Rissa Skole

I visited Rissa Skole on February 9, 2009. Rissa is a small town outside of Tromsø. I came in late the night before in a big snowstorm and stayed at a beautiful little hotel in the town. Though when I woke up the next morning, the snow and wind had knocked out the electricity.

However, I was lucky even though the snow did not quit the electricity returned before I had an hour and half presentation with 57 9th grade students! I did the short story lesson plan and though I felt it was more chaotic than my normal lessons, but considering the context I felt it went much better than I thought it would. Here are some of the responses the students created:

I also met with the English teachers after school. I shared with them about informal assessment and the book pass strategy. I also shared with them some children’s and young adult literature on immigration. The teachers were really great and asked to connect with teachers in the US. They also gave me a sitteunderlag. This is a wool pad that you take with you hiking to sit on. It keeps your bum warm!! This particular sitteunderlag was actually made locally. It was very gracious!

The lasting impression I had on this school was truly the snow. They claimed it was unusual for them to have this much snow. But it was so cute to watch the kids playing in the snow. I saw a brutal snowball fight between the 10th graders and the 5th graders. The 10th graders had quite a system going, staying under the eaves of the school and getting the snow from the picnic tables. But the 5th graders, were scrappy! They would run out throw the snowball and then dive for cover. It was really fun to watch.