The ET Journal Winter Issue 2019

The EARCOS Triannual JOURNAL A Link to Educational Excellence in East Asia

Featured in this Issue EARCOS 51st Leadership Conference Professional Development: Compassion Conference at The International School Yangon EdThought: A Three-Year Journey of Explicit Approaches to Learning Instruction

WINTER 2019

From the Executive Director From all of us at the EARCOS Center, welcome to the Winter edition of ET and Happy New Year 2020!

considering the sense of isolation expressed by so many school leaders, it is our hope that many will want to take advantage of this important initiative.

Those of you who serve as Heads of School—be that a Head of an entire n-12 school or Head of a school division--will know what I mean when I say that a school headship is one of the loneliest jobs in the world. You may be literally surrounded by over a thousand people each day, and yet there is an all-too-frequent sense of loneliness, especially when dark clouds surround us. This is not to understate the many, many moments of happiness and joy that come with the job of school leadership, but the challenges and heartbreak that can come from intersecting with so many others can often make the life of a school leader a heavy and lonely one. EARCOS has long recognized the importance of supporting those who lead our schools.Today, I would like to take a few moments to underscore two of the most important programs available to all leaders in this region and invite you to make both part of your New Year’s planning.

Speaking of leadership, I must take a moment to express my deep appreciation to Bill Oldread, who has served as the Assistant Director of EARCOS for the past twelve years. Bill and his delightful wife, Beth, decided several months ago that the time had come to return to their family in the US after a very long commitment to international schools in Shanghai and Manila as well as the dozen years they have spent with EARCOS. As we all know, this past year’s planned transition of Executive Directors suffered a major challenge when Dick Krajczar passed away just before retiring. Despite the many challenges that tragic event presented to the transition process, we have managed to row through heavy surf—thanks to the support of a caring Board and office staff--and especially to the patience, the knowledge and wise insights that Bill Oldread has provided. Throughout his tenure with EARCOS, he has been very much the quiet man behind the curtain, just making things happen. I have been proud to be able to call him not just a colleague but a true friend in the months we have worked together. We are all indebted to his service to EARCOS. Thank you Bill and God Speed to you and yours as you begin a new chapter in life!

Some of our readers will have previously taken advantage of the EARCOS Annual Spring Heads Retreat. The opportunity to spend a weekend with other EARCOS Heads, reflecting on experiences and challenges, seeking shared insights with others who carry similar burdens, is among the very best ways to rediscover a sense of balance and optimism. This April 24-26, I hope you will join us in scenic, peaceful Luang Prabang, Laos as we share our leadership experiences through a lens of personal reflection. We will be led by the talented Dr. Shabbi Luthra of Consilience Learning. I hope many of you will want to take advantage of this powerful opportunity. Registration is free to all EARCOS Directors.

Heads of School should have recently received an invitation to participate in the redesigned EARCOS Leadership Mentoring program. Based on the very good foundation work of Joe Petrone and others, the EARCOS Leadership Mentoring program has been revised by Dr. Chris Jansen of the Leadership Lab at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in consultation with a number of EARCOS Heads.

The program is now open to all leaders in our region’s schools who wish to become either mentors or mentees. Much more detail will be found through the links included in the message that was sent recently. If you did not receive that message and link, please visit https://www.earcos.org/other_ELM.php to learn more.

Additional information can be found on the EARCOS home page. Considering the enormous pressures associated with leading an international school today and

The good news is that Bill has recently agreed to continue on with us for the next year as a ‘consultant,’ continuing his work on new membership applications, the ET Journal, the EARCOS blog and tweets, and the Leadership Mentoring Program.

He and I will remain in frequent contact on all sorts of topics as we prepare the next round of dynamic conferences and events.

In closing, let me thank all of our members who have contributed so much to make our conferences and workshops and so many other EARCOS events such a tremendous success this past year. I look forward to working with you and to supporting the remarkable work your schools are doing to nurture the global citizens and leaders of tomorrow.

Best wishes to all in the EARCOS family. Have a fantastic start to 2020!

Edward E. Greene, Ph.D. Executive Director

THE EARCOS JOURNAL The ET Journal is a triannual publication of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools(EARCOS), a nonprofit 501(C)3, incorporated in the state of Delaware, USA, with a regional office in Manila, Philippines. Membership in EARCOS is open to elementary and secondary schools in East Asia which offer an educational program using English as the primary language of instruction, and to other organizations, institutions, and individuals.

Objectives and Purposes * To promote intercultural understanding and international friendship through the activities of member schools. * To broaden the dimensions of education of all schools involved. in the Council in the interest of a total program of education. * To advance the professional growth and welfare of individuals belonging to the educational staff of member schools. * To facilitate communication and cooperative action between and among all associated schools. * To cooperate with other organizations and individuals pursuing the same objectives as the Council.

EARCOS BOARD OF TRUSTEES EARCOS STAFF Margaret Alvarez, President (ISS International School) Edward E. Greene, Executive Director Stephen Cathers, Vice President (International School Suva) Bill Oldread, Assistant Director Andrew Davies, Treasurer (International School Bangkok) Elaine Repatacodo, Administrative Assistant, ELC Program Coordinator David Toze, Past President (International School Manila) Giselle Sison, ETC Program Coordinator Ronelda Capadona (Chiang Mai International School) Ver Castro, Membership & I.T. Coordinator Barry Sutherland (International School of Phnom Penh) Edzel Drilo, Web Developer, Professional Learning Weekend, Sab Kagei (St. Mary’s International School) Sponsorship & Advertising Coordinator Kevin Baker (Busan International Foreign School) Robert Sonny Viray, Accountant Laurie McLellan (Nanjing International School) RJ Macalalad, Accounting Assistant Elsa Donohue (Vientiane International School), Trustee-elect Rod Catubig Jr., Office Staff

effective April 2020 Larry Hobdell (ex officio), Office of Overseas Schools REO

In this Issue contents

2

6

EARCOS Leadership Conference 2019: “Nurturing Growth and Building Relevance”

5th Institute on International Admission & Guidance

24

Student Writings - H’sia’s Experience of Grade 5 Camp - Mother Earth

26

Learning2 Conference 2019

30

EdThought - Coordinator’s Reflection: A Three-Year Journey of Explicit Approaches to Learning Instruction

32

Community Service - IGB International School’s Race Against Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery - Interview With Bouquet Tayapa, “Keep to Share” Project Creator (P. 34)

8

10 11

Faces of EARCOS Welcome New Schools & Heads Award Established to Honor Dick Krajczar’s Legacy The Richard T. Krajczar Annual Humanitarian Award

37

Campus Development - Dalian Huamei Bilingual School

41

Galleries Drive Process and Inspire Reflection

FEATURES

42

Middle School Art Galleries

Curriculum - Mindfulness at Bali Island School (P. 12) - Open and International Mindedness Through Investigation (P. 13) - A New Chapter in Reading Instruction for The Harbour School (P. 14) - Flipped Learning (P. 29) - Collaborative Community Projects - Preparing for the Future by Learning from the Past (P. 35) - Your School-Based Counseling Program: The Juice is Worth the Squeeze (P. 38) - INNOVATION in your CLASSROOM: SKETCHNOTING as a form of Visual Curricular Connection (P. 39)

16

2020 Update: EARCOS Leadership Mentoring

Press Release - Mindfulness and Your Brain, Your Life (P17) - APAC Celebrates its 25th Anniversary (P28) - SENIA Expands Worldwide (P. 36) - Let the Students into your Educational Conference: You May Be Surprised by What You Discover!

18

Professional Development - Compassion Conference at The International School Yangon

20

Service Learning Service Learning? It’s a piece of cake!

Back cover: Vicky Shi - Mixed Media, Grade 8

Hangzhou International School

The EARCOS Action Research Grant

In an ongoing effort to implement the EARCOS Strategic Plan, specifically Strategy E, to conduct, communicate, and archive relevant data and research to identify and enhance exceptional educational practices, grants will be made available to encourage our teachers, administrators, and professional staff to conduct action research to improve educational practices for the purpose of enhancing student learning. Please visit the EARCOS website for more information. http://earcos.org/rs_action.php

The EARCOS Journal Editor: Bill Oldread Associate Editor: Edzel Drilo

East Asia Regional Council of Schools Brentville Subdivision, Barangay Mamplasan Biñan, Laguna, 4024, Philippines PHONE: +63 (02) 8779-5147 FAX: 63-49-511-4694 EMAIL: info@earcos.org WEBSITE: www.earcos.org

WINTER ISSUE 2019 Winter 2019 Issue 1

EARCOS Leadership Conference 2019

“Nurturing Growth and Building Relevance”

By Bill Oldread EARCOS Assistant Director

The 51st annual EARCOS Leadership Conference was held at the beautiful Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia from October 31 to November 2, 2019. This year’s conference, presided over by our new Executive Director, Dr. Edward Greene, attracted nearly 1200 school board trustees, heads of school, principals, directors of learning, athletic directors, business managers and admissions, communications and marketing directors from the EARCOS region and around the world.

Each day of the conference opened with a plenary session led by a keynote from one of three outstanding educational thinkers. On day one, Graham Brown-Martin challenged us to consider the future of work in light of the most pressing issues facing the world; climate change, population growth, and migration along with advances in technology such as genetic editing and artificial intelligence. On day two, Carline Firmin introduced the audience to the global nature of peerabuse between young people in schools, focusing on the dynamics present in international school contexts. Will Richardson provoked the audience on the final day to honor and expand the freedom and agency of our students to learn what they want, when they want, with whomever they want, in whatever ways make the most sense to them.

In addition to the three exceptional keynote speakers, the conference offered over 140 workshop sessions and 11 pre-conference sessions on such topics as board governance, intercultural leadership, child protection, assessment, curriculum, admissions, marketing, school change and more. The conference provided not only great learning experiences, but abundant opportunities for networking and meeting new colleagues.

EARCOS Executive Director Dr. Edward E. Greene acknowledges the EARCOS Board of Trustees.

The opening day welcome reception was held in the cavernous lobby area of the Magellan Hotel and featured entertainment by indigenous dancers. Over 700 delegates enjoyed the excellent food, drink, and camaraderie. The closing reception was equally well-attended though due to heavy rain, the venue was moved to the Pacific ballroom.

Once again the wonderful staff of both hotels treated our delegates like royalty. Our sincere thanks go to Hasnaffina Hassnar (Fina) and Noorhayati Amat (Nora) and their staffs for their outstanding service and hospitality.

Thank you to all those who attended ELC 2019. We invite you to join us again next year, when ELC 2020 will be held once again at the beautiful Shangri La Hotel, Bangkok, from October 29 to October 31.

We look forward to seeing you there.

2 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Brent International School Headmaster Jason Atkins with Director of IT Roehl Castaneda received The Dr. Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award from Dr. Margaret Alvarez, EARCOS Board President.

Keynote speaker Will Richardson.

Keynote speaker Graham Brown-Martin.

Second day opening remarks by Stephen Cathers, EARCOS board vice-president and head of school at International School Suva.

Keynote speaker Carlene Firmin.

Third day opening remarks by Andy Davies, EARCOS Board and head of school at International School Bangkok.

Winter 2019 Issue 3

Welcoming the delegates at the Shangri-La Grand Ballroom.

5 Annual Institute on Interna th

EARCOS and the Council of International Schools (CIS) have once again successfully partnered on a regional institute to connect university counselors in Asia and university admissions officers from around the world. The EARCOS-CIS Institute on International Admissions and Guidance brought together nearly 500 participants for two days of networking, sharing effective practices, and brainstorming new and better ways to serve globally mobile student populations.

Over 260 university counselors from 17 countries across Asia attended the institute, as well as 220 university representatives from the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Networking opportunities were built into the program through joint lunches, coffee breaks and a closing reception. School counselors also had a chance to represent their schools during the school fair, where universities could circulate and talk to different counselors, and counselors had a chance to network with universities during the reverse university fair. Schools were able to leave with increased knowledge about global university options for their students, and universities were able to gain a better understanding of the schools in attendance and even consider adding in visits to new schools and regions in future student recruitment trips.

Drawing on the talent and expertise of the attendees, 36 sessions that appealed to both university and school attendees were offered, leading to focused dialogue that continued long after the sessions were over.Topics varied from “Meet Your Financial Aid MythBusters!” and “The Unique Third Culture Kid Transition to University” to “Trends in Global Admissions:The Year in Review” and “Creative Ca6 EARCOS Triannual Journal

reers: Opportunities in Digital and Media Arts.” Counselors were also able to present on regional topics such as “Recruiting in Japan” and “China Today: The Latest Developments in Counselling and Admissions in the Largest International Student Market” to share effective practices and regional knowledge with the university representatives in attendance.

