Dear Families,

As many of you know, I had the great opportunity to take part in the US/China Principals' Shadowing Project, an exchange program for principals in NY, NJ, and Shanghai, China. This past October, Principal Wang Jue from Shanghai Gezhi Junior High School spent two weeks in the USA, the first of which was devoted to sightseeing and learning about the US and US education. During her second week, she stayed in my home and shadowed me at BCS.

I've just returned from my time in China, where the other principals in my US delegation and I visited Beijing and Shanghai. In Beijing, we experienced Old China and New China and developed the background knowledge we needed to learn about the schools in Shanghai. On my last day, I took time to write two letters of reflection, one for the two women who organized our program and one for my hosts. Anna and I share these with you as this week's letter.

All for now,

Alyce and Anna

Dear Karen and Peihui,

As my time in China draws to a close, I can't stop thinking how much I appreciate all you did to imagine, plan and develop this program and the specific itinerary for this trip.

As I've told several members of our group -and the folks in my exchange school - I spent my childhood in a tiny town of 800 people. As long as I can remember, I wanted to go to China. I was drawn to its mystery, other-side-of-the-worldness, its ancient roots and modern history. And here I am, nearly fifty years later, in the China I could only dream of before

Each time I've had the opportunity to leave the US; the world has grown exponentially bigger - and at the same time, smaller. Today, while visiting Shanghai Gezhi Senior High School, I met a delegation that included someone from the City University of NY and Cornell Medical Center. We exchanged cards and the seeds of high school internship slots at Cornell. Smaller world. Shanghai Gezhi Senior High School has many promising opportunities for exchanges, including a 2 week program for China study. I've made a good contact there and we've traded Skype and email information. Before I left, I also met Megan, a girl from Brooklyn there on a study trip.

My experience here has been more intimate and personal than I expected, and that's been great for me. Tonight, I went 50 minutes on the Metro, with one of the Deputy Principals to his home. There I had dinner with him, his wife (an English teacher), their 10 year old son, and the wife's parents. After a meal of eel, shrimp, dumplings, spinach, greens and dofu, Peking duck, and sweet fermented rice soup with small sweet dumplings, a birthday cake appeared from the fridge and we were celebrating the son's birthday.

I've been given lots of help with my infantile Mandarin and today I spontaneously made two understandable sentences (the children will go swimming - and they really were - and I will go to the rest room.) I'm so encouraged by this that I will be going back to my Rosetta Stone with great enthusiasm. I think I may also get a Skype tutor.

Each day a different teacher was my primary host. Most spoke English well enough for us to communicate beyond the basics of where is this or that room and by the time a few hours went by, we were having substantive conversations about education and culture and a host of other topics. On Tuesday, I met with all of the English teachers and each of them asked me at least one question - and I was also asked to offer suggestions about how to improve their teaching of English -more than a bit of a challenge for someone who had only been there for one morning. We discussed the importance of context - and how the bilingual math lesson worked better because the students were good at math -better than a listening comprehension piece about buying land and selecting materials for a house.

I've learned a bit about the Young Pioneers and would love to know more. It seems that nearly every student in my school is one - but this does not seem to be the case in all schools. Each day I was met by the school driver and taken to school - and when I went shopping, they sent me with both a teacher or an assistant principal and a driver. Last night and the night before, teachers selected restaurants for our dinners, restaurants that they described as traditional. On Tuesday evening, we ate noodles that came with 19 small dishes of varied ingredients to add before eating. Last night, two teachers and I walked for hours through the City Temple and other neighborhoods before finding the place where we dined on fish greens and dofu, dumplings and other dishes. It's a good thing I'm walking a lot or I'd be even more stuffed!

Yesterday, I met with a panel of top English students and once again, they were ready with lots of questions. In both rooms, my name was on a giant screen right behind me - and I was electronically welcomed in the lobby on Tuesday morning. Today I was asked to speak about April Fools' Day and I met with a student preparing for an oral English competition. She was great! I also got to offer oral reading suggestions to a 6th grade class and wound up modeling reading more slowly and with proper intonation.

I've observed English, PE, bilingual (taught in English) math, and a traditional tea making lesson in which I was also a student (probably the most in need of remedial help). I would love to bring some of the English teachers to my school - and to bring high school students as well. The facilities at Gezhi Senior High School were more like a university than a high school. It's a breathtaking place with rooftop gardens with an aviary, a piano in the lobby of every floor, a huge indoor pool, incredible science labs, snooker tables for PE - and so much more.

