Grade 5 Lesson-Planning Tool For Mathematical Practice 8: Fill & Download for Free

I’ll share the frustrations of both my wife and I. Entrepreneurs… you’re going to want to read this through point 3.Grading. Technology still hasn’t created the means for a teacher to create an assignment which can assess their students’ skills instantly, have it reported to the teacher, have it recorded in the gradebook, and accessible to parents and others in the need to know.Instead, what we have is a bunch of apps that do each part separately, but none of which work together… so, bleh. What teachers are still forced to do is to give out worthless worksheets that might reenforce the lesson, but are really just there to take a grade because that’s the only real way to make sure the teachers are doing work. What that means is fishing out some worksheet or assessment, then handing it to kids, having the kids fill it out, or worse take it home to finish, where a good fifth will lose it or forget to put their names on it, then the teacher must collect it the next day. After that, she takes them home, grades them all by hand (we’re talking hours), then plugs in all those grades in the gradebook. Finally, they are ready to be given back to students to know what they failed on days ago.Total turnaround is that it took the teacher several hours of labor per assignment she must do, that didn’t communicate to student education, all to get an assessment of their skills. That assessment of their skills took about three days for the teacher to discover and four days for the student. That’s not how you learn where you need help.What I wish existed was a digital solution that could make all these processes instant… because its 2018. If someone did that, millions of teachers would get back between 4–8 hours of lost time in their week to give back to the kids or create compelling activities and lessons. Most importantly though, kids and teachers could instantly know what they don’t understand for an immediate refresher so that they master the skills… rather than waiting until next week for that refresher they just found out they needed. For that to work, many of the functions of programs which exist today need to be combined.I’m just saying, I know a lot of my readers are those techy engineers who want to be billionaires. I’ve put a lot of thought into this. It’s a billion dollar problem. Comment if you’re curious.Coming up with good activities. Part of being a “modern” teacher is trying fruitlessly to out entertain the entertainment in kids’ lives. Without arguing about the wisdom of this philosophy, the pressure to make creative, engaging, unique learning activities that actually teach something is a time consuming and often expensive problem for teachers.For background, most of your work used to come in books that had the lesson and the practice problems, along with lots of additional content, all rolled up into one. Not anymore. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a consumable. A book that is only good for one year because it literally requires kids to rip out the pages to use. So even if books are less expensive, they end up costing much more because they must be replaced every single year.Then you have teachers who go out of their way to find lessons on their own. There is a peer-to-peer site called TeachersPayTeachers that allows entrepreneurial educators to create lessons and other printable classroom material and sell it digitally to other teachers. It’s a Free Market solution to the problem of terrible resources for teachers and it’s wonderful, but if someone were to see how much money that company makes, you’d be in mourning at how much your teachers spend of their own money to make sure your kids have engaging and interesting lessons.Plus, most of that requires running copies, which is expensive and time consuming. Again, the same entrepreneur who solved #1 could solve #2 in the same move, save millions of teachers hours of time, make a lot of money, and save countless trees. Still taking comments.Lesson Plans in General. Put all the activities together over the course of a week and that’s called a Lesson Plan. What works best is when you can reuse the lesson plans year after year. At least in part. Over the summer, you improve upon what worked, and throw out and replace what doesn’t. Then you have a year long plan that is gradually improving from year to year.If you could copy all of that and pass it on to other teachers, all the better.But that isn’t what happens. Instead, every few years, some politician answering the public outcry of “we want our kids to read good and do other things good too”, will make a name for themselves by passing sweeping reforms to education in whatever state happens to have to elected them. What actually happens is that parts of policies are scrapped, new programs implemented, no resources given to help teachers transition, and all the work they’ve done in previous years must be scrapped for the new method.It basically makes every teacher a first year teacher because everything they’ve collected throughout their teaching career is junk because it no longer meets state curriculum standards. This means that on their own time, teachers must spend a few more hours every week creating new lesson plans from scratch.What would be better is if there were a tool to create and even share (or digitally sell) Lesson Plans, so that the entrepreneurial minded can do the hard work and quickly spread that labor the thousands of others just trying to stay afloat. Oh, and in case you’re curious, that smart entrepreneur could solve this one too. BILLION DOLLAR IDEA.