Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Summative Report
Martha Infante
Break Time and Nature: The Twin Secrets of Finnish Education Success
2017-2018
July 9, 2018
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Program Experience
One cannot begin to digest the experience that is the Fulbright Distinguished Award in
Teaching for the sheer magnitude of the impact it has on one personally, professionally, and
emotionally. But as this is our task, I must begin with deep sense of satisfaction that I have
participated in one of the most life-changing experiences I could hope for as a teacher.
Before embarking on this journey, it was sometimes common that the parents were
unfamiliar with the Fulbright program. They trusted, however, that I was taking a journey for
the benefit of the students, and that I would bring back ideas to improve education at my South
Central Los Angeles middle school. “Que Dios la bendiga,” they told me. May God bless you.
Participation in the August Orientation and the Fulbright Finland webinars empowered
me to undertake the challenge of moving across the world to a place with no friends or family,
only colleagues. The timing of the orientation, and the caliber of the workshops sparked ideas
that I had not considered, namely about securing compensation from your district, were
Personal Highlights
First, I personally found so much joy in school visits. Following the advice of Fulbright
DAT alumni, I sent out an entreaty to the contacts provided to me by my faculty advisor,
Professor Bob Foster at UCLA, and my own research, and attached my Fulbright application to
it. I offered to make presentations at schools and 99% of them asked me to make one. It was
after these presentations, when I had made a connection to students, that I was able to
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conduct my research. I offered to present on the topics of California, U.S. Culture, Mexican-
Americans in the U.S., and Donald Trump. The latter was always a popular subject.
My goal was to present a realistic picture of not only successes but the troubles we are
experiencing in the U.S. and to also explain how our system of government is designed to
prevent one person from dismantling our society. Additionally, I shared extensively about the
lives of my students in South Central Los Angeles and made a point of highlighting the talents
that even the most marginalized of Americans carry within. This was my favorite feedback from
Considering that Finnish students are very quiet, the verbal and written feedback I
My second personal highlight was developing friendships with my faculty advisor Hanna
Poylio and other Fulbright teachers. We had been advised that our Finnish friends tend to be
reserved and quiet, and we would need to make cultural adjustments to our approaches in
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networking. This was all true. But many times, our advisors are also curious about our lives in
the U.S. and this proved to be the case with Hanna. During our bi-weekly meetings, we covered
not only the goals of my project, but discussed her goals in her career as well. Hanna went out
of her way to make me feel welcome, inviting me to her home, to concerts, office parties, and
other social events. Along with Hanna, I made some terrific acquaintances and have kept in
My third personal highlight was being able to travel through Finland and other Nordic
countries, to get a deeper understanding of life under the Nordic Model. How could I
understand what was happening in schools if I didn’t understand the culture? Traveling to the
Arctic, Ostrobothnia, and Helsinki gave me a wider view of what it means to be Finnish and
allowed me to have conversations with Russians, Spaniards, and Danes about Finland.
Professional Highlights
Networking with some of the most brilliant minds gathered under one roof was a
thrilling experience, and by far the greatest highlight of my Fulbright grant. When we had
meetings in Helsinki for the Finnish Orientation and the Spring Forum, it felt incredible to be
surrounded by talented, driven people whose goal was to learn and better themselves for the
sake of their home communities. Our Fulbright Finland colleagues put together events of
tremendous caliber and being able to network and mingle with researchers and lecturers from
Another highlight for me was meeting American author Timothy Walker, who has
written extensively about life as a teacher in Finland. I had followed his blog for years and read
his book about Teaching Like Finland and had hoped to meet him during my time there. We
follow each other on social media, so it was not too much of a surprise that he identified me at
the Educa Conference in Helsinki in the midst of 18,000 teachers. As a Mexican-American, I did
stand out a bit. “Are you Martha Infante?” he said in the middle of the exhibition hall. “Tim
Walker?” We were elated to finally meet. We connected again during the Awards ceremony in
May and networked with officials from the Ministry of Education. I thanked him for inspiring my
topic of break time and nature, and he in turn told me that my blog post on the trust in
teachers and schools had sparked an idea for his second book. Only Fulbright could have made
this possible.
