With 2009 drawing to a close now is a good time to reflect on the year and all of the highlights and challenges that occurred throughout the year.
As I prepare for the first two recruitment fairs in Sydney next week I have been reflecting on my recruiting experiences from earlier this year. I have been looking through my notes and my interview questions and thinking about what worked well, what needs to be improved, and what I have learned since then that can be incorporated this time around to enhance the interview experience for both myself and the candidate being interviewed.
While going through this process the power of reflection has really been evident - if we don't take the time to reflect and look for opportunities to improve then we run the risk of repeating the same mistakes, or even worse, we repeat a process that may be flawed. Modeling reflective practices for our students helps them to see the value in this process and enables them to engage in reflection of their own learning. Sometimes we see that the reflection can be equally as powerful as the learning process itself.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Being a Risk-taker
It is very easy for us to become so comfortable in what we do each day that we can shy away from opportunities to try new things. One of the great things about coming home to Australia and visiting family is that we get to try many new things, or at least things that we have done for many many years. My adventure yesterday is a perfect example of this.
My son has been wanting to go fishing for some time now, but we have not really had the opportunity to make this happen - it has also been over 30 years since I last cast a line. On Tuesday night my sister mentioned to me that the following morning she would be going fishing with her partner, so I jumped on this opportunity and asked if my son and I could go with them. She happily agreed, so at 6:30am on Wednesday morning we were putting the boat into the Elliot River. It was a magnificent day with an electric blue sky, crystal clear water, and some real quality time spent together.
We had a great time driving around in the boat and stopping at different places to try our luck with the fish. I was quite shocked and excited when I finally felt something pull on the end of my line, and when I felt the line being pulled away from me I was even more excited at the prospect of what might be on the end. After a good fight and some patience I finally landed what you see in the photo below - a 68cm barramundi!
Fishing is by no means one of my regular past-times, but this was a great opportunity to try something different and move out of my comfort zone. I hope this Christmas offers you the opportunity to be a risk-taker and try something different as well.
Friday, December 18, 2009
What do the students think?
Well it is the end of the first semester and we have finalized our semester 1 reports ready to be mailed home next week. At the end of each semester we have our students write their own report comment based on a template that guides their reflection in the following areas:
- What they have learned
- Their areas of strength
- Their areas for growth
- Their behavior and attitude
- Which IB Learner Profile they feel they have grown in and how this growth occurred
- The student comments are rich, detailed, and very personalized
- The teachers gain valuable insights into their teaching and learning practices from the students' perspective
- The parents are given specific information about their child's learning and behavior from the learner's perspective
- The students engage in authentic reflection that helps to determine where they are now, where they would like to be, and how they are going to get there
Sunday, December 13, 2009
I'm So Tired!
"I'm so tired!" is a statement that we here from our students quite frequently - I have no trouble admitting that the majority of our students sleep less than I do. It is amazing the number of emails that I receive, and I know the faculty receive, from students with a time stamp that is after midnight.
This quote from the ASCD journal, Educational Leadership, entitled Sleep: The E-ZZZ Intervention highlights just how important sleep is for young adolescents and how an increase in sleep each night can have a number of positive effects on our students and children:
Sleep-deprived students tend to be more restless, irritable, and impulsive than other students. They also may be more depressed and have lower self-esteem than their classmates who sleep more. The effect can go in both directions—sleep deprivation may cause emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety, and emotional disorders may cause poor-quality
sleep.
Ensuring our children get enough sleep each night is one aspect needed to help them achieve the IB Learner Profile of Balance.
This quote from the ASCD journal, Educational Leadership, entitled Sleep: The E-ZZZ Intervention highlights just how important sleep is for young adolescents and how an increase in sleep each night can have a number of positive effects on our students and children:
Sleep-deprived students tend to be more restless, irritable, and impulsive than other students. They also may be more depressed and have lower self-esteem than their classmates who sleep more. The effect can go in both directions—sleep deprivation may cause emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety, and emotional disorders may cause poor-quality
sleep.
Ensuring our children get enough sleep each night is one aspect needed to help them achieve the IB Learner Profile of Balance.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Finished Product
Yesterday I posted about my 3rd grade son making a Prezi for his pen pal in the US. Well here is the finished product:
Merry Christmas
Pretty good for his first attempt. The great thing about learning is that although this particular product may be finished, the learning will continue. I will reflect with my son about his prezi and what he thinks is good about it, as well as what he might do differently next time. We will also talk about communication and how it comes in many different forms - we might even venture into the message he was trying to communicate and whether or not he actually communicated his intended message.
This simple activity will lead to many days of spontaneous and impromptu conversations - I can't wait to hear what we will talk about!
Pretty good for his first attempt. The great thing about learning is that although this particular product may be finished, the learning will continue. I will reflect with my son about his prezi and what he thinks is good about it, as well as what he might do differently next time. We will also talk about communication and how it comes in many different forms - we might even venture into the message he was trying to communicate and whether or not he actually communicated his intended message.
This simple activity will lead to many days of spontaneous and impromptu conversations - I can't wait to hear what we will talk about!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
I'm Ready to Learn!
About 3 weeks ago I was working on a Prezi at home when my son, who is in 3rd grade, came into the study and asked what I was doing. I showed him what I was working on and explained to him how a Prezi differs from a Power Point presentation. He said he thought it was pretty cool and off he went to continue playing.
Today I saw him in the hall with one of his classmates taking photos of different parts of the school. He explained to me that they were taking photos to send to their pen pal in the US so he could see what our school looked like. I thought this was a great idea and was impressed by his creative thinking.
On the was home this afternoon he asked me if I would show him how to make a Prezi - he had decided that rather than do a Power Point to send to his pen pal he would do a Prezi. I was very surprised that he remembered something I had shown him only briefly a few weeks earlier - I was even more surprised that he remembered enough about it that he thought this would be a good way to share some information and photos about our school with someone on the other side of the world. We discussed what he planned to do and he asked me if you could draw arrows in Prezi - I replied that I didn't think so and that I had never really tried before.
When we got home from school we created a free account for him and then I showed him some of the basics to get him started. I then left him to play around and explore this new program. After about 10 minutes he came into the kitchen and said, "I know more than you now!" He went on to explain that he had found how to draw arrows - so I sat down as he explained to me how to do this.
This was a wonderful learning experience for us both - we both got to teach and we both got to learn. It was clear that his interest was high in learning how to use this program, therefore he was fully engaged in what we were doing and his ability to learn and apply his new skills and knowledge was outstanding.
It is amazing what people, especially children and adolescents are capable of when they are ready to learn. As educators we need to be aware of these teachable moments and be ready and willing to capitalise on them - when students are interested in what they are doing and see a practical application for it then don't need to be extrinsically motivated, they are ready and willing to learn because they want to and because they see value in what they are learning.
Today I saw him in the hall with one of his classmates taking photos of different parts of the school. He explained to me that they were taking photos to send to their pen pal in the US so he could see what our school looked like. I thought this was a great idea and was impressed by his creative thinking.
On the was home this afternoon he asked me if I would show him how to make a Prezi - he had decided that rather than do a Power Point to send to his pen pal he would do a Prezi. I was very surprised that he remembered something I had shown him only briefly a few weeks earlier - I was even more surprised that he remembered enough about it that he thought this would be a good way to share some information and photos about our school with someone on the other side of the world. We discussed what he planned to do and he asked me if you could draw arrows in Prezi - I replied that I didn't think so and that I had never really tried before.
When we got home from school we created a free account for him and then I showed him some of the basics to get him started. I then left him to play around and explore this new program. After about 10 minutes he came into the kitchen and said, "I know more than you now!" He went on to explain that he had found how to draw arrows - so I sat down as he explained to me how to do this.
This was a wonderful learning experience for us both - we both got to teach and we both got to learn. It was clear that his interest was high in learning how to use this program, therefore he was fully engaged in what we were doing and his ability to learn and apply his new skills and knowledge was outstanding.
It is amazing what people, especially children and adolescents are capable of when they are ready to learn. As educators we need to be aware of these teachable moments and be ready and willing to capitalise on them - when students are interested in what they are doing and see a practical application for it then don't need to be extrinsically motivated, they are ready and willing to learn because they want to and because they see value in what they are learning.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
1:1 Requires a Management Pardigm Shift
Working with students in a 1:1 laptop environment opens up many doors and opportunities for students and teachers to engage in meaningful and collaborative learning experiences. It also creates some challenges in terms of how we manage our own use, as well as student uses of the technology.
