Learning

Action, Guidance, Learning, Spirit
31 Mar 2021

AISB Student Leadership – Helping Students Find Their ‘Why’

Student leadership began to take shape at AISB in the summer of 2017 when the Vampires summer camp introduced the concept of student-coaches and leaders into the program. Our students and kids from the local community loved interacting and spending their time with high schoolers who made their summer a blast whilst teaching them many new things each day. This idea of student leadership was then furthered by a small group of exceptional students in that school year, when they began coaching under 11 football and leading some artistic courses, such as CCA (Co-curricular activity) painting. The success of these students and the winds of energy ushered into AISB then gave way to new ideas and planning for the newly formed CCA department in the 2018-19 school year, when we welcomed over thirty student leaders and these activities made up over 15% of our CCA program, which was also the…
Building, Innovation, Learning, Spirit
24 Mar 2021

Co-curriculars Are Not Extra

The year was 2001, and I had just gotten hired at the American International School of Bucharest as a Secondary School Secretary.  The school was located in three different rented villas and the Secondary was on Calea Dorobanti, in a very elegant villa which was quite inadequate for the type of school life that we were dreaming of for our students.  I remember that Mr. Elliott, the Director of Athletics at the time, was one of the most dedicated and committed members of the faculty and still, sporting activities and “after school” activities left a lot to be desired, by virtue of lack of facilities (the building had no gym, there was a bubble that was inflated behind the building). In 2002 the entire student and faculty body moved into the current Pipera campus and the roots of a program that was going to offer our students the proper motivation…
Action, Guidance, Learning, Spirit
18 Jun 2020

The Nibble – the AISB Elementary Literary Magazine

Continuing in the tradition of last year, when we published AISB’s first ever ES Literary Magazine in June 2019… we are proud to announce the publication of the 2nd edition of the magazine - online! It has been an interesting and adventurous journey from the first day we met as a staff on December 6 in the ES Library, to the completion of the magazine in its digital form this week. We started as a Friday lunchtime CCA with a group of twelve 5th graders with the goal of publishing a hard copy magazine that could sit on the library shelves for students to peruse.  When school closed, on March 11, we thought there would be no magazine this year, until one intrepid 5th grader emailed us on March 20 with the message: “Dear Ms.Shona, Will we still continue the Lit Mag online? Have a good day, Juliet.” This one…
Guidance, Learning
04 Jun 2020

Online Safety in the Age of Extended Screen Time

In this time and space where access to broadband connectivity and digital technologies have taken center stage in our lives, it is more important than ever to consider strategies and take steps to ensure our children are having a safe and age-appropriate online experience. At AISB, we believe that keeping students safe online is a shared responsibility. We have intentionally expanded our K-12 1:1 program in recent years. Alongside this expansion, we have implemented a digital citizenship program paired with extensive security measures to keep children safe while using technology on campus. At school, student usage is monitored to help safeguard from potential dangers or unsuitable materials. In this current context, we have been impressed with the progress our students have made and the substantial new skills they have developed while engaging with peers online.  The level of creativity and resourcefulness achieved by many has made us proud, and it…
Innovation, Learning, Spirit
29 Jan 2020

Catch the “Fever” of Personal Projects

“To be honest with you I thought this was going to be one of those boring events that we have to attend just to be polite. Instead I witnessed an extraordinary event full of passion from both teachers and students. Not often  (or never?) do you see 15 or 16 years old kids with everything on their minds but school so involved in a project. It was a huge surprise for me to see the passion and the ‘fever’ they were having, while talking about their projects with kids from elementary school to grandparents. I know that the rules of a good essay say not to repeat words, but as you can see, I cannot avoid using ‘passion’ several times, because that was exactly what I felt from you and students!” - AISB Parent, Bogdan Dragomir.  In Grade 10 of any IB World School, you will see Grade 10 students…
Learning, Spirit
07 Nov 2019

 Valuing our Mother Tongue

This past weekend, Secondary students organized a Mother Tongue conference at AISB - an excellent initiative that was really valued by all the students, parents and teachers involved. AISB is making great effort to value world language and provide more opportunities for students to study their mother tongue.  Charlemagne, the medieval French king, once said that "to have a second language is to have a second soul". Our language and ways of communicating shape our experience of the world profoundly. There are over seven thousand world languages, and each offers a unique way of experiencing human communication.    Ask a fluently bilingual person what happens when they switch languages and they might say that they think differently, move differently and even adopt a changed persona. If you speak many languages, you may be able to switch cultural codes when you travel. However, so crucial is language to our sense of identity…
Guidance, Learning, Novelty
24 Oct 2019

How do Music and Math Fit Together?

