Week # 5 of the year 2007

Monday!, MONday!!, MONDAY!! Another fabulous day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!! Had another great weekend working in the studio with Hannu. It's hard work but so much fun. Will go again on the 10th of Feb.

Classes are still going well. The students are really helping out a lot. I don't think it would be as successful without them. I truly, truly appreciate their help. It is making this a tremendous experience. My key concern has always been that the students in the classes get what they need and not lose anything because of my presence here this school year. I believe there are elements that I do contribute, but I want to ensure they receive the skills they need to move forward successfully in this system. The studnet help assures me that the kids are getting what they need. I enjoy being a part of this process.

I continue to learn and formulate ideas of what I want to do in my classroom next year. It is a tedious process - formulating ideas, tailoring those ideas to merge within the system that I will return to, and making them work to improve student learning. It would be impractical to think anyone could study and experience other systems and believe it could be taken as a component and simply 'dropped' into another system and expect it to automatically function and be accepted. I view it as surgical transplant - the host has to be prepared to receive the transplanted entity. I envision that transplant patients (even though I am a "doctor" in a sense, I am not a practicing medical physician), must go through some kind of process whereby they prepare themselves for this type of intrusive surgery. I believe that over the next few years, that's what I will be doing. I want to continue to go to school, study, and learn...I am been reinvigorated with that desire since being in Finland. Also, the desire for pleasure reading has been given a dose of "literary viagra"--- I am currently reading The Autobiography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that I received as a Christmas gift. After all, what is one suppose to do with all of the time one has riding buses and trains across Finland? There is only so much sleeping I can do - even though it is refreshing. Heippa