International Space Camp 2010 - Parade of Nations

This was the "Parade of nations" from International Space Camp." I am wearing an old time bathing beauty costume with striped stockings, a bathing bonnet, bloomers and a bathing dress! I am highlighting the New Jersey Shore for my costume!

Space Camp!!!!

Cutting out tissue paper to make a hot air balloon!

My group, "Harmony" before our mission in space!


I have just returned from Space Camp where the the teachers of every state and many nations gathered to learn science and bond together across national and international lines! And so we did!

When you arrive in Huntsville, Alabama, space is written on the landscape. Posters, ads, space t-shirts.

Why? After WWII, 118 German scientists surrendered to one American Soldier. They came to Huntsville with vision and the dream of space. First, they were put to the task of making missiles, but then, space exploration began. Kennedy wanted to put a man on the moon and every heart in Huntsville beat a little faster to get the nation on that track.

Space Camp is a place where children and adults come to learn about dreams. How can I fly? What is the proper balance of my machine and my body? What does it mean to work in a team and what is my role? What can and should I expect of myself?

You are up early and go to bed late. You do missions that feel real and in between, you make hot air balloons, rockets and do Martian math. You see why your design for thermal protection was the best or the worse. You learn to appreciate different kinds of minds.

One day, Christa McCauliff's mother comes to visit and each teacher cries for Christa, that teacher who won the "Teachers in Space" competition, trained at NASA to become an astronaut and perished upon take off, along with her crew. Turns out that Christa wrote letters of recommendation the day before she went up in the Challenger when NASA had her in quarantine. Figures. Teachers do things like that.

Christa wanted to bring ordinary people to space with her. She was a history teacher and she figured she could make it easier for people to understand what kinds of things she was seeing.

You go girl! Your message lives on in each one of us.

You also learn that astronauts are funny people who horse around in space. You learn about the challenges of a space toilet and the kinds of food people eat that gives them the necessary high calorie meals each day.

Space camp. A place where everyone is a scientist, if only for a week.

When I returned home to Newark Airport, the faces and words of my Teacher of the Year friends and International teachers were still with me. A family for a week.

A plane roared overhead. I admired its slick tubular body and the fins that kept it gliding through the open sky. I wondered about its balance, weight, materials and fuel.

Once you touch space, you are never the same again!

World Cup, DC and life

I am in Washington D.C. right now. I am a semi-finalist in the NEA Teaching Excellence Awards so I have flown in from Spain to give a sample lesson and have a conversation with some very prominent panelists. All I know is that I will do my best.

Spain was something else. To be in a country thrilled with World Cup fever. I spent time with friends, had some choice wine and strolled with my husband, daughter and granddaughter on the magnificent streets of Salamanca.

These are the days that you think about when times get tough. Olyvia at one year old wandering down the cobblestone streets. Thinking about how my husband Joe's face lit up with joy when I came out of the gate at Barajas airport. My daughter Melynda's ideas on how to help the students in my husband's program better adapt to Spanish culture. Little bits of treasure.

You've got to savor it all.

Last night, I had a fabulous dinner with my former student, Adam Nathan, who is working hard to help the world through important policy work about education and business. I was so proud of the things he was telling me about - socially conscious investing, the creation of a non-profit, the high cost of poverty. It was so great to learn from a former student - wonderful to be in a totally different city - DC - and get together with Adam, five years after his graduation. I felt happy that he wanted to. I know I did.

Tomorrow, I'll give a lesson to the good people of the National Education Association and will teach them a bit of Spanish and talk about what I believe is important in education.

Wish me luck! I'll do my best to represent New Jersey's finest teachers. Send me a bit of your strength and knowledge. I know that I'll need it!

Spain wins the World Cup!

I am in Salamanca, Spain, visiting for a week and I happened to be here when Spain won the World Cup!!

What happiness is in the streets. I have never seen such multigenerational jubilation here in my life.

To think that this country once had a terrible Civil War (1936-1939) and that the Spanish flag, for many, became associated with Dictator Francisco Franco's band and that now, this same flag belongs to all Spaniards, shows that countries can prosper, heal and redefine themselves!

Ole, La seleccion espanola y Ole SPAIN!!!!

The Philadelphia July 4th Parade!

