Global Teacher Prize Trip Report - Storms, Spices, and Spectacular Conversations

What a day! It seems like weeks ago that I woke up this morning at the Hilton Garden Inn, had a nice quiet breakfast by myself, and took a taxi to Atlantis to check in.  My taxi driver was a Pakistani, and we had an amazing conversation about cultural differences, how learning happens in schools, and about economic disparities in Dubai.

Walking into the lobby to Atlantis was pretty amazing, and reinforced many of his points.

My room was ready, so I dropped off my bags and explored around a bit.  Wow. I'm not sure there are enough superlatives to describe this hotel.  I think that was kind of their hope when they built it. The aquarium is massive.

At 11AM, I met up with top-50 finalists from last year Melissa Morris (USA) and Souad Belcaid (Morocco), and top-10 finalist from last year Naomi Volain (USA). After checking out the Batmobile in the parking lot, we met our tour guide, Sameh, who led us to his Land Rover.

Our first stop on the tour was the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa.  While in the mall we walked past the giant aquarium that Melissa and I had seen last night, the ice-skating rink, and through some other beautiful areas. Naomi and I took a picture at the Top-10 sign at the candy store, which we were told was the largest candy store in the world.  Everything here seems to be the biggest, tallest, most expensive, or most something-or-other in the world. 

We also stopped to take a few pictures of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. It was just as impressive in the daytime as it was last night. As we were leaving the mall, it started to rain.  Serious rain.  Thunderstorm, cats and dogs kind of rain.  Later we found out that this was a once in a 100 years storm. 

After leaving the Dubai Mall area, we decided to go to the gold and spice souks, even though it was raining.  We also, much to Sameh's amusement, decided to take the boat across the Dubai Creek to the souks in the torrential rain. 

We started at the Spice Souk, which was quite a unique experience for me. It was dark and alley-like with very few people due to the rain. We went into one of the little shops and got to learn about lots of different spices, and the three women each bought some spices to bring back home. I didn't buy anything because I figured that my wife, Lori, would end up coming here when she arrives, and that she'd know better than me what to buy. I did pick up a Dubai shot glass for my cousin. 

From there, we walked to the Gold Souk.  I didn't find this area nearly as impressive.  It looked a lot like a bunch of jewelry stores that you would find in New York City.  Some of the displays were gaudy and over the top, but it didn't do much for me. 

From there, we took the boat back across the creek and found a place nearby to get a bite to eat.  The food was good, but the conversation was even better. 

By the time we finished eating, the rain had just about stopped. We went to the Jumeirah Mosque. We could only see it from the outside since visits inside only are possible in the morning.  While we were there, the call to prayer started. That was a cool experience. 

Our final stop was "Little Venice", which consisted of a shopping area and a walk past a few nicely landscaped canals.  

After the tour, we each went to our rooms to rest a bit, and then met back in the lobby at 6:30 for dinner.  I took some time to Skype a few classes to share a bit about my day from beside the pool. 

Souad had some work to finish, but Stephen Ritz (USA), a top-10 finalist from last year, and Nancie Atwell (USA), last year's Global Teacher Prize winner joined us for dinner. The dinner conversation was amazing. It was exactly what you would expect if you stuck some of the world's best teachers at a dinner table.  Great discussions, debates, and insights into a variety of educational topics. I left feeling totally inspired.

On the way out I finally got to meet Joseph Fatheree, the other American top-10 finalist this year.  I'm looking forward to getting to know Joe better this week. 

Tomorrow we are meeting in the lobby at 7AM for the first day of the Varkey Teacher Ambassador Summit, so it's bed time for me - even though a stroll through the grounds at night looks like it would be amazing. 

Global Teacher Prize Trip Report – Dubai - Day 1

With the long flight and the time change, I’m not quite sure where yesterday ended and today began, so I’ll pick up where I left off with yesterday’s post.

The flight was great. All of the things that I had heard about Emirates being a great airline were true.  Good service, decent food, comfy seats. It helped that the back of the plane was empty and Melissa and I both had our own rows to stretch out and sleep. I got about 6 decent hours of sleep, watched Bridge of Spies (really good movie), and felt pretty good when we landed around 2. It was cool to wake up, look out the window and see the desert mountains of Iran.

We got through passport control, baggage claim, and customs rather quickly, I hit the cashpoint/ATM to draw out some UAE Dirhams, and we hopped a cab to the Hilton Garden Inn at the Mall of the Emirates where I am staying for one night before moving to Atlantis the Palm.

It was exciting to see the Burj Khalifa off in the distance as we drove past.  Melissa and I both looked eagerly out the window to take in as much as we could on the drive.

