I was born in Kazan. My mother and grandmother were teachers. I graduated from school in Kazan and university in Moscow. I did some scientific work. But working with schoolchildren was more important.
In 1992 my friends and I created an academic college at Kazan University. After 10 years I went to Moscow and then to Finland. Here I took up academic work again. My topic was "Humor in Mathematics Classes." My supervisor is Markku Hannula, professor at the University of Helsinki.
Now I have three children living in Helsinki.
Since 2011, at the invitation of the Mayor of Kazan and the President of Tatarstan, I have been working as a school principal in Kazan. The main focus of the school is to work with enthusiastic schoolchildren. The hobbies may be: mathematics, history, chess - anything in the intellectual field. I am interested in Alexander Tubelsky's School of Self-Determination in Moscow, Summerhill School in the UK, Ressu School in Helsinki, Mattlidens gymnasium in Espoo (where my eldest daughter graduated in 2021).

My hobbies: hiking with schoolchildren and their parents, reading modern books, watching intelligent movies. I'm interested in connecting with people who care about teenagers' issues, their education, and path choices.

You can find information about me and my school below:

http://ife.ens-lyon.fr/publications/edition-electronique/cerme6/wg1-12-shmakov-hannula.pdf

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It is always interesting for me to go to scientific conferences, because in addition to the business part there is communication with people I am interested in. I can talk in detail about interesting things in Russia. I worked in Finland until 2011. Since then I go there several times a year, communicating mainly with my children. Now I'm thinking about traveling around the world and getting to know people who are interested in children, teenagers and education.

Interests

• books
• education
• movies
• tourism
• school
• teenagers

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Dead Poets Society, Freedom Writers, Choristers, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mona Lisa's Smile, Andrei Tarkovsky films
Music: The Beatles, Time Machine, Aquarium
Books: "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse, the Strugatsky brothers, "Raising Liberty" by Alexander Neill.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've created the "Sun" school from scratch, the likes of which had never been seen before.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am interested in communicating with people who care about the problems of teenagers, their education, their choice of path. I can talk in detail about interesting schools in Russia. I would like to compare my opinion about schools and education in Finland with the opinion of those who live there.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can invite school teachers and anyone else who works with teenagers and is interested in their lives to my home.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Russian Federation