Inspiration, in more ways than one

This week was very diverse: I met with public library staff working with school libraries, I met with Department of Education staff working with school libraries, I met a university librarian doing information literacy instruction, and I got to go to a really interesting French/Finnish school (where I was able to call upon my 5 years of middle and high school French to pretty much understand a history class taught entirely in French!  Let's just say, I understand WAY more in French than I do in Finnish...)  I was inspired, again, by the language diversity and strength in Finland...I have to find a way to get Marieka into a dual language school. It is vital. She loves words and language and well, not to brag, but she can count to 5 in Finnish and 10 in Spanish, so clearly, she has a gift.

At the Department of Education, I was able to talk to two librarians who are working on developing a few school libraries in Helsinki. Helsinki is a huge municipality, obviously, and the majority of schools have libraries that are not developed to their potential. They struggle with old resources and lack of cataloguing, but the biggest challenge is that doors are locked in most, most of the day.  Since school libraries are generally taken care of by classroom teachers for only 1 or 2 hours a week, accessibility is a big issue.  Teachers can bring their students in, but if materials are old, hard to find, or in disarray, you can understand why they wouldn't bother.  It was inspiring to talk to these 2 librarians who are working on a pilot to strengthen some schools.

More kid friendly spaces in the public library. What Marieka would do for these chairs...I hate to even fathom it!

This is the center of the Pasila Library in Helsinki, more or less their "main branch." What is amazing here? You can "reserve time with a librarian" to help you with research (up to an hour!) and parents can reserve time for their kids to read with the children's librarian (up to an hour!) so they can do research or look at books or whatever!

View from our back deck. Until 2 weeks ago, the bikes you see were...buried in snow.

Hanging in the park

Finally spring has arrived in Helsinki...at least I hope! It was glorious today- sunny, warm and clear. People were out in cafes, walking around town, basking in the sun.  It is often sunny here, but the warmth was an added treat.  In the morning, I went for a run with Marieka, and once again realized how many terrific, clean and fun parks there are near where we live.  In 10 mins, we could get to at least 8. Since everyone in the city lives in an apartment, they are a necessity- kids need places to run around!  The parks usually provide digging tools for sandboxes, trucks and one even has a couple of bikes that kids can ride on.  A couple of days ago, I saw crews out in the morning clearing parks of debris, the last bits of snow and ice, and filling in puddles.  City residents have high expectations for their parks, and for this, I am very grateful.

Later, we dyed eggs, went swimming, and headed downtown with everyone else in Helsinki, to eat lunch on the Esplanadi.  The grass that was brown just two days ago is a glorious shade of green (and dry enough to sit on).  Marieka practiced her dancing and bowing, and I people watched.  In the evening, we went to Seurosaari, an open air museum that was having a pre-Easter bonfire to "scare away witches and trolls." Went with our new neighbors who are Mexican but have lived in the US for 7 years doing academic work.  It was a very cool museum, more like an enormous park with interesting old houses from all over Finland to check out and a big bonfire, of course.  I had to laugh, though, at the fact that they started 2 bonfires, a small "teaser" fire to attract the witches and trolls, and a huge main one right after the first one burned out.  As the small one was starting to go down, I looked over, and noticed that no one was really watching the area.  Just a little 5 foot wide smoldering fire, and kids running around everywhere.  I thought "if this was in the US, there would be a cordoned off area, people monitoring and keeping everyone away from, well, the open flame!"  At the same time, it was amazing...no kids were going near it, no one was acting dangerous, it wasn't a big deal because it wasn't a big deal. Hmmm.

Just a bonfire, no biggie.

This is a handy place to store your meat and keep it away from bears and wolverines!

Hoping the easter bunny likes the eggs Marieka left out for him (or her...).

And now for a little teaching...

Today I was lucky enough to be able to do lots in a short period of time: I observed 5th graders in a computer lab learning how to us the library catalog to find materials, I interviewed some 18 year olds about their research skills and library usage, and I got to lead a short workshop/presentation with student teachers about the role of teacher librarians in the US! Talk about bang for your buck!