All attendees were invited to listen to keynote speaker Richard Gaskell, Schools Director for ISC Research. He delivered a data-driven speech about the changing demographics of international schools worldwide and specifically in Asia. He also drew upon ISC’s research to share data about how students make their university choices and the role of the university counselor in the process. Richard’s speech provided a solid foundation and context for the rest of the learning and sessions that took place during the event.

Not only did participants engage with each other over the two days, but a large university fair was planned for local students to meet the university representatives. Over 600 students from dozens of schools in the Bangkok area attended the Saturday evening fair. The universities were able to engage directly with potential students and their families, which helped to increase their knowledge of as well as provide greater access to global university options.

After a successful inaugural “unconference” session for counselors last year, we organized a similar session at this year’s event running concurrent with the university fair for students. School counselors were able to generate ideas for discussion on a whiteboard during the conference, and during the last session block participated in a

Workshop Sessions

ational Admission & Guidance moderated discussion to problem-solve around the shared ideas.

Topics submitted for discussion included how to help debunk and educate students and parents about university rankings, how universities are dealing with the new IB math courses, best practices in reporting student extracurricular activities on university applications, and alternatives pathways for students not completing the IB or A-level programs. Feedback from attendees was positive with one counsellor saying it was “a great way to round off the event with engaging , friendly and warm presenters. It felt supportive and helpful.”

deal with the current issues we face each day in our roles.” We hope that all attendees left Bangkok rejuvenated with lots of new ideas on how to best serve their students in the transition from secondary school to university.

The EARCOS-CIS Institute on International Admission and Guidance was a resounding success with over 98% of attendees saying they are likely to attend in the future. One attendee noted “the event was a really valuable opportunity to network with colleagues in both the counselling and university sectors. The presenters were really effective in helping us think about and develop strategies to

Katryna Snow Associate Director of Higher Education Services Council of International Schools

EARCOS and CIS hope to see you at the Sixth Annual Institute on International Admissions and Guidance to be held in Bangkok from 18-19 September 2020!

(Below) University and School Fair

Winter 2019 Issue 7

Faces of EARCOS

Welcome New Schools & Heads AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Country: Vietnam Webiste: https://www.aisvietnam.com/

Dr. Roderick Crouch, Executive Principal

Elsa H. Donohue

EARCOS welcomes Elsa H. Donohue from Vientiane International School as EARCOS Trustee-elect effective April 2020.

Recognized as a 2017 National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the State Department Office of Overseas Schools, Elsa is currently serving the Vientiane International School (VIS) community as a Head of School. Elsa’s love of inquiry-based learning guides her daily work. Her devotion to teaching and learning has led Elsa to continuously inquire into what constitutes a quality experience for all learners. Elsa’s latest passion focuses on supporting the expansion of leadership capacity throughout the school.

Re-elected to second term as EARCOS Board of Trustees.

RENAISSANCE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SAIGON Country: Vietnam Website: https://www.renaissance.edu.vn/

Peter Gittins, Head of School

EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL HO CHI MINH CITY Country: Vietnam Website: https://www.eishcmc.com/

Sean O’Maonaigh, Head of School

Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School Barry Sutherland American International School Vietnam Barry is the new director of American International School Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. He has served as the Director of International School Phnom Penh for the past 10 years and serves on the EARCOS Board. Prior to Cambodia he led schools in Tanzania, Thailand and Singapore and has taught in Canada.

Country: https://www.qibaodwight.org/en Website: China

Dr. Wang Fang, Principal

The Western International School of Shanghai Country: China Website: https://www.wiss.cn/

Dr. Gregory Brunton, Director

Saburo Kagei St. Mary’s International School Saburo “Sab” Kagei is the head at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo, Japan, a Catholic all-boys international school founded by the Brothers of Christian Instruction in 1954.

8 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Rupa Sen, Head of School Bangalore International School

Michael Taylor, Principal Kyoto International School

High School Global Issues Network(GIN2020) Febuary 7-9, 2020 | NIST International School

“Visioning Our Future Inspire Change. Generate Action.�

GIN ASIA 2020 will see over 400 students and teachers from international schools around the world converge on Bangkok, Thailand for a weekend of inspiration, discussion, workshops, advocacy and activism as we harness the power of a global youth network to raise awareness and generate youth action toward a better world. >>> visit website https://www.ginasia2020.net/ Winter 2019 Issue 9

Award Established to Honor Dick Krajczar’s Legacy Following a series of memorial events to honor the life and career of Dick Krajczar, the EARCOS Board of Trustees decided to establish an annual award in Dr. K’s name. The award, The Annual Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award, was created to honor Dr. K’s legacy by recognizing his life-long commitment to helping others.

The award is designed to provide meaningful assistance to a charitable group operating within the EARCOS region. The charitable organization will normally be a school based philanthropic initiative or a charitable organization working together with a service group in one or more of the EARCOS schools. The Award includes a US$10,000 grant (distributed equally over two years) as well as assistance to attend the Annual Leadership Conference to provide insights and information about the award-winning philanthropic project.

The Board has agreed that this annual award will be granted each year in perpetuity to ensure that the legacy of Dick Krajczar’s generosity and kindness to others will live on as long as there is an EARCOS. The full text of the award, as well as information about the first recipient, the Brent International School of Manila’s Tech for Teaching project, may be found on the following pages of this issue of ET. The deadline for applications for the 2020 Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award is April 15, 2020.

10 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Brent International School Tech for Teaching Project first recipient of The Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award It’s hard to deny that the future is fundamentally intertwined with technology, making it all the more necessary for schools to incorporate a strong foundation in working with computers into their curricula.

However, many schools, especially public schools, simply cannot afford this.

This is where Tech for Teaching steps in! The club repairs old laptops and other pieces of technology to donate to local schools in need.

Once we’ve gathered enough, we visit the schools to install the equipment and play with the kids. This year, we’ve started a new service project to further develop our relationships with these students: introductory coding classes! We’re currently using “Scratch” to help develop their problem solving mindsets and build the necessary skills to transition into another coding language in the future.

The Richard T. Krajczar Annual Humanitarian Award

This annual award is given in recognition of EARCOS’ longest serving Executive Director, Dr. Richard T. Krajczar. His commitment to international education was unparalleled and equaled only by his genuine love for friends, colleagues and the students served across the EARCOS region.

Caring for others was not just Dr. K’s passion but raison d’etre. His support of those who provided sustenance and care for the less fortunate was among his most endearing traits. To that end, the EARCOS Board of Trustees has established the Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award to recognize, each year, the work of one not-for-profit organization with a proven record of philanthropy in the East Asia/ Pacific Region.

The Annual Award Includes: 1. US$ 10,000, distributed in equal portions over two consecutive years, to support the selected organization’s initiatives 2. An engraved plaque 3. Complimentary R/T air fare and hotel accommodation for the EARCOS Leadership Conference where the financial award and plaque will be presented to a representative of the organization.

4. Hotel and meals for the duration of the conference

Selection Criteria 1. No later than April 15, candidate organizations will submit an application to the Executive Director of EARCOS and the Review Committee. The application will provide a. A description and history of the organization’s focus and initiatives b. A narrative detailing the impact of the organization’s efforts to date c. Photographs and brief testimonials related to the organization’s work d. An assessment of the need for additional support and what that support is expected to provide e. Information about the working relationship, if any, between the organization and a Service Club of one or more of the EARCOS member schools. f. Current sources and levels of funding and an explanation of how the funds, if awarded, would be used g. A copy of the organization’s charter or Articles of Association 2. The Award Committee will include: a. The Executive Director of EARCOS b. The Treasurer of the EARCOS Board of Trustees c. A second member of the EARCOS Board of Trustees d. The Community Service Coordinator of an EARCOS member school e. A member of the Krajczar family

Brent International School Headmaster Jason Atkins, with Director of IT Roehl Castaneda, received the award from Dr. Margaret Alvarez, EARCOS board president, the first recipient of The Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award.

By June 15, the committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees whose decision will be final.

Winter 2019 Issue 11

Curriculum

Mindfulness at Bali Island School

By Rachael L. Gerbic, PhD K12 Counselor - counselor@baliis.net What is mindfulness and why is everyone talking about it? You’ve seen it on magazine covers, heard it in your exercise classes and on news shows, and even read about it in parenting books, but what exactly is mindfulness and how do you do it? According to Jon KabatZinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, mindfulness is, “The awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, in Purser, 2015).

“The awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, in Purser, 2015).

At Bali Island School (BIS) we teach mindfulness to all students in Pre-K through grade 12. We know that helping students find that calm, centered space where they can really pay attention to what’s happening around them and within themselves will help them learn.

Students whose self-regulatory systems are “hijacked” by strong emotions like stress, frustration, anxiety or feeling overwhelmed, cannot stay focused and learn. They are unable to be present with what is happening and are often in fight, flight, or freeze mode--our reptilian brain’s ways of coping with threats. In these modes, we are unable to take in new information.

Students of all ages at BIS learn a variety of skills and techniques to be able to self regulate, to access that calm, composed center, so that they can make wise, thoughtful decisions, rather than knee-jerk reactions. Accessing this tiny window of space between action and reaction is what gives them the freedom to choose a different response.

This is helpful for young children playing with friends on the jungle gym at recess, middle school students feeling anxious before a presentation, and high school students walking into a high-stakes exam.

Students learn to focus on one thing at a time-- sounds, thoughts, emotions, body sensations, breath. They learn to bring their focus into the present moment and pay close attention to their experience internally and externally. It is our aim that students gain as much awareness of their own human experience as they do about the academic subjects they study. With these elements combined, our aim is to develop wise, self-aware, compassionate citizens of the world.

New Mindfulness Benches for each division, donated by the BIS PTA. 12 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Curriculum

Open and International Mindedness Through Investigation

By Tara Cheney Students at Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin recently visited the Osaka Exchange and the Osaka International Peace Museum as part of their annual assessment investigation requirements in MYP integrated humanities and IBDP History.

First meeting with professors.

Our students at the Osaka International Peace Museum. importance of news items and their influence on the market.

Students analyse market fluctuations.

A first time presentation in English was given by the Japanese staff at the Osaka Exchange, including an overview of the history of the exchange from feudal times to its current day operations. The highlight of the investigation was participating in a simulation of buying and selling stocks, futures and options according to recent news updates. While every student wanted to make the most money they were also learning about market reaction according to the national and global news cycle. The simulation illustrated George Walker’s key components in an international school curriculum: “The capacity and motivation to consider issues from a global as well as a national perspective, understanding and respecting other opinions, acquiring skills of negotiation and compromise.”1 This simulation had a lasting impact on the students, as they now understand the

At the Osaka International Peace Museum, many of our students were able to use their bilingual/ trilingual skills in deciphering the curated information. Sometimes information was not translated and so the students knowledge regarding Japanese kanji became imperative in examining the bias/ propaganda that the museum presented, for example, the lack of acknowledgement of foreigners that died during the bombing of Osaka, in WWII. The museum’s conservative government agenda provided scope for the students to develop investigative research questions delving into why various biases are present within the museum. It is through this type of investigation that our students fulfill George Walker’s last component of what a truly international school curriculum is: “Critical thinking skills that help the student to reflect on the nature of knowledge, its origins, reliability and on different criteria for truth.”2 (Walker, 2017) The grade 11 IBDP History students also used the museum field trip to develop their critical thinking skills as historians, such as, selecting and analysing a range of source material and considering diverse perspectives.

These students are tasked with searching for,

selecting, evaluating and using evidence to reach a relevant conclusion in their investigation. They have to consider the origin, purpose and content when they are discussing the values and limitations of each source. It is through this model for analysing sources that an internationally minded approach becomes the usual modus operandi for our students. As Merryfield states, this investigative field trip created the opportunity for open mindedness to develop by giving students the opportunity to “...rethink assumptions, identify misinformation, and consider alternative ways to make decisions.”3 OIS students were able to better understand economic, historic, geographic, political and technological contexts that form their increasingly interconnected world.

