2016/17 Issues 14 & 15 May 18, 2017 Phoenix Flyer Korea International School In This Issue: • KIS: Service Learning • SC: Battle Of The Books • ES: International Day • MS: Fiji And Thailand • HS: Cambodia And Australia • Athletics: Girls Soccer • Pride: HS Teacher Of The Year • Pride: HS Principal’s Assistants KIS Spotlight Explaining The CIA Cycle The Center for Teaching and Learning at KIS is al- that content is aligned grade to grade and to other ways a busy place. Aptly located at the center of the subject areas within the grade. The CIA cycle is a school, teachers come and go, sometimes to get cof- big step to reaching our school-wide goal centered fee, use the microwave, or grab a piece of candy for around curriculum and assessment. The school ad- a quick energy boost. More often, however, teach- ministration and teacher-leaders have done great ers are coming in to collaborate and learn, always work to revise and improve the KIS CIA cycle. The striving to improve the art of teaching. Teachers at new cycle will continue to improve our work, which KIS are exceptional; they practice a growth mind- in turn will make KIS an even better learning experi- set. A growth mindset is a concept coined by Carol ence for our students. Dewick, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learn- ing and a resilience that is essential for great accom- Tara Verenna plishment.” Just as teachers foster the concept of Director of a growth mindset with their students, they also em- Teaching & Learning body this philosophy in their professional and per- sonal lives. Teaching and learning is big work, and The Center at KIS helps to steer that work. One of the school-wide goals at KIS is to continue to document our guar- anteed and viable curriculum, develop assessment systems that inform instruction, and improve report- ing practices school-wide. The grade level and de- partment heads, in conjunction with the school lead- ership, has created a revised Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment cycle (CIA Cycle) for KIS. The CIA cycle is a systematic approach to reviewing and re- vising our curriculum, instruction, and assessment systems. The CIA cycle is designed to give teach- ers a different area of teaching and learning to focus on annually. There are six phases of the CIA cycle, and the content areas are divided up evenly among the phases. Allowing teachers to focus their work on curriculum, instruction, or assessment for an entire year will enable them to make more meaningful pro- gress in the identified area. The revised CIA cycle will be used to drive the pro- fessional development for our faculty to ensure they have the resources needed to implement the outlined tasks. Next year, teachers will have time to work in both vertical and horizontal teams to ensure 1 | www.kis.kr Service, Service, Everywhere! On a cold afternoon in February of 2016, seven Grade 10 students and I finished our meeting at the Suji Boys’ Town Orphanage. We were working on developing another KIS, student-led, community-partner pro- gram which supports the particular needs of our client. Let’s now fast forward this month: May of 2017. KIS now has 10 sustainable, student-led, community-partner programs, with 109 KIS students involved. We serve on these from Monday through Saturday (KIS Weekly Calendar) on a weekly, biweekly, and monthly basis. We endeavor to serve our clients’ needs on a sustainable and integral level as global citizens. Also, among these 10 community partners, we now have our very first Middle School and High School communi- ty-partner program at the Suwon Orphanage. Student leaders meet every month through the “Sustainable Service Volunteer Committee” (SSVC), where they reflect, share ideas, and develop progressive plans for the future. KIS is looking to develop further by having our first Elementary School, Middle School and High School community-partner program, along with two more potential sustainable programs. We can also celebrate our first year of the KIS Pangyo Internship Semester Two Program, where High School students currently intern for a variety of faculty members on a mutually-agreed service contract. Interns will be receiving their “Acknowledgement of Service Program” (AoSP) Statement at High School Graduation later this month. KIS student service volunteers will also receive AoSPs, of different achievement levels. If you are interested in serving your community, please go to the above link to read about the many oppor- tunities of service volunteerism. After that, contact the appropriate student leader listed on that site. Alter- natively, you can email [email protected] for a chat. Andrew Kennedy Service Learning Coordinator KIS Sustainable Service Learning Continuum Charity Volunteerism Service Service Learning is our is our first step allows us to is an academic chance to raise to help others apply our learning approach to plan, resources to by giving of our and serve others reflect, & apply support others. time Inside & in the world learning to make outside of KIS. around us. meaningful contributions. Volunteerism is Service provides the Service Learning Charity provides serving others chance to reflect connects our an opportunity to with integrity and and make improved teaching, learning, deliver those dedicated changes for high and assessments to resources in person commitment on a impact and sustained make sustainable and ask, “How else sustainable community change. pragmatic can KIS support?” regular basis. change within our community. Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Together we are stronger and can make a positive difference as global citizens! Design Your Future | 2 Seoul CampusHighlights Elementary School Buddy Bench Fundraiser “Raising money is hard work!” This was the consen- sus of Seoul Campus’ First Grade students as they reflected on how their Buddy Bench Fundraising Party went. This trimester, First Graders are working on a trans- disciplinary unit themed around overcoming chal- lenges. A challenge they felt many of them faced from time to time on the playground was finding friends to play with. In an effort to combat loneliness and to assist friends in finding someone to play with, they came up with the idea to purchase two buddy benches. Buddy benches, also known as friendship benches, are specially decorated benches where a child can sit if they are feeling lonely and in need of a friend. Sitting in one of these benches is a signal to the kids on the playground to come and ask that child to play. Although their idea was attained, First Graders now faced a secondary challenge: how would they come up with the money to purchase these benches? They put their heads together and came up with the idea of hosting a fundraising party. Their teachers put them in charge of designing and running various activities, including tattoos, bracelet making, obstacle cours- es, jump roping, hula hooping, ball tossing, and pin- ning a smile on a face. One of the most memorable activities was karaoke. Guests at the party sang their hearts out to pop songs and Disney hits like “Let it Go”, and “How Far I’ll Go”. First graders sent out an invitation to all lower years students, PK to Second Grade, and asked each student to contribute a small donation toward their benches. The event was a huge success! Their guests had a fabulous time and the First Graders were able to surpass their fundraising goals! Their final steps will include choosing how to decorate their bench. Seoul Campus looks forward to the grand unveiling of two new buddy benches on the rooftop playground and lower field, coming later this spring! Way to go First Jamie Koch Grade! Seoul Elementary Grade Two Teacher 3 | www.kis.kr Trip To IBK Bank & St. &ndrew’s Coffee Shop On Friday, March 10th, the Fifth Graders went to a brief field trip to IBK bank and St. &drew’s coffee shop to have a better understanding of what they were doing in Social Studies: planning a coffee shop themselves. At IBK bank, the Fifth Graders had a special meeting with the banker and gained a lot of information. For example, they learned about guarantees, interests, credits, and credit levels. The Fifth Graders learned that interests are the two-to-three percent that increases the amount of money you have to owe back to the bank. They learned about the credit levels from A, B, C, D, E, and F, and that they are also divided these into three more levels (A, double A, Triple A). These credit levels increase when you pay the money back to the bank (A) and decrease when you pay back late (F). They also learned about guarantees which are things or places you exchange with money in case you have to owe money, pay for a sick family member, and lots more. After their short trip to IBK, the Fifth Graders headed to St. &drew’s Coffee where they gained some helpful information. They learned about how the founder of the shop, Mr. Kim, came up with ideas to make a coffee shop and how long it took for him to design the logo and make the slogan. They learned that it took multiple procedures for him to design the shop’s logo, and that he even had to recruit a design team to help him. This showed the Fifth Graders that making a shop is not easy work, and that they have to put in a lot of effort when starting their own businesses.