Uppsala, Sweden
Today was an early start. We had to be at the Kvarngärdesskolan Uppsala International School at 8:00. It isn't far from where Gunnar lives as the crow flies, but takes longer by car. We had thought to use bicycles, but one of schools was a little further away and it was chilly out. So Gunnar drove and took others with us. At least the parking at the schools with parking lots is free, which was two of the three. Unfortunately I have no photos from today. I think we were just so busy going from school to school and then socializing at the party.
We had fika at the first school while hearing about the school. The school has significant number of students whose parents work at the University or at other places and are only in Sweden for a year or a few years, so they created a two-track system, one of which teaches primarily in Swedish, but teaches some subjects in English (such as science) and the other that teaches primarily in English, but also teaches Swedish. It is a brand-new school building. They moved all of their boxes there in August from the old school and spent the two weeks before school started unpacking rather than in meetings and PD. It was built in three buildings for the different ages: PreK and elementary, middle grades, and high school (10-12). Students in Sweden take a test in 8th or 9th grade which helps determine which track they will be in for high school. Some are university-bound and focus on the sciences, others are university bound and focus on the social sciences. Others are headed toward business or similar fields, while others are put on a vocational/apprenticeship track. Some leave school and go directly into a job instead of finishing school. I don't agree with this at all, but I'm not teaching in Sweden so I don't get a say. The school has high ceilings, and each classroom has one wall that is natural wood. They have tables rather than desks. It is a large school, so the students in each grade are broken into smaller groups (I don't remember what they call them). Each group is mainly housed in one part of the building, with their lockers and such there. The groupings were partially to help soothe the parents who worried about their child being in such a big school (elementary has four classes per grade). So some high school students may be housed in the science wing, though they don't spend all of their time there. Teachers for each grade/subject have a communal office/work room where they each have a large table as their desk as well as tables for them to meet or work/plan collaboratively. They said that the teachers were not happy because teachers prefer to plan in their classrooms where they are going to be teaching.
Then we got a tour and got to step in to talk to students who were working on projects in class. We first went to a social sciences class. They were working around the room in small groups. I asked each group I talked to what they were doing and they had a paper with a list of social rights on it and they had to imagine a group of people and delete a certain number of those rights. There were ones that they immediately kept and then others they discussed. I was impressed. They told me about the effects of the addition or deletion of the rights on each group. One boy summarized that they had a society that was homophobic, but accepted gay marriage and the rights of women and other marginalized groups. I was very impressed by their discussions. I wanted to join in or ask provoking questions, but they didn't need me to. They discussed the effects of giving people the right to vote, but took away the right to assemble and the right to think your own thoughts. They talked about how those would be governed. Pretty awesome discussions and thoughts for a young high school group (possibly 10th grade). Then on to a middle grades group that was working on an animal project through art--clay, felt, etc. Some of the students were embarrassed that they didn't know the English for what they wanted to say, but I reassured them. After all, I don't know any Swedish! Then we looked at a giant balcony on one of the buildings (it has a very high railing) and saw the playgrounds that surround and divide the buildings. The balcony and natural wood inside are key elements of the architect that they used.
Next was the Adult Education program at Bolandsskolan. It is a county program that teaches the Swedish language to newcomers, teaches remedial high school, and teaches several vocational programs. It had more of a college vibe. We had two nursing assistant students talk to us about their experiences and answer our questions.
Then off to Ellen Fries High School, including lunch. The lunch, same as the students' lunch, was very good. They had a salad bar, spaghetti, two sauces to choose from, bread, and the choice of mushroom soup. It was all, including the soup, very good. then we walked around, had a few students talk to us, then we talked to four student teachers about their pre-service programs and they answered our questions. They are concerned about differentiating their instruction (aren't we all?) and talked about unions and salaries. Sweden had recently moved to a program of everyone negotiating their own salaries instead of collective bargaining. Then we had fika (not a very good chocolate cake--very dry). This school has a flexible 10th grade year for students who have not settled on a path or track.
Then we dropped off others and went back to Gunnar's. The Americans there included the regular delegation who arranged the dinner and program, and us jubilee participants who were told to bring bars for dessert. I brought a box of Ghiardelli brownies--the best brownies. Luckily, Gunnar and Margareta had eggs and vegetable oil that I could use. I also asked for a square baking pan. They did not have that. The closest Margareta could find was a deep, round ceramic baking dish a little smaller than the directions call for. So I used that, converted the baking temperature and water and oil measurements to metric and guessed at the baking time. They turned out great and were still warm from the oven when we left. I just took them in the dish. Margareta put newspaper in the bottom of a paper bag to carry it since we were walking there. It was at the first school we had been at that morning. They were also the school that had helped with the mural project and had that hung up on the wall.
A teacher I didn't know (Mikal) sat next to me--Gunnar was across and we sat near some other teachers I liked. There were lots of speeches, talking about the history of the exchange and how they started it 20 years ago as well as the evolution since. Then each person got a recognition award and went up on stage. They had groups stand up as we were all sitting from each year. Threre was at least one person from each year of the exchange there--several of us from my year. The current group is the biggest yet--18 from each country. There were 12 American past delegates there and many Swedish ones (it being a bit easier for them to attend!). We ate and then watched a skit the current American delegates put on about the MN State Fair. After that we talked and bused our dishes and left a group to do the final clean up, mostly the leaders who had also done the set up. It was late when we got back so we we pretty much headed to bed.
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