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Members’ Circular September 2019 | Vol. 9 No. 2

This month I have begun to re-establish contact with our schools across Africa – particularly our heads of school. We are certainly blessed to have such a depth of talent and commitment leading our schools in the AISA region. In my conversations with them I note that the types of issues our school face are often similar regardless of where our schools are in Africa. Note that I say similar but not the same - and it is this diversity that makes our work at AISA such an interesting challenge. A key part of meeting that challenge is to offer you, our members, a rich assortment of learning opportunities. Let me highlight a few here: Hopefully your head of school is joining us for the School Heads Retreat (SHR) in Vic Falls in a few weeks (21st - 23rd September 2018). This is a chance for our school leaders to catch their breath and reflect on their goals and objectives for the year ahead. It’s also a great opportunity for them to network with each other and (re)establish those important connections. Following straight after the SHR is the AISA Solo Heads workshop which specifically targets the unique needs of another important group in the AISA community – our very small schools. AISA’s ever growing Professional Learning Institute (PLI) programme has started and will continue to take place right across Africa right throughout the year. If you cannot find something addresses your needs, I invite you to write to me with suggestions I can pass on to our PL design team. Those events coming up soon are listed throughout this eCircular – or just take a look on our website http://www.aisa.or.ke The AISA Educators Conference (AEC) is in Dakar 20th - 23rd October. It’s a very rich programme of learning, wellbeing and socializing taking place in one of Africa’s most fascinating and picturesque cities – Dakar! And for the rest of AISA’s services, programmes, staff and student scholarships and awards, not to mention all our learning events – I am going to refer you to our new AISA Website. I sometimes think some of our AISA community members are not sure how their AISA membership can support their professional lives while living and working in AISA region. Take a look so you know what is on offer.

Dr Peter Bateman

Executive Director

In this issue

• AISA Educators

Scholarship

• Micro-credentials

• IPS at the AEC

• Upcoming PLIs

• IB Workshops for

2018

• Member News

There is NO AISA LEADERSHIP

CONFERENCE (ALC) this year since we’re holding a combined 2019 AISA Conference for our 50th anniversary. Save the Date: 21st - 23rd November 2019 It’s going to be an educational

and social extravaganza.

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Celebrating 50 Years of AISA When 21st – 23rd November, 2019

Where CTICC, Cape Town SOUTH AFRICA

With the work on the History of AISA book is now in full swing. We are still accepting contributions in the next few weeks. Perhaps you have a story to share about AISA and the impact it has had on you, and especially photos that may illustrate your story. Here is one such story.

Graham Mercer, teacher at the International School of Tanganyika (IST)

At IST in the early 1980s we looked forward to the annual AISA conference in Nairobi with

an enthusiasm not always engendered by educational get-togethers. Not that the

conference itself was uninspiring – IST contributed far more workshop leaders in those

days than any other school. But schools, like armies, march on their stomachs. And our

stomachs, thanks to Tanzania’s blighted economy (just buying bread or even weevil-

infested flour was a daily challenge), were crying out for something a little more exciting than corned beef or mashed

potatoes.

The AISA conference provided it. In the form, in those days, of a daily buffet lunch that back in Dar es Salaam we could

only dream about, set up on the lawns by ISK’s swimming pool. We would, like Byron’s Assyrian cohorts, come down

upon it “like the wolf on the fold”.

And as soon as the day’s workshops had ended (or to be honest, sometimes long before) we would descend upon

Nairobi’s supermarkets with similar single-minded fervour.

The rest of the story will be in the History of AISA book.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING WITH AISA

eTime: AISA’s Webinar Series

AISA’s first webinar was a great success, with close to 30 participants. We are currently editing this and will be able to share it with you once we have it on line. The next webinar is on: How to Make the Most Out of Your Membership & AISA Conferences

When 26th September, 2018

Time GMT: 16.00 WAT: 17.00 CAT: 18.00 EAT: 19.00

To Register in advance, visit: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZXSSfZTGRuGo25PQs1nxMg After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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AISA Educator Scholarship’s

This year AISA received over 70 applications for our AISA scholarship’s, a sure indication that our learning events are

attracting the attention we think they deserve.