Bibliography Merryfield, M.M.,’Four Strategies for Teaching Open-Mindedness’, ​Social Studies and the Young Learner, vol.25,no.2,2012, pp,18-22 Walker, G., ‘What is an international school’, ​ John Catts internationalschoolsearch.com, 2​ 7 April 2017, para. 12,16, <https://www. internationalschoolsearch.com/news/whatis-an-international-school>

1

G.Walker, ‘What is an international school’, ​John Catts internationalschoolsearch.com, ​27 April 2017, para. 12, <https://www.internationalschoolsearch.com/news/what-is-an-international-school>

2

G.Walker, ‘What is an international school’, ​John Catts internationalschoolsearch.com, ​27 April 2017, para. 16, <https://www.internationalschoolsearch.com/news/what-is-an-international-school>

3

M.M.Merryfield,’Four Strategies for Teaching Open-Mindedness’, ​Social Studies and the Young Learner, vol.25,no.2,2012, pp,18-22

Winter 2019 Issue 13

Curriculum

A New Chapter in Reading Instruction for The Harbour School

By Jen Crickenberger Prep Teacher and Prep Literacy Coordinator The Harbour School Personalized learning is a buzzword tossed around frequently in education but what does it actually mean? Personalized learning refers to adjusting the content and intensity of study to an individual student’s needs, abilities and goals. At The Harbour School, teaching teams plan and work together so all students can master their individual objectives and continually progress. We have supercharged our Prep and Primary literacy curriculum with the addition of a new model of instruction for reading to boost individual readers.

The Reading and Writing Units of Study are designed to support readers and writers with exactly what they need every day. We know that reading is so much more than simple recall. Students should be actively checking for understanding, self-monitoring, and rereading as needed. We want readers to also be able to retell the story and make valuable connections with what was read. But most importantly, we hope that we instill a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

We have recently adopted Teachers College Reading and Writing Program’s Reading Units of Study. In August, teachers from Prep through High School received professional development training with Beth Keat, owner and educational consultant of Keat Literacy based in the United States. Teachers have already been using the workshop model in writing, so adding the reading units of study seemed like a natural complement. From unrolling effective mini lessons in the younger grades to effective written feedback in the high school, teachers gained new tools to begin this school year with a fresh perspective.

Beth Keat explains the benefits of reading and writing workshop: “The workshop model is specifically designed to differentiate for all readers- no matter how advanced or how struggling. Reader’s workshop prioritizes small group and individualized instruction by its design and structure: a short whole class lesson and an extended independent work period where students read books at their own levels, at their own pace, and teachers deliver specialized instruction to individuals and small groups.”

One of my favorite parts of working at The Harbour School is the Orang utan with baby willingness of teaching teams to differentiate instruction to suit the diverse learning needs of their students. Every child is challenged at their level by a teacher who understands them as a unique person. During reading workshop, teachers and co-teachers work in harmony through mini lessons, individual and partner conferences and guided reading groups to practice explicit reading strategies.The routines are predictable, so the class can dive into authentic learning experiences with ease. Students are given individualized feedback daily. Both readers and their teachers know what goals they are working on and have next steps in mind to achieve them.

14 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Wei Wei and William are partner reading during Reading Workshop in Jen Crickenberger’s Prep class.

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Mar 14, 2020

EARCOS Leadership Mentoring 2020 Update During the recent ELC 2019 Dr. Chris Jansen conducted a pre-conference workshop designed to examine the current EARCOS Leadership Mentoring program(ELM), with an eye to streamlining the program. Twenty participants engaged in activities and discussion around the positives and negatives of the existing program. The resulting suggestions are being incorporated into a revamped process with less focus on the training modules, which seemed to create a time burden on those interested in participating in the program.

The revised EARCOS Leadership Mentoring(ELM) program is now open to those in leadership positions such as heads of school, principals, learning leaders, etc. wishing to become a mentor, be mentored, or to develop a peer-to-peer mentoring relationship. Details of the programme can be found in the revised ELM Handbook. (https://tinyurl.com/swetfxw) Those interested in being involved in the program as mentors or mentees are invited to complete the registration and preference ELM questionnaire. Please register your interest by February 1st 2020. (https://tinyurl.com/tae2jqz) The goal is to collate, approve and match applicants during March 2020 in order to initiate the mentoring relationship by April, although registration will remain open throughout the year. An online platform exclusively for use by ELM members will be established as a site for posting resource articles and videos and for communication among members.

Once paired, the mentor and mentee will be asked to develop and sign an agreement outlining their commitment with respect to time, confidentiality, and opt out mechanism.

EARCOS wishes to recognize and offer sincerest gratitude to members of the inaugural cohort of mentees and mentors currently engaged in leadership development in our region. ELM certificates was given last ELC2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In September a survey to ascertain the effectiveness of the program will be sent to participants. A one day pre-conference is planned for ELC 2020 to provide an opportunity for pairs to do some face to face mentoring and further training.

Any queries please contact Bill Oldread boldread@earcos.org or Chris Jansen chris@leadershiplab.co.nz

earcos.org cois.org EARCOS-CIS Institute on international Admission & Guidance Date: 18 - 19 September 2020 Location: Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

The two-day event includes general sessions and fairs for both universities and schools. This is the perfect opportunity to connect and build international relationships that will support studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; search for the best-fit university. www.earcos.org | www.cois.org

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Press Release

Mindfulness and Your Brain, Your Life Do you know your brain can be “evolved” if you “train” it every day?

At the American School of Bangkok Green Valley, we value strategies that can support our students’ learning as we aim for the holistic development of every student. It was thus our honor to invite Dr. Jared C. Horvath to help us learn how to support our students with specific strategies that enhance their learning. Dr. Horvath is a neuroscientist, educator, and author of the International Best-Seller “Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick”. He has conducted research and lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Melbourne, and over 200 schools internationally. He currently serves as Director of LME Global, a team or academics and researchers dedicated to bringing the latest brain and behavioral research to teachers, students, and parents alike.

Dr. Horvath presented three workshops during his visit: “Your Brain, Your Life”, “Is My Teenager Crazy?”, and “Stop Talking, Start Influencing” . The workshops helped the participants understand how we can take control of our thinking and learning, explore brain functions, understand how the brain develops, and become more aware of all the changes we go through during early childhood and adolescence.

As teenagers think differently than adults these workshops gave us insight on how we can support them academically, emotionally, and cognitively.

Dr. Horvath’s main idea of how we can help students learn more efficiently is to understand how the human brain builds memories from the short to long term. Research shows that our memory declines by 20-25% after just two days of receiving information. To avoid this dramatic drop we need to apply a strategy called ‘spacing’. As long as you regularly revisit and review ideas from what you originally learned you can boost your memory create capacity to create longer lasting and more impactful memories of the content.

By Dr. Shira Teng (Li-Wen Lai) International Projects Director The American School of Bangkok Green Valley

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Winter 2019 Issue 17

Professional Development

Compassion Conference at The International School Yangon

By Mike Simpson, Director of Curriculum and Learning

Earlier this year, ISY hosted its first annual Compassion Conference. ISY Director of Curriculum and Learning, Mike Simpson shared his thoughts on what was a very meaningful and enjoyable experience.

The International School Yangon is a community of compassionate global citizens.

Almost two years ago, this Mission was adopted by The International School Yangon (ISY). It was developed collaboratively by the ISY community under the guidance of an external consultant, John Littleford.

Over a period of months, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, board members, and organizations whose families served by ISY formed focus groups to establish ISY’s future direction.

Wilma Derksen shared her story with faculty, secondary students and parents.

Our Director, Dr. Gregory Hedger, often remarks on how proud he is that the ISY community decided to put compassion at the center of everything we do. Proud and also a little surprised. We did not anticipate such a dramatic change to the Mission that had served the school well up until that point. But the community made it very clear that ISY is a community that not only serves itself and its students. To quote ISY’s accompanying Vision, we aim to develop lifelong learners who will be a force for positive change in the world.

Compassion is one of those terms that might mean different things to different people and is often used interchangeably with sympathy or empathy. We believe that there is a difference between sympathy, empathy, and compassion. Sympathy and empathy refer to a person’s ability to understand or even feel what another person is feeling.

Compassion describes what happens when this understanding or feeling drives a person to act to help another person.

At ISY, we are constantly reflecting on how we can develop compassion in our students and in ourselves as a staff and faculty. We have always been a caring community (as evidenced by the change of Mission) and we are now more than ever committed to act in the interests of all, including those whose situations and feelings we would struggle to really truly understand. It is clear to us that to begin to develop compassion towards another person, we first must be able to appreciate and understand the perspective of that person.

This need to reflect on what compassion is and how we can develop it in our community was the driving force behind ISY’s first annual Compassion Conference held on September 20, 2019. We consider the development of compassion in all young people to be of the

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utmost importance and as such we invited teachers from schools around Yangon to join us.

We wanted to create an opportunity for teachers to come together to listen and share ideas on what compassion means and how it can be developed in their students and in themselves. To help us focus our thinking around compassion at the beginning of the conference, we were honoured to have Wilma Derksen tell her family’s story.

Wilma and Cliff Derksen’s world collapsed when their teenage daughter, Candace, was taken hostage and murdered. Wilma shared how they navigated their way out of feelings of anger and revenge back to compassion, forgiveness and love. Wilma also explored with us the power of sharing the stories of both victims and perpetrators of crime and conflict and how compassion allowed her and Cliff to cross boundaries and work within the criminal justice system, presenting alternatives to cycles of conflict, violence, crime and injustice and building a climate of tolerance, resilience, hope and compassion.

Wilma and Cliff ’s story features in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, ‘David and Goliath,’ and serves as a powerful of compassion as a source of strength for a couple who could otherwise have been consumed by hate and despair.

Wilma and Cliff spent the best part of a week with us.Wilma worked with all of our secondary students and Cliff worked with our artists.

Wilma also addressed our parents on the importance and power of relational forgiveness.

Wilma’s keynote was followed by workshops facilitated by ISY faculty. These workshops covered topics around compassion, service learning, the experiences of Third Culture Kids (TCKs), the experiences of a local scholarship student at ISY, developing cultural intelligence, dyslexia, non-violent communication, and technology that helps students provide feedback to their peers and document their service.

If Wilma’s keynote could be described as a portrait of compassion as strength, the faculty workshops could be described as an exploration of some of the perspectives upon which compassionate action is predicated. The TCK workshop was presented by a teacher with two TCKs and another teacher who is a TCK. The scholarship student workshop was presented by a teacher who was formerly a scholarship student at ISY. These workshops gave invaluable insights into the perspectives, the struggles, the frustrations, and the needs of

students who we encounter everyday. Equipped with these insights, those teachers in attendance left better prepared to build relationships, alleviate frustrations and meet the needs of these students.

These were just two examples.

Around the same time as the conference, as part of our ongoing WASC Focus on Learning Self-Study, we confirmed and aligned our ISY Lifelong Learner Outcomes with our Mission,Vision and accompanying strategic themes of service learning, inclusion, celebrating culture and diversity, environmental consciousness, and technology integration.

Cliff Derksen incorporated his story in his work with ISY’s budding artists.

Ultimately, we want our students to develop into: • • •

Compassionate Global Citizens Lifelong Learners Agents for Positive Change

To support these learner outcomes we will strive to instil in our students the following ISY Lifelong Learning Attributes: • • • • • • •

Compassion Collaboration Communication Courage Creativity Critical Thinking Reflection

It is no coincidence that compassion is at the top of this list. We believe that compassion for others is what will drive our students and faculty to use their academic knowledge, skills and lifelong learning attributes to make the positive difference that the world is crying out for in so many different ways.

EARCOS Global Citizenship Award & Community Service Grant This award is presented to a student who embraces the qualities of a global citizen. This student is a proud representative of his/her nation while respectful of the diversity of other nations, has an open mind, is well informed, aware and empathetic, concerned and caring for others encouraging a sense of community and strongly committed to engagement and action to make the world a better place. Finally, this student is able to interact and communicate effectively with people from all walks of life while having a sense of collective responsibility for all who inhabit the globe. Submit your application for Global Citizenship Award no later than April 14, 2020.

Visit earcos.org to submit your application online.

Winter 2019 Issue 19

Service Learning

Service Learning? It’s a piece of cake!

By Kasson Bratton and Ruth Clarke Nanjing International School testingthe area.

HowThe dovehicle you change service learning culture of a school?

Where do you even begin? At Nanjing International School we have been asking ourselves these questions.

To bake a cake that is delicious and appealing, you need the right ingredients, a skilled baker, and a dollop of inspiration.

To develop a service learning programme, the same is true.

