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More Reflections – Dominican Republic Service & Culture Trip 2022 – 2

August 6, 2022 / / 0 Comments

This summer, July 30-August 6, I went on a reunion trip to the Dominican Republic, to Constanza, La Vega, to the Cecaini School in Rio Grande. On the next few posts, I’m sharing my reflections.

Once major personal “peak moment” for me on this current trip is that my son came with me! With words and images, I am trying to do my best at telling our story — of our life-changing, humbling, impactful, and seriously amazing set of experiences! Thanks for reading 🙂

July 31, 2022

What a full and fulfilling day and night here in Constanza, Dominican Republic. Justin and I started the day with a fantastic breakfast. New tastes and foods along with some familiar ones. After a great breakfast with the group, we headed into a study room for more cultural orientation activities. We participated in a “scrap book” activity. One that my good friend Nick Polyak and I have adapted and adopted in adult professional development & training for many years (we first did this activity 6 and a half years ago on our first mission and service/culture trip here in Constanza with LifeTouch and the American Association of School Administrators, the AASA, The School Superintendents Organization).

So in this scrapbook activity you have a poster board, glue sticks, scissors, and magazines on multiple topics (everyone was asked to bring 3-5 magazines to cut up). With images, “share your story” — who are you? What is/has been your leadership journey? Whether you’re 14 or 54 or 60 or 35, what’s your journey in life so far and what is a graphical representation of this story? In 15 minutes – NOT a long period of time, we made some pretty cool posters. Then we mixed up into triads, triads with people we just met on this trip. We each had 3 minutes to share our journey/story. Our new friends and partners had two minutes to reflect/ask questions and we repeated the process for each member of the triad. In just over 30 minutes we three learned A TON about each other, what and who we value, what our journey is/has been, etc. Like an image you see, you make a “judgement” or “assumption” but until you listen, look, ask questions, engage, you really do not know what the “perspective” you have is. In fact, our perspectives change – and they should change and be pliable (think “growth mindset” for example).

The exercise serves multiple purposes, it allows us to become friends and fellow travelers, explorers, servants, leaders. It also allows us to be fully present in what we are doing here – each experience, each set of moments and peak moments. It allows us to experience an illustration of the power of open mindedness to change (one of the Big 5 Personality Theories of human being) as we embark on community building and service along side our Dominican hosts and friends.

We were invited to Pastor Angel’s church, the message was of hope and faith, universal principals good for us all to hear and internalize. In addition, today is Father’s Day in the Dominican Republic and we were honored with some cool cultural experiences! We then walked about a half mile through town for our lunch at a local restaurant. We had some time dodging motorbikes on the street while enjoying the act of being present in a new town, in a new space, with new learning and living.

Each night after dinner we reflect upon our learnings and experiences, What, Now What, So What, and Applying our learning is the focus. Tomorrow we engage in some more education, “activating schema” and opening our hearts and minds to full presence of being while here (and in life in general).

Tomorrow we also head to the school site for some manual labor at the invitation of our hosts and community. See some images today from our adventures in the city, our time at Pastor Angel’s church, some recreation and fellowship with our fellow travelers and more.

Thanks for following our adventures.

 

The orientation activities were designed to help us enter into a new culture. Helped us to enter into new environments with openness, empathy, understanding, intelligence, and joy.

Our first night I celebrated my birthday! On the second day we were invited into Pastor Angel’s church service. After the service, we were happy to learn that it was Father’s Day in the Dominican Republic so we enjoyed some local treats including a photo booth.

The hotel we stayed at was incredibly beautiful and the meals were excellent and the grounds were great. Here Justin and I were zip lining on the grounds with some early recreation time.

The views into the city, on the grounds of the hotel, in the community where the school is at — all were incredible and impressive views. This is a beautiful part of the world and I captured as best I could.

Part of our service, learning, culture, growing, included visiting Constanza, the city in the area. Rio Grande is just up the mountain on the outskirts or “heights’ of the city. We were able to walk the city streets, get some ice cream, we also had a great lunch.

Menu at the local restaurant. The food we ate was incredible and we needed the fuel for the hard labor in which we were engaged during our time at Rio Grande Cecaini School.

Pastor Angel’s church service. Welcoming and engaging.

 

Mission, Culture & Service Trip to Dominican Republic – 2022

August 5, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Back in 2016, I was lucky enough to be a part of the LifeTouch Memory Mission trip to the Dominican Republic and I was a representative of AASA, The Superintendent’s Association. I wrote about that set of life-changing experiences on my blog — BLOG POSTS ABOUT TRIP IN 2016 and

Post 2 of 2 – Global Service – Dominican Republic- IASA 2021

And I also wrote about that trip three years later, Link to Anniversary Post

This summer, July 30-August 6, I went on a reunion trip to the Dominican Republic, to Constanza, La Vega, to the Cecaini School in Rio Grande. Through the next few blog  posts, I’m sharing my reflections.

