Travel Journal

This is a day by day account of our field experience including the interruption of my trip by COVID. However, even in quarantine there were lessons to be learned.

June 17

Day one and we started bright and early not wasting any time. We went to the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) headquarters in Bonn. We had an interesting chat about the German education system. Some of the most important takeaways for me were, first, the fact that English learning as a second language education begins early in the primary years. Most students begin studying English in year two. Another interesting takeaway was the fact that sexual education begins very early as well in year three or four of primary school. The topic came about when someone asked about inclusion for pregnant teenage girls in German schools. Dr. Springob a professor from the University of Cologne seemed confused at first. After a colleague clarified the question he explained that teen pregnancy is not really an issue and it is a very rare occurrence. There is an obvious correlation between early sex education and teen pregnancy. This is some thing that I would like to research further.

collaborate with other schools around the globe and make a difference. Given that this is one of my goals, to establish partnerships for future collaboration and teacher and student virtual exchanges, this was a great connection to make. I emailed Mr. Schilling that same night to begin a dialogue and start connecting with schools in the fall.

We had Australian pies for lunch which was an interesting choice of food given that we are in Germany but they were delicious and it was really interesting to try something new. And just because we were done early around 3 in the afternoon we decided to go to the castle ruins of Drachenfels (Dragon's Rock) in Königswinter. This picturesque mountain town with beautiful ruins that overlook the Rhine River has a lot of lore and history about dragons. Legend says that the hero Siegfried slain a dragon that lived in a cave on that hill saving the town from his fiery breath! 

That night we ate dinner next to the Rhine river at a beautiful riverside restaurant where I was able to try the pork schnitzel, one of my favorite German dishes.

June 18

Today brought me a slight cough which bothered me a lot so I self-reported to my group leader. We decided that In order to be abundantly cautious I should take an antigen Covid test. Even though the test came back negative I decided to sit out the trip to Cologne and test again the following day just to be sure. Even though I wasn’t feeling sick other than the cough I would’ve felt really bad going to Cologne and then realizing that I was indeed infected with Covid.

June 20

Today our group went to visit a local vocational school here in Bonn. I have learned that schools here in Germany are highly separated and students are tracked early on as early as the primary grades. In theory, students can move from one track to another but it is actually very difficult in practice. However, since there has been a reduction in applicants for vocational school over the past few years students that graduated with a trade are in high demand right now in Germany. I will have to ask other members of my cohort what their takeaways were from this visit as I would like to learn more about the opportunities that vocational college offers to students here. Vocational schools in the US have a stigma of being for students with lower academic achievement. Having taught a career and research course last year I would like to do my part to take away that stigma for students at Florida Virtual School that would like to choose this path. 

Since I was unable to leave my room, I went online to look for more information about the Pedagogical Exchange Service or PAD since the group was meeting with one of their coordinators in the afternoon. PAD is not an international teacher exchange but more of a Europe-wide professional development network. From the video that I watched on their website, I learned that teachers get together to discuss the problems that they face in their particular classroom context and then brainstorm solutions using other teachers experiences to help them. What a novel concept! It’s not that we don’t have that in the US but most schools are very self-contained when it comes to professional development. I believe we learn so much more when we expand our walls or when we go beyond the four walls of our school so this is just a confirmation for me that looking for professional development, ideas, and networking with teachers outside of my school is actually beneficial for my practice and for my students.

June 21-23

I’ll be honest and say that I’m feeling a little down as I am missing one of the portions of our trip to which I was looking forward to most - the school visits. I can’t wait to test negative so that I can re-join the group and I can start asking questions about their experiences. I have been looking at the pictures and comments my colleagues have been posting in our group chat and it seems so far that it has been a very rich experience for our group. Even though I have been isolated in my room, I have kept myself busy preparing for the new course I will be teaching in the fall, working on my blog, writing in this journal, and learning more about Germany especially Berlin since that is our second stop in our trip and I am hoping I will be in the clear by the time we are ready to leave.

Looking back I hope to be able to view this as a learning experience. Yes Covid was a risk I was willing to take and unfortunately I had to deal with it. Thankfully our group and myself were ready to handle the situation and because I was vaccinated and proactive I did not get very sick and was able to recover quickly. I believe Covid is something we’re going to have to deal with for a long time if not for the rest of our life so we might as well learn how to live with it now. I am glad and very grateful to Fulbright, IREX, and the Deparment of State, and Covid or no Covid I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything in the world.

Here’s hoping for a negative test Friday morning (fingers crossed!!!)

June 29

Back on schedule, I join my cohort for a visit with representatives of Fulbright Germany. We spoke to two teachers, one of them is now a principal and he gave us more insight into the teaching profession. For example, we learned that teachers are trained in specialized colleges only focused on education and they have to specialize in one subject area. Once you train to teach that subject area that is what you will teach for the rest of your career. We also learned that principals are required to teach at least one class while serving at their school which was surprising. I imagine that this gives principals better insight into the issues that affect their school, staff, and students. The other teacher we spoke to is actually an American teacher that moved to Germany and trained as a teacher there. He has a very unique perspective of both education systems and was able to answer many of our questions. The thing that stood out for me was the fact that teaching is a respected profession in Germany and that most German teachers are very satisfied with their careers. This was a very enlightening conversation!

Before lunch, we stopped at the offices of Atlantik-Brücke a private, non-profit association that promotes German-American understanding and diplomacy. There we met with Izaak Martin, Deputy Cultural Attaché of the US Embassy in Berlin who taught us about what the US embassy does. We learned that the job of the ambassador and his deputies goes well beyond issuing visas and passports. They provide services to citizens traveling and living abroad including legal and financial assistance, support for military families as well as overseeing and hosting diplomatic functions. The embassy also sponsors cultural and educational exchanges to promote good relations between their country and the US.

After lunch, we re-grouped at the DAAD Berlin office to have our debrief of the field experience. This was an amazing opportunity for me to hear first-hand about some of the experiences I missed due to my quarantine such as the school visits. We all agreed that even though there are many differences between us and German teachers we all share the same passion for our students' success. We also agree that even with everything we learned in the past two weeks there is still so much more to learn. The final message from our group leader still rings true for me: the best resource we obtained during this trip was connecting with our cohort of amazing teachers from whom we can continue to learn even if we are not in the same building after we return to the US. I look forward to many more collaborations and more learning with these amazing teachers.