Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Timothy D. Walker (aff) just came out this month. I had been following his blog and decided this would be a perfect book to listen to as an audio book. I like to listen when I am driving, doing chores, or grocery shopping - I've worked my way through nearly 100 audio books from Audible this way.
The book begins with Walker's story of being a teacher in the U.S., where he worked long hours and hit burnout before his first year was over. His wife, a native of Finland, had shared how very different a teacher's days were in her homeland. He didn't believe her tales of shorter days and a more relaxed pace. Finland was outperforming many nations in educational studies. Surely their educational system couldn't be as laid back as his wife shared. After a few years they decided to move to Finland for the slower pace and he ended up working in education.
The book really begins at this point to share the things he discovered first hand about the differences in the educational philosophies, and the similarities. Walker backs up his information with both published studies and personal experience. He also gets very practical in sharing how the day to day educational environment and practices in Finland could be adapted to fit American schools.
As a homeschooling family there have already been many ideas that I love and can incorporate into our days, from small tweaks like encouraging active breaks to interesting ideas like a gallery walk where kids can do presentations in a new way.
What books are you learning from right now?
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