The following Blog entry and Slideshare offer some challenging questions to help us shift from a 'control' approach to more of a 'behavior management' approach:
The following Blog entry and Slideshare offer some challenging questions to help us shift from a 'control' approach to more of a 'behavior management' approach:
Classroom Management in a 1:1 Enviroment Draft
Students making inappropriate choices has been something that teachers have had to deal with long before the introduction of computers in classrooms. To develop and support effective and powerful technology environments in schools we need to focus on laptop misuse as a student behavior rather than a result of having laptops in classrooms. Setting clearly defined boundaries that are applied consistently and fairly is one of the first steps to effective classroom management - this applies to using technology as well.Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Just in Time Technology
One of our MS initiatives for faculty this year has been the introduction of the JIT (Just in Time) technology training sessions. These optional sessions are offered every Wednesday for those faculty and administrators who are interested in the week's topic, and whose schedules will allow them to attend. Sessions are run by faculty who volunteer (or who are approached) to share how they have been using technology to improve learning, communication, collaboration, and sharing.
These sessions have been growing in popularity and have been attended by faculty from all 3 divisions - we have also had presenters from all 3 divisions deliver and share a range of topics. The goal is that those who attend a session will go out and share what they learned with 1 or 2 of their colleagues, creating an organic growth of tech skills and knowledge amongst the faculty.
Today I had the opportunity to share some of the tech tools I have been using over the past couple of months - Prezi, Chatzy, Evernote, Diigo, Wordle, Twitter, and Commoncraft. The real value of this session came from the discussion that was generated amongst the participants who willingly shared their knowledge of the different applications and how they have found them useful in the classroom, as well as in their professional and personal lives.
Professional growth occurs when opportunities are provided for professional discussions and sharing of practice. The JIT Tech sessions are one way that we are providing these opportunities.
These sessions have been growing in popularity and have been attended by faculty from all 3 divisions - we have also had presenters from all 3 divisions deliver and share a range of topics. The goal is that those who attend a session will go out and share what they learned with 1 or 2 of their colleagues, creating an organic growth of tech skills and knowledge amongst the faculty.
Today I had the opportunity to share some of the tech tools I have been using over the past couple of months - Prezi, Chatzy, Evernote, Diigo, Wordle, Twitter, and Commoncraft. The real value of this session came from the discussion that was generated amongst the participants who willingly shared their knowledge of the different applications and how they have found them useful in the classroom, as well as in their professional and personal lives.
Professional growth occurs when opportunities are provided for professional discussions and sharing of practice. The JIT Tech sessions are one way that we are providing these opportunities.
Jumping to Conclusions
The way our brain works is a wonderful mystery, in particular how it takes in pieces of information and uses them to think ahead and create a proposed scenario of what is to come - this is what causes us to jump to conclusions, using prior experience combined with pieces of stimulus to assume we know what is going to happen next.
Today I received a phone call that began like this:
"Hello, is this Principal Cooper? I am [student name]'s Mother. I just received a letter informing me that [student name] will be serving a detention tomorrow........."
I would like to say that at this point my mind was completely open and awaiting further information. Unfortunately this was not the case. With this small fragment of information my mind was already telling me that the parent on the phone was going to tell me that the detention was unfair and that the student should be given another chance. As I listened my mind was busy preparing statements that would defend our discipline policy and explain the importance of applying our policy fairly and consistently.
I agreed with the student's Mother about the detention and was about to respond with my mentally prepared statements when I was taken aback! The next part of the phone conversation went something like this:
"I just wanted to call and say thank you! [Student name] needs this and I am very pleased that the school is taking this seriously. It gives me great confidence that this action has been taken."
At this point I was experiencing a little schock and it took me a few moments to gather my thoughts and rejoin the conversation. This certainly was a very pleasing surprise and a timely reminder that we need to listen carefully and actively to avoid jumping to conclusions based on partial information.
I am sincerely thankful for the wonderful support and involvement that our parents in the MS show on a daily basis.
Today I received a phone call that began like this:
"Hello, is this Principal Cooper? I am [student name]'s Mother. I just received a letter informing me that [student name] will be serving a detention tomorrow........."
I would like to say that at this point my mind was completely open and awaiting further information. Unfortunately this was not the case. With this small fragment of information my mind was already telling me that the parent on the phone was going to tell me that the detention was unfair and that the student should be given another chance. As I listened my mind was busy preparing statements that would defend our discipline policy and explain the importance of applying our policy fairly and consistently.
I agreed with the student's Mother about the detention and was about to respond with my mentally prepared statements when I was taken aback! The next part of the phone conversation went something like this:
"I just wanted to call and say thank you! [Student name] needs this and I am very pleased that the school is taking this seriously. It gives me great confidence that this action has been taken."
At this point I was experiencing a little schock and it took me a few moments to gather my thoughts and rejoin the conversation. This certainly was a very pleasing surprise and a timely reminder that we need to listen carefully and actively to avoid jumping to conclusions based on partial information.
I am sincerely thankful for the wonderful support and involvement that our parents in the MS show on a daily basis.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Who's the Audience?
Tomorrow we will work with our first group of students, 6th grade, to introduce them to their digital portfolio. This is something that we have been discussing for some time and I am very thankful to our MYP Coordinator, Mr Fambro, for his determination and hours spent making this a reality.
One of the major discussion points that has come out of our conversations has been the concept of audience. This is a very interesting issue and it has been intriguing to listen to the different view points. I found this blog post by Jeff Utecht - Audience as Community - very timely and I would encourage anybody who has doubts about the value of audience to student engagement to read this post and the associated blog posts mentioned within.
I have seen first hand how powerful it can be when the students know that their product is going to be shared with an audience wider than the teacher. I know that adding a Clustr map to this blog and seeing that there are readers outside of the GSIS community has prompted renewed energy in my posting. This same sort of engagement and enthusiasm for writing can be passed onto our students through the use of audience.
The digitial portfolios in the MS will be very beneficial for providing a place where our students can store work and reflect on what they have been learning. The real value of these portfolios will be realized when our students can share them with a world wide audience and receive feedback and comments from people all around the world, thus helping them to create their online presence.
One of the major discussion points that has come out of our conversations has been the concept of audience. This is a very interesting issue and it has been intriguing to listen to the different view points. I found this blog post by Jeff Utecht - Audience as Community - very timely and I would encourage anybody who has doubts about the value of audience to student engagement to read this post and the associated blog posts mentioned within.
I have seen first hand how powerful it can be when the students know that their product is going to be shared with an audience wider than the teacher. I know that adding a Clustr map to this blog and seeing that there are readers outside of the GSIS community has prompted renewed energy in my posting. This same sort of engagement and enthusiasm for writing can be passed onto our students through the use of audience.
The digitial portfolios in the MS will be very beneficial for providing a place where our students can store work and reflect on what they have been learning. The real value of these portfolios will be realized when our students can share them with a world wide audience and receive feedback and comments from people all around the world, thus helping them to create their online presence.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Korean Education Getting Creative
Creativity and critical thinking are not words that are often associated with traditional Korean education practices. According the article below, Seoul's Mayor is hoping to change that:
Oh Plans to Bring Creativity to Kindergarten Education
This is a bold plan in an educational environment that has often valued rote learning and self-discipline above creativity. Hopefully it is a plan that is carried through effectively for the benefit of the students.
Oh Plans to Bring Creativity to Kindergarten Education
This is a bold plan in an educational environment that has often valued rote learning and self-discipline above creativity. Hopefully it is a plan that is carried through effectively for the benefit of the students.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Giving Students the Opportunity to Shine
On Saturday we kicked off a new service/outreach initiative in the MS. Our Student Life Minister Ms Choe and one of our active colleagues and parents, Ms Chang recently started a conversation with a couple who are Pastors of a church near Suwon Sports Stadium. The Pastors run afterschool tutorial sessions for the local kids, most of whom come from broken and/or underprivileged homes. Both Ms Choe and Ms Chang knew that we had been looking for opportunities for our MS students and faculty to contribute to our local community through meaningful and repeatable service and they quickly realized that this is just what we had been waiting for.
So on Saturday the Pastors brought 13 elementary aged students to GSIS to participate in a Chapel, story time, computer time, games, swimming, and lunch. Each child was paired up with one of our MS students, 20 of whom selflessly gave up their Saturday for this worthwhile service. The day was also generously supported by Ms Choe, Ms Chang, Ms Kim in the library, and Ms Smith and Ms Wendling in the pool. Our visitors had a wonderful time and they all said that they can't wait to come back again - we are also excited about our next day together scheduled for December.
