Rosalind Wiseman: Feature with Renowned Author Speaking at IC

Rosalind Wiseman:

Feature with Renowned Author Speaking at IC

This October, IC was honored to have renowned author and educator Rosalind Wiseman come and share her expertise in education here at Ras Beirut and Ain Aar. Wiseman is a part of an organization called Cultures of Dignity, an educational team that collaborates with parents, educators, and students to navigate through the process of young adulthood. Here at IC, Rosalind Wiseman gave workshops to leadership and staff at all campuses, with an emphasis on creating an environment rooted in dignity and making room for students to take academic risks. She offered a lot of skills and insight during her talks, and sparked a conversation on the importance of acknowledging the emotional needs of students, and implementing effective communication between children and educators for classroom growth and personal development. We had the chance to speak to Rosalind Wiseman following the completion of her workshops. She shares ideas about her role in education, and reflects on her impression and thoughts for the future of education at IC.

Wiseman initially came to IC since she was keynoting the NESA conference, The Near East and South Asia Council of Overseas Schools. The director of NESA had reached out to schools in the area, and IC responded and invited her here. As IC is always finding a way to keep up with the best standards of education, working with Wiseman would be a way to contribute towards these efforts. “It’s a part of my understanding of what the school is doing to redesign and rethink– what are the best practices for a school, for this current generation of schools”, Wiseman tells me.

From just her three days at IC, Wiseman was able to pick up on the significance of community here on campus and on a regional level. In doing so, she also emphasized the point that major schools with a reputation like IC play a role in society as leaders and role models but also evaluating where there is need to grow. In her own words, “my impression of the school is that like all institutions that are recognized for its position in the community; institutions like that are only as good as their ability to be rigorous in examining the institution.” Essentially, as great as IC is, what truly gives it respect in its role as a leading school is its ability to expand from the norm and look beyond to other ways of thinking and perspectives. “I really respect that the school is going through a process of examining what it needs to do to bring itself like any institution into best practices of teaching. And what makes young people learn”, Wiseman shares. In terms of IC’s community nature, Wiseman reiterates that the idea of togetherness is beneficial when it comes to growth. “You all are a family”, she says. “You’re so connected to each other. It means you’re going to support it by going through a process of recognizing how to be better.”

Education in today’s world has changed so much, and it continues to do so. And even so, there is often a lot of resistance towards change, even if it’s for the better. “‘This is the way we’ve always done it’ is not the reason to continue to do something”, Wiseman tells us. One of the biggest difficulties in the field around the world has been creating an environment for students with a space to let them truly belong and also excel at taking risks. At the same time, it can be difficult to accept and implement necessary skills in the ways of teaching,

which is a concern that Wiseman was honest about. “The educational system has been reluctant overall to embrace the strategies we know, a sense of belonging in school, where young people will take academic risks”, she tells us. This is what her aim is with her work– to be able to give educators these skills that will create this sort of environment in school spaces. A big portion of the workshops for both leadership and teachers included a dialogue on how to interact with students and acknowledge feelings and emotions. In doing so, this creates a space where the individual feels dignified, which in turn influences how the overall learning environment is perceived. A safe space with communication between students and teachers is the key to progress and confidence for children to explore who they are, and be who they want to be. But it’s truly up to the institutions themselves to implement what they’ve learned. For Wiseman, the work that she’s doing with Cultures of Dignity is essential towards offering resources towards these learning approaches. “Joining a school that’s doing that is really important, and that’s what this school is doing”, she says in regards to IC’s choice to consider moving forward with the approaches she has shared. When asking Wiseman what she wishes IC will get out of her workshops, she says: “I hope that what people got out of it were concrete strategies to reframe the way they may think about the classroom, and about how they interact with young people that fits with their teaching, and is respectful of the culture of the school”. Another component she emphasized was retrospection on the institutional level. In other words, for teachers and administrators to evaluate their own methods and approaches towards education and seeing how to make it better while still staying true to the mission and values of the school. Wiseman tells us that having the thought of “I need to think about what I need to do to be more effective as a teacher” is a start towards growing as an educator and in turn also making the learning environment better. Ultimately as mentioned before, it’s up to the educators and leadership of the school to put these skills into practice for there to be measurable growth in the classroom and beyond. Wiseman tells us that the resources from Cultures of Dignity can be used to contribute to what the school has already been doing. “Keep with it”, she emphasizes. “Teaching is hard. It pushes your buttons”, she tells us with honesty. Wiseman’s skillset is in education, and what inspires her to be involved in initiatives like Cultures of Dignity is from her own personal experience as an educator. What inspires her is being able to give support and help to fellow teachers too. She tells us an anecdote during one of her workshop sessions, where she started explaining how she handled a particular disciplinary issue with a student. In the midst of the discussion, the subject shifted, but the teachers in the crowd wanted to know how she solved the issue. She tells us, “to have a group of teachers who are exhausted at the end of the day say ‘wait a minute wait, a minute tell me how you did that!’, that is really rewarding for me. Because that makes me feel like all of the hard times I’ve gone through with kids, where I’m like oh my God, why do I do

this?, I can use that and share it with teachers”. Wiseman enjoyed her time in Lebanon. “The school has shown me how wonderful this country is. I’m so grateful. I have been really welcomed. It’s also that people trusted me to tell me what their experiences were and I really appreciated that”, she tells us enthusiastically. While she had a great experience visiting, Wiseman acknowledged the difficulties produced by the current economic and political circumstances. While reflecting on this, she made the point that to have an institution like IC running is pivotal during these times. “We have a choice to be angry and resentful”, she tells us. “This education you’re getting in this school I’m hoping is going “This school with its to contribute to you being able to contribute to making position can really do this country better. But that you are part of a cohort something to contribute to leadership that holds itself accountable”, she adds. changing the way the next Given how IC’s mission is generation of Lebanese to strive for excellence and bring about the leaders of leaders operate.” tomorrow, the place the school has in terms of its quality of education and long term growth brings potential for positive change in the future of Lebanon. “One of the things that the school can do is to define leadership”, Wiseman advises. “This school with its position can really do something to contribute to changing the way the next generation of Lebanese leaders operate. This school is that school”. Overall, IC was so honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with Rosalind Wiseman and benefit from the perspectives of growth she brings to the table. Wiseman herself seems to be excited to see where things go as well. “I hope to be in conversation and continue to support the school and its objective”, she tells us. “My expertise is learning. I hope to continue to be in relationship with the school, in whatever way suits it”, she concludes.