TEACH LIKE FINLAND

It is often spoken today about the Finnish schools. Their students are praised for showing better results with less or no homework. And they spend less time at school. How is it possible?

I tried to search for the answer as it interests me greatly as a teacher and a parent. And this is what I have found out and would like to share with you. I believe it can be useful.

• ·        The way of thinking. The thing that is common for Finland and the countries of the Scandinavian region is the lack of competition between pupils. It is also true for teachers and people of other professions. They do not compete with each other who is the best pupil / teacher or who is richer or more successful. That is why cooperation is thriving and giving its contribution to such good results. Finnish teachers work together on a common problem with a pupil, ask each other for advice. It is the mentality of prosperity that gives a chance to develop and be happy with what you have achieved in a team. Mentality of prosperity brings happiness.
• ·        The less is more or Finnish design of classrooms. Simplified design of classrooms lets pupils concentrate better. A study has proved that pupils showed less progress in education when the walls in the classroom were richly decorated rather than when it was vise versa. It is especially important for younger children as it has effect on their concentration of attention during the lesson.
• ·        To use or not to use new technologies? Finnish schools do not devote too much of their attention to technology at the lesson. Surprising it may seem but students concentrate better when there is a limited access to technology.
• ·        Independence or let the pupils decide. Who but the teacher may know better what to teach? This is how I always thought. We as teachers often make a decision for pupils or are imposed from above what to teach how many hours to devote to it. Finnish teachers have a little bit more freedom in it and have such a privilege as sharing the responsibility for content with their pupils. But a good idea would be to ask pupils what they already know on the topic we want to teach or even ask a simple question what they would like to find out?

If you are interested in more facts about schools in Finland I strongly recommend to read the book by Timothy D. Walker  - TEACH LIKE FINLAND. 

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A SCHOOL PARTNER IN NEED

The beginning of the school year is behind, now it's time to start international school project for students. Are you in?

A good platform for searching for a school partner would be  BRITISH COUNCIL SCHOOLS ONLINE. They offer a lot of project ideas and a possibility to search for a school partner. Here you can look through a variety of possible PROJECTS offered by British Council.

The projects for the primary school that I find quite interesting are:

• FROM OUR WINDOW. Draw, paint or take a photo of what you can see from the window, write a short description, and exchange with your partner school. Display the pictures and much discussion will result! Your partner school can do the same.
• CULTURE IN A BOX. Make and exchange ‘culture boxes’ containing ten items. By choosing the items to put in, they will learn about ‘how others see us’. By explaining their choices they will try to tell their partner school ‘how we see ourselves’.
• THROUGH THE LENS. Exchange photos and learn more about everyday life in your partner school. Raise questions, be surprised and find out what makes you smile.
• 100 WORDS.Aims to challenge young people to learn at least 100 words of the language of their partner school by writing, filming and sharing 100 word plays.

Students could start with a project and then exchange letters and learn more about themselves.
If you are interested in finding a school partner from a Poland, students of Year III or IV, feel free to contact me:-) .

Another project idea is exchanging postcards with random people all over the world. Here is link POSTCROSSING.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The job of a teacher is to open the door. If a child is not interested in walking through it, you must accompany the willing ones through and move on. Make sure the door is open for the difficult student every day, but you do not have time to coax and beg him along when thirty others have crossed the river and are ready to enter the Promised Land.

                                                                           Rafe Esquith

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TEACHER AND TECHNOLOGY - 2Ts

One can surely teach without technology and you won't be a worse teacher because of that but why not make the process of studying more appealing for pupils?
Today you will learn about three really great computer applications that you can use at the lesson as well as after the lessons.
The only minus is that you may need computers at the lesson, interractive board or maybe smartphones, but if you have a lesson in the computer class once a week, as I have this year, it may work perfectly.

1. #1 is Quizlet. This program is mainly for vocabulary, but you can use sentences as well. It contains several categories at which you can train vocabulary:

• learning the words
• flashcards
• writing skills
• test
• matching
• game - gravitation

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WHAT SHALL I DO WITH NON-LEARNERS?

Today's post is for deep overthinking and analysis of your strategies in motivating students. So, be ready for a long reading.

Why do some pupils are eager to learn, while the others aren't? The answer to this question has found Carol Dweck in her book MINDSET. THE NEW PSCYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. 

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