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During our stay, Fulbright teachers were offered the opportunity to attend the Berlin
Seminar and meet the 550 Fulbrighters doing work in Germany. Together with a fellow teacher
and researcher, we spent a week networking with our colleagues in Berlin and heard a dynamic
speaker named Sawsan Chebli, a legislator of Muslim heritage. Her speech during our townhall
meeting was electrifying. Listening to the student presentations was also heartwarming
because it reminded me of the potential of our youth. It gave me faith that the future of our
Finally, my last professional experience that I valued was meeting so many of my Finnish
counterparts. To be able to spend a day in their lives was transformative. I learned that there is
not much difference between their lives and ours. This was good to know, because sometimes
we romanticize what we do not understand. There were so many times the teachers were
talking to or reprimanding students and I felt like I knew exactly what they were saying,
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because I recognized the tone or the context. The Finnish students would be confused,
wondering if I spoke Finnish, but it was that some scenarios are universal.
Not only did I spend time in the teachers’ classrooms, but I joined many of them during
break time and supervision. This gave me a more complete picture of their daily lives in schools.
From their fears of the future of Finnish education (i.e. the transition to electronic testing and
the new integrated curriculum) to their own curiosities about life in the U.S.
The most gratifying aspect of my time with teachers was when I would present to their
first class, and then would ask me to stay the entire day. They would tell their colleagues about
me who would often scrap their plans to accommodate an unscheduled presentation by me.
Considering the preparation that goes into each daily lesson, this was quite an honor. I wrote
Sharing My Experience
The sharing of my experience started from even before I was awarded the grant. My
social media presence is strong for a teacher, and I hoped to inspire others to consider applying
for a Fulbright in the future. I find that posting during live events gives followers a feeling of
participating in the action. Many teachers thanked me for my frequent tweets, posts, blogs, and
photos. I plan to continue participating in all previous social media and including the #Fulbright
There is already a Fulbright effect in my school community. Students are aware that
there is a program that awards teachers the opportunity to study in a different country, and
that teachers are life-long learners. I made sure to stay in contact with students during my trip
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and even sent them a video message under an Aurora. They now know that teachers who look
like them, from the same humble backgrounds and immigrant origins can represent the United
Information about the Fulbright program has been distributed to the vast alum network
of former students, many of whom are currently in college. I plan to incorporate elements of
my experience throughout the school year and beyond. Examples of this would be by instituting
a class break time in the middle of the period and taking students outdoors on a regular basis.
My classroom will also be furnished with nature inside the classroom both through a plant wall
My Sway presentation will be shared with leaders in our district and my services to
present at different schools will be offered during the summer. I have contacted a key board
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member who is interested in learning about my experience. My union is also a place where I
There are many organizations such as the Liink Project from Texas and Peaceful
Playgrounds from California who have also become interested in the idea of increasing break
time to mitigate the effects of over-testing and indoor time in their schools. I plan to join these
organizations and lend my personal experiences in Finland to strengthen their lobbying efforts.
Too often people dismiss Finland’s successes because they are considered too foreign and
different to be applied here in the U.S. My five-month residency in Finland can disprove that.
Project Description
The goal of my final product, a Sway presentation took a very long time for me to select.
There is so much power in a Fulbright inquiry that cannot be captured by a single product. I find
that conversations, networking, posting, and presenting are even more influential ways of
sharing my learning. Nonetheless, the Sway product will serve as a calling card to pique the
interest of my recipients, much like my Fulbright application did when I was making contacts
The presentation is not meant to be comprehensive. Depth was evident in the blog
posts written during my time in Finland. Being able to direct people to my blog has been
achieved, as seen by my analytics statistics. Since January, my site has been accessed over 1200
On Twitter, I have also been sharing prolifically, and these are some of the responses
received:
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Project Goals
In the U.S., schools can work smarter, not harder. Incorporating break time into the
school day is a low-cost, high return investments for cash-strapped schools. My goal is to lessen
the fear that schools have in relinquishing class time to students. It is important to realize the
kids are already not learning. They stopped learning at the 7-minute mark when their brain
failed to get a reset. If the students are already not learning, we have nothing to lose by giving
them a break. Ideally, schools would implement two to four 15-minute breaks during the school
day, not including a 30-minute lunch. My school, for example, already has five 5-minute passing
periods. If each of these were increased to 10 minutes, that would be an increase in break time.
