New York - Philadelphia - Baltimore...so far!

We have enjoyed three nights in New York getting our bearing in "The Big Apple" and checking out a local school. On arriving on Thursday evening, we dropped the bags and headed for Times Square just a quick stroll from the hotel. They obviously don't get their electricity from TXU at the rate we were charged! It was a real eye opener for two small town Principals. Had dinner and dropped into a bar to watch the lead up game to the World Series with the locals - NY Yankees and Philadelphia ....wouldn't you know it. so ...in NY we follow the Yankees and in Philadelphia we support Phillie! That keeps all the natives happy.

We were on the streets early on Friday morning for a run in Central Park. Later, we were disappointed to find our Friday morning appointment with the Principal at Midtown West Elementary had to be cancelled. We are hoping to reschedule for later in our trip. Despite it being a very cold and windy day, we walked for miles and miles all over the city. We found all kinds of interesting places in Soho and Greenwich Village - our kind of places. Initiated ourselves in the use of the subway - now there's an education. I got chastised by the very large and grumpy man in the ticket booth. They don't come out from behind the glass and only speak to you over a PA system so the entire station can hear, and, I obviously wasn't doing it right and EVERYONE heard about it.

On Saturday, after another run in the Park ( see, we talk like locals now "The Park!"), we headed off to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). To walk in and be surrounded by Monets, Van Goghs and Pollocks that were all immediately recognisable was amazing. Even Ray's phone screen saver was on display - Van Gogh's "Starry Night". As we left, the rain started, so a walk through the Park was out of the question. But ...wait...there's the Plaza Hotel! That looks like an ok place to have a quiet drink and dinner. A quick trip back to the hotel to pack bags for the morning, jump on subway and before you know it we are sitting up with the top end of towners in the lap of luxury.

Sunday morning, another early run before taking the subway to Pennsylvania Station ( you know...Chatanooga Choo Choo!) to catch the train to Philadelphia. This turned into a magical trip with the most spectacular autumn foliage and scenery, beyond imagination. Our friends, Chris and Jay, picked us up and we went back to their beautiful home in Penn Valley. This is an idyllic area of magnificent homes set amongst a forest of autumn trees. On our walk through the neighbourhood, squirrels scampered through the leaves and as we returned home just after dusk, there were deer on the neighbours front lawn.

Roberts Elementary School

Monday turned out to be a wonderful day. We visited two schools over the course of the day, which was really too much of a rush but that was all the time we had in Philadelphia. In the morning, we found our way to Roberts Elementary School. Roberts is a school of around 330 children from K- 4. The principal, Sharon Kuznick, and her staff were incredibly welcoming, greeting us with a large sign announcing our visit. As the recipients of a national award from the National Network of Partnership Schools ( the organisatioon whose conference we are attending), a group of students made a presentation to us about their Global Literacies Program inwhich the school worked with students from Temple University to investigate the cultural stereotypes connected with Middle Eastern countries. The students had conducted all kinds of research and linked up with penpals in Kuwait. They had presented their information through a slide show and movie made with a flip camera. One of the children taught me to use the flip camera (quite an achievement in itself!). The children also showed us the episodes of ROBTV they have created for viewing about school events linked to their website. I can just see GIPSTV on the big foyer screen any minute now! Roberts Elementary School is a beautifully presented environment with friendly, engaged students and a highly professional staff and leadership. Three hours has never flown so fast. Our very strong impression was that there are more similarities than differences between our schools and Roberts Elementary.

Friends' Select School

Next, we were off to visit Friends' Select School, Elementary Campus. Friends' is a private school based on the Quaker philosophy of care and service. Both these values were clearly evident in the people and the programs. Principal, Joe Ludwig, and his Assistant Principal, Lou, were most gracious and generous hosts who provide a strong leadership team to the school and community. Set in a wonderful, historic building, the classrooms were a range of unusual sizes and shapes. The school was working on a special literature theme where each class was exploring literary craft through a different story or theme. Classes were elaborately decorated with castles, ships, animals, knights in shining armour and more. One Kindergarten class gave us an impromptu performance of a series of songs from Mary Poppins. Again, more than three hours passed in next to no time. There was a great deal of professional dialogue about our respective education systems and the differences in community involvement between the public and private settings. Then, it was on the road for the two hour drive to Baltimore. We are fortunate to have the use of Chris and Jay's BMW. Ray is doing a great job of managing driving on the "wrong" side and I am having enough nervous breakdowns for both of us. More later about Conference Day 1.