9. Candles on the Doorstep
Chapter 9 Candles on the Doorstep There is a lovely tradition in Finland where people put candles on their doorstep as if waiting for a guest to arrive. I don’t know if this is true, but this is how it makes me feel. One person told me that Finns do this simply because it helps to […]
10. A Cottage Pre-School
“Teacher’s role is tutoring, coaching, setting of questions, supporting. We have a very famous approach – scaffolding.” Chapter 10 In the middle of the forest there is a preschool/kindergarten that has no running water, no electricity, and only a stove for heat. It’s a cottage school and the children have their classes outside even if it’s raining, […]
11. Night as a Winter Animal
“If the information is so shallow that they just read it from a book then they can’t relate it to something real and something that is part of their life then it doesn’t actually mean something.” Chapter 11 It’s late on a Friday morning and our vans from the university wind our way along backcountry […]
12. Saddle Shoes and a Pink Ukulele
“If you don’t struggle you don’t learn anything.” Chapter 12 A month later, temperatures are warmer, the piles of snow are melting and spring leaves and flowers are starting to appear. I’m able to find the bus stop in front of Terhi’s school without asking for help and I don’t have to sit in the front seat. The […]
14. The Value of Time in the Learning Process
“It’s better to use a lot of time to something rather than hurry hurry hurry all the time.” Chapter 14 After nearly seventy consecutive days of travel, I take the train from Helsinki to Joensuu and arrive home to much warmer weather. The snow is melting, the songbirds have arrived and it’s no longer safe […]
15. Every Child Has “Special Needs”
“They don’t have learning disabilities, that’s true. They all comes to this that they have this behavior disorder one way or another. They are not being active (in the) classes, they are being rude to the teachers, maybe they go attack some of their peers here at the school, stuff like that. So there has […]
16. More than Fifteen Words that Mean “Peace”
Respecting Student’s Learning Needs Chapter 16 “At first the lack of sound is alarming. In this place it is one’s pulse that speaks the loudest. Next are the the sounds of birds, both near and far, single and overlapping; sporadic yet effective, even across great distances.” My friend and I walk down the forest trail and […]
17. Teacher Freedom and the Core Concepts for Learning
“Teachers have a lot of good ideas and when they process those ideas (and) share the ideas with each other, they can create an even better school than we (can) here in the Board of Education.” Chapter 17 The Finnish education system moves slowly because teachers know that developing young minds takes time and rushing […]