MS eNews – Friday, March 25th, 2016
MS Principal’s Forum – This Tuesday, March 29, 9:00 – 10:30 AM
by Dennis Harter
This coming Tuesday, starting at 9:00 AM in MPB 3, we have our second Principal’s Forum for the year. Thank you to our MS PTA Coordinators, Nisha and Rosalina for collecting the parent-submitted questions/issues for follow-up.
We will address the following raised concerns at that meeting:
- Quick review on open issues from last Principal’s Forum
- Standards Based Grading
- What it is
- Brief overview of why schools shift to this
- Communicating Learning Feedback to Students and Parents
- PowerSchool expectations
- Grading timeliness
- Preventing surprise
- Allowing for support
- What are they learning?
- New Timetable for next year
- HomeBase (Advisory) Program
- Mother Tongue Plans for next year
- Parent-School Connection
Other topics that came up will be answered in writing through our eNews in coming weeks, as appropriate.
Class Registration for grades 6 to 7, and 7 to 8 for August 2016
By Cindy Plantecoste, Dean of Academics
Our class registration process, for the 2016-2017 school year, is getting started for students who are currently in grades 6 and 7. We’ve included our MS Program of Studies in this week’s eNews so that you and your child can have a look at program requirements and detailed course information to help you and your child plan for next year. As a first step we would ask that you read over the program of studies together to see what your child is excited about for their next year of middle school, and to identify electives and flex options that your child might want to consider.
Early next week, Ms. Kean, our grade 6 counselor, and Ms. Wilder, our grade 7 counselor, will visit your child’s Flex Reading class to explain the process, emphasize where your child has choice in their schedule, and to answer any questions that they may have. Our counselors will go over the registration requirements with them and review the timeline for online registration.
You will notice a few changes to our MS program for 2016-2017. Next year we will start the day off with a 20-minute Home Base period, where your child will be part of an advisory group. We have also decided to run different classes for English Language Arts and Social Studies instead of the combined Humanities class that your child is currently taking. Finally, there are many new Flex options for your child to consider, including Mother Tongue possibilities for languages that continue to be offered throughout high school.
Your child will need to make some choices about their performing and visual arts, other elective courses, and the flex ‘challenge and enrichment’ classes. Your child will also be asked if s/he would like to continue with the current world language, or to begin a new one. Students who receive learning support or EAL support will have these classes in place of a world language class. All of our Thai students must study Thai language.
When you are ready, please register through PowerSchool. If you can’t login to this, please contact K. Arisa at x4407 or email her at arisap@isb.ac.th. Along the left side, click on ‘Class Registration.’ The registration feature will open at 1:00pm on Monday, March 28th and close at 7:00am on Friday, April 1st – it is NOT first come first serve, you can submit anytime during these dates. Be sure to take the time to consider options with your child so that s/he is confident about their selections, as we build our schedule around student requests. We’ve attached our registration worksheets for grade 7 and grade 8 to assist you in your planning.
Should you have any questions about this process, you are welcome to contact Ms. Kean, Ms. Wilder or any of us in the MS Office. We are happy to help to make this process a smooth one for your child.
We hope your child is getting excited about their year in Middle School!
Link to Grade 6 to 7 Planning Sheet
Link to Grade 7 to 8 Planning Sheet
Link to MS Program of Studies 2016 – 2017
Building the Community We Want to Be
by Dennis Harter
This week, our middle school had a very special student-driven assembly focusing on the topic of how language can and has been used hurtfully, damaging the community that we want at our school. The assembly was led by students from our gender equality club, Because We Are Equal, and our Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). These students spoke about how words used casually or out of context, like “rape” and “slut,” harm our community and do not respect the real meaning and hurtful nature of those terms. They shared that our community had no place for phrases like “that’s so gay,” to be used derogatorily. Students spoke about how words do hurt both mentally and physically, as verbal abuse can destroy self-esteem to the point of self-harm.
These were powerful statements made by students who took action against what they saw and heard including inappropriate, casual physical contact amongst their peers. These students led and advocated for the community that they (we) wanted – one in which we didn’t use hurtful language casually. Our community could be better than that, if we tried. Obviously these topics are heavy, complex, and sensitive. Our students handled this with amazing maturity, responsibility and appropriateness befitting of our middle school audience.
