Meeting the other participants

Many of you have been asking me how many people applied for the trip and how they selected teachers. Today I found out that 200 people applied for this experience. A board of Middle East experts, educators, and trip alumni read through each of the applicants and gave them points according to a set rating system. They then all met in Washington D.C. to compare ratings and debate in an effort to narrow it down to the top 25. I am proud to have been selected and have had an opportunity to meet the other participants. I am sharing my room with another teacher that teaches at Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is the Social Studies teacher for high school students that are visually impaired and/or blind. The fun part of traveling is the people that you meet during the journey. He shared a story of a blind student that was taking a geography class with him during his years as a university student. They were required to take a geography test that required them to locate and identify all of the countries of the world on a map. The blind student used a braille map to locate and identify all of the countries. He scored 100% on his assessment. I can only imagine the amount of concentration that it took to accomplish this feat. In geography class we often talk about improving our mental maps of the world, but it is more than just memorizing maps. It is more about challenging our perceptions of the world so we can form an accurate mental map. This is a daunting task considering the influence of media on our perceptions. This is one of the reasons that I love Web 2.0 technology. We are gaining the ability to make our own connections to form our thoughts about a place or person. We can begin to go right to the source rather than relying on the media. I think this is a very exciting time for everyone, so get connected and challenge your perceptions of the world.