I was extremely proud of our MS students and the way that they put their own wants and needs aside for the day to serve these children. I know our MS students gained a lot from this experience and I was very pleased to hear that they will all be signing up to help out again next month.
I have been discussing this idea with our Student Life Minister for some time so it was great to see it come to fruition. Saturday was a wonderful beginning and I hope it is proves to be the catalyst for an expanding and growing community service program here at GSIS.
So on Saturday the Pastors brought 13 elementary aged students to GSIS to participate in a Chapel, story time, computer time, games, swimming, and lunch. Each child was paired up with one of our MS students, 20 of whom selflessly gave up their Saturday for this worthwhile service. The day was also generously supported by Ms Choe, Ms Chang, Ms Kim in the library, and Ms Smith and Ms Wendling in the pool. Our visitors had a wonderful time and they all said that they can't wait to come back again - we are also excited about our next day together scheduled for December.
I was extremely proud of our MS students and the way that they put their own wants and needs aside for the day to serve these children. I know our MS students gained a lot from this experience and I was very pleased to hear that they will all be signing up to help out again next month.
I have been discussing this idea with our Student Life Minister for some time so it was great to see it come to fruition. Saturday was a wonderful beginning and I hope it is proves to be the catalyst for an expanding and growing community service program here at GSIS.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Locking SafeSearch
The internet is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, for creating social networks with like minded people around the world, and even for looking up information on just about anything and everything. Sometimes however, inappropriate or unwanted sites appear when we perform a search. One way to help avoid this happening is to use SafeSearch - and now you can lock SafeSearch to ensure that your settings are not changed by different users. The short YouTube clip below explains how this can be done.
Thank you Mr Peterson for keeping us up to date with the latest tools to help provide a safe and secure internet experience.
Thank you Mr Peterson for keeping us up to date with the latest tools to help provide a safe and secure internet experience.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Struggling with Identity
Yesterday I heard from Dr Josephine Kim, a graduate from a Korean international school (ICS-U) who now teaches and counsels at Harvard University.
This was a fascinating presentation and narrative that highlighted many issues that affect international students, particularly Korean students in international schools. It would take many pages to fully and effectively summarize the presentation, so I have highlighted some of the major points in the bullets below:
It is important for educators and parents to be aware of these challenges that our students are facing, and to be understanding and supportive as we nurture our students and children through these difficult years. It is imperative that parents and teachers work together to help each other understand the cultural differences we are dealing with - this will enable us to more effectively support our students as they find their cultural identity.
This was a fascinating presentation and narrative that highlighted many issues that affect international students, particularly Korean students in international schools. It would take many pages to fully and effectively summarize the presentation, so I have highlighted some of the major points in the bullets below:
- One positive experience with a teacher can impact a student for life
- When Korean students study abroad they try to lose their Korean identity to try to fit in - when they return to Korea they find it difficult to know what their identity is
- Many Korean students suffer from 'perfectionism'
- Western cultural norms are very different, and sometimes in contrast to Korean cultural norms (individualism vs collectivism)
- At school we encourage critical thought and expressing ideas and opinions, but these are not traditionally encouraged in student-parent relationships
It is important for educators and parents to be aware of these challenges that our students are facing, and to be understanding and supportive as we nurture our students and children through these difficult years. It is imperative that parents and teachers work together to help each other understand the cultural differences we are dealing with - this will enable us to more effectively support our students as they find their cultural identity.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
EARCOS Administrators' Conference - Manila
Well the EARCOS conference is over - what a wonderful 4 days! I really enjoyed engaging with educational leaders from all over the world who are currently working in international schools throughout Asia.
The workshops that I participated in allowed me to share some of the great things that we are doing at GSIS while at the same time hearing from other schools and some of the great things that they are doing. This time of professional collaboration and sharing really helps to invigorate and inspire all involved - offering great ideas and initiatives that can be taken back to our respective schools for the betterment of our students.
During the conference I was introduced to many new technological tools and had the opportunity to apply them practically while I was participating. Some of these tools really helped to enhance my conference experience and I feel that I was more engaged and learned more by combining the use of technology within this conference context. This first hand experience with the power of technology to enhance my learning, engagement, and understanding really affirms our use of technology at GSIS and our effort to ensure that our students are responsible and effective users of these technologies.
As parents and educators we sometimes feel a little daunted and fearful when it comes to education and technology. My experiences with the potential of technology to increase engagment and understanding for our students assures me that infusing technology into our learning experiences is something we should embrace, not fear.
The workshops that I participated in allowed me to share some of the great things that we are doing at GSIS while at the same time hearing from other schools and some of the great things that they are doing. This time of professional collaboration and sharing really helps to invigorate and inspire all involved - offering great ideas and initiatives that can be taken back to our respective schools for the betterment of our students.
During the conference I was introduced to many new technological tools and had the opportunity to apply them practically while I was participating. Some of these tools really helped to enhance my conference experience and I feel that I was more engaged and learned more by combining the use of technology within this conference context. This first hand experience with the power of technology to enhance my learning, engagement, and understanding really affirms our use of technology at GSIS and our effort to ensure that our students are responsible and effective users of these technologies.
As parents and educators we sometimes feel a little daunted and fearful when it comes to education and technology. My experiences with the potential of technology to increase engagment and understanding for our students assures me that infusing technology into our learning experiences is something we should embrace, not fear.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wordle
The web-based application "Wordle" has been around for some time and has been utilized by educators in many different ways. Yesterday I put my Blog address into the Wordle creater to generate the following image:
It is interesting to see which particular words appear most throughout my Blog posts - the larger the word the more times it appears. I am especially pleased that the words 'communicate', 'sharing', 'collaborate', and 'technology' appear as large words. These words maybe aren't as large I would have hoped, but then I see that other members of their word families (collaborative, collaboration, communicating, communication, share) also appear. The dominant presence of these words is important as these are skills that we need to help our students develop if they are to be successful in the 21st century.
It is interesting to see which particular words appear most throughout my Blog posts - the larger the word the more times it appears. I am especially pleased that the words 'communicate', 'sharing', 'collaborate', and 'technology' appear as large words. These words maybe aren't as large I would have hoped, but then I see that other members of their word families (collaborative, collaboration, communicating, communication, share) also appear. The dominant presence of these words is important as these are skills that we need to help our students develop if they are to be successful in the 21st century.
Friday, October 30, 2009
EARCOS Administrators' Conference - Manila
Today I am in a very wet and very windy Manila to attend the 2009 EARCOS Administrators' conference. I am currently participating in a workshop focused on how leaders can create a culture of learning in the 21st century. This is wonderful opportunity to engage in some face to face discussions and sharing of ideas with educational leaders from around the world - at my table I am working with Principals and School Heads from Korea, Cambodia, Beijing, and Singapore.
Our workshop presenter Chris Troy (www.christoy.net) is facilitating our discussion as we explore issues of change, refelction, and modeling within a context of teaching and learning in the 21st century. One very interesting notion is that 21st century teaching and learning is not reliant on technology, however having the skills and tools to effectively utilize the available technolgies has the potential to enhance and expand the learning experiences for our students.
I am very excited about the next few days and the opportunity to be challenged and inspired by colleagues from the east Asia region.
Our workshop presenter Chris Troy (www.christoy.net) is facilitating our discussion as we explore issues of change, refelction, and modeling within a context of teaching and learning in the 21st century. One very interesting notion is that 21st century teaching and learning is not reliant on technology, however having the skills and tools to effectively utilize the available technolgies has the potential to enhance and expand the learning experiences for our students.
I am very excited about the next few days and the opportunity to be challenged and inspired by colleagues from the east Asia region.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
How do you utilize technology?
Many of the discussions I have with parents and educators, both here in Korea and around the world, center around controlling student use of technology. I enjoy these conversations and steering them away from being focused on control and towards an emphasis on utilization.
So how do you utilize technology with Middle School students? Our Tech Coordinator, Mr Frank Peterson summarizes it eloquently - communication, collaboration, and sharing.
These 3 components of tech utilization are not mutually exclusive, but rather they are part of an ever revolving circle. It is difficult to communicate without sharing - whether I am communicating ideas, opinions, or even just information. It is impossible to effectively collaborate without communicating, or without being willing to share. It is also true that when we share we communicate - even something as simple as sharing a cookie communicates a great deal.