(Techies, you can stop reading now.)Transitions. Transitioning is moving from class to class. This is more a problem for Elementary, as older kids mostly have it figured out. The thing with Elementary kids is that they can’t be set loose to go across the building to another class on their own. Most can, but then there is always that kid who poops in the urinal if you ever take your eye off him. They must be guided as a group, by a person. Where the older kids can do this seven times a day and in under five minutes, for younger kids, it is a twenty minute process where the teacher must hand hold kids, guiding every decision that needs to be made. This isn’t because kids are stupid, but when you must guide a herd of children, everyone moves as the pace of the slowest mover. I’m calling that kid “urinal cake.”When you have your Music, Computers, or Physical Education classes, one class a day, this isn’t really a problem, but now that younger kids are transitioning to having different teachers for Math, English, Science, and Social Studies, the transitions themselves take up a massive chunk of the day. This isn’t even to mention that on top of the 20 minutes in transition, it takes most classes around 10–15 minutes to settle down and get started with a new lesson. When time is already limited, it’s a silent time thief that robs teachers of productive time they could be teaching. Considering a generous estimate of an hour lost per day, that’s 150 hours over the course of a school year, or 21 school days lost to nothing more than walking between classes.This is also not ignoring that at that young age, kids need to develop a bond with their teachers, which doesn’t work as well when they are forced to change classrooms many times a day. Again, older kids are more independent, so this isn’t so much a problem there.Accommodating for Sports. Sports has taken over American education. For a lot of reasons I’m not going to get into here, sports has become a thing where coaches receive far more pay in the form of additional stipends and resources to players dwarfs the spending per student in other areas. I’m not against sports, but if most taxpayers understood how much of the school’s annual budgets went towards sports, they would march on the Superintendents’ offices demanding an explanation for why so many of America’s students fail. Jon Davis's answer to Is it true that Americans are very bad at mathematics. If yes, then why?From the teacher’s perspective, because this has gotten so out of hand, kids sometimes spend as many as a fifth of their classroom time on activity absences at Track and Field meets, football games, and Semi-Regionals for whatever almost sport they play. Look, I played and I appreciate sports, but there is a time where we have to ask if the juice is worth the squeeze. If we are spending this much on twelve kids to get a state ring, but we are bringing in ZERO academic scholarships, then we are failing at what our real job is. Worse yet is when we spend an exorbitant amount of money on 50 kids out of a 1,000 in the district, half of whom can’t stay eligible to play so we do nothing but lose. What exactly are are people paying taxes for?Sum that up to say that if the teachers are forced to work around the coaches’ needs rather than the coaches work around the needs of the educators… then education is broken.

How Hinduism is attacked in India and other countries.1. Mass Conversions2. Mass Media Anti-Hindu promotion3. Foreign funded NGOs weakening Hinduism4. Over anglicization of Education5. Destruction of Hindu Institutions6. Apathy and Vote Bank Politics7. Ignorance of Hindus8. Solutions – United Aggression and spiritualityHow congress ruled states in India have become paradise for Christian missionaries.15,018 persons converted in single day in Ongole10,000 churches planned in 2005 alone, by just one group, the Seventh Day Adventists, scaled to 100,000 churches this yearToday properties of Churches across India is more than double the property valuation of Indian Railways, running into over 30 Lakh Crores at very conservative estimates)Mass Conversions and Vote Bank PoliticsVote bank of 45% (25% Christian + 20% Muslim) only is needed for any political party to get power in India (by dividing the Hindu vote)
