March 2012 Newsletter

From Your Executive Director

Calendar of Upcoming Events

2012: March 14-17 AASSA Educators Conference, Quito July 15-18 Business Managers’ Conference, Miami September 12 AASSA Board Meeting, Miami September 13-15 Governance Conference for Board Members and Heads, Miami October 12-14 GIN Conference, Graded School, Sao Paulo, Brazil November 27-29 Latin American Administrators’ Conference, Atlanta November 29-December 2 AASSA Recruiting Fair, Atlanta

2013: January 19 VANAS Conference, Colegio Internacional de Caracas January 19-21 Innovate 2013: Reimagining School, Graded School, Sao Paulo March 13-16 AASSA Educators’ Conference, Lincoln School, Buenos Aires

Do You Know What You’re Missing? Are you a teacher who wants to keep up with the coursework necessary for on-going certification in your state? Are you an educator who wants to take online courses for graduate credit? Are you an administrator or academic leader who wants to provide members of your staff (or all of your staff) with state-of-the-art online courses?

AASSA launched a partnership with Knowledge Delivery Systems and JK Global earlier this academic year which provides these useful services for our membership. This service is also designed to assist schools by providing individual or bulk online courses for staff development and you will find top names listed among the course presenters. As you will see on our website, AASSA members that purchase 20+ courses will receive a 5% discount. Please visit http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=489 on our website for further information.

AASSA Board Election Results

The Association held elections for the AASSA Board of Trustees at the Latin American Administrators’ Conference in Atlanta in December. Incumbent Susan Barba (American School of Quito) was re-elected for a three-year term Mike Martell (Colegio Internacional Puerto La Cruz) was also elected for an initial three-year term, and Eric Spindler was elected to complete a vacant one-year term.. The officers for the current year remain unchanged: President: Philip Joslin (Lincoln School, Buenos Aires) Vice-President: Susan Barba (American School of Quito) Treasurer: Bill Pearson (American School of Curitiba) Secretary: Steve Herrera (Escola Americana de Campinas)

The Board and I would like to thank David Wells for his three-year term on the Board and for his many contributions. I would like to personally thank the Board for their dedication to AASSA, for their support of my work, and for serving as a model of good governance for our entire region.

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Please Welcome Our Newest Associate Members

Mason Associates Nasco J Farrell & Taylor, LLC Turning Technologies Developmental Studies Center

AASSA Global Citizen Awards

Sponsored by TIECARE International

With TIECARE International’s generous sponsorship, AASSA has launched the AASSA Global Citizen Award. The award recognizes a student or group of students selected from AASSA member schools that has made exemplary contributions through a school and/or community- based service program which has led either to: greater international understanding, positive local or global change, addressing a global challenge, or changed lives—thereby setting an example for us all.

We would like to thank the many schools that submitted applications for provided a suitable number of candidates to truly allow us to select the following five exceptional recipients:

George Qino and Patrick Prommel of the American Cooperative School in La Paz, Bolivia, for their work with Las Calles del Basket, a program that encourages sports among low-income children in La Paz through weekly practices Andrea Gabrielle Chahin of Escuela Internacional Sampedrana, Honduras, for her work with TOMS Shows and Caminando con Amore in providing over 80,000 pairs of shoes to those needing them. Francisco De Tomassoi, Javier Estrada, Eduardo Gainsborg, Ines Gurovich and Andreaz Orduz from Lincoln School in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for their work with Chaco, a long-standing project that has built 5 schoohouses providing over 600 students with K-12 education. The TASERS, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Technology Student Association, for their outstanding work not only working the recent GIN conference and other tech-related events at FDR but also for their work in establishing tech facilities at two local schools. Macarena Valdez from the Santa Cruz Cooperative School in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for her work with Operation Smile, an organization that provides operations for children with cleft palates.

Each of the organizations mentioned above will receive an award of $800 for the fine work of each of the students or student groups receiving the award.

Congratulations!

Thanks to Our Highest Level Sponsors

PLATINUM LEVEL SUNY Buffalo TD Bank TieCare International GOLD LEVEL Lehigh University

SILVER LEVEL Endicott College George Mason University International Schools Services K12 Seton Hall University The College Board

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A Special Thanks to TD Bank We have many Associate Members who go beyond the call of duty in their sponsorship of AASSA events. For their contributions, they are recognized in conference programs and periodically through the AASSA Newsletter. One of our members who provides an invaluable set of services to AASSA is TD Bank. Because their contributions mostly fall outside the parameters of conference sponsorship, their invaluable contributions often go unrecognized except on a private basis between our organizations. Joseph Pereira and TD Bank provide AASSA with a fee-free account, a noteworthy contribution because of the level of ACH and wire transfers that pass through AASSA on a daily basis. In addition, TD Bank developed a system of “internal credit cards” which AASSA uses to procure goods on behalf of our member schools. This benefit affords us a system of tracking purchases for schools that is highly efficient and timely. The level of service we receive from TD Bank and personally from Joe is unprecedented. In addition, their online system is very user-friendly and comprehensive. Through their support of AASSA, TD Bank is already serving our entire region in ways unrealized by our schools. If you are not currently using TD Bank, please do yourself a favor and explore the possibilities. It is one of North America’s strongest banks and is known for its high level of service and willingness—as they have demonstrated with AASSA—to seek creative solutions to their client’s problems.

AASSA Recruiting Fair 2011

This year’s AASSA Recruiting Fair was the best-attended and--based upon evaluations by both recruiters and candidates--a successful event. We had a record 47 schools in attendance, a total of 329 candidates in the database available for placement, and 275 candidates present at the fair. To date, 135 candidates have been hired.

This year’s database remains active until mid-May, so if schools still have positions to fill, please browse the active candidates. On June 1st, we will open next year’s registration and begin anew.

Next year’s fair will take place from November 29 – December 2, 2012.

Margaret Sanders Foundation Scholarship Winner

This year’s recipient of the Margaret Sander’s Scholarship Award for her dedication to and embodiment of service to her school and community is Jéssica Maguilnik Leão from the Pan American School of Bahia in Brazil.

While all of the applicants for this year’s scholarship were highly involved, community-minded, and clearly superlative students and individuals, Jéssica stood tall on the shoulders of her peers. Jessica is a fine scholar at the top of her class, but he is not the typical international school student. As she wrote in her essay: “I take the bus [to school] because I have to. Since I was 11 years old, the bus has given me access to two very different worlds. On the bus I am the girl who goes to a private school, while at schools I am the girl who takes the public bus. In one world, I’m from a family of Jewish immigrants that lost everything to the Holocaust, but in the other world, my educated upbringing prevents me from fitting in.” Her involvements include being Student Body President, MUN, Knowledge Bowl, soccer, drama, and having been an exchange student for one year to Boston. Since the age of 7 she has participated in and become a leader in Habonim Dror, a Jewish youth movement whose main goal is to form future leaders capable of creating a better society through action which is informed by values. She has also volunteered at AKIM, a mental health institution.

