AISA Circular Apr 2015

AISA Members’ Circular April 2015 | Vol. 5 No. 6

In this issue:

Note from the Executive Director

Margaret Saunders Scholarship winner

AISA Board Elections

ISK reflects on author Margriet Ruurs

AISA’s Professional Learning Programme

AISM reopens

Partners support AISA’s Service Learning Award’s

AISA 2015 Conference Credit

AISA Art Challenge Winners

AISA Action Research Scholarship

Stay Connected!

Note from the Executive Director The AISA Team has returned here to the AISA office in Nairobi to recover from all the excitement and hard work of our 2015 Conference events in Cape Town. We are so thankful to all of you who attended. The informal feedback we have received is that it was ‘the best AISA conference yet!’

With our new, more targeted approach to offering Professional Learning to our member schools, we value more than ever your feedback about the learning that has taken place for you, and the impact this will hopefully have on your professional life at your school. We invite those who attended to complete the formal AISA 2015 conference evaluation survey we have sent to each of you via email by the deadline on Friday April 10. The Professional Learning Programme we have in store for the next school year (2015/16) is being prepared in direct response to the needs our members have indicated to us. Our targeted workshops and institutes will be differentiated from an introductory level of ‘Discovering and Exploring’ through to an advanced level of ‘Embedding and Sustaining’ best practice. Needless to say the days of ‘one size fits all’ are over in the AISA region. Shortly we will publish the 2015/16 programme. If you have been unsure about joining in our programmes – now is the time to revisit your participation.

In the meantime, good luck to all our students who are revising for the upcoming exams. We know they’ll all do brilliantly! How could they not – with such talented educators to guide their learning!

Peter Bateman Executive Director

Email info@aisa.or.ke Facebook Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) Twitter @AISA_Schools Website www.aisa.or.ke YouTube Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA)

AISA NEWS AISA Board A key piece of internal AISA business that was covered during the Cape Town conference was election of three new members to the AISA board. However, that did mean we had to say some sad farewells to board members who’s terms had expired.

John Roberts (ISK), has been our inspired (and inspiring) Board Chairperson in recent years and a dedicated member of the AISA board for almost a decade; Chris Maggio (ISU) chaired the Governance and Continuity Committee and guided much of the discussion that has changed our Board structures to enable AISA to better fulfil our mission; Nigel Winnard (KICS) has also been a long standing member at large who has challenged us all to think creatively about the way we do things in the AISA region. All three will be missed.

But as they leave, three talented and thoughtful new board members join us: Martin Hall from IS Tanganyika, Alan Knobloch from IS Dakar, and Nik Bishop from Bishop Mackenzie International School. Please remember this is your Board as well – they represent the interest of all our members. You’ll get to know them better in our next edition of our Bi-Annual Newsletter – ConneXions (out in early May) when we will share more about each of them.

We also say farewell to Dr David Cramer from the Office of Overseas Schools who has been an ardent supporter of AISA in his role as Regional Education Officer.

AISA also welcomes Dennis Larkin as AISA’s new Board chair, Dennis has vast experience as a school head both here in Africa (at Lincoln Community School in Accra Ghana) and around the world. He is a thought leader in many aspects of international education and we are privileged to have him help guide the organization forward.

Standing (L-R) Alan Knobloch, Amy Parish, Nik Bishop, Dennis Larkin, Caroline Jacoby, Martin Hall, Peter Bateman, Seated (L-R) Jim Laney, Mary Jo Heatherington, Motun Ige

AISA’s Professional Learning Programme Developing personalized learning options

Save the Date

AISA is evolving and so is how we offer professional learning to our teachers, coprofessionals, middle and senior leaders. As well as our conferences, AISA is introducing specialised, two-day workshops called Professional Learning Institutes (PLI). Each PLI will take a focus such as Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning, Highly Capable Learners or Learning Behaviours and explore it in depth in order to provide a deep learning experience, powerful enough for participants to go back to their school and implement what they have learnt.

