At the end of the day...

It's time to sum up. What can I conclude after this week in Aalborg?

First of all, it's always a good idea to leave your school, to get into another one, to talk with other teachers, to observe other students and to breathe fresh air so as to think about what you are doing for a living.

No extreme differences, no magic methodologies, just thinking about education and its challenges. We are doing well at our school, at least when it comes to my department, but we should always be willing to improve, to go further.

While nothing has impressed me too much, (apart from the outstanding sorroundings of the schools) these days have been uplifting for me. We are two different countries, cultures, populations, etc. But students are more or less the same and challenges we both face too. So, what is the point? Do they invest more money? Yes, they do. But we do invest too. Are they doing it better? I don't really know. But I could see how they focus on students and how it makes all the difference. They are not so worried about exams and grades but about students wellbeing, competences and how to get the best from each individual. And they put a lot of effort on it. And that is the lesson I have learnt.

I'm very grateful for this opportunity.

Jørgen and Katrine at Stolpedalsskolen

Kunsten - Museum of modern Art Aalborg

Second day at Sofiendalskolen

The day has started rainy so we couldn't get the school by bike. We did it by bus.

Again, Jette and her colleagues gave us a warm welcome.

We have had a long and very interesting meeting with Torsten, the Deputy Headmaster at Sofiendalskolen, and it has been a profitable talk on which we have taken advantadge to ask some questions related to organization, reading plans, results, assesment, use of common spaces, diversity, etc. Torsten has given us a lot of ideas about the organization of the school. And the main conclusion I came to is that they focus on the sudents individually and look for solutions when they have any problem, academically or personally speaking.

Obviously a week is not too much time to know how a school works but, one portrayal I can get from this visit is that teachers, pedagogs, management team, and everyone involved in the school life, work in a very colaborative way looking at the students needs and looking for solutions when something doesn't work. 

 

With Jette

 

Sofiendalskolen

I have visited Sofiendalskolen today. Jette has been really friendly and the wellcome in the school in general has been very warm. The school is similar to Stolpedalsskolen but with some differences. They also work mainly digitaly, this time with chromebooks. I have to admit that, after theese days visiting the schools, I'm in two minds about the use of this kind of devices in the classroom. I have always feel that students can lose their capacity of concentration if they use them but, on the other hand, the possibilities are endless. It remains to be seen who is right in this issue, those against screens at schools or those who have implemented them in their classrooms remorseless.


As our innovative project at Tirant lo Blanc has to do with the use of video as a didactic resource we have had the oportunity to see how is it used in the schools we are visiting now. And, apart from other considerations, I can assure, even more than before, it give us a wide range of possibilities as a tool of teaching-learning.


We have participated in a curious activity at school as a new classroom has been unveiled and the teachers in charge of it have given a little speech. It is a classroom dedicated to new technologies and students will work on 3D printing, programing, robotics and everything related to that.


We have enjoyed today another perfect weather to ride our bikes to school and back home. After some work at home we had diner at the Street Food in the harbour.

Sofiendalskolen

 

Espacios de trabajo

Biblioteca

Espacios de trabajo

Sharing experiences

This is my second day at Stolpedalsskolen. Luckily Jørgen lent us two bicycles and we got the school by bike. That is an amazing way to move in Aalborg as so many people do it here. That is to say that we are totally integrated in the city life. I were there at eight o'clock and, like in any other secondary school, life starts step by step as more and more students arrive.

We have attended three different classes, English, Danish and Art with tree different teachers, Katrine, Tina and Anna. But in the Art lesson, in all classes students continue using iPad. In the English lesson they were preparing a presentation about their dream hollydays. I still ask myself if it is a good thing to use iPad or laptops all the school time or rather it is no sense. They seem not to hesitate too much about that. In the Danish lesson, Tina spent all the period working on the topic "wellbeing". As Jørgen told us, students have seven Danish periods per week and teachers have to spend one of them working on this issue so as to prevent loneliness, to foster positive actitud and strengthen relationships in the classroom. This is compulsory. The teacher has used a lesson plan provided by a Danish foundation especially designed for it use through iPad or laptops as students are asked to interact with the platform in some activities. It has been of interest for me not only because of the format but also for the content and the activities. It is called Tivnu app.

In the afternoon we have taken the bikes and have visited some parks and the cicy centre where we have had diner in a lively square.

Tomorrow we are visiting Sofiendalskolen, the other school in the plan.

Classroom

 

City centre

Bikes at school

Stolpedalsskolen

Jørgen Kristiansen picked us up and drove us to Stolpedalsskolen. It is always exciting when you arrive at some place you have never been before. He tougth us how to say good morning in Danish and showed us some of the facilities. We have met Julia, the teacher we have been stuck to almost all the morning. We have been in lessons of 5th grade and the students happened to be kind and polite. The first thing that has surprised me is that the students were all using iPads or laptops and I have not seen anyone's handwriting in the whole morning. It is a contentious issue for me as I am not sure about the convenience of the use of this kind of devices in the classroom. In my opinion it deserves a deep thought.

After that, at 11.30 we had lunch in the staff room. Tipical Danish meal which was quite nice. There I have had the opportunity to talk with some teachers, to exchange some ideas and to ask some questions about how the school works. Afterwards I have been in more 5th grade lessons and we finished. Julia has shown us the jawdropping playground. It is green, sorrounded by a kind of forest and without any fence. They just have some big white pots painted in the trees and students know they cannot trespass them.

Stolpedalsskolen

Playground

Library

Heading Aalborg (16/6/2019)

I am at least in the plane, heading Alborg (Denmark). After months of hard work, here we are flying to our jobshadowing experience. As it usually happens my feelings are a mixture of expectation and fear to the unknown. I have just talked our contacts in Denmark by email and I don't know how they really are. So I don't know what to expect. And it makes you feel a bit nervous, but in a nice way.

The flight is being quiet and, much to my surprise, two flight attendants have recognised us as they have estudied Turism at IES Tirant lo Blanc.

Once we landed, we have been picked up by Jørgen Kristiansen from Stolpedalsskolen. He has driven us to our appartment in Aalborg and we have installed in this nice place where it is never totally dark at night.

On the plane

Appartment

Midnight