Back in February, a parade producer contacted me to ask if I wanted to be in the July 4th parade in Philly! I immediately accepted and later found out that Mary, the Delaware Teacher of the Year and Michele, the PA Teacher of the Year, would be in the parade as well. We all had our own drivers and classic cars to ride through the streets!

I sat on the back of a red 1966 Ford Classic Convertible, the guest of a car collecting family who had volunteered to do something nice for teachers. I was propped up on a rim lined with towels - for my comfort - and had the double task of waving my hand to the crowd while swooshing the flag back and forth.

We pulled out to get into the parade line up at half past eleven. Next to me, were over a hundred Chinese Americans in red shirts, large Styrofoam top hats with flags stamped across the paper bands and a collection of dancing dragons. A local high school steel band was edging up next to me on a float. We were all lined up like planes on a runway poised to enter parade world.

I positioned my feet on the back seat of the slow moving convertible to keep my balance. I just dug them in when we would start and stop.

Soon, we drove in front of the parade president and dignitaries who started announcing my arrival with a full bio. Names of my family were intermingled with events and deeds from my history - all on loud speakers. One car length ahead were a pair of volunteers who were carrying a six foot banner with my name and "New Jersey Teacher of the Year" across it.

"Way to go, Maryann! Good Job!" A woman called out and started a thunderous applause.

In fact, the whole street was waving and shouting my name and giving me the thumbs up for teachers. Small children eating cotton candy waved and were so excited when I waved back, specifically at them.

"Nice hat," I said to a little boy. His fingertips moved up to touch the glittery plastic and he smiled.

Each segment of street brought a new wave of applause. It was as magical as being 5 years old and dreaming of riding in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage.

Impossible dreams are sometimes possible.

"Hey, New Jersey!" I looked over and there was Joanna, my good friend from work!

She was snapping pictures like a paparazzi and laughing, while running along the road. It was so great to have someone from my life see what was happening. Half my family is in Spain, running a trip and the other half had other obligations.

Having her there made me believe that what was happening was real!

The car inched along. The streets were lined with cheery Philadelphians eating water ice, melting fast in the hot sun. I saw grinning people in wheel chairs clutching three inch flags. Cops smiled back when I waved.

In 1776, a brave message resounded in these streets - one that the signers of the Declaration of Independence would not have even been able to fully grasp or predict

Americans watching the Philly parade, on July 4th, 2010, came in many races and religions, all equal and all with the right to the pursuit of happiness and equality.

Just a couple of blocks away, the liberty bell herself was soaking up sun through panes of glass. She had seen slavery, women without the right to vote and a time when you had to be white to be an American citizen.

Somehow, through all of those past and current trials and challenges, we are reminded of our core values when we celebrate July 4th.

And today, Philadelphia was indeed "the city of brotherly love."

Sam Lee, guest blogger

Here is Northern Highlands Regional High School graduate, Sam Lee & his proud family posing for a picture. Sam's peers selected his speech for presentation at our school's graduation. I found his words inspirational and invited him to share them on my site as a guest blogger.


"Fellow graduates, parents, faculty, and staff, you are staring at the next American Idol. Ok, perhaps not, but it sounds nice, doesn’t it?

According to Winston Churchill, we should “never give in (to defeat). Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small”. But the fact still remains. I can’t sing. I’ve had my try at singing- in the showers, in class, in front of the mirror and in the presence of my friends. And to be honest, I’m not the next Kelly Clarkson!

So then, what makes each of us unique? Why is our graduating class the best class in NJ, in the United States, in the world even? Why is Highlands so special? Is it because we’re DECA weapons, because we know how and when to get the best cookies in the cafeteria, or is it because we know that UIB stands for “User is blocked”?

Take a look at the person next to you. Do you see an actor, a doctor, or an NFL superstar? As for me, when I look at the Class of 2010, I don’t see “the future” or “this great beginning” that will end in all of us being movie stars and CEOs and supermodel divas.

I won’t use the tedious one-liners like “we are the next generation” or “follow your dreams and win big” and say that all 314 of us- just us, of course- will go out and change the world. But there’s always potential, always.

So then what about the short and stubby third grader who says he’ll be the next Yao Ming? Isn’t it ok to joke about that and say “it’ll never happen”? How about the shy brace face that says she’ll be the next Lady Gaga, and the class bully that wants to become a teacher?