AISA Leadership Conference: 4-6 March, 2016 Cape Town, South Africa

PLI’s will take place across the continent and can be repeated in different regions to meet demand. As well as offering aspects of teaching and learning via PLI’s, AISA will offer specialist training for co-professionals in schools such as lab technicians, counsellors, executive assistants and human resource managers to ensure everyone in our network of schools has the opportunity to learn, share good practices and to contribute further to the effectiveness of their school.

AISA Educators Conference: 16-19 October, 2016 TBA, South Africa

AISA GISS: 12-14 March, 2016 IST Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Look out for the announcement of our first PLIs next month.

Partners support AISA’s Service Learning Award’s AISA would like to send its sincere and heartfelt thanks to partner’s who recently gave generously to our Service Learning Award’s.

In total, close to US$10,000 was donated to support AISA’s initiatives to develop and recognise the outstanding work of our member schools in their efforts to promote a culture of service learning amongst their school community. Thank you for your valuable support.

Left to right (standing) Ricardo Urbina (Clements Worldwide), Robert Goodrich (Frosch), Peter Bateman (AISA), John Magagna (Search Associates), Diane Cramer & Mark Tomaszewski (TieCare) Seated: Gail Uilkema (Lantern Projects) & Jessica Magagna (Search Associates)

AISA Art Challenge Winners Each year, AISA holds an Art Challenge, an exciting competition that seeks to foster and strengthen the connections amongst students in our member schools through art. It is also an opportunity to showcase some of the outstanding work from students throughout our vast continent.

The 12 art pieces chosen this year speak to AISA’s theme, “Making the Connection”. We were delighted to see the diversity of art work submitted, as each piece personally reflects the individual artist’s connection to the theme and their unique experience of living in Africa.

AISA would like to congratulate the following 12 students whose art is featured in this year’s calendar, a gift to all who attended the AISA 2015 conference in Cape Town. Each student received an ipod shuffle in recognition of their achievement.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Mateo Battini – American International School of Mozambique Kelly Dramos - American International School of Mozambique Timothy David Nyoo – Lagos Preparatory School Demlade Aibola – Lagos Preparatory School Sheriffdeen Fatokun – Ibadan International School Tolulope Osunkoya – Ibadan International School Motunrayo Adeyemi - Ibadan International School Fleur Donker – American International School of Lusaka Ishaan Desai – American International School of Lusaka Vivien Musiime – American International School of Lusaka Valentina Nabil Banayoti – Khartoum International Community School Amina El Sadig Elnour – Khartoum International Community School

COMMUNITY NEWS Sharon Bosire from Brookhouse wins the Margaret Saunders International Scholarship 2015/16 Each year, the Margaret Sanders Foundation awards a number of graduating students from international schools a scholarship to assist with college fees and related expenses. Applicants must be able to demonstrate persistence, motivation, resourcefulness, and acceptance of other cultures and points of view.

This year, AISA is delighted to announce that Sharon Bosire from Brookhouse School in Nairobi Kenya, has been granted one of the scholarships.

Sharon is an exceptional young woman, not only has she achieved outstanding academic excellence, but her commitment, enthusiasm and passion for her extracurricular activities and leadership roles, both within the school and the community, demonstrate that this is a young woman that will indeed make a significant mark on Kenya, her home country. We wish Sharon every success as she completes her studies at Brookhouse and enters an exciting new phase in her education journey.

ISK reflects on the inspiring visit of author Margriet Ruurs “Author visits teach us how books are made and how authors get their ideas.” Elementary student ISK has a long history of hosting visits by successful published authors. “We believe such experiences enhance our library and literacy curriculum by helping to develop our students’ writing skills as well as their appreciation of literature. The excitement and inspiration that result from these visits are difficult to measure, but they are certainly evident,” reflects ISK librarian Barbara Jones.

Describing the value of an author visit, Barbara explains, “When authors share their experiences and explain the process of book publishing, our students learn things that help them understand literature and become better writers.”

