Day 25 - Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008We had possibly our best Vocational day so far in Madera today. And we presented at a combined Madera clubs meeting, and everyone did very well. Glen and Sarah are getting so confident, it's a pity we are near the end!
I'm having fun with Jerry and Betsy Schaffer. We're even finding time to go to the gym in the mornings! Talk about a good life... And last, but not least, I got 7.5 hours sleep last night. The most on GSE so far. I feel I could take on the world...
Will's Vocational Day:
I was lucky enough to experience educational IT at 7 different levels. From the Micro (meeting IT manager Joanne at a high school) to the Macro (meeting district manager Steve and County Manager Jeff).
The school visit was interesting as I could do direct comparisons with my school and actually able to help them out a little bit. But I really enjoyed the meetings at the county office where we discussed issues that I don’t have to worry about yet but may have to one day.
Just a quick explanation, schools here are organised into districts and there are several districts in one county. Dist may have between one and a dozen schools depending on their individual area. A unified school dist includes both elementary and high schools. The Madera county office manages many dist and is able to provide some fantastic services include the wonderful internet connectivity. For you nerds out there, the county is the schools ISP and many of the schools have 45 Mbit synchronous connections. Wouldn’t you kill for a connection like that! Actually, there is a California education network which provides a high speed network link between all educational institutions include schools colleges and university.
At the county office we got talking about the catholic education system. It is very small here as it receives no government funding. In fact there is only one catholic high school in the whole county and very very few students in catholic elementary schools.
Madera rotary greeted us with some familiar faces!
Sarah's Voc. Day: Met with Mike Herder and we travelled to Fresno and had a look around the area before heading to Caltrans TMC room (California Transport Traffic Management Control). They have cameras which check on the traffic flow and then heaps of display boards along the highway which they can print messages on - slow traffic, take alternate route etc. While there I also went down to the basement and met the guys in MAIT (Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team). .They were great fun and have great programs to help with accident investigation, including a 3D program which you can view from so many different views (driver, passenger, oncoming vehicles, witness on street).
We then headed to my favourite place in California so far.....In 'n' Out Burger! This place has the best burgers ever, and have a "secret" menu which you can get a 4X4 (4 times meat, 4 times cheese) Mmmmmm.....burgers..... I'm not sure if this was the best idea before heading to the Airport to go flying with the CHP in their Helicopter. The CHP have about 13 helicopters in the state which are all used for general patrol, pursuits and some medical evacuations. I was able to get a great view of the City of Fresno and the Baseball Field from our Grizzlies game. The pilot and flight officer are CHP trained first and then apply for flight duties. They have no tenure and can stay there as long as they like! I would love to have their job! I had a really great time and thanks so much to Mike for organising the visits for me.
Sarah got to see the city through a wide lense
Michelle Voc. Day:
Spent the morning visiting Madera high school and checking out their vocational programs. Part of their vocational program is allowing the students to use a new CMC ( ) which is unusual for a high school to have as only larger businesses in Tasmania have these.
In the afternoon, I had the time of my life and went to Pioneer Educational College which is a chartered college for kids that have been expelled, on probation or otherwise unsuccessful in normal school classes. I spent the afternoon with Alison the principal. The school was diff to any other normal high school that I have visited as they offered smaller classes and more one on one teaching styles. They also had a program setup for teenage pregnant mothers who were allowed to bring their children into the class two weeks post birth to continue their education.
The teachers at this college are more like mentors rather than teachers, which help the kid’s fit into the class. On the day, the kids were doing their STAR testing for English and I managed to see the exam and am lucky they didn’t make me sit it without some study time!
I thought it was interesting how the kids probation officers were walking in and out of the classrooms making sure that the kids were actually in school .Alison is an ex-probation officer and has a good relationship with them.
The kids basically built this school and have built their classrooms. They have a lot or pride and respect as they have put a lot of work into it. They were able to do “Controlled Tagging” of the subjects that were in that classroom.
The school really makes a point of going out of their way to make sure that the kids can pass their high school diploma and organise evening classes for kids that are unable to attend during the day.
Glen visitng somewhere hands on for a change...
Westy’s Voc. Day:
Westy made the trip to Fresno to visit upmarket Capet shop 47 Place Carpet One (in the USA they upscale instead of Up market). They visited several houses in Fresno where they were installing floor coverings and Westy was able to explain to the contractors how to lay carpet around a tricky stair case. He was also able to wonder at the value of the houses he was working in. Later that same day we visited John and Lois and Westy noticed the first woollen carpet that we have seen in the US. No wonder we can’t sell enough sheep when these guys won’t put it in on the floors!
The story of Westy's trip
Michelle with 5220 GSE Team Leader Carol
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