I have not met Jéssica, but her humanity, intelligence and spirit literally leap off the pages of her own writing and that of her references.

Congratulations, Jéssica, from AASSA, and may this accomplishment help propel you to your dream of attending an American University and becoming an international lawyer..

A Reminder of Some of Our Other Services

AASSAnet (World Virtual School) Project Continues to Grow

AASSAnet was launched last year by four of our member schools: Graded School in Sao Paulo, Colegio Alberto Einstein in Quito, The American School of Asuncion, and the Pan American School of Porto Alegre. I had forecast a doubling of participating schools this year, but to date we have only one new member: the Pan American School of Bahia. The good news is that a number of schools are currently investigating joining…

The Department of State has been working with the various regional organizations to develop a Moodle-based site on which each school which joins the consortium can participate. Many of our schools currently have a Moodle site which they are hosting—generally investing a good deal of time and perhaps money in maintaining.

The reasons to have a school site are many, among them:

Emergency Readiness: As we have seen in our region in the past year alone, emergencies strike without warning. An emergency system such as WVS provide for an offsite learning management system and a community web portal to sustain a sense of school community by providing a place to be kept informed about the school in a time of crisis. Such a web presence also allows a school to prepare and train for an emergency situation. If a school participates in this project, it is expected the school would have an emergency plan in place within 3 years. No Closure Policy: Most of our schools have “no closure” policies which require that school will continue in some form even in the face of an emergency situation. That requires an offsite learning management system such as WVS. Collaborative Professional Development: A worldwide site allows for professional collaboration among faculty members and online professional development. Collaborative Student Projects: The site provides the possibility of collaborative student projects among schools, within a region, or even worldwide. The NESA Virtual Science Fair is a prime example of such a successful collaborative project. A tangential reason to be involved is that there are annual face-to-face meetings (paid for by the State Department for AOS-sponsored schools) for the tech staff involved to discuss moodle administration and share successful courses and strategies.

A great advantage of AASSA WVS is that it costs the school only $1,750 per year which provides a consortium price for services. It is our hope that this project will grow dramatically in the years ahead—as it has already in every other region of the world where it has been launched.

AASSA Purchasing Service

About 40% of AASSA schools are currently using our Purchasing Service. In a nutshell, the advantages are that are service charges are low (6.5% for Full Member schools and 10% for Invitational Member schools), we are a tax-exempt organization and are able to purchase items for the schools tax-free, and we have the advantage of receiving discounts on most goods from popular vendors because we are buying in bulk. These discounts are passed along directly to the schools. In addition, our online system allows you to input orders directly into our system where they are acted upon immediately and to track the status of each purchase order.. For further information, please go to http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=374 .

If you would like to explore purchasing through AASSA, please contact me.

AASSA Conferences

Upcoming Conference AASSA Educators’ Conference in Quito, Ecuador Our major annual conference takes place from March 14-17 and as of today we have approximately 600 participants registered. Thank you to those schools and individuals who are attending.

A Glimpse at Next School Year’s Conferences AASSA Business Managers’ Conference July 16-18, 2012 Also Designed for Heads of School, Administrators, Aspiring Administrators, and anyone who wants to better understand the role of the Business Manager

Marriott Residence Inn, Miami Conference Overview

During the first two days of the conference, our consultants, Marc Levinson and Sarah Daignault will lead participants through a series of areas of knowledge essential to the role of Business Manager, among them:

The Role of the Business Manager in AASSA Schools

Budgeting in Times of Growth or Enrollment Decline How do you manage your budgets so as to avoid overruns? Exploring emerging trends in AASSA schools including locals who do not want to pay the full tuition; debt management; some schools with enrollment shortfalls; others with significant waiting lists; pattern of what families are coming to school is changing – more local nationals, more sensitivity to company changes; where are your schools vulnerable?; what are the opportunities?

Reporting to the Board Communication within the school on matters of finance is critically important. Participants will be asked to share their Board reports ahead of time with the presenters. These can be used to develop best practice on effective Board communication.

Technology & 21st Century Education What are the strategic implications of the fast changing role of technology in our independent schools? We will discuss some of the significant trends in technology for K-12 education including on-line and virtual learning, mobile devices, cloud computing gaming, and SMALLab Learning. What role does professional development play in 10

your school’s successful implementation of new technology? What are some of the strategies schools are using to help their faculty be innovative and enhancing the learning environment with appropriate uses of technology? What role does technology play in your school’s long term financial sustainability?

Financial Sustainability How can you as the Business Manager help your school develop policies and practices to make it more financially sustainable?

Potential Impact of AASSA Schools and the Region of a Worldwide Banking Crisis What is the potential impact on AASSA schools and the Central and South American region? Discussion with Matthew Storm, Partner and Chief Risk Officer of CV Advisors The third day will consist of a job-alike session, a session on creating an AASSA database, school presentations and more. Schedule Previous years’ conferences have begun with a reception on Sunday evening. This year, the conference structure is changing slightly in that the conference will begin with the session on Monday morning, July 16. Social Event On Tuesday evening, July 17th, there will be a dinner cruise from Bayside Harbor into Biscayne Bay. The company we are using offers a very nice cruise and a delicious dinner. The cost of this event is included in the conference registration fee for participants.

Participants are welcome to invite guests for $100 each.

For Further Information

Please visit the AASSA website (http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=634) for a more thorough overview of the conference and to submit an online registration.

AASSA Board-Head Governance Conference The annual AASSA Governance Conference will take place from September 13-15 at the Marriott Dadeland Hotel in Miami. A Pre-Conference session on basic boardsmanship will be led by Bambi Betts on Thursday, September 13th. The main conference will begin on the evening of September 13th with a welcome dinner. Bambi Betts will then facilitate a two-day session with heads and board members on High Leverage, Must-Do Strategies for International School Boards. Bambi Betts is known worldwide as a leading trainer. She is currently the CEO for the Academy for International School Heads (AISH), the director of both the Principals’ Training Center for International School Leadership (PTC) and the Teacher Training Center for International Educators (TTC) as well as founder of the two additional training centers for international educators, including counselors and school business leaders. Bambi has been a director, principal and teacher in international schools for over 25 years. She has been a consultant in over 100 international schools, conducting professional development sessions on a wide range of topics related to the effective international school, including assessment, curriculum leadership, teacher leader strategies, instructional strategies, faculty evaluation, and governance. She has written many articles on practical ways to improve international schools and authors a regular column on the PTC pages of The International Educator (TIE). Stay tuned for further information. Registration will open in April. ………………………………………………… AASSA Global Issues Network Conference (GIN): A Student Conference

October 12-14, 2012 Graded School Sao Paulo, Brazil

AASSA will hold its second annual Global Initiatives Network Conference for students in Grades 7-12 from October 12-14, 2012 at Graded School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This conference will be open to all AASSA schools as well as selected schools from North America.

