Now that all my videos from the Comparative and International Education Society have been posted, I do believe it was worth all the effort.

But let me tell you, it was an effort.

For starters, it was absolutely pouring rain when I went to the conference and I had my hands full with a laptop, video camera, tripod, photo camera, notebook, pens, lunch, conference program, etc. Not easy right off the bat. (I wish I had a picture of me. I must have looked ridiculous.)

Anyways, as I stated in my first post, the day got more complicated when I went to log into the blog and was denied access. Sheesh. Definitely not what I wanted to happen, especially since there were some really interesting panels going on that I wanted to hit up.

But whatcha gonna do?

I put in a call for help, packed up my stuff and headed to the panel about educational rebuilding in Liberia. Good stuff.

For the remainder of the morning, I ran around like a lunatic lugging all this gear and trying to find people who had a minute or two to chat. (Was actually only turned down by two people, who apparently were too cool for school. Hehehe.)

Feeling good about getting a number of interviews filmed, I decided to give the blog another go.

But wouldn’t you know it, again denied access.

This time, however, I had a few free minutes for a lunch break, and so I got IT on the phone and refused to hang up until the situation was fixed. And it was. Thankfully.

Yet then I encountered another problem. For some reason still unbeknown to me, it was taking FOREVER to upload even short videos. I mean like more than 45 minutes for a video that normally should have taken less than two minutes.

So again I packed up my stuff and headed out to film some more interviews.

After taping what I though was a sufficient amount, I decided to shift gears and focus on writing the story that would run in the newspaper.

I wrote a few graphs, then wouldn’t you know it? Another obstacle.

The main focus of my story was that local Scarsdale teachers would be presenting at the conference, but I hadn’t been able to interview any of the teachers via telephone, and so I had very little to really work with.

At that point, I gave up and called it a day. Just in time for rush-hour traffic. Yeah, good times.

But now looking at the blog, I’m happy I stuck it out. My sincere thanks go out to everyone who participated in the videos. I know you all had enough on your plates as it was, and I appreciate the time and encouragement you provided.

Needless to say, I hope you all enjoy watching the videos and continue to come back to the Hall Monitor for your education news (and a few other random distractions along the way…).

Oh, and post a comment or two from time to time why don’t ya?!

Heekwon Sohn, of Myongji University in South Korea, says one of the biggest debates among educators in his country is whether or not to teach classes entirely in English.

Download:

Justine Sass and Paolo Fontani, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, talk about the education sector’s response to HIV/AIDS, especially in the Caribbean.

Download:

In order to take full advantage of having the conference in New York City, organizers set up a fair at which locally-based education organizations set up tables with information about their organizations.

Click here to see the list of participating organizations.

Mama Yoshimoto (left) and Saida Mamedova discuss the work of the World Bank’s Educational Advisory Service.

Patricia Peterson, of Northern Arizona University, discusses the importance of engaging special-education students and English language learners.

Download:

Luis Armando Gandin, of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, talks about the barriers to getting greater parental involvement in Brazilian education.

Monica Evans, of Michigan State University, compares the affirmative-action policies of Brazil to those in the United States.

Download:

I hope not! Because there’s more on the way tomorrow!

Here’s what’s on deck:

• Race and identity in Brazil

• Engaging special-education students and English language learners

• HIV/AIDS education in the Caribbean

• Korea’s debate over teaching English

Issam Khoury, of Pennsylvania State University, discusses the role of higher education in understanding the “other” and preventing acts of terrorism.

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Adam Clare, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, says we should not be afraid to embrace the Internet for learning.

Click here for the Toronto case he references about a student being expelled for starting a study group on Facebook. (See, The Hall Monitor’s looking out for you and keeping you up on the latest education news!)

Download:

Here is Ibtesam Hussain talking about early-childhood education in her native country of Saudi Arabia.

Among other things, she discusses the role of Islam and the increasing demand for early-childhood programs as more women enter the workforce.

Hussain — who wants to be the next Oprah Winfrey — is quite a character and it was a real pleasure to meet her.

(Be sure to watch or scroll ahead until at least the 3:50 mark, where she demonstrates a typical lesson for the youngsters.)

Download:

Many thanks to Ibtesam Hussain, who yesterday gave me this bookmark created by a kindergarten student in Saudi Arabia. I absolutely love it!
(Please stay tuned for a video of Ms. Hussain talking about early-childhood education in her native country. It will be posted this afternoon.)

Hon. James Roberts, Liberia’s Ministry of Education: 

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Christopher Ashford, Academy for Educational Development: 

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Well, no, it’s not Saturday night yet…

But I am writing live from New York — from the 52nd annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society.

The meeting, which is being held at the Teachers College at Columbia University all week, features some 300 panel sessions. And let me tell you, these panels each sound so interesting it’s tough to pick just one to attend at a time!

There’s discussions on everything from curriculum design in Africa to higher education in China to the integration of immigrants in the United States and much, much, much, much more.

I arrived early this morning (although when I went to post a good-morning greeting to you all I had some problems logging in and obviously wasn’t able to post until just now…) and chose to attend a discussion about educational change in Liberia.

After years of fighting, the country’s educational system must be rebuilt. UNICEF is among those providing funding and working with Liberia’s Ministry of Education to make that happen. I have recorded video interviews on this topic and will post them as soon as they finish uploading.

On that note, please stay tuned to the blog today and over the next few days as I post video interviews on everything from early-childhood education in Saudi Arabia to the debate over teaching English in Korean schools to affirmative action policies in Brazil and much more. I hope you enjoy.