Twenty Years

Culture Shock

                                    THE CONTINUUM
The Past You ←--------------------------->     The Future You
Language 1                                                                  Language 2

Living in a boarding school environment is comparable to living in a foreign country.  It has its own geography, language and terminology, calendar, and of course, cuisine.  So when 40+ students from Europe and Asia set foot on campus last week for Perkiomen's ESL Summer Program, I felt a certain connection.  Language barriers aside, we were all experiencing living in a new place and new culture.  From John Locke’s “tabula rasa” to Stephen Krashen’s work in bilingual education, many have offered their theories on how one acquires a first, and then, a second language and have pointed out the stages of assimilation or acculturation in a new culture.  The transformation, which is never point A to point B, tends to move on a continuum.  The experiences one undergoes (see chart below) impacts the movement forward and back on this continuum.

The stages of acculturation have been mapped as follows:
Stage 1 = Elation/Euphoria
Stage 2 = Resistance/Culture Shock
Stage 3 = Transformation/Anomie
Stage 4 = Integration/Assimilation/Adoption/Acculturation
http://psychinternational.com/abroad/abroad01.htm
http://www.ldldproject.net/theoretical_foundation.html

Before the ESL program began, I had picked up some of the students at the Newark, NJ airport.  I saw a certain fascination and excitement in their eyes as we weaved our way towards campus from urban NJ, through suburban NJ, to rural NJ until our destination in rural PA.  My daughters’ faces displayed similar expressions as we stood in line at the dining hall amidst the ESL students a couple of days later listening as one girl from China described the movie Wall-E to my wife.  Those students are here early to get "accustomed" to Perkiomen and to work on their language skills.  My family and I are here early for pretty much the same reasons.  At some point the fascination will fade and the reality of living in the Perkiomen community will set in; with all of its ups and downs.  The goal, eventually, for the new students and my family will be settle into the fabric of the school, to integrate ourselves and no longer stick out as something new.

So when does the euphoria of being in a new place or experience wear off?  I remember a lot of moments in my life where the newness of a situation created a sense of elation and optimism; for example, the first time I stepped into a classroom as a teacher, the first time I stepped on an airplane (18 years old), the first real conversation with my future wife, the birth of my first child, the birth of my second child,  the start of my first marathon, the start of my first ironman...  The exhilaration of these types of moments jazzed me up but also clouded reality.  Walking the streets of Madrid for the first time as a 19 year old kid was incredible, in the “this is not believable” sense of the word.  I remember thinking that the day before I was in the middle of a crappy northeast Ohio winter and now I am at a tapas bar in Spain’s capital.  Things could not have been any better.  Of course not, did I mention I was 19 and in Madrid?  They could; however, get tougher.  And they did.  The illusion wore off and the reality of the situation set in:  really learning the language, missing my friends and family, and living with a family in a home that was not my own.

Call it culture shock, resistance or whatever other term that has been applied to describe the struggle of surviving a new place, most of us cannot escape its grasp.  Here at Perkiomen, after only a few weeks, we have already seen moments of this transition with our daughters.  Excitement about meeting some new kids down the block followed by tears because they have left their OLD friends behind.  A rush of fascination upon receiving a new class schedule and meeting her "really funny" math teacher followed 5 minutes later by the panic of learning that she will HAVE to play field hockey.  I would like to think that the transition between these first two stages gets easier the older you get, but I'd be wrong.  I like the term "resistance" because it paints a broad stroke.  After the “magic” wears off and life resumes its march, I normally resist certain aspects of the new experience.  Sometimes I unfairly compare the new with the old and my feelings tend toward anxiety and irritability rather than optimism.  For some, entering this stage can be similar to grieving or even downright hostile.  For me, I become introverted and grumpy.  

Some have accused me of just being grumpy and introverted; however, I disagree.  I think I constantly bounce between this second stage of culture shock/resistance and the third stage of transformation/anomie - it is not a one time event.  I think that my colleagues, my family, and my friends do too.  Sometimes the new position/job loses its luster quicker than we’d like.  Sometimes the ebb and flow of a school year catches us off guard - a new schedule, a new course, new advisees, new technology, etc.  It grows difficult to be objective and recognize both the positive and negative of a situation (http://www.ovec.org/esl/ESL%20Other/survival_packet/Acculturation.htm).  I mentioned in my previous post (From NJ to PA) the idea of fossilization.  Well, this is when it would occur.  You can get stuck in the continuum between who you were and who you want to become.  So when I fail to recover, I do one of two things.  I either continue in the same mode and make absolutely no progress on any front or I kick myself back into resistance mode so that at least I get my emotions going again.