To help deliver their message, musical pieces were performed by the Choir, Orchestra and drama teacher, Mr. Sharp. Performances included:
- “Say Something”– encouraging standing up for what’s right
- “Unpretty”and“Hey Jude” – empowering everyone and reminding us that everyone deserves to feel cared for
- “Life on Mars”– celebrating our differences rather than victimizing or bullying it
Through it all, the students shared the metaphor of the mud and the lotus. This could be time for our community to bloom into the caring, diversity-appreciating community we value – a community free of discrimination (gender, ethnicity, identity) and more importantly, understanding and celebratory of diversity as a strength. The students led the assembly in an incredibly mature and honest way. They did so with care and passion in their hearts. In my 24 years as an educator, it was one of the most inspirational and understanding student settings that I’ve ever been a part of. I was brought to tears by the compassion demonstrated by our students (and I had to speak at the end!).
When we look to the future, we hope that our students become leaders who contribute to making the world a better place for everyone. We hope that they learn empathy and kindness and compassion. We hope that they feel cared for, accepted, and able to be themselves. This week, we saw these very things demonstrated by our kids and happening in our community. Led by our own students, we became closer as a school and committed to a more appreciative and aware community. As a principal, I was incredibly proud of all of our students: the presenters, the performers, and the audience.
In my closing remarks, I echoed the students’ message about actively trying to be the empathetic and celebratory community we want to be. As Jane Goodall said,
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
We are very proud of our ISB middle school students for the impact they continue to have and the positive difference they continue to make.
MS PTA Meeting on Child Safety in the Smart Phone era
by Dennis Harter
In last week’s eNews, our counselors wrote about young people and sexting. We offered some strategies for parents to help their children make good choices around this.
As a school, we play a role in helping students understand the long-term impact digital behaviors can have on themselves and others. Middle school aged students need the support of adults to scaffold their decision-making and choices. Their own brains are wired to prefer social, immediate gratification over long-term benefits. Without careful attention at school and home, current technology is a dangerous combination with adolescent brain wiring. And these online behaviors affect their face to face social world too.
So let’s talk about what we can do together to help our young people.
On Thursday, April 7th, we have a scheduled MS PTA meeting, 9:30-10:30 AM, in MPB 2. The main focus will be on Safety Online (and offline) for our students in the age of the Smart Phone. We will share some of the global concerns on this as well as share strategies parents can use to help their child stay safe.
We hope you can join us for this important shared conversation.
Incredible success for ISB at World Scholar’s Cup
by Selena Gallagher
selenag@isb.ac.th
Last weekend was a phenomenally successful one for the 52 middle and high school students who represented ISB at the Bangkok Round of the World Scholar’s Cup. Around 300 students from across Bangkok and beyond descended on Bromsgrove International School for a weekend of challenging, rigorous debate and competition. Read more…
If you are travelling – our guardianship policy
One of the most important factors in keeping our adolescents safe is our presence in their lives. However, at times we may need to leave our children for business or family reasons. To ensure their safety and to be sure of whom to contact in case of emergencies ISB has a guardianship requirement.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents of the ISB guardianship requirements. Parents or guardians who are going to be traveling outside Bangkok overnight are required to inform the MS Administration in advance of the names and telephone numbers of the temporary guardians responsible for their children. Household helpers (maebans and drivers) may not be considered as temporary guardians for school purposes.
Many thanks for your on-going support for these requirements.
Article from our MS technology Coach Miguel Zambrano
Smart phone apps can be risky and how to be safe online
Greetings Parents! In this article I would like to bring to your attention two topics that are touching the lives of our Middle Schooler’s more than ever. The first one deals with smartphone messaging apps that give teens lots of opportunities to overshare (or worse). The second one deals with computer safety guidelines.
About Smartphone Messaging Apps
As parents and educators we know that kids are using lots of different apps to share their experiences, express their ideas by texting, post selfies, and videos anywhere. They are doing this by choosing the apps that best fit their needs. Though most teens are only sharing day-to-day moments with an already-tight social group, there can be unintended consequences when they make mean comments under cover of anonymous apps or when teens think temporary messages really disappear forever. Moreover, in recent years we are becoming more worried about how new forms of media are fostering sexual immorality in the young.
As parents it is really important to know what apps are used by teens and how they are used and the risks involved. Here’s a list of some anonymous apps and sites to keep an eye on as well as temporary apps that allow people to send messages and images that self-destruct after a set time window.
Anonymous:
- fm: A social site that lets kids ask questions and answer those posted by other users — sometimes anonymously. Bullying is a concern.
- Kik Messenger: Kik lets you send texts, pictures, and video. But it also offers lots of other mini-apps that let you do everything from exchange virtual greeting cards to chat with strangers. Users don’t have to reveal real names, so there’s a layer of anonymity. There is an article at the bottom that talks about “Tinder and 5 More Adult Dating Apps Teens Are Using, Too”. Check it out as well.
