Day 9 and 10 - Last Days Visiting Local Schools

Yesterday was pretty easy. We walked about a mile to Tokyo Gakugei University and spent the day there discussing some past lessons we have observed over the weekend and then got to watch a 9th grade teacher teach at the middle school associated with the university.

For dinner, Kim, a fellow teacher, and I headed over to Sushiro for some conveyor belt sushi.

 The total cost was 2200 yen (about $20) and it was delicious!

Today we headed to the last school on our list to watch a District Wide lesson study. It took over an hour to get there by train (actually 3 trains) and we had time to take a tour of the school grounds. I don't know what any of the signs say in the hallway but I find them fascinating. Can you figure out what's going on here? 

I'm thinking nutrition? Drink your milk! The bottom one is about all the different fish you can eat.

All teachers have a desk in one main room where they work collaboratively and hang out when students are not in the classroom. This is their work area and where they keep their things like their computer.

 The books below are the grades 1-6 textbooks that students get when they enter 1st grade. They are provided for free and span all 6 grades in one box.

 I just love the little shoe storage at the every entrance to the schools.

The students grow plants as part of their lessons and they are responsible for taking care of them.

The classroom teacher teaches both gym class and swimming lessons to all of their students. Most schools have a pool.

The lesson study was held in the gym. All students are dismissed early on Wednesdays and during lesson study, one classroom of students will stay so that the lesson can be observed. Today we watched a 4th grade classroom learn about quadrilaterals. It was my favorite lesson so far.

 It was so hot in the gym (it was a really hot today) so it felt a bit like being in an easy-bake oven. Teachers from other schools came to observe the lesson and then there was a post discussion. That has been a really cool part of this process but today, we were all ready to get out of that hot box.

Since it was our last night on our own (we have a final celebration tomorrow night and are officially done tomorrow), we decided to take Suguru out for dinner. If you remember, he's the Japanese teacher that has been the Group E leader. He has been so helpful and kind that we wanted to treat him to dinner.

 We headed to this crazy busy area called Shibuya, which is the most famous and busiest meeting point in all of Tokyo. It was absolutely insane. There are thousands upon thousands of people all coming together in this insane crossing. The GPS on my phone didn't know what to do! The picture above is me trying to capture the insanity. I found a better one online:

One of our Group E members, Wendy, is a vegetarian and, surprisingly, it's not easy being a vegetarian here. We did a little search and found a place in Shibuya, hence having to walk through that crossing.

 We are the Farm is an actual farm to table place where they grow their own vegetables and harvest them every day.

The veggie platter was impressive and those are several types of local mushrooms to the right. We also got wagu beef and a huge vegetable spread.

It was a really great meal and a fun night as we celebrated our time with Suguru. He also signed a contract today for a teaching position so the timing was perfect.

The train ride home was an adventure and we were so glad Suguru was there to guide us to the right train. Every train was packed until we got closer to Kokubunji. I don't know how people can do that every day!