Plenty of Plenary and Presentation

Alliteration aside . . . the experience at the Discovery Center in Madison was great!  We started off with a keynote speaker and the plenary presentations.  Two SOAR leaders presented their work to a room full of other students (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000).  Very proud of their efforts and success!

We started out with a little Starbucks in the morning to get ready for the day.

Ylliana and Mariah did a great job presenting their paintings to the room.

I think they're natural-born presenters.  It's a lot of pressure but they spoke well and got through it just fine.  Afterwards, all the SOAR students put their presentations out on display for everyone to see.

What a great place to meet people and talk about their presentations.

I'm really glad we did this book study and committed to the presentations in Madison.  Not only did students get a chance to show off their skills and ideas, but they did it in a place that wasn't in front of the rest of the SOAR students.  Hmmmm . . . I wonder if they presented their projects in front of, say, a council, the board, parents . . . then they would get oration credit without having to set up at the end of the learning cycle.

Boy, do I have some good ideas sometimes.  Now if the students would only read my blog and take my advice.  At least Mariah will.

Small world, I even got to see one of my Golda Meir students.

Expedition Madison

Eagle River to Madison (5:12PM post)

Shortly after sleeping a few minutes after arriving late from the German trip, it was off to Madison for the Great World Texts conference with SOAR HS students.  Six brave souls were ready to attend this inaugural trip for our school to the conference and we're hoping for an awesome take on the book study.  Thankfully, Ms. Perry drove while I tried to get myself comfortable in another vehicle for the ride down.

A great group to drive in the breadbox van to Madison.  There was much excited talking going on and one (Mariah) chilling out to some music (out of frame to the right)

What's a little travel without a stop to get some ice cream along the way?  Lunch in Stevens Point at Noodles and Papa John's.  We actually ate the PJ Pizza in Noodles after it was done.  Finished the stopover with a nostalgic ride through the university.  Ms. Perry and I both attended at the same time but didn't know each other.  How strange the world works. 

Final stop on the drive down to look at the big pink elephant.  Strange guy at the counter that commented on how little the girls wanted to talk to him while they were inside.  Quite a bit of flooding in this area with the melt and rains.  Didn't slow us down at all.

 This is a great time to stop and write a little about the Expedition we're on.  Ms. Perry and I were discussing it on the way down.  One of the visions we have for the future of our School of Options and Applied Research is to encourage more experiential learning.  We'd love for students to pick a destination or experience and use that as primary sources for their learning options.  We're slowly moving away from the idea that it's all about THE PROJECT and focusing on the LEARNING.  Projects can and will be a part of it, but only a part of it . . . an option.  My time in Germany spoke loudly to me about how important those experiences are.

Anyway, back to the Expedition at hand.  All of SOAR HS participated in reading the Great World Text A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.  Six of the students are launching off of that study to participate in the plenary and presentation at the UW Madison campus.  We, as advisors, took a chance at the opportunity to come down and hope it's going to be a wonderful experience.  We've got amazing paintings, creative and engaging View Finder stills, original poetry, excellent musical composition and even technology in the form of 3D rendering.  All of these are Artifacts, part of the Curate part of the Learning Cycle and all Options for learning.  I swell with pride.

We were provided with a stipend as part of the program and that allowed us to ensure that students participating in the expedition were not limited by the financial burden that this kind of travel has.  We're providing lodging, meals and transportation.  All students can achieve this through fundraising and hard work.  The hotel is pretty awesome as well.

Nice hotel that didn't break the budget.

Indoor pool and play area

Taking time to enjoy the hot tub and waterslides before dinner.  May have dropped my phone in the water - good think I have a Strong-proof case!

Probably been 10-15 years since I relaxed in a hot tub myself.  Worse ways to unwind after 24 hours of travel back from Germany.

Even though I just traveled around 9000 miles (plus on-the-ground travel) in the last eleven days, I'm struck by the number of opportunities right here in our good-old state.  I hope to see more chances being taken in learning by all SOAR students.

