France to France- Antarctica to the Starboard by Rich Wilson

Posted on October 14, 2012 by raine22

I finally received my copy of Rich Wilson’s new book, France to France–Antarctica to the Starboard on Thursday. http://www.sitesalive.com Ironically it arrived just a few weeks before the start of the 2012 Vendee Globe. Has it really been four years since the start of the Vendee Globe in 2008? Where did the time go? I remember sitting on my couch in November 2008, watching the start of the Vendee Globe with my friend Anne in Australia, Venny in Taipei, Marina in Italy, Vincent in France, Amalia in Spain and Neal in MA. We could see the sailors approaching the start of the event in Les Sables d’Olonne. We were all texting to each other. Although thousands of miles from the race, we could somehow feel the excitement of the race. And as I was thinking of all of the years of preparation for this important event and all of the races that led up to it… I felt anxious too. I wanted the best for Rich and his family and friends, and I knew this was going to be the most challenging of all of the races that he’d sailed. I would follow him with my students as I promised I would. We had followed the NY to Melbourne race in 2001, the race from Hong Kong to NY in 2003, the Transat 2004 and the small qualifying races. Some of my students had been on the GAIII, for a quick tour a year before the race. All of them either followed Rich in a race or had siblings who had followed him. He had spoken at the sixth grade graduation in 2001. (Wow, those students must be young adults in the workforce now!) I knew that the days ahead were going to be difficult ones for Rich, but I had no idea what ‘difficult’ meant. This book reminds me of his many days at sea. It reminds me of how much we learned from Rich in his website where he shared daily reports from sea. We prayed for his safety and wished him the best each day. We knew he wanted to complete the race, no matter how long it took, and we wanted that to see that happen.
I’m going to share the link to the book with all of the sixth graders who were cheering him on in 2008, offering him suggestions on the safest routes. He does a beautiful job of retelling his story simply and sincerely. He writes from his heart and shares his insights into experiences that we can only imagine.
I am going to read passages of the book to the students. I want them to know that kids in the school who graduated just a few years before them, participated in a historical voyage in maritime history. Only two Americans have ever successfully completed the Vendee Globe and we are very proud to know one of them.
Thank you Rich, for sharing your story with us. I read it once, but I’m sure I will read passages of it again and again. I recommend this book to anyone– child or adult– who is inspired to find the meaning of passion and perseverance in their lives.

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/article/1505/the-great-american-rich-wilson-wants-to-be-back-in-2016.html

Day 51

Posted on December 30, 2008 by raine22

It’s the end of the 51st day of the Vendee Globe race. Rich is in 14th place at the time of this writing. He and Jonny Malbon have stayed pretty close to each other in this leg of the race. I’m glad about that. It seems that it is good to have a sailor friend out there who is not that far away and they have been keeping in contact daily. Jonny also has a Twitter account so I’m following him as well.

I spent a few hours today contacting teachers and asking them if they would join Rich’s Twitter account. I was really happy that within minutes some of the teachers I contacted had added Rich to their list of following. I know that Rich appreciates the support and Twitter is such an easy way to connect with people across the planet. My goal is to have at least 100 educators following him by the end of next month. I think it’s possible!

The seas are calmer now and the weather looks okay for a few days. It’s really difficult to follow a race when the seas are rough and conditions are so unpredictable, so this will be good. The new year will be coming to the International Dateline in only a matter of hours. 2009! Unbelievable!

Holidays at Sea

Posted on December 20, 2008 by raine22

What must it be like to be at sea, alone, on Christmas? I know that the skippers will contact their family members throughout the day and smiles and memories will be shared. But, it’s not quite the same. I recall that Rich Wilson wrote that he has two goals: to make a school program and to finish the race. I’m confident that he will do both. I’ve been watching him accomplish these goals since 2001. He has made some sacrifices to make to accomplish these goals though. The warmth of the fire; the scent of evergreens, the joy of sharing music and food with family and friends. These special pleasures will have to wait until he returns from his voyage. For now though, he is out at sea; sharing his voyage with many across the planet. Fairwinds Rich. And Merry Christmas from all of us. And thank you.

