Kaite Blunt, Educational Technology Specialist from Canyon School District, drops by the Homeroom to share her insights from a recent educational tour of China. During this episode we discuss the impact of learning about culture through travel, the difference between classrooms in the US and China, and the need to expand your PLN globally.
Kaite Blunt, Educational Technology Specialist from Canyon School District, drops by the Homeroom to share her insights from a recent educational tour of China. During this episode we discuss the impact of learning about culture through travel, the difference between classrooms in the US and China, and the need to expand your PLN globally.
OK. Recording.
Dani, the weather is changing. It's getting warmer, and I think most school districts are about to go on summer vacation.
It is an exciting time of year.
Do you have any vacations planned for the summer?
You know it. Tahoe, every summer, is the best place in the world. What about you?
I am so excited to be able to spend my summer vacation recording episodes of UEN Homeroom.
You overachiever.
I know. It's just one of those things.
There's the bell.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So Dani, as we get into today's podcast, we're going to be looking at what we can learn from educators from around the world. What's your thoughts as we kind of think about education and what it looks like in different countries?
I think it's awesome that we are talking about this, because I think so often we talk about expanding our learning network. But what we really mean, or what we see a lot of the time, is we're expanding our network across districts or across the state or across the United States. But there's so much we can learn from education across the world.
Yeah. There's no question. I find that a lot of the people that I network with, it's still a pretty homogeneous network, meaning that they have similar experiences to me or a similar background. And so it's very comfortable, even though I'm learning new things from them. But it's still very familiar.
Yeah. I totally agree. And so I think the opportunity to learn about education in other countries, I think it's really phenomenal.
And I think the big thing that we'll get out of today's interview is just to see the different things that we can learn by exploring what they value in their educational systems.
Absolutely. Well, we're excited today that we're going to be bringing you a live guest to talk about what we can learn from educators in China today.
Exciting. Katie Blunt is an educational technology specialist in the Canyons School District in Sandy, Utah. She has spent the last 10 years supporting teachers in their use of educational technology by connecting technology tools to core curriculum.
She's models lessons, trains teachers, works with students, and leads a variety of district and school-based projects, including the district's elementary keyboarding program, film festival, EdTech endorsement courses, and the district's PBS News Hour student reporting labs. She also works with the district's EdTech arts and dual language immersion content teams, and represents the district on the UETN Advisory Council. Welcome, Katie.
Thank you.
Dani, have I ever told you that when I grow up, I want to be Katie Blunt?
Right? Who doesn't want to be Katie Blunt when they grow up?
It's just one of those little goals.
Just a little one.
I'm afraid you've got a lot of work to do, sir,
Yeah, we don't want to go into how much work [INAUDIBLE]. Well, Katie, as a guest in our podcast, one of the ways that we try and get to know you a little bit better is to have students from across Utah ask you some hard-hitting questions.
Oh, boy. Should I be nervous?
I don't know. It depends. I mean, you're used to the kinds of stuff we ask you, but the kids-- we never know what they're going to ask.
Yeah, they're wild cards.
So let's go to question number one.
What is your favorite dinosaur?
Oh, wow. I don't know that I've ever had a favorite dinosaur. But guess what came right to mind? Pterodactyl.
Whoa. Starts with the letter P.
That's probably why I like it best. And you know, it flies.
Yeah. OK.
I have nothing to contribute. But I can move us into question number two.
What is your favorite picture book?
You know, again, I have a hard time with favorites. Because I like a lot of things, and picking one is difficult. But what came to mind that my sixth graders and I loved back when I was teaching sixth grade was The Stinky Cheese Man.
Well, who wouldn't love a book called The Stinky Cheese Man?
Yeah. Yeah.
That's a good one.
It's called The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
This has got to be on my summer reading list.
And that can count as one of your nine books.
Oh, yes. There's no question about that.
The Covili book challenge.
Yeah. I just told Dani that we're having a read-a-thon this summer in my house. And so this might be one of the read-a-thon books. Question number three.
What do you like to use-- crayons, markers, or pencils?
I can answer that one quickly. I use markers, but I discovered that the Penmate ones-- I think that's what they're called-- don't bleed through the paper. So you can color with markers without all the mess and ruining the backside of what you're coloring.
Teachers love office supplies.
It's true.
It is. It is. I don't know a teacher that's not obsessed with office supplies and has a favorite. Like, well, this is what [INAUDIBLE].
Yeah. And Katie just mentioned she doesn't like questions about favorites, but boom.
Bam. She got it.
She knew immediately.
That's true. I just proved myself so wrong.
It's fine. It was just the right question.
