Interesting week, Pt. 3: The Celebration

On Friday the Institute celebrated the March 8 Women's Day with an all out effort and performances by the male faculty, administration & staff members for the women (the women did the same on Men's Day, a couple of weeks ago). The reason it was celebrated on the 5th is that March 8th is a national holiday here (coincidentally also the anniversary of the Russian Revolution).

I was asked to participate, so in keeping with the culture (and not having a playable guitar available readily) I played the balalaika, Dedicating the performance to my truly awesome contact / translator / colleague here with a version of Lara's Theme from Dr. Zhivago (her name is Lara). The song is over forty years old, and was actually written by a Frenchman (Maurice Jarre), but I heard a few oldsters humming along, so despite having picked up the instrument and learned the song (and instrument) in three hours that morning, I guess I did okay.

Everyone then repaired to the adjacent room for sweets, shampanske (sparkling wine), and brandy, people dancing and singing, so I could say it was a great day ... It's fascinating that these folks are fairly reserved until it's time to "party", but boy, they do know how to party when it's time!

As you can see from the video, I made the best of this potentially disastrous situation...

Interesting week, Pt. 2 - The class

Upon reviewing feedback from my first group, and after discussing this with my colleague, she recommended that I go "deeper" with them in terms of instruction; meaning, in short, that I needed to get "heavy" with them in terms of what they are getting out of the class. Several things have prompted this: an insistence that I provide every single detail of instruction (step-by-step) regarding the research and projects I have them working on, and explaining precisely "why" we / they are doing something in the class.

So in last Wednesday's class, I started out by asking them how many cards I was holding. (In the absence of playing cards, I used some colorful little calendar cards I found.) I deliberately made it look like I was holding three, and showed them back and front of my hand holding the cards. Satisfied, they all agreed that I had three cards. I then revealed that behind one of the cards I held two more, making five cards where they were certain there were three.

My point, which I carried forth, was that you cannot always be satisfied by appearances, and that further investigation is ALWAYS required, particularly when teaching students. This seemed like a novel idea to them, so I expounded on the fact that even though we see what is in front of us all the time, we simply must look beyond at the greater world to discover more - and encourage our students to do likewise. So I have been trying to break through this wall with my students / teachers here and get them to start looking elsewhere - like the rest of the planet. I actually challenged them when I asked if they believed that through their jobs as teachers they can change the world simply by affecting their students. Most shook their heads and said no. Do you know what I told them? Then you should NOT be a teacher! That got the discussion going ...

In many ways already noted, these teachers are a product of a much more regimented education system that produces desired "results" (exam scores) than we have in the United States. But I believe that we may have an advantage in the US in that, with all our comparatively uneven school accountability (because it varies greatly state-by-state, district-by-district, even school-by-school), our teachers are just not ever going to be -- conformists.

But then, we have to remember something about Ukraine - it has only been independent from USSR since 1991, and they are still struggling with their identity - one need only read the recent political news for confirmation.

Interesting week, Pt I.

Well, it has been an interesting week here in Poltava; so interesting, in fact, that I will divide it into three parts, so here is the first part:

The week started inauspiciously enough with a lecture for the faculty scheduled for Monday morning being postponed for two weeks. Okay, then, on Wednesday as I arrive at work to teach my class and am cooling down from the mile walk through ice, the Institute's Rector, Vitaly, and the Foreign Language coordinator, Valentina, arrive in my office to give me this beautiful terracotta frieze and a matching teacup, both handmade locally.
During my class, another faculty member came in and gave me a copy of the book she authored (quite well-known nationally, it turns out), along with this cool handmade pouch, and sang happy birthday to me! I turned pretty red ... After class, the students gave me another ceramic Ukrainian figure (this time a man) filled with malinka,a local liqueur. And it wasn't even my birthday yet! They sure are sweet here, when they want to be. (Photo of all this great booty haul posted above)

