Toyias' Travels with T.O.P.
In April of this year, we learned that Danice Toyias, our 7th-8th Grade Social Studies Teacher extraordinaire, had caught the eye of the Transatlantic Outreach Program (TOP) and was one of just a few Social Studies and Science Teachers from across the United States to receive a fellowship in Germany. TOP is a public/private partnership that provides fellowships for American teachers in STEM and social studies. The fellowship gives Mrs. Toyias opportunities to learn about contemporary Germany through the education system, non-profits, museums, government, universities, and businesses during her two week stay in Germany. The fellowship is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany Foreign Office, Goethe Institute, Deutsche Bank, and Siemens. Mrs. Toyias is currently there and has been sharing snippets of her adventures. We will be sharing them here on our website, in case you would like to tag along. Upon her return, Mrs. Toyias will provide professional development and outreach to Montana teachers and will share more of her experience with her students and the community. Way to go Mrs. Toyias! We are proud of you and your accomplishment!! Safe Travels!!
Today wraps up our last full day in Munich. We took a walking tour of the beautiful city. We ate Vietnamese food last night, and were fortunate to have a native speaker in our group who shared information about the cuisine and spoke with our waiter. We ate traditional Bavarian food today and saw many places that are part of Bavaria's Medieval and modern history. We saw many sights that carried the burden of Munich's Nazi history.
Then we finished the day learning about VR in education at the Goethe Institute. I'm so fortunate to be a part of this teacher travel group. It values treating teachers as professionals as we did in the organizations I was a part of years ago in TAH, NCHE, MCHCE, and AIHE. My tour group is supportive, enthusiastic, and inquisitive. I have only been here for 1 full day and I have already learned so much. Tomorrow we will visit a primary school and begin our journey learning about the German education system. Thank you #GoetheInstitute for making #Top4Germany and #TopteachGermany a reality for us!
Today we visited a primary school and learned about the school system in Bavaria. This was a private, dual language school so it operates a bit differently than the public schools. We watched a lesson in 3rd grade and then had a Q&A with the students. My group then sat with the 1st graders as they learned about symmetry.
Some lessons are taught in German and some in English. There is a German-speaking teacher and an English-speaking teacher and an aide in each classroom. School goes from 8 to 12 in typical classrooms from September to July with several breaks. For this particular school, it stays open until 6pm for families that work. In schools where classes end at noon, students go home and eat lunch, then do 2 hours of homework, and then participate in sports, which are outside of school. Many of the students attending this school have parents from different countries, so they speak 3 different languages! They begin in the nursery, so at 1st grade their English is excellent.
After our school visit, we went to the train station and rode the ICE train to Nuremberg. Once arriving, we went to a Gingerbread bakery--Nuremberg is known for its Christmas markets. This "factory" has been making gingerbread since 1615. We learned how Lebkuchen is traditionally made, sampled several kinds, and were sent home with a goody bag full of a delicious variety of Lebkuchen. I think we will have to make some gingerbread in 7th grade next year!
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Wednesday, July 10: We began our day with a city walk around the medieval heart of Nuremberg. Our guide, Martina, introduced us to the history, legend, and key landmarks. We went to the market, castle, several churches, and (my favorite) the Albrecht Dürer house.
For lunch, we met with a representative from the International Office of the City of Nuremberg. Stephan coordinates exchanges between Nuremberg and it's sister city, Atlanta, GA.
We then went to the Nuremberg Palace of Justice. Here there is a Memorium (Memorial/Museum) that tells the story of the Nuremberg Trials. We were able to sit in the actual courtroom where the trials took place. Our guide, Jan, was so knowledgeable and really knew so much about the subject.
We ended our evening back in the center of Nuremberg eating traditional Bratwurst with public viewings of the EuroCup playing at various establishments around us.
I really love the "vibe" in Nuremberg and it is definitely a lovely city. There are different nuances that come with its history. As I have more time, I will try to expand on it more.
Thursday July 11th was spent in Neumarkt, Germany--a town of about 42000 people. We visited the Staatliche Realschule. This school has 800 girls in grades 5 through 10. It is a state-run preparatory school. After 10th grade the girls would go to a secondary school or on to vocational education. This is a girl's only school which is rare in Bavaria.
The girls met us at the train station and took us for a city walk to view their project on the Stolperstein (stumbling blocks), and hen we returned to their school and met Adam Fried, a Chicago film maker, who is an American Jew now living in Bavaria.
What I found interesting about this school is that all of the students were very much like American students. However, they all speak English, German, and another language like French or Latin! In most public schools, there is no dress code and students are not allowed to use their cell phones in class, but they have their cell phones on them at all times. Everything is in bottles and you share out of the bottles--pouring into a glass or mug. There isn't any any plastic. The hospitality of all the places that we've been has been incredible-- just a very inviting and very warm environment. We always have snacks and drinks and provided for us, which is a normal thing and it was fantastic.
I also attended a lesson in a sixth grade classroom and it was in German. Students were reading a text about over tourism and discussing whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
After we were finished at the school, we went to the Neumarkter Lammsbräu brewery, which was established in 1628. It is a family owned company and it's part of the school program where you get on the job training. Students can go to the company and learn how to be a brewer or work in sales. The brewery gets materials from farms within 50 km from the brewery, and the place it has been established is important because they have excellent quality water. Their goal is sustainability.
On Friday July 12th, we went to the Gymnasium, which is a school for grades 5 through 12/13. The curriculum is the curriculum that's for the whole of
Bavaria, so the exams are standardized and everyone has to take the same test. Teachers go to the classroom vs. students moving between classrooms. This school has a typical 8 to 1 school day, however there are afternoon school, sports, activities, clubs, and preparation for tests, etc. available to students who stay until 4:15.
The Gymnasium we visited is a dual language school. All students learn English in addition to German, but for this school, they also learn Latin, Greek, French, or Spanish. Some students learn 4 languages!
This was also a teacher training school. The teachers study their content at the University. Once they pass a test, they go on to learning teaching on their own at whichever school they are placed. Then they spend about 2 years teaching, and then they have to take a teacher exam.
Teachers in Germany are civil servants so once they pass their test they are placed by the ministry at a specific school and once they've been at that school for a couple of years, they are employed by that school until they retire.
After talking with the principal of the school, we attended different classes. I went to an English class and a Math class. The English class was so fun because the students got to practice their English, which they were very shy and thought that they didn't have good English, but they were actually excellent. The mathematics class was all in German. It was a survey course for 9th grade.
We then went back and debriefed. A former student talked. He said that he was really motivated to become a Doctor. He didn't pass the test to go onto university, so he was taking another year of classes to become better with his grades. He said that he really had a motivation to learn because he had teachers that motivated him. Grades matter, he said.
Saturday July 13th in Leipzig, Germany.
On Saturday, we learned about the Peaceful Revolution, which happened in Leipzig prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is called the peaceful revolution because the peaceful movement, which happened on October 9th, 1989 was a direct precursor to November 9th, 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.
It started because people wanted freedom of movement. They had to submit travel requests to leave what was then East Germany and those requests weren't being approved. The churches decided to have prayers for peace, which were held every Monday, and once more more people gathered for the prayers for peace, it went out into the streets, and then people started marching. The police tried to intimidate and threaten the demonstrators. The Stasi (GDR/Communist Secret Police) did take people as prisoners.
Our tour guide and the director of the Stasi museum were eyewitnesses. They marched on October 9th and they risked their lives knowing that the Stasi might come and take them away to a camp. They did this because they did not think what was happening was right and that led to the reunification of Germany.