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DoDEA Pacific South District welcomed 10 Ginowan City teachers to Bob Hope Elementary School on Wednesday, Oct. 30, for a day of teacher-led learning and discussions centering around best practices in the classroom.
A new partnership with Ginowan City Board of Education, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s Okinawa Liaison Office, the event began with an overview of DoDEA schools, grading practices, and a tour of school facilities. During the school tour, Japanese teachers noted the unique aspects of the 21st century facility, including the open concept of neighborhood classrooms, staff collaboration rooms and flexible furnishings and spaces for students.
“It is so amazing,” said Sakura Alexandra Manami Abe, a teacher at Oyama Elementary School in Ginowan. “Japanese public school and American elementary schools are so different."
Ms. Sara Wood, a fourth grade teacher at Bob Hope Elementary who served as the school facilitator for this event, led a discussion on the co-teaching model and the styles of co-teaching they may have observed in classrooms during their tour, including one teach, one observe; one teach, one assist; parallel teaching; small group teaching; and team teaching.
“Despite the language barrier, you could see the friendships growing,” Wood said. “The conversations that were being held even in broken Japanese, broken English, we were able to make those connections with each other.”
Before breaking for lunch, fourth and fifth grade teachers were paired with Ginowan City educators to co-plan a lesson using a co-teaching strategy. After lunch, Ginowan teachers joined their fourth and fifth grade co-teacher in their classroom to deliver instruction together.
“They went over the lesson plans and got to have conversations about what this going to look like,” Wood said, adding most co-teachers opted to follow a parallel or small group co-teaching model for the lesson, where they work with individual students who might need extra guidance to accomplish the activity. “Hopefully, they will leave with ideas of ways to help engage their students even more.”
In January, Bob Hope Elementary School educators will visit an elementary school in Ginowan City.
“As teachers we are lifelong learners,” Wood said. “We are always looking for ways to empower our students, to help them in every way, as a whole student. We are lucky to be here in Okinawa – why not see what they do that can help us continue to grow with our students? “Hopefully we will see things they do that are beneficial to their students, their way of teaching, and bring back some of those ideas to our classrooms.”
Bob Hope ES - Okinawa Teacher Partnerships
