American goes home to Russia

But 30 years later, the fourth-grade teacher from St. Joseph/St. John's Academy in Rensselaer found himself in Moscow, addressing an international conference on how to build democracy -- and meeting a Russian teacher who wanted to bring American teachers to visit her school.

Not long after that, Mr. McGurgan returned to Russia, exchanging ideas on teaching techniques with teachers from a school there. The following year, he went back again with a group of 25 fellow educators from the U.S.

Mr. McGurgan has since gone to Russia every two years, bringing an ever-more-diverse group of people from the Albany Diocese to a town called Kursk. The Americans show how they teach math, science or whatever their field of expertise is, and watch the Russian teachers demonstrate their own teaching styles.

The Russians, said Mr. McGurgan, are always attentive. "The Russian view is that America is the best of everything," he remarked. "They're looking for approval for what they're doing. They have felt like they're isolated by their government, by their world situation."

The teacher said there's also "cross-pollination": He has picked up some Russian ideas to use in his classroom, including drama. He said Russian teachers will often stop in the middle of a lesson and have the children pretend, for example, that they're the gypsies they're reading about. As a fourth-grade teacher, Mr. McGurgan said he has to get his students ready for standardized state tests. Drama helps the students develop their vocabulary and think creatively.

After five visits to Russia, the teacher called his trips "like going home." He joked that his Russian language skills are still on about a second-grade level, but he loves the country and is pleased to see that it's improving.

"You get off the plane in Moscow and see cranes in every direction, making new buildings and repairing old ones," he explained. "Things are changing subtly. The people are happier. Young people particularly are talking and laughing in the streets." (KB)

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