Theme: Traveling the world as an ACTIVE learner has made me a more effective teacher

Please take a moment (maybe even stop for a minute or two) and consider the impact of this picture.

think ponder cogitate reflect connect inquire question

As a teacher…our students arrive in a similar comparison as being in the group of those student that are the “haves” and those student that are the “have-nots”.

This picture of the world at night amazes me because: 1.) the technology needed to capture a picture of the entire globe at night is amazing, and 2.) the ability to show the areas where there are people who “have” from the areas where people are the “have-nots”.

I grew up a child of the 1960's and '70’s, which is pretty groovy.This means that I did not have a cell phone, the internet, or AIDS/HIV in my childhood experiences. Surfing for information meant going to an encyclopedia not to the smartphone pulled from my pocket.I only made “friends” face-to-face…not on Facebook.When I saw freinds or I wrote notes…I could not text, twitter, instagram, facebook, or GPS track them 24/7.

THE MORAL: I am teaching students that have a different life experience and worldview than my own.

Myself as a learner: In my late teens, and early 20’s, I began to compete in bicycle racing and triathlons:

I learned confidence, perseverance, and the ability to embrace both that which is difficult

and that which is unfamiliar.

Hey!!!...…it looks like I have one leg here!

This was one of my first,

1st place race finishes in

1982!

In my confidence, I am certain I ridiculed the

gentleman in the background…

…now I am more likely to be dressed like and be mocked...not that any of you would

mock my generation!

After a semi-professional career of racing (and not making it into the “big leagues”)... I set off to see the world by joining the Peace Corps.

This is where I got inadvertently directed into education and teaching.

One goal of the Peace Corps is for volunteers to "Bring the World Home to other".

As a professional educator I work to do this everyday.

I was stationed in Ghana, West Africa...one of the countries that sent the majority of African slaves to the American colonies.

This is Elmina: One of the “slave castles, where Africans sold into slavery wher held in horrific conditions until they where put on ships to be transported to a new world (they know nothing about).

I lived in a thatched mud-hut with no electricity, running water, toilet, nor the ability to speak the local language.

I believe many of our students sit our our classrooms feeling equally as isolated.

I live among a Ghanaian family that embraced me as one of their own and it changed my view of the world.

I worked with Ghanaians to create a tree nursery and teach effective agricultural practices...in reality, I left learning more from my Ghanaian “family” than I left behind.

I once AGAIN, learned more about hard work and perseverance....… only in new ways and new contexts.

This tree nursery is what we created together as I continued to learn to embrace the differences we experience in life!

I also had one of the best times of my life!

Ultimately...

…I learned to embrace the contraries and learning that other

humans brought to my life.

I use this in my teaching everyday.

I learned to embrace…the stories of the people, cultures, places I have traveled.

This initiated my embrace for authentic storytelling for learning.

Hello Bennies & Johnnies:

I am Ama and I am now 29 years old in 2014! My brother Kofi looks angry because Dr. Mumma scares him!

Every person has a story to tell, most often it is written on their faces.

This process is the making of fufu…a starch pounded into the consistency of raw sticky bread dough and served with a very spicy soup eaten

communally with your hands (often with a mystery jungle meat!).

This is Memmona.

She is brewing pito, a homemade beer like fermented beverage.

It is served warm in a gourd cut in half to form a bowl.

This is Suluman.

He was the chief and elder of my village of 150 people.

He is approximately 46 years old here…in 1992 when the life expectancy for males in

Ghana was 52 years old.

How old are your parents?

You are welcome to stop into my office to view the rest of my photography.

HAB room 125B

It has been my love of travel, and being a student of the world, that has resulted in my most powerful learning experiences…

…so I went forth to learn MORE about the world so I could bring more of the world back to my students.

I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia (1997 – 2000)...where I conducted my Ph.D. research.

This is the Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow, Russia

Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Red SquareМосква, Россия

Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, RussiaBuilt for Catherine the Great…

…yes, she also had many other palaces including The Hermitage.

The Hermitage: Russian Aristocracy’s Winter Palace

To stand in such surroundings is humbling:

First for the magnificent achievement…

…then for the understanding of the divide between the world’s have’s and have-not’s

Hanging out with Vladimir Lenin

Marina Goryunova, science educator at Gymnasium #157. We were walking along the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia while working on developing our Russian/American river quality monitoring internet science project

Я не холодно ... посмотрите на этих великих меха держит меня тепло!

Prague, The Czech Republic

Edsbyn, Sweden...where I take education students for study abroad.

(Anyone interested?)

Typical host family home in Sweden

Surströmming: Brined and fermented herringYummie?!

You can’t get more traditional Swedish than this scene!

Farthinder…

… translates as speed bump! Language is such a wonderful thing!

The Absolut Ice Bar, Stockholm, Sweden. The glass is made from glacier ice thousands of years old!

