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TEACHER TRAVELS
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China Justine Forrester Eighth Age Teacher Justine Forrester traveled to China for two weeks in June to learn more about China’s people and rich culture. Through her travels, Justine will be able to share authentic learning experiences with the Eighth Age students as they, too, travel to China via the Expedition Calvert geography program. “It is imperative that today’s young American students be educated with the understanding that China is, and will be, a significant influence in their lives,” Forrester says. In preparation for her trip, Justine acquired some basic Mandarin. Once there, she immersed herself in the language and took language lessons in Yangshuo. Justine photographed, hiked, and biked the varied terrain to experience firsthand the landforms of China. She also trekked 18 kilometers along a lesser-known section of the Great Wall over the course of two days. Justine visited the ancient Terracotta Warriors and
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Longmen Grottoes to learn about important Chinese landmarks. She spent four days cycling and trekking through villages known for their rice paddies and terraces, cultivated by local farmers and plowed by water buffalo, to learn about rice cultivation. To discover more about the Chinese people, Justine biked through Beijing neighborhoods on a cycling tour, used public transportation, interacted with rural farmers on a homestay visit, and enjoyed a home-cooked meal. Justine’s excursion to China will provide invaluable enhancements to the Expedition Calvert curriculum, and, in turn, further inspire the Eighth Age students as they “travel the globe”—particularly their stop in China—for a journey they surely will not forget.
Hawaii Alex Sloane Alex Sloane, Middle School science teacher, traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii in June to take part in an in-depth study of one of the most diverse and vulnerable ecosystems on the planet—coral reefs. While there, she attended the Coral Reef Symposium held by the International Society for Reef Studies, which occurs once every four years and brings together scientists, policy-makers, and natural resource managers from around the world. The location of the conference allowed Alex to explore several reef systems and unique marine ecosystems while meeting with experts in the field. “These are invaluable experiences that I will share with my students,” says Alex. The second half of the Seventh Grade science curriculum is dedicated to the
diversity of living organisms on earth. She and her students explore the unique characteristics of the six biological kingdoms, with special focus on the extraordinary diversity and adaptations of plants and animals. “Students are always excited to learn about unfamiliar organisms with unusual survival mechanisms and symbioses,” says Alex. “Hawaii offers a wide range of climates and ecosystems that highlight many unique adaptations. This travel grant allowed me to increase my content knowledge of species’ diversity and inspired me to create new projects to enhance this portion of the curriculum.” Climate change is a pressing environmental issue with wide-reaching impacts around the globe. “It is likely that Calvert students will be faced with the effects of climate change during their lifetime. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we educate them on scientific research on climate change and encourage innovative thinking to find solutions,” says Sloane.