Revolution

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

-The Beatles, 1968

We have all read the news about the current state of education in the United States. It is not good. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves,students are dropping out, and colleges state that students who do move on to college aren't prepared.

Last year I was selected to join a team to visit Finland and study what is going on in Finnish education because while various news articles are positive about it, these articles are also very vague about the day to day workings of education in Finland.

Our team goal was to come back and create a school that implements the best of what Finnish education has to offer. Of course, we can't change everything. We aren't lawmakers. We don't drive national policy, but we can offer practical changes for teachers and administration that can be made today and share what we learn as those change are implemented. 

I am an art teacher, so my specific task was to study art education. December 8-17, 2016 I visited schools throughout Finland, school and playground design companies.  This blog will encapsulate:

• How art education functions in Finland 
• How I will implement changes to my teaching based on what I learned from Finnish  education.
• My classroom successes, failures, and adjustments.

 My teammates had other goals and will create other blogs about other areas of education. As they write and publish those blogs, I will add those links and resources here. 

I am ready to revolutionize the way that art education works for me and my students. I'm so glad that you are here for the journey.