Abolish Anonymity
I know that for many Professional Development is (unfortunately) something to be endured, rather than enjoyed (hence the cynical cartoon!). I am, however, especially grateful to be in a school where PD is tailored to the needs of the school (ie. a continued focus on PYP and MYP per the school action plan), world experts in their field are brought to campus, as well as - inter alia - opportunities for faculty members to present/share their expertise within their division.
As a school encompassing PreK Age 3 to Grade 12 on a single campus, we have worked hard in recent years to remove the invisible wall between our Elementary School and Middle/High School and bring them together through specific schoolwide activities. Both last year and this past week, we had a Wednesday after school PD entitled Abolish Anonymity. Whilst last year’s session was a whole school session for teachers and administrators, this year’s - quite rightly so - included support staff, teachers, and administrators. The purpose was twofold: (i) to develop a greater understanding of the rôles educators play and the high level of teaching and learning that occurs on campus and (ii), despite the tagline of the cartoon above, to be informative and enjoyable.
Prior to sharing information about my position, I had the honour of attending two sessions given by High School colleagues. The first session focussed on a brief five-to-ten minute opening activity (especially ideal for an 08.00 High School class) which can be tailored to students of all ages. Students are presented with an image (related to the topic of the lesson) and then asked to devise some pertinent questions using these questions to structure their thinking: (i) What do I see? (ii) What do I think? and (iii) How does it relate to ...? While the first step seems obvious, the rationale is that it helps students develop close observation skills and help them avoid overlooking an element which may be salient in moving their thinking and understanding forward in relation to the second and third question. Through discussion within the small group, there is opportunity to demonstrate various elements of the IB Learner Profile including, but not limited to being inquirers, thinkers and communicators.
The image below was used during our first PD session with reference to the concepts of equity and equality.
The second session was with our Product Design Teacher. In previous years, we offered a High School Theatre Tech course. However, with the move to MYP, this course offering has been redesigned and incorporates four key elements: (i) Inquiry and analysis, (ii) Developing ideas, (iii) Creating the solution, (iv) Evaluation. These enable learners to identify, consider and solve problems through creative thinking, planning and design, and to work with different materials and tools and - as a result - students gain technical and design awareness and develop skills such as initiative, resourcefulness, enquiry and ingenuity. They also develop the communication skills central to design making and evaluation. As such, it was wonderful to hear about the process of setting up a new course offering and classroom environment and see what the students have been creating in the class.
I also had the honour of sharing an overview regarding Admissions. While I have had multiple opportunities to communicate with our faculty/staff regularly through beginning of the year PD, emails, and one-on-one, this was the first time to have a designated time with a small group and where there was the opportunity for dialogue (rather than a case of me simply sharing information).
Aside from sharing key points (some of which have been mentioned in previous blog posts), I was able to reiterate - especially with the competitive nature of international schools in KL - the significant role each and everyone plays when welcoming prospective families on campus. In addition, I shared key changes implemented over the last 18 months so as to improve the admissions process examples of which include, the information we share with prospective families, drew faculty/staff member’s attention to the scope of our Admissions Office such as, inter alia, applying for student/guardian visas (as necessary), sharing/reviewing survey results for families transitioning into our school (see example below) and out of our school.
