Thanks to a suggestion from a local School Board member, I will be holding an open forum this Saturday at the Community Room at the Taos Public Library to share information about my inquiry project and upcoming trip. This is an opportunity to let community members ask questions and help me develop new questions to ask while I am in Finland. Since I intend this inquiry project to benefit Taos and New Mexico by bringing new educational ideas back to our town and state, I am eager to talk to people who are especially interested in my mission.
A few people have already asked me to pay attention to certain topics in Finland, in order to see how a highly successful national school system is addressing challenges. Thanks, Siena, for your thoughts about observing how the Finns deal with students who have experienced trauma. We all know how challenging that issue is for us here at home. Poverty is a game-changer for our students and as teachers we are constantly trying to level the playing field for all of our students. Siena runs the Nurturing Center at Enos Garcia Elementary School in Taos, and she knows something about these challenges. I doubt teachers in Finland stand in the pick-up line to hand out food to families. However, they most likely have students dealing with emotional issues and challenges that they must address at school.
Seth Saavedra of the state-wide blog NMeducation.org requested that I observe how schools deal with refugees and new immigrants. From what I have learned, Finland has opened its doors to asylum seekers over the past few years at the rate of 750 to 1,000 each year, as part of the EU effort to accept 25,000 seekers per year. There is some discussion about increasing the quota numbers in Finland.
Regardless of changes in the number of refugees, Finnish schools are currently serving a less homogenous student body than many of us imagine. Some of my fellow Fulbrighters have examined this issue in recent years, and I hope to hear and observe some of the ways teachers are addressing the challenges of non-native speakers.
We hear so much about Finland being the #1 educational system in the world. How do they handle difficult problems, or does their socialist democracy mean that they don’t have any of our challenges? What do you wonder about? Come to my forum or comment below!
Leslie Baker's Fulbright Journey to Finland 
Hi, Ms. Baker. I hope you are having fun in Finland! Try to check out the Snow castle in Kemi. Because natural snow is too soft, the castle is made of sea water! In fact, it contains a restaurant and a hotel! Have fun!
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Leslie, I am so glad you are there and settling in. Enos Garcia is participating in a Learning Collaborative with 6 other schools/districts in the country and we are looking at ways to keep children who have experienced trauma in the classroom to be more actively engaged in learning. I will try to send you information from the National Child Stress and Trauma Network as we move through this collaborative study. Hope we can share research and classroom strategies to support our teachers in addressing children who have experienced traumatic events. Thank you Leslie.
Siena
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