US/Brazil Administrator Exchange 2010: Tuesday

We began the morning at Lakeview Middle School where we met with the principal, Steve McClure and with the AP, Jeff Chastain. We enjoyed a conversation with them where they described many great things going on at LMS. Mr. McClure talked about their Renaissance program and how it encourages students to study hard. He described how their schedule allows for Extended Learning Time (ELT) which is great for helping students catch up and also helps with acceleration of studies. We went to se Steve Smith's 6th grade social studies class where students were studying about Cuba. Mr. Smith does a terrific job of using the smart board to keep the lesson very interesting. Second period was spent in David Harris' enrichment class. I was very impressed with the questions the students asked about Brazil. This class will study Brazil later in the year and, I believe, will be very motivated to learn all about it. Amim, who is a high school principal, mentioned to the students that they should plan to visit Brazil for the World Cup in 2014!

Meeting with admin. staff at LMS

Mr. Smith's lesson on Cuba was terrific!

Mr. Harris' class had lots of great questions.

With Principal Steve McClure

We also visited Cloud Springs Elementary today. Principal Cliff Brittingham and AP Kellie Yarbrough showed the group around and had lunch with them. Among other programs, they discussed the educating of students with special needs. The group was impressed with how our students are expected to transition into regular education classrooms as soon as possible. We also saw a smart board in action in a CSE third grade classroom.

With Principal Cliff Brittingham

AP Kellie Yarbrough had gifts for our visiting principals.

We headed to my home early afternoon to start cooking. Tonight is the night we prepare a Brazilian meal and celebrate with some school administrators. I learned a lot about the preparation of food in Brazil as we cooked. The administrators visiting here are from north Brazil and I'm told that their cuisine is the very best! Everyone really enjoyed the meal and we had a great time visiting and learning even more about Brazil.