It took me quite some time to let everything I saw these really sink in.
In reality, I don't even think it has all completely sunk in just yet. But it's definitely getting there...
When I signed myself up for the II International Symposium about the changes in education, I envisioned getting to know people that would inspire me through their examples of change and progress.
When I looked at the list of schools we could potentially visit while being there, I was surprised, to be honest... The fact that most of them belong to the Jesuits, really caught me off guard. I was not expecting religious schools to be the example of change. And so it sparked my interest even more!
And I decided to sign up to visit two non-religious schools and two religious. From the four schools we signed up to visit, we would only make it to three - and this selection would be made by the organization committee, to avoid having 100 people in one school and 2 in another!
So when it came time to start the visits, I learned that I had been assigned to the two religious schools I had chosen and one of the non-religious.
The first day we went to one of the schools from the Jesuits Foundation (Joan XXIII). This is a network of 8 schools, all working together and using the same basic mission, spread out through the city of Barcelona. They have small differences between them, as each group and community is different from the others, but the methods used, the tools and the general goals are pretty much the same.
The school was spacious, painted in vibrant colors and the kids looked happy to be in class. They were working in group projects, more specifically they were starting the new groups to work in their projects for the next few weeks.
One of the very interesting examples of projects that group had done, was a research on the special needs of some of the students from the school. Based on that research, the group then developed tools in the 3D printer, to help these students learn better!
We then moved on to a kindergarten group, where we saw some of them listening to a story, while other kids got ready to PE. There was also a third part of the group who sat on the floor and colored on a black role of paper that had been laid across the floor.
After the visits we went on to a room, where we heard the principle of the school, as well as a few other teachers, talk about the school and the network, how it all started and how it actually works all together.
It was a super interesting first day and I couldn't wait for the next few visits! (details on those will soon follow)
In reality, I don't even think it has all completely sunk in just yet. But it's definitely getting there...
When I signed myself up for the II International Symposium about the changes in education, I envisioned getting to know people that would inspire me through their examples of change and progress.
When I looked at the list of schools we could potentially visit while being there, I was surprised, to be honest... The fact that most of them belong to the Jesuits, really caught me off guard. I was not expecting religious schools to be the example of change. And so it sparked my interest even more!
And I decided to sign up to visit two non-religious schools and two religious. From the four schools we signed up to visit, we would only make it to three - and this selection would be made by the organization committee, to avoid having 100 people in one school and 2 in another!
So when it came time to start the visits, I learned that I had been assigned to the two religious schools I had chosen and one of the non-religious.
The first day we went to one of the schools from the Jesuits Foundation (Joan XXIII). This is a network of 8 schools, all working together and using the same basic mission, spread out through the city of Barcelona. They have small differences between them, as each group and community is different from the others, but the methods used, the tools and the general goals are pretty much the same.
The school was spacious, painted in vibrant colors and the kids looked happy to be in class. They were working in group projects, more specifically they were starting the new groups to work in their projects for the next few weeks.
One of the very interesting examples of projects that group had done, was a research on the special needs of some of the students from the school. Based on that research, the group then developed tools in the 3D printer, to help these students learn better!
We then moved on to a kindergarten group, where we saw some of them listening to a story, while other kids got ready to PE. There was also a third part of the group who sat on the floor and colored on a black role of paper that had been laid across the floor.
After the visits we went on to a room, where we heard the principle of the school, as well as a few other teachers, talk about the school and the network, how it all started and how it actually works all together.
It was a super interesting first day and I couldn't wait for the next few visits! (details on those will soon follow)