SOUTH DEERFIELD — Teachers became students again at Frontier Regional School on June 4, when the school opened its doors to 15 educators from across the globe eager to learn about the school’s style.
The cohort of English, visual arts, language and social sciences teachers traveled from South America, Europe, Asia and Africa to learn about the United States’ approach to education and experience the culture behind it.
Through a five-week program with the Institute for Training and Development in Amherst, the educators from schools as far away as Taiwan learned about American education in classes, visited nearby schools and even cheered for the Valley Blue Sox at a baseball game.
“Every day is a different day,” said Katie Lazdowski, a program director at the Institute for Training and Development. “The goal is to immerse themselves, see how things are done and continue that impact in their own country.”
To see the American school system in session, the teachers toured Frontier Regional School, peeking into classrooms as students studied, took quizzes and even filmed a documentary about artificial intelligence in schools.
“You’re making connections with people, because that’s what everything is about,” Frontier Regional School Principal George Lanides said as the visiting teachers mingled with Frontier educators in the library. “I’m from an immigrant family, we’re all from someplace else, so it’s great to have people come in and see what we’re doing here and open up our school to them.”
“The gym is central to the school’s identity,” world language teacher Jodi Greenberg said as the teachers checked out the gymnasium, snapped photos and talked to a few students.
Greenberg, who organized the visit, said she often tells her students, “There’s no such thing as normal, just what we’re used to.”
After living abroad and working for the United Nations, Greenberg said she learned “the impact cultural interaction has both within ourselves and with other people.”
“I hope that [the teachers] understand that our system is inclusive for all students and our job is to meet students where they’re at,” Greenberg said. She added that she also hopes the students who passed by the visitors or met them in classrooms saw “that we’re proud of our school.”
Sofiane Rached, an English teacher who focuses on expanding the role of technology in classrooms, traveled to Massachusetts from Tunisia. Along with the American school system, he said the program exposed him to the perspectives the other educators carried from their countries, equipping him with new ideas for the next school year.
“We learn from each other,” Rached said.