We are pleased to announce the winners:

AISA Education Conference Scholarship Winners

1. Stephanie Budd, Banjul American International School

2. Derrick James Zamzow, American International School of Freetown

3. Yaye Aye Barry, American International School of Conakry

AISA Professional Learning Institute (PLI) Scholarship Winners

1. Molly Toliver, AIS Abuja

2. Trey Shiver, Harare International School

3. Heather Cronk, International School of Kenya

4. Bronwyn Schickerling, American International School of Cape Town

AISA EDUCATORS CONFERENCE (AEC2018)

When 20th – 23rd October, 2019

Where King Fahd Palace Hotel, Dakar

Early Bird 21st August

US$615 – Full Member US$695 – Affiliate Member

To register Here

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Desirable Difficulties; Creating & Sustaining A Culture of Excellence & Innovation In Your Classroom

By Ian Warwick, AEC Facilitator

How do we embed habitual excellence? How can we promote a culture where working hard

and creating excellent work is the norm? Can we get students to believe that they are capable

of doing better than they ever believed possible?

Ron Berger believes that any work of excellence is transformational. Once a student sees that they are capable of

excellence, that student is never quite the same. “There is a new self-image, a new notion of possibility. There is an

appetite for excellence. After students have had a taste of excellence, they’re never quite satisfied with less; they’re

always hungry.1” Aristotle asserted that we are what we repeatedly do. “Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a

habit.”

But what could this look like in a classroom?

The core element for embedding excellence into every day lessons is that the resources and tasks are pitched to

challenge the most able in the class based on an assumption that their most able students will be able to attain the top

grades, and can afford the time to go ‘off piste’ as needed. It is critical that teachers have the time to embed content

and concepts and get deep knowledge across and do not lower their own expectations of what their students can or will

engage with.

Another prerequisite is that teachers are experts in their field and are on hand to respond intelligently to awkward or

tangential questions and support students in how to learn from the specialised feedback given. Sometimes here the

problem is psychological: the teacher fears they will not know the answer to a specialist question. Across the world

there are brilliant and inspirational teachers who freely confess to how much they don’t know. Their response is simple

honesty in the face of a question they can’t answer, along the lines of ‘I don’t know the answer – but I’ll find out and

respond to you tomorrow.’

Also important is to insist on a default student ‘persistance’ in terms of work ethic, with a clear expectation regarding

accuracy and precision in the use of high level subject specific language. The importance of language as a thought

crystalliser is key. It is there for a purpose in every subject area and that is to offer precision of explanation and thought.

Simplification of these terms serves only to devalue the language and reduce the level of expertise that can be

demonstrated by the student. The core characteristics that excellence demands from students are dedication and

determination supported by teachers through rigorous and relentless reinforcement of scholarship. The reward is

improved motivation through the learning; students wanting to develop their subject knowledge, wanting to learn per

se, rather than just to do well in exams.

1 (Ron Berger, ‘An Ethic of Excellence’ Heinemann Educational Books, U.S. (2003) p8)

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How we know what an appropriate level of challenge and progress might be?

There are many potential gaps to understanding what the appropriate level of challenge might be for our learners in

terms of the work we set and accept. To begin with, how do our students come to understand what is required from

them? The first elements are inevitably their culture, home background and peer group. These set up powerful

expectations. For some students, they have become used to doing pretty well -- quite possibly without too much effort.

This is a dangerous starting point. Automatically, their perception of what standards might apply have become

corrupted. It is too easy to say that they should get used to producing what they are capable of achieving. They won't

know. None of us really do. We are all under-challenged underachievers. Modern life virtually demands it.

The second standards gap occurs between the exam boards perception of standards and the school or departments

perception of standards. If a school sets up an expectation of what ought to be achieved by its students, it is highly likely

to be working from quite a distorted perception of reality. Every school has its own ideas about what can be demanded

or expected from the students it is engaging with, effectively its own success criteria. These may well be far below what

could actually be possible, but how would we know? A school might unintentionally be constructing a glass ceiling of

compliant underachievement based on a fear of over demanding and burning out their students.

Effectively this is stealing from these students their chance to genuinely produce and understand what excellence might

look like. It is unconsciously setting their sights well below what they might be able to achieve. Until we make the high

level most challenging demands we will never know if our

students would have been capable of reaching the highest

standards. To keep raising the bar is the only way of finding

out how high athletes can jump. We have to stop setting

limits on what our children do, and the most dangerous limit

of all is the unconscious one that states, ‘I can’t ask a child

to do that. I could never have gone beyond that level.’ We

need to share examples of the very best with our students

and then at least we will know that we haven't short

circuited them from achieving genuine mastery.

Every student walks around with a picture of what is

acceptable, what they feel comfortable with to hand in.

Berger argues that ‘changing assessment at this level should

be the most important assessment goal of every school.

