Tag: School Life

School is Not a Place..

These are a few thoughts on our first weeks back after a summer away…

After a turbulent year of online learning and COVID-testing, the summer break was needed more than ever. A summer of rest, relaxation and minimal technology use. With COVID restrictions taking up so much of our thoughts, it was essential for me to at least take some time away from my laptop and focus on the little things that bring joy. For me, that is reading, walking, and my guitars. An opportunity to put some of the frustrations to one side.

The weeks have, however, flown by, and once again, we are back at school, recharged and fortunate to have had a fantastic first cycle. Face to face. We have enjoyed an engaging faculty orientation focusing on developing our curriculum and building a culture of belonging. More so than ever, our community has enjoyed getting to know one another. Despite the challenges, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Of course, we still have our daily COVID testing routine, but this has become just that, routine. The focus has been firmly on learning and supporting our students. Naturally, it is a two-way street, and our students have done an excellent job in supporting us.

The first two weeks were very smooth indeed. Grade 6 adapted to life in Secondary School relatively quickly, thanks to our Grade 9 mentors in The Bridge program. Grade 9 students did an excellent job of inducting them into the school and showing them the ropes. I know this because my office has been considerably quieter than in previous years. Instead, I have been able to roam the corridors and enter classrooms. It was very clear; we were all glad to be back.

What better way to end a successful first cycle than with a Secondary Assembly focusing on our School Value – Creativity? The students rose to the occasion putting on an excellent show for us all. Dance, classical music, even a rocking Foo Fighters cover. A great way to enter the weekend. It is agreed that this was an amazing start to the year.

Very quickly, we have had to utilise another of our values, perseverance. News spread of rising COVID cases and potential lockdowns. Plans for online learning were drafted and quickly operationalised. I write this now from my apartment after six days of lockdown. Once again, teachers have responded positively and professionally. After all, we are used to this now.

I have been dropping into classes and hosting meetings with teachers, advisors and parents, and I am struck by the resilience and understanding shown by everyone in what is clearly a trying time.

Students have responded and quickly adapted their plans for Service Opportunities to ensure they can continue should they complete a lot of the work from their homes. House competitions and IB CORE Day, again, are being developed so that we can continue to build school spirit whilst online.

We do not know how long we will teach and learn in this hybrid format, but one thing is clear, we will get through it together. Our community has become stronger due to the difficulties we have faced that are beyond our control. It is therefore fitting that this month’s theme in our community well-being calendar is “Building Community.” After all, as our DP1 student so wisely said, “Our school is not a place…. It’s about the people.”

Journeying:

Image: iStock

Building Community- The Onward Book

Belonging- Owen Eastwood

7 Sep 2022
School Life: Bench Yourself and Listen

This week I decided to wake and go to school earlier than normal. An attempt to re-focus, recharge and find my usual routine. The demands of the job can creep up on you. The semester progresses quickly. The days increase in pace. Before you know it, you are on autopilot and responding rather than adapting. It is important to take stock and mix things up. Stay fresh and sharpen the saw.

Each morning I bought my usual coffee from the school cafe and sat myself down in an area that I rarely have time to go. The benches beside the sports field. Now the hot season is over, the temperature is perfect and I could hear the birds singing in the trees. I noticed that the benches had bronze placks on them and quotes about friendship. They had been donated by Grade 2 students. The first bench said:

The only way to have a friend is to be one.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I began to think of my friends back home, and also of the friendships around our school community. Teachers friendships, student friendships and parent relationships. As my mind wandered a group of students began their running practice. I watched them as they were drilled by their teacher. Each student was supported by the others and enjoyed the early morning dopamine hit. I noticed how their feet shuffled as they gained pace, and how this was not one student but all of them. I then realised I had not noticed that about runners before. Do they all do it, or is it a product of learning? Will the shuffle disappear as their technique improves? Let the Youtube journey begin.

As Leonardo Da Vinci used to write lists of questions he pondered, I have begun to do the same. An attempt to create the curiosity I see in our students. Just questions, I do not know the answers. I have found this has a calming effect and is also making me a better leader. Listen first to understand and then to be understood.

This has shaped the way I have been approaching all of my conversations. Yesterday, I had many interesting conversations. For the most part, I just listened. I had an enlightening conversation around Diversity Equity and Inclusion with one of our teachers. His perspective surprised me. I listened and said little. I knew instantly I have a lot of learning to do around this topic and that I would learn a lot from listening to his perspective and the importance of being able to draw on his insight as we move forward in becoming a more inclusive school.