Lesson from History : Four North Eastern States of India with 75% to 95% Christian population due to aggressive conversion. They were Hindu majority in 1948. Now want to separate from India.Mass Media and Anti Hindu PromotionIt’s easy to break into this !ncestuous circle if you are anti-Hindu, anti-Hindu culture and traditions. It’s a passport to wealth, fame and recognition.If you call yourself a “Hindu nationalist” you will be denounced and pilloried as pure evil. But claim that you’re a “Muslim first” and nobody will even whisper. The Commies have long white-washed the crimes of Islamic invaders to establish Hindu society as a criminal society of upper-caste and lower-caste where the upper-castes exploited everyone else. So the Commies often argue that the Islamic invaders actually saved Hindu society and the lower-castes. Of course, the Hindus also destroyed other religions like Buddhism and Jainism as they like to frequently claim. You will hear any number of Congis and media folks even on Facebook and Twitter making such claims. Never forget the bogus Aryan invasion theory that the Westerners started and the Commies perpetuated. Now that this theory has been scientifically busted, some still cling on to it. Same is true for the bogus theories of Hindus having eaten beef since time immemorial.Take a right-wing journalist like Swapan Dasgupta. He’s a smart guy, very intelligent and popular with everyone. SwapanD will write everything accurately but stop short of giving verifiable information and names. Of course, he is entitled to hide names. He is one guy from the other side who has learned how to successfully swim with the sharks. You know, somewhat like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. Imagine, SD had a series of debates with the gutter-mouth Manishankar Aiyar. That’s fine, you can debate anyone. Where was this debate hosted? On NDTV; the den of Commies! What was the show called? Politically Incorrect! Is there anything about NDTV, Swapan or Aiyar that can be possibly politically incorrect? I have to seriously laugh. But if you have to be successful in the media, make fortunes and earn recognition there are some compromises you have to make. Otherwise you are bound to languish like….Once a country loose it’s own native language, it looses its own identity.In India, english-medium teaching is often viewed as synonymous with established education due to efforts of congress govt of India, and is thus reflected in the rising percentage of private school enrolments. According to ASER 2008, the percentage of rural children who studied in private primary schools went up from 16% in 2004 to 26% in 2008.English Next India cites the example of Malaysia, where the government in July 2009 annulled an earlier decision to teach science and mathematics in English after concerns that children’s education was suffering as only 10% of teachers were well-versed in English.ASER reports, released annually since 2004, have also pointed out a drop in learning levels in schools. Various other studies, including a 2008 report by software lobby group Nasscom, have shown only 10-15% graduates are “employable” in business services and only 26% engineers in technical services due to educational deficiencies.In Gujarat, for instance, a pathetic management lead to poor pass percentage in Gujarati-medium schools compared with English-medium schools which resulted in the closing down of several vernacular schools.In Maharashtra too, the mushrooming of English-medium schools has caused a sharp decline in the number of Marathi-medium schools. In Pune, widely regarded as the cultural capital of the state, the number of Marathi-medium schools came down from 719 in 2006 to 604 in 2007, according to the Environment Status Report of 2008.The decline of local language institutes has increased to 35% YoY basis across India. The gap developed is filled up by anglicized schools.Regional languages of India originated from Sanskrit – mother of all languages. Decline of Sanskrit and regional language means dissection of own Identity which we are proud of.Looting of Hindu Temple Money by PoliticiansThis is fraction of overall report which shows only figures of year 2002 in Karnataka Hindu temples. Check out how Hindu temples funded are distributed to non-Hindus, muslim and christian activities.Total number of Temples: 207,000Total collections at the Temples: 72 CroresMoney spent on Temple Upkeep: 6 CroresMoney spent on Muslims for Haj: 50 CroresMoney spent on churches: 10 CroresMoney for other activities: 6 CroresReport by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar & India TodayDefame our Revered Hindu Gods, Saints, Leaders and ScripturesReinterpret Hindu history, traditional stories of Indian saints and scriptures to spread false stories. Many interpretations implicate s*xual impropriety on our Gods, saints and leaders.Some examples:-Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: Wrongly promoted as Homos*xualAsaram: Wrongly framed in s*xual harassment cases for taking stand against conversionsVivekananda: Unsuccessful attempt of seduction charge when in the USJayendra Saraswati: Farcely framed of involvement with a womanDeepak Chopra: Wrongly charged with extra-marital relationshipFool the gullible with Hindu religious practices, customsJesus never claimed to be god but son of God. While in India, you find divine experiences happening daily. Missionaries wear Sadhu dresses, perform arati, and burn incense, to give impression that very little has changed.
