Today I was blown away by my experiences with these kids. We had another busy and fantastic day visiting different schools. One of the biggest differences I noticed between American and Russian students is that Russian students seem way more driven than their American counterparts. They are driven in everything they do. They push themselves to be the best without thinking of a reward. They are hungry for success both academic and physical. From my experience with many American students they have gotten quite lazy. The opportunities around them abound and they have more exposure to things Russian students could only dream about yet many choose not to take advantage of such things. They sit instead in class asleep or so focused on their phone the world around them is lost. I wish those students could come see how much these students desire to improve themselves and better their lives.
Our day started off observing 6th grade students (our 7th grade) in a Russian language class followed by a mathematics lessons. The students did not lose focus during the 40 min lesson, not once. Their eyes stayed glued on the teacher. Their phones while I saw one or two out on a desk, were never glanced at or opened. They fought to answer questions and about 90% of students participated in the lessons standing at attention when ready to speak. The lessons are very similar to ones in the US with the exception being that every lesson I have seen to date involved students behind their desk and the teacher leading up front. There was no collaborative work, no students walking around on projects. Instead they function as one group working together. Even when the teacher said they were allowed to work together and answer a prompt, the students stayed working quietly alone racing to be the first to answer.
Our day started off observing 6th grade students (our 7th grade) in a Russian language class followed by a mathematics lessons. The students did not lose focus during the 40 min lesson, not once. Their eyes stayed glued on the teacher. Their phones while I saw one or two out on a desk, were never glanced at or opened. They fought to answer questions and about 90% of students participated in the lessons standing at attention when ready to speak. The lessons are very similar to ones in the US with the exception being that every lesson I have seen to date involved students behind their desk and the teacher leading up front. There was no collaborative work, no students walking around on projects. Instead they function as one group working together. Even when the teacher said they were allowed to work together and answer a prompt, the students stayed working quietly alone racing to be the first to answer.
Thanks go out to Erin at Brevard County Waste Management, Jennifer at the City of Melbourne, Chuck and his colleagues at NASA and of course my amazing coworkers at EGHS for helping to make some amazing goody bags to give out to teachers and donating gifts to pass out to students. It was much appreciated!
After the lesson the primary students put on a fantastic performance headed by the librarian. The librarian does a lot of instruction and class outreach which I thought was nice. It was a fantastic integration of reading, culture, art, music, social studies, science and media. The kids did a wonderful job in their performances.
After this we were asked to play in a mini Olympics teachers versus students so we represented team USA as best as we could (especially considering that we could still barely walk from our monster hike up Stolby). Our team name and symbol while it makes me laugh absolutely baffles me….we were Team Happy Shovel :) They had an amazing opening ceremony (man can those Russian girls dance!). We had a blast making fools of ourselves trying (unsuccessful at times) to keep up with the Russians. They were so supportive, to have them chant my name while I raced on fake skis across the gym floor was truly heart warming. Teachers wound up winning hence our fantastic trophy (I think it was mostly the PE teachers that carried us though).
After the competition, we had lunch. High school students are required to take turns working in the cafeteria serving younger students which was really nice. Their meals are more like dinners, all homemade served on porcelain with real silverware. After lunch we were whisked away to a sports school which proudly graduated several Olympic athletes. The students train extremely hard and I can truly say Russians are machines. They push constantly (themselves and now us!).
After the sport school we observed some more primary school lessons where students worked individually on tiny ASUS computers to practice math. It was funny to see that they too had issues with non working computers, the difference however was when a student had a non working computer instead of shouting out, whining flailing their hands, they place their elbow on the desk with their hand up at a 90 degree angle and sit quietly until the teacher sees them and replaces their computer. My highschoolers wouldn’t have been so patient. Another interesting thing I noticed was that in between lessons in the same class the students had stretching exercises where they get up and so some stretches with the teacher for a minute or two. During each of these visits the students eagerly presented us with handmade gifts, more than I could carry. It was extremely sweet (see pictures in slideshow above).
The primary school observations were followed by dinner at school (our day never ends here), then a fair and concert with students and parents. The students host the fair where they make gifts to sell and all the money raised goes to charity. We walked around the fair but instead of trying to sell us things, the students were too busy trying to get a photo with us like we were some type of celebrity and they kept giving us their items as gifts rather than selling them. I have never felt so welcomed in all of my life. This was a life changing day. Everything I thought I knew about Russia and Russians and in particular Siberians was completely wrong, as was what everyone had told me they would be like. They are the warmest, most open and generous bunch of people I have met.
After the competition, we had lunch. High school students are required to take turns working in the cafeteria serving younger students which was really nice. Their meals are more like dinners, all homemade served on porcelain with real silverware. After lunch we were whisked away to a sports school which proudly graduated several Olympic athletes. The students train extremely hard and I can truly say Russians are machines. They push constantly (themselves and now us!).
After the sport school we observed some more primary school lessons where students worked individually on tiny ASUS computers to practice math. It was funny to see that they too had issues with non working computers, the difference however was when a student had a non working computer instead of shouting out, whining flailing their hands, they place their elbow on the desk with their hand up at a 90 degree angle and sit quietly until the teacher sees them and replaces their computer. My highschoolers wouldn’t have been so patient. Another interesting thing I noticed was that in between lessons in the same class the students had stretching exercises where they get up and so some stretches with the teacher for a minute or two. During each of these visits the students eagerly presented us with handmade gifts, more than I could carry. It was extremely sweet (see pictures in slideshow above).
The primary school observations were followed by dinner at school (our day never ends here), then a fair and concert with students and parents. The students host the fair where they make gifts to sell and all the money raised goes to charity. We walked around the fair but instead of trying to sell us things, the students were too busy trying to get a photo with us like we were some type of celebrity and they kept giving us their items as gifts rather than selling them. I have never felt so welcomed in all of my life. This was a life changing day. Everything I thought I knew about Russia and Russians and in particular Siberians was completely wrong, as was what everyone had told me they would be like. They are the warmest, most open and generous bunch of people I have met.