January 2007
	People

Where in the World Is Joan Price?

The itinerary: 23 cities, 12 countries, and six continents—all in only five months.

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While teaching, Joan Price knew it was important to expose her special education students to different cultures and lands, so she took her third-graders at Ohio’s C.R. Coblentz School on virtual trips around the world with international literature, food, and art projects. Once she retired, Price (Ohio Education Association-Retired, shown at right) and fellow teacher Bev Bartczak decided to put that theory into practice, visiting the countries they had been teaching about for years.

“We both love to travel and experience other cultures, and we wanted to stay connected with children after our retirement at the end of the past school year,” Price says. The two designed a Web site where students can follow their journey, which took six months to plan. “The rule was to travel in one direction and to cross each ocean only once,” Price says. “We chose places where we had teacher contacts, places that sounded interesting or exotic, and places we had visited and wished to see more of.”

Their journey kicked off in Italy. Eleven other countries followed in quick succession, including India, Australia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Tibet, and Tahiti. Homecoming is planned for January 29 in Cleveland.

And it wasn’t enough to just buy plane tickets for those far-flung locales. Price and Bartczak also had to plan the itinerary within each country. Eschewing large tours, they opted instead for staying in homes and private tours. They’re also mixing in school visits in Uganda, Egypt, China, Vietnam, and Peru, among others. An Italian primary school was their first visit. “It was very small—one teacher, 10 students,” Price says. “The teacher spoke no English, but showed us a very basic classroom and well-equipped computer lab.”

As they travel, they’re e-mailing stories and photos back to their former Sandusky, Ohio, school district, where staff upload them to their travel diary Web site. It has classroom resources, including historical and geographical information, a video of dancing students in Uganda, and activities to help students learn about each country. Check it out here!  

—MISHRI SOMESHWAR