While the library instruction was in Finnish, I was able to follow most of it (as I tell people "I might not know Finnish, but I know library!")  The school librarian showed students how to search the catalog using various terms, and also showed them how to use the online encyclopedia.  They seemed to follow it pretty well, and generally were interested in the process.  They were excited to look up "jalkapallo" (soccer) and use the on-line map to find out where they lived (zoom features are fun in any culture, I think!)

Next, I interviewed a group of grade 2 students (also known as 11th graders, more or less) about how they learned how to do research, and how they use the school and public libraries. Like most students, they don't use the school library much, the public library a bit, and the internet, a lot. They say they are often too busy studying to read.  They understand the importance of citing sources, and comparing sources to check for accuracy, and they use Wikipedia, but they say "it is a place to start, but not a place to end."
One student had a very smart comment when I asked how the school library could better meet their needs. He said "school libraries should provide computer resources and instruction that the public library doesn't."  Wow. I think he has a great concept. The public libraries are well resourced and well stocked, and students like and use their resources considerably.  Maybe the school libraries could provide more information literacy training with an emphasis on using online resources and becoming more technologically information literate- meaning, learning to use the tools AND critically think about the content. 

Finally, I had a chance to do a short presentation and workshop for teaching training students. The master teacher gave a short 15 minute presentation in Finnish about school libraries and, I kid you not, I understood MOST of it!  I know the words for "book" and "library" and "garbage" now, so I was able to follow her story about schools trying to weed old books and teachers freaking out about their "favorite book in the library" that sadly, hasn't been touched in years. School librarians are often faced with   I told them about my research, my job in the US (since it is quite different than the model in Finland) and led them through a couple of sample activities I do with students and teachers.  Anyone who has taken a workshop or class from Marianne or I has done the "India Activity" and it worked wonderfully here in Finland too!  I also shared Mark Ray's awesome CSI: Wikipedia lesson, which I think was really important because as teachers, they need to help teach students how to use Wikipedia effectively and, as students have said to me, not just ban it to ban it. Finally, I shared Speed Dating for Books...one of my favorite activities in the world (thanks to Gladys Fox for the inspiration!)  They loved it and said "I wish I would have someone like you at school!"  It was great fun to be working a little with new teachers in this way again. Most importantly, they laughed at my jokes- so thankful Finnish teachers have great English and a fabulous sense of humor!

This weekend, we went to Porvoo (2nd oldest town in Finland!) with our friends Craig and Annalisa, who are from River Ridge, but are teaching on a base in Germany right now. We had a great visit...it was very fun to see friends from home who are also having an adventure abroad.

Porvoo at the river

Porvoo's narrow streets and famous red and yellow ochre houses

Getting some park time in!

and shopping...with a little girl cart...so glad we discovered those!

Even the tiny island of Soumenlinna has a great library. Marieka made sure the Moomin family, and Babar, had a tea party.

Hawaii?  No...just Helsinki in the spring

We thought this said "Don't bother paying, the machine is broken." Apparently it said "Pay across the street at the other meter. Thanks!" Dang! 40e for a parking ticket??

Just proving there is still some ice left on the Baltic

I have to say, it looked like Hawaii to me!

Thank goodness there was a bouncy house at the Hakaniemi Market on Sunday!

Language envy

Today, I went to the Russian Embassy to try and figure out how to get a tourist visa to visit St. Petersburg. What I discovered was:

1. I hadn't filled out the 2 page visa application that I should have. It asks a slew of crazy questions about parents' place of birth, jobs held, education level among other things.
2. The tourist visa for US citizens costs (gulp) 100euros...or...$140 PER PERSON!
3. The Embassy could take a cue from the Finnish method of service- take a number. Instead of the number method, which I have actually become fond of, we stood awkwardly in line for an hour to find out we needed to complete additional paperwork (I wonder if they could have left some out for us to fill out as we waited?)

So, we might just do the "visa-free boat trip" instead. It is looking more and more appealing...