Keep the Circle Spinning

Posted on December 13, 2008 by raine22

The Circle Song Project began on December 12, 2006. Students in the fourth grade sang The Circle Song for their Christmas concert. The lyrics to the song are ‘Come and join the circle, come and take my hand. Come and join the circle, come and be my friend. Gather round and see, what the world can be. Come and join the circle. Come and share God’s world with me.’ We asked Mr. Michael Macnamara, our epal teacher in St Gabriel’s School in Enfield, South Australia if he would invite his students to sing the song ‘back’ to us. Fortunately his students knew the song and sent us the quicktime movie in a few short weeks. We invited Mr. Rox Cosico and his students in Claret School in Quezon City to sing The Circle Song. He asked the student glee club and preschoolers to sing and sent the video to us. We were so excited to hear and see the song sung by students in these two countries. The fourth graders encouraged me to invite more teachers from around the world. Why not have students in Poland sing it to us? How about England? Can we ask kids in France to sing? The requests kept coming and with a great deal of effort, we started to get responses from some wonderful teachers around the globe. The result was a website of songs and slides from different countries across the planet. Many of those teachers and students who participated continue to be in contact even two years later! (In fact, some of them are following The Vendee Globe race together. )

The Circle Song Project website was dedicated to the colleagues who I work with as well as to some special friends who introduced me to the global community. One of those special friends was the educational director of sitesALIVE!, the late Mrs. Cindy Collins. She introduced me to sitesALIVE! in 1999 and always encouraged teachers using the program, including myself, to think outside the walls of the classroom, into the world around us. She mentored with enthusiasm and dedication and always found a way to weave an unforgettable story into the learning adventures with children. Whether she was sharing the way Skipper Rich Wilson might have walked in Melbourne after having been at sea for 3 months or describing the pens that Rich’s mom tested before finding the perfect waterproof pen to label the bags of food that Rich took with him out to sea, the students were completely engaged in great discussions. Although Cindy did not live to see The Circle Song Project or see Skipper Rich Wilson as he sails the Vendee Globe, her influence in my teaching and her enthusiasm and encouragement in thinking outside the classroom walls are very much a part of each and every day of my career. She would have been very happy to see that children are joining ‘the circle’ and sharing the world and all of its excitement with each other. In honor of her birthday, December 12th, let’s keep the circle spinning!

Best Wishes to our Teacher at Sea

Posted on November 11, 2008 by raine22

The First Few Days of the Vendee Globe Race

Posted on November 11, 2008 by raine22

It was such an amazing experience to see the start of the Vendee Globe via French t.v web coverage. Thanks to Anne, we used CoveritLive to chat about the streaming video. I was so excited to see Rich in the procession. I kept taking screenshots of the images so that I could remember this incredible moment that we’ve been awaiting for 3 years. Go Great American 3!
Rich’s current position is here:
http://vg.sitesalive.com/daily-updates/ships-position/

Following the Ocean Challenge Voyages

Posted on October 15, 2008 by raine22

My students followed Skipper Rich Wilson on his voyages from New York to Melbourne, Australia in 2001, Hong Kong to New York in 2003, and in the Transat 2004.

Here are a few activities that my students and I did when following previous voyages.
• plotted points of latitude and longitude (now possible to do with google maps)
• averaged the boat speed, wind speed, water temperature
• discussed weather patterns and suggested ideas for the best route.
• corresponded with teachers and/or classes following the voyage (Melbourne, the Azores, China, the UK, Italy) to learn more about the place that Rich was sailing. In this voyage we will follow Jean Pennycook, a US teacher who is studying the adelie penguins in Ross Island, Antarctica. http://www.penguinscience.com We also look forward to learning more about our friends in the School Beyond the Walls site.
• painted a large wall map and created Rich’s route with lifesavers ☺
• some students made lego trimarans (Rich was sailing a trimaran at the time) and identified the boat parts
• wrote essays, had discussions about his key themes (perseverence: what have we persevered at? What were the difficulties and successes in the experience? Inspiration: who in our lives or in history has inspired us? Following your dreams: What do you dream about for your future? What are some things that you can do to make that dream come true? Who are other role models who follow their dreams?

Voicethreads, quicktime recordings or podcasts and short videos are just a few of the ways that students can present to each other.
http://thwt.org/historyvideotutorials.html

• Students illustrated animals what Rich saw and wrote about on his voyage (flying fish, dorado, sea snake)
• Students asked Rich and the team of experts many questions via the website. Many of the students questions were answered online.
• Students dramatized the rituals with King Neptune during the equator crossing

• We discussed telecommunications tools and participated in a few satellite phone calls during the voyages.
• Students discussed power systems including the battery, windchargers, solar panels and need to conserve energy during the voyage
• We discussed sleep cycles and sleep deprivation during the voyage. A sleep doctor who is one of the team of experts provided some insight into sleep cycles.

