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.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)