Foreign Student Day and Day 2 at the Forum

I arrived at school this morning in time to see their first celebration of the year. They have some student from AFS at their school and AFS had asked if they could plan a special day. The courtyard was filled with primary age students and students through the ninth grade. Italian students, Indian students, Malaysian students and Guatemalan all performed and talked (they had been invited from other schools). The Russian students performed traditional songs and dances. After the gathering the foreign students participated in classes and then all met together to have lunch before returning to their schools. I didn't get to see all of the courtyard celebration but with what I saw I couldn't help but see the pride exhibited by the foreign students and the respect and celebration shown by the Russian students.It made me wonder how much we celebrate the cultures in our schools???

Next on the agenda  was an online video conference with three groups - Teachers at the Forum, the Professional Development division for the school and the State Education Authorities. It was the first meeting of it's kind that they have had they asked very good questions. They wanted to know why they cannot have professional development that is more relevant to something they are doing in their classrooms. They get theory after theory but no one helps them understand how to apply it. They also wondered why they had to go to the Professional Development Center for their in-service. Why can't some classes be put online? They asked me to tell about our system and then continued to ask for changes in their system. There are two teachers that have programmed in Moodle. All the teachers wanted to know why this system could not be set up for them to use for their classes. They also have some cable channels but materials are not presented this way or are not being used. They thought there could be a better way of using these channels. Both the Professional Development group and the State Authorities were pretty quiet during all of these questions. One teacher specifically asked the head of education to please answer the questions. His answers were pretty sarcastic. By the end of the conference, members of both groups (PD and State Auth.) said they were open and willing to make some changes.

After a very quick lunch, it was time for my workshop, which instead of one, ended up to be two. I showed the Kindle, the iPod touch, the GPS camera, the digital microscope and podcast material. The teachers had not seen these used in an educational way and were so amazed. I told them not to beleive that our students are using them much but these devices do exist now.

The second session and wrap-up was also fun. They were so appreciative. I worried that it might be discouraging since they do not have that many resources. But I asked them to think about the possibilities and work toward a dream that their students will someday learn from these devices. The Superintendent said her idea of an electronic book was a CD - she was so happy to know of other formats.

On to the American Center - this presentation was about North Dakota. There were probably about thirty people there - some Americans, a University English Teacher, some Russian students hoping to come to college in America, some students from foreign countries.... I had prepared a presentation but there was no projector so we sat and talked. I had brought many postcards so I sent them around as I told about North Dakota. They had many interesting questions - ranging from our economy, to homeless people, to the state of technology in Volgograd Schools, to what kind of work do my children do.... I said that I had many postcards and feel free to take one - guess what? They are all gone!

Now it was time to go home. I think I will actually get to bed by eleven tonight. Tomorrow will be more presentations in the morning and then a yacht trip down the Volga in the afternoon. Dinner will be at the dacha (country home).

My pictures do not relate to today - all I have is video and I can't upload it here. But I will just add a couple of pictures from before.