Do you need technology to be able to communicate, collaborate, and share? The simple answer is no. The more complex answer is no, but............ With the utilization of technology our students now have the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, and share with other students in their classroom, with the teacher, with students in other classes, in other schools, even in other countries. Students are encouraged to utilize the available technology to collaboratively solve problems, to collaboratively create presentations, and to share their ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and understanding in new and exciting ways that are helping education to become more personal. Learning becomes more real and more important when students know that their intended audience is wider than the teacher and their peers in the same room. Have you ever witnessed how many times a student will independently revise a podcast if they know it will become available through iTunes?
Teaching and learning can certainly occur, as it has always done, without the use of laptops and the internet in classrooms. However, if we neglect to utilize these available technologies then we take from our students the opportunity to develop the important 21st skills of communication, collaboration, and sharing.
So how do you utilize technology with Middle School students? Our Tech Coordinator, Mr Frank Peterson summarizes it eloquently - communication, collaboration, and sharing.
These 3 components of tech utilization are not mutually exclusive, but rather they are part of an ever revolving circle. It is difficult to communicate without sharing - whether I am communicating ideas, opinions, or even just information. It is impossible to effectively collaborate without communicating, or without being willing to share. It is also true that when we share we communicate - even something as simple as sharing a cookie communicates a great deal.
Do you need technology to be able to communicate, collaborate, and share? The simple answer is no. The more complex answer is no, but............ With the utilization of technology our students now have the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, and share with other students in their classroom, with the teacher, with students in other classes, in other schools, even in other countries. Students are encouraged to utilize the available technology to collaboratively solve problems, to collaboratively create presentations, and to share their ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and understanding in new and exciting ways that are helping education to become more personal. Learning becomes more real and more important when students know that their intended audience is wider than the teacher and their peers in the same room. Have you ever witnessed how many times a student will independently revise a podcast if they know it will become available through iTunes?
Teaching and learning can certainly occur, as it has always done, without the use of laptops and the internet in classrooms. However, if we neglect to utilize these available technologies then we take from our students the opportunity to develop the important 21st skills of communication, collaboration, and sharing.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Professional Networking
Today I had the opportunity to host Middle School Principals from International School Songdo, Korea International School, Seoul International School, and Yongsan International School Seoul for a Middle School Principals' Network meeting.
This was a very productive time where we collaborated and discussed issues within our schools and brainstormed some very exciting ideas about how we can build professional learning communities amongst the international schools within Korea. We all agreed that we have some of the world's best teachers here in Korea and that through sharing and collaborating between schools we can help all of our teachers develop and grow.
This meeting certainly proved that 2 heads are better than 1, and when you put 5 experienced and dedicated international educators into a room together the discussion is inspirational. I really am excited about following up on some of the initiatives that were discussed today.
This was a very productive time where we collaborated and discussed issues within our schools and brainstormed some very exciting ideas about how we can build professional learning communities amongst the international schools within Korea. We all agreed that we have some of the world's best teachers here in Korea and that through sharing and collaborating between schools we can help all of our teachers develop and grow.
This meeting certainly proved that 2 heads are better than 1, and when you put 5 experienced and dedicated international educators into a room together the discussion is inspirational. I really am excited about following up on some of the initiatives that were discussed today.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Connecting Learners in a Global World
This week I am participating in an online conference entitled "Connecting Learners in a Global World: why is this important? This conference is sponsored by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and provides a great opportunity for me to engage in some discussion with educators and leaders from around the world.
After my first day of participation I have added the term 'next-practice' to my vocabulary. I have long been aware of best-practice and have actively read current educational research and stories from succesful schools and organizations to ensure that my teaching and leadership is an example of current best-practice. The term next-practice refers to taking what is current best-practice and applying a futures focused planning approach to ensure that what you are doing in 3-5 years will be the current best-practice of that time.
It is very important that we continue to look ahead - if we don't we find ourselves in a continual game of catch up. When the current GSIS Kindergarten students arrive to the Middle School in 6 years time what will their MS education look like? Is our current best practice going to serve the educational needs of this group of students in 2015? I don't believe so. Therefore we must continue to implement, evaluate, reflect, and revise so we can use where we have come from, combined with where we are now, to map a path for where we are going.
At GSIS I sincerely believe that we are utilizing current best-practice, and this makes me very excited because it means that our next-practice will ensure that we continue to provide high quality learning experiences for each individual student.
After my first day of participation I have added the term 'next-practice' to my vocabulary. I have long been aware of best-practice and have actively read current educational research and stories from succesful schools and organizations to ensure that my teaching and leadership is an example of current best-practice. The term next-practice refers to taking what is current best-practice and applying a futures focused planning approach to ensure that what you are doing in 3-5 years will be the current best-practice of that time.
It is very important that we continue to look ahead - if we don't we find ourselves in a continual game of catch up. When the current GSIS Kindergarten students arrive to the Middle School in 6 years time what will their MS education look like? Is our current best practice going to serve the educational needs of this group of students in 2015? I don't believe so. Therefore we must continue to implement, evaluate, reflect, and revise so we can use where we have come from, combined with where we are now, to map a path for where we are going.
At GSIS I sincerely believe that we are utilizing current best-practice, and this makes me very excited because it means that our next-practice will ensure that we continue to provide high quality learning experiences for each individual student.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Quality Time
I have just returned from 3 days in the mountains of Seorak National Park on the east coast of Korea - without doubt one of the most beautiful places in the world!
During these 3 days my family and I spent some very precious quality time together hiking through the trails and up the mountains. As we walked we engaged in some wonderful conversations - not parent to child, or teacher to student, just person to person. We talked about our dreams and our fears, our loves and our concerns, and we even tackled some of the universe's philosophical questions.
One of the highlights was seeing my 6 year old daughter and my 8 year old son really challenge themselves and get beyond their comfort zone. We did some challenging hikes and when things got tough the two of them were telling themselves that they could do it and to just keep going. They were even encouraging each other and when we made it to our goal they displayed real pride in themselves and in each other.
As busy parents it is often hard to find this sort of quality time to spend with our children, and it seems that as our children enter middle school and become teenagers that this becomes even more difficult. One question to consider is, "When was the last time I sat down and talked with my child just to talk and listen?" Often our conversations revolve around questions like, How's school? Have you done your homework? Have you cleaned your room?
During this Chuseok break I hope you have had lots of opportunities to sit down, or walk, or ride with your children and engage in some deep and personal conversations - you never know what your children may teach you during these conversations.
During these 3 days my family and I spent some very precious quality time together hiking through the trails and up the mountains. As we walked we engaged in some wonderful conversations - not parent to child, or teacher to student, just person to person. We talked about our dreams and our fears, our loves and our concerns, and we even tackled some of the universe's philosophical questions.
One of the highlights was seeing my 6 year old daughter and my 8 year old son really challenge themselves and get beyond their comfort zone. We did some challenging hikes and when things got tough the two of them were telling themselves that they could do it and to just keep going. They were even encouraging each other and when we made it to our goal they displayed real pride in themselves and in each other.
As busy parents it is often hard to find this sort of quality time to spend with our children, and it seems that as our children enter middle school and become teenagers that this becomes even more difficult. One question to consider is, "When was the last time I sat down and talked with my child just to talk and listen?" Often our conversations revolve around questions like, How's school? Have you done your homework? Have you cleaned your room?
During this Chuseok break I hope you have had lots of opportunities to sit down, or walk, or ride with your children and engage in some deep and personal conversations - you never know what your children may teach you during these conversations.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Holistic Approach
I am a lover of music - I love listening to music, watching music (both in concert and on DVD), and I love playing and performing music, so I may be a little biased in my support of the article below:
More Music Lessons
I find it interesting that in some educational systems the solution to declining standardized tests results is to cut out the Arts and PE in favor of more instructional time devoted to Math and Literacy. The justification is that more seat time in these areas will lead to better learning outcomes. Is this true?
We often hear people talk about quality vs quantity. Would better quality learning experiences produce better learning outcomes? I think there would be little argument that this is a true statement.
We should be very careful when we automatically assume that more time devoted to something will produce better outcomes, particularly when this increase in time comes at the expense of equally important subject areas like the Arts and PE.
More Music Lessons
I find it interesting that in some educational systems the solution to declining standardized tests results is to cut out the Arts and PE in favor of more instructional time devoted to Math and Literacy. The justification is that more seat time in these areas will lead to better learning outcomes. Is this true?
We often hear people talk about quality vs quantity. Would better quality learning experiences produce better learning outcomes? I think there would be little argument that this is a true statement.