So it has yet to be seen if the ESL students and my family will make it to Stage 4 and integrate fully here at Perkiomen.  But it will not just be us.  Every student and every faculty member has the opportunity to progress on that continuum this year.  And if our mission is “To inspire students to risk becoming their best,” then we should all strive for that progress.  Stephen Krashen once said, “Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.”  Will Perkiomen provide this type of setting for all of its students, ESL, boarding, day, foreign, and domestic?  As long as the school continues to move forward, along that continuum, this lofty goal is certainly possible.

                        

From NJ to PA

Twenty years ago I stepped onto  the campus of Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ.  22 years old and eager to begin my career, I accepted the position because I really liked the people I had met during the interview process.  Up on the hill of that sprawling campus I met the professionals that would shape my independent school educator attitudes.  Caroline Conforti-Browse, Dan Hazen, Dave Lowe, Judy Wenner, Tom Parauda, Rick Clarke, Barb Haase, Bob Brandwood, Charlie Underwood, Latta Browse, Monie Hardwick, Marty Miller... and the list could go on and on.  Their patience, experience, and expertise, looking back now, was not limited to their students.  It permeated the entire campus - from Locke Hall to Timken, through Mason and Freeman, from East to West, and in the classrooms of Clinton.  I consider myself fortunate to have been one of their “students” as well.  Twenty years later, I am stepping onto a new boarding school campus - The Perkiomen School.  New buildings, new faces, new history.  To this new experience, how valuable are my previous twenty years?  [Blair Academy + The Taft School + Hartford Public Schools + The Montclair Kimberley Academy = 20].  While my wife, Laurie, will be the Head of the Upper School, I am going back to the basics.  I will teach, coach, and work in the dorm (and at this stage in my life - happy not to be living in a dorm).  

Where can I make contributions to this school?  In the classroom, I will teach Spanish.  In the fall, I will be an assistant football coach.  And in the spring, I will be coaching softball.  I cannot remember the last time I did not coach basketball... but I am looking forward to being a fan during those long, cold months.  I have no idea what the set up of dorm duty will be, but I am actually looking forward to it.  After 8 years in day school, monitoring a dorm full of kids during a mandatory study hall actually sounds somewhat appealing.  We’ll see.  Over the years I have played the “triple threat”, sometimes just the “dual threat”, and at others even the “quadruple”.  I am curious to see how my involvement over the years in admissions, college counseling, grade dean positions, and faculty committee roles will affect my experience.  Will all of those years working with so many great people at 3 very different, yet fantastic, independent schools enable me to hit the ground running at The Perk?

The Perkiomen School has a great new mission statement - “The Perkiomen community inspires students to risk becoming their best."  Twenty-one years ago I would never have thought that I would meet my future wife while working at a boarding school in northwest New Jersey.  After all, I really did not know what I wanted to do with my life heading into my senior year of college... a Spanish major/football player, grandson of immigrants, son of two very hard working parents who would sacrifice anything for their children.  Now, I have joined a community that challenges its students to be their best.  My first thought about that mission statement was - “I hope that my colleagues are also willing to risk becoming their best.  I hope that I am will to step out of my comfort zone.”  In one of my graduate school language courses, I studied language acquisition and how and why some people’s language stopped progressing.  The term used to describe that static, permanent state is “fossilization”.  In mid July, I am excited to attack the upcoming school year.  I am ready to take some chances, to think “outside of the box”, to inspire and be inspired.  But after 20 years, I also know myself fairly well.  I will be counting down the days until the fall long weekend.  Then Thanksgiving.  Then winter break.  I will also return from each of these breaks with a renewed energy, promising not to fall back into stale habits.  

I hope that my new and former colleagues have the opportunity to refresh themselves this summer.  We have crossed the mid point of July and shortly August will be upon us.  The late summer routine is all so familiar now.  A couple of weeks of family time before the start of preseason sports, new faculty orientation, and full faculty meetings.  My face will be the new one again this year; a little more aged with a little less hair.  I am confident that I will be welcomed by most and that I will have to disarm the few who may doubt my motives.  I am no expert on the independent school world; however, I do possess an expertise.  I can teach and coach.  Working and living in a boarding school community provides more than just teaching and coaching.  I am eager to see the impact I can make but also the effect Perkiomen has on me and my family.