Edition No. 46

FOREWORD see the 46th edition of the MESsenger is to smile as you read about all the events and activities that our students and whole school community have been involved in over the past three months. Truly, our MES Cairo To Mission - Leadership through Education: Caring, Challenging, Inspiring - has come to vivid life in the pages which follow. That our students are thriving academically is seen in a multitude of different areas, and exemplified in the truly superb work of a number of our British Section students as they garnered many top CIE Awards. Clearly, our IGCSE students are prepared well, starting with the consideration of Year 8 Options. You will also read about cooperative learning initiatives, as our teachers throughout MES Cairo prepare their students in both English and Arabic in best 21st Century teaching and learning practice - where the skills of oral and written communication, and teamwork, are key elements in preparing students for a successful transition to university and beyond. From the Primary Section, the memorable ‘Mad Science’, ‘Pirates’, and ‘the Titanic’ all in happy action, to the Secondary, ‘English Matters’ , the educational initiatives of the Secondary Gifted and Talented students, and our Model United Nations Trip to Russia, MES Cairo students are embarked on so many wonderful teaching and learning adventures. And their teachers are guiding them in new and pedagogically challenging ways – please read about our WIRED teachers initiatives. On the service front, read on about Secondary House and Student Council news, and about Cancer Awareness week, as well as about Healthy Cooking which is of inestimable lifelong value to our entire community of students and parents. In the Arts, the ‘Peri ‘ students simply get better and better, the seasonal concert was such a happily tuneful occasion, and once again, the Primary staff have outdone themselves with Theatre in Education, where the tables are turned - and the students see their teachers in action! Read on, your smile surely widening, about all the ‘Primary Interhouse Sports Competition Days’ which took place last term, the students clearly ‘having a ball’, together with the After School Activity successes in both Primary and Secondary. What fun as well to see our Pioneers sandboarding, and our footballers such wonderful ambassadors of MES Cairo, and Egyptian, sport when they played in Portugal. And smile a final time as you reflect on all that makes MES Cairo great, and in anticipation of the next edition of the MESsenger! Mr. M. Kirby Whole School Principal 2 Cooperative Learning Whole School Development at MES Cairo ongoing objective of our Whole School Development Plan is to encourage students to demonstrate an An increased ability to use and apply key independent learning skills through literacy. To achieve this at MES Cairo, we have several progress committees made up of staff from all walks of the school; primary and secondary colleagues from a wide range of departments. MES Cairo has invested time into developing collaborative, cooperative and student led learning strategies and has taught teachers how to use them in the classroom during teacher training. We were shown techniques that could encourage deeper understanding of texts, help students to access higher levels of thinking skills, improve communication and enhance student participation. Through a training carousel, we were shown simple but effective strategies taken from a research programme called CRISS (Creating Independence through Student Owned Strategies). This was a starting point for teachers to use these and other ways of encouraging collaborative, cooperative and student led learning and to plan to use them regularly in our teaching. This initiative was led by the thirteen members of the Objective One Committee. Here, they and other colleagues share how they themselves have been using these strategies in their own classrooms across the whole school community. In Year Four Violet, Ms. Douse, who is also the Chair of the Objective One Committee, has been using a range of cooperative strategies to help her class learn. ‘In Math lessons ‘Shootout’ is great for learning times tables. Using ‘Fact or Fiction’ in guided reading helps to ascertain what has and has not happened in the story. We also love ‘Numbered Heads’ and use it as a good way to come up with different parts of a story such as a buildup in tension. We try to use our relationship 3 skills (one of the 5Rs) to ensure we cooperate and give everyone the chance to share their ideas.’ In Secondary English, American Section, Ms. Vallarino has been creating U-Shaped carousels around a central question e.g. a character’s name, vocabulary word or book title with her Grade Eight students. ‘They are asked to collaborate together, all contributing to making notes as they work their way around the carousel. Sometimes this is used to review a topic, for brainstorming or to build upon prior knowledge. I’ve found that the students enjoy this kind of learning and find it helpful.’ In the same department, Ms. Burton has been using collaborative learning and student-led learning to discuss novels, learn new English vocabulary and perfect writing skills in Grades Seven and Eight. ‘Among other activities, we have participated in fishbowl discussions, spinning wheels (multiple short discussions of new topics between several class members), duelling sentences with vocabulary words, and writing workshops. These activities allow students to interact in an academic environment in a way that strengthens understanding of the subject. We are also introducing learning centres which will allow students to activate independent learning skills.’ Year Five Team Leader Mr. Ebsworth uses collaborative learning activities early on in lessons to generate discussion and inform him of any misconceptions students may have. ‘I also use them as an opportunity to assess learning toward the end of a topic. In my class, more able children are now able to use strategies independent of a teacher, though with a prompt sheet, in a student led sense.’ Mr. Davies in American Section Social Studies has given his students in Grades Seven and Eight the opportunity to lead their fellow classmates and work cooperatively in a student-centered environment by fulfilling the role of a classroom teacher in their history class. Students were broken into small groups and assigned a specific topic of the overall unit in which they had studied. ‘They created a mini lesson in which they were to read their selection, analyze it for the most important and significant details, and organize their information into a presentation of their choice format. Students created PowerPoints and a poster to present their lesson on the interactive Promethean board. Jigsaw techniques and rotational readings are also encouraged in class.” Mrs. Cole, Secondary English British Section has been using collaborative and student led learning techniques with Year Seven through the use of research projects in the Learning Media Centre, as well as by introducing the use of the iPad in the classroom so that students can work together to produce videos demonstrating their knowledge and understanding. “In a Year Eight class recently, I taught a group of students how to use an iPad app called Explain Everything, and they then taught and led their peers how to voice record annotations of a poster. I was impressed with how well the students coped with this type of task.” Mr. El-Hoss has been using the learning strategy ‘Think Pair Share’ with his International Baccalaureate Diploma 12 students. “As individuals in the class they have each researched one of the United Nations eight millennium development goals for Egypt. Students have then written down everything they have learnt on a piece of paper and shared their understanding verbally with the rest of the class. This has given everyone the opportunity to share their understanding and improve their contribution to learning inside the classroom.’ Within this department, Ms. Ingham has been using the collaborative learning strategy ‘Penalty Shootout” with her AS Business Y11/12 students. ‘As teams, they are given a section of text to read and then take it in turns to come out to the front and ‘shootout’ against members of the other teams. The first team to survive with the most members still left to play is the winner. I have used different techniques for the questioning, which include me setting questions but also giving teams different sections of text and getting them to set the questions. The one which started the ball rolling was based on Tesco and how they motivate staff – it proved quite motivational for the students as well. This gives all the students the opportunity to participate, and to develop knowledge and understanding whilst working together towards a particular goal.” 4 Meanwhile, Mrs. Sheehan, Head of British and IB Section English has been using Socratic Seminars with her IGCSE Literature and IBDP11 classes. ‘This type of cooperative learning enables students to engage in deeply analytical discussions where everyone gets a chance to participate and contribute. Socratic seminar debates are often springboarded by activities such as ‘Think, Pair, Share’ or ‘Jigsaw’ and importantly, they equip students with the best language to use in discussion and help students to organise their thoughts and to open up their minds to new ideas. They encourage students to think critically and to question their own presumptions – raising the level of their learning and facilitating more independent thought and analysis. This in turn enables students to write more analytically in their essays and exam papers and aim for even better results. The rest of the British and IB Section English teachers are also beginning to use Socratic style debate seminars with their students in Terms Two and Three.” Ultimately, as Mrs. Jodrell, KS1 Primary Headteacher summed up, “Cooperative learning is one of the most interesting and fun ways to learn because it is sharing our knowledge with, and learning from, our classmates.

Load more