That's right.
Office supplies.
Yeah. Ask questions about the whole big wide world, but you get narrowed down to markers, pencils, or crayons, and you're there.
Bam.
Yeah. True.
Well, I definitely feel like we've got to know Katie a little bit better with that.
It's true.
All right, Katie. Well. It's lovely to see you. We're currently in an educational doctorate program together. So Katie and I see a lot of each other these days. But it's good to see you in front of the microphone.
Thanks. Good to be here.
Can I participate in this conversation, even though I'm not in that program?
No.
We'll think about it.
You're going to have to--
Do have to sit on--
--step out the double doors.
Are you going to lower the volume on my mic?
You can do that?
I--
All this time.
Had I have known this, I would have solved a lot of problems sooner.
Would I have been-- would I have been muted the entire podcast?
It would have been the Dani show. All right, Katie. Well, the reason that you're here, you got to go on an exciting trip pretty recently. Why don't you tell us about it?
Sure. Yeah, I got to go to China for three weeks, actually. It was amazing. I went with the Confucius Institute at the University of Utah. And the purpose was to travel with a group of dual language immersion educators, and basically experience Chinese culture, and visit schools, and really get a sense of what the people are like. And therefore, what we can do to support guest teachers when they come to our districts to teach in our Chinese DLI programs.
That's fabulous. So I have a friend, and both of her sons are in dual immersion Mandarin speaking. And she's hosted a guest teacher in her basement before. So that has been exciting.
So I just had one question. Were the teachers that you were with teachers that are currently teaching here, or teachers that are dual immersion teachers there?
We traveled with teachers who teach here in Utah. We had teachers from Davis District, Tooele, from southern Utah, and of course, I'm from Canyons District. And we went with Qi, who is an educator who works for the Confucius Institute, and also teaches bridge classes here in Utah. And some of them were Chinese teachers. They teach in the Chinese side of the DLI classroom. And some were partner teachers.
We also had administrators from schools and from District Offices. And actually, when we arrived there, we met up with another group of educators from Arizona. And in their group, they actually had city officials, and I believe an assistant superintendent as well. So yeah.
That's awesome. So is the Confucius Institute-- it's out of the University of Utah. But is that who kind of fosters all of the Chinese immersion programs here in the state?
Yes. There's a team at the Utah State Board of Education who helped support this. And actually at Canyons District, we have some employees who work half-time with the language immersion program for the state and half-time with our district. And so the Confucius Institute plays a role in supporting them and supporting the school.
So they don't necessarily run all the DLI programs. But they are a big support, and they really help teachers who are coming in adjust to coming to the United States and districts to support them. They also foster relationships between schools and districts here, and schools and districts in China.
So we actually got to visit several of the sister schools that our schools have relationships with, and even a sister city, that the city of Gilbert, Arizona is sisters with. And a lot of that is done through the Confucius Institute, because they have relationships with the Confucius Institute in China at Sichuan University, specifically.
So tell me just a little bit about this. Because I know some of what happens in the dual immersion schools here locally. Can you tell me-- you mentioned there's some of the teachers that are from China teaching in dual immersion. But also, you called them their partner teacher. Maybe just explain the program and how it looks in Canyons District just a little bit to our audience.
Sure. In Canyons District, we've been doing dual language immersion for a while. So we start students in first grade. And then they continue in the program all the way up through when they graduate high school. And we're getting there. We're almost through every grade level.
Is that your first group? Wow.
Yeah. And when they begin in first grade, the concept is that even though they don't know any Chinese, if you're immersed in the language, and you hear it used you constantly in your learning environment, that you're going to pick up on the language a lot more quickly.
And so the students spend half their day with a Chinese-speaking teacher. And in our district, they're specifically learning math and science in the elementary grades. They do some swapping a little bit later.
And then they have a partner teacher who speaks English and teaches English and language arts, social studies, and does a little bit of review of math and science to make sure that the concepts are really getting there, despite the learning of the language.
And so the students spend a half of a day with each teacher-- half a day in Chinese, half a day in English. What this means is that those partner teachers, and that's why we call them that, they have to work very closely together.
They have to schedule together. They have to talk about the students' progress together. Behaviors and classroom management has to be planned together. And so they definitely form a very close relationship because of that.
So I can imagine on this trip this was eye-opening for some of these partner teachers, who've had this cultural experience by working with their partner teacher from China. But going over here and experiencing the culture firsthand must have been really an incredible experience for them.
Yeah, absolutely. Because they spend a lot of time also teaching Chinese culture. And while that's not their primary curriculum, it's the Chinese teachers' curriculum. They're part of it. They're doing these festivals, and they're learning about shadow puppets and their dragons and doing these things.