At NIS, the way that we ‘did service’ had to change. It had become stale and lacked the sweet authenticity discerning service learners have come to expect.

Last year an opportunity presented itself in the form of fresh ‘ingredients’. We had a newly appointed service learning coordinator with an inability to say ‘no’; an Activities Director with a wise head, and a Head of Middle School, new in role and vulnerable to suggestions.

Added to this was our awesome Strategy Team, ready with input gleaned from service-related prototypes conducted the previous year. The final ingredients came in the form of inspiration from NIST Bangkok where the students shared their service projects with us and the generosity of Concordia International School-Shanghai in opening up their PD workshops with Cathy Berger Kaye to a team from NIS. At this point, it was time to stir things up!

Middle School Art Celebration

International Community School of Bangkok, Thailand Lulu, Grade 7 Self-portrait from a baby photo (left) Shira, Grade 7 portrait of her twin sister (middle) Hani, Grade 7 (right) 20 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Though we had learned a lot, we still did not have a clear recipe to follow. With this in mind, we began by defining, then differentiating, between community volunteering and authentic service learning, both important to our overall programme. This gave us a platform to begin in-depth discussions and ideation with our students.

We launched at the beginning of semester two with a passionate presentation to teachers and then students about authentic service learning. They were sold straight away on the principle but had lots of questions about the achievability of such an ambitious cultural shift. We didn’t hang about to answer these; we started mixing! Throughout the Middle School conversations flowed, blending began, and students started to get the idea.

This year, we have created some more permanent implements in our “kitchen” to support our progress including a newly created ‘Service Learning Block’ in the schedules of all Middle School students, a newly opened ‘Student Bank’ to loan money and issue project grants, and we have taken a deep dive into the UN Sustainability Goals to help focus our student groupings.

Through this process, we have learned that when the school culture is positive with an emphasis on Trial and Error, legacy concerns that existed around Service, however deeply embedded, can improve.

Though our cake is not yet baked, the delicious aroma of studentdriven, more authentic service learning is now wafting through the halls. Our community is taking notice, interest is building, and our students are becoming equipped to make a real difference in their community and, beyond that, the world.This, of course, is the sweetest part of all!

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www.leselfes.com Winter 2019 Issue 21

How to Avoid Change Fatigue with Educational Software Rollout

By Ellen Richards. Chief Strategy Officer— Schoolbox Pty Ltd. Australia

Schools are constantly undergoing changes that often challenge the status quo. In the space of educational software, this is a common occurrence. These changes, although can create valuable learning opportunities, can also create resistance and conflict because as humans, we inherently need stability, order, and predictability.

Change fatigue is the name given when the status quo is challenged and employees experience mental or physical fatigue. This is often due to a history of multiple, difficult, or poorly handled changes within organisations.

Low engagement, a sense of apathy, passive resignation, lack of motivation, and resistance towards change are all symptoms of change fatigue.

Schools are a common example where change fatigue can be prevalent. And because of this, K–12 schools can

at the same pace or in the same way, but all students learn through their connection to the community, that is, your school.

When you create a school environment where learning is personalised and the entire school community is engaged throughout the learning journey, your students will benefit greatly.

Educational software like LMS and communication portals strive to assist your school to deliver a personalised learning experience within a highly connected and engaged framework— enhancing and improving education for this new generation of learners. So, how can you avoid change fatigue during the rollout of such valuable educational software?

Elements of a Successful Rollout Strategy If you’re clear with your objectives and the value it will provide your school, you’re already setting the right tone for the rollout of your educational software.

Let’s look at the elements of a successful rollout strategy for your educational software.

Open Communication

be challenging places to roll out educational software like

Tell your school what’s happening—parents, staff, students—keep

Learning Management Systems (LMS), School Portals, School

them all in the know. Transparency and real-time information

Administration and Student Management Systems.

is important for a successful school software rollout.

Today’s Learning Environment The modern learning landscape requires education to be personalised, interactive, and instantaneous. No student learns

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Provide them with meaning and purpose; a vision that encompasses goals of engagement and support. By communicating meaning and purpose, you’ll evoke connection and motivation within your school community.

3/12/2019 1:00:53 PM

IT Capabilities

But, remember, when finding a motivated team, you need

Although it may be a little obvious, IT capabilities

The more people you engage across all levels and functions,

within your school are critical to the success of

the greater set of skills you will have. Most importantly, you

rolling out educational technology solutions.

need people who have a commitment to the change at hand.

Your software provider will of course have the expertise and resources from their end to rollout the system for your school.

However, having the IT capabilities within your school to effect the rollout will ensure any customisation requirements are factored into the installation from a back-end perspective.

Also, ongoing management of your software platform will be more effective as the needs of your school may change and so will the way in which you use the software.

Action Plan An action plan is another vital element of a successful rollout strategy. With an action plan, you can map out the details of the rollout, so you don’t miss anything, but also, you’re able to get clarity on who will undertake what task.

Although your requirements and implementation may be clear within your school, your project can only follow through to completion if you communicate clearly with your educational software provider.

diversity; don’t stick to one department or one set of thinking.

Ongoing Training Ensure there is always ongoing training for your school as the rollout takes place. This will drive positive uptake and, with more learning, people will continue to be engaged.

Some ideas for ongoing training: •

Utilise the help resources given by your software provider.

•

Open up engagement with community Q&A.

•

Engage in additional remote or face-to-face training sessions.

And don’t forget to keep the wider school community abreast of the benefits of the rollout every step of the way—this way, energy levels remain high and the rollout will continue to progress.

Rolling out educational technology solutions into your school shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are many factors at play and to reap the rewards, you need to do it right.

To learn more about the elements of a best-in-class rollout strategy, get yourself a copy of our FREE eBook. Just head to our website

Motivated Team

http://www.schoolbox.com.au/ebooks, or speak to a member of the Schoolbox Team.

Of course you can’t undertake the rollout all on your own—you need a motivated team.

10 Steps to Achieve Rollout Success with Educational Software

Your team will be instrumental in setting the tone and pace of your new school software rollout. They will establish

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Schoolbox is an all-in-one learning management system, community portal and engagement platform for K–12 schools. schoolbox.com.au

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3/12/2019 1:00:55 PM

Student Writings

H’sia’s Experience of Grade 5 Camp

By Amanda Lillian McCloskey Busan International Foreign School For our grade 5 camp we went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and the war memorial. We went there for our UOI studying conflicts and resolution. It relates because in the war there was a conflict and there has not yet been a resolution but someday it will happen. We learned so many things and we went to so many places.

First we went to the war memorial where we saw the names of all the people who died and the countries that helped in the Korean war. We had a tour guide that took us around the building, I learned the war started in 1950 - 1953. I also learned that Kim Ill Sung was the leader of North Korea and South Korea did not have a leader. I also learned that America helped South Korea and China and Russia helped North Korea. North Korea thought that the war will end in 3 weeks because North Korea had a lot more guns and machines than South Korea but then America helped South Korea so it lasted 3 years 1 month and 2 days.

We went to the 3rd tunnel that the North Koreans built to attack South Korea. I liked the 3rd tunnel because it was the real tunnel that the North Koreans made to attack. The cool part was that they dug it by hand and the 3rd tunnel is 1,635 meters long (1.01 miles)! We went down by a little subway (without a top), the walls were all wet and cold the deeper we went. It was really cool.

The observatory was really nice too because we got to see North Korea. I learned that the DMZ is 4 km long. We also learnt that the war is still not properly resolved. We wait to find out if there will be peace in Korea.

Mother Earth

By Li-Lynn (Meredith) Goh, Grade 8, Xiamen International School “What happened?” I asked, but it was as if I was nothing but a ghastly whisper. She laughed, almost sadly.

“Can you believe it? The way that this planet once overflowed with milk and honey and the sun was a ball of fire? I created this land to maybe one day pin yellowed Polaroids to walls with chipping paint. I didn’t regurgitate my insides just so the children could line the streets with their waste. Their eyes once bloomed like the florets in the green meadows, but now they are hazed over like grey clouds tucked away amongst the shadows.”

24 EARCOS Triannual Journal

• Collectively Create a hands-on innovative toolbox collectively in for teaching and learning Mandarin • Experiment with some innovative teaching strategies in the workshop • Bring an action plan back to school and keep contributing to an on-going collaborative project via an online networking platform

This October Learning2, the conference applauded for being ‘for teachers, by teachers’ was hosted by Nanjing International School.

Each and every Learning2 conference focuses on ensuring the participant experience is meaningful and relevant. It seeks out the best workshop practitioners and offers them an unmatched coaching experience to lead inspirational learning opportunities that provide educators with practical takeaways they can employ in the classrooms right away.

Learning2 amplifies a diversity of Voice and Perspective Ceci Gomez-Galvez from South Saigon International School led extended sessions on “Empowering and Showcasing Student Voices” and inspired our audience with her powerful Learning2 talk on language equity https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=m4wQtQAszos. Along with the professional development for our participants and their individual learning journey, the L2 presenters each had their own week of inspiration.

“I truly believe it is our stories that connect us and that empowering advocacy is changing our world.

This is why building platforms for showcasing voices is my passion. Thank you Learning2 for giving me the chance to tell my story, share my voice and advocate for language equity”: Ceci Gomez-Galvez L2 Leader Wang Fang from NIST Bangkok extended our PD to Chinese Teachers from the region with the very first extended session at L2 to be conducted not in English but in Chinese. Her session ran over two days and looked at how to “Cultivate an innovator’s mindset in a Chinese Language classroom”.

The session’s goals were: • Reflect on the readiness of being an innovator in teaching Mandarin • Identify the challenges that to stop us from creating innovative approaches to learning Mandarin?

26 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Ed Hagan, PreConference Co-Presenter

Learning2 values all forms of BackChannel conversations “When L2 said yes to me I didn’t understand the power behind that “yes”. The best thing about this week has been the conversations about learning “: Amanda Lenk L2 Leader Learning2 learns from our participants, and we’ve come to treasure the ‘sidebar’ conversations that educators bring with them. In order to make more room for those hot topics, in 2020 we introduced ‘L2 Threads,’. Participants were asked at registration to add potential questions to a list, these were voted on and the top questions were used to form our L2 Thread topics.

Learning2 is always innovating and is responsive to participant needs and interests All our participants were given the opportunity to experience cultural and mindfulness activities during an extended lunch: the ‘L2uneUP’. NIS faculty hosted an array of activities from tai chi, tea ceremonies, Chinese knots to sports and knitting for a cause.

L2uneUP Lunch activities: Calligraphy

Darnell Fine Extended Session Leader

What does hosting Learning2 mean to the host school?

“Hosting Learning2 at NIS was a fantastic opportunity to empower student voice, showcase our inclusive learning community and offer our teachers the chance to present, learn, and connect with worldclass professional learning.” Kasson Bratton, Deputy Director - Learning The 2019 Learning2 Asia conference was proudly hosted by Nanjing International School. Learning2 is considered a leading annual conference, with a mission to “innovate social learning globally.” This fits right in with our forward-thinking Mission and Strategy.

The conference was spread over three days with a targeted pre-conference session on Thursday and two main conference days on

L2uneUP Lunch activities: Tea Ceremony

(left) Laurie McLellan, Director Nanjing International School attending Learning2.

Friday and Saturday. Over 40 NIS teachers participated in these sessions, with many facilitating teacher-led workshops, running Extended Sessions, and giving L2 talks. NIS had another 60 staff, students, and parents, along with our amazing facilities team, working to make sure the conference met our usual world-class standard. Perhaps the highlight of L2 Asia at NIS was the fact that 20 of NIS students led workshops for teachers, delivered amazing speeches, and inspired participants throughout the conference. Student voice was alive and well!

The theme of the conference was “ConnectED” and hosting conferences such as this does exactly that, helping our school remain connected to the forefront of innovative teaching and learning for the benefit of our students, teachers, and entire school community.

By The NIS communications department

Where can I find Learning2 in 2020?

Consider watching Learning2 Talks from our Youtube channel, or simply go to #Learning2 on Twitter and have a scroll through the ongoing dialogue we have with educators from around the globe weekly.

Winter 2019 Issue 27

Press Release

Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Celebrates its 25th Anniversary The 2019-2020 school year marks the 25th anniversary of APAC. The members of the first basketball, soccer and volleyball tournaments held during the 1995-1996 school year have long since graduated and are now in their forties. Some of them are now the alumni parents of the next generation of APAC participants.