How do we get inside students’ heads and turn up the knob

that regulates quality and effort.” 2 One of the reasons

students produce slapdash work is that no one sees it. If we

create a culture where students regularly, and publicly

inspect each other’s work. Find somewhere to display the work students have done; give them dedicated lesson time to

assess it and then get them to suggest how it could be improved. Feedback should be kind, specific and helpful. If one of

these components is missing then the chances of it being received and acted on are severely reduced. The key is to be

soft on people but hard on content. Once feedback has been received then students need to do the work again. And

2 (Ron Berger ‘An Ethic of Excellence’ Heinemann Educational Books, U.S. (2003) p103)

Every student walks around with a picture of what is acceptable,

what they feel comfortable with to hand in. Berger argues that ‘changing assessment at this

level should be the most important assessment goal of

every school. How do we get inside students’ heads and turn up the knob that regulates quality and

effort.”

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again. Until it’s as good as they can possibly make it. Along the way they will have ‘failed’ and their efforts to improve

will provide visible evidence of failing better. The end product will be a gift – something in which they can take pride –

something they want to show off. It can be useful to get students to blog their work so that it reaches an audience

beyond the school and their immediate community. This makes them more aware of their audience and results in them

being less prepared to tolerate second best.

To find out more about Ian Warwick and his AEC Deep Dives go to the website.

Inviting AEC Delegates to Lead an Innovative Practice Session (IPS)

The Innovative Practice Series is a dedicated space during the AEC to showcase the work of teachers within the AISA

Community. Each workshop is a 60-minute, peer to peer learning experience where educators set the agenda and share

what they are doing at their schools, what they have learnt and achieved. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate

innovations, systems and structures that have brought about transformation and improvements that could be

applicable in other schools in our region.

If you would like to make an IPS presentation on behalf of your school, kindly apply here.

The deadline for submission is 20th September 2018.

Please contact Graham gwatts@aisa.or.ke for any clarification.

Introducing Micro-Credential’s Gaining recognition for learning is an important way to communicate to your current and future employee your commitment to continued learning, growth and development. To help you with that, AISA is piloting micro-credentials as an extension of professional learning after the AEC2018.

AISA is offering this opportunity FREE of charge through our partner, Digital Promise.

For more information, see the AISA website here.

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AISA Professional Learning Institutes

PLI’s coming up – for the Full Programme, see the AISA website here.

Upcoming PLI’s

2018 EVENT FACILITATOR TARGET LOCATION

17 – 18 Sep School Safety & Security Bruce Mills, Clearpath

Security & Facilities Managers, Leaders,

Board Members

ISD

Senegal

21 -22 Sep School Safety & Security ISK

Kenya

22 -23 Sep Using MAP Testing to

Improve Student Learning Amanda DeCardy

Teachers & School Leaders

IST

Tanzania

5-6 Oct Co-Teaching: Classroom

Partnership to Ensure the Success of ALL Students

Marilyn Friend

PK-12 teachers, teacher teams,

ELL/learning support teachers/coordinators,

administrators.

ISK

Kenya

6-7 Oct Making Math Meaningful

Dr Patrick Callahan Jessica Balli Solana Ray

K-12 teachers, administrators, and

curriculum and assessment specialists.

ISCT

Sth Africa

11-13 Oct Building a Learning Culture in International Schools –

PLC at Work Institute

Timothy Stuart Anthony Muhammad

Tom Schimmer Darin Fahrney Paul Buckley

Sascha Heckmann

All Educators: Teachers, Leadership,

Administration

ICS

Ethiopia

19-20 Oct Student Agency:

Personalised Learning Taryn Bond Clegg Classroom teachers

AISM

Mozambique

26-28 Oct Taking the Complexity Out

of Concepts – A Continuation

Tania Lattanzio Teachers, Coaches & Instructional Leaders

AISJ

Sth Africa

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MEMBER NEWS

Member Profile Name: Daniel Chaney

School: the American International School of Kinshasa

Role: School Counsellor

What is the best thing about living in Kinshasa?

The best thing about living in Kinshasa is the ability to have different types of experiences

all in the same day. From listening to Congolese music, having a drink or bite to eat on the side of the road, hanging out

with friends on the Congo River, visiting galleries, or dining at an international or local restaurant, there are unlimited

choices of cultural experiences to explore. I also admire the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Congolese people I

encounter on a daily basis in one or all of the settings previously mentioned. Kinshasa is LIVE!

What is unique about your school?

TASOK is unique in so many different ways, but I do think that our beautiful 42-acre botanical garden campus in the city

of Kinshasa is most unique. Over the years, I have challenged myself to stop and take-in the fact that big, bold Baobab

trees, aromatic cinnamon trees, and trees that bear fruit such as avocado, papaya, mango and a host of other seasonal

edibles surround us. In addition, the beautiful and brightly coloured flowers and magnificent and rare population of

birds greet us each day.

