A group of five people who are part of an educational program that supports teacher professional development visited from Japan on March 6. Every two years the director of the group, Mr. Kazuki Tani visits with a small group of educators so that he and the other teachers are able to learn about the different teaching methods that are used here in the United States. The group was very interested in classes with unique structures such as Newspaper Production, Woodworking, Net Sports, Printmaking and more. On top of visiting many classes, the educators also had the chance to visit elementary schools, early childhood buildings, and even a middle school. Mrs. April Burton, who showed the group around the school, shared what the educators were most interested in.
“They were very impressed with the opportunities that our high school students had to enroll in classes that were relevant to their career goals,” Mrs. Burton said. “They also found it interesting that our students did not stay seated in desks all day as Japanese elementary students do not have ‘carpet time,’ or move around as much.”
Overall, the visitors were fascinated with the schools and the differences they saw in contrast to their own schools that they teach at. With new environments, the educators were able to take some of the different techniques and approaches teachers had at the schools they visited. Burton was honored to guide the group through the school and see all of the amazing things that occur in the classrooms across the district.
