<![CDATA[Teaching and Learning Outside

<![CDATA[Teaching and Learning Outside - Blog]]>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:20:40 +1200Weebly<![CDATA[Beginning to Wrap Things Up]]>Tue, 19 May 2015 23:20:12 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/beginning-to-wrap-things-up

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity for my last school visit to be in Thames on the Coramandel Peninsula. I was also very fortunate that my advisor lent us his beach house so we could afford stay on a few days and get to know the area. Due to a couple days of pretty solid rain, we did not get to see as much of the peninsula as we had hoped to, but what we did see was fabulous. I have added it to the list of places I hope to visit again some day.

I visited the Moanataiari School where there is outdoor learning happening every day of the week. They were so welcoming and had so much going on that I felt like it was a wonderful grand finale for my school visits. They have amazing outdoor murals. The one I love the most is of animals, and little leprechaun, to represent the countries where the students are from.

Things have been pretty chilly and often windy and rainy around Wellington for the past few months, so it was a welcome break to get two amazing days of warm, sunny weather while we were there. When I say warm, I'm talking 70 degree max, not warm-warm, but warm enough to put on my swimsuit and hang out on the beach for Mother's Day.

Since our return, I've mainly been sitting at the kitchen table trying to finalize my project and write all of the reports that are due to Fulbright USA and Fulbright NZ. Additionally, I have a presentation coming up that I am preparing for next week at the Victoria University Wellington, my host university.

I am sure the thing I will miss most about being here is having this opportunity to live so close to the ocean, so I am setting the intention to get outside and down to the ocean everyday until I leave. That being said, today's visit may be short as it is raining again. :-(

]]><![CDATA[A Week in Review]]>Mon, 04 May 2015 00:18:00 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/may-02nd-2015Life is cruising along here. I can't believe we are 3/4 of the way through our time in New Zealand. With the end of my Kura 211 class at Victoria University and my Fulbright friend, Den, and her husband, Tim, heading back to the States, the last week has felt like the beginning of the end.

We had a surprisingly eventful Monday evening last week. Den got it in her head that she needed to try Beef Wellington while she is in Wellington, although it wasn't really named for the city. However we were all game to go along. After all it was a great excuse to hang out one more time before she and Tim headed back to Washington. While we were at the restaurant, David Koechner was seated next to us. As it happens, my friend Seth had met him a couple weeks before and was invited to play background music for a gig of his. He and Seth got to talking and decided to go over to the open mic comedy night at the bar down the road, so we all joined. It is hard to top when you begin your week with something that fun.

I feel so lucky that I happened into taking Kura 211 which was a Maori pedagogy class geared toward pre-service teachers. I learned so much about the dual cultural education system here, and it has really prompted my thinking about creating space in my classes to honor the cultures within our community. We had a lovely time of reflection during our last class day, and the we share kai (food). The students in the class loved the bookmarks I gave them that my students at Cunningham had made for me to share.

I am also very happy to have made a friend of my instructor. Craig and his fiance live here in Island Bay, so we have had the opportunity to hang out with him socially. They both have spunky personalities. He and Patrick seem to be kindred spirits of some sort, and last night Craig started teaching Patrick the basics of scuba diving....in his hot tub.

Tuesday night was bitter sweet. We had a great indoor picnic at the empty flat of Den and Tim. As always it was fun hanging out with the group and doing crazy things that Den suggests, however, as Seth put it, there was a great elephant in the room. No one wanted to talk about Den and Tim's time in New Zealand coming to its end, which, of course, means we are all shortly after. Poor Den had to go straight back into the classroom with not even one day to recover from the flight.

One other special thing that happened this week is that Zelda got to perform on the welcoming side of the Powhiri at her school. A Powhiri is a Maori welcoming ceremony. It usually takes place at a Marae, but many of the schools here are now using them to welcome new students into their communities. When we arrived Zelda was welcomed to Island Bay like this. On Wednesday she got to help welcome the students who are starting school at the beginning of term 2.

]]><![CDATA[Spectactular South Island!]]>Mon, 13 Apr 2015 10:03:38 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/spectactular-south-island

The first thing I have to say about the South Island is that we did NOT have enough time there! We had eleven days, but it simply wasn't long enough. Every time we turned a corner their was a new and spectacular view. I could happily spend two months just hiking around.

We started our trip with a visit to the Okarito School House on the west coast. It is now available to be rented out as a bunk house, and we were able to sleep there while visiting the glaciers.

By far, visiting the glaciers was the most exhilarating and saddest part for me. We got to see four stunning glaciers that are rapidly disappearing. If we ever do get to go back, they will likely be completely melted. We saw the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers from the west side of the island. Then on our return we drove up the center to Mount Cook National Park and got to see the Tasman and Hooker Valley Glaciers. The latter two were harder to see as the moraine walls have been crumbling down on top of them as they recede.