Next, I went to the Russian-Finnish school for another visit.  The English teachers were eager for me to do a short presentation about where I am from and what I am doing here, and it gives me a captive audience to ask questions to.  I continue to try to figure out where students learn their research skills, and interest in using the library in general.  As usual, most students use the public library more than the school library, however, some students used the school library more at this school because it does have books in Russian, and the public library doesn't.  I think this is very interesting and important.  One of the reasons I believe students need a well selected and resourced school library is because the resources are selected just for THEIR needs.  In this language school, it might be even more vital.


On my way to the bus stop, a group of nice (and brave) 8th grade students came up and asked me some very interesting and provocative questions.  They asked "how come in so many American movies the bad guy is Russian?"  Wow! How is that for a question from a teenager?!  I thought about it, and we talked a bit about the history of the two countries, the fear that existed for many years and especially about people's fear of things they don't know.  I told them that before I came to Finland, I didn't know anyone who was Russian, I had rarely heard the language spoken, and that where I live, recent Russian immigrants are uncommon.We talked about stereotypes of people from the US, Finland and Russia and how people can try to overcome these fears and stereotypes by travelling and meeting people.
I started asking them about their stories, their languages.  It was pretty amazing- these students had one or two "Mother Tongues" (Russian/Finnish and Russian/English) and then knew 2 languages in addition (English, Swedish, and French).  Can you imagine? Having 4 languages at your disposal for use as needed?  These students in particular, and students in Finland in general, have a command of and confidence in language that I am so envious of...I wish my students and daughter could have the opportunity to become world citizens and have multiple languages at their disposal...this is definitely one of the biggest pieces of learning I will be taking home with me.

Thinking about libraries

In the last week,  I have had some great meetings with library and teaching people here in Finland. I got to meet with the library supervisor at the National Board of Education,, my mentor who trains teachers and writes textbooks for teaching Finnish, and Kai Halttunen, a professor of Library and Information Studies at the University of Tampere, and today I met with the Counselor for Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Culture, in charge of libraries.  Each meeting helped give me a broader view of what is happening in school and public libraries in Finland.  What I am learning is that public libraries have a strong base of emotional and financial support throughout Finland, and that school libraries are often supported by these strong public library networks.

I was especially interested in part of Kai's PhD called a "Query Performance Analyzer" where he developed a system to help librarians understand the strength and weaknesses of their searching by providing instant feedback. I wonder if this could somehow be set up to help students with a set of documents so that they can see how certain types of searches are more successful than others.
We also chatted about the difference between the "stuff of libraries" and the integration of skill development into instruction.  It can be easy, especially today with instant collection data at our fingertips, to rely on the numbers of libraries- circulation, holdings, etc- when what we need to focus on is the skill development. We need to figure out what students (patrons) are learning, and need to learn, to manage information searches and information retrieval rather than just know how many items have circulated in a day, week or month.  If school libraries are going to work to their potential and be more than book warehouses, they need to be involved in the pedagogy.

The really crazy architecture isn't super evident here...

Also, I got to meet with librarians in Tampere who are working with their high schools and upper schools libraries- another excellent model of collaboration, and moving the school library from a book storage area, to a vibrant, alive place for students and teachers.  The librarian for the luokio, or upper secondary school, collaborates with teachers to teach information literacy skills as well as maintains up to date collections for the schools.  While I didn't get to visit the schools, I got to see the very cool and busy public library in Tampere. 

Look...no snow!On the home front, the snow is really, truly, finally melting. The gravel is getting vacuumed and swept up, and it has been over 40 degrees for a few days. We rode our bikes all over Helsinki on Sunday morning, 2-1/2 hours, and didn't get a flat. Luck is on our side...because we rode over a LOT of gravel.  Most sidewalks in Helsinki are part walking path, part cycling path, so while it takes some adjusting to essentially ride on the sidewalk everywhere, it is good to be off the road.  And, we didn't have to know where we were going the entire time, there are signs at most intersections, so when you see "Keskus/Centrum" (remember, signs are in Finnish and Swedish) you know that is the way to go...to the center of town...where we live.  Handy!

