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It is simply amazing what happens when teachers are allowed to do what they do best which is create and teach. The presentations and projects I saw today were simply mind blowing. I want to be a student in so many of these teachers' classrooms!!! Teachers from all over the world are working to better the education for their students and I hope administrators and politicians begin supporting what we do

Microsoft Innovative Teacher Forum 2oo8

D-Day

With everything ready and on hand, we got on the bus today and headed to the Asia World Expo center to prepare our presentations. Everyone was really nervous because a lot of work has gone into many of these projects.
The Asia World Expo center is about 40 minutes away from HK proper and it is like the Lansing Civic Center (a convention center) times like...dunno...25? There is even a train station inside that to take people to and fro down town Hong Kong. I don't really think I have ever been in a building this big other than an airport.

In the video, you can see the hype and buzz and everyone setting up their booths for the judges. The coolest part of this day, for me was all the booth hoping I got to do. I really didn't have time to stop at everyone's booth because it was so easy to get absorbed into a conversation/discussion about any given presentation in any of the stations. There were so many questions to ask, business cards to exchange and amazing ideas to be amazed by that I think I only got to maybe 5 or 6 booths on this first day.

Hong Kong Street Scenes

The streets of Hong Kong are always crowded. People walk at a relatively fast pace here. They also plow their way through unsuspecting tourist. People are not really playing 'chicken' like I was...you literary have to get out of their way or they will plow into you!!

This must be a natural defense mode that people here have developed to manage the amazing over crowding.

Despite this energetic way of sharing the side walk, I saw no road rage by drivers or pedestrians. When people bumped into me, they simply excused themselves politely and went on their way.

Steep Streets
Most of the streets in Hong Kong are ridiculously steep. It reminds me of San Francisco except these streets are a lot more crowded. The building are also very close together and incredibly tall. People here live in harmony even though they are so packed in together.
Most of the apartment buildings are at least 30 floors tall.
Man, I would hate forget my books in my 48th floor apartment once I got to the bottom of the street!...what if the elevator breaks?? its no wonder everyone here has amazing gluts and calves...

Looking for Food Again

Sigh....why am i looking for food??? Check out the spread Microsoft had for us every single day!

Now, Time for the NEW


The World's Longest Escalator

After a tour through the old part of town. we were taken to the new part of town to see some of the modern improvement the Honk Kong government has built. At this point, our team still did not have any ideas of what our project was going to look like. We were too busy absorbing the sites.

We were taken to the world's longest escalator. I feel so happy right now I feel the need to be very generous. Email me a paragraph about the world's longest escalator in the world and earn 5 points toward your last test. You must be the first one in your hour to send me the information and I must publish it write here on this post in order to get the extra credit. I hope you are not sick and tired of the videos because there is so much more to come. I miss you.....
OMGdddd....is that a LAMBORGHINI?

The World's Longest Escalator
by Sandie Zhao, 5th hr World History

The world's longest escalator is the four section Ocean Park outdoor escalator system located at the Ocean Park amusement and entertainment center at Hong Kong. The escalator has a vertical rise of 377 feet and stretches out to 225 meters or 745 feet in length.

The longest escalator in the western hemisphere is located at the Wheaton station of the Washington Metro subway system. It has an overall length of 155 meters or 508 feet and takes over 3 minutes to ride.

Thank for posting Sandie...You have earned 5 Canton points to use on your Unit 4 Test!! Yeyyyyy!

The Man Mo Temple
This temple was built in the 27th year of Emperor Daoguang, Qing Dynasty in 1847 A.D.

Be the first in your hour to email me with a paragraph about this temple and earn 10 pts. toward your unit# 4 and final tri test....imagine that!

PS: Make sure you get an approval email from me before you assume you won the slot....K?

Come inside the Man Mo temple with me....

In Search of Clean Underwear!?!?!
My teammate Molly's suitcase did not make it to Hong Kong at the same time she did. So the night of our arrival, we decided to go out and buy the essentials. As you know, my hotel is located inside a mall that boasts 700+ stores. Well, in Michigan, that all sounded fantastic! In the real world, it is a virtual nightmare. A happy nightmare but a nightmare non the less.
I mean, I have been to some of the world's largest malls but this one takes the cake. I am guessing it probably takes up a couple-three city blocks and connects several large skyscrapers and office buildings together.
The mall is called Harbor City and it is subdivided into different departments. Every department (like childrens, sports, youth, etc) has a gazillion stores and it is about the size of a football field. it took us almost 30 minutes to even find the lady's department so we could buy underwear. We kept getting turned around, asking for directions and then getting turned around again and again. The hardest part was trying to stay focused on the pursuit of the underwear....there was merchandise calling me left and right...making it impossible to keep my eyes on the prize....what a nightmare!!!
It was almost a full hour+ before Molly actually purchased the underthings dang it!

The mall even had several harbor outlets so huge cruise ships like this one could dock right on the side of the mall and let tourists in....!?!?!

Watch the in search for undies videos 1 (left) and 2 (right)

Hong Kong Tid Bit
by Nick Mulder, World History 2nd hr.

Hong Kong is a city in China made up of 235 islands and a section of mainland called Kowloon. Settlement in Hong Kong began during the Paleolithic era. It was occupied by England in 1841. Durring the first half of the 20^th century Hong Kong was a free port. Hong Kong has similar government to us with three branches. Hong Kong is made up of territories and districts. About 95 % of Hong Kong’s population is of Chinese descent.

It takes up about 426 square miles of land. 4.6 % of the area is covered in water. The land is very mountainous. The average yearly temperature is between 65 and 85 degrees F. Summers in Hong Kong are similar to Michigan summers. The population in 2008 is about 6,985,200 people.

Nick has earned 10 Cantonese points toward his Unit #3 test. Thanx for playin', Nick!