In my search for a better school for my son, I came across a blog written by a mother whose kids attend an international school. There are so many things I love about that school. I'm not referring to their facilities but the way they approach education. Sounds like it'd be good place for my son. I'm really glad to read about it cos there actually IS such a school here which is in line with my ideas! It actually exists!
Here are some excerpts:
End of the Year Progress Report
7 pages of detailed and elaborated information about what the students are expected to be able to do in each subject and whether they are working towards expected year group level, working at expected year group level or working above expected year group level.
Each subject is given a number from 1 to 4 (1 = excellent, 2= good, 3= satisfactory and 4 = needs improvement) which indicates how the children approach the subject in terms of how diligent they are, and therefore doesn’t reflect how the children do academically, which I like as the focus is on learning and the progress the child is making and not on how good or bad they are.
At the end of the progress report on page 8, the student’s teacher gives a description of the children’s performance and the activities they have been involved in as well as some personal comments about the child’s unique qualities and characteristics and how well they have done, which shows that the teacher really makes an effort to look for the children’s positive traits and highlight these in the report. And in the case of my daughter the description is spot on
A better way to maintain discipline
He has a colour system consisting of a green, yellow and red colour, like a traffic light. The system works in such a way that there are tags with each student’s name on it and simply put, the intention is to measure the ‘temperature’ of the students’ behaviour in the class. If a child is not behaving according to the expectation, makes too much noise, are too chatty, not concentrating on the work given, his or her name will move from green to yellow, which serves as a warning. If a child continues to ignore the warning, he or she may be moved to a different place in the class or something else but if it still doesn’t work, his or her name will be moved to the red zone, which results in a serious talk with the child and/or a letter sent back home to the parents. No yelling, name calling, scolding or otherwise to make the children behave or keep quiet, just a powerful quiet message, which the students themselves must keep an eye on and be responsible for.
Tuition discouraged
the school discouraged parents from sending their children to extra tuition classes after and outside school
Make learning fun
On the very first day of school, she was informed that the IPC topic for the term was people migration, so to capture the children’s interest, she and her classmates got an interesting assignment to do at home in the evening or the next day before going to school. They had to imagine that there had been an earthquake and they had to leave their home in 5 minutes and the parents had to time them. They were given only 5 minutes to find and pack the most necessary things to bring with them to give them the sense of urgency. My daughter rushed around the house to find the things she thought she needed on her journey and had lots of fun doing it. She packed it all in a bag and brought it to school. At school during the IPC lesson, the children were asked to pair up and set up a camp in the classroom and use the things they had brought along. For example they had a cloth, so they could built a shelter. My daughter came home and said she and the other children had so much fun doing it that none of them wanted to finish the lesson, but wanted to carry on.
Thinking skills etc - project work
I am so happy that [name of school is intentionally removed] has implemented IPC fully as it really makes a huge difference in how the children learn and the excitement they feel from doing work that is taken from the real world around them. It makes it much more interesting for them to keep up the excitement about the project, as they are obtaining information that is relevant and they are learning skills that they can use again and again, skills my daughter will never forget and which will come in handy in near future when she is doing her next project. But it has also given her the ability to organise her own holidays in future, as she now knows how and where to find the right information, how to calculate the costs involved in traveling, tours and accommodation, look for places she is interested in visiting and plan her holiday down to every detail taking into consideration how to get there, accommodation, weather etc.
This is what education is about, teaching children thinking skills, how and where to find information and how to select, compile, sort and organise it in such a way that it can be used constructively and creatively in real life scenarios. And then making it fun and exciting at the same time, while offering the right guidance for the students to achieve the best outcome and learning objectives.
Imagine the many areas the students are covering from this project, from group work, to searching for information on the internet, compiling, selecting and organising, communicating their ideas and findings, thinking creatively how to present their holiday packages and market them, learning about other countries, calculating costs and so much more. It’s pretty amazing what can be done when the will is there
Understanding teachers
The teachers of my son’s old school was perceiving my son in a very unsupportive way and had branded him as playful, disturbing, too talkative etc. which was the reason we moved him to [name of school intentionally removed], where the approach is different, as the teachers try their best to understand and help the children, and my son doesn’t have this problem anymore, and is much happier now.
Interactive whiteboards
During the lessons the teacher would show them videos and pictures from the internet and visit websites with educational games and tools and as the whiteboard is a touch screen as well, the children can interact with it by dragging and dropping the answers from one place to another over the whiteboard, as they would be able to with a mouse or a mousepad on a computer, while playing a game.
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