I also have to acknowledge another great "gift" that arrived Wednesday, the day before my birthday - this was a much awaited Volkstaf collapsible hiking staff to assist me in negotiating the icy sidestreets on the way to work and back. I simply must express my deepest appreciation to Ruth,the owner of Rocky Mountain Amblers,who went far above-and-beyond the responsibilities of a retailer in insuring that the staff made it into the hands of Linda-Marie & Don Sundstrom, who delivered it to the Fulbright office in Kiev (and deep thanks to all of these as well). Ruth has since emailed me regarding this blog, and I have encouraged her to leave her extremely insightful reflections as comments here. Ruth, you're the best!

More to come on this eventful week - stay tuned ...

Guest appearances

On Thursday I was invited by a teacher at a local school to speak to her classroom of 6th grade students. They are learning English, and spoke it rather well, I thought, so it was very interesting - they had great questions about everything from schools in the US to my personal hobbies and impressions of Ukraine. Afterwards, they all came up and wanted me to sign notes to them - as if I were famous or something! (Note to ICL faculty: I could get used to this very easily, so watch out when I get back ...!)

On Saturday I was invited to attend the opening "ceremonies" of a regional Olympiad (competition) for students of informatics. The age group seemed to be around 15, so this was likely a ninth grade competition, and I was informed that there are other regional informatics competitions held with different age groups. One of my students, an informatics teacher, was present as well. After some pomp and ceremony held in the auditorium of the Poltava University of Consumer Cooperatives in Ukraine (aka the Cooperative University), where I was actually recognized and introduced from the podium as a visiting professor from America (ICL faculty are you getting all this. ..?), the students were sent to one of several computer labs in the building. They were given four problems to solve, split into two days: two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with the winners announced on Sunday afternoon (where I am soon headed). I asked if I could see the problems, and someone kindly translated them into English (more or less) using Google. Wow! These were not entry level Internet or software problems, but actual programming challenges to solve the problems given them: one was related to creating a program to solve a contradictory time clock problem, another involved productivity of robots with a defined "life" span, another involved feeding cats left home while on vacation, and the other I don't recall. But they said they would let me have a printout of the translated problems today, after the competition ends. Needless to say, I was impressed. Now, realize that what these kids had been learning was programming - in both PASCAL and C + + - and that I don't teach computer science. So those of you who are programmers and are chuckling at the simple solutions to such problems, go ahead and laugh - in the ninth grade I was struggling to make it through Algebra I! I have uploaded some photos of the students in action, the University's online library area, and a group photo that includes three of the jurors, the fellow in the suit having written the official textbook for 9th and 1oth grade informatics in Ukraine. The other two ladies in the middle are from the Institute where I teach.

All is well

Well, after the break, the students / teachers went to work for the 2.5 hrs. I gave them to complete the lesson plan, working in pairs. The first team, comprised of the only two guys in the group, were finished right at 5:00 PM; the others soon followed. Okay, I might have been a tad worried, but all for naught - the stuff they came up with was great! The guys did a whiz bang job on the PowerPoint end, with all sorts of animated GIFs, etc. but all of them really GOT it! After all that discussion - I suppose they were just clarifying for themselves. One of them asked, interestingly, if I had used the lesson plan format from Intel's Teach to the Future program of some years back - I replied no, but this was a fairly standard format. Hmmmm ... I wonder when / why / where they studied that?
At the very end, we gave the teachers official certificates with the Institute rector's signature as well as mine; he came to the class and they took pictures as Vitaly (the rector) and I handed the certificates to the students / teachers. The students then gave me a beautiful ceramic statuette of a woman in traditional Ukrainian garb, and then the surprise - it's filled with vodka! I will make sure that the statue makes it back home, can't say the same about the vodka ...

So, after all that, it was a very successful first class ... > WHEW

Some thoughts about my work here...