On Saturday, Marieka and I went swimming, and I went early to workout. I got to see the "underwater spinning" class someone had told me about. Might say it was one of the strangest things I have ever seen...seriously, bikes underwater?  On a high note, I could understand the instructor- "1, 2, 3, 4, center, 4, 3,2,1" so perhaps my Finnish is improving?

Marieka multitasking: "going to school" (backpack), playing harmonica and scootering in the house.  The girl has things to do!

Organizing her hairclips and stickers from the "Euro Kauppa" or as we all know it, the "Dollar Store"

Someone is psyched about riding her scooter to the back of the apartment building! And look, still no snow!


This week, it is the English school, the Russian School, the Russian Embassy, and the prison.  And visitors from Germany! Yay!

False alarm and foreign languages...

No worries. False alarm. Spring hasn't sprung here in Helsinki (even though I haven't worn a hat for 2 days, and the Helsinki Sanomat newspaper even declared the beginning of the end of the snow). Apparently, we can expect 2 inches of snow tonight, and 2 more tomorrow. TERRIFIC!  I wouldn't want to be too used to the warm temperatures...

Yesterday, Marieka turned 3 and a half. According to our parenting guru in Olympia Candyce...3 and a half is one of the most challenging ages around.  We agree. Wholeheartedly.  But our 3 and a half experience has been happening for at least 2 months...pretty much. Marieka is loud and energetic, noisy and opinionated, and quick to laugh and cry.  And we are travelling abroad. Yikes. We are tired.

And in general Finnish children are not as loud and noisy as mine. In fact, it seems like most babies in strollers are blissfully asleep, and toddlers are compliantly rolling along with their parents and 1 years olds happily gaze at the snow with binkies in their mouths.  The are cultural differences in the behavior of children, or something...I am not sure exactly.  But, I see parents happily shopping while their child entertains themselves in their stroller...while my daughter is shrieking to get out,  running and exploring everything actively, and I don't get to shop for anything!  Now, I actually love her energy and enthusiasm for life, but it is a bit intimidating for me to see other children who, at the moment I look at them at least, seem to be doing what their parents want or need. I admit slight jealousy.  But only at times.

 Loudest, and perhaps happiest kid at the slide at the museum.

 Pony ride at circus day at the Espoo Modern Art Museum...Miro exhibit! And yes, everyone got a clown nose...

This morning, I saw what looked like an 8 year old girl waiting for the tram in front of the railway station by herself. This is the busiest, and potentially, most "dangerous" part of the city, and here is this little girl, on her way to school. I see young kids walking, riding the bus, walking through shopping malls without adults.  Kids are expected and trusted to be on their own.  Most parents both work, and kids have to take care of themselves after school. A member of parliament even said to a group I was with (and I am paraphrasing...) "People ask if we know where our kids are after school, and we usually don't.  They are very surprised. But, we have a safe country, and they are used to being on their own from an early age."  Wow.  True, it is a safe country, for sure. But I would want to know where and what my kid was doing, even in Finland.

I met with youth worker who helps run a youth coffee shop in the center of town and asked him what the biggest problems kids faced in the country. I was waiting for issues of drugs, gangs, homelessness, etc. First, he reminded me there are no homeless kids in Finland. While I assumed this, to actually hear it still amazed me.  Then, he mentioned that the biggest problem the girls had was "not eating enough" and being too thin. Wow. While eating disorders are nothing to ignore, but coming from the US, it is mindblowing to think that is the "biggest" challenge teens face.

The language challenges continue to be a hurdle for everyone, especially Marieka.  She wants to play with kids, but she isn't always able to communicate with them and can get frustrated, or not feel included, which feels really bad when you are 3. She is constantly trying to figure out if kids speak English or not.  It has been a real awakening for her to know that not everyone speaks her language, and sometimes comes home talking about the "mean kids" at preschool, which we think is code for "I can't talk to them..."  At the same time, she is getting more flexible with routines and challenges...like not having macaroni and cheese (she hasn't asked for it in over 2 months!), having to wear a snow suit everywhere (she puts it on herself now) and accepting that she has fewer toys than she is used to (pretend play is huge these days...thankfully!) (Pretend friends all speak English, even if they have unusual names...Ringabell, Lolly, Jackamoe, and the newest one, Unika, or something like that!)