Once major personal “peak moment” for me on this current trip is that my son came with me! With words and images, I am trying to do my best at telling our story — of our life-changing, humbling, impactful, and seriously amazing set of experiences! Thanks for reading 🙂

July 30, 2022

Mike and Justin leave the USA and head to the Dominican Republic. Beyond the 4:30am wake up and the 8pm arrival at the hotel at our destination, the “dash” or the “in between” is what really matters. We woke up, we were mentally prepared for the journey — eager with excitement, anxious with anticipation, and uncertain of all the details working out (plane from ORD to MIA from MIA to SDQ, meeting with the group, getting on the bus, making it to the middle of the Dominican Republic, meeting new friends, getting ready to immerse in another culture in a new land, etc.).

The journey, the adventure, the learning, the service, the reflection, the “what now” is what’s really cool about all of this! Justin and I are two of four people from Illinois. There are others from Minnesota, Arkansas, Washington, New Hampshire, Oregon, and of course, our hosts from the Dominican Republic.

After we arrived at our hotel, our home base in Constanta, DR for the week, we ate dinner. Food is a huge part of culture, dining together is a nice, subtle way to embrace and immerse in the new and different. Following dinner we engaged in some cool orientation and get to know you activities, we thought, we spoke, we shared, we even jumped around and danced a bit, all in the spirit of living and serving in the present.

Pastor Angel, our host and the local visionary leader who is responsible for so much good in the communities he serves and represents welcomed us. He shared the history of the past decade of work in the communities (school building, community center, government acknowledgement and support, and more). He thanked us for being part of the mission, vision, values, and goals of so many, and the impact and legacy of the service. We’re invited friends and partners. We serve and learn along side our Dominican hosts.

We are here in the service of humanity and the bond of love and service. As an educator and as a father, it’s great to see my two worlds integrate and unite.

Over the past decade, and due to Angel’s hard work, leadership, and vision, he acknowledged the “harvest” of good from all of this fellowship. This is his community; we are invited members, servant leaders from so many groups (including World Servants, the group we’re with on this trip) and we are now part of the DNA of Constanta and the La Vega/Rio Grande region.

Some images of our 4 hour bus ride up from sea level in Santo Domingo to about 4000 feet altitude. More to come this week! Thanks for checking our this set of peak moments for me and Justin.

 

Me and Justin on the airplane at O’Hare in Chicago getting ready for a trip of a lifetime!

On the mission trip, we brought donations of school supplies, painting supplies and tools and first aid kit materials.

We landed in Santo Domingo on the South Coast (Caribbean) and we drove for about 4 hours up the mountains into the center of the beautiful country. I share views and vistas in each of the posts.

We arrived on my birthday and the team surprised me with a cake, a candle, a song and this was just the start of many celebrations and peak moments.

The Dominican Republic is an island nation, it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. We arrived in Santo Domingo, traveled north and stayed in La Vega, Constanza, at the Hotel Altocerro.

The red “pin” depicts our location with respect to Santo Domingo.

This is the shirt I received in 2016 on the Life Touch Memory Mission I participated in. This trip was a reunion trip of sorts, several of us were alumni of previous trips. One of the families on the trip attended service trips multiple times. They were inspired by an alumna from a prior trip!

Post 2 of 2 – Global Service – Dominican Republic- IASA 2021

October 13, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Post 2 -IASA Global Service Trip – Dominican Republic October 2021

This is the second post describing and documenting a global service trip I had the opportunity to attend in the Dominican Republic with 30 colleagues. Each member of this international travel experience was a school superintendent, school or district level administrator or elected member of a Board of Education. Under the exceptional guidance and care of our team from Education First and the Dominican people, we led, learned, served, grew, opened our minds and hearts and set the foundation for student learning and teacher learning opportunities at home.

In this blog post, I will share the rest of the story that was started in the first blog post about this incredible set of adventures and experiences. As I left off in post #1,  this post will highlight our visit to Santiago (the 2nd largest city) visiting the historical district and learning about street art history and culture. I’ll describe the visit to the artisan area in Moca where we learned how to use pottery and bricks for stoves that help reduce the use of wood and lumber by 70% in the mountain areas, our adventures on the north coast of Cabarete, the Dream School and Inspire DR.

Thank you for reading the posts about of our journey in the Dominican Republic! Below I’m showing some photos from the Environmental institute I wrote about in the first post.

Trail “oasis” “after” completion

Tree Nursery

Hands on service!

Trail “oasis” “before” work

Trail Restoration Project

Creative reuse of plastic bottles to insulate wall of outdoor greenhouse

Discussing environmental possibilities

The journey from Jarabacoa towards Santiago afforded us the chance to visit with a local artisan and engage in several workshops and hands on learning experiences at a pottery shop. The artisan was located in Moca, Dominican Republic, and at our briefing we learned cultural and historically significant information as well as sustainability and direct impact on rural Dominican homes as well as the greater environment, health, and wellness.

