9/6/13 – Potter Travelling Scholarship Report

I guess it is no surprise to those who know me, that I have accumulated a vast amount of information about education in the USA while we have been living over here in NYC. Yesterday I realised just how much stuff there is as I spent most of the day organising the information into a chronological diary. Today I spent some time drawing together common themes/innovations and their implications for WC in general and, more specifically, our Middle School, the Year 8 Team and my own teaching.  I am looking forward to writing this report as the US has much to offer in terms of ideas with new technologies and opportunities for rich partnerships.

Ideas worth pursuing for today include a child safety innovation that we saw that operate in the areas around the local schools when students are arriving or are dismissed for the day. As many people deliver and collect their kids in cars particularly 4WD (only some are dispatched by a limo service) they have in the drop off and pick up zones – bright green little plastic people with the logo – ‘I’m only this tall – can you see me?’ The other good idea we saw was when students are arriving or leaving school, the ‘cats eyes’ that mark the pedestrian crossings in local streets flash thereby warning drivers of the need to be alert when children are waiting to cross. This might help decrease the risk to ‘lollipop people’ when they ‘pop out’ onto the street at crossings.  It also serves to remind people of the speed limit if you missed the signs indicating the school zone.

Finally, we still haven’t seen or heard the promised ‘once in a 17 year cycle’ plague of cicadas?