We had our last ski day on Sunday.  I am glad we did it because it has been above freezing all week. The Baltic is starting to melt and I honestly didn't know I lived up the street from a marina! All of the docks were under ice until just a couple of days ago.  It is windy and rainy right now, but the weather report says sun for the weekend.  Rob rode his bike for 2 hours the other day.  And he built up my bike as well.  Family ride in the works!

Headed to Tampere tomorrow to visit a library professor and a public library there.  And the biggest news of the week...I am hoping to work with the American Resource Center (a US Embassy library) to help organize a School Library Roundtable here in Helsinki in May, with experts, and teachers and school librarians and members of the National Board, to meet and discuss the current status and future goals for school libraries in Finland!  I am so excited to have great Finnish library minds in one place!  Taina, the librarian at the ARC has been very enthusiastic about hosting the event and I am excited to be a part of it. Now the challenge is to find a day that everyone can come.

Here's to hoping I don't wake up to inches of snow... 

SPRING?

just a short note. 
It is sunny and warm in Helsinki.
The ice is melting. You can walk on most sidewalks now.
I am only wearing 1 jacket. And sunglasses.  And I hope to ride my bike today.


Not getting my hopes up, however, it is quite possible that spring is here.

The oldest place we have ever been

Actually, after looking at that title, it is a bit misleading. I guess a more accurate title would be "the oldest building we have ever been in."  Today, we went to Turin Linna, or as we call it, Turku Castle. Turku is on the west coast of Finland, the former capital under Swedish rule, and the 2011 Cultural Capital of Europe (no, we are not sure what that means either).  The castle was built in the 1300's and is in amazing shape. There were narrow, steep staircases, a dungeon (complete with noose and rats...stuffed) and lots of amazing relics from other medieval sites in Finland.  About half the castle is Medieval, half was changed in the Renaissance.  It was definitely worth the walk if you ever find yourself in Turku...http://www.turunlinna.fi/en/index.html

Some of the relics.  Sadly, our camera was full and we couldn't take more photos. Luckily, we are heading there again when Omi and Opi come!

We also checked out the Turku Cathedral and the open-air Handicraft Museum, a collection of 200 year old buildings that were part of a small community in Turku, and they have been maintained beautifully. We got to see a 200 year old printing machine make us our very own postcard, as well as see where people lived and worked.

I guess you would call this the office of the "Beard and Wig" guy???  A little creepy...

200 year old houses

Turku Cathedral, the official church of the Lutheran Church of Finland.  Really beautiful.

Marieka helping out by sweeping at the Handicraft Museum

We really enjoyed the energy and activity of Turku. It was a busy and happening place, with a beautiful river in the middle of the city (still mostly frozen) and a terrific walking path on both sides of it.  Plus, we had a great dinner at a restaurant where the patrons seemed to actually enjoy Marieka's shouting and shrieking!  A plus!

The bummer part of this trip, though, was the "swimming pool" at the Holiday Inn.  I choose the hotel based on my usual criteria- pool and breakfast- and since I was working one of the days, having a pool for Marieka and Rob to go was crucial.  We went to the pool, very excited to swim and sauna, and I put my foot in the pool to test before getting in, and it was FREEZING!  I looked at the temperature they listed on the side of the pool (which is common since many public pools have cold tanks for people to use pre and post sauna, and it always good to know if a pool is 0c before trying it out...) it said 23c.  While my Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion is a guesstimate at best, I know that 23c is way too cold for swimming (maybe upper 60s?).  Grr. Later, I asked the woman at the front desk about their "swimming pool."  "Is it always so cold?" I asked.  "Yes, that is the temperature it always is" she replied. "So, is it a cold pool for post-sauna because it isn't a pool for swimming, it is way too cold" I said.  "Well, if it were warmer in such a small area" she said, "the chlorine would be in the air and be very unhealthy."  I suggested that they not advertise it as a swimming pool, because it isn't. I didn't suggest huge fans helping to clear the air though.  I have run into this "chlorine is deadly" argument many times here, and while I don't love chlorine, as a lifelong swimmer, I am still alive, and I want to swim, not freeze. Marieka was near tears.  I took her in the sauna and tried to make that seem as cool as the pool. It sort of worked.