It’s easy to laugh and joke or cast aside goals that seem “impossible”, and it’s all too familiar when we’re discouraged by adversity. But often, we find ourselves in a trap where it’s not others who discourage us or the size of our obstacles. Too often, it’s our own self defeating thoughts, our fears and worries.

Sometimes, all we need to do is stop thinking for a moment, and forget our anxieties about how silly we look or how incapable we are. If you want to “Dance with the Stars”, dance. If you want to be a singer, then sing. Let’s step out of our comfort zones and take a chance. When the Soulja Boy music is blasting on the dance floor, grab a friend and start the “crank”. Pull out the chicken wing or the chest pop if you have to. Just do it!

Congratulations Class of 2010. And, when the music fades, and we see that microphone on the open stage, let’s grab it, and whether we squeak or squeal or screech out of tune, let’s sing our hearts out."

The Teacher Leadership Community

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to deliver a keynote at a wonderful two-day event held at Rider University - The Teacher Leadership Community Summer Forum. Suzanne Carbonaro and the teacher leader team that put this together are tireless and enthusiastic about what teachers can offer each other and how they can fruitfully collaborate.

Suzanne has created a Ning called Teacher Learning Community For Ed (http://tlc4ed.ning.com) which you might like to join. It is chock full of great ideas, connections and real contact with educators who are making a difference every day.

The summer forum was held in the Daley Dining Hall of Rider University. I think there must have been about 100 educators gathered who were ready to share and learn. Chris Campisano, from the State Department of Higher Education, had asked me to speak. Chris is moving on to work as the head of the teacher prep program at Princeton University. Meeting Chris has been one of the highlights I've had this year.

Chris spoke first and then Emilio Piaolo, an award winning student teacher, followed him giving the group a moving speech - the story of her student teaching experience.

Emily compared images of her favorite activity - going to the beach - to her internship experience. She talked about waves of learning, our need to sometimes tread water or survive in rough educational winds. Her words were well crafted and beautiful, leaving the audience gasping at various times. I think her words could become an important essay for teachers and student teachers everywhere to share!

I spoke after Emily to tell my stories of collaboration across the barriers of age and position in my life. Here's a part of what I said. A lot of time, during my speech, I was off the page, improvising, as the spirit would move me. This has been happening more and more as I go on the road, but I still like to have that speech in front of me as a good back up! Here is a shortened version of what I said:



"What a year it’s been! But how did I get here and how did collaboration give me the skills I’ve needed in my career of 31 years?

In 1978, I got married to Joe Murphy. Joe told me that I would be able to learn Spanish very well, if we made a pact to speak no English to each other. At the age of 22, I was so in love that volunteering to give up my native language for a year seemed like a good plan.

Joe and I went to Spain and moved into a Pension – which is a kind of family-run Inn. The Inn keepers were Marisol and Pepe – a young couple in their 20’s. They had two small children, Jose and Susana. Jose was four years old and he became my secret teacher. I spoke only a couple of words of Spanish, so I really needed help!

“Pss, Jose, Que es esto?” I would ask about every object in the room.

Jose would fall to the floor in hysterical laughter and would finally give me the word I would need again and again. My learning became a game for him. To this day, when I go to Spain and see Jose, now in his 40s, I still talk about him being my very first Spanish teacher.

In college, I had studied philosophy. As a philosophy student, I needed to care about words and use them in a precise way. Going to Spain and leaving all of those hard-won words behind to break into a new language, was indeed a challenge to me. I had to learn to be humble, flexible and finally, to see myself with humor.

But most of all, I had to get help from others.

I had to ask questions and I had to let a person with greater skills assist me – in my case, it was a four-year old, but the age difference also allowed me to let down my guard. In fact, it was a perfect language learning situation.

Fast forward a decade and you find me working at a new school for science and technology. The place was gleaming and stocked with all of the latest computers, cutting edge in 1993.

We have to remember where technology was in those days. As recently as 1981, it would take two hours to download a copy of the local newspaper at an hourly download charge of $5. Experts in those days said that even though computers might be interesting and fun, they probably wouldn't have widespread use and certainly wouldn’t make people any money!

It would have been hard to envision the internet, online shopping, workflow software and our need for the instant gratification of text messaging!

Well, there I was in 1993 in my new classroom when a very serious man walked in, in a fancy suit. We had a technology meeting at a time that I barely knew what the word might mean.