Over time APAC has grown into far more than just a sports league. Choir was added in 1997-1998 followed by tennis the next year and by band the following year. By the 20112012 school year APAC consisted of twelve schools in two divisions hosting eleven sports (Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Swimming, Cross Country, Rugby, Track and Field, Badminton, and Table Tennis), five performing arts (Choir, Band, Orchestra, Theater, and Dance), as well as Forensics.

The original conversations held between Brent International School Manila and Canadian Academy over twenty-five years ago have grown into a collaborative network of schools around Asia working to promote the physical, social and emotional growth of our students through extra-curricular involvement. Our league of international schools now includes: American International School Guangzhou Brent International School Manila Concordia International School Shanghai Canadian Academy Hong Kong International School International School Beijing Shanghai American School Pudong Shanghai American School Puxi Seoul Foreign School Taejon Christian International School United Nations International School Hanoi Western Academy of Beijing

28 EARCOS Triannual Journal

As our alumni have returned to visit, it is clear that the self-discipline, respect and drive for excellence fostered during their experiences in APAC have continued to inform their future decisions. The network of relationships built during APAC events have enriched the collegial interactions of educators and connected parents and college students leading to lifetime friendships and business partnerships.

This remarkable legacy would not be possible without the continuous support, commitment and cooperation provided by the communities at all the APAC schools.

Throughout the years difficulties from typhoons to bird flu to political unrest have presented challenges, but our schools have always come together and found a way forward.

An incredible level of coordination is overseen by a tireless group of dedicated Activities Directors who act as the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backbone. Students stay with host families at each school, adding a vibrant intercultural dimension to the APAC experience. Coaches, faculty, students, families and administration at all of our APAC schools are to be commended for helping to provide the rich experiences that contribute to the growth of so many young people.

As the APAC organization celebrates our silver anniversary we look forward to many years of continued partnership in the future.

Curriculum

Flipped Learning

By Ross Corker Secondary Learning and Teaching Advisor Bangkok Patana School Bangkok Patana School is committed to developing students who achieve their full potential as independent, motivated and engaged learners. Our staff continuously strive to enhance their own professional learning; working collaboratively to develop and practise a diverse range of learning and teaching strategies. One such pedagogical approach is that of Flipped Learning, a model which enables students to foster their critical thinking and collaborative skills.

What is Flipped Learning?

Flipped Learning is a learner centred model, which ‘flips’ the more traditional idea of a teacher telling the students what they need to know or providing them with information. Students are more active in their learning; they are given materials and tasks prior to a lesson and asked to work through these independently as Home Learning. Students may read materials or watch clips or tutorials outside of class. Students are encouraged and challenged to discover key concepts, or broaden their knowledge, of a particular topic themselves, facilitated by the materials or guidance from their teacher.The concept of Flipped Learning goes back to the 1990s, but the phrase came into more popular use in the mid-2000s following the work of two Science teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams.

variety of ways to deliver Flipped Learning, including asking students to look at pre-lesson content and using technology which allows students to pause, rewind and repeat videos at their own pace.

“For me, Flipped Learning is about maximising the face-to-face time I have with my students. By asking them to carry out learning that requires lower-order thinking skills before the lesson, it means we can move on to the more challenging, higher-order thinking skills when we are together in class. This leads to more insightful discussions, a wider range of critical, inquisitive questions, and it essentially accelerates the learning in a supportive environment,” said Lindsay Tyrrell, English teacher.

Students in a Drama lesson were set the Home Learning task to remember and practise a monologue. During the lesson students began performing almost instantly. Instead of having to spend time learning the lines in class, students burst into a performance of energetic and dynamic monologues. This maximised the time in class for students to develop and refine the vital performance skills required for their assessment and allowed the teacher to spend more time providing individual formative feedback.

Students in Mathematics watched a video for Home Learning, which gave them the opportunity to gain the knowledge and understanding of Key Formulae required for the lesson. One student said, “After watching the video I understood the methods and felt confident applying some of the formula, but still had questions about some aspects of the methods. By completing the ‘consolidation task’ I felt more confident completing harder questions at a later point in the lesson.”

Last academic year, a number of staff explored ways to develop their own knowledge and expertise of Flipped Learning. This included a cross-faculty Home Learning party, Career Professional Learning sessions and the Secondary School Teacher Learning Communities.

“Flipped Learning provides students with predictable, manageable, achievable and valuable Home Learning, leading to lessons which are immediately engaging and challenging,” said John Burrell, Secondary School Biology teacher.

Flipped Learning in Action There has been a renewed focus due to the positive effects it has on Home Learning routines and in supporting greater progress and challenge during lessons. Across Bangkok Patana’s Secondary School, Flipped Learning provides dynamic, engaging learning opportunities for students in a range of subject areas. Teachers are looking at a

“I creatively flipped the teaching of Twelfth Night, a lengthy Shakespeare play, asking students to research the plot and characters before producing their own plot summary in a format of their choosing.The results were fantastic and included videos,Twitter feeds from the characters, storybooks and a flip book. More importantly, the students were really enthusiastic about the task and clearly relished the opportunity to show off their talents and skills,” reported English teacher Hannah Davis.

This year Bangkok Patana School will continue to develop our understanding and application of Flipped Learning and continually review the impact that it is having on students’ progress and attainment.

Winter 2019 Issue 29

EdThought

Coordinator’s Reflection: A Three-Year Journey of Explicit Approaches to Learning Instruction Matthew Baxter, PhD Archive, Research and Collaboration Coordinator Hangzhou International School, mbaxter@his-china.org The purpose of the IB’s Approaches to Learning (ATLs) is to improve student outcomes. When considering this purpose, the first question that comes to mind is, “How?” When it came to the implementation of ATLs at Hangzhou International School, we decided to deliver the curriculum by any and every means necessary. The International Baccalaureate requires that IB Schools cover ATL skills in all subject areas. Explicitly teaching ATLs to every student in the Middle Years Program (MYP) via a designated course is not required.

This leads us to ask the question, “Why not?” The feedback from universities and industries all over the world is that these are the skills students seem to be missing and the skills they will need for the future of work (World Economic Forum, 2018; Schleicher, 2015).

Explicit instruction of ATLs raises the standards of student learning across all subjects and disciplines, in addition to student improvement in the skills taught. HIS decided to create a course in the MYP dedicated to the instruction of the five main ATL domains: Self-Management, Communication, Research, Collaboration, and Thinking. This approach is not meant to replace implicit ATL acquisition in other classes, but to be the transdisciplinary glue that aligns the progression toward mastery of these skills. ATL class also provides support for what is happening in other courses.

In ATL class, students’ long-term and short-term projects help them work toward mastery of the five domains. These projects are based on student passions and develop proficiency in thinking and learning skills. Students synthesize their knowledge to apply ATL skills across all school subjects and into their lives outside of the classroom. This process has demystified who is responsible for ATL skill acquisition by placing the responsibility onto the student, with teacher coaches and administrator support.

Now, imagine you are a student in school. Think about your daily or weekly routine. What are some things that you control? As you go through a long list, you may perceive that many behaviors, traits, and skills are out of your control. This may leave you feeling helpless.

According to Martin Seligman, “Learned Helplessness” is embracing negative inputs because past events have demonstrated that you are helpless to change an outcome (1972). ATL class develops tools, techniques, resources, and skills that combat specific instances of Learned Helplessness. The objective is to empower students to understand that control and change are possible.

We know that control over our behaviors, traits, and skills is attainable because of research regarding the Growth Mindset, including that of Carol Dweck and others. According to Lance King, an expert on ATLs and Growth Mindset, “Control over the quality of your own output is absolutely necessary for both intrinsic motivation and high performance. The world outside of school demands the acquisition of ATL skills as what is needed most from college graduates” (2018).

At HIS, we are working to meet that demand by developing ATL class. In class, student autonomy is promoted through teaching toward the mastery of skills. Students define the purpose of the skills needed, so they not only succeed in an academic setting, but have success beyond the classroom.

In short, students have command over their Approach to Learning.

This is important because “today’s economy no longer rewards people simply for what they know--Google knows everything-- but for what they can do with what they know” (Schleicher, 2013). ATL class directly teaches how much effort students need to apply in order to take control over their learning and acquire the full spectrum of the ATL indicators listed below.

Self-Management Research Thinking -Affective -Information Literacy -Creative Thinking -Reflective -Media Literacy -Critical Thinking -Organizational -Ethical Use of Information -Transfer Thinking

30 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Collaboration -Interpersonal Information -Social and Emotional Intelligence -Information and Communication Technologies

Communication -Literary Skills -Verbal Skills -Non-Verbal Skills

Grades 6, 7, and 9 move from self-management to their communication unit, focusing on media and information literacy, ending in an oral presentation on topics students feel passionately about. Students use comprehension skills to analyse a variety of media on their topic. Their next unit, research, begins by selecting a passion-based theme. Students then acquire strategies to find and evaluate information to write an argumentative essay. The final unit is the social unit, where students work together to create a film for the Hangzhou Student Film Festival. In this task, the assessment focuses on how well the students work together, not on the quality of the film.

We end the year for Grades 6, 8, and 10 with formative tasks based on scenario planning, puzzles, and thinking games while Grades 7 and 9 begin their MYP Project journey.

Students buy in to ATL class because we focus the units on giving them control over their success. Students who feel that they have a purpose, are provided with an unobstructed pathway to achieve, and believe that anyone can gain talent with a bit of effort, are those who succeed (Dweck 2007; King 2018).This understanding goes beyond ATL class and should be supported by the whole school community. At HIS, we promote ATLs through cross-curricular activities, engaging students in every subject. We go beyond the classroom by informing the community of student ATL expectations, communicating what is happening in ATL class to all stakeholders, and focusing professional development on ATLs. We have many measures to gauge success in this program, including anecdotal observations, qualitative feedback, and honor roll recipients. The most compelling quantitative data is in the form of a yearly ATL diagnostic survey that students Grades 7-12 complete. This data is pushed out to all instructors and student support specialists, not just ATL course teachers, to help find the gaps in proficiency and bring students to mastery. Over the past three years, since the inaugural ATL class, a steady increase in self-reported ATL proficiency has been observed.

The first year the program was implemented, the ATL diagnostic assessment helped us build the four units that now make up the core of the program. Our team specifically looked at deficiencies and decided to begin each grade level with a self-management unit, the lowest-performing self-reported skill. The self-management unit focuses students on planning, reflecting, and setting goals for their learning, as well as organizing their computer and classroom folders.

After the first unit, Grades 8 and 10 focus on their Community and Personal Projects for the remainder of the year. The ATL instructor gives class time for the MYP Projects while directing lessons toward ATLs that address the needs of the year-long projects.

ATLs are inclusive and comprehensive enough that a course in ATL acquisition would benefit any school and any student, no matter the curriculum. This 21st Century skills program can be the soil that grows the skills of a 21st Century learner. It can be a constant in a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s schooling and beyond into their career. Once you have an ATL class in place, a discussion about methods will undoubtedly arise. Things to consider will be implicit versus explicit teaching, assessment methods, reporting, and feedback. Schools should consider the implications and research surrounding these topics and design the best program to fit their community and support their students in becoming successful life-long learners.

References Dweck, Carol. (2007). Mind Set: The New Psychology of Success.

New York, NY. Ballantine Books.

King, Lance G. (2018). The Future of ATL. Notes from the IB Heads and Regional Conference, Republic of Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.taolearn.com/ approaches-to-learning/ Schleicher, Andreas (2013). Lessons from PISA Outcomes. Observer OECD. Retrieved from http://oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/ aid/4239/Lessons_from_PISA_outcomes.html Schleicher, Andreas (2015). The well-being of students: New insights from PISA. EduSkills OECD. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/education/pisa2015-results-volume-iii-9789264273856-en.html Seligman, Martin E. P. (1972). Learned Helplessness. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.

World Economic Forum. (2018). The Future of Jobs. Centre for the New Economy and Society. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/ docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf

Winter 2019 Issue 31

Community Service

IGB International School’s Race Against Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery aration and execution. Several of our own students have been—and are currently—actively involved with the 24 Hour Race as runners, volunteers and most commendably, as organising Committee members. Last year, Esha Mardikar, one of our Grade 12 students, acted as the Executive Director for the 24 Hour Race Kuala Lumpur, the largest of all such races, raising over MYR 200,000.

