Copenhagen.......

It is always interesting to get a peek into the lives of others, this week I have had the opportunity to imagine life in Copenhagen.

The little mermaid - this way

I must say the 15 minute walk to/from school has to be one of the best ever....through the Churchill park, across the drawbridge and through the old castle, left near the little mermaid, Den Lilie Havfrue and you are there!

Having the chance to walk home with teachers each day made it even better, as they wheeled their bicycles or carried my bags  and filled me in on the in's and out's of living in this special city.

The view from the school

Plus once you are at school you have the great view from the windows at the waterfront and the ships including the daily ferry to Norway.

School starts next week for these teachers so they are more than busy getting ready to begin. Osterbro is quite a new school, just 5 years old and their building is at capacity with 220 students K - 8. The school is implementing the IB curriculum both PYP and MYP and applying to be an IB world school by 2015. Teacher collaboration is a goal as teachers want to be able to model the collaboration in the curriculum they are requiring of students.

The teachers come from many places, the US, UK, Turkey and Denmark amongst them. With their varied expertise and backgrounds they have a lot to learn from each other  so collaboration is key.

 For many of them English is a second language including Gary the new young 4th grade teacher who grew up speaking Welsh. For the last 6 years Gray has spent summers at Camp Abenaki on North Hero so he is quite attached to Vermont. Yet again it seems to me to truly be a small world.

After several busy days during which the teachers worked hard to remain focused and fully present our task was complete. Hopefully the staff now has tools to work together effectively and to make the best use of the time they have together.

These young teachers were a pleasure to wok with and I wish them well for the year ahead. I particularly want to thank Liz Toran for walking me home and Alex Rankin for bringing me to Copenhagen in the 1st place and getting up at some really early hour in Sweden to come by boat and train and meet me daily. You are both fabulous and the school is lucky to have you.

I was fortunate to be able to spend a great weekend in the city before wending my way home via Amsterdam . The teachers at Osterbro will however be hard at work..............

http://www.oeis.dk/?link_id=Faculty%20&%20Staff%20Directory&item_id=39