A group of eight Griffin-Spalding teachers gathered Thursday night at Cowan Road Middle School to plan strategy for the first Griffin-Spalding German American Partnership Program (GAPP) Teacher Exchange.

On June 5, the teachers will travel to Oscheresleben, Germany, a town 130 miles southwest of Berlin in the former east German state of Sachsen-Anhalt.

Through June 16, the teachers will shadow their host German teachers, much as students in the program have done for the past 10 years, and learn firsthand the similarities and differences between the two school systems.

They will also have the opportunity to visit various levels of the German school system and congressional leaders in the German government in Berlin.

Teachers participating in the exchange include James Williamson, Rachel Williamson, Sheri Savage, Patrick Wallace, David Rice, Debbie Young, Vegas McCain and Kandice Mitchell.

According to Wallace, Griffin-Spalding’s German teacher, the group will travel to Dresden before returning home June 20.

During August, their German counterparts will visit the Griffin-Spalding school system and several other schools in the Atlanta area as well as tour Washington, D.C. and New York.

“Over the years, I have seen the impact that such an exchange has had on many of my students and I always wanted to expand that to include teachers as well,” Wallace said. “My hope is that our teachers gain a greater knowledge of how education is conducted in Germany and that ideas and methodologies of teaching will be shared that will be beneficial to both systems and the students they service.”