Briefing at artisan site

The cultural lessons centered around a faceless doll. This was a special art project that originated in 1977. Essentially, in a nod to the complex and mixed ethnic and cultural and racial ancestry of the Dominican people, with 2% Taino (native peoples), 23% Spanish, and 75% African heritage and DNA in its citizens, the artisans wanted to make a statement about the pride and complexities of the mix. Therefore, the idea of the Faceless Doll of a Dominican women was born. A proud, interesting, and creative example of telling a highly complicated and high level concept (ancestry, heritage, etc.) in a clay doll. Beyond our new learning and appreciation for the progression of “who am I” and “who are we”, we actually had the chance to make a doll (though it’s really not easy! And the art teacher was as patient as anyone could be with our amateur creations).

Attempt at making faceless dolls

Artisan pottery – chimney brick project

Brick stove with chimney – transformation

In addition to the Faceless Woman project, we also received a briefing on the stoves in the homes of folks living in the rural, mountain areas and the toll on health, especially for women and children that their old, traditional stoves were taking. For example, cooking indoors with wood, fire, and no chimney or ventilation system led to severe impact on trees (wood for cooking), severe impact on lung/respiratory health of women and children (traditionally in the home while the men go in the fields and work) and skin issues due to the smoke and its carcinogenic properties. So at this pottery artisan production center we visited in Moca, they also make bricks for new rural stoves that use bricks and chimney design to ventilate the toxic smoke, and it has benefits on health, the forest, and lungs! These brick ovens reduce the wood usage by 70% — this is already having a positive impact on the island.

Proud to learn and serve making bricks for brick stove

 

 

Our work in brick makingThis focus on sustainability is also impacting the Haitian side of the island. Together in partnership we all benefit. We on this trip are planting seeds of international cooperation and respect that we will ideally recreate so that students in our schools can learn, do, experience, and we can all pay this forward. The artisan shop is also an example of supporting the local economy as there are locally produced handcrafts for purchase.

 

 

After we visited Moca’s rich artisanal history, and experienced projects of value and of meaning for us and for future student groups, we headed to the nation’s second largest city Santiago. In Santiago, there is a recently restored historic neighborhood with incredible street artwork. I’m sharing a bunch of photos from this visit – I feel that the imagery is far more powerful and descriptive than my words can be.

This visit to Santiago shared for us urban redevelopment in the historic district as well as a visual representation of culture, history and the society over time. The streets on which were were walking are centuries old and have stories of their own.

From Santiago we headed into Puerto Plata on the north coast of the island nation. Our destination was Cabarete. Cabarete is a culturally significant city with a cosmopolitan and international flair. Cabarete and the Puerto Plata coastal area was the original spot for Dominican tourism prior to Punta Cana’s creation on the southeast side of the island. Cabarete is known for international visitors and “expats” as well as kite surfing and surfing on the Atlantic Ocean.

In Cabarete we visited and served at a community center/Montessori-inspired school called the Dream Center School, and we also visited Inspire, an after school and year round STEAM/Shop/Culture/Values program for boys 18-25 years old. Here are some photos of Dream Center and our on site, hands-on beautification service projects. 

 

Fixing up the recycling and trash receptacle after relocating

Our take aways, amens, and epiphanies are many and varied. With the school sites, the after school social organizations, the community library, and their integration and interdependence to supplement and in some cases supplant the overall social-educational systems in place, we saw firsthand how EF works with value and mission driven local organizations and groups so our students can be part of something much larger than their typical education/school experiences. We adults were highly moved and  affected by our service, the informational briefings, and the reflections We got to experience what our students will go through. The Dream School Center allowed us to see how a private school interacts with the public school system.

Finished project!

We saw how early childhood education up through grammar school is organized in very similar fashions to our US educational system. Montessori philosophy is popular in many settings around the world. The Dream Center shares a STEAM classroom with the local public school.

The Dream library is a community library, they have a “book mobile” as well and their outreach is community-wide, not just for the students in the school or special programs. Their Bachata sister academy for older youth (High school ages) demonstrated some Bachata music in an impressive display of musical talent!  As the photos show, we helped them with requested beautification projects and functional projects designating space for motorcycle parking, movement of a recycling and trash receptacle to the back of the grounds, as well as touch up painting throughout the classrooms.

Finished project!

The service elements, similar to what our students will experience, showed us that a group of people may start as strangers, yet they emerge as friends in part due to the opportunities that forge authentic bonds. The problem solving, skills development, team work and overall satisfaction with jobs well done meant a lot to each and every one of us every day on this fantastic set of adventures.

We left the Dream Center feeling a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and reward. We finished up our exploration and inquiry at an after school program for boys (though they are also adding girls programming) InspireDR – Free After-School Programs in Cabarete, Dominican Republic This private foundation “NGO” community based center offers swimming instruction, computer literacy, health education, wood shop, economics, a dojo for marshal arts, and more. We were truly inspired by the emphasis on technical life skills, problem solving, positive, moral, ethical, community focused learning and living. These boys and young men were learning English, swimming safety, and we were able to engage and interact with them on site. In addition, they teach public speaking and communications. This free (privately funded) community center has a waiting list of 90 students and they are serving as many as they can free of charge. This and so many of our new discoveries would each and all make great fund-raising, sponsorship, visit/exchange, education, and of course service projects for our own youth, Rotary and other civic organizations and other foundations.