General information about the Global Issues Network is posted on the AASSA website at: http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=418

Information specific to the Sao Paulo conference will be posted under the Conferences tab in late March. Registration will open on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2012…

Stay tuned for more info…

New Conference!

January 19-21, 2013

Graded School, Sao Paulo

Innovate 2013 marks Graded School’s commitment to re-imagine the school that best serves and inspired students for tomorrow. Please join us and innovators from across the globe to engage in a dialogue designed to ignite new ideas resulting in building a foundation for the change our students deserve.

In partnership with Un-Plugged at the American School of Bombay, the Lausanne Laptop Institute at Lausanne Collegiate and the European 1-1 Learning Institute hosted by the Frankfurt International School, Graded School is honored to launch the conversation in South America.

Begin your journey today at www.Innovate2013.org

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AASSA Educators’ Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Next year’s AASSA Educators’ Conference will be hosted by Lincoln School in Buenos Aires. A two-day pre-conference will take place on March 13 & 14 and the main conference will open on the evening of March 14 and run through the afternoon of March 16th. The theme of the conference will be Finding the Balance: Inspired and Informed Teaching.

And now, onward to articles submitted by our schools……..

School of the Nations Inaugurates New Building on Main Campus

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, School Board Members, administrative personnel, faculty, students, parents and alumni joined to inaugurate our new building (Block E). The beautifully decorated new multi-purpose room located on the top floor was full as the school community listened to the words of School Board President, Mr. Kouros Monadjemi, and School Board Secretary, Ms. Cláudia Drummond, both of whom offered inspiring messages of where School of the Nations has been and where we are headed.

Executive Director, Ms. Lisa Perskie, opened the ceremony by welcoming the school community and Board members and thanking those who played key roles in making this milestone in Nations’ history a reality – Architect, Mr. Dagoberto J. Ferreira, responsible for the foundation and structure; Ms. Wanda Meyer, for interior and exterior design; and Jurassi, who led the final phase bringing the project to completion by the end of January just in time for students to return for the second semester of 2011-12.

“The conclusion of Block E, the construction of which began in 2010, represents yet another step on the path we have set for our School. Its completion allows us to provide students and teachers not only more physical space, but more importantly, a high quality learning environment in accordance with the principles of excellence that inspire this School.”

School Board President, Mr. Kouros Monadjemi

“Block E, built with so much sacrifice, is a great accomplishment. It is a victory in the sense of the challenges we have overcome, a victory that we owe, as the President of our Board mentioned, to the unrelenting persistence of our Administrative Team and School staff. We have so much to thank our Executive Director, Ms. Lisa Perskie, for and particularly our financial team: Mr. Shahbaz Fatheazam and Mr. José Antônio Bastos, 15

who met every challenge to construct this high quality project while keeping within the limits established in the School budget.

School Board Member, Ms. Claudia Drummond

With 2,261 square meters of construction, the new building joins the other via a beautiful walkway that offers a wonderful view of South Lake. Block E brings more comfortable and modernly equipped classrooms to over 350 students in our Middle and High School. Six classrooms, one laboratory, two restrooms and offices are located on the second floor and a large multi-purpose room with seating for over 250 people plus three offices and two restrooms are on the third.

Block E will certainly contribute to our quality-learning environment, sustain organic growth and consolidate School of the Nations as a national and international educational center of excellence. A major investment for the School, the resources, hard work and love that went into its construction as well as the patience of the School community will benefit students for years to come.

After the official inauguration ceremony, Board members, parents, and teachers visited classrooms where students presented many of the important projects in which they are involved. The School community then visited the building from top to bottom. To the backdrop of music played by the Affinity Jazz Trio, a delicious breakfast was served and the official inauguration of Block E came to a close.

What a moving inauguration! Congratulations to all who had a hand in making this milestone in Nations’ history a reality.

The Vow of Silence at the American School of Quito

Shannan MacKenzie Grade 5 Teacher American School of Quito Ongoing Free the Children Volunteer

Every single day, millions of children around the world are denied their basic rights and left trapped by the confines of the circumstances into which they were born. Whereas more fortunate children are given ample opportunities to strive for success, an astounding number of youth are left discouraged, ignored, and ultimately silenced. It is time that the world realizes that freedom from poverty, abuse, and exploitation are not privileges but rather basic necessities for children all across the world.

While many of you may be nodding your heads at this, a good portion of you may also be thinking, “I’m only little old me; I’m not capable of changing the world,” but this is so far from the truth. Little by little, step by step, youth by youth, awareness is growing steadily and young people from around the globe are taking action by standing up and saying “NO” to the silencing of children.

“The Vow of Silence” is Free the Children’s annual awareness promoting and fundraising endeavor that unites hundreds of thousands of youth on a global scale. Participants in elementary schools, high schools, and universities band together in silence to speak out by not speaking. Their silent impact rings clear as their powerful message is delivered with face-to-face encounters or through forms of multimedia.

On November 30th, 2011, more 120 fifth grade students from the American School Quito reinforced the worldwide piercing silence by refraining from communicating while inside their English classrooms and sometimes for up to 24 hours after school and in their homes. Many students created t-shirts and signs days before the Vow of Silence and made presentations to other classes to inform their peers of their serious and enlightening campaign. It was up to the students to decide to what extent they wanted to participate. On the day of the event, many students remained silent in their classrooms, but allowed themselves to speak or communicate during recesses. Other students decided to take it a step further by abstaining from speaking for the entire day at school and by not texting, writing, emailing or using any form of social media. Some participants even started their day by eating breakfast with their families in silence or censoring their communication on the morning school bus. Whatever the extent, all participants went silent in solidarity with children whose voices simply aren’t being heard. 19

For days following the event, students reflected upon their experiences through written and spoken avenues. 5th Grade student Amalia Gangotena expressed her experience in her journal saying, ¨I felt so lonely that time. When you shut your voice, it’s like the world and the people that surround you, are kind of dead…I learned that having the opportunity to say ¨NO¨ is the best gift ever and that we should use it wisely. Hopefully by the time ¨the Vow of Silence¨ makes its return to the American School on November, 2012, their silent objection will inspire even more people to open their eyes to some of the world’s disturbing realities.