In teaching…we teach foremost from the point of view of who we are and how we see the world...

…a primary goal in my teaching is to guide each and every student into the development of their own worldview.

THIS I BELIEVE: LISTENING IS POWERFUL FOR LEARNING

PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO LISTEN TO DR. ALICIA CINILL’S STORY OF BECOMING A MORE AUTHENTIC LISTENER.

STUDIES HAVE SHOWN IT TAKES A TEACHER ABOUT EIGHTEEN SECONDS TO INTERRUPT A STUDENT AFTER HE OR SHE BEGINS TALKING.

AS A HEALTH EDUCATOR I WOULD OFTEN MAKE HOME VISITS TO TEACH EFFECTIVE HEALTH THERAPY TO INFIRMED PATIENTS.

IT WAS FRIDAY. I HAD ONE LAST PERSON TO SEE. I APPROACHED HER HOME IN A HURRY AND STOOD AT THE DOORWAY. SHE WAS AN OLDER WOMAN, SITTING AT THE EDGE OF THE BED, STRUGGLING TO PUT SOCKS ON HER SWOLLEN FEET. I CROSSED THE THRESHOLD, SCANNED HER CHART, NOTING THAT SHE WAS IN STABLE CONDITION. I WAS ALMOST IN THE CLEAR.

I LEANED ON THE BED RAIL AND LOOKED DOWN AT HER. SHE ASKED IF I COULD HELP PUT ON HER SOCKS. INSTEAD, I LAUNCHED INTO A MONOLOGUE THAT WENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS: “HOW ARE YOU FEELING? YOUR SUGARS AND BLOOD PRESSURE WERE HIGH BUT THEY’RE BETTER TODAY. THE NURSE MENTIONED YOU’RE ANXIOUS TO SEE YOUR SON WHO’S VISITING YOU TODAY. IT’S NICE TO HAVE FAMILY VISIT FROM FAR AWAY. I BET YOU REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING HIM.”

SHE STOPPED ME WITH A STERN, AUTHORITATIVE VOICE. “SIT DOWN! THIS IS MY STORY, NOT YOUR STORY.” I WAS SURPRISED AND EMBARRASSED. I SAT DOWN. I HELPED HER WITH THE SOCKS. SHE BEGAN TO TELL ME THAT HER ONLY SON LIVED AROUND THE CORNER FROM HER, BUT SHE HAD NOT SEEN HIM IN FIVE YEARS. SHE BELIEVED THAT THE STRESS OF THIS CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO HER HEALTH PROBLEMS. AFTER HEARING HER STORY AND PUTTING ON HER SOCKS, I ASKED IF THERE WAS ANYTHING ELSE I COULD DO FOR HER. SHE SHOOK HER HEAD NO AND SMILED. ALL SHE WANTED ME TO DO WAS TO LISTEN.

EACH STORY IS DIFFERENT. SOME ARE DETAILED; OTHERS ARE VAGUE. SOME HAVE A BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END. OTHERS WANDER WITHOUT A CLEAR CONCLUSION. SOME ARE TRUE, OTHERS NOT. YET ALL OF THOSE THINGS DO NOT REALLY MATTER. WHAT MATTERS TO THE STORYTELLER IS THAT THE STORY IS HEARD—WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, ASSUMPTION, OR JUDGMENT.

I HAVE OFTEN THOUGHT OF WHAT THAT WOMAN TAUGHT ME AND REMINDED MYSELF OF THE IMPORTANCE OF STOPPING, SITTING DOWN, AND TRULY LISTENING. AND, NOT LONG AFTER, IN AN UNEXPECTED TWIST, I BECAME THE STUDENT. I JOINED THE PEACE CORPS AND WAS PUT INTO A SITUATION WHERE I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT TO DO AND HOW THINGS WORKED IN MY NEW SITUATION. I HAD TO LEARN TO LISTEN, TRULY AND AUTHENTICALLY LISTEN, TO OTHERS THAT KNEW MORE ABOUT THIS NEW ENVIRONMENT THAN I DID. I HAD TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS TO LISTEN TO THEIR INSIGHTS AND THEIR WISDOM. THIS LESSON HAS BEEN VALUABLE, IN LIFE IN GENERAL AND IN MY TEACHING.I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF LISTENING TO MY STUDENTS. I TELL THEM I KNOW FIRSTHAND THAT IMMEASURABLE HEALING TAKES PLACE WITHIN ME WHEN SOMEONE STOPS, SITS DOWN, AND LISTENS TO MY STORY.

Learning Reflection:How to listen as a teacher

• Sit down to listen– Give your full attention to the student– Remove the barriers of hierarchy and become an equal for that moment

• Make your listening humanistic and authentic– Make eye contact– Show through your body language that their story is valued

• Prove you have listened– Tell the student what you heard, or what you learned from their story– Show that their story has informed your your teaching practice