I certainly thanked my lucky stars last year I didn't have to be involved in all the strike stuff and now that they have trotted out the old Year 2000 curriculum to try again, retirement seems even sweeter. What goes around comes around. It's not all bad. In fact, it's always a good thing to reflect on what helps kids learn. I've been impressed with what Finland is doing and the more I hear about it the more I like it. Even more than certain prescribed practices, the key is attracting excellent people to be teachers and that's Finland's main focus. What I found during my career as a teacher is that really good teachers could be effective no matter what style they had…traditional, innovative, or flakey. Kids learn from really good teachers….pure and simple.
Finland was asked to create a school in Quatar. This article is about a parent's experience with that school. I loved this quote:
"Besides lunch and recess, the schedule included "long break," "breakies," "mini-break," and "golden time." The principal would put on puppet shows."
http://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-vancouver-sun/20150905/282763470406413/TextView
