ISB High School

The 2nd Annual Global Issues Network (GIN) Conference is being held right here at ISB this weekend.  Beginning on Friday and ending on Sunday, the conference brings over 300 participants to ISB from all around Asia to talk about solutions to global issues.

Sponsored by EARCOS, the GIN Conference allows students to offer workshops describing the globally minded service that they are addressing at their own schools.  Additionally, students here from keynote speakers on issues ranging from poverty to clean water and from animal protection to food distribution.  One particular highlight will be an alumni panel at which past-ISB students will share some of the positive change they are making in the world with the projects and organizations with which they work.

Finally, students will develop school action plans to continue their work as they look to the future and making a difference.

The theme of this year’s conference - as selected by our own GIN club - is “WE CAN.  WE WILL.”  This speaks to the empowerment of young people and the committment to positive change that they share.  The conference will be inspiring for so many as it highlights not only the problems that face our world, but also the young people who are committed to solving them.

Come have a look at the conference website and become a part of this focused network.

Tags: gin, gin2009, global, issues, network

This week has been cyber-safety week in the high school.  This year’s focus was “Who are you online?”, looking closely at how online behavior, posts, and pictures become the only information that others have about that person.  This perception of a person then becomes the reality of who that person is.

As I said to the students in the Monday morning assembly,

“for people who don’t know you as community-minded, friendly, focused students, your Faceboook profile IS who you are. So what would I think of you, if that’s the only information I had?”

This point particularly hit home in the context of how employers and universities are known to be checking online profiles and behavior before making hiring and acceptance decisions.  In my research preparing for the week, I came across results from a US News and World Report study that indicates that 33% of US universities are somewhat likely to revoke an admission if they become aware of inappropriate postings on the web.

In both the Monday assembly and in our smaller Thursday Comm Group sessions, students learned about the permanence of their online content.  Recently Facebook changed their Terms of Service so that user information belonged to Facebook, even after a user deleted their account.  After a great deal of uproar over this, Facebook reverted back to their previous agreement  But they will certainly look to return to their changes in the near future.

Discussions with students brought to light the need for them to better control who they are online.  Students considered the ethical implications of their own privacy as well as the impact that their online choices have on their choices for their futures and those of their friends.

It was a wonderful learning opportunity for most students and a necessary part of their education in the 21st Century.

All in all, a successful cyber-safety week.

But it doesn’t end there.

As part of the week’s focus on online safety, we are also conducting the 1st Annunal Cyber-Safety Film Competition.

Here are the contest guidelines:

• Films should be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long
• They can focus on any facet of cyber-safety, including but not limited to, cyber-bullying, identity protection, who you are online, bullying via cell phones, or general cyber-safety.
• Entries should be submitted as either .mov, .wmv, .avi, or .mp4 files.
• Entries should be submitted to Mr. Harter in Ed Tech before 3 April.  No late submissions will be accepted.

For some examples of videos like this, check out YouTube.  Below are a few examples and embedded is the one shown at assembly - once it’s posted it’s out of your control.

• Talent Show
• Cyber-bullying - Kitchen
• Everyone knows your name
• Cyber Bullying - anyone can be a victim
  

Tags: cyberbullying, cybersafety, facebook, high school, online safety, socialnetworking, videos, youtube

Over 5000 photos from WWW 2009!  Watch it here or in full screen and sit back and marvel at all the different experiences ISB HS students had.

Tags: photos, slideshow, Week Without Walls, www2009

Michael Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the clinical consultant to The Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than five hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe and Asia.

He and his co-author, Dan Kindlon, wrote the New York Times best-selling book, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (Ballantine Books, 1999). He is the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons Ballantine, 2000), and co-author (with Catherine O’Neill Grace and Larry Cohen, Ph.D.) of Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Worlds of Children (Ballantine, 2001) and Mom, They’re Teasing Me: Helping Your Child Solve Social Problems (Ballantine, 2002.) About Best Friends, Worst Enemies the Publishers Weekly review declared, “Not since Dr. Spock and Penelope Leach has there been such a sensitive and practical guide to raising healthy children.”

The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Achieve Success in School and in Life (with Teresa Barker, Ballantine, 2004) was written to help parents understand the complex journey of children through school, from Kindergarten through senior year. His latest book, It’s a Boy!, is a comprehensive guide for the parents of boys.

A dedicated speaker and traveler, Michael Thompson has appeared on The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC 20/20, CBS 60 Minutes, The Early Show and Good Morning America. He has been quoted in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Time and U.S. News and World Report and has been a guest on NPR’s “Morning Edition” with Susan Stamberg, “Talk of the Nation” with Ray Suarez and the Diane Rhem Show. He has written, narrated and hosts a two-hour PBS documentary entitled “Raising Cain” to be broadcast in January of 2006. Dr. Thompson is married to Dr. Theresa McNally, a psychotherapist specializing in adoption, and is the father of Joanna, 23, and Will, 18.

Dr. Thompson’s ISB Schedule

March 16th:

• 1:00pm - 2:15pm Parent Book Group with Michael Thompson
  • Location: Curriculum Office
  • Feb. 19: 12:00pm - 2:00pm Discussion Sessions
  • March 5: 12:00pm - 2:00pm Discussion Sessions
  • Reserve a spot via the ISB Curriculum Office. Contact porntipt[at]isb.ac.th for “Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children”
• 6:30pm - 8:00pm Raising Responsible Children
  • Community Presentation Chevron Theater

March 17th

• 7:00am - 8:30am The Pressured Child
  • Parent Breakfast
  • Web 2.0 Room in MS/HS Library
• 8:45am - 9:45am Going beyond fear in Parent Teacher Relationships
  • Web 2.0 Room in MS/HS Library

March 18th

• 7:00am - 8:30am The importance of Fathers in Childrens Lives
  • Father Breakfast
  • Web 2.0 Room in MS/HS Library

Tags: boys, children, Consultant, psychology, visiting author

From March 6 to March 18, online registration for next school year’s courses will be open.  Students will login to their PowerSchool accounts and Class Registration.  It is important that before they do this, students review the Program of Studies (which they received in their English classes) and have consulted their teachers and/or counselors on the appropriate courses in which they should enroll.

Many questions arise regarding English courses, the IB program, and what courses should be taken. Here is a presentation which was shown to students already explaining the English course offerings for grades 11 and 12.

We have included the student and parent slideshow presentations here.  Please scroll down and click through the presentation which pertains to you.  After each slideshow is a link if you wish to download the original PowerPoint presentation.

Tags: online, POS, PowerSchool, program of studies, Registration