The man said: “You are now a lab manager!”

“I am?”

“Yes, do you have any questions?”

“Yes, is there, uh, training?”

“Well,” he said, "there isn’t any money for professional development.”

“Oh, uh, oh.... I seeeeeee!”

I sadly flipped through the manual. I was in “tech shock” with a useless piece of chalk poised in my hand, somewhere between tears and paralysis.

Thank goodness, a student walked into the room. His name was Mark Lois and he played an important part of my personal history.

“Como estas?” I said, trying to sound chipper.

Mark was a sensitive kid and he instantly noticed something wrong on my face, though he had only met me a few days before.

“Que pasa, Maestra?” His kind face and question helped the walls come tumbling down.

“Mark, I don’t know anything about computers. Can you please help me??”

Without flinching or making me feel foolish, Mark began my instruction.

“Do you know anything?

“No, nothing.”

“O.K., This is a desktop, this is a mouse. You move it like this, no – not up in the air, but side to side.”

I immediately felt comfortable and I let Mark teach me. Soon, I would notice kids pulling out cords, playing with computer programs and applications with an irreverent and fearless approach to technology.

When they would go too fast, I would say, “Slow down” just like I did when I was learning Spanish. Their attitude empowered me to adapt to an entirely new culture of technology, just like I had done years before with Joe in Spain when we made a pact to speak no English. The world was changing and, by golly, I was changing with it! My students taught me that I could use their matter-of-fact, playful, irreverent approach to new learning to my advantage.

Because of them, my mind was beginning to explode with a new excitement and a hopeful attitude about technology. I didn’t need to be a math genius to work with it or understand everything. I just had to be comfortable with a little momentary confusion and to develop a willingness to try different strategies, one at a time. The machine wasn’t out to get me. With a little gentle coaxing, technology and I became good friends!

Fast forward some more and bring me to last year.

I had agreed to become the cooperating teacher for Tim Riley, an outstanding student from Ramapo College. After all of my years in the classroom, I figured it was my obligation to encourage a younger colleague to find his educational dreams. Little did I know that the relationship would be so mutually constructive and personally rewarding!

I had met Tim during our interview a month before. Because I teach upper-level Spanish, I wanted to make sure his proficiency was up to speed. It was and I approved his application.

The day he was scheduled to arrive was the last day of the marking period. The night before, I had taken home two cloth shopping bags, buldging with journals to read and assess. They were heavy. I pulled up my car, dropped them off at the door, just near my classroom for only a half a minute so I could park my car. When I returned, however, the journals were gone!

What was I going to do? They weren’t behind the bushes! They weren’t tucked against the wall! They were nowhere. How foolish I was to have left such precious cargo unattended, even for a moment, but it was early and I didn’t imagine anyone would want a sack of notebooks. I was, as you might imagine, in an absolute panic.

Seconds after the discovery of my dilemma, my supervisor, Dr. Dianne Bono, walked out with Mr. Tim Riley, my new intern.

“Oh,” I said, mustering a smaller than average smile. “How are you?” My supervisor left, depositing my new charge with me.

“Fine,” he said, “you look worried. Is everything all right?”

“Well, to tell you the truth, it isn’t.”

I quickly told Tim my plight. We immediately started brainstorming. What could have happened? Where could the journals be?

I learned that Tim’s wiry frame is fast – he was a prize-winning runner – and he could make it up and down a hallway in a nanosecond.

But no matter where we looked, we couldn't find the journals. It was a total mystery. The journals went missing for three hours. In the meantime, I showed Tim the cafeteria, got myself a gulp of coffee and settled into teach the best I could. Ha! Now, I was supposed to teach well – what a challenge - but the show must go on! I didn’t share the situation with my students, hoping the journals would turn up.

Finally, at long last, an email came from a colleague who had picked them up on his way into his office and then had forgotten to contact me. He knew it was me because my name was on every student’s journal. He was sorry that what had started out as a favor had caused me so much worry. At last, the problem was solved and, by the end of the day, Tim and I had truly bonded.

The next day, I let Tim jump in right away. During our first week, when he was just supposed to observe, he offered to type and project student oral responses, so we could see them on a big screen. This way, he said, they could visualize the corrections I was making. I was impressed that Tim could type as fast as he could run. In the middle of class, Tim would dash to the computer and would interact with the words, find an Internet clip reinforcement of a point I was making or provide other suggestions.