Character Counts in Art at Colegio Menor! By Isabel Rios

Most teachers will recognize that pursuing technical and conceptual development is very important in an art classroom. However, we should not forget that this cannot be separated from the feelings and values that influence young artists’ daily lives. In fact, values not only become a powerful engine to drive student projects, but offer numerous opportunities to build strong character and solid values.

Based on this idea, I developed an activity for sixth grade students in which they had to choose a specific value from the Six Pillars of Character Counts!* and represent it visually. In small groups the students wrote a story about their encounter with the particular value, whether at home, school, in the street, at a party, or any other area of their lives. Then, each group shared their stories and visual concepts while their peers identified the values embedded within them.

Finally, based on the students’ commitment to care for and respect the environment, we chose to use only recycled materials and a collage technique for the visual representation of their ideas.

Here are some pictures of the result of student creativity, application of artistic techniques and the infusion of the values.

*Note: The Character Counts! Six Pillars are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. (En Español: confiabilidad, respeto, responsibilidad, justicia, bondad, civismo)

Carnival Weekend with the Community Padmini Sankaran, IB DP Coordinator Escuela Bella Vista Maracaibo, Venezuela

“What’re we doing over Carnival weekend?” “Nothing much…….’vegging’ out at the pool probably………..” It was two weeks to the long weekend in February. “Hey remember how we talked about doing something at the SA foster home?” “So?” “Here’s the time - lets go over and do stuff.” “Like what?” There’s always a sceptic in the group  “Clean, scrub, paint,,,,whatever!!” And an enthusiast!  And so it began,,,,,a bunch of teachers and students of Escuela Bella Vista (EBV), planned and pulled off a hugely productive weekend of cleaning, scrubbing, painting the scruffy backyard of the Salvation Army foster home in the city of Maracaibo. This is the place where IB Diploma students have participated in CAS projects since 2007 – a big old house with a large walled backyard where the 26 or so (the number varies from year to year) children ranging from 5 to 16 year-olds play every day. It’s also a basketball court, a soccer field, a bike track, a clothes drying place and often a junkyard, all rolled into one. On one side is a stand-alone two storey annexe, consisting of a multi-purpose computer room below and a room above that has served as a dump for unwanted stuff. In preparation for our working weekend we bought paint for the walls of the yard, and special paint for a blackboard. The computer group got ready to bring in the refurbished, Ubuntu OS installed, old computers. As word of the activity spread numbers of volunteers swelled as did ideas. What about repairing furniture? What about delivering the collected food packets? Or other tasks to help the SA kids? Frantic efforts were made to contact the local garbage collecting companies to come and take away the rusting furniture and appliances, the torn old mattresses, the mounds of paper all rotting in a corner of the yard and posing a very real hazard to the kids who play there.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, and there we were, a bunch of teachers at the school, waiting for rides to take us to the foster home. In the cars we loaded the cardboard boxes filled with dried goods – rice, flour, beans, sugar, and pasta. We got there by 10:15 and after an initial survey of the place got down to work. Armed with brooms we cleaned the walls off vast amounts of accumulated dust. Then, some mixed paints while others got started with the first coat – tall ones did the upper parts of the wall while we lesser mortals did the lower bits. The computer room was opened and after making a rough measurement with masking tape the outline for the blackboard was ready. A first coat went on, all shiny and black. With a couple of hours to dry we turned to other tasks. Food was stacked neatly in the pantry. Students brought cold water and soft drinks to slake dry throats. And of course with the sound of chatter, jokes and good natured 23 comments about defective painting abilities two walls got a first coat each. Hurray!! And the blackboard got its second one. We went home feeling a sense of having begun something that we could accomplish.

Monday saw an enthusiastic crowd again. On arriving at the foster home we were delighted to find a crew of garbage collectors ready to pick up trash. In an hour’s time they’d cleared the yard of all the junk releasing precious space for safe activities. The computer boys joined us bringing the refurbished Ubuntu machines which they proceeded to set up in the lower room of the annexe. With these machines children at the SA foster home would have access to digital literacy skills, something currently lacking in their education. Wall painting continued. The clothes line project took shape. Existing lines were haphazard to say the least. Using a borrowed drill and hooks, two teachers used the space effectively to extend existing lines and create twice the space for the children to dry their clothes without getting in the way of other backyard activities. And the blackboard received its final coat! While garbage collectors cleared out the room above, a treasure trove of bikes in various states of disrepair were found. Teachers and students pulled them apart and came up with 4 working bikes for the children to play with.

Brilliant white backyard walls waiting for the next project – a colorful mural; a shiny new blackboard in the computer room; more refurbished computers ready for use; a well stacked pantry; 4 usable bikes retrieved from junk; extended clothes lines to handle all clothes drying space; and a cleaner and safer backyard, were the result of two exhausting but satisfying days of work.

We rode back to school, tired and filthy, but with a feeling of accomplishment that we had made a small difference to a group of foster children. And with the enthusiasm generated there are plans afoot to make this a regular activity for EBV staff and students…………………doing stuff for the SA foster kids!

AAIE Silent Auction Raises Funds for Children of Haiti Project

During the recent AAIE (Association for the Advancement of International Education) conference in Boston, AAIE conducted a silent auction to benefit the students being served by the Children of Haiti Project (COHP), an educational, health and nutrition program for 88 children living in a tent camp in Haiti. Supported by over 35 international schools, several regional associations, and other international organizations, COHP is completing in April its second year of operations.

AAIE raised over $7,000 in this effort, providing in year three the sponsorship of three (3) COHP students for the third year of operations. Several agencies including Search Associates, TieCare, EARCOS, Village Camps and TIE have also renewed their pledges for year 3.

Notably, fifteen of the schools in ASOMEX recently pledged to support one COHP child for year 3 as well. And significant funds were raised at the Tri-Association this past fall in Monterrey. Chairman of the COHP executive committee, Forrest Broman stated, "COHP is developing as designed, to represent a way in which international schools and their supporting agencies can unite to make a significant difference in the lives of targeted children living in destitution and poverty."

Further information on COHP, and how your school can help support its children, is available at www.childrenofhaitiproject.org.

Letting Go Workshop

This workshop, run by the school PTA and Life Coach Linda Strauss is designed for parents whose children are going off to university. It is a wonderful forum for sharing stories, for facing the challenges in the process of Letting Go, and for finding laughter along the way. This workshop is offered once per semester for parents of 11th and 12th graders. Parents who attend this workshop find that the support, stories and ideas that are shared are invaluable in helping them work through the process of letting go.