24 Hour Race Kuala Lumpur 2018, held at IGB International School

According to Esha: “On a local scale, Malaysia is, unfortunately, a hot bed of human trafficking. As a major transportation hub and one of the more developed nations in the South East Asian region, Malaysia sees a lot of human trafficking activity, be it as a transit hub or as a final destination. Sadly, many are still unaware of the plight of these victims.

By Julie Chen Arcidiacono, Community Services & Support Coordinator IGB International School, Malaysia, julie.arcidiacono@igbis.edu.my

“This is what the 24 Hour Race movement hopes to address. The movement has allowed students to find their voice while taking the initiative to lead the fight against human trafficking.”

For the fourth time within our school’s six years of operation, IGB International School has hosted the 24 Hour Race Kuala Lumpur.

Each time, we have welcomed over 1000 students from around 40 different schools to our lush green campus in Sungai Buloh, Malaysia.

The 24 Hour Race is the largest student-led movement to abolish modern-day slavery in the world, and it all stemmed from a philanthropic vision that a student in Hong Kong had back in 2010. Today, student teams across the globe compete in endurance relay races over the course of 24 hours to raise awareness and funds to stop human trafficking. Funds raised through these races support antislavery NGOs. This year alone, races have been held in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco Bay Area and New York.

Hundreds of students who are interested in being involved with the movement as part of the 24 Hour Race Organising Committee, undergo a rigorous application process and are carefully selected nearly a year before the event. As a member of the organising Committee, they are fully engaged in social entrepreneurship and are tasked with coordinating the logistics of the event, its planning, prep-

Middle School Art Celebration American International School Hong Kong Evie Lam (left) Alba (right) 32 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Our most recent hosting of 24 Hour Race Kuala Lumpur was on 23 November 2019. The figures were equally impressive. Nearly 70% of our Grade 9-12 students were actively involved with the event, as was the rest of our student body. In anticipation of the event, children as young as 5 years of age participated in our school’s version of the 24 Hour Race, namely the 24 Minute Race. Students from grades 1 through 12 joined together in 24 minute relay races and parents were invited to watch and cheer on their children. The trickle effect was massive, as our student members of this year’s organising Committee were able to raise even more awareness of the movement with community members beyond the Secondary School.

Run it. Raise it. End it. These six words have been the driving force for the 24 Hour Race and have certainly become part of our school’s identity. Its impact has reached beyond imaginable levels, as our student organizers, our leaders of tomorrow, have proven over and over how much can be gained when we apply our collective efforts to tangibly impact society in such a positive way.

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Community Service

Interview With Bouquet Tayapa, “Keep to Share” Project Creator

By Elisia Brodeur Communications Specialist

Tell me about the goal and mission of Keep To Share.

The goal of Keep To Share is to raise awareness that UHT boxes can be recycled and to provide underprivileged Thai schools with furniture and supplies they need, such as desks and chairs, which can be made from these recycled cartons/boxes. By giving furniture to the schools that collect UHT boxes, we are showing these students— the future generation—that these used cartons have great value so they will be more willing to recycle them.

How did you come up with the idea for Keep To Share?

Ever since I was little, I witnessed plastic bottles being recycled. Thai people see value in used plastic bottles and glass because they can be sold in exchange for money. But people typically overlook the value of UHT/juice boxes so these cartons often end up in the trash. Therefore my older brother and I co-founded Keep To Share, which aims to increase the utility of UHT cartons in the eyes of Thai citizens. My brother initiated the engineering aspect of it, while I continue to expand it to the business world.

How did you decide to make furniture out of recycled UHT cartons?

In Thailand, there are many schools that don’t have basic furniture.

We figured out that recycled UHT boxes can be made into chipboards (which are resilient to sunlight) and eco-boards (which are water-resistant). These can then be made into simple desks, tables, and chairs, as well as other things such as roofs and eco-canteens.

What is the process of making furniture out of recycled juice boxes?

After being collected, properly cleaned—the boxes need to be aseptic (uncontaminated), and folded, the UHT cartons are crushed into smaller pieces.These tiny pieces are put into a heated compressor and then a cold compressor to be strengthened and solidified.

After that, the newly formed chipboards are trimmed and made into sustainable, environmentally friendly furniture or products.

34 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Where does the school furniture go once it’s made?

The school furniture gets donated to underserved Thai schools. We have formed a partnership with True Corporation (True Connext ED), so the furniture can get to underprivileged Thai schools under True’s care.

Who else helps with the project?

A lot of my friends at RIS help out with different Keep To Share activities, such as when we go on trips to underprivileged schools to teach students about recycling UHT boxes and attend meetings with large companies. Earlier this year, 12 other RIS students traveled with us to an underserved Thai school to donate desks and chairs made from recycled UHT boxes. We also educated the students there about the proper way to recycle, clean, and fold the boxes.

Keep To Share also has partnerships with leading Thai companies such as CP All (7-Eleven), the Siam Piwat Group, Tetra Pak, and SIG Combibloc. We aim to promote the campaign and to set up more collection boxes for used UHT cartons.

What other groups or committees do you belong to at RIS? I co-founded a club at school called Financial Investment. This club aims to educate RIS students about stocks. We hold stock competitions (the winner is the one who makes the highest profit in their portfolio investment) and also organize events such as bake sales to raise funds, which can be donated to Keep To Share to fund our trips to Thai schools. This not only familiarizes RIS students with the concept of stocks but also increases their awareness of recycling and sets an example for future generations that generating profits is not the only thing we should keep in mind—we should also consider the well-being of our environment.

Do you have a long-term vision for Keep To Share?

Yes! I recently introduced Keep To Share to the business world. After contacting CP All (7-Eleven), they have agreed to set up donation boxes for UHT cartons at some of their stores. This will help increase the number of cartons we can collect. For the past few years, we have only had a few collection boxes set up. We have also had the opportunity to work with Kasetsart University’s Scrap Lab to collaborate on new ideas for what other products the ecoboards can be made into, such as raincoats and outdoor blankets.

Unfortunately, due to technological limits, we cannot produce these products—yet. The good news, nevertheless, is that we are working toward it. My long-term vision, which I believe we can achieve in the near future, is that products made from recycled from UHT boxes will soon be produced and sold in places such as 7-Eleven. When this day comes, we will be able to generate profits that will greatly benefit Thailand’s economy in a sustainable manner.

Curriculum

Collaborative Community Projects - Preparing for the Future by Learning from the Past

By Alan Cox, Beijing City International School, Alan.Cox@bcis.cn

lives and planful competence - or the ability to work towards goals.

And besides keeping up to date with the latest social media apps, memes, photo filters and technological trends, the benefits to older adults include: • A reduction in the likelihood of depression and feelings of isolation; • An increase in the feelings of happiness, hopefulness about the future and life satisfaction; • A decrease in physical health related issues and an increase in memory abilities; and • Continuing to use and share the skills and abilities, as well as life lessons, they have acquired over their lifetime.

Mr Ni continued by appropriately comparing the residents to a library. Each one a thick book detailing a love story, an adventure or problem to be solved - Stories showcasing the spirit of grit and bravery when facing difficulties in one’s life and highlighting the necessary skills and attitudes to move forward.

He continued pointing out that the role of the school is to not only help students succeed in the moment, but to be successful twenty - thirty years into their futures. To this point, schools today have witnessed the steady growing trend to evaluate current teaching practices in relation to students’ uncertain and unknown futures. There is continued importance placed on inter- and intra-personal skills and knowledge as well as the importance for increased opportunities for contextualized, place-based transdisciplinary learning and transfer to take place.

Research indicates that interactions between young and old help to develop a broader understanding of the concepts: perspective and change.

(Photo by Ming Jin) Recently the Beijing City International School (BCIS) educational leadership team were invited by founder Mr Ni Haohua, to ask any question we may have – sort of in the style of Google’s TGIF meetings where leadership respond openly to unscripted questions from employees. While Mr Ni normally leaves the work of ‘schooling’ - achieving its mission and vision for education - to the school leaders and executive board, this was a rare treat for such an open Q&A session.

Something close to my heart at BCIS is the fantastic opportunities found within our intergenerational program – a collaborative partnership between the school and a neighboring retirement and assisted living community. I took this opportunity to ask what his vision for such an intergenerational program would ultimately be. He responded by describing scenes where the eyes of both young and old widen with joy and kindness at the sight of each other, where loneliness in residents is reduced and where student motivation for social responsibility in the local and global communities is increased. Compassion, respect and kindness grow as the lives of both students and residents are mutually enriched through their interactions.

In fact, Mr Ni is not far off as research points to the benefits afforded to both the youthful and the experienced through intergenerational relationships. Beyond providing the opportunities for both groups to learn new skills from each other, the benefits to children include: • The long-term retention of knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned from the elderly. (Research shows that learning directly from older adults tends to have a more lasting effect on children than from other sources of information); • Developing positive relationships with the elderly at an early age helps reduce developing ageist stereotypes as children grow older; • Further developing a sense of continuity, perspective and history; • Further developing their self-esteem and emotional and social intelligences; and • Further developing a better understanding of the whole of their

Regardless if a school is looking to establish its own intergenerational opportunities within the community or not, there are certain key factors a school should consider when establishing any successful community-based collaborative project or program: • A vision is co-developed to not only address the identified need or common interest, but also guide the identification of outcomes for success; • The perceived benefits of the project outweigh the perceived resource costs (time, money, & people); • Roles have been clearly defined and the project’s membership has the necessary capacity, leadership, knowledge, and skills to be successful; • Effective communication channels are in place between all stakeholders; • Common procedural agreements are co-developed and enforced, particularly related to data-sharing, funding and reflective of any discrete regulations associated with any one organization within the partnership; and • Participatory assessment and monitoring feedback loops are established.

And while not necessarily tied to success, many such collaborative projects are more likely to succeed when established within the local community with ease of regular face-to-face contact and increased opportunities for students to witness first-hand the positive impact of its successful implementation.

Having developed informally over the past six years, BCIS looks forward to working closely with our elderly neighbors to further establish and formalize this collaborative intergenerational partnership between our two institutions.

References Harvard Family Research Project. (2010). Partnerships for learning: Promising practices in integrating school and out-of-school time program supports.

Kaplan, Matthew S. (2001) School-based Intergenerational Programs.

UNESCO Institute for Education.

Narayan-Parker, Deepa. (1995) Designing community-based development.

Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Winter 2019 Issue 35

SENIA Expands Worldwide

By Lori Boll

In the last few months, well established local chapters such as Thailand, Beijing, and Malaysia put on conferences serving 80-120 members of their communities. New chapters in Cambodia and Vietnam held their first meetings, and SENIA Japan formed a new board.

SENIA Vietnam’s first meeting In 2002 a small group of special educators met at an international school in Beijing, China, to determine ways to advocate for children with learning differences. They named themselves SENIC (Special Education Network In China) and began holding annual gatherings for teachers, parents, and professionals in the area of special education. Eventually, they expanded throughout Asia and renamed themselves SENIA (Special Education Network in Asia).

From this humble beginning, SENIA has expanded in many directions. EARCOS and SENIA partnered to hold joint conferences every three years. This helps extend the reach of the SENIA mission to all teachers in the EARCOS region, and the EARCOS organization has been a tremendous support to the group. Last year, SENIA broadened its reach outside of Asia, making it a worldwide organization with regional chapters in South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. While the organization grew globally, it also strengthened roots in Asia and beyond with more local chapters coming on-line. These 19 local chapters are doing remarkable work in their communities from holding conferences to hosting provider fairs and running parent support group meetings.

The SENIA Doha chapter recently hosted a provider fair. Selina Collins of the Doha board explained, “...Members had the opportunity to meet with new service providers, ask questions about specific services, and connect with organizations (and members) who can provide in-school support for underserved students.”

The expansion also extended into the schools with the growth of the SENIA Teacher Representative initiative. This initiative launched in 2016 with the vision that these representatives would be the conduit linking the SENIA Board with their respective schools.Three years later, 101 schools have recognized the importance of this role, and it has transformed from being an information source to someone who advocates and connects their schools with SENIA International, SENIA Local Chapters, and inclusive PD in the region.

Kate Balsamo, the chairperson of the SENIA board, remarks, “Our SENIA TR’s continually advocate for the needs of diverse learners, and they are committed to advancing best practices in education for all students.”

Tanya Farrol attended the very first meeting in Beijing and is now a board member of SENIA. “From this grassroots beginning, SENIA emerged and has maintained its vision and mission over the past 17 years. It has been thrilling to be part of SENIA’s growth and development of fostering inclusive practices around the world.”