We also ate lunch at Water to Wine, a water purification team — the opportunities to serve and make our world a better place seemed to be never-ending.

As I close the photo journal and documentary accounts of our incredible 2021 IASA Global Service Project, and as I again thank Dr. Polyak and our business partners, I’ll share some final thoughts, reflections and comments. In North Shore School District 112, we are going to explore the possibilities we can create with our own local partners for a student trip and relationship moving forward. Inspire…Innovate…Engage – our aspirational motto — in action!

Captivating natural beauty

We had so many “to do” or “do now” opportunities. We had so much history and culture learning and education experiences. We were not blind to the irony of our service during the Indigenous People/Columbus Day observances (at home and in the DR). It was not lost on us that we were meeting in Columbus Park for our Santiago art/history walking tour.

We learned and lived and engaged and built lasting relationships in a relatively short period of time.

Our world is complex. Our work is complex. Our past is complex.

In order that we support and facilitate the support for teachers and students to create conditions for a sustainable and globally connected world, we must get out of our safe and small circle of our worlds at home and jump out of comfort zones and live, learn, do, think, be open minded to change, and to lead.

With experiences in the educational, social, cultural, artistic, political, geographic, environmental, and service genres (and more), I simply say Thank YOU to all who put in so much effort to create the spaces where we and I could enhance ourselves and our worlds.

Here’s to the next time … truly we are all unfinished! Opportunities like this help us frame our paths to become the next versions of ourselves.

For nearly 30 years I have been serving public education and schooling in suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA. I’ve been a public school superintendent for 12 years (so far). Each year, each job/role, each child for whom I lead, each adult with whom I lead, each family I serve, each community I serve — each one enhances my sense of self and my body of work. My answer to the call of duty in an ongoing and unfinished, never ending cycle of service is to serve, to lead, to push myself and to make my wife, my children, and my community proud and respectful.

Proud and grateful to sponsor partners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections from Dominican Republic – IASA Global Service Trip

October 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

IASA Global Service Trip 2021-Blog Post 1

Cabarete, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Cabarete, Dominican Republic 1,851 miles from Highland Park, Illinois

October 2021

As our world heads out of the restrictive nature of the recent years, and as our school district re-energizes and re-commits to student educational access and excellence in education for each child, every day, I’m beyond grateful that I have had the opportunity to join a recent trip to another country to learn the culture, history, sociology, teamwork, global interconnection, education (of course) and much, much more. Together with a member of my school district’s Board of education, and with leaders from all across the state of Illinois (Cairo, IL to Zion, IL and all parts in between), our lives were forever changed and opportunities for students across Illinois and throughout the Dominican Republic will be impacted for years to come.

In 2018 thirty strangers agreed to participate in international service, culture, and leadership trip called the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) Global Service Trip. The trip was delayed twice due to the impact of the global pandemic. Thanks to incredibly generous and supportive business partners, the cost per person was minimal, and thanks to an international educational tour company, the world-class tour, trip, adventures, experiences, reflections, expertise, travel, fellowship, new friendships, shared love for our calling to serve and to educate, and the overall service-learning was among the best I have experienced.

Understanding I will likely leave out details, miss a detail or two or three, to the degree possible, I’m making an effort to share in this blog a documentary accounting and “editorial” in this blog post and some follow-up posts as well.

To start, we all met together at a dinner at a restaurant outside of Chicago, IL. As a reminder, we are each superintendents, board of education members, school administrators, and we represent all areas of the great and diverse state of Illinois. We had no idea the depth of communal care, comfort, support, experience, joy, reflection, and leadership upon which we were each embarking.  We each had our own motivation for applying to join this trip. Our partners at the Law Offices of Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhamner, Rodick, & Kohn (HLERK), International Contractors Incorporated (ICI), DLA Architects, AXA, and SPM Architects all took a significant leap of faith believing in the powerful vision of my good friend and the Leyden High School Superintendent Nick Polyak and his vision for impacting the world, education in Illinois, superintendent-board relations, and so much more — words cannot thank the business partners for their support and investment — and genuine on the ground experiential learning and partnership. Life-long friendships were made on this trip across the Dominican Republic!

Service-learning changes lives forever, after having the incredible opportunity to have served on several trips over the past few years, I know firsthand how powerful the hands-on learning and engagement of people make a lasting impact and serves to support a legacy of global connectedness and growth opportunities. Hat tip to the AASA for allowing me to join in on the LifeTouch Memory Mission in 2016 to the Rio Grande/Constanza, Dominican Republic area with World Servants, and hat tip to my friend and fellow Illinois Superintendent Jim McKay for two trips to San Juan, Puerto Rico (so far) for service learning, educational partnership, teacher exchange, training, technology,  hands-on construction and more! On one of these adventures, I had the opportunity to bring my son with me; blending work and home, blending professional and personal, wow – seriously impactful. My son and I will clearly enjoy many more memories and experiences in the future.