- Omegle: An anonymous chat client through which users discuss anything they’d like. Its conversations are filled with lewd language and references to sexual content, drugs and alcohol, and violence.
- Whisper: A social “confessional” app that allows users to post whatever’s on their minds. Users type a confession, add a background image, and share it with the Whisper community.
- Yik Yak: A geographically based anonymous-chat app that lets users send photos and texts to people near their location.
Temporary:
- Burn Note: A messaging app that erases messages after a set period of time. It’s limited to text; users can’t send pictures or video.
- Line: A multifaceted text, video, and voice-messaging app that also integrates social media elements such as games and group chats.
- Snapchat: A messaging app that lets users put a time limit on the pictures and videos they send before they disappear.
The Calculator App
What else is out there? Have you heard about the hidden calculator app? A parent who regularly checks her son’s phone to make sure he doesn’t have any inappropriate photo was surprised to discover that the calculator on his phone was actually a new secrecy app used for hiding images and videos. Unfortunately, there has been a big increase in apps like Calculator % that are designed to hide pictures and files behind a password protected calculator. Many teens feel they can safely store pornography or sexting messages. There is an article at the bottom about “7 secret apps to hide your sexy photos”. It will give you an insight of the existence of password-protected galleries and photo editing vaults that you may not even imagine exist out there.
So, what is the best way to approach these apps and behaviors with our kids? Just like we spend time talking to students about these cases in school, parents should play a primary role as well. Talk to your kids about their online activities, not in terms of “getting caught” by teachers but as a matter of being true to themselves. Acknowledge that, chances are, they’ll come across extreme, inappropriate, or hurtful content online and that it’s OK for them to ask you about it, especially if it upsets them.
It is every parent’s responsibility to get to know the technology that they put in the hands of their kids and also know exactly which key features are included in the gadgets (smartphones, game consoles, computers, tablets, etc.). You have the right to know who they are communicating with. Just like you have family and social norms in your house that help maintain a peaceful home, the rules for smartphone and computer use should not be an exception. Discuss with them and determine appropriate consequences when things are not done the right way. Taking the smartphone away or limiting screen-time are measures that some parents are considering more and more when all the above has been exhausted. Finally, there are various tools to monitor your child’s text message and see what they are texting and who they are texting with. My Mobile Watchdog is one of them. Learn more about it in the resources section.
Computer Safety Guidelines
In the Middle School, teachers are well aware of the educational benefits of technology. You will be surprised at how much time students spend using the computer during a regular school day. Sometimes students go into a class and they have it on during the entire class, other times they go to another class and they only use it for 15-20 minutes, and other times they don’t use it at all.
A recent article that I have included below, urges schools to create classroom computer safety guidelines. The Middle School has already started working on that from the start of this year. We have been able to create our “Top 12 Classroom Technology Expectations” from student and teacher responses to surveys that included questions about safety, respect, responsibility, and health. Feel free to print it out and post it at home. These signs are posted on every Middle School classroom and serve as a reminder of what students have to do when they are using technology. In some classes, teachers regularly ask students to take “tech breaks” for example. They make them stand, stretch, walk around the room and do other fun activities to relax their minds and eyes as well.
The article goes on to talk about how schools use other technologies like laptops and virtual reality gadgets to prepare kids for the future at the cost of damaging their vision. We are still in the laptop and ipad phase and taking firm steps in making sure that these devices are only used to support student learning and providing safety considerations in their usage. That’s why we also have a clear Home Learning policy that establishes times fixed times for using these devices at home.
If you have any questions about safety online and how you can monitor effectively, please do feel you can contact me at miguelz@isb.ac.th or speak with your grade level counselor
References:
- Top 12 Classroom Technology Expectations: https://bit.ly/techexpectations
- Snapchat, Kik, and 6 More Iffy Messaging Apps Teens Love: https://bit.ly/iffyapps
- Schools can’t stop kids from sexting. More technology can: https://bit.ly/stopsexting1
- Hidden Calculator app: https://bit.ly/hidecalc
- Teens Are Using Fake Calculator Apps To Hide Photos From Their Parents: https://bit.ly/fakeapps1
- 7 Secret Apps to Hide Your Sexy Photos: https://bit.ly/hideapps1
- Tinder and 5 More Adult Dating Apps Teens Are Using, Too: https://bit.ly/datingapps2
- “Send me a nudie? ;)” “Promise not to share?”: https://bit.ly/sendnaked
- How sexting is creating a safe space for curious millennials: https://bit.ly/sextingcurious
- Time to create classroom computer safety guidelines: https://bit.ly/classsafety1
- lux: https://justgetflux.com/
- My Mobile Watchdog: https://www.mymobilewatchdog.com/
Thai Food Fair Next Friday
Don’t forget to join us for our annual “Thai Food Fair” on Friday April 1st, 2016
@ the HS Cafeteria
10:00am – 1:00pm
We accept cash only. Please do not forget to give your child cash to buy some delicious Thai Food.
