Appreciation and a well-earned break
by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
We have completed a full 8-day rotation cycle since reopening campus. In a very short time our community has transitioned from everyday Virtual School to a complex model of on-campus and online learning, with safety measures, varying learning circumstances, and new requirements.
We are incredibly proud of our learners and teachers for adapting to this new model so effectively so quickly. Of course, mistakes were made and we have learned from them. Parents have supported their children, followed ATK testing requirements, and adapted home schedules as well.
Some people say that the strength of a community is revealed in challenging times. We appreciate everyone in our community for the success of our reopening and learning model. As always, we will continue to get better, but already we have accomplished so much.
Students and teachers alike have earned some rest. We hope everyone has a good book to read, some plans to be active, and some time dedicated to being with their loved ones.
Have a wonderful October break.
See you on Monday, October 18th on campus (Grade 6) or online (Grades 7 & 8).
Schedule after October Break
Campus will be closed for the October break all of next week, Oct 11-15.
School resumes when we reopen campus for students, on Monday, October 18th. We will continue our schedule rotation where we left off, with Day 5. Visual representations of the schedule for the 2 weeks following the break are pictured below.
Please note:
- Monday, Oct 18th – Grade 6 On Campus, Day 5
- Tuesday, Oct 19th – Grade 6 On Campus, Day 6
- Wednesday, Oct 20th – Grades 7/8 On Campus, Day 7
- Thursday, Oct 21st – Grades 7/8 On Campus, Day 8
- Friday, Oct 22nd – Grade 6 On Campus, Day 1
Growing Self-Management in MS Students
by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
At ISB, it is our goal to develop learners in six Attributes, articulated on our foundational documents. Recent times have certainly tested many of these attributes, including adaptability and social intelligence. This post focuses on one of our Attributes that is particularly relevant in middle school: self-management.
In Elementary School, parents are heavily involved in the oversight of their child’s organization and scheduling. Parents pack their child’s bag, unpack Friday folders, keep track of whether it’s a “PE day” or not, and communicate frequently with the classroom teacher about homework, their child’s learning progress, and more. Parental involvement with ES students has been even greater during the Virtual School experiences of the past few years.
In High School, students are much more independent, often engaging in learning content that we don’t understand, keeping track of multiple classes, teachers, clubs, and activities. Schedules rotate, classrooms change, timings vary, and in general, HS students manage it all.
Not surprisingly, in Middle School, we find ourselves somewhere in between. Our students have more variance to keep track of, more teachers/classes to remember assignments from, and more communication back and forth to manage. Developmentally, they aren’t ready to handle this completely on their own, but we need to provide them the opportunities to do so, in order to grow into the independent HS students they will be.
This is to say that deliberately there is a shift in the way Middle School communicates, shares, and involves parents in the overall academic life of your child. We teach students to use and monitor the communication tools to keep up with assignments and classes, submit work, and get involved, but we also want parents to have the opportunity to know what those things are, even if they can’t directly get involved.
For example, we provide all students with information about upcoming schedules or events in our Good Morning Middle School news emails. Parents don’t automatically get this email, but can request to receive it, if they feel they need to be more involved in helping their child organize.
After the October break, we will be more widely using the Google Guardian Summary feature, which will share with parents classroom activity and assignments, but not provide access to the assignments or the online class directly. The summaries will allow parents to engage in conversations with their MS child (“tell me about this flash fiction assignment you are writing…”), without placing them in the classroom environment.
In the past few years, the pandemic has demonstrated to us the efficiency and powerful opportunities that Google Classroom can provide our students and teachers. As such, we have been transitioning more and more to its use over PowerSchool Learning. While there are still some instances of the latter, the transition is almost complete to the Google Classroom, which is why we will be activating these Guardian Summaries.
If you want to know more about this and more, we will be running a MS Parent technology session on Thursday, October 21st (see post in this eNews).
We know that this can be a challenging time for parents as you “let go” of some of the control and/or oversight of your child’s approach to school. This is an important developmental stage for young people and we encourage you to have conversations with them, even as you allow them to navigate and make decisions and learn from their mistakes. We will be there to support your children throughout this process.
Middle School Technology for Parents
Middle school is a time when students develop independences and self-management skills. As such, this is a time when student responsibility increases and parent involvement decreases. Our MS tech tools reflect this shift, putting more classwork responsibility on the student, but providing parents access to information that allows conversations with their children about what they are doing.
The middle school will be hosting a technology training session for parents on Thursday, October 21st, 9:30 – 10:30 AM, BKK time on Zoom. The session will provide information and training around the technology tools used by our Middle School and what parents need to know to access information.
If you are interested in attending that session, please provide your details on this form so that we can remind you after the break and provide the Zoom details.
Parent-Teacher Conferences Rescheduled
by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
Normally at this time of year we would be hosting Parent-Teacher conferences (students join too) to provide feedback and engage in conversation around how your child is doing to start the year in their new classes. With the recent re-opening of campus, we reclaimed these days (yesterday and today) for school classes.
The conferences have now been rescheduled for November 18 & 19 to allow more time for students to be on campus learning and interacting. While these dates are later than we would usually host conferences, they will still provide a time for parents to learn about how their children have progressed in this unusual start to the year.
The conferences will take place online for safety reasons. More information will be provided after the break, in early November.
ISB Athletics is back on October 18th!
We missed you so much that for the first 2 weeks after October break we are offering a selection of our programs to our middle school students on the day they are on campus.
Students will have the option to continue with Basketball and Tennis another 2 or 3 weeks while we are still in hybrid and swimming is also on offer. Cross country coaches will be in touch virtually with their plans for an extended season. If you are not on the team yet but want to run, please contact Mr. Kirk (adamk@isb.ac.th) or (Ms. Alexander kelliea@isb.ac.th) directly.
Fill out this registration sheet to find out what’s on offer for each grade level and get yourself ready for action during the October break. Students will be able to participate in sports and activities every day on the days that they are on campus.
Confirmation and information about locations will be sent to registered participants at the end of the October break.
Registration for all programs can be found HERE.
Shakespeare Tournament Results!
Last Tuesday night was an evening of theatre over Zoom, as middle school students participated in the first-ever ISB Shakespeare Tournament. They had practiced for weeks, and finally got to perform live to an audience. At the close of the Tournament, all actors had acheived an award! Amazing! The final results are:
Bronze medals: Heather Fong, Ceres Fong, Emily Alexander
Silver medals: Akhtar Yusuf, Idhaant Basu, Sebi Tranter, Nanya Manoleehagul
Gold medals: Kelly Lee, Zoe Bates
All-Star Award trophy: Zoe Bates