We should be very careful when we automatically assume that more time devoted to something will produce better outcomes, particularly when this increase in time comes at the expense of equally important subject areas like the Arts and PE.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Why is my back aching?
When I greet students in the morning as they arrive to school I am sometimes concerned by the image of small middle schooler struggling under the weight of their backpack, laptop, and periodically a musical instrument. I am very pleased to say that I have seen this image less and less as our students have become more adept at utilizing their locker space, and are becoming more organized with their homework and co-curricular activities.
The following article highlights that this is a global concern, and that it certainly is an issue that educators must consider:
A holistic education does not just focus on academic development, but also social, emotional, spiritual, and physical development. To truly deliver on the promise of a holistic education we need to consider how much we are asking our students to carry from one class to the next, and from school to home and back again each day.
Vatterott, Cathy (2009) Rethinking Homework: Best practices that support diverse needs. ASCD: Virginia
The following article highlights that this is a global concern, and that it certainly is an issue that educators must consider:
Lockers to be made a must in schools
This is also supported in Cathy Vatterott's book, "Rethinking Homework" when she quotes recent research claiming that a student's backpack should not exceed 10% or 15% (depending on the research) of the child's body weight. (2009, p. 23)A holistic education does not just focus on academic development, but also social, emotional, spiritual, and physical development. To truly deliver on the promise of a holistic education we need to consider how much we are asking our students to carry from one class to the next, and from school to home and back again each day.
Vatterott, Cathy (2009) Rethinking Homework: Best practices that support diverse needs. ASCD: Virginia
Walking in the Students' Shoes
This morning we had our first 'School Experience Day' where 20 of our MS parents got to walk in the students' shoes for a couple of hours. This was a fun morning that involved listening, writing, reading, speaking, discussing, developing, creating, collaborating, and justifying as the parents were the students for three mini-lessons.
The aim of this morning was to help the parents see first hand how education has changed since they were at school. The major shift being that now education is much more student-centered, as opposed to the traditional teacher-centered classroom.
The parents who attended were great participants, and showed a real willingness to get out of their comfort zone and try new things. The discussions were rich, the knowledge was extensive, and the questions were thoughtful and insightful.
We plan to do another one of these 'School Experience Days' during 2nd quarter, and I hope that all the same parents return and bring a friend with them.
The aim of this morning was to help the parents see first hand how education has changed since they were at school. The major shift being that now education is much more student-centered, as opposed to the traditional teacher-centered classroom.
The parents who attended were great participants, and showed a real willingness to get out of their comfort zone and try new things. The discussions were rich, the knowledge was extensive, and the questions were thoughtful and insightful.
We plan to do another one of these 'School Experience Days' during 2nd quarter, and I hope that all the same parents return and bring a friend with them.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Set Goals and Be Diligent
At Friday's Chapel our Student Life Minister, Ms Jean Choe, spoke about setting goals and working diligently toward the achievement of these goals. A very important message indeed.
One of our challenges is to help our students develop long term, mid term, and short term goals, and then backwards plan how these goals can be achieved. This is the same process that we apply for our development and improvement at GSIS. We have long term goals (our strategic plan), yearly goals (that are linked to our strategic plan), and quarterly goals (that are developed by our Core Team). We then use these goals to help guide and direct our daily actions and plans to ensure that we are working toward achieving the GSIS mission.
As a parent it is important to talk to your child about their goals - what is their long term goal? What are their goals for this year? What is it that they want to achieve this quarter? What are they going to do to achieve these goals? What can you do to support them in this?
We often talk about developing our home-school partnership to support our students, which is a very important part of the educational process. We also need to develop the parent-child and student-teacher relationships to further support our students and ensure that they have the best possible opportunity to reach their full potential.
One of our challenges is to help our students develop long term, mid term, and short term goals, and then backwards plan how these goals can be achieved. This is the same process that we apply for our development and improvement at GSIS. We have long term goals (our strategic plan), yearly goals (that are linked to our strategic plan), and quarterly goals (that are developed by our Core Team). We then use these goals to help guide and direct our daily actions and plans to ensure that we are working toward achieving the GSIS mission.
As a parent it is important to talk to your child about their goals - what is their long term goal? What are their goals for this year? What is it that they want to achieve this quarter? What are they going to do to achieve these goals? What can you do to support them in this?
We often talk about developing our home-school partnership to support our students, which is a very important part of the educational process. We also need to develop the parent-child and student-teacher relationships to further support our students and ensure that they have the best possible opportunity to reach their full potential.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Paradigm Shift
"We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life."
Sir William Osler,
physician and teacher
physician and teacher
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
How Serious Are Korean Parents About Education
The following article gives a glimpse of how much Korean parents are willing to invest, and how much they are willing to sacrifice to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for their children.
Koreans' education spending defies downturn
The challenge for educators is to help parents, and not just Korean parents, to understand that education is more than just learning to speak English or just memorizing a list of facts. There are many facets to education and it is vital that we help students to develop in all areas: academic, physical, emotional, and spiritual. One should not be given priority over another because this will create an imbalance, and this imbalance may lead to destructive habits that can be very hard to break. Adding too much water to the soup can create a broth that contains very little nutritional value.
The school/home partnership is imperative in helping students to maintain a balanced lifestyle; one where they study hard, but they also take time out to participate in sports and play, as well as having opportunities to develop their EQ (emotional quotient) and their spiritual being. Leading a balanced lifestyle as a child/adolescent will lead to a balanced adult who is ready for life's challenges in the 21st century.
Koreans' education spending defies downturn
The challenge for educators is to help parents, and not just Korean parents, to understand that education is more than just learning to speak English or just memorizing a list of facts. There are many facets to education and it is vital that we help students to develop in all areas: academic, physical, emotional, and spiritual. One should not be given priority over another because this will create an imbalance, and this imbalance may lead to destructive habits that can be very hard to break. Adding too much water to the soup can create a broth that contains very little nutritional value.
The school/home partnership is imperative in helping students to maintain a balanced lifestyle; one where they study hard, but they also take time out to participate in sports and play, as well as having opportunities to develop their EQ (emotional quotient) and their spiritual being. Leading a balanced lifestyle as a child/adolescent will lead to a balanced adult who is ready for life's challenges in the 21st century.
Monday, August 10, 2009
We're Off and Running
It certainly has been an action packed first two days. We have had a welcoming assembly for our MS students, we have gone through policies and procedures in the student planner, we have distributed locks and lockers, we have helped students to decipher their individual schedules, and we have held tech boot camp sessions for all MS students. The students certainly know that they are back at school.
In amongst all this I have had the opportunity to observe teachers taking the time to build relationships with students. This has happened in a variety of ways: ice breaker activities, sharing personal information and stories, group activities, and lots of faculty/student interactions as we pause to help each other find our way.
The teachers have been very open in sharing their stories with the students which has really helped the students to see that our teachers do have a human side; one that genuinely cares for the students and wants them to do their best. This is a great way to begin our and to ensure that our students feel valued, respected, and cared for. Establishing these relationships from the very beginning creates an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and ensures the development of the whole child.
In amongst all this I have had the opportunity to observe teachers taking the time to build relationships with students. This has happened in a variety of ways: ice breaker activities, sharing personal information and stories, group activities, and lots of faculty/student interactions as we pause to help each other find our way.
The teachers have been very open in sharing their stories with the students which has really helped the students to see that our teachers do have a human side; one that genuinely cares for the students and wants them to do their best. This is a great way to begin our and to ensure that our students feel valued, respected, and cared for. Establishing these relationships from the very beginning creates an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and ensures the development of the whole child.
Monday, August 3, 2009
What's it all about?
This coming academic year will be the second year that the GSIS MS has existed as its own division within GSIS, and the fourth year that GSIS has been serving students in Suwon. This is a great time for us to begin collecting and analyzing data that will assist us in our process of growth and improvement.
During the summer I enjoyed lots of quality reading time, both personal and professional, and I took this opportunity to study ASCD's Educational Leadership journal entitled, 'Data - Now What?' I was very interested in reading some research on how schools have been using data and what sorts of data is being collected. I believe that successful schools are more than just high test scores, however, educational data is offered referred to through this narrow lense.
I found it very refreshing to read Douglas B. Reeves's article, "Looking Deeper into the Data", at the end of which he states, "Similarly, student test-score data is only one piece of a complex puzzle. There are, after all, faces, names, and real lives behind the data." As I continued to read through and reflect on the articles in this journal there was a definite recurring theme, that gathering and analyzing data without asking why can actually be detrimental to the improvement process.
