Dear
Parents,
At the
beginning of October I was fortunate to attend the European 1-1 Learning
Institute held at Frankfurt International School. I came away with a lot to
think about after listening to speakers and participating in discussion groups.
One seminar in particular made a strong impression. It was a Leadership seminar
led by Scott Klosotsky, a former CEO of three startup IT companies and Shabbi
Luthra, Director of Research and Technology and Director of Technology at
Bombay American School. The other participants were for the most part heads of
school and building administrators. The focus of the discussion was how changes
in information technology are changing the way we learn and the way we educate
children.
We
started with three questions: What will the world be like for our students in 20
years? What will our students need to know and be able to do to thrive in that
world? What do we as educators need to do to prepare our students to thrive in
that world? We all agreed that, given the changes we have seen over the past 20
years, that world was almost unconceivable. It was sobering to realize that we are
preparing our students for a world that we have trouble imagining. What we
realized after nearly two-hours of discussion was that many of the skills and
much of the knowledge we are teaching will be irrelevant as machines take over
the tasks of computation and memory. It is very possible, for example, that we
will no longer need accountants or engineers – computers may do these things.
We may not need to know how to drive – cars are already being developed that
will drive for us.
Mr. Klosotsky
pointed out that what will be important is what humans are able to do that
machines cannot. In other words, what’s so special about being human? Or,
stated a little differently, what does it mean to be human? At this point I had
to smile – here I was at a conference about the place of cutting-edge information
technology in schools and we had come back to the question that has been at the
heart of a liberal studies education for centuries, reaching back in western civilization
to the ancient Greeks. It was good
to realize that while it is necessary for us to find ways to ensure that our
students are able to use the tools of the 21st century, there is
still a need for us to address the timeless questions.
As Mr.
Klosotsky continued, he reminded us of what we had voiced in our discussions: while
skills and knowledge are important, the most important thing we can convey to
our students is a set of dispositions that will help them find their own path
to fulfillment. The new vision drafted by our Strategic Planning team focuses
on dispositions we believe are important: “Together we inspire a love of learning, empowering all
students with the courage, confidence, creativity and compassion to
make their unique contribution in a diverse and dynamic world.” The mission of
the International Baccalaureate Organization also identifies key dispositions
in the IB Learner Profile. Anyone in
possession of these dispositions is well-equipped to live a fulfilling life and
contribute to making the world a better place.
Week Without Walls –I have been asking students and
teachers all week about their experiences during our Week Without Walls and, as
they old song lyrics say, “rarely was heard a discouraging word.” It seems the
students and teachers had a great time with a minimum of problems. Our thanks
go out to Mr. Dirksen for all of the time and effort he put into making sure
our trips were a success.
After
the PSAT and a SIASA Sports celebration on Wednesday we took some time to
reflect on our Week Without Walls. The students completed surveys designed to
gather information to help us make improvements for next year. Then we worked
in our teams to put together a few powerpoint slides with pictures from the
trips. We then combined the slides and gathered to share them in a retrospective.
There were lots of laughs as we learned about all of the fun things that
happened on the various trips.
We are
still looking for feedback from parents on how we can make the trips better. I
encourage you to complete the survey that can be found at High School Week Without Walls 2012 Parent Feedback.
Please be candid – we need to make sure we capitalize on the things that went
well and address the things that didn’t.
UN Day
– It
has been a long-standing tradition in our school to celebrate United Nations Day each year. This
year we will be marking UN Day with an assembly on Tuesday, October 23 at which
the Model United Nations club will present a simulated debate on this year’s
theme – Food Security.
On
Wednesday, on October 24thwe
will have a flag ceremony that will include all students. Parents are asked to
gather in the gym at 8:30. The processional will start at 8:50 a.m. The oldest
student from each country will carry that country’s flag, while the youngest student
will carry the country name sign. The group representing each country will
pause in the gym for a brief celebration and photograph.
Later
on Wednesday students will be attending the parent organized International
Pavilion. This event will have the students visiting the country
booths that will be set up in the gym.We encourage all students to dress in
their national dress or colors of their country on this day.
Student-Parent-Teacher
Conferences – Parent-teacher
conferences provide an important opportunity for parents and students to meet
with teachers to discuss the student’s progress in his or her courses. This is
a great time to discuss how your child is performing and ways we can work
together to increase their success. This is especially important if your
child is not doing as well as they would like. There are always ways we
can help them improve.
The
first of these conferences for the 2012-2013 school year are scheduled for
Thursday, November 1 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and on Friday, November 2 from 8:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This year we will again be using an online system to schedule
conference appointments with teachers. Information
on the process will be sent home via email on Monday.
CHEMUN is coming! See the report from the Model UN
club in the sidebar.
Departing students – Each year some of our students
leave the school during the school year, often at the mid-year break. Records
from AISC are usually required by the next school. However, it takes us some
time to prepare these records. If you will be leaving the school, please
contact Ms. Priya Sarath in the Counseling Office at least two weeks prior to
your departure so we can prepare the necessary documents to make your
transition as smooth as possible.
Please
note that for students leaving school at the Winter Break, we will be able to
provide all required documentation, including official report cards for Quarter
1. However, report cards and transcripts showing the Quarter 2 and Semester
grades will not be available until January. We will be happy to forward these
to you at your next destination.
Skyward gradebook access – A reminder that for the next week
the high school teachers will be finalizing first quarter grades and preparing
comments. Because the process of writing comments involves some editing,
students and parents will not have access to the Skyward gradebooks during this
time. Access will be reopened on Thursday, October 25. On this day report cards
will also be distributed.
National Honor Society –Last May we inducted our
founding members of the National Honor Society, a student-led organization of
outstanding scholars committed to serving their community. Below is a note from
the Secretary, Harshini Krishnan.
The National Honor
Society has been the buzz as the new club at AISC, butnot for long. Having
already elected their student officers, SrutiRaja (Grade 12) as President,
AadhavanAdityan (Grade 11) asVice-President, Harshini Krishnan (12) as
Secretary, and AbhimanyuSharma (11) as Treasurer, NHS is well on its way to
enlighten thecommunity of its core values which include service, scholarship,
andcharacter. A group of talented, bright, and well-rounded individuals,AISC's
Chapter of the NHS, which we have named Seva, will be responsible for the hosting
of both severalgroup and individual charitable and scholarship activities
throughoutthe year.
The Seva Chapter's
first project consists of involvingAISC's own elementary school community in a
celebration andunderstanding of Diwali as a festival! On November 15th,
severalmembers of theSevaChapter will spend time with the third-grade art
classespainting dias and talking about how they each celebrate Diwali intheir
own homes! The SevaChapter is also in the process of finalizing theirvery own
custom t-shirt, an exciting beginning to establishing theclub's individuality!
We look forward to spending a wonderful andengaging year for the SevaChapter!
That’s
all for this week. I wish you a pleasant week to come.
John McCandless
High School Principal
