing and refinement.  The TGC staff was a pleasure to meet and partner with as well.

The food was good.  The hotel was very nice and the Capitol building was in view down the street.  There were a couple of opportunities for sightseeing without booking extra days.  A little election year satire on the last night in D.C. didn't hurt either.  The weather was chilly but not unbearable.  Overall, it was an extremely worthwhile experience and increased the travelers' comfort level, with upcoming IFE's, for all who participated.

The Moroccan cohort consists of 15 teachers and a TGC in country rep who will accompany the group.  They're all great teachers.  Over the next two weeks, we will all have the humbling opportunity to experience the culture of the Kingdom of Morocco.  This will be an excellent backdrop for our time in Moroccan schools.  We are a fortunate and grateful team.

See ya on down the trail,...

OinM