Conference in Bilbao

Probably it seems to be that nothing happened since my last
message in this blog.
The normal work started again after summer holidays, and I had
several interesting seminars in different schools.
The translation of our German book "Daltonplan Pädagogik" is
ready and the printing of it will start soon.
The coaching of the school of my grandchildren is for me one of
the most attractive tasks during the next period.
But one of the other highlights took place last weekend in Bilbao.
The 'Begonanzi Ikastola' invited Hans Wenke and me to inform the
team of 94 teachers about Dalton education.
First of all we had the opportunity to visit several classes of
this brilliant school. We saw children at work in the age from
2 years old till the level of secondary education.
We were thrilled about the level of the education, the atmosphere
and the interaction between pupils and teachers. The buildings are
really beautiful and the school is very modern equipped.
The quality management of the school was some years ago awarded
with a European prize and one of the next steps is the orientation
on Dalton.
It was an honour to work with such an inspired group of teachers
during this conference.
Dalton International can be proud to have this new member in Bilbao.

Dalton plus class

At this moment several Dalton schools started a Dalton+class.
In these classes more gifted children are working together on
a common project in order to realize more suitable targets for
their capabilities.

Special targets are :
* learning how to learn
* learning of learning-oriented knowledge
* critical and creative thinking
* making choices and taking decisions
* planning of activities
* self evaluation and testing
* planning of processing
* development of new projects in order to continue learning
* co-operation and producing
* philosophize

It could be interesting to start an International network
of Dalton+classes.

Management training

During the last weeks we worked with 34 management teams of
Dalton schools from the whole country.
In four groups 76 head teachers and Dalton co-ordinators worked
on leadership aspects and shared the "pearls" of their schools
during a Dalton Laboratory.
Wenke Dalton Consultants/KPZ is the leading institite in Holland
for Dalton in-service training, counselling and coaching.
This institute is 'Member of Dalton International' and some of
the consultants are working abroad in international projects.

Sharing Dalton

Sharing Dalton was a real topic during last weeks and not only
the title of the 14th International Dalton Conference in Brno.
More that 160 teachers participated in this conference, coming
from 9 different countries.
The network of Dalton International is growing, the mixture
between friendly and professional contacts is the most important
element. Dalton is the international cement in many initiatives.

Last week 24 directors from Kindergarten in Poland accompanied
by some teachers from universities visited Holland.
The group visited Dalton schools in Utrecht, de Meern, Amersfoort
and Leiderdorp. In the next future we expect an enormous grow of
the Dalton development in many schools in Poland.

For the next school year Dalton conferences are planned in
Thüringen/Germany, Bilbao/Spain, Warsaw and Krakow/Poland,
Zvolen/Slovakia and Brno/Czech Republic.
In Holland our institute 'Wenkedalton/KPZ' organizes several so
called 'Mini conferences'

Shocked by the situation in Poland

Since this weekend our thoughts are with so many colleagues and
friends of our contact schools in Poland.
Just this year we have several visitors from enthousiastic schools
in Holland. Inspired teachers who want to reform their education.
On this place I want to wish them strenght and power to overcome
this tragedy.

Team School4Child visited Holland

A new leaf on the tree of Dalton International is the private school
in Lódz - Poland, 'School4Child'.
The director of the school, Anna Sowinska, took all the teachers of
the school with her on a trip to Holland.
We were lucky that one of the best Dalton schools in the Netherlands,
'De Achtbaan' in Amersfoort was in full swing last Thursday.
Teachers and children opened all the classrooms and were happy to
show the foreign visitors their way of working.
Wendy van Beurden, director of 'De Achtbaan', introduced a lot of
specialties of this school.
Teachers exchanged material and ideas, children explained in English
their week assignment.
An inspired group of enthousiastic teachers went back to Poland today.
During the conference in Brno this school will get the membership of
Dalton International.
The school likes to be active in international exchanges and is
searching in the first place for a project partner in 'Webcamclasses'.