SENIA’s next annual conference will be February 21-23rd at the International School Manila. If you are interested in becoming part of the inclusive movement in international schools, this would be a great place to start.

For more information, go to the SENIA website. www.seniainternational.org SENIA’s Vision:

To live in an inclusive world where every individual is supported, resources are accessible, potential is maximized, and action is inspired.

SENIA Board Members: Uwe Maurer, Kate Balsamo, Lori Boll, Tanya Farrol, Brenda Dean, and Priscilla Leighton.

36 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Campus Development

Construction Completed: Expanding Facilities and Building Community

By Miles McFall, Assistant Principal of the Dalian Huamei Bilingual School

Ready, Set… Let’s build a bilingual school! Where do we start?

When the decision to expand the Dalian American International School program offerings to include a bilingual school for Chinese nationals was made in 2017, we knew there would be much to do. To form the Dalian Huamei Bilingual School, board members, administration and teachers traveled around Asia visiting schools, asking questions and reviewing research to see what the landscape was and to find the best path forward. Thankfully, the collaborative and supportive environment of ISS schools meant that our colleagues in other institutions were honest and forthcoming.

Now was the hard part. Putting together all we had seen into a cohesive program to meet the needs of our community. And so the conversations started. What do we value? What do we mean when we say we’re a ‘bilingual’ school?

How do the influences of culture on individuals and systems inform our planning? What will the similarities and differences be between our international and bilingual school? Anyone who has participated in the work of starting a new school knows the myriad of questions and plans that need to be made and changed as issues arise.

Most salient of concerns was our community’s desire to keep the defining elements of DAIS throughout the expansion. In a time when ‘Community’ is such a buzzword, everyone was almost embarrassed to use it, but stakeholder feedback showed it was true that at DAIS the idea of community has pervaded the campus from its humble roots over a decade ago. Keeping that close-knit neighborhood feel as our campus expanded by hundreds of students and families was first and foremost in our minds.

In identifying the needs of our community, we opened amazing new student housing, athletic facilities, performance space and meeting rooms, as well as the largest academic building on our campus. Our new, purpose-built academic building became home to the Dalian Huamei Bilingual School, which opened its doors to Chinese national and international students in grades one through six.These new spaces allowed for expansion without impinging on classroom, athletic or living spaces of our former students and families.

A New Chapter Despite the previous years of designing, planning and constructing the new building, it really wasn’t brought to life until faculty and staff worked for weeks to create a warm, welcoming, multilingual environment for new students. As nervous and excited students and parents streamed in to begin building a new community, we committed to fostering the same personal relationships that made DAIS successful. And what better way to bring a community together than with a library!

Designed to welcome DHBS parents, faculty and students to a school devoted to social, academic and personal growth, the library has expanded the DAIS library circulation to over 20,000 books distributed between the three libraries on campus. With a school founded on the development of bilingualism, biliteracy and socio-cultural competence, having a library stocked with monolingual books in English and Mandarin as well as dual languages supports the bilingual people we strive to help our students become.

In the months since our first day, it was been gratifying to watch personal connections form as ‘new students’ became classmates and friends. As planned, our spacious new cafeteria designed to

seat over 450 people serves as a common meeting place for DAIS and DHBS elementary and middle school students. What we didn’t expect was that on any given day, it’s not uncommon to see faculty and staff with students from each division sharing meals and laughs.

The expanded side-by-side art classrooms have been busy producing creative, original student work to help decorate the space. It’s gratifying to see our multicultural school identity coming through with bold self-portrait paintings contrasting elegant Chinese calligraphy and watercolors.

The experience continues as both the Chinese and English music classes prepare for both a winter concert and spring festival celebration. It’s not every day that one hears both Jingle Bells and the gujung from different directions in the same hall. These distinct cultural offering are evidence that as our community continues to diversify, the benefits are shared by everyone.

The Work Continues As DHBS continues expanding, there is yet much to accomplish. While previous planning provided us a foundation, there are many exciting innovations ahead. Echoing discussions happening at a global-scale, our faculty, staff and students are coming together over conversations about navigating cultural differences in understanding, learning and language. Intentionally building bridges between languages to support biliteracy, creating multilingual learning spaces using translanguaging and helping guide students in reflective practices around language choices has been as rewarding.

We look forward to the day when our students carry our sense and appreciation of community out to include even more potential neighbors.

Winter 2019 Issue 37

Curriculum

Your School-Based Counseling Program: The Juice is Worth the Squeeze

By Dylan Meikle, Vicki Gardner. and Franko Cifizzari Counselors, like other mental health professionals, provide social and emotional support to individuals and communities across the globe. In this article, three experienced international school counselors share how collaboration, role clarity and attention to sustainable practices can result in comprehensive and highquality counseling services that safeguard, strengthen and grow communities.

Leveraging counseling What can counseling do for your school? The sky could be the limit. Schools which find themselves resource-rich enough to hire a counselor, or even multiple counselors, should be critically aware that this is an intentional investment which can (and will) provide significant outcomes for your school community. But the real magic happens when the right elements are planned for, addressed and understood by school leaders, faculty, community members and counselors themselves.

Who are our school counselors?

Ever considered the pool that we recruit our international school counselors from? Some are ex-educational professionals, such as homeroom teachers, who retrained for a new career within their school setting. This is not dissimilar to how administrators in schools are also typically ex-teachers. Many school counselors though, are specially trained from outside the school context and are rooted in the counseling field, rather than being ‘educators first’. Consider the unique and valuable voices these colleagues bring to your school: is it time to give your counselors another look?

Beyond ensuring that your human resource concerns (e.g. qualifications) are satisfied, the number one attribute to look for in your school counselor is an ability to play well with others. A history of success when it comes to building and maintaining professional and supportive relationships is key.

Counselors frequently need to switch gears as they come in contact with a multitude of personalities and people throughout the day. Flexible, relaxed and compassionate people make for great counselors in a school setting.

Counselors frequently deal with sensitive matters and issues, therefore they must also build and maintain trust in the schoolhouse. Counselors need to exercise judgement and know to loop in their principal and other stakeholders when an issue is escalating. Advanced communication skills are therefore obviously also a must. Responsiveness can make or break an emerging crisis.

Mistakes can be made, and reflective practitioners are the ones that bounce back.

Building a program that finds balance School-based counseling services should strive for balance in both delivery and structure. Strong support for our international communities can be achieved when counseling programmes are sustainable and running smoothly.

As Mary Hayden indicates, international school counseling models “... have taken upon themselves more roles and responsibilities than would ever be considered reasonable to expect of a school in a national system, in terms of support for the wider family as well as for the child”.1 As such, counselors

can easily become stretched in many directions at once, with overextension in one area resulting in the potential neglect of others. A well-balanced counseling practice may closely resemble a tertiary care model; which includes primary interventions with all students (e.g. in-class lessons, assemblies), secondary targeted interactions with some students (e.g. small group interventions), and specific tertiary interventions with few students at a 1:1 level (e.g. individual counselling and family support).

Should counsellors teach?

In a school setting, counselors are typically assigned a teaching responsibility. Ever wondered why? Teaching specialized content is a natural part of a counseling model in which proactive counseling, in the form of classroom lessons, constitutes a ‘primary intervention’. And it’s important. Counselingdriven curriculum content offers schools an area of focus that may otherwise be neglected in our in our academically and inquiry driven schools.

In recent years a renewed interest and urgency around proactively teaching child safeguarding content, as well as a progressive content around important social and safety issues (e.g. teaching consent2), has led to counselors being more accountable and everyone increasingly aware that counselor’s unique contributions make a difference.

Counseling is now everyone’s business In our experience, social and emotional curriculum has historically been easy to bump down otherwise worthy ‘to do’ lists. But incidents of such benign neglect are rapidly changing. Notable and leading schools are starting to invest heavily in resources and curriculum. Redesigned social and emotional workshops have been recently launched by the IBO. Progressive institutions are writing school mission statements and strategic goals drawn from elements frequently tied to the counseling curriculum. Values education, perhaps once underserved in international schools3, is now being repositioned as a priority for schools, and counselors should be ready to contribute.

What expectations do you hold with your counseling team when it comes to professional development? We recommend these quality resources, as immediate pathways to improving school culture.

Quality Training: Responsive Classroom CASEL Social Thinking ISCA Model Level 1 Training Mindfulness in Schools Related IBO Workshops

The work done by The International School Counseling Association (ISCA) can be a perfect starting point for your school. Whilst elements of this model, which is drawn from the American counseling standards, may not precisely fit your school context, it is a solid foundational piece to consider. Additionally, ISCA’s training is high-quality and can serve as a useful touchstone for school counselors who find themselves working in isolation in small schools.

Role clarity drives success A confident school counselor will advocate for the needs of students, teachers and parents, and you should reasonably anticipate that they will advocate for their own roles too. Rarely can a counselor go it alone in a school context, but with whom should they connect?

As with other specialist role definitions, responsibilities need to be clearly defined and communicated. This includes supporting student’s social and emotional welfare, caring for families, and case management of students

Hayden M 2006 Introduction to International Education, London SAGE p.26.

Emelina Minero 2019 Teaching Consent to Elementary Students edutopia.org 3 Bates R, (ed.) (2011) Schooling internationally: globalization, internationalism, and the future for international schools New York NY Routledge p.107 4 See Light’s Retention Scale, via www.graderetention.net 1 2

38 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Online Resources: Responsiveclassroom.org CASEL.org socialthinking.com zonesofregulation.com amaze.org viacharacter.org

with behavioral difficulties. It also means knowing how your counselors should work with your administrators, curriculum coordinators, admissions department, learning support team, and teaching teams.

Savvy administrators understand that an effective counselor can reduce their workload, ameliorate sources of school stress, and proactively anticipate troubles that may be on the horizon, but only when their counselors are working at their best.

Does your teaching faculty understand the role of your counsellors? Has time been allotted to, for example, a staff meeting so that your counselors can get out in front of their messaging? Do your counselors proactively communicate with staff, parents and students? In the absence of clear communication about the way that your counselors can work to build community, assumptions will be made about their roles and how counselors should spend their time. When counselors are pulled into tasks and activities that go beyond the scope of their job description, or the boundaries of their training, this can become a source of stress and eventual systemic dysfunction.

enhance your school community.

Take, for example, a conversation about the possible grade retention of a student. Counselors are uniquely positioned to work to synthesize different opinions from stakeholders, advocate for the student and/or family, and also run the process through identified tools4 that can provide the school with a robust and authentic decision-making process.

Empower counsellors for the good of all In this article we have urged you to consider the potential avenues for collaborating with your counselors in order to strengthen, safeguard and grow your community whilst remaining mindful that a sustainable, balanced approach will always maximise a counselor’s impact. Counseling content has dramatically shifted to the mainstream in recent years, with classrooms and schools focusing on psychological safety, wellbeing and personal and social education. Given this, the input, guidance and support that your schoolbased counselors can offer is a resource worth investing and reinvesting in.

Do you see your counselors as sources of leadership in your school? Counselors often occupy a role in schools that exists somewhere between teacher and assistant principal, and yet counselors also uniquely value-add in important ways that can

INNOVATION in your CLASSROOM: SKETCHNOTING as a form of Visual Curricular Connection By Ms. Jill Allyn Carter, PS-Grade 12 Art Instructor

My colleague, Alexis Snider Grade 4 teacher at Concordia International School Hanoi (CISH) invited me to present my PD learning from ISTE at the Hanoi technology teachers meeting being held at CISH in Sept, 2018. I told her I would like to talk on how I am using Sketchnoting with my MS-HS art students in their sketchbooks. I showed how I present the information for our NEW ART PROJECTS by using anchor chart paper and a marker in analog style. I had photos of my students sketchnotes and how I felt it was working on empowering my art students understanding of the art work they would produce past the sketchnote. Alexis then started working with her Grade 4 students using sketchnoting in Math and in English. I was very happy to see her students enjoying their learning using a drawing pencil while sketchnoting their understanding.

Sylvia says in her book that you will have to decide what to start with analog or digital. I chose analog-pen/pencils/ markers to start. I saw myself as a learner just like my students learning something new. I personally had more confidence with my drawing pencils then my Apple pen. But soon Alexis and I were participating in #sketchnotefever on Sylvia’s website and moved to digital and were using the app Procreate with an Apple pencil on my ipad pro.

I entered the huge McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago Illinois for the International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE) in June 2018.