Mr. Hooper and a member of the Greenies showed me around the campus at Ashburton Borough.

Along the way we made some videos for my class and stopped at schools I wanted to visit for my project. There was a lot going on in outdoor education and well developed school grounds that promote outdoor learning on the South Island. Unfortunately the schools were having their fall break like us. Fortunately, I had two people, one principal and one teacher, who were willing to meet with me anyway. One very passionate student even came out on a Saturday to share what they are doing with me. I really got some good ideas from this school. There will be more about them on the toolkit page soon.

Due to limited finances, most of our entertainment has come in the form of hiking. However, we were able to budget for a special tour of the glowworm caves and a short lake cruise at the town of Te Anau. The cave that that the glowworms were in was amazing on its own, but sitting in complete darkness looking at these tiny little twinkling larvae on light up like stars in the sky put the icing on the cake.

Another very cool part of our South Island trip was getting to meet up with my brother and his family in Queenstown. Queenstown was beautiful, but definitely more touristy than I really enjoy. I preferred going out to Glenorchy for a wetlands hike and a school visit. We spent a couple of days with my brother there and then headed on to Mount Cook National park together. We saw the second two glaciers there and spent a rainy afternoon hiking. I am extremely grateful to have been able to share this amazing experience with my family that lives Down Under.

]]><![CDATA[Hard To Believe]]>Fri, 27 Mar 2015 22:27:38 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/hard-to-believe

I am constantly amazed at how quickly the time is passing here. This week it seems to have accelerated even more. The Stewarts just arrived and they have already left, and tomorrow I will have been here for two months. That is almost the half-way point of the New Zealand portion of this adventure.

That being said, it was truly an awesome experience having friends from home here to travel with. Our big adventure was to Rotorua where we found 'hidden' (they were mention on Google, so they weren't really hidden), free hotsprings and mudpots, we watched twilight settle over Lake Rotomo from the yard of our cute little rental house, and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon frolicking and picnicking at Ohope Beach. One the way back we passed through Napier. It was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1931, so the architecture in the whole town is very Art Deco. More pictures of all the fun are on the Photos and Videos page.

After a short stall in my project, my ethics application finally received approval! Also, this week has brought me several new connections as well as a distribution list for getting my survey out. I am very grateful for that!

We are also celebrating the birthday of Carlo and Felix who are 12 years this year. Again a reminder of how fast time flies. We celebrated with friends at home in January, and they got to have another party with some new friends here.

Tomorrow we leave for Tongariro National Park. We will just be spending two days exploring two of the volcanoes. This should be fun. We are going with most of the Fulbrighters plus a couple of instructors from the Victoria University.

]]><![CDATA[Fun and Learning]]>Tue, 17 Mar 2015 23:41:21 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/fun-and-learning

Reuniting with Fiona

The past two weekends have been very busy, and they will just be busier from now until mid-April. Last weekend started with a visit to Fiona's house. Fiona is a Fulbrighter from here that spent the fall in Indiana. We got to know her at the orientation last August in DC. We had a delightful time catching up and she made a delicious dinner with pavlova, and two tarts for dessert.

Last Sunday was a gorgeous day and we finally had the opportunity to enjoy the Sunday market at the waterfront in downtown Wellington. Zelda got her picture painted by a marionette puppeteer.

Vegetable market on the water front.

Z getting her portrait painted by a marionette.

Enjoying the hangi hakari with the school community.

All of my school visits last week were repeat schools, but I am really enjoying starting to get to know people in the community and learning more about the programs in the schools. Last Friday I enjoyed a very interesting cultural experience with Island Bay school. Zelda's class went to the local Marae to prepare a hangi, which is a traditional Maori way of cooking. Unfortunately, little Z had the croup and couldn't attend, but I still volunteered. I was super sad to leave her in the morning, but I am glad I got to be part of the experience and see the Tapu Te Ranga Marae. To learn more about this experience, visit the Programs and Projects page, and scroll down a bit.

The past weekend was full of more fun with friends. We saw Seth play his first big gig here in NZ and we celebrated Kate's birthday. Our friends, the Stewarts, have arrived safely from Austin, and we got to spend the weekend with them touring around Wellington and Island Bay. They have gone to the South Island, but we will meet them when they return on Thursday to head off to Rotarua.

Waterfront with the Stewarts.

Dr. Craig Rofe discussing a project with one of his students.