Briefly describe your journey into international education

Initially, I did not want to be an educator, I had plans to work in Fitness, Sports, and Recreation. After completing a

master’s degree in Recreation Management, I was encouraged by a friend to consider a career in education because of

my passion for working with children and helping them to overcome obstacles and excel in sports and fitness. So, I

embarked upon a life-changing journey and accepted an opportunity to teach in South Korea. Fast forward two years

and I was hired at an international school in the capital city, Seoul. While working at the school, I knew that I had found

my calling and wanted to take the next step to being an educational professional. I decided to go back to school in order

to attain a teaching certification. Most recently, I completed a master’s degree in Counseling, which has led me to my

current position. I do not think my international education journey would have existed without taking risks and a

willingness to be adventurous.

Favorite Book, Movie or TV series

I love the movie Coming to America. I am a huge fan of comedies. I just finished reading Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime and

Other Stories; it leaves one reflecting and aiming to champion open-mindedness and inclusion.

Personal or professional goal for the next 12 months

My professional goal for the next 12 months is to continue working towards building a comprehensive school

counselling program at The American School of Kinshasa. At this time, we have the integral components in place to

support our students’ personal, social, emotional, academic, and career development.

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Favourite destination and why:

I love visiting Italy for the food, but I also love visiting Thailand for the wonderful islands and unique experiences

through amazing cuisine and entertainment.

Work-life-balance - best tips? What works for you?

It is important to “take care of yourself.” There will be several requests from others throughout the day, but there has

to be time to have a stretch, read an article, have a bite to eat, or listen to your favourite song. That time is worth it,

especially if others will receive your very best support throughout the work day or week.

Associate Profile: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

AISA is delighted to highlight HMH, proud sponsors of the AEC2019 and loyal

sponsors of many AISA past conferences.

Name: Surbhi Chopra

Location: Dublin Ireland

Role: Senior Account Executive

Email: Surbhi.Chopra@hmhco.com

What does your organisation do or offer?

We are The Learning Company. As visionaries, we are

looking toward the future while remaining committed to

the core mission behind our founding – fostering lifelong

learners. As educators, our purpose is to develop

instruction and resources proven to provide every

learner with a pathway to success in school and life. By

working with teachers, parents, community learners, and

field experts, HMH® continues to remain at the forefront

of education. Together, with our customers, we create

the fullest expression of what learning can be.

What are you best at doing?

Providing comprehensive learning solutions to help all students achieve their maximum potential, HMH serves as the

leading source for personalized, flexible, and dynamic instruction. HMH’s programs offer AISA member school students,

teachers, families, and administrators a path for raising student achievement.

How are you uniquely placed to support AISA member schools?

For more than 180 years, HMH has remained committed to excellence in learning and we are proud to be a long

standing supporter of the AISA organisation. HMH has an experienced team of Account Executives and Solution

Specialists who support AISA member schools on curriculum solutions to best suit your classroom requirements.

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Most memorable Africa experience.

AISA Leadership Conference in Johannesburg in March 2017 was my most memorable event. It was my first AISA

experience. I met the AISA team and the brilliant education fraternity in Africa. It was a great opportunity for me to

learn about the association, schools, risks and demands of the region. The sessions were very well organized and

informative even for someone like me who is not an educator.

What do you always travel with/top travel tips?

I believe in travelling light but I always have painkillers for headache following a sleepless night on the plane, eye-mask,

a pair of comfortable shoes and compatible charges or converters.

Is there a special offer you could provide ASIA schools this month? –

HMH is offering a discount on our independent classroom reading libraries. Please contact Surbhi for more details.

School Focus

Want to share your school achievement, event or story with the AISA community? Submit your article to

chanel@aisa.or.ke

American International School of Dakar (ISD)

With Dakar the host city of the AEC2018, we thought it timely to highlight one

of our member schools in Dakar.

ISD in numbers:

The International School of Dakar began our 35th year last week.

We expect to break 600 students, a 30% increase over the

past five years. Our community is truly diverse with over 55 different nationalities represented. An elementary

classroom will have ten different nationalities and 6 different languages represented.

Our students had the highest scores in school history on the IB DP exams in May, with the highest scores in school history. We are an MYP Candidate School and hope to earn our PYP authorization by the end of this school year.

The new US$7million Performing Arts Center & Athletic Complex is well

underway with an expected completion date of May 2019. The complex will significantly improve the arts and sports facilities for our students as well as the larger Senegalese community.