To Travels and Applications

I have an excellent excuse...I mean, REASON...for not blogging during February! It's difficult to write a blog entry when you have very spotty satellite WI-FI in the rural areas of Southeast Asia!

For a good part of the month of February I was either preparing for a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, or I was there. This wonderful trip was a gift to my husband and me for our 25th Anniversary. We had a marvelous time.

One of the highlights (although I will admit it comes after the temples of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat) was visiting a Cambodian school.

Several things are important to remember about education in Cambodia: Pol Pot murdered millions of Cambodians in the 1970s. The victims were the educated: teachers, professors, engineers, doctors, lawyers, judges, and religious personnel. As a result of his "Year Zero" policies, an entire generation went uneducated simply because there was no one to teach them. Now, education is compulsory for grades 1-6; however, it costs money to attend a "public" school where the teacher is only two years above a secondary school graduate. (That's right. Education college takes only two years.) Uniforms, tuition, supplies...these are out of reach for many Cambodians so their children stay home.

Grades 7-12 are optional, and the time spent in school is usually only a half-day because of the lack of teachers. The secondary school we visited concentrates on teaching English and computer skills. Students attend the village school for half a day, and then attend this school the other half or in the evening. ("Half" is a misleading term; they are in school for 2-1/2 hours.) The problem with the English classes? The teachers have only some experience in reading the language, less in speaking it. Computers? Ten for a school of 500 students. Despite these obstacles, the school is doing amazing work.

Now that I'm back, I've had to work diligently on my DENSI 2018 application. What is DENSI? (pronounced den-s-eye) It's a summer institute by the Discovery Education Network. With new features like the studio boards, I hope to attend in order to learn all the ins-and-outs to share with my staff and district. The video is finished! (Yes, there is a video component to the application.) I've uploaded my application and now have to wait...as patiently as possible...