Education in Finland

So Finland is going to take over the world in mathematics and science pretty soon, eh? Well... at least per capita... maybe... ok, probably not, and even if they do take over per capita, it basically amounts to nothing in the end. I am well aware that that was not the article’s intent, but I thought I would poke some fun at Finland by inserting some American chauvinism into the mix. Also, not to attempt to refute the article, but I would like to point out the glaring irony that Finnish students’, teachers’, and schools’ successes are not measured by standardized tests, though Finland’s rank amongst other countries is based on standardized tests... I’m just sayin’.

A huge and very important difference is the perception of the profession of teaching by the Finnish people. Teachers need higher-level degrees? Teachers are regarded with the same confidence as physicians? Finns trust public schools more than almost any other public institution? That must be what heaven is like. In my dystopian present, nothing could be farther from the truth. I am openly mocked by students for what seems to them as ineptitude when I don’t teach an objective exactly the same way as their previous teacher taught it to them (don’t get me started on how infuriated I can become when this happens). Students are insanely disrespectful in other ways, such as when I give them a writing assignment for talking (“Mane, I ain’t gonna do it” or “This mane be writin’ down checks and givin’ out writin’ assignments, mane!” or “It’s ovah with!” or “Dis mane’s just a school boy”). Also (a commonplace complaint), when I send students to the office, a slightly hyperbolized metaphor would be that they usually receive a tickle on the wrist with a feather while lounging, being fanned with palm fronds, and fed grapes by beautiful servants. Unless every adult that I heard talk about school when they were young was lying, I assume that there was a time when teachers had a certain swagger and air of respect about them in the community, and maybe that still exists in some long forgotten corner of the nation. Unfortunately, those days are long gone due to our, perhaps masochistic, infatuation with sensationalized bad news. You know... a teacher sleeping with a student here... a student being whipped with a weight lifting belt there. The combination of too many isolated incidents of bad people doing bad things while under the label of “teacher” and the media licking their chops for any egregious activities to report have forever crippled the image of teachers in the United States.

Successful Group Work... Finally

It took forever, but I think I’m finally starting to get a true fell for what good teaching is. I finally feel like my power points are the correct size and depth for what I want to cover, my worksheets assess what they are supposed to assess, my kids are somewhat quiet when I am speaking and during work, and I think that I have finally conquered the beast that used to be the bane of my existence... group work.

I remember trying out group work during the summer just to see how it would go and it is obvious to me now how poor of an approach that is. With group work you have to be an incredible multi-tasker, answering and coming to the aid of every stupid little question that each group inevitably asks because they were not present, were asleep, or, most likely, just did not care to attempt to comprehend your futile efforts to teach them how to find the intersection of two lines on a calculator or some other skill that will be on a test in three or four months that they do not care about at that moment because their foresight does not go beyond what unhealthy, if not illegal, fun they will be having that weekend... *takes a deep breath*... Also, you have to rule with an iron fist and have a very structured setting for them to work under.  For example, I pick the groups beforehand in order to not let best friends be with best friends as that can certainly be a recipe for disaster. Also, I present rules and consequences for that particular activity on the power point before the activity is started and I stick to it almost vehemently for the duration of the class period. Perhaps most powerful is my cheap method of usually keeping a score in some way and having a variety of edible rewards for the winning group. That usually seems to entice them to work though the expenditures keep me from trying group work very often.

I remember my team teacher telling me this summer that I should not try group work until around late-October or November.  Naturally, I didn’t listen and tried it when the second year teacher across the hall from me suggested it in mid-September. Suffice it to say that the team teacher was pretty spot on with her suggestion (I still don’t think they can figure out multi-step equations by hand). However, through trial and tribulation I  have figured out a sufficiently acceptable formula for conducting group work. Who knows... maybe it’ll even get easy one day.