Thai Parent Team
ISB Summer School Program
Will you be here in Bangkok in June or July? Looking for something for your child(ren) to do? Then check out ISB’s exciting and enriching Summer School Program! Once again students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 will be learning in an environment that is nurturing, academically challenging, and socially engaging. ISB’s highly qualified summer school teachers are inspired professionals dedicated to creating the best possible learning experiences. New ideas, new curriculum and new friends await each student.
Each year, a number of enrichment camps are offered to students. Typically, these offer learning and exploration around a core learning area. This year, ISB is offering some old favorites as well as many new courses, including:
- Two week Computer Science for All (previously known as Coding & Robotics) and is open to students going into grades 4 – 9
- A one-week Panther Musical Theatre Camp open to students in grades 4 – 8.
- Two week camps in Mandarin and Spanish open to students who will be in grades 1 – 5 in 2016/17, and three week camps in Thai open to students who will be in grades 1 – 8 next year.
- A two-week camp in drama improvisation (Devising Theatre) open to students who will be in grades 4 – 8.
- One-to-four week camps, called Physical Fun, for students who will be in grades 2 – 9 in 2016/17.
For complete information on our website about our ISB Summer Program, please click here. Registration is now open with an Early Bird special expiring on Friday, April 29th.
For any questions, please email sumdir16@isb.ac.th
Best Regards,
Maurilio Baron-Toaldo
Summer School Director
International School Bangkok
(Repeat Announcement) Safety Online – Sexting
Safeguarding students is an important priority for ISB and any school. Like many schools, we are seeing concerns surface around students actions on line that place both themselves and others at risk. Online awareness and safety issues are critically important. Sexting and pornography are two areas that are harmful for teens as they are developing.
What is sexting?
Sexting is the sending of sexually explicit messages or images via social media such as snapchat, messenger, skype or email. More often than not this is done via mobile devices. Teens are increasingly engaging in this behavior, although many make choices not to.
The consequences for sexting can have limited but also very serious consequences. Internationally, images of young people below age 18, constitute child pornography. Receiving and sending sexually explicit images of a minor is viewed as a criminal offence, and therefore young people need to be made aware of the serious ramifications.
Another major consequence is that in the digital world, it is impossible to fully control where these images may go. Of concern is that these images can identify young people, and their photos may make their way to illegal websites resulting in potential threats from predators. Often the young person who has shared the image has no idea that their photo has been distributed. This public shaming, can lead to further harassment and increasing distress for the person concerned.
So why do teens engage in sexting?
In some ways it has become the modern day flirting, and for some it is viewed as a way of boosting popularity and social status, however in some cases it is as a result of sexual peer pressure and harassment.
What can parents do?
- Work on the relationship with your child. Keep communication open and direct. The more meaningful your relationship, the more influence you have over social media and peer pressure.
- Talk honestly and openly and frequently about the legal, social and ethical obligations they have in relationships with others.
- Know your child’s friends and activities. Be aware of the peer pressure that may be happening in their relationships.
- Monitor and support them making respectful, responsible choices online.
- If your child is uncomfortable or needs support to discuss any issues connected to this issue. Please encourage them to speak to their counselor.
Jackie, Carmel, and Janel
MS Counselors
(Repeat Announcement) eNewsletter Guidelines
by: Tony Arnold
anthonya@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. Please see our eNewsletter guidelines below.
Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families and ISB staff for potential publication in our eNewsletters. The announcements are generally intended to highlight events that occur at ISB and/or highlight information about ISB.
What to include in the announcement
• A title for your announcement
• An email contact for further information
• An image or photo (optional)
Where to submit your announcement
4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community.
tinaratr@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School (MS) announcements of interest to MS families.
vijitl@isb.ac.th is for High School (HS) announcements of interest to HS families.
Your announcement will be submitted to the appropriate Principal and/or to our Marketing Director for review. ISB reserves the right to determine which announcements will and will not be published, and to edit announcements that are approved for publication.
Frequency of eNewsletter mailings
The ISB eNewsletter that is for the entire community is sent out on Thursdays. Announcements for potential publication in this newsletter must be received by noon on Thursdays.
The ES, MS, and HS eNewsletters are sent out on Fridays. Announcements for potential publication in these newsletters must be received by noon on Fridays.