I'd like to give a shout out to Dr. Craig Rofe here. He has been kind enough to invite me to sit in on Te Ao Maori class he runs at Victoria University. The class is taught to teachers in training and focuses on Maori pedagogy. They are learning how to build their cultural competence and finding resources that they can use to integrate Maori cultural elements into their class culture. I am learning a lot, and he makes the class very interactive and a lot of fun!

]]><![CDATA[Time Continues to Fly!]]>Thu, 05 Mar 2015 22:40:39 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/time-continues-to-fly

I can't believe I have been here over a month already. Between, my school visits, my class at the university, a research project I'm assisting with, and the family, there is never a dull moment.

This past week I met with the stream maintenance team at Owhiro Bay School. They have a beautiful and unique outdoor area for learning at the stream behind their school, but it is difficult to maintain. More details on the Projects and Programs page of this site. I sat in on a planning meeting and will be volunteer there next Wednesday to do some maintenance work.

I had another visit at Te Aro School to learn from the bee keeping class. This visit was very short, but I still learned something new and will be going back for more next week.

I also had the opportunity to visit with the principal of Island Bay School. This is the school that little Z is attending. I am very excited about their progressive educational philosophies and getting to see them put into practice. I'm very much looking forward to the future visits I have arrange to meet with the Learning Hub coordinator and to see Freedom Fridays first hand. Again, more details about these on the Projects and Programs page.

Weekend fun! Last weekend one of the other Fulbrighters invited us to join her and her son on an overnight trek to stay at a lodge in the Rimutaka Forest Park along the Orongorongo River Valley. This area is just 45 minutes outside of Wellington and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. My pictures (on the Photos and Videos page) do not do it justice. The colors were extremely verdant and we were graced with the most amazing weather. Aside from an unfortunate run in with a rowdy guy after dark, we had a fabulous adventure. We even got to see glowworms while we were out looking for kiwi (which we did not see)!

Here hiking is called tramping, which, depending on the context, sometimes makes me giggles. That being said, we certainly are looking forward to more tramping around soon!

]]><![CDATA[Work and Play]]>Mon, 02 Mar 2015 20:55:09 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/learning-a-lot

I can't believe how fast the time is flying here. The days have an easy breezy pace to them. My project allows me to make my own schedule, so there is time for a hike over the hills or a long the bay each morning before I get going. This seems to be helping my brain get the oxygen it needs to be awake and able to soak in all the new things I'm learning.

School Visits
Each school here is in charge of deciding what curriculum they use to meet the national standards. This gives them them a lot of flexibility, so the schools I am visiting all look very different. Last week I had two great adventures with schools.

The first one was honey extraction with the Te Aro school. I spent the whole day with Claire's class (they use first names for their teachers) learning about how to get the honey out of the hive. Martin, the beekeeper, works with Claire's on a regular basis and the students study the bees in a cross-curricular context throughout the year. (More about the bees on the Idea Toolkit page of this site.)

The second adventure was going to camp with South Wellington Intermediate School (SWIS). This is the school that Felix and Carlo are attending.

Intermediate school is the equivalent of middle school. At the beginning of Term 1 each year SWIS takes it's students to camp. One of the organizing teachers said it is really a great way for the kids to bond, and as a parent I have to agree. Last week before camp, Carlo said he didn't know how to make friends at his new school. Yesterday, he came home from school talking about his friends and saying that one of them helped him in German class, and that made it really fun for him. I was very impressed by how well organized the camp was but, also, how much freedom the students were given. (More about camp on the Idea Toolkit page of this site.)

Family and Friends
Last Friday we met up with some of the other Fulbrighters with their families and friends at the Night Market on Cuba Street. Afterward we strolled around and eventually found some music and dancing in the street, which, of course, we had to participate in.

On Saturday we hosted a hike leaving from our apartment to the Devil's Gate Seal Haulout followed by a potluck. The walk was 10 miles roundtrip, so we were all good and hungry when we got back to the apartment. It was a lot of fun having people over, since we had not hosted any get-togethers since before we moved out of the house in ATX.

Sunday day was time for catching up on some rest. In the evening we went to another potluck and New Zealand trivia night hosted by another Fulbrighter and her family. Our team did pretty well, but learned we aren't looking very closely at our money, as we knew neither the birds that are on the back nor the people who are on the fronts.

It was a truly lovely weekend filled with good food, great exercise, and wonderful companions!

]]><![CDATA[More Settling, Making Connections, and More Seals!]]>Sun, 15 Feb 2015 01:34:36 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/more-settling-making-connections-and-more-seals

Last weekend we had a lot of fun exploring the area.

Friday, the 6th, was Waitangi Day which commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British settlers and the Maori people. There are definitely different interpretations of whether the treaty is being honored properly. It has been very interesting to hear several perspectives. Everyone seems to agree that the mis-translation of the original treaty is the cause of the disagreement, but they also seem to agree that the mis-translation was just that and not intended to deceive. It was suggested to us to go to the festival at Porirua because it is a more multicultural event, so we did, and it was. We had a really good time.

