Professional Development Day

While the other girls had the day off Jennifer and I headed to school for Professional Development. And boy am I glad we did!! Even though there was a language barrier I learned so much. It was a great opportunity to see how another school in a different country works through a meeting. However, the most surprising part of this experience was learning that Sunde skule uses PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). I had observed PBIS back in the states but had no clue it was in international use. It sounded like the school had recently begun using positive reinforcement (or putting more emphasis on it anyway).  

They do have a school wide positive reinforcement system that I still don't fully understand yet. I know that when students are behaving or following the directions the teacher gives the individual a special green card. They collect them and place them in their baskets.  I still haven't figured out what they do with the green cards once they have them. I've asked but I think it's getting lost in translation. I will try again this week! 

While they were discussing PBIS they were also working on their school rules. The school broke into teams and they each had to decide on rules to add, edit, or remove. Then each team had to share their rules and role play one in front of the class. They were actually role playing how you would teach the rule. If I remember correctly the teacher is supposed to teach the correct behavior, show the wrong behavior, and teach the correct behavior again. So anyway each group demonstrated how they would teach the skill/desired behavior. It was great to see their strategies as well as their personalities come to play during the role playing!

Oh, I almost forgot! Before the role playing we had some delicious cake....image to follow....

I think this might have been Marzipan...but honestly not sure. However, it was delicious! If I understood correctly the cake was in celebration of someones acceptance into some type of educational union. 

After some cake tasting Jennifer and I went to the different small groups I mentioned earlier. One of the stops was in the kitchen....to keep this blog post from running too long I will simply say, we made hot chocolate for everyone. Unfortunately even when I was being very careful I managed to boil the milk over...I should not have filled my pot so high. However, everything was fine..besides having to clean the mess! Before we served it we decided to test it ourselves....

It was delicious!! So we began serving the hot chocolate and marshmallows. Some were a bit confused with adding marshmallows to the hot chocolate. Oh, let me add these teachers drink a lot of coffee....a lot of dark dark black coffee! I think the idea of drinking sweet hot chocolate with added marshmallows was a bit silly! But they seemed to love it. I enjoyed watching some of them poke the marshmallow! Ah, the little things that make you smile!

Anyway, Jennifer and I ended the school day reviewing our first week with the faculty and staff. It was a great opportunity to share how thankful we are to be at Sunde skule! Seriously, this school has been so welcoming! I couldn't imagine being at any other school. I love the staff and students and am so happy I have been given this opportunity! I am blessed to be a part of this program and am excited for the next five weeks! 

It was also great to hear how they felt about having us at the school. The headmaster (principal) said every morning he thinks about how much of a blessing we are to them. I may have almost cried...but I kept strong! It is evident that the school is excited that we are here. At this point I'm not sure who is more excited and thankful! 

I can't say enough how blessed I am to be given this opportunity, especially here and Sunde skule! I don't want to even think about saying goodbye in five weeks. We're just going to pretend that day isn't coming!

Well, I really need to wrap up this post. I am so behind on my posts that I need to start the next one. But I will leave you with the last picture I have from professional development day....

This is the view form our bus stop in Huesnes. Jennifer and I are dropped off here after school each day. Some times we get to shop around before catching the bus. This is just the view straight across from the stop. There is sooooo much more to the North and South ... (well right and left). I will try to take a better picture! But can you imagine....mountains behind your town shopping center? I know I can't...I live in Iowa!

Anyway, it's time to put this post to a close!

I hope you've enjoyed this very long read!

Stay tuned for the next post....that I think will be about the school and/or my first lesson!

Tusen Takk!