(5:24 Pause)

April 8 (6:14AM)

Great night last night out for dinner at Dave and Buster's.  I love this restaurant not only because you can get some great food, but there's an enormous arcade here as well.  Playing Space Invaders on a huge screen is an easy way to forget that you're spending money on a game.  Thinking about that, however, makes me remember that there was something special about an arcade.  When I was young and video games were coming into popular culture, we would pump quarter after quarter into the machines and forget about the rest of the world for a while.  Everyone in the arcade was immersed in a world of flashing lights, loud music and pure adrenaline-filled entertainment.  It wasn't long after that the home console emerged and people played games on the family TV for hours.  

I grew up with the Atari and Nintendo when I was living at home and enjoyed the time I spent challenging myself to compete against a fantasy world filled with games that honed reflexes, problem solving and critical thinking skills.  Adult reactions were much the same as they are now; seeing this as a waste of time or distraction from the real world.  In the last thirty years I've seen games evolve into highly immersive environments and quickly become intense social events as well as professional competitions.  Really makes me think about a think involving games in all societies.  Historically, all civilizations have used them for a variety of reasons.  It's definitely something worth looking further into.

Over the past couple of years I've been drawn into the massive Space Invaders reboot.  I played this as a child in the arcade and on the original Atari 2600.  It's pure fun and I walked away with 3500 tickets.  

All of our Expedition students enjoyed a good meal, lots of laughs and a great social outing.  Learning experiences should be a combination of all of these things.

Without a doubt there are a lot of ways to learn.  Sometimes and Expedition doesn't seem like it's chocked full of intense conferences, notes on paper or even a weekly blog, but all of the experiences together make memories that will last a lifetime.  I especially enjoyed listening to students talk about how much they love the kind of learning they're experiencing at SOAR and both of us become renewed with excitement and commitment to the school and providing options for all students to learn.

Shortly after dinner the students were able to spend the tickets at the prize shop and much silliness followed.  We laughed hard at the melody of many kazoos, admired the Expedition mascot in the form of a green dragon and were amazed at the adhesive properties of a tiny hand with suspiciously molded fingernails.  I will definitely always remember this experience.

Today we challenge ourselves to further our Learning Expedition with the conference and I'm excited to see students stand up and be counted amongst 1000 other students from across the state as they celebrate their understanding of the book study and show everyone how creative and clever they are with their projects.

 (6:30AM)

Heidelberg Before Home

Heidelberg April 6 (5:00 AM)

Yesterday was a ton of driving, a lot of sleeping on the bus and getting ready for a day of travel for the 4,235 mile trip home.  Can’t say I’m looking forward to all of the seat time we’re going to get, but it will work out at the end of the day.  Actually, we’ll be traveling back in time and landing getting to Detroit roughly the same time we left Frankfurt.

Traveling from Switzerland to Germany again brought us through the Black Forest via many wonderful snowy mountaintops and hills.

Nice time for a group photo in front of the huge cuckoo clock.

Even in the snow the planted flowers were standing tall.  I’m ready for spring.

On the walk to the bus from the cuckoo shop we came across an abandoned house.  I loved the architecutre and think this would be a fun one to restore. 

Walking underground in Heidelberg 

Great group of chaperones to travel through Germany with!

Luckily, the whomping willows didn’t get us along the way.

Equally great group of students to go through Germany with!

Took a break and Abi treated us to a cappuccino to get away from the rain and cold.

I’m just going to add the trip back on Saturday to this post since it was mostly travel.  We flew overseas on a big plane again.  No one seemed to sleep and we are exhausted.  Everyone is looking forward to getting back home but sad that the trip was over.  What a great way to spend time with these students and experience these countries for the second time!

The night before we left I got a quick shot out the window in my tiny room.  It’s an enclosed kind of courtyard that seems to be pretty common.

Everyone engaging in what seems to be the only pastime for teens any more.  Whether traveling or stopping, the phone was never far from their eyes or thoughts.  I hope they were able to see all the sights as well.

