Before I go into the day's events, let me tell you a little about the makeup of this group. There are about 70 of us here in Helsinki, most of us are administrators at some level - pretty many are curriculum folks like myself. There are a few principals, superintendents (ranging from those who have 250 students in a district in Wyoming to 53,0000 in Florida. Not many teachers, but those that are here were TOY (Teachers of the Year) in their states, mainly from New England. There is a gentleman who works for the Wisconsin Board of Education who is originally from Germany, and a woman who has lived in Sweden for the past 15 years who, you'll never believe this, at one time lived in Danvile, PA, as her father was the CEO of Geisinger! All are amazing people, and worth having a conversation with. I am learning so much from them!
Today we heard from the Head of Statistics for the Finnish National Board of Education, and from Dr. Mari Meri, Professor at U. Of Helsinki, who spoke of the teacher education system. After lunch we visited Rovio, creators of Angry Birds, and played with a new tool they are creating to evaluate the use of gaming as learning tools. Dinner was in a restaurant filled with farm memorabilia - old tractors, milk buckets, cow figures, etc. very interesting. the town is busy at night - walking home from one of the local establishments at 11:09 and it's still light outside!
BTW, the real info on what I have learned about the Finnish system will come at a later date, when I have time to synthesize it. Fascinating stuff. Glad I took this opportunity to learn.
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