If you are interested in setting up this program in your school, please contact Linda Strauss at: [email protected]

EBV Charity Electronic Valentine’s Dance: Fun with a Purpose

Alfonso Gonzalez, Grade 3 Escuela Bella Vista

Elementary students at Escuela Bella Vista in Maracaibo-Venezuela recently gave more than a hand, but two feet, by hosting a Valentine’s dance aimed to raise funds for Fundacion Innocens.

Established in our community for almost 18 years, Fundacion Innoncens is a non-profit organization that currently provides care and medication to more than 180 underprivileged HIV infected children ages 0-18 years in the greater Maracaibo area. It also supervises and provides follows up to more than 1,200 children that have been saved from being tainted with the virus throughout a variety of their protocols.

EBV has supported Innocens for the past 8 years through advocacy and 3rd grade teacher Mr. G. has implemented Social Awareness as part of the curriculum. In alignment with the school’s policy to involve all its stakeholders into community service, students and adults worked together to achieve success.

With the support and involvement of active room mothers, administrators, staff and local sponsors, this event was hosted in our auditorium on February 10th. Trendy DJ Titto mixed electronic rhythms and beats to literately put love in the air along with the sale of food, pop-corn, cakes and raffles.

Our students had a great time and knew they were contributing with a noble cause. When asked about the dance, this is how some of them responded:

“The Valentine’s dance was incredible because we danced, ate, and played! But the most important thing was that we helped children! I like to help children with HIV. Their medicine is expensive, so with the money we collected we will be able to help” Sofia Branciforte.

“I really liked the Valentine’s Dance, not just was it fun, but it had the purpose to help the children at Innocens. That’s the reason why I went there.” Ricardo Morales

“I really enjoyed the Valentine’s Dance. The DJ was cool, the music was good, the raffle was exciting and the best thing was that we collected a lot of money for Innocens.” Karim Abou Chaar

“I like to help and I don’t want these kids to die. We will save lives with the money from our Valentine’s Dance.” Gustavo Sarmientos

The monetary outcome of this Fun with a Purpose activity was significant enough to be able to provide medicine and food to Innocens and ensure that children are well fed and treated for several weeks. We hope that the social impact and awareness created was even greater.

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Special Ceremony to Remember Holocaust Victims

Gabriella Nycole Guerrero Student at the Albert Einstein School – Quito, Ecuador

Ecuador is a small South American country located near the Equator (the imaginary line of zero latitude that divides the world into two hemispheres). Its capital is Quito, a beautiful city found at an altitude of 2850 meters. This small corner of the world, of which many perhaps have never even heard, is one of the culturally richest places on earth. Its inhabitants form part of a community that is continually growing and accepting people from a variety of nationalities, religious creeds and ideological currents

The Einstein School was founded in Quito in 1973, based on ethical and humanistic values, the idea of integration and principles from the Jewish culture. Its ideology has been to equip students with the skills and resources they need to develop comprehensively so that, when they begin to participate in the world around them, they can put into practice everything they have learned. This means seeking not only academic excellence, but also, and above all, a path full of opportunities and challenges, in order to contribute to generating a society that strives to be better and better within a framework of universal values.

Over time, our school has become a reference for the Ecuadorian educational sector and has taken the lead in important projects related to human rights. In that context, it holds an annual ceremony in remembrance of Holocaust victims.

You do not have to be Jewish to grieve for the millions of people that were victims of one of the world’s worst holocausts, one that revealed the most dehumanized side of humanity, during the Second World War (1939-1945). You do not have to be Jewish to censure the actions that occurred in one of humanity’s darkest hours, when people completely forgot about their fellow human beings and treated their equals as though they were infected with a virus that could do away with humanity-- when those who truly did away with humanity were the ones that dared to murder millions of other people without any remorse, for the simple reason that they thought those people did not deserve to be included in society.

The world has decided not to forget that massacre. The world cannot forget it, and never will, because the world does not want to witness anything like it ever again. That is why, following a decision of the United Nations, the International Day for the Remembrance of Holocaust Victims is commemorated every year on January 27th. That day is not only devoted to recalling the inhumane acts that went down in history, but also to making future generations aware of, and sensitive to, them so that, with the knowledge of what happened before, they can help to keep history from repeating itself.

This year’s ceremony was held at the offices of Ecuador’s National Assembly. It was organized by the office of the United Nations Organization in Ecuador, the Israeli Embassy, the Jewish Community, the National Assembly and the Einstein School. Several well-known national political figures, diplomats and other dignitaries were present, including Assembly chairman Fernando Cordero; Israeli ambassador Eyal Sela; Dr. Efraim Zadoff, an historian from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel; José Manuel Hermida, resident coordinator of the UN System in Ecuador; Rolf Stern, president of the Jewish Community of Ecuador; Assembly member Fernando Bustamente and Esteban Hecht, vice-president of the Albert Einstein School. However, the most prominent guests were Holocaust survivors, who, with assistance from students from our school, lit the six candles that are lit every year to symbolize the six million Jews and members of other persecuted groups that perished during those tragic times. Those survivors are living proof of a past that we cannot allow to resurface, and we young people are the evidence of a future that wants to propose a change.

As Ecuadorians, we are very proud that this year’s ceremony paid tribute to Dr. Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero, who served as the Ecuadorian consul in Stockholm during Hitler’s rule in Germany. By issuing blank passports, he enabled a number of Holocaust victims to flee and thus saved their lives, even though he put his own at risk. Dr. Muñoz Borrero was named a member of the Righteous among Nations[1] in June of last year because his courage showed the world that sometimes it is necessary to take risks when the ultimate goal is justice.

We feel that through this kind of ceremony we make a very important commitment to gathering testimonies from survivors in order to be able to share them with future generations, so that they, too, can learn about this time in history and help to keep similar tragedies from occurring.

Respect for others and the acceptance and celebration of differences are aspects that young people today need to internalize.

[1] Recognition granted by the Government of Israel to people who, through humanitarian actions, provided assistance to Holocaust victims.

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF BRASILIA

Model United Nations: Debating International Issues, Negotiating with Allies and Adversaries to Resolve Conflicts and Mobilizing International Cooperation

By Amer NasrGrade, 11 IB Diploma Candidate

Saving the world in ninety hours or less is a challenge the Model United Nations (MUN) delegates faced. During the past month, the group of students involved in the Model United Nations team attended the twenty-eighth session of the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (ILMUNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Approximately three thousand high school delegates were present at the conference which was held in a diverse atmosphere filled with talented young adults, who in the future might be upcoming-influential world leaders.