As we begin this year it is very important for us to remember that each day we are dealing with real people, real emotions, and real stories, all of which can impact test scores and other numbers that our data may show. We certainly need to make informed decisions based on the data, but we also need to ensure that we have investigated the stories, emotions, and the people behind the numbers so that we are using the whole picture to make these decisions. After all, the people are what it's all about.
Reference: Reeves, D. B. (2008) Looking Deeper Into the Data Educational Leadership, Vol 66, No 4, pp 89-90.
During the summer I enjoyed lots of quality reading time, both personal and professional, and I took this opportunity to study ASCD's Educational Leadership journal entitled, 'Data - Now What?' I was very interested in reading some research on how schools have been using data and what sorts of data is being collected. I believe that successful schools are more than just high test scores, however, educational data is offered referred to through this narrow lense.
I found it very refreshing to read Douglas B. Reeves's article, "Looking Deeper into the Data", at the end of which he states, "Similarly, student test-score data is only one piece of a complex puzzle. There are, after all, faces, names, and real lives behind the data." As I continued to read through and reflect on the articles in this journal there was a definite recurring theme, that gathering and analyzing data without asking why can actually be detrimental to the improvement process.
As we begin this year it is very important for us to remember that each day we are dealing with real people, real emotions, and real stories, all of which can impact test scores and other numbers that our data may show. We certainly need to make informed decisions based on the data, but we also need to ensure that we have investigated the stories, emotions, and the people behind the numbers so that we are using the whole picture to make these decisions. After all, the people are what it's all about.
Reference: Reeves, D. B. (2008) Looking Deeper Into the Data Educational Leadership, Vol 66, No 4, pp 89-90.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
High Stakes Testing
I found this article very interesting and a timely reminder of how important it is to constantly communicate with our parents and explain why we do things the way we do them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8088940.stm
Korean students are no strangers to high stakes testing and having their future being dependent on the results of a single test. I am sure that many of our parents also went through a system that culminated with a final test (or tests) that would determine their future.
It is important for our parents and students to understand that at GSIS we view assessment as an opportunity for students to demonstrate understanding - it is part of the learning process. That is why we gather a scrapbook of assessment evidence over a period of time as opposed to a one off snapshot piece of assessment that may not provide an accurate or valid picture of the level of student understanding.
We are very interested in taking in the sights during the journey as well as what we will see when we arrive at our destination.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8088940.stm
Korean students are no strangers to high stakes testing and having their future being dependent on the results of a single test. I am sure that many of our parents also went through a system that culminated with a final test (or tests) that would determine their future.
It is important for our parents and students to understand that at GSIS we view assessment as an opportunity for students to demonstrate understanding - it is part of the learning process. That is why we gather a scrapbook of assessment evidence over a period of time as opposed to a one off snapshot piece of assessment that may not provide an accurate or valid picture of the level of student understanding.
We are very interested in taking in the sights during the journey as well as what we will see when we arrive at our destination.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Commitment, Dedication, Passion
On Friday evening I had the honor of attending a Bonsai (Dwarf) Tree exhibit put o
n by the Father of our MS Secretary Ms Joni Cho. Before becoming Superintendent of Suwon Schools, Mr Cho taught high school students the art of raising Bonsai trees, and some of his former students had trees on display as well.
n by the Father of our MS Secretary Ms Joni Cho. Before becoming Superintendent of Suwon Schools, Mr Cho taught high school students the art of raising Bonsai trees, and some of his former students had trees on display as well. This was a great opportunity to not only view these works of art, but to also ask questions and find ou
t more about what it takes to raise a Bonsai tree. Mr Cho showed us one particular tree that he has raised from a seed and has been nurturing for 19 years! I was extremely impressed by the amount of commitment, dedication, and passion that Mr Cho demonstrated through talking about his trees, and the trees themselves. These are precisely the kinds of characteristics that we want our students to develop with regard to life-long learning and their pursuit of excellence.
t more about what it takes to raise a Bonsai tree. Mr Cho showed us one particular tree that he has raised from a seed and has been nurturing for 19 years! I was extremely impressed by the amount of commitment, dedication, and passion that Mr Cho demonstrated through talking about his trees, and the trees themselves. These are precisely the kinds of characteristics that we want our students to develop with regard to life-long learning and their pursuit of excellence.Does it make phone calls?
When it comes to using my cell/mobile phone I must admit that I am a bit of a Luddite. I still see my cell phone as a tool for simply making phone calls, often forgetting that I can access web applications, listen to music, watch video, take photos and record video, and a list of other things that I am probably not aware it can do. Our students however are fully aware that they have access to their world of entertainment and their friends (their social network) in their pocket at all times.
The question is, do cell phones have potential for educational purposes? According to this article, "iPhone to replace register at Japan university" the answer is yes. http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54R1NE20090528
Using the cell phone to take attendance is not a powerful use of this technology, but it is a practical way to utilize some of the services that cell phones now offer. Having the ability to download a podcast of the lecture, or even watch a video of a class opens up a world of possibilities and opportunities for educators to take learning outside the walls of the classroom. I have also seen students access English dictionaries, calculators, and world time zones, all through their cell phones. In these instances this little device has enhanced learning and has not distracted the students in the process.
It is certainly time for me to open up my mind and start seeing the cell phone as more than just a device for making phone calls. It appears that we may have a tool with untapped educational possibilities sitting in our students' pockets.
The question is, do cell phones have potential for educational purposes? According to this article, "iPhone to replace register at Japan university" the answer is yes. http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54R1NE20090528
Using the cell phone to take attendance is not a powerful use of this technology, but it is a practical way to utilize some of the services that cell phones now offer. Having the ability to download a podcast of the lecture, or even watch a video of a class opens up a world of possibilities and opportunities for educators to take learning outside the walls of the classroom. I have also seen students access English dictionaries, calculators, and world time zones, all through their cell phones. In these instances this little device has enhanced learning and has not distracted the students in the process.
It is certainly time for me to open up my mind and start seeing the cell phone as more than just a device for making phone calls. It appears that we may have a tool with untapped educational possibilities sitting in our students' pockets.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What are your priorities?
On Tuesday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a parenting seminar with Dr Soo Woong Park, and ex-anesthetist who now travels the world as an evangelical minister sharing his experience and advice on parenting and creating happy families. Dr Park shared some of his memories of growing up in Korea under Japanese rule and through the Korean war, as well his determination to get to America so he could help and serve people. It was very interesting to hear that his initial motivation for becoming a doctor was so that he could be rich and famous. After he developed a relationship with Jesus Christ he said that his motivation changed - he no longer cared about being rich and famous, he simply wanted to help others.
Dr Park also spoke about priorities and asked the parents what was their number one priority for their children. In Korean society being well educated often takes the number one spot, but Dr Park believes while being well educated is important, it isn't the number one priority. The number one priority is knowing God. Through this our children will begin to understand the reason and motivation for being well educated and parents will no longer need to push their children to study because the reasons for studying hard will become clear to the students.
Dr Park's seminar was both thought provoking and entertaining. I know that the parents who attended enjoyed the afternoon and walked away with some new insights into their children and how to help them become all they can be.
Dr Park will host another session at 7pm on Thursday May 21st - this session will be delivered in Korean.
Dr Park also spoke about priorities and asked the parents what was their number one priority for their children. In Korean society being well educated often takes the number one spot, but Dr Park believes while being well educated is important, it isn't the number one priority. The number one priority is knowing God. Through this our children will begin to understand the reason and motivation for being well educated and parents will no longer need to push their children to study because the reasons for studying hard will become clear to the students.
Dr Park's seminar was both thought provoking and entertaining. I know that the parents who attended enjoyed the afternoon and walked away with some new insights into their children and how to help them become all they can be.
Dr Park will host another session at 7pm on Thursday May 21st - this session will be delivered in Korean.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tech-savvy teens 'adopt' teachers
Article taken from: http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/628451 accessed May 11, 2009
Students help instructors navigate computer techniques, blogging, multimediaMay 4, 2009
Kristin Rushowy EDUCATION REPORTER
The teachers at Don Mills Collegiate Institute are now the students.
Faced with teens who know more than they do about technology, the Toronto high school began an "adopt-a-teacher" program where students teach the adults how to create blogs or interactive graphics, edit video, or even just improve their PowerPoint presentations.
Half the school's teachers signed up for the tutoring, says Sharron Forrest, program director of the Toronto high school's renowned CyberARTS program, from which the student experts were drawn.