Led by Mr. Lawson and Mr. Lacher, students in Grade 5 are learning about the different kinds of musical note values and the duration of each note. The teachers are taking this opportunity to authentically inquire into the mathematical concept of fractions, as applied in music. As students were introduced to musical note values, they folded and cut paper to create strips that showed the fractional relationship between the note values. Yigit in 5KM explained it by saying, “A whole note is four beats, so a half note is two beats. A quarter note is one beat or half of a half note, so that’s why we call it a quarter note. We’re doing fraction work in our classroom too, and it’s cool because I love math and now I’m doing both.”  After making the paper note values, students spent time arranging them into four-beat measures to create a four-measure…
Learning
10 Oct 2019

Learning & The Brain

If real learning changes the architecture of our brains, then, educators should be fascinated to discover how the brain works. In the early 1990s new imaging techniques allowed researchers to see the brain working with more clarity. It was amazing to see different areas of the brain light up when thinking happens. When these results were first examined and published, some researchers were quick to make bold claims for the implications of their work. In some cases, this gave rise to popular ‘neuro-myths’, big ideas that many educators, including myself, were quick to embrace. So, for example, for many years it was claimed that there was a so-called pink brain for girls and a blue brain for the boys, with real structural and operational differences. More recently, this view has been challenged with research showing that gender-based structural differences can be explained by the size of the skull more than…
Action, Learning, Spirit
03 Oct 2019

Experiential Learning: Here’s Why It Works

In Secondary we have two weeks (September & May) that we have purposely designed to use Romania as a platform for learning to build community and provide lifelong memories. Successful communities must be nurtured intentionally, and thus need purposeful opportunities to meet new people, foster relationships, and build perspectives. At AISB we do this in multiple ways - through our classroom engagements, advisory / homeroom program, co-curricular program (sport, arts, activities, service, outdoor education), student leadership training & opportunities, and through our experiential weeks. This year we have added our newly co-created house system to this listing. Our students continue to gain experience, skills and confidence in advocating for and leading initiatives to help us become a more safe and inclusive learning community. Our student councils, service groups, student-led activities, and The Bite newspaper are all great examples of this empowerment in action. As our goal is to help our…
Guidance, Learning, Novelty
19 Sep 2019

Diving Deeper Into Learning About Culture: Grade 2’s Amazing Cultural Race

Grade 2 students have been inquiring into different cultural perspectives that influence the way people express and understand ideas.  The children were given the opportunity to play the Amazing Cultural Race. They had to “travel” to multiple countries, where they were to perform specific tasks together. These challenges were related to a culture of that country. One destination was Kenya where they did the Maasai dance, another destination was New Zealand where they watched the Haka and posed “Haka style”. They also were shown the ‘hongi: a sacred Maori greeting from New Zealand. In their visit to Bhutan, they had to respectfully refuse cookies offered to them (the Bhutanese manner) by saying ‘“meshu, meshu”. Another destination was Malaysia where they played a bean bag game called Batu Seremban and when they went to Japan, they wrote the word peace in Japanese after learning the story of Sadako Sasaki. A final…
Action, Learning, Novelty
04 Sep 2019