In Model United Nations, students step into the roles of UN ambassadors from UN member nations to debate, deliberate, and consult multiple issues on the agenda. Students have the opportunity to make and deliver speeches, prepare draft resolutions, negotiate with allies and adversaries, resolve conflicts, and cruise the strict rules of the procedures of the conference. All these skills add up to resolving international conflicts and mobilizing international cooperation.

In order to resolve such international conflicts, it is important to have a thorough background of the issues at hand. To prepare for the conference itself, students undergo a process of intensive research on their assigned country’s point of view, in addition to that of other related nations. For example, on a personal note, at ILMUNC, I was part of the Disarmament and International Security Committee in which topics included the Nuclear Proliferation in Iran and the issue of National Sovereignty in the Middle East and North Africa representing the delegation of the Republic of Singapore. With that being said, in order to debate and find plausible solutions for both issues I not only had to research about my assigned nation, Iran and/or countries in the Middle East and North Africa, but I also had to research about countries which share similar and opposing views to the aforementioned. In the case of Singapore, being generally a neutral nation in its political views, with some radical perspectives on minor issues, it is easier to gain its support, but in order to do so, it is also important to be involved diplomatically as ambassadors with representatives of these nations.

When in hot-seated debates of upmost importance, it is essential to consider most personal outcomes gained by experiencing MUN, the most evident learning being an immediate growth in 34 public speaking and formal writing skills. This becomes highly evident as the conference itself pushes even shy delegates to enhance their speaking skills in order to defend the views of his/her nation. Also, through the process of writing draft resolutions, one gains the opportunity to practice formal writing (which will then be presented to the committee), as well as to problem solve. Being familiar with all the issues, the challenge remains on how to shape the solutions in order to gain the acceptance by most, if not all, nations present. Finally, to add to the qualities list, another one includes the ability to share and express the country’s ideas to others who might not be in favor with certain policies the country upholds. This can be seen through what we call lobbying, or designated time to talk amongst other delegates, to try to convince them and gain the support that the proposed solutions are most effective towards the issue and should be addressed in the final resolution.

By working hard and committing entirely to this Model United Nations conference I, along with the other members of the MUN team, were acknowledged through several Honorable Mentions and an Outstanding Delegation award. Most importantly, with the determination and willpower perceived throughout the conference and each delegate’s contribution, the American School of Brasilia was recognized and awarded, as the Best International Delegation. The students who participated brought home more than a trophy and several certificates, their suitcases were also filled with a noble, enthusiastic, and prideful feeling about the successes of the shared experience.

Nurturing the Primary Years Program (PYP) attitudes through the Arts: Suzuki Strings at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lima Peru

By: Ana Lucía Nieto

Through music, children can learn concepts, attitudes, develop skills, acquire knowledge and also take action.

In the maternal womb, the baby can hear from the 3rd month of conception. Hearing is the first sense we develop as human beings. From birth, mothers sing to their children to make them sleep. When a baby hears a melody, we can see how his/her face changes and we can see how that child is experiencing different kinds of emotions listening to music.

With the Suzuki method, founded by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki (Japan, 1898-1998), children learn to play an instrument in the same way they learn to speak: With a positive attitude, with practice, and in a rich environment full of different words. The child will speak in their native tongue or in the languages that we speak around them. That’s why Suzuki said exited “Children in Japan, speak Japanese!”

The Suzuki instructor teaches music in the same way.

It is very important to know that there are three people involved in this process, which is called “The Suzuki Triangle” The student, the tutor and the teacher. Each person in this triangle assumes different roles. But, if they work together, the results can be really positive.

At Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), there are at this moment, 120 children playing the violin in the Suzuki program. Children from EC3 to 5th grade are involved in this experience with their tutors.

We have children from many different countries and all of them speak their native tongue and learn to speak English at the school. They are cultivating their artistic talent and also learning how to share their knowledge and the music they play.

Suzuki once said: “Musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed.

Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability, just as all children develop the ability to speak their native tongue. The potential of every child is unlimited.”

As Suzuki teachers, we teach students how to hold the instrument and the bow, how to move their fingers, how to practice at home, how to read music; techniques that are really important in the training of an instrumentalist.

But, our most important goal is that through this learning process we are also experimenting different situations and reactions, creating a very rich environment to learn more than music. And, it is the perfect environment to develop the PYP attitudes from the IB program (International Baccalaureate) which will carry through their formative years:

We look for our students to show us:

Cooperation: When they share their knowledge with other violin students, they help their friends and work together.

Integrity: Being honest with the teacher, their parents and with themselves when they say they are going to practice being committed to do it. Creativity: When they find different ways to fix technical problems by creating exercises, songs or aids to play better. When they compose and experiment new ways to play the violin.

Tolerance: Taking turns to play in a concert or in the group class. Being sensible and understanding of friends at different musical levels tolerating students from different age groups.

Empathy: Being able to put themselves into another person’s shoes, during concerts or in group class in order to understand his/her thoughts feelings and emotions

Enthusiasm: Enjoying and sharing their music and knowledge with other people and enjoying their own learning process.

Independence: When they take risks by their own initiative, trying to play something in the violin they have never played before, without help at home or in the individual class. Also, by playing solos in concerts.

Commitment: Being committed to their learning, practice and performing at selected concerts. Persevering and showing responsibility in their practice at home.

Respect: Respecting themselves and the audience by practicing before a presentation to have a good performance. Listening to their friends performances quietly. Respecting the teacher and their parents who are helping them play better.

Appreciation: When they appreciate their music and the music of other cultures, the music they produce and the music that others produce.

Curiosity: Being curious about the composers and the origin of the music they are playing. Asking questions and trying to find more information by them.

Confidence: Feeling confident in their abilities as violinists, in concerts and group classes by playing in front of an audience. Having the courage to take risks, applying what they have learned and making appropriate decisions.

All these attitudes are essential in the Primary Years Program (PYP) and I believe are an integral part of the education of each child.

Thus, through the Suzuki philosophy we can not only start to develop professional musicians, but we can also form caring human beings.

And, this was Dr. Suzuki’s dream.

Music stimulates imagination, integration, communication, creativity, social development, and individuality: “Perhaps it is music that will save the world”.—Pablo Casals

12 Best Practices: Student Response Systems

Karen L. Mahon, Ed.D.

Dr. Karen Mahon is a Learning Scientist and Educational Psychologist. She advises education technology companies in instructional design and digitized content practices.

Student Response Systems (SRS) can be instrumental in ensuring that students are engaged, and in providing continuing formative evaluation of how well students are learning the material. SRS are flexible and can be used with large groups all at once, with small groups working collaboratively, or with individual students. When used with a carefully designed pedagogy, SRS can provide immediate observable outcomes in student performance. The following are selected best practices for helping to ensure the successful use of SRS.

