Introductions...

Welcome!!  This blog was set-up to follow our travels to Finland to examine their educational system.  Lynn Barber is a K-5 teacher at a rural school in Northwest North Carolina.  Kristi Barber Day is a K-5 teacher at a different rural school in North Carolina.  We are a mother-daughter team, given an amazing opportunity to take this exciting adventure.

We were awarded a Rural Teacher Global Fellowship sponsored by the Rural School and Community Trust. The goal of fellowship is to create unique personal and professional development experiences for rural teachers. Fellows design their own international fellowship experience, learning goals for themselves and their students, and anticipated benefits for their school and community.

 

The Rural School and Community Trust is a national nonprofit organization addressing the crucial relationship between good schools and thriving communities. Our mission is to help rural schools and communities grow better together.   Working in some of the poorest, most challenging places, the Rural Trust involves young people in learning linked to their communities, improves the quality of teaching and school leadership, and advocates in a variety of ways for appropriate state educational policies, including the key issue of equitable and adequate funding for rural schools.

 

Check back often!  Pictures, updates, and stories are coming soon...

 

Kristi & Lynn

 

Lynn -- second to left     Kristi-- far right