Why Sensory Corners are Game Changers in PE

The idea of creating a small Sensory Corner in the Elementary School Gym that we could use during PE lessons was born from observing our students' need to explore and develop physical skills all the while shifting perspective. This project is meant to support all students during physical activity and help them switch to a comforting and relaxing mood,  but in the meantime developing gross motor skills in a non-structured way. Who Benefits? All students benefit from sensory activities. Engaging activities that use the senses develop neural pathways in young children's brains. For students of all abilities, using a procedure or tool in our PE lesson that engages their senses can make a lesson more meaningful and memorable. All students may have different moments when they might need helping to calm down or to maintain focus, so learning how sensory activities can be included will only enrich our PE lessons.…
Guidance, Learning, Spirit
13 Jun 2019

The Secret to Authentic Learning Experiences in PE: Grade 1 Create Own Activities

The mission of PYP PE at AISB is to prepare, engage, and inspire all students in the skills, knowledge and attitudes that will enable them to experience the joy of movement throughout their lives. The experiences that learners have in PE during their time at AISB should reflect this mission and as such will be a balanced blend of: Active Living: Learners are challenged and supported in acquiring the movement skills that will allow them to participate actively in a range of physical activities. Learners understand the  concepts, and strategies that will enable them to  confidently, competently and creatively engage in a range of physical activities, including using their physical capabilities to explore the natural environment. Interactions: Learners develop and use personal, interpersonal, behavioral, social and cognitive skills and strategies to promote a sense of personal identity and well being. Learners are competent in building and maintaining positive relationships which…
Learning
17 Apr 2019

Grade 2 Math – A Window Into a Classroom

At AISB, we believe that math learning should be engaging, purposeful and connected to real world contexts. During an inquiry into How We Organize Ourselves, students in Grade 2 have been learning how systems of measurement are used to meet the needs of people and communities. As the unit is drawing towards an end, students in 2JR have been participating in experiences that allow them to use measurement within the context of a real world situation. To launch the engagement, Ms. Johanna gave students a challenge. Students started out by matching sets of cards. One set contained recipe ingredients and another set listed the ingredients, as sold at the store. For example, students would match a card from set A, which says that a recipe calls for 200 grams of butter with the card from set B that says butter sells in packages of 100 grams and that each package…
Learning, Spirit
20 Mar 2019

Ilinca P: An Inside Look At How Personal Projects Keep On Giving

The MYP personal project is a student-centred and age-appropriate practical exploration in which students consolidate their learning throughout the programme. This long-term project is designed as an independent learning experience of approximately 25 hours. The personal project formally assesses students’ ATL skills for self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration. International Baccalaureate MYP Subject Brief Even though Personal Projects are the crowning jewels of the MYP years, parents often wonder what makes MYP Personal Projects worth all the effort and time. Ilinca P. (Grade 10) is here to explain how her Personal Project evolved, and how it grew into much more than she had initially planned: --- My personal project started off as a passion more that anything. I wanted to write a book about Romanian Medical Myths for a very long time and this was my opportunity. People responded very well to it, and miss Jennifer Stevens…
Learning
06 Mar 2019

Why Experiential Learning Is The Way To Go

Back in 1982 the British Government formed a Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools under the Chairmanship of Dr WH Cockcroft, a study entitled Mathematics Counts; and became known as The Cockcroft Report. Despite years of effort to improve the overall mathematical literacy of the general population, the standard reached was still wanting. It is interesting to note that this subject is still a subject of controversy as it was then – to quote from the report: Few subjects in the school curriculum are as important to the future of the nation as mathemat­ics; and few have been the subject of more comment and criticism in recent years. This report tackles that criticism head on. It offers constructive and original proposals for change. It should be read by those responsible for school mathematics at all levels. The study delved into why we teach Mathematics, what is…
Learning
07 Feb 2019

Conceptual Learning

It used to be that we all came to school to learn ‘stuff’. Depending on the national curriculum we were educated in, we learnt facts and skills that were locked in time, place and culture. We were then tested on what we did and didn’t know. Today, in many international or national education systems, knowledge and skills still play a vital role in building students’ understanding. All learning starts with this awareness; either learning about something (knowledge) or learning to do something (skills). The difference in PYP and conceptual learning is that we consider isolated knowledge or skills the starting point. Our goal is to help students see patterns and undercover trends in what they are learning, and test and transfer what they understand in new contexts. Conceptual learning addresses the ‘why’; helping students to extrapolate above singular facts to broader, transferable, more meaningful understandings. Some examples of what this…
Guidance, Innovation, Learning
09 Jan 2019

