Wordle

The Round Up

Okay - so I've been home a week and have had time to recover from jet lag and airport delays and general things that go with travel when you are 7 time zones away. 

I can honestly say that this trip has been a surprise in almost every sense.   The teachers were wonderful and we consistently had 35 of them.  Others came and went as their schedules allowed.  We had to keep reminding ourselves that they weren't being given any course release time to do this - they were coming on their breaks or getting teachers to fill in for them when they could.

We had a great deal of success I think using The Giver.  One teacher told me on the first day that she wasn't going to like it.  She said, "I just want you to know I'm not liking this."  I said, "Well, fair enough, just do one thing.  Read the chapters tonight and then let's talk."  The next day she came in and said, "I have to change my mind.  I don't like it, but I like it."  She ended up reading it twice and she started it with her class as a read aloud, using the KWL and other strategies we had introduced them to.  It was so rewarding. 

At the conclusion on Saturday each group did a "Response to the Text" - a poster session of some kind  and they were unbelievable especially considering they had only a day and a 1/2 to prepare and get it loaded on a powerpoint, prezi, glogster or animoto.  I wish you could see them. 

They were used to the model we have been railing against for some time now - you know the one - some
"expert" hired by the district, comes in and tells us what we should be doing in our classrooms (even though they haven't been in a classroom, or very little at any rate).  We go off and try these "wonderful" suggestions, and when they don't work we won't to shoot them - what I call the "shotgun approach".  It's not that the strategy may or may not be effective - it's just that we haven't seen it "work" in our classrooms.  Our approach is to show you not tell you - preferably we want to get in that classroom to work with the students, but failing that, to use the course time as the class - teachers become the students.  Thus, our using The Giver as if we were teaching it to 9th graders. 

At any rate, it was a moving experience for me - one I would do again (just not right away).  It was great watching teachers who were not used to interacting with each other actually request more time to work together in groups, more time to discuss and time to get "to know" other teachers.  Maybe that was the best part for me.  I don't know - there were so many memorable experiences. There are a few times in your teaching career that you should be able to say "I'm so proud of what I've accomplished - job well done!"  I don't have to wait for Superman.

It Doesn't Get Much Better

Okay, so one of the teachers - the same one that said that she wasn't going to like the book - but decided that she would read along anyway - ended up reading it twice.  And then she told me today that she had already starting using the literacy strategies with her students - and that she wanted to try some hard literature - To Kill A Mockingbird - with her students as well.

She read her book jacket today and it was brilliant - and thoughtful - and thoughty - and made us tear up.  And when we asked them if they wanted to pick their group members for their poster presentations tomorrow - they wanted us to choose - so that they could work with people they didn't know.  I AM SO STOKED!  It was been more than we could have imagined.  I will post tomorrow on the way back to Bucharest - yes, our time is up and we are sad to go but glad that many things have made a difference.  ksf

Learning the Ropes

Hi All,

Erin and I have had three days (though not full days as we thought) with the teachers from Bacau and surrounding areas.  Some drive from as far away as 100 km to get here after teaching all morning.  There is no money for them to take a full day off - so they teach their classes then come in the afternoon to the course.  We have had to really think about the role of inservice (as in "service" to the profession).  It has been professionally as well as culturally challenging, but worth every second.

Yesterday we worked through Chapters 12-17 - some teachers confessed that they could not stop there and read to the end.  I was so glad.  They seem to be fully engaged in the text and the ways we are presenting the various strategies to use it. 

We discovered that the teachers are used to the old model of learning - for themselves as well as their students.  The first day was quite an adjustment as I asked them to discuss with their colleagues, to think about the connections between the theory and the practice - the practice part was the stumbling point - the only practice they knew was to lecture or be lectured too - so after I did the powerpoint on the various aspects of literacy instruction and learning and asked them to discuss how this works in the classroom, they were blank.  But you know me - I pushed on through, walking them step by step to see what I wanted them to and then to apply this to group work.  We have done jigsaw, story boards, KWL, Word Walls, prediction and brainstorming.  Today we will do the "inside-outside" group discussion method, and we will begin the poster projects. 

Yesterday after seeing 1/2 of To Kill a Mockingbird, we also had a Skype session with a circuit court judge in Tallahassee.  This was a really great experience and they seemed to really enjoy this. 

We have visited a middle school and a high school and found that students are students the world around.  Today (Thurs.) one of our sponsors is taking us on a bit of a shopping tour, and tomorrow morning we take a drive into the countryside and see a local village school. 

The time is flying by - as it always does, but all in all it has been a very rewarding experience.  More later.  ksf

The teaching begins

What do I say?  What do I say to these 65 teachers that have lost 5,000 of their colleagues throughout the country?  What do I say to these teachers whose base salary has been cut by as much as 35 percent?  How do I say thank you for taking the time to learn, to participate in professional development even though there is no real incentive - no incentive except that you are teachers through and through.  When their utility bills average 200 dollars a month and their salaries average 400-600 dollars how do you say that what we are bringing to you is so important?

I will go in their tomorrow and I will thank them for their service - their dedication - their commitment to the next generation - the generation that may be able to break out of the ennui - that persistent feeling that nothing will ever get better.  In this country where the best and the brightest are leaving, these teachers are staying and trying to make whatever inroads they can. 

Tonight Erin and I had dinner with one of our sponsors and her family.  Her wish for her daughter was that she would grow up and leave and come to America.  I can see this in her future - I can not see the future for Romania.  The dinner was light and relaxed and yet, underneath, in the subtle things said, there was despair, despair that we are here now to provide a service, but despair that we can go home - home to America.

Wish us luck.  Day one is about to begin.  ksf

Here At Last

Erin and I have arrived safely in Bucharest - mostly shell-shocked and sleep deprived but here.  The city is interesting and has some unusual buildings.  I will try to post pictures later.  It's 4:30 here so around 9:30 am your time.  We head to Bacau in the morning at 8.  It's a four hour train ride - but we'll probably manage to sleep a little then too.  More later.  Kathy

Gay Paree

Good Morning - Erin and I are safely in Charles DeGaulle Airport - raining here but still Paris.  We have one more two wait then a two hour flight to Bucharest.  Flight wasn't awful I I got moved to the front and at the bulkhead so had lots of leg room - in fact, enough to sleep soundly on the floor in front of me - oh did I mention the empty seat next to me.  Priceless.  I hope all is well on the other side of the world.  We managed to have only a few delays due to the authhorities looking for suspicious packages.  Be well and we will check in later from Romania.