Back to this 2021 trip, …Me and my Board member (or my Board member and I) learned together, experienced together, built together, laughed together, and most importantly, we planned together visions for students in our school district to experience life-changing service like we did. I’ve reached out to the district and school administrators back home (while in the DR) to start the thinking process for a legitimate investment in our students in partnership and travel as an adjunct part of the curriculum. Our motto in North Shore School District 112, https://www.nssd112.org/ is Inspire…Innovate…Engage. This trip to the beautiful island nation of the Dominican Republic was highly inspiring, we are beyond motivated to bring these learning opportunities to our students, and we were engaged from the dinner meeting the night prior to our departure.

A few years ago I posted a reflection post about a series of reflections (I see writing as an intimate and public way to express myself, communicate my thinking, and share professional experiences). See link: Reflecting on Global Service – 3 Year Anniversary of Dominican Republic Memory Mission Trip – This is the blog from Public School Superintendent & Author Dr. Michael Lubelfeld

The incredible company Education First,  EF Education First – Global SIte (English), sent us their “A-Team” of leaders and they truly have outdone themselves in terms of an authentic set of learning, leadership, service, opportunity, and true business/education vision and planning opportunities for children. Thank you, Brian, Alex, Claire, Gabriel, Hector, and everyone in the Dominican Republic on the ground for their amazing leadership, expertise, camaraderie, fellowship, friendship, vision, and overall and genuine professionalism. This was a fantastic experience all around. Thank you also to Angel for day and night support!!

We literally visited and traveled through the entire length of the country traveling from the south to the north. We visited urban, rural, and coastal communities. We saw both the Caribbean and Atlantic coats. We visited cultural and historic sites, geographic sites, the two largest cities, public school sites, private school sites, after school clubs, “NGO” not for profit areas committed to environmental sustainability, social justice, education, future-focused support and so many opportunities for post-trip partnership and service and support. I will be sharing the information and “leads” with my local Rotary Club, Leadership Team, Board of Education, and community leaders.

After we arrived in Santo Domingo, the capital city, we visited a Coral Reef and Mangrove reforestation NGO on the Caribbean Sea prior to our long drive north, through the center of the island towards Jarabacoa. We were immediately taken in by the

Captivating natural beauty

immense natural beauty of this island nation. We were also starting our journey and adventure into the Dominican Republic’s commitment to environment study, preservation, sustainability, and education. The sense of community was powerful and we were just getting started.

The overall journey from Santo Domingo to Jarabacoa is 90 miles/144 kilometers, and by motorcoach with a quick visit to the Coral Reef/Mangrove restoration center (and the Caribbean beachfront), it’s a trip of around 3-4 hours (with a stop on the way for a rest and some coffee). We were at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago at 3:00am for a 5:00am flight to Miami, Florida, then after a short layover we headed to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (journey of 1,936 miles/3,116 kilometers), we arrived in Santo Domingo at 12:40pm local time (O’Hare is CST and Santo Domingo is EST). The journey was long, our anticipation was high, our anxiety was being eased by actually being on the ground and for having enjoyed dinner the night before as well as a long travel journey. But the learning was just getting started.

On our next visit, we went to the Environmental Institute, formally called Instituto Técnico de Estudios Superiores en Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales in Recinto, Jimenoa. At this impressive, Ministry of Education funded school, founded in 1968 and refurbished within the past few years, we learned a ton about reforestation efforts, trail building and preservation, the

Trail “oasis” “before” work

connection of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the overall impact on the preservation of nature’s greatness. At the institute, students are 18-25 years old, the integration of genders was recently added and the federal government funds and runs this impressive, two-campus higher education institute. Topics we addressed at the briefing included conservation, tree nursery, forestry, agriculture, trail building, learning, service, and education. The impact of climate change is real and the need for a larger-scale focus on sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. Here in the Dominican Republic, there are scholarships for students from Haiti in an effort to positively impact the entire island of Hispaniola which both countries share. One of the service projects, hands-on learning for our leadership team, was in the tree nursery and the other was in the nature trail. This institute plants more than 750,000 (seven-hundred fifty-thousand) saplings across the island each year! The impact is beyond huge and lasting.

I was part of the trail restoration project. With sweat equity and really intense physical labor, our team cleared out tree stumps, restored a number of benches and a table (in a clearing on a nature trail at the Institute) our team was really proud of the physical labor and task completion. With natural leadership and skills emerging from team members, and under the

Trail “oasis” “after” completion

supervision and leadership of our Dominican hosts, together we created a nice and comfortable oasis in the trail for a meeting space, thinking, reflection, and ambiance of the beautiful and serene nature trail on one of the campuses.