I found many great booths to find information on the latest technology. I went to the EdTECH booth to watch and learn from Sylvia Duckworh (@ sylviaduckworth) as she was introducing Sketchnoting to a small group of educators on why drawing was so important to learning in ALL AREAS OF OUR CURRICULUM. As Sylvia says in her book “It’s about the ideas, not the art.” ( How to sketchnote: A Step-By-Step Manual for Teachers and Students.)

2015 Sylvia, a former French teacher from Canada gave a 20 minute demonstration and I was hooked. I have always known drawing was important in the learning process especially in the Art Studio. But, I wanted to see how drawing could be looked at as what I will call a “curricular glue” for learning.

I believe sketchnoting can help. “Sketchnoting is not art” (SD) But, I now believe sketchnoting helps students make connections in all areas of learning in analog and digital styles.

Alexis connected with Sylvia and invited her to CISH during her World Sketchnoting Tour on Nov 2, 2019. During our morning session we learned all about the basics of sketchnoting and the benefits of making visual connections. The afternoon included all hands on practice of various shapes, themes and even holidays. The final outcome was to produce our own sketchnote to start a journey in using sketchnoting as a form of visual communication and thinking in your classroom. The 28 participants were from all curricular areas including Administration. I also want to thank our ES Principal , Kristin Kappleman for supporting our efforts to bring Sylvia to the new CISH ART STUDIO and seeing sketchnoting as a valuable learning process.

Now I think.....we should use drawing as a means of communication in all curricular areas to show and explain our learning.... I want to be part of this curricular glue to make drawing easy for all by sharing sketchnoting as a learning tool for visual note-taking. My sincere thanks to Sylvia Duckworth and all the best in your retirement. Thank you for including us on your Sketchnoting World Tour.

Winter 2019 Issue 39

Press Release LET THE STUDENTS INTO YOUR EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE:YOU MAY BE SURPRISED BY WHAT YOU DISCOVER!

By Adam Carter, Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) adam_carter@wab.edu It has become painfully obvious that due to a changing workplace, a globalized world and an uncertain future, we as educators need to adapt our model of education to fit the needs of our students and adopt a more 21st century outlook. Countless articles,TED talks and scholarly studies have emphasized the urgency we need to devote towards creating schools that step away from a staid, traditional style of education in order to implement more student-focused learning. And several times a year, teachers, administrators and guest speakers convene at educational conferences to tell each other what they should be doing to help their students receive a more engaging, real-world 21st century learning experience.

It’s encouraging to know these conversations are happening, but there’s one important piece of the puzzle that’s missing: the students. Why do we lock students out of educational conferences, when it’s their education we are discussing and planning behind closed doors? Due to this perceived shortcoming, Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) and OWN Academy recently set out to create a new model that includes students in the conversation.

At their Future of Education Now (FOEN) Conference in November, WAB invited OWN Academy to run a student-track during their conference; the inspirational results presented a refreshing approach that educational conferences worldwide may want to consider adopting.

Twenty middle and high-school students (from four international schools in Beijing) participated in the three-day “Youth Changemakers” program. The goal of the program, as explained by Natalie Chan, the dynamic founder of OWN Academy was, “for students to create the world they want to live in through reimagining, redesigning and re-engineering school. The students gain a wider perspective in a real-world set up alongside teaching professionals to get first-hand insights and challenges.” Being a teacher at WAB and a presenter at the conference, I volunteered to help her run the program.

Also part of the team was another WAB teacher and a WAB graduate currently studying at UCal Berkeley that came home to mentor the students.

Before the conference, students filled out a survey to identify their major strengths and record their overall impression of their schools, documenting what they liked/disliked and how they felt their schools could improve.

When they met on Day One, they reviewed their answers, and based on their strength profiles, they divided themselves into three groups that would tackle the program’s different tasks: website/text, video and presentation.

They then discussed what their goals of the conference were and came up with a mission statement: “In order to be supportive, personalized and academically successful, a school should be student-centered, feature numerous approaches to learning and offer curriculum with real-world connections with mentor support.”

From there, the students attended the sessions, which ranged from keynote speakers by inspirational educators like Sir John Jones, Rosan Bosch and conservationist hero Jane Goodall to more specific sessions like the Future Role of Artificial Intelligence in Education and Neuroscience: From Research to Practice for All. Students had a chance to not only sit in on workshops, but

40 EARCOS Triannual Journal

actively participate. At a workshop I delivered entitled Student Media Creation, I was able to ask students questions like, “Did creating podcasts make you feel more engaged with the unit?” Several teachers told me after the session that the students’ feedback in the workshop provided them with really valuable evidence of why they should adopt some of the digital tools I introduced. Besides participating in the sessions, the Young Changemakers were also able to interview the speakers afterwards, which yielded some really insightful conversations. Meanwhile, they convened in a “war room” of sorts in order to start creating their website, edit their video and plan their presentation for the Closing Ceremonies.

After just three days, when the conference ended, the students got on stage to explain their project, display their website and show their video. They touted the benefits of initiatives like flexible schedules, project-based learning and mentorship programs, but perhaps the main gist of their message to the conference attendees and organizers is that schools need to include student voice in their plans of building curriculum and implementing new programs. At the end, the audience had a chance to ask the students questions, providing the ultimate “flipped classroom.”

As John D’Arcy, Deputy Director of WAB and conference organizer pointed out, “For all of our schools, the future of education is about creating ‘schooling’ that is relevant, significant, and has an authentic purpose. Nathalie, with her team of educators and students, created an experience that was all of these things and produced incredible results, as evidence by the standing ovation the students received for their work - perhaps the most authentic and meaningful assessment they could have received.” This sentiment was shared by the students; Anvith Anand (7th grader from WAB) reflected, “This was a great opportunity for us as students to be involved in this process and recognize our potential to help create change in our schools.”

As one of the facilitators, it was inspiring to see the teachers actively listening to what these students had to say. But the students themselves noticed as well; at one point, one of the students, Katarina Krajnovic (11th grader from WAB) explained to the audience, “Seeing you teachers out there actually taking notes about what we are saying is adorable.” Sure, her comment elicited a lot of laughter, but it perfectly encapsulates the beauty of this model. Student voice is not a buzzword we as educators should whisper about; it’s a concept that needs to be discussed and planned with students, by students and for students. After seeing the success of this new model of student involvement in educational conferences, it seems like a natural fit that any educational conference, in order to be a true success, should embrace a program like this one to make sure that students’ voices are a part of the conversation, not an afterthought.

[The website the students created (with the video embedded) can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/tay3bck. OWN Academy (www.ownacademy.co) is a Hong-Kong based educational organization that aims to empower youth to be changemakers in the future. They run a variety of programs, focusing mainly on efforts to bring students directly into industries for project-based learning, connecting young people with mentors and real-world experiences.]

Galleries Drive Process and Inspire Reflection

By Daniel DiGregorio and Lee Li

are learning lessons through the lens of an exhibition. Other students and teachers stop by and witness the magic behind the curtain, sparking conversations between departments and inspiring new challenges. Since the space is on campus, these new challenges occur frequently. Students have made this space their new classroom, bringing their art to life. They find out that some ideas don’t work out the way they planned, even just hours before an opening. Other students find new connections between their work and the work of others, even visiting artists, further creating a lasting impression for a lifelong love of the arts.

After the opening, the weeks go on and the show remains for all to visit. One of the greatest experiences has been when a grade one class stopped by to ask the grade twelve artists questions. The ‘See, Think, and Wonder’ were more than words on paper, considering the curious approach younger students had towards their artwork left the upper classmen with resounding feelings of fulfillment. Leaving a space open exposes all to the event, breaking down barriers of pretentiousness. Even if visitors don’t feel inherently ‘artistic’, they get to comfortably take everything in at their own pace. Within a place of learning, less importance should be placed on the opening night and ceremony with more on what others can take away from the experience.This long-lasting timeframe allows others to use it as a resource, as without a lasting gallery space the work and learning would not be shared as conveniently or readily with the wider community. Students from across campus have the freedom to engage with artwork at their leisure.

Under the Sea Whole School Exhibition- Gavin Ju Grade 5 “Escape” Opening night – everything looks pristine, impressive and beautiful.

Surprise, excitement, and joy can be seen throughout the room.

Art and snacks entice people to shuffle into the gallery. The event is amazing and students are proud – a sense of catharsis as their artistic labor is displayed. This can happen in any space but this wonderful night is not all that it appears to be. In many spaces like these, the work being displayed and the excitement which accompanies it generally evaporate once the space has transformed, perhaps back into a cafeteria or gym within a few hours.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Han’s Group (a leading technology company in Shenzhen, China), our school was able to build a permanent gallery. The space has been open for just over a year and has steadily played host to many events for both students, staff and visiting artists. From day one, students purposefully ingrained this space within their process, integrating it into their thinking and vision for their projects. Conferences, meetings, presentations, classes, visiting artists and collaborative shows have taken place here and of course, many exhibitions. The space helps provide a warm and inviting environment to showcase creativity and visual communication. It is a meeting point for the community and an area to come together as a creative family. Schools have long pushed for gyms, fields, theaters labs and pools, why not galleries?

The buzzing nights before an opening typically resemble a bit of chaos with a growing sense of order. The students, in this disorder, Winter 2019 Issue 41

When it comes time to retire the work, the process starts all over again with a new group and theme, along with the opportunity to ideate and create work anew. The space drives the processes of wave upon wave of student works and thinking. As one exhibition comes down, another is being prepared. The cycle continues and with each opening the experiences become increasingly rich, while the space is utilized in new and inventive ways. As students take down their work, they are already discussing the event, and as an art teacher, the conversations fill my heart with joy. They discuss elements of curation, how it can be improved and the individual works which surprisingly captured the audience’s attention.They notice how people move in the space, and plan for next year, keeping audience interaction in mind. They engage with comment slips and read aloud how their work inspired a young aspiring artist, or how a work brightened someone else’s day. Seeing the full cycle helps them realize all the hard work they put into the art paid off – that the late nights were not for nothing.

First Annual Shenzhen Secondary School Interntional Art Exhibition- Fair and Unfair (4 School collaborative exhibition)

Seoul International School

Drawing Me (top left) Grace Lee, 8th Grade Media: Permanent Marker on Paper

International Christian School - Hong KongÂ

Animal Drawing, Color pencils, Sketchbook Assignment, Cassia Yap, Grade 7 (left) Gustav Klimt (Art Nouveau) Portrait, Mixed Media, Shanna Chong, Grade 8 (right)

Dua Lipa (top right) Hannah Yi, 7th Grade Media: Graphite Pencil and Feathers on Paper

Middle School Art Celebration

Thai-Chinese International School Under the Sea (left) Ruttasit Nasongkhla (Jade), Grade 5 Media: Watercolor

Bird Group Composition Detail (right) Hao-Yu Li (Jack), Grade 8 Media: Watercolor

Bandung Independent School Arvin, Grade 10 Mixed Media on Paper Grade 9 and 10 Students created booklets of mixed media that reflect the seven different elements of art.

Concordia International School Hanoi Jinseo Park Grade 8Â (left) Sung Yeon Park Grade 8 (right)

42 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Nanjing International School Amber Owczarek, Grade 8 (left) Amelia Cleere, Grade 7 (right)

Brent International School Manila

Acrylic painting, Kim Hyunju, Grade 8 (top left) Gabriela Garciga, Grade 7 (right)

International School Kuantan

Hafiey Myrza, Grade 7 (Giraffe) (left) Soon Hui En, Grade 7 (Cat) (right)

Hangzhou International School Yue-Fan (Emma) Chen Acrylic Paint, Grade 7 (left) Sien Li Watercolor and Ink, Grade 7 (right)

Osaka International School Hyunwoo Yi, Grade 8 (left) Mia Sawamoto, Grade 8 (right)

Middle School Art Celebration

Seoul Foreign School

Micrography Portraits 7th Grade students Leanne Chaewon Maffey (left), Taehoon Lee (right)

American International School Vietnam American International School Vietnam Landscape Silhouette Deer Lizzie Phan, Grade 6

Freakin Royalty Kitty Tran, Grade 7

Brent International School Baguio Seyoun Choi, Grade 8 (left) Watercolor painting 7.5” x 5” Andrea Damperon, Grade 7 (bottom-left) Watercolor landscape painting 9”x13’

44 EARCOS Triannual Journal

Korea Kent Foreign School Rest, Alexis Kim (left) My Pet, Clara Kim (right)

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Hangzhou International School Vicky Shi - Mixed Media, Grade 8