A prayer hall in Kerala has meditating Jesus in Padmasana posture!The four North Eastern States, where Hindus were in majority as late as 1947, are now 75% to 95% Christian and are engaging in terrorism and want to separate from India.Major Blow to Hindus and Existence of HinduismAnti-Hindu features of The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, PCTV Bill to Islamize India :-Cabinet ministers of evil Congress party and its allies have passed this bill, once it becomes law Hindus will become third grade citizens in their own native country Bharat (India).1) Based on the presumption that all ‘Hindus are Criminals and Rioters’ ,this law can be invoked only against Hindus by minorities. (the bill defines Muslims, Christians etc. as “the Minority Group” in (sec 3.e)). They included SC, ST as well, just as a cover-up mask and a further potential Hindu divide.2) Merely a complaint will be sufficient to file a FIR and the Hindu against whom the complaint is made, will be immediately arrested and assumed guilty UNLESS PROVEN otherwise (In normal criminal procedure, an accused is assumed innocent unless proven guilty);3) All crimes under this Bill are Cognizable and Non-bailable [Clause 56 of may 2011 version];4) It can trigger a new wave of extortion by minority groups against Hindus, the majority of whom are the working and business class. This will have colossal negative repercussions for the Indian economy.5) Section 129 states that for prosecution of offences under Sec 9 there will be no limitation of time. It means a ‘Minority’ can reopen all cases against Hindus, all past cases right from 1950 onwards.6) Under Sec. 42, A minority witness giving false statement before National authority CANNOT be prosecuted for giving FALSE evidence against a Hindu.7) If a Hindu man marries a muslim girl with her consent then he can be tried for r@pe by parents of muslim girl.8) If a Hindu denies selling house or making any business deal with a muslim or christian, he can be dragged to court by the muslim or christian.9) A muslim or christian can marry Hindu women of any age, any time and her parents cannot object to the marriage.Without such laws muslims are anti-nationals and criminals contributing to more than 60% of crimes in India. Imagine with such tool in hand in the form of law, what these goons can be capable of ?This bill is worst even compared to barbaric sharia law of islam or ten commandments of bible.Summary ?Just like Pakistan, Bangladesh or Kashmir, Majority Hindus will be left again with 3 options: (i) Convert (ii) Flee (iii) Suffer entire lifeAs its already in muslim dominated areas of Kashmir, West Bengal and Assam and Christian dominated Northern Eastern states, Hindus can end up as refugees or have to accept third class citizen status in their own country in rest of states too . Today 800,000 Hindus are refugees for more than few decades in these states and the world (and India) hardly care. They are dying in large numbers due to disease. Why can’t this happen in other states as the Muslim and Christian populations increase?Hindus with No Media Support will be Increasingly Marginalised1.Kashmir Pandits Plight.2.Temple destruction in India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Australia.3.M.F.Hussain’s depiction of Hindu Gods and media supporting him.4.Hardly anything positive on Hindus & Hindu events in Indian and Western Media (compare with the coverage for other faiths)5.Magnification of perceived Hindu weaknesses such as casteism, dowry, etc. (which are really social problems).Think yourself!

WE have to take a look in how Finland is no.1 on education ,what are the factor which make them that much skillful and successful11 Ways Finland’s Education System Shows Us that “Less is More”.When I left my 7th grade math classroom for my Fulbright research assignment in Finland I thought I would come back from this experience with more inspiring, engaging, innovative lessons. I expected to have great new ideas on how to teach my mathematics curriculum and I would revamp my lessons so that I could include more curriculum, more math and get students to think more, talk more and do more math.This drive to do more and More and MORE is a state of existence for most teachers in the US….it is engrained in us from day one. There is a constant pressure to push our students to the next level to have them do bigger and better things. The lessons have to be more exciting, more engaging and cover more content. This phenomena is driven by data, or parents, or administrators or simply by our work-centric society where we gauge our success as a human being by how busy we are and how burnt out we feel at the end of the day. We measure our worth with completed lists and we criminalize down time. We teach this “work till you drop” mentality to our students who either simply give up somewhere along the way or become as burnt out as we find ourselves.When I arrived in Finland I did not find big flashy innovative thought provoking math lessons. I did not find students who were better at mathematics or knew more math content. In fact the Jr. High and High school math classrooms have been rather typical of what I have experienced in Indiana. And most of the struggles (like students not remembering their basic math facts) were the same. The instruction and classroom structure of a math classroom in Finland follows the basic formula that has been performed by math teachers for centuries: The teachers go over homework, they present a lesson (some of the kids listen and some don’t), and then they assign homework. While some lectures have been wonderful and I have gotten to observe some fantastic teachers, I would say that on the whole I have seen more engaging and interactive secondary math instruction