Ireland - spring wonders

Spring is here and this means one thing! Yearly camping trip is coming up! and to celebrate Saint Patric day, I want to update you on our trip! 

This spring we have chosen a new destination, a place neither one of us has been to… IRELAND!

 

After a short flight to Dublin, we will wonder around this historic city, checking out the Dublin Castle, famous monuments and parks. Of course, a sample of local cuisine is a must. I mean, Irish Stew and Corned beef and Cabbage is certainly going to be on my plate. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. J

                                                                 

To add to our adventure we will spend a few days camping under the stars in Wicklow National Park, eating up the scenery of the local mountains and whispering to ghosts from the Glendalough Monastic Site.

And no trip would be complete without a hike to the Cliffs of Moher. The breathtaking hike will be one to remember forever.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Another month, another book. 

Our 7th graders have a required book to read, including an hour of reading in closs. Simply put, Mondays are fun!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title quotes the fictional detective Sherlock  Holmes in Arthur Connan Doyle's 1892 short story Silver Blaze. The novel is narrated in the first person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year old bo who describes himslef as a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties living. Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger syndrome, high functioning autism or sevant syndrome.  

In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's... if anything it's a novel about difference, abou t being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder," and that he, Haddon, is not an expert on autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome.

To find out students' opinions and read their creative essays please visit our EDU READING 

Corner Blog where each student will upload their work . 

Kepp it up- the CTM Academy

https://www.ctm-academy.org/

One often reflects at the end of January about what has happened and what resolutions to make. Without a doubt, our school had many changes and overcame many challenges.

One of the more dominant questions which pop to our academic minds are: How to motivate talented hardworking young minds to excellence in education; how to help prepare students for admission to university studies at home and abroad; and how to utilize the best online practices for the development of in-class education programs.

There is one program in the Czech Republic which for years has been targeting these questions and has been providing services to all gifted and motivated young minds. The CTM academy has over 1,000 students participated in CTY online programs and summer programs, taking demanding CTY Online courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, effective writing and other subjects, all taught in English. Additionally, the academy has over 40  students who have received full scholarships to the CTY Summer Program through a competition in which 150 students annually take part. Most students choose programs at Princeton, Berkeley, john Hopkins and other top universities, while a few students went to CTY Ireland and CTY Hong Kong.

What is more fascinating, that since 2011, over 60 schools have participated in CTY Online Program and a few have even integrated CTY online courses as their electives and our is school is the only one which has incorporated a Creative writing and a World Around Us science class into our school’s curriculum.

This means that all our students from 6th -9th class as well as the 1st two years in gymnasium have a required on line program which is supported by 2 hours of the subject taught by native speakers.

Is it tough? Yes. Is it challenging? Yes. Is it intellectual? Yes.


We are half way through the year, and half way through the program, and students knowledge of the English language as well as the scientific world is soaring up. And all we can say is “Keep it up!” 

EDU Reading Corner

Searching for the first book ever to have been published can be a bit of a challenge, as some believe it was the The Epic of Gilgamesh, mythologized account of an historical figure, Gilgamesh. Others will focus on the invention of the printing press by Johannes Guttenberg in 1440, as the real “book” printing era.

Over the centuries, we have gone from clay, to papyrus, to wax table, hand written parchments, printed paper and the most current invention of an e-book. It is maybe, with the invention of an e-book in the 21 century, that one can see a massive decline in reading or interest in books themselves. Book shops are closing and are being replaced by Apple Stores, and libraries are shrinking to make room for computer labs.

With all the advantages of modern technology and most up-to-date aps and state of the art technology, there is in me the nostalgic yearning for an old-fashioned book. You know, the one you can hold, flip pages with one hand and hold a hot cocoa with the other, all while wrapped in a cozy blanket while sitting on the sofa. With this in mind, I have opened the EDU Reading Corner, where students themselves will post reviews, stories, vocabulary lists and even recommendations etc. based on the books they have read either as part of school’s curriculum or as part of their own free time entertainment- yes, book can be entertaining.  

So, check in with us, once in a while,  to see what the kids are reading these year – you just might be surprised.

http://edureadingcorner.blogspot.cz/

Humans of Educanet

https://www.facebook.com/skolaEDUCAnet/

Once in a while we have a silly idea. We want to bring in students, teachers and parents closer to together. I mean, we all know each other by name and by what class we teach or whose parent is who. Often, we base our ideas and opinions of each other based on such limited facts. One way we attempted to bring out more personal information and shed some light on our lives beyond the classroom, emails and grading. 

