Ryan Haynes
ryanh@isb.ac.th
Grade 12
Students have been taking advantage of the many university visits to ISB. These will continue (over 80 from the Netherlands, UK, US, Canada) in the next three weeks. Remember parents, you are welcome to attend the visits too.
Students will meet with their counselor for their second Senior Seminar on Monday, September 26 during Panther Block. We will discuss when/how to seek help, preparing for the transition to university, and review some timely reminders in preparation for university applications.
Grade 11
The most important priority for students right now is focusing on doing their best in classes and continuing to pursue their unique areas of interest whether it’s through clubs, activities, sports, or other outside interests. Parents can provide a lot of support to students by:
- Encouraging your Junior to ask questions in class, engage with their teachers and peers, and focus on genuine learning, not grades and GPA.
- Focus on providing positive support to students and having balanced conversations that don’t always revolve around school, grades, college, etc. Students need your wisdom and guidance bringing balance and helping put these things in the bigger picture of life.
- Continue to spend time together as a family whether for meals, or simply just being around and available.
The PSAT will be offered to all 11th grade students on Wednesday, October 19 during the school day. Any student who is confident they will not need the SAT (or ACT), should see their counselor to opt out of this test by October 3. Students received more information about this test on September 7.
Grade 10
Sophomores – Monday, September 12th was our first Sophomore Seminar. This year, the 10th graders are exploring their strengths, assessing what they are good at, and finding out what people who share their strengths and likes do for a living. It’s a good way to think about what a person might want to study in order to pursue a happy, productive career and life! On Monday, we completed (In most cases, we had a few technical difficulties!) the Via Character Strengths Survey to find each student’s top character strengths. You can read more about it (and take the survey yourself if you’d like)
at https://www.viacharacter.org/www/
Be sure to ask your student what their top five character strengths are. Are you surprised?
With school in full swing now, there is a sort of frenetic rhythm that the students adjust to, to a greater or lesser degree. Students (and sometimes their parents) put a lot of stress on themselves. Talk with your son or daughter to make sure that they don’t have too much on their plate. Being stressed and anxious about school indicates that students are overloaded and need to re-think their number of obligations. The counselor is always available to have a quiet chat about this.
Grade 9
This week in Freshman Seminar students had the opportunity to meet with of our new Dean of Academics – Ms. Canobie. She was able to share with the students some information about our academic programing and the importance of having a growth mindset.
Students are reminded if they are in need of extra support with an area of study they are reminded that teachers should be available after school for extra assistance – except most Tuesdays when they have faculty meetings. In addition, we also have our very comfortable learning center space that students can drop into at anytime and get help from our support teachers.
Upcoming University Visits to ISB and greater Bangkok area (please click on link below):