from teachers in the United States. It is rare to see a math lesson that is measurably better than those found in my district and I have seen several that were actually far worse.So, what is the difference? If the instruction in secondary mathematics is the same or sometimes worse than those found in the US, why are Finnish students succeeding and ours are failing? The difference is not the instruction. Good teaching is good teaching and it can be found in both Finland and in the US. (The same can be said for bad teaching.) The difference is less tangible and more fundamental. Finland truly believes “Less is More.” This national mantra is deeply engrained into the Finnish mindset and is the guiding principal to Finland’s educational philosophy.Less IS more.They believe it. They live by it. Their houses are not larger than what they need in which to comfortably live. They do not buy or over consume. They live simply and humbly. They don’t feel the need to have 300 types of cereal to choose from when 10 will do. The women wear less make-up. The men don’t have giant trucks (or any vehicles at all, really). Instead of buying hundreds of cheap articles of clothing the Finns buy a few expensive items of high quality that will last for decades rather than months. They truly believe and live by the mentality of less is more.Conversely in the US we truly believe “more is more” and we constantly desire and pursue more in all areas of our lives. We are obsessed with all things new, shiny and exciting and are constantly wanting to upgrade our lives. Out with the old in with the new! This mentality of “more is more” creeps into all areas of our lives and it confuses and stifles our education system.We can’t even stick to ONE philosophy of education long enough to see if it actually works. We are constantly trying new methods, ideas and initiatives. We keep adding more and more to our plates without removing any of the past ideas. Currently we believe “more” is the answer to all of our education problems— everything can be solved with MORE classes, longer days, MORE homework, MORE assignments, MORE pressure, MORE content, MORE meetings, MORE after school tutoring, and of course MORE testing! All this is doing is creating MORE burnt out teachers, MORE stressed out students and MORE frustration.Finland on the other hand believes less is more. This is exemplified in several ways for both teachers and students.Less = More1. Less Formal Schooling = More OptionsStudents in Finland start formal schooling at the age of seven. Yes, seven! Finland allows their children to be children, to learn through playing and exploring rather than sitting still locked up in a classroom. But don’t they get behind? No! The kids start school when they are actually developmentally ready to learn and focus. This first year is followed by only nine years of compulsory school. Everything after ninth grade is optional and at the age of 16 the students can choose from the following three tracks:• Upper Secondary School: This three year program prepares students for the Matriculation Test that determines their acceptance into University. Students usually pick which upper secondary school they would like to attend based on the school’s specialties and apply to get into that institution. I think of this as a mixture of High School and College. (In recent years a little less than 40% choose this option.)•Vocational Education: This is a three year program that trains students for various careers as well as gives them the option to take the Matriculation test to then apply for University should they so choose. However, the students in this track are usually content with their skill and either enter the workforce or they go on to a Poly-technical College to get further training. (A little less than 60% choose this track.)(But wait! Shouldn’t everyone take calculus, economics, and advanced chemistry?! Shouldn’t everyone get a University degree?! No, not everyone has to go to University! Hmmm….. interesting….. What if we provided options for those who want to become successful (and very profitable) welders or electricians? What if we didn’t force students who know that their talents reside outside of the world of formal academics to take three years of high school classes that they found boring and useless? What if we allowed them to train in and explore vocations they found fascinating and in which they were gifted? What if we made these students feel valued and like they had a place in the education realm?)• Enter the workforce. (Less than 5% choose this path)2. Less Time in School = More RestStudents typically start school between 9:00 and 9:45. Actually, Helsinki is thinking of creating a law stating that schools cannot begin before 9:00 am because research has consistently proved that adolescents need quality sleep in the morning. The school day usually ends by 2:00 or 2:45. Some days they start earlier and some days they start later. Finnish students’ schedules are always different and changing; however they typically have three to four 75 minute classes a day with several breaks in between. This overall system allows both students and teachers to be well rested and ready to teach/learn.3. Fewer Instruction Hours = More Planning TimeTeachers have shorter days as well. According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) an average Finnish teacher teaches 600 hours annually or about 4 or less lessons daily. An average U.S. teacher almost doubles that teaching time with an average of over 1,080 hours of in-class instruction annually. This equals an average of six or more lessons daily. Also, teachers and students in Finland are not expected to be at school when they do not have a class. For example, if they don’t have any afternoon