Karen, what you did for us during the first week was a remarkable version of what we call a BBK in Expeditionary Learning. A Building Background Knowledge workshop gives a fast look at the important information one needs for a unit of study. Your own rich understanding and wealth of information is impressive beyond words.

It's late and I could go on for hours, but I'm keeping my roommate, Marsha, awake and I need to make this short enough to read. I can't thank you enough and I truly hope this is a beginning.

Kind Regards,

Alyce

To all of my dear Shanghai Gezhi Junior High School Hosts:

It has been my great honor to be your guest. Each moment I was with you, I felt welcome and nurtured, both physically and intellectually. Principal Wang Jue, you and your staff created an amazing itinerary for me. The timetable was filled with so many different opportunities for observing and learning. I very much appreciate the way you enabled me to spend extended time with one or two people at a time - and in this way have the chance for what you call "close talk."

So many things about your school are very impressive! Meeting with the panel of top students showed me how it is possible for young people to learn and communicate in a second language - and that inspired me to work on establishing a Mandarin class in my school and also to improve the way that we teach Spanish. Your English teachers asked me many thought provoking questions and I was delighted to spend time in dialogue with them. What a surprise it was for me to see my name on the screen behind me!

The dinner with Mr. Huang and his family was very special. What a surprise to celebrate Jimmy's birthday and to spend time with a family in their home. Again, I felt truly welcome and honored. I so appreciate the extra effort Mr. Huang made to travel with me and to take me all the way back to Datong High School. I hope I can return this hospitality and host him and his family at my home in New York City. All of my hosts are welcome to visit - and I really hope some of you can come!

Huang Shunhua (Jenny) was a warm and helpful guide, sharing with me her knowledge of Chinese education, Shanghai, and your school. She was helpful to me every day - and worked with me on my Mandarin, which I very much appreciated. Anna, Cindy, and Mr. Wang, were kind and generous hosts, taking such good care of me every step of the way. Everyone kept asking me if I was tired, but truly, visiting your school and your city was so interesting that it gave me energy instead of making me tired!

It is clear that the people of Shanghai are forward looking and care deeply about their children. This is obvious because of the great investment you have made in creating beautiful schools with excellent facilities. Your children are motivated to learn and share your value in education. I became a teacher and a principal because I believe that education has the power to transform people's lives. I see that you share this belief.

I truly hope that this visit is the beginning of a developing relationship for our schools. I welcome your communication through email and Skype. My email address is alycebarr@gmail.com <mailto:alycebarr@gmail.com> and my Skype name is alycebarr. I would be very happy to set up net pals for our students and most importantly, I hope we can begin a teacher exchange program. Your English teachers could spend one period a day teaching Chinese at my school and then could spend the rest of their day in classes, developing English teaching skills and lessons. I also hope to work with you and the leaders of Shanghai Gezhi Senior High School to set up a student exchange program.

Principal Wang Jue, you must be very proud of your school. I can see why it is a model school. Your staff is dedicated to your students and to professional growth. Their observations of each other build the kind of professional learning community that continuously improves the entire school. Thank you so much for organizing my visit, and for your generous hospitality.

Kind Regards,

Alyce Barr

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Please join our community as we express a heart-felt communal "THANK YOU!" to our exceptional teaching staff, support staff, administrative staff, custodial staff, and security staff for all their hard work, care and attention, and for giving our families an incomparable educational experience.

Here's how you can participate:

Home cooked or store bought, main dishes or side dishes, vegetarian or not, desserts, beverages....bring what you want, bring what you can, all is welcome.

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Su Casa, Saturday April 17, 2010 1:00 to 3:00

AN AFTERNOON OF MUSIC DANCE AND POETRY BY THE PARENTS AND STAFF of BNS and BCS.

Proceeds to benefit arts enrichment at BCS and BNS, specifically for auditorium improvements.

Produced by the BNS-BCS Arts Committee. For more info: ArtsCommittee@BNSBCS.org <mailto:ArtsCommittee%40BNSBCS.org>

FEATURING PABLO ASLAN AMY BININ AMY BROWN ARBO DOUGHTY ANDREW DRURY JENNIFER FLEMING JOSE JOAQUIN GARCIA NATHAN JEAN JACQUES LAURIE MATTHEWS JENNIFER MILICH VINCENT STIMPSON AND MANY MORE!

Quote of the Week:

Anton Davis, a second grade student in Penina's class, received a new backpack over the vacation. His dad shared with us what he said, a wonderful example of developing reading skills. Anton read the label on the backpack and told his parents, "This backpack is made of poly...poly...poly-esterday!"

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