Sometimes I would look up and there would be a funny comment in Spanish! The kids just loved it and in a matter of days, I was teaching better and we were all learning.

Soon, the time came for Tim to actually take over the class. I was nervous, but not as nervous as he was. We had developed this team style and I needed to give him more time to fly solo. He needed to learn ways to position his body to take over the room and project his voice. How much intervention should he provide on an assignment? How can you help one student when the whole class needs you?

He’d get so focused on helping a few kids that the others needed attention. During these early weeks, I took careful notes that I shared with him after class for a debriefing. Soon, his confidence grew and he knew just what to do. Quickly, we had a routine and he was managing the class on his own. I would even jump to the keyboard and type student’s responses like he did for me, though not as quickly or as well.

During our time together, Tim and I shared stories of life, lesson plans and our areas of expertise. I learned about geocaching, a sport where you bury items in far-flung places and then post their longitudes and latitudes for people to find them. There is a world of people who do this for fun! Who knew?

We put together wonderful formative assessments and brainstormed everything. I would start one sentence and he would finish it. I would anticipate his needs by an expression on his face.

Finally, our time was drawing to a close. Tim needed to go on interviews, but he didn’t own a tie.

“Do I really need one?” he asked, “isn’t a polo shirt ok?”

The next day there was a carefully wrapped box with two ties: one a blue silk tie and another red one. I just saw a picture of him wearing the red one on his facebook page.

“Nice tie!” I commented.

“I wonder why you like it?” he replied.

When Tim left, the classroom seemed oddly silent. All these years, I had taught in it alone, but now, the sound of his voice and his thoughts were part of the fabric of my day.

The students groaned when they entered the room.

“Oh, no – no Mr. Riley,” they wailed. I didn’t feel bad when they said it because I felt the same. “What are we going to do without him?”

Mark Lois, the student who taught me technology and Tim Riley, my outstanding student teacher, all became my teachers. As a veteran teacher, I realized that I cannot have all of the answers. By teaching others and being open to their gifts, I can learn too. By maintaining humility, humor and a spirit of constant collaboration, I can grow.

When I was in the final stages of the Teacher of the Year competition, I needed to create a movie to showcase my teaching. I was told to enlist the help of my school’s tech team to produce a highly polished, though unedited video. The only one available at all was my student, Alfonso Carrion, a senior.

“I’ve got this, Maestra,” he said, to respond to my worried face.

Though he was involved in closing out his own year and getting ready for the prom, Alfonso worked with me on filming the video. He added English subtitles over the weekend so that the committee could know what I was saying in Spanish. Only a year later did I discover that Alfonso had given up his prom weekend afterparties to work on this project!

Later, Alfonso told me that he was most impressed with the role reversal we had experienced together, that broke through the barriers of age and position.

"Helping you is what I wanted to be doing," he said, when he visited me after his first year of college.

Years ago, when I was living in Spain, it was necessary for me to approach the task of learning a language with a beginner’s mind. Jose, the four year old, taught me my first words. Later, there was Mark, to teach me technology and Tim and Alfonso, but I could have just as easily have told you the story of Rebecca, who collaborated with me on an all-freshmen diversity program, Na Eun Kim or Adam, whose tireless efforts during Mix- it-Up-at-lunch made the day a tremendous success or Anne Sullivan, whose cheery face popping into my room, at just the right moment - days after the death of my father - reinvigorated me, both professionally and personally.

Recent research shows that the mentoring relationship works best if it is non-threatening and supportive. I think my mentoring relationships have worked in the past because I have involved my protégé in my real needs – the need to learn a language, the need to find those journals, the need to make a video.

Each time, the mentee was able to immediately help me, the mentor, at a time when I really needed it. Because they could help me, I could offer my help in a way that was totally nonthreatening. We were a real team.

In an average 5-year period, 2.2 million of 3.1 million teachers will leave the profession. Part of our mission as educators is to prepare the next generation to be our replacements, to add our story to theirs and theirs to ours.

This way, when our last day of work has come and we turn in our last set of keys, we need to know that there are other educators whom we’ve empowered to lead. And when this day comes, I am sure that the lessons they have taught us will stay with us forever!"