What a Wonderful Place!
Sometimes it is just so good to take a moment and recognize how great it is to be at ISB. This past Tuesday, the night we had the wonderful TEDxYouth@ISBangkok, and once again, our grade 11 students were fantastic! While all of the talks were amazing, Katja’s talk on Stuttering was super powerful. Pun’s talk on 3D Printing prosthetics was mindblowing, and Zola’s talk about perfection gave everyone something to think about. That’s just 3 of the talks, and I would have a hard time saying which of the talks was the best.
As we try to get the videos processed and approved by the folks at TED, another event, ISB Shark Tank, comes up next week! 9th Grade students researched and put together presentations on ways of improving ISB for the future. Not only do they research potential ways to make the physical school better for ISB and our planet, but they also present to the Head of School and the Admin team, who select a winner. In the past, this resulted in the now functional solar panels at ISB! It is another amazing event at ISB where students are not just sitting at desks learning. They are applying their learning and helping to shape the future.
As the title of this article states, ‘What a Wonderful Place’ we have for ourselves. As someone who works gets to work here every day, it feels really good to come and know that we aren’t ‘just ticking boxes,’ but we are all working together to try to make this world a bit better. So if you get a moment, stop and just marvel at what our students, our teachers, and our school accomplish.
Bell’s Recommendation
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
I love Malcolm Gladwell’s work. When I saw The Bomber Mafia I had to know what this was about. In his typical style, he approaches the information from a research-based angle yet applies his amazing storytelling skills to a very diabolic time in war history. This book is about the philosophy of bombing applied by those who would order said bombings. He focuses primarily on WWII yet you can see this method and philosophy applied events today. Without giving too much away it is a debate between a war of attrition and targeting military locations. A fascinating read and one that will open your eyes to the decisions made behind war-making.
Technology Tools – ChatGPT Normalization
Well, the word is out, and it is quickly becoming ‘old news’ as things do in our fast-paced society. Last week I was in classes that applied ChatGPT. As a Technology Educator, it is good to see us embracing new technologies at ISB. How does it look in the future? Only time will tell. However, it seems some things won’t change.
An example is Turnitin.com, the plagiarism giant, which is already building a response to AI-built writings. This was likely inevitable that these things would sprout up. While I am cautious about plagiarism due to my role, I do appreciate the work that Turnitin.com does. As part of their response to the growing AI, they published several articles on the topic. I thought this one was insightful ‘What does plagiarism look like in a world with artificial intelligence?‘ Take a look and see what you think.
Digital Citizenship Corner
One thing we are learning as we wade into the new ChatGPT and other AI programs that are so powerful is the skill of fact-finding and questioning is more important than ever. Thus, I thought I would provide a resource from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) on the ‘Top 10 Sites To Help Students Check Their Facts‘. While the article is directed at helping students, it is a valuable one for all of us. Finding truth and factual information seems to get more and more difficult and these sites can help.