Teach Like France or Finland?

Imagine this. . .
. . .parents are not allowed to go into elementary schools in France.  
They walk their children to school and say goodbye at the gate as the children  walk through the school courtyard to line up.  

First, can you even imagine this happening in the U.S.?  And secondly, how do I know this?  First, I cannot see this ever happening in the United States and, secondly, I was very fortunate to have been given permission to attend a half day of school at a French elementary school in Strasbourg, France this past March.

A little backstory. . .

When I turned 40, my present to myself was a 2-week whirlwind trip to my favorite places in France plus Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.  'Carpe diem' and 'Go big or go home' are my two mottos!  So two years later I decided to do it again, which was this past March (our spring break).  One of my dearest French friends was also my T.A. for an entire school year back at the beginning of my teaching career at the Normandale French Immersion School in Edina, Minnesota.  

Now we both have young children and her little boy was school-age (1st grade) during this trip.  So I asked if I could go to school with him for a morning because I've always wanted to experience school in a different country.  The school gave me permission (I had to sign two documents) and the teacher graciously accepted me into her classroom for the morning. 

I adore France.  France is a wonderful country full of culture, history, people and language.  But, with all due respect, what I observed made me thankful that I teach in the United States where praise and positivity reign in most primary classrooms.  What I saw and heard was subtle but negative and I heard next to no praise or positivity.

My friend took me to lunch after my school visit and we chatted at length about my observations.  Her son is a struggling reader and writer, which she had already mentioned, and it was obvious from my observations.  I of course had a bunch of ideas for how to best help him succeed: small-group instruction, praise, interventions and small-group instruction.   But these things do not happen in French schools and she knows it.  She knows what life is like in American primary classrooms and knows these things aren't infused in his (French) classroom.

I would go observe again in a heartbeat and now have a desire to do so in different countries around the world.  Segway to. . .when I got back from my trip I stumbled upon a book called 'Teach Like Finland' and became super interested in reading it because of my recent French experience and because I'm frustrated and not in agreement with my school district's push for more academics (language arts) and less SEL and teacher freedom and creativity.

Before I read the book though, I took my interest a step further and applied for a grant that would allow me to take a Kindergarten, 1st grade (myself) and 2nd grade teacher from my school to Helsinki for two weeks to immerse ourselves in this book first hand.   Part of the grant was for us to read the book on the way to Finland (fresh in our minds), observe and discuss everything.  Unfortunately I did not get the grant but can reapply this fall.  I still have not read the book.  But I decided that I'm going to now read it and reapply for the grant.  

What does my blog have to do with all this???  I'm going to treat it as a book study and post on every chapter I read, in the hopes that others (you?) will decide to read it or simply share their thoughts about it, via my summaries. 

I will start with the introduction in my next post. . .