Office of Teaching and Learning Update - Week of February 9, 2015

What a fantastic week to be at AISC!  From Book Week, to STEM work, to the arrival of the AMIS Honor Band, the campus was buzzing with learning.

A Culture of Thinking

As you know, Mark will be joining us next week.  One of the things we have asked him to help us think deeply about is our approach to inquiry-based learning.  In our strategic plan, we have an end result for this year that is focused on inquiry:

    

"AISC has a common understanding of inquiry and has provided the necessary opportunities to develop teacher expertise in inquiry-based instruction."

Throughout the week, you will see Mark around campus, visiting your classrooms, working with teams who have requested, and leading our morning professional learning on Friday.  If you (your team, your co-teaching triad, etc) would like to find time to meet with Mark, please ask your team/department leader to sign you up on the calendar to which they have access.  Also, he will be having office hours on Friday in the S.H.E.D. and you can sign up here.  

Mark will be returning next year to continue our work as we strive to achieve the following end result:

"AISC has inquiry-based strategies that are integrated into instructional practice in order to foster a sense of curiosity and inspire action in the classroom and beyond."

Part of the purpose behind his visit next week is to help us assess where we currently are in using inquiry-based strategies that foster curiosity and inspire action, so that we have a baseline understanding as we move ahead in our work.  To further assist us in gathering data for that baseline, we would like to ask you to contemplate these questions throughout next week and then respond to them at the end of the week via a quick questionnaire that will be sent:

• When you think about inquiry and your own classroom, what is a real success moment for you?
• When you think about inquiry and your own classroom, what are the puzzles you face that seem to get you or the students hung up?
• What are some of the challenges you face when trying to use an inquiry-based approach in your classroom?

Schedule for Friday's PD day

For details, click here.

International Inclusion Certificate

Are you interested in expanding your inclusive strategies/practices when working with students who have special learning needs? If so, please take a look at this flyer to find out more details about an exciting opportunity coming to our side of the world. Several of us in the NESA region have been working with the International School of Kuala Lumpur and we are making plans now to start a cohort in the fall. If you are interested in taking advantage of this opportunity, click here to put your name on the list and I will communicate with you directly as more information becomes available.

Update from Balajee and SEVAI

On Saturday Feb 7, 2015 the SEVAI office successfully organized the second Brown Bag Lunch (BBL) for AISC teachers with Teach for India fellows. Close to 130 people participated in the interactive session that was filled with ideas and discussions on topics related to teaching and learning. The BBL is a series of ongoing discussions with Teach for India to enable the fellows to listen and learn from AISC teachers and AISC teachers to understand and contribute to the teaching community of Chennai. Here are some pictures from the Brown Bag Lunch.

AISC Teachers Leading

AMIS

This week we have had the honor of hosting 88 middle school band students from 15 schools throughout Asia for The Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) Honor Band. Hosting an event like this is a tremendous amount of work and cannot be accomplished without outstanding teacher leadership. A special thanks to Cary, William, Ron, Vijay and everyone else who worked on this for so many months. Come out and join us for the concert on Saturday night at 6:00 pm. Tickets are still available.

 BOOK WEEK

AISC students and teachers celebrated creativity in a big way this week. This year's theme for Book Week was “Books and the Arts: Connecting Text and Creativity!” Students participated in numerous activities including mural making, readers' theater, and interpretive dance workshops. Teachers and library staff made connections between books and the arts in their lessons, with books and text tied to the visual and performing arts in many different ways. As part of the week, we also had two very special guests, whose visits were sponsored through the PCA's Distinguished Visitors Fund. Ms. Lauren Stringer (laurenstringer.com) is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked with students in elementary through high school on the joy of writing and illustration. She also offered several professional development workshops for staff. Ms. Ruby Smith (rubyjosephine.com) is an international dance instructor who worked with our students on the art of movement as part of the physical education curriculum. Both guests did assemblies for students in elementary through high school and led a parent coffee for parents. Lauren and Ruby were overwhelmed by all of your participation and collaboration! Special thanks to Jet, Megan, and the arts department for making this week so wonderful!