Dear Students and Parents,
If you did not get a chance to attend the High School Theater Production last night, you can catch it tonight. It was fabulous!
In October we celebrate the attribute of Collaboration from our Vision for an AISC Leaner.
Collaborators are “those students who listen carefully to others' perspectives and confidently articulate their personal viewpoints in the pursuit of common goals. These students have the ability to reflect on the contributions of others and themselves toward a goal. As a result, collaborators actively encourage others' contributions, ask questions and make suggestions that move work forward, and synthesize others' ideas with their own to create solutions.”
Congratulations to:
Grade 12: Seoyoung Ryu - Seoyoung is the krazy glue in group work - she is a fast-acting adhesive. Her strong active listening skills and approachable demeanor allows others in the group to contribute their ideas, while she helps get them all towards the goal of the task (especially under a time crunch). She easily highlights other students' contributions to the group work and synthesizes them together to create original thought. She collaborates equally as easily with faculty, staff, and community members.
Grade 11 Aalia Sait - Aalia is the one you can consistently rely on to build group discussions. She encourages others, models great risk-taking, and always opens dialogue, rather than closing ideas down by making her own point matter more than anyone else. She asks smart questions that impress and invite, not intimidate.
Grade 10 - Manya Velu- Manya throws herself into group projects, building rapport, and starting each partnership anew. She offers subtle and insightful suggestions, encourages others, and works collaboratively to co-create the best product possible.
Grade 9 - Clara Clausen - Clara is the uno wild card in group work - she goes with whatever card is dealt to help move the game forward. Clara keeps the group on task, able to ensure equal contributions through her direct way of speaking, and helps the group move forward towards the common goal.
Curricular and Student Progress
Thank you to the parents who have asked how we are monitoring program progress and student achievement in a virtual setting. We do this in a number of ways.
First, teachers began the year by selecting non-negotiable standards to ensure we addressed this academic year, regardless of format. They have monitored their pace closely to keep on track. This helps us to monitor program progression and will ensure that students are prepared to move on to the next logical course and are ready for externally moderated examinations.
Second, with the progress scores in hand, teachers can compare performance in their class this year with past performance to get a sense of achievement. We, as a section, can do the same. This helps us monitor overall academic performance. Below you will find a graph showing the score distributions from Semester 1 and Semester 2 of last year and the Progress Report from this fall. Note that Semester 1 of 2019 (blue) had instruction on campus. Semester 2 (red) had instruction on campus until March and then virtual. The Progress Reports from this fall (yellow) represents 100% virtual instruction.
Interestingly, the distribution for the present progress report is not terribly different from the performance last fall. Spring scores were a bit higher which is in keeping with our approach to proficiency learning over time. This graph would indicate that students are performing on par with last fall and we would predict an increase in performance as students move into next semester.
Finally, at an individual level, teachers are also monitoring student performance and wellbeing. Should a student not perform as expected, the teacher reaches out to the student and, in turn, the parent. By module, teachers ask students to indicate if their estimations regarding the time required are correct or off. This helps teachers adjust the workload over time. As a section, we also monitor student engagement through our attendance process, keeping track of how well students are keeping pace with modules. We, as an administrative and counseling team, intervene as needed. This helps us to monitor individual student engagement.
With that said, it is possible for a student to be engaged while not performing to their full academic potential. This is where you, as parents, can help us identify individuals who may need support, guidance or encouragement by contacting individual teachers, your son or daughter’s counselor or one of the sectional administrators.
High School Grief Group Offering
Michele Ness, AISC’s School Psychologist, will soon be offering a Facilitated Grief Group for High School students who have experienced a death in their immediate family, extended family, or friend circle. This confidential Grief Group will run for 8 weeks total, focussing on instilling hope, finding new ways for students to heal, reassurance that they are not alone, and provide a trusted, closed group setting where they can process their loss with other students who may understand their experiences.
The group will meet one time per week for 60 minutes and will be scheduled at a time that will accommodate students who wish to participate. Please contact Ms. Michele at nmichele@aischennai.org if you wish to participate (student) or if you would like to discuss your student’s situation further to see if they would be a good candidate (parents).
October Parent Coffee on Tuesday - Recording
Many thanks to all of the parents who joined us for the parent coffee this week. The recording of the coffee can be found here and the slides can be found here.
As mentioned in the coffee, it may help facilitate conversations at home about academic progress if you have the course and strand rubrics handy. All can be found linked to the course syllabi available here.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
