In six months I will be leaving with my family to live in Finland for six months while on a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching. I am thrilled, excited, nervous, eager, anxious, and honored to have this opportunity. I've started this blog to share my experiences with my family, friends, colleagues, students and school community. I am honored by all the many congratulations and kind words people have shared with me since I announced this news. I hope this blog will allow everyone to follow along on our journey!
To start, I'll answer some of the most common questions I've been getting over the past few months!
First, why Finland?
The Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Program allows teachers to go abroad and study cultures and education systems in a select bunch of countries. Finland is one of the most popular destinations because of their reputation as a world leader in education. In the past several years they have been in the top (or very close to the top) in world rankings comparing PISA scores. Not only do they do well when compared to other countries, the gap between the highest and lowest achievers in much smaller than it is in many other countries. Educators have been looking for the “secret” to Finnish education and while I don’t think I am going to learn any super secret tricks, I am very interested to see Finnish schools and classrooms.
Is the whole family going?
Yes! My husband will take a leave of absence from his school and our four and six year old daughters will also be embarking on this adventure. We are planning to enroll our older daughter in a Finnish elementary school and our younger daughter will go to preschool. We are hoping they will be able to continue to do some of their activities like swimming, dancing or gymnastics while they are abroad. Our suspicion is that our children will pick up a lot of Finnish quickly by learning from friends.
Do you speak Finnish?
No. We are learning a few words and teaching our daughters but most people there will speak English. We are trying to learn polite conversational words first like “thank you” and “please.” We are picking it up slowly; Finnish is very different than English, Spanish or French!
Won’t it be freezing cold?
Yes and no. The average temperature in Helsinki in January and February is between -5 and 0 degrees Celsius. That’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if you’ve ever visited me in January or February, you know the top of the mountain where I live can also be really cold! In fact, the average temperature of Kent is about the same. So, while it will be cold when we first arrive I don’t think it will be much worse than a Skiff Mountain winter. We certainly had a very cold winter this past year and a lot of snow. All winter I compared our temparture to Finland and most of the time Finland was actually warmer! The bigger difference will actually be in the spring and summer. While it is not uncommon for us to have a very warm spring and summer in Connecticut, often reaching 80 degrees or higher, the temperature in Finland doesn’t get much about 70 in June and July. We will dress warmly and be fine!
What will you be doing there?
Right now, I’m not quite sure what my days will look like. We will be living in Jyvaskyla, Finland (about 3 hours north of Helsinki) and my placement is at the Niilo Maki Institute. I will be visiting schools, talking to students and teachers and generally learning about Finnish education. I am focused on researching special education and will be able to visit classrooms throughout the country. I can’t wait!
When do you leave?
We will be leaving in early January and returning in early August. We will be spending time in Germany for most of July and I will end my world travels at the International Congress on Math Education in Hamburg.
I hope to use this blog to update you on my adventures, reflect on education and what I am learning and to maybe even entertain a little bit!