Keepin' It Kerns: Boston

Just re-read last post...forgot about sand crab hunts at night. Tori has a spider phobia lately, and those little crabbies are very spidery. She was freaking out! I piggybacked her, and from on my back she was cracking up. Funny girl. And Adrion? Fearless.

So on to Boston...so pretty! The weather was a breezy 70-80 degrees--way different from the humid 100 we've had in Arkansas. And no bugs! Darline made this observation. There are outdoor eateries everywhere, but no flies/mosquitoes/gnats/chiggers to be found. People's windows were wide open with no screens. The streets were also very green and flowery. Trees, bushes, and flowers were planted in nooks and crannies all over the place. The people were very friendly as well.

From the airport to the hotel, we rode in a "shuttle". I had directions to get there using public transit, but after all day traveling, we weren't gung ho to figure out how all of that worked. So, we got into a "hotel shuttle" with a "gypsy". (We learned these labels later on from a cab driver.) The gypsy took us through the underground four-lane highway into Boston (a construction project referred to as "The Big Dig"), and then proceeded through a series of abandoned alleyways to our hotel. He fought with someone on the phone in Farsi the whole way. But alas, we arrived safely and checked in. Each of us was on a different floor. Nancy on the 22nd, me on the 25th, and Darline on the 31st.

Shuttle under Boston

From the 25th floor

Rooftop gardens/patios


Fireworks over skyline

Eight teachers from our school attended the ASCD conference. The conference covered new technologies, classroom differentiation, and curriculum mapping. Five teachers from high school and three of us from elementary attended. The best session that I attended addressed technology and globalization. I won't elaborate, but the fact of technology's contribution to our students' global existence is fascinating to me. This speaker said that most teachers are preparing students for the 70's and 80's with their curricula. She also asked who had newborns in their families which she followed with, "Congratulations. Your baby will be in the class of 2031." We're in a brave, new world. (I don't actually know how brave I feel toward it.)