And then to go to China and see it firsthand-- dragons on all the buildings, and the Chinese characters everywhere, and going to a museum and seeing actual shadow puppets from ancient dynasties. It was really amazing, which is a big part of the trip, just to go and experience the culture, and see the amazing sights, and be immersed in the people-- among the people ourselves. So you're absolutely right-- definitely eye-opening.
And of course, we also got to visit schools while we were there-- lots of them, actually, which was amazing. We got to observe teachers teaching. We got to go to a variety of types of schools. So we went to what they call their foreign language schools, essentially, their magnet schools, where the students are learning-- primarily, English is their foreign language.
We got to visit their Tech and Innovation Center outside of Shanghai, which was extra special treat for me. Because not only did we get to see a Chinese school, but I got to see what they were doing with educational technology.
Oh, that's great.
Yeah. And we got to observe all of this. And the schools actually did a fantastic job of also giving us time to talk with the teachers there and with the students. So we got to interact and get to know them.
So in the end, we got this experience of knowing what these teachers coming from China have come from. What are their classrooms like that they've taught in before? And knowing that, how can we support them to then make that transition into an American school? So it was really exciting.
Yeah, I bet. And that ability to know what it looks like. So in your experience, what does teaching and learning look like in China?
It was interesting, as I said, to go to the different schools. Because I will say, in part, it depends. We went to some of these foreign language schools. We went to some brand new beautiful schools, because, of course, that's what you show, right-- your most amazing facilities.
And so at those schools, they have some really innovative things going on. I have to say that I'm very proud of Canyons District, because of the Tech and Innovation Center, they had almost all the same tools that we have at our schools. They were using Chromebooks. They were using LEGO robots. They were using Spheros. They were using Google to do all sorts of learning activities.
But what I was impressed with is they take it a step further, even, than we sometimes have time to do. Instead of just having students experience virtual reality with a set of Google Cardboard, they then have the students design their own virtual reality experiences. They have makerspaces, where they're designing their own goggles and improving on the Cardboard. So I was really impressed with that.
Then you kind of switch gears, and some of the schools that maybe aren't as new and don't have specific tech and innovation facilities, it's a very simple classroom with not very much equipment. They have a smart TV in the front of the room.
And then the room is filled with chairs, because they have a lot of students in their classes. We didn't visit a class that had less than probably 40 students. And so that changes the way that you teach. It's very direct instruction. It's a lot of choral response.
So they are doing their best to engage these students, but there's less-- literally less space and fewer tools to do some of the more engaging instruction that we do here. So it was really interesting to see how we can learn from them, and they can learn from us, and really sharing ideas.
But I will say, what-- I don't know that I was surprised, but I can't think of another way to say it exactly. So I was pleasantly surprised at how passionate their teachers are about teaching and learning. They love teaching. They love their students. And they are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that their students succeed.
And that just, right away, built this feeling of kindred spirits among the groups. Because we have that in common, no matter what the differences are. So it was really great to get to know them.
One of the things that Dani and I were kind of talking about as we were thinking about this topic was the idea of expanding your learning network. And we talk a lot about how we can learn with educators from beyond the walls of our classroom. But you've had an experience now where you've learned with teachers and educators from beyond the boundaries of our country.
Tell us a little bit about-- you just mentioned this idea of kindred spirits. Maybe talk just a little bit about how you want to continue that relationship, and maybe how you plan to include them in your learning network.
Yeah, absolutely. I mentioned earlier, too, the idea of sister schools. And I found that when we visited schools that did not have a United States sister school, they were very anxious to build that relationship. So that was one way that I thought, wow, we can really continue to expand that learning network by setting up opportunities to have a sister school.
If you're not ready for kind of the formalities that go with that, even just interacting via email, via social media, and sharing ideas is beneficial. I got the opportunity to sign up for WeChat. So WeChat is the social media platform that China uses. Every person is on it.
And so because the time zones are so different, we couldn't really have students talk directly to each other unless they stayed up all night long. But I was able to have Chinese teachers here in the United States video their students, and they shared it over WeChat. So that when I was in their classroom, I could show that to their students who are learning English, and their students could talk back. And we had this back and forth going.
So not only could we do that with students, but we could do that with educators as well, and say, hey, here's what we did in class today, as simple as that. What did you guys do? Oh, I love that idea. I wonder how we could do that here?
And I also feel like, even if it's not deep, educational talk, which it could be, but even if it were just getting to know each other personally, building that kind of relationship I feel is really beneficial as well.