"First, we were going to limit (training) to eight people on staff, that's all (fellow teacher) Blake McAlister and I could do," said Forrest. "Then, when we saw how many teachers were interested, that's when I came up with the idea to put them up for adoption.
"We work so well with our students, and they are our best resource, it just made perfect, practical sense."
Students and teachers meet once a month for two hours, and this month, teachers will make presentations during a staff meeting, explaining what they've learned.
"It's such a neat concept because it breaks down the walls and it's so logical, that we get to play and learn along with our students," said Forrest.
A report released last week by the Ontario Public School Boards' Association warned that schools need to embrace technology or risk losing students' interest.
It noted today's youth "have no memory of a world without the Internet, without instant access to information, without an array of media at their fingertips.
"Many students feel that when they come into school they have to `power down' to fit into an environment that offers fewer options for learning than are available in the life they live outside of the school."
The association has said technology is the key to boosting student engagement as well as the province's graduation rate, which sits at 77 per cent of students.
The report also noted technology has created an "inversion," where teens know more than teachers, who need support and training.
"I'd done PowerPoint before, but I wanted to fine-tune it a bit," said Don Mills teacher Yvonne Nunes, who has taught for 23 years.
In the last decade, Nunes says she's noticed how students' technological knowledge has surpassed that of adults.
"It's something we know, that they know more than us in some areas," she said.
"It's a different generation, and we try to keep up but they are doing it 24/7."
David Yu, 18, taught Don Mills teachers how to blog and even gave them assignments.
"I had to breathe down their necks to get them to finish," he said, laughing. He had to remind them to update their blogs regularly, or what's the point?
Student Carl Ren, 17, explained wikis (collaborative websites) and websites; Jovana Randjelovic, 18, worked on iMovie.
The program also presents a learning curve for students, Randjelovic said, as they create lessons and develop presentation skills.
Even tech-savvy CyberARTS teacher Amrit K. Dhillon learned something – how to make interactive presentations and animation.
High school students in the CyberARTS program take a few "cyber" courses a year, in fine arts and communication technology, or geography, history or civics.
The regular curriculum is enriched through creativity and technology. In cyber-history, for example, students who learned about World War II put old photographs into Photoshop, exported them to Adobe Illustrator, turned them into paper cut-outs, which they printed, framed and mounted.
Toronto Star
Students help instructors navigate computer techniques, blogging, multimediaMay 4, 2009
Kristin Rushowy EDUCATION REPORTER
The teachers at Don Mills Collegiate Institute are now the students.
Faced with teens who know more than they do about technology, the Toronto high school began an "adopt-a-teacher" program where students teach the adults how to create blogs or interactive graphics, edit video, or even just improve their PowerPoint presentations.
Half the school's teachers signed up for the tutoring, says Sharron Forrest, program director of the Toronto high school's renowned CyberARTS program, from which the student experts were drawn.
"First, we were going to limit (training) to eight people on staff, that's all (fellow teacher) Blake McAlister and I could do," said Forrest. "Then, when we saw how many teachers were interested, that's when I came up with the idea to put them up for adoption.
"We work so well with our students, and they are our best resource, it just made perfect, practical sense."
Students and teachers meet once a month for two hours, and this month, teachers will make presentations during a staff meeting, explaining what they've learned.
"It's such a neat concept because it breaks down the walls and it's so logical, that we get to play and learn along with our students," said Forrest.
A report released last week by the Ontario Public School Boards' Association warned that schools need to embrace technology or risk losing students' interest.
It noted today's youth "have no memory of a world without the Internet, without instant access to information, without an array of media at their fingertips.
"Many students feel that when they come into school they have to `power down' to fit into an environment that offers fewer options for learning than are available in the life they live outside of the school."
The association has said technology is the key to boosting student engagement as well as the province's graduation rate, which sits at 77 per cent of students.
The report also noted technology has created an "inversion," where teens know more than teachers, who need support and training.
"I'd done PowerPoint before, but I wanted to fine-tune it a bit," said Don Mills teacher Yvonne Nunes, who has taught for 23 years.
In the last decade, Nunes says she's noticed how students' technological knowledge has surpassed that of adults.
"It's something we know, that they know more than us in some areas," she said.
"It's a different generation, and we try to keep up but they are doing it 24/7."
David Yu, 18, taught Don Mills teachers how to blog and even gave them assignments.
"I had to breathe down their necks to get them to finish," he said, laughing. He had to remind them to update their blogs regularly, or what's the point?
Student Carl Ren, 17, explained wikis (collaborative websites) and websites; Jovana Randjelovic, 18, worked on iMovie.
The program also presents a learning curve for students, Randjelovic said, as they create lessons and develop presentation skills.
Even tech-savvy CyberARTS teacher Amrit K. Dhillon learned something – how to make interactive presentations and animation.
High school students in the CyberARTS program take a few "cyber" courses a year, in fine arts and communication technology, or geography, history or civics.
The regular curriculum is enriched through creativity and technology. In cyber-history, for example, students who learned about World War II put old photographs into Photoshop, exported them to Adobe Illustrator, turned them into paper cut-outs, which they printed, framed and mounted.
Toronto Star
Building Emotional Intelligence
Life is made up of many different experiences - some are joyous wonderful experiences while others are not so pleasant and may even leave us feeling a little worse for wear. From all experiences though comes the opportunity for growth; an opportunity to learn and to do things differently next time.
As I stated in a previous post, we had 15 students vying for 6 SCA officer positions, meaning that 9 of these candidates would not be fulfilling officer roles in the SCA next year. This was undoubtedly upsetting news for those 9 candidates when they first heard it, but what of the experience of putting together their campaign? We hope to help our students see that sometimes more can be learned and gained from the traveling then actually reaching the destination.
Dealing with setbacks is a fact of life and it is important that we help our students and children build up their resilience so they have the emotional intelligence to use these setbacks as experiences that make them stronger and wiser.
We all have a role to play in the ongoing improvement of our MS and we can all make a difference, as long as we use our emotional intelligence to assist our thoughts and help us to use experiences, both positive and negative, as opportunities for growth.
As I stated in a previous post, we had 15 students vying for 6 SCA officer positions, meaning that 9 of these candidates would not be fulfilling officer roles in the SCA next year. This was undoubtedly upsetting news for those 9 candidates when they first heard it, but what of the experience of putting together their campaign? We hope to help our students see that sometimes more can be learned and gained from the traveling then actually reaching the destination.
Dealing with setbacks is a fact of life and it is important that we help our students and children build up their resilience so they have the emotional intelligence to use these setbacks as experiences that make them stronger and wiser.
We all have a role to play in the ongoing improvement of our MS and we can all make a difference, as long as we use our emotional intelligence to assist our thoughts and help us to use experiences, both positive and negative, as opportunities for growth.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Building Relationships
I read with great interest the article on the ASCD blog - "Reform at the Expense of Relationships" (http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/05/reform-at-the-expense-of-relationships.html). This was very timely due to the fact that the MS faculty has been busy meeting in various committees to propose some changes to procedures within the MS for next year. We have been working on our Academic Integrity procedures, Co-curricular Eligibility procedures, Language Use procedures, Discipline procedures, and Tech procedures as well. These procedures all directly affect the students and their daily lives at GSIS, but how much input have the students (and parents) had in the development and review of these procedures. The disappointing answer at this stage is 'none'.
One of goals must be to move from a scenario of administrators and teachers adminstering policy and procedure 'to' students, to one where we collectively create a culture of administrators, teachers, students, and parents working together to uphold the school policies. We can take a giant forward leap in this direction by including ideas and suggestions from all stakeholders; a process that we hope to begin in the early part of the 09/10 academic year.
One of goals must be to move from a scenario of administrators and teachers adminstering policy and procedure 'to' students, to one where we collectively create a culture of administrators, teachers, students, and parents working together to uphold the school policies. We can take a giant forward leap in this direction by including ideas and suggestions from all stakeholders; a process that we hope to begin in the early part of the 09/10 academic year.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Multitasking vs Task Switching
In the March volume of ASCD's Educational Leadership journal there are a number of very interesting articles related to utilizing technology in the 21st century classroom. One article that particularly caught my attention was "Mastering Multitasking" by Urs Gasser and John Palfrey.
In their article they point out the difference between multitasking and task switching - something that I had given little thought to before. When we discuss digital natives and multitasking we often assume that the native's brain is wired differently, so differently that it enables them to write a paper, maintain an instant chat with friends, and watch a movie online all at the same time. What Gasser and Palfrey point out is that true multitasking is actually doing two things simultaneously - like reading a book and listening to music, or running and listening to an audio book.