The tree nursery group learned how to take “baby” trees and plant, clean, separate soil/plants, and recreate the initial steps in the tree nursery growing and sustaining process. Education First (EF) formed relationships with institutions that thrive on their own, but who also benefit from volunteer service and support from student groups, educator groups, and others, to complete their mission-driven work.

It’s really hot in the Dominican Republic— even in October — it’s 90 degrees, powerful sun, intense heat, and we’re not all physical/manual laborers by day. So, the work was really intense and we had sweat on top of sweat and we drank more water than we normally drink! It was also highly rewarding to impact this institution in such a positive way. The service-learning projects are high-intensity and powerfully related to what our students will do as well. In addition, the concepts of inter-dependence are built upon each other at each step.

Following this intense and novel manual labor, our hosts from EF allowed us to experience a geographically beautiful and one of the highest waterfalls in the Dominican Republic. We visited Salto Jimenoa Waterfall,  in Jarabacoa. This was about 35 meters, or 115 feet, tall. The walk to the “watering hole” at the foot of the waterfall was far easier on the way to the falls vs the way back (climbing back up was tough). We were so hot, really stretching muscles we don’t normally use, an intense pride in task completion due to the adrenaline and pride in service we were walking around with since we boarded the plane in Chicago. The visit to this waterfall, impressive on its own — tall, loud crashing water, awe-inspiring geography, and much welcomed “cold water”. Once we entered the watering hole we felt the wind — forceful and inspirational wind — we then headed towards the actual waterfall itself. The massive, natural force driving this water from the mountains — this waterfall invited us in — we each felt a sense of invigorating relief at the entrance with the cold water, the cold almost mystical wind; but words cannot describe the feeling of inspiration upon entering the area against the rock behind the crashing cascade of water! The force reflected our powerful desires and force to serve, learn, and accomplish all we can for each child, every day. We were in paradise — a unique and foreign world compared to our middle-American realities.

Words I wrote in my journal were: “work hard, serve, learn from collaboration, sweat equity, the satisfaction of contributing part to whole, symbolic of the overall trip, aim each of us as global citizens are parts contributing to the whole – cultural, local”.

Each meal was authentically Dominican. We ate rice, beans, chicken, beef, plantains, yucca, fruit juices, fruit, banana, truly outstanding and truly local cuisine.

Each cultural experience was a tribute to our Dominican hosts, the beauty and richness of the people, and representative of the value of travel, touring, meeting other people, gaining experiences through other people’s lenses, learning and respecting the locale. We were not there on any mission to “help” or to “save” — we were present in respect and mutual admiration to learn, lead and serve shoulder to shoulder. We were not there to show who we are and what we do — by embracing our hosts and by opening our minds and hearts, we showed who we were and who we are. On our journey we learned about Bachata, Merengue, Salsa, yes, we superintendents danced (or tried to dance) with the Latin rhythm and beats in our hearts and our souls. Our dance teacher was really patient.

My next post will highlight our visit to Santiago (the 2nd largest city) visiting the historical district and learning about street art history and culture. I’ll describe the visit to the artisan area in Moca where we learned how to use pottery and bricks for stoves that help reduce the use of wood and lumber by 70% in the mountain areas, our adventures on the north coast of Cabarete, the Dream School and Inspire DR.

Thank you for reading the first post about half of our journey in the Dominican Republic!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

D112 Superintendent Thanksgiving Message #112Leads

November 27, 2019 / / 0 Comments

November 27, 2019

Sharing a note I sent to the North Shore School District 112 Community with greetings of holiday cheer and links to some recent success metrics in our District.

“You don’t owe me a thing, I’ve been there too

Someone once helped me out,

Just the way I’m helping you

If you really want to pay me back,

Here’s what you do

Don’t let the chain of love end with you” – Rory Lee Feek and Jonnie Barnett, performed by Clay Walker, The Chain of Love,1999

Dear North Shore School District 112 Community,

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday this year, I want to share a message of gratitude on behalf of the Board of Education and the leadership team of North Shore School District 112. In District 112, we have so much for which we are thankful. Each day, when I reflect on our service and work, I am so thankful. I am lucky to work with so many talented, professional and effective educators in such an engaged and thoughtful community!

We have accomplished so much in just over one year, we’re optimistic that our future is going to be bright and exciting! As you know, we are on a  journey of continuous improvement. The important work we do puts our children on the path to success. Some highlights of our successful work include the following:

To our community members who make supporting the local schools a priority and a focus – we thank you as well! We firmly believe in educating all children in a learning environment with high expectations. As the center of the community, all of the schools in Highland Park and Highwood are honored to Inspire, Innovate and Engage all students every day. We are grateful to our teachers, support staff, parents, grandparents, community members, administrators, and members of our Board of Education. 

