By the time we caught up with British teachers Lynn Keast and Annemarie Kendell the bus was waiting to take them back to their hotels after spending their third and final day at M. Agnes Jones Elementary, so we only had a moment to check in on their experiences. But it was still a delightful experience as they shared what they learned while working with kindergarten team leader Ryan Harry and first-grade team leader Jim Gale. Check out the video above, and come back Friday as we recap the experiences at the other participating schools around APS: Coretta Scott King YWLA, Kennedy Middle School, and Dunbar, Parkside and Smith Primary elementary schools. (Here’s the feature about their first impressions from earlier in the week.)
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Lynn Keast
We were really excited to learn about the teachers from the United Kingdom visiting Atlanta Public Schools this week to interact with our school faculty and staff and share some of the ideas. So we decided to pop in on one of the schools, M. Agnes Jones Elementary, and listen in on what is shaping up to be a fascinating cultural exchange on education. Principal Margul Woolfolk and three faculty members — Jim Gale, first-grade teacher team leader and parent support specialist; Melanie Johnson, learning support specialist; and Ryan Harry, kindergarten team leader — welcomed British teachers Lynn Keast and Annemarie Kendell for the week. Keast teaches at Perranporth Community Primary while Kendell teachers at St. Stephens Community Primary — both in the Cornwall area along the southern coast of England.
In these two videos combined into one (thanks, Armon Moore!), we both got an introduction to all the folks in the room and then listened in on their dialogue, which continued long after the camera stopped. We can’t wait to check back in at the end of the week to see how it went. But an initial visit showed that the British teachers were extremely impressed with how M. Agnes Jones is organized and managed, from the way the students respect the teachers to the way the afternoon dismissal is executed. (The teachers were awestruck at how quickly so 620 students — whether walking, getting picked up by their guardians or boarding the school buses — were able to make their way home!)
Check back in later in the week for a follow-up visit.