Getting an
unexpected surprise feels totally awesome. This happened to us in little Larsmo
in western Finland one day a few months ago. That week in December had been very special for us with
Finland’s 99th birthday as an independent country on December the 6th.
We were over the moon when we saw what had come to us.
Our
school’s global friends across the Atlantic, to be more specific in Oregon
City, Oregon, 8,000 km or 5,000 miles away from us in Finland, had planned an
amazing gift for us. They had created a surprise video where they sent us Happy
Independence Day greetings. The American students had made Finnish flags in
different sizes, even a virtual one on their SMART board, they had decorated
their classroom with blue and white pennants (the colors of Finland’s flag) and
they had even learnt how to say ‘Hyvää itsenäisyypäivää’ which means ‘Happy
Independence Day’ in Finnish. Can you imagine how loved and important my
students felt when their global friends in the United States had made all this
just for them? We were speechless when we together watched the video on the
SMART board in my classroom.
And yes, we
have during last fall also got several greetings from two other places in the
US and that is from Greenville, Pennsylvania, and from West Dundee, Illinois.
It feels great to be able to travel from Finland to the other side of the
Atlantic Ocean back and forth while we are in the classroom and to watch how my
students grow as human beings on their educational journey.
All this is
possible for us in Larsmo thanks to SMART Technologies. The teachers that are
involved in this year-long project called Bridging
Cultures met last July at the 2016 Global SMART Exemplary Educator Summit
in Calgary, Canada. We noticed that we, six teachers, share the same passion.
We love teaching and we want our students, each one of them, from the shiest to
the most outgoing one, to feel important and loved and to learn at the same
time. Few things are more important for a child than to get a good self esteem.
Our students are during this school year discussing, creating, engaging with
new friends from different areas in the world, learning to understand global
relationships, enhancing communications and making connections between past,
present and future. These are very important skills to possess for the future,
don’t you think so?
We travel
thanks to SMART amp workspaces that our students collaborate on together on
both sides of the ocean. We also make SMART Notebook files that we send to one
another and we also have a blog together about this adventure. My students come
up with their own ideas that they want to fulfill. They make discoveries and
they create. They learn about the importance of making friends, showing love
and respect for one another. I inspire my students and they inspire me. I have
noticed how important it is for my students when they virtually can share text,
pictures, videos and Internet links about their home town and their country.
Our lessons with SMART’s software are precious and make a difference. And when
they get feedback and also read about the American students’ cultural
background and watch the movies that their friends have made for them they
grow, both intellectually and emotionally.
I can
honestly say that SMART is the best thing that has happened to my classroom and
I have been an English teacher in Finland for about 20 years. Yes, teaching
matters, but to have access to great tools matters, too. I am sure our SMART
global collaboration project Bridging
Cultures is one step in the right direction when you think about making the
world a little better for our future citizens.