Fairness. I then had a conversation around fairness with Grade 6 student who is triggered when he perceives his teachers actions as unfair. Having recently completed the VIA Character Strengths survey I know this is one of my strengths. A sense of fairness and equity. I wondered if his teachers would also view this boys trait in a positive way. How could they use this very strong sense of right and wrong to help him learn? A topic for an upcoming Professional Learning Session.

When I reflect on the last day of the week, and the interactions I have had, I notice how many of them were directly related to our school values of empathy, integrity and wellbeing. Evidence that we are in fact living our school values. We do not need big initiatives to demonstrate that we are living our mission, we just need to take note of the small things that make up our day-to-day.

Benching myself every morning and taking twenty minutes to consider the learning that has been taking place in our school has given me a greater appreciation of what we do as educators on a daily basis. It has helped me to appreciate that whilst we may have a long way to go, we are indeed already well on the way to our goal of inspiring global minds.

Challenge yourself to take twenty minutes each day to reflect and consider the good work that we do. As human’s we can be drawn to the negatives, however, focusing on the positives helps us to succeed and improves our overall sense of wellbeing (Seligman). As our advisory program takes shape, I hope to see more and more of our community adopting a strengths-based approach in their lives and learning. After all, we all have something to share and this will only be enhanced when we are working to our strengths.

Journeying

Image: by Pepper Mint from Pixabay

Videos:

Know Your Character Strengths

Re-building A Life Through Character Strengths

The 5 Levels of Character- David Brooks

100m Replays

Links:

Take the VIA Character Strengths Test

Flourish by Martin Seligman

20 Nov 2021
School Life: “These Kids..”
Every week, I am fortunate to enter dozens of classrooms and witness our teachers’ creativity and working genius. Teachers tap into their passions and strengths, designing engaging and curiosity-provoking lessons for our students. You can feel the buzz in the room when kids are genuinely engaged in the learning. There is an urgency to their sense of wonder, their need to find the answers.

These powerful moments do not happen by accident. Creating ‘wonderment’ takes effort. It is a desire to harness a child’s passion by discovering what matters to them, what they care about, and building the experience around their interests. Curating the learning around a students strengths and passion will encourage students to ask questions. Their own questions. Questions that matter to them, and that they will be hungry to find the answers to.

“The “occasionally remarkable” moments shouldn’t be left to chance! They should be planned for, invested in.”
Chip and Dan Heath: The Power of Moments

Such passion and curiosity are not ignited by teaching to the test. They are a product of “lifeworthy” learning experiences designed by the teacher. David Perkins, the author of Futurewise, challenges us to ask “What did you learn during your first twelve years of education that matters in your life today?” A question that we would do well to ask ourselves before planning a series of lessons and assessments for our students. We rarely use the information taught in school, we do, however, utilize the skills and thinking.

Sustainability, climate change and inclusion are all important topics relevant to the future lives of our students. But do they care about them? They should. Why should they? Framing such topics around questions and activities that spark curiosity is essential for student engagement. As a teacher, a solid starting point for creating wonder is getting to know your students personally. Understanding what matters to them and the things they think about on a daily basis will help you connect to the children and create value-added relationships. Students always enjoy talking about their passions.

Chip Heath calls these moments of elevation, insight, pride and connection PEAK experiences. Peak experiences are easily identifiable. These are the lessons that have your students working in a state of flow and then entering the next lesson still debating the issues raised in the previous class. The “A-ha” and “Wow” moments. Shouldn’t we aim to make all lessons memorable and meaningful like this so that it is not only the extracurriculars and field trips that the children look back on with love?

The recipe for creating lifeworthy peak experiences is fairly straightforward:
- Care about your students personally and ensure that they know that you do
- Tap into their passions and curiosities
- Choose your topics and questions wisely. Why should they care?
- Consider the life worthiness of the questions and tasks that you are asking them to engage with. If it is not relevant to them, why would they bother?
- Consider the medium and product. Are the students using 21st-century skills? Are they using technology that will support them in their futures?
- Create a safe environment for mistakes and innovation. Allow the students to share their ideas and questions. There are no stupid questions.
- Base all learning around real-world experiences and problems.
It is my belief that when these elements are in place, the environment is ripe for learning. Curiosity is respected and encouraged, even when it causes a deviation from the lesson plan. Allow curiosity and relevance to lead the way.

Occasionally, I will witness a lesson that did not engage the students. The lesson most likely was not planned with lifeworthy PEAK experiences in mind and focused on teaching to the test. Asking students to read rubrics and fulfil IB criteria is equivalent to an adult reading a life insurance document. It is essential, but it is not fun. It will not be surprising then to notice a lack of engagement at these times. If the entire unit is centred on formal assessment rather than learning then we risk boring our students to death. Bored students can equal poor behaviour.