We created our own HUMANS OF EDUCANET facebook page. This is based on the ever popular Humans of New York page which has over 18 million followers! (yes ,we have a bit more to go with our    Humans of New York began as a photography project in 2010, with a goal to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers on the streets and create a nice and short interview portrait.

We have done the same thing. We have contacted our students, teachers, parents and even graduates of our school and asked to write a personal view of themselves and their likes and even dislikes. I can honestly say that at the beginning it was a bit hard ro convince the students and teachers even more to open up… but slowly and surely the wonderful, clever humans of Educanet are coming out.

Check out our page! And even better contact me to become the next Human of Educanet! https://www.facebook.com/skolaEDUCAnet/

Revolution Train, an anti-drug campaign

http://www.revolutiontrain.cz/v2/

As a teacher, I often feel that sometimes we just need to get out of school. The trick is to think of a field trip that makes senese, that is entertaining and educational... and that is not always easy to do. Last week I chose for our classes to vist a Revolution Train, it is an Anti-Drug campaign. I, myself, didn't know what to expect. I heard great reviews and recommendations but a huge part of me was terrified that this will yet another "Don't do drugs" lecture which students are not very fond of nor do they think of this as "fun." Boy, was I surprised. A fantastic educational program that should be required for schools and students.
Instead of describing it myself, I will let the words of Rashad from our 9th class to the work :-)

Revolution Train, an anti-drug campaign.

The other day, a few classes from my school went to an anti-drug program that was held in a fully functional train. It was about 150m long and weighed over 300 tons! The silver colour was clearly a giveaway that this was no ordinary train.

We arrived at the train station in Dejvice and were split up into three groups. As we entered, we were welcomed by a nice lady who instructed us to leave our bags at the entrance and have some water or use the bathroom if needed. The entire exhibition took about one and a half hours. Certainly, I expected yet another boring lecture about how drugs are bad.  The first task we were given was to fill out a questionnaire about ourselves. The questions were mainly asking if we have ever used drugs, smoked, drank alcohol or something along that line. Once that was done, we entered one out of four theater rooms. I immediately assumed that we will watch a boring documentary. We were played a short movie, which was divided into several pieces throughout the train. An ear catching fact was when at the beginning of the film we learned that the narrator of the film is already dead and perhaps the scariest thing about this movie was, that this mini-movie was based on a true story and not a typical documentary. It was about a mistake made by two teenage girls who chose the wrong path in life. Their lives changed when they got into a car (after a night of drinking and dancing) with two drunk and drugged men. While in the car, driven by one of those men, they  crashed into a motorcyclist who died instantly. Not only was this tragic, but one of the girls lost her eye and the driver consequently went to prison. Long story short, the main character ended up doing pervitin and other drugs while still in a relationship with one of those men. Their relationship turned worse as he continued to sell drugs and use stronger and stronger types of drugs. Towards the end, the girl had a baby with him and attempted several times to go through a recovery program. At the end, we did learn that she had managed to get her life back to normal but were aware of how unusual and difficult that was.

I must also add, that in addition to watching this mini movies, in between the short films there were very interactive settings such as a jail cell, hospital room, interrogation room and even a real life squatter room to show us the realistic and dirty life style of a drug user.

In my opinion, it was very hard hitting. You realize that if you ever do something like this, you are pretty much screwed for the rest of your life. I myself found it interesting and very true. Surely, this was a great way, very interactive way to get us to pay attention and learn a valuable lesson.  My classmates had the same feeling about this program as I did. This generation is almost an identical example to the mini-movie and certainly can force kids to think about the choices they will one day have to make. I absolutely recommend visiting this antidrug campaign train.

Rashad , EDUCAnet Praha, Grade 9.

Busy Month

September is a busy month for all teachers. Yes, we are full of energy and are greatly motivated and one can even say that the students are still optimistic J There is always a bit of new organizational issues that always have to be dealt with and both the students and the teacher must get on the right “wave length” to assure that the remaining months go well. This month we managed two projects: The European Day of Languages and The Celebration of the State National Holiday of Saint Vaclav.

Sometimes, we as teachers talk a lot, or more than needed. This time I asked the students to make films about those two projects and here are the results! Great Job! 

Check out the Videos on our school web page.       http://praha.educanet.cz/