A visiting author program typically will be a minimum period of three days and often for a full five days. This allows students to have more than one session with the author and for the author to conduct workshops with individual classes as well as doing presentations to large groups. Workshops with teachers can also be undertaken.

This year Canadian author Margriet Ruurs spent a week at ISK, Nairobi. Having written books for a range of ages, and both fiction and nonfiction, she was well suited for both elementary and middle school students. Margriet gave engaging presentations at assemblies for both schools and conducted individual workshops with smaller groups. One highlight was a “Breakfast Conference” with our third graders. Parents provided breakfast and participants dressed up for the occasion.

After breakfast and a talk by Margriet, the third graders were invited to pick up their pencils and try their hand at writing.

The success of the visit can be summed up in the reflection of a Middle Grade Student, “I really loved your talks… I used to hate writing but since you visited I like it a bit more.”

American International School of Monrovia (AISM) Celebrates its Reopening The outbreak of Ebola in Liberia in mid 2014 led to a virtual shut down of essential services in the city of Monrovia which eventually led to most international missions and embassies to issue ‘ordered departure.’ As a result, the American International School took the difficult but prudent decision to close its gates until the safety of its teachers and pupils could be assured.

Though this was a very difficult time, Jeff Trudeau, AISM Director, comments that, “the tougher the time, the better the people.” Jeff notes, “I received countless emails and phone calls from school directors from all over the world asking how we are doing and how the school parents were responding during this difficult time? My answer was that our parent community is great, they are being supportive of the school and working with us to try to find the best possible educational solution for their students during a clearly difficult time.”

So, it was with great excitement that the school was once again able to open its doors on 2nd February, this also signalling the containment of the Ebola virus in the country of Liberia.

But the crisis has certainly had its toll. In June of last year, AISM had projected a student population of 150 students, with 20 faculty members. Today, they have just 6 faculty members and 32 students.

However, as the country continues to normalize, AISM expects its student population to continue to grow.

Fittingly, the theme for the year at AISM is the “Year of the chameleon.” Jeff says, “This year, we will need to allow for change and transformation and for AISM to better put an individualized student curriculum firmly in place. Our goal for the second half of this school year will be to better meet each students needs. Indeed, education has changed, and during the year of the chameleon, we must adapt and change to meet the educational needs of all our students.”

Buffalo State University: AISA 2015 Conference Credit The State University of New York is offering educators who attended the AISA 2015 conference in Cape Town the opportunity to obtain one, two or three semester graduation credits from Buffalo State University. The cost of the credit is only US$90 per credit. To obtain a credit applicants are required to submit a paper outlining possible applications from the workshops attended. If you would like to find out more about this opportunity, contact intlearning@buffalostate.edu (include logo of Buffalo State)

Pacific University/AISA Action Research Scholarship AISA Action Research Scholarships are for teachers who want to know what works best in their classroom, why it works and how they can improve practice based on their own research. This is a great opportunity for teachers who want to take the lead in their own professional learning.

Designed with busy classroom practitioners in mind, the AISA Action Research Scholarship involves data collection, analysis and interpretation all completed during the first semester of 2015- 16, before presenting findings at the next Annual AISA Conference in October 2016. Teachers will be supported throughout the application process and coached during the action research phase to ensure they are set up for success and gain the most from their teacher-researcher experience.

AISA is offering SIX Action Research Scholarships, each worth US$1,800 to teachers from any AISA Full Member School. Under the skilful supervision of Dr Donna Kalmback Phillips, Pacific University, Oregon, the successful applicants will be guided through this four credit graduate course and share their project with their peers at next year’s AISA conference. Applicants will need to pay the balance of the tuition costs of $420.

How to get started: If you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity, contact Graham Watts, Director of Professional Learning gwatts@aisa. or.ke. The deadline for the application in June 26th

You are receiving this circular as a valued member of the AISA network.

Visit www.aisa.or.ke for more information. Š 2015 Association of International Schools in Africa. All rights reserved.