When we spoke to students, I had no-- I wasn't expecting the-- how full of ideas and opinions they would be. They wanted to talk. They wanted to share. That's not the picture I had in my head of this very studious Chinese student. They are that, but they were also very personable.
I feel the same about teachers. If they knew what American teachers were like, and had a personal relationship with them, in the long run, that can go a long way with building relationships and improving what we're doing in our schools, and frankly, in our communities and our country.
So recently, we led an edchat where we talked about how we can use vacation or travel as a learning opportunity for us. Maybe share some of your big takeaways as you've now experienced this firsthand, and had a learning experience using travel as a key component to that.
When I visited China, it was beautiful. I think we talk about smoggy skies, which there were. But it was beautiful. And I wouldn't have experienced that unless I had just gone on that trip.
I got to see things firsthand-- the Bund in Shanghai, the Great Wall of China, the Panda Base in Chengdu. These things you can see in pictures, and we even have really great tools to experience them as closely as we can. But it's still not the same as being there. And not only being there, but then being surrounded by the other people who live in that country, hearing their language going on constantly around you.
And I, again, was thrilled with the experience of realizing how friendly they were. Everyone wanted to talk to us. People wanted to take selfies with us. They wanted to know--
Well, I want to take a selfie with you, Katie Blunt.
So travel can do that for you in a way that nothing else can. And I've actually heard from a lot of parents and students now who say, we're going, because we want our DLI students to go and experience this firsthand. What suggestions do you have? I think that's awesome. They're going to learn so much from being there, that as much as we try, you can't learn inside the classroom.
Well, talk about an extension from the classroom into the real world, when your DLI students take their families over to Shanghai and they're the tour guide. They're the ones speaking to the people. I can't imagine anything that would cement that experience that they've had more.
Yeah. Yeah. So--
So when you're reflecting on your trip from China, what can we learn? What can US educators learn from Chinese educators? What would be the one thing?
I've been thinking about this a lot. And I think that the level of respect that they have for each other, that they have for their students, and that their students have for them, is something that we could emulate. And not just that, but the level of respect they have for education.
I think sometimes we can take for granted what we have here-- that we have public education for everyone, that we have the opportunities that we have. Things are a little different there. And the students don't always get to choose their career paths. They don't always get to choose where they further their education. We do.
And yet, despite the benefits and extra things we have here, I feel this passion and this respect for education there, that sometimes perhaps we could improve on. So I would just say really digging in and valuing education, and what it can do for us, and where it can take us in our lives.
They've valued education in China literally for centuries. They study Confucius in their public schools. And we need to continue to foster that and grow that as a relatively young country, and make that part of who we are as well, that education matters, and that we respect what we gain from it and from each other.
That's an excellent reflection.
Well, Katie, we appreciate you coming in and sharing with us some of your experiences, as well as some of the things that you've learned. It's been great to hear your experience, and to hear a little bit of the stories that you brought to us.
Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So Dani, do you want to give our audience a tech tip today?
I mean, do we have to?
Well, I mean, this is a podcast kind of about technology.
I'm tired. Do you have a tech tip for today?
I mean, I guess if I have to, I can come up with one.
I mean--
So today we're going to invite Katie to actually participate and share her lazy teacher tech tip. Is that OK with you, Dani?
You know, it's fine with me.
Are you willing to take a break?
As a lazy teacher, I will sit back on this one.
So Katie, you've got a couple of different apps that you wanted to share with us that a lazy teacher might use in his or her practice.
That's right. So today the lazy teacher apps are for those of you who are going to take that trip.
Oh, so for my summer vacation--
That's right.
--to Bear Lake.
May not be useful in Bear Lake.
Maybe not Bear Lake, yeah. But--
If I go abroad, though.
Yeah. So we definitely prepared ourselves for being in China. Everyone said, you're not going to have any internet. You're not going to have any anything. Well, we did. And thankfully, we did. Because we were able to use Trip.com, the app, to book tours, to book transportation, to book--
While you were there?
Yeah. While we were there-- to book hotels. And there are a lot. So I'm not saying this is necessarily better than others. But this is the one that the tour guides in China said, use Trip. I was like, all right. Sounds good.
Another one was simply the Beijing Subway app.
Oh, those maps are useful.
So even if you're not going to Beijing, realize that public transportation in almost any city has an app.
Totally agree with that.
Yeah. The New York one became my Bible when I lived there. And it was just so awesome, because it shows you right where you are, which stop to get off, transfers, the whole deal.
Yeah.
Super helpful.