Go for a SeNsOrY WaLk…

“I really liked making the sensory walk with Ms. S.  We used colored tape on the floor to walk and jump across.  I like to take breaks from the classroom to move my body.” -Tomy, Grade 2 Not many venture down past the Elementary School Library through the corridor where the building meets the playground, but if you have recently, you can't help but notice the colorful and tempting path that challenges our body and mind.  Meet Tomas, a grade 2 student who demonstrated learner agency and helped with the creation of this tool.  Jane Ayres, American Occupational Therapist, Educational Psychologist and advocate, helped develop meaningful research in the areas of sensory integration.  Sensory integration is the process of organizing sensory inputs so that the brain produces a useful body response and useful perceptions, emotions, and thoughts.” (Ayres, 1979, p. 28)  As children grow, they are exposed to a variety…
Action, Learning
05 Dec 2018

Internships for AISB Students

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin The IB Diploma Program which the AISB is authorized to offer in grades 11 and 12 is educating our students to “create a better world through education.” In the words of AISB Alumni, the Diploma Program is a very rigorous, complex, fast paced program that supports students’ transition into their college years and puts them way out of their comfort zone so that they may reach their full potential.  This is indisputable, and the results are there to prove it. The hot topic among our juniors and seniors for years has been the possibility of being part of the world of work, experiencing what it is like to prepare for a job interview, apply and get a job, work and thus be exposed to realities which are very seldom, if ever, found…
Building, Guidance, Learning
06 Sep 2016

Confronting the Data

Last week we reported to the community the feedback from the Parent Survey that was undertaken at the end of the last academic year. As with last year’s survey, the participation rate was marvelous and I would like to thank all of you who contributed your thoughts and comments. Such feedback is very important for us to gain perspective on how successful, or not, we are in both the operational and educational aspects of the school. A key Good to Great (Jim Collins) principle is that a school that aspires to be great must confront reality. We must confront the brutal facts, parental perspectives being one of them, in order to be great. It is advocated that unless we face our shortcomings we can never be really great. Whilst we scored better on every metric of the survey compared to last year’s responses, there was one particular data point that needs to be…
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Innovation, Learning
10 May 2016

A Curriculum for the Future?

The more I read and witness the rapid changes that are evolving around us, I am convinced that ‘average’ will not get anyone very far in life. In a recent article, the Financial Times reporting on the boom in robotics investment in 2015 (http://on.ft.com/26NvonM) made it clear that manufacturing is increasingly, indeed almost exponentially, becoming more automated, with minimal human intervention or supervision. As we are all aware, many, many jobs and career paths are being eliminated in the process. How we structure education needs to take into account future career demands. There is a seemingly universal perception that resources such as tablets, laptops, and iPads are naturally positive additions to the array of teaching strategies used in the classroom. These devices are amazingly powerful, but I need to see data, supported by practice, of their effects, both positive and negative. Likewise, as we enter another season of MAP testing…
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Learning
22 Dec 2015

Vision

As we plan to improve and change our educational offerings the key to any vision of the future lies in our ability to predict what knowledge, skills and concepts will be needed by coming generations of students. I am firmly of the belief, from what I read and understand of our world changing, at a rate which must be daunting for the younger folk amongst us, that technology will be at the centre of any transformation. However, as our cultures and communities evolve there will be constants and traditions that we must preserve, indeed cherish; ideals, morals and values that will transcend time and ensure that our world is a safer, cleaner, and more ethical, leading to a more sophisticated understanding of the world in which we live. These traditional principles and standards must focus on mutual respect and a fundamental understanding that, in everything, we ‘do under others as…
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Building, Innovation, Learning, Novelty
20 Aug 2015

Manners, Mastery and Meaning

Dear Parents, The start of the school year is always a busy time as changes to the campus come to completion and orientation sessions for new and returning faculty turn towards welcoming students for the first day of school. You will have received a number of emails from the Admissions Office detailing such changes, but I thought I would write about the philosophical underpinnings to the changes that we have been planning and implementing over the past nine months. You will notice the new all-weather field, upgraded Physics lab, new furniture appearing in classrooms, lockers for the elementary school students, an Admissions Office and IT Help Desk in the atrium and, until the Fall break, a temporary entrance to the school as we upgrade the main entrance to enhance the security process for visitors to AISB. Thus, we have begun a systematic upgrade of the physical resources, both within and…
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Learning
14 May 2015

One hell of a job!

