 | "What I gained is more than any workshop, meeting or conference could teach. I now have the chance to teach children all my new knowledge about Russia and I have an opportunity to touch their lives by modeling an attitude of cultural acceptance and value."
Shay Jernigan, education student,
North Carolina State University |
Project Harmony's international travel programs for educators offer professional development opportunities through personal interaction and discovery. Project Harmony's programs allow educators the chance to experience a foreign culture first-hand, while gaining insights into educational practices and policies through school visits and workshops. The experience provides program participants with new perspectives on the people and trends that have shaped these nations. The understanding and appreciation gained during a ten-day program can serve an educator for life, enhancing his or her capacity to provide accurate, inspired learning opportunities to students and colleagues alike.
Over the past decade, Project Harmony has run programs for US educators in Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Russia. In addition, Project Harmony has implemented US-based professional development programs for Finnish, Russian and Ukrainian educators. The information included below is targeted at a US
educator audience.
Who participates?
Programs are open to educators with a variety of professional experiences, from classroom teachers to community leaders, from elementary school administrators to college professors. We offer individualized opportunities for educators with specific professional objectives. Through our programs, educators expand their horizons abroad as well as at home, sharing ideas and information with counterparts from foreign countries as well as those from other US communities. The range of educational themes covered in the program give participants a deeper awareness of the challenges facing educators all over the world. In sharing creative approaches, colleagues often come up with ideas for future collaboration.
Professional Development is Key
"To understand our practices as educators, you need to see them in a larger context. To get that context, one needs to step into another cultural setting. This type of cultural experience tends to make you a more knowledgeable, mature, and humane individual."
Lowell VanDerlip
Principal, Berlin Elementary School
Berlin, Vermont |
Teachers throughout the United States face increasing professional demands. Project Harmony works with participants to develop programs that meet their curriculum-related objectives and their professional development goals. Project Harmony's programs offer a strong set of professional growth opportunities, many or all of which can be incorporated into individual professional development plans as well as school-wide strategies. Many of the professional impacts of our programs fit directly in line with state or local standards for educators. These include:
- Increased professional knowledge of subject matter;
- Heightened understanding of the subject matter's real world applications;
- Elevated awareness and appreciation of differences among individuals and groups;
- Improved ability to analyze and assess best practices in teaching.
Perhaps most importantly, participants report feeling a renewed belief in the importance of their profession as a result of participating in Project Harmony programs.
Project Harmony has created a set of Guidelines for Professional Development aimed at helping participants get the most out of the experience, during the pre-program, on-program and post-program stages.
 | Students at the Harmony School in Novgorod pose for a photo. On the other side of the camera is Randy Weger, a speech therapist from Grand Rapids, MI, and participant in Project Harmony's Special Education Professional Development Program. He wrote:
"I feel that the outcomes more than met by expectations [and that I have gained:] a broadened sense of education throughout the world; perspective on Russian teachers as being passionate for their profession; understanding of hardships in Russia ... and how Russians overcome adversity to maintain a high level of literacy and education."
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Bringing the Experience back to the Classroom
Participants in Project Harmony's educator programs have taken a variety of
approaches in sharing their new awareness and knowledge. Some have created
new material for specific units within their school's curriculum. Others
have designed web pages targeted for students and educators on a state-wide
level. Many educators have developed student exchanges based on contacts
made during the educator program. All manifestations of follow-on activity
attest to the considerable multiplier effect of these programs. They offer a
cost-effective way in which entire educational communities can discover new
cultures.
Project Harmony's Experience and International Partners
 | | September 1 marks the first day of school throughout Russia. The day is celebrated as a holiday during which students present their teachers with flowers, sing songs, and reconnect with one another after the summer break. Here, students at School #24 in Novgorod gather to mark the special occasion. |
Project Harmony has over 15 years of experience running educator and
student exchange programs between the United States and Russia. Founded on a
grassroots belief in the importance of mutual understanding through
face-to-face interaction, we now have seven offices across Russia, from St.
Petersburg on the Baltic Sea to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. Our
staff in the US and Russia includes bilingual individuals highly experienced
in program planning and implementation. Project Harmony also has strong ties
with educational leaders in the communities where we run our programs. We
work closely with local departments of education, along with teacher
training institutes and centers for youth programs. This collective strength
allows Project Harmony to offer programs that expose participants to the
unique aspects of the Russian educational experience ... and of everyday
life in a society undergoing immense transition.
Features of Project Harmony Programs:
 | Interactive Overview sessions on relevant issues in Russian education, led by leaders in the field |
| School visits, including classroom observation, group interaction with faculty, and opportunities for participants to make presentations to students and/or teachers |
| Homestay accommodations (usually with an educator and his/her family) |
| Cultural program (see specific program description) |
| Expectation that participants will take part fully in all program activities and will share their experiences with students, colleagues and others back at home |
| Pre-departure materials on cultural and educational issues of the destination country; information on requirements and components |
| Project Harmony staff member(s) on site to act as cultural liaison and program facilitator |
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