As soon as we dropped off our bags, we headed out to explore.  First, we walked across the street to the Mall of the Emirates.  We went to Ski Dubai to see what it was all about, and noticed that there was a penguin encounter available. We bought tickets and got into our loaned jackets, pants, and boots. Our ticket was for 5PM, but the nice penguin guide allowed us to join the 4:30 group.  There were two short films, followed by a meeting with a Gentoo Penguin.  She was still in training, so we got to take pictures with her, but not touch her. There was also a cool window into the area with a pool and the other penguins that we could view from this first room.

From there we moved into a section where Wally, the King Penguin was waiting to meet us. After learning a bit about king penguins, each of us got to touch the different types of feathers on Wally, feel the oil from his preening gland that allows him to stay waterproof, and take some pictures.  

After that, we hopped in a taxi to the Dubai Mall.  By the time we arrived, we were both hungry, so we found a Middle Eastern restaurant that looked cool and ordered a few small plates.  The falafels were amazing, and the other food was very good.

From there, we went to check out the giant aquarium in the mall, which was 4 stories high and filled with sharks, stingrays, and all kinds of other fish.

Then, we went outside to catch the water fountain show outside the mall and at the base of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.  The show was short, but very cool.  The Burj was massive and so much more impressive up close than it was at a distance.  The fact that it stands somewhat alone makes it look even bigger.

After the show we walked around the outside of the Burj to explore a bit and then took a cab back to the Hilton so that Melissa could pick up her bags.  Being a gentleman, I was happy to ride with her to see her safely to the Atlantis (which looks amazing!) 

As I’m writing this post I got to talk to Lori for a few minutes before bed, and I did a live Skype call with Tanya Cunningham’s 5^th grade class back home to share some pictures and answer some of their questions. I had sent pictures and messages to several classes via Skype during the day. 

The wifi here at the Garden Inn has been wonky, so yesterday’s post and this post will have to go live tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I’m heading over to Atlantis to check in when I wake up.  I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the other Varkey Teacher Ambassadors, and spending some time learning and exploring with them. 

Global Teacher Prize Trip Report – Departure Day!

Wheels up for Dubai! I’m writing this post from somewhere between 36,000 and 41,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Trying to make sure my students get what they need, presenting at PETE&C, media requests since being named a Top-10 Finalist, and my 40^th birthday have made life a little crazy. I just finished packing about 10 minutes before I walked out the door this morning.

I’m very excited, and a bit anxious about the unknown going forward. No matter what happens this week, I’m sure life will get a bit crazier for a while going forward. I still can’t believe all of this is real. I’m on a plane to Dubai. Wow. Out of all the incredible, inspirational, amazing teachers in the world, I got chosen as one of the Top 10. Double Wow. I’ve got a shot at winning the whole thing in 6 days. I can’t even wrap my head around that one. No matter what happens, the opportunity to meet all the other finalists and to expand my professional learning network to include some of the best teachers in the world will be the highlight of the trip. 

Since my wife, Lori, and my mother are coming into Dubai two days after me, I’m thrilled to be flying tonight with Melissa Morris, who was a Top-50 Finalist along with me for last year’s GTP. She made my day by bringing me a present of champagne flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans so we could celebrate. We met at the airport around 1:30 and had lunch in an Irish Pub. Before boarding the plane she bought some duty-free makeup and we shot a 5 clue challenge video to add to the website.

It was hard to leave the kids this morning. I wish I could be sharing this experience with them as well. I was so proud of Michael. When he was asked this week what I should bring him back from Dubai, he said, “Well, hopefully not anything made out of gold if the gold was gotten by slave labor. It would be ridiculous for me to be raising money to get kids out of slavery and then get something like that.” Socially conscious at 10 years old. When I dropped Abby off at the bus to school this morning, she asked me to read Enders Game while I was on the plane because she just finished it and thought I would like it.  I told her that I would only read it after she finishes The Martian, a book I’ve been begging her to read for months because I want someone to talk to about it.   

The Emirates A380 we’re on is incredible.  We ended up in our own row. Melissa and I are on the aisles and we have 2 empty seats between us.  That should make it easier to get some sleep on this overnight flight. We were both booked in full rows, but Melissa told the lady at check in that I was a big shot or something and talked her into giving us a row. Nice!

Dinner will be served in a bit, and then I’ll try and sleep as much as I can. It’s not like I’ve been sleeping much lately anyway. I don’t handle the unknown well. 

I’m going to do my best to post every night during the trip to share this experience with you all, and to keep a record for me to look back at one day. It’s going to be amazing.