In reference to the comment made by a ‘concerned parent’ I would like to make a few observations. But, first of all, thank you for your feedback and to all of you who have responded to my posts. At AISB we celebrate a diverse community, and as remarked in a previous blog post, we are not an elitist school, rather we aspire to be an elite school that honors and respects diversity of our student population and their learning needs. We use MAP data as one set of information to evaluate student performance and inform our teaching practice. My expectation, given our heterogeneous student base, is that we are always 80% at or above the norm, based on US schools using MAP aligned with the Common Core. In some cases this is achieved, but in others we need to focus our attention and ensure that there are improvements. From next…
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Innovation, Learning
11 May 2015

A Sense of Wonder

When I was Headmaster at Atlanta International School (AIS), the only school accredited by the international agency The Council for International Schools (as AISB) in town, we had tough competition from legions of private, established, heavily endowed schools. But as the only educational institution that offered the full IB program, we were considered by many to be educationally uncompetitive compared to those schools that offered a full Advance Placement (AP) preparatory program. However, as the IB became more established in the US and the IB itself became better at promoting the value of its curriculum, the stature and reputation of our school grew. Many of our peers in Atlanta began to realize that the majority of Tier 1 Colleges were accepting IB students over their AP ones. Indeed, I used to routinely promote the fact, to all who would listen, that in the top 200 colleges in the US, the percentage acceptance…
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Guidance, Learning
20 Apr 2015

Handwriting

Finland, a noted vanguard in the field of education, is dispensing with paper and ink in favor of the keyboard; by next year cursive handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish elementary schools and typewriting skills will take ascendancy. Learning joined-up, cursive writing, in the early days with a scratch-pen and ink-well, then the fountain pen, was a rite of passage for elementary school students and a headache for those who had to clean ink-stained shirts, skirts and ties. The Common Core in the U.S. no longer requires handwriting to be part of the curriculum, although many states are fighting a rearguard action to keep cursive writing in their schools. The move from pen to keyboard is more than just underway, it has arrived. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but now it seems that the keyboard has replaced the pen. However, the number of tablets and ‘apps’…
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Learning
07 Apr 2015

Homework

I mentioned in my first blog post that we will be ‘cognizant of those things that we will not change: enduring ideals and philosophies that transcend time and place.’ Over the coming weeks I will detail those constants. This week it will be homework! Both sections of the school – Primary and Secondary – will be issuing guidelines as to the School’s expectation with regards to homework (the PYP ones were shared with Elementary parents on Tuesday, 7th April). To quote from the introduction:  “… we believe that regular homework is an important element of improving student learning and the developing skills and attitudes that will support our students in their post-secondary education … regular homework … improves student learning.”  There is substantial educational research that discounts the importance of regular homework, as Alfie Kohn, speaker and writer on human behavior, education, and parenting, recounts in his piece titled ‘Rethinking Homework.’…
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Innovation, Learning, Spirit
01 Apr 2015

Changing times

I recently attended the annual conference for our regional organization, CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association). For me, these events are not just about hearing engaging keynote speakers, but they are also opportunities to network with colleagues in our region, which stretches from Vienna to Almaty. In one particular workshop, the presenter alluded to a challenge that we all face: what do we preserve of traditional educational practices and what changes do we engage as we move into the future? Through the IB curriculum we encourage students to be creative and innovative, see patterns and form, make connections, and learn how to think. We strive to create an educational environment that acknowledges the individual nature of the learning process and develop a curricular program that promotes freedom of expression within a supportive environment. However, as we upgrade our pedagogical approaches to student learning and make changes that promote new…
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