Thank you,

Mike

Michael Lubelfeld Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

Global Leadership at International Conference – #112Leads

October 15, 2019 / / 0 Comments

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” -Lao Tzu

Joining educational leaders from across the United States, China, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Costa Rica, Finland, Singapore, & Canada, I represented North Shore School District 112 at the Fifth Annual Conference of Global K-12 Education Research Association in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.

 

( Their website will be updated with information from this conference within a few weeks).

Through my leadership roles within the education community, including training aspiring superintendents, teaching at the graduate education level, presenting at conferences, and authoring books & journal articles, I am informed about conferences & symposia on global education issues.

I learned about this particular educational conference from the (AASA)American Association of School Administrators (AASA).

Together with superintendents and educational leaders from the nations mentioned above, and leaders from the following states in the USA: IL, MA, IA, CT, VA, AZ, OH, MD, VA, & WI, I was invited to present a speech to an audience of local (Chinese) educators, administrators, & local civic officials. Many of us presented speeches and shared presentations with one another and our Chinese hosts and local educators.

This year’s conference topic was Cultivating Student Leadership Skills. This topic is near and dear to me as I recently co-wrote the book Student Voice: From Invisible to Invaluable (2018 Rowman & Littlefield) with fellow Illinois superintendents Nick Polyak and PJ Caposey.

Coincidentally, and unrelated to this conference, our

Draft of Chinese Language Edition Book Cover – Student Voice: From Invisible to Invaluable

book is being translated into Chinese through a partnership between our publisher and Hohai University Press in China. The Chinese version will be released within the year.

 

The family with two children (pictured here) invited me to their home for dinner and a visit. This was one of the highlights of the experience!

 

In addition to the honor of speaking before my peers and international colleagues, I had the additional benefit to learn and grow as a leader and as a person through the depth of knowledge of the other speakers, the cultural learning opportunities, including a visit with a family whose

children attend the school we were visiting. This was my second trip to China on an international educational experience. My first trip was with the College Board, and it focused on forming partnerships to establish a Chinese language program in the school District (this is still on my vision/plan for our District as we expand our global learning opportunities).

For this trip, the primary goal was to gain more leadership and practice insights into cultivating student leadership skills to bring back and apply in the school District where I serve as the superintendent. One of the presenters from whom I learned is a professor at Harvard University’s school of Education, Dr. Randolph-Michael Testa. And another distinguished speaker was 91 years old Chinese educator Dr. Gu Mingyuan. In addition, as this was the 25th anniversary of the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language Educational Group (SFLEG), our host institution, we learned from their principal and others from the school. One of the delegates is a professor and administrator at Drake University in Iowa as well.

The overarching theme was Cultivating Student Leadership Skills and many of the presentations discussed research, practice, and programming PK-12-university-post baccalaureate with respect to that cultivation (the student is a child of ages 3-18 and an adult ages 19-??).

Throughout many of us identified what leadership is to us. for example, the professor from Harvard University stated that leadership is “helping other people to be better as they serve others”. Overall messaging was related to we leaders brining in joy to our communities through service and capacity building. Through moving from “why” to “how” we are able, in our own unique ways, to make the world a far better place for us all.

One of the greatest reinforcing “takeaways” for me is the synergy between the school (District) and the local governments, the civic groups (eg Rotary), the local businesses (eg Chamber of Commerce), students, teachers, staff, administrators, parents, grandparents, and the overall entirety of the community.

My view is community capitalism (of course where I was visiting has a slightly different view of community) — nonetheless, regardless of political ideology or economic system orientation or preference, this professional learning experience reinforced for me the need for global communication, partnership, study, relationship building, and dialogue.

Through travel, relationship building, open mindedness to new people and ideas, we leaders can help our local communities see and hear views

Practicing Tai Chi at the “playground” (stadium) at the school in the mountains that partners with SFLEG (our host school group). We had the opportunity to experience education, culture, history, and engagement.

via other lenses and viewpoints. We highly value diversity of thought, opinion, and experience; through opportunities like attending and presenting at this conference, I can “walk the walk” with other leaders by doing the learning in support of my leading!

As a point of reference, scale in China is HUGE from my mid-American perspective. Overall, it is the most populous nation on earth, it is one of the oldest cultures on earth, and it’s cities are among the world’s largest.

The scale of the airport (in Beijing), the high-speed train stations in Beijing and in Shijiazhuang were massive. The traffic and the orderly flow of life with so many people is mind-boggling and quite impressive. The scale of the school campus, itself, was massive. The campus hosts about 10,000 students in grades PK-12. There are buildings that resemble college campus buildings and museums. I’m sharing some images to attempt to show and explain the scale about which I am writing:

Their “playground” area that looks like a college or even professional sports complex.

Photo of our group of delegates in front of one of the buildings – the school buildings – on campus.😒

View of the train station in Shijiazhuang (high speed trains that travel around 300km/h)

View in the intermediate building from the middle gallery/display area.

Me at the entrance to one of the buildings on campus.

View of the senior high school building on campus.