I was very excited about the library visits I was going to do in Turku. There are four people in Finland that are working or have worked on their PhDs around school library topics. I have met two of them and in Turku, I was going to meet the third (hope to meet #4 when she returns from research in May!)  Talking to her was terrific, inspiring and reminded me about how much I love working in a school library and thinking about how to do it better. Her thesis topic is very similar to my research here, but, as I said to her "you are doing it for real."  No pressure!
School libraries as a place are unusual in Finland.  Full time school librarians are rare.  School librarians that are able to to integrate information literacy instruction into their work with students and teachers are few and far between. At this school in Lieto, outside of Turku, they have school libraries in each school, and part to full time librarians who staff each school. The interesting strategy this municipality has used is that all the public libraries run the school libraries.  So the librarians are actually trained as librarians but they aren't trained as teachers. The collection at the high school (7-9) (which was also intended to serve the upper school (10-12) was amazing. Up to date, high quality and easy to browse. It was clear that students liked the library, as it was packed, and I mean packed, during the breaks.  During 3 of the breaks (students get 15 minutes between classes) they are able to come in the library while the other breaks, they are supposed to go outside, as is typical in all schools in Finland.  And when I say packed, I mean packed.  The amazing thing to me- about 80% of the students were actually using the space to study, work on the computer, browse the collection, etc, even though it was so crowded.

Sitting on the floor

working on homework

'hanging out' in the library!

This was the most student use I have ever seen at one time in Finland. One thing that really struck me on this visit, as well as others, is the number of students reading magazines.  Students really enjoy magazines in schools in Finland. I talked to some students about it- they enjoy fashion, car and general interest titles and they said that they do read them a lot.  One school librarian thought part of it was the quality of the magazines, both content and materials, and she was right- the magazines in Finland are made out of really wonderful think paper, none of the chintzy thin paper (Newsweek comes to mind) that we see in the US.  And, for such a small country, they have a LOT of Finnish magazines.

The public library is working on a plan to develop all of the libraries in the municipality, and make sure they have an up to date collection and staffing.  Another important component is the Bookmobile, which travels around to many of the primary schools regularly.  As is usual, all of the students I met had had library cards since they were 7, and they remember it being a "big deal" when they got to get their own card.
After visiting the school, we went to the main branch library and met with the children and youth services librarian.  As usual, they had an extensive collection of materials, music, videos, magazines and newspapers as well as lots of ideas for how to deliver instruction to students around their municipality.

Our final stop was brief but amazing...the Turku Public Library.  This library has been lauded as one of the best in the world, an architectural marvel with a goal of being the city's "living room."  The collection was amazing- they had children's books in many languages, glass dioramas on the floor which were intriguing for little kids to look at, a huge play area with toys and games for toddlers, and a very popular teen section with comfy couches galore

very cool seating in the teen section

as usual, imagine snow, and you will see what I saw

And, as usual, it was nearly impossible to tear Marieka away from the books.  Luckily, those clear ball chairs were so appealing, I got her away from the books and to the chairs, then the door, when we had to leave.

And in Helsinki, it is sleeting and freezing. I had hoped April 1st might bring spring, but apparently not. Not even for April Fools.  Our stay is halfway over already.  I can't believe it. I will say- it is nice not to feel like a tourist anymore, it is terrific to know our way around and to feel brave enough to have adventures to other cities with our car, but my Finnish still sucks. Or as the waiter asked the other night as he was selecting menus for us, "How is your Finnish?"  "Terrible" we all responded at once.  Truer words may never have been said.