• We discussed food supplies. One common misconception for students is that sailors can fish for food. They are going too fast and/or have too many tasks to take time to fish. They take canned goods, freeze-dried foods, granny smith apples, eggs covered with Vaseline to preserve freshness. There are no stopovers during the voyage so menu planning, food purchasing and food preparation is completed well before the voyage.
• We discussed what Rich must miss at sea and the difference between loneliness and solitude. We discussed how telecommunications helps to maintain contact with family, friends, students, and onshore team members throughout the voyage. We discussed the fact that Rich is in contact with his doctors who help him to monitor his asthma, sleep cycles, and any injuries that might occur while at sea. He is also in contact with the other sailors in the race. They are competing but they are friends. Student activities ranged from discussions to writing or illustrating.
• Safety issues were discussed both on the boat and in the child’s own life. We reviewed the safety equipment onboard the boat and compared it with safety equipment in our homes/schools/ camps etc. It would be great to invite in safety experts in the community tie in water safety with this theme.

• Sometimes we tied in voyages of other explorers with Rich’s voyage. How is ocean travel the same/different than what it was many years ago?

• We briefly discussed the sport of sailing. Knowing the basic terms of the sailboat (reef, mainsail, staysail, jib, bow, stern…) is helpful when listening to audiofiles. Students listened to sections of Rich’s audiofiles or I summarized them by saying ‘Rich wanted you to know that and explained key points…’ If there are parents or students who would be interested in giving a short presentation about sailing, this would be a great time to invite them in.

Students enjoyed new videos or photos that were uploaded a few times a week. They loved asking questions to the team of experts and to Rich online. On occasion Rich asked students to respond to a question that he had. Students enjoyed knowing that they were part of a team during this voyage.

My classroom was filled with maps, student work, photos, and printouts of emails from friends following the voyage.

At the end of the voyage we flew balloons and made banners to celebrate. We even created a song about Skipper Rich. The energy for the voyage was generated by my enthusiasm in presenting it to students, the support of my colleagues in following the voyages, the interaction that we had with many people who worked with the program, by the students interest in the voyage (many followed at home), and by the feeling that the students really were a part of a team of people around the world working and learning together.

My suggestion is that you can tie this voyage into any part of the curriculum in whatever way it works for you. Sharing your students’ examples of writing, art, photos, ideas, and projects energizes others and builds a learning community and lasting friendships.

My suggestions for teachers interested in the voyage, but without the time to spend on it every day: Take two or three minutes each day to give a quick report of Rich’s current location, (most of the students want to know who is in the lead…), what he wants to share with us and what we can share with each other through writing, discussion, presentation or whatever time and interest would allow. In previous voyages, I assigned student reporters to fill us with a quick report. These three minutes can go a long way in keeping the momentum of the voyage
story a part of the students day.
The magical moments are the ones that I remember best…
One day as Rich was approaching Melbourne, one of my students wrote, ‘my aunt lives in Melbourne.’ Within 24 hours we had his aunt heading down to see the GAII arriving in Port Philip’s Bay. She took great photographs of the arrival for us, sent us a postcard that she asked Rich to sign, newspaper clippings and a letter that described her special day at the arrival. Another time a homeschooled child in Calgary, British Columbia who I connected to the voyage, received a phone call from Rich. They had a long discussion and later that summer the child was so excited about the ocean that he and his mom went to visit the ocean for the first time.
When Rich was sailing from Boston to the Azores for the qualifying race for the Transat 2004, I searched very hard for a class in the Azores he could connect with. Fortunatley, I found Helena Baptista in e-pals, one of the only teachers in the Azores who was online at the time. Rich made a satellite phone call to her students in her English class. It was such a memorable occasion for Rich to speak with the students and for the students to speak English with them.
There are so many good memories of previous voyages. We look forward to working with friends across the globe on this upcoming voyage.

Note that the Newspaper in Education teachers’ guide provides background material and many suggestions for working with the content of the voyage. The voyage content is divided into weekly themes. These themes are included in the audiofiles, the journal entries, essays and often in the article of the team of experts. The teacher’s guide is a PDF that will be available on the sitesalive.com site.