Teaching the 21st Century approach to lesson planning has been very educational for me and I realize how much thought and effort our teachers in America go through to really include all four of the elements and engage our children. It is sooooo much work and requires a ton of creative thinking.

We watched our teachers work so hard today to build lesson plans that incorporated digital content tools and the 4 C's: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. The traditional way of teaching here is more teacher presents, students listen and do what they are told. We are trying to guide them to think differently about this approach. Hard new concepts to grasp and I am looking forward to their presentations tomorrow.

Our final dinner was tonight and probably the best "work dinner" ever. Noel had put together a super fun evening and was absolutely the host who pulled out all the gracious stops. I felt very spoiled and special. We had a blast giving each other "the best" awards ever. Laughing was off the charts and no award was off limits.  Imagine: "best rapper", "best DJ", "best singer in the shower", "best scream from a bathroom", "best herbivore", "best sawa sawa", "best handball tennis player", "best 'I've got a guy'", "best protector", "most likely to be a princess".....yeah, we have become a close group. We all missed Gita who is struggling from an awful bug and was top of mind the whole night. Don't worry, we saved you your awards and are here for you all night. :)

Is it really the last night??? Whole experience flew by.

I feel so grateful and sad it is over. Gotta keep this feeling alive somehow. Hmm.....