Junior High School

Friday bright and early Mr. Akihiro Ichida welcomed us to Ikeda Junior High School, encompassing Grades 7-9 in American terms but described as Grades 1-3 in Japan. This particular junior high is affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University (which we visited the other day), regularly receives student teachers and is considered a pioneer for new teaching strategies in Japan. At the beginnning of each day of formal meetings for our group, one of us serves as speaker for the day and presents our group to our hosts. Today was my day, and I offered the hope that in exchange for the kindness of the school in welcoming us, their teachers would one day visit our schools.
We received gifts celebrating the 60th anniversary of the school, and learned about the four pillars of education guiding the school: subject study (9 subject areas), moral education, special activities, and interpretive learning. Classes are 40 in size (our hosts maintained, and we agreed, that that is too many!). Every student does individual research -- in order to explore, express (articulate one's own ideas about a subject) and present a topic. For 480 students, there are 22 regular and 4 part time teachers, all of whom are extremely busy people. The student council is active, and voluntary after school activities are packed. Building international understanding is a major goal of the school; they maintain a regular exchange program with Brisbane, Australia, as well as with schools in neighboring Asian countries. Language was a challenge in Australia (which even I could sympathize with), but the trips are always successful! Students also go on 2-3 day excursions within Japan, to increase their understanding of Japanese culture, including especially peace education efforts in Nagasaki and Okinawa. The heart of our day was attending and fully participating in classes.
In English class I was invited to tell about my school and my life in Boston (including the Red Sox of course, and at lunchtime one young man came over to show me his Red Sox mug). I was honored that the teacher specifically provided a map of the United States, a rare occurrence (most of the maps we see are, of course, of Japan and Asia, or world maps with Asia appropriately at the center).
Students presented language quizzes in English: "I am an animal. I bark when I speak. What am I?" In science, the teacher did a masterful demonstration of opposing forces.
In the media center, students were creating web pages, in English, of notable sites in Osaka, the URL of which I will obtain so we can view their travel advice back in the States. Following our time with students, we met back with administrators and teachers, sharing perspectives on education. We had many questions -- about cram schools, about student discipline, about nurturing young people for productive lives. I can't capture the extent and nature of our discussions here but it was most interesting!

Several of us ended the day with a trip to Sensi-chuou on the monorail -- had a take-out supper from the food floor of a large department store, caught a band on the plaza, and headed home.