classes on Thursdays, they (both teachers and students) can simply leave. Or if their first class on a Wednesday starts at 11:00, they don’t have to be at school until that time. This system allows the Finnish teacher more time to plan and think about each lesson. It allows them to create great, thought provoking lessons.4. Fewer Teachers = More Consistency and CareElementary students in Finland often have the SAME teacher for up to SIX YEARS of their education. That is right! The same teacher cares for, nurtures and tends to the education of the same group of students for six years in a row. And you had better believe that during those six years with the same 15-20 students, those teachers have figured out the individual instructional needs and learning styles of each and every student. These teachers know where each of their students have been and where they are going. They track the kids’ progress and have a personal invested interest in seeing the kids succeed and reach their goals. There is no “passing the buck” onto the next teacher because they ARE the next teacher. If there is a discipline or behavior problem, the teacher had better nip it in the bud right away or else deal with it the next six years. ( Some schools in Finland only loop their elementary children for three years at a time instead of six, however the benefits are still the same. )This system is not only helpful to a child because it gives them the consistency, care and individualized attention they need, it also helps the teachers understand the curriculum in a holistic and linear way. The teacher knows what they need to teach to get them to the next step, while also giving the teachers freedom to work at the pace of their students. Teachers don’t feel the pressure to speed up or slow down so that they are “ready” for the teacher next year. Again, they are the teacher next year and they control the curriculum! They know where the kids are and what they have learned and will plan according to the students’ needs! I really believe this is a HUGE part of Finland’s success story and it does not receive enough attention.5. Fewer Accepted Applicants= More Confidence in TeachersSo……children have the same teacher for three to six years. What if your kid gets a “bad teacher”? Finland works very hard to make sure there are no “bad teachers.” Primary education is THE most competitive degree to get in Finland. The elementary education departments in Finland only accept 10% of all applicants and turns down thousands of students annually. A person not only has to be the best and the brightest to become a primary teacher, they also have to have passed a series of interviews and personality screenings to get in. So, it isn’t enough to be the smartest in your class, you also have to have the natural ability and drive to teach.Finland understands that the ability to teach isn’t something that can be gained from studying. It is usually a gift and passion. Some have it, some don’t. The few universities with teaching programs in Finland make sure they only accept applicants that have that gift. On top of excellent grades, and a natural disposition to be a teacher, all teachers must get a Master’s degree and write a Master’s Thesis. This generates a lot of confidence and trust in Finland’s teachers. Parents trust the teachers to be highly qualified, trained, and gifted individuals. They do not try to interfere or usurp their authority and decisions. I asked a math teacher how many emails they typically get from parents. They shrugged and answered “About five or six”. I said, “Oh, I get about that much a day too.” They then answered…”No! I meant five or six a semester!” Again, what would it be like to live in a society based on trust and respect?6. Fewer Classes= More BreaksAs I stated before, students only have three to four (or rarely, five) classes a day. They also have several breaks/recesses/ snack times during the day and these usually happen outside come rain or shine. These 15 to 20 minute gives them time to digest what they are learning, use their muscles, stretch their legs, get some fresh air and let out the “wiggles.” There are several neurological advantages for these breaks. Study after study supports the need for children to be physically active in order to learn. Stagnation of the body leads to stagnation of the brain and unfocused, “hyper” children.The teachers also have these breaks. The first day I was in a school in Finland a teacher apologized for the state of the “Teacher Room.” She then commented on the fact that all teacher rooms must look like this. I laughed and politely agreed, but in my head I was thinking; “What is a teacher room?” A teacher’s room is what used to be called the teacher’s lounge in the U.S…back before they went extinct. In Finland these rooms are always full of teachers who are either working, preparing, grabbing a cup of coffee, or simply resting, socializing, and mentally preparing for their next class.Secondary level teachers usually have 10 to 20 minute breaks in between classes and often have a few skip (prep) periods as well. These rooms are different depending on the school, but from what I can tell the basic formula is a few tables, a few couches, a coffee pot, a kitchen, a selection of free fruit and snacks, and teachers to talk and collaborate with. A few of them even have massage chairs! Ha!So, why don’t these rooms of collaboration, support and solace exist in the U.S.? We do not have TIME! Every day we teach six to seven classes in a row with no breaks. The three to five minute passing periods we do get are often used to answer emails from parents, erase the board, get ready for the next class, make copies, answer student questions, pick up the mess left behind by the students, and (heaven