These guidelines have proven useful when using SRS in the classroom:

1. Remember that the primary use of SRS should be for formative assessment. Increasing opportunities to evaluate student performance allows real-time adjustment of instruction.

2. Include only those questions that are pertinent to the targeted student learning outcomes; questions that are arbitrary or irrelevant should not be used.

3. Integrate questions throughout the lesson so that student understanding can be evaluated frequently and regularly. Leaving all questions until the end of the lesson does not allow for changing the instruction along the way.

4. Endeavor to write questions that target some of higher-level skills described by Bloom’s Taxonomy (Pear et al, 2001). Multiple-choice questions are not restricted to low-level skills, if written properly.

5. When working on new skill acquisition, include enough questions with novel examples to ensure that students are getting sufficient practice and generalization opportunities.

6. Be careful not to give away an answer through irrelevant cues, such as a pattern of correct answers or the wording of the question.

7. If you include items in which the student must identify the answer that does NOT belong, write the word “NOT” in all capital letters and in bold, so that it is as clear as possible.

8. Ensure that the correct answer is clearly the best one, but do use plausible distracters. 40

The point is not to trick the learners. The point is to use the questions to evaluate the instruction the learners have received.

9. When using Vote-Discuss-ReVote methods in class, do not show graphs of student response distribution following the first vote in order to avoid biased response shifting.

10. Make sure you review and analyze the data after the class is over. By examining the patterns of what worked and what did not, you can improve the instruction for next time!

11. If you want to increase attendance in your class, use the SRS daily.

12. Be willing to throw out or regrade questions that are unclear.

To schedule a demonstration of the MimioVote™ Assessment system please visit mimio.dymo.com/ais

To learn more about the MimioVote system please visit mimio.dymo.com/srs

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Starbooks Café: Transforming the School Library

Escuela Campo Alegre Caracas, Venezuela

The school library at Escuela Campo Alegre (ECA) in Caracas Venezuela, was recently transformed with the opening of the Starbooks Café. With a Kuerig Coffee Machine from the US and a range of flavors to choose from (including French vanilla and butter scotch), the Starbooks Café has been a hit with parents, students and teachers. The café also sells a range of chocolates and other snacks. To maintain cleanliness, a designated area identified by special carpets and seating was established. With a strong emphasis on environmental awareness, no paper cups are used and instead the Student Council invested in a boutique range of china mugs and other essentials. A special student committee has been established to operate the café, in respect to setting prices, cleaning duties and other responsibilities. Eventually this committee will work in partnership with an HL1 Business & Management Class, to operate the café as a real business. During the day the coffee is provided on a self-serve basis and food items are available from the library service counter. Students complete cleaning duties in the afternoon as part of their IB CAS requirements. Money raised from the café will support local charities. The concept of a library café was originally the great vision of Mary Pierce – Director of Library Services at ECA.

XXI Century Classroom

By Bill Tolley, History Teacher International School of Curitiba

21st Century Learning In Practice

From the 19th Century’s Frankenstein to the 20th Century’s Matrix, technology has been evoked to frighten audiences unsure of its impact on human society. We never seem to know just how advanced technology has become and we never seem to be able to keep up with its relentless advance. Even now, in the second decade of the 21st Century, as often as we hear the phrase “21st Century Learning” very few of us know exactly what it is: I certainly do not profess to be one of those who know! But at the International School of Curitiba, we are conducting an experiment in creating a 21st Century classroom and in the process we are learning both that technology is no villain and that what at first sounds like science fiction is much closer to the classic educational strategies with which we are all already acquainted.

21st Century Classroom Design

The 21st Century classroom is designed with two key concepts in mind: technology access and student-centered architecture. To the end of providing greater access to technology, the classroom is outfitted with a mounted LCD projector, a document camera and an additional wireless router. The school is also in the process of installing power outlets around the room so that students can charge their personal computing devices during class. In order to create a student-centered environment, the teacher’s desk has been removed and replaced with a podium that can be moved around the room. This is a strategy known as “decentralizing the classroom” and the goals is to remove the traditional teacher’s desk (situated as the center of the class’s attention, much like a television in living room) to allow students to take over in a polycentric layout. Students assume authority at six workstations around the room, each able to seat a team of up to five students; each outfitted with an individual whiteboard for student-to-student instruction. So far this year ISC students have taught each other the causes of World War One, the reasons why Napoleon was able to rise to power and the key historiographic explanations for the Cuban Revolution.

Flipped-Learning, Project Based Learning (PBL) and the Teacher as Coach

The 21st Century classroom works best in conjunction with new and classic strategies like “Flipped” and Project Based Learning. Most readers will be familiar with the concept of projects: at ISC—after extensive on and offline research—we put Napoleon and Columbus on trial on a yearly basis and we form an ISC Nation with its own anthem, flag and constitution. Flipped-learning, however, is new to ISC. In the flipped classroom environment, students do not listen to a teacher lecture to them or provide other directed instruction. Rather they do activities associated with traditional learning (lectures, videos, worksheets, reading) at home and then work collaboratively in teams and with their teacher in the classroom, thus “flipping” the traditional model of instruction. In the flipped classroom, the teacher’s role changes drastically and she becomes more of a coach than a provider of knowledge and wisdom. In the flipped, decentralized classroom students receive the content, skills and space they need to become the facilitators of their own education.

Teamworking and Management

Some experts refer to them as skills, some refer to them as “fluencies,” but even a brief search of the Internet, the news and recent education literature reveals the same skills and themes repeated again and again: innovation skills, career & life skills, media skills; solution fluency, creation fluency, collaboration fluency. The learners and leaders of tomorrow will be tasked more than ever before to work together to innovatively and creatively solve problems through new media and technology. The 21st Century Classroom model helps prepare students for these challenges by granting them access to the necessary technologies and allowing them to co-create solutions. The teacher in the 21st Century classroom facilitates by becoming a human resources manager who provides management structures that empower students to manage themselves. In ISC History classes, students are assigned roles as facilitators, coaches and media specialists and are responsible for setting their own homework dates, working collaboratively across platforms like Google Docs and Edmodo, and evaluating their own work and the work of their co-collaborators. These skills are not only crucial for success in the 21st Century, they will make ISC students better prepared for the challenges of the International Baccalaureate and university study than ever before.

