May 2015 Newsletter 1 Table of Contents AASSA Calendar of Events ........................................................................................................................ 4 From Your Executive Director ................................................................................................................... 5 Welcome to Our Newest Associate Members......................................................................................... 5 The Year in Review................................................................................................................................. 6 A Special Thanks to Our 2014-2015 Major Sponsors ............................................................................ 7 Transitions ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Summary of 2014-2015 PD Events Hosted by Schools .......................................................................... 9 2015 AASSA Global Citizen Award Recipients................................................................................... 10 A Special Thanks to the AASSA Staff.................................................................................................. 13 Upcoming Events .................................................................................................................................. 15 2015 AASSA Business Managers’ Institute ...................................................................................... 15 AASSA Social Media Institute .......................................................................................................... 16 2015 AASSA Governance Conference ............................................................................................. 17 AASSA Rio GIN 2015 Conference ................................................................................................... 18 AASSA 2015 Recruiting Fair ............................................................................................................ 19 2016 AASSA Educators’ Conference ............................................................................................... 20 Teacher and Exhibitor Workshop Proposals ......................................................................................... 21 Newsletter Article Deadlines for the Year Ahead ................................................................................. 22 Submit Articles to the AASSA Blog ..................................................................................................... 22 Success in School and Life ..................................................................................................................... 23 Blended Hardware: SMARTER SCHOOLS ............................................................................................ 26 Child Protection - A Comprehensive Approach ....................................................................................... 30 Defining and Tracking Skills for Intentional Curriculum Design ............................................................ 33 Innovate2015 – Re-Imagining School – Re-Thinking the Professional Learning Paradigm ............ 38 Recycling and Community Service Project ............................................................................................ 40 Earth Day Project Developed by 4th A Regular Spanish Class 2015....................................................... 42 Integrating Performing Arts and Language Arts to Generate Output and Promote Cooperative Learning ................................................................................................................................................................... 44 The “Trust Edge” for International Schools ............................................................................................. 51 Redefining Professional Development at CIPLC: .................................................................................... 54 Ed Camp, Play Dates, and Twitter ............................................................................................................ 54 2 You'll Never Believe What This Science Teacher Has to Say about the Internet! It May Shock You. ... 56 Threering - P.E. e-Portfolio .................................................................................................................... 59 Actions Speak Louder Than Words: A TETO Experience ....................................................................... 60 My Story ................................................................................................................................................... 63 What’s the Affordable Health Care Act Mean to Me? ......................................................................... 68 The Path to Knowledge ............................................................................................................................. 69 Google Summit at Lincoln School ............................................................................................................ 73 Junior Achievement: ................................................................................................................................. 75 Tradiludis- Latin American Traditional Games ........................................................................................ 75 Two Big Takeaways from Innovate 2015 Conference ......................................................................... 79 Innovate2015: Developing Sustainable Change at School ....................................................................... 81 Take a Stand as a School on Climate Change! ......................................................................................... 83 Journeys in Podcasting ............................................................................................................................ 85 Reflections on Make A Change: Projects versus Project-Based Learning through the Peace on EarthBench Movement ............................................................................................................................. 87 Strategies for Improving Oral Fluency in ELLs ....................................................................................... 93 Buenos Escritores, Mejores Lectores ........................................................................................................ 96 A PRIMER TO IMPLEMENTING BLENDED LEARNING ............................................................... 101 GOOOOOOAL! ...................................................................................................................................... 102 Escola Americana do Recife Cooperates! ............................................................................................... 104 Lessons from Ghana: For Students of Music and Beyond ..................................................................... 107 Believe in the Possibility of Professional Certification .......................................................................... 111 Between a Rock and Hard Place Getting Concrete Thinkers into the Abstract with Kindergarten And PBL ......................................................................................................................................................... 112 Flashback to the 2015 Educators’ Conference .................................................................................... 115 3 AASSA Calendar of Events 2014 - 2015 Event Location Date Deadline Refining Your Instructional American School of June 11-13, 2015 May 15, 2015 Leadership Institute Brasilia 2015-2016 Event Location Date Deadline Marriott Residence Inn, AASSA Business Managers’ Institute July 13-15, 2015 June 11, 2015 Aventura, FL Marriott Dadeland AASSA Board Meeting September 22, 2015 Hotel, Miami, FL Marriott Dadeland September 4, AASSA Social Media Institute September 23, 2015 Hotel, Miami, FL 2015 Pre-Conference: AASSA Governance Conference for Marriott Dadeland September 24, 2015 September 4, Heads and Board Members Hotel, Miami, FL Main Conference: 2015 September 25 & 26, 2015 American School of AASSA GIN Conference 2015 October 22-24, 2015 October 7, 2015 Rio, Rio de Janeiro Colegio Internacional VANAS Conference November 20, 2015 de Carabobo Latin American Administrators’ Grand Hyatt, Atlanta December 1-3, 2015 Conference AASSA Recruiting Fair Grand Hyatt, Atlanta December 3-6, 2015 AASSA Annual Business Meeting Grand Hyatt, Atlanta December 3, 2015 Colegio Roosevelt, April 12-16, 2016 Lima Teacher Workshop October 13, 2015 AASSA Educators’ Conference Proposals Head of School October 27, 2015 Workshop Rankings 4 From Your Executive Director Welcome to Our Newest Associate Members EdTech Team Envision Experience Latam Explore Learning MasteryConnect PA Group Shorelight Education SkillBot, Inc. TeacherReady Our 71 Associate Members’ contacts and websites are listed on our website at: http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=466 Have you visited or subscribed or contributed to the AASSA Blog? It’s easy… Just go to: www.aassa.net/blog 5 The Year in Review This has been a positive year for AASSA. For the sake of brevity, I will highlight a few key areas: The Board of Trustees revisited AASSA’s mission, vision and values and the result was a new strategic plan framework which will take AASSA through 2020. Paul Sicard, currently the Elementary Principal at Escuela Campo Alegre, was hired