It is during these ‘teach to the test’ lessons that I have heard teachers use sentences that start with two dreaded words. “These kids..” “These kids just don’t want to work.” “These kids just aren’t interested.” “These kids..”

Such inhibiting beliefs are damaging to learning and to a child’s self-esteem. When we come to believe that a student is not capable of learning we act differently towards them, label them and adjust our methods of teaching and expectations accordingly. The result is under-achievement.

Research on self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotype threat supporting this claim is not hard to find. We would do well to be reminded that as teachers that when things do not go as planned that we should first look inward before blaming the student for not hitting the target. What could we do differently or deviate from? How has my behaviour impacted learning in this lesson? Our biases influence how and what we teach our students and ultimately their engagement and performance.

As teachers when we feel frustrated and start to utter the words, “These kids..”, we should take a deep breath and remember that:

These kids are looking to be inspired

These kids want to learn

These kids will make, and learn from mistakes

These kids have untapped potential

These kids will be our future.

Journeying

Videos

The Pygmalion Effect and the Power of Positive Expectations

How Stereotypes Affect Your Test Scores

The 6 Types of Working Genius

Books

Futurewise by David Perkins

Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele

Blindspots: Hidden Blindspots of Good People by Anthony Greenwald
13 Nov 2021
School Life: Bright Spots and Blindspots

As our teachers embark on their second year of the pandemic experience, it is hard for them not to get despondent. International travel is still limited, and those choosing to leave will face an arduous three-week quarantine upon their return. COVID restrictions are maintained that can result in impromptu COVID tests. The threat of online teaching is always looming. International teachers have an added psychological pressure during our very clearly defined recruitment season. Early resignations are required and choices need to be made. Resign, possibly see family, move to a country without quarantine restrictions or continue living a fairly normal existence knowing that one of the main benefits of living abroad has been taken away. During these challenging and uncertain times, it can be beneficial to focus on the bright spots.

Every morning I aim to greet the students at the school gate. Elementary school students poised to run into campus ready for another exciting day of learning. Middle and High school students enter the school a little more casually as they contemplate their next assignment or wipe the sleep from their eyes. This is one of the highlights of my day. It is a chance to connect with students before the challenges of the day begin and never fails to energise.

“This is a wonderful day I have never seen this one before.”
Maya Angelou

Walking around campus during breaktime affords me a similar experience. Students are on campus, having fun, teachers are discussing new strategies and exchanging ideas for their upcoming lessons and there is an energy that we are fortunate to experience by not teaching online. When a curveball comes my way, I savour those moments. After all, I could be at home attached to my laptop right now.

Recently, we hosted an ACAMIS volleyball tournament and our 10th Anniversary celebrations. Musical and sporting performances were plentiful and gave our students time to shine and follow their passions. Both of these experiences allowed us to just sit back and watch the kids. What could be better? No grades, just fun. It is always exciting to see students outside of the classroom and experience them in a different light. This was no exception. There is always a student who surprises you with their level of talent. Usually, not just one. These days served as a great reminder as to why we do what we do. They are the bright spots.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
Voltaire

The COVID pandemic has, however, forced interaction with our community to be directed online. Our school is providing upwards of 50 parent workshops each month to ensure that the bonds and communication are upheld. It’s not the same and the lack of parent presence can be felt on campus. However, we receive a great deal of participation a sign that parents do indeed care about their child’s learning experience. Let’s not take it for granted.

As an Assistant Principal, the challenge has been to find balance. Balance for everyone. To ensure that learning takes place, that the integrity of the programs are maintained whilst respecting the inevitable fatigue that comes from living in a state of flux. It has been very important to enter every interaction with a value-added mentality, asking “is this person better off from having this conversation?” Am I allowing my blindspots to drive the conversation?

Equally important is presuming positive intent. All teachers have their students best interests at heart. This is important to remember when a lesson or an event does not go as planned. When carrying our own expectations and daily hassles, it can be hard to eliminate our blindspots. The bias influences our perception and then, of course, our reaction. We do not know what the other person is going through. Homesickness, tiredness, illness, and stress. These are all present and influence the functioning of the school. Still, we continue to do what is best for learning. The kids feel it, and although they may not say it, they are thankful.

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
Robert Brault

So, at the end of a long week. I like to reflect on the bright spots and blind spots. What is going well, and what could I have handled better? This short meditation allows me to refocus and reminds me that despite all the challenges that have been presented to us, we still have one of the most important and rewarding jobs in the world. I challenge you to do the same. We have a lot to be grateful for.

Journeying

Videos:

The Power of Gratitude- Oprah Winfrey Speech

Actively Practice Gratitude- Brene Brown

Ryan Holiday – On Journaling

13 Nov 2021