Professional Learning and Development

Students are not the only ones to benefit from the 21st Century classroom. I am currently co- chairing a PLC (Professional Learning Community) with Technology Instructor Joyce Pereira in which we focus on sharing skills, tools and strategies for deploying technology in the most effective and engaging ways. Master teachers from the Science, Art, English, Technology and History Departments—and currently one veteran teacher from the elementary school—come together on a regular basis to build skills and share secrets related to 21st Century tricks and tools. We hope to see this peer coaching initiative springboard into further faculty learning and development in the future.

Educational Mileage

The 21st Century classroom has many benefits for teachers and students—and I am clearly a fan of the model. One of my favorite aspects of the method is the way it allows teachers to work as coaches to provide individualized and personal instruction to students with different learning styles and proclivities that Howard Gardner famously labeled “intelligences.” However, this observation should also serve as a reminder that not all students will take to the 21st Century classroom as eagerly and as easily as others—something that the enthusiastic literature on the subject seems to ignore. My favorite example of this tension came earlier this week when I introduced a fully flipped unit to one of my classes to the delight of half of the class and the terror of the other half. One worried-looking student worked up the bravery to ask, “Sir. Not to be rude, but are you going to provide another set of work when we don’t like this unit?” To which one of the pleased students burst out in response, “STOP SAYING ‘WE’!” Whether we are using chalk on a board or Prezi on an iPad, we will never make everyone happy all of the time—but we can create opportunities to make all of our students as successful as possible as often as possible. That, ultimately, is the job of any educator, regardless of the tools she uses.

In the end, the technology and techniques of the 21st Century are just a new take on the oft- quoted Chinese proverb: Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

BUILDING AWARENESS and SOLIDARITY at FDR – Wheelchair Fundraiser for Children in Need By: Lucha Villar, Aquatics Department

Ten percent of the world’s population suffers some form of physical disability. Half the solution to the problem is awareness, and educators can easily promote this in a fun way.

The Aquatic Department and the Elementary Physical Education Department at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), organize a wheelchair fundraiser for children in need every year. Each chair costs about 400 dollars and is made at a wheelchair factory by disabled workers.

In order to bring disability awareness to students, each class participated in different activities that allowed students to experience, for a moment, the obstacles many people with disabilities face every day. Some of the activities are Paralympics sports: Basketball in wheelchairs, goal ball, sitting volleyball, blind soccer. These events were held during our regular Physical Education classes, with students from early childhood through 5th grade participating.

Our goal was for students was to raise enough funds for the purchase of one wheelchair per class. FDR students had 4 weeks to work on raising monies and it was awesome to see all the different ways they came up with to do it: they sold lemonade, did a lot of car washes, held bake sales, created and sold hand crafts and even used their own savings and allowances.

This year, we were able to raise enough money to buy 44 wheelchairs for needy children from different organizations. At the end of the program, all students were proud to have made a difference in the lives of 44 kids their age.

On the last day of the program, we invited some basketball players from the Rehabilitation Institute to play with our students, and for them to have the opportunity to understand and realize that the practice of any sport is for everybody. We also had as a guest our paralympic swimmer, Jose Gonzales, who trains at our pool and represented Peru at the last Parapan American games +

But, by far, the best reward of all is the awareness the children gain from participating. We highly recommended this wonderful activity, because students learn how to work as a team, develop empathy, solidarity and bring awareness that they can help others in need.

If you would like more information or would like to have this community service program at your school, please do not hesitate to contact me. [email protected]

Knowledge Exchange at Nido de Aguilas

Nido Biology Students Discuss DNA Nido Mathematics Class

Three faculty members from Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA) visited the International School Nido de Aguilas on February 16th and 17th for its teacher training at the beginning of the second semester. The main objective was to discuss and exchange experiences on the Exeter “Harkness method” of teaching, which focuses on student centered learning.

Tom Seidenberg (Math), Jane Cadwell (Humanities) and Chris Matlack (Science) lead interdisciplinary discussions and activities on student-led, discussion-oriented methods with the high school English, Social Studies, Math, and Science departments.

“One of the main academic goals in the Nido de Aguilas high school is to ensure that students are exposed and engaged to a variety of instructional experiences, from lecture to student-led discussions. Hopefully we will be able to involve our faculty in a short-term faculty exchange with teachers at PEA”, says Jared Harris, Nido High School Principal.

Harkness Discussions

The visiting professors provided Nido high school faculty with two days of Harkness training. This was a follow-up to Tom Seidenberg’s initial Harkness training at Nido in February 2011. What is Harkness?". . . It's a way of being: interacting with other minds, listening carefully, speaking respectfully, accepting new ideas and questioning old ones, using new knowledge, and enjoying the richness of human interaction . . ." (PEA Website).

Tom Seidenberg, Exeter professor

“Nido is an excellent school with a dedicated, bright, energetic, forward-looking faculty. The teachers we worked with were very accepting of new ideas. This enthusiasm and willingness to think about new ideas is also a direct reflection of the attitude of the administrators at Nido, who 46 are incredibly supportive. The combination of bright, energetic faculty and supportive, encouraging administrators is the key to having an excellent school. Nido fits the bill. It was clear that the teachers we worked with were willing to try a more student-centered approach to classes.”

Thomas Flanagan, Nido High School Science teacher

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Exeter team's visit and their instruction about the Harkness method. They emphasized that the essence of the Harkness method is its student-centered approach. While my classes are larger than the 12 students in an Exeter classroom, I definitely left the workshops committed to making my classes more student-centered.

Already, I have implemented Harkness-style discussions in each of my classes, and I plan on making them a regular part of my teaching approach. Already, I have witnessed the value in challenging the students to take a more active role in their learning. By grappling (and sometimes struggling) with the concepts, the students are forced to think much more than if they were passively listening to a lecturing teacher. I have been impressed with how this method encourages students to take more risks while also sharpening their analytical and higher level thinking skills.”

Bonnie Book, Nido High School Science teacher

“The Harkness method training was a great way to get ready for the second semester. The in-service was a very helpful reminder to make student-centered learning a focus of our lessons and the training imparted some useful ideas of how to do this. It was especially supportive to see how the method is used in advanced science classes, as this method seems to look slightly different in different disciplines. During our discussions, the high school science department came up with ideas how we could use this method in our classes. We also discovered that we were already using many of the techniques and activities in action at Exeter.”

Darlene Oehlke, Nido High School Science teacher

“I really enjoyed the Harkness training. The instructors from Phillips - Exeter were very open in describing both the successes and shortcomings of their philosophies and methods. Personally, the most valuable time was spent with the science department working on ways to make our instruction more student-centered.”

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The last AASSA Newsletter of the academic year will be issued in late May. Articles and photos are welcomed and due by Friday, May 18th. Please submit articles in MS Word and photos in jpeg format.