Or, teachers could implement an unstructured break into their class time. There are small steps
schools can take to begin increasing break time, but there must be a vision and a will to do this.
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I plan to be a resource for schools and teachers who are interested in adopting this valuable
practice.
The greatest fear communicated to me by U.S. teachers is that students will not want to
return to classwork after the break. There is good reason to be concerned about this. Our
country does not have a history of ample break time. I propose that secondary schools phase in
break time, as students will have to learn new behaviors. Break times should be scheduled in
between classes to give the students a mental break between subjects. Breaks should also be
considered sacrosanct; in other words, they should not be removed as a punishment. Students
might misbehave if they feel they are participating in a system where they are not guaranteed a
break. They have nothing to lose. But if there is a guarantee of regular breaks, there is less of a
Topic of Inquiry
My topic, Break Time and Nature in School was selected because of the increased
behavior challenges I witnessed since the onset of high-stakes testing created by No Child Left
Behind Legislation. My students were not performing better when recess time was removed
from the schedule three years ago; in fact, there was a deterioration of behavior and academic
performance. Further, my students lack access to nature. My time in Finnish schools allowed
Relevance of Topic
Close to 40% of my students are in deep poverty and suffer food and housing insecurity,
physical and mental health problems, and violence from the crime in their neighborhood. Yet
like all children, they want to learn and want a better life. They just do not know how to get
there. While I wish I could transport Finland’s hot lunches, well-equipped schools, and ample
funding to our shores, I know that is not possible. But I can bring back strategies to give my
students an advantage that might give them the edge they need to make be successful in
school.
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Project Process
My initial inquiry was broader and was ultimately narrowed. I planned to study the
effects of break time and nature on gender equity, but what I found is that Finnish educators
are still pondering the same thing. I did not find enough data to make a contention that break
time shapes gender equity, one way or another. However, I did find ample research through
academic journals and meetings with experts during my time in Finland that break time and
nature are beneficial for the academic and mental well-being of students. In fact, students
themselves spoke highly of break time, for reasons one would not think:
‘’the brain has time to cool down and really think about what we have learned”
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“brains need little breaks and anyone can’t sit many hours ☹”
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“you get time to clear your thoughts or forget the previous subject and you have time to think
Methods
In addition to interviews with students, I shadowed a nature school teacher for two days
in Kokkola, Finland and this gave me insight into how Finnish teachers become experts in
combining nature with the school curriculum. I met with leaders of nature organizations and
movement in school. Many conversations occurred with school teachers, principals, and
Results
Any doubt that the best practices of a top performing country cannot be duplicated in
an urban, public school have been dispelled. As a classroom teacher for 23 years, I recognized
my students in the Finnish classrooms I visited. Our students can benefit from increased break
time and an attempt to bring nature into the classroom or take the students to nature. There is
no reason why only affluent schools should embark on daring ideas or think outside of the box.
While schools like mine in an industrial part of town are limited in local field trip options, it does
not mean that there is no access to nature somewhere in the neighborhood. I am gratified to
learn that a nearby wetlands park will serve as an anchor to a satellite museum from the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art. This will provide more opportunities for students to leave their
classroom and continue their learning outside. If schools commit to taking advantage of the
mild Los Angeles climate through break time and nature, our students are sure to benefit
Contact
Fulbright Teacher
Website: DontForgetSouthCentral.net
Email: martha.infante@gmail.com
Twitter: @AvalonSensei
Mobile: 1-323-270-0588