Visit to Lauttasaari Elementary School

4th grade  math Class

Visit to Lauttasaari Elementary School in April.  First I observed a 4th grade mathematic class that had only 8 students.  This was ½ of the normal class size.  There were 4 boys and 4 girls. Other classes I visited:  6th  grade Swedish class, 7th grade Environmental Science class, 4th grade Animation class and 2nd grade English for non speakers. What a delightful visit!  

Student Teaching at Viikki

Teacher Trainee giving a lesson on Carbohydrates

Student teaching at Viikki Normaalilyseo (Normal Lyceum). This was a chemistry lesson with 20 students, 10 boys/10 girls.  The class lasted 70 minutes.  In general, pre-service teachers need to design their own lessons and find activities for students to do. These have to be approved by the mentor teacher before she/he can teach them.

Visit to Viikkki Normaalikoulu (Normal Lyceum)

 Sign outside the school

Visit to Viikkki Normaalikoulu (Normal Lyceum) took place on 4. 25. 2018.  I had a lively meeting with the teacher education coordinator, Tea Kantola.  She was about to start her 7th grade early morning biology class.  She had  6 boys and 7 girls in her class.

Aalto University and Luma activities for High School Students

Aalto University and it's Luma Center offer activities for High School Students.  

Luma Centers operate in every University in Finland. The main focus of these Centers is to offer activities to students that do not have proper facilities for these activities in their own schools and to run  professional development activities for teachers. Today’s Luminaris activities for high school students included a lecture and labs.

Students using a balance to measure reagents for an experiment

Discussions with my Advisor

Nice conference with my advisor Kalle Juuti.  
We talked many different things.

Professor Kalle Juuti
Photo Credit: University of Helsinki

He suggested that I should meet with Jari Lavonen.    He is the “systematic father” of education in Finland. He has the knowledge of everything that has to do with teacher education, both in Finland and abroad.

Curriculum is designed with the principal and it lasts the whole year.  It includes a long term professional development plan for each individual teacher. The principal has to monitor this. 

Debate at Espoonlahti High School

Finnish Championships in Debating Competition 2018

​

The first debate hat I had to judge.  

"The Finnish Championships for Lower Secondary School Students 2018 took place at Espoonlahti School on Thursday April 19th, 2018".

The event was in two languages, Finnish and English. All 7th-9th grade students in Finland were able to compete with teams of five students.  At the actual competition only four of the five students were competing and one was an alternative. I was asked to be a judge for the competition.  

Nature School in Vantaa

Estimating distances

Old School which is now used by the Nature School

Nature School in Vantaa

This workshop was for teachers and it was organized by Sykli. It was held in an old school building that is now used by Nature School.

"The theme was Mathematics in Forest". It was designed for Elementary and Junior High teachers but the activities we learned  could be modified to high school level.

Photonix Explorer Workshop Kuopio

Photonix Explorer Workshop  
Kuopio, Friday afternoon.

In this workshop we used the EYESTwz  Photonicx explorer kit. The kit is produced in Germany.  The instructor attended a workshop in Germany and translated the manuals into Finnish. Each teacher who attended this workshop received this kit to be used in the classroom.

Professional Development workshop at Lapland University.

Lapland University

Lapland University

Workshop on “From Education to Schools”. This workshop was for teachers on how to motivate students to engage on research based learning.
It was organized by Luma Center at the Lapland University.

The workshop started with the brief introduction to Luma activities.  Many of the teachers, especially pre-school and elementary teachers had no idea about the resources the center provides.  

After the intro, we learned 4 fun activities that I can easily modify to my classes in Environmental Science and Biology.

Lyseonpuisto High school in Rovaniemi

School late in the evening

I got contact information for the visit from Noah Rothering who was a Fulbright teacher at the school several years ago.  I contacted the principal and I got immediately a welcome invitation for the next day.

Nature School in Nuuksio National Park

Teachers brainstorming on a frozen lake

Professional development Nature school for teachers of all grade levels organized by Sykli. The theme was phenomenon in forest. The purpose was to introduce easy models for multidisciplinary activities in forest.

Visit to Helsinki Vocational School

Visit to Helsinki Vocational College, Stadin ammattiopisto. 

We met Mikko Sallinen and Jaana Vestergren at the entrance to the college. 

Mikko Sallinen and Jaana Vestergren AND I

First they introduced the new reform that is going to kick on in September. Here are some notes I took during the orientation. Youth and adult schools will be combined, they used to have separate curriculums but anyone can take anything in September.  Students only need to learn what they don’t know yet. You can also submit your own work for  a grade.