Krulder's Odyssey

   At the Greek Independence Day parade, I met Alexander, a friendly policeman who is also studying to be a P.E. teacher. I do my best to follow the steps to a Greek traditional dance. Eleni, an incredibly kind teacher who invited me to her school's Greek Independence Day celebration. The school is full of these incredible murals. I had the good fortune to be invited to some schools in Athens on the days preceding Greek Independence Day, March 25. At one school, this included teaching a few SEL techniques and playing with some poetry with 9th, 11th, and 12th grade students - all while the school marching band practiced for the following day's performance right outside the classroom in the courtyard. The percussion and excitement for the ensuing festivities definitely tested my engagement techniques, but the student were thoughtful and insightful when discussing their ideas about the poem and fully committed to the brain break with giggles and hilarity, celebrating when they mes

  lunch in beautiful Psathopyrgos teaching a class of pre-credential students at Patras University Greek high school students working with refugees in the Youth to Youth program Over the past few months I've been on my Fubright here in Greece, I have learned that Greek schools face incredible challenges. However, in the midst of a severe lack of resources and trauma resulting from a multitude of causes, I have also seen teachers and administrators who have stepped up and created programs that support students in incredibly important ways. And while not all of them are labeled Social Emotional Learning, they are all focused on helping students connect to their teachers, classmates, and community, and the positive results are indisputable. One of the schools I visited with great anticipation was the 1st Epaggelmatiko Lykeio Peramatos, a Greek vocational high school. From a former teacher, I learned about a program that had had a profound effect on the culture of the school. Greek voc

Chania, Crete - instead of tearing down the centuries old buildings of the old harbor, they build onto them - some sort of metaphor here . . . Still adding to my cat calendar pics - can't help it! So many photogenic little guys here! Anastassios Matsopoulos, permanently certified school psychologist since 1991 and Associate Professor of School Psychology at University of Crete. It is an understatement to say that I have a fraught relationship with research. At the risk of dating myself, I will tell you that I was introduced to research in the time of the library encyclopedia. In my 4th grade perspective, research consisted of running to the encyclopedia shelves and grabbing the A-Ce book before anybody else did so that I could write my report on Brazil. My next biggest challenge was to figure out how to rewrite the 7 paragraphs on Brazil's geography, culture, and major exports and imports without plagiarizing. What was the purpose of my research? I had no clue. My sole motivati