May 9th School Visits

Evening socializing with some of our Danish hosts and washing laundry in the hotel sink leaves little time for blogging.  He students are keeping up with their blogs very well.  Some of them are posting their pictures on Facebook, so if you are reading their blogs, please look around on their blog page to find a link to their pictures.

On the 9^th we split into two groups to visit the schools of the Danish principals who have been such gracious and generous hosts.  My group went to Risingskolen (Johnny’s school), Sedenskolen (Carsten’s school) and H. C. Andersen Skolen (Anna’s school). All the school buildings were in good shape and even the oldest – Risingskolen which was build in the early 60’s – seemed spacious and comfortable. 

Our students had good discussions with the principals about everything from classroom management to hiring practices to working with parents.  The one thing that stood out the most to our group was how well-behaved the students are in the classrooms (these were kindergarten and first grade students).  They are given a lot of freedom by the teachers, but occasionally a teacher might tell a student to quiet down, but it isn’t necessary often.  Teachers are very straightforward and honest with students.  There didn’t seem to be much concern about hurting the child’s feeling when making corrections of behavior or wrong answers, nor did teachers seem compelled to be very specific when correcting a child’s behavior.  The child was expected to realize what the problem was. 

What I’m trying to get across here is the teachers weren’t really harsh, but they certainly weren’t coddling either.  We all felt it seemed like the teachers were treating the kids like adults, and then we realized this was because the students were acting like adults.

Later in the afternoon we visited a regional curriculum center.  They have huge amounts of classroom materials that can be checked out by teachers. This way schools effectively share an abundance of materials rather than spending big bucks for each school to have their own.  The center delivers the materials to the schools and picks them up on a weekly basis. It seems very cost effective.  Some of our principals said about half their teachers use the center.

In the evening, Karla and I had dinner with Olav and his wife Mette and their home (Mette is a great cook) while the students fended for themselves and worked on their blogs.

Amy, Kirsten, Alli, Megan & Johnny at Risingskolen.