My work is endless, like my life. It is uninterruptable: there is no new year, new academic year, new anniversary, holidays, bells, breaks, week-ends, vacations. That is why I don’t have the sense of a forthcoming new school year. So let me not congratulate but be thankful for the opportunity to be together again.
The real education is like our life: it is endless. The new school year will give the status of endless education to a great amount of students and teachers. And the digital means of education will be convenient tools for it.
That is why I make every effort for students and teachers to have internet, digital cameras and Dictaphones at school, at home and even while travelling. Our students have also interactive white boards and notebooks in the classrooms.
The classic of pedagogy Adolf Diesterweg warned about three main devils in education: narrow-mindedness, stupidity and mechanicalness. In my opinion, the best way to struggle against the above mentioned devils is creative team-work of students and teachers as well as their educational trips and walking tours. The organization called “Jarma” was established this summer as a result of several days’ long trips, organized in the framework of educational exchange.
The evidence of this fact is our students’ recent tour by the following route: Yerevan-Varagavan-Lastiver-Kirants-Berkaber. Such kind of wanderings helps students and teachers to overcome the estrangement, to clean nature and monuments. This is an excellent chance to invite every school to become a member of our organization, to exchange our experience, to acquire friends, to solve educational problems together.
The time-period of media in which we live despite its lacks must have its own school. The peculiarity of this school year is the classes with the advanced study of Learning Technologies, which function with the assistance of Microsoft Corporation. During the annual round table meeting, which will take place in October all people who are interested in this program will have the opportunity to see this updated program in its process.
Hurray! Media publishing is growing very fast in our Educational Complex and our site www.mskh.am is a very useful educational tool both for teachers and students. I am very inspired that more and more teachers and students use new tools, publish their materials. So-called “textbooks” as they were in the past and as they are at present, fortunately are disappearing by opening wide area for joint creative work.
You ask me about the best or memorable year in my directorial life. I am honest as usual. The best year is 2010 despite I am 55 years old, but the best day is today.
We live and work in the name of children, but many of them are ungrateful. It must be admitted that many teachers have this sense. And it is very good that many people in our Complex begin to think that they work not for students but together with students.
Translated from Armenian by Lusine Bush