Image in the Beijing Airport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are activities for kindergarten-12th grade students that are also awe-inspiring. These include woodworking and culinary arts for K-12 students, art galleries of student work that rival museum and art gallery displays and the sheer size of the logistics and operations. Students are in school for many hours compared to our standards, for example, the children in high school are at school from around 7am to 9pm daily – then they study until about 1 or 2 in the morning … 5-6 days per week. Again – the “scale” is simply very large and quite different from our system.

So, “at the end of the day” so to speak, what does this all mean?

  • Well there are many meanings – first, and foremost, we educational leaders are lifelong learners and we demonstrate that by attending and participating in conferences and symposia like this one to learn and apply that learning to our local settings.
  • There are universal desires in terms of maximizing student success and learning at the K-12 level from leaders in the east, west, and in between.
  • We can only get better by learning and sharing perspectives with people from all parts of our globe.
  • When a mission statement calls for global competencies, it’s incumbent on the leader to actually go out into the globe …and learn so that the competencies may be developed and refined.
  • In our school District, we’re on the path toward greatness with our motto of Inspire, Innovate, Engage!
  • In our School District, this year’s “Big 3” focus areas are aligned with international best practices and implementation areas.
  • Finally, it takes a village (of the right people) to raise and support a child — every child is a winner and every child deserves equitable access to excellent educational opportunities.

 

Through leadership opportunities and experiences like those in which I have just participated at the K-12 GERA, our District, its schools, the students we serve and the teachers and support staff we support will become even better and stronger and more impactful than if we limit our views and experiences through narrow lenses of local existence and paradigms.

I’m grateful to the Board of Education for supporting broad-based educational experiences for our students and its leaders and educators. I’m grateful to the professional leadership organizations for unending support and creative growth opportunities. I’m grateful for outstanding superintendents, professors, headmasters, principals, and others for supporting my leadership and stretching my points of views and skill sets.

Stay informed about our District via our website, Twitter hashtag #112Leads, Podcast, Lighthouse 112, Facebook Pages, and news & information!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lighthouse-112/id1448905937

 

Listen to a Podcast episode containing the audio transcript of the speech I presented:

 

Welcome Back to 2019 – Superintendent Speech – #112Leads

August 15, 2019 / / 0 Comments

“Notice every step forward and take advantage of each small success.”
– Deepak Chopra

Superintendent’s Welcome Back Message to All Staff:

The opening day of a school year is an exciting time for reuniting old friends, new friends, colleagues, thought partners, and more. All of our hopes and dreams are upbeat and positive on the first days of school — our challenge is to keep this positive vibe every day!

The superintendent of schools takes great pride in welcoming all staff in the back to school institute! I’m proud of our teachers, educational support staff, administrators, Board members, community, parents, and students. In my opening remarks today I shared our “why”, our “how”, and our “what”, please see slides linked here. (this link will open a new window and you’ll need to click to advance each slide if desired)

This school year we have many important initiatives on the horizon that present exciting opportunities and challenges. These big three areas of focus will represent our district’s “WHY” for the year ahead. Learn more about each at www.nssd112.org/BigThree.

The Big Three Focus areas for 2019-2020

Portrait of a Graduate – We “begin with the end in mind” and continue our The Modern Learning Committee’s work on a Portrait of a District 112 Graduate. The Vision for the Modern Learning Committee is to recommend actions for District 112 regarding the integration of technology, professional development, and the skills needed to ensure students are successful. The initiatives that result from the work of the committee are intended to serve as guideposts for all district operations. Developing the Profile of a District 112 Graduate was the major focus during the first four meetings of the committee. The profile characteristics for graduates in District 112 are – Mastery of Grade Level Performance Expectations, Self-directed Learner, Continuous Curiosity, Find and Evaluate Information, Learning and Innovation Skills, Open-minded to Other Perspectives, Positive and Active Citizens. See full descriptions of each of these characteristics.

Closing Achievement Gaps – Student Learning for ALL (special report to the Board on October 1). We are so proud of the impact and initial success of the teaching and learning reforms implemented over the past three years across the District. The department has also been very busy over the past summer working with teachers from across the District to develop curriculum and guides to prepare for the 2019-2020 school year. This included the development of vocabulary to accompany the units of study in middle school language arts; collaboration between Spanish and French teachers for implementation of the new world language resources; work to prioritize Illinois Learning Standards for implementation of the new social studies curriculum resources; Middle School math teachers worked on unit planning and attended the Math Learning Center Leadership Institute; teachers collaborated to develop Music curriculum for grades K-8 curriculum scope and sequence and pacing; and many other areas of professional development and curricular planning.

Facilities Upgrades & Modernization – Continuing the Northwood project and finalizing plans for the Edgewood Middle School modernization as well as ongoing upkeep of all school facilities. This also includes a transition of Northwood students and staff to Northwood Jr. High at Elm Place. Preliminary planning is also underway for a transition of Edgewood students in 2021. Visit www.nssd112.org/LRPConstruction for information regarding the Middle School Modernization Projects.

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