Dear Students and Parents,
The various activities and celebrations last week in recognition of Dot Day and the UN Day for International Peace were both inspirational and thought provoking.
It was wonderful to see so many students in their national dress participating in the parade!
I would to take a moment to recognize a few students for their over and above efforts.
Dakota Kuhn, Roshan Raju, Tae Ryoun Kim and Calder Hoover for speaking at the UN Day Parade.
Sofia Nicholas, Nivedita Sriram, Amirthavarshini Ganesan, Guilia Gouet and Uma Velamuri for their help in both designing and putting together the High School Thinking Booth focused on human rights and equality for all. The booth asked the community to consider… How can our community meaningfully serve other local and global communities? What are realistic solutions to everyday problems regarding equality? How can you foster perseverance in pursuing new interests and passions? How can society change in regard to the treatment, understanding and empowerment of individuals with disabilities?
An additional thank you to all of the parent volunteers who helped make the country pavilions educational, colorful and fun!
Below please find a few photos of the HS Thinking Booth in case you didn’t have a chance to stop by!
Discover India - Clarification of Attendance Expectations
Students will soon head off for Discover India (Oct 6 - 10). While the majority of students are very excited for the upcoming educational trips, some have mentioned that they plan not to participate for various reasons ranging from staying home to study for the SAT or traveling on vacation with parents.
Discover India is an important part of our curriculum. The program helps students develop the “soft skills” of collaboration, cooperation resilience and leadership. These are skills they will need in school, university and the work force.
We view Discover India as an extension of the classroom. Participation in the program is mandatory and attendance will be taken.
As stated in our student handbook, all absences, whether excused or unexcused, count toward the total allowable absences per semester. The limit for absences is 15%, or seven blocks, per course. If this maximum is exceeded the student will receive no credit for the course and a failing mark on his or her transcript. Discover India corresponds to an ABABA week and attendance will be recorded as per those courses. You can see that missing Discover India will amass 2 or 3 absences per course. We caution students not to view this week as optional as choosing not to participate comes with potentially serious consequences.
Harvard US India Initiative - Excellent Opportunity Requiring Immediate Action
Earlier this week we were contacted by the Harvard US India Initiative to invite us to participate in an upcoming youth conference in New Delhi. They describe their initiative as having the “hope to foster targeted dialogue and academic critique on India’s future.” Speakers will engage participants in discussions about education, politics, culture, society and economics as well as provide opportunities to network with 450 college students and fellow high school upperclassmen. The conference is open to grade 11 and 12 students and AISC can submit up to 10 students to participate.
Unfortunately the conference is during our winter break (December 9 and 10). Thus, AISC is unable to organize an official school trip in order to participate. However, AISC is able to register a team for the event if families choose to chaperone the trip independently.
The conference carries a cost of 6000 rupees. This fee includes the conference and lunch only. All other costs (transportation, accommodation, etc.) must be arranged privately.
The deadline for us to submit a team is September 30th. Detailed information about the conference can be found at http://www.harvardindiainitiative.com/. Interested families must indicate interest by Tuesday morning so we can make reservations for the participants that evening.
Coffee Follow Up - Heavy Textbooks
A concern was raised at the last parent coffee that students must carry many heavy books to and from school. The suggestion was made to transition to e-books. Please know that during this budget cycle all newly ordered texts will be either e-books or books that come with an electronic version whenever possible. When not possible an additional class set will be purchased so students can leave their texts at home.
Student Parent Teacher Conferences
Mid-semester progress reports will be issued on Friday, October 17th. This will be followed shortly by Student-Parent-Teacher conferences on November 6th and 7th.
We are experimenting with a few new things in regard to conferences this year and, so, we want to give you plenty of advanced notice. We welcome any feedback you may have to share after the conclusion of the conferences.
First, we will offer “arena style” drop in conferences in the gym on Thursday, November 6th, from 3:45 - 7:00 pm. There is no need to make an appointment to attend these conferences. Teachers will be available for quick 5 - 10 meetings on a first come, first served basis. By stationing teachers in the gym families can quickly scan for teacher availability and speak to teachers in whatever order works best for the family. There will be additional seating for families to wait for a teacher to become free and the administration will circulate to make sure that conferences are kept to a ten minute maximum so no one has to wait too terribly long. This style of conferencing is appropriate for non-confidential informal check-ins. For example, if you just have one or two quick questions about a student’s academic progress or you just want to take a few moments to get to know a teacher.
Second, we will offer “by appointment” conferences in classrooms on Friday, November 7th, from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. These are for confidential conferences and are ten minutes in length.
As a High School we are interested in moving toward authentic student led conferences in the future. To that end, we have asked teachers to choose from three styles of conferences for their Friday appointments. First, some will choose a more traditional teacher driven conference. This is what you have been used to at the high school level. Second, some will choose to have students begin the conversation by having them consider in advanced actions they should “start, stop and continue” doing in order to meet with greater success in the classroom. Finally, some will choose to have students reflect in advance on the learning outcomes of the course as well as collect some artifacts or evidence to share with the teacher and parents. Regardless of the style chosen, conferences on Friday should be selected if parents require specific feedback on academic progress and/or if a student is struggling academically.
Parents will be able to make appointments electronically from Friday, October 13th until Monday, November 3rd. The link will be sent home via email and published in the weekly notes.
The Collaboration and Inquiry Center (CIC)
Opens on Saturdays for Community Access to Resources
It gives us great pleasure to announce that we will now be opening the ES and MS Collaboration and Inquiry Center (CIC) on Saturdays for our school community! Because of our commitment to literacy and learning, we think this will be a fantastic way for students, parents, and staff to utilize our print and digital resources even more. This will be a great opportunity to come in and exchange books, read, study, use the Internet, and work on collaborative projects. This is a space on Saturdays open to all students in grades preschool to twelve, so come on in and enjoy the CIC!
Hours and Dates
Hours: 8:30-12:30
Start Date: Saturday, September 6
End Date: Saturday, May 30
Saturday Closures: Please note that we will be closed on student 3-day weekends (January 24, February 22, and May 1) as well as Saturdays taking place during school vacations.
CIC Saturday Policy Reminders
Please sign-in on clipboards when coming to the CIC on Saturdays. This will help us with supervision as well as collecting data on Saturday usage.
Please enjoy food and drink outside the CIC.
ES students must be accompanied by a parent on campus during non-school hours (ES school policy). ES students should come to the CIC on Saturdays with a parent.
MS and HS students should only be on campus during non-school hours when they are part of a school-organized activity or sport. Saturdays in the CIC counts as a school-organized activity.
If students leave the CIC, but are not taking part in another school activity or sport, they should leave the AISC campus.
If you have any questions, please email Jeremy Willette at wjeremy@aisch.org
Announcing the Diwali Mela
The "Festival of Lights" is just around the corner. Please join us for an evening of family, crafts, food, song, dance and friends. The AISC Diwali Mela will be on Saturday, October 11th, from 5:00 pm onwards in the FAC.
Tickets are available starting next Wednesday. They include food and soft drinks and performances by parent and student groups.
There will be a craft mela with artisans from Chennai Crafters offering block print cards, clay miniature food, diya painting, terra cotta jewelry decorating, paper lantern making, mehendi and more. To compensate these professional artisans, craft activities will be available for a small fee (less than 100 Rs each).
Please come! You are encouraged to wear a sari, kurta, lungi or other festive Indian clothing or festival clothing from your own country.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
Jason Hicks
Secondary Associate Principal