Although, I might pitch in, in the United States, you can probably use Google Maps to do quite a bit of that, with the transit feature in there. So even if you're not in a metropolis where they have their own app, you'll probably be able to use a local app-- Google Maps in a local app.
Yeah, true. True. And we did find that abroad, Google Maps sometimes was accurate, and sometimes eh. So it was nice to have that to rely on.
OK. I'll give you two more. We did use translation apps there. And I was nervous to use them at first. I thought, this is going to be so inaccurate. They're going to laugh at me. But then my friend needed something from the pharmacy, and it was just us. And I had to tell this woman in the shop what we were looking for. So I whipped out Google Translate.
And here's the trick. If you don't have Wi-Fi, you can download language packages to your phone, so that you have it even if you don't have access to the internet.
Very cool.
That is a good tip.
Yeah.
Yeah. That was a good one.
And it was accurate? It worked?
It was.
Your friend got what she needed?
In fact, the lady in the pharmacy laughed, because we were looking for one of those neti pots. Well, the name isn't going to do much good. So I literally had Google Translate say, how do you say, pot you stick up your nose, in Chinese.
Teapot for nose.
Teapot for nose. She totally knew what I was talking about. We got what we needed. All right, the last one.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm dying. But I'm glad it worked. I'm glad your friend and her sinus infection are fine.
Yes. Yes. So the last one, it wasn't quite as super easy to use, but it was still fun to try. It was called Waygo. And it uses your phone's camera to hold up to Chinese characters, and I believe it does other character-based languages as well. And you can hold it up, and it will tell you what it says.
Oh.
Yeah. It did very well with horizontal lines of characters. It was a little harder with vertical lines of characters. But when we were looking at menus, for example, I was able to hold it over and go, oh, well that one's chicken. That one is squid. What are we going to have?
So you went with the squid, right?
Right. Side note. There was a lot crazier things than squid to be had in China, like live scorpions on a stick, for example.
Did you eat a live scorpion?
Did you?
I didn't eat the scorpion, but I did eat a grasshopper. Yeah.
How was it?
Crunchy, dry.
Isn't grasshopper a type of protein now that people are using?
Yes. It's kind of a big deal right now.
Crickets, more.
Crickets. Yes.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Yeah. Yeah. And--
Whoa. Did you feel so--
Katie, do you know that I've eaten grasshopper as well?
Do you?
I've eaten grasshopper.
Do you feel like--
In the Philippines?
--real strong from the--
It was maybe one of the grossest things I've ever eaten.
Really? And how do you-- how did you feel about it? Grossest thing ever?
No. Not the grossest thing ever. Because next to the dried cricket stand was the bunny head stand. And our tour guide described how she prefers to eat them. She eats the cheek first.
Wait. Like, did you see heads of bunnies with fur on them?
I wish this was a video podcast right now.
Oh, yeah.
Oh my gosh. This is like the saddest thing I've ever heard.
Well, you know, we've--
Protein, Dani.
It's not unheard of to eat rabbit, but the actual skull with the teeth and eyeballs still in it. So she said she likes to eat the cheek, then she eats the meat around towards the skull. Then she eats the brain. And she saves the eyes for last, because they're her favorite. We had awesome tour guides in China.
This may be the first podcast we ever have that has a parental warning on it.
Seriously.
And the first time that Dani is speechless.
That's definitely a first.
True. There's no question about that.
Oh my goodness.
So you might want Waygo to tell you what you're about to eat in some of these countries.
Yeah. But I wonder if you didn't know, and you tried some bunny cheek, how you'd feel about it?
I think it's like anything. If it's on your plate, it just looks like meat.
I'm refraining from thinking about this.
That said, the food was delicious in China.
That's good to know.
And there it is, our lazy teacher tech tip.
Those were fabulous.
Apps that you can use when you're traveling abroad, and how best to eat your bunny.
[LAUGHTER]
That's the next app I'm building.
I like it. It would be a big seller.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Katie Blunt, it's been so great to have you.
Thank you.
We have loved learning about what we can learn from teachers in foreign countries. There's so much out there, and so many different pedagogies and styles. But I loved your message about the respect for education and the respect for one another that you brought back with you from your trip to China.
And one of the things that I've gotten so much out of today's conversation, as many different ways as we can bring the world to our students virtually, there's still a lot to be said about reality, and the things that we can learn from one another in person.
Maybe you don't go over to China, but maybe just having experiences with people in our schools and teachers in our district, and learn more about how we can appreciate each other's cultures.
I love it.
And that wraps up this episode of UEN Homeroom. I just heard--
The bell.
Thanks for listening everybody. We'll catch you next week.
Bye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]