What our digital natives do most of the time is task switching - work on a paper then switch to their chat then check a web site then go back to their paper and so on. This leads to the paper that the student is working taking a lot longer to get completed than if the student was just concentrating on that one task.
Do our digital native students know about this? According to Gasser and Palfrey they do not. One of our challenges as 21st teachers is to engage students "...in intentional conversations about its [multitasking] promises and limits..." (Gasser and Palfrey, 2008). By helping students to discover when multitasking might be helpful and when it might be distracting and dangerous, we can help them to become more effective and powerful users of the available technologies.
Source: Gasser, U. & Palfrey, J. (2009) "Mastering Multitasking". Educational Leadership Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 14-19.
In their article they point out the difference between multitasking and task switching - something that I had given little thought to before. When we discuss digital natives and multitasking we often assume that the native's brain is wired differently, so differently that it enables them to write a paper, maintain an instant chat with friends, and watch a movie online all at the same time. What Gasser and Palfrey point out is that true multitasking is actually doing two things simultaneously - like reading a book and listening to music, or running and listening to an audio book.
What our digital natives do most of the time is task switching - work on a paper then switch to their chat then check a web site then go back to their paper and so on. This leads to the paper that the student is working taking a lot longer to get completed than if the student was just concentrating on that one task.
Do our digital native students know about this? According to Gasser and Palfrey they do not. One of our challenges as 21st teachers is to engage students "...in intentional conversations about its [multitasking] promises and limits..." (Gasser and Palfrey, 2008). By helping students to discover when multitasking might be helpful and when it might be distracting and dangerous, we can help them to become more effective and powerful users of the available technologies.
Source: Gasser, U. & Palfrey, J. (2009) "Mastering Multitasking". Educational Leadership Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 14-19.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
ANZAC Commemoration
April 25 is a very special day for Australians and New Zealanders, a day when we pause to commemorate the landing of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) troops at Gallipoli in 1915. On Friday afternoon the Australian members of our staff organized a Bar-b-que to commemorate this event. It was well attended by the GSIS Faculty and even though the rain stopped the cricket and rugby matches, it certainly didn't stop that ANZAC quality of mateship from permeating through the Faculty. The snags and burgers were cooked to perfection and a great afternoon was had by all.
Friday, April 24, 2009
A Big Thank You!
Yesterday we took time out of our busy schedules to honor and thank our Korean staff members. The ceremony was coordinated by the High School Student Council Association who provided music, afternoon tea, and gifts for all of our invaluable Korean staff. This was a great opportunity for us to recognize just how important the work that they do is to the success of our school. From me personally I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Secretaries, the General Affairs department, the Business Office, the Maintenance crew, the Bus Drivers, the Security team, and the Cleaning crew - I highly value and respect you and the work that you do for us all here at GSIS. Kam'sa'hap'nida!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Welcome Mr Einstein!
Tomorrow we will host Mr Marc Spiegal, the creator and presenter of the Einstein Alive science show. It promises to be a great day with Marc presenting three separate assemblies: one for Elementary students at 8:45am, one for Middle School students at 10:45am, and one for High School students at 1:00pm. You can read more about the Einstein Alive show at the following link:
http://www.marcspiegel.com/einstein/
http://www.marcspiegel.com/einstein/
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wireless Networks
We have had some problems over the last couple of days with students using the GSIS wireless network instead of their respective division network - like the MS wireless network. The GSIS network is much less restrictive than the division networks and unfortunately some students have been using this to download files from the internet. We are aware of this and our tech office has resolved the problem by changing the network password to one that is much more secure - in fact I don't even know what the new password is. Please know that we acted very quickly on this issue and students can no longer access the GSIS wireless network.
A Prophetic Post?
Last night I posted about technology being neutral and how people are responsible for the choices they make when using technology. I am not sure of the prophetic value of that particular post, but today I had to deal with some students for the very issue that I was writing about last night. This was a great opportunity for me to sit down with students and talk about school expectations regarding technology and to explain that by choosing not to meet the expectations that they were being non-compliant. During our conversations we were able to move beyond the laptop and to begin discussing choices and consequences. Once the students were able to identify how their choices could lead to some quite severe consequences, they were able to self reflect and they then laid out a plan detailing how they could make better choices in the future. This certainly is not the quick fix solution - but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Can Technology Be Bad?
Being a 1:1 laptop Middle School is a catalyst for many very interesting conversations. A lot of these conversations center around dealing with adolescents and their insatiable appetite for all things technological. Then of course the 'digital native - digital immigrant' divide comes up as well. A recurring theme through a large number of these techno centric conversations is the idea that technology is bad. Every time this occurs I hear Mr Darren Price (our Director of Technology) in my ear saying, "Technology is neutral - it is neither good nor bad." This always reminds me that the technology is only as powerful, positively or negatively, as the person using it. Face book is not bad - people have certainly used it to do some bad things, but the program itself is neutral. Our responsibility as parents and educators of young adolescents is to help them develop good decision making skills, skills that will enable them to become ethical, responsible, and powerful users of the technology available to them. Along the way we should also stop and ask our tech savvy middle schoolers what they are doing - we may be amazed at what they can teach us!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Student Feedback
Yesterday (Friday) I was invited to attend the Grade 7 Oral Communications class to hear persuasive speeches that the students were presenting. The students had been working on 3 things they would change at GSIS and this was their opportunity to persuade the Principal to make these changes. The ideas ranged from standardizing the student laptops, to allowing Korean to be spoken during lunch time, to providing more opportunities for our sheltered students to work in academic settings with mainstream students. This feedback from the students was very well thought out and very practical. I was particularly impressed with the way the students presented their ideas and supporting reasons. The students spoke very clearly and audibly, and they paced their delivery very well; demonstrating real improvement in their verbal English ablilty. This was a wonderfully positive experience and was another example of the outstanding teaching and learning that is occuring at GSIS.
Sharing Ideas
On Wednesday April 15 I attended the Middle School Principals' meeting at Seoul Foreign School. This was a great opportunity to get together with other international school MS Principals and share initiatives from the different schools and discuss what is working and what areas people are looking for new ideas in. This may seem like a bit of a strange meeting considering that we are all fee paying schools competing for the same market; however this is a like minded group of Prinicpals who believe that what we discuss and share will result in better educational outcomes for all of our students. This most recent meeting involved Principals from Seoul Foreign School, Korea International School, Seoul International School, Yongsan International School of Seoul, Indianhead International School, and Gyeonggi Suwon International School. Our next meeting will be in October and will be hosted at GSIS.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Too Young To Think?
It's interesting how as adults we often assume that deep thought is a neurological function that is reserved for those who have reached maturity, despite constant examples that prove otherwise. Recently my wife was debating whether she should take a short trip to Australia to be a part of her parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebrations. When she was discussing this with our 8 year old son she was explaining that she was having trouble making her decision because she really wanted to go, but she didn't want to be away from her family. Our son sat deep in thought for a few moments before responding, "Life's just not like ice-cream is it." When we asked him to further explain this he described how if you want vanilla ice-cream and you also want chocolate ice-cream but you can't decide, you can just put them together and have them both. He went on to tell us that in life you just can't do that! I wonder if Aristotle could have put it any better?
Monday, April 13, 2009
MYP Visit
We were very fortunate to have Curtis Beaverford, the Asia Pacific Regional Director for the MYP come to visit and work with us for the past 2 days. Our MYP Coordinator, Mr Joe Fambro, arranged for Curtis to consult with us about our progress toward implementing MYP and to discuss our plans for authorization. Curtis was very positive about the progress that we have made so far and it was very affirming to hear that the hard work of the teachers and Mr Fambro has really propelled us toward our goal of being an authorized MYP school. We still have a lot of work to do in modifying descriptors and developing the AOIs, but we are well and truly on our way. Congratulations to Mr Fambro and the MS faculty on the positive feedback, and a big thank you to Curtis for taking time out of his busy schedule to come and work with us.
Welcome to Mr Cooper's Blog
For some time now during conversations with our Tech Coordinator Mr Peterson, he has been asking me why don't I set up a blog? At first this sounded like a great idea, however after more thought I started to wonder what I would put on the blog and if it would be interest worthy enough to read. As I reflected on this I finally came to the conclusion that this would be a great way to share GSIS information and happenings in real time, rather than waiting for the opportunity in our monthly newsletter. So, here it is......Mr Cooper's blog. I hope you find it informative and interesting.
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