On Saturday we visited Te Papa Museum in downtown Wellington. We went to a temporary exhibit on Tyrannosauruses. Turns out T-Rex was just one type of tyrannosaurus. We spent three hours at the museum and barely saw half of one of the four floors, so we will be heading back tonight to continue our visit.

Sunday we drove a couple hours to Cape Palliser to see more seals. We saw a whole colony this time (see the video of the babies on the Photos & Videos page). It was so exciting! We also visited the light house which is the southern most point on the North Island of New Zealand.

It has been a busy week. On Monday we attended a Powhiri (a special Maori welcome) at Victoria University. We certainly have been made to feel welcome where ever we have gone.

We got Zelda enrolled at Island Bay School on Tuesday, just in time to take part in their Powhiri. We were so excited that we already knew one of the waiata (songs) from the day before. I've been singing it all week. She is already making new friends. Her school is very progressive, so I'm looking forward to spending some time there to learn what I can from them.

Felix and Carlo are enrolled at South Wellington Intermediate School (known as SWIS around these parts). They have to wear uniforms, which is a first for us, but they like not having to think about what to wear in the mornings. They are very excited to have recess again. Even the middle schools have playgrounds here!

Both schools offer a lot more time for kids to socialize and have unstructured play. They get 45-60 minutes for lunch. They have to sit and eat for the first 10 minutes. After that they are allowed to go play and have a choice of several different areas to choose from.

Bruno and Andrea arrived safely on Wednesday afternoon, which makes our family finally complete here! I've been making lots of connections, and I began classes and school visits (see Idea Toolkit page for more info) on Thursday.

All and all, I think we are off to a flash* start. Now it is Friday and time to continue exploring!

Waitangi Day Festival in Porirua

Tyrannosaurus exhibit at Te Papa Museum

Seal at Cape Palliser

Z's first day of school

Felix and Carlo in uniforms for first day of school

*As far as I can tell the use the word 'flash' like great or awesome.

Andi and Bruni's first afternoon here

]]><![CDATA[Orientation Week]]>Sun, 08 Feb 2015 22:33:49 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/orientation-week

What a week! It is amazing how much a brain can absorb given the opportunity and right conditions. I feel like I've been wide awake and learning all week long. Our orientation included the following: (Click the links to learn more about the fascinating people who led these presentations and about the Marae.)

A snapshot of NZ Culture and History by Dr. Jock Phillips.
An introduction to Maori language and protocols by Sir Tamati Reedy.
An overnight stay at Waiwhetu Marae, where we slept communally in a Maori longhouse.
A talk about the Peopling of the Pacific by Amber Kiri Aranui (scroll to second entry on link page), and her fascinating work as part of the repatriation team for the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand.
An overview of the Treaty of Waitangi (a governing document of NZ and its interpretation is still being debated today) by Kura Moeahu who is a Maori cultural advisor.
A visit to the NZ Parliment and a Q&A session with Green Party member, Dr. Kennedy Graham, and Professorial Fellow in Political Science Nigel Roberts.
An introduction to NZ's flora and fauna by Dr. Ben Bell from the University of Victoria's School of Biological Sciences.
A dinner hosted by a Fulbright Alumna. Our whole family was hosted by the Fulbright New Zealand Board Chair, Dr. Helen Anderson, and her husband, Michael. It was a delightful evening. We had a great deal to talk about, and the kids had fun in their (cold) swimming pool with a warm bath to follow.

You can see that this orientation has given me the tools and connections I will need to complete my project. I am excited to jump into scheduling school visits this week!

]]><![CDATA[Settling In]]>Wed, 04 Feb 2015 05:13:44 GMThttps://www.teachingandlearningoutside.org/blog/settling-in

It has been quite a week getting settled in here. All and all things have gone quite smoothly. I spent the first two nights with my new friend, Den, in here amazing apartment in big city and right on Oriental Bay. It gave me the the opportunity to walk around the city and get to know the lay of the land. I feel a lot more oriented, though I'm still not sure where I will find my advisor for our meeting tomorrow. That will be my next project.

On Friday I moved into our cute little apartment out in Island Bay. I already love this little village. Everything we need is within walking distance (groceries, playground, school, beach, and seals!....see video for more details) and there is a bus that goes straight in the city. The apartment is perfect for us. It has lots of windows on three sides, so we practically have a panorama of the area.

The only thing that will make it better here, is the arrival of my family. Only a couple more days until Paddy and the three younger kids arrive! It will be fun to explore this place together.

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