South Lakes social studies teacher Janet Croon has returned from Baku, Azerbaijan, where she represented Fairfax County Public Schools in a 10-day project for developing a curriculum on democracy. Mrs. Croon visited about a dozen schools in Baku, observing a day in the life of the Azeri teacher and the Azeri student. In introducing the democratic process in a number of classrooms, she conducted an activity in which the students listed what they felt to be their most important rights. Having learned much about the Azeri educational system from interacting with numerous teachers and students of all grade levels, Mrs. Croon prepared a PowerPoint presentation for her South Lakes students as an introduction to a comparative study of worldwide educational systems. She is also working on establishing electronic communication between Azeri students and her social studies students.
Visual arts teacher Matt Ravenstahl has received one of the six teacher awards given annually by the Scholastic Arts Organization’s International Sculpture Center. The award is based on the teacher’s lesson plan and the quality of his students’ work. Mr. Ravenstahl’s lesson plan is to be published in the next issue of Sculpture Magazine.