Note: I started this two weeks ago, but did not post it here for whatever reason; tonight was my third and final session with my first group of students/teachers, so I find it appropriate to post my initial and my final reactions; here they are:

Feb. 3, 2010: This evening was my first experience teaching in Poltava. I was very impressed by the serious dedication the teachers provided in each activity. I was also impressed by the questions I was asked in regards to educational technology in the U.S., such as do we have a standardized curriculum for math, science, and informatics. I found myself relating that no, we do not have anything close to a "standardized" curriculum for the entire U.S., as each state and subsequently individual districts often mandate their own version of a required curriculum. When made to reflect on this, I find myself thinking that maybe we are not as advanced as others in the world, in terms of education. In fact, we may be far from being the most advanced - in many areas. Informatics (information science) is a required course for secondary students here - even when there is only one computer in the classroom!
Feb. 17, 2010: Today is my last day with my first informatics teachers group; after last week's session, which went only so-so, I asked my contact what I should do to improve the sessions. She told me that I should make the teachers (my students) go "deeper". So this week I shortened the presentation and added a very big assignment: create a technology-infused lesson plan for a specific grade level, including all the components of a typical lesson plan: Subject, topic, grade level, learning objectives, timeframe, required resources, required technologies, activities, student product, assessment (tied to learning objectives), and student reflection. First of all, I had cleared this with my contact/translator, asking if this American-style lesson plan was asking too much, and she assured me that it was not. However... when I finished explaining the lesson plan components (which were already translated on a separate, simultaneously projected PowerPoint), a twenty minute discussion ensued, which seemed to devolve into several arguments. Then they all stopped, went for a break and the hot tea, coffee, and food that was served, and eventually came back and got right down to work. I have no idea what all the discussion was about, as I thought what was required of them was fairly straight-forward, but I gathered that there was some confusion over the lesson plan components. Apparently thinking "out of the box" - and I get the distinct feeling that their educational box is quite restrictive - is a process that is not used very much here. So it will be very interesting to see the results. Later I will give them three surveys I have adapted and had translated: one is the TIMSS questionnaire (thanks, Sally!), then a short survey I created vis-a-vis their and their students' use of computers and Internet both at home and in the classroom; and finally a standard instructor/presenter evaluation. I really want to gauge how they feel about my work with them, as I have three more groups to work with during my stay here. More on their responses next time!

First days in Poltava

I arrived in Poltava the evening of Thursday, Jan. 28, by train from Kyiv. I was assisted both getting on and then off the train with my heavy duffel by a very nice fellow named Alex. Alex was trying to practice as much English as he could via speaking with me, so I spent a lot of the trip in the hallway chatting and drinking very hot tea. I learned that he and his wife would be new parents in June. Thank you and congratulations again, Alex from Siberia!
When I arrived in Poltava, a literal welcome wagon awaited me, with two of my new colleagues from the Institute plus a couple of fellows from the agency with keys to my apartment (mind you, this was well after 9:00 PM). My colleagues gave me a bag of food and coffee, tea, fruit, cheese - all sorts of goodies to make me feel right at home! My apartment is up five flights of stairs, but it is very nice once inside, and I crashed pretty much immediately after everyone left.
The next day, Friday, I enjoyed my first full day in my host city. I had lunch with two of my associates in the Institute in a traditional Ukrainian eatery (very European - plain, very simple and clean, but with excellent food), then met the rector and others high up the administrative chain. I was then formally introduced to all of the Institute's faculty (you can see photos at http://tinyurl.com/yb5qmwo ). They are fantastic folks! They really seem happy to have me here, and later we all had dinner, Ukrainian-style, in the dining room of the Institute's dormitory. LOTS of food, with traditional meat / potato / cabbage dumplings (pirogi, actually), a delicious type of coleslaw with a light vinaigrette dressing instead of mayo, assorted meats and other stuff, and between talking and eating, several (like 5 or 6) toasts with vodka or brandy - I felt like I was among my kind of people!