Outside the hotel in Heidelberg the morning we were headed for the plane. 

                                              

What good is a butterfly wreath without time for a little butterfly dance?

Finally, I thought a lot of thinks and spent a lot of time reflecting on the world.  There’s a billion different things I can do a project about, but what I like most about this is the first-hand experiences I had on the trip.  I didn’t do a lot of planning for what I was going to see and I noticed a lot of things I didn’t think I’d notice but in the end it adds up to a whole lot of memories that I can tie into my learning.

It is, however, exhausting:

Layover in Detroit.

Up the Mountain

Luzern - 5:32 AM

Yesterday was wet and snowy.  There was a prediction for up to 3’ of snow in the mountain area, but thankfully it was wet an heavy and what we actually got was a sloppy day without any accumulation. Good day for my German expedition hat and some warm clothing.  It does make me think about the amount of money and time we spend on gear to help us enjoy the different climates we encounter.  Would be cool to design some; probably have to learn how to sew.  Be even cooler to look into the evolution of some of this stuff.  My nylon backpack I bought 20 years ago when I went back to college (from a big-box store) finally quit on me and I purchased a simple canvas rucksack.  I like the simplicity of it except inside it’s been modernized to feature a laptop sleeve and nylon compartments as well as a zipper.  Looks classic on the outside, but not on the inside.  Kind of makes me want to get one that’s less “bought at a tourist trap” and more authentic or rugged.  This could be the new expedition bag.

Since the weather was bad it was kind of a slow day.  We went to see the lion monument right away in the morning.  This is a sad place and the monument is heart-wrenching.  The lion is depicted in his last moments before dying and symbolizes a catastrophic blow to the Swiss guard.  The history surrounding the guard itself is very interesting and I was reminded that they are the official guard for the pope.

Without good weather this normally busy place was empty except for us.

Good time for a group pic.  Got some use out of the umbrellas we packed - the hotel we stayed in even had them available in the rooms to use or buy.

After the monument, actually just a block or so away, we stopped at a couple of the local shops to check out the Swiss Army knives and other gifts.  I was super excited since I love to give them as gifts to my family members (nephews on graduation, brothers just because).  Back when I was a kid (probably junior high) I was given a special knife.  It was special to me because it was given by a friend of my father on one of his visits.  We never received anything like this from him, but his friend brought the coolest knife we’d ever seen.  Anyway, the knife featured a locking blade (new in the 80’s) and a release on the side to unlock it.  This knife was in my pocket until I lost it somewhere in college many years later.  I always wanted another one but could never find that specific design.  When I was here in 2011 I purchased four of the military issue knives.  This year I found a shop that had three of the discontinued “old” style locking knives that I remember from my youth.  Not exactly the same features, but exactly the same design.  I bought them, plus a hunter model for myself (orange instead of red).  It will be a special day when I am able to give them to important people in my life; kind of a full-circle thing.

I like to take a picture of the purchase in Switzerland.  Even though I can buy them online it’s something special to pick them up in the country they’re made.  4500 miles they will travel back to be given as gifts.

After the monument we went to the mountain to complete our Luzern goal - go up and stand at the top.  It was snowing so there wasn’t a great amount of sightseeing ability, but the cable car was still cool and I got to spend some time at the top hanging out with Myria.

You have to hop into the car as it’s coming by.  Kind of like a ski lift without any skis.  Four to a car. 

View of the hotel and complex at the top of the mountain.  Lots of snow, not much view below but the caves were cool.  Legend has it that there was a dragon that lived in them.

Even though we couldn’t see far down the mountain or climb any more up it, we had plenty of fun feeding the birds.

 

My Expedition hat worked wonderfully both for the rain and snow as well as for the birds. Funny how they learned well how to manipulate tourists into feeding them.  We used trail mix.