forbid) go to the bathroom! If we have a spare moment we are then expected to monitor the hallway because we can’t trust students to get to class without supervision. The luxury of actually sitting down for 10 minutes and enjoying a cup of coffee with some colleagues is an absolute dream, and having a day with only three classes—that is a fantasy!7. Less Testing = More LearningImagine all of the exciting things you could do with your students if there wasn’t a giant state test looming over your head every year. Imagine the freedom you could have if your pay wasn’t connected to your student’s test scores. Imagine how much more fun and engaging your lessons would be!Although it still exists, there is overall less pressure on the teacher in Finland to get through the curriculum. The teacher is simply trusted to do a good job and therefore they have more control over their classroom and its content. The teacher is able to take more risks and try new things and create exciting, engaging curriculum that allows students to become skilled individuals ready for the real world. They have time to teach skills that allow students to develop into individuals who know how to start a project and work systematically to accomplish a goal. They have time to teach craft education where students get to learn how to do real life skills like sewing, cooking, cleaning, woodworking and more! And while they are learning these amazing skills they are also learning math and problem solving and how to follow directions!8. Fewer Topics = More DepthI have observed several fifth through ninth grade math classes in Finland. I have looked at the curriculum covered over these five years of education and I realized that I attempt to teach the content of five years of Finnish math education in one year. Each math topic presented in every grade level I have observed here is include in my seventh grade curriculum.Again, the American mentality of “more is more” simply does not work. If I am to get through everything I am expected to do in one year I have to introduce a new topic/lesson every other day and I always feel “behind”. Behind what, I am not sure, but the pressure is there pushing me and my students along. In Finland, teachers take their time. They look deeper into the topic and don’t panic if they are a little behind or don’t cover every topic in the existence of mathematics in a single year.Also, students only have math a few times a week. In fact, after Easter Break, all of my seventh graders only have math ONCE a week! My heart still panics a little when I hear this! I can’t believe that is enough math time! How will they be ready for the tests?! Oh— wait. There are no tests. There is no need to rush through. The students get to actually understand the material before they are forced on to a new topic. One teacher showed me a course book and said that it had too many topics for one five week grading period. I looked at the entire book and had to stifle a chuckle because it essentially covered what would be found in ONE chapter from my textbook. Why do we push our kids in the U.S. to learn so much so quickly? No wonder they are stressed out! No wonder they give up!9. Less Homework = More ParticipationAccording to the OECD, Finnish students have the least amount of homework in the world. They average under half an hour of homework a night. Finnish students typically do not have outside tutors or lessons either. This is especially shocking when you realize Finnish students are outscoring the high performing Asian nations whose students receive hours of additional/outside instruction. From what I can observe, students in Finland get the work done in class, and teachers feel that what the students are able to do in school is enough. Again, there is not pressure to have them do more than what is necessary for them to learn a skill. Often the assignments are open-ended and not really graded. Yet, the students work on it in class diligently. It is very interesting to see what happens to the students when they are given something to do. The students who were not listening to the lesson at all put away their phones and start working on the task set before them. Even if it is just a suggested assignment, they give it their full attention up to the end of class. It is almost like there is an unspoken agreement: “I won’t give you homework if you work on this while you are in my classroom.” This system has really made me think about the amount of homework I assign on a daily basis.10. Fewer Students = More Individual AttentionThis is obvious. If you have fewer students you will be able to give them the care and attention they need to learn. A Finnish teacher will have about 3 to 4 classes of 20 students a day- so they will see between 60 to 80 students a day. I see 180 students every single day. I have 30 to 35 students in a class, six classes in a row, 5 days a week.11. Less Structure = More TrustTrust is key to this whole system not structure. Instead of being suspicious of one another and creating tons of structure, rules, hoops and tests to see if the system is working, they simply trust the system. Society trusts the schools to hire good Teachers. The schools trust the teachers to be highly trained individuals and therefore give them freedom to create the type of classroom environment that is best for their individual students. The Parent’s trust the teachers to make decisions that will help their children learn and thrive. The Teachers trust the students to do the work and learn for the sake of learning. The Students trust the teachers to give them the tools they need to be successful. Society trusts the system and gives education the respect it deserves. It works and it isn’t complicated. Finland has it figured out.Less IS More.