The final days adventure involved walking down into the square and getting some more shopping done.  I’m not much of a shopping person and, with the exception of the knives, don’t plan to bring anything back except maybe a little chocolate for the students.  Even so, it was neat to people watch a little and look at the different gifts available.  There was everything from clothing to 140,000 Euro Rolex watches.  I thought about picking up some chocolate but found it hard to pay $32 per kg for it. Maybe I’ll hit the grocery store across from the hotel and pick some up for 1/3 the price.

It was cool to go across the bridge into town especially since it was covered.  Lots of history everywhere.

Today is an early start for everyone as we load the bus by 7 and head back towards Germany.  There’s a castle, cuckoo clock, Black Forest and lots of driving for this final day before we travel.

(6:02 AM)

Luzern

April 4, Luzern (6:44 AM)

Lots of driving yesterday with our final stop in Luzern, Switzerland.  Even though the ride was long, we were treated to beautiful scenery along the way.

Everywhere we went we could look out at least one side of the bus and marvel at the majesty that the Alps provide.  I’ve seen mountains before and they’re always amazing.  Like many others I’m sure, I think I could enjoy living here.  That might change after several years, but it’s still nice to visit and think about it.  Maybe travel is in the forecast for my future.  Sure is a great way to learn about the world.

Our first stop of the day (after a grocery store) was in Lichtenstein.  A small country of around 20,000 people, it’s a neat place to get your passport stamped and grab an ice cream cone. One of the most interesting and popular ones among our group was called Magical Unicorn.  No one floated away with magical majesty afterwards, but they seemed pretty content with, what appeared to me, blue moon ice cream.  Still very cool to learn about this little country and stop by for a visit.  There’s so much world history surrounding me right now that I could spend a lot of time learning about it.

Which actually leads me to my own learning revelation.  Ok, maybe not so much a revelation but a reassertion.  I really enjoy hearing and learning about the people.  There’s a lot of history and information that blankets a region and most of it is focused on the political rulers of the time.  I really enjoy hearing the stories of the people; preferably from the people themselves.  There’s rich history in the stories of human beings.  I would like to find some literature from the region and read it.

Took a seat on a bench to remind myself and the group that we need to celebrate diversity in all forms.

Walking around Innsbruck with the group gave me a chance to see the city. We were able to check out some of the shops, buy some gifts for friends and family back home as well as absorb the culture. Many of the

 Took time to learn about the golden roof on this location from Gavin.  What a great opportunity to apply the learning! I can’t say enough about how important this trip is for students who want to learn about the world and need to experience life.  Several conversations with Gavin during this trip come back to his desire to stay in ER and how he’s happy being a local. This experience, however also helps him appreciate the value in visiting other places and seeing their culture.

Once again we stopped inside the amazing Tyrolese Museum of Folk Art. Inside is this courtyard with statues, pigeons and a combination of stonework with nature.  This is an ongoing theme in many of the places we’ve visited.  The balance of nature with innovation.  We also visited another ornate church and were able to see life-sized statures and beautiful marble work. 

We arrived in Luzern last night, had a meal together and took a little time to relax.  I hope all the students are able to kick back and reflect on the experience.  There are so many thinks to think that I don’t want to miss out on any of them.  

This also confirms my desire to incorporate more regular Expeditions into the SOAR experience.

One last piece:

I’m not adventuresome when it comes to cheese.  I like what I like and stick to it.  I do, however, love the variety of different foods we’ve experienced while traveling.  So, this morning I took the advice of Herr Stuber and cur several varieties of cheese off the blocks and tried them all. 

One of the cheeses was very strong.  I broke off a piece of each to try individually before adding them to the delicious multigrain bread featured on the plate.  Each had a unique flavor and I enjoyed trying them . . . Even the stinky one.  It does lead me to a think about meals.  Over here meals are a celebration of community and people take the time to sit down and enjoy it together.  I’ve very much enjoyed being at a long breakfast with members of the group or sitting down and enjoying coffee from a regular cup rather than a mug that I drag all over with me.  Makes me think that the push we have in our workforce for productivity and in our lives for getting the most out of it only means that we’re missing out on a large portion of the living.

I talked with our tour leader and it’s shocking to me the approach in Europe to work.  A couple of highlights: No matter the job, you get 24 paid days off.  Within 6 years you get 30.  Some people work an entire lifetime to get a couple of weeks.  It makes me a little sad to think of how we focus so much on work and forget to remember there’s living to do as well.

Inn Innsbruck

April 3 - Innsbruck (5:45 AM)

We’re just over the mid point of the trip and going strong.  We started out the morning with a bus ride to get out of Münich and on to our next destination.  It was incredible how much traffic there was for the first hour or so.  We spend time in towns and cities looking at the sights and walking around and I sometimes forget it’s still a city and people need to go here and there.  Some of the conversation this week with Abi the tour manager revolved around the space issues that Münich and Innsbruck face.  The public transportation system so far has been easy to use and safe and seems like such a better use of resources than more parking garages or a push for more vehicles at home.  Abi shares a car with about 20 people in Berlin.  She actually prefers public transportation.

Anyway, the countryside leaving Germany and heading towards Austria is beautiful.

Once we started to see mountains in the distance we were all interested in looking at that rather than catching up on a few needed Z’s.  When we did stop the first time it was to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.  This castle was the inspiration for the Disney castle and extremely impressive to look at.  Unfortunately it has a grueling walk up to the castle itself and, since the castle was never finished, there’s construction all over in it and outside it.  It’s definitely a modern castle and a combination of cold and distant as well as magical and mystical.

This is a great place to take a picture but a terrible place to stand if you’re afraid of heights.  I can’t even imagine to guess at how far down the drop is below the bridge I’m standing on, but many of the boards on the floor of it were loose and flexing quite a bit.  I’m not generally afraid of heights, but this drop definitely made my stomach a little tingly.

I guess this is what it’s like to live in the mountains.  In a castle. Overlooking the people that paid for it.  Many thinks to think about from architecture to history to how tourism works especially considering most people are probably visiting it to see the Cinderella Castle.

Let me pause for a minute to talk about the tour of the castle.  The castle is awesome and great to look at from the outside.  The inside is hard to explain.  I remember seeing Scooby Doo episodes when I was a child and they always wandered about in the castle doing whatever it was they did when solving a crime.  What a cool idea to explore and see the different wonders of the castle, discover its secrets and generally enjoy the experience.  Walking through this castle was a lot like waiting in line for a ride that gets cancelled at the end.  There are some mind-blowing works of art and the structure of the interior of the castle is amazing, but (isn’t there always one?) you have a short time in there, cannot take pictures, can’t touch anything and the crowd is so big half the time you’re looking at the person standing in front of you and the other half of the time you’re able to focus on what the guide is saying.  Either way it was cool to be in the castle.  I just wish the students would have remembered they were standing in a castle and left the phones alone.

After walking down and grabbing some lunch (and a spiffy new hat for me!) we got back on the bus for more travels across Germany and into Austria. Seeing the Alps off in the distance is breathtaking.

Even though we’re in the bus it’s a magical thing to see.  Even better was driving through them.

We stopped at an amazing church once again filled with some of the most ornate decorations.  It’s amazing how integrated religion is into the culture of the people of both Germany and Austria.  

We also stopped in a small town called Oberammergau.  They do a passion play once every ten years here and have since the 1600s.  The story has something to do with being spared from the plague and promising God that they would do the passion play every year.  They’ve stuck to it and even have a large theater to perform it.

Front of the performance hall for the Passion Play.

Someone had the door open so I peeked in and took a pic.  The roof is on a rail system and will move off the top of the theater all the way down to the ground.  What a beautiful place to have this kind of performance with the mountains visible in the distance.

Our drive concluded with a stay in Innsbruck at a hotel downtown.  We ate, walked to the pedestrian section and called it a night.  This is big ski area and the room suggest the same with plenty of closet space for storing gear.  Beautiful town, gorgeous area, definitely worth being here.

Inside the lobby of the hotel we’re